THIS IS NOT THE LAST CHAPTER.
"Ready your positions!" Ma Chao barked. The soldiers swiftly and calmly took up the formations they had been trained in and held their weapons at the ready.
"We will win this, right? Captain Ma Chao?" asked Xing Cai with a smirk.
"Of course," answered Ma Chao confidently.
Up ahead, shouts and screams could be heard, signalling that the fight had already started.
A couple hours later, some of the Wu soldiers had begun to break through, and Xing Cai's unit could see them coming.
"This is the first wave, men! Get ready!" shouted Xing Cai. That didn't take them very long…which means they are pretty strong.
Ma Chao roared and took on the first couple soldiers by himself, slashing at them with his long spear upon his horse. The soldiers ran swiftly between enemy and sliced through them, bringing them down. They cheered after defeating the first wave, but soon, more were coming and they had to keep fighting without rest. Xing Cai skewered an opponent and swung the man into an archer, sending them both flying. Ma Chao growled as he hacked at more soldiers. "They're strong," he mumbled to Xing Cai. He stabbed a soldier right behind Xing Cai, and she in turn charged her horse into a group of soldiers trying to take down Ma Chao all together. They grinned at each other, remembering the old days before returning to the reality, and the battle at hand.
The day had passed into late afternoon. The dead and injured grew in numbers as the battlefield was scattered with crimson blood.
"They're not letting up, are they?" said Ma Chao. He blocked a wild swipe from a soldier who tried to unseat him from his horse and countered with a swift stab.
"They will once they know that we are impossible to defeat," Xing Cai answered calmly. Unmistakably though, they were getting tired, having swung their weapons nonstop for hours on end. Ma Chao heard a horse galloping towards them from behind and flicked a glance in the sound's direction.
"General Ma and Lady Zhang!" shouted the messenger upon the horse.
"Go on, say what you have to say!" yelled Ma Chao in reply as he kicked a Wu soldier and swung his spear around him to fend off any attackers. The messenger regained his breath as he slowed his horse down to a trot. "General Jiang Wei's unit has been scattered!"
Ma Chao and Xing Cai exchanged a brief glance with each other at the information. Wu seemed to be attacking fiercely on all sides.
"Also, the attacking Wu unit, let by Lu Xun has passed the stone sentinel maze and attacking Lord Liu Shan inside Bai Di castle! General Zhao Yun has advanced forward to push the Wu troops they are fighting back. General Xing Cai, your unit is the closest to Liu Shan, he is in dire need of help to escape from Lu Xun!" informed the messenger.
"Che," snarled Ma Chao. "Liu Shan totally deserves to go die."
Xing Cai widened her eyes at Ma Chao's confession of his hate for the man. "Are you going to―"
"Ah screw him," Ma Chao groaned. He threw an enemy soldier away from him and turned his horse in the castle's direction. He had a promise to keep: to serve Liu Shan loyally. He had to go back and save Liu Shan, since no one else was around. "Stay here and hold the enemy forces. I will go back and get that bastard out of the mess he started."
"But Ma Chao! The castle has too many soldiers for you to handle! You can't get in there alone!" shouted Xing Cai. "I'll come with you!"
"No, the unit needs you to lead and to keep them together. If Zhao Yun can get that boy out of a million soldier army, there's no reason that I cannot get him out of a mere unit of soldiers!" Without waiting for a reply, Ma Chao urged his horse into a fast gallop towards Bai Di castle.
Xing Cai breathed out and turned her horse back towards the enemy soldiers trying to get past them and into the castle. There was no point arguing with the man, he would stand his ground no matter what.
Stay safe, Ma Chao.
Xing Cai prepared herself in the face of the soldiers. She would keep these soldiers from advancing any further until Ma Chao returned. With a shout, she charged forward, her fork, Sacred Light held at the ready. She gripped her shield in her hand along with the reins and the horse started forward, speeding up as it charged head on with the enemy troops.
She felt her war horse's muscles ripple under her as it galloped forward. The hooves smashed the soldiers skulls with a thud, and as they landed upon the ground, Xing Cai flung herself off the horse and sliced at the soldiers in a wide circular motion with her fork. Using the momentum, she spun around again, throwing her shield out into the enemy to knock a large number of the soldiers out. The enemy soldiers still alive backed from Xing Cai; she wore look of heavy murderous intent, and this frightened the enemy.
Her troops, first wary of her skills for she was female, were now in awe. She had taken out a whole group of troops single-handedly. This boosted their morale, and they stepped forward, readying their weapons beside Xing Cai.
She smiled inwardly at this, but kept a firm look upon the rest of the soldiers. Xing Cai raised her shield and fork and snarled at the enemy.
"Bring it on."
XXXXXXX
He trembled as he held his sword in his hands, at the advancing soldiers. His guards had been picked off one by one by the Wu troops. He regretted never giving much effort in learning the skills of using a sword. It felt useless in his hand as he made feeble swipes at the enemy. Even they were laughing at him. He who had brought this battle to his own doorstep, regretted what he had done.
Liu Shan was afraid of death. He never thought he would be faced with the circumstances he was in. He thought he would have the generals for protection. But all was gone now. He was alone, surrounded by a mass of red armoured troops as they slowly cornered him. He fell over, and the sword dropped out of his hands. Fearful tears welled up in his eyes.
Suddenly, a horse charged out of nowhere and bowled over the soldiers around him. Liu Shan blinked at the tall figuring shadowing his small figure on the ground. A goofy grin set itself on his face; he was saved!
With a yell, the man on the horse hacked at the soldiers on all sides, the horse doing its part in the fighting as well by rearing and kicking the people with its solid hooves. Liu Shan scrambled up and was quite shocked as he saw who his saviour was.
"…Ma Chao…?" muttered Liu Shan.
Ma Chao looked down at him, not trying to hide his disdain to him at all. "Yeah. Surprise," he answered coldly. He held his hand down to the man. "Get on before they kill you."
Liu Shan took a brief glance at the soldiers who had started advancing again and quickly grasped Ma Chao's hand to get onto the horse behind him. He gripped Ma Chao's waist in fear for he never was much of a horseman.
"Do not let the ruler of Shu get away!" shouted a young male. He ran forward to stop Ma Chao's escape, wielding two short swords and wearing a curious red hat. Ma Chao flashed his spear at the soldiers right in front of the young Wu general, and his eyes widened as he watched the troops fall to the ground in front of him.
"Don't get in my way, kid," Ma Chao growled. He tugged at the reins and his horse reared before crashing back onto the ground, kicking some red clad soldiers in the chest before setting of at a fast gallop back out of Bai Di castle. He hacked and slashed at the soldiers along the way, opening a path to escape. "Get them!" he heard the young man behind him holler.
An arrow shot towards Ma Chao, but he ducked just in time by hearing the sound of the arrow. Ma Chao gritted his teeth and urged his horse to move faster with a gentle kick. Coldfire neighed before speeding up, going as fast as it could. For a while, all he could hear were the hooves of his horse thundering along the ground, whimpering from Liu Shan and the shouts of the enemy soldiers behind him. Then the noise of present battles around the area grew, and soon, Xing Cai and her unit were in sight.
"Xing Cai!" shouted Ma Chao, waving as his horse carried him towards her. The woman finished off a soldier and whipped around to see him galloping at full speed towards her. A wide smile appeared on her face and she turned back to attack a few soldiers around her before remounting her horse. Ma Chao slowed down as he neared Xing Cai, slicing at some soldiers along the way. The fretful Liu Shan clung on to Ma Chao, but Xing Cai was glad to see that Ma Chao had saved him, despite the tension between the both of them.
"There are Wu soldiers charging towards us from that way," said Ma Chao, pointing in the direction he had come from. "We need to regroup with our allies or be crushed between these two Wu units."
There were not many enemy soldiers left from the group which had been fighting Xing Cai. The stronger force was coming from behind them, and they could soon see the Wu general as he rounded the bend, leading troops to attack Ma Chao.
Xing Cai called up her troops. "Let's go!" she shouted.
"Yes, my lady!" they all shouted.
Xing Cai greeted Liu Shan. "Hello my lord."
"…Hi," muttered Liu Shan quietly, watching the approaching Wu army with a gaping mouth.
"Welcome, to war," she said.
Ma Chao and Xing Cai nodded to each other and exchanged a smile. With that, they set off, leading themselves and the soldiers to their comrades.
XXXXXXX
Huang Zhong was holding his ground against two mighty Wu generals, Huang Gai and Zhou Tai, quite well. He was surprised to see Xing Cai join his troops in the fight.
"Why are you here, little lady?" asked the veteran warrior. He chopped down a soldier and drew out his bow to shoot some arrows into the enemy ranks. Every single one of his arrows hit. Huang Zhong was glad for the support, it would make things much easier to push the enemy back.
"Well—" Xing Cai was cut off by a shouts of the Wu soldiers who had been chasing them.
"Oh," muttered Huang Zhong. "You needed help." He saw Liu Shan get off Ma Chao's horse and run into the bushes in the distance. "Why is the young lord here? Should he not be in the castle?"
"Jiang Wei's unit has been scattered…from the reports. It left the side of the castle free, and Ma Chao rushed in to get our lord out of harm's way," answered Xing Cai. She winced as the Wu troops drew near. They had just led them into an unintentional pincer attack with Huang Gai and Zhou Tai on one side and Lu Xun on the other.
"Great help you are," said Huang Zhong with a flat laugh.
"Sorry…" Xing Cai gripped her fork. "But we've got to fight whether we want to or not." She raised her fork and looked at her soldiers in the eye. "Come on, let's show them what we're made of!" They replied with great enthusiasm, and they set off to meet Lu Xun and his troops.
Ma Chao returned to battle beside Xing Cai, slicing at the enemy. "I've escorted Liu Shan to a safe place…help will also be arriving soon."
Xing Cai opened her mouth to ask who, but Ma Chao shook his head. "You'll see."
The Shu troops stood in the way of Lu Xun's, stopping them from searching for Liu Shan.
"If you want to get to him, you'll have to get by us!" shouted a sergeant.
"Be my guest if you want to die early," replied a Wu soldier.
Ma Chao, forgetting he was only a captain gave the order. "Attack!" he yelled in unison with Lu Xun. The two forces clashed and an uproar rose into the air.
Back to back, Xing Cai and Huang Zhong units fought the enemy. Ma Chao was worried for Jiang Wei. He hoped he and a large number of his troops were alright, whatever had happened. He neared the fellow Wu general they were fighting as he cut down enemy soldiers who tried to oppose him. He saw Lu Xun move towards him with the corner of his eye and dodged a stab from one his sabres.
"That wasn't very nice…" muttered Ma Chao, he swung around on his horse and lashed out with his spear, reaching right over the horse which Lu Xun was riding. The young man had leant back to avoid the spear thrust before sweeping the spear away with one blade, and retaliating with the other. Ma Chao raised his armguard to deflect the metal blade. Though it saved him, Lu Xun's sword had inflicted a deep line in his armguard. Ma Chao pulled on the reins, and his horse stepped back a little.
"Scared?" asked Lu Xun with smirk.
Ma Chao returned it as he twirled his spear to flex his hand a bit. "Hardly."
A bugle suddenly sounded, and it cut through the sounds on the battle field like a sharp knife. Lu Xun glanced at the source and bit back a shout of frustration as Ma Chao smiled.
"It seems the reinforcements are here," he said.
Zhao Yun and his troops leapt into the battle straight away, splitting into two teams to reinforce both Huang Zhong and Xing Cai. His unit was quite large, and each team could help the warring units a lot.
"The Dragon of Changshan has arrived!" Zhao Yun yelled, plunging his spear into an unfortunate victim.
"Tch." Lu Xun pulled back as he was faced with Ma Chao, Xing Cai and Zhao Yun.
"Greetings, friend," said Ma Chao.
"I got your call, had to come," answered Zhao Yun. "Jiang Wei is safe, we stopped most of the harm from reaching his men and sent the enemy fleeing, but they cannot join the battle, for many of them are wounded."
Xing Cai grinned at her mentor and turned to Ma Chao. "I think I'll go help Huang Zhong, stay safe you two." She wheeled around and set off at a canter to assist the old warrior.
"Who is that boy over there?" asked Zhao Yun.
"I do believe he is Lu Xun. A renowned strategist…" Ma Chao left off for Lu Xun was the one who defeated Liu Bei at Yi Ling, and this caused Liu Bei to fall sick soon after before passing away. "He's a good fighter too."
Both men were feared by the soldiers, as they were taken down by them with ease. With Zhao Yun's sudden arrival, the morale of Shu went up, the intent to win also rising.
Ma Chao noticed that the enemy he and Zhao Yun had been fighting seemed to be regrouping, possibly for a retreat.
"Press the attack!" shouted Zhao Yun. Their troops surged forward to stay on the enemy's tail.
"Go!" shouted Lu Xun, trying to get the soldiers moving before he did.
"He's doesn't think of himself before the troops, impressive," said Ma Chao. He took control of Xing Cai's troops, and they were willing to listen to him. They continued to attack the soldiers trying to flee on the end, but the Wu soldiers were quite fast, and they soon pulled away and raced off back into the path they had come from. "Shall we chase them?" asked Ma Chao.
Zhao Yun shook his head. "I don't think so," he said as he watched the soldiers run off. "That pincer attack never did us any good. We should turn our weapons to that side and fight as one."
"Perhaps Lu Xun will move his forces to regroup with his allies. Then it would be a head to head battle," suggested Ma Chao.
They moved to join up with Huang Zhong and Xing Cai and the additional strength boosted morale once again. "Let's show them what we're made of, young'uns!" shouted Huang Zhong.
"Right you are!" answered Zhao Yun. "Charge!"
Ma Chao glanced around and spotted Xing Cai, fighting a man who was differently dressed. He was probably one of the generals, and he wore samurai looking armour and wielded an Eastern Sword. Concerned for her safety, Ma Chao moved closer towards her.
Xing Cai was bent on winning their fight. The man said his name was Zhou Tai, and he was strong. Xing Cai sliced with her fork, but this was blocked by his sword. She quickly moved in to hit him upside the head with her shield, but that move was blocked too, surprisingly, with his sheath. "Damn…"
"A warrior uses all that he can," said Zhou Tai, sheathing his sword. Xing Cai was confused at this move and stepped back. With lightning speed, her enemy pulled his sword back out to attack her in a large powerful arc which she blocked with her shield. The attack pushed her back and jolted her shield hand a bit.
Xing Cai winced, but there was no time to do anything else as Zhou Tai moved in to deal another blow. He was merciless; Xing Cai knew that since the first blow. She dodged the attack and spun around for momentum to slice in return at Zhou Tai and drew a cut on the underside of his arm, where it was not protected by armour. The silent pirate seemed oblivious to the injury and whipped his sword out of his sheath again.
Xing Cai moved her fork to catch Zhou Tai's sword so that the two prongs were on either side of the man's weapon. It was a move she tended to use so as to disarm the enemy. But Zhou Tai understood what she was trying to do in a split second and flung his sword arm to the side, pulling the long fork out of Xing Cai's hand. She let out a cry as her weapon fell to the ground with a clatter. She quickly pulled her shield around to defend Zhou Tai's next sword stroke and tried to bash his head with it soon after. Zhou Tai strafed away from the shield and did a shoulder bash, sending Xing Cai into the dirt. She coughed a few times; the move had winded her. Before she could use her shield again, Zhou Tai had stepped on her shield hand wrist. Xing Cai yelled out in pain; it felt like her wrist was being crushed slowly.
"You fought well, but goodbye," said Zhou Tai. Without wasting any more time, he pulled his sword back and swung down.
"Back off."
A spear had intercepted the death blow, and Zhou Tai looked up at the wielder.
"Who are you?" he asked roughly.
"Ma Chao of Shu!" With a shout, Ma Chao pushed Zhou Tai back away from Xing Cai. His eyes lingered on the floored Xing Cai. "I promised myself I'd never leave you, whether we were together or not." He held out a hand for her.
Xing Cai managed a weak smile. "Thank you," she murmured and grabbed his hand for a help up. She cradled her wrist and went to retrieve her fork. "Ma Chao…"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," answered Ma Chao. He trained his eyes on his new opponent and levelled his spear. Zhou Tai seemed unfazed that Xing Cai just escaped from his grip and readied his sword too.
"I am Zhou Tai," he said. "Shall we?"
Ma Chao narrowed his eyes a bit and swung his spear, making the first move.
Xing Cai wielded her spear and kept her wounded arm with her shield by her side. Slashing at the soldiers around her, she was glad she was still alive. Zhou Tai was a strong soldier, and Ma Chao seemed like he was having a hard time defeating him too. Xing Cai steeled herself and whipped her fork around to attack more soldiers. She was not weak, she was the daughter of the mighty Zhang Fei. She would make her father, Guan Ping, Zhao Yun and Ma Chao proud. She would play a part in leading Shu into a victorious battle.
"Shu!" she yelled, raising her fork to the air. "It's time to send these soldiers back where they came from! It's time to be victorious once again! For Shu, for the land, for Han!!"
"Come on!" shouted the soldiers around her. With a typical battle shout, the soldiers of Shu fought back with great vigour.
Wu was getting pushed back. Just as it seemed Shu was going to send them running, reports came and said Sun Quan the commander and Lu Xun who had retreated once had joined the battle.
Zhao Yun gritted his teeth at the reinforcements. Ma Chao was correct, Lu Xun had gone around to rejoin his allies on the other side. A head to head battle was inevitable. Jiang Wei had said that Zhuge Liang would come and assist them, though he had not said when. Zhao Yun hoped the Prime Minister would arrive soon, because he was quite sure they would need the help to push those red clad soldiers back.
Nearby, Huang Zhong was cutting down as many soldiers as he could, his old age not betraying him at all. He spotted one of the enemy commanders, Huang Gai in the near distance. He smirked and twisted around to deal a downward slash, killing a sergeant. He was prepared to put his legendary archery skills into action. Selecting a good arrow, he put it to his bow and aimed at the man wielding a thick black rod. Huang Zhong let the arrow fly, and it hit Huang Gai in the chest, knocking him off his horse, where Huang Zhong could no longer see him. "Take that!"
Not long later, another force arrived from the other side of the Wu army.
Huang Zhong grinned as he found out who the newcomer was. "Our Prime Minister has finally showed up. I thought we could handle them without his help, but I guess we were taking too long."
The Wu army, caught between two armies, one side with four forces, and the other with Zhuge Liang and many valiant generals. Sun Quan had no choice but to order for a retreat, and after freeing themselves, they managed to escape by charging through a spot with lesser defence in Zhuge Liang's army, but not without many casualties. The enemy generals all managed to escape, though Huang Gai was not as lucky. Sporting an arrow wound in his chest, he could not flee with the rest of his troops. He kept Shu back from getting to his allies, and sacrificed himself to do so.
The armies of Shu cheered as they had stopped Wu's invasion of their main city.
"Generals, you have done well," said Zhuge Liang, meeting up with them.
"Thank you Prime Minister," said Huang Zhong with a bow. "Without your timely arrival, we would not have been able to defeat them so quickly."
The Sleeping Dragon smiled and fanned himself. "Do we have many casualties?"
"A bit, sir. But the number of Wu casualties is greater," answered Zhao Yun.
"Glad to see you are alright, Zhao Yun," said Zhuge Liang. He turned to see Ma Chao walking with Xing Cai, holding her shield in his hand. "I got your letter, but it only came just before the edict. It is such a shame that Lord Liu Shan would think me a rebel!"
"Who knows what he is thinking," said Ma Chao. He just hoped that the battle would make him think before making hasty decisions in the future.
Zhao Yun noticed that Xing Cai's hand was in a sling and his expression changed to deep concern. "Xing Cai, what happened?"
"It got a bit crushed, my wrist…I found a medic to tend to it straight after the battle, and he said it should be fine and will heal on its own accord," answered Xing Cai.
"How did it…"
"I was fighting a general called Zhou Tai, he was very strong. He stepped on my wrist to keep me from using my shield…Ma Chao saved me in the nick of time." Xing Cai looked towards the golden haired man and sighed. "I didn't think I would need saving…up until the last moment."
"Zhou Tai?!" growled Zhao Yun. "Bastard!"
Xing Cai shook her head and laughed in an attempt to lower Zhao Yun's sudden anger. "What's war without a bit of pain? I should be grateful that I am not dead, like many others."
Zhao Yun sighed. "I suppose so."
"Where is Liu Shan?" asked Zhuge Liang.
"I will escort him back now…I sent him to hide because he cannot really fight…" Ma Chao trailed off, hoping what he had done would not be the wrong decision in the Prime Minister's eyes.
The Prime Minster nodded. "Go do what you need to do, Ma Chao."
Ma Chao bowed and swung himself onto his white stallion which he had whistled for. Xing Cai went up to him. "Are you going to Liu Shan?"
"Yes, I am," he answered.
"I'll come with you."
"But your hand—"
Xing Cai mounted her horse by using her uninjured hand and smirked at Ma Chao. "Yes?"
Ma Chao laughed, seeing that his worry wasn't anything. "Nothing! Let's go."
The two horses neighed and set off into Liu Shan's directions, carrying the two cheerful warriors with them.
Oh lol, I failed to compress it into one chapter, so I've got to split it up. I've got the last scene to write for the last chapter (ie chapter 10) before I finish so yeah! YES, I wanted it to be a 10 chapter fic, but then I thought it would only reach 9 chapters. Now that it will be 10, I'm happy. YAY.
Ok, there was no romance here, aren't you guys glad? Though I don't write interesting wars, so I'm sorry if this chapter bored you guys. Guess I leave the special mentions to the next chapter. I had them planned for this one because I thought it would be the last. Mm.
Ok, please read and review!
vampiregirl2009 – sorry I haven't answered sooner! You should review signed in or something, then I could pm you. But okay, I say my stuff here. (whispers: I'm going to say thanks for your reviews next chapter *wink wink*) lol, um...Sun Quan and Xing Cai fic eh…well, that might be a bit hard, but guess what? In that split second, I thought up a plot. I don't know if I can write it…you see, romance just aint my thing, so I probably won't write another one in a bajillion years. So don't…expect it. But, if I have nothing to do (I got some other fics I'm planning on) then I might be able to type one up just for you. I probably won't post it, people will laugh and say it's corny. NOT THAT I MIND. Reviews make me happy! =)
Please read and review~~ (again =P)