Thank you for reading, I don't own kingdom.
I'm sorry that updates haven't come, I've been working on my own piece of fiction and since graduation finding a job has been unlucky for me. But let us move on chapter seven.
Chapter seven
Breaking the stalemate
"Hold the line!" Shin shouted, "don't falter we can't let the wall fall."
The four siege towers that Shin spotted that morning were now in use. One for each wall, the Chu with the towers was gaining footholds across the ramparts. The Qin lines were threating to break. The only thing that kept them together was the commanders on the walls that fought foot and sword along with their men.
"Kill the Qin push for—,"
The soldier was cut off from the blade of Shin's glaive implanting itself in his skull. Shin ripped the glaive out of the man's head. He swung the weapon as he gave a war cry the glaive bit down on flesh and bone. Blood spilled making the rampart's floor slick with crimson.
"Sir!" a hand grabbed Shin's shoulder.
He spun around ready to take the man's head clean off of his shoulders. However it was a Qin massager. Shin's men surrounded the two of them and made a meat shield between the Chu and him. "What is it?" Shin growled.
"Sir, the siege tower at the southern wall is destroyed."
"What?" Shin peered over the helms of his soldiers to see rising smoke coming from the southern wall. "What happened?"
The soldier nodded. "The thousand man commander was killed Sir. Lia of the Shili unit took command and invaded the siege tower. When he came out the entire thing was aflame, however at the cost of a hundred and fifty of our men sir. We seem to be holding the southern wall and the western wall seems to be holding as well.
"Good," Shin breathed a sigh of relief. "Our reinforcements should be here by tomorrow morning. The Chu only has two options now."
All the walls that day were fighting to their fullest. It wasn't because the enemy was trying to overrun them, but many of the soldiers they were fighting were trained just for this mission. Blood was spilled at both sides as bodies clumped on to one another as they fell.
Each wall however seemed to hold. In the west wall however Kai felt strength from her foes. The men she was fighting seemed confident as she slayed them. And before she knew it they were actually making footholds in the ramparts.
She cut down dozens trying to get to the ramp but even for her the force of bodies were too great. They drove at her and her men despite many of them being chopped to pieces. They just kept coming bloody and beaten it was like they didn't think they would die, or they knew they were going to die and it simply didn't matter to them.
Despite all her skill even Kai got tired from the fighting. Soon she was panting from the exhaustion of battle. The Chu quickly took advantage of this and pressed onwards. A few men dropped ropes from the ramparts and slid down to open up the gate.
She went to attack the men but stopped dead in her tracks. Just outside of the gate, stood more than three hundred horsemen. In the middle of that ocean of muscle was a man that stood out from the rest. Their eyes met and Kai couldn't help but hiss through her teeth. It was the enemy general, Jung Gen's himself.
"Hell," Lia grumbled, "I can't believe the bastard decided to croak on us." Lia was crouched over the body of the thousand man commander. "How in heavens name did he even climb up to commander?"
"No idea," Lau agreed, "the guy didn't really give much of a fight."
"You two stop dwindling there!" Sin shouted at them, "we got the Chu off the wall but that doesn't mean the entire battles over."
"What the hell is that?"
Lia got to his feet. Behind the Chu line a rumble of dust came from marching troops that Lia hadn't seen before. On top of that he saw their tents being hitched down. All the camps were live with activity.
"Those bastards got reinforcements," Sin stated, "so in the end their still going to outnumber us."
"We can't allow this to turn into a bloodbath. Will take the generals head tomorrow and end this pointless assault."
A runner came crashing through Lia's men. He was out of breath and sweat dripped from his chin. His face was a twist of fright and anxiety, but still he dropped down to one knee and saluted. "Sir," he spat trying to squeeze the words out of his dry mouth. "The west walls gate has been opened. Commander Kyou is holding them just outside of the gate but I fear even she can't hold all of them back."
"Get to the horses!" Lai barked, "we have to gain control of the west gate or this battle will be all for not."
They didn't need to saddle their mounts. It was already done that morning, just for a purpose such as this. Instead of taking everyone Lai left Chien and Lau behind and only took his second in commander Sin.
"Why are we going to help?" she asked as they started to ride through the streets.
They forced people to evade them as they rode past. Lai didn't even bat an eye when a mother and child were nearly trampled by his men. "Because," he explained, "Kyou isn't someone that would simply be overrun by some measly soldiers. Someone is leading those men, someone beyond that of a simple commander."
"General."
Lai smiled, "aye, general."
Fu walked out into the street only to jump back as a horde of horsemen rode past. The one leading these men was none other than Lai. She wondered why he wasn't in the southern wall where he was posted. So for him to be leaving something must have been up.
She turned to go back to her own work but stopped. She couldn't help but want to see what was going on, and without even thinking she turned back to where Lai was headed and took off running. She ducked between alleys and streets. Soldiers were running everywhere and men and women screamed as they started to run away from the west wall.
Fu's stomach was in her chest as her heart threatened to break out of her ribcage. She was so occupied about trying to find Lai that she didn't notice the screams and war cries that were becoming louder as she went.
When she came out of the last alley she came to abrupt stop. The west gate was a complete battle. Men piled onto one another, blood sprayed in the air as metal cut and slashed through flesh. Fu suddenly felt sick to her stomach.
She had helped heal the wounded men after the battle. She was use to the sight of blood, but this was different, entire different. The air was like a soup of agony. Soldiers screamed as their foes cut into them, some couldn't get past the armor a soldier was wearing so they simply knocked them down and stabbed the repeatedly in the groin or throat.
Lai rode through all this. His men slammed through the melee sending ally and foe under his horse's hooves. He cut into his foes with savage rage, blood sprayed and splattered over his body. He was no longer a good natured man Fu had seen. Instead he was a savage beast that ripped throats from men and drained their blood in gulps.
Fu felt her legs almost buckle beneath her. She looked down to see that her entire body was trembling. She truly at that moment feared Lai, but then envied him at the same time. He was a warrior that had bloodlust consume him, but he was also someone who didn't bow to any man.
Lai crushed through the ranks of the Chu and soon they were up to the gate, all they needed to do was shut it. However they came to a halt as they faced other riders from the Chu. In front of Lai was a giant of a man who wielded a glaive. Fu didn't know it was the general of Chu, all she knew was that she feared the man more than Lai. He had eyes of a man who simply didn't care for life.
Fu watched however as Lai faced him without falter. They both kicked their mounts sides and came at one another with a clash of metal on metal. They both struck at one another with blurry speed. Each other's eyes were locked on one another. They weren't able to look away, from each other as their blades collided sending sparks through the air.
It was obvious to everyone who watched the fight that Lai was outmatched. Speed, power, accuracy and experience were all against him. But he didn't falter not once as he was driven back.
Lai's gaze was set on the man in front of him. He didn't back down and he didn't show any sign of weakness as he tried desperately to not have his head cleaved in two. He parried a blow to his chest then one to his right leg and another but this was directed at his mount.
They both fought like demons. Not one gave a hint of stopping as metal scrapped against metal. By now a small crowd of soldiers around them were cheering as the two clashed. It was breathtaking to see the fight. It was like two dancers desperately trying to outplay one another.
Fu saw this dance of death with fear, envy and passion. Her entire body was hot with blood rushing through her veins. She couldn't even imagine herself up there. To her eyes the two fought like artists showing off their prize skills against one another. Fu was so fixed on it that she was jolted when the glaive's blade met leather and flesh.
