Author's Note: Thanks to Firebending Master for helping me with the fight scene, as always :)
She didn't know what possessed her to look up when she did, but when Anya glanced at the entrance to the Sān jìng gǔ, she saw a strange Cryomancer approach as if he appeared from nowhere, and she jumped to her feet in fear, backing away slowly. He was dressed in full armor from head to toe, and a frightening mask carved like a dragon's face concealed his identity. Overall, he looked like he'd sprung from the pages of a history book that described the Japanese samurai. And, if she were being quite honest with herself, he greatly resembled the Shredder from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of her favorite cartoons as a little girl. But she was so bewildered by his sudden appearance that she didn't even inwardly laugh at the uncanny likeness to the fictional villain; the newcomer seemed so fearsome and dangerous that she cowardly ducked behind Himavat for protection.
"What are you hiding from, Little One?" he said with mirth in his voice. "Don't you know your own husband when you see him?"
"Kuai Liang?" she breathed in disbelief as she peeked over the Elder God's shoulder and studied him closer. Yes, now she saw the unmistakable scar stretching over his eye. It had been concealed in the shadow of his helmet before, but as he approached, it was far more apparent.
Cautiously, Anya stepped from behind Himavat and walked to meet him. Though she couldn't see his mouth, she saw deep crinkles form around his sparkling blue eyes, and she could tell he was smiling behind his mask. Before she even knew what was happening, she'd broken into a sprint and didn't stop until she crashed into the wall that was his chest, laughing through happy tears. Before he wrapped his arms around her, he gripped his mask and helmet and yanked them off. Then he planted a kiss on her forehead.
"You're alive!" she grinned and hugged him tightly.
"So are you," he cryptically replied, happy tears also springing to his eyes.
"What?" she asked, her face wrenching in puzzlement.
Kuai Liang chuckled softly at that and then hugged her tightly, forcing her to grunt as he squeezed the air from her lungs.
"Kuai…Liang…I…can't…breathe…" she gasped as she tried to push him away. He didn't seem to want to let her go, and through her fingertips, she sensed overwhelming relief and joy at the sight of her. But she pushed again and he finally eased up on his grip, though he still held her close. "Are you okay?" she asked as she looked up at him.
"I am now," he said before he leaned down and kissed her. It was no ordinary 'hello' kiss, however. He cupped her cheek and let it slide into her hair before he kissed her with such tender passion that a shiver began in her toes and gradually tickled its way upward, shooting in spurts of forked lightning up her spine, spreading to her extremities, and heating her groin. After several long seconds of pleasantness, he pulled away, but even as he did, she could not force her eyes to open. "I love you so much," he whispered before he bear-hugged her again.
She opted not to speak, only to hug him back, suddenly filled with the urge to take him somewhere secret and have her way with him.
"So you found Xing's armor," Himavat began as he approached the pair. Both Kuai Liang and Anya glanced back at him, and she noted the smile on his face. "Very good, son. It looks much better on you than an ugly sweater."
Kuai Liang burst into laughter as he kissed Anya's head again, and then he said, "You knew all along that's what I would find."
"If you made it that far," the god added, winking. "Obviously you did. And it looks like you met Hēi bào." He pointed to the Cryomancer's arm, which now bore four blue scars like slash marks. Anya looked at them in astonishment before she looked into his eyes for an explanation.
He shrugged. "I think I got off easy," he told her.
"Well, the important thing is that you're back and you're safe," Himavat said.
"Yes," Anya agreed as she pulled away but threaded her fingers through his to hold his hand. The three began walking back the way they came, towards Mòhé, with Himavat leading as they followed closely behind. "I was worried sick. I was beginning to think you'd never make it out."
He smirked at that. "I didn't think I was going to make it out either."
"What was it like?" she pressed.
"Let's just say be glad you didn't have to go," he replied. "Zhīzhū is a giant spider, and the mirror was in the middle of her funnel-shaped web."
Anya swallowed hard at that. She was terrified of spiders, especially big ones. "Oh?" she squeaked, not really wanting to hear about it.
"She walked on my back while I was army-crawling through the web," he continued. "I've never seen a spider that big in my life. One of her fangs was as long as your arm."
"Oh, that's…terrifying," she chirped. Quickly, she changed the subject. "What did you see in the mirrors?" she asked.
He sighed. "I'd rather not talk about that right now," he told her, and the abrupt way he shut her down hurt her. Through her fingers, she sensed pain – at what, she didn't know. But she also sensed exhaustion, and perhaps that's why he didn't want to let her in just yet, so she tried not to take it personally.
"I understand," she lied.
"I do have a bone to pick with you, though, miss," he began. Startled, Anya looked up at him. She expected him to look upset, but instead, he was smiling.
"About?" she prodded, now sensing amusement at her uncertainty and discomfort.
"Do you have something you want to tell me? Something you'd like to get off your chest?"
Panicked, Anya looked at Himavat, who'd glanced back at them with a knowing grin on his face. Oh, my God, he knows. She swallowed hard and looked up at him. "No, I don't think so," she fibbed, her voice involuntarily going up an octave or two. She coughed to get the squeakiness out of her vocal cords.
"Annalise Olivia Sullivan," he said more sternly.
She scowled at him, annoyed. "Yeah, I get it," she snapped. "You've mastered the art of using all three of my names when I'm in trouble. That skill's gonna come in handy when you're a…"
"A?" he pressed, faintly smirking.
"You're such an ass," she half-scoffed, half-laughed.
"Come on," he urged her. "You know you want to. It'll make you feel better. When I'm a…"
She rolled her eyes. "You clearly already know, so why do we have to do this?"
Kuai Liang grinned his most ornery smile. "Because I want to hear you say it. So, say it already. I'm a…"
Anya cleared her throat. "Father," she finally and faintly finished for him. She looked at him uncertainly, hoping he wouldn't be angry. He certainly had every right to feel that way if he did. Had he kept a secret like that from her, she'd have been livid. But instead, he stopped her and kissed her again before hugging her to him once more.
"A baby!" Himavat cried as he happily clapped his hands together. "I love babies. They have such big, chubby cheeks and I just want to bite them."
"Yeah, well, when I see Adaia, I'm gonna throttle her," Anya announced as she pulled away from Kuai Liang and the three began walking again. "That should've been Kuai Liang and I's choice to make, not hers," she growled. "It was none of her business, and she had no right setting me up like that."
"What?" the Cryomancer asked, his face now as confused as hers had been.
"That goddamned crazy lady set things up so that I'd get knocked up at the worst possible time," she hissed. At the thought, she felt her lip curl into a snarl, and redness tinged her vision. "We might all die in this fight against Onaga, and now there's one more life in danger. It was stupid of her. Stupid, stupid, stupid."
"Now, now, Little One," Himavat said soothingly. "It's not good for you to get so worked up."
"Oh, I haven't even begun to get 'worked up.'"
"Your mother has already throttled her for you," the god told her. "When she figured out what Adaia did, she whipped the snot out of her. So you can rest easy."
The news made Anya feel better. "Mamulya did that? For me?" she asked hopefully.
"Your mother has a very unique perspective, having lived both in Outworld and in Earthrealm," he explained. "Needless to say, things are very different there, and while she accepts things like arranged couplings here for the sake of reproduction, she believes that because you're from Earthrealm, Adaia shouldn't have treated you the same as someone from Tlachtga."
"Adaia shouldn't do that even to people from Tlachtga," she argued.
"Well, be that as it may, that is the culture," he replied. "You're not likely to change it, either. It's been that way since the Hydromancers first came into being."
"That doesn't make it right," she snapped.
"So, what are you saying, Anya?" Kuai Liang finally broke in, his voice both confused and defensive. "You're not happy about this baby? About us having a family?"
She glanced at him and noted the wounded expression on his face. Suddenly, she felt guilty. "Oh, no, honey," she trailed off apologetically. "That's not it at all. I'm happy. I really am. I'm just scared because of where we're at. This wasn't the best of times for this to happen, you know? And I'm mad at her because I figured we'd be the ones who decided when to start a family. Not her. She shouldn't have taken our choice away from us. It wasn't her right."
He just looked at her, never saying a word. Then he looked ahead, and stayed silent for the remainder of their ascent back to the hallway where they had first broke off from the company. Anya hung her head, knowing she goofed up royally. Family meant everything to the Cryomancer, and it was something she knew he'd secretly looked forward to. And she had to go and ruin his happiness about the news by running her big mouth.
At the top of the passageway where it joined the hallway, they abruptly heard Fujin's voice yell, "Kailyn! I wish to speak to you, Tetrach. Now."
They emerged just in time to see Tomas and Kailyn standing dangerously close to one another, almost as if they meant to start kissing. And then after they exchanged some words that no one else could hear, the Tetrach reluctantly pulled away from their friend and walked slowly towards the Wind God, who looked fairly upset.
"Uh oh," she muttered. "Himavat, I don't know what just happened, but promise me you won't let Fujin kill him."
The Elder God laughed. "Oh, give my nephew some credit."
"Tomas!" Kuai Liang called as they approached Fujin and Kailyn, neither of whom was saying anything. He waved the Czech man over to join the group that had now formed.
"Hey, you're alive!" he said as he trotted up.
"Don't sound so surprised," the Cryomancer replied in a deadpan voice.
"So, what's up?" Anya asked nosily. She couldn't help herself. Apparently, things had gotten really interesting between her half-sister and pseudo-brother in her absence.
"Nothing of consequence," the Wind God said calmly. "Tsai Bing merely wishes to speak to the Tetrach. And now that you're back, Cousin, I'm sure he'll want to speak to you as well. He's waiting for us down in the marketplace."
"Why the marketplace?" Tomas asked.
"He wishes to share a drink with her," he replied. "And you're not invited," he said as an afterthought. "It's for the important members of our team only."
"Well, that kind of discounts you, then," the Enenra immediately shot back.
Anya found this slightly amusing, but for her friend's sake, she intervened. "That's alright, Tomas," she said. "It sounds boring anyway, and I'm pretty hungry. Could you escort me down there and help me find something to eat? I don't want to go alone."
"I'd be glad to," he replied as he indignantly thrust out his chin at Fujin and then offered her his arm for her to take. "The company smells far better than Breaking Wind over there anyway." With a loud harrumph, he immediately teleported them to the bottom.
There, a crowd of children and adults alike yelped at their sudden appearance and then dodged around them in whooping swarms once they passed the first row of stalls. The stalls were cramped closely together, their broad shutters thrown back, and in nearly all of them, Cryomancer women stood behind the counter, aprons tied around them and their long hair pulled back into braids, calling to the shoppers passing by, promising good bargains. The only booths operated by men were those peddling weapons.
"Tomas, how are we going to pay for food?" Anya asked, her voice nearly shouting over the din.
"Tsai Bing gave us all a little bit of Cryomancer money," he answered back. Then, he dug into one of his pockets and pulled out a handful of iron coins. On their faces were stamped strange kanji that she couldn't begin to read if she tried. Quickly, he shoved it back into his pocket, and they resumed walking.
Several times, the Czech man stopped to engage one man or another in conversation, oftentimes to make a snide joke, particularly when he caught them staring at her in derision. Sheepishly, Anya looked away every time, suddenly wishing she had a pair of colored contact lenses to hide her Hydromancer eyes. It was funny. Back home in Earthrealm, people always complimented her pretty eyes, and she'd always considered them one of her very best physical features. But now, she desperately wished she'd been born with any eye color other than purple.
Soon, the street opened onto a large green mound, a broad expanse of grass in the middle of the market. As the streets had in Tlachtga, all roads branched off from this central point. However, whereas Tlachtga's streets had been like the spokes of a bicycle, Mòhé's were a perfect grid. Anya hardly cared, though. She was more focused on a weird variety of Outworld bird waddled around on the grass, their coloring and feathers like a penguin's, their beaks like a duck's, their tails like an otter's. She chuckled at the sight of them.
On the opposite side of the green, a booth with steam wafting in tendrils from behind the counter stood between a cart selling clothes and another cart selling weapons. Even from where Anya stood, she heard the sound of meat sizzling, and the smells of something delicious touched her nose. At that moment, she realized just how damn hungry she was, and she immediately began to drool.
"That's where I ate earlier," he said. "Not bad, as long as you don't ask too many questions about what they're feeding you." He smiled at her, and she smiled back.
"Okay," she said. "Lead the way."
Behind the counter, a woman nearly double the girth of anyone else Anya had seen in Outworld stepped lightly as she stirred pots and kneaded dough. A frown split her round face, which was topped by a fringe of gray hair. She wore short sleeves in spite of the chill in the air, and a spotless white apron wrapped around her.
"Back so soon?" the gruff woman barked as she saw Tomas approach. "You nearly ate me out business earlier."
"What can I say?" the Enenra replied. "I can't quit you, Shu Fang."
Anya chuckled.
"Who's that?" the Cryomancer said as she peered at the nurse.
"My friend," he replied.
"She's a Hydromancer."
"So?"
"So, we don't serve Hydromancers unless they're escorted by their masters," she said bluntly. "So beat it."
"She's part of our group from Earthrealm," he argued.
"It don't make no difference to me," the woman said. "She's an ugly, disgusting clamsmuggler."
"Hey!" Anya cried indignantly.
"I don't know what that means," Tomas began as he stiffened considerably, "but it sounds decidedly unkind. So I think you should apologize to her. Now."
"I said get out of here. Now, before I call the Guards," Shu Fang growled.
"Come on, Tomas," Anya said as she grabbed his cybernetic arm and pulled. As she did, the proprietor waved her arm to motion someone to come to her. "I don't want any trouble. Maybe Himavat can feed me. He gave me popcorn earlier, so-"
"No," the Enenra firmly declared. "You heard Himavat. They're supposed to treat us like guests. All of us. That includes you, můj sladký anděl. I will not stand for this discrimination."
"It's okay, really," she urged as three very large men dressed in uniforms similar to Kuai Liang's approached. "It's not worth a diplomatic incident."
"Yes, it is," he argued.
"What's your problem, outsider?" the leader of the group demanded to know.
"My problem is the lack of hospitality in this place," Tomas complained. "In spite of what the Shŭdí commanded, this woman refuses to serve my friend."
"That's her right," the second Guard sneered as the three crowded around both him and Anya. "It's in the law. No one has to sell anything to any clamsmuggler unless their master is present."
"There's that word again," he muttered. "And I really don't like it."
The leader stepped dangerously close to the two foreigners. "I'm giving you to the count of three-"
"And I'm giving you to the count of one," Tomas countered as he gripped Anya's hand.
"That's it, you've had your chance." With that, he lunged at the pair.
"Tomas!" Anya yelped and flinched, but before she'd finished the word, they'd already teleported out of the circle and away from the men.
"Stay back, můj sladký anděl, it's about to get ugly," he commanded her as he slid into invisibility and crept towards the Guards.
It had been an uncomfortably tense journey to the marketplace. Neither Fujin nor Kailyn said anything, but it was obvious they were annoyed with each other. Kuai Liang glanced at Himavat often, but the Elder God just shrugged and continued on the path to the bottom.
At long last, they found Shŭdí Tsai Bing in the marketplace, in an open-air restaurant that had clearly been emptied of customers in a hurry. When the Cryomancer saw the Earthrealm Champions approaching, he stood and stiffly waved them over to a large table with a pitcher and a few empty cups neatly arranged on top of it. As Kuai Liang approached, Tsai Bing scanned him up and down, and then shook his head in disbelief.
"So, you made it through the Sān jìng gǔ," he opened, his voice flat. "How…unlikely."
The Grandmaster raised his eyebrow. "I'm full of surprises," he shot back as everyone took a seat.
"Clearly," the other agreed as he lifted the pitcher and began pouring an amber liquid into each cup. "You should be dead. But instead, you live and you now have the traitor, Xing's, armor." He scowled. "Well, that's fitting."
Himavat now cleared his throat. "Tsai Bing, remember your father's decree?" he said. "You dishonor him by behaving in this fashion."
"I dishonor him by allowing Hydromancers to walk free in Mòhé," he countered as he handed the drinks to everyone.
"What decree?" Kuai Liang asked. Suspiciously, he sniffed his drink, wondering if Tsai Bing had poisoned it. But when he glanced at Himavat, the Elder God nodded that it was safe, so he took a sip. It was some sort of alcohol, sweet but tangy like wine. Not bad.
The Shŭdí sighed. "If you pass through the Sān jìng gǔ and return unharmed, then you are a true Cryomancer."
The Grandmaster couldn't help but smile at that. "That's really got to stick in your craw, doesn't it?" he jeered. "I'm a true Cryomancer."
"It would appear so," the man agreed. "But you are still only a half-blood. You will never equal the might of the Lords of Mòhé."
"Look, I don't care if you let me into your little club," he said curtly. "I just care about killing Onaga. And now, I know that I can."
"Oh?" it was his turn to sneer. "You had no confidence when last I saw you. What's changed? Amuse us with a story."
"In the third mirror-gate, I saw Eidotheia," he announced.
"What?" Fujin and Himavat both cried as one. "That's not possible," Fujin said a second later.
"She said she used the mirror's magic to talk directly to me," he said. "She said that the Dragon Medallion was never meant for Onaga, but for me. She said as long as I possessed the Dragon Medallion, I could defeat him."
"Are you sure it wasn't just the magic tricking you?" Fujin replied skeptically.
"No, I'm sure," he said. "She wasn't the first thing I saw. The first thing I saw was me becoming evil like the Shŭdí thinks I will. The dark me became the Blue Dragon and tried to kill me. It very nearly succeeded. But then, she showed up and healed me of all my wounds."
"Except for Hēi bào's…" Himavat trailed off.
"Yeah."
"That beautiful, clever girl," the Elder God smiled in admiration. Then he looked around at everyone present. "He speaks the truth. He talked to Eidotheia herself."
"How do you know?" Fujin hissed, clearly agitated by the news.
"It was within her power to remove all trace of the wound on his arm," he explained as he pointed to the mystical scars for the second time that day. "She left it there, however, because she knew we'd be skeptical of Kuai Liang's testimony, and hoped the remaining scar would be seen as proof of her genuine involvement."
"She told me she wanted me to always have a reminder of what I'd endured in that hellhole," the Grandmaster protested.
"I'm sure both things are true," the Elder God said with a smile.
"Well, then, there's just the small matter of how to proceed," Fujin mumbled.
"That is why I've summoned you here," Tsai Bing said as he crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. "I have done as Lord Himavat commanded. I freed all the Hydromancer slaves and have arranged for you all to have your own, individual sleeping quarters tonight. But tomorrow, I must insist that you leave my city. We want no part of your war. We have lived here in peace for hundreds of years, and we are not anxious to break that peace, especially if it means fighting alongside the Hydromancers."
"I also recall telling you that you are not to hand the Earthrealm Champions over to Onaga," Himavat sternly said.
"Yes, Lord, you did," he agreed. "My scouts have confirmed that the Dragon King and his army are camping at the gates of the Bīnglěng Di Diyu. They are not moving inward. Not yet, anyway. Perhaps Onaga knows of his army's weakness. I want your Champions to leave, but I cannot take them to the gates. They'll be captured for sure."
"So what do you propose we do?" Kailyn spoke up for the first time in their conversation.
"It is something I am reluctant to mention, but difficult times are upon us all," he said. "There is another way out of Mòhé. But I warn you, it is a hard journey and very dangerous. Even my people do not travel it if we don't have to. It will take about a day, two if the weather is unfavorable, to make. I have a fleet of ships anchored on the river mouth of the Bīnglěng de héshuǐ where it flows into the Bīng yang. Two ships will circumnavigate the land and deposit you on the shores above Kuatan, the subterranean kingdom of the Shokan where Goro still rules, as far as I know. There, you can rejoin your comrades and continue on your fool's errand."
"Please, come with us," Kailyn urged as she leaned forward.
"Make no mistake, Tetrach," he began, "I am only showing you benevolence because Lord Himavat is forcing me. But tomorrow, you will still be my enemy."
"You are still my enemy today," she said. "But this is bigger than both of us, than the animosity between our two peoples. We have the bearer of the Dragon Medallion, and if what he said is true, then the Water Mother herself picked him to be the savior of Outworld. If we, the people of Outworld, band together, we can stop Onaga once and for all."
"I am not anxious to revisit this discussion," Tsai Bing announced. "The Cryomancers are electing to remain neutral in this war."
Kailyn scowled. "You should pray to your gods that our resistance succeeds because if we fail, he will come for you. And you will face him alone," she said.
"It is a risk I'm willing to take," he stubbornly replied.
"Lord Shŭdí! Lord Shŭdí!" a portly female Cryomancer yelled as she ran towards them. Immediately, two Guards blocked her way, but Tsai Bing calmly raised a finger and they let her through.
"What is it?" he demanded to know.
"Two of the outsiders have caused a fight on the Green," she breathlessly replied.
"Who?" Fujin growled.
"The man with white hair and the clamsmuggler with him," she replied.
Kailyn immediately sprang to her feet and aimed an angry palm at the woman, clearly ready to spray her with water, and would have if the Wind God hadn't grabbed her arm and restrained her. Kuai Liang didn't even notice, however. He was already running towards the sounds of fighting and shouting to save his best friend and his wife.
While Smoke often walked the path between right and wrong, frequently swinging back and forth to either side, Anya had observed one very important truth about him: he had a strong sense of justice. At the moment, she wasn't quite certain what motivated his need to fight for justice on her behalf when she'd begged him to let it go; did he have subconscious memories of the Nazis tormenting people before his very eyes out of prejudice, even going so far as to kill his father, or was it something simpler like loyalty to her, his friend? She had no clue, but as he slid into invisibility to do God only knew what, she couldn't help but smile at him.
She watched as the leader, who had been looking around to find the outsiders, suddenly whirled around in surprise as if he'd been tapped on the shoulder. And then Smoke, still invisible, must have punched him squarely in the jaw because as soon as he turned, he flew backwards as if he'd been hit, with teeth and blood flying through the air as he collapsed. When he finally landed on the ground unconscious, the Enenra reappeared.
"Oh, come on!" he yelled in exasperation. "I only gave you a love tap!" Then he looked up, smiled, and waved at the other two Guards who were furiously stomping towards him.
"Now you see me," he called as they both charged at him at the same time. "And now you don't." In a puff of smoke, he disappeared right as they reached him.
Anya almost laughed at the bewildered expression on their faces as they spun around and saw him standing clear as day behind them, his cybernetic hand repeatedly throwing an egg-sized grenade into the air like a ball, his face entirely too amused for the situation. With a furious grunt, both men charged again like stampeding bulls, and now, he threw his smoke bomb at their feet.
The explosion was deafening and bright, and like Moses parting the Red Sea, it cleaved the crowd in two just as a thick cloud of smoke launched the screaming Guards into the air and towards a booth several yards away. The wood snapped and splintered upon impact, and a variety of fruit toppled onto the ground. Anya barely saw it; a shrill whine instantly pierced the insides of her ears. She covered them in pain and stumbled around as vertigo suddenly gripped her, and she knew that her equilibrium had been thrown off balance by the shockwave that had passed through her. But she managed to look up in time to see the leader, who had obviously come to, creeping up on the gloating, unaware cyber-ninja who was laughing and dusting his hands off.
"Tomas!" she screamed in warning. Her voice sounded strange as if underwater, the voices of the onlookers behind her garbled and deep, impossible to understand.
It was too late. The Guard had thrown his arms around her friend and squeezed him impossibly tight, making his own face turn purple from the strain. But once more, Smoke was unfazed. He simply relaxed in the man's arms and briefly examined his fingernails as if to mock him. Then he wrapped both hands around the other's hands and dropped like a sack of potatoes, somehow gracefully stomping the Guard's foot in the process. The Cryomancer howled but didn't let go, so Smoke calmly threw his head back and cracked the man's nose. More blood exploded through the air, and this time he let go of the Enenra as he stumbled away, screaming and holding his face.
With his nose wrinkled in disgust, the cyber-ninja felt the back of his head and found quite a bit of blood dripping from his short, messy hair. "Hovno," she heard him curse. "That's gonna leave a stain."
Now, the second Cryomancer Guard threw an ice ball at him. With a reaction that had to have been born of instinct rather than reason, Smoke barely turned from its path in time so great was its speed. As he moved in what Anya could only describe as a Matrix sort of slow-motion, he yelled, "Hey now, watch it!"
The dangerous projectile skirted past him but slammed right into the food cart and Shu Fang, the woman who started this fight to begin with. Anya watched in stunned silence as ice gradually spread in layers of blue and white over the woman and the booth, crackling and popping as it moved, quickly consuming both. The nurse covered her mouth to stave off the sudden nausea; it wasn't the sight of her death that sickened her, it was the guilt she instantly felt about it. She didn't have to die, bitchy as she was. Anya began to feel angry at the senselessness of it all, and of racism in general.
The men in the fight paid the dead woman no mind. The third guard began grabbing fruit from the booth he'd flown into only moments ago on Smoke's bomb, freezing it, and throwing it at the Enenra. The cyber-ninja, who was supernaturally fast, shimmered and faded into invisibility, making the Guard's attempt at an attack useless. One of the frozen fruit bombs did hit one of the penguin-duck-otter birds, however, and it squawked indignantly before it, as well as the rest of the flock, suddenly raced towards the Cryomancer with their outstretched wings beating the air. It was some kind of a counterattack, she realized, but it was a futile one; the Guard kicked one so hard it flew over a booth – vaguely, she thought he should play kicker for a pro football team – and as soon as he did, the other birds ran for their lives.
And then suddenly, a thick arm grabbed Anya from behind and pinned her by her throat to his chest while pressing the sharp end of a kori knife into the side of her neck. It cut her slightly, and she flinched at the pinch and the faint trickle of blood down her throat. Now frightened, she tried to stomp his foot as Smoke had done, but without the help of heavy, cybernetic boots, the Guard who held her hostage merely laughed at her attempt.
"Come out, Earthrealmer," he called to the empty air as she squirmed to get free. "Come out now or I'll cut her throat."
"Tomas!" she yelped as he pressed the knife in harder, cutting deeper.
At her call, the cyber-ninja appeared and held up both hands. "Okay," he said. "I'm sure we can come to some sort of peaceable arrangement."
"Think again," he snarled.
"If you insist," her friend replied as his kunai spear immediately left his right palm. Anya squeezed her eyes shut, even as the Guard dug deeper still, but he abruptly stopped and began to wail. He instantly released her and she saw that Smoke had speared the man through the shoulder on his kunai blade, having missed her head by only millimeters. Shaking and panting from fear, she staggered to the side and held her throat, which now dribbled blood over her fingers, while the Enenra pulled the Cryomancer to him and started chain-punching him like a training bag until he was unconscious.
And then the leader of the Guards came from out of nowhere and hit Smoke in the back of the skull with a kori club, driving him straight into the ground. Woozy and dazed, the cyber-ninja rolled onto his back, but wasn't quite quick enough to avoid a second attack, this one to his stomach. He vomited into the dirt when the Cryomancer landed that blow, and the Guard greedily attempted a third attack. Anya, however, was now thoroughly pissed off, and she immediately threw up her hands and sprayed a jet of water at the Guard. Like a fire hose under pressure, it lifted him into the air and shoved him through a nearby booth with a startled cry. People and animals scattered like cockroaches, screaming in fear and anger, but she ignored them all as she silently picked up the club the Cryomancer dropped; it was heavy, but she'd enjoyed playing baseball as a kid, and she could lift the heaviest of bats with ease. This club certainly posed no problem.
And that was a good thing because the last Guard standing had tackled Smoke on the ground during the melee, and he had started beating him in the face, even after blood smeared it and Tomas was clearly knocked out. Anya stomped behind him and promptly swung it into the side of the man's head – a homerun swing. Babe Ruth would've been proud. The Cryomancer fell off her friend, unconscious, his skull bleeding.
Though they were safe for the moment, she wasn't sure they were going to make it out of there. More Guards had arrived on the scene and were gradually stepping towards her to attack. She dropped the club and held up both hands at them, fully prepared to spray them exactly the way Kailyn had taught her. Thankfully, it didn't come to that.
"Anya!" she heard Kuai Liang call, and a moment later, he broke through the lines of guards and dashed to her. Only seconds later, Himavat, Fujin, Kailyn, and Tsai Bing emerged as well, and the Shŭdí ordered his men to all stand down.
"What in the hell happened?" her husband demanded to know as he surveyed the green knoll. Debris, chunks of ice, frozen fruit, and tons of bird feathers littered the grass. Several booths had been damaged if not outright destroyed. And of course, the frozen corpse of Shu Fang stood like a statue behind the counter of her food cart. The Cryomancer looked to her for an explanation, his expression one of fury and outrage.
"Don't be mad at Tomas," she hastily blurted out as she knelt beside him and rested her hands on his bloody head to heal him. "He was only sticking up for me," she said as the others crowded around them.
"What happened to your neck, Sister?" Kailyn asked as she knelt beside Tomas as well and held his hand.
"One of these goons cut me with a knife," she said.
"How did this start?" Tsai Bing growled, his face even more frightening than Kuai Liang's.
"Your people needed a lesson in manners," Tomas weakly groaned as he started to come to. "They wouldn't let Anya eat. And they called her names." He looked at her. "Thanks for helping me out, můj sladký anděl," he said. "That one Guard sucker-punched me really good, huh?"
She faintly smiled as she wiped the blood from his face. "Yeah," she agreed.
Now Kuai Liang lifted her to her feet by her elbow. "What is wrong with you?" he hissed. "Do you see where you are? Do you know what could have happened?"
Anya scowled as she yanked her elbow free. "Yeah, honey, it was abundantly clear as they were calling me a clamsmuggler and trying to slit my throat with a knife," she sarcastically replied. "I don't know what a clamsmuggler is, but it sounds pretty derogatory to me."
"What is it, you just don't care about your life?" he growled. "You'll just recklessly rush into trouble because someone called you names?"
"That's not how it happened, Kuai Liang," she growled back, her voice beginning to verge on a shout.
"My pr̆ítel, it wasn't her fault, it was mine," Tomas said as he got to his feet with Kailyn's help. "I didn't like how they were treating her, so I did something-"
"Shut up," the Cryomancer snapped at his best friend. "I'm mad at you too. When are you going to grow up and stop acting like a child? You're gonna get one of us killed one of these days, and so help me God, if you get her killed, I will kill you."
"Kuai Liang-" Anya began but Smoke interrupted her.
"I did exactly what you would have done if you had been here," he calmly said, his eyes full of unusual seriousness. "You would never have tolerated the things they said to her."
"They were just words, Tomas," he hissed. "They're not worth dying over. Do you even think before you act? You could've gotten my wife killed with your immature impulsiveness. And I am not going through that again. I won't let you, of all people, put me through that again."
Now the Cryomancer faced Anya as Himavat and Fujin worked to help the injured Guards. "And you!" he snapped at his wife. "You're just as bad as he is. Thinking this is some big game. I have not been fighting this hard to keep you safe just so you can run off and pretend you're a warrior. You are not a warrior. And you'd think you'd know it by now considering how many times I've had to put my life on the line to rescue you. And it was one thing when it was just you, though that was annoying enough. But now, you're endangering the life of my child, my family. Do you know how selfish that is? How selfish you are?"
"Kuai Liang!" Himavat now hissed. "You apologize."
But Anya wasn't listening to the Elder God. The Cryomancer's words were a slap in the face, and they stung her to her very core. Tears – angry, bitter tears – sprang to her eyes and choked out her voice. Blinded by them, she glanced around, noting the crowd of people who'd gathered to watch the spectacle. She'd been humiliated and shamed enough for one day, she decided. Furiously, she backed away from him, shaking her head at him and hating him for not understanding, for accusing her of something that had never even crossed her mind. And then, without a word, she spun around and started to run away as Kailyn began to yell for her to wait.