Zhang Liao's cavalry crashed into Sun Quan's force at full speed. Steel-shoed horse hooves easily trampled the frightened Wu troops, and those who could stand were swiftly hacked to pieces. Instead of fighting, many Wu troops doubled over one another to flee the intense onslaught, especially from Zhang Liao, whose ruthlessness crushed very shred of morale. Heat was radiating off of him like an aura of fire, with flames fed only by his savage bloodlust alight on his face. With every slash he delivered, he bathed in a shower blood. In this way, Zhang Liao scattered Sun Quan's forces like startled minnows, and swept aside straggling infantrymen with such brutal strokes of his Twin Dragons, every sweep bringing him yards closer to Sun Quan, his intended target.

Sun Quan, astounded by the blue dragon's rampage and the spell he put on his troops, yanked his horses' reins desperately to try and escape. He cursed and shouted at his troops to make way, but in their panicked state, his orders were futile as they weaved past him like a raging current, preventing his horse from moving. Immobilized by his own forces, Sun Quan drew his sword as Zhang Liao bore down on him.

"Now you die!" Zhang Liao yelled, bringing a blade down on Sun Quan. Sun Quan parried the blow and winced as the power dissipated and rippled through him. His sword pinned, he opened his eyes, only see the blade's twin come over Zhang Liao's shoulder, aimed to split his head wide open.

Then, a shadow drew across his eyes. He focused to see a familiar halberd crossed with Zhang Liao's axe. The halberd-bearer back kicked then flung the assailant away, lifting him from Sun Quan's sword as well. Sun Quan turned, knowing his savior to be Ling Tong, and said, "Thank Heaven!" With Ling Tong was his handful of his personal guard plus Gan Ning's 300 additional men, who swiftly took the place of Sun Quan's fleeing troops. Ling Tong appeared to not have heard his master's word of gratitude, for he did not pause for a moment in wedging himself between Sun Quan and Zhang Liao with unrelenting attacks to the Wei officer.

"Get out of my way, insect!" Zhang Liao said, crashing his weapon edges into Ling Tong's. Ling Tong had seen that Zhang Liao was as fearsome as the rumors, and experienced it for himself in spades. He found himself defending himself much in the same way he had with Gan Ning, and was thankful for the practice after all. Though Zhang Liao's strength was much more staggering, Ling Tong's temper had begun to rise.

"Getting a little arrogant, aren't we?" Ling Tong said, thrusting with his weapon. He then turned to Sun Quan and shouted, "Get out of here!"

Hesitating, Sun Quan said, "What if you don't make it!"

"I can hold him!" Ling Tong assured, grunting as he deflected blow after blow. Nodding grimly, Sun Quan turned his steed to escape back to Wan Castle, deciding to simply cut down any soldier that impeded him, Wu or Wei.

"Oh no, you will not get away from me!" Zhang Liao called after him, attempting to push aside Ling Tong with his blades. Instead, a halberd crossed between him and his horse as Ling Tong forced him into self-defense while Sun Quan made a break for it.

"Push 'em back!" Ling Tong ordered his men, seeing that the Wei cavaliers had lost their momentum. His soldiers outnumbered the Wei forces three to one, and the element of surprise had left Wei's side. Sun Quan's frightened soldiers had begun to flow back into the battle, their former panic evaporating quickly. They howled their vengeance as they rushed the horsemen and attacked at will.

Realizing his disadvantage, Zhang Liao struck out at Ling Tong with both Dragons, smashing the staff of Ling Tong's weapon as he blocked. Ling Tong reeled, and Zhang Liao moved to break off their entanglement.

"Fall back!" he hollered. To Ling Tong, he said, "You did well, but you have not seen the last of me. I will return to burn you and the land of Wu to ashes!" He then kicked his horse to a gallop, and with his surviving horsemen, made a run back to the forest they had emerged from.

"You won't escape me, Zhang Liao! Not for what you've done today!" Ling Tong shouted. He gave chase, breaking alone and trailing Zhang Liao. Zhang Liao disappeared between the tree trunks, and without hesitation Ling Tong leapt into the woods, believing Zhang Liao too dangerous to let evade him. He forced his horse to leap and gallop over dead wood and other impeding detritus, seeing Zhang Liao's form grow more and more obscure anyway.

A swish of air caught Ling Tong's attention, and suddenly, a sharp, searing pain ripped through his thigh. He grasped it with a hand, feeling hot blood in his palm, and he looked down to see an arrow shaft protruding from his leg. His mind and lungs paralyzed from the mental shock, he fell off of his saddle and crashed to the ground onto his back while his horse continued charging through the woods.

His mind clouded in pain, he jump started his breath in shallow, ragged starts. He gave himself a pause before he gripped the arrow in his leg and broke the shaft. Another pause. He believed the arrow point was surely touching bone. Willing himself not to faint, he then gripped the broken shaft again and tried to yank it out with all the strength he had. He yelped pathetically, though the arrow did not come out all the way. Through tears, he gritted his teeth and yanked again, freeing the point from his flesh. He groaned and clapped a hand to the wound to block the flow of blood that rushed over his hand.

He froze when he heard sadistic laughter erupt from his surroundings. His eyes darted up when he heard a rustling before him, and a warrior on horseback appeared with a bow in his hand.

"Well, look what I've caught!" the gruff man said, steadying his horse. "A mangy, red fox. Hmm." The cavalier circled to inspect him. "General Ling Tong, isn't it? Excellent. I must admire your courage in facing Zhang Liao, who leads us Generals of Wei. But the hunt is over for you. I, Yue Jin, will make better use of that head of yours by offering it on a spear to my lord!" Yue Jin readied his bow and loaded it with a steel-tipped arrow. He aimed downward at Ling Tong's helpless form and pulled the bow taut.

Suddenly, a shadow materialized and struck like a lightning bolt from the canopy above, landing in the saddle behind Yue Jin. The sound of rending flesh drew the attention of both the Wei general and Ling Tong to his belly, where two hands had reached around and stabbed long daggers deep into the general's torso. The assailant ripped out the daggers, and, choking on his own blood, Yue Jin dropped his bow and fell from his horse to the ground with a bone-jarring thud. Startled, the horse bucked and the assassin leapt from its back, and the spooked horse took off into the woods. Ling Tong almost laughed; he couldn't believe the assassin had been Gan Ning.

Brushing off his pants, Gan Ning snorted up as much phlegm as he could, then spat it on Yue Jin's body. He then approached Ling Tong, saying, "And you think I'm the moron, moron? Rushing around by yourself." He knelt beside Ling Tong to inspect his condition. Through his increasingly blurry vision, Ling Tong noted the concern he was being given by the last person on Earth he'd expect help from. He frowned. Gan Ning was being too reckless himself.

"Don't need any help from you," Ling Tong groaned out.

"Don't start up your shit with me. Save your yammering at least. You oughta be thankful I'm here." Gan Ning snapped. With a dagger, he cut away some of the bloody cloth around Ling Tong's wound. "Looks bad," he said, and with the same dagger, cut the strap of Ling Tong's canteen and opened it. He then glanced around them. Frowning, he said, "Here," and put the handle of a dagger to Ling Tong's mouth. Ling Tong grimaced. "Trust me," he assured. Without a word, Ling Tong softened, and weakly wrapped his lips and teeth around the handle while Gan Ning started to pour the water over the wound. As the first drops washed over the wound, the pirate covered the dagger handle in Ling Tong's mouth with a palm to help stifle the pitiful cry of pain that that launched from the pit of Ling Tong's stomach. After administering the torturous dousing, Gan Ningthen cut away Ling Tong's pant leg completely and started wrapping the cloth around Ling Tong's thigh. Ling Tong, weary with pain and heat, observed his every move, believing the weight of his stare would make him stop--would make him stop seeming like he cared. Gan Ning sighed, and looked up at Ling Tong without stilling his work.

"Listen, there's no way you can hold me responsible for your father's death. I didn't kill him because I really wanted to. I did what I had to do. Have you ever thought about how many fathers and sons you've separated on the battlefield? You gonna start sayin' sorry and kissin' the ground before all the families you've destroyed when you had no other choice?" he said, tightening the bandage with a rough pull.

"What?" Ling Tong said, wincing. 'Why was he thinking about that?'

"Kill the enemy, protect your allies." Gan Ning said, finishing the knot on the bandage. "It's as simple as that." He sighed again when he scanned Ling Tong's condition. To Ling Tong's surprise, Gan Ning removed his belt of golden bells and left them on the ground beside them. He then snaked his arms underneath Ling Tong's shoulders and knees and hoisted him up as he stood. "This'll have to do."

"What are you doing!"

"Relax, would ya? You ain't in any shape to move, and we're probably gonna be swimmin' in bad guys pretty soon. Keep your voice down and bear with it."

Unable to resist anyway, Ling Tong swallowed his pride as the matter of survival made a convincing argument in his mind. He soon felt leaves brush against him as Gan Ning quietly carted him through the forest. Ling Tong grew frightened as he became increasingly aware of the weakness in his muscles, as if all the tension was draining from the wound in his leg. When fatigue set into his eyes, it felt like he was drowning--like the water was over his head, and there was nothing he could do to save himself. It crossed his mind that he may not get the chance to live down being carried in such a way by Gan Ning.

"Hey," Gan Ning said, shaking Ling Tong gently. "Stay with me, you wimp." 'Easier said than done,' Ling Tong thought. It didn't help that Gan Ning carried him with delicacy that he thought the carefree pirate incapable of. He was warm, too. Leave it to him to make things difficult. Ling Tong let his ear nestle in the crook of Gan Ning's arm and could hardly resist letting his eyelids droop.

"What was he like?" Gan Ning suddenly asked. "Your father?"

Ling Tong's eyes shot open, though not sure if he had caught the question. "Um," Ling Tong choked out, then cleared his parched throat. "He was one of the Sun's best men. Joined Sun Ce to help unify the south."

"I know all that," Gan Ning said. "Tell me something I can't just go ask Lu Meng about."

"You've asked Lu Meng about my father?"

"Heh. Sure."

Ling Tong blinked, but decided not to pursue what that response could imply. "Well, he was usually busy, but whenever he could he would play games with me. My mother died soon after she had me, and so all my father and I had of family was each other. And always, before he would leave to go on a campaign, he would give me a piece of advice to practice, about how to be a good soldier and a just man."

"For example?"

Ling Tong thought for a moment. "Fine feathers don't make fine birds," Ling Tong then said, looking up at Gan Ning and mustering a smirk. Gan Ning rolled his eyes.

"Very funny. Your old man could recite Confucius, just like everybody else."

"Hey, to me it meant something."

"I know, don't worry. You were real lucky to have a father like that."

"Yeah." As Ling Tong spoke, he noted that the forest canopy had passed over them, and winced when the light struck his eyes. The brightness of the mid-afternoon sun was blinding, and he left his eyes closed. Damn this insufferable heat, he thought. "Ning..." Ling Tong murmured. "I'm sorry." The total darkness that crept over Ling Tong felt so much better.

Startled by his words, Gan Ning poured alarm and concern from his eyes over the soldier in his arms. "Hey," Gan Ning said, shaking Ling Tong. "Hey!" he said more urgently when Ling Tong did not open his eyes. "Aw, shit!" He picked up the pace. The river was mere yards away, and he slid carefully down a slope to the banks of wide river below.

"Boats?" Gan Ning wondered aloud. There was not even a canoe in sight along the banks. The sweat on his brow fell when he heard the sound of shouts and horse hooves growing closer behind him.