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Sima Shi paced back and forth, looking uncharacteristically anxious, especially when one considered that he was a man who didn't believe in letting his emotions be apparent. Beside him was the door to the room where a doctor was carefully examining his wife. Xiahou Hui had passed out shortly after the battle with Shu ended, her husband carefully put her on the horse and kept careful watch on her until she was laid down in a bed. As she was unconscious she looked pained the entire way back to Luoyang.

Shi should have been able to trust a professional doctor, but he didn't like trusting his wife's fate to someone he wasn't familiar with, even if the doctor was loyal to the Sima. Yet he knew that someone trained in medicine would do a far better job at treating his wife then he would. It did little to ease his nerves. On top of his wife's health, there was the issue of who, exactly, had poisoned her.

Sima Zhao, standing not far away from his brother, could see the hidden emotions on his brother. Shi looked worried and anxious more then anything else, but Zhao could see the smoldering rage burning within. At times Shi's interaction with his wife seemed aloof and professional, but his feelings went much deeper then that. Sima Shi saw to it that everyone, even his own brother, would pay for the slightest disrespect toward his wife. To attempt to assassinate her like this, it was like signing your own death warrant.

Zhao's own wife did not escape the battle with Shu unscathed herself. Wang Yuanji was sitting in a nearby chair, a bandage wrapped around the arm that had been critically wounded by Jiang Wei at the end of the battle. It was difficult for her to move the arm right now, and if she had trouble moving her preferred arm then it would be some time before she would participate in battle again.

Yuanji, who called Lady Xiahou Hui a dear friend, was also angry that there had been an assassination attempt, though likely not on the same scale of Sima Shi's quiet rage. Yuanji silently replayed the events of the battle with Shu in her head over and over, if she had been more forceful, she might have spared Xiahou Hui from some of the pain she was going through now. Yet she knew that musing of how things could have gone wasn't going to help Xiahou Hui right now.

"Master Sima Shi." A voice broke the silence. Shi snapped to the side to see a soldier of Wei entering the room. Beside him was Deng Ai. Sima Shi didn't recognize the soldier, it was his wife that made a point of recognizing everyone loyal to the Sima.

"What is it?" Shi asked. He did not want to be bothered right now, but if someone as dutiful as Deng Ai had entered, this was likely important.

Deng Ai was silent, but the soldier solemnly stepped forward. The soldier put a closed fist into an open palm and bowed his head. "I was a lookout in the Wei camp in the last battle with Shu. When the battle was starting, I saw one soldier of Wei abandon the camp and flee out the back." The soldier gulped, and a tone of fear laced his next words. "I thought little of it at the time, but I believe that the deserter is most likely the assassin that poisoned your lady wife."

The soldier began to visibly tremble as he finished speaking. He expected Sima Shi to wrathfully order him to be lashed, or that he would lose all his land, or maybe even be executed along with his family. His lack of good judgment had allowed the assassin to get a good distance away, Sima Shi's wrath would be…

"Out of the back of the camp?" Sima Shi asked, the soldier blinked in confusion and cautious relief. In response to Sima Shi's words, Deng Ai produced a cup.

"We found this in the camp." Deng Ai said. "There was not supposed to be any cup with such an ornate design in that camp. Due to your… forgive me, but due to your wife's naivety, I believe the assassin handed her a poison filled cup, gave her a pretty lie, and she drank it." Deng Ai sighed, shameful that a man of ill intent had infiltrated the Wei camp. He might have never realized the intruder had the lookout not come to him with this information. "However, if he fled on foot, then there's a good chance he is still in Mt. Tielong. If you'll give me a small squad, I shall make it my personal duty to find the assassin that targeted your wife."

Sima Shi nodded, then turned his head. "Zhao, I want you to go with Deng Ai. Take with you anyone you think will be helpful. Find that assassin, and determine who targeted Hui and for what reason." He turned, looking back at the door that his wife was on the other side of. "I need to stay here for now, to be ready when she wakes up."

Deng Ai nodded, then turned to Sima Zhao. "Come Master Sima Zhao, we must move quickly, or the assassin will be beyond our grasp." He clasped the lookout on the shoulder. "You as well. Take this as a chance to redeem yourself."


Zhao didn't think he'd be back in Mt. Tielong this soon. There was not a single Shu soldier still around. The only sign that they were ever here was the remains of the ballista and juggernauts they used in the battle. As well as the burnt remains of the soldiers who fell to the juggernaut's flame, not a sight for people with a weak stomach.

They hadn't come to examine the remains of Shu's failed invasion, of course. They were hunting down an assassin. It was not known how far the man had gotten, if he had fled on horseback he'd be long gone by now, but the lookout stated that the man had fled on foot. If he planned to completely escape on foot he likely hadn't gotten far.

Jia Chong had his scouts sent out. If this assassin had left any trace behind, he would be found. Sima Zhao was slightly worried that the scouts would end up finding nothing. Jia Chong, standing beside him, was at peace, confident that his scouts would succeed. It wouldn't take much… they had been trained to use the slightest bit of detail to guide them to a target.

Deng Ai had already made his suggestions on what paths the assassin may have used when escaping, Jia Chong's scouts put priority on investigating those paths. Zhong Hui had been beside himself in frustration when Deng Ai's suggestions had been taken over his suggestion that the scouts be as spread out as possible.

"They're talking a long time, aren't they?" Sima Zhao noted. Jia Chong's scouts were incredibly efficient, to take more then a few minutes to determine where the assassin may have been or what direction he had headed was rather troubling.

Jia Chong just chuckled at his lord's concerns. "My scouts aren't ones to fall to any possibly ambushes, my lord. This delay most likely simply means that the assassin took excellent measures to cover his tracks."

No measures would be able to completely deter Jia Chong's scouts though. Footprints, dust that suggests someone moved through the area, anything would be the sign his scouts would need.

Almost in response to his thoughts, the scouts suddenly returned. One of them stepped forward to give his report. "A single man, wearing a tattered Wei uniform, is fleeing down the mountain path. Even without noticing us, the man was frantic. He is undoubtedly the assassin we are looking for."

Jia Chong nodded, the scouts excused themselves and dispersed, melting into the squad of Wei soldiers.

"Our target has been found." Deng Ai announced. "Now we-"

"Now we give pursuit." Zhong Hui interrupted. "We all know, Master Deng Ai. We must ensure that the assassin does not escape." He put a hand through his hair as his flying swords hovered around him, looking almost self-aware and hungering for a battle. Zhong Hui wanted to find and catch the assassin, for less then wholly altruistic reasons. He yearned for the chance to make the head of the Sima clan owe a debt to him.

"We must do this as quickly as possible." Deng Ai said. "We must also take him alive. We need to determine who he works for. Begin pursuit."

The Wei soldiers responded to the order, falling in formation and following their officers down the mountain path.

Jia Chong smirked. The assassin, and whomever he was working for, would make good examples for any potential enemies of the Sima when they were captured and brought to Louyang for public execution. Whomever was the mind behind the assassination would have the most painful demise.

The march was lengthy, but overly uneventful. Some of the Wei soldiers likely had the troubling thought that they weren't going to find anyone, that perhaps the scouts couldn't find anything, and simply made up a story so they wouldn't seem to return empty handed. Such thoughts would turn out to be unfounded, as after about twenty minutes of marching, they saw a single man. He wore a Wei uniform, which was suffering from some wear and tear most likely due to marching by himself for an exceptionally long period of time.

Deng Ai began to run faster. Everyone else followed suit.

While it was a small enough unit of soldiers to be easily managed and not be cumbersome or difficult to control, it was large enough that all of them running together was far from subtle. The man they had spotted turned at the peculiar noise coming from behind. His face paled at the sight of Wei's army, and he frantically quickened his pace.

That was all the proof that was necessary. Had the lone runner been loyal to Wei he'd have been relieved to have come across allies. Instead, he was fleeing in terror, as the assassin clearly knew he had been found out. Zhong Hui sped up, breaking formation and starting to get ahead of everyone else. He planned on claiming the accolades for catching the assassin for himself and himself alone. Then an arrow suddenly flew at him. The only thing that kept the arrow from going straight through Zhong Hui's head was the fact that the arrow bounced off of one of Zhong Hui's flying swords.

Someone suddenly shouted from far above the Wei army. Sima Zhao raised his head to see a large group of people, possibly a third of them archers, and the remaining two-thirds an assortment of swordsmen and spear wielders. Altogether they outnumbered the unit of Wei soldiers by a ten to one margin. One of them gave the command for someone to run.

Some of the color returned to the assassin's face, he shouted a thanks and returned to his run. The melee combatants atop of the cliff jumped down before Wei could continue its pursuit.

These unknown enemies, who wore no colors that signified where their allegiance may have laid, circled around the Wei soldiers. Were they soldiers of Wu or Shu? Or did they give their loyalty to another, smaller, faction? It didn't matter, they were men who were challenging Wei, and they would die for it.

"You will never catch that man. He'll be rewarded as he deserves for killing the wife of Sima Shi."

"Yes." Jia Chong agreed. "He will." Taking his throwing axes out, a smirk crept across his face. The enemy soldiers held their ground. Jia Chong immediately understood that they were there to stall Wei. If that assassin escaped then Wei's hunt and chase was a failure, and these enemies would be the victor, even if it was a victory that came at the cost of all of their lives.

The enemy stood at a distance for another moment, then they all began their offensive. Those still on the cliff launched arrows while those on the same level of the Wei soldiers made a furious offense at a critically outnumbered Wei army.

Sima Zhao's striking sword cut through the enemy, while Zhong Hui's flying swords diced and stabbed. Deng Ai and Jia Chong also decimated those that foolishly got in range of them. The soldiers of Wei fought as well, fighting off the enemy despite their extreme disadvantage. A few Wei soldiers fell here and there, but it took only a few short minutes before the large attacking army was smaller in number then the Wei army.

As the numbers of enemies dwindled, Zhong Hui snapped his fingers. His flying swords took to the air and decimated the archers on the cliff top. It took only another short moment for the attacking enemies to be routed completely.

"Keep moving." Deng Ai ordered. "And be aware of your surroundings. Our enemies are organized."

The Wei unit continued to move. Ambushes were frequent. Some hid cleverly behind rocks, others were simply standing in plain sight and just charged when they saw Wei. Whoever had masterminded the assassination had clearly expected a pursuit. Regardless, the cautionary ambushes designed to stymie anyone pursuing the assassin all crumbled against Deng Ai's army. The bigger concern was how much time they were wasting fighting off the ambushes. At this rate the assassin would elude them.

"The ambushes are likely entirely on the path the assassin took to escape." Deng Ai observed. "If we take another path, our enemies shouldn't catch wind that we're approaching from elsewhere."

"They will if we abandon this path." Zhong Hui retorted, not hiding his annoyance at how Deng Ai had seemingly failed to notice that. "At this point they know we're coming, if we suddenly abandon the path the assassin took, they'll know immediately."

Deng Ai thought for a moment. "Master Jia Chong, Master Zhong Hui, continue along this path as a decoy. Master Sima Zhao and I will use a different path to cut off the assassin's route."

And you conveniently deprive me of the chance to catch the assassin myself. Zhong Hui privately fumed at the plan, but no one else objected to it. And so, with the majority of the Wei soldiers with him, Zhong Hui joined Jia Chong in continuing along the path. Deng Ai and Sima Zhao, with only about three soldiers of Wei following them, went down a path that while technically longer, would likely have fewer ambushes on it.


It didn't take long for Jia Chong and Zhong Hui to come upon the next ambush.

"You will never reach that man!" One of the enemy soldiers shouted. "Our lord's vendetta shall be settled."

Jia Chong just smirked, this ambush unit was oblivious of the enemies going around them to the man they were trying to buy time for. And the one enemy who had spoken had a loose tongue, so very much could have been taken from his words. Those words confirmed that the assassination attempt had been for revenge. Who sought to take vengeance, and whether the target was Xiahou Hui or Sima Shi was still unknown, but Wei would get the answers out of the assassin when he had been caught.

Taking his throwing axes out, he joined the rest of the Wei army in battling this ambush squad. The ambush was smaller then most of the previous ones. Jia Chong assumed that whoever had planned the assassination hadn't expected the pursuit to crush so many of the ambushes. The attacks would likely get increasingly lax. The end of this skirmish should be only just up ahead.


The assassin passed a checkpoint and felt he could finally breath a sigh of relief. He passed so many heavily armed and well fortified groups of allies, he had to be safe at this point. Surely, surely his pursuers had been killed or at least forced to retreat by now.

"Finally…" He breathed out, letting relief mercifully fill his being. He had heard enough stories about what the Sima had done to so many of their enemies that his nerves had been shot over and over during this mission. Now it was finally over, now that he had gotten this far, he should have been…

"You will go no further." An unfamiliar voice suddenly said, nearly giving the assassin a heart attack. He turned to see the intimidating figure of Deng Ai approaching him.

"H-h-how did you c-catch up?" The assassin stuttered in fear, his entire body trembling, knowing what would likely happen to him if he was caught. In a panic he drew his sword and made a frantic call for help.

A legion of soldiers appeared to defend the assassin. The assassin pointed his sword defiantly. "I… I will not be captured by you. I will complete my mission. I am my lord's tool to take revenge on Sima Shi."

Sima Zhao took a step forward. "Revenge on my brother, huh? Your lord… really didn't take enough into account, did he?" The Sima clan had quickly determined that Xiahou Hui had been poisoned, gotten her to a doctor, and sent out a small unit to find the assassin, crushing the ambushes meant to deter any pursuit of the assassin. Whoever was the brains behind this assassination had completely underestimated the Sima.

"Kill them!" The assassin ordered. "I must return to our lord. He must know that the first step in his revenge has been achieved."

The enemies surged forward to the badly outnumbered group of Wei soldiers, only containing Sima Zhao, Deng Ai, and three Wei soldiers. Despite their advantage, the enemy was completely, utterly outclassed, the bodyguards who had tried to assist the assassin were soon lying on the rocky ground, Wei's only loss was a single one of the soldiers who accompanied Sima Zhao and Deng Ai.

"S-stay away." The assassin threatened once he realized just how completely the tables had turned on him. He pointed his sword at the Wei forces with a trembling hand before suddenly pointing his own sword at himself. "I'll k-kill myself if you take another s-step forward. Then you c-can't get any inform-m-mation out of me."

Deng Ai and Sima Zhao heeded the warning, backing up a short distance. The assassin regained just the tiniest sliver of confidence as he slowly backed away, still keeping his sword pointed at his chest. He slowly started to move his sword away from his chest, breathing a sigh of relief. Good, perhaps he'd return safely after all.

Then a throwing axe suddenly flew through the air, slashing the arm that the assassin was using to hold his sword. The assassin cried in pain as the sword fell to the ground. Deng Ai turned and nodded as Jia Chong and Zhong Hui approached.

Two Wei soldiers rushed forward and firmly restrained the assassin before he could do anything, retrieve his sword or attempt to run. Such restraint might not have even been necessary, the assassin was more busy reacting to the writhing pain in his arm.

Jia Chong suddenly and unexpectedly let out a laugh that caught everyone by attention. Even the assassin looked up, starting to find the pain in his arm become bearable. Jia Chong pointed one of his axes at the man. "So this is our target. I'll enjoy having you tell me who sent you and why he had you poison Lady Xiahou Hui." The assassin could only let out a panicked gasp.

Sima Zhao looked away uncomfortably. Deng Ai closed his eyes and shook his head. Even Zhong Hui was rather taken aback. All three of them had been, at one time or another, unwilling witnesses to Jia Chong's powers of persuasion. The man always extracted the information he wanted, no matter how heinous the method he used.

The thought of anyone, let alone with obviously weak willed assassin, long resisting Jia Chong's terrible will, was simply inconceivable.


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