Chapter 5- The Call of the Swallow

Winter in Wei was really cold. Even Lu Xun has used thick mantle, he can still felt the cold of the forest. It was snowing too. He called for his swallow, but still he couldn't find it. As he felt so tired, he sat under a tree. He remembered about his promise on Wu's castle.

FLASHBACK

" Do you really want to go to the land of Wei? Are you serious? We just won the battle with them, and now you want to go there?" Gan Ning asked Lu Xun.

" Calm down, Gan Ning, or else Master Lu Meng will hear our conversation." Lu Xun said. " I can't let him know that I'm going to the land of Wei."

" But, you know, Old man asked me to accompany you while you're having your vacation. So it's my responsibilities to protect you."

" Listen Gan Ning, I couldn't let you accompany me there because you already famous as the general who defeat some of Wei's general. It would be very dangerous for you. And I think it would be better for me to go there alone, because I was the only one who should be responsible with this case…"

" But Lu Xun…," Gan Ning sighed, " It's still my responsibility to protect you. I'm afraid something bad will happen to you there. It's still our enemy's territory, you know…"

" Mmm…" Suddenly the swallow that Lu Xun have saved before came and landed on Lu Xun's shoulder. " You…? Why haven't you joined your friends?"

" You talked to the swallow?" Gan Ning asked, surprised by Lu Xun's behavior.

" Actually, sometimes I understand what the animal's talking about. I don't know why…" Lu Xun explained, " Hey, nice idea, little bird!"

" What idea?" Gan Ning asked.

" Here is my strategy. I will go to Wei alone, but I will send you a letter everyday to let you know about my condition. How's that?" Lu Xun smiled.

" Who would send your letter? The procedures will be really complicated to send a letter there, and also it would take much time. Can you imagine what would happen if you send me a danger signal, but I received them lately?"

" Well, this little bird will be our messenger. I would give a ring to this little bird's feet, so you can identify this little bird more easily." Lu Xun showed Gan Ning his ring that he gave to the swallow.

" And… how do I know that you are in a danger situation?" Gan Ning asked.

" Okay, if in 3 days, you haven't received any message from me, that's means I was in danger. Clear enough, huh?" Lu Xun smiled happily.

"…" Gan Ning kept in silence.

" Come on, Gan Ning. You're the only general that I can believe right now. I still remember how happy I am when you believe my strategy at the first time I joined the battle…" Lu Xun pleaded.

" Fine!" Gan Ning stroked Lu Xun's hair, " I know it's sound really weird. However, I will come to your place if I haven't received any message from you for 3 days. Now, could you tell me what place you want to go in Wei?"

Lu Xun smiled, " Here it is…" Lu Xun pointed the Village of Hope.

END OF FLASHBACK

Lu Xun blow his frozen hand, " It has been 2 days, but Gan Ning still haven't received my letter yet. Where is the swallow? I have to find her as soon as possible, or else Gan Ning will look for me in Wei…"

As Lu Xun stood, he heard a scream from the forest. Without thinking, he just followed the voice. He was really surprised when he found a familiar man.

" Damn it! Stupid horse!" the man yelled at his horse which stepped on a trap and fell."

" Are you… Winter…?" Lu Xun asked as he walked toward them.

" Swallow?" Cao Pi looked at Swallow, " Thank goodness you are here!"

" Are you okay? Let me see your leg…" Lu Xun bowed, " It wounded, but not really serious." Lu Xun tear his clothes and bended Co Pi's leg. " It will help to stop your bleeding."

" Thanks a lot, Swallow…"

" You're welcome, Winter. By the way, I will help your horse," Lu Xun ran to the horse. He carefully released the trap from the horse from the trap and tied the wound. " It seems that his wound was not really bad, but you can't ride him until his wound recovered. I will tie him to my horse, so it can follow my horse. I will cure him later at the house."

" Wow, the horse really wanted to listen to you. You know, it didn't want to listen to me. It really hard to control him!"

Lu Xun smiled, " This horse is very nice. I think it didn't want to listen to you because you just didn't know how to approach him."

"What do you mean?"

" The horse said that he only want his general to ride him. If it's not the general that he knew, he wouldn't listen to him," Lu Xun chuckled.

" You mean, you can speak to the horse?" Cao Pi asked.

" You can say that…" Lu Xun smiled at Cao Pi. " By the way, what are you doing in such bad weather like this? It really dangerous to go to the forest alone like this…"

" Oh, I… I just found and tried the animal path, but I didn't know that it was narrow, slippery, and has a trap like this…"

Lu Xun laughed, " You shouldn't use the animal path on the winter because it has many traps and it's harder to recognize the traps since it was buried under the snow."

" You're right." Cao Pi smiled, " By the way, what are you doing on this forest in this bad weather like this?"

" I was looking for my pet."

" Your pet?"

" Yes." Lu Xun nodded, " It's a swallow. It hasn't came back for 2 days, and it made me worried..."

Cao Pi just remembered about the swallow that he found on the castle," You mean… a swallow with a red ring on its feet?"

" How do you know?"

" I found it on the castle." Cao Pi answered straightly.

" How is it now? Is it hurt?"

" It's fine, it was taken care by my friend. it broke its wings, so it can't went back to you."

" Thank goodness that it's okay…" Lu Xun stroked his chest," Where is it now? Has it recovered?"

" It's on the castle."

" The castle…?" Lu Xun frowned.

" Oh, yeah, I have a friend that worked in the castle. He's a general with great fighting skill. He also has good heart and strong will. And, maybe it's hard to believe, he also can speak to the animal, just like you."

" Your friend is a general?" Lu Xun's eye grew widen.

" Yes, he is. His name is Xiahou Dun What's wrong? Why do you look pale?" Cao Pi wanted to help Lu Xun, but since his leg was wounded, he couldn't stand.

Xun came to Cao Pi to help him stand by offering him his hand, " Oh, I just surprised, haha. So you just came from the castle to visit your friend, huh?"

Cao Pi nodded. He took Lu Xun's hand, " Your hand is very cold. How long have you been in this forest?" Cao Pi tried to warm Lu Xun's hands by blowing them.

Lu Xun blushed as he felt Cao Pi's warm breath on his hand, " It's about 3 hours, I think…" Lu Xun turned his head.

" Don't worry; you can trust your little pet on my friend's hand. He is an expert in healing the animals. I have known him since I was young." Cao Pi tried to stand. " Don't worry about your pet, I bet it will be recovered tomorrow."

Lu Xun nodded," Yeah, you're right…" Lu Xun thought what he should do to send Gan Ning his message. " Oh my, I forgot about the time. I have to go to Xiao Hua's place as soon as possible!" Lu Xun rode to his own horse and helped Cao Pi to ride behind him. He rode his horse as quickly as he can.

Finally they reached an old house between the village and the forest. It was Xiao Hua's house. Even it's old, it seems really peaceful and comfortable. There was a big willow tree beside the house. There was a black-haired girl with 2 hair braidts on his head and a boy playing under the big tree. They made a very big snowman.

" Xiao Hua!" Lu Xun shouted.

"Ah, Big Brother!" Xiao Hua ran toward them, " And Mr. Winter too, nice to meet you again. Where's your big buddy, I want to play with him!"

Lu Xun stepped down from his horse, " I told you to stay on the house as long as I bought your medicine. The winter's cold will make your condition worse!"

" It's okay, Big Brother! It's boring to stay on the house alone. Lung also asked me to made a big snowman with him, so I just joined him!"

" I really worried about your condition, you know!" Lu Xun shouted.

" Sorry, big brother…" Xiao Hua began to cry.

Cao Pi put his hand on Lu Xun's shoulder," It's okay for a child like her to play with her friend. She's a kid after all…"

" Maybe you're right… I'm sorry, Xiao Hua…" Lu Xun padded Xiao Hua's head.

" What a magnificent snowman you made. Who are you going to make, Xiao Hua?" Cao Pi touched the snowman.

" I want to make the young prince!" a boy with a ponytail answered proudly. " Everyone on the village was talking about him. My father said that he was really handsome, diligent, and very skillful."

Cao Pi smiled proudly as he heard what the young boy said.

" Wow, amazing. You make me want to see how the prince looks like," Lu Xun smiled.

" But it's hard to meet him, sir." The boy added, " He really busy with his tasks, so he never came out from the castle."

" What a pity… by the way, Mr. Winter, you said that you just visited your friend at the castle. Have you ever seen the young prince?"

" Yes, I have. All the boy said was right!" Cao Pi said proudly." However, sometimes the prince visits the village. The prince really loves this village. He like your sword performance, too, Swallow."

" He watched me? Oh, what a pleasure of mine. It's a pity that I didn't recognize him. Someday, if he wanted to watch my performance again, please tell me, Mr. Winter. I will do my best for him!"

" No problem!" Cao Pi nodded. He smiled because Lu Xun didn't know his true identity.

" Okay, Xiao Hua, I bought you some foods. Please warm these foods and make some tea for me and Mr. Winter." Lu Xun passed the bag to Xiao Hua.

" Okay, Big brother!" Xiao Hua waved her hand to Lung, "Thank you for playing with me! See you later, Lung!"

Lung smiled and waved his hand too, " See you next time, my love!"

" Love, huh? In such young ages…" Cao Pi laughed.

" Well, kids were always kids." Lu Xun laughed too.

" Hey, it's already evening. Don't you have a performance today?" Cao Pi asked.

" I… I can't…" Lu Xun's face became serious, " Xiao Hua's condition became worse. I didn't know about her condition, so I let her play the music for the performance last time. She collapsed yesterday… and she vomited blood too. The doctor said that if she didn't get a proper medication as soon as possible, she could die. But the medicine was really expensive. I can't afford them…"

" Oh, I'm sorry… But where's your parents?"

" Xiao Hua is not my real sister. I just took care of her. " Lu Xun looked away, "Her mother has died when she was a baby. Her father… he was killed on the war…"

" She's not your sister? Then why do you take care of her?"

" Her father is the great general of Wei, and someday, he protected me from the avalanche when I was on the land of Wu…" Lu Xun remembered the time when he entered the war. With his strategy, he can captured the old general of Wei. However the old general plead Lu Xun to spare his life because he wanted to cure his daughter's illness. Lu Xun let him go, but soon after that, there was an avalanche. The old general came to save him, but as the price, he was buried under the snow. Before he died, he asked Lu Xun to save his daughter.

Cao Pi could see Lu Xun's body was trembled. He hugged Lu Xun from behind. " I'm sorry to make you remember something terrible…"

Lu Xun blushed as he felt the young prince's warmth, " I'm sorry to make you hear my story." Lu Xun pulled away, " How is your wound? Let me give you some medicine to your legs. Xiao Hua has waited for us, too."

Cao Pi grabbed Lu Xun's hand," It's okay. I'm hungry too. Let's have some meals!"