Valley of Peace, Jade Palace
Third-person view
In the darkness of the night, Tigress overheard a conversation between Master Shifu and Po...
Pain filled the girl's heart; she already imagined what would happen when Tai Lung returned—a massacre. The master wouldn't be able to confront the one he considered a son, but the snow leopard would not hold back, and Master Oogway would no longer stop him...
Even though she had heard stories about Tai Lung, heard about his unsurpassed power and incredible skills, but... She had trained since childhood and is the strongest of the Furious Five. The girl decided for herself that she must take a risk and engage in battle with the crazy bloodthirsty psycho, otherwise no one will stop him!
Exhaling air from her lungs through her mouth, Tigress performed a beautiful flip, sending herself down from the mountain on which the Jade Palace stood.
The flight lasted for long seconds, and at the last moment, when a couple of meters remained to the roof of a resident's house in the Valley of Peace, Tigress's eyes widened—her instincts woke up, and sliding off the roof, the girl managed to land successfully without getting injured.
Her heart beat incredibly fast, but looking into the distance—to where Chorh-Gom prison was located, and from where Tai Lung was supposed to arrive, Tigress managed to calm her nerves, her heart filled with determination again.
"You prepared me for this, Master," the girl said, glancing over her shoulder for a moment—at the Jade Palace, after which she pushed off the roof and, flying a great distance to another house, landed on its roof, continuing her journey.
However, at that moment, four dark silhouettes were already rushing after her...
"Tigress!" Her friend Viper's voice was heard.
A moment later, the other members of the Furious Five appeared.
"Don't try to stop me!" Tigress shouted, trying to break away from the pursuers, but her friends kept up.
"We aren't trying," Viper answered calmly, jumping over another house.
"What?" Tigress asked in surprise, looking at Crane flying nearby and nodding.
"We are coming with you," Viper explained with slight excitement in her voice, while Monkey meanwhile winked, giving a thumbs up.
The Furious Five moved toward the most dangerous criminal in all of China to stop him once and for all...
POV Tai Lung
The next day after a hearty drinking bout, at which all the alcohol supplies of the small village were solemnly lapped up, we finally gathered a "caravan," if it can be called that, and set off for the city.
The bandits rode in carts, still continuing to groan from pain, especially when the cart bounced, and pulling these carts was... Me...
We were, of course, offered horses, but those horses need looking after, watching, stopping when they get tired, so I said verbatim: "Screw the horses, I'll do it myself," which I regret now, and not because it's "hard"—I wasn't particularly straining—but because the speed was just incredibly slow!
No, faster than if horses were pulling the carts, but I still felt time slipping through my claws!
However, there was good news—Ace did have something besides money and various jewels! In some hidden niche of one of the chests, filled not with jewels but with food, which is quite clever, Xue found a small book in which agreements Ace made with various officials were written in small handwriting, and the sum he paid them for it, often instead of money there were signatures like "Slaves - 5 people: 2 men, 3 women."
In general, this proof isn't ironclad, but it can't be called useless either—it's enough just to start checking everyone listed in this little book, and that's it.
Half the way Xue was silent, pretending to sleep (or really dozing off after a sleepless night), and then she just burst, and I had to listen to a thousand and one stories about their adventures, and often Shifu was the source of "comedy."
It is evident that Shadows are taught not only espionage and all sorts of similar "ninja" crap but also some basics of psychology.
Apparently, the snow leopard was trying in this simple way to change the image of a "traitor" in relation to Shifu, well, okay, I wasn't against listening to stories, to be honest—boredom overcame me just terribly, and only the feeling of freedom, still lifting my mood after escaping from Chorh-Gom, and the surrounding nature pleased me.
On the way, we stopped twice—once for fifteen minutes so the wolves could go to the toilet and eat, and the second time already in the evening to settle for the night. I suggested dragging on through the night too, but Xue was against it, citing that "the poor bandits have no rest anyway, and in the cart they will jump up from every bump."
At night I didn't sleep but watched the bandits and one extremely cunning person crushing a pillow on a tree branch, but nothing unusual happened—a couple of wolves asked to go to the toilet, and that's all basically...
Closer to the middle of the next day, we finally approached the city...
Wei-Jin turned out to be the complete opposite of Han-Ya village. If that was a nest clinging to a rock, this was a real fortress-valley. Even a mile away, we saw cultivated fields where peasants worked—boars, goats, pigs. Outside the high stone walls stretched a small "outer city"—a ring of wooden houses, shacks, workshops, and farms where the poorer lived.
A long line of merchants with carts laden with silk, rice, and ore had already lined up at the main gates. They were all waiting for inspection.
We, naturally, did not get in line. I just dragged two smelly carts full of groaning wolves and chests of gold straight to the main gates, causing the whole line to part in horror.
"Halt!" guards immediately shouted from the walls, and a dozen crossbows aimed at us. Below, at the gates themselves, our way was blocked by two dog guards in heavy armor with halberds.
"What is this circus?" growled one of them, wrinkling his nose in disgust at the smell. "Where are you going with this... cargo?"
"Make way," I threw out, tired of this trip.
"Kung Fu Masters," Xue Xia stepped forward, trying to calm us down. "We are delivering prisoners to Lord Peng. This is the 'Golden Fang' Ace gang, they terrorized this area, we caught them and borrowing carts in Han-Ya village brought them here as quickly as possible."
The dog guards looked at each other.
"Masters?" the second chuckled. "And this one," he nodded at me, still holding the shafts, "who is he, a groom? Come on, open the chests and..."
"What's that noise?!" a resounding voice came from the wall. It was their captain—a huge bull with a copper ring in his nose. He spat on the ground. "I don't see your licenses! Get lost in the general line before I order your arrest!"
Xue Xia sighed heavily.
"I don't have time for this."
She raised her hand and the air around her instantly cooled. Bright, cold blue Chi enveloped her palm, and a small, furiously hissing snow leopard ghost formed above it.
The guards below backed away and fell to their knees as if on command. The bull captain on the wall turned pale.
"Master... Chi Master! Mistress, I apologize!"
"This is my 'license'," Xue said coldly. "Now, either you open these gates, or I open them!"
"Open the gates! Immediately! Move it!" shouted the captain.
The massive gates began to open with a creak. The bull captain had already run down the stairs and was now greeting us, bowing low.
"I apologize, Mistress. We didn't... we didn't expect."
Then his gaze fell on me. I was dressed in simple clothes given to me in the village, replacing the high-quality pants that had hung on me for two decades.
"And this is... your servant?" he drawled doubtfully.
I grimace, suppressing the desire to punch this idiot between the eyes. It's obvious that I'm not an ordinary person, just as it's obvious that no one here needs his questions, but he asks them anyway...
"He is with me," Xue Xia cut him off.
The bull captain gulped and asked no more questions.
"Guards! Accept the prisoners!" he commanded. "Take... this... to prison. Quickly! And take care of the carts, return them to Han-Ya!"
The bandits, whining with fear, were roughly pulled off the carts and led under escort deep into the city. Finally, I was free of these carts.
The city inside was... alive. It teemed with people. Unlike the monocultural "goat" village, here was a real melting pot of bloodlines. Nimble fox merchants ran past, crane officials walked importantly, huge bear porters dragged bales in the port. The air smelled of spices, river fish, temple incense, and sewage from gutters. The noise was incredible: shouts of barkers, tapping of hammers, creaking of carts.
For twenty years I saw nothing but stone and rhino faces. It was very unusual.
"You look as if you're seeing a street for the first time," chuckled Xue Xia, walking nearby.
"Something like that," I muttered.
We proceeded through the shopping rows, past noodle shops (the smell from there drove me crazy), and came out onto the main square. Lord Peng's palace towered in its center. It was a huge, elaborate building of red lacquered wood, guarded by guards in black armor.
Xue Xia, without hesitation, approached the guard and showed them some token I hadn't seen before; apparently, this is that pass, even strange that she didn't present it to the guard earlier. Maybe she was testing me?
"Master Xue Xia. Report to Lord Peng about the capture of Ace's gang."
We were immediately led inside. Lord Peng, a corpulent boar with small cunning eyes and in expensive silks, received us in the throne room. He sat on pillows, fanning himself.
"Mistress Xue Xia!" he beamed in an overly happy smile, clapping his hands. "What luck! Only yesterday I received a report about your arrival in the province, and here you are already, and with such a momentous victory! Ace's gang was a real thorn for all of us!"
He pretended to be incredibly glad, but his eyes, darting and cold, said otherwise. He looked at me with undisguised disgust but didn't dare ask who I was.
"Lord Peng," Xue Xia continued in an official tone. "We have delivered eighty-four bandits from the 'Golden Fang' pack to your prison. Their leader, Ace, was killed while resisting. We expect them to be judged to the fullest extent of the law."
"Of course, of course!" the lord nodded, his double chin shaking. "They will get what they deserve! I am so grateful to you! Rest assured, Wei-Jin city will not forget this! You must be tired from the road. My servants will escort you to the best guest rooms. Rest. And tomorrow... tomorrow we will throw a feast in your honor and discuss your generous reward!"
We were escorted to luxurious chambers. Servants brought water for washing and new clothes. I washed off the road dirt and for the first time in twenty years donned clean silk. The feeling was... A bit unusual, but pleasant.
"I don't like this," I said when the snow leopard opened the door for me. "'Reward tomorrow'... That freak is just stalling for time and quite possibly wants to kill us."
"I know," Xue Xia was already sitting by the window, looking at the city. "But what do you propose? Kill him now, in his own palace?"
"Could do that. I don't need any feasts or rewards."
"Tai Lung, you haven't been in cities for a long time," she looked at me. "And even more so in palaces. It's almost evening. Where will you go? Cause a massacre on the streets? We accepted his hospitality. Now we are trapped... until tomorrow."
I sighed.
Mentally, I understood that I was being dragged into other people's games again, but on the other hand, I didn't mind. I didn't like this Lord Peng right away. There was some rottenness in him, and he resembled Vakhir in some way, even if I didn't understand exactly how. Such a bastard is unworthy of being a city lord.
"Fine," I said, kneading my neck. "We stay. But I'm not going to sit here all night waiting for assassins. I'm hungry. And I want to see this city."
"Agreed," nodded Xue. "We need to eat. And see who will be watching us."
Leaving the palace was surprisingly easy. The guard, warned about the "honored guests," only bowed silently.
Twilight was descending on the city, transforming it. The daytime bustle gave way to nightlife. Thousands of paper lanterns lit up above the streets, painting everything in warm red and yellow tones. The air, previously smelling of fish and dust, was now filled with more complex aromas: the sizzling of roasted meat on coals, the sharp smell of ginger and pepper, the sweet smoke of incense from open shops.
It was... overwhelming. For twenty years I saw only grey stone and bars, and finally, I returned to society.
I, with my height and build, towered over most, but no one cared. Everyone was here. Cunning fox merchants, sturdy boar porters, a flock of laughing rabbit girls with trays, elegant crane officials discussing something on the go.
Xue Xia walked beside me, her face impenetrable, but her eyes scanned the crowd, roofs, alleys.
"Two on the roof to the left," she said quietly, not turning her head as we passed a silk shop. "And three in the crowd behind. Trying to keep up."
"Amateurs," I snorted. I "heard" them myself—they breathed too loudly, and their steps were too measured; they stood out from the chaotic rhythm of the crowd. "Are these the lord's people?"
"Most likely just observers; unlikely he would decide to attack us so openly. Assassins usually come at night. He wants to know where we go."
"We are going..." I stopped. My nose caught it! The smell! The divine smell! "...Here." I pointed to a small but jam-packed noodle shop. Steam poured from its open facade, smelling of strong broth, garlic, and fried onions. My stomach, even after yesterday's feast, howled demandingly. Since I started eating normally again, passive Chi expenditures dropped tenfold, and receptors, unburdened by decades without food, transmitted taste too vividly to refuse this very food again.
We sat at the only free table outside. The owner, an old hare with a twitching ear, ran up to us, looking expectantly at me, then at Xue.
"Two double portions," she threw out before he could say anything. "With beef." Hearing the order, the hare nodded and ran off about his business.
While we waited, Xue didn't take her eyes off the street.
"I have a bad feeling. I think they might try to kill us sooner than I thought..." The girl said as casually as if talking about the weather.
"They might try," I replied, drumming my claws impatiently on the table.
"They will try today," she clarified. "The 'feast' postponed until tomorrow is a lie to make us relax."
"I don't intend to relax..."
At that moment, our food was brought. Two huge steaming bowls. All thoughts of lords, assassins, and politics flew out of my head. I picked up the chopsticks. My hands trembled slightly. Twenty years.
And as soon as I picked up some noodles and brought them to my mouth...
"Tai Lung..." Xue's voice was tense. "Don't eat."
I froze.
"Poison?"
"No. Look at the owner. He's looking not at us, but at that alley." I slowly lowered the chopsticks, looking around unnoticed. The street around us... went quiet. The noisy hum of the crowd gave way to tense silence, and people sitting at neighboring tables hurriedly threw coins and left.
"These aren't the ones who were following us," hissed Xue.
"What?"
"These are different people. I sense that these are other masters."
Twelve figures emerged from the dark alleys on both sides of the street, cutting off our retreat. They were dressed in dark clothes that did not restrict movement.
Their faces were hidden by masks...
"Well," I sighed, pushing away the bowl of noodles. "Now this bastard has ruined my dinner."
On the roof opposite, where the "amateur" observers sat before, now stood another figure.
A bear holding a huge, tightly drawn crossbow aimed straight at me. He smirked.
"Lord Peng sends his apologies, Masters! He decided the reward is better delivered immediately!"
TWANG!
TWANG! TWANG! TWANG!
From a dozen roofs around us, crossbows struck simultaneously...