Chapter 12: Hanzhong

"Is this it Pang De?" asked Ma Chao as they arrived at the gates of Hanzhong. Pang De nodded.

"This place is kinda dreary," muttered Yun Lu.

"Yeah, you're right," agreed Ma Dai. They surveyed the city. Bleak walls, there didn't seem to be much lively sounds coming from the place.

"Don't judge a book by its cover kids," replied Pang De. "Let us go and talk to Zhang Lu about our submission, Ma Chao."

"You guys stay here alright?" asked Ma Chao.

"Yes, yes, whatever," said Yun Lu. She got off her horse as Ma Chao and Pang De headed towards the guards and asked for an audience with Zhang Lu.

"Oh, we're here!" said Shao, just waking up. She was seated on Ma Dai's horse.

"Need help?" Ma Dai was standing on the ground, offering his hand.

"Thank you." Shao got off the tall horse with Ma Dai's support.

"Men!" called out Yun Lu "we're having a short rest here." Sighs of relief were the answer.

"You reckon that Zhang Lu will accept us?" asked Yun Lu.

"Probably, I mean, it's Ma Chao! Who wouldn't want him in their army?" replied Ma Dai.

"Me."

"Che, yeah right. I had a feeling you'd say that..."

Shao carried Ma Cheng over for closer supervision.

"Come to think of it Shao, why weren't you and Cheng inside Ji castle?" asked Yun Lu.

"I took Cheng out for a little trip through the market. You know the one which you have to walk like...a whole hour to get there. Lady Yang was complaining about Cheng asking too many questions," answered Shao.

"We could've lost you..." Ma Dai looked at Ma Cheng who was playing with the tassel on Silver Stallion that Ma Chao had given to him.

"And now, Yang lies here with her baby twins," said Yun Lu looking at the three urns of ash. They had cremated the bodies after their enemies had stopped chasing them.

And if Hanzhong is where we want to stay, then we'll bury them here...

So much misfortune has befallen us," said Ma Dai. "Especially Ma Chao. Father, brothers, wife, children...you wonder how he can take it all..."

"Oh, Lord Ma Chao must be really torn up inside," said Shao quietly. They looked up to see Pang De walking towards them.

"Lord Zhang Lu said yes as soon as we came," informed Pang De.

"See, I told you they'd love your brother," smirked Ma Dai.

"Yeah, whatever. Zhang Lu must be reeeeally desperate," Yun Lu retorted.

The army moved through the city, peasants parting their way for them to get through.

"Hey, you know how I thought the city might look better inside," asked Yun Lu.

"It doesn't look that bad," replied Shao. "Sure, it's not all bright and colourful, but at least the people don't look all poor and miserable."

They reached the military part of the city and were greeted by Zhang Lu, flanked by Yang Song and Ma Chao on both sides. Ma Chao returned to Yun Lu and the rest.

"Greetings generals! Welcome to Hanzhong governed by I, Zhang Lu. I will lead you all to a better world and we will succeed with you help fellow warriors!" he exclaimed.

"For the Han!" shouted Yun Lu randomly.

"For justice!" shouted Ma Chao and the army cheered with him.

". . . Right . . . that we shall," Zhang Lu replied offhandedly.

Well, that sounded like he didn't care. It would be nice if the Han did get restored but really…I just don't really care. All I want is peace and no more damn war. Yeah, I like fighting but killing is totally another thing, to me.

"So please, make yourselves at home!" said Zhang Lu. "My servants will show you to your rooms. Your soldiers will follow one of my generals, Yang Bo, for training." With that, he and Yang Song turned and left them.

"This way generals," said a servant who bowed before leading them to their rooms.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They had unpacked all their things and Yun Lu had taken over the best room because she said Shao would live in the same room as her, so therefore her room needed to be more spacious. Ma Chao didn't have the heart to argue and simply obliged and took up the next best room, taking Ma Cheng and the urns of ash with him. Ma Dai started to protest since the rooms were getting taken one by one. During the time Ma Dai ranted, Pang De decided to take over the next best room and leave the smallest one to Ma Dai.

"HOW, how could you do this to me Pang De!!" shouted Ma Dai.

"Your fault for be too slow Dai," replied Pang De. "Not my problem." Yun Lu proceeded to laugh at her cousin.

"Shut up Yun Lu, it's not funny." Ma Dai glared at Yun Lu but then snapped out of it a short while later. "Where's Mengqi?"

"Lord Ma Chao is in his room…maybe he's…sulking," said Shao quietly.

"Time to cheer him up!" Yun Lu jumped up and made her way to Ma Chao's door.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was night time as the group sat around in a circle after dinner.

"So are gonna serve this man?" asked Yun Lu.

"Yes, he's been very generous to us by letting us be under his command. You know, we did lose that battle...so others might ignore us and leave us to die," replied Ma Chao. He wasn't as sulky as before because Yun Lu had used several different ways to cheer him up. One of them succeeded into making Ma Chao talk.

"You might think that Zhang Lu isn't that good as a commander but for now, we must be here. Time will tell if we should be here or not," stated Pang De, to which everyone nodded. Then he started to cough badly.

"Whoa, are you alright?" asked Yun Lu.

"Yes, I probably just got some dust down my throat," saying this only made Pang De cough again. "I should get some sleep." He stood up and started to go to his room.

"Lord Pang De, I'll make you a warm soothing drink!" suggested Shao, but it was more like declare, not a suggestion. Pang De thanked her and proceeded to his room.

"Ma Cheng," called out Ma Chao to his son who was playing with a couple of wooden toys. "Time for bed."

"Aww, dada, noooo, I don't want to sleepy," replied Ma Cheng.

"You need to sleep." Ma Chao picked up his protesting son from the play area. He put him to bed and kissed his cheek.

"I miss mama..." muttered Ma Cheng before turning over to sleep. Ma Chao sighed.

"Me too Cheng, me too..." he whispered and then he blew out the candle and left the room back to where Yun Lu and Ma Dai were, to find that they had set up a Weiqi (Go) board and started playing. Shao walked by with a steaming cup of hot drink for Pang De. Ma Chao sat beside Yun Lu and watched the two move the little circles of black and white around the board.

"There," Ma Chao pointed at a place where he thought Yun Lu should put her black piece.

"I know! I'm not stupid!" snapped Yun Lu and placed the piece where Ma Chao had suggested. He smirked and then laid back onto a chair and rested.

"I'm so going to win you Yun Lu," said Ma Dai, because he thought he had made an exceptionally good move.

"Oh really now?" Yun Lu smiled and placed a black piece, finishing the circle around many of Ma Dai's white pieces, capturing them all. Ma Dai gasped loudly.

"Oh damn…"

Oh wow, I updated *gasp* yay me. I have a question, do I have too much dialogue in my chapters? Please review! (and if you're bothered, please answer that question because I'll attempt to cut down on it if you say there is too much dialogue =D)

Thanks for reading guys!!