Disclaimer: I do not own Dynasty Warriors or any of the characters. It and they belong to Koei. I own the OCs.
"XIN YING!" cries a female soldier as she sprints toward me. "Wu has retreated. Their camp is empty."
I frown and ponder for a minutes. That is unexpected. It is not likely for them to retreat. After all, their advantages lie within their numbers. Wu greatly outnumbers my Assassins and I. Why would they retreat?
"It could be a trick," I point out thoughtfully.
The female soldier frowns and says, "Yes, but they captured Shu and left. We were scouting and we thought the area had no other people. So we weren't on guard. Then, a brown horse just flew by and the rider grabbed Shu and left!"
I narrow eyes and curse mentally. No way is Wu going to capture one of my warriors again. We are like sisters! I know I am not thinking it through well enough and I am being irrational, but they harm one of the Assassins and they die. I angrily grab my black bow and a silver quiver for my long, black arrows and sling it over my back.
"Girls!" I call out sternly and loudly. "I'm going to the Wu camp to get Shu. There will be an ambush so none of you are allowed to come! Understand?"
Loud cries and shots of protest erupt from them. They are so loud they could wake up the entire forest and alert Wu. I swiftly gesture for them to calm down and be silent. But, of course that doesn't work.
"We want to be together! That's how we lost everyone!"
"What happens if you don't come back?"
"This is our decision and we want to go!"
I sigh and rub my forehead tiredly. I have to admit that they are right.
"All right, all right!" I shout wearily. "You can come, but arm yourselves. Five of you will sneak up behind them from the other side. Light fire to a few pieces of wood and throw them on anything flammable when I give the signal. The rest of the five follow me and be extremely careful."
My lady soldiers arm themselves and nod at me. I start sprinting to the Wu camp. Dirt and dust fly up behind me. Large, green trees are blurs and the forest is eerily silent. The blinding, hot sun glares at me from above as sweat trickles down the side of my face. I am sure that my face is slightly red. This is considered a normal pace for me. No joke. I glance behind me and see that my female warriors are keeping up. I smile proudly because I train them well.
Seeing the gates of the Wu camp, I slow down.
"Need a break?" I ask kindly.
The Assassins shake their heads which, secretly, makes me more proud.
"All right then. Remember the plan," I whisper while peering into the "abandoned" camp.
I gently push open the gates. It seems as if no one was here. Silently, I sarcastically congratulate the strategist who did this. A red, torn piece of cloth from the Wu flag comes dancing along in the warm breeze. My hand calmly and quickly seizes the piece of cloth. I smirk and stifle a laugh. I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Using a piece of a flag as tumbleweed is a little ridiculous. Okay, that is extremely ridiculous. I scoff and throw the cloth behind me.
Slowly and cautiously, I walk inside. There is a large wooden building with something like a balcony. That would be a good place to put archers. Just to troll them, I wave a little at the balcony. I can practically sense the tension in the air thicken. I carefully pull my bow off my back and reach for an arrow and slip in between my middle and ring finger. I gesture to my companions to walk deeper into the camp with me. They did that with swords and bows in their hands.
Once we reach the center, dozens of arrows soar through the air and land in front of my warriors and me as we jump aside. I immediately look up to see dozens of archer on the "balcony." I grin slightly, recalling how I trolled them. I can still have fun even though it's time to be serious, right?
A boy with brown eyes in a red vest appears. He holds two sabers and looked at me with half amusement and half concern. I bet he is suspecting that I know his plan.
"I didn't think you'd be foolish enough to come," he calmly says, carefully inspecting each my assassins and their weapons.
"I didn't think you'd be cowardly enough to take a hostage," I counter coldly as I raise my eyebrow. "Besides if you didn't think I would come, why did you ambush me?"
Then, I cough loudly. Glancing around, I see that all the archers have their arrows pointed at me. They look at me earnestly. Whoah, it seems like someone threatened them that if they don't capture me, they won't see tomorrow. I silently laugh hysterically while keeping a straight, outraged face. Hopefully, the archers can't hit my warriors and me while we are running like there's no tomorrow. Wait, if we get shot, that means there won't be a tomorrow. Scratch that then. Hopefully, the archers can't hit my warriors and me while we are running like there is a monster trying to eat us alive. Wait, there is a monster. The monster is the guy in the red vest, but he won't eat us alive…I think. You know what, forget it. I'm not going to do that comparison right now. Actually, it would be totally awesome if their arrows can hit the dude in the red vest.
Anyway, seeing an archer who is holding his arrow incorrectly, I smirk smugly and mentally. Sniffing the air, I smell the faint smell of smoke and burning wood strolling through the air.
"Where is she?" I yell sharply and crossly.
"Your warrior? Bring her here!" he calls nonchalantly.
For a second, I think I see him frown and narrow his eyes. It nearly gives me a heart attack because I think he detects the faint smell of smoke too. But, he brushes it off and acts normal. If evil is what you call normal….
A male soldier in red armor appears. He holds onto Shu who is struggling to break free. She has her wrists tied together behind her back. She looks at me desperately and I give her a look of reassurance…I hope.
"Let her go," I growl venomously while glaring at him. I lift up my bow and arrow menacingly.
He replies with a blank, defiant look. We hold each other's gaze for awhile, refusing to back down.
"We will release her if you surrender," he says solemnly.
"Hmm, let me think about it. How about," I say while kicking up some dry dirt with my black combat boot, causing him to look hopeful. "NO!"
I laugh mentally. This guy was fun to troll.
"Oh and did you know one of your archers is holding his arrow incorrectly?" I say, pointing to the archer and attempting to distract him.
"Close your eyes," I silently mouth to Shu.
She nods and lets out a loud, piercing whistle while squeezing her frightened eyes shut. I hastily reach down, grab a handful of dry, loose dirt, and throw it at him. While he is distracted and trying to wipe dirt of his face, I quickly grab Shu's arm and scream loudly, "RUN!"
Flames begin to lick and swallow everything. Coughing heavily, my warriors and I bolt out of the Wu camp. The Wu soldiers try desperately to put out the angry fire. The heat and smoke is overwhelming. My face is red and I constantly cough.
After flying through the forest, we reach camp. I look up as dark, gray clouds begin covering the sun. A cool breeze runs past me carrying a few strands of my soft, black hair in the breeze.
Frowning, I order sternly, "Grab your stuff. We're moving. They'll be here soon."
It is still oddly quiet. I have my sword drawn. The silver and steel blade is ready to defend me.
"Girls, if anything happens to me, I want you to run. Run away," I say softly.
I am a little suspicious of how nothing is happening yet. Suddenly, I am flying upward. My fingers feel the tight ropes of….a net?
"GIRLS! RUN NOW!" I scream hopelessly.
Their eyes widen in shock and disbelief.
"NOW!" I scream again, willing myself to sound stern and confident.
"Lord Lu Xun, we have captured her," a Wu soldier says and I find myself wanting to strangle him to death.
The boy in the red vest shows himself. Now I know he is called Lu Xun. I feel that I want to strangle him too. I DO NOT have anger or rage issues. I simply want to find how out how pleasant it would be to wrap my fingers around his throat and squeeze- Okay, I'm off topic.
"Why did I devise this tactic?" I hear him mutter to himself. He sounds, ashamed?
I find myself angry again. Why is he ashamed? I'm the humiliated one. He looks at me in pity while I am still in a small, tight net dangling from a tree.
"I'd be happy to trade places with you!" I yelled down sweetly, causing him to look up in disbelief. "Just come up here and I'll be sure to "try" not to strangle you before we switch."
This is completely humiliating! The indignity! Fortunately, my warriors have already run off. Unfortunately, I am trapped and my sword, bow, and quiver of arrows are on the ground. I cannot use my dagger right now, they would still catch me.
"Surrender!" cries Lu Xun triumphantly.
I consider my options carefully. There is not much I can do. Perhaps I will find another opportunity to flee. After all, their definition of surrender is "We'll capture you and decide if we want to kill you later."
My face is burning as if the flames of my escape are deciding to hug my face right now. I am humiliated beyond measure. I glare daggers at Lu Xun who is eyeing me wearily and slightly in pity.
"Very well. But, you best leave the Assassins ALONE!" I yell hotly, resisting the urge to release myself, stab him, bring him back to life, and strangle him.
Lu Xun nods at the other soldier who I want to strangle, then I find myself falling….into Lu Xun's arms. I just lost my last bit of pride. I am so embarrassed that I want to prove looks truly can kill. That way, I can kill him and the rest of Wu. A gentle, cool breeze twirls in the air and pulls stray strands of hair away from my eyes. At that moment, I really feel the need to just take out my dagger and kill myself. Luck just isn't favoring me today.
I stubbornly refuse to meet his eyes. I bet they are shining in amusement and that he is silently planning out how to kill me further with embarrassment. As if this isn't awkward enough, we just stay like that for a few minutes. My arms stay around his neck, and his arms are under my back and legs. For a split second, no, more like one millionth of a second, I am reluctant to get off for some mysterious, unknown reason. But, my brain identifies that as a foreign, dangerous intruder and kicks it out of my head. What a relief too.
"Let's go," says Lu Xun.