Episode 7 · Kingdom

Kingdom

China has been at war with itself for five hundred years. Kingdoms rise, burn, and vanish, and from all that blood and ash seven states are left standing. In Qin, two slave boys swing their swords at the same straw dummy every morning. Xin and Piao. Orphans, nobodies, both dreaming of one day standing as Great Generals of the Heavens. Then Piao gets picked to serve inside a minister's palace, and the two friends are torn apart. What follows is a brutal scramble for power that leaves the minister dead and Piao staggering home barely alive. His last act sends Xin straight into the path of Ying Zheng, a thirteen-year-old prince who looks exactly like Piao. Same face. Same eyes. A king hiding in plain sight. Ying Zheng could unite all of China and crown himself its first emperor, if he lives long enough to try. Xin has no army, no name, nothing but a sword and a promise to a dead friend. So what does a slave boy do when destiny hands him a king to protect? (Примечание: описание составлено по предоставленному сюжету, без раскрытия финала.)