Hong Kong Young Writers Anthologies Fiction Group 3 | Page 210

The salty water churned as our boat pushed past it. We were on our way to Sumatra to defeat the
pirate king. Soldiers were all dressing in combat gear and sharpening their weapons. This battle was going to
be a horrid one. Then I saw one of my men looking at a painting of what most likely was his family. There
was a little boy in that painting. –The life left the boys eyes. His hand dropped down. His tears seized to
flow. He was died-. Suddenly the memory faded as abruptly as it began. Then one of my scouts handed me
a telescope, “I see land over there. Is it Sumatra?”
“Yes. We are almost there.”
Through the telescope I saw faint shapes of land and some sort of building hanging slightly over the
water. I shouted to the other boats to prepare the cannons and the message spread to the rest of the fleet. As
our ships neared the fort, maybe a few kilometers away, a bell sounded. The pirates had spotted us.
Immediately we executed the plan, all the small ships, being lighter, raced forward. Then behind a cliff, a
bunch boats came out and started to attempt to intercept the small boats. Some boats got intercepted, and
they started boarding each other’s boats and started to cut and slice each other. Blood seeped into ocean
dripping off the boats. As the small ships cleared a path for the treasure ships, we landed on the beach and
chaos erupted everywhere. The sound of swords clashing and people’ s screams echoed around the area.
Corpses littered the ground. But we somehow pushed through with the battering ram. The men began to
smash against the gate as the rest of defended them. And even for the thousands of men on the beach, still
more of our ships had just begun to anchor down and rush down to help us. We continued to cut down
pirate after pirate and finally all the men on the beach were wiped out. Even most of the pirate archers on
the wall had been shot full of arrows. But just as we relaxed the gate crashed open and in the fortress, there
were still thousands more pirates waiting for us. Pirate after pirate, more filled their place till many of our
swords were completely stained red and so were our armor. But we outnumbered them. And soon there
were maybe 21,700 men of the 27,800 men we originally had. Before us stood the so hated Chen Zuyi and
10 of his remaining guards.
Blood and sweat stung my eyes. I saw that boy in my arms as he died, “Surrender!” I commanded.
Chen Zuyi simply replied with a smirk on his face, “Well that is what I am going to do.
Obviously.”
I walked forward, my fist clenching my blade, my hand shaking, thinking of nothing else but
stabbing this man. He noticed my state and he grinned, “The great Zheng He, after killing all of my men,
he can’t kill me.” Chen Zuyi said mockingly. He laughed and continued, “Pathetic.”
I grabbed him by his shirt putting my blade at his neck, all I needed to do was apply a little bit of
pressure and he was dead, but against my wishes I said, “I am not going to kill you now, because we are
going to do something to you that is going to make you wish you were dead. When we get back to China,
you will be publicly executed.”
During the journey back, however, Chen Zuyi was all smiles. Finally, after a week of
imprisonment, he was presented to the people of China. In Nanjing, where the execution was held, the sun
was shining so brightly, for it was a good day for a monster was finally being slain.
Days after the celebration, the memory of that boy started to hurt less. The agony of watching the
boy die was leaving me. The bitter pain that had been torturing me for so long was finally subsiding, because
I knew that I had avenged that child and I could finally be at peace with myself.