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====Lieutenant Hong Yu, the Crimson Lance (Level 2 General)==== | ====Lieutenant Hong Yu, the Crimson Lance (Level 2 General)==== | ||
− | The leader of the Five Lances, Niu Pa's self-proclaimed bodyguards. A hot-blooded idealist, | + | The leader of the Five Lances, Niu Pa's self-proclaimed bodyguards. A hot-blooded idealist, Chi Qiang is a strong believer in honor and loyalty. |
====Lieutenant Lan Yu, the Azure Lance (Level 2 General)==== | ====Lieutenant Lan Yu, the Azure Lance (Level 2 General)==== | ||
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'''Siblings:''' | '''Siblings:''' | ||
− | *Niu | + | *Niu Zhangnǚ, Biggest Sister, Age 16 |
** A tomboy who wishes she were born a man. Competitive with her big brother but has a girly interior. | ** A tomboy who wishes she were born a man. Competitive with her big brother but has a girly interior. | ||
− | *Niu | + | *Niu Cinǚ, Bigger Sister #2, Age 13 |
** Responsible and reserved, she secretly has a crush on her big brother. | ** Responsible and reserved, she secretly has a crush on her big brother. | ||
− | *Niu | + | *Niu Sannǚ, Big Sister #3, Age 11 |
− | ** A delinquent daughter who | + | ** A delinquent daughter who nevertheless dotes on her little sisters. Jealous of Niu for "abandoning them". |
− | *Niu | + | *Niu Yufan, Twin Sister 1, Age 8 |
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister. | ** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister. | ||
− | *Niu | + | *Niu Yulan, Twin Sister 2, Age 8 |
** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister. | ** Ridiculously adorable and playful, pranks people by disguising herself as her sister. | ||
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"Big Brother, it is good to meet you," Niu says, offering a toast. "Please advise your Second Brother in the way he should go." | "Big Brother, it is good to meet you," Niu says, offering a toast. "Please advise your Second Brother in the way he should go." | ||
− | === | + | ===Five Lances Around The Fire=== |
− | |||
− | + | The boy is barely fifteen, yet he's clothed in mail and carrying a spear, both of which seem too large for him. He squints in the twilight, trying to make out which of the cookfires burning in the distance he should be heading to. His lads had told him that Lord Niu's Five Lances (as they styled themselves) were waiting for him, but as he picks his way through the soldiers talking and laughing as they wait for their dinner to cook, he realises that he has very little idea what these Five Lances are supposed to look like. | |
− | + | ''And I'm supposed to be working with them,'' he thinks. | |
− | + | Suddenly, a voice interrupts his introspection. | |
− | + | "Hey, kid," a man calls from off to the side. "You wouldn't happen to be the new lieutenant, would you?" | |
− | + | The speaker is a tall, lithe man in dark clothing and a terribly impractical-looking black domino mask. The boy almost doesn't see him at first; he seems positioned in just the right way to blend into the shadows and the bark of the tree he's leaning against. In comparison, the four others seated around the nearby fire stand out a lot more than he does. There's two similar-looking fellows with red and blue variations on the same uniform pattern, while a maternal-looking woman with a pink ribbon in her hair tends the stewpot suspended over the flams. Beside her, a gigantic fellow in a yellowish-orange robe slowly turns the chickens spitted by the fire so they don't get charred. | |
− | + | The boy's belly growls as he catches a whiff of the delicious scent rising off the pot (braised pork?), and the boy is suddenly aware that he hasn't had a good meal all day. He'd been meaning to eat with his buddies after this, but- | |
− | " | + | "My, you certainly sound hungry," Pink Ribbon smiles. "Won't you join us for dinner?" |
− | + | "Lord Niu appreciates the value of a good meal, so we've got some left over for unexpected guests," Black Mask says. | |
− | + | The boy bites his lip. On the one hand, he should be more independent, but on the other, they ''were'' offering... | |
− | "I... | + | "I'm Shao Xia," he says as he sits down by the fire with them. Yellow Robe hands him a wooden bowl half-full with a rich soup. In the light of the flame, he can make out dumplings floating within. |
− | " | + | "Shao Xia... wait. Isn't that the lieutenant of 8th Company?" Red Plume asks. "We were looking for you, but you weren't in! Well, this saves us a lot of trouble. I'm Yu Hong." |
− | " | + | "Yu Lan," his palette-swapped twin says. |
− | " | + | "Tao Shou," replies Pink Ribbon. |
− | + | "Hei Zhao. And that's Huang Pao. He doesn't speak much." | |
− | + | The black-masked man indicates the silent giant, who nods benignly to Shao Xia in between mouthfuls of chicken leg. Shao Xia looks slowly around at them, taking in their features. "I've heard of you," he replies at last. "You're Lord Niu's direct subordinates, right?" | |
− | " | + | "That's right," Hong grins. "Though we're better known as the Five Lances -" |
− | + | "We're not," Lan snaps. Hong makes a face and continues. | |
− | + | "So yeah, we're the Five Lances; sworn to a bond of brotherhood, and service to the General of Iron Might!" | |
− | + | Lan rolls his eyes, but doesn't say anything. At least, not to Hong. He turns to Shao Xia instead. | |
− | + | "You ''do'' know why you're here, right?" the Blue Lance says to him. | |
− | + | The teenager freezes. He doesn't, actually. | |
− | " | + | "...er, no?" he ventures, looking over the rim of his bowl like a hunted animal. |
− | " | + | "Lan, stop being a prick," Hei says from his corner. "Kid, we heard the Ox General gained another follower, and that he was a commander, despite being pretty young. We wanted to see what kind of man you were. Get to know our future colleagues, that sort of thing." |
− | + | Shao relaxes - somewhat. At least now he knows why he was summoned, but if he's to receive the judgement of his peers... well, you could hardly blame anyone for being a bit on edge, right? That said, the soup tastes good and the dumplings are firm and fresh, so that helps him relax a little. | |
− | " | + | "Why don't you tell us a little about yourself?" Hei continues. He sounds like a kindly uncle, even though he can't be more than ten years older than Shao himself. Tao smiles to him from the other side of the pot, and Shao sighs, before putting the bowl down. |
− | + | "Well, my name is Shao Xia, and, uh, I came from the village of Jixiang, just down by the river. Our village was small and when the bandits came after the war, we couldn't defend ourselves. Most of the men were killed and the women and children were carried off, including myself. They were planning to do horrible things to us, and they would have succeeded, if not for the General and his men. He freed us, but he couldn't take us back to our village, because the bandits had already burned it down." | |
− | + | Shao lowers his face, but his expression doesn't change as he continues. | |
− | " | + | "But you know, the General is amazing. When he heard our homes were burned down, he ordered a company of engineers and soldiers to come help us rebuild. He even exempted us from the tax because we had nothing to give. And that's when I realised something; the General had given our lives back to us. Could I do anything less than return it to his keeping? I wasn't the only one either; a few of the older kids and myself wanted to go into the General's service, and as we travelled toward Xi He, we met more and more boys and girls, most of them orphans from the war, who had nowhere else to go and nobody to turn to. Some of them we sent to Jixiang village, but more of them decided to join us, and so when we reached Xi He and presented ourself to Captain Zhang, we were about a hundred strong, young but eager, and ready to serve." |
− | " | + | "Captain Sun, Captain Zhang and even General Niu didn't want to take us on at first, because we were "too young". But... well, most of us had nowhere to go. And they were all looking up to me. So I asked him to take us on and in the end, he accepted us into his service. And... that's how I - how we got here, I guess." |
− | + | Hong laughs from the side. | |
− | " | + | "Marvelous! Truly a proud display of hot-blooded youth. Comrade Shao, I am pleased to call you my brother!" |
− | + | His actual brother grimaces, but he's been nodding at Shao's words since he started, and there is no malice directed at the younger man on his face. Hong pays him no heed, and carries on. | |
− | + | "I suppose it's only fair that we share our side of the tale as well." | |
− | + | Hong leans forward, the excitement on his face highlighted the flickering of the cookfire. | |
− | " | + | "My brother Lan and I were originally from the General's village. We were there when he asked to go along with the recruiters, but we didn't follow because our parents were sick and they needed us to help tend the fields. But we heard the stories; and what stories they were! How he cowed an army of five thousand at the river, and swept aside the Yellow Turbans with a freshly uprooted tree. How a dozen poisoned knives struck him in the night before the siege of Ping Yuan, and how he pulled them all out and threw them back at the defenders before tearing the walls down with his bare hands." |
− | " | + | Lan clucks in disapproval as Hong laughs at the bewildered expression of Shao's face. "Don't mock him, Hong. My brother exaggerates, though not by much; it is true that Lord Niu was instrumental in breaching the gates of Ping Yuan and he was the one who not only subdued Captain Sun when he was a bandit, but persuaded him to serve loyally and render service to the throne by drawing the defenders from Ye Ford. Without him, the San Jie could not have taken Bei Ye with a tenth of the number of the defenders." |
− | " | + | "So anyway," Hong continues. "When he returned, saying that he was going to move his family to Xi He and build a manor house for them there... we thought that this time, now that we had the chance, we should go along with him, right? Sometimes..." |
− | + | His voice trails off. | |
− | " | + | "Sometimes I think that if I'd just followed Rouyuan when he first left the village, life might have been different for us. So I decided that I was going to make a difference here and now, and go with him!" |
− | " | + | "And of course, ''someone'' has to keep this blockhead out of trouble," Lan adds testily. Then he glances over to Tao, who's scooping soup for them, and his irritation fades. She picks up on his look, and smiles to Shao Xia. |
− | + | "I suppose it's my turn, then? Well... I was from a village myself, Fengtian Village. My husband was conscripted at the start of the war, to fight the Yellow Turbans. He said he'd be back by fall." | |
− | + | She smiles sadly. | |
− | "I' | + | "That didn't happen. Instead, the recruiters came for more men, and this time they took my two older boys with them. They were about the same age is Hong and Lan... and didn't come back either. And while I was praying that they'd come home, my baby daughter passed away from a fever. Finally, when the recruiters came to get more men from the village, I decided to volunteer. After all, the Yellow Turbans had taken the rest of my family; why not me as well? The army recruiters didn't want me at first, because I was a woman, but then I showed them I could fight, and they let me join up." |
− | + | Tao starts handing out the bowls of soup, still with that forlorn expression on her face. | |
− | " | + | "I lived for my family, and when it was gone, I thought I could find another one in the army. So I served for years, and through all of them I saw people of all sorts, from little babies to grizzled old men, take up arms and fight against each other. My comrades, mostly young men like you, were little more than desperate farmers, killed by other desperate farmers who happened to be standing on the other side. It seemed so... so pointless. This was what my husbands and sons had died for? But then one day, I met Lord Niu, and everything changed." |
− | She | + | She looks Shao in the eye as she serves him another bowl of soup. |
− | " | + | "You must understand; nobody else I know is like the General. He is as fearsome as any beast in battle and he can break down castle gates by himself... but he is the kindest, gentlest soul I have ever met, and every fiber of his being is devoted to caring for the people and the the land. In him... I saw a hint of what might have led my family to go to certain death without fear, and I realised that here was something - ''someone'' - I could truly live for. So I follow Lord Niu, and it is my hope that when I finally meet my family again, I can say that I served him to my last breath." |
− | + | Shao Xia doesn't know how to respond to this. He's quite glad when Hei finally speaks up. | |
− | "So, | + | "My story's hardly as noble as theirs. Well... truth to be told, I used to be a thief. I like to think that I didn't really hurt people doing what I did, because I always stole from the rich, but after a while they got wise to my tricks, and I realised that they were too difficult to rob. So I went for easier prey - merchants, then commoners, then farmers." |
− | + | He hangs his head in shame. | |
− | + | "I used to think that I wasn't really harming people, I'd just take a handful of rice here and a couple of potatoes there, maybe help myself to an egg or two. But then one day, after pinching a couple of sweet potatoes, I saw the couple I robbed give up their meal to feed their son, and that was when it all came together for me, you know? I was a bad person, and I'd done this to them. So... I gave myself up to the constables. I knew the punishment for thievery would be severe, especially since the local governor was being harsh on theft, but I didn't care. I knew I deserved it. So to begin with, I was locked up in a cangue and made to stand in the middle of the street for a week without food. It was halfway during my third day when Lord Niu saw me. I don't think he'd ever seen someone in a cangue before, so he asked about my condition and seemed surprised when he heard the multitude of crimes that I'd confessed to. When he came to me again, I thought he was going to scorn me. Instead, he had me released... on the condition that I serve with him on the battlefield." | |
− | + | Hei pauses to savor his dumplings. They were really very good. | |
− | " | + | "At first I thought I'd just become spear fodder in a penal battalion. That was fine by me. But then I reaised that Lord Niu didn't believe in penal battalions, or that anyone was worth less or more than others. One time, during the campaign at Bei Ye, I got stuck pretty bad, and I thought I was done for. But he was nearby, and he got me out of harm's way, even though it meant slowing himself down and taking an extra hit or two. I asked him if I, a criminal, was really worth getting hurt for, and he replied that as far as he was concerned, I was his comrade, and all comrades were worth fighting for. And that's what made me believe." |
− | + | The ex-thief smiles sadly; an expression curiously similar to Tao's. But then it lights up, and he looks to Shao with a chuckle. | |
− | " | + | "Before, I used to think that I was nothing but a thief. But after meeting Lord Niu, That changed too. Lord Niu believed in me. I guess... I've got to live up to his faith, right? And maybe in the process, I can become a good person someday..." |
− | + | His voice trails off, but Shao Xia doesn't even have time to glance to Huang Pao before Hei speaks up again. | |
− | " | + | "And, ah, Huang Pao doesn't have much of a story. Supposedly he only speaks to Lord Niu, and sometimes Captain Sun and his brother. But apart from that..." |
− | + | Huang Pao puts a finger to his lips, pantomiming silence. There's a playful wink on his face. | |
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