A BITTER PERSONAL LESSON

POV: SHANG CO MANAGER OF THE FREE FLOWER TAVERN

LOCATION: THE CRANNIES

TIME: THE FINAL HARVEST FESTIVAL

As you watch the two women begin circleing each other for some time in an effort to size each other up, You quickly notice that while neither was in the best attire for fighting, both form and footwork was far more impressive than the prince's militia and you begin to seriously suspect that whatever manual he was using for your sister and the other woman was far more superior to the one he uses for the army.

Not wanting to loose the initiative, lady Su quickly leaps forward hoping to catch her opponent off guard but your sister (who you believe has already seen this) quickly steps back and receives the dagger on the flat of her blade. Su then begins to deliver vicious strikes forcing your sister on the defensive but your sister counters when ever she finds an opening. You quickly realize that both women know their stuff as no matter how much counter your sister gives none ever gets past the lady's guard and none of the lady's attacks ever get your sister's solid defenses. Getting a bit frustrated your sister leaps back to get some space, but she pays for that costly mistake when lady Su throws her dagger. She is able to block two of them but the third draws blood from her cheek.

She takes a taste of her blood from her cheek and smiles

"Congratulations lady Su." She says

"No one else has made me taste blood before"

"That is because you have never fought a fighter with as much experience as myself."

Without any warning, Ming leaps forward and begins delivering one furious strike after another while dancing around the older woman with impeccable footwork which forces lady Su to go on the defensive. However few more moments into the fight and it becomes clear that while your sister has an amazing advantage in skill, strength and stamina, lady su is a very experienced fighter and every single counter she gives begin to draw blood after blood from your sister's garment.

Your sister seeing that she was not getting anywhere, suddenly stops dancing around, leaps forward and performs an over handed strike. Lady Su who was not expecting this quickly puts up her guard but this turn out to be feint as your sister's sword moved like a serpent to slash across lady Su's chest. Not giving her a chance to recover, your sister goes on the offensive by delivering cunning strikes against her opponent (two of which hit their mark) but the experienced warrior waves the next one and throws a dagger that embeds itself firmly into your sister's left shoulder and forces your sister to go back. Seeing your sister's discomfort lady Su sought to press her advantage by attacking the other shoulder but your sister already had her shoulder slightly leaning back so when lady Su attacks, she is able to quickly move away, switch her sword to her left hand and counter with a vicious strike to the lady's back.

At this point both ladies agrees to an unspoken truce and uses the chance to rip parts of garments off and use it to tie up their more grievous wounds.

"Ladies can we just call it a..."

Both ladies gives you a glare that could make the sun freeze and you raise your hands in surrender. It is then you realize that this was no longer about addressing an insult but it has become a matter of personal woman pride. That means that, any hope of a draw goes out the window along with any hope that these women will fight fair.

Already the entire crannies had gathered around and they were all placing and changing bets on they favoured to win.

Soon enough after the truce the women resumes attacking each other in a dazzling display of skill and finesse. Your sister tried to keep the warrior within the range of her sword but lady Su soon notices this and begins leaping back and throwing her dagger thereby forcing your sister to leap forward in order to close the gap. You know that she is doing this to cause your sister to make a mistake and it pays off because your sister leaps too deep in order to perform an underhand strike but lady Su catches her hand and gives her a deep slash down her stomach. How ever your sister quickly switches her sword to her injured off hand and delivers a strike so vicious that it almost cleaves off the lady's sword hand. Sensing her victory your sister ignores her bleeding wound and begins launching vicious strikes against lady Su who is forced to defend with her off hand. At one point lady Su gets an opening and tries to counters but it turns out to be a ruse because your sister expertly pivots lady Su's dagger on her sword, knocks aside her arm and delivers two vicious strikes on her chest and lower back. However this exposes her back and the experienced lady Su takes advantage of this by impaling three daggers in her upper back.

The amount of wounds they sustains causes them to go for another break and you quickly rush forward to help your sister.

"Need me to remove the dagger sister?" You ask

"No." She replies with a sharp voice

"It will cause me too much bleeding and that can lead to blood loss. Leave it there I must finish this fight."

You watch as both women take off what is left of their garments and tie up the their wounds. Lady Su ties up her wounds in an awkward position and your sister ties the dagger to her back. You could see that the women were exhausted, bruised and bleeding from multiple places but one look at the fire in their eyes tells you that this fight was far from over.

True to your predictions, their next bout becomes one of endurance as both women becomes more conscious of their wounds and becomes more defensive in their approaches. They both tries to counter with any opportunity but you could clearly see that blood loss and exhaustion is beginning to tell on them.

Eventually in the battle of endurance, the three daggers in your sister's back and the multiple wounds around her body draws enough blood to slow down the speed and power of her strikes.

Seeing this lady Su switches her dagger to her injured sword hand and delivers some heavy strikes that ends up with a vicious kick that sends your sister flying backwards into the ground.

Your sister tries to stand but with the force of that kick and her blood loss, the best she can do was to get on her knees.

At this point lady Su approaches her with a warm smile

"Have you heard the story of the reculterant slave?" She asks

Your sister simply shook her head.

"There was once a slave who broke free from his bounds who chose to attack his master rather than flee." She begins

"The slave was very strong and in his anger no one in the master's house could stop him. He eventually confronted his slave master in the main hall and the man went against him with a sharp long sword. Now no matter how strong the slave was, he just was not built to last. The slave master killed him with a thousand cuts and there was blood all over the main hall."

It dawns on you that that is exactly what she has done to your sister. Death by a thousand cuts.

"You have talent, intelligence and in a year or two of fighting, you might even surpass my skills." She continues

"But you are still green my dear and it shows. Do not get too cocky just because you can swing a sword well"

Your humbled sister nods to acknowledge her words and then collapses from exhaustion.

"Take her to a healer. She has lost a lot of blood." Lady Su orders and turns towards you.

"Tell me shang, how does the prince turns a backwater farm girl into such a fearsome warrior?"

"He has us read and memories many books on military strategy and diplomacy, scolding us terribly when we do not." I reply

"Then he comes in the evenings and trains us personally on how to use the sword and the bow. We will keep training untill we collapse from exhaustion and it is the ant master that will drag our battered body inside. The funny thing though is that once we recover even an ounce of strength, we will go back outside even in the dead of night and continue until we collapse again."

"No wonder he always came home tired." She mutters more to herself than to you

"I never knew that training could be that intense"

"You see now why she was so hard to beat?" You both turn to see the prince in a yellow garment and a top knot hairstyle looking regal and handsome.

"How long have you been here my prince?" You ask

"Before the military parade." He replies in the same casual manner

"I must say Xu Chu did a very good job."

"Wait does that mean you saw all through the fight?" She asks in surprise

"Why did you not stop us?"

"Why should I?" He counters

"She needed to learn that her skills did not make her invincible, you taught her that and you needed to learn to practice your own skills so you do not get killed by a seven years old, she taught you that. What do you think about such a situation shang?"

"In my opinion my prince, two birds one arrow." You reply slyly

He then walks towards her and says

"Go to a healer lady Su. You may have won this fight but you are still bleeding from the cuts you received. I need you alive."

"Yes my prince." She says with a Kow-tow and leaves

He then turns towards you

"How is the festival officially started?"

"Well normally the lord of the crannies have to sound that horn and announce the festival but it is normally done by the ant master since none of the lords ever attends our festival." You explain

Without saying another word, the prince got up to the horn, took a deep breath and blow on it loud enough to get everyone's attention.

"Close down the tavern," He declares "prepare the rice bowls, ready your finest clothes, LET THE FESTIVAL BEGIN "