Chapter 10: Gathering info: Irish edition
I felt my eyes begin to flutter open, but my vision was blurry. I rubbed my eyes until everything around me came into focus. I sighed in relief when the sight of my room came into focus. No nightmares, thank god. I sat up on the bed and stretched while yawning. I grabbed my vest and put it on.
'Looks like I'll have to find some else to do all day.' I thought, realising I have a lot of time to kill. Out of nowhere, I heard a faint moan.
"Just drink it, it'll help with the hangover." I heard Monkey say. I opened my doors and noticed the doors the Mantis's room was open. I walked over and peeked inside. I saw Mantis lying on its back with Monkey standing over him.
"I said...I'm not drinking that crap." Mantis said.
"You want to go around with a pain in your head?" Monkey asked.
"Come on, I've faced thousands of bandits, raiders and pirates and endured a lot more pain than this. I'll be fine." Mantis replied, holding his head.
"You guys alright?" I asked. They both turned and noticed me standing by the doorway.
"Yeah, we're good. Well I'am at least, can't really say the same for Mantis." Monkey replied.
"Im fine. Just a little headache." Mantis said. Monkey shook his head annoyed.
"I've tried to get him to drink this to clear up his hangover, but he just keeps refusing." Monkey said, holding up a small cup filled with a liquid.
"I don't need it, I can handle the pain." Mantis protested. Monkey sighed in defeat.
"Fine, have it your way." He then placed the cup next to Mantis's bed.
"Finally..ugh..now can we just go do what Master Shifu asked?" Mantis asked Monkey. I raised a brow.
"What did Master Shifu ask you to do?" I asked.
"He told us to ask the captain about to attack on Shinghou. Apparently, someone took out the guards that were posted there. And destroyed their barracks." Monkey replied.
"Whoa, seriously?" Monkey nodded, "Damn, that's crazy."
"I know, and the worst part is, whoever did it, wasn't caught, they just vanished." Monkey said.
"And Master Shifu wants us to go down and ask the captain if we can lend a hand capturing whoever did it." Mantis added.
"Don't suppose you mind if I tag along? I haven't really got anything to do." I asked. They both nodded.
"Sure. Come on, we should head down now." Monkey said. Mantis then managed to pull himself up and wobbled out the door. When he got up he back was exposed and an image was drawn on it. It was eh...a picture of...the male reproductive organ, curtsey of Monkey. Monkey and I were then trying to suppress a laugh, which caught Mantis's attention.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"Nothing, don't worry about it." Monkey managed to say through snickering. Mantis just turned and left his room.
"You're quite the artist, Monkey." I said, laughing openly.
"I try." he said, releasing a laugh of his own. After heading down the steps from the Jade Palace, Mantis discovered what were laughing at. He cursed at us and began erasing the drawing. After walking through the streets for a short while, we arrived at the barracks and stepped inside. Inside, there was a number of different animals shouting.
"They killed all the guards!" a goose shouted.
"Bandits attacked our town and stole our supplies!" a pig shouted.
"People! People, please try and stay calm. A letter has been sent the the General in Hong Kong. He will be sending another group of guards to your town within a week." a guard said.
"A week?! We won't last that long with bandits coming in and out of our town!" a goat said fearfully.
"It's the best we can do. For now, a few guards here will be sent to your town for the time being." the guard said. While the crowd continued to erupt into panic, we slipped past and headed the Jian's office. We knocked on the door and waited for a response.
"Come in." We heard Kai say. We stepped inside the see both Kai and Jian over her desk, looking at a piece of paper.
"Ah hello, I take it you've heard the news," Kai said. We nodded, "It's a tragedy."
"Yeah we know. We're here to help in anyway we can." Monkey said.
"We'll take any help you can offer." Kai said.
"Whoever did it is probably laughing in the goddamn shadows! No one was caught! Whoever this bastard is probably was the one who ambushed our cart as well." Jian said with anger in her tone.
"He couldn't have done it alone. There's no way one person could wipe out a whole guard outpost by themselves." Kai added.
"How can someone do that and not get caught?! Someone must have seen somebody suspicious." Jian said.
"I've questioned everyone from the town who's here. Nobody saw anything." Kai said. Jian slammed her paws down on the desk in anger. Kai then turned to us.
"If you could gather any information at all, please do." he said. We nodded and then left the building.
"If know one in there knows anything, who would?" Monkey asked. Mantis went deep into thought until it looked like he discovered something.
"Where would be the one place that you'd spill everything you knew?" He asked. Monkey shrugged.
"I dunno." he said.
"Okay. A place you'd spill everything you knew, given large amount of the same liquid?" It then came to me.
"The bar?" I answered.
"Bingo! I willing to bet that at least one person rushed to the nearest bar after something like that happened." Mantis said.
"This isn't just an excuse for you to go drinking again, is it?" Monkey asked.
"No, I've learned my lesson...for a while." he replied with shifty eyes.
"Well if you believe we might get information there, then let's go." Monkey said.
"Alright then. And hey, I can introduce you to our friend there as well Ben." Mantis said, turning to me.
"Alright then." I said, as I followed Monkey and Mantis to the bar. We headed past a lot of houses and shops until we came across a rather rough looking part of the Valley. Many animals looked less friendly that the animals I've seen. We then finally arrived at what I assumed was the bar.
"Ben, welcome to 'The Fearless Feline'" Mantis announced.
"Looks...cozy" I said, noticing a boar throwing up outside.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it." Mantis send. We then headed inside. Defiantly wasn't as welcoming as the outside was. Many of the animals seemed to be arm wrestling while others watched. Some clashed their drinks with another, while others clashed their drinks over someone's head. In the back of the room there seemed to be a poker table. The bartender, who was a boar, was cleaning glasses as animals rested their heads on the counter, snoring.
"Yeah...cozy." I repeated.
"It certainly is." Mantis said, clearly not noticing I was being sarcastic.
"So about your friend.." I began.
"Oh yeah, he's...he's." Mantis began to search around the room.
"No one steals money from us!" I said, coming from the corner of the room.
"I weren't stealing' nothin', I swear!" another voice said. This voice seemed have resembled an Irish accent.
"Don't lie to me, you little weasel! We know you cheated in that game!" We came around the corner and saw three ox's and seemed to be holding a brown furred lynx by his arms. The lynx was wearing an olive shirt with rolled up sleeves and black pants. Some fur on his head seemed to be fashioned in a spiky manner.
"What a load of shite! I never cheated ye's lying bastards!" the lynx spat. One ox then threw a punch into his stomach, causing him to fall to his knees. The lynx raised his head and noticed us, "Mantis, give us a hand would ye?" he asked. The ox's turned and saw us.
"You'll mind your business if you know what's good for you." one said, clenching his fists.
"Bar fight!" Mantis shouted, before lunging forward striking the ox in the face. Monkey leapt forward and started to fight the second one. The one holding the lynx dropped him and began approaching me. The lynx began crawling towards the bar, sat himself on a stool and ordered a drink. Seriously?
"You're going down, pal." the ox said to me, cracking his knuckles.
"The only thing going down, is the number of your teeth." I spat back, before throwing a punch into his mouth. He brought his hands up the his mouth and let out a painful yell. I then grabbed his horns, pulled myself up and head butted him. He yelled once again before releasing a threatening growl. As he charged towards me, I leapt into the air and dropkicked him into the chest. He flew back into the counter and held his chest in pain. The lynx then had just finished his drink and smashed his mug over the ox's head. He threw his arms up in victory as the ox fell to the floor, unconscious. Mantis and Monkey had then knocked out the ox's there were fighting and joined me and the lynx by the counter.
"Lucky you came along when ye did fellas. I'd be in serious shite If ye didn't." the lynx said, order another round. The bartender just seemed to treat that fight as an everyday occurrence and poured him a drink calmly.
"No problem man. What did they want anyway?" Mantis asked.
"We were playing a little innocent game of poker, when one of them accused me of .cheatin'! The feckin' cheek." He replied.
"And did you?"
"Well...yes, but that's not the point! Remember, I'm the victim here." Mantis just shook his smiling.
"Anyway, I believe an introduction is in order. Ben, this is Irish, Irish, this is Ben." I extended my hand, which he shook.
"Ah! The newest musketeer? Thanks fer helpin' me out fella." he said.
"Yeah no problem." Irish then turned to Mantis and Monkey.
"So you fellers here for a drink? It'll be on me." Mantis shook his head.
"Not today, but we need some information about the attack on Shinghou."
"Ah, I did hear about that. Shame what happened. But I could lend ye's a hand." Mantis leaned in closer.
"How?"
"Well, some fella came in earlier on and started ordering drinks like it was his birthday. He looked pretty fecked. He started blabbing on about bandits attacking his town, on account of there being no guards. He said on the night on the attack, he could've sworn he saw someone walk away after the explosion."
"Who was it?" Monkey asked.
"He couldn't quite make em out, but could make out that he had a mane."
"So the guy were looking for could be a lion?" Mantis asked.
"What? Naw, you could be looking for a duck. Of course you're looking for a lion ye eejit!"
"Is he still here? It might have some other information." Mantis asked.
"Nope. Had round after round until he couldn't walk straight. He left almost an hour ago."
"Alright, thanks for the info." Mantis said, leaping off the counter and heading for the door, with Monkey and I following.
"Same time next week, fellas!" we heard Irish shout, before we stepped out the door.
"Alright, we should get this information to the Jian." Monkey suggested. Mantis and I nodded in agreement and stated to head for the barracks once again. We went inside, knock on Jian's door and went in.
"You're back, good. Do you have any useful information?" Kai asked.
"I believe we do. Some guy who was from Shinghou, apparently saw a lion walking away from the town, right after the explosion." Mantis said.
"A lion? Well they're certainly not too hard to spot. Good work." Jian said.
"It's still not a whole lot to go on, love." Kai said.
"It's a a lot more than we had this morning. I'll start arresting every lion I see just find the one we're after, if that's what it takes."
"Alright, what's need to do is-"
"Captain!" I guard said, bursting into the room.
"What is it soldier?" she asked.
"Danjian, has been attacked!"
"What?!"