~ Chapter Seven ~

A lame cat is better than the fastest horse

Linshi Gong more closely resembled a hospital than either an imperial palace or a military garrison. With Junjie, Dao and Bing included, the ship had left Gongmen City with 110 wolves aboard, a nervous goat, two rabbits and a self absorbed Siamese cat.

Shen picked his way across the training ground, where a group of at least two dozen wolves were bathing in large wooden tubs, as Shen's own army tended gingerly to the wounds of the former inmates, causing occasional yelps of pain from their charges. He strutted into his throne room to meet Junjie.

"What is the meaning ofthis?!" Shen demanded with neither greetings nor explanation of the question.

"Lord Shen" Junjie said, bowing slightly. In the chaos as the camp received - utterly unexpectedly - some hundred odd wolves in need of urgent care, Junjie had ignored Shen as he barked out orders to accommodate and make comfortable his new charges. The peacock could wait. "The mission was completely successful, and I can give you full details of all intelligence… interesting stuff" he said in as formal a manner as he could manage.

"That doesn't explain this, you fool!" Shen snapped, gesturing with a sweep of his wing to the scene outside.

"Lord Shen, We've got a little something extra. A Magistrate, Chu Li Ming. He's a defector. He told us that most of those left behind in the Battle of Gongmen Harbour were rounded up by the Council. We managed to free them and get them back here. They want to fight. They want to re-join the pack and go home."

"Oh goody! Now we'll be well informed when the Council arrives to kill us!" A peacock's cry can reach 115 decibels, enough to cause pain in a human, and Shen spared nothing as he expressed his displeasure. Junjie stepped backwards, his eyes watering and head ringing under the vocal onslaught.

"They couldn't follow us, Shen. Li Ming's faction secured us a ship. We were untraceable" Junjie said, his head held low, his voice carrying the vaguest hint of a snarl that implied much if Shen failed to see reason.

Shen spoke calmly, as if his verbal onslaught had purged him of aggression. Nonetheless, his inquisitorial glare and pointed tones betrayed his continuing anger. "What are the Council are going to think when they find their prison is empty of wolves, and the records of their forces have gone missing, with the door opened by means of my weapon?"

Junjie's ears pricked up. "Uh, Boss, we didn't use the powder to blow the archive…" his voice trailing off as he reaslied how he was digging himself deeper.

"Yes?" Shen added impatiently, his brows rising and eyes widening in expectation of the inevitable.

"We… uh… used it to blow the prison. Li Ming had access to the archive."

Shen leaped back in false excitement. "Oh, this gets better and better!" he cried. "Tell me, did you invite that cursed crocodile here for Yum Cha while you were at it?!"

Furious, it took only a split second for Junjie to grab his knife. He sprang at Shen, forcing him down, legs straddling him, pinning his wings helplessly to the floor. "Remember your oath, peacock. The pack, to the bitter end" Shen's eyes were as wide as plates. Junjie ran the knife down the peacock's chest, pressing gently.

"Remember"

Shen stayed as still as stone. After what seemed an eternity, he felt Junjie shift his weight ever so slightly. In a split second he thrust his feet into Junjie's stomach, forcing the wolf back. He snatched his wings free and flexed his train, flipping himself upright in a flash, and forcing his weight into Junjie. As he did so, he flicked his train under the wolf's legs, knocking him off balance and bringing him crashing to the floor. Shen leaped into the air, landing astride the wolf, the steel talons of one foot against his throat, his halberd inches from the Commander's face, the tables turned.

"I remember everything" Shen said quietly, swallowing hard as he forced his voice not to quiver. "Don't even think otherwise…" He paused, swallowing once more. He stepped back, allowing Junjie to his feet. "Go on…"

Catching Junjie's gaze he steeled himself. "Go on, Guanyin!" he snapped, before continuing quietly "Make shelter, and see to it they receive the same rations as all the others. Get the old goat to make up some medicine, and send in that Magistrate."

Junjie smiled, and turned to bark an order to the guards by the door. "You heard the Boss! Do it!"

Ox kicked the twisted remains of the lock-plate across the prison floor. "How could this happen?!" he thundered. An antelope, one of the few remaining on the city patrol, shied away.

"We…we…we don't know yet, Master Ox. The….the intruders killed all the guards. There were no survivors left to talk. There should have been twelve guards, but most were called away to the fires and riots. Only four were on duty, overpowering them wouldn't have been hard. Maybe the secret societies wanted some muscle…."

Ox grabbed the antelope, pinning him against the wall. "That's not good enough! Find them!" he paused, catching himself before he did something he'd regret. "Find them, before they go and do any more damage to this place!" His rant was interrupted by the arrival of a pigeon. Ox released the guard, who rubbed a bruised neck, and turned to the small bird. "What is it, Messenger?"

The bird gathered her breath, tired from her hurried flight. "Master Croc needs you back at the Council building immediately, Master Ox. There may be a…. problem."

Ox's face fell. "Aiyah… can't we have one thing go right for us, just once? What's the problem?"

The pigeon fussed with her wings, nervously rearranging her feathers. "It's Magistrate Chu Li Ming, Master. He's been kidnapped"

Magistrate ChuǔLi Ming bowed deeply before Lord Shen, who sat enthroned, his crest held high, his expression one of self assured superiority. "This slave greets his Lord, and wishes his Lord longevity" he said. "It is an honour to once again be in the presence of a ruler of the Peacock dynasty"

Shen nodded in acceptance of the greeting. "Magistrate, I've heard good things about you from my Commander of the Royal Guard" He smiled, looking down his beak, as his crest twitched slightly. "I trust you can live up to those claims"

"This slave has served the Peacocks ever since the time of your great father…"

Shen cut across the cat's words like a knife. "My father was a fool" he spat in a low, ominous voice. "Never speak of him again"

Li Ming couldn't help the expression of surprise that brushed across his ceramic gaze. "This slave begs his Lord's forgiveness, and merely wished to emphasise the willingness he has to serve his Lord, in this humble office of Magistrate, and to offer his Lord information of use in destroying the thugs and bandits that infest the Divine City of Lord Shen1"

Shen smiled coldly. "Indeed. And tell me, Magistrate, what do you want?" he said, extending his wings in a gesture of generosity.

"This slave desires only that Lord Shen may succeed in brining Gongmen City back under his rightful and divine rule, so that peace and order may prevail, and that this slave may perform the functions of his correct office" Li Ming replied, lowering himself without ever removing his cool gaze from the peacock.

"With the correct privileges, I presume?" Shen questioned, his brows raised with sceptical inquiry.

"Naturally, Lord Shen. Whatever the Lord of this slave deems appropriate" he said solemly.

"And money to cover your….expenses… in gathering intelligence?" Shen spoke with a slow coldness, with no less scepticism.

"If the work of this slave pleases his Lord, then perhaps his Lord may desire to ease the financial burden upon this slave…" Li Ming said, letting the end of sentence drift, as the ends if his lips gave the faintest hint of a smile.

Shen flicked his head dismissively, his expression one of boredom. "Get to the point, Magistrate"

"The expenses of this slave are, um…." Li Ming looked up into Shen's ice cold expression. The atmosphere was thick with the sense of foreboding. He was acutely aware of the two wolves guarding the door. "um… ten thousand yuan"

The atmosphere broke suddenly with the sound of laughter from the peacock, struggling to catch his peels of hilarity as he tried to speak. At length he recovered himself. "Oh really? Do you think you can walk in here and expect that?" Shen said light-heartedly, with further laughter. In an instant his expression darkened, brows raised as his crest twitched. He leaned forward, his wings resting on the arms of the vast throne. "You are a fool" he added quietly, in a low, pointed voice. "Prove yourself, Magistrate."

The Siamese was not intimidated. He knew this game. "This slave brings before his Lord a hundred wolves, a gift to the magnificence of the Lord of Gongmen City"

"You bring me a problem - a hundred casualties to feed and heal, and a scent for the Council to follow. Maybe the Magistrate is out of his depth in matters of statecraft"

"This slave humbly suggests his Lord sees an opportunity. Maybe he could see that this slave, in his humble office, brings a gift of one hundred soldiers, loyal and willing, as a sample of the service he makes to his Lord"

"And… This intelligence I am told you possess?" Shen said, leaning back in his throne.

"Will increase the impact of the forces under the Lord of Gongmen ten-fold" Li Ming smiled. "The forces of the Council are tied down in many places, leaving others weak. Deserters are beyond reckoning. The Divine Lord need only know where and when to strike, and which friends he has in the enemy camp"

"Show me, Magistrate…. A sample, if you will" Shen added with a smile.

1 Li Ming plays with words and allegory. 神州市勳爵神州的