The Empire of Cathay

Huang Rho, The Phoenix Prince, Lord of the Triumphant Eastern Brigade, stared disconsolately out over the rude encampent his people had clawed from the unforgiving terrain. He was... dissatisfied. It was not that he minded sleeping on the hard ground. It was not that he missed his silken sheets, the legion of concubines of the Divine Palace - he felt for the suffering his people had endured. The overcrowding, the disease the poor food. Something had to be done about this.

He looked at the small group of heroes before him. Small in number - but each was a name worth ten thousand horseman - each man and woman was a legion unto themselves. The Glorious Companions. The Immaculates. The Emperor's Immortals. Each of them had tasted the Fruit of the First Tree, grown in the hidden valley of Shangri-La and blessed with the powers of the gods themselves. And each one was his friends.

"The people's bellies grow empty, my friends, and an army marches on its stomach."

"Bah!" Grunted Lu Bu, bilious as ever "They are your subjects, Rho. They will march as you tell them, until they wear their feet down to nubs."

"And that is because I do not give such orders, old friend." Said the prince with a smile. He looked to Cao Xia, the Radiant Blossom of Heavenly knowledge. Her hair, the color of a starling's wing was pulled back in a severe bun, a pair of jade needles serving as the only form of decoration the woman permitted herself. "I trust you have come up with a solution, oh Builder of Wonders?"

She gave a small, quiet smile "I think I have. With the assistance of Rama Ci, it should be a small matter to provide some relief."

The prince nodded, heading towards the entrance of his tent. "Then let it be done straight away. I will not have my people suffer any more than they must."

Cao Xia walked next to Rama Ci, speaking in quiet tones. Though the vast majority of the Empire's subjects professed faith in the Heavenly Beuraucracy, a small minority followed the way of the Buddha. Ci was such a one - the only one of the Immortals who walked that path. His skills in the Martial Arts were unparalelled, but he refused to ever strike a killing blow. Lu Bu insisted that this made him unfit as a warrior, but every time the two had spared, Lu Bu had been handed a humiliating defeat - the only times the Invincible warrior had ever yielded to another. It was whispered that Rama Ci knew the location of Shangri La, and that he was a Boddhivisatta, a living saint of his faith. But of these things, he would not speak.

Robed in black and white, the warrior monk approached a pile of boulders that had been stacked on a hill overlooking a massive plain. The plain had been cleared some days before, the trees cut down and uprooted to form the settlement's rude structures. Most of the expedition's civilians and many of the soldiers waited, watching and hoping that their heroes could provide salvation in what seemed like immanent starvation.

The Prince nodded, and Rama Ci struck. The boulders flew into the air, and he flew after them. As he and the stones reached the apex of their flight, the monk struck each one with a single open-palmed blow. The stones streaked towards the plain like comets, striking the earth with a sound like a storm dragon's roar. The impacts gouged massive depressions in the earth, and dust rose from the craters as Rama Ci landed, his face as serene as ever. The people stared in awe at the devastation as Cao Xia took her place on the ledge overlooking the plain.

The Radiant Blossom began to chant, her hands moving in smooth, flowing motions as she intoned a hypnotic, liquid series of words in the Old Tongue. Blue-green light gathered about her palms and streamed outwards, burrowing down into the ground. Up from within came water, clear and pure, filling the great depressions in the earth. But Cao Xia was not done yet. With an imperious gesture, she flung her arms outward, and a rain of golden motes fell into the new-formed pools, spreading ripples of golden power where they struck. Stalks of gold-headed rice shot up from the pools, their heads already heavy with a bountiful harvest. The people cheered, and the prince nodded to his captains, signaling them to begin collecting the food. It would not last forever, but the enchanted gifts would provide some measure of relief from both hunger and disease. Hopefully it would be enough to last until they could properly establish their own, more mundane food supplies.

In the meantime, those who held the towers would need to be dealt with. The advance of Grand Cathay would not be slowed by these eastern savages.