Author's Note: Chapter 6 is up guys! I apologize in advance if you think I made Shen a little to out-of-character in this chapter. From what I've studied in his character, I tried to come up with what he would have at least done in this certain situation.. Please read and review!~
A Friend
The white peacock trailed along the wooden platforms of the factory where he watched the new canons take shape, eyeing every single piece of scrap metal that fell into the furnace below. A smirk formed on his beak, as he remembered the times before when he used to do the same. He shifted his gaze on another platform where two of the five perfectly crafted canons lined in place.
"Impressive how you can manage to make five perfect canons in a week, wolf." Shen, without looking behind him spoke. "Where did you hide the three?"
"We hid them in three different places. You don't have to know that, it's not part of your job here." Wolf boss coldly replied.
Shen, bewildered, could only muster to stare firmly at the wolf as it turned away from him and walked away "Where do you think you're going?"
"I'm not going anywhere. I've been ordered by my masters to keep any eye on you anyways." From what little he could see, his eyes glared at the white peacock who stood a good few feet away from him. As he eyed him, head to toe, how he wish he had not, for the scar the wretched peacock left on his neck had started to hurt, not realizing that the pain actually coming from deep within his heart.
"Ox and Croc? Your masters?" Shen clenched his wing "I am-"
"No longer," Wolf boss cut him off, nearing him and locked his eyes to the equally blood red orbs in front of him "not after you betrayed me." Shen's eyes widened at the wolf's remark "Your most… loyal… servant. Do you understand?"
The peacock was left speechless by the gray wolf. Wolf boss spoke no more and proceeded to looking after the next few canons taking shape beneath them, not even sparing Shen a look like he always does.
Shen's mind traveled from the factory to his anger-filled mind as he thought about what Wolf boss said over and over again. You betrayed me. It almost felt like a dagger, piercing him in his very being as his once most trusted subordinate had left him fend for himself all alone. Foolish, he thought. Once I get a hold of what's rightfully mine, you, along with those traitors will DIE. His eyes narrowed, clenching his white wings further until he could not bear it any longer and stormed off with heavy stomps. The one-eyed gray wolf eyed him curiously as the peacock disappeared from sight, muttering words under his breath before finally heading off where his captive did.
"Will you stop following me for once?" Shen, fuming mad and much irritated blurted out at the wolf behind him as they walked the halls of the palace, returning from the fireworks factory "If I didn't know better, you'd follow me even at bath!" The wolf only growled at the grumpy peacock "I'm following my masters' orders!" Wolf boss, equally irritated, shouted on Shen's face "Even if it means watching you take a bath, I wouldn't dare keep my eyes off you." The wolf walked a few steps away, not taking his sight of the peacock for a second much as he stated. Shen held back very much as he could to unsheathing out a blade from his robe and shanking his ex-subordinate in the neck for the second time, knowing very well that it could lead him to serious danger with the rather stronger foes of his, in fact, that would be much of a bigger problem.
"Daddy?" a little voice came from behind.
"What is it, Cheng?" Wolf boss looked down behind him where his doe-eyed pup sweetly tugged on his hind paws. The surprised white peacock speechlessly observed the small wolf beside its father, watching every move it made.
"Master Peacock called for you. I think she wants to ask you something." The wolf pup sweetly replied after being lifted by his father.
"I told you don't call her that. Didn't she tell you to call her Master Jiang? Besides, female peacocks are called peahen." Wolf boss said, in a sweet manner so as not to scare his son. "So I can call her Master Peahen then?" The pup innocently asked. "No, son." Wolf boss replied as he put him down.
"Oh, okay… well, Master Jiang called for you. She said I am big enough to look after Lord Shen on my own. She said it won't be long." As the wolf pup spoke, Shen observed with much awe the amount of sweetness his ex-subordinate showed. He never knew he was capable of showing such warmth to a child. It was his in the first place, he thought. He saw Wolf boss's face twitch, as if his son had said something quite stupid "uh… okay? Uh, you're not making this up are you?"
"Definitely not!" The wolf pup pouted but soon returned to a smile when his father rubbed his head with his big wolf paws.
"Alright. I won't be long. Don't do anything stupid." He looked at Shen with a death glare in his eye "Don't YOU dare hurt my son." At that, the wolf hurried off to exit the palace, running on all fours to the council headquarters, which was situated around the palace grounds.
Shen and the wolf pup were left alone.
"Good afternoon, Lord Shen!" The jolly pup courteously bowed down to the peacock in front of him.
Taken aback from what the wolf pup's gesture, Shen raised a brow and was speechless for a while. "G-good… afternoon." He noticed how Cheng had a striking resemblance with Wolf boss, minus the scar on his right eye. He was rather like, a smaller version of the wolf, he thought.
"I will be your bodyguard for a while!" The pup chirped as he held out a little dagger to the air, striking a pose.
"Oh… kay." Puzzled Shen turned away from the little wolf and proceeded to head to his quarters without minding the pup following him. As long as he stays quiet, he thought. The two walked along the pillared corridor heading to a small room where he stayed. He remembered how it was a slave's quarters during his parents' reign and how he never even saw how it was like inside the room. He thought it was ironic how now the room he never even paid attention to was the only room he was allowed to enter. Upon entering the small bedroom, he felt a little paw step on his long tail feathers and a small thud was heard behind him.
"Why you-!" He viciously whirled around where his eyes met a fallen pup on the floor, tears forming around its glistening, marble-shaped eyes. Instead of glaring, Shen's eyes were full of surprise as the wolf pup began to sniffle and was at the verge of crying. He sighed and looked away for a while, then gently swung his patterned tail feathers, helping the wolf pup get back to his paws. The sniffling ceased and the peacock heard nothing more. I wouldn't have done that silly thing if his father didn't threaten to beat the living daylights out of me. Slightly looking back at the pup who dusted its little pants, he proceeded to enter his bedroom. The wolf pup followed him with much eagerness, wagging his small, fluffy tail as he ran to Shen.
The peacock tiredly sat on his bed, sighing in relief as he finally felt something soft on his bottom after a long day of watching the canons form in the factory. His mind started to wander off somewhere when he noticed the pup looking eagerly at him with a jolly smile in his tiny snout. Shen raised an eyebrow at him.
"What?" He asked in a rather irritated voice.
"You're so cool, Lord Shen! I didn't know your tail feathers could do that!" The pup cheerfully chirped.
"Hmph. Yeah." He then looked away from the pup across him and thought of something else.
"Sorry about how my daddy treats you. I'm sure he doesn't mean it! He's just probably having another bad day…" What the pup said fully caught his attention. Even without saying a thing, he looked enough at the pup to let it know he was listening. "He's just, you know, he feels bad about his vocal chords. Everyday, he would tell me how he used to speak normally and then his vocal chords are damaged when they were hit by some blades a couple of months ago." Shen could hear the rather sad tone in the pup's voice. "He said it could've killed him but he was thankful. Do you know who did such a harsh thing on my daddy, Lord Shen? I almost lost my daddy to whoever that was."
Shen looked away from the boy and was unable to speak for a while. "I have no idea." He could only reply. "Oh, thank you anyways. You know? I love my daddy very much! He carries me around and plays with me when he's not working!" Shen's eyes widened a bit at what the boy stated, but refused to look at his bright eyes still. "How about you, Lord Shen? Where's your daddy?"
The pit of the peacock's stomach churned at the mention of his father. His indifferent face had turned to a rather sour and angry one "Enough of these questions!" He blurted out to the pup, sending it backing away. The angry peacock lied down on his side, turning his back to the pup. "My… daddy… is no longer here."
Instead of fearing him, the pup's face filled with sadness and concern. He walked towards where Shen lied down, the regal peacock's tail feathers gracefully cascading and spilling down the floor. "Oh, I'm sorry… I didn't mean to." Cheng did not hear a reply "Can… can I sit down?" He stuttered. Again, another silence. The pup watched the peacocks back intently, waiting for a reply when it suddenly moved, clearing a little space between the tail feathers. The pup joyfully lightened up and sat on the space the peacock provided him.
"You know, Lord Shen, I think even though you're grumpy, you're actually quite nice!" The pup sang joyfully "From now on, you're my friend!" Without looking, Shen's eyes widened at the pup's remark. He was rather surprised by its sudden declaration of friendship. He thought, perhaps it wasn't aware with the current circumstances. He would've taken the offer, but he figured out that the pup was too young to be an ally.
"I never had real friends here. The grown-ups are quite busy with training and all. Master Pea—uh—Jiang is pretty nice too but she's also busy from time to time so we can't play and train a lot." Shen looked up a bit to the pup without standing up. "I don't understand why nobody talks to you this much. I think you're quite easy to talk to. Some of the wolves and gorillas make fun of me because I'm still young. But you…" he continued "…you're actually listening to me! I wish I can be your bodyguard everyday!"
"Cheng?" the two of them heard Wolf boss cry out outside.
"Oh! Dad's here. I better go." Cheng jumped to the floor and fixed his pants again. "Ah, here, I want you to have this!" From where he lied, a small, soft and plushy thing landed on Shen's beak. "His name is Ling-Ling. He's my little brother!" Shen raised an eyebrow as he picked the stuffed wolf up and examined it. It was crafted exactly to look like Cheng. "He'll be your bodyguard when I'm gone. He's also a good listener, just like you!" The peacock's eyes narrowed at what the pup said, taking it as an insult to his silence, being compared to an inanimate object.
"Cheng?" Wolf boss cried out again.
"Coming, dad!" Cheng cried out "I better go. See you around, Lord Shen!" At that, Shen heard small footsteps fade in the room.
"Where is he?" He could hear from inside his room.
"Oh, he's sleeping now." Shen sighed as he heard a set of heavier footsteps enter the room.
"You're pretty good with manipulating people to go as far as letting my son think you're a harmless person." He heard a coarse voice behind him. "Ha, so you aren't really as tough as you think you are when someone threatens your tail." Only then did he notice how much his ex-subordinate's voice drastically changed. His vocal chords were indeed damaged. Shen, not wanting to start another argument, only let out a sigh in reply. Ignoring what else the wolf have said, Shen fell into slumber, living up to what the pup declared to its father.
It was already dark when Shen opened his eyes from a deep sleep. He hadn't even noticed the wolf that was trying to guard him was dozing off on a nearby chair if he hadn't stood up to the sound of his rumbling stomach. He went to the door of his room, about to exit, when it slowly opened revealing an elderly goat who seems to be about to enter.
"Oh, you're awake!" She greeted him with a smile.
"I'm hungry" he plainly replied.
The soothsayer nodded and raised her walking stick, pointing to the direction of the dining hall across the large circular atrium of the palace. Without a second glance, Shen started to walk towards the quiet dining hall. There was not a sound in the palace. There was no training, the wolf guards were chattering among themselves outside the palace doors and the masters were nowhere to be found. The sounds of his iron talons against the concrete floors were the only ones heard throughout the silent palace.
As he walked, thinking only about his hunger, a fowl, with a stature same as his, albeit a bit lesser in size and had a crest smaller than his, appeared right at the corner of the atrium and walked to his direction, but came to a momentary pause when she set eyes on him.
"Ah, it's you." Shen raised a feathery brow at the peahen in front of him, not a smile was formed in his beak as he greeted the woman of his species. The peahen master, who clutched her spear on her wing, did not respond. Her eyes narrowed at him, sapphire orbs cold as the wind that blew beneath their feet that night.
