Zooky: gominasi!! (sorry) I didn't mean to make you all wait so long for an update. No excuses here just an apology. I hope this chapter is worth it. anyways Act III is short so I'm posting the next chapter as well. Hope that makes up for the delayed update. (stick around for review replies after the chapter)

Act III: Disloyalty

Zhou Tai closed his tired eyes and laid his head back against the cold stone wall. He wondered how long they had spent in the damp cell already and how long they would still have to wait. It seemed like forever since Dian Wei had first drug him off to Cao Cao's throne room, but he guessed that it had only been six or seven hours.

Zhou Tai had not slept a wink that night—or what he assumed to have been night. Zhou Yu had spent the time in a feverish sleep, constantly tossing and turning as he fought some dreamed up terror. Now however the man lay so motionless that Tai found himself occasionally checking to make sure he still drew breath. Zhou Yu was strong, but Tai wondered how much longer even he could hold up.

Approaching footsteps broke through the silence and Tai looked up to see the face of some nameless guard sneering in at him.

"You'll be coming with me," The gruff voice was hard to understand, but Tai couldn't miss the meaning. Tai began trying to rouse Yu from his sleep, but the guard held up his hand.

"No. Just you." Tai willingly complied. He doubted if it was even possible to wake Zhou Yu at this point. Tai debated attempting to fight the guard and escape, but one look at the strategist and he realized it would take a miracle to get them both out of there alive. He sighed and held at his hands resignedly. The guard bound them, and then roughly prodded Tai down the hall. The samurai complied in frustration. He was getting sick of being pushed around and not being able to push back.

Zhou Tai was again taken into the huge chamber and like before Cao Cao sat there watching him with those beady eyes. At his left side stood a man Tai vaguely recognized as one of Cao Cao's generals. He was a tall man with broad shoulders. He wore a white turban, the traditional head gear of the Turks. Tai briefly wondered who the man had killed to get such a garb.

At Cao Cao's right stood the man who made anger stir inside the Wu General's gut, the samurai Xiahou Dun. Tai felt his eyes narrow with a strange mix of loathing and respect.

"How nice of you to join us Zhou Tai," Dian Wei said walking up beside him. Tai felt his eyes roll up into the back of his head in frustration. He was really beginning to despise that man.

"I trust you've thought about my offer?" Cao Cao inquired sitting forward in his seat. Zhou Tai clamped his mouth and thrust his chin up in defense. "I thought that might be your answer." The emperor nodded and a servant girl brought him a box. It was simple enough in design, but Cao Cao handled it with respect that hinted to its importance. He carefully opened the lid. Just as Tai was wondering what sort of torture they were planning to loosen his lips, the Wei leader drew out of the box a small bottle. "Are you educated in the ways of poison Zhou Tai?" The way Cao Cao talked one would think he was having a friendly discussion over tea, but Tai knew better than to let his guard down around this cunning man.

Seeing no answer forthcoming Cao Cao continued. "I didn't think so. Well here is a lesson for you. Every poison has a cure. It's just a matter of knowing the right antidote." Cao Cao stood and paced casually as he spoke. "It is my understanding that our friend Zhou Yu has inhaled some poison." Tai glared as the man's words became perfectly clear. Cao Cao lifted the bottle up for Zhou Tai to see. "I hold here in my hand the one thing that stands between Zhou Yu and death.

Now all you have to do to get this bottle, is tell us what tricks Sun Jian has up his sleeve. Tell me and you can go save your friend…and then walk out of here alive." In a less angered state Tai would never have missed the look that the man in Turkish attire exchanged with Xiahou Dun.

"I will never tell you," Zhou Tai's words dripped with venom. Cao Cao stopped pacing and came up to him, getting right in his face.

"Oh, I think you will. See…that's the problem with you Wu. You care too much about each other," Cao Cao responded haughtily. He waved his hand toward Dian Wei. "Take him away."

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Xiahou Dun stood in the doorway and watched his turban wearing comrade. The look Xu Huang had given him over Cao Cao's words had not stopped bothering Xiahou. His troubled thoughts finally brought him here to his friend and allies doorway.

Huang—seemingly oblivious to Xiahou's presence—thrust his sword forward, and then pulled it back. He moved through the various fighting stances like the steps of a graceful dance.

"Are you going to stand there all day or finally tell me why you're here?" Huang asked without breaking his rhythm.

"You don't approve of what Cao Cao said?" Xiahou inquired, ever to the point. Finally Xu Huang stopped and turned to him.

"I do not," was the blunt reply.

"Why?"

"We serve Cao Cao because we believe he will deliver the land into peace and justice," Huang replied cryptically.

"Do you no longer believe this?" Xiahou asked, growing more confused. Huang considered the question for a moment.

"No…I still believe that Cao Cao will do this. However, I have begun to question the methods he will use. If you win a battle but loose your morals, was the battle really worth winning?"

"Would you not have slain them if you met on the battlefield?" Xaihou retorted.

"That is war," Huang replied unfazed.

"And this is not?"

"No, it's murder. In battle they would have fought back. Here we are keeping medical supplies away from the defenseless."

"I will not tolerate disloyalty, even from you," Xiahou growled.

"I am merely thinking. That is not disloyalty, that is doubt. Disloyalty is when you act on those doubts."

"Do you plan to act on those doubts?" Xiahou asked. He was several taken aback by his ally's words. Never had he heard Xu Huang speak that way about Cao Cao, and it unsettled the samurai greatly. Huang grabbed something off a near by table and tossed it to the samurai. Xiahou examined the object and found it was the very antidote bottle Cao Cao had been holding earlier. He looked up at Huang in surprise, but the other man merely left without so much as a word of explanation.

AT: got into some deep thoughts here. but next chapter there is plenty of action! woohoo.

iana silmir: thank you so much for the kind review! I'm really glad you like how I write the characters. Shiang Xiang is really fun to write, expecially her and Ning. hehehe. those two... anyway I'm really glad you like my story and I hope this chapter is enjoyed as well!

Calenmarwen: thank you so much!! wow Shiang Xiang's threat was kind of popular. lol. you are very kind.

strawberry321: thank you!! I love to hear that my characters are IC. I really try to do so. I can't stand reading stories that are OOC so I definatly try not to write like that.