The Celestial Empire (Romance of the Three Kingdoms-ish, Updated 12/09/05)

[Emperor Valerian]

Well, today is special. Tonight, you'll get two updates for the price of one!

Another Army Appears... and Felonca the Heroine Strikes Again

“Governor Ling! Governor Ling!”

Ling’s aged body slowly looked up from the papers he was examining, but Felonca saw the old man’s eyes burned fiercely with annoyance. In the succeeding three days since the coup, Felonca had discovered that Ling had a mind for financial matters, and cataloguing and balancing the provincial budget had been his focus in his first few days as governor. He’d asked for the help of Felonca and Nayu when it came to exploring the palace and cataloguing its contents... and they found out really quickly that he hated being interrupted when he was examining figures.

“What?” It seemed as if the new governor could not shout, but the question was delivered in a surprisingly cold voice.

“Governor sir!” The messenger was fairly shaking with excitement and fear. “The Captain of the City Guard reports that there is an army massing outside of the city gates! They fly the flag of Langya!”

“What?!” Ling now shouted. Suddenly, the focused financier changed, as he moved around the table with surprising speed. “How many of them? Who leads them?”

A Langya army? Here already?

Felonca started to giggle. I think its time to add another chapter to ‘Felonca the Amazing’ within the city of Xianfung! After a few seconds, she realized that Nayu, Ling, and the messenger were all staring at her...

...so she struck a pose.

“Do not fear!” she grinned, “I shall go out to meet them myself!” She laughed, then added, “It’s not as if its my Uncle Dian outside! He’d be something to truly fear, with the reasoning ability of a bull! I can persuade Quan-Shi to not attack this city!”

While Ling protested and try his best to dissuade her, Nayu merely echoed her grin and said nothing as she left. She had not even left the palace before she saw members of the Thieves Guild peering at her in awe, rumors spreading rapidly that the dark thief that had assassinated the governor, performed miracles in Mingzhong, was now riding out of the city alone to confront an army.

Finally, she reached the damaged South Gate, and as she climbed the steps towards the parapet, she could hear the clangs of swords against shields, and the shouts of an army issuing challenge. Finally she climbed into the gatehouse, where the former Captain of the City Watch, now a newly minted general, looked at her in fear.

“He’s out here... Quan-Shi himself leads the army against us!” the new General said fearfully, leading Felonca to a section of wall that to the outside. Below stretched a sea of banners, steel and voices, waves upon waves of soldiers drawn up in perfect battle ranks, the banners of Langya fluttering above their heads. To their front was a man clad in fearsome armor, astride the largest charger Felonca had ever seen.

“Come out and fight, Ho Jian!” he shouted out the name of the dead governor, waving his blade about. “Come and fight Quan-Shi Shih! Only cowards hide behind walls, Ho Jian!”

“He thinks the old governor still rules here!” Felonca’s companion whispered fearfully. “Quan-Shi the Great will surely destroy all of us!” He looked terrified at her when she laughed at the comment.

“I doubt that!” she chuckled. “Is there a place where I can get out onto the parapets themselves, so he can see me?”

“Wh...why would you want that!?” the commander shuddered. “They say Quan-Shi can shoot a man in the eye at 100 yards with his bow! Surely he will-“

“Come peaceably into the city after I’m done?” she smirked.

Ah... the same speechless look! I could get used to people looking at me this way! Felonca laughed, and soon she found herself ushered onto the open parapet itself, crouching low behind the battlements.

“Now... when you launch your surprise... for I assume you mean to try to ambush Quan-Shi with a lucky bowshot...” the commander started, before his jaw fell open as Felonca merely stood, backlit by the sun above the battlements.

“Quan-Shi! Hello!” she called, and laughed more when another person was stunned and confused. “Your eyes do not deceive you, it is Wa-Feng Felonca!” she waved again. Finally, the general below managed to call out her name in confusion.

“Felonca! What are you doing there! Don’t worry! We’ll get you out and free the other hostages...” His call of reassurance stopped at her peals of laughter.

“I am no hostage, General!” she shouted back once she had control of herself. “Governor Ho has perished! The province is under new administration... administration that wishes to speak with you, General!”

Far below, the general reined up his charger in confusion, as Felonca called upon him to come into the city for negotiations...



“That... that snake!” Quan-Shi snapped a few hours later, and Nayu smiled. Felonca had ushered Quan-Shi into a meeting with the new governor, and Ling had explained the situation far more persuasively and artfully than either Felonca or Nayu could imagine... then again, he had the weight of a governor’s mantle on his word as well. As did the obvious signs within the palace, even this soon, that the provincial government was reorganizing along better-led, more virtuous lines.

“It is all true, Master Quan-Shi. Every word of it,” the sorcerer added. “Prince Hu wished to kill both me and Felonca, for reasons that none of us understand,” Nayu lied. Felonca knows Quan-Shi... but I don’t want anything about my background coming out to ANYONE... yet...

“This province is in need of an experienced military leader, General,” Felonca added, and Nayu smiled even more as it became increasingly obvious the general was being willingly reeled into their plan. “You have a reputation all across the Empire, and Dai needs someone to keep its borders protected until a far better person arises to take the throne.” For a second, Nayu thought he saw Felonca flash a look at him, but to his relief, it appeared no one else caught the glance.

“But if I accept your proposal,” Quan-Shi began cautiously, “whose banner would I be accepting? The bastard Emperor’s in Liangxiang? The banners of Han, or Bei, or Shu? I can’t just give an army to a mere provincial governor! Its not done, and its not proper!”

“Oh, but you would be accepting a banner,” Ling countered. The governor then turned, looking directly at Nayu. The sorcerer felt something come over him, as if warm water was running down his forehead. Nayu felt sweat running down his head, as he realized the governor was directing something magical at him.

“You would be accepting the banner of Heaven, good general,” Ling finished his thought several agonizing seconds later. Nayu started to sigh in relief that his secret hadn’t been pried from his mind, until he heard a gentle voice coming from the farthest recesses of his mind.

”You are the heir of Prince Huang... the rightful claimant to the mantle of the Son of Heaven... yet you do not speak? Why is that?”

Nayu jumped, bumping the table they were all gathered around and sloshing the wine back and forth. What the...

Oh gods... he knows! He knows! Who else knows!?

The voice, soft and smooth, continued to quietly speak. ”Do not be startled, My Lord. I am merely curious. Your friend’s mind relinquished the information when we first met... and as an old politician, I am adept at keeping secrets until it is advantageous to reveal what I know.”

Nayu’s mind went into a panic. Pretend you can’t hear him. Pretend you don’t know what is going on. Then, maybe he’ll assume the information is wrong! Or go away! Dammit! Get out of my head!

The small voice sighed, mirroring Ling’s audible sigh as the verbal conversation turned to the forces of Prince Hu, and the undoubted wrath that would pour on Dai province once it became known that Quan-Shi’s army had deserted.

”My Lord Nayu... if you really do not wish to speak of this, I shall keep this secret locked away, and leave it unspoken till you wish it to be so. For your sake, and the sake of the Empire, a pray that either you take the mantle, or another suitable claimant is found...”

”Thank you,” Nayu finally mentally replied. ”Things are not opportune. Patience is the key.”

”Very well, My Lord Nayu.”

“General Quan-Shi, have you happened to hear anything of our friend, Liu Ganxi? The monk?” Nayu finally spoke, attempting to change the audible and mental conversation. As soon as he spoke, he felt the feeling of magic withdraw from his mind, as Ling turned to look at the general as well.

“Oh... your monkish friend? Yes! Some of our scouts found him alongside the road the day before we got here. He was in very bad way, and he is still under our healers’ care. It looked almost as if he’d been tortured....”



“Welcome back to the world of the living,” Nayu said the next day, as both he and Felonca hovered above the bed where the broken monk had been laid. His feet were a sea of scabbed blisters, and burns covered his back. For his part, Liu blinked, and turned his head so he could see his friends.

“The Prince thought he could kill me... he didn’t realize how hard it is to kill a follower of Shenyang,” Liu hissed, his attempt at humor setting Nayu and Felonca at little bit at ease.

“You’re going to get taken good care of here,” Felonca said softly. The tears from seeing her friend’s horrible appearance had long since dried. Now her eyes shared the same hollow look as Nayu’s... sorrow at his piteous state, and rage at thinking the Prince of Langya had done this as well.

“Give me a day to refocus my mind, and I shall begin healing myself,” Liu said slowly, his aching voice filled with surprising confidence. “If I can run for two weeks on burned feet, I can fix myself given proper care!”

“That’s good to hear,” Nayu said quietly, even as he winced at the pain Liu had to have endured trying to reach them. He must have a will made of iron. For a while, silence fell across the room, until Nayu’s anger and curiosity joined strength.

“What is the Prince doing now, Liu? Is he preparing to march?” Is he coming here, to attack Dai?

“Its funny,” Liu said, twisting his mouth into a wry grin, “torturers don’t expect their victims to notice things... but thanks to the patience of Shenyang, I noticed much...”

 

[Emperor Valerian]

The Prince Moves... and Felonca’s Past Comes Back...

A few days later, as Liu’s hand left the spot it was pointing to on the large map of the Empire in the palace, a collective gasp rose through the room. Ling’s head lowered, while a vein stood prominently from Quan-Shi’s forehead, so great was his rage. The Chief of the Xianfung Scholars wrung his hands together in worry, as did Quan-Shi’s second in command, a certain General Yuli.

“He marches to Liangxiang, towards the Jade City itself,” Liu said, limping back towards his seat in the Council of War. “He pays no attention to the Military Governor, or you, for that matter!”

“How does he know this?” the chief of the Xianlung scholars asked furiously, attempting to recover from his look of abject horror. “He is but a mere follower of Shenyang, one that due to his injuries was likely delirious most of his admittedly impressive run by foot to this city!”

“Unlike you delicate scholars, Shenyang’s teaching gives me the strength to keep my eyes open! To notice things such as supplies moving south, the flags of army troops I see from my hiding places, to even have the sense to find hiding places!” Liu spat back.

“Hey now!” Nayu called, and Felonca jumped up with him to stop the brewing verbal brawl.

This isn’t the time to weaken and show fractures! she thought, the military blood in her veins rising to the fore. We have one common thing... we have the same enemy! And he is moving!

“What of the Prince of Shu?” she loudly asked, drawing the conversation back towards the important topic at hand. “He is the brother to the Dowager Empress, and if rumors are true, father to the Emperor. Surely he presents a threat to our enemy, and could come down upon him from the rear?”

“The Prince of Shu is like a small puppy yapping at the sides of a great dragon,” Quan-Shi said sourly. “I saw a detachment of Shu’s army in battle, and Prince Hu single-handedly destroyed this detachment of two thousand cavalry. They are no army, and after Hai-cheng, there is no army between Prince Hu and the Jade City!”

“What happened at Hai-cheng?” Felonca asked. She’d heard of the small town, near the southern border of the province of Langya. There was not much there, save a very minor academy that trained prefectural scholars. I have a feeling this is not good news...

“The Dowager Empress dispatched a powerful army towards Langya soon after we departed Mingzhong,” Quan-Shi said. “I know this because I received dispatches advising me that we might have to turn around. After Hai-cheng, those orders were recinded, so the march continued.”

“The Empress’ army was massive... she culled all the levies she could from the capital province and Liangxiang itself, and brought in the backbone of her brother’s cavalry. They say the force totalled some hundred and fifty thousand under arms... I doubt those people are correct, but even if she held half the number, it would be the largest army gathered for many many decades.”

“Prince Hu had only one third that number, and charged down to meet her attack. At Hai-cheng, the two armies met, and the Empress’ army was almost completely destroyed. They said you could walk over a mile, and your feet would not touch the ground from the bodies of the peasant levies...”

“Ancestors preserve us...” Ling whispered quietly.

“That almost sounds like the work of Uncle Dian,” Felonca said softly, speaking of her uncle, the ‘Black Warrior,’ known as one of the most ferocious fighters the Empire had ever seen. He was hot-tempered, unfortunately, and never possessed the strategic brilliance that Quan-Shi spoke of... if that ferocity and brilliance were married in one mind...

“If there’s no one between him and the Jade City... the scholars, all the knowledge, all the magical power...” the chief scholar said, his voice hushed in horror. “If he is already this powerful, and he gains control there...”

That cannot happen! Felonca’s mind snapped. Not after all the work, the sweat we’ve put into trying to set at least THIS area right! The Prince of Langya could not be allowed to gain the strength sweep it all away!

But how do we fight someone with that amount of strength, that gifted in war?

Felonca’s mind drifted back years, to a classroom whose ceilings were the open sky, whose walls were the boundaries of the horizon as far as the eye could see. She didn’t remember the instructor who gave the lecture... the deep basso growl that echoed in her mind made her think it might have been Master Hsiu himself, but the words nonetheless came back.

”You must know your enemy, before you fight your enemy! Know who is in charge, know when they eat, when they sleep, how many of them there are, where they are from, where they are going! And even if you find yourself outnumbered or outmatched in wits, remember that all armies, all masses of men share the same weakness!”

“Ling, how many troops can you put together in the next week?” Felonca asked, plans and plots coalescing in her mind. “I’ll need you, General, to find out as much as you can about our enemy during that time!”

“Um... Felonca? What are you doing?” Nayu asked softly, as the others looked on in confusion for a moment, before Ling finally spoke.

“I do not know... if General Quan-Shi would elect, we would have his army... but our provincial armies will be busy for the next few months restoring order to the rest of Dai province!”

“I have 20,000 spears and 15,000 horse, Wa-Feng,” Quan-Shi replied, his eyes narrowing as he looked at his former student. “Exactly, what are you thinking, Felonca?”

“Who are the officers leading this invasion towards the Jade City?” Felonca bulled onwards. “How good are they at command? What do they command?”

“Felonca... surely you aren’t thinking...” Nayu started to speak, before Quan-Shi cut him off.

“Well, from the short service I had with the Prince, I can guess he is likely marching south with some seventy or eighty thousand troops.” The General’s eyes widened a bit, as if he had pieced together her thoughts, and then they quickly narrowed as he gave a fierce grin. “The Prince himself leads them, they say. If I were in the Prince’s place, I would take with me General Akatsuki from Taisho, General Shunyi, Princess Hu Lian...”

“Wait wait wait... Princess?” Nayu asked.

“Yes... Prince Hu’s younger sister, Lian. She commanded a wing of his army at Hai-cheng, and sprung the trap that destroyed the Empress’ armies,” Quan-Shi replied matter of factly.

“But if she’s his younger sister... that would make her... what? Nineteen? Eighteen?”

“Seventeen, Master Nayu,” Quan-Shi answered. “Despite her youth, I would not argue with the dead of Hai-cheng on her ability to command.”

“What does she look like?” Nayu asked, intent on discovering if she looked like him or not.

“NAYU!” Felonca snapped. My gods! No, you cannot go sleeping with her!

Nayu fell silent, as did the entire Council.

Wait... why did I care so much? Felonca asked in her mind a moment later. She realized she wasn’t angry that Hu Lian was the sister of their enemy, though in every right, that was what she should have snapped at him about. In fact, she couldn’t pinpoint exactly why she’d snapped at him...

Clearing his throat, Quan-Shi resumed his listing of officers, all formidable and gifted, known to Felonca by name, and Felonca refocused herself away from the snapping at Nayu. Finally, near the end, he said, “and then there’s...” He stopped, and paused, looking at Felonca.

“What? Go on, please,” Felonca urged, and Quan-Shi sighed.

“Master Hsiu Lan, former chief of the Hsiu-lan Military Academy,” the general said quietly.

Felonca’s dark face blanched slightly at the mentioning of the name, memories of terror coming back to her heart. The shape of the immense tiger hengeyokai looming over her after combat drills, always picking her out to fight him one on one, then tossing her around like a ragdoll. His proverbial growl, his hiss whenever she entered the room. The very simple threat, made so long ago that shook her to her core...

“You will not leave here alive, Wa-Feng!” he had hissed, simply, viciously. “You are weak, I smell the fear, the weakness running through your veins! You are rank with weakness, you little cur! You stink up my Academy, you bring your weakness on other proud warriors that are here! For that, I shall make sure you never leave this Academy as a soldier! You will leave it in dishonor, or in death!”

“Isn’t that...” Nayu leaned over and asked her quietly, before noticing that she was rigidly stiff, the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing on end.

“Quan-Shi, take the next week, and find out as much as you can about Prince Hu’s army. I need to know where Prince Hu’s supply depot is,” she said firmly, forcing herself to speak confidently, despite the fear running through her blood. Hsiu was not right! I am not full of fear! I am a warrior, just as the others in my family! “You tell me where that depot is, and give me enough people, and I will leave it in flames!” She watched as Quan-Shi’s smile grew fierce, pride swelling slightly in the old weasel hengeyokai’s chest as he watched his former student take charge.

“What good would that do? I mean...” Liu asked, before Felonca turned to him, forcing her eyes to take on the same look of steel she’d seen in her father’s when she was a child, the same look of decision and power that made her want to follow the family honor, and take up the warrior’s life as well.

“An army only goes so far as food can reach it!” Felonca explained, her plan unveiling itself. “It can shoot arrows so long as it has more arrows to reload! If we find and destroy his supplies, we can force his army to retreat to Langya, without risking a battle!”

“That would most certainly be a plan, but an exceedingly dangerous one,” Ling said quietly. “It would require avoiding Hu’s powerful army, sneaking into a camp, and lighting it afire, while in the midst of the territory of the Empress Dowager, whom Nayu tells me is no friend of yours either... if it is possible, it would be a major coup, however...”

“I see no other way,” Felonca replied. “Hu is too powerful to attack head on, and he must be stopped before he can take the Jade City!”

As nods went around the Council room, and Quan-Shi asked for two weeks instead of one, Felonca began to find something strong, powerful, beating within her heart.

I am Wa-Feng! I am a warrior!

I am not afraid!

It was then she realized that if her father had seen her, his smile of approval likely would have made even the sun dim in comparison.



Two weeks later, Quan-Shi cleared his throat, and Ling called for the reconvened Council of War to silence. Soon after, the aged weasel hengeyokai walked to the front, now in his full regalia as a senior general, and looked over the gathered audience.

“Firstly... I would like to thank Mistress Wa-Feng and Master Wakabayashi for their earlier efforts in Dai Province. It appears,” Quan-Shi smiled, “that many south of Xianfung know you by name, and that you saved a village. Your name has carried us far... we have gained some 8,000 recruits from this area after your names were spoken!”

“We are glad we could help, sir,” Nayu bowed, before looking at Felonca and giving a huge grin that she echoed.

“They are raw troops, and we’ll have to train them on the march, but they will still be useful to us,” the general continued, before moving on. “To the next subject, the subject of this Council meeting. We have found from numerous sources, among them certain individuals that Mistress Wa-Feng had surprising connections to...”

Felonca nodded and smiled at the reference to her partners in the Thieves Guild, whose eyes and ears reached far beyond the city walls.

“...that the Prince of Langya is building an enormous supply depot near the village of Segoruken, south of the plains of Ii-suken.” Quan-Shi pointed to several figures on the map before them. “The purpose of this meeting is to decide our course of action with this knowledge. Governor, as general of this army under your command,” Felonca saw Ling suppress a smile in her direction at the comment, “should we march to Segoruken, and destroy Prince Hu’s supplies?”

“General Quan-Shi, I am a civilian administrator,” Ling admitted, “while it appears that you and Mistress Wa-Feng possess the gifts of a military mind. Does this appear, in your eyes, the most effective way to keep Prince Hu from taking the Jade City, and thus keeping him from the scholars, knowledge, and power that lies there?”

Both Quan-Shi and Felonca nodded.

“Very well. I leave the nuts and bolts planning to you professionals,” he smiled slightly, before adding, “I shall take care of getting Dai back onto its feet, and raising and provisioning a large provincial army to protect us while you are away.”

As the Council broke up, Felonca fairly hurried over towards Quan-Shi, excitement bubbling within her heart, mixed with a great deal of trepidation.

“Ah... yes... Felonca,” Quan-Shi said quietly as he rolled up the planning map. “I do have something to speak to you and Nayu about, regarding a commission...”

“Yes?” Felonca asked, and Nayu walked over after hearing his name mentioned.

“Well... I am assembling a section of the army to go and conduct this raid while the rest acts as cover, keeping itself between you and Hu’s main force...”

What?! Felonca thought, rather confused. He can’t be asking me to command the operation! Despite her bold words two weeks earlier, she hadn’t expected anything remotely like a full command. I have no idea how to order around a wing of the army! I can’t run thousands of troops!

“I...um...” Quan-Shi started to say, before stopping again.

“What is it, general?” Nayu asked, his face growing concerned, as did Felonca’s. Quan-Shi wasn’t usually tongue-tied unless there was a major complication.

“Well, you will not be in command of the operation, and I am leaving its commander a free hand, for the most part,” Quan-Shi replied slowly, cautiously, as if he was picking every word from a bee’s nest. “The only precise orders I will issue to him is that both of you are to receive commissions at the rank of captain, with commands to equal your ranks.”

“Me?! A captain?!” Felonca squealed, before forcing a military demeanor back on herself, and giving a sharp, precise salute to Quan-Shi. “Of course sir! We will not fail you, sir!”

“No offense... general,” Nayu hastily added the latter title, “but... what would I do as a captain? I don’t know how to swing a sword, or...”

“There is a small group of warrior scholars traveling with your special expedition wing. You would command them. While it would be a small command,” Quan-Shi demurred, “only 10 people as opposed to Felonca’s likely future company of 100, it would have a far greater amount of firepower and responsibility.”

Nayu’s face lit up, in a way Felonca hadn’t seen in a long while. The prospect of having that many fireballs at his beck and call will probably make him giddy for DAYS.... Felonca then noticed that while Quan-Shi smiled towards Nayu, he didn’t smile towards her... instead, the trepidation returned anew.

“Is something wrong with my commission, General?” she asked.

“Um... well... you might have to speak to your new commanding officer about that,” the old general replied hestitantly.

“I’m...well, I’m sure that any trouble that...um... arises... can be handled professionally by the both of us, sir,” she offered, her own reply hesitant and filled with worry. What’s wrong with my superior officer? I don’t know many of Quan-Shi’s subordinates, but if they are like him, they are fair commanders that judge by performance!

“I... I sincerely hope so,” Quan-Shi replied. “He is likely outside now. Shall I send him in?”

“Yes, by all means, sir,” Felonca replied, her mind confused as she tried to sound confident. Who would have a problem with me taking a position as a mere Captain? It’s not like I would be commanding the entire...

She stopped when she noticed that as Quan-Shi opened, the door, he left the room.

Why did he do that? Who’d have a serious enough problem with me that we would be left by our commanding officer in private to sort things out?

For a moment, there was no one in the doorway. Then, she heard a distinctly familiar clank of scaled armor boots coming up the marble hallway. Soon, the door was obscured by an immense figure, nearly seven feet tall. His scaled armor was pitch black, blacker than the darkest of nights. From his hip hung an enormous black sword, the carved panther on its pommel frighteningly familiar to her.

The massive figure wore a huge helm, the face of a roaring panther as its crest. Clawed hands reached up, and removed the helm, and Felonca found herself looking into the deep, piercing, and ferocious eyes of Wa-Feng Dian, the audible growl from his voice telling her of a furious, unquenched anger at her person...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

You knew Felonca’s family was going to appear at some point! And that they wouldn’t be pleased at all by the choices she had made... though the true extent of her uncle’s disapproval shall be revealed during the next update. I think I’ll call it, “The War of the Wa-Fengs.”

Enjoy!

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

Great updates, as always, Emperor V.

Looking forward to seeing how this all plays out.

 

[Falkus]

Just finished reading all the posts so far. It's great! I can't wait for the next update.

 

[TDRandall]

What an excellent ending!

Great buildup to what appears to be a clear shift in mood and direction, and a surprise that leaves us slavering for more while we're roasting on this interminable spit of waiting for the next installment.

Bravo, Mr. word-smith!

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Thank you all for the kind applause... I'm not sure if I'm worthy of that much praise .

Here's the next section. I decided to try to start using some more of the real terms in the story, so here goes. I've put the definitions (there's only three) at the end.


The Battle of the Wa-Fengs

Felonca froze in place, as her uncle’s great paws rose and pulled the immense helm from his head, the growl in his voice now audible and seething.

Take the high ground! she told herself, as his towering form walked to within inches of her.

“Hello, Uncle Dian,” she said quietly. She knew it wouldn’t do a bit of good, but at least she’d be able to tell herself that he had started the conversation civilly. If things went downhill from there...

“I hear you found a new way to dishonor your father’s name!” It wasn’t the shout that she had expected to come from her loud and expressive uncle. It was a hiss, long, low and boiling with anger. When her Uncle Dian shouted, things would be okay... when he, of all people, grew quiet, a thunderstorm was about to break...

“I have dishonored no one,” Felonca replied, her back stiffening as she tried to keep herself under control. I did what I had to do to stay alive! Hsiu would have killed me at the Academy, and stealing was the only way I could eat!

“What do you call cavorting about in a house of harlots?!” Dian snapped, his face only inches from her. The blast felt like a typhoon crashing over her face.

“I did not ‘cavort’ in a harem! I used it as a means to-“

“Or taking ten years to decide to flee the Academy, and then stealing your way about the north of the country!” he barreled onwards, his voice thundering over her own cool logic, and she felt her own rage rising, the infamous Wa-Feng temper coming to the fore.

“I did what I had to do to survive! It was no different than when you had to eat your steed by the north-“ she shot back, her own voice rising.

“I did that as the commander of an honorable military campaign to drive back the barbarians! Not as an excuse to run away from training, or pickpocket the poor to make myself rich!” Dian snarled. “Do not compare my campaigns to your little daytrips!”

“Daytrips?! You call what I’ve gone through DAYTRIPS?!” Felonca shouted, all vestiges of her former intentions long gone. The gloves were off, the war was on. “You call being chased by undead, nearly dying from disease, being attacked by White Wolves, giant spiders and giants a DAYTRIP!? It was more like a nightmare, though I doubt the great Wa-Feng Dian would ever admit to having those!”

“Stop with your internmible witticisms! Your quick tongue can’t defend what you’ve done, Felonca!” His hair was now standing on end, and she saw his face and hands change as he involuntarily shifted to hybrid, he was so angry. Felonca didn’t realize that she’d already done the same in her own fury. “You know that no person of honor would ever claim being a THIEF or being an ASSASSIN as HONORABLE! The only honorable profession for a Wa-Feng is that of a soldier!” he exploded. “You wouldn’t know anything of that, it appears!”

“Your son Meiji is no soldier, yet he’s helped hundreds, even thousands!” she fired back. Part of her mind instantly regretted the snide remark... when Meiji had left long before she’d gone to the Academy, it had devastated her proud uncle. She still wasn’t sure if father and son had spoken since.

The hairs seemingly all over Dian’s body raised at once, and she saw his hands opening and clasping, attempting to find something to crush in their grasp in his rage. She expected a final explosion, perhaps even a slap on her cheek. Instead, she felt hard, angry breaths wash over her face as he calmed his rage to the point he could speak again.

“I wish to know, Miss Harlot, why it took you ten years to decide to flee the Academy, when I finished in four years and your own father finished in three?”

I AM WORTHY OF MY FATHER’S NAME! Felonca wanted to scream at him. The sniping comment was easily apparent, until she recognized the inlaid trap. Her uncle was the louder one of the two brothers, impatient and impetuous. Her father was patient, intelligent, decisive the hallmarks of a good general. So she sent her own snide comment back by holding her tongue.

For several minutes it seemed, the two stared at each other, their eyes only inches apart, each furious with the other. Finally, the glacial silence was broken.

“My superior officer has stipulated you will be a part of this mission,” Dian said finally, his anger now hiding under the guise of a general issuing a command. “However, this mission is vital, and frankly, I don’t want you to screw it up!” As Felonca’s jaw dropped, her uncle plowed on. “You may have a commission as a Zhong Wei*, but I will not give you a field commission! You are hereby assigned to supply guard detail!”

To her own surprise, Felonca let out a sharp curse that perfectly described her feelings on the subject. “I AM CAPABLE OF COMBAT, UNCLE!” she snapped, “I have fought while diseased, I have fought while unarmed, and I have certainly fought unarmored! If you down my prowess, just as the FRICKING GOVERNOR OF THIS FRICKING PROVINCE!”

“I DO NOT CARE, FELONCA!” Dian shouted back. His finger shot up like a knife cutting the space between them. “I WILL NOT HAVE YOU DESTROYING ANY CHANCE WE HOLD OF RESCUING THE PRISONERS!”

Felonca was about to fire a choice phrase before the words registered in her mind.

“What prisoners!? Quan-Shi said nothing about prisoners!” she yelled. Why didn’t he tell me that part of the mission!? Does he not trust me as well!?

“YOUR FATHER!!” Dian shouted, before taking in a deep breath.

Felonca stopped in mid shout at her uncle’s words, as he desperately tried to breathe out. When he spoke again a moment later, his voice was amazingly calm.

“Your father is being held in a prison section of the supply depot we are to attack,” Dian finally said, his voice not quite under control. “You’ve screwed up enough, Felonca, I can’t allow you to screw this up!” Now Felonca understood the furious anger, the overtly loud and angry assault against her. Behind Dian’s facade of anger, there was worry and fear.

Father?

The dark, glowering face that had been haunting her for weeks now twisted in her mind, from a look of disapproval to a look of pain. She saw his powerful form broken, bleeding...

“What? How?” she managed to gasp. Father is one of the greatest warriors alive! He was Shang Jiang** of the Army of the North ten years ago for a reason! He has not sided with anyone in the conflict... they surely would have trumpeted his allegiance! Why would Prince Hu seize him?

“Hu seized many prisoners after Quan-Shi’s army left... relatives of chief commanders, like your father, to keep our loyalty, as well as gifted commanders in the area that had not sworn allegiance to him.” Dian’s anger was ebbing away, and she could now see the fear in his eyes, naked, open. “I swore allegiance to Hu... your father would not. Now, he sits as a prisoner of war... Quan-Shi wants them rescued, in addition to the depot burned. There are a good many officers and men, who would greatly strengthen any army, and hold all of us in debt...”

No....no... Felonca ignored the statecraft reasons Dian listed, her mind focusing on one person shackled somewhere in the camp. Tears started to well in Felonca’s eyes, memories of seeing Nayu’s father lying on the ground dead, now replaced with images of her own father, fallen beneath some blade, crushed under the beastly burden of a slave...

The image jarred her. Father would die before he submitted to something like that! A shudder ran through her body. He would die like a Wa-Feng rather than surrender! She felt something rush through her veins, a jolt, a force, and she lifted her eyes, until they bore directly into the heart of her uncle’s.

“I am going as a commanding officer,” she said quietly, her eyes blazing with an otherworldly power. She saw her uncle’s hair begin to bristle again at yet another outright challenge to his orders. She didn’t care.

“No, Felonca,” Dian said, keeping his barely calm. “You have no experience in battlefield command, even if your skills in individual combat are as great as you claim. You’ll only get in the way, and I can’t.... I can’t allow Felonxi to die because of an accident...”

“Uncle, I wish for a command!” she repeated, her teeth starting to grate against each other. “He is my father, as well as your brother!” You will grant me this, Uncle!

“No Felonca!” he shouted back. “I am your commanding officer! I forbid this!”

“I demand a command, Uncle!” Felonca fired back, furious. You WILL grant me this uncle! My father is being held prisoner! I WILL go and help free him!

The argument waxed anew, growing in fury and tempo. Felonca accused her uncle of holding past grudges against her, he accused her of being weak and not being a true ‘Wa-Feng soldier.’ The verbal duel continued for some time, until Dian finally lost his temper completely.

“Fine!” he waved his hand up. She could tell by his eyes that his rage was barely under control... they were blazing with an almost unearthly green light. “Fine! You want a command, you can have a command, but only if you take it under Military Law!***”

Military Law? Felonca stopped, the term making her pause. If I accept the command under those rules, and I DO fail for some reason... I am liable to be executed without question. Uncle will be FORCED to execute me if I sign on to such!

He’s bluffing you, Felonca! another part of her mind chimed in. He’s only threatening you with this to keep you from taking a command!

He’s my father!

“Give me the papers to sign!” she snarled back.



“So that is what military law means?” Nayu asked only a few minutes later, after they’d left the fuming Dian in the palace behind them. He’d spent the entire shouting match between her and her uncle confused and out of place, and he now bristled at hearing the requirements and threats the order imposed. “You can’t be serious about going through with this, Felonca! If you fail any order he gives you in the operation, you’re liable to be executed! And from the way he talked, he didn’t sound if he’d mind!”

“Uncle Dian probably wouldn’t mind,” Felonca sighed as they worked their way outside of the South Gate, towards the marshalling grounds for the raw recruits of the army. “Even before I left for the Academy, he viewed me as too weak to hold the Wa-Feng name!”

“You? Weak?” Nayu asked with a huff. “I’d never want to be on the receiving end of those fans of yours! If you are weak, then a dragon has to be weak too!”

“Thanks Nayu,” Felonca smiled slightly, the first time she hadn’t scowled or been lost in concern since the meeting. It was only fleeting, before she sighed again. “I was so much smaller than them... Uncle Dian is only a few inches shy of seven feet tall... and my father is seven feet tall. I’m only halfway to six feet... tiny in comparison,” she groaned.

“Its not the size of the kitty, its how deadly the kitty is,” Nayu said, trying to be comforting.

“Yes... its too bad Uncle Dian won’t realize that,” Felonca sighed. “He’d always predicted I would fail at the Academy, that I wouldn’t amount to anything... and year after year when I didn’t graduate, he kept saying more and more that I was a dishonor to the family, a blemish on the clan name...”

“So? I think Meiji is a bigger blemish than you in some ways. At least you aren’t a lecher,” Nayu replied.

“I have no doubt that if he wouldn’t mind Meiji’s stain being removed like mine by the old ways,” Felonca said. Dian follows the old ways, the ancient ways...

“Which is?”

“Kill the blemish, restore the honor,” Felonca replied.

“That’s a hell of a way for him to show his love to his niece! Bastard!” Nayu spat. Sometimes he reminded her of her father when he grew protectively angry. Once again, it allowed for a small, thin smile to work its way through.

“Well, it got me a command... a chance to rescue my father, and prove Uncle Dian wrong,” Felonca said, forcing the thin smile into a bravado grin. “All I need to do is remember the things I learned from the Academy to fulfill the first part of my commission...”

“Which is?”

“Well, I’ve been assigned to command a new company of cavalry, raised from some of the brand new recruits. They’re giving me a week to train them before we march out, and according to my Uncle, they need to be in ‘excellent shape.’”

“Raw recruits in a week? That seems awfully short,” Nayu scoffed. “Seems to me your Uncle is setting you up for failure!”

“Oh, really!” Felonca forced herself to laugh at the comment, despite sharing many of the same fears. “It shouldn’t be that hard! Come on! I’ve spent a third of my life at a military academy! I know drill inside and out, it can’t be that hard to teach...”

The two crested a ridge outside of the city, and then Felonca saw the standards... the new gold standards of Dai province flapped highest on the staffs, below them a blue banner with the character for an eagle. Underneath the standard of her unit was a motley array of peasants, clad in dirty, old uniforms.

On one side of the small camp, a young man was riding his horse backwards, screaming that his animal wasn’t going the right way. On the other side, ten of the soldiers were sprawled out, several overturned barrels of spiced wine lying nearby. In the center, a big, burly peasant dressed in the clothes of a private was in the process of decking and kicking a small, thin man with the single plume of a sergeant, while a small crowd of other privates watched and laughed.

“Dammit,” Felonca swore, before spurring her horse towards her new camp.

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

*Zhong Wei = Captain
**Shang Jiang = Chief General/Full General
***Military Law = Arrangement in medieval and ancient China wherein officers were executed for failing to execute their orders, regardless of reason. This was usually stipulated before the mission was sent ahead.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Captain Felonca Takes Command...

I have to deal with THIS?

Felonca reined up her horse just outside the small camp of the Eagle Cavalry unit, whose obvious state of sloppiness, ignorance, and lack of discipline looked closer to the nickname ‘Hog Cavalry Unit.’ She leapt off, and for a second stared about in disbelief and disgust.

This is my unit? They can’t ride, they can’t control themselves... Her eyes flashed back to the sergeant, now curled into a ball on the ground as the burly peasants laughed at him. They won’t respect their officers... She heard another horse canter up behind her, and turned to see a very worried looking Nayu looking at her camp.

“Um... this is not good...” the sorcerer said slowly. “I’m guessing that soldiers shouldn’t be sleeping drunk on the ground, or...”

“No, they shouldn’t!” Felonca snapped back. Time to straighten out this mess! Conveniently, the first of the sights that caught her eye cantered by. THe young man on the horse looked absolutely petrified, his eyes watching its flicking tail as he desperately tried to stay on despite his saddle and gear being backwards. His uniform was regulation colors, but faded, ratty, and filled with holes. The steed itself didn’t seem to mind... free from direction, it ambled along, munching quietly on grass.

“Gah!” he yelled, turning towards Felonca and Nayu. “I can’t control it! Help! It won’t listen and it keeps going backwards!”

“Um... excuse me?” Felonca asked, as Nayu gave a snort.

“My horse! Its going backwards! I can’t stop it!” the young man screeched, at first flailing his arms in panic before he finally lost his balance, and tumbled to the ground. He landed with a sharp thump, and rolled onto his side with a groan. The valiant steed, meanwhile, found a particularly choice area of grass and stopped its ambling.

“Good gods and ancestors,” Felonca swore under her breath, before helping the young man to his feet. Some of them don’t even know what the FRONT of a horse is, let alone knowing how to ride one!!

“Thank you, ma’am,” the young man shook the dust off his faded uniform and sighed. “I don’t know what went wrong. I got on the horse like everyone said, and all they did was laugh at me as it went backwards. Then, they got bored, and started beating Sergeant Ping, and left me!”

“What’s your-“ Nayu started to ask, before Felonca raised a hand.

This is my unit... they need to know I am in command.

“What is your name, soldier?” she asked.

“My name is Sung Ojin, ma’am. What’s your name? You’ve been very kind to me, too bad you’re not in our unit, seeings you don’t have our leftover uniforms. Your travel leathers look comfortable, I wish they’d given us some,” he continued to ramble until Felonca raised her hand again.

Alright... commanding voice, yet comrade voice. This young man doesn’t know, he needs teaching...

“I am Zhong Wei Wa-Feng, commander of this unit,” she said, her voice crisp, calm, and commanding without sounding harsh and angry. Immediately the young man’s face blanched as he realized he’d addressed his captain so casually. Before he could sputter an apology, Felonca cut him off. “Don’t apologize... I was assigned to the unit today, and you didn’t know. I trust you’ll remember from now on?”

The young man nodded, and Felonca smiled.

“Good. Now, Ojin, we must teach you how to properly ride a horse... but before that, there’s another lesson I want you, as well as the rest of the troops to see. Follow me.”

Felonca then strode to the chaos on the near side of the camp, soldiers busily emptying barrels of spiced wine and sprawled onto the ground. As she approached, one of the drunkards raised his head, and lewdly commented on the girl coming towards him in leather.

“Do you want me to take control of their minds for a bit? I can make them behave,” Nayu offered quietly, until Felonca once again shook her head no. Instead, she smiled at the drunk man and his mates, walked over to the barrel, and drew some wine into a clay jug.

She then turned towards the soldier, whose smile had grown big at the sight of a beautiful woman offering him more alcohol. She held it just above his reach, and spoke quietly, calmly.

“Rise to your feet, soldier.”

The man and his three mates looked at her, and began to chuckle, then laugh uproariously at her...until she brought the claw jug crashing down on his head, breaking it onto a thousand pieces.

“Up off your feet scum!” she barked, her voice cracking like a whip over the camp, her memories of the parade ground, the morning barking of orders from the Academy now flooding back to her. When the confused man and his three mates didn’t comply, she administered several helpful kicks until they got the message. Quickly, the four scrambled to their feet, stumbling about as they did so.

“I am Zhong Wei Wa-Feng, your new commanding officer!” she snapped. “What do I see in front of me?” she snarled, her form now bristling in hybrid as she paced in front of the four slobs. When she reached the end of the line, she stopped, and stared directly into the eyes of the last man... the soldier that had made the lascivious comments. “I see no soldiers! I see louts, drunkards, people that are worth no more than a beating! You have two choices in this unit, scum! You can either learn to be soldiers, or...”

She then turned, and with a sharp kick, shattered one of the large wine barrels, its contents spilling across the ground as the four men stared in shock. She then spun back around, and stared the four in the eye.

“...I can beat you to a pulp!” She then leaned close towards the four, now stumbling and trembling. “Choose wisely,” she whispered.

“Oho! What do we have here?!” a loud voice called, and Felonca turned to see the huge hulking peasant now behind her, the hapless sergeant now held by the scruff of his shirt in one immense hand, the other meaty paw clutched in a fist. Behind him stood the same array of soldiers that had been laughing as the sergeant was beaten on the ground... nearly fifty people, or half of her company...

That’s... half my unit there! she thought, momentarily resisting the urge to gulp. They were all beating up a sergeant and laughing... they have no respect for order, and if they all rush me...

Her mind flashed back to the recent meeting with her uncle, and the charges that both he and Hsiu long ago had laid against her, and she felt steel coming into her spine, ice coming into her veins.

I am not afraid of these men... these are soldiers under my command! I cannot show any fear!

“Boys, I think this pretty lass thinks she’s our commanding officer!” the big peasant bellowed, and soon his laughter rumbled around the camp as the others joined in. “And it looks as if she bought a pheasant in man’s clothing with her!”

“She’s shorter than a dwarf!” another peasant laughed and pointed. “She’s not a panther, she’s a kitten!”

“Oh, what I’d like to do to that pretty kitten!” another one roared, leading to more laughter.

Felonca didn’t need to turn around to know that Nayu was bristling at the comments, both directed at her, and those directed at himself. She turned towards him momentarily, giving him the stare that told the story, and his half open mouth went shut. Satisfied that he would not unnecessarily interfere, she coldly turned towards the instigator.

“Soldier,” Felonca said as she calmly walked towards the burly man, “release the sergeant.”

“Oh... look! She’s so big, she’s going to give us commands!” the big on guffawed. “I think she’ll go the same way as the previous Zhong Wei!” He dropped the sergeant to the ground, before administering a sharp kick to the man’s ribs. The big one then leaned towards her, his eyes glistening with malevolence. “Are you going to pee your pants like Zhong Wei Ii did two days ago?”

“Soldier, you have three seconds to stop attacking your sergeant, or I will kick your face so hard your teeth will come out of your ears,” Felonca hissed, her threat low and deadly.

“Bah!” the big one laughed, kicking the sergeant again.

“One...”

“You couldn’t hurt a fly, you tiny pipsqueak! I suppose you’re going to claim you are a Wa-Feng too! I don’t care, even if you are a Wa-Feng! You’re a little...”

“Two...”

“...piece of snot! No one orders Yu Wasang around! No one! Not the generals, not the commanders, and certainly no Zhong Wei so small that I bet my...”

His insult was cut short by the palm of Felonca’s hand slamming into the bottom of his jaw. His head snapped back, his eyes rolling around in his head from the blow. Mere millseconds later, as he started to stumble forward from the stunning blow, Felonca dropped low, and a sharp leg-sweep snapped his feet from under him and sent his immense frame tumbling to the ground. He landed with a thunderous crunch, blood already welling from his mouth, as his eyes lolled back, his mind falling into unconsciousness.

The crowd gathered about let out a collective gasp, and began to back away... slowly, as if they were too frightened to stay, but also too frightened to outright run. Felonca looked up from her work, her pupils narrowed.

They now see... they are malleable. They are ready to learn...

“Soldiers,” she said calmly, coolly, as if her blinding fast assault on someone easily thrice her size had not happened moments earlier. A small group of men all pointed towards themselves, eyes wide, afraid they would not be called out for their part in harassing the sergeant.

“Soldiers,” she pointed towards two in particular, and motioned for them to come forward. She then pointed to the unconscious brute on the ground. “Pick up your fellow soldier.”

Eyes wide, the two men in question did exactly as she asked, between them managing to heft the beast of a man between them, and at her direction, drag him towards a nearby healer’s tent. For a second Felonca let herself watch the big man be dragged away, before turning back to the assembled soldiers.

“An army is built on trust!” she barked, doing her best imitation of Hsiu’s voice of unquestioning command as he had shouted these same words to incoming students to his Academy some ten years before. “Because of this, you should always help your comrades in arms!”

“Soldiers,” she pointed to two others, “help up your sergeant.” The same routine happened, and as he was taken to the healer’s tent she called to her soldiers, “An army relies on the soldiers trusting, and following its officers! Without trust in your fellow soldiers, and trust in your officers, we will fail as a force, and you will likely die!”

Several faces blanched at her words, and more than a few hastily, fearfully nodded along with her words.

Her confidence now set, she began to pace in front of the line, continuing her first lesson to these raw recruits. “Finally, an army relies on discipline, discipline that leads to this trust! I intend to put this discipline into each and every one of you!” Her pacing suddenly stopped, and turned to the assemblage of men.

“EVERY SOLDIER WILL DROP AND GIVE ME FIFTY PUSH-UPS IMMEDIATELY,” she snarled in her best parade ground voice, a tone so sharp, harsh and commanding that even Nayu winced, “OR I WILL USE MY CLAWS AND SKIN EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!!!”

She hid a proud smile behind her furious face at the collective whumph of fifty-five bodies landing on the ground, and the sea of grunts as they began their physical training...

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Felonca’s player especially loved this set of events, so I had to type it up in detail for her. Next update will include Nayu’s experiences explaining his lack of books to scholars, as well as this whole menagerie getting on the march.

AS for Felonca pummelling the crap out of the guy, it was a nonlethal sneak attack... which I believe she also critted on. Needless to say, the man was only a mere 2rd level warrior, so 35 or so points of damage was more than sufficient to knock him out several times over.

 

[HalfOrc HalfBiscuit]

Ahh, is there anything more enjoyable than beating up weak NPCs? (Well, only those that deserve it, obviously ).

Very cool couple of updates. Keep up the good work.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

Felonca's player has repeatedly asked for a new map of the party's adventures,
here it is. (LINK IS BROKEN, WILL FIX)

The lines in RED are session #8 (already posted)
The lines in YELLOW denote session #9 (in the process of being posted)
The lines in BLUE denote session #10 (not yet posted)
The lines in PURPLE denote sessions #11 and #12 (not yet posted)

This is the original map of the first seven sessions.

 

[Emperor Valerian]

We’ve followed Felonca around for a bit... so its time for Nayu’s point of view on several things...

Nayu and the Scholars, and the Army Heads Out

As Felonca continued to bark orders at her stunned and not pliant command, Nayu slipped away towards the main army camp, and gave a sigh of relief.

Regular soldiers will always be rowdy and out of control... even though my people might be arrogant, I doubt I’ll have to face down a drunk and rowdy scholar twice my size! As he walked, Nayu chuckled at the mental image.

When he finally cantered into the central camp of the army, it wasn’t long before he spotted an immense silken tent next to the tent that housed General Wa-Feng. After reaching its flowered and pink exterior, Nayu dismounted, and entered into seemingly another world.

The floor of the tent was covered with wooden planks, above which were laid numerous thick and luxurious rugs and furs. To his surprise, Nayu found that the tent was divided on the inside... he had merely entered what appeared to be a foyer, and he could now hear voices muttering in hushed tones. Following the noise, he found another tent flap, and after pushing through, he entered a large room, amply large that twenty could sit in a circle.

Instead only ten men occupied the placemats set on the floor, each clad in various colors of silk or other trappings of the academic profession. From their heads hung immense hats, beads, pearls and other trinkets dangling from the ends, each possessing an immense, flowing, and carefully manicured beard that they proceeded to stroke at every opportune moment. All their eyes turned to him, each eye weighing, judging, examining him.

“Ah, the new Zhong Wei!” one of the scholars smiled and bowed a few moments later, a move that the others echoed. Quickly, the elderly man rose, and gestured towards an open mat opposite from the tent flap where Nayu entered. “Please, Zhong Wei! Make yourself comfortable! We have tea and spice wine ready for you!”

“Thank you,” Nayu bowed politely, grateful that his charges were far more controlled than Felonca’s. Within a minute, Nayu found a warm cup of tea set before him, and the elder scholar bowed as he backed away towards his own place.

“Master Zhong Wei,” another scholar, this one far younger but possessing a mane of a beard that easily stretched to his knees, and silks that made even the others seem to be paupers in comparison, “we were busy discussing Master Kongxi’s fifth element of virtue, and I am curious to see your opinion on this subject!”

“Zhen Ren, our Zhong Wei likely doesn’t support your view that one can be wealthy and virtuous! Look at Zhong Wei’s clothing!” the older man that had served the tea gestured towards Nayu’s far simpler (and practical) clothing, which while neat, was no silken palatial robe like the outfit worn by the one called Zhen Ren. “Simplicity is virtue, Zhen Ren!”

“Do you then claim that Emperor Hodi was not virtuous, despite the splendor of his palace?” Zhen Ren asked, before turning back to Nayu. “Please, Zhong Wei, we wish to know your opinion!”

Oh no... Nayu was thankful that he was sipping his tea as all their eyes turned to him. Quick... think! Think! What do I know of Kongxi?

Born and died long ago...

...basis for scholar’s arrogance...

He mentally cursed for not knowing more, and his sippings of tea began to drag out longer and longer.

If I say what I really think of Kongxi and what these scholars call ‘virtue,’ namely that many of them are arrogant snobs... well... I can’t do that... um... quick way out...

“I am afraid I entered during the midst of the conversation,” he said calmly, somehow, someway, “and I feel uncomfortable as such placing my exposition into an already existing interplay between your illustrious persons.”

Nayu... what the HELL did you just say in Common? he asked himself as he followed the statement with a revert bow. When he looked up, he was surprised to see faces nodding in understanding, and both Zhen Ren and the elderly scholar smiling back in return.

“A most wise statement!” the elderly man smiled.

“Zhong Wei is truely gifted with Kongxi’s wisdom! It is a please to be under your command!” Zhen Ren smiled, lifting his spice wine in a toast.

Nayu breathed a sigh of relief, as the scholarly conversation swept on for several more moments. Nayu used the time to observe the ten others in his unit. Zhen Ren seemed even more arrogant and stubborn than the average scholar. The elderly man, who Nayu learned was named Yu Enlai, seemed stubborn but not arrogant, and the others seemed to share a combination of these characteristics. Finally, it was readily apparent that Zhen Ren and Yu Enlai, while they could tolerate each other, were always bound by philosophical disagreements, which frequently boiled over into personal attacks.

“Weichan Academy is far superior to Yuling Academy!” Zhen Ren snapped some minutes later, directly to Yu Enlai. “At my former academy, we learned the truth about virtue, that virtue leads to wealth, and can coexist with wealth!”

“You failed to fully understand Kongxi’s fifth element of virtue, as he wrote in his discussions of statecraft!” Yu snapped in reply.

“Gentlemen,” another one of the scholars interceded, “Zhong Wei has been silent this entire time. No doubt he has more wisdom he wishes to lend to our ears.” A smile towards Nayu, before a scolding look to the other two scholars. “You two have been talking incessantly, and likely have rudely cut him off before his tongue even left his mouth! Zhong Wei, please... settle this debate once and for all. What did your Academy teach about Kongxi’s fifth element of virtue?”

Dammit! Nayu wanted to snap. He’d been quietly listening, learning, but not enough time had passed for him to fully determine what Kongxi’s fifth element of virtue was, let alone be able to bluff his way through the academic blabber that was swirling about him.

Finally, as he stared in confusion for several moments at the scholar’s sudden question, it was Felonca’s words earlier that day that motivated him to act.

An army is built on trust!

“I attended no Academy,” Nayu admitted.

Looks of shock and confusion went around the room, whispers, mutterings of confusion as to how this young, thinly bearded boy with no Academy experience was now in command.

“My magic descends through my family line,” Nayu continued, “it is natural and innate. I use no books or philosophy when my magic is released... it is done purely through my own command and will.”

“How is this possible?” Zhen Ren asked quietly, while Yu Enlai stared in almost abject horror.

“Magic without the controlling teachings of Kongxi? That... that is... Not possible!” the elderly man hissed.

Great. Now they think I’m some kind of freak, Nayu groaned, looking around the room. He quickly noticed a few of the eyes were narrowing with something other than fear, however...

Lovely... they’re jealous too! he grumbled. Time to smooth over some egos...

“However, I do wish I would have had the opportunity to attend an Academy. I have some of Kongxi’s wise teachings through my life by other means, which is how I control my magic so well,” he lied, “but nonetheless, I was denied the experience of reading Kongxi’s works in person, or meticulous study with such eminent and wise persons as yourselves!”

For added effect, Nayu executed an almost full kow-tow, which promptly Zhen Ren helped him up from.

“There there... there’s no need to show us that much respect, Zhong Wei,” Zhen Ren said quickly, looking towards Yu Enlai the entire time. “I have no doubt that Governor Ling and Shang* Quan-Shi have placed you here for a reason!”

“I do not doubt that, but excuse me if my mind needs time to fully consider and understand these developments,” Yu Enlai said quickly, before bowing in return. “Zhong Wei, your development as a magic-user sounds intriguing, if unusual. Please, enlighten us!”

You mean tell you that your lives of reading books for years and academic conversation haven’t been in vain because a young teen can lob a spell as well as you can... Nayu realized what the question really meant.

“You see, I am originally from the north of the Empire...” Nayu’s story began. He left out juicier details, such as exactly who his parents were, which exact town he was born in. It would do no good to let them know his ancestry... they would probably go apopletic... so instead he informed them of a few of the choicer events in the past several months of his life... fighting the great white lion, decimating the village of Wang Liang, and the dethroning of the old governor. By the time his tale was done, and a few washes of Detect Lies fluttered over his mind, the scholars stood wide-eyed before him.

“Such is... amazing! Astounding!” Zhen Ren acclaimed at the end of Nayu’s description. “You fought Yi Mang, and lived!?”

“You slew a village of giants?” Yu Enlai asked in awe.

“Yes... and I look forward to see your own abilities on the battlefield,” Nayu replied confidently, before his brow furrowed slightly. “What exactly can you do on the battlefield, good sirs?”

“Well, I specialize in destructive fire,” Zhen Ren offered. “I can create an explosion of flame some eighty feet wide... very useful for destroying formations of enemy soldiers.”

“And I can send forth waves of magical bolts to slay the enemy... eighty at a time, each headed towards a different enemy soldier. Such are the things taught even now at the Imperial War Academy in the Jade City,” Yu Enlai said.

Nayu’s eyes went wide.

Eighty foot wide fireballs? Swarms of magic missiles?

I need to study at this Academy!



A week later, the army was finally on the move... 48,000 under arms, a little over half the strength of their expected foe.

Felonca gazed back at her command, now cantering out in perfect order, their polearms at the ready, their light armor jingling, making her heart swell with pride.

My command! she wanted to chuckle, reining her horse around to join the column. It had taken back breaking work, on both her part and theirs, to get this far. She’d submitted them to the most grueling exercises she knew from her Academy days to break them in, before molding them, training them, making them fight as a unit. In return, she’d cajoled Governor Ling and Quan-Shi into issuing them new, comfortable uniforms, as well as regulation spears and swords.

Beside her rode Sung Ojin, facing properly on his horse. The young man had a quick mind, much quicker than she thought possible. He’d already become an average rider, and she had no doubt that with further training on the march, he’d only improve. His popularity seemed to have improved as well... and she noticed a small cadre of her command seemed to look up to him for his rapid ascent in ability.

“Ojin?” she asked, later on that first day.

“Yes, Zhong Wei?” he slowed his horse up beside her.

“I have had an idea in my head for a while, something we can do with this little command. Would you like to hear it?”

“Of course, Zhong Wei.”

“Well,” Felonca started, “You probably know by now that I do not have a completely typical officer’s background.”

“No, Zhong Wei,” Ojin said, and by his slight smirk, she could tell he wanted to break into peals of laughter. Only two days after she’d smashed in the jaw of the burly troublemaker, the first rumors from within Xianfung had penetrated the army camp... of how the Wa-Feng daughter had killed the previous governor and his guards, of how she was silently but deadly. She’d noticed a sudden increase in participation and attentiveness at her drills.

“Ojin... I noticed that this wing of the army has no special tactical units,” she continued.

“What do you mean, Zhong Wei?” he asked, genuinely confused.

“I mean,” she continued, verbalizing the idea that had been in the back of her mind for several days, “we need a unit that specializes in making traps on the battlefield. A group of strong men that can quickly clear forests, cut wood, dug pits to make traps, defenses, and other necessities. All on short notice.”

“Yes, Zhong Wei. That would be useful,” he said from beside her. “For example, constructing pits and hiding them before the army so that the enemy will be demoralized?”

“Exactly!” Felonca said, excited someone else understood her sentiments. She hadn’t dared go to her uncle with her idea, and Quan-Shi was already overwhelmed. She still had her own unit, however...

“Ojin, you’ve learned extremely quickly so far... and I am very impressed.”

“Thank you, Zhong Wei.”

“Therefore, I’m giving you a temporary field promotion to Guan**. I want you to find ten men you trust from this command, and organize them under your command. After each post-march training every day, you will assemble them on the edge of our camp, and we’ll do some special training!”

“Me?” Ojin sat stunned for a few moments, before he finally snapped an excited, eager salute. “Yes Zhong Wei! Of course Zhong Wei!”

As he galloped off, Felonca turned back, and hid a smile.

As Her Majesty beateth, she awardeth as well...



Guan Ojin and his special command found themselves trained in surprising things. Instead of further training in horseback riding or fighting, they found themselves trained in endurance running, climbing trees, digging and covering holes, and all other manners of ‘dishonorable combat.’ Their training continued, even when three weeks into the march Dian Wa-Feng’s column split from the rest of the army, beginning its rapid forced march towards the south.

Nayu’s command gained new respect for him as well. The young man proved himself to them as being very adept, very keen, and able to learn quickly. He made it a goal to soak up as much knowledge of Kongxi from the scholars as possible, an effort they appreciated. His rather humble dress and plain talk also endeared him to the foot regiments that marched in column closest to his scholars.

It was during one of his impromptu conversations with them that he spotted the first sign of trouble...



“Master Wakabayashi!” one of the soldiers along the road bellowed, “When are you going to get off your horse and walk on the ground like the rest of us!” Snickers and laughs went around the unit of spearmen, their pikes wiggling in the sky as they marched.

“The same time you learn that horses aren’t women, Sunyi,” Nayu replied in the most deadpan tone he could muster, an effort that was rewarded with howls of laughter from the regiment marching by as he rode. The soldier named Sunyi loved verbally sparring with the only scholar that would speak to the common soldiers, and today was no different as Nayu displayed his wit. He gave a mock growl towards Nayu, who merely laughed.

“Why do you speak to those people?” Zhen Ren cantered up behind Nayu, his fine silk raiments hanging from his body, dripping wealth. “They are curs, they are not on the same thinking level as us!”

“Because those curs are our comrades, and one of them might very well save my life in a fight,” Nayu rejoined, before turning to face the richer man. As he did, though, he caught sight of something behind them... something that made his heart race.

That is an enormous cloud of dust... Nayu thought. As Zhen Ren started to complain about Nayu’s actions again, the sorcerer raised his hand, his mind focuses on calculating the last time they’d seen Quan-Shi’s columns.

Three weeks since we left Quan-Shi’s columns... no... that’s not Quan-Shi... He squinted, shielding his eyes from the sun as he looked at the cloud on the plains below and behind them. And the cloud is equally large on either side, and the front looks to be facing us...

...someone... or someone’s army... is following us!

“What is it?” Zhen Ren asked, as Nayu turned to him.

“Ren, ride quickly to the front,” Nayu reined up his horse, “Tell General Wa-Feng that there’s a massive column of dust behind us! I think we’re being followed!”

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

*Shang = General.
** Guan = Sergeant.

The magical effects the scholars described are ‘War Scale Spells’ as described in Dragon magazine (I don’t know which edition for sure... Nayu’s player has the magazine right now, for obvious reasons). The spells are indeed, larger and more powerful, in return for extended caster times (I believe the two above have casting times of one minute each).