Two years later, Qin state got attacked by Wei. The Emperor was outside fighting with his men, defending his palace. Ying-tai was fighting by The Emperor as the flames continued to eat away the walls. This infuriated Ying-tai. He was surrounded by many men twice his age but he effortlessly swatted each of them down.

“You will die by my hands today!” Ying-tai screamed to those trying to get past him. A Wei general spotted the talented Ying-tai and soared toward him. This caught Huian’s eyes and he flew over the group of Wei soldiers surrounding him to stop the Wei general from getting to Ying-tai.

“Ying-tai, crouch!” Huian shouted.

Without hesitating for a moment, Ying-tai crouched and Huian managed to blow the sword off of the Wei general’s hand with his spear.

Huian landed next to Ying-tai and demanded, “Go look for The Emperor. I got this here.”

Ying-tai nodded and ran. Huian stared at the Wei general and readied himself for a strike. The Wei general had already killed five hundred Qin soldiers with his bare hands. The only reason why he pulled out his weapon was because he saw Ying-tai as a threat to his objective. The Wei general made a move and kicked up the sword closest to him. He flung it at Huian but Huian dodged it, striking it away with his spear. As soon as the sword ricocheted from his spear, the Wei general charged at Huian with his sword. Luckily, Huian stopped the flow before the point of the sword met with his right eye. Huian’s spear was now diagonal to his body and right at the Wei general’s throat. It came to a draw and the Wei general smiled with pleasure and flew back. He gave Huian the look I’ll see you again and disappeared into the crowd.

Ying-tai ran to The Emperor fighting with four of his commanders. He knocked down two of the men flying over The Emperor’s head. He pinned one of the men he knocked down onto the ground and swiftly struck a fallen arrow into his head, killing him. The other man, Ying-tai had his left arm around his neck and as soon as he released the fallen arrow from his right hand, he grabbed the dagger from his ankle strap and stabbed the man in the artery of his neck.

“Your majesty, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?” Ying-tai asked after the small hustle.

“Ying-tai! The Empress and the princess!” The Emperor shouted with worry over the noise. “Please get to them! We will handle it from here!”

Xiu Juan! Ying-tai remembered and started to feel a rush of fear.

“I’ll leave you now, your majesty. I will see you afterwards.” Ying-tai said.

The Emperor nodded and Ying-tai soared away over the havoc.

He got into the palace but he couldn’t find The Empress or Xiu Juan. His heart started to beat fast. All this time he was fighting men twice his size and felt no fear. But now the life of the dear person he cared for is in danger and it was wrecking him from inside.

He ran through the corridors, smiting intruders down with one swift of a hand. He had no time to waste on these imbeciles. He was breathing heavily. Ying-tai wanted to call out for their names but it would draw attention to him and to the fact that they were somewhere unknown among this chaos. Then he heard a scream. He ran toward it. He saw fire and a group of Wei soldiers scurrying like ants trying to get past the fire. He knew what was behind that fire. Infuriated, he jolted toward the Wei soldiers and extinguished them.

Xiu Juan stayed by her mother while people were fighting outside. Her father was nowhere to be seen. Neither was Ying-tai. They were surrounded by guards rushing them to get away safely. However, some of the Wei soldiers managed to get into the palace. Xiu Juan felt her body stiff up as the Wei soldiers ripped apart her guards trying to get to her and The Empress. All of the blood splattered on the paper screens and the painted walls. She jolted awake when she heard her mother scream for her.

“Mother!” Xiu Juan shouted. She was shaking. She knew they wouldn’t be able to run fast enough. She saw a lamp and thought of an idea. She ran toward it, towards the soldiers, and knocked it down. The oil inside of it made it burst into flames. She could hear her mother screaming for her. She spotted another one and knocked it down.That should slow them down, she thought. Then she ran, grabbed her mother’s hand and went through the secret passage. Then she saw the carriage and the person that was supposed to wait for them. She let out a big breath of relief. Her mother led the way, gripping her hand tightly. The Qin soldier waiting for them was commander Wen.

“Thank goodness we made it. Commander Wen, where is my king?” Gasped The Empress.

Wen looked up and unsheathed his blade.

The Empress read his body language, turned to her daughter and screamed, “XIU JUAN, RUN!”

The Empress tried to escape but Wen grabbed a hold of The Empress’s hair and yanked it back. His blade was now rested on The Empress’s throat.

“Mother!” Xiu Juan cried.

“Forgive me, Empress of Qin,” Wen spoke with no tone of remorse. With that, Xiu Juan saw the blade that reflected the flames from the palace above them move. The more it shifted, the redder the blade got. The gold threaded robe her mother wore was now also decorated with her own blood. Xiu Juan’s legs were paralyzed, unable to believe what she just witnessed.

“Why, Commander Wen?! You were a Qin soldier! Sworn unto oath!” Xiu Juan finally managed to cry out.

She saw that Wen’s hands were shaking. There was nervousness--or maybe even fear--in his eyes.

“I’m sorry, Princess. I have to do this,” Wen cried, “I was promised prosperity by Wei!”

A traitor. Xiu Juan’s heart broke. No. She wasn’t going to die like this. Not by a traitor’s hand. She had to see herself live it through. She had to survive.

Wen approached Xiu Juan with his sword.

Imagine, she thought. Imagine this is a game with Ying-tai and Jiao Long. Wen took his swing and Xiu Juan dodged it. She quickly jumped, spun around and cradled one leg over his arm and grabbed a hold of it like she would Ying-tai when they sparred. She got his arm on lock. Then she used all of her might to dislocate his arm. Wen seemed weaker than Ying-tai, probably due to his lack of judgment toward Xiu Juan so this was to her advantage. She knew she could not take a misstep. She wouldn’t just get pinned down and be announced loser. One misstep would mean her life. She was not going to die here. As soon as Wen dropped his sword, Xiu Juan grabbed it and took five paces back and took in a deep breath.

Now remember what Ying-tai taught you, she tried to remember. Loosen your grip. Relax. Be flexible with your swing. Have a target. Just don’t swing just to swing.

Wen charged at her and she took aim and struck.

Did I get him? She wondered. She quickly turned around and saw that Wen’s back was to her.

This is my chance, she discovered. Wen’s arm was bleeding.

She screamed and sprinted toward Wen. Wen turned around and Xiu Juan pierced his own sword into his body. She stopped and looked at Wen’s shocked face.

Don’t stop! Her conscience told her.

She inserted it in deeper till the guard of the sword met his body. Blood oozed onto her hand and trickled down to her arm. She quickly yanked the blade out and took a step back. She took a good look at what she had done. She was trembling uncontrollably. She had just killed a man. She dropped to her knees and then crawled to her mother. Xiu Juan held her mother and the ball that she had in her throat finally let loose and she sobbed. She had never felt such pain in this world. Her garments were getting soaked with her mom’s blood but she was in too much agony to care. Her heart felt like it was going to burst.

Then she heard rustling from her left. Then her right. Wei soldiers! She looked through her strands of hair that covered her wet face and saw them approach her. She held her mother closer to her and clenched the sword in her hand that she used to kill the traitor of Qin. Then, as the Wei soldiers who circled around her raised their swords and readied themselves to tear her apart, she squeezed her eyes shut. This is it, she thought. She flinched when she heard the cutting of flesh. She opened her eyes and wiped the splattered blood off her face. She patted her chest and belly but felt no pain, no cuts. She looked up and saw someone in a crimson Qin robe exterminate the Wei soldiers. The person moved so quick and gracefully. There was no sloppiness or hesitation and the Wei soldiers were of no match.

Huian! Xiu Juan gasped. But no, the silhouette of the person didn’t seem big enough to be a grown man. After all the men had fallen to the ground and before Xiu Juan could move a muscle from the sight before her, she heard a familiar voice say her name.

“Princess Xiu Juan,” Ying-tai said breathlessly. He had been running and fighting his way through to her the whole time.

“Ying-tai! Is it really you?” Xiu Juan tried not to choke on her words.

Ying-tai ran to her and then dropped his sword when he saw the lifeless Empress lying in Xiu Juan’s arms. His muscles went stiff for a moment. He then fell on to his knees and bowed to the dead Empress and wept.

“I have failed you, Empress Mother,” he mourned.

Xiu Juan extended her arm and cupped Ying-tai’s face as they both wept. The sounds were dying down. Wei soldiers began to retreat. Shadows of soldiers from both sides could be seen from the smoke of the fire.

It wasn’t long till Xiu Juan heard her father call for her and Ying-tai. Ying-tai quickly stood up and helped Xiu Juan to her feet.

“Ying-tai, I can’t walk. My ankle hurts,” Xiu Juan said in a small voice. Xiu Juan had twisted her ankle during the fight and had not noticed the pain until now.

“Here, I’ll carry you on my back,” Ying-tai offered as he lowered himself.

Xiu Juan looked at the direction her and her mother originally came from. The entrance was blocked by a wall of fire.

“How will we get out of here?”

Ying-tai realized what Xiu Juan was talking about and took off his robe. “We’ll use this to shield us as we jump through the fire. If we do it quickly enough, the fire will not catch us.”

“Okay,” Xiu Juan responded nervously. She climbed onto Ying-tai’s back and he wrapped his robe around the both of them.

“Hold me tightly,” Ying-tai said, looking over his shoulder to Xiu Juan. She tightened her grip and they burst through the wall of fire.

They did not say a word to each other as Ying-tai hurried with Xiu Juan on his back to the voices of the Qin soldiers looking for them. As soon as they saw The Emperor, Xiu Juan cried out.

“Father!”

The Emperor whipped around and ran to Ying-tai and Xiu Juan.

“Xiu Juan! Ying-tai! Oh thank the Gods in heaven!” He embraced his daughter and stroked Ying-tai’s head.

The Emperor pulled back and looked at his little daughter and asked, “Where’s your mother?”

Xiu Juan’s tears welled up and all she could manage to spill out of her lips was, “Mother.”

The Emperor got up and looked at Ying-tai.

“Ying-tai?” Huian urged.

Unable to saying anything, Ying-tai led the Emperor back toward the direction they came from with Huian and a few elite soldiers following. The rest were with Xiu Juan who was trembling and sobbing.

They came to the fire entrance Ying-tai and Xiu Juan escaped from. Huian ordered the soldiers to clear the way and beat the fire out. As soon as the fire died, the Emperor rushed in.

“Your majesty you must be careful!” Huian exclaimed.

The Emperor, though, did not care. He went on his way to look for his wife. His heart was beating hard against his chest. Though he had an idea of what might’ve happened, he was in denial. Then he saw it. His queen on the ground lifeless in her golden robe decorated with her blood. He dropped his sword and dragged his feet toward her. He got on his knees, took her into his arms and wiped the blood off her face with his sleeve. She was still ever so beautiful.

“Li Juan,” The Emperor whispered. He sat there and caressed her face while he wept and wept.

Huian saw the misfortune and dropped on his knees and bowed to the passed Empress. Meanwhile, Ying-tai and everyone stood in silence and mourned their great loss.

After a long, long while and dawn was breaking, the Emperor laid the Empress down and stood onto his feet. While looking away into the distance, he wiped his tears and turned around toward his men. He walked to Ying-tai whose head bowed down in shame. The Emperor raised his hand and Ying-tai readied himself for a blow on the head but instead The Emperor gently placed it onto Ying-tai’s shoulder which made him flinch.

“Thank you for saving Xiu Juan’s life. Don’t blame yourself for this. There was nothing we could’ve done.” He bent down to Ying-tai’s level and looked into his eyes, “You did well, son.”

Ying-tai didn’t say a word and bowed down to the Emperor. The Emperor dismissed his men and stood in the garden alone with Huian.

“This is a great loss,” Huian broke the silence, looking at the Emperor’s strong back. “I promise they will not die off unpunished!”

The Emperor took a deep breath and exhaled. “Yes, we may have lost something that meant greatness to us. But our future lives on strong...” the sun rose over the shadowed trees and glowed a brilliant light in which he turned around and observed the flattened patch of grass where his daughter and Ying-tai stood, “...and I see greatness in it.”