Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (EXCEPT Lu Kyoko and Jia Li)
AN: This story is not really historically based, this chapter in particular!
Chapter 9: He Fei Conquered
Gan Ning and Lu Meng arrived at the camp ahead of Lu Kyoko and Ling Tong, only to find that the soldiers were already drinking and feasting, he saw Sun Quan, Zhou Tai and Taschi Chi were all talking and laughing quite merrily, they went over and joined them. Lu Meng had had an aching pain all the way through the battle but he hadn't been hurt much, he'd had it for a while but he just shook some new fears away 'I'll see a doctor when we get back to Wu' Lu Meng thought glumly, he had always hated doctors no matter how good they were. He sat down with his comrades and joined the bountiful food and drink, partially wondering if the soldiers had looted Wei's supplied 'Probably Gan Ning's doing' Lu Meng smiled slightly.
"So how are our warrior couple doing?" Sun Quan asked them as the soldiers were much too busy to bother overhearing them.
Lu Meng and Gan Ning both smiled back "Call me crazy" Gan Ning said first but Ling Tong, who had returned with Lu Kyoko, cut across him "We normally do don't we?" and they took their places, Ling Tong by Gan Ning and Lu Kyoko by her brother. Gan Ning hit his arm lightly "I didn't mean that!"
Sun Quan rolled his eyes and knew that he didn't have to ask anymore, he could tell by how much happier they all looked.
"This was a big blow for Wei... maybe Shu did us a favour after all" Ling Tong said
Lu Meng laughed "Well look who decided to agree after all!" And the other generals laughed as well, Ling Tong included but he looked slightly embarrassed.
After everyone had eaten their fill the food was all packed up and taken to He Fei castle where it would be guarded by some 'fresh' troops who would arrive there that night, Sun Quan decided that would arrive safely and, even though he was a careful person, that they should leave He Fei back to Jian Ye, being their lord and commander nobody argued with his decision but Lu Meng wondered what made him decide that.
It was night time by the time they set off and, if they kept at a steady pace, they would reach Jian Ye by late morning, but for some reason Lu Kyoko didn't have a good feeling about this journey, Gan Ning told her that she was just tired from the battle, and she wished she could agree with him. The first thing that told everyone Lu Kyoko was right was when a rockslide occurred,
fortunately a lot of the troops were on horses and managed to avoid it, but then Wei troops poured down the mountainside "I told you!" Lu Kyoko shouted to the other generals, Ling Tong drew his weapon and jumped off his horse, he couldn't really fight on it. Gan Ning and Jia Li both did the same as did Sun Quan and Zhou Tai, who was protecting Sun Quan. Taschi Chi, Lu Meng, Lu Kyoko and their troops all raced forward, weapons drawn to try and repel as much of the ambush as they could. Ling Tong gulped when he saw some very familiar faces among them: Zhang Liao and the Xiahou brothers were leading it, there was also some others some as Jia Kui, Cao Xiu and he could have sworn he had seen Cao Pi in the commotion but couldn't be sure.
They couldn't repel the overwhelming Wei numbers and fell back to where Ling Tong, Gan Ning and Jia Li were, and the fight continued as the Wei troops pursued them. Zhang Liao saw Ling Tong and immediately, ignoring everyone else, charged at him, Ling Tong rolled his eyes and their sixth duel this battle commenced. Ling Tong could see out the corner of his eye that the two armies had surrounded them in a sort of ring, 'Why do they do that?' Ling Tong wondered, surely these duels between him and Zhang Liao were getting pretty boring by now.
Ling Tong didn't realise he was still tired from his earlier duels and had some trouble keeping up with the more experienced, and well rested Zhang Liao. However, with some luck behind him, Ling Tong disarmed Zhang Liao and kicked him when he went to get it, the force of the kick knocked him out and Ling Tong had won again.
The battle continued but even though the Wu forces were tired, and some drunk, they managed to defeat the ambush troops, but Wu was lucky only a few of their troops were dead, on top of the He Fei casualties they had many men, but not enough to deter them. They started the march back to Jian Ye again. Ling Tong fell back in step with Lu Kyoko "How do you know something was going to happen?" Lu Kyoko placed her spear in her horses' holder for it, "I don't actually know, but I just had a feeling that something was going to happen" She looked up at Ling Tong and smiled "Why? Should I have not said anything?" Ling Tong had to admit, while her sarcasm annoyed him sometimes, he had missed it. 'We were only apart for a day as well' Ling Tong thought 'If that was long term I don't know who'd have been worse, she was pretty happy when I told her I loved her... and everything's great with Gan Ning again, not much could make me unhappy tonight' Gan Ning and Jia Li fell into step beside them "I'm not saying that" Ling Tong said and they all marched back to Jian Ye much happier than they'd left.
When they arrived in Jian Ye it was barely dawn, after the ambush they had maintained an excellent pace and they saw Lu Xun with the officers that had remained and they greeted the troops upon return. But Lu Xun went straight to Sun Quan and whispered something, Sun Quan said something back and Lu Xun went over to Lu Meng and whispered something, then he went over and said something quietly to Lu Kyoko, she turned and followed them inside the castle, Ling Tong and Gan Ning shared confused glances and decided to go wait outside to find out what was going on.
AN: Okay this is only short because you'll find out what's going on in the next chapter. Sure this was only short (I think) and hopefully okay, please R&R.
