Romance of the Four Kingdoms

Chapter 39

In the castle resided the loyal soldiers of Liu Bei who were packing up to leave.

'Has our lord already gone?' One officer asked another as he was carrying a box to a cart.

'Yes Lord Liu Bei has already fled along with the peasants. These are the last of the supplies. Once they've retreated, only then we can evacuate the castle of our men.' The other officer replies. The officer who initiated the conversation looks around the castle square, seeing the panic of the soldiers inside the castle as they hurry the evacuation, running all around the place and sighs.

'I never expected Lu Bu to attack us so soon.'

'Neither did we, however he is just merely a beast lashing out at everyone. He even dares to make it seem that our lord betrayed him, the nerve of that man!' He shakes his fist with anger.

'I know what you mean, still though this alliance with Cao Cao must give him at least some pause. Also without the draw bridge down his forces won't be able to infiltrate the castle in time.' All of a sudden the castles east gates open up to reveal a few soldiers sprinting towards the castle. Clearly afraid of their lives. The gates quickly shut behind them as they look around all over trying to find the exit.

The officers come towards one of them and grabs a hold of their shoulders.

'Steady on soldier, steady on. What's going on? Why are you away from your post?' He asks, curious as to why the soldiers seem to be running away from someone...or something.

'Th-the garrison got overrun.' The officers and the soldiers looked at him in total shock. Overrun? How? All of Lu Bu's forces were occupied by the front gates...weren't they?

'How, what happened soldier!?' The other officer demanded to know. The soldier couldn't stop shaking as he relives the experience.

'It was ok at first, we haven't heard anything from the first garrison so we thought everything was fine. All of a sudden the gates were destroyed by flying rocks. The enemy though small were able to eviscerate us! We weren't prepared for them at all, we thought we would have some sort of warning before the serpent arrived!' The soldiers starts to cower.

'The serpent?'

'Hmm I do recall some mention of a woman in Lu Bu's forces known as the serpent. Is that the one you're referring to?'

'Y-yes that very one. Her forces broke down the gates with a catapult, we didn't stand a chance.'

'Wait what about the reinforcements? Cao Cao's flanking cavalry force?'

'I don't know, we heard the sound of horses riding past our garrison before they attacked but that was all we heard, I can only imagine they didn't make it.'

'That's impossible there was no way they could've prepared for the cavalry in time.'

'It doesn't matter! If we stay here we're all going to suffer the same fate.' He yells out, one of the officers punches him in the face, knocking him down to the ground.

'That's enough soldier! You forget what you are, you're a soldier of lord Liu Bei. No matter who our opponent is, we must hold the line. If we do not our lord will surely be captured and slain, along with our dreams of a new world, is that what you want!?' He questioned everyone around him who shake their heads silently.

'Of course not, I know you are all frightened of our situation. But we cannot give up! Lord Liu Bei wouldn't give up on us, so we can't give up on him.' The officer begins to draw attention as several soldiers gather around him as he continued his rather inspiring speech.