Chapter 4- Tangled Web of Lies

"Whoa girl calm down" Ming Wei held her hands out in front of her. Willow, her horse reared up in fear. As the battle mare resumed her normal stance Ming walked up and touched the nose of the beast.

"It's okay sweetheart" she whispered.

"Is she the last one?" Ming turned to Sun Quan. It was a miracle Willow didn't run back to Cao Wei in the scare.

"Who let the horses out, who did this?" she questioned a spark of anger flaring up. The nerve of this sole person; causing her to have extra work. A confused look crossed Sun Quan's features.

"No one knows" he answered, shaking off the venom from her tone of voice.

"Let's get her back where she belongs" Ming said applying the leading rope to her horse. She followed Sun Quan back to the capitol and to the stables. Lu Xun, Lu Meng, Sun Ce, and Zhou Yu all waited for them.

"The others went to turn in for the night. All the horse chasing tires people" Sun Ce said with a humorous smile. Ming did not find this funny in the least, but of course Wu's leader would. He didn't have to chase the stampeding beasts down. That and Wu soldiers seem to take things lightly at heart. Back in Wei Cao Cao would've issued someone to find out what had happened, and someone would already be held responsible and punished. Cao Wei was efficient, while Wu was….well ineffective.

"How did they get out?" Ming demanded eyeing Zhou Yu suspiciously. The chief strategist needed to be kept in check now that he was suspicious of her.

"No one entered the stables or left. No one saw anything" Lu Xun said.

"Nothing is broken so someone obviously let them out!" she snapped. Leaving them she led Willow in and put her in her stall. Taking off the leading rope she hung it on the wall and walked back outside with a scowl on her face.

"Why the hostility Ming Wei?" Lu Xun asked when she exited the building.

"They could've gotten hurt" she answered without skipping a beat.

"The people or the horses?"

"Both master Lu Xun"

Ming looked at them, her eyes lit up like flames. Sun Quan put his hand on her shoulder.

"They weren't hurt, we got them back its okay. Calm down Ming Wei" Why hadn't Zhou Yu said anything about her affiliation to Wei? Ming smiled at Sun Quan.

"I think I'm a little tired. I'll be going to bed now" With that Ming walked away from the men of Wu.

Once the first rays of light entered her window, Ming Wei awoke. Sitting up she stared into the eyes of a messenger falcon from Wei. This was how Zhou Yu knew she was Wei. Ming made a mental note of it and untied the message.

Ming,

We need you back in Cao Wei, a rebellion is about to start

Zhang He

The message was short and sweet, like Zhang He was. Ming read it over a second time before letting the bird fly empty handed out the window. Why would they need an assassin to come fight off the rebellion? The Wei forces were capable enough to handle it; unless there was more to it than that. Was this what Sima Yi was talking about needing her? Was this the time when he would try and kill Cao Cao, Wei's greatest leader? She didn't get a lot of time to think this over, because as she watched the fire embers eat the last of the note, her door was busted down. Zhou Yu was leading the assault.

"Take her" he ordered his face dark with anger. Two soldiers subdued her easily in her shocked state of being. They then dragged her into the throne room where she faced the Sun family, the strategists, and the generals of Wu. Upon seeing her in custody Sun Ce's eyebrow raised in question.

"Zhou Yu what is the meaning of this?" he asked.

"I have some distraught news for you Lord Sun. Ming Wei is not from Shu at all. Contacts in Shu have never heard of her. She is a spy from Wei; a messenger falcon has been spotted in her vicinity countless times. The type of bird used in Wei to communicate. We caught this bird as it was leaving" he motioned for a soldier to come forward. The man did carrying a dead falcon in his arms.

"It was shot out of the sky as it left her windowsill" Zhou Yu stated looking at Ming for any hint of emotion.

"Can I speak to defend myself Lord Sun Ce?" she asked her voice perfectly level and the epitome of calm. Sun Quan leaned over to his brother. Their hushed whispers were incoherent.

"Very well let her speak" Sun Ce said. Ming stared at Sun Quan, his jaw set in anger but his eyes sympathetic. She would not take this lightly, she had found a weak point in Wu and it was just so close. Choosing her words carefully, Ming started her explanation.

"I will admit that I have lied. I am not from Cheng Du but in fact from Wei. I am Ming Wei, a servant of Cao Wei, but I fled from there. Cao Cao is a ruthless leader!" she began letting fake emotion leak into her features and voice. Taking note of who was believing her she played the helpless servant role.

"Those messenger falcons are from Wei, but they were sent by my friend in the capitol. Rumors of rebellion are starting to surface and I believe my friend has no reason to lie to me" Zhang He's face appeared briefly in her mind and she smiled. Zhou Yu glared at her darkness descending on his features.

"She's lying"

"No I'm not, now would be the perfect time to surmount and army and take down Wei!" she said stepping forward, only to be brought down by soldiers. Why was she telling them this? It was to keep herself alive, she had to stay alive.

"Why should we trust you?" Sun Ce asked leaning forward. Good question.

"I do not think she's lying" Lu Xun stepped forward. Always one to believe the good in people when it's not there.

"She's been caught and wants to live; she would not give us false information"

"Then the next question is why are you here?"

"To get back at Cao Cao" Ming said letting venom leak in. "He must be killed"

"We should execute her" Zhou Yu said stepping forward.

"No!" she screamed. "Why kill someone who's valuable?"

"You deserve to die!"

"I did nothing wrong!"

"She's right" Lu Meng took his turn to step forward. "All she's guilty of is lying"

"You said you fled from Wei, and want to get back at Cao Cao. That makes no sense" Zhou Yu said viciously.

"I had to flee. I was the horse mistress for Wei's high generals like Zhang He. On the side I was part of the rebellion group looking to take down Cao Cao. He has reigned for too long and must pay for his grievances on our people." She said tangling her web of lies. Zhou Yu's face did not falter. One more step would have them trusting her again. Ming hated to give away this information, it just might kill her.

"I was trained as an assassin in the rebel group. It was my job to kill Cao Cao in one of the nights. The night I was supposed to do the deed, someone betrayed our group and tipped them off, as I snuck into his chambers our rebel camp was attacked by Zhang He and his men. I was met by Sima Yi, Cao Cao, and Dian Wei in his chambers where I was almost killed. Having seen my face, they knew I was a threat to them and tried to kill me. I was the only one of that group to get away…" Ming let herself trail off allowing two tears to drip from her eyes. Now the question was, had they bought it? Looking up Ming surveyed the room. The majority had bought it.

"And that's why you are so good with daggers, despite being a horse keeper?" Sun Ce asked.

"Mistress, and yes" she said. "It was the only reason I could use to get close to Cao Cao"

"And this rebellion?"

"I do not know when it will start, but I for one will be going back to Wei to attend the battle and take Cao Cao down. Join the rebellion group, help us" she said directly to Sun Ce. He seemed to regard her faked plea with consideration.

"What is the name of this rebel group?" he asked. Ming closed her eyes with a sigh trying to remember any names of any rebel groups she had taken down.

"Jin" she said opening her mouth ready to say another name. Where had that come from? Ming stared at Sun Ce levelly to appear confident and knowledgeable. What the hell? Why Jin? Mentally she slapped herself.

"Jin?" Ce looked at his brother and advisors.

"We've never heard of you before"

"We're underground….." Ming said looking down at her feet.

"Say if we do believe you…" Zhou Yu said.

"You should" Ming snapped.

"How do we even know she's telling the truth?" Zhou Yu said sneering at her.

"If we attack and there is no rebel group there….we'll know she was lying….we can kill her then" Lu Meng said. Ming felt relieved. Zhang Xiu and Hu Chu were plotting the demise of Cao Cao that much she knew. She was going to kill them before they had a chance to kill her master. She served Cao Cao, she served Wei. She had to keep both of them safe.