(Prologue)

They said when you killed for the first time, you might tremble, out of fear.  When you got used to it, you still might tremble, out of ecstasy.  I had killed so many times by now that I had passed both these stages.  Now, I killed for pleasure.  No, not for the pleasure of killing but the pleasure to have it properly done, especially when the ones I had to kill belonged to the category of good-looking men and pretty women, like the one I just slew.

She was very, very beautiful, young and tall, with blonde hair and emerald green eyes.  She wore the costume of a dancer, a choli type breast-band studded with gems, her midriff bare and a pair of pantaloons lined with silver bells.  I did not cut her down from behind but ran past her and made a back sweep with my curved blade slashing into halves the connection part at the cleavage.

Her proud breasts were exposed and when she fell with her throat slit, her face was not distorted in pain, or fear, but just a puzzling look. I had to take her head of course.  It was needed for body count.  I had it held by the hair, took a brief look into her still wide open eyes and then had the whole thing thrown to Su-wa.  She would then hand it over to the other girls who would put it into those head-bags.  The total number would be staggering.

“No prisoners!” he had ordered.  Yes, He. He who had saved me years ago when I was left to die in the mass burial ground outside the north gate of this city, after a cruel patron plucked one of my eyes out when I refused his advances after singing for him at a banquet.  They called me Li-tong, a reference to my beautiful eyes.  Now, I had only one, my right one; the left socket was covered with a black patch.  They also killed my grandfather that day, my last kin.
(before the loss of one eye)

That man who gave the order that everyone of this city would be put to the sword saved me that day, nursed me back to health, taught me how to ride, how to fight and how to kill.  He made me one of his women.  He was just a smuggler then, running salt which was a rare commodity strictly controlled by the imperial government.  Later he joined a rebel group.  When the leader of the group was killed, he took over the leadership.  Now, he had more than three hundred thousand men under his command.

His name is feared by the powerful and the rich, embraced by the poor, most of the time anyway.  He is called Huang Zhao.
(1)

Guang Zhou, the richest city in the southern part of the Tang Empire, lay before us, soaked in blood. Before we came, the city was packed with traders from far away Arabia, Persia and Ceylon.  They said there were one hundred and twenty thousand of them: merchants, their families and dancing girls like the one who had just lost her head.  We did not know exactly when Huang ordered a total massacre of the city.  Some said it was because he had been tricked by the official there, leading him to believe that an imperial pardon was forthcoming.

Actually, there was no pardon.  The imperial court was just trying to buy time in mustering an army to march against us.  The merchants of the city promised to pay all expenses and offered bounties for our heads. We ambushed the relief force and slaughtered it to the last man.  Now, the city paid its price for betraying him.

I could not decide if it was the right thing to do.  Surely, there were innocent people among the inhabitants.  But no one dared to oppose Huang any more.  His words were law and disobedience meant death.

I was relieved that I did not meet Su-wa here first.  If she was, I had no alternative but to kill her also.  She came from Jiaozhi, a tribute state beyond the south-west frontier of the Empire.  She was also a dancing girl.  We sacked the city in the north she happened to be in.  That day, Huang did not order total annihilation of the population.  He allowed me to choose one, as replacements for my second-in-command who had fallen in battle.  I picked Su-wa, and killed the rest.
“Why me?” she had asked when I led her into my tent.

I did not answer her.  Not in words.  She saw the fire in my eyes.  When I kissed her, she did not resist.  I had always known I loved women more than men though I would not resist Huang’s advance.  My heart leapt when I first saw Su-wa, fleeing with the others before us.  She would have died if I had not ensured that none dared touch her.

She responded to my embrace and before we knew it, we were both in the nude. My hands trembled when I cupped her breasts, which were firm with pinkish bud-like nipples. Likewise, she fondled mine.  It was lust from first sight, for both of us. Our moaning drowned out the sound of executions outside as men and women lined up to have their heads chopped off.

“Does he always do this?” Su-wa asked when we finally lay side by side, our bodies covered with sweat.

“Not when I first knew him,” I whispered.  “He was kind and considerate and cared for the poor. He was even a poet, though his poems had a disturbing quality and reflected his rebellious nature.”

Su-wa listened, amazed.

I recited for her one of his poems, about chrysanthemums.

“Wait until the eighth day of the ninth month
When I blossom all other flowers will fade
My fragrance will waft over Chang An
And the city will be flooded with golden armor.”

Su-wa shuddered.

I knew why she did that.  I had shuddered too when I first heard it, but then the feeling was different. At that time, I thought he was my long-awaited hero, willing to take up arms against the corrupt dynasty which used the people like slaves.  The Tang Empire had been in existence for more than one hundred and fifty years.  Although the earlier reign was relatively peaceful for the common people and there was prosperity in the land, the Empire rocked when nomad general An Lushan rose in rebellion.  An Lushan and his successors were suppressed at great expense of lives and wealth.  The Empire never really recovered and the court never really learned from its mistakes.  The land was near boiling point when Huang joined the new wave of rebels.

Huang met many successes as discontented people joined him, and won victory after victory over the corrupt government forces. I was also instrumental partly to his success.  When he could not win on the battlefield, he used assassins.  I led a company of maidens who were trained especially for the task.  In time, Huang became more unpredictable: generous and disciplined one day, cruel beyond belief on the next.  But I could no longer leave him.  He punished deserters with horrible deaths.  Besides, I had also become a wanted person by the authorities and my head carried a good bounty.

I taught Su-wa how to ride and fight, and of course kill.  She trembled the first time she had to kill someone. It took her a long time to get used to the shedding of blood.

The other girls were jealous but there was nothing they could do.  Their fates were tied to our course in the same way.  In time, they accepted Su-wa and from time to time, I granted some of the girls who had performed well favors and invited them to my tent.

Huang knew about this of course. But as long as I did not mess up with men, he turned a blind eye.  He needed me anyway and unless I betrayed him, he was unlikely to get rid of me.

I could not say if this was a blessing, or a curse.

(2)

“He will summon you to his chamber,” Su-wa said.

I thought so too.  He always wanted me after such a slaughter.  The other women could please him better on more placid days.  When he smelled so much blood, he wanted someone wild, like me.  He called me his “cat.”  Most apt.  I was no more than a stray cat he adopted.

“Are you jealous?” I asked.

Su-wa turned away.

I was somewhat pleased.

“I will make it up when I come back.” I promised.

He sent for me.  I went to his tent, gave up my curved blades at the entrance and went inside.

He was already stark naked.

“Take off your clothes,” he said without emotions.

I untied the straps that kept my black leather breastplate in place.  Then, my riding shirt dropped to the floor, followed by my riding pants and my red dudou.

“Come here, cat!”

I walked over and he caught my wrist and pulled me down. I could feel his breath on my face.  He had been drinking, a lot

He ran his hand over my body.  It made me feel like a cat, with the fur.

“Such a beautiful body,” he commented. “But with only one eye.”

I felt a sudden anger and raised a hand to slap him.

He caught my wrist and pinned it down on the tiger skin placed in the center.  We stared at each other, both breathing hard.  He then pulled my legs wide apart and thrust his penis in.

“Argh…” I uttered a groan as he moved inside me.  It hurt as my body was not yet ready for it.

“You like it, don’t you?” he chuckled.  “You like pain, I know.”

I did not answer him but I could feel my body adapting. What was so dry a moment ago was now flooded with my own body-juice.  Maybe he was right.  I needed to feel pain, from him.  He rammed me again and again.  When he finally spilled his sperm inside me, he pulled his manhood out and sprayed whatever was left on my bare breasts.  I rubbed it all over my breasts.  I knew it was what he wanted.

He laughed.

“Now get out!” he shouted.

He grabbed my hair and pushed me out of his tent naked and threw my armor and clothes out behind me.  The sentries pretended they did not see anything.

I quickly dressed and went back to my tent.

Su-wa was waiting for me.  She immediately knew what had happened.

“I will kill him one day!” she flared up.

I hushed her.  If anybody heard her, she would be as good as dead.  Even I could not save her.

She pulled my head to her bosom and I drank in her fragrance.

When she removed my clothes and made love to me, she was so gentle that all my pains were forgotten.

(3)

After we burned down Guang Zhou, we marched north, gathering more eager peasants to join our army.  We took the city of Loyang and at the end of the year, we stormed Chang An.  The Tang Emperor fled.  Huang rode into the capital city in his gold armor, fulfilling his ambition expressed in that poem.  He then crowned himself Emperor and named his dynasty Qi.  I remained his woman.  No emperor, even a rebel-emperor would make a one-eyed woman his empress, or even his concubine.

The Tang court did not give up.  They counter-attacked with the aid of nomad mercenaries.  We suffered a crushing defeat and fled to the east. There was one nomad tribe we feared most: the Shatu of Turkic origin. They were also called “the Crows” as they all wore black battle attire.  Their leader, Li Keyong, was a great tactician.  He, like me, had only one eye.
As we lost our initiative on the battlefield, some of Huang’s subordinates deserted him and came over to the Tang Emperor.  In response, Huang became suspicious of everyone.  One time, he even suspected that I was to desert him, and ordered me beheaded.  I was taken to the field, stripped naked waist up and the blade was about to fall when his edict for my reprieve arrived just in time.  I knew I might not be so lucky the next time.

“Let us plot to kill him,” Su-wa suggested.

“No, he saved me once.”

She fell silent.

“Let us make love,” I said.

She helped me remove my white undershirt which I was nearly executed in.  Then, she untied the ribbon that kept my dudou in place and sucked at my breasts.

I melted under her embrace.

“Arghhhh….Su-wa….Arghhhh….”

She took me in every possible position.  Then, she let me do it to her in turn.
—
Two days later, Huang fell terribly ill.  It was rumored that he was poisoned.  But somehow he did not die.  I knew who the one who had tried to kill him was.  Cold sweat ran down my spine.  If he found out, all of us in my company would be executed in the most horrible manner.  I might be able to save our necks if I exposed Su-wa first but I knew I could not do it.  Nor could I escape with Su-wa when the whole camp was on alert for possible deserters.  Even if we could make good our escape, the rest of my company would be exterminated.

We were like trapped beasts, boiling with anxiety and waiting to be found out.  Perhaps we were not much different from those rats trapped in a cave by a serpent. Without any escape path, the rat would concentrate on feasting on whatever food it could find, as if the danger would pass if it did not pay notice to it.  For us, our food was our copulation. We made love whenever we had the chance, as if it was our last and that we would be dragged out to be slaughtered right after it.  The tension was unbearable.  And we knew sooner or later, we would be found out.

But fate always played tricks on us.  Just as we were expecting discovery and execution, our force was attacked by surprise by the Shatu cavalry.

Our peasant soldiers were no match for the nomad riders.  The defeat became a rout.  I led my company to breakout.  Only six of us made it.  The rest fell under arrows and lances.  When darkness fell, we sneaked close to the Shatu camp as there was no other path for escape but to go around it.  There, we saw the heads of all the slain girls displayed on top of neat rows of poles, their long hair swaying in the night wind.  The Shatu always took heads as we always did, when we won.

But we were not winning.

The main body of the Qi army had disintegrated and Huang was on the run.  We had no desire to rejoin him.

“Where should we go?” Lian, one of the surviving girls asked me.

“Let us go to Jiaozhi.  It is outside the empire and no one will hunt for us that far.” Su-wa offered.

It was very far away but this was the best possible solution.

Meanwhile, however, we had to go round the Shatu and also make sure not to run into Huang’s remaining troops.

Su-wa was delighted that I agreed with her plan.

Somehow, I had an ominous feeling that fate would not be so kind.

(4)

We went round the Shatu camp and reached a river.  It was wide but from the water running over the rocks at the bed, we knew it was not too deep and we could ford across.

I led the five other riders towards the water.

It was then that the black figures appeared on the embankment to our rear.

“The Crows! Run!” I shouted.

We spurred our horses into a quick trot as it was too dangerous to gallop across; the tricky rocks could easily break a leg of our horses.

The Shatu gave chase and soon we heard the sing of their bow-strings.

“Argh!” Wen, a girl of nineteen, fell headlong into the water, a shaft buried in her back.

We could not stop to help her.  She probably was dead already.

We made it to mid-stream. But the Shatu were closing in.  Their horses were fresh while ours were dead tired.

“Watch out! “ I shouted as one crow closed in behind Su-wa.

But it was too late.

“Argh.” Su-wa gave a shout, threw up both hands and tumbled into the water.  The Shatu rider had sunk his lance into her side.

I reined in my horse.  I could not abandon Su-wa.

“You three go!” I shouted and turned towards my fallen lover.

The Shatu warrior saw me rushing towards him with a raised sword.  He charged me and narrowly missed me with his bloodied lance. I cut him down.

But then I felt a pain at my right side.  I looked back and saw another Shatu rider had crept up and wounded me.

I gave a moan and toppled from my saddle.

I knew both Su-wa and I were going to die.

I turned to look at Su-wa.  She was in great pain as the lance had sunk deep.  My wound was bad, though not fatal.

Other riders had given chase to the three girls while another nomad walked his horse towards us.  A head was hanging from the neck of his mount: Wen’s.

A few more riders arrived.  They dismounted and pointed their fingers at our predicament, laughing.  Then, they began to strip our armor and clothes off.

Su-wa and I were looking at each other.  There were tears in her eyes.

It was too far away for me to say anything but our eyes met and I was trying to tell her without use of any spoken words that it was alright, that I would not abandon her.

We were both naked now.  A strong warrior mounted Su-wa and rammed her rough.  I was pinned down by two pairs of strong hands while another warrior, a young man was urged by his comrades to take me.  He seemed shy at first but finally, he took off whatever clothes that might hinder him and climbed on my body.

“Arghhhhh….”  I gave a wail when he ejaculated inside me as the other two fondled my breasts.

Then I heard the sound of hooves hitting water.  The warriors who had given chase to the other three girls were coming back.  There were three heads hanging by the necks of the stallions.

Soon, Su-wa’s head and mine too would meet the same fate.

It was a fitting end for us, for all the blood on our hands.

Then I heard a sharp cry and turned in time to see the one who had been raping Su-wa brought his axe down on her neck.  Her head rolled, giving a splash when it sank in the shallow water.

I screamed as her head was picked up.  With all my strength, I yanked myself free, kicking the young man on top of me over and I made quick crawls to where Su-wa’s body was lying spread-eagled.  I knew they would kill me but I no longer cared.

I reached her and knelt beside her headless body.  Her tits were firm and pointing to the cloudless sky.  I took up one of her hands and used it to cup my own breast.

The Shatu warriors were momentarily stunned by what they saw, uncomprehending.

I continued to guide her hand, still warm, to roam over my nakedness. At the same time, I used my own fingers to masturbate, digging in deep.

They surrounded me, looking and exchanging dialogue in a language I could not understand.

I knew sooner or later they would kill me and in this position, my body would fall over that of Su-wa and our breasts would be pressed against each other.  They could take our heads and bring them back to place them on another two poles with the rest, but our bodies would join together, half-floating in this shallow stream and would only come apart when wild dogs dragged us to the banks to devour as their meals.

I saw him approach, sitting on his horse.

The other warriors suddenly grew tense and stood deferentially.  I looked up and saw that he was a commanding figure.  He had only one eye.

I knew at once who he was and I could not stop my laughing out loud.  How apt for my head to hang beside his saddle. We both had one eye.

The man pointed at the young man who had raped me and barked an order.  Even not understanding what he had said, I knew he was ordering him to behead me.

I continued to masturbate; a new flood of climax all over me.

The young man walked closer, a sword drawn. His hands were shaking.  It was probably the first time for him to kill someone. At least, it was the first time he would kill the woman whose body he had just used.

I chuckled.  If I knew his tongue, I would tell him that when he killed for the first time, he might tremble, out of fear.  When he got used to it, he still might tremble, but this time out of ecstasy.

“Argh…” I finally had my orgasm.

Then, let it be done!

I bowed my head to my front so that my dripping hair was directly over Su-wa’s corpse and exposed my neck.

“Do it! Behead me!” I shouted.

The cold blade ate into the nape of my neck…

Ecstasy…

(Postscript)

They took the heads of the six women back to camp and had them displayed.  On the following day, they moved out upon receiving the report from scouts that the location of what remained of Huang’s army was found.

The poles with the heads were left on the plain, waiting for another type of crows…

Huang was finally crushed.  There were many versions to his final fate: from being killed by his own nephew to hiding in a monastery and becoming a monk.  There were reports that in his last days as commander of the rebel army, he ordered people to be rounded up and thrown into huge grinds so that the flesh and blood would be made into meals for his hungry soldiers.

Guang Zhou, later termed as Canton by the British, still have memories of his huge massacre of more than one hundred and twenty thousand traders from Arabia and Persia.

The Tang Empire was inching towards its final days.  Eventually, Zhu Wen, a former general of Huang, assassinated the emperor and found his own dynasty, the Liang. Li Keyong was defeated but managed to keep his citadel.  He died twenty four years later.  One of his sons destroyed the short-lived Liang Dynasty and found a new dynasty of his own, another Tang.  His dynasty lasted only thirteen years.