I don't own Dynasty Warriors, or any of those characters… but man, if I did I'd have a hell of a good time! However, the narrator is my brainchild. You may ask to use him… I suppose, although I don't really expect it.

So here it is.

Dynasty Warriors: Clash of the Empires

Chapter one: Camping

Armor and chain mail jangled quietly as the 'war council' met in the tent. Strong winds whipped the tent flaps around and brought snow in underneath the sides. The tent its self was dim, lit by a small dish of coals suspended above the map table, and the pieces representing units of the army were set off to a side. "Now, lord Sun Jian, Sun Ce, we are here, at this end of the mountain pass, correct?"

"Yeah, what's your point?"

"Patience, my son," Sun Jian said softly. I arched my brows as I pushed pieces around forming a 'Y'. "These parts here," I said pointing to the upper ends of the formation, "would be scouting teams, infantry units can be spread in teams of ten from those scouts to the main camp, which would be here, at the center point. The tail formation comes from more troops in teams of twenty, another scouting unit, and perhaps mounted soldiers if it please you?"

Sun Jian exhaled loudly and slowly through his nostrils. "Perhaps." he muttered something to his son, and then took a unit tally sheet off of the table. Sun Ce turned and left the tent. "Well," Sun Juan sighed, "it seems your plan may work out to catch any remaining units as we march back to the castle… hmm… yes. Well, I'll leave you to set it up-"

"Sir, that isn't a good idea."

"Why is that? Do you think that the soldiers will still not listen to you because they assume the only thing that bonds you is your paycheck?"

"That and the fact that they disdain me due to skin tone differences."

"Oh really? Remind me of your story before you came to me for hire."

"I was fathered by a roman centurion on some Chinese woman roughly twenty years ago. I grew bored with my pitiful lot, and sailed east, working for those people. They taught me various forms of combat, sailing, horse riding, and military tactics. I sailed back here, and went home for a year. I then heard about the call to arms against the 'way of peace'. so, I helped the empire, and you saw fit to out pay Liu Bei and Cao Cao in my wages. And here we are a few years later. You had hired me as a personal bodyguard, but apparently I'm worth more than that. Now, if you will excuse me, we have a long journey ahead of us," I said as I stepped past him into the open air. I walked a roundabout path to my tent, which took me past the guard's fires where they slept on the ground.

My armor wasn't the quietest thing ever, and several of the guards leaned up to glare at me. I continued past some minor officer tents. Lu Xun was reading another book in front of his tent, and I nodded at him. A few tents down, Zhou Tai was cleaning his rather bloody sword, which he looked up from and grinned. "Good work," he told me in his rather gravely voice.

"Helluva fight," I acknowledged. I continued my trek around the camp, passing the horse paddocks, and finally reaching the tents of the Sun family and my own. I noticed young Sun Shang Xiang standing by the fire and rubbing her stomach absentmindedly. I raised an eyebrow at her, then nodded before stepping into my own tent to sleep.

I slept little that night, and what I did get was very fitful, plagued by dreams from the battle two days ago. Juggernauts and arbalest units taking out any soldiers that attempted to get by them. And never, never in my days would I forget the land mines. Five men had charged through the narrow pathway, and were gifted with a mighty blast from underfoot, incinerating the man who stepped on it, and removing more than half of the bodies of the men surrounding him. Blood and entrails splattered in every direction, still smoking in the cold morning air as they hit mine and my bodyguards feet.. Screams filled the air, but were silenced quickly by my sword, we weren't able to risk our location being disclosed.

I emerged from my tent to the warming light of dawn. The fire that had burned so bright last night was reduced to a few coals with a kettle of wash water resting lightly atop them. I stretched and added another log to the fire. I scanned the horizon, searching for any sign of a threat, but only found my bodyguards doing the same. I turned and looked through the camp. The only other person up was Sun Shang Xiang. She noticed me standing by the fire and came over to greet me. As this was not her normal routine, I wondered if something was amiss, and said as much. "I don't know, I just feel very odd this morning." I shrugged at her response.

"Would you like something to eat, lady?" she thought about it for a moment, then leaned over and nearly wretched. When she sat upright again, she looked ill and stated "I don't think I can stomach anything just now." I nodded again and went on with my cooking. I stooped back in my tent with and returned with a bottle of watermelon wine. I opened and extended the bottle to her, but she pushed it away. I shrugged again and took a long pull from the container. I had always had a good head for spirits. Again I stooped back in my tent, and came back out with a small piece of beef, a smaller sack of rice and dropped them into the boiling water. I paced over to the wooded area in search of anything that could do for a seasoning, but in the end returned to my tent again and pulled out what little I had left. I stirred the contents of the pot, tossed in my seasoning, and paced off again. Taking my round about path again, I passed the other officers cooking morning meals. All except for Gan Ning. As I passed his tent, a younger lady guard for Sun Shang Xiang came running out, hoping to not be seen in her minimal garb.

I continued on my pathway, passing those who I saw last night. Lu Xun was still reading his book and I asked him "Did you even move last night?" He looked up and grinned at me. I noticed he wasn't cooking and asked him if he wanted to eat anything. "No, not now thank you. I have some apples and jerky in my pack, I'll eat those on the ride back."

I continued back to my tent and cook fire, avoiding the soldiers on the route back. When I arrived, the smell of beef and spicing was stronger than I expected and hardly covered the underlying scent of vomit. Looking over at Sun Shang Xiang, she seemed even worse for wear. When she tried to smile at me, I knew something was wrong, and I spoke up. "I can't tell. I've never felt like this after a battle." I raised an eyebrow. "Cheng Du was a rather large battle."

"Yes, it was."

"Maybe… when I was in the east, I heard about something called combat sickness. You suffer from nausea, and the smell or thought of food can make you wretch."

"Really?" I nodded in response.

"They said that the only cure was time. Roughly an hour to a day." She looked up at me quickly, then back down at the ground. Sun Jian finally emerged from his tent and called over one of the messengers. "Go around and tell all the men it is time to strike camp and move onward."

"Yes, sir," he said quickly and hustled off.

The striking of camp took about an hour to have all men mounted or carrying their packs, and all the fires doused or stamped out.

Then began the long ride home.

A/N: So, what do you think? Please review, but keep the flames to a minimum, I beg of you.

Next chapter should be out in a week or two for those who wish to follow the story.