Legacy

Words marked with an asterisk* are explained at the bottom of the section. As much as I have tried to make this story historically acurrate, there are probably some mistakes, and I apologise. Please feel free to correct me in the comments, and I'll look into it.

Legacy - Part One

  A quick leap into the air, followed by a smart roundhouse kick. A solid impact on his head, and he crashed to the ground. Land, turn, and a double punch, one to the stomach, another to the head. A man came charging at her. A solid swipe from an elbow. The attacker was on the ground, one of the three men hunched in the dust in pain. The victor stood in the centre, proud, a little out of breath, dressed in a man’s warrior clothes.

“Think again before you attack gōng* Ziang,” the victor cried.

A nod to one of the 10 young men surrounding the scene, and three of them rushed in to bear off the groaning men. Gōng Ziang stood shocked and pale. The three bandits had attacked him just outside his own property for the money he had on him. He was only walking across the road, and hadn’t felt the need to take any of his servants with him. Suddenly, this figure had appeared, seemingly from nowhere, wearing the symbol of the great ancestral family of Zheng on their tunic. They were quickly followed by what appeared to be an entire company, but the fight had been all but won by that solitary figure.

“Who are you?” the middle aged man asked shakily.

The girl, as her figure revealed, turned to him and removed her leather helmet. Dark brown hair tumbled out to mid-way down her back, a composed look on her face. But it was an all but unknown face; a Western face. His saviour was a foreign woman. No, a girl, not older than 16.

“I’m King Zheng of Quin’s Warrior Princess.”

*gōng means “duke”

*

  Inside Ziang’s grand house, with the stone walls hung with tapestries and a high, tiled roof, the Warrior Princess and her company were seated in the great hall, drinking green tea and served slices of peaches by his servants. Ziang, recovered from his shock, was now overwhelmed with curiosity. He was an intelligent, rich, well-renowned man, and therefore owed his life and estate to the girl who had saved him. She had told him that her name was Zhao Ying*, though he guessed that this couldn’t have been her original name. Her heritage told him that. But that she was the Warrior Princess was interesting. King Zheng of Quin’s Warrior Princess was fast becoming a military legend and her title had reached every town, despite, if the stories were true, having come to the State of Qin as a slave. But they were only stories as far as Ziang knew. And he wished to know the truth.

“My dear friend,” he said, addressing Ying. “Today, I owe you my life. I cannot thank you enough. But friend, your name is so well known and yet we know nothing about you. Please, if you will, tell us about yourself. I ask only out of curiosity and for no other motive.”

Ying adjusted her seat, looked around and bowed her head. So the time had come. She would have to relive it again. She uttered a barely audible sigh, lifted her head, and began.

“I was born, and lived happily in a land far, far away from here, in a land called Britannia. I had five siblings. All but one was older than me. I lived in a small village on a river, close to the sea. We grew food, and went up the river to exchange it for weapons, clothes and other items. One day, strong, brutal men came to our town. They tried to bargain with the men of the town to give us, the women and children, to them. The foreigners offered them money and clothes, but the men refused. Then the foreign men became angry. They had dark hair, and long, loose tunics, from under which they drew swords, and struck the men of the village. Then they came for the women and children. Some of the villagers began to fight. I saw my two oldest brother’s pick up sticks to fight the foreigners, but my brothers were cut down. My mother saw them die, and screamed. She rushed forward to my brothers, but they were killed before she got there. The same man killed my mother. I ran back into our hut, picked up my baby brother, John, and hid. But one of the men saw me enter the hut, and came after me. I kicked and punched the foreign man, until he bent over in pain. My oldest brothers had taught me to fight like they did. I picked up my John as another foreign man came in. He caught me and John, and dragged us outside. Nearly everyone else was dead. Some were moaning in pain. I walked past my entire family on the way out of the village. All my friends were lying on the blood soaked ground.