Lin sat in front of a pair of great gates, a guqin resting atop her lap. By her side stood two burly men clad in the rough cotton of commoners, their sharp polearms disguised as brooms. Behind her, the city was completely silent. There was no crowing of roosters, no bustle of noise. Just the sound of the wind whispering through the leaves of the trees, and silence.

She had travelled far from the Capital on the Emperor’s orders, all the way to the city flanking the borders of the Yang and the Kong. It had been evacuated, its people hurried away to the next closest settlement within the Yang kingdom’s borders. Upon receiving the news of the advancing Kong army, the Emperor had sent her as an envoy to lead the negotiation attempts.

On her orders, the Yang armies and their citizens had retreated from the five cities closest to the boundary.

Far in the distance, she could spot a dust cloud beginning to form on the horizon. She had an inkling of what it was, but she was in no hurry to move. After all, they would come when they came, there was no need for her to rush them.

Her fingers plucked the strings of the guqin as she thought. The notes that drifted out from between the strings were slow and thoughtful, and while not the work of a master, they were still pleasant to the ear either way.

Her mind floated back to her conversation with the Emperor before she left on her journey, saddling her horse with a pair of soldiers to accompany her.

“I am trusting in your plan to complete the negotiations successfully,” he had said sternly, his eyebrows furrowed. “You will be generously rewarded when you return.”

“Of course, your Majesty,” Lin had replied. “The Kong will only take five cities, and none of our people’s lives.”

They had ridden for three days from the Capital before reaching the border, where the scout had told her about the situation with the Kong. An army had been spotted advancing down from the North, heading straight for the border city. An estimated ten thousand foot soldiers and three hundred riders. It was clear that from the sheer numbers in their army that their intentions were anything but peaceful.

But now, everything was in place. Lin had all she needed to ensure a successful negotiation. No matter the cost.

***

General Chun Wai was in good spirits. The Kong army had set out from the Citadel in full force, with sufficient food and blessings granted by the King himself. Crossing the Yang-Kong border, there had been no guards at the checkpoint. Throughout their march southward, all they had been met with were empty villages and abandoned farms.

His men were suspicious of this lack of opposition, but General Chun Wai was glad. Less opposition meant less fighting, less fighting meant less injured and less losses. That, in turn, meant less weeping families to break his heart when he went to deliver the bad news.

Chun Wai was not a barbarian. He did not enjoy the bloodshed in war, but if it meant that it would bring hope to his homeland, he would gladly don his helm and ride out into battle.

Riding at the head of the charge, he slowed his horse as the scout came galloping towards him.

“What is ahead?” he asked briskly.

“A city!” cried the scout. “But the gates are open and unguarded. All that is there are two men and a woman playing some sort of stringed instrument.”

“Two men and a woman, hmm?” Chun Wai thought for a moment before consulting his right hand man. “What do you think?”

“A trap or an envoy,” the right hand man replied.

“My thoughts exactly,” agreed Chun Wai. He spurned his horse forwards. “Stay here, Liu Si. I will speak with the three. Sincerity must be offered in a negotiation.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“Then I alone will suffer the consequences,” replied Chun Wai. “The armies will be under your command until I return.”

He gathered a small company of skilled riders to join him, before turning to the scout.

“Lead the way.”

Chun Wai and his company rushed their horses forwards and galloped across the sandy terrain. Soon, the silhouettes of city walls came into view, followed by the sloped, bamboo terraces so characteristic to Yang architecture.

Chun Wai squinted through the dusty air to find that all was as the scout had reported. The city gates had been thrown wide open, revealing the deserted streets within. There were no guards atop the watchtowers, nor any standing to attention along the walls. No cries of alarm, or warning bells chiming, or the bustle of panicked activity that Chun Wai had grown used to on his excursions to nearby nations.

All that was there were the lilting tunes of an unknown instrument. It was unlike anything Chun Wai had heard before. It was brief like the fall of raindrops into a deep lake, yet also reverberating like the calls of the cows in the pasture. Long yet fleeting, slow yet fast. Foreign, yet nostalgic. The song of love for a people.

His ears followed the sound of the music till his eyes fell upon its source. A young lady dressed in silken robes, her hair styled back in the complicated coils of Yang women. Chun Wai had seen his fair share of women in his lifetime, but something about the young lady enamoured him. It wasn’t that she was particularly beautiful, in fact, she was quite plain looking. No, it was the look on her face that captured him. A look that beheld wisdom beyond her years.

He tugged on the reins and dismounted, choosing to walk towards the lady and her two bodyguards instead of riding. At his approach, the lady stopped playing her instrument and stood up. She bowed, the bodyguards following suit.

“Greetings, General from afar,” she said politely. “This one is Yao Lin, an envoy from the Yang kingdom. Emperor Huo sends his well wishes.”

“Greetings, Ms Yao,” Chun Wai returned. “I am Chun Wai, General of the Kong kingdom. I have arrived by decree of our king to invite the esteemed Yang kingdom to join our great nation.”

“A generous offer indeed,” the lady smiled. “The Yang has also prepared gifts to the Kong in anticipation for your arrival. But first, you must be tired, having travelled far to get here. Allow us to humbly provide lodgings for you and your men.”

“Lodgings?” Chun Wai frowned. “Your people will not object?”

“This city is one of the gifts from the Yang to the Kong,” said Ms Yao. “All that is within these walls is yours to make use of.”

“It’s a trap!” shouted one of his riders.

“Silence!” Chun Wai shushed the rider, before turning back to Ms Yao. “You are aware that your proposition is suspicious, do you not?”

“I am aware,” Ms Yao bowed again. “I assure you, the city is completely empty. You may scour the area if you wish.”

“I think I will,” Chun Wai gestured to his riders. “Search the houses! Bring any hiding within them to me, alive or dead!”

“Yes sir!”

The riders searched every corner of the walled city, but found no hidden soldiers or lurking assassins. Chun Wai did a head count once everyone had returned, only to find all riders accounted for. The city was truly empty.

“What did you find?” he asked the head of the riders.

“Sir! All houses are abandoned but the essentials remain. There are also bedrolls and a feast set up in what looks to be the governor's abode!”

“Those are prepared for you and your men,” said Ms Yao. “Surely you are all weary from the long journey across the desert.”

“We are…” admitted Chun Wai, thinking of all the stale army biscuits they’d been eating for the past month. “But do we have any guarantee of your sincerity?”

“Yes,” Ms Yao nodded. “I and these two gentlemen have stayed behind as your hostages. Should anything go wrong, you may use us to demand compensation from the Emperor Huo.”

Chun Wai considered the offer. Although his men had voiced no complaints, he knew that traversing the desert was no easy task. Especially for those foot soldiers who had to make the arduous journey step by step. The riders had confirmed the lack of soldiers within the city, and had tested the water sources and guaranteed its purity. This would make a fine rest spot for his men before they continued the journey southward as the King demanded. However, he just had one more thing to confirm.

“And who are you to think that you are important enough to serve as a hostage?”

“I am the Emperor’s concubine,” said Ms Yao seriously. “I am no Empress, but surely I am important enough for you?”

Chun Wai hesitated. He thought about the possibility that this may still be a trap. He thought about the possibility that it may not. He thought about Liu Si and the others waiting patiently under the hot desert sun.

His sympathy for his men gave in.

“Very well,” he said. “We will stay a day in this city.”

***

“We should leave immediately,” said Liu Si, his eyebrows furrowed.

Chun Wai drank leisurely from his flask of wine as he overlooked the feast from the second floor of the once governor’s home. Below them, his men drank and ate to their fill, laughing and rejoicing at the idea of already having taken a city without needing to fight.

“Why?” asked Chun Wai. “We’ve already checked every inch of this small city. Ambushes, traps, even poisoning. There was nothing. Sure, the houses were a little grimy and covered in black dirt, but that was all.”

“I don’t know, it all seems too good to be true,” Liu Si said. “The proud Yang kingdom simply giving up a city to us? That’s impossible.”

“Maybe they’re just sincere,” said Chun Wai hopefully. “The exploits of the Kong kingdom have spread far and wide, after all.”

“Forgive me for my words, but you are too honest, General,” Liu Si’s right eye twitched. “What if they intend to—“

“General Chun Wai!” came a lilting voice from behind. Chun Wai turned to see Ms Yao standing in the doorway.

“Ms Yao!” His heart leapt at the sight of their kindly host. “What brings you here?”

“I am here to discuss the matters of the Kong-Yang relationship from now on,” she bowed. “If you would follow me into the audience chamber.”

“Of course,” he got up from his seat. “Stay here, Liu Si.”

“But General!”

“Watch over the men for me,” he turned and followed Ms Yao down a long, dark corridor and into a quaint little audience chamber. It was simply furnished with a desk and two chairs, with torches along the walls lighting the room. Oddly enough, that same black dirt that littered the city was here too, dusted along the surface of the table.

“What’s this?” he murmured, sweeping a pile of dirt onto the floor. “Do you Yang people have no sense of cleanliness?”

“I apologise for the mess, General,” Ms Yao sat down at the table. “It’s been a rough few years for this border town. The people didn’t have much time to tidy up after receiving news of your arrival.”

“Hmm… I suppose,” Chun Wai swept his portion of the table clean of the black dirt before turning Ms Yao. “So, what are you here to discuss?”

Reaching under the table, Ms Yao pulled out a map and placed it atop the table.

“This is a map of the Yang kingdom. These crosses symbolise the cities” she said. Pulling out a piece of charcoal from within her sleeves, she then circled five of the crosses closest to the border. “These five cities are what the Yang are willing to cede to the Kong.”

Chun Wai squinted at the crosses. Ms Yao pulled a torch from the wall and held it over the map so he could see better. From their positions, he recognised those five cities. They were the smallest border cities that the scout had mapped out in an infiltration mission, so small that they could barely be considered cities at all. Large villages, to be more precise.

“I’m afraid you mistake our intentions, Ms Yao.” he shook his head and leaned away from the map. “We come to take all of Yang into our borders, not a mere five cities.”

“I understand, General, but as I’m sure you are aware, we cannot allow that to happen.”

“And I am responsible for guaranteeing that it happens.”

“Five cities or nothing,” a determined glint arose in Ms Yao’s eyes.

”No, Ms Yao,” Chun Wai said firmly. “To put it more bluntly, this is not a diplomatic exchange. This is an invasion. We have only shown you mercy so far because of the generous reception you have shown us.”

Ms Yao said nothing. Chun Wai pressed on.

“I have a thousand men gathered downstairs, nine thousand more within the city walls. Come tomorrow, we will march southwards towards the Capital. If your Emperor surrenders gracefully, maybe we will be able to end this without a war.”

His voice softened.

“You don’t have a choice, Ms Yao. And neither do I. You have been kind to us, and for that I am grateful. But it is my duty to carry out the King’s will.”

“And it is my duty to see the Emperor’s will done,” Ms Yao got up from her seat and walked towards the back of the room, the torch still in her hands. “I’m afraid you’re the one who doesn’t have a choice in the matter.”

As she turned to face him again, he noted that the look in her eyes had changed. All emotion had drained from her face, leaving her expression one of steely resolve. No longer was it the gaze of a wise maiden, but the hardy glare of a soldier. A soldier prepared to die.

“What are you doing?” he sprang up from his seat.

“Remember the black dirt, General Chun Wai? It is an ingenious formula made by one of our alchemists.” said Ms Yao.

“A mixture of saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal, it ignites at the spark of a flame and explodes outwards with unimaginable force. The Emperor had loaned me ten carts full of the ingredients for this occasion. We call it gunpowder.”

With a sinking heart, Chun Wai glanced around at the room that had been covered in that black dirt.

“Surely you don’t intend to…”

“Five cities,” said Ms Yao. “Or nothing.”

“Let’s not be hasty,” said Chun Wai, his heart racing. “If you blow up the city, you’ll die as well!”

“A small price for the good of our kingdom.”

“What about your people?” he tried again. “Surely you wouldn’t kill innocents in this wild plan of yours!”

“All citizens have been evacuated miles away. The only Yang people here are me and my bodyguards.”

“Our King will hear of this,” Chun Wai warned. “Blowing up our armies is a declaration of war against the Kong.”

“Are we not already at war?” Ms Yao lowered the torch closer to the black powder along the ground. “You said it yourself, General. This is an invasion. If I manage to take ten thousand of the Kong’s armies with me at the price of one small city, I’d say that it is worth it.”

Chun Wai stared at the lady… no, the soldier standing across the room from him. He could feel his heart thudding in his chest loud as a war drum. His mind was hazy from all the wine he’d drunk before, and he couldn’t bring himself to think of any countermeasure to this plan. Just as Liu Si had said, he had been careless. He’d been so confident with his past experience with ambushes that he’d neglected the idea that the entire city may be a trap.

A memory of a burning city clouded his vision. Of wooden beams falling, of innocents screaming. Of his men shouting as they choked up dark smoke, crying out for their family members. That same wild look, carried by enemy soldiers who had not been afraid to die for their kingdom.

He sat back down.

“Five cities,” he said begrudgingly. “No more no less.”

Yao Lin smiled.

“Five cities.”