It was pitch black when the rider approached the castle. As he reached the gate, he made a sign with his arms for the guards to open the gate. The two men above him disappeared, and moments later the gates swung wide to welcome the midnight visitor. The rider continued through the city until he had reached the castle itself. Dismounting, he handed the horse's reins to a waiting stable boy and made his way up the long flight of stairs. There was no one to greet him when he reached the top. But it didn't matter. Cheng knew where he was going.
He wandered down the winding hallways until he came to a large set of heavy wooden doors. Two large Chinese symbols were painted on the wood. Cao Cao. Cheng grinned to himself. Lord Cao Cao sure knew how to make his presence known around here. Raising a fist, Cheng knocked three times on the doors and waited.
A young man poked his head outside from behind the large doors and looked the visitor over. After a second, he opened the doors all the way and allowed Cheng to enter. He bowed as the mercenary walked by, and left the room promptly, shutting the doors behind him. Cheng did not look back as the doors slammed but continued into the large room. At the other end was a large desk where several different men were pouring over papers on the table. All looked up as Cheng made his way towards them. Most of the men bowed to him as he stopped just a few steps away from the table, but the two men who were seated remained. Cheng waited until the others had left before speaking.
"I am ready, my lord."
Cao Cao and Sima Yi offered the young man grins, and Cao Cao rose at Cheng's words. "I see. How was the wedding, Master Cheng? Did you enjoy yourself?"
"It was just a wedding, my lord. There was nothing special about it." Even as he said it, he could feel his emotions betraying his words. For he had just returned from the wedding of Li Tai and Lu Meng. While no one had noticed him as he watched from the shadows, he felt as if he had been in the heart of the ceremony. It pained him to watch his future bride marry another man. He had had to keep telling himself that soon this would not matter; soon Lu Meng would be but a memory and he would have Li for himself. So after the happy couple retired to bed, Cheng had made haste to come and report to Cao Cao.
Of course, Cao Cao was under the impression that he had attended the wedding of a sister. "I would think that seeing your sister wed would be a joy for you. Did something happen?"
Cheng shrugged. "I have more important matters on my mind. I gave my sister and her new husband my blessing and hastened to your side, my Lord."
"Good, good. I admire your loyalty to me." Cao Cao grinned again, then motioned to Sima Yi. The strategist moved to the other side of the table and handed Cheng a large piece of paper. "That is an enlarged map of the Wu and Wei borders. According to spies that we have in Sun Jian's kingdom, he is planning on checking his side of the borders sometime within the next month. Apparently, one of his best officers has been recently married, so he will not check our borders until after the required celebration time." Cheng felt his body stiffen at this remark, but remained stoic. "When we first discussed your getting revenge on Sun Jian, you had mentioned that you would like to lead the capture. I believe that this is the perfect opportunity. I want you to leave for Wu in two days with a handful of men. Sima Yi will fill you in on more details later. You will watch Sun Jian carefully until he plans to leave for this border check. You will then send a messenger to me telling me that he has left. Then I want you to follow him until the ambush. Do you understand?"
"Yes my Lord."
Cao Cao frowned a bit. "Are you prepared to do this? I know that you work for the best mercenary group in all of China, but I am under the impression that you have not undertaken a mission quite like this before."
You know nothing, Lord Cao Cao, Cheng said to himself. I have been waiting to do this my whole life. Instead, Cheng merely bowed low to the leader of Wei. "Yes, my Lord. I was prepared from the moment that I came to you with my tales of woe and revenge. I will do anything to prove my loyalty to you."
Cao Cao smiled and nodded to Cheng. "Very well, Master Cheng. You may take your leave. I will see you in the morning." Cheng bowed low again and made his way towards the door. As he opened it up, Sima Yi followed him from behind and closed the door after both men had exited the room.
"Well," Sima Yi said, motioning down another hallway, "now that we are out of hearing range, I must ask you a question. Did you feel your heart break when you saw your future bride give herself to another man?"
Cheng felt color rise to his face. Sima Yi always seemed to know what Cheng was really thinking, and it unnerved the mercenary. They had known each other before Sima Yi had signed on with Cao Cao, growing up in the same village. But despite their familiarities, they saw very little of each other and had little communication. So how Sima Yi knew about Li Tai was beyond him. However, Cheng would not give him satisfaction of seeing him lose control.
"Tell me, Sima Yi, has Cao Cao truly bored you to the point where you only get amusement out of hearing others gossip? It is most unbecoming of a great strategist like yourself."
"That bad, I am guessing." Sima Yi grinned as they turned down another hallway in this labyrinth of a castle. He put a hand on his friend's back. "I must admit, your coming and asking for revenge has been the most exciting thing that has happened around here in several months."
Cheng smirked. "Well I am glad I could provide you with some amusement."
"Alas, the life of a strategist is lonely and boring at times." He removed his hand from Cheng's back as they continued to walk. "Now, I am supposed to tell you the details of the plan. But I daresay that you don't need anyone telling you those. You will do what you want, for deep down, this mission is for yourself and not for Lord Cao Cao."
Cheng gave a fake expression of surprise. "And you figured that out all by yourself? I am so proud of you, my friend."
"I have had little else to keep my mind occupied. At any rate, you know the plan well, and you understand what you need to do at the right time. People don't give you mercenaries enough credit for your smarts. They only see the brawn; never the brains."
"I am glad that someone realizes our full potential." Cheng and Sima Yi let out a laugh that echoed down the empty hall as they disappeared into the night.
Zhou Tai leaned against the railing as the breeze cooled his face. The rest of the house was deep in slumber, but troubled dreams were preventing Zhou from joining the rest of them. Something inside of him was keeping him awake, something unsettling. Every time he shut his eyes, he saw an image of his sister, staring out a window. A man was there, but it was not Lu Meng. In fact, it was not anyone he had ever seen before. The man placed his hands on her shoulders and kissed her neck gently, causing tears to fall from Li's beautiful eyes. Then the image changed to a battlefield, littered with the bodies of men and women. Most of the soldiers were adorned in red. Among them Zhou saw the bodies of Sun Jian, his children, and many of his officers. Among them were Zhou Tai himself.
He could not understand why he kept seeing these images. Perhaps tomorrow he would speak to Lu Xun or Zhou Yu about them. They were very knowledgeable about dreams and their interpretations. But something inside told him that even the two great strategists would not be able to determine the meanings behind these dreams. They were just too troubling.
Footsteps from down the hall drew Zhou Tai's attention away from his thoughts. A large figure was walking towards him, yawning and stretching as it made its way down the hall. Zhou smiled to himself as Lu Meng gave him a tired look, his long hair tangled and askew. "Zhou Tai, what are you doing out here at this time of night? For once, be like everyone else here and sleep when its dark outside."
"Well, what are you doing up?"
Meng gave his friend a semi annoyed look. "I heard footsteps passing by my room, and I couldn't fall back asleep so I went to check them out. I found your door open and figured you had to be out here somewhere." He yawned again and rubbed his eyes. "So, tell me, what are you doing out here at this time of night, for real?"
"Can't sleep," he answered. "My dreams have been troubled lately."
"Again? Sheesh, do you ever have good dreams?"
Zhou Tai grinned. "Perhaps if I was married, I would have more pleasant dreams."
"Now that was uncalled for," Meng said, grinning at his friend. "I am going to head back. I don't want Li to get nervous if she wakes up and I'm not there." He frowned a Zhou Tai a moment. "But seriously, try and get some sleep. You won't do yourself any good if you don't try to rest." Zhou Tai nodded as he watched Lu Meng turn around and go back down the hall. With a heavy sign, he turned his attention back to the cooling breeze. Despite what his friend might say, nothing was going to shake the images that continued to swirl inside his head.