The white emperor
Chapter VIII – The rain season
"And the blood of brave men was shed like unto the shedding of rain from a black cloud"
Ferdowsi
Lady Xiu removed the remnants of the campfire with the tip of her sword, observing that the ashes were already cold and dispersed by the wind, indicating that the fire was not recent. Lord Shen and his wolves had left that camp at least half a day ago.
She extracted the letter that Qiao had sent her, in which he explained briefly his theory that his cousin was heading back to the coast, taking a detour to the north, to get to a small fishing village where he could escape by sea. Her husband urged her to order her men to search the fields instead of following the road to the west.
The peahen had received the message about four hours ago, however she had disregarded it and maintained her course, not wanting to hear a word from or about her husband. And it seemed that she had done well: they were closing in on the wolves, who were carrying wounded and prisoners, by that night she would have reached them... And Qiao had tried to distract her with his stupid theories.
This was all his fault, since the day they had arrived to the city he had turned into a war obsessed monster, who didn't care about anything that wasn't useful to his plans... Like his family.
Xiu had recently realized that he had always been like that, only that she had failed to see this until now, fooled by the mask he wore to look like a good and honorable man to the eyes of the world and hide his true intentions, that were guided only by his lust for power.
He had married her not because he loved her, but because he would get a benefit from the union with her family, besides, she would serve him as some kind of general and she would give him an offspring that could carry on with his twisted vision. He just cared about Shu because she could be useful. Maybe he would force her to marry another peacock, one as vile as himself, just to ensure an alliance.
Xiu wouldn't give him the chance to do that. Once she had rescued her, she would take her away from Qiao, were his bottomless ambition couldn't hurt her...
"Lady Xiu?" someone called her. She turned around and saw the boar captain. Behind him the troop was distending, sitting in the ground of the clearing that the wolves had camped in with the more than obvious intention of doing the same.
"What on earth do they think they're doing?" asked the peahen with an icy tone.
"The men are tired, ma'am, we have been marching the entire day and we didn't have the chance to recover our strength from last night's battle" answered the boar "We have to make a pause..."
"They will rest when my daughter is safe" replied Xiu "We're stepping on their heels! Order the men to resume the march, we're doubling our speed..."
"I'm sorry mi lady, but I won't do that, you've already pushed these men too hard" said the captain firmly.
"You are at my service and you must do as I say!"
"No" the boar was not intimidated by the lady's menacing tone "You will allow us to rest or you will continue on your own"
"You insolent...!" muttered the peahen with her crest lowered, the corners of her beak tensing and her voice boiling with wrath. Without noticing, she had slid a knife between her fingers and raised her arm, ready to strike the captain.
"Owww!" she whined, lowering her arm and pressing the stab wound on her chest with the other hand, closing her eyes to endure the pain. She staggered and found the captain's hoofs holding her shoulders. She gave him an enraged look, her eyes shining with tears of anger.
"It's no use being able to catch up with them if we are too tired to put up fight, mi lady" he said "We will make a pause, but it will be brief. I promise that we will rescue the princess, even at the expense of our own lives"
"Fine!" she said, recovering her stance and pushing him away "two hours to eat and rest, then we go on!"
"Very well, mi lady" the boar bowed to her and left.
Xiu sat on the dirt floor, trying to ignore the pain, and gave a long sigh, that ended in a sob she failed to contain. She was so frustrated, angry with everyone, with Qiao for being such a selfish bastard, with Shu for releasing Shen, with Shen just because he existed and most of all, with herself...
She covered her face with her hands, wiping the few tears that had managed to escape her eyes and hoping that no one had seen her.
"Um... Excuse me, mi lady" the falcon was standing in front of her. She had ordered him to stay by her side in case she needed to send a message back to Gongmen city "Don't you have a reply for your husband ready yet?"
"No, not yet" she answered with a grave voice, before raising her head "As a matter of fact, I have a different task for you: I want you to go ahead and make a reconnaissance flight of the next part of the road, find lord Shen and his wolves and make an approximation of how many of them remain and how far are they. Can you do that?"
"Yes, lady Xiu" said the falcon, lowering his head and he extended his wings to take off, but folded them again "I believe that your husband said something about lord Shen crossing the fields and heading north-east..."
"Yes, he said that... Amongst many other things"
"So... Would you like me to search the fields as well?"
"No, I want you to find my daughter! Follow the road until you find them"
"As you wish" said the bird of prey, before finally taking off...
Lord Shen almost wished being back in the basement of his cousin's palace. Anywhere was better than there, in the middle of that field, sinking his feet in the turbid water, feeling his talons digging in the mud, between the hard and sharp sprouts of rice, and not being able to see where he stepped on.
Although Shen's original plan was to return a few miles on their steps, remaining in the road as long as possible before venturing trough the flooded meadow, they had been forced to leave the road sooner, after the scouts revealed that they were being followed by a large group of boars. So now they were taking a longer and harder road, but hopefully, they would lost their pursuers. According to Shen's estimations, they would reach their destination in a day and a half, probably more, as they were carrying supplies and several wounded men and women trough a less than adequate terrain. The only thing to do was to keep moving and hoping that the enemy didn't learn about their location or their new destination.
The white peacock staggered by the weight of his train, which he had to keep opened to prevent the long feathers from getting wet, which would make them twice as heavy.
"Are you feeling alright, sir?" asked Jian, offering her hand.
"Yes, I just tripped" answered Shen, rejecting her help and recovering his stance "How are the wolves doing?"
"They can handle a bit of mud, but, sir, would you like us to..."
"If they can do it so can I" interrupted Shen, attempting to give another step, but again, the weight of his tail made him loose balance. He would have fallen to the pond if Jian hadn't grabbed him just in time.
"Sir, you're exhausted, you have to let us carry you"
"NO! You already have too much work with the wounded" Jian shot him a surprised glare. Since when did Shen put others' welfare before his own? Since when did he care about the wolves having too much work enough to sacrifice his own comfort? Maybe he was just trying to prove that he didn't need any help. That behavior was usual amongst the males, but she thought that Shen was above that irrational and apparently innate pride.
"You are wounded!" she replied.
"So are you" he had noticed that the girl had a pain grimace that she was trying to conceal, she was pressing her side with her hand and she was having troubles breathing, she must had one (or more) broken ribs.
"It's no big deal" said the wolf "And I'm a soldier, I'm trained to endure this sort of things but you don't have to..."
Shen was tempted to accept, and he was about to do it when he felt someone's eyes on him. He turned and discovered Shu, staring at him from the bamboo cage in which a pair of sturdy wolves was carrying her. The only thing that kept her beak shut was the fear that he had instilled in her, and that fear was going to banish the second he showed the slightest sign of weakness.
"Hey! What are you looking at?!" brusquely asked Jian. The peahen fixed her a hostile glare but didn't answer.
"Just ignore her, and don't worry about me, I can go on by myself" said Shen.
Wolf footprints on the road, heading west. This was what the falcon found after a few hours of following the road. But they were faint, like if they were a few days old. This puzzled the bird, it would take at least a day to reach that point from the abandoned camp afoot, he should have found lord Shen's group long ago. Those prints had to belong to another group, and either he had missed the lord, or the peacock had gone in another direction, just as lord Qiao had said...
The messenger doubted. Should he return to lady Xiu? She was definitely heading the wrong direction, but he knew that she wouldn't accept the possibility of her husband being right... Unless he gave her tangible evidence of that, like an exact location... But if he went to search the fields he could spend days flying without finding anything, and the princess would be effectively lost by then, and the royal peacocks would have his head cut off...
He looked up, the sun had already passed it's zenith and had started it's slow descent. The sky seemed to be clear, but to the south, a dark mass of clouds was approaching: the annual monsoon was close.
Using the skill he had acquainted with years of crossing long distances, always pendent of the weather, he was able to know that the rain would reach them by the next noon, and the roads would become impassable. Whatever he did, he had to do it now.
"Let it be what fate wants" he muttered, taking off, heading to the fields.
Lord Shen was filled with relief when his feet touched dry and firm ground. Despite what he had told Jian, the long journey trough the crops had been an actual torture for him. He walked a few steps away from the water and lowered his train, feeling cramps in his low back. Turning around he eyed the vast swamp that extended beyond his sight. Standing at it's edge he realized for the first time how big it was.
The remnants of his army were as relieved as him and as they deposited their cargo on the floor, they were already setting a camp, without waiting for him to tell them to do so.
He felt slightly annoyed by their lack of discipline, but he decided not to scold them. He didn't want to press their loyalty more than what he already had. Instead, he decided to have a word with Chao.
He located the black wolf organizing the disposition of the tents.
"Captain!" called the peacock. Chao turned around and immediately kneeled, fixing his eyes on Shen's talons.
"Mi lord" he said with a hint of fear in his voice, fearing that the noble was going to punish him, maybe for his rudeness with the prisoner, maybe for not rescuing him in time, maybe for setting camp without waiting for his command. Who cared, the thing was that lord Shen was not a person that he wanted to be mad at him.
"How much time do the wolves require before resuming the march?" that caught him off guard, there was no anger or pressure in the bird's words, just harmless interest, yet, Chao couldn't figure out if he was discontent. He decided not to take any chances, after all, he remembered how volatile his lord was.
"Not much, sir, but I can order them to keep going if you..."
"We're close to the village, captain, and we've outran the boars" Shen interrupted his speech "I need to rest too, we can afford to spend the night here... And could you please stop looking at my feet? you're making me nervous"
Still crouching, Chao lifted his eyes to meet Shen's. He was about to thank the lord for this unexpected display of generosity when he spotted a small silhouette gliding behind his head.
"Sir! Look!" he said pointing at it. Lord Shen followed his finger and discovered the black dot moving across the sky. It was too high to see it clearly but it looked like a bird of prey, it was gliding in circles right over them.
Some of the wolves had also noticed it and were commenting it between them.
"Quick, cover the cages!" ordered Chao, but Shen rose his wing to stop him.
"Don't bother, he already saw everything... Do we have any bows left?"
"No, sir, we lost them all during the raid"
At that moment, the bird broke off his cycle and headed to the west.
"Damn it!" cursed the black wolf.
Jian walked near them, with her sight fixed on the bird as it flew away.
"Do you think he was looking for us?"
"Of course he was, idiot!" snapped Chao, kicking the ground "Now those pigs will be after us again! Right when we managed to loose them!"
"Calm down, captain" said Shen with a calm tone "We still have an advantage, they've spent a lot of time following the road and moving away from us, when that explorer reaches them, they will still have to retrace their steps and there is still the swamp between them and us... Yet, we will have to shorten our break, the fact that they are away doesn't mean that we have to wait for them. Captain, brief the wolves of our situation and tell them to be ready to resume the march in three hours"
"Yes, sir" the black wolf walked away, gathering the pack. Lord Shen sighed, there would be time to rest when they were away from there, he thought, as he walked towards the cage that the wolves had left carelessly unguarded.
When she saw the white peacock nearing, Shu stood as straight as she could in the low cage and pressed her body against the opposite wall, trying to put the greatest distance possible between the both of them. Once he reached the cage, lord Shen lowered his head to look at the peahen between the bars, and without saying anything he began circling the bamboo structure with his wings folded and his red eyes fixed on his hostage, showing an evil grin as she moved inside her cell to get away from him.
"What do you want?" she finally snapped. Seeing that he didn't answer, she added "Do you think you are scary? Allow me to take you out of your delu..."
Shen bit the air, thrusting his head forward and shaking his tail feathers, producing a frightening sound that made Shu cut her phrase in mid air and look at him with her eyes widened with fear.
"Were you going to say delusion?" asked Shen with a playful smile "And how are you going to take me out of it by being afraid of me?"
Shu gave him an unfriendly glare and looked away without answering. The peacock circled the cage to meet her eyes again.
"Don't you have anything better to do? Leave me alone!"
"I see you still have some spirit left..."
"What do you want from me?!" exclaimed the princess moving away from him.
"Nothing in particular, I just find it pleasantly satisfying to see you like this, Shu" It was the first time that he addressed her by her name instead of derogatory nicknames, but he managed to sound as insulting as always.
"And why is that?" she asked, bitterly "I healed your wound, I stopped your torture, I released you... What have I ever done to you?"
"Well, to begin with, you gave me this wound..." answered Shen, grabbing his injured shoulder.
"You were attacking my father!"
"Ah yes! Your father... He's the center of all this, you know?" said the white peacock "For you, he might be the perfect man who the wicked and twisted lord Shen is attacking with no apparent motives. But I'm amongst the few living persons that know what lies under that mask. Did you know that we learned martial arts together, your father and I?"
From her silence he deduced that she didn't.
"He was, if possible, less subtle than now. An arrogant bully... Everything that I didn't have or had to fight to get he had it since the moment he hatched: a normal and strong body, the love and pride of his parents, friends... I heard that he was also quite popular amongst the peahens..."
"So is that it? You're jealous of my dad?" asked Shu with a scornful grin.
"At first" said Shen, ignoring her disrespectful tone and strolling around the cage "But then I learned that what you gain without effort is worth less than nothing. I swore to myself that I would earn whatever I received. And I did, I managed to consolidate a few true friendships, instead of those shallow flatterers that surrounded Qiao for their own interests and would stab him in the back without hesitating whenever the tides changed. I trained night and day for years, harder than anyone else, until I managed to surpass my physical limitations and defeated my cousin, who had never experienced what was it to lack something. I was granted the Yín yè spear and presented it to my father..."
"Oh yeah! And where were your true friends or your parents' love and pride when they banished you? Was your spear helpful up there in the mountains?" teased Shu "You are still a freak, you can't change that! And as far as I know, not even a single woman has been stupid enough to come near you"
"I know of one" said the white peacock, hitting the bamboo cage with the side of his train, causing the entire structure to shake violently. Shu lost her feet and fell on all fours.
"Anyway, I must admit that I have always held a deep rancor towards that cocky bastard. Before that stupid panda stopped me I was planning to divert part of my army to your home city to finally wipe off that sad excuse for a ruler that my cousin is. I knew that he had a family but I didn't care, my business were just with him. That was until he decided to usurp my title and steal everything I've fought for. Now I've proposed to, after retrieving what's mine, repay him with the same coin: I'm going to take his city and all his possessions, then I'm going to kill you and your dear mother, while he watches, of course. And finally, after having him endure more pain than you could dream of, I'm going to take his life"
His eyes were wide opened by the end of his monologue, and his voice was shaking with excitement. Shu looked at the white peacock, terrified. He was more frightening now than when he had stalked her in the dark corridor, or pressed that knife against her throat or when he had held her tongue in his beak, ready to rip it off. And this was because, no matter how deep she peered within his red irises, there was not a single trace of madness in his look. All his monstrous actions, the panda genocide, the obsession to conquer China. She had always thought that they were the result of a broken mind, guided by some twisted logic. But now she could see the truth, written in those crimson eyes that looked like drops of blood: Lord Shen was pure evil. His malice was not normal, though, he was a demon. A monster that wanted to kill her and her parents, and enchain the whole world under his cruelty... And she had set him free...
The sun was setting in front of them, painting the fields with it's orange glow and blinding them if they looked straight forward. Lady Xiu was getting impatient, and a tinge of unease had installed in her chest. There was no sign of the wolves where there should be plenty of them, what if Qiao was right and Shen was taking a detour? If that was the case she would have been walking away from him... But it couldn't be, she told to herself, shaking her head.
"Lady Xiu!" one of the boars was pointing at something, it was the falcon! The peahen felt as if her guts had filled with lead. The bird was coming from the fields, from the north-east...
He landed next to her, and had to lean on the captain to remain on his feet. He panted a few times before talking with a weak voice.
"I found them... Mi lady..."
"Where?!" asked the peahen, kneeling in front of him and grabbing his shoulders. The messenger was on the brink of a physical collapse and she feared that he would drop dead in her arms before telling her anything.
The falcon had been flying as fast as he could, without stopping, for hours to find the wolves, and then all the way back to the boars. His wings and chest felt on fire and his throat had adopted the consistency of sandpaper, his feet had already stopped working, and only Xiu's grip was keeping him up. He tried to say something but the only sound he managed to emit was a rough moan.
"Water! Somebody give me water!" demanded the lady. A few seconds later, someone handed her a canteen, which she placed on the messenger's beak. He drank all it's content without stopping to breath.
"I saw them... They were at the edge of the fields... About fifty miles north-east of here..."
"And Shu?! Did you see her?!"
"Yes, mi lady, she is alive and appears to be unharmed"
Xiu rose her head and addressed the captain.
"Tell your men to drop the supplies, we're heading back to Gongmen city, we must be there before...!"
"Mi lady..." regretfully said the falcon "They... They saw me... They must be on the move right now, they will reach the coast by tomorrow's late morning..."
"We've strayed too far..." intervened the captain with grief, placing his hoof in the peahen's shoulder "We can't catch them... I'm sorr..."
"No!" the peahen released his shoulders and parted from him, breathing shallowly, refusing to accept what he was saying: there was nothing she could do. She gave a long cry of anguish and frustration, with her eyes quickly filling with tears. She hadn't been able to protect her daughter back at the palace and she wasn't able to do it now. She was useless.
"NO! NO! NO!" she cried. There were tears running down her cheeks, but she didn't do anything to hide them. There was no point in showing strength anymore; Shu was gone, her daughter was going to die and it was her fault.
The peahen took a few steps, staggering without a given direction before screaming Shu's name to the wind. Her voice was cut by a violent sob, and she fell on her knees, shivering violently.
The boars and the falcon witnessed the whole scene, and although most of them had lowered their eyes, the lady's voice, usually beautiful but cold as an icicle, now shattered to pieces, flooded their ears, transmitting a small fraction of the pain she was feeling...
The pack witnessed a gray dawn. During the night, the sky had covered with dense clouds, loaded with rain. Now the air was still and warm, announcing the imminent downpour. This made Shen glad that they hadn't stopped by the night. Instead, they had traveled the distance that separated them from their destination. Off in the distance it could already be seen: a tower, raising like a needle from the ground...
The village of Gāo tǎ was located a few miles north of Gongmen city. It was formed by a group of small wooden buildings, gathered around a central plaza, and about half kilometers away, there was a port, which seemed disproportionated to the town's size, where several ships of different sizes docked every day. The reason for this was that every single inhabitant of the village was a fisher. Their production almost matched Gongmen's and they were one of the many satellite settlements that contributed to make the capital such a prosperous place.
The port was also used as a scale for merchant ships that wanted to avoid taxes for a short stay, realize last time maintenance or buy cheaper supplies.
But the distinctive feature of the village was a three floor tower, located between the residences and the port, as close to the coast as the ground stability allowed it. It was an old guard outpost, built by lord Jian Yu's great grandfather to watch the sea for invading fleets. But that had been during a time of great tension between the Xu and Qing provinces. Now the two provinces were allies and the tower was used as a lighthouse to guide the ships that traveled between them.
The village was founded by the first keepers of the lighthouse and had got it's name from the tower.
The group gathered in the middle of the plaza. Every building in the village was facing towards them and all the doors and windows were closed. Apart from them, the streets were deserted, the only noise came from the wolves, that were sniffing the air, raising their muzzles and twitching their ears with unease.
"Where is everybody?" asked Jian "Do you think they knew that we were coming?"
"No, there would be some sign of recent activity" answered Shen "If I had to guess, I'd say that they've evacuated the town because of the monsoon" he pointed up, indicating the cape of heavy gray clouds above them.
"Whatever, this place gives me the creeps" said the woman "I have a weird feeling..."
"So do I, we should go on" suggested Chao, who was as nervous as the rest of his pack.
"I agree" said the peacock, wandering his gaze around the wooden buildings "Gather the most skilled sailors and tell them to prepare a ship, tell the rest of the pack to start boarding when the boat is ready..."
"Understood, sir" the black wolf proceeded to call several wolves by their names and assign them tasks as he guided them to the port.
Shen watched them leave the plaza, heading to the docks. He was thinking of going to tease Shu some more. It had proved to be a great stress releaser, when Huïsè came up to meet him.
"Mi lord" said the gray wolf "We only have food for a few more days, and that building seems to be a storage" he pointed at a larger building that stood out between the others "We should take some supplies"
"Very well, take some wolves and gather enough food for the trip, but don't take too long, I want to set sail before the storm breaks loose"
"Yes, sir" Huïsè parted from him and went to face a group of wolves that were sitting on their luggage, enjoying of an unauthorized recess "Get up, you worthless fleabags! We have some work to do!"
Shen watched them walk towards the depot before sitting in one of the places that had just been unoccupied.
So, maybe his new quest for supreme power wasn't going out too well; until now nothing had gone the way he wanted, he had failed to retrieve his city, his army was on its last stance (there were about sixty wolves left under his command, they weren't properly armed and they were exhausted after a battle and two days of crossing wild fields and swamps; their moral was surely at floor-height), he had lost the surprise element that his "death" had given him and Qiao was after him. But he had an advantage: the princess. Soon they would be in open waters, en route to Qing. His cousin would then be forced to pay the ransom that would finance his new army. "How ironic" thought the white peacock "having to pay for the army that will march against him". And there were also the soothsayer's notes; in her letter she had said that she wasn't going to try to dissuade him, only guide him trough a safer path, but, knowing the old goat, the messages must be just a bunch of riddles and stories meant to convince him to abandon his goals.
He extracted the bamboo tube from his robe and spun it with the tips of his feathers, he hadn't thought much about it since the night he had found it. Now he was tempted to throw it away; it was the soothsayer's way of annoying him even after death, and all her cursed predictions had ever done was distracting him and making him commit mistakes.
Tightening his grip around the short tube, Shen lifted his arm to toss it as far as possible, but he wasn't able to do it, it was his last memory of the soothsayer, he couldn't just get rid of the last words she had directed to him... Almost without noticing, he placed the tube back within in the safety of his robe.
He bent his neck down and released an exhausted sigh. There would be time to examine the goat's predictions later, when they were sailing towards Qing. "Who knows, maybe there's something useful amongst those riddles" he thought, drawing scrawls in the floor with one of his talons.
The town's streets weren't paved and neither was the plaza; the ground was dry and covered with a thick layer of loose dirt, in which recent footprints were clearly distinguishable: there were paw prints, left by the wolves everywhere, a set of long fingered ones which Shen recognized as his own and a third type of print: a hoof, probably of a deer or a pig... No, it was larger, definitely larger than a pig's; it was a boar print, and it was recent, very recent...
Shen bolted up and turned to see the group of wolves opening the large gates of the storage.
"Wait! It's a trap!"
The second those words left his beak, a large amount of boar soldiers came out of the building and attacked the canines at the doors, killing two of them almost instantly. Huïsè and the other two were fast enough to grab their weapons and adopt a defensive stance.
"Ambush!" yelled someone and chaos took over the plaza. Handfuls of boars emerged from the wooden huts and surrounded the wolves, who quickly recovered from the surprise and formed a defensive circle.
"Lord Shen!" Jian appeared besides him and placed herself in front of the lord, with her sword unsheathed and holding her side with her left arm. She had her yellow eyes fixed in the pigs in front of them and her lips were pulled back to reveal her fangs. A low grunt echoed in her throat. The rest of the pack was acting in a similar way. The fatigue that reigned seconds ago had left place to a savage eagerness for the fight.
For a moment nobody moved, the two groups limited to point their weapons at each other in silence, which gave Shen some time to think. That company was smaller than the one that was pursuing them to the west, he couldn't be sure because there could be more boars hiding, but at first sight it looked that the numbers more or less the same on both sides. These boars had probably been sent by Qiao from the city, and judging by the empty village, they'd been waiting there in advance. Once again Shen was at disadvantage... Or not...
"Well, it looks that my cousin is sharper than I thought" he said, gently pushing Jian aside and walking ahead to face the enemy warriors.
"Surrender now and Lord Qiao will have mercy upon you!" announced the boar captain "If you don't, we'll kill all of you!"
"You are not in a position where you can make threats, boar!" spat Shen with an unfriendly voice, ordering the wolves to let him trough with a gesture of his wing, so that he could talk with the enemy captain face to face "We have your princess, see..." he pointed the wolves holding the cage a few meters behind him, inside the circular formation, out of the boars' reach "Let us trough or she dies. Go back to Gongmen and tell my cousin that he will have his loud-mouthed daughter back when he decides to pay for her. And that the state she returns in depends on how... Generous... He is with the ransom"
"You can tell him by yourself, peacock" replied the captain looking behind Shen. The peacock turned and saw Qiao standing on the cage and the wolves guarding it lying on the floor. His cousin was wielding the Yín yè spear and it's blade was covered in blood. The two peacocks stared at each other's eyes for a moment. The entire plaza was silent...
"Attack!" shouted both of them at the same time.
A large cloud of dust rose from the floor when every soldier lunged forward, and the battle exploded with a clamor of screams and weapon clashes.
Covering his eyes to protect them from the dirt, Shen almost tripped with Jian.
"Mi lord!" she screamed over the noise "You have to get out of here! It's too dangerous!"
"We have to get to the docks!" replied the peacock, he was going to add something else when an arrow passed inches away from his face.
"Archers!"
"I know! Damn it!" yelled Shen, rubbing his beak. He approached his head to the woman's ear "Jian! Tell the wolves to make an opening in the enemy line and retreat to the ship!"
They had to part when a huge boar emerged from the turmoil waving his sword at them.
Shen pushed Jian away, which saved her life but almost got his wing severed; the weapon brushed his feathers and hit the floor. The soldier's face was in front of him and before he could strike again the bird cocked his head forward, poking the warrior's eye with his beak, making him drop the weapon and take both of his hands to his face, screaming in pain.
The scream died in his snout when Jian pierced his neck with her sword.
"Thank you, sir!" she said, pushing the corpse with her foot to release her weapon.
"And you were telling me to leave..." muttered Shen to himself.
"What...?!"
"Nothing! Get the pack out of here before everyone gets killed!"
"And what are you going to do?!"
The white peacock grabbed the dead boar's sword with his talons and tossed it upwards to catch it with his wing.
"I'm going to say goodbye to my cousin! Now go!"
"But sir...!"
"I'm counting on you, Jian! Get the pack out of here!" Said this, he left to find Qiao, running across the mayhem and releasing quick but lethal stockades whenever a boar was reckless enough to stand in his way...
His plan had been too risky, but it had worked: using the distraction created by his men, Qiao had managed to glide to the cage from a nearby roof and take out the wolves guarding it. Shen's warriors could have killed Shu before he'd had the chance to get to her, but fortune had been on his side for once. Still, he was determined not to rely on luck again; the anguish he'd felt while approaching the cage, fearing that the canines would notice him and picturing what would have happened then... That moment, the moment where Shu's life was left to chance would remain fresh in his memory until his last day...
The danger wasn't over yet. Spinning the halberd over his head, he waited, turning his head to make sure that no enemies were approaching from behind. He had to hold that position, in the center of the enemy group, until his men could fight their way towards him. For the time being, it was safer for Shu to remain inside the cage.
The peacock waved the spear with one arm, describing an arch that sliced the face of a wolf that got too close. A quick swing and the shaft passed under his wing, the blade of the weapon impaled another soldier that was lunging from behind. Qiao kicked him away and felt something odd with the halberd when the blade detached from the warrior's body: the pole was splintered near the base of the blade: the place he had used to deflect the sword that Shen had thrown at him, back at the Dōnggōng palace. The Yín yè had weakened, and the peacock was certain that it would break if he kept using it like that.
Another wolf was running at him. He got ready to fend him off; from his higher position and with the help from the archers posted on the roofs it was almost a child's play... Suddenly, he felt a pull on his train that caused him to loose balance, one of his feet got stuck between the bars of the cage. There was a second wolf behind him, trying to climb to the cage. Qiao stroke his head with the counterweight of the spear, and although the blow wasn't hard enough to knock him out, it drove him away. The blue peacock tried to get up, but the other wolf grabbed his neck and rose his sword to behead him.
"NO!" shouted Shu from inside the cage, unable to do anything but watching her father's death...
The canine's triumphant grin froze for a second before changing into a pain expression, his fingers twitched, releasing the peacock and dropping his weapon, and he collapsed, with an arrow sunk between his shoulder blades.
Qiao managed to release his foot and stood up, panting and massaging his throat with his free wing. Raising his head he saw that the wolves had opened a breach in his warrior's ring and some of them were fleeing out of the plaza. Shen must have done the same, because he (or his corpse) was nowhere to be seen. There was only a handful of wolves left standing, no more than fifteen. The rest of them had either died or escaped. However, Qiao knew from older experiences that a cornered wolf was more dangerous than ten of them in regular conditions, and his own group had been significantly reduced as well. Victory wasn't certain yet...
There was a gray wolf that seemed to be particularly fierce; he was fighting three boars at the same time and his growls and insults were so loud that they could be heard from where he was. Qiao watched him block a stockade, kick the soldier in the groin and hack the side of his neck when he fell on his knees. The second pig aimed at him with a spear, but the wolf spun on his feet to avoid the attack, and when the tip of the boar's weapon passed by his side without touching him, he dug his sword in the warrior's guts, leaving it pinned there and snatching the spear of his hooves.
Qiao lifted his wing, intending to drive the attention of one of his archers to order him to strike down the troublesome enemy...
He heard something like a flag waving behind him and turned around, brandishing the spear with lightning speed at the white blur that was almost over him. Shen blocked the strike with his sword and kicked Qiao on the face.
It was a fortune for the blue peacock that Shen wasn't wearing his metal talons, if he was, the kick would have ripped his head off. Its strength was sufficient to daze him and blur his vision. He fell off the cage and landed on his back, the shock took the air out of his lungs and loosened every muscle of his body. A second later, the shadow of his cousin falling on him blocked his view of the clouded sky. Qiao rolled on his back just in time to avoid being impaled and jumped back on his feet, grabbing the spear with both wings and aiming it at the white peacock, who lifted his sword and spun it almost playfully before lunging at him.
Shen crossed the distance between them leaning his body forward and lowering his head as much as he could, using his train to maintain his balance. A second before colliding with Qiao, he propelled himself upwards, aiming the sword right at the blue peacock's face. The attack was blocked in time, but he used his impulse to jump over the blue peacock's head. Upon landing behind him, he turned around with his wing fully extended, launching a horizontal slash at Qiao, who bent his neck to dodge it before spinning on his feet to trip him with his train.
Qiao knew in advance that Shen had jumped because his fan didn't hit anything, and, while not facing him, he thrusted the dull end of the spear under his wing. His heart jumped when he felt the weapon impacting something and heard a scream of surprise: he had hit Shen in mid air!
He turned, knowing what he would see: Shen lying on his back with his guard lowered for a few precious seconds. Seconds that he wouldn't let to go to waste.
Time seemed to flow slower for that moment... The blade of the Yín yè darted forward, aiming at the center of Shen's chest, producing a faint whisper as it's curved edges sliced the air. The last second stretched so much that it felt like hours...
The spell broke when Shen grabbed the shaft of the spear with his spare hand and diverted it on the last second. The blade scratched the side of his neck and struck the ground. Right after this he kicked Qiao's chest with both feet to drive him away and stood up with a certain difficulty, pressing with his wing the cut on his neck; it was shallow, but the blade had passed less than an inch away from his jugular.
"This was what I meant when I said you weren't a big deal, Shen" he said "Sometimes you may show some skills, but at the end you always end up failing!"
"Once again you are talking ahead of time, cousin" answered Shen "I haven't failed, I'm still standing!"
"And I'm going to fix that right now..."
The blue peacock waved the spear with both wings while running at Shen with renewed strength, and his cousin gave a few steps back while blocking his chained strikes. The white peacock was about to launch a feint to break Qiao's attack when he felt a large presence behind him and jumped aside just in time to avoid a boar's hammer that shook the ground when it failed to hit him.
Another boar joined the first one and wielded his axe at him. Without time to dodge it, Shen tried to block the attack, but it was so strong that it threw him against a house. He hit the wall with his wounded shoulder and fell to the ground. The sword slid off his fingers before he stood back up, leaning against the wall.
Qiao and the two boars were approaching cautiously, cornering him against the hut.
"As I said, you are already defeated" His cousin advanced, raising the halberd, ready to strike, and Shen ran at his encounter, retrieving his sword and pretending that he was going to break to the left; and it worked! Qiao lowered the spear, aiming at the point in which he thought that Shen would be at in the next second; but the white peacock crossed his legs and changed his direction in the last second, passing by his right side and knocking him with his train.
The boar with the hammer waved his weapon at the peacock's knees in an attempt to break his legs, but the bird clung onto the weapon's shaft with his talons before jumping onto the warrior's head. The pig dropped the hammer and flailed his arms to shake him off, screeching in fear.
But a second later Shen had taken off; and flapping his wings he managed to get to the roof of the building, where an archer was aiming at one of the remaining wolves. The boar didn't notice him until he snatched the arrow off his bow and thrusted it under his chin.
The white peacock watched the pig take his hoof to his face before his eyes went blank and he collapsed, falling over the edge of the roof.
Something scratched the tiles behind him and he turned to find Qiao, who had climbed after him.
"There's no use in running away, little ghost!" he claimed, approaching slowly with a murderous expression in his face and fanning his train, the yellow eyes of his feathers fixed on Shen...
Shu watched her father flap his wings to get onto the roof of the hut while the two boars stood there and watched the peacocks fighting.
The young peahen couldn't help it but to feel a small inkling of rage against them for their uselessness.
"Hey, you two!" she called "Come here and let me out! Quickly!"
The soldiers looked at her as if they had just noticed her presence and one of them approached the cage.
"You better take a step back, mi lady" he said.
"Yes, yes! Hurry up!" she urged, seeing her father and lord Shen jumping to an adjacent roof, moving farther away.
The boar rose his axe over his head to hack the bamboo bars and Shu covered her face to protect her eyes from the splinters...
"AGHHH!" she looked at the warrior and saw the gray big wolf, Huïsè, standing next to him. He had pierced the boar's side; his sword had sank between his ribs almost almost until the hilt.
The other boar ran at him wielding his hammer. Huïsè ducked just in time and avoided the attack. Then he straightened his pose like a spring, stabbing the enemy right below the chest.
He watched the dead soldier hit the ground before turning to look at the cage. Shu held back his stare, trying to hide the shock that witnessing that brief bloodbath had caused her.
The wolf approached her and severed the knots that held one of the bars in its place with a hit of his sword, leaving an opening big enough to allow Shu to walk out of the cage.
"Out" he said; but she remained inside.
Huïsè drove his free hand between the bars and grabbed the neck of her rope, after which he pulled her outside effortlessly.
"You're coming with me, your highness, and you better collaborate with me or I'll be forced to chop off those pretty legs off and drag you to the ship, is that clear?" he said.
The only response he got from Shu was a stomp on his right foot, after which she tried to run away, but the gray wolf sprang his arm in a heartbeat and caught the peahen by the neck.
"I'm not kidding, girl" he growled, bringing her face closer to his "It appears that I'll have to prove it..."
A group of boars surrounded them and the gray wolf violently turned the princess around and placed one arm around her chest while pressing his sword under her beak.
"Stay back!" he ordered, and the boars obeyed. The rest of the wolves had either died or fled; he was the last one standing. The remaining boars were temporarily divided and disorganized; some of them were going after the wolves, some were tending their wounded men and some were gathering around him, forming a tight circle.
Huïsè gave a step back, pressing the peahen against him and looking everywhere, trying to find a way out. Until now, he was lucky that none of the archers had noticed him. This was because their attention had been caught by something else: the couple of peacocks fighting on the roofs. The boars had their bows tensed, aimed at lord Shen, but they hadn't shot yet, as they where afraid of hitting Qiao. One of them was approaching the two birds to get a better shot; when he was close enough, he placed an arrow on the string of his bow and fired.
Maybe it was because of his superb reflexes, maybe it happened out of luck: The white peacock drew his head back a moment before the projectile reached him. His whiskers waved when the arrow passed an inch away from his neck and he staggered in surprise.
Taking advantage of this distraction, Qiao brandished the Yín yè at his cousin, reaching his armed wing.
Shen stepped back, covering the cut in his forearm with his other hand. For a brief instant his fingers stopped responding and he dropped the sword. Qiao closed their distance in a heartbeat and kicked the weapon over the edge of the rooftop.
"Honestly, I'd prefer you to suffer more..." he said, pointing at Shen's heart with the spear "... But because of my daughter's compassionate heart, I'll give you a clean, fast death"
"How nice of you..."
"It's far better than what you deserve, but you've already spent too much time amongst the living" stated the blue peacock "Farewell, Shen, I'll see you in hell..."
"Lord Shen!" called someone. The white peacock searched for the source of the cry and spotted Huïsè, surrounded by boars and holding Shu between his arms. He had tossed his sword at him, to give him a last chance to survive at the cost of his own life...
His fingers caught the sword in mid air. Right on time, he diverted Qiao's stockade and launched a slash at his neck. The blue peacock dodged it, but Shen used his initial burst to spin around an trip him with his train. He was about to strike the final blow but he had to jump back to avoid another arrow; the archers were too close, the one that had fired twice was already standing in the adjacent roof, and was placing another arrow in his bow. This time he wouldn't miss. Shen chose to take his leave.
"It seems that my clean, fast death is going to have to wait..." said Shen, sheathing the sword in his belt and walking towards the edge of the roof, giving him a wry look over his shoulder "...We'll settle this over the burning ruins of your city"
He extended his wings and fanned his train, hoping that his injured body would allow him to glide all the way to the dock.
"Don't run, coward!" exclaimed Qiao, leaning on the spear to stand up.
"Should you be minding me right now, cousin?" asked the white peacock "Your daughter is about to become Huïsè's final kill..."
The blue peacock's eyes widened in terror and he turned around to look at the plaza. Shen gave a haughty smirk and he took off, lowering his head to avoid a new incoming arrow...
The second in which the sword left his hand, Shu began to struggle with all her strength, and Huïsè knew that it was only a matter of seconds before every boar in the plaza jumped over him.
He was at the limit of his resistance; he didn't have the strength to fight his way out. Even holding the peahen still was getting difficult...
There was a hooves noise behind him. The gray wolf stepped aside in the last second and kneed the boar in the stomach.
I'm not going to die here he stated to himself, and he lunged at the nearest enemy, ignoring Shu's wings flapping on his face and her frantic squeaks.
All the boars lunged at him at once, and before any of them could touch him, Huïsè threw the princess at the warrior in front of him. The boar opened his arms to receive the peahen's light body, and fell on his back when he caught her. A second later, the gray wolf jumped over him and ran away, escaping trough the dirty road that led to the port. At the same time that lord Shen escaped from Qiao...
The blue peacock looked at the plaza, not caring that he had left his back exposed to a treacherous attack. Fearing that he would see his daughter killed. Instead, he saw the gray wolf escaping the plaza and the boars gathering around a soldier that was lying on the ground, embracing a small body dressed with a ragged silk robe.
His heart froze for a horrible second when Shu didn't move. His mouth dried and a cold chill descended trough his spine...
Please gods don't let her be dead... Please
Her head rose and Qiao felt the chill wear off.
He sighed in relief and went to meet his daughter. Everything was fine, the enemy had been defeated and Shu was safe...
No, she isn't, thought the blue peacock, holding his steps and turning to look at the white figure gliding away. If Shen leaves now, he will become a greater threat... Shu will never be safe as long as he lives...
There was a distance of about five hundred meters between the village and the coast, and shortly after taking off, Shen knew that he would not be able to cross it flying. He was exhausted, full of bruises and he suspected that the arrow wound of his shoulder had re opened.
He had almost reached the tower when he noticed that he was loosing altitude alarmingly fast, and he wasn't even halfway there. He had reached the point where firm ground ended, though. The soil became sandy and harder to walk on (for a bird with a heavy tail and legs not fit for walking trough sand, such as himself).
He flapped once but it was futile, his sore wings could no longer hold him in the air. Once he landed, he would become slower than a turtle. If Qiao was clever enough to send the boars after him, they would catch him in no time.
He spotted Huïsè near the base of the tower. He was running on all fours and hadn't noticed him. Maybe he could carry him to the docks, thought Shen, putting aside his pride, which until now had been the main cause of all his problems.
He was about to call the gray wolf when a set of claws dug into his back, ripping his robe and feathers. He twisted his neck to look back and spotted a fuzz of blue feathers before Qiao pushed him downwards.
The noise of their struggle alerted the gray wolf, who stopped running and looked back.
The white peacock violently hit the floor with a pain caw, and it took him a few seconds to bring himself together and stand up, shaking and panting. His cousin gently touched the ground ahead of him, blocking his way, and lowered his train with parsimony. He was holding the Yín yè spear on his beak.
"No more running, Shen" he said, grabbing the weapon with his wing and spinning it around his body before placing it under his arm. For a second, Shen had a flashback of that night in the fireworks factory, when that panda had said exactly the same, swinging a wok in a very similar way to how the blue peacock had handled the spear.
He had lost to the panda because he had lost his temple, scared by the soothsayer's prophecy, he had failed to think quickly and to adapt to new adverse situations... Well... He thought, unsheathing his sword... That won't happen today.
"Lord Shen!" called Huïsè, standing a few meters behind Qiao. He was unarmed, but Shen knew that it wouldn't deter him of attacking the blue peacock. He had no chance against him, though.
"Get out of here Huïsè!" exclaimed Shen "Tell the others to leave before the boars get to the docks!"
"But sir...!"
"Damn it! Run, you imbecile!" exploded the white peacock, peering over his shoulder. The town wasn't too far and some boars were heading their way.
Huïsè gave a slow step forward, flashing his fangs at Qiao. Damn the wolves and their stupid loyalty, thought Shen
"Come on, dog" said the blue peacock, looking at the wolf but pointing the spear at Shen "I dare you..."
The canine emitted a loud growl and clenched his fists; his anger grew bigger when the peacock gave him an arrogant smirk. He was determined to rip that cursed bird's beak off before killing him... A red mist had clouded both his sight and mind.
"Huïsè! Don't!" Lord Shen's voice drove him back to sanity. The vibration in his throat fainted and he loosened his lips "Don't worry about me!" the peacock kept talking "I'll be right after you! Now please go!"
The wolf hesitated for a moment before turning around and resuming his race to the coast.
"What a naive minion you got yourself there, cousin" commented Qiao "He actually left, as if he thought you had a chance to survive on your own... Or maybe he finally understood that you will always lead him right to defeat and chose to leave you"
Shen addressed him a hate glare and, most to Qiao's surprise, he turned around and ran away, headed for the tower, which was about thirty meters away. The blue peacock couldn't help it but to burst into laugher before chasing after him.
He spotted the red eyes of his cousin's train disappearing trough the door. The boars were approaching him, running with heavy strides.
"Took you long enough, you slow scum bags!" he yelled when they were within his voice reach "Come with me! He's trapped inside the tower!"
Qiao reached the building first and he rushed inside without waiting for his men.
The first floor of the tower looked a lot like master Renshu's school: age-worn stone tiles, naked walls wooden ceiling...
There was a difference, though: the only window of the room had iron bars, projecting a striped shadow on the floor.
A ladder led to the next floor trough a trapdoor on the roof. Shen must be hiding there, ready to slice the head of anyone who tried to go after him.
Qiao approached the ladder cautiously, hearing the boars' snorts behind him. He turned to greet them in time to see Shen, who had been hiding behind the door, closing it with a slam in the face of his soldiers and locking it with a heavy iron latch.
"Let's see how this turns out without... Third ones intervening" said the white bird.
Shu walked nervously in front of the couple of boars that had stayed behind to protect her. Her father had just looked at her for a brief instant to make sure that she was alright and then he had ordered the soldiers to follow him. A few seconds after that the plaza went silent again, except for the noise of the peahen's feet scratching the ground.
"Could you calm down, girl?" asked one of the boars, walking between the dead wolves scattered an the floor, occasionally kicking one of them to make sure it was really dead "Lord Qiao is a good warrior, he knows what he's doing. He'll be fine..."
"You don't know that" stated Shu, interrupting her walk and cocking her head to talk at the soldier "It's lord Shen the one my father is fighting, hes not an ordinary warrior like you, and besides, there are still some wolves around here..."
"Maybe you didn't see it from your cage, princess..." the other boar, who was sitting against a house, laughed of his partner's mocking tone. Shu wondered If they would've dared to act so insolent had her father been there "... But that over-feathered bird, no offense meant, ran away, along with his pitiful group of scabby dogs... We've won"
"What I saw from the cage was that the scabby dogs and the over feathered bird did a number on you" she signaled the space of the plaza with a gesture of her wings "I see more dead boars than wolves. How many of you are left? Fifteen? Twenty? What about if the wolves weren't fleeing but retreating to prepare an ambush?!" Her unease grew bigger with each word that left her beak. Now that he thought of it, it was perfectly possible...
"Tell me something, princess... Are you a military strategist? Do you know anything about ambushes?"
"No"
"You need to hide to ambush someone, even you should know that, and there is not a single tree, rock or hill between this town and the sea. We have archers, which means that we can diminish their numbers and crush their spirit even more before getting on close range. Besides, Lord Qiao is really pissed... I wouldn't surprise if he killed all the wolves by himself without the help of our men..."
"But he will catch Shen alive" claimed the other boar "He's going to show that bastard what happens when his daughter is threatened... I heard him mutter about it when we were waiting, about the stuff he's planing to do to Shen. All I can say is that... Compared to their lord, the wolves are lucky..."
So, if lord Shen didn't kill her father, he would turn him into a monster. That was what Shu had tried to avoid. And she had failed... In one way or another, her father would die by Shen's doing... Either by his blade or consumed by the fire of his hatred.
She couldn't loose him. Her mother couldn't loose him.
"I have to save him..." she said, and was about to go after the blue peacock when the boar that had been sitting blocked her way.
"Move" she hissed. With her fully stretched neck, the tip of her crest was below the soldier's chin.
"We were ordered to protect you, princess, and that is what we'll do" said the other boar, standing behind her.
"Well, now I order you to let me go help my father!"
"You'll help him the most by staying here and not distracting him. You must understand, princess, it is good that you worry about him, but right now, you are more of a threat for us than lord Shen is for your father" The two boars laughed at that commentary and didn't notice Shu's expression growing darker.
"Let-me-trough!" she ended the order with a loud voice and kicking the large stomach shaking in her face. When the boar bent on his waist she grabbed the sword out of his belt and hit the side of his face with the hilt. Even though the strike wasn't hard enough to knock him out, it did threw him off his feet. Shu Quickly turned around and pointed the sword at the other boar's throat. The pig lifted his hooves as a sign of submission.
"I'm going to leave now" stated the peahen "Don't follow me unless it is to help my father" said this she turned around and ran away...
The one who tries to dominate the steel dragon will discover that it only has one master...
The soothsayer's voice echoed in Qiao's mind as he climbed the ladder as fast as he could. He heard a slashing sound behind him when he crossed the trapdoor and he felt that Shen's sword had sliced some of his train feathers. He moved away from the ladder, knowing that his cousin was right behind him, and when the white peacock emerged on the aperture, he pushed the trapdoor with all his strength.
Shen had climbed too fast for the impact to throw him back at the inferior floor, however, it still knocked him off his feet, and when the door closed it trapped the tip of his train.
Qiao stood on top of the door to prevent Shen of breaking free. The peacock, however, swung his sword at his own tail to cut himself free and rolled on his back.
The two birds had been chasing each other all the way up to the third floor, none of them succeeding to land a critical blow.
This floor was the last one. There were no walls, only four pillars, one on each corner, to support the roof. The pyre was located in the center of the room. It was composed by a stone base on top of which laid an iron basket, meant to hold the burning wood. There was a large hole in the roof to allow the smoke to flow away and to prevent the fire of burning the beams. The villagers had forgotten to close it and the gray clouds could be seen trough it.
Shen noticed a rising wind current sweeping the floor, dispersing the remaining ashes from the pyre. How long had it been since the ambush? Probably no more than half an hour. Yet, the storm was about to begin... The first drops would fall within minutes.
Holding his sword up, pointing at Qiao, he looked at the dock. It was clearly visible from there. A white, ghostly shape rose between the sea of masts: a sail. The wolves were getting ready to leave...
Shen's plan had been to climb to the top of the tower and use its height to achieve a longer flight, hopefully long enough to cover the distance to the docks.
Qiao guessed what he was thinking.
"Are you sure you want to do that? You will never make it with this wind. As a matter of fact, you wont make it off this floor"
Shen drove his look back to his cousin. The blue peacock wasn't very skilled at ranged combat, but he knew that he would throw the spear like a javelin the second in which he tried to jump over the edge, and at that distance, he would certainly hit him. He had to kill Qiao now; it was the only way out. And he had to do it before the ship went too far from the coastline, the wind grew stronger or, as the faint smashes rising from the first floor reminded him, the boars tore down the door.
There wasn't time for exchanging insults. Without a word, he lunged at his cousin.
The one who tries to tame the steel dragon will have his soul destroyed by the only master of the dragon...
No! It won't happen! thought Qiao, thrusting the spear forward. Shen jumped aside and gave a hack at his neck. His blade hit the stone base and ripped a few shards of it.
The white peacock's movements were slower, and it wasn't an act. He was tired... And so was Qiao...
The blue peacock tired to trip Shen with his broken train, and at the same time, he held the Yín yè by the end of its shaft and swung it over his head, pointing it backwards.
Shen jumped up and backwards, climbing on top of the pyre and managing to avoid both the spear and the blade. Qiao laughed when he saw him perched on the fireplace.
"Mind you, I had considered burning you alive, Little ghost. If fire is your last wish I'll make sure it is fulfilled..."
"So much for a fast death then... What happened with your daughter's compassionate heart?"
"I'm sure she'll make an exception with you" Qiao swung the halberd at Shen's legs, but the white peacock jumped and flapped at the same time, gaining enough impulse to reach the hole in the roof
"No!" yelled Qiao, going after him.
When Shu reached the tower she found the boars gathered at the door, the bulkier one ramming at it with limited success.
"Princess!" exclaimed one of the pigs, noticing her "What are you doing here? It isn't safe! You!" he called another boar "Escort her to..."
"Where is my father?" interrupted the peahen.
"Inside the tower, fighting Shen" answered the soldier "That devious bastard locked us out, but the door won't hold for long. We are going to help your father, mi lady, but you have to get out of here"
"It's my father the one fighting that madman, you idiot! I'm not going anywhere!" exploded the princess. The large boar hit the door again, and it didn't move an inch. They would never make it in time, lord Qiao could die at any moment moment... If he hadn't already.
Shu walked around the building, examining the walls, with the boar following her, asking her in a thousand ways to listen to him.
The window in the first floor had bars, but the one in the second one didn't! It was very high, though, and she wondered if she could fly all the way up to it.
"Please mi lady, I'm begging you!" the boar stood in front of her, putting his hands together and leaning forward in an imploring manner... Perfect.
Just as she had seen Shen doing it at the plaza, Shu jumped on the soldier's head and took off, using the burst of the pig straightening his body by the surprise. She flapped her wings to fly higher and entered trough the window without a scratch...
The one who conceived it and brought it to this world, the one who has escaped death and has always worn it's mark.
The ceiling of the tower was flat, not leaned and forming a pyramid like the traditional Chinese roofs. It was more like a platform, an open fourth floor.
When Qiao emerged from the hole, he felt a burning pain on his back and tripped with his own feet, falling on his chest. He panted and pressed his beak shut because of the pain; there was a long vertical slash on his back, a few inches to the left of his spine. He heard Shen's claws ticking against the tiles behind him, and turned to face him.
The white peacock was standing there, admiring the blood dripping from his sword.
"You'll never win, Shen" stated Qiao, standing up, folding his left wing. His legs were shaking by the effort "You were doomed since the moment you attacked the palace..."
"You can repeat that all the times you want, it won't become true" replied his cousin, moving forward "You will no longer stand in my way..."
"That's where you're wrong, Little ghost. Even if you kill me, you will fail... It's too late for you"
"What are you talking about" inquired Shen.
"Before coming here, I sent messengers to the Valley of Peace, the Cliff of the Singing Waters and the Jingzhou city masters, telling that you are alive" he laughed at the white peacock's shocked expression "Yes... And before you think of asking for the pheasants' help: I also sent a message to Yan's capital; my successor and all my allies are moving against Qing... I guess the Koreans are going to attack as well, they've always wanted to control that region... Not even your weapons are going to save them when every single army in the region marches against their city..."
"You are lying..." muttered Shen, frowning.
"You can repeat that all the times you want. It won't become true" mocked the blue peacock "But don't worry, you won't live to see your plans collapse... Again"
He waved the spear at Shen's head, and the white peacock blocked the attack by hitting the shaft of the halberd with his sword. Splinters left the wooden mast when the blade got stuck in it. Reacting fast, Qiao kicked Shen's weapon off his hand before he could pull it free; then he hit him twice with the halberd's counterweight: the first time right in the center of his chest and the second one in his lower jaw.
The white peacock fell on his back, spitting blood.
He will return to claim his creation...
You were wrong, soothsayer. thought Qiao, watching Shen struggling to get up. The white peacock fixed his red eyes on his. There was no fear in them, and no pleadings coming out of his beak.
"Good, look your death at the eyes, Shen, don't turn away..."
The blue peacock stroke, his eyes widening in excitement, holding his cousin's look, wanting to see those red eyes on the exact second in which life abandoned them...
Shen however, was focused on the Yín yè spear, following its trajectory as it came closer...
On the last second, Shen lunged forward, his hand grasping the halberd under the base of the blade and twisting it upwards...
With a loud crack and a shower of splinters, the shaft finally snapped. Qiao looked at the waved blade on Shen's hand, and the final words of the prophecy flooded his mind as it slashed trough his chest...
And he will bring death and ruin upon the one who tried to defy the white emperor...
Shu climbed on the metal basket and jumped onto the ceiling, her heart beating in her ears, fearing what she would find...
The first thing she saw was lord Shen. He had his back turned on her and was standing completely still, his crest, robe and train waving in the wind. He hadn't noticed her, apparently.
What were they doing? The tension filled Shu's stomach with ice.
Her father was standing in front of him, with his beak slightly opened and his brown eyes widened in a mixture of surprise and disbelief. And then, slowly, like the beginning of an avalanche watched from the distance, he collapsed...
"NO!" screamed Shu, raising the sword and lunging at Shen.
The white peacock diverted her attack without even turning to face her and disarmed her with astonishing ease. Shu watched the weapon escape her hands and fall over the edge of the platform.
Without a word, lord Shen walked away from her.
The peahen lost her mind... Everything that mattered now was killing Shen, even more than being with her father, because Lord Qiao would be saved if she killed the white demon that had returned from the grave to take his soul. This was the only thing she knew...
Her view was blurred with tears. Forgetting that she was unarmed, forgetting that Shen was a skilled master and she was hardly an amateur compared to him and forgetting that this was exactly what she had tried to prevent her father from doing, she ran at the white peacock, determined to kill him, using her beak and claws if it was necessary.
She clenched her talons when she was close enough and got ready to dig them in his back, but before she could jump, the white peacock turned and brandished the blade at her face.
"Ahhhrg!" She fell back, screaming in pain and covering her left eye with her wing, which was instantly soaked in blood.
Lord Shen held her an indifferent look for a few seconds, watching her sob in agony, and then he jumped off the roof, riding the air currents to glide away...
Shu's madness wore off the second Lord Shen was gone. She stood up, her hand still pressing against her face, whining in pain, and approached her father.
Lord Qiao was lying on his back, he had a hideous looking wound that crossed his chest from his right shoulder to the left side of his stomach. The Yín yè's blade had cut trough him as if he wasn't there... His breathing had turned into trembling pants, each one weaker than the previous one.
"Dad..." she said with a broken voice, tears springing of her untouched eye. She kneeled next to him and held his wing "Dad, I'm so sorry... This is my fault... I was just trying to help but everything I did was..." she couldn't go on. Her chest convulsed with a violent sob.
Qiao wanted to say something, but he discovered that he couldn't talk, his voice had extinguished.
This is the end, he thought, I'm dying and I can't even say goodbye... The soothsayer was right... She was right the whole time and I didn't listen to her... He felt his face wet, Shu's tears were dripping on him, along with drops of her blood. Seeing her wounded like this would have made his blood to boil in rage and hatred, but he had spent all his life hating. He had hated so much that he had neglected the tiny bit of love that he had achieved.
"I'm going to kill him, dad... I swear..." sobbed Shu closing her eye "I won't rest until he's dead..."
Her father's wing agitated and she looked back at him. His eyes had filled with tears and with a supreme effort, he shook his head.
Don't... Don't live tied to your hatred, like Shen or myself... There was nothing he wanted more than telling this to her, to save her from sharing his curse...
Another drop hit his face, but this time it was a rain drop, the monsoon had finally started.
What a shame, the soothsayer said it was a beautiful spectacle... I wish I was able to see it with Xiu and Shu...
Suddenly, he remembered something. He searched his robe with his wing, hoping that he hadn't thrown it away... There! he extracted a blood stained paper, the letter the soothsayer had given him before he murdered her: " Keep this with you until the beginning of the rain season, at that moment, give it to your daughter".
Whatever this is, I hope it helps you saving yourself from sharing my fate...
He placed it on her wing before his arm stopped working. He stared at the gray sky as his body went cold... His last thoughts were for the two peahens that had illuminated his existence.
I wish that Xiu was here as well. he thought as the gray clouds became white and brighter I wish that the three of us could be together... One last time Then he sank in that white glow...
"You left him!" Jian's enraged screams shook the entire deck "You abandoned him, you bastard!"
Two wolves were holding her so that she wouldn't jump on Huïsè, who was standing in front of her, looking at his feet, each word she pronounced felt like a kick to his stomach.
"He was counting on you! And you betrayed him!"
"Jian! That's enough!" intervened Chao, emerging between the ring of curious gathered around her.
The female finally stopped struggling and stood still, hanging by her arms from the two wolves. Her fur was already soaked by the rain, which helped to conceal that she was crying.
The black wolf looked at her for a few seconds before facing the rest of the pack, desolated faces were all he saw. He had counted them: twenty seven, including himself. To that had reduced the once most powerful pack of all China...
What were they going to do now? He had to remain strong for the pack's sake and find the way to lead them out of that situation. He was about to say something but a female spoke ahead of him.
"What are we going to do now?"
"Where should we go?" asked another wolf. Chao's mouth opened but he didn't know what to answer.
"Lord Shen is dead, our vows no longer tie us" yet another man intervened "I don't know you but I intend to get off this boat and leave on my own... We're no longer a pack..."
The black wolf panicked when he saw several wolves nodding at those words. And he wouldn't come up with anything to dissuade them! If only the previous alpha, or lord Shen were there...
"We haven't left the cove yet" continued the man "We should disembark a few kilometers north, to avoid the rest of the boars and..." His speech ended abruptly, and he stared at something behind Chao with an astonished expression.
"We're sticking to our original plan" stated a calm voice. The black wolf turned and saw lord Shen standing in the railing, holding to the rigging with one hand and panting by the effort of gliding all the way there.
All the wolves had turned to face him and most of them had kneeled in reverence.
The peacock jumped onto the deck.
"I know that things aren't looking good, but I can assure you that this is a temporary setback... Out of which we came out victorious" he walked at the center of the group and extracted the blade of the Yín yè spear of his belt. The blood on it was being washed off by the rain. Shen lifted it over his head, so that everyone could see it. "This is the first of many, you have my word!"
He sheathed the blade and looked at Chao, who still looked shocked.
"Set course to Qing city... The conquer of China begins now..."
A.N
And so concludes the first part.
What did you think of it? Did you like it/hate it? Do you want me to continue? Please review (wow, that sounded needy).
Any advice or constructive criticism is welcome.
