Chapter 3: Big Brother Xiao

The next morning Tian Li woke up late and with a splitting headache, afterall he had never gotten drunk before. When he left his room he found his parents were missing and a note on the table with a pack filled with books and food. Tian Li grabbed the note and began to read.

"Tian Li, your father and I have left early to get some more supplies for your journey, I've made you some soup to help with your hangover.

- Love, Mom"

When he read this it made him happy to see how much his parents cared for him but it also made him a little sad to leave. He then ate the soup which quickly helped him clear his head. Afterwards Tian Li quickly grabbed his pack and made his way into town, the walk from his house to town took him roughly two hours and when he finally made it into town it was mid-day. There he saw at least six other families with their children and he quickly scanned the area to find his parents. Once he found them he rushed over right away and asked.

"Do we know when they will arrive?"

Tian Li's father answered

"Not quite but we do know it will be soon."

After his father had answered him he asked Tian Li to close his eyes and hold out his hands. When Tian Li opened his he saw a weathered spear in his hand that had seemed to be refurbished. Tian Li looked at it with wonder in his eyes, he noticed that it was made of some strange metal he had never seen before and was filled with engravings of men on horses charging towards the spear head and at the spearhead was engravings that looked like the head of a lion. His father saw his wonder and spoke up

"This spear has been passed down from father to son for generations, your great grandfather told me when I was young that his father was given this spear by The Great God of Lions as a reward for answering his secret riddle."

Tian Li's wonder only grew, he asked his father

"What was the answer to the riddle?"

Tian Li's father looked at him and smiled

"The story goes that the riddle the Great Lion God had asked was 'before Gods and Mortals, Heaven and Earth, Angels and Demons, who was the first to ask why?' Your great grandfather never told me the answer, he only said that once you know it the spear will have the power to shatter the heavens and make Gods kneel."

Before Tian Li could speak the envoy of soldiers and conscripts from other towns had arrived and everyone began to say their final goodbyes. Tian Li's parents both gave him a hug and sent him off on his journey

"We're here to take the new conscripts into the military. Anyone carrying a talisman please present them now so we don't take you to the wrong stronghold. Those without talismans will be given one once you arrive at General Ji's prefecture."

At this Tian Li and a few other children took out talismans from their bags and showed it to the leader of the envoy and he quickly separated them by carriage. From this they were able to discern that each carriage was assigned to different strongholds. Tian Li heard a few different names like

"South to Phoenix River."

"East to The Stronghold of the Ox."

"North-West to the Capital."

When they heard the capital, the townspeople were surprised that someone had connections in the capital. The child's family stood proud when they saw the other villagers' reaction. This scene made the leader of the envoy scoff then he continued. When Tian Li showed his talisman to the leader he looked a bit surprised and called over one of his soldiers and said.

"Since you're the only one who will be going North to the Stone Dragon Stronghold you'll be riding on a horse with one of the soldiers."

Tian Li nodded and got onto the horse and they began their journey, as Tian Li was going off into the distance he gave a wave to his parents and his life as a soldier began. Tian Li learned from the soldier who was taking him North that the journey would take at least three weeks and that they would have to go through the mountains which were infested with several bandit tribes, though these bandits would never attack the military head on they would still have to be careful. After about half a day the envoy had reached a fork in the road those going South or East went one way and those going towards the Capital, West or North went the other. Since Tian Li was going North he followed the later road. After another two days they came to another fork in the road and the other conscripts had all gone on a different road towards their respective strongholds followed by about five to ten soldiers each. Only Tian Li was left with a single soldier.

As they continued their journey North towards the mountains Tian Li had asked the soldier questions about the Kingdom and its different counties and towns, as well as the different strongholds and who they were fighting. The soldier wasn't too surprised to hear these questions as most commoners, especially farmers, rarely ever concerned themselves with war, politics, or geography. Tian Li had learned from the soldier that their Sky Dragon Kingdom had over Thirty counties, most of them were fairly small and controlled only a few farms and a manor for the Noble family prosiding over the county. His own village was in the Xie county, it was called the Xie county because the family of nobles that controlled it all had the surname Xie. He also learned that Lord Xie had very little resources and the county was very small only consisting of three farm villages and a small trade center where he built his manor. After learning about this Tian Li understood why their Lord Xie hadn't sent word back regarding the bandits, he simply did not have the resources or soldiers needed to take care of the bandits. Tian Li also guessed that's probably why Uncle Yan believed Lord Xie wouldn't be too strict in punishing their village for starting a militia.

Their journey continued smoothly for the next few weeks. They would rest at dusk and continue their journey at dawn, when they passed by a village they would decide to rest at an inn. Tian Li thanked the soldier many times for paying for his food and bed. Tian Li didn't have any money with him, but the soldier always said.

"Don't worry about it, you can pay me back in the future when we become brothers and you start making a soldier's salary."

Tian Li and the soldier got together really well, he learned that the soldier's name was Xiao and Tian Li started to call him Big Brother Xiao. Big Brother Xiao told Tian Li many stories of when he was training to become a soldier, where he came from, and the few battles he was in. When Tian Li heard the stories of battle he became entranced and asked many questions.

Before long they had reached the foot of a mountain range called Roaring Tiger Mountains, it was here that Big Brother Xiao was talking about when he said they would have to be careful of bandits. After they had entered the mountain pass, Big Brother Xiao changed their schedule to move earlier in the morning and rest later at night so that they could escape the danger of bandits quicker. This new schedule had taken a heavy toll on Tian Li making him very tired and miserable, just after the first day he started to moan and complain. Big Brother Xiao became annoyed very quickly, he shouted at Tian Li.

"How do you expect to become a soldier if just riding on a horse for a couple days makes you complain like a little girl!"

After the third day Big Brother Xiao became so annoyed with Tian Li that he finally gave in and let him rest during the afternoon. When Tian Li and Big Brother Xiao sat down to take a rest they began to hear movement from the nearby trees. When Big Brother Xiao heard this his blood ran cold and he quickly shouted.

"GET ON THE HORSE NOW!!!"

Tian Li quickly followed his instructions and got on the horse and began to move at full speed. Tian Li had asked

"Why are we moving so fast and what was that noise?"

Tian Li had never had to deal with a situation like this so he was fairly confused. All he knew was that it was urgent. The only thing Tian Li was able to recognize was the sound of the Earth shaking Big Brother Xiao quickly answered.

"It's a Bandit tribe and from the sound coming from the horse hooves they're seems to be at least a hundred."

When Tian Li looked behind him he saw huge clouds of dust coming from the mountains in their direction. As the cloud of dust got closer Big Brother Xiao whipped the horse to move faster. After they had made some distance from the cloud of dust they began to hear the sound of drums and at least twenty bandits jumped out from the bushes in front of them. Big Brother Xie quickly reared the horse, he grabbed his sword and jumped down from the horse. He then handed his talisman to Tian Li and said.

"Take this talisman to Stone Dragon Stronghold and tell them of the bandits. I'll make a path for you to escape."

Before Tian Li could say a word Big Brother Xiao charged at the bandits brandishing his sword and before anyone could blink he had cut down three of the bandits. When Tian Li saw this he was amazed by his skill with the sword but soon the bandits began to surround him and one pulled back his bow and was about to fire.

"Big Brother Xiao look out!"

Before he could react he was struck in the shoulder by an arrow and it stuck out through his back. This enraged him and soon he brandished his sword again cutting down five bandits, this cleared the path for Tiang Li to escape.

"Tiang Li now! Get out of here and send help!"

Tiang Li knew he could do nothing to help Big Brother Xiao and charged through the path that he had made for him. When Tiang Li had made it out the bandit who had the bow began draw back an arrow to fire at Tiang Li but Xiao had threw his sword at the bandit he killed the bandit almost instantly but the arrow was already drawn back too far and it left the bow, this move also left Big Brother Xiao defenseless and his sacrifice was made in vain. When Tiang Li looked behind him he saw Xiao outnumbered by bandits and weaponless, and as soon as he turned to look the arrow had struck him in the chest and he fell off the horse and off the side of the mountain rolling down it through bushes and trees.

After the bandits had killed Big Brother Xiao they grew a little disheartened.

"One man was able to kill eight of us before he died, and he only died because he tried to save that little brat!"

Another bandit then spoke up.

"Yeah but his effort failed, after he threw that sword the arrow still hit him in the chest and he rolled down the mountain."

This made some of the bandits laugh. Just then the bandit chief arrived with his hundred other men all on horses.

"Chieftain Luo, we killed the soldier and his little brat!"

The Chieftain then looked down at the bandits condescending and said.

"If you killed the brat then where is his corpse? We dont leave any loose ends here. This man was a soldier and if General Yao finds out we killed a soldier then we will all be in deep shit."

This made all the bandits shiver with fear, only one of them had the courage to speak up.

"He was shot in the chest with an arrow after he tried to run away, then he rolled off the horse and down the mountain. The kid looked barely old enough to join the military. He's dead for sure!"

The Chieftain looked at the bandit and said.

"Good, burn this one's corpse and let's head home."

With that the bandits burned Big Brother Xiao's corpse then made their climb up the mountain.