AN: The surprise might not be as extravagant as you all thought, but I liked it. I'm trying to keep the story realistic. This chapters short but sweet, I'm trying to updatea second time this weekend.Anyway I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review.

Chapter 12 "The Battle for Yi Ling II"

Get Sin called his force to a stop and looked upon the large stone fortress in front of him. It was huge for its location, snuggled up against the mountain taking up the whole pass. There was no way around it, and it looked as though it could withstand anything.

'What the heck is that doing here?' Get Sin thought.

"What are going to do now, my lord?" A soldier asked from behind him. "Go back?"

"No! We can't go back now."

"But we won't be able to break through that. Do you have a plan my lord?"

Get Sin looked at the fortress. The main flag above the gate read, "Rear Guard, Zhang Kai.". Get Sin remembered what Zhou Yu's report had said about this general. It said, simply, stubborn warrior. He then thought up an idea.

"Alright, you must listen to me and go as fast as you can."

Get Sin removed his robe, so that his chest was bare. He got off his horse and covered his hand mud. He took the mud and made a long streak diagonally across his chest, and another streak on his face. He then ordered 20 of his men to do the same. When it was all done and ready, him and the 20 soldiers went out in view of the fortress as the rest of his force hid out of view.

He called out, "Ou Ding is coming through, make way for him."

Get Sin's ploy worked. Zhang Kai took one look at the ragtag group and, believing them to just be a group of petty bandits, he thought he could get an easy kill. The fortress gate opened and Zhang Kai charged out, with his 3-pronged spear poised for the kill, his troops trying to keep up with him. His only thoughts were on the leader as he charged forward at a full gallop.

Get Sin told his troops to stay back, as he watched Zhang Kai coming at him. He unsheathed his sword, and calmly held it in front of him. Zhang Kai thrust his spear forward, towards Get Sin's chest, with all his might. With a simple flick of his sword, Get Sin parried the reckless assault. Then with a strong backwards stroke, he hit the soft flesh of Zhang Kai's back neck, just below the helmet, severing his head from his body. Zhang Kai's troops were petrified, their leader had fallen so easily to this brigand. Then suddenly, Wu cavalrymen came galloping around the corner. The troops scattered back towards the fortress. They tried, desperately, to close the gate but they were too late. The Wu soldiers were already inside, cutting and slashing down scores of panicked Wei soldiers. Get Sin joined his troops and led them out the back gate and back on to the path. They finally continued on their mission but the only question on Get Sin's mind was, could they still make it?

(back at Yi Ling)

Gan Ning swung his blade striking the man on the side of his neck. Needless to say, he not going to do any more fighting. Ning quickly turned around blocking a spear thrust then striking back at his attacker. One of his soldiers came up to him.

"General, we must call a retreat."

"No! Just a little longer. They'll make it."

Gan Ning turned around once again cutting down another handful of soldiers.

"General, if we don't call the retreat now, the line will break, then there will be a massacre."

Gan Ning looked over the battlefield. Both his flanks were already starting to fold, and the center was already disintegrating. They had pushed back all the way to the very entrance they had used to come into the valley. They still had the ability to retreat but they would have it for long. So he made his decision.

"Alright" He sighed, "Sound the retreat."

The soldier was dumbfounded, he had not expected Gan Ning to retreat until the very last second. "Ex...Excuse me, sir."

"You heard me sound the re..."

Out of nowhere a loud cry resonated through the valley. It was not a cry of pain or fear, but a cry of victory. Both armies looked for the source of the cry and watched as the flag of Wu was raised above Yi Ling, and the city gates were closed. The Wei soldiers started to panic. Believing that they had been tricked, thousands of soldiers fled. Gan Ning led his reinvigorated troops back against the Wei line, and quickly turned the tables. What was left of the Wei army was now being pushed back across the valley. Cao Hong and Yue Jin were desperately trying to hold there line together. They were pushed back all the way toward the city when suddenly Wu cavalrymen struck out from the gate. Get Sin lead his troops, hitting Cao Hong's right flank. That was the last straw, the Wei army disintegrated. Cao Hong turned his horse and fled, as the Wu army took an incredible toll on the Wei force. Gan Ning and Get Sin met in the middle, and, together, they marched victoriously into the city.

"See piece of cake." Gan Ning boasted.

"Yeah sure. I bet you were panicking when I didn't show up on time. I bet you called a retreat, didn't ya?"

Gan Ning made a fist toward the soldier next to him, telling him not to even think about it. "You wish, nothing scares the great Gan Ning." Both of them smirked. "But lets not talk about that now. It's time to get drunk and sleep away all these worries." He turned around to one of his soldiers, "Send a messenger to Zhou Yu, tell him of our great victory."

That night there was a party, well not much of a party as Gan Ning getting very drunk and falling asleep on the table, but it put everyone at ease. The next morning Ning was woken up by a nervous soldier, telling him that Get Sin needed to see him. It took a while, but he got up and walked to the city gate. There he found Get Sin with a bunch of soldiers.

"So, what's wrong. Too peaceful for the soldiers. I know I'm a bit anxious myself."

Get Sin turned around, "Not quite." He moved aside so that Gan Ning could see the valley.

At the northern end of the valley, there was a large pass between the mountain. Pouring through this pass, were thousands of blue soldiers.

"How many?" Ning asked, still not believing what he saw.

"We think about 15,000...It's Cao Ren."

"What do you think we should do?"

Get Sin looked back out toward the enemy, and took a deep breath. "Prepare for a siege."

A: What will our heroes do? Can they hold out against this new enemy? Will they ever see there loved ones again? Am I going to fail this school semester? Find out next time on...
Get Sin: Would you shut up already.