The Bow and the Arrow

The grassy plains seem to stretch for miles as a lone warrior treks across the fields to reach Jianye, the capital of Wu and home of the remnants of the Sun family. She had traveled many miles to reach this city in order to seek refugee from her own kingdom, a kingdom she no longer recognized from her youth, a kingdom that was slowly collapsing around her. Her father would have been ashamed to see the noble army he once served slowly deteriorate into nothing more than a few men with no goals, no strength, no means to fight with aside from their weapons and their pride. The kingdom of Wei is no longer a kingdom-it is a dead man’s crushed dream.

Zhang Hua served loyally under the Cao family, just as her father had for many years before she came of age to serve under the Wei banner, but now most of the men of Wei she came to know and adore were gone. Many of the great men from her childhood had vanished including the Xiahous and the noble Caos she served under for a handful of years. After Cao Cao’s death in battle, both Hua and her father sensed the collapse of Wei was near. Luckily, he did not live long enough to see it. He passed away from illness two years after Cao Pi took control of the army and, just as they predicted, the kingdom began to crumble. The noble men who once served Cao Cao began vanishing in battle or in the night and the only one that kept Hua herself from leaving was merely coming of age himself.

Xiahou Ba constantly reminded her to stay strong, that their people would rise to power and that the fighting would not be as pointless as it seemed. She believed him because there was no one else for her to believe and she did not want to let that go. She never let go of that hope for the longest time until Sima Yi, Wei’s newly recruited strategist, turned traitor and started a new kingdom. Hua knew then that Wei stood no chance and fled in the night, going to the only kingdom she knew that still had its original morals at heart, Wu. She walked many miles to reach the capital, not wanting to risk stealing one of the horses and being caught by one of the guards. She had come this far now and she was not about to stop now, nothing would get in her way. She would reach the city at all costs.

Hua halts, for the first time during her journey, when she hears an arrow fly by her that just barely nicks the bit of her arm not protected by her armor. She focuses her vision and spots a patrol of guards being led by a woman, noting that they are marching straight towards her. She quickly arms herself with her bow and notches back an arrow, prepared to release it at the first sign of conflict. The woman orders the guards to halt then slowly approaches herself. The full moon gives Hua plenty of light to identify the woman as she comes closer and realizes it is Shangxiang, the daughter of the Sun family.

“Why is she out here on patrol? Isn’t that what those loyal warriors that serve her family are for?” Hua ponders in the back of her mind, maintaining her stone-faced facade one of the only traits of her father she held onto.

Shangxiang stops a few feet away, recognizing the glow in the warrior’s emerald green eye looking back at her, the other covered by an eye patch matching the girl’s night black hair and has been worn for many years now. She knows this girl very well after studying her tactics and past battles so she could face her on her own on the battlefield one day. She is a girl so skilled in the ways of combat, brandishing her twin axes with her lunar bow mounted on her back to look like a pair of angelic wings. Hua’s fighting style is nothing less of a graceful dance from Shangxiang's few times observing her in battle but that also made her a very deadly opponent to deal with, much like her father once was.

Shangxiang would normally allow her brother to send someone else to investigate a strange warrior approaching from the northwest but when she heard the description of the intruder, she instinctively volunteered and set out to face her with the handful of guards on patrol that night even though Quan begged her to remain at the palace. She asked herself why a noble warrior of Wei like Hua was wandering in her kingdom’s territory alone but she doubted it was to harm them. Hua was playing defensive. If she meant to do harm, she would have done so already but the Sun girl would not put her guard down so easily. She had to be sure.

“What are you doing here, Tingjian?” Shangxiang asks. “You’re a bit far from home.”

“I no longer call Wei my home.” Hua states, her eyes not diverting from the woman before her. “It’s no longer the kingdom I was raised in, it’s doomed to fall and I wish not to die off with it.”

“So you’ve fled from Wei?”

“As dishonorable as it may seem, yes.”

“Then why come here?” Shangxiang inquires. “Why not go to Shu? Surely they would be ready to accept someone of your skill with such delicate knowledge that I know you have.”

“Shu is just as Wei is.” Hua argues. “Neither kingdom can stand on their morals without instability rippling through its foundation. I’ve come here because your kingdom is the only one that still has its morals at heart and the men that started here have never left you except in death. You remain loyal to each other and your cause, your army is the true definition of a kingdom built upon a solid foundation and I wish to become part of it.”

“You wish to join Wu?” Shangxiang gasps, Hua simply nods in response. “How do we know this is not some kind of trick?”

“Do I seem like a warrior that would lie about her loyalties?” Hua asks.

“No but I know you’re just as loyal to your kingdom as your father was,” Shangxiang states “so I can’t be sure if your story is true.”

“Then fight me...”

“What?”

“You heard me...” Hua tosses her bow aside and arms herself with her twin axes. “Fight me. No bows, no allies, simply the two of us. If you win, I’ll leave your land and never return. If I win, I’ll return with you to your kingdom and pledge my loyalty to your brother and your kingdom without hesitation.” She looks up with the sternest of stares that Shangxiang has ever seen from the younger warrior. She is serious. “Do we have a deal?”

Shangxiang tosses her bow to one of the guards behind her then arms herself with her chakrams. “Alright, it’s a deal.”

“Then prepare yourself, Gongyao Ji. I won’t go easy on you.”

“Neither shall I with you.”

Hua charges and swings but her axes are blocked by one of Shangxiang’s chakrams while the other is swung at her feet. She jumps and spins, swinging one axe at Shangxiang while the other catches one of the Sun’s hoops. Shangxiang barely dodges the edge of the free axe but is pulled forward as she tries to jump back, causing her to trip and lose one of her chakrams. She rolls to her feet and turns and is just barely able to side step one of Hua’s axes as she tries to stab her with the bladed tip. She catches the axe with her hoop and kicks Hua away then grabs it and sticks the sharp side of the head into the ground. She turns to Hua and ducks as her other chakram flies at her. She is just barely able to grab it after it flies over her then turns to block Hua as the warrior lunges at her.

“You’ve gotten better since we last met.” Hua grunts as Shangxiang pushes her back.

“I must be ready to protect my family from anything that will bring harm to them at all costs.” Shangxiang states as she prepares for another charging attack. “Did you not do the same while you served under Cao Cao?”

“Of course I did, not only to protect my comrades but also to protect my father in battle.” Hua charges and swings at Shangxiang but her attack is blocked. She grabs her previously lost axe and ducks as Shangxiang swings one of her chakrams at her then jumps back when the other tries to strike down at her, resulting in Shangxiang's chakrams becoming trapped in the ground.

“Funny, your kingdom may have been Wei but your loyalty has always been to your father, hasn’t it?” Shangxiang inquires as she tries to free her chakrams. “After Lu Bu’s defeat at Cao Cao’s hands, you willingly followed you father without any hesitation. I can understand why a child wants to remain loyal to their parents but I never understood why you remained with Wei after his death.” She ducks as Hua tries to swing at her, rolling between her hoops to dodge another attack then kicking Hua in the back, sending the girl flying a few feet away. “Why did you stay when you knew Wei would eventually fall under Cao Pi’s reign?”

Hua pushes herself to her feet, wiping away blood leaking from her busted lip as she turns to Shangxiang. “I stayed because it’s what my father would’ve wanted me to do.” She charges and tries to strike at the Sun again but misses and knocks one of the chakrams loose. “My father died a warrior of Wei. I thought it only suitable that I follow in his footsteps to the bitter end.”

“What changed then?” Shangxiang asks. She rolls to dodge another of Hua’s attacks and grabs her still-trapped chakram, managing to pull it loose as she rolls away. She rolls to her feet and hurries to retrieve the other then turns in time to block Hua’s attack and push back into a stalemate. “If dying as a warrior of Wei seemed right to you before, then why did you flee from Wei to join us?”

“Because the Wei I once knew, the Wei my father fought and died for perished with Cao Cao.” Hua growls, pushing Shangxiang back then jumping back to create distance between herself and the Sun. “The Wei I grew up in, the men that taught me what being a warrior truly was, the ones that were always there for me and never turned their backs on me all those years, they were gone long before Cao Pi took control. They started disappearing in battle, dying or fleeing, never to return home. They slowly began to dwindle away, they were losing faith in our cause and many more were dying because of it. I knew that from the start and I wasn’t about to end up another casualty under the name of a dying kingdom, brave men that never deserve such a fate.” She is just barely able to block an attack from Shangxiang and is forced to one knee as she continues. “When Sima Yi turned traitor on us, more of our men began disappearing in battle or into the night. Wei was rotting away from the inside and my father would’ve wanted better for me, so I ran off in the night and have been traveling on foot since.”

Hua drops her axes and Shangxiang trips, just barely avoiding nicking Hua’s exposed neck as the other's emerald gaze falls to the ground before her. “I’ve been slowly draining since and the reason for it is clear...I truly have nothing left in this land. My comrades are gone, my home is fading away, and the only family I ever truly had in my life is dead. How is a warrior to fight on when there seems to be nothing to fight for? How can anyone truly fight when they have no clear purpose to fight?” She sighs heavily as she lowers her head. “You may as well kill me. I’m of no use to anyone.”

“That’s not true.” Shangxiang states as she drops her chakrams, lowering herself to her knees. “You have something to fight for. You just couldn’t see it through the smoky clouds of disaster surrounding you.” She gently coaxes the other to look at her and notices the shimmer of tears in the emerald eye of the other. “I was in the same position as you after my father was killed in battle long ago. I thought I no longer had a purpose as a warrior but my brothers were able to talk some sense into me. They told me that even if our kingdom lost its purpose, we would never lose a reason to fight because of our father.” Hua’s gaze shifts to focus the Sun girl. “A child always fights to live on because it’s what their parents’ desire even after they pass on. That was the motivation that pushed me through every battle, when all else failed, it was the only goal that kept me going. I knew that as long as I fought to survive for the next battle, to return home safely with my brothers, I would never let my father down. It’s the same with you as well, Tingjian.” Shangxiang gently wipes a stray tear from Hua’s cheek as she continues. “Your father would want you to live on and persevere, no matter what may come your way. No matter who you serve under or what morals you fight for, you will always have an eternal reason to fight when no other grants you hope in a dire situation: to live on for your father.”

Hua smiles sadly then begins to softly sob, allowing Shangxiang to embrace her as she cries into her shoulder. “I just...I miss him so much.” She whimpers.

“I know you do.” Shangxiang murmurs as she cradles the wild head of night black, her own vision becoming cloudy with tears. “It's always hard to lose a parent, he was the only one you had your entire life and that's all the more reason for you to continue fighting. He raised you the best he could on his own so you could have a successful career and live a wonderful life, even after he's gone.” She arms tighten around the younger girl when she sobs violently into her shoulder “I'm sure my brother will be willing to include you in our forces. Not as a fellow warrior but as a new member of the family.” She gathers her chakrams and pushes herself to her feet, gripping her chakrams in one hand as she extends the other to Hua. “Come on, he’ll be waiting for both of us to return.”