Dynasty Warriors: The Rise of Sun

Chapter 17 of my Dynasty Warriors story, the first tragedy of the Sun family strikes.

Reviews:

Wolfgirl2013: Well, Liu Biao brought it on himself remember, he attacked Sun Jian first.

Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dynasty Warriors or its characters.

The Tiger's End

Sun Jian's forces advanced with seemingly unstoppable momentum and soon they were approaching Jiangxia. The man in charge at Jiangxia was Liu Biao's officer Huang Zu. Hearing of the arrival of Sun Jian's forces, he quickly called for a council with his underlings.

"What are we to do?" He asked worriedly. "Sun Jian's forces are too strong, they're gaining more and more ground each passing moment, now they're almost here. If they take us down, they'll reach Xiangyang and Lord Liu Biao will be in danger."

There were worried whispers amongst the men but finally, one of the men, Lu Gong stepped up.

"Lord Huang Zu, I have an idea, one that will give us a chance to turn this around." He said. "Sun Jian is the centre of the army we're against, if we take him out, it'll greatly demoralize them and give us a chance to reclaim the advantage."

Huang Zu turned to him. "This better be a good plan Lu Gong, or we'll be in real trouble."

"I am a skilled archer and my men are well trained in the bow." Lu Gong explained. "My men and I will sneak out of the castle and take up position in the valley to the North of here. Go out and give battle to them before fleeing towards the valley, once they are lured in far enough, my men and I will attack with our bows and Sun Jian will be our main target."

Huang Zu had no other idea that could work and so he agreed to it, desperate for anything that might work.

So it was that Sun Jian brought his army up to Jiangxia and arrayed his troops, he made sure he was within earshot and began to call out.

"Fools, I am Sun Jian, I am here to avenge myself on Liu Biao for his attack on me before! Stand aside or share in his fate!"

The gates opened in response and Huang Zu rode out with his men.

"Sun Jian you fool!" He cried. "You dare attack us and make sure claims, I will see you pay for this!"

With that he charged in and so Sun Jian gave the order, sending his own army in as he also charged, the two armies clashing and before long there was an overwhelming melee with neither side gaining a clear advantage at first. Then, as if sensing the battle was going against them, Huang Zu's forces fled northwards.

"After them!" Sun Jian yelled.

He immediately took off in pursuit along with some of his troops. They were now in the valley and Sun Jian was closing in.

"You can't escape!"

"You fool!" Huang Zu yelled. "Who said anything about escaping!"

That was when Lu Going and his archers appeared and began firing. Despite their best efforts, the men that had come with Sun Jian were soon killed and Sun Jian finally fell, taken down by a multitude of arrows. This led to confusion even as Sun Ce and the others all arrived and the fight became chaotic until Sun Ce called for order and gathered the remaining forces that had once been his father's.

Sun Ce stood rigid, trying to compose himself.

"So...Lu Gong is dead?" He asked.

Huang Gai nodded. "Killed him myself, but they've got Lord Sun Jian's body."

Sun Ce sighed. "We've got Huang Zu hostage...our army's morale is spent, father's death has left everything…"

"Young Lord, what are you thinking?" Cheng Pu asked warily.

"Would they trade father's body for Huang Zu?" Sun Ce asked. "We'll just have to admit we lost this battle, but I can't leave father's remains with them."

There was some concerns but in the end, Sun Ce sent word with Zhu Zhi to try and make negotiations. Meanwhile Sun Ce did what he could to gather his remaining forces together and to consider their options, One of Liu Biao's detached forces had got behind them and taken Changsha, although luckily their family had escaped and was now reunited with them, but they had to think of the future once everything was done. At that moment Zhu Zhi returned with the good news and so Huang Zu was released to Liu Biao and Sun Jian's body was returned, they made peace and now the Sun army was to leave Jing Province, Sun Ce even disbanded the army sending the soldiers back to their normal lives.

Sun Ce stood quietly by his father's body as it lay before him, they were on their way to the Sun family's ancestral land of Wu where they had decided to carry out Sun Jian's funeral there.

"Father...what do I do, everything's fallen to me but...we've lost everything, we don't even have a land to call our own now." Ce said sadly. "I wish, I wish I could…"

That was when he noticed something, something seemed to be tucked under the collar of his father's cloak. He reached for it and pulled out, of all things, the Imperial Seal and gasped.

"Father?" He gasped. 'You were carrying the Imperial Seal during this, even, even after what Gan Ji said. Could this, no...that's ridiculous.'

Still, he had no desire for any of the others to know about this and so he stowed the Seal away from view while returning to pay his respects to his father before they got to work taking Sun Jian's body to Wu for his funeral, the Tiger of Jiangdong had met his terrible end, leaving behind a family tormented by grief and his loyal retainers all uncertain for the future and also dealing with their grief.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.