Crouching Dragon: The Journey of Zhuge Liang sample (Act I) -- T. P. M. Thorne
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What met Deng Ai was an uncomfortable sight: a massive array of Shu soldiers, arranged in a flawless military formation. The thousands of men shifted and swayed like a human barricade, forming walls of shields and swords, while cavalrymen darted in and out, anxious to lure an unprepared foe to certain death.
“…Eight Trigrams formation,” Deng Zhong murmured fearfully.
“F-flag deployment… is unconventional,” Deng Ai noted.
“GENERAL DENG AI OF WEI!” a voice boomed confidently: it was the voice of Zhuge Shang, the eldest son of Zhuge Zhan. He rode back and forth across the front line of the Shu forces on his well-groomed battle horse, and bellowed, “DARE YOU ADVANCE, AND FACE THE PRIME MINISTER OF THE HAN?”
“Impossible…!” Deng Ai whispered as, at the centre of the Shu army’s front line, the soldiers parted to allow a familiar horseless carriage to be pushed into view: seated upon it was a frail elderly man in lilac robes, who had a long, grey beard, and carried a white feather fan.
“ZHUGE LIANG!” the Wei soldiers exclaimed; fear gripped the invaders that they had, indeed, fallen into a trap.
“Impossible…!” Deng Ai said again: he looked at the man in the carriage with respectful fear, for if it was the man that it appeared to be, there would be no victory for Deng Ai that day, or ever. “Zhuge Liang… alive…? …That’s absurd!”
The famed strategist might not have been seen for almost 30 years to that date, but for the legend that was Zhuge Liang, no feat was deemed impossible.
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