Zhuge Liang rested right outside Liu Bei's room. There was no physical reason that his Lord would still be resting. With the exception of his arm, he was no longer even wounded. But that last loss had been a crushing loss in morale to all Shu forces. And that extended even to the officers. Nobody seemed to have the same feeling of having the advantage that had been so strong just a few weeks before.

What would the Shu forces do now? The most sensible thing would be to retreat, but the sorcerer knew that if they lost momentum here, they would likely never gain it back. This was probably the only chance they ever had to overwhelm Wei. But after hearing how their leader single-handedly bested the enemy, Wei morale would be up to a fanatical level. Either way they decided to look at it, things would be considerably harder than before.

The sorcerer walked out into the camp where all the officers were gathered around a fire. Darkness surrounded the camp, as it was pretty late at night. Zhuge Liang himself paid no heed to the time of day. He was so versed in magic that he was hardly even a human himself. "Sun Ce," he said.

The Wu warrior turned around to face him. "Yeah?"

"How long will you an your companions be staying here?"

"I don't know. What's up with Liu Bei?"

"He's just not feeling well. I'm sure nobody would after what happened to him."

Sun Ce sighed, "Nobody thinks he's a weakling because of it. The same thing would have happened to any of the other officers, and they all know it."

"Hey, not to me!" Gan Ning yelled from his position around the fire.

Zhuge Liang shook his head. Normally it was entertaining to talk to these two. However, at this time it was just a little annoying. They thought nothing like Liu Bei and could not anticipate the way that he felt.

Cao Cao was not feeling much better than Liu Bei. Although he had succeeded greatly in all that he did, his army still technically had the disadvantage. And he felt himself mourning the loss of Xu Zhu more than he had expected he would. The large man had made a surprisingly good assassin. He could be counted on for anything. Now Cao Cao would be forced to promote a minor officer with similar abilities. And the enemy seemed to have an overabundance of officers. While he was there he had also observed the reinforcements from Wu. Gan Ning, Sun Ce, and Sun Quan were surely mighty opponents rivaled by only the strongest of officers.

The Wei Lord could only see one possible way out of this, and that was with the enigmatic Lu Bu. Lu Bu still hadn't been heard from since the battle. On the instinctual level, he was thinking that the great warrior hadn't simply deserted. But, for whatever reason, he was no longer around there. However, Cao Cao suspected that he had been wrong in placing so much importance on one person. Lu Bu had probably been forced to fight many officers at once. Likely he had lost when the Wu reinforcements arrived. This was still a very troublesome situation, but he would not let his normal troops know about it.

"Cao Ren." He said rather loudly to call his main officer into the room.

Cao Ren strode in. "Yes, my Lord."

"How goes the condition of our forces?"

"Actually, we've got really good morale with the troops that we have, but we're vastly outnumbered. And they've got us outnumbered even worse in officers."

"So? We're obviously better in skill."

"Yes. I would have finished that barbarian if we didn't have to leave."

Cao Cao narrowed his eyes. "Quit complaining about that. If we didn't have to leave, they would have all surrounded and killed you. You're lucky I went back to save you."

"But, my Lord!"

"I'm serious, Ren. You've been neglecting your training lately, and you will pay for it if you don't get back to working. Now, where's Himiko?"

The sorceress appeared out of seemingly nowhere.

"Yes?" she asked.

"We will attack Shu while they are least expecting it."

Her eyes widened. "But they have us outnumbered! How could we expect to win?"

"We fight better than them. And hope to God that Lu Bu shows up to join the battle."

Cao Ren interrupted, "You would stake the outcome of the battle on that rogue?"

"I can do whatever I want. When has the Hero of Chaos ever lost in the past?"

For a day after that there was virtually no activity in either camps. Of course, Cao Cao militarized his forces and moved out toward the Shu encampment. There were few scouts at this time so it would probably be quite a surprise.

In Liu Bei's room, Zhuge Liang finally broke in and attempted to reason with his brooding Lord.

"My Lord," he said with anger but no malice, "You have simply got to get up and lead this army. If we were to lose at this point, all will be for naught. If we wait to attack, Cao Cao could take the offensive!"

Liu Bei was resting in a chair, his head buried in his hands. He looked very much like a tortured soul. At this point he laughed an almost manical laugh.

"Cao Cao! Attack me? Why would he attack me? He would lose with his numbers."

At this point Zhuge Liang smiled. He had better insight than his Lord could ever have into the minds of the Wei. "Or maybe that's just what he wants you to think."

It was then that a messenger burst in.

"My Lord! Wei forces have been sighted near here! At their rate of travel, they will be here within the hour!" he shouted.