Dark 29, House of Mantis

“Mistress Mu, I will not be defeated.” The defiant voice from the General named Chao Li had sounded towards me from across the Great Hall. I stood there in my armoured warrior suit armed with the halberd that was coated with the blood of its slain adversaries. I have with me the personal line-up of guards from Commander Shang detachment. These eleven warriors swore to protect me when we started off the campaign against the warring General Wang who had reneged on the obligation to the Emperor of the Empire. The General had occupied the far eastern land of the Emperor in collaboration with the enemy, Emperor Ming of the Yang Dynasty.

“I am the rightful ruler of this land and your army are intruders here.” The wounded General seated on the so-named throne of the Chao Dynasty, founded by the General three years ago against the command of the Emperor of the Empire. He had garnered an army of ten thousand strong after his reign there as Governor of State, and expanded his boundary by occupying the nearby fiefs to have under ruled under the Yang Dynasty.

“General Yang, how dare you defied the Emperor with your ambitions here?” Mistress Wu slammed the halberd to the ground with her hand. “I am ashamed of you of that.”

“Mistress Wu, once of the famed House of Mantis ashamed of me. Why should you be when once you shared my dreams and even my bed in the chamber?” General Chao Li laughed at the lady warrior who was once his mistress who served him in his chamber. “Am I that disgraceful to be seen by you in this armour, for your sight in that disgust me.”

Mistress Wu stood her there glaring at the man who had insulted her in front of her warriors. Her ascent to the role of Commanding Officer of twenty thousand strong warriors that formed her army named the Mantis warriors was not an easy task given that she was a woman and next to that, once a lover of the General. It was a concealed fact known only to the close circle of the Emperor.

“General Chao Li, I will challenge you to a personal battle according to the Mantis House rule.” It was my defiant offer then. I could kill the General with my army that had surrounded his palace but mere death will not suffice to reclaim my honour.

“Mantis House rules? Woman, you are no more than a whore in my chamber. How dare you invoke that in my presence.” General Wu retorted in anger. “I am of the Mantis House by birthright and was its last Master of the Ceremony.”

“To succeed the dying Grand Master who was your father. You are Tee Chao Li, the next generation to be the Grand Master but your betrayal of the Emperor had your name removed. Your son will be the new Grand Master.”

“My son? I have no sons. All the bitches who were my wife, borne me girls. I have no heir.” General Chao Li sighed in despair. “Not even you could I have my bastard son.”

“Well you are mistaken, once the Great General of the Empire. I have a son soon after you left. Your son was born two seasons after your betrayal. We have a son, or shall I say the House of Mantis has one now. He is under the care of the Emperor now.”

“My son? My son, which you handed to the Emperor?” General Chao Li reacted in anger. “How could you do that?”

It was then Mistress Wu motioned her guards to retreat to outside the Great Hall. She then faced the other in the emptied hall. It was a great hall decorated with the crafted drawings of the warriors the wall, some on horseback or on their feet rushing towards the enemy with the stance of the Mantis style; the family heirloom of martial arts developed by the forefathers of the House. The hall was held up by eighteen pillars with ancient wordings of the masters and the flooring was of the marble inlaid from wall to wall. There had been rows of chairs and tables for the nobles on both sides but it was then discarded or broken at the doorways. It was a flimsy defence against the might of the warriors. The General was seated on the throne of his self-declared dynasty with the leopard skin draped over the high back wooden chair with the great frame that was hung behind it. The frame held the character ‘Mantis Empire” with wordings interacting with the drawing of the mantis in its praying form. It was a celebrated form of the creature that many have said to be auspicious to see it.

“You decorated the Hall to resemble the One at the ancestral home. I am delighted that you still hold the name of the Mantis House in your heart.” Mistress Wu looked at the General. “What remains were the reasons for your betrayal? Your family have served Emperor for three generations before you.”

“Served the Emperor? We were like whores to the Emperor. We placed our lives into his service and all he gave us was land tract far from the Capital and worse to it, we were to defend it from the barbarians there. Most of us died not in his wars but in the battle to keep the barbarians off our land.”

“And you allied with them to form your own dynasty? The same barbarians that fought your forefathers and slain our people.” Mistress Wu snapped back. “Are you mad?”

“Not so much as what you did?” General Chao Li hit back. “You gave my son to the Emperor?”

“Only to protect the Mantis House. When you betrayed us, the Emperor was to destroy the House along with all the followers but I stood in for clemency. I sacrificed myself for the House. I became the whore to the Emperor. In return, he preserved the House and our son.”

“I rather die than be his slave again.” General Chao Li replied. “I have my dignity.”

“And I have our son. He is well-liked by the Emperor, and with the Emperor devoid of an heir, your son was adopted by the Emperor. He will be Emperor on one condition.”

“What condition?” General Chao Li asked.

“Your death.” Mistress Wu spoke up. With that, Mistress Wu dropped the halberd and then approached the man who was once her lover. With each step she took, she removed a portion of her armour and then appeared to the General in her flimsy silk gown worn beneath the armour.

“I stand before you, not as the Great Slayer or the General of the Army that had defeated yours. I come before you as once more your mistress. I was yours in my thirteen years of age, with my virtue intact and I had lain with you for over a decade. I could not bore you any child then, but upon our last night, I was given the gift by you. It was the blessing of the House that I shall bore you only one child. It was to be your son.”

“I…” General Chao Li dropped his sword and held out his arms to the lady who was once his favourite. “I did not….”

“Hush, my lover. Forget the past and lived to the future. Come into my bosom.” The lady embraced the General to her chest. He was once more at peace as he was then; his face buried into the soft flesh of his love. His tears flowed out like the child he once was. 

“How is my son?” General Chao Li asked.

“He is alive. He is well taken off. He has a favour to ask of you.” Mistress Wu replied.

“I know.” General Chao Li nodded. “Do it.”

The lady spread her arms out and then with her fist clasped except her index figure straighten out, she thrust the hardened figure into the General’s head at the side. He hardened index finger trained in the art of the Praying Mantis style cracked the skull and penetrated the brain tissue inside. The double blow created a sensation that spread from the brain to the toes, triggering off the nerves in the body as if he was in an orgasm, but that one was a deadly one.

“You son thank you, my love.” Mistress Wu pulled her finger off the head, and the body slacked into her’. She then grabbed him by the shoulders to lower the body towards the throne seat. She then turned to walk out of the Great Hall. She met the eleven warriors of her’ and left the last command to them.

“Burn the Hall. Nothing was to remain after it.”

“It shall be done, Mistress Wu.” The warriors replied. “Hail the Emperor’s Mother.”