XIII.
The forest chirped with hidden insect life and exhaled gusty sighs as the wind rattled and tugged at its branches. Hardy evergreen pines grew here, with thick crusty bark that withstood the cold. They grew stories high and blocked out the sunlight, so that the underbrush was sparse beneath shin-deep snow. The bottoms of Jinzhang's baggy trousers were soaked through. The forest was endless and the terrain was beginning to become more rugged, land hidden beneath snow dotted with pitfalls that kept tripping her up. She was cold and tired and her wing ached, but Shen trudged forward so singlemindedly that she was forced to struggle in his wake for hours in what she felt to be an extremely tense silence. The tension mystified her, and she thought that perhaps it was her own irritability that caused her to read the more-than-usual hostility in Shen's eyes. She stumbled and sunk wetly into a particularly deep trench, groaned miserably.
"Shen," she called out to the peacock, who stopped without turning to look at her. She fought her way free of the snow drift, flailing her bad wing uselessly. "We... We need to stop. We haven't rested since morning, and... aren't you hungry?" she asked hopefully.
"We haven't seen a trace. Not one scrap of evidence that they used this trail." He didn't look at her.
"It's the most direct way. And the snow-"
"Yes," he snapped. "So you keep reminding me."
"... Perhaps they took a different route."
"Why?" Shen turned and shot her a demanding look. "Why would they take another route?" Jinzhang flattened her ears obstinately.
"Perhaps it's more scenic?" she muttered sarcastically. Wrong move. Shen's anger flared.
"What do you think this is, some kind of game? Is this a fun challenge for you?"
"Well, not much fun." Shen advanced on her and she grimaced. "No. Okay? No, I know this is important. I just. I'm tired." Shen sneered.
"You're tired," he repeated.
"I just need a rest."
"You've had a rest," Shen bit out. "We are not stopping."
"But-"
Shen lowered his voice, eyes bulging. "We. Are not. Stopping." Without another word, he turned on his heel picked up his pace with renewed vigor. Jinzhang had no choice but to follow. She was still week from the night before.
Lady Qihi had kindly offered to let Jinzhang and Shen spend another night in her hut, and they of course refused. As they were preparing to leave, she told Jinzhang to rest her wing frequently and had given her extra bandages to exchange for the old ones in a few days. Shen had been oddly quiet since that morning. He said no goodbyes to the master healer as they departed.
Days passed and Jinzhang endured quietly, following her brief argument with Shen. He made the decisions about when they stopped, and their rest never lasted long. When they took an intermission for a few hours on the third night, Jinzhang realized that she needed to change the bandages on her wing. She built a small fire first, using the few pieces of dry tinder that could be found. Then she settled on her haunches and unraveled the long rope of the white cloth. Shen watched indifferently as she bit at it to tear off a smaller piece. Awkwardly, she held the fresh bandage in her teeth as she set about trying to undo the knot around her wing with long, webbed fingers. She picked at the tight knot, grunting in frustration, for quite awhile before Shen sighed, annoyed.
"Stop it." He brushed her wing away, scowling. "Just- here." He undid the bandage with nimble feathers, tugged the new bandage from her mouth and pulled it tight- with a pained yelp from Jinzhang- against the wing before tying a new knot. He repeated this three times, quickly, his slender face dour with concentration, until the chore was done. Jinzhang wanted to speak, but her tongue was suddenly heavy and clumsy. She regained a little composure when he finally pulled away.
"...Thank you..." He glanced over his shoulder at her.
"You're of no use to me lame."
...
Jinzhang's wing was feeling better. It had been a few weeks since the injury and her strength was quickly returning. As per Lady Qihi's instructions, she had stretched it daily. When they weren't on the move, she was moving it in the up and down, loose figure-8 pattern that her wings followed in flight, and it barely hurt anymore. She couldn't wait to be back in the sky.
As for Shen, she had realized by now that there was a distinct change in his demeanor, that he was quite blatantly angry with her, and she didn't understand why. She felt at first that he was just feeling a little panicked about the wolves. But his fervent, hostile glances told her otherwise. He seemed always to be on the very edge of a temper tantrum. And every false step Jinzhang made pushed him a little closer.
As they made progress south, the snow became more shallow and crunched beneath their feet. They avoided the towns that they came across by day, trying to lie low now that the stewardship of Gongmen was aware of Shen's presence. It had occurred to both of them that the crows may have let the officers know where they were headed, so Jinzhang and Shen kept their guard up. But by cover of night, they felt confident enough slip through, buying supplies when needed and blending in with night-walking wanderers and vagabonds that populated the twilight hours.
The landscape began to turn rocky and more jagged- they came across soaring towers of rock and abrupt cliffs that tapered into valleys far below. They were in canyon country. It meant tougher traveling, but it was certainly beautiful. Jinzhang felt like a speck on this dramatic landscape. Toward nightfall, a mist settled over the canyons. Jinzhang could feel the moisture on her fur.
She and Shen were skirting the sharp drop off of a wide canyon, keeping an eye out for a way across. The thick mist enclosed them in a wispy cocoon, obscuring the distant landmarks. There was a sound from far off, a heavy crack.
"Did you hear that?" Jinzhang said, causing Shen to jump, like he had forgotten she was there.
"What?" he snapped crankily.
"I... hn. I don't know."
"Then don't mention it." Shen oozed pent-up hostility.
"I'm trying to keep us safe."
"Oh, yes. The little hero," he muttered. "Isn't she special."
She frowned. "What?"
"If you truly wish to help me, then you'll be significantly less stupid in future."
Jinzhang stopped walking and huffed at Shen. "This is ridiculous. You've been blustering around and glaring at me for weeks. What exactly do I have to do for us just be- be civil?" Shen turned to her and laughed sharply. Their voices echoed hollowly in the damp air.
"Civil! My poor, dear, simple-minded little thing. Do you want to know why I didn't choose you to be my warrior? You're not without skill, of course. It's because you are a child; naive, headstrong, and you are weak. Just look at you." Jinzhang felt suddenly self conscious. She pulled her wing tight against her side. "You've become a burden," he continued. "Because you were too soft-hearted to follow my orders. I despise weakness in my company."
"You're talking about the crow?" Jinzhang's yellow mane bristled. "... I did what was right."
"You did what was foolish. And you paid for it."
"If you feel that way," Jinzhang raised her voice. "Then why didn't you leave me in Harbin?"
Shen's mouth opened and closed twice. He made an incoherent noise. Jinzhang glared daggers through her blindfold.
"I know why," she said doggedly. "I'm here because of your weakness. And you can't stand that."
Shen's red eyes flashed hotly. Slowly, a cold, removed curtain fell over his face, even as his molten aura swelled over Jinzhang. "Be gone," he said, his voice growing in strength. "Get out of my sight." She didn't move. His tone wounded her more deeply than she could say.
"Shen... Listen... I know what it is to be alo-"
"I said GET OUT!" Shen hollered, daggers glinting between feathers. "Out! Leave! NOW!"
She backed away. "I'm sorry-"
"GO!"
Reluctantly, Jinzhang flinched away until the mist swallowed her. She took off her blindfold and stared into the gloom as she walked away. The mist shrouded her thoughts and left her mind blank. She strained her ears and eventually heard the resigned clack-clack of Shen's talons on the rocky path. Crows called somewhere overhead, and their echoes sounded like peels of laughter. When she was a good distance away, she veered right and began walking parallel to him, her feet silent in the sparse undergrowth. She would give him time. Maybe she needed time herself, for she could no longer remember exactly why she had come to this place. But she didn't want to go home.
Out of the mist before her came a big slab of stone that jutted towards the sky. Jinzhang scaled its craggy surface and settled on its peak. She sat, muscles jumping minutely in the chill, and tried to understand the aching in her chest. Shen's mutilated tail still wasn't completely restored. He had been vulnerable to her, elegant face downcast, his regal ego bruised, all his ugly layers peeled back to reveal a damaged, wounded animal, and she had thrown it in his face. How would she ever apologize?
She listened to the thwapping of many wings, to the shuffling of small feet, the worrying click of beaks, and she sighed. "What do you want now?"
After some hesitation, a young male voice piped up. "Nothing, Master. We await your orders." Jinzhang looked up. The birds, all of them young and dressed in various shades of muted green, hopped nervously under her scrutiny. There were at least thirty of them, clustered and wary.
"Orders?" she asked. And after a moment: "... Hei sent you." The crow that had spoken held his wings together and bowed deeply. The others hurriedly did the same.
"We are here to settle a debt. We are grateful and... and our allegiance is with you, Master Jinzhang." Jinzhang stared at him levelly.
"You are released from service. Go home."
"Wai-! No, you don't understand!" Jinzhang, who had started to turn away, looked back with suspicion. "-Master," he finished quickly. "Please excuse me, but we cannot go home. The family has grown too large in number. We were ordered to break off, to form a new murder. I am Hei's son. My name is Zhen." Jinzhang surveyed the crows and rubbed her forehead tiredly.
"Zhen. Okay. Uh, I'm sorry about... that, but-"
She was interrupted by a sound that pierced the darkening night like a javelin. It was high-pitched, fluting, avian. It shot a cold bolt of fear through Jinzhang's vains. "Shen," she breathed, and leapt from the rock.
"Shen!"
The night was moonless, inky black. Jinzhang ignored the pain that shot from her right wing into her shoulder as she beat her way through air that felt so thick and heavy. She felt so slow, no matter how frantically she beat her wings. Unable to see through the fog, she sent out her voice and it took a moment- too long- to come back to her with an image. But there was Shen, locked in combat with two massive rhinos, both of them armed with spiked clubs. She had to get a good deal closer to see them with her eyes.
The headhunters had him cornered and were backing him up, slowly but surely, onto a ledge that dropped sharply hundreds of feet to the valley below. Shen struck out with incredible speed and force that was born of desperation. He would never survive the fall, would never be able to glide down from this height. His blade searched for a weak kink in their armor as they closed in, grinning nastily. They deflected his attacks with their broad weapons and thick gauntlets that sparked in contact with the peacock's blade. All the while, they took deliberate steps that caused Shen to hop out of their range. Shen's tail met open air and he whipped his wing horizontally, sending a barrage of daggers flying at their faces. They knocked the lightweight daggers away with yellowed horns and snickered.
"Was that your last trick?" said one.
"It's time to give up," said the other. "Or not. We don't need you alive."
"Or even in one piece!" added the first.
Shen's body buzzed with adrenaline. There was a chance- a slim one- and he would have to take it. "You gonna jump?" said the second headhunter. "You do know yer flightless?" Shen locked eyes with the rhino and lowered his weapon.
"No," he panted, eyes blazing hatefully. "No. I'm not going to jump."
"Ah, brother, brother, look! He wants to live."
The first rhino nodded knowingly. "Just like a royal."
"Is it?"
"I don't know. Suddup and bind his wings."
"That hardly seems necessary," Shen muttered darkly. "You are obviously the finer fighters. I am no match." The second rhino paused at this and looked at his brother, who shrugged.
"Awright, yer majesty. Suite yourself."
"Gladly." In one movement, Shen sidestepped the rhino and swept his long spear around in a low arc, slicing a deep gash in the rhino's ankle. He bellowed, brought up his bleeding foot, lost balance, and toppled into his brother. And as they tumbled over the edge of the cliff, the bleeding rhino dragged a flailing Shen over with them.