Chapter 10: Freedom
"WAIT!" A familiar voice cried out, echoing in everybody's ears.
Every head in the room snapped in the direction of voice. Wei's eyelids slowly parted as the familiar voice rang past his ears. His gaze darted towards the opposite end of the room behind Shifu and the Five. A silhouette stood by the door, his appearance shrouded by a thick cloak of shadows.
The guard who stood before Wei stepped forward, standing at the edge of the execution platform. His beady, brown eyes narrowed as he glared at the silhoutte with a glint of annoyance in his eyes.
"Who goes there?" He demanded.
The silhouette stepped forward, the dim light of the torches that were mounted on the walls of the room revealed his appearance. He was burlap pants-clad giant panda with jade green eyes.
Tigress' eyes widened at the sight of the panda, her mouth was agape. She felt her heart beat increase at a rapid pace and pound against her chest. Heat caressed her entire body as her cheeks turned a rosey colour. Luckily her orange fur concealed it. She felt a great weight being lifted from her shoulders. Her lips parted and she spoke the panda's name.
"Po?" She asked, hoping it was actually him. Po looked into Tigress' eyes and his lips curled into a smile. Tigress felt her heart melt at the sight of his glorious smile, a smile to die for.
"Yeah it's me, am I too late for the party?" Po replied. Tigress wanted to run at him with full speed and embrace him, but she realised that would've been a bit out of character so she managed to restrain herself.
"Ah, I see you've come to witness the execution." The guard assumed. Po gazed up at the execution platform, his smile curled into a frown and a glint of determination emitted from his eyes.
"No. I'm here to save Wei from a fate he doesn't deserve." Explained Po. Silence blanketed the room, only the sound of the crackling from the flaming torches were heard.
Everyone minus Wei stared at Po wide eyes and open mouths, their expressions obviously filled with confusion and disbelief. The guard standing before Wei managed to recover from his state of shock, his lips parted as he broke the silence.
"What do you mean 'save Wei from a fate he doesn't deserve'? He murdered Lord Chu in cold blood."
"True, he did kill Chu. But it's not what you think, he only did it to save a man's family." Explained Po. The sound of everyone's gasps echoed through the room, then there was another moment of silence where only the crackling of the torches were heard.
A sudden chuckle broke the silence. Po, Shifu and the Furious Five all gazed up at the execution platform. The guard stood at the edge of the tall, wooden platform. His eyelids covered his eyes and a chuckle echoed from within his throat.
The rhino's eyelids parted as he stared at the Dragon Warrior with an amused smile stamped on his face.
"Poor, poor, Dragon Warrior. It's obvious you have been decieved by the wicked lies of this adolescent criminal." Said the guard. Wei narrowed his electric blue eyes and glared at the rhino, his teeth gritted as a growl echoed from his throat. Po shook his head and stared into the rhino's beady, brown eyes.
"It's not a lie, I went to the Emerald City myself, and I found someone who can confirm this." Explained Po.
"The Emerald City? So that's where he was." Thought Tigress.
"Well, then. Where is this 'someone'?" Asked the rhino, who believes Po is bluffing. Po's lips curled into a cocky smirk, he turned his body to his left and extended his left arm out to his left, gesturing that this 'someone' was standing right behind him.
Another silhouette emerged from the shadowy cloak, he was pig with beady brown eyes, clad in a purple robe with black trimmings and a black sash wrapped around his waist. Wei's eyes widened in sight of the pig and his mouth was agape. The pig placed his right fist against his lips and cleared his throat, he then lowered his arm and his lips parted.
"My name is Mr. Chang. I own the only farm in the Emerald City. I'm here today to tell you who Lord Chu really is. He was a tyrant, he abused his power to get whatever he wanted. Whenever another nobleman, or a Kung Fu Master came to our city, Lord Chu ordered us to lie and say that he was a kind-hearted nobleman who spent his free time helping people. Or else he would burn down our houses and execute our families, so we did as he said." Everyone listened intently to 's words. They were in utter disbelief that Lord Chu wasn't who they all thought he was.
"Then he came," Mr. Chang extended his right arm and raised slightly, pointing his finger at Wei.
"Wei came to the Emerald City, in need of rest. Me and my family kindly took him in, a few days later Lord Chu showed up with a few of his guards. He demanded rent but I had already paid it for the month. So then he ordered his guards to hold my wife and son hostage, he threatened to kill them if I didn't pay. I told I didn't have the money but he didn't believe me, so he ordered his men to kill my family. But before they could, Wei swooped in and saved them. Wei didn't murder a nobleman that day, he ended a tyrant."
Silence blanketed the room once more, Mr. Chang's word's replayed themselves in their minds, over and over again. Shifu turned his body around and gazed up at the guard standing at the edge of the platform.
"Release him." Ordered Shifu. The rhino's lowered his gaze to the red panda standing before the execution platform.
"Master Shifu you can't be-" Shifu cut him off by holding out of his right paw, signalling the guard to stop talking. The guard obeyed the Gradmaster and stopped talking.
Shifu lowered his arm and gave the Anvil of Heaven guard an icey glare.
"Now you listen to me, I can tell that Mr. Chang's words were nothing but the truth. If you so much as touch that tiger I'll end you where you stand." Threatened Shifu as he extended his left arm, raising it slightly with his staff pointing towards the rhino.
The guard's mouth hung open and eyelids spread further away from each other. The rhino was at a loss for words. He wanted Wei executed more than anything right now, but if he did, he wouldn't live long enough to enjoy it. The guard's face wrinkled in anger, he turned his head to his left and and gazed over his left shoulder.
"Release him." He muttured. The guard who stood at Wei's left hesitated for a moment, but he gripped the key's strapped to the left of his waist with his left hand and yanked them off of his brown, leather studded belt.
He stepped behind Wei, knelt down and inserted the correct key into the keyhole of the tiger's cuffs. Wei released a sigh of relief as he felt the needles of his cuffs unsheath from his wrists. The cuffs released their strong grip on him and with a loud thud that echoed throughout the room, the cuffs dropped onto the floorboards behind him.
Wei pulled himself to his feet, he rubbed his right wrist with his left paw for a moment. His wrists still ached from the tight grip of the cuffs and the needles. Wei turned around but before he could take a step he felt a strong grip on his right arm.
Wei glanced over his right shoulder to see the Anvil of Heaven Guard. He stared into Wei's eyes, a glint of anger shone in his beady eyes.
"You may be off the hook this time punk, but know this, if you so much as steal an apple from a fruit stand you'll be back on this platform. And next time, nothing will save you." Hissed the guard, his voice oozed with venom. Wei jerked his arm from the rhino's grip.
"I'll keep that in mind." Replied Wei.
Wei snapped his head forward and began walking towards the platform stairs. The floorboards creaked with every step he took, Wei climbed down the platform stairs until he had reached the bottom.
He hobbled past Shifu and the Furious Five who watched him approach Mr. Chang. Wei soon found himself standing before the pig, Mr. Chang stared into Wei's electric blue eyes. His lips curled into a smile, Wei did the same.
The white tiger knelt down in front of Mr. Chang.
"Thank you my friend." Said Wei solemnly.
"No need, I was merely repaying you for what you did for me and my family." Replied the pig.
Wei nodded his head thankfully, he then rose to his feet and began hobbling out of the prison. Po, Mr. Chang, Shifu and the Furious Five followed him.
As Wei made his way through the prison he could feel the eyes of the prisoners and the Anvil of Heaven Guards follow him. Wei soon found himself standing before the enormous double doors, Wei inhaled and exhaled nasally and placed his paws against the cold, iron doors and with the last of his strength he pushed them open.
Wei slumped forward and landed face-first into a pile of snow, Wei felt a cold wind blow against his person. Snow matted his black and white fur, Wei placed his paws against the snow, he attempted to push himself off of the snowy ground but his strength was completely depleted. Suddenly he felt someone grab his left arm and wrap it around a thick neck, the paw firmly grasped onto his wrist. He felt the touch of another paw on the right of his body, Wei was then pulled to his feet.
Wei gazed to his left to see Po, holding him up and a warm smile stretched across his face. Wei gazed forward at the scene in front of him, a thick white veil cloaked the area. Nothing could be seen but the mountain tops.
Wei's eyelids closed over his electric blue eyes and his lips curled into a smile as he felt a cold breeze caress the skin beneath his fur. He had once again left Chor-Gom Prison, but this time, he was doing it as a free tiger.
And there's chapter 10, sorry for the wait. Please don't hurt me, I was so busy with college and whenever I got home, the effort of writing this chapter just wasn't in me. Anyway we're on a 2 week break for the easter holdidays (YAY) so I'll try to get as many chapters up as I can.