The masked warrior had been knocked out cold and dislocated his shoulder upon hitting the rough ground below the window. Right after he awoke, the dislocation gave him pain, which in turn gave him rage. Rage at Hei Nuwang for dragging him into this mess, rage at the creature for dealing him such a humiliating defeat, and above all rage at himself for his costly hesitation.
With his fangs biting the inside of his mouth hard enough to shed blood, the warrior popped his shoulder back into place. The pain was several magnitudes worse than the injury itself, but it was nothing he hadn't experienced before. As the pain gradually dulled into a tolerable ache, the warrior looked around the trunk of the tree he'd taken rest beneath.
Crap had hit the hippo's tail, making all hell break loose, culminating the mother of all hellfires. Not long after he'd retreated into the forest to recover until he could go back and try to recapture the panda without running into the creature again, the prison caught fire and collapsed in on itself, almost certainly the work of Ember. If there had been any survivors in there before, there weren't now.
The warrior didn't feel very lucky. One of their main strongholds was gone, and the panda had very likely gone with it. How the hell was he going to explain this to Hei Nuwang without getting himself his very own amethyst coffin?
In any case, he couldn't put it off any longer. He pulled out the magic mirror Hei Nuwang and given him and waited until her visage appeared in the glassy surface. With his heart clenching and unclenching, the warrior explained everything. He told her what had been making her men disappear. He told her that the panda may very well be dead. He told her about the prison's obliteration. She listened in complete silence, her purple eyes narrow slits. The warrior finished his report and waited for her to explode.
"So not only do we have a bunch of fugitives and the damned empress to worry about, we have goddamned demon as well." She said bluntly.
"Yes, my lady." He said. "I tried to kill it myself, but normal weapons don't seem to work."
"What about the little girl. Did you find her?"
"I'm sorry, but I didn't see her before the palace's destruction.
Hei Nuwang stood up so he couldn't see her head and started pacing. With each sentence she passed the mirror. "Well. Perfect. Over two hundred men dead in one fell swoop. With the two pandas probably dead too. I'm surrounded by idiots and monsters. Damn you all to hell."
"You're taking this remarkably well."
Hei Nuwang stopped pacing at glared at him. "If I lose it now, she wins."
"You think she and the creature are connected?"
"She had a hand in the Yetis' creation. I wouldn't put it past her to cook up a new lackey to replace the one she lost in the white palace."
"Did they ever find the body, my lady?"
"Not important." Hei Nuwang waved away the question. "Here are your new orders. You are to return to the prison and confirm that the prisoners are indeed dead. Whether you find their bodies or not, you are to then go to the Imperial City to help General Long Feng in any way you can."
"You mean to keep an eye on him." Hei Nuwang raised an eyebrow at that. "Unless you've forgotten what happened to the last general."
"I haven't. Long Feng is stronger than that feathered freak."
The warrior shrugged. "If you say so, my lady. And if I may ask one more question: what do I do if I go back to the prison and one or both the pandas are still alive?"
"Then you take them to the Imperial City for Long Feng to detain. Simple."
The mirror went blank as the warrior felt ice-cold water suddenly form beneath his feet. The mirror fell from his paws as he leapt, barely clearing the black tendrils that lashed out from the black stain on the ground he'd been standing on. The warrior landed on normal muddy ground as the creature rose from the black stain, blue eyes fixed on its new quarry...
