She’s On Fire

2 days have passed. General Li and his men stayed within the enemy city, while waiting for further instructions on what to do with their newly acquired prisoner of war. The men decided to set up station and barricade themselves in a small 4-story building that was 1 mile away from Queen Zhang’s palace.

Eventually, the North Country’s soldiers marched into the city; they were dressed in blue medieval armor, and they carried long sheathed swords and arrows. Some of them rode on fancy looking horses, whom also donned some form of armor.

Perhaps, Queen Zhang was bait. The North Country troops tried to break down the building’s doors; they tried to kick the doors down at first.

“李将军, 他们正在攻击！他们在我们楼房”, informed one of General Li’s men.

(General Li, they are attacking! They are in our building.)

“Ugh...Just great. Tell everyone to barricade each floor. We have the higher ground, so we should win this, even if we underestimate their power”, directed General Li.

“我们跟女王要做什么？”

(What do we do with the Queen?)

“请把她去她的卧室。I am going to go downstairs to help our soldiers face our foes.”

(Take her to her bedroom.)

General Li looked out of a window and he noticed that several men were armed with torches.

“I see. I see... Daxiao (大小), get everyone out of the building through the escape route. I will buy us some time”, ensured General Li. Daxiao was one of General Li’s most trusted soldiers.

“Well, I hope that you have a golden wallet because we are going to need a lot of it. What about the Queen, again?”, asked Daxiao.

“Leave her here. 我需要她。”

(I will need her.), revealed General Li

“Yes, sir!”, stated Daxiao.

A few moments passed. It appeared that the North Country troops finished their preparations to burn down the building.

A shorter in stature man, who rode on top of a tall and gallant white horse that was adorned with ostentatious fabric walked up to the building. The man himself had fair skin and hair, but was average in terms of looks. He had bushy beard, which was very neatly trimmed. The North Country troops stood by to make a path for the man on the white horse.

Subsequently, with a megaphone, the man on the horse loudly spoke, “I, King Zhang, will take my wife back now. If you do not return her to me, we will burn this building to the ground. Understand?”

“Well...” King Zhang waited for a response.

“...”, waited King Zhang.

“What are you waiting for? J U S T D O I T,” shouted General Li out of the window.

“Are you sure you want that? Your army will be ash by tomorrow”, stated King Zhang.

“Yesterday, you said tomorrow... S O J U S T D O I T”, yelled General Li.

King Zhang interjected, “Wait, no I did n—“

“D O I T”, interrupted General Li.

“Okay, fine! We will do it”, resolved King Zhang.

One of the North Country soldiers reminded, “But my king, your queen is—“

“D O I T!”, taunted General Li.

“Curses! Whatever. I have had enough of this. Just burn the damn thing down!”, demanded King Zhang.

King Zhang’s men splashed oil all over the building, and then, another set of men with torches began to set the oil ablaze. Some men shot fire-arrows into the windows of the building.

“这个不太好。。。”

(This is not very good...), General Li said to himself.

“The building is burning! My... would my husband do such a thing... while knowing that I am in here?... Unforgivable”, thought Queen Zhang.

The fire spread quickly. General Li had to think and act fast. He opened the door to Queen Zhang’s room.

“跟我很快地跑步！” (Quickly, run with me!)

General Li grabbed Queen Zhao’s hand and ran out the room and downstairs. The fire was going to consume the entire building. The pair finally reached the 2nd floor. The smoke was heavy in the air.

*Cough Cough Cough*

General Li needed to do something quick, or else he and the Queen were fresh barbecue. General Li opened a window and looked out and saw that there were several sacks filled with sand in a pile.

General Li took out his sword and whacked a weak looking window as hard as he could, trying to remove all of the glass.

“你—你在做什么！？”, questioned a panicked Queen Zhang.

(You... What are you doing!?)

“Just jump through!”, urged General Li.

“你疯吗!？”, said Queen Zhang

(Are you insane!?)

General Li paused for a brief second and stared at Queen Zhang.

“. . .”

“. . .”

“Yes.”

Suddenly, General Li picked up Queen Zhang from the back and legs and tossed her out of the window. She screamed repeatedly as she fell, and even after she landed.

Quickly, General Li jumped out of the window. However, General Li did not take into consideration that he was wearing armor. The hard armor rubbed against his body, as he landed on the sacks. This caused much pain for one of General Li’s shoulders.

“Those screams... I guess my Queen has unfortunately perished under those flames... but, at least some of that meddlesome South Army is gone. Let us return to our hideout, for now”, spoke King Zhang, as the building continued to be engulfed in flames.

Queen Zhang could not believe that her husband would sacrifice her like that. She was angry. But at the same time, Queen Zhang was overcome with intense emotions that she had felt when she first met General Li.

Once again, Queen Zhang was excited from being dominated by General Li and being thrown out of the window without her permission, as well as having a near death experience. For a second time, someone finally defied her and went against her wishes. Queen Zhang felt submissive and alive.