The punishment for spies throughout history was death. For this alone, Kuo Fan is to be commended for his courage. It takes one kind of courage to fight in open battle; another to steel the nerves in the enemy's camp and reveal nothing time and again.

-Zhou Yu

It was early the next morning when Kuo Fan and Zheng De Zhao sat in the inn with their breakfast of a few buns. Zheng was feeling rested, but only because of the sleeping pills. He shuddered when he thought of running out of them.

Kuo handed Zheng two letters, "My brother, I'm afraid we must part ways now. I have to proceed to Luoyang, the seat of Dong Zhuo's power. You do not need to follow me. However, I do have a task for you. Take these letters."

Zheng pocketed the letters, "As long as it is within my ability, I will do it."

"Go to Wu. Seek out Minister Zhang Zhao and give him these letters. I am an acquaintance of his and he will receive you. One letter concerns me, the other concerns you."

"What?"

"It is a letter of recommendation. With it, at least you can start out as a junior officer or a ranking subordinate. The rest, though, is up to you."

Zheng nodded gratefully. "Thank you. Are you sure you don't need me to accompany you?"

"I think I can take care of myself. The road from here to Luoyang is a bit safer with armies often passing by on the way."

They sat in comfortable silence for a while, then Kuo said, "Oh, I nearly forgot."

"Yeah?"

"You'll need a cover identity."

Zheng grinned, "Brother, I'm an unknown. Nobody knows who I am. No reason to hunt me, eh?"

"I meant you should pose as somebody to avoid trouble. Here's some money." Kuo took out a few tokens of money.

Zheng protested, "No, I can't accept this! I already have the money from the bandits…"

"No, I want you to buy some wine from the brewery on the outskirts of the town. Their Huamei wine made here is famous throughout the land. Posing as a wine merchant, you can probably sneak past the Dong empire's borders more easily. The money should be enough to buy several casks of the wine, as well as two horses and a wagon for the wine."

"And?" Zheng asked, knowing there was more.

"Second, you can use the wine to bribe your way. And the other reason is that they're dragging men off the streets to serve in their army. As a merchant, you're considered inviolate, at least so far." Kuo wiped away some water from his small beard, "Finally, you might even earn some money!"

"Then I'll be sure to share the profits with you!" Zheng raised his cup of water in a small toast to his brother as thanks.

Kuo laughed, shaking his head in amusement.

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"Are our armies ready?" Dong Zhuo asked his top officers while staring out from his balcony at his vast palace garden. Ruan Shi and Lu Bu stood silently behind him. Both out to usurp his position. Both out to guard against each other.

"More than 150,000 men are already on the march towards Chang Sha. Soon Wu will be broken, leaving your Majesty as sole ruler of the Middle Kingdom." Ruan Shi's soft but edged voice replied. He was a tall man, clean shaven. Carrying himself with a silent menace, he was both a powerful warrior and brilliant strategist. Dong Zhuo did not trust him at all, but put up with him because he still required Ruan's services.

Lu Bu, the mightiest warrior in the land, by contrast, was a seething package of rage. Ever since Dong Zhuo was alerted of his plotting with Wang Yun to assassinate him by Ruan, Dong had arranged for Diao Chan to be held as a hostage. If anything happened to him, Dong Zhuo, the next person to die would be Diao Chan, Lu Bu's lady love. That kept him in line. Periodic visits between the two, separated by several cell bars, served to keep Lu Bu in line.

Dong Zhuo did not fear meeting Lu Bu in private, as long as Ruan was there. If anything, Lu Bu hated Ruan Shi more than Dong Zhuo, for foiling his plan to kill Dong Zhuo. Ruan Shi had killed his wives and children, laying out to him exactly what he was to do if he and his lady love were to stay alive.

But as much as he relied on Ruan Shi, he needed Lu Bu to counter his chief advisor from usurping his position. Soon… soon the time will come when he'll be rid of both men, removing the need to play them off each other. But now, he still needed their skill and strength.

Dong smiled, "Lu Bu, I want you to ride forward and take overall command. Do this, and I may yet release Diao Chan to you as your reward once I am ruler of all under heaven." Lu Bu nodded stiffly.

"Ruan Shi, you'll stay behind to guard against any possible incursions by Sun Ce and his rabble. Make sure the women don't escape. I want them fully broken before I enjoy their bodies."

"Yes, your Majesty."

Dong Zhuo turned back towards the view of the scenery, "Both of you may now leave."

"Thank you, your highness!" Both men said. Both equally sincere, which is to say not sincere at all.

Dong Zhuo sighed. It had been like this ever since Xian had abdicated in his favor. Who knew that being emperor would bring its own load of problems? Even though he was theoretically and practically the ruler of the lands of the former Han, he had to guard against enemies not just on the outside, but on the inside as well.

Unlike Sun Ce, Liu Bei, or the accursed Cao Cao, who was now thankfully dead, he had no subordinates who were truly loyal and capable. It was either one or the other. The closest was Zhang Liao, but Zhang Liao was now the military governor of the territories formerly held by Liu Bei, too far away to render immediate aid.

Good men are so difficult to come by, Dong Zhuo mused as he smelled the sweet scent of a concubine entering his room for his daily pleasure. But beautiful women are even more difficult to find, and in this, at least, I have more than I need!

And there were the bevy of beauties in his dungeons, still waiting for his touch…

Dong Zhuo laughed in delight as he felt the concubine's first gentle caresses, enjoying the spoils of his position and forgetting his troubles.

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Kuo Fan tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach as he entered Luoyang, with not even a weapon to defend himself. The city gates were well guarded, and the guards searched the people entering the city diligently and carefully. More than a few heads were stuck on pikes lining the road entering the city, attesting to their effectiveness.

He forced himself to remain calm. He wasn't going to Luoyang to fight. He was going there on a rescue mission, and he wasn't going to fight if he could help it. He was too valuable to Wu as a spy.

Zhang Zhao, one of Sun Ce's strategists, and the minister responsible for the internal affairs of the Wu kingdom, had realized that his kingdom's present malaise could be attributed to just one thing: Da Qiao, the wife of Sun Ce, the empress of Wu, and her sister Xiao Qiao, the wife of Wu's top strategist Zhou Yu, were in the grubby hands of Dong Zhuo.

In order to help his ruler and colleague, Zhang Zhao had implemented this dangerous plan. He would sneak a hundred men into Luoyang, without weapons and armor. They were to try to acquire equipment within Luoyang itself. When the time was ready, they would storm the palace and rescue the empress and her sister.

Kuo Fan's role in this was to provide detailed intelligence on where the prisoners were held, as well as being the pipeline from Zhang Zhao to the men. His latest trip back to the borders of Wu was to inform Zhang Zhao that the captives of Dong Zhuo did not just consist of the Qiao sisters and Lady Sun, and what they should do.

The foul beast had seized as captives women belonging to his fallen enemies. The wives of many of Shu and Wei's fallen generals now languished in his dungeons. Kuo had even heard that Dong Zhuo had once ordered an expedition against the Nammen, and the result had been utter destruction of the tribes there, as well as the capture of their queen.

Zhang Zhao's orders had been clear on this. Get as many of the women out as possible. Kuo had been flabbergasted for a moment, before Zhang Zhao explained.

Many of Shu and Wei's generals, officers, and soldiers were still alive, hiding from Dong Zhuo but not making any moves to oppose him either. If the women of their lords and friends were to somehow turn up in Wu, safe from Dong Zhuo and treated with respect, Zhang Zhao reasoned that these men might well flock to Sun Ce's banner.

To defeat Dong Zhuo would require an effort unimaginable since Qin Shi Huang, Wang Jie, and Li Si had plotted to unite the Warring States. They would need every available talent from the former Shu and Wei. Generals like Zhao Yun, Ma Chao, Xu Huang, and Xiahou Yuan could well be the force that would turn the tide.

Kuo immediately sensed the tension in Luoyang when he entered. A city under martial law, almost every corner was rumored to be occupied by Ruan Shi's secret police. People who spoke out against Dong Zhuo would just disappear in the night. Sometimes they would turn up on the streets, with the word "Traitor" branded across their naked bodies.

Then there were more rumors, that many of those that disappeared were sent to some strange camps outside Luoyang as forced labor, working on all sorts of infernal devices made by Ruan Shi.

If he wasn't careful, Kuo would end up like them. He hoped he didn't look too nervous.

He stopped by a clothing shop selling fabrics, dropping off his load of fabric and collecting the money from the shop owner. Within the enfolded fabrics were the messages for the men, detailing the rescue plan and Zhang Zhao's orders. The shop owner, a long time occupant of the city and a devoted servant of Wei and Cao Cao, was one of the few who had turned to Wu in order to defeat Dong Zhuo.

His task done, Kuo found an inn where he would stay over in Luoyang doing some legitimate transactions for the next few days. The men would attempt their rescue two days later, while he himself would depart in seven days. The point was to look as innocuous as possible, while lying as little as possible.

He only hoped the women could be rescued.

Then as he sat in the teahouse drinking, his thoughts turned to his newly sworn brother, Zheng De Zhao. He thought back to their initial encounter on the road to Xi Tou, their conversations, and then the battle with the bandits. Through it all, Kuo had the distinct impression that Zheng had been holding something back.

The short battle, as he replayed it in his mind, was the most interesting. He could not be sure, but Kuo suspected that Zheng had been holding back. And if he was holding back, and still killed three times as many men as I did, then what is his true level of skill?

In any case, Kuo was sure he did the right thing, sending Zheng to Wu. Zheng was an impressive sight, only slightly shorter than Dian Wei, along with a short beard to try to make himself look older, but failing horribly and only exaggerating his youth, even though he was already 30 from his own accounts. Kuo knew Zhang Zhao would find a place for him easily in Wu's army.

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Deep within the dungeons of Luoyang, several women gathered in a rough circle in their cold palace. They were all extraordinarily beautiful, yet an air of despondence hung over many of them. Defeated, then tortured day and night by Dong Zhuo's wardens, they clung to one another, sharing their strength in their sisterhood even though they had fought against one another in the past.

"Is everyone here?" Yue Ying asked. As the oldest in the group by a few months, she was their nominal leader, though her intelligence and calm were the most important reasons. Her face was tired, both from holding back the pain of her torture and the loss of her husband, the brilliant strategist Zhuge Liang.

"Yes," Zhu Rong reported. She was the second oldest, and though she had had once been a queen, most of her defiance had been beaten out of her. She nevertheless banked her anger, waiting for the day when she would avenge her dead king upon Dong Zhuo and Ruan Shi. Lu Bu alone was spared her wrath, because of the woman sitting beside her.

Diao Chan was on the verge of tears all the time, made all the worse because she knew that the women around her, by now acknowledged as her sworn sisters, were in such dire straits precisely because she had failed in her task to turn Lu Bu against Dong Zhuo. Who knew that Lu Bu would be such a slave to love that he would abase himself and work for Dong Zhuo through so much bloodshed?

Sun Shang Xiang retained much of her vigor, since she had spent the least time within the dungeon, but even that was fading fast. She pined after her brothers and her weapons, as well as the chance to avenge herself on Dong Zhuo.

Zhen Ji was icily calm, pretending that she wasn't affected at all by her incarceration, but a closer look into her eyes revealed the intense grief she felt at the loss of her unborn son and her husband Cao Pi. She had been pregnant for a few months when Dong Zhuo had destroyed Wei, killing Cao Pi. In her grief, she had a miscarriage. She wondered if she would ever have the chance to have a family again.

The Qiao sisters looked pale and fragile. Dong Zhuo's torturers had saved their best work for them, seeing as they were the spouses of Dong's remaining opposition. Da Qiao as the elder was holding up better than her sister, but not by much. They both looked like collapsing.

Under their fine clothes, all the women sported bruises and burn marks.

Yue Ying knew why they were all gathered here, in this particular set of rooms in the dungeons. All the worst troublemakers, gathered in one spot and easier for their jailers to guard.

There were more women and children of Shu and Wei scattered throughout the dungeon, and Yue Ying kept in contact with them via hand gestures when she thought the guards weren't looking. From time to time, she would try to take a peek through an open window at the sky, particularly at night where she could read the stars. And she had seen something interesting the previous night.

"Yue Ying, everyone is here, what do you have for us?" Lady Sun asked.

"I've read the stars, and there is a new omen. I cannot say for sure that it is good or bad, but there will be some great change in the days ahead, I'm sure of it."

"Do you see anything that might suggest our escape?" Diao Chan asked.

Yue Ying sighed, "Unfortunately, the stars do not work like that."

She cast her mind back to the night before the final hopeless battle against the might of Dong Zhuo's overwhelming army.

"My dear, there is nothing left for me except to die and take as many of the enemy with me to hell as I can," her beloved husband Zhuge Liang had said to her in their tent.

"No! I will not accept that, and neither should you!"

"It is all but written in the stars, ever since the Killer of Man appeared." Zhuge Liang sighed. "I thought that I could avert disaster by coming out of seclusion and helping Liu Bei, but now I see it is all for naught. No matter what I did, Cao Cao and Sima Yi were focused on defeating Sun Ce before fighting Dong Zhuo, and now all of us are going to pay for that decision."

"Then why did you help Zhou Yu at Chi Bi?" Yue Ying asked. That battle had finished Cao Cao as a force, but had also opened up Liu Bei for a hopeless battle against Dong Zhuo.

"Because only Sun Ce is the remaining ruler with a chance of defeating Dong Zhuo. My plan has failed, but I can already see a new pattern." Kongming said calmly, "Look to the stars, my dear. What do you see?"

Yue Ying could read the stars, just not as well as her husband. "The fading lights of the Han empire," She gasped, "the death of the Sleeping Dragon. No!"

"What else?" Zhuge Liang asked, his steady tone calming her down.

"Nothing, just a void. An empty part of the sky had appeared…"

Zhuge Liang smiled, "Yes, indeed. An empty part of the sky, ready for a new star…"

Yue Ying thought sadly, Mu husband, you knew what had to be done, and you never shied from it. And neither would I.

He had told her to survive, to stay alive. Dong Zhuo was a man known for his appetite for women, and Yue Ying was determined to make him pay for that oversight.

The chance will come, Zhuge Liang had said. Evil will be balanced with good. Somebody, something, will appear. The new star in the sky was the omen, and her husband had told her to be ready for it.

But what could she do?

She shuddered as she thought of Ruan Shi, the man who had beheaded her husband. He had advised Dong Zhuo to kill them all. "Leave none alive to take revenge, my lord! Pull them out by the roots and burn them all!"

Dong Zhuo had thankfully refused the advice, and Lu Bu had added his own opinion then, stating that the murder of women and children was not worthy of one who would rule all. Dong Zhuo had been pleased by the words.

"So what do we do now? What can we do?" Lady Sun asked, her natural impatience coming to the fore.

"We have no weapons." Yue Ying stated blandly. "We wait, but we need to build up our strength. For the next few days, I want everyone to act as though they are in more pain than usual. If I'm not wrong, the torturers will adjust accordingly, which would leave us slightly stronger."

"And give them the satisfaction of hearing us beg for their mercy? Never!" Zhu Rong tossed her mane of blond hair back proudly. "I would rather die first!"

"No, this is the only way. If swallowing our pride and begging is the best way out, then we'll do it." Zhen Ji said. "Lady Zhuge Liang, I hope you are right. Because Dong Zhuo might finally think he has broken us and take us into his bed." Zhen Ji shuddered, as did all the women present.

Yue Ying nodded. I hope this works too.

It was two days later, and all the women did feel stronger when it happened.

A wet gurgle from a guard was only the start. Before they knew it, they found themselves in a stream of prisoners running for all they were worth out of the dungeon into the environs of Luoyang.

"Empress Wu, forgive your servant for his late service!" A man in black clothes said to Da Qiao when they had a moment's respite. He kneeled in front of her, but Da Qiao stopped him with a gesture.

"Please don't. You have done us a great service already, risking your lives."

"My lady, we have horses prepared. My men have cut a way out of the city gates, and they will hold back the palace guards when you leave. You will have to ride as fast as you can for the safety of Wu. We do not have enough strength to escort you."

"Very well," Da Qiao said, then she beckoned to the other women, who followed her to a small stable with horses.

The man bowed again, "We have prepared some armor and weapons for you." They heard more shouts in the distance. The city guards were mustering.

"I must go now. May you find your way back to my lord Sun Ce!" The man ran off.

Each woman quickly mounted a horse, even Zhu Rong, who was unused to the beasts. Sun Shang Xiang led the way with a rousing yell, echoed by the other women as they stormed out of the stable, and right into a troop of soliders.

Armed with their weapons, the female warriors cut them down quickly, bashing their way past and unleashing the rage they had kept within for so long. Within moments, all that was left of the troop were corpses on the ground.

Yue Ying shouted, "We must leave the city now!" She turned her horse around, and started for the gates at a steady canter.

Once past the gates, they kicked their horses into a gallop, and soon they were leaving the city behind them, even as they could see torches being borne by the pursuing troops behind them. They raced away from Luoyang.

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Ruan Shi stared out from the city wall at the fleeing women on horseback, a slight smile tugging at his lips. Yes, everything was going to plan.

Dong Zhuo might have prevented him from killing the women and children, but Ruan Shi had ways around that. He knew that some sort of a rescue attempt would be held, and he had taken some steps to ensure its success in Luoyang.

However, the women would find themselves trapped near the Wu border. And then his troops, under strict orders, would kill them, thereby demoralizing Wu and making the army's progress towards Chang Sha even easier. Lu Bu, with his heart broken by the death of Diao Chan, would not be wary enough to prevent his handpicked assassins from stabbing him in his sleep, eliminating one more obstacle.

Ruan Shi grinned through the mask of his face. He wondered if Dong Zhuo knew the true face that lay beneath the human mask. He intended it as a nice surprise for Dong Zhuo, once he had found the Fu Yi sword.

Oh yes, it was going to be a good day.

Ruan Shi then stared up at the sky, where a new star shone brightly. "Divine Sword of Heaven?" He scoffed at it. "There's nothing you can do!"

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Reviews please! Unless it's really, really crap… which I don't think so.

Next chapter, Zheng De Zhao meets up some of the women! And he gets into several big fights against Dong Zhuo's army! This time though, he also has to start using his brains as well. Good thing he has the wine and sleeping pills!