Post by Cao Zhi on Nov 10, 2009 7:55:26 GMT
Liu Han's Tale
Nostalgic Pillaging
Nostalgic Pillaging
Liu Han from Cheng Du was the latest addition to Cao Zhi's military advisors and commanders. He had been assigned to the young, foolish poet while he still a young age. Now it had been three short years after Cao Zhi rose to the challenge of subduing the vicious rebellions - which were soon met with a cruel retribution. Liu Han was with Cao Zhi on every campaign, every part, every step of Cao Zhi's military journey.
But one thing that hadn't ever been looked upon was Liu Han's historical background. He was once a rebel himself, and he pillaged the week and allowed the citizens to perish in the flames of his furious assault. And still to this warm day, the innocent faces of his victims will remain etched into his guilty body and soul.
------------------------------------------------------
The Sun rose upon the lush green fields of Ba Shu, Liu Han and his 300 strong rebels were thirsty. But not for water; gore, pain, destruction and blood. Their fangs desired blood.
"'Ey! Brother Liu Han, when do we get to slaughter some victims, eh?"
One piped up suddenly to Liu Han, his smile revealing his rotted teeth, and bleeding gums. His hair was in shambles and covered a completely destroyed eye. The other eye was disoriented - it's pupil was out of place which gave the other men an eerie feeling of him, and not to mess with him. His nose was crooked, as if something had hung a fish hook inside of it, and pulled with all of his might to ruin the man's nose. A scar was drawn all over his left cheek. This man was reckless, a fool who had lost all common sense, and enjoyed the smell of conflict. He was known as "The Joker" among the forces. He was also Liu Han's brother, although no one apart from Liu Han knew his name.
"Aye, brother Joker. We'll be setting off in a few minutes to find the nearest town we can prey upon..."
Liu Han said slyly, while grinning like a fox. The whole company yelled and laughed heartily; Liu Han gestured for The Joker to join him.
They travelled for about a mile before coming upon a small cottage with a vegetable patch filled with the most exotic fruits, vegetables and life you could only dream of. The Joker took the iniative, knocking hardly on the door, his scar on his cheek looking like it was grinning, while he yelled in a deep voice. A thin, pale woman opened the door, backing away quickly when she saw The Joker's disgusting face. Her hands trembled when she laid eyes on the weapon, and a small head popped out from the behind of the woman's purple robe.
"W-w-what d-do y-y-y-y-y-you w-w-w-wan-wan-want?"
She asked in a nervous nasily voice. The young child emerged from behind the woman, shuddering and looking extremely terrified of the two men intruding on his and his mother's seclusion from the world.
"Tell us the closest developed town NOW."
The woman hesitated, she knew that these men were going to pillage the town, but if she didn't... Her existence would be wiped off, and she would be leaving her dreams. The Joker, growing tired of the waiting, snatched up the child from behind the mother and placed him down on a bed. The child wailed, although nothing had yet happened to him. Looking at Liu Han, The Joker indicated that he was to do the deed. Liu Han stepped forwards, and drew his rusty dagger.
The dagger flashed into the woman's eyes, which were mortified and only fixed to the dagger. Liu Han smiled as he ran the dagger down the boy's arm, the boy's eyes watered and he really started to ball now. The crimson liquid seeped out at slow speeds, as if it had been in slow motion.
"NOO! STOP!"
The mother cried in despair, leaping towards Liu Han, coming short and ending up with dirt and dust all over her face. The Joker stood forward, and lifted the woman's head up, so that she looked right into his face. The woman tried to look away from The Joker's ugly semblance, but if she did, The Joker would most likely kill the woman.
"Stop, stop! We'll tell you! The closest town is Xin and it's north of this location. It's mostly undefended, but the Cheng Du patrol unit is usually around there."
The woman croaked weakly, and crying heavily. This was the ordeal that would ruin her life, she would never be the same, and she knew the boy would be scarred for life.
The Joker and Liu Han left the hut swiftly because of all the noise, and banged the door shut making even more of a clatter. Then they rode on horse back so that they could return to their rebels, who were still thirsty for suffering. Most of them had bloodied faces - it appeared that some of them had gone hunting for livestock in the area. Liu Han missed the taste of meat, recently all he had to eat was vegetables, so that his brothers could eat the meat.
"BROTHERS! WE HAVE FOUND A TOWN TO PREY ON!"
The whole company burst into cheering and shouting, chattering and laughing. The whole raiding unit moved out towards the peaceful town of Xin which would soon be the worst bloodbathed town in Ba Shu.
Arriving on the outskirts of the town at about 12.30PM, there wasn't any gates, just a wall and a sort of gate, but without the doors. This town would be much easier than iniatially thought. The whole rebel army was excited. This was their fast chance of battle in about 2 weeks - which for them was far too long. Their stomach's had butterflies trapped inside of them, the army thinking that they were too rusty to do battle, even though they were only against peasants who didn't know any discipline with weapons.
"Brothers, draw your weapons!"
The Joker bellowed, and simultaneously, and almost immediately hundreds of sharp weapons were drawn. The spears glinted in the broad sun light, the bows strung and dangerous, the swords ready to taste the feeling of conflict and blood. They were all ready to pillage and plunder this town.
"CHARGE!"
The rebels screamed. By now, the citizens of the town noticed the black cloud looming towards them. The men of the city, trembling, grabbed the closest weapon they could get, mostly farming tools and stood, ready to be knocked away by the waves. Those brave men were cut into ribbons, the rebels slashing their weapons in halves and striking them with their spears. Although they didn't need to, the rebels killed the downed men that were alive. They sliced body parts off and hacked them into the tiniest pieces so that all that was there was the red liquid, slit the men's throats which emitted the most blood of all, and carving the men's bodies so that they wouldn't even be recognisable. That and with the constant fire of arrows, it was madness, pure and unadularated. It was the bloodiest bloodbath Liu Han had ever seen - and he was enjoying it. He had stabbed several people behind their backs, and had launched several arrows onto the pitiful peasants. He loved being malicious.
That, coupled with the raiding of people's houses made this the worst chaos this area had ever seen. The rebel's kicked door open, slayed the innocent women and children after seeing their innocent faces and laughing, then looted all of the gold they could find. Then they rinsed and repeated this horrendous process in the next house. They even broke into the town leader's house. The town leader was curled up, naked in a corner. He was frightened to death. What could have mortified him, the rebels didn't know, but they snatched every piece of gold they could find, and took turned stabbing the town leader - who made a faint whinney like a horse each time he was stabbed.
What could the peasant men do? Nothing. They were weak, stupid and had no experience with the weapon. At last they gave up and ran for it, trying to exit from the other side of the town, some had arrows wedged in their legs, some in their arms - one even had on in his chest!
But then. The white knights came riding in, shining in their armour. They would be the saviours. At their head, was their commander, of course. The man raised his sword, and the men charged - most of them cavalry. The swordsmen tried to scuttle behind the spearmen so that they would be safe from a relentless assault, but it was useless. The cavalry charged right into them, before they were even half way towards the spearmen. The Cheng Du army fought as viciously and dirty as the rebels. This time the rebels were cut into ribbons, they didn't even kill one of those riders. Liu Han looked away, he wouldn't be able to watch. The Joker patted him on the shoulder. The spearmen fared much better, especially with the support of the archers, however they too were soon routed mercilessly but with a good fight. A lot of their cavalry were slain in the small skirmish. The men who gathered the loot, which was A LOT of gold, looked at Liu Han, awaiting their orders solemnly.
"Take the gold. Run as quickly as you can, take my horse, I will follow you as soon as I'm done here."
Liu Han ordered, quite quietly this time. One of the men opened their mouth to protest.
"GO!"
The 6 or so men grabbed the gold with their grubby hands and rode off without looking back, yet they wanted to. They couldn't, it would break the men's resolve, and cause them the worst tears - and these men don't cry.
The white wall approached the archers, who tried to hammer it down using their arrows - but they too were engulfed under the momentum of this wall. Now the only men alive were Liu Han and The Joker. Liu Han looked at The Joker with a faint glisten in his eye implying that they should run. The Joker replied by snarling like a wounded lion. It would hurt his pride if he ran. The cavalry seemed to have taken a break from assaulting the rebels - as idiotic as it sounded.
"Run."
The Joker grunted sadly.
"But I can't leave you! You'll die!"
Liu Han protested with a hint of rage in his voice. There was no way he would leave his brother, he was the only thing that kept Liu Han alive. He had let all his other brothers and sisters die in that flame - he wouldn't let his brother die now.
"RUN!"
Screamed The Joker at the top of his lungs, drawing his knife and placing it on Liu Han's neck. The cavalry seemed to be interesting - this looked like a weird sort of drama and they were thoroughly enjoying the performance. Liu Han didn't reply, all he did was look The Joker directly in the eye with his own teary eye. It told The Joker a story. A story that had happened long ago - something that had killed both of the meaning of their lives.
"You're the only one who has a life worth living! I don't have anything to live for, so I'm telling you, run."
The Joker starting to wail. The tears from Liu Han infected him too - and for the first time in years, Liu Han saw his brother cry.
"BROTHER! You can't ask me to do something so preposterous!"
"I CAN."
Howled The Joker, pressing the knife even harder to Liu Han's neck. Liu Han could now feel that his brother was serious - very serious.
"Leave. I disown you."
"But-"
"WHO ARE YOU? I DON'T KNOW ANYONE, I HAVE NO BROTHER. I HAVE NO BROTHER!"
The words sank deep into Liu Han, especially "I HAVE NO BROTHER." That was merely The Joker expressing his care, but Liu Han couldn't help but feel the agony of being disowned. What would he do now?
He had been disowned, he had nobody now. Pulling away from The Joker's grip, Liu Han sprinted in the direction of the way the rebels had come in, trying to escape the city. The cavalry, noticing one of the people they wanted dead escaping, they stopped their laughing at the drama and pursued Liu Han, although The Joker was in their way. His frown had been replaced with a malicious grin, his solemn personality was excited about the fight. He would be remembered for this act of defiance - he would be etched into the stones of history.
Liu Han had mounted The Joker's horse and began to ride away, although hesitating for a few minutes, watching the fight. The cavalry seemed to be fixed onto killing The Joker, they were quite the incompetent fools. The Joker was holding his own, when he suddenly howled;
"COME, FOOLS, LIU BA WILL SEND YOU TO YOUR GRAVES!"
He laughed viciously. Liu Han smiled, his brother would be fine - he would be sent to his grave in the way he wanted. The thing that really astounded Liu Han though, was the fact that his brother actually referred to himself by his own name, not The Joker, but his name! He was finally proud of his family name - which proved that he was ready to journey to the land of the dead, to live with his family. And with that Liu Han rode off to find the men with the gold he desperately needed.
---------------------------------
He caught up with the men in about an hours worth of riding, they were sitting down next to the 2 chests of gold.
"What happened to The Joker?"
One asked suspiciously, as Liu Han approached them quite casually.
"He died."
Liu Han replied, adding a hint of sadness, although he wasn't really sad - his brother would finally be at peace. The men went into a state of confusion, crying, getting angry at Liu Han for not saving him and then digging their nails in their nexks trying to find a solution. In all this disarray, Liu Han picked up his knife, and slit all five of the men's throught with relative ease. They all dropped to the ground, slightly sprawled.
Liu Han opened the chest.
"This will do."
