17. Gone and gone again
Po couldn't believe what he was seeing and rubbed his eyes vigorously. But the bed was really empty. The panda stared at it in horror.
"How... this… can't be…," Po stuttered and crawled on all fours to look under the bed, hoping to find the girl there.
But there was nothing under it except dust. Completely confused, the panda straightened himself and stood on his knees.
"There is something odd here," he whispered to himself. Then he threw his hands up in despair. "There must be demons or something here," the dragon warrior concluded, aghast, and looked over at Shen, who was still standing in the same place where he had stopped after he had stormed into the room.
"Uh, Shen?" Uncertainly, he looked at the peacock. "Uh, Shen? Are you okay?"
But the white lord didn't respond. He stood there petrified. Now he narrowed his eyes very slowly. His gaze was only directed straight down. The blanket, which had recently been lying on the bed, was on the floor and pointed in a certain direction in which it had been dragged off a little further. Shen's gaze wandered to the opposite wall. Po watched with concern as the peacock's eyes narrowed even further.
But before the panda could say anything, Shen screamed out loudly and dashed forward. The peacock jumped from wall to wall like a wild, aggressive animal. His claws literally dug into the wallpaper. Startled, Po hid behind a cupboard. He had never seen the peacock so angry during the war. He buried his face helplessly in his hands and could only hope that Shen would calm down at some point. He heard a loud rumbling. The peacock hit and pounded on every corner of the wall. Then suddenly there was another thud that did not match the continuous noise level. Po lifted his head in amazement. All of a sudden, the raging had ceased.
The panda peeked hesitantly from behind the cupboard. The peacock stood panting in a corner. In front of him, the wall had moved a little and gave way to a secret passage.
The panda's eyes grew wide.
"Why didn't you think about it earlier?" He asked.
But the white peacock wasn't listening to him at all. Instead, he ran back briefly. Po avoided him. But Shen just grabbed his lance sword that was leaning against the wall and jumped into the darkness.
"Shen!" Po yelled after him. "Take a candle with you at least!"
Monitory, the peacock pressed the girl closer to him. Shenmi struggled in his grip and tried to free her beak. Xiang felt how the child was trying to scream and held his wing tighter on her beak. It had been a masterpiece of him to drag the girl out of the bed so quickly and disappearing through the wall, even though he had hardly been really active for almost 4 years. All the anger that had built up over the years now discharged in a matter of seconds and gradually subsided. The satisfaction of snatching the daughter away from his rival made him see the situation a little more calmly, which also had an effect on his body tension. Xiang had to try to keep his balance on his leg.
He heard dull shouts of the panda that was echoing through the corridors. Xiang grinned. Even if they have found the passage and run after him, the passages are far too winding and tangled. It was impossible for them to find him immediately.
The girl's fidgeting grew more and more violent. Xiang removed one wing from her so that he only had her face in the clutch. He pulled the dagger from the side of his shirt and held the sharp tip right in front of her chest.
"Just a peck from you and I'll stab you to death!" He threatened in a strained voice.
As soon as Shenmi felt the tip of the knife through her feathers, she froze. Even so her tiny wings moved to Xiang's arm and tried to get the wing down from her mouth somehow. The peacock noticed her hesitant request and loosened his grip a little on her beak, so that she could breathe normally again at least. Actually, Xiang would have liked to hold her beak all the way, but because he only had to stand on one leg, he needed a hand for supporting on the wall. He leaned down to her and pressed the point of the dagger on the lower part of her neck.
"I'll take my wing down now," he whispered to her. "If you scream, then I have to hurt you. Do you get that?!"
A low whimper followed.
"Nod if you get it!" he demanded menacingly.
Again he pressed his wing tighter on her beak. Then he felt her head moved up and down.
"Good."
Xiang hesitated, but he let go of her beak. The girl sucked in a sharp breath. Her gasp was accompanied by a startled cry. But Xiang did not care about her emotional state. He wrapped one wing roughly around her waist while he was still holding the dagger in the other and used his right wing to support himself along the wall.
Liu paced restlessly around the room. Xiang had been gone a long time now. Had something happened to him on the way? She was thinking about of looking for him again and again, but she kept dropping the thought. She stopped walking when she heard a muffled voice.
"And keep quiet!"
Somebody pushed the door open.
"Come on, in you go!"
Startled, Liu jumped up when the white girl tripped over her feet and fell to the floor.
"Good gracious. What have you done?!"
She ran up to the girl and helped her to sit up again. Shenmi shivered and looked at Liu fearfully. "Mom?" But when she saw a strange peahen in front of her, she backed away. "Where is my mom?!"
At that moment, the door slammed shut, which was more due to the fact that Xiang could barely hold himself on his leg. Panting, he pushed shut the bolt, leaned against the door, and looked down at the offspring of his worst enemy with disgust.
"Is that bitch here, too?" Xiang uttered annoyed.
The white peacock girl looked at him with wide eyes. This blue peacock looked exactly like the one on the large painting in the picture gallery. Haltingly, she approached Xiang.
"Is that you, grandfather?"
The blue peacock's beak remained open in disbelief. But then his bewilderment turned into blind anger.
"You damn rat!" He brandished the dagger and lunged at her. Shenmi evaded him just in time. Master Ox had shown her often enough how to avoid a blow and rolled over the floor, where she bounced against a box. She looked at Xiang with shock. Nobody had ever tried to hit her before. The blue peacock was lying on the ground, but he immediately got up on two wings and one leg.
"You filthy brat!" He continued to shout. "I'll teach you respect!"
He threw himself forward and the dagger threatened to crash down on the girl. Shenmi was completely frightened by this aggressive behavior and fled to the other side of the room. Xiang hit the ground again, but he immediately got back on his leg and chased after her again.
In her fear, the girl tried to escape between two boxes, but the gap was too narrow. The peacock girl started crying, but before Xiang could reach her, Liu took her in her arms.
"Please stop! I'm sure that was no offense meant."
Xiang stopped panting, clutching the dagger tightly.
"You have the least of all to say!" He snapped at her.
"I want to go to dad!" Shenmi wailed under Liu's wings.
Liu stroked her back sympathetically. Her pleading gaze went to Xiang. The peacock snorted in disgust, but he withdrew.
A little relieved, the peahen lifted her wings a little and looked down at the white girl. Hesitantly, Shenmi raised her head.
"Don't worry," Liu reassured her. "He won't hurt you."
She smiled encouragingly at her. The girl raised the corners of her beak only very slightly. The peahen pressed Shenmi closer to her. Her gaze wandered back to Xiang, who stared at them with a venomous look.
"You're not going to hurt her, are you?" Liu asked.
Xiang snorted. Then a cold smile slipped over his beak. "Of course not." Shenmi looked at him uncertainly, so that the eyes of her and the blue peacock met. Xiang leaned down to her a little. "If I've broken your neck, you won't feel anything anyway."
Shenmi sobbed and buried her face in Liu's shirt. Liu in turn looked at Xiang punitively.
"That was completely unnecessary."
But Xiang just shrugged. "Why not? The fewer brats there are in the world, the better."
He limped over to a box and sat down. Liu narrowed his eyes suspiciously.
"And what are you going to do now?"
The blue peacock grinned. "I'll let him dangle a bit first. He can search as much as he wants. He won't find me that soon. And even if…" His cold eyes wandered to Shenmi, who trembled at the sight of him. "I still have a hostage with me."
The girl ducked her head, intimidated.
"Shen, my feet hurt," Po whined and stopped for a moment.
That was the third junction they had come to. Po had extreme doubts that they were on the right track at all. But the white peacock would never take a break in his life and swung his sword in every direction. Both of them carried a candle in their hand, but even this one couldn't tell them which corridor to take.
"And if it takes me a million years," Shen snapped. "I will turn over every stone here!"
With that, he jumped into the passage to the left. Groaning, Po crawled after him.
It was quiet in the room. Liu had taken Shenmi on her lap and patted her head soothingly. Now and then the girl sniffed, but she had slowly recovered from the horror. Xiang was still sitting on the box, staring at the floor. His anger had subsided a little, but the frustration was still seething inside him. He kept seeing the image of the white lord looking down at him with hatred and stabbing at him with his lance sword. Xiang rubbed his shoulders. Sometimes they still hurt when he moved too much. Although he had never tried flying again, he feared that he would never be able to glide longer distances again. He just couldn't find the strength to keep the wings stretched that long.
He heard his stomach growling. Only now it realized that he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday. The peacock slid his pelvis forward and started hobbling over to one of the boxes with the supplies. But no sooner was he standing on his left leg, suddenly it gave way and he buckled. At the last moment, Xiang was able to hold on to the box. That in turn caught Liu and Shenmi's attention.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Shenmi asked softly. She was still afraid of him. The peacock stood up shakily. His angry eyes met the girl and she snuggled closer to Liu.
"It was your father," Xiang hissed. "He had done this to me!"
"That's not true," Liu contradicted him, turning Shenmi's face up to her. "Do not listen to him. He had himself to blame for the accident all by himself."
Xiang's eyes darkened. "What do you know about it?! You weren't there at all!"
"But I heard about it." Liu stood up and held the girl firmly in her wings. "If you want to vent your frustration on someone, then not with her!"
Xiang's tremors increased. But then he could no longer stand it on his leg and moved back on the box lid. As soon as he was seated, he rubbed his aching knee and ankle. Liu raised his eyebrows. As feared, he had overcharged his joint too much. But the peahen did not want to tease him with it and instead asked a more neutral question.
"What are you actually hoping for?"
Xiang didn't look at her right away. Instead, he stroked his knee and just stared straight ahead. Only slowly, his eyes wandered to the two female creatures, who did not know whether they should feel threatened by a half-paralyzed peacock or not. Although Xiang was unable to run fast, but he still had the dagger and Liu couldn't tell if he was good at knife throwing.
After staring for a while, Xiang moved his beak, but he could not utter a word. He just looked away and ignored them.
Suddenly there was a hammering on the door. Everyone jerked their heads up.
"Damn it!" Xiang cursed. "Obviously they have already found us."
Hope rose in Shenmi. "Daddy!"
She tore herself away from Liu. But before she could even reach the door, Xiang killed all of his pain and lunged at her. Shenmi screamed, but Xiang held her tightly.
"Shut up!" He grabbed her larynx and held the dagger in front of her face.
The girl stared at the razor-sharp blade with wide eyes. Xiang grinned contentedly and his eyes wandered to Liu.
"Open the door."
Liu hesitated until Xiang pressed the blade dangerously close to Shenmi's neck.
"Open - the - door!"
Sighing, she did what he ordered. She went to the door, pushed the bolt aside, and opened it slowly. But nobody stood there. Liu peered into the corridor. She looked to the left and to the right. But the corridor was empty.
"There's nobody there," she said finally.
"Don't try to trick me!" Xiang hissed, holding the dagger under the girl's chin.
"Gosh, damn it, there is nobody there!" She reaffirmed.
The peacock narrowed his eyes suspiciously. If that was a trap, then he didn't want to be the fool.
"Get a lamp and shine through," he commanded.
Liu didn't want to make him angrier by saying no. Obediently, she took one of the lanterns and went into the hall with it. She held the light alternately on either side, but the hallways were all empty.
"Well, there is still nobody..."
"Get out of my way!"
Brutally, the peacock pushed her aside. Liu was just barely able to keep from falling against the wall. Annoyed, she held up the lamp while the peacock with the girl in the wing looked around.
"Come out! Or are you a coward?!" he shouted.
But to his surprise, everything remained silent.
"All right," Xiang hissed more to himself and pulled Shenmi in front of him in the wing. "Come out! Or I'll cut her throat!"
With great effort, he shuffled down the passage a little. Liu watched worriedly as the two slowly disappeared from the beam of light.
Suddenly there was a loud outcry. Liu was so frightened that she froze into a pillar of salt. "What's happening?!"
In the corridor in front of her, there was a wild scramble and raging. In the next moment, the peahen saw Shenmi running towards her out of the blackness. Liu caught her and picked her up. The fighting in the dark didn't stop. Frightened, Liu backed away with Shenmi in her arms. If that had really been her father, she wouldn't run away. Her concerns were confirmed when several glowing eyes suddenly flashed in the dim light.
Liu stopped thinking. She turned and ran down the opposite aisle with Shenmi.
"Did you hear that?" Po pricked up his ears and listened. A low scream had echoed through the corridors and froze peacock and panda. "Where did that come from?"
"At least it wasn't Shenmi," Shen hissed in an aggressive tone.
Po chewed on his fingernails. "But who else?"
At that second something slipped through a fork in the corridor ahead of them.
Shen responded immediately and jumped after the fleeing shadow. Po only saw Shen disappearing around a corner.
"Shen? Don't run so fast. Hey, wait!"
Suddenly more shadows ran across the fork in the passage. Shortly afterwards, there were loud screams. Totally shocked, Po jumped forward and shone the candle around the corner. The corridor was completely in the dark. Shen must have lost his candle. Po narrowed his eyes and held his candle higher, but he could only see a wild scramble and jumping of shadows. Shen seemed to be pounding hard. Someone screamed out loudly. Did Shen hurt him?
Po tensed his muscles. "Hey, get out of the way! Now I'm coming...!"
Something hit the panda with full force in the face. Po fell back and lost the candle, which went out immediately. Suddenly, the panda was sitting in the pitch dark.
"Hey!" The panda had to put his hands in front of his face to protect himself from the blows that fell on him. The attackers were apparently small, but their attacks were all the more violent. But Po's thick fur could hardly harm him with their blows. The panda threw himself forward, hoping to find Shen somewhere. But then somebody hit him again in the back and the panda went back into defense. But the shadows in the dark were so nimble that Po could not find anyone. Suddenly the wall behind the panda gave way and Po rolled over a marble floor covered with a light layer of dust. The secret door fell back with a crash.
Panting, Po stood up. He was in one of the many rooms. Moonlight penetrated the windows so that he could see something at least. He quickly ran to the closed door in the wall, but as hard as Po pressed against it, he couldn't open it.
"Hey! Let me in!"
He shook the wall angrily, but no matter what he did, it didn't give in. The strange attackers must have blocked them.
"Darn it! What shall I do now?"
Liu ran through the hallways, always pushing against the walls. The next exit from this labyrinth had to be somewhere. Finally, after an endless search, a wall gave way. She quickly jumped through it with Shenmi in her arms and came into a corridor. She looked around hastily and swung the lantern that she still carried with her back and forth.
"Help!" She shouted and just ran on somewhere.
Po raised his head when he heard the call for help. "Shenmi, is that you?!"
He quickly left the room, which was partially covered with white sheets over the furniture, and looked for the next door. When he finally found one, he tore it open and entered one of the many carpeted corridors.
"Shenmi? Shenmi!"
Po didn't know in which direction to run, so he ran to the end of the corridor and continued calling Shenmi's name. When he got no response there, he ran back down the corridor and called on the other side. And he got an answer, but not from Shenmi.
"What's happening?"
Instead, King Wang and the bull Huan appeared with a lantern and looked at the panda in surprise.
"Shen... Shenmi... away... behind the wall…," Po uttered completely confused.
Wang frowned. "What?"
"At first I thought this place is haunted," Po rattled down his sentence. "But then Shenmi disappeared. Then there was a hole in the wall. Then there were shadows. And Shen has disappeared. Now I've heard Shenmi..."
"Wait a minute, that's going too fast for me," Wang interrupted. "What's happening?"
Po took a deep breath. "Shenmi is gone. Shen is gone. And there are corridors behind the walls."
In the next moment, someone was running towards them across the corridor. Po spun around, but it wasn't Shen.
"At last, I've found you," a woman's voice called in relief.
The panda, ox and bull watched in amazement as the peahen in front of them came to a breathless halt. In her wings she carried a small white figure.
"Shenmi?!"
Overjoyed, Po took the white girl in his arms.
"Po?" The frightened peacock girl slowly thawed again. When she saw Po's radiant face, she clung to his fur.
"Where's daddy?" She wailed.
Po looked at her in surprise. "Didn't you meet him… Wait a minute. Who are you?"
Liu swallowed and looked at King Wang worriedly. She had only met him twice in the cure residence, but she had to identify herself for better or for worse.
"I'm Xiang's nurse."
Po's jaw fell open. "Huh? What? Is Xiang here, too?"
Ashamed, Liu looked down. "Yes... But that wasn't on purpose!" She objected quickly. "He was kidnapped. I accompanied him here when we were able to escape."
Po was still completely out of place. "Xiang is here? Well, that's just getting more and more crazy."
"Then why didn't you notify me?" King Wang asked sternly.
Liu ducked her head and avoided his gaze. "I... I don't know..."
"Did he kidnap Shen's wife, too?" Wang asked further.
Liu looked at him in surprise. "What? I don't know anything about that. All I know is that Xiang has disappeared. Somebody attacked him. Then I just fled with her."
She pointed to Shenmi.
Po was getting more confused by the second. "But if he didn't kidnap Yin-Yu, but Shenmi, and Shen is gone too, and so is Xiang, then... Oh, dear! That's really complicated."
Liu looked at him pityingly.
Wang clapped his hooves together. "Well, if it wasn't him, there seems to be someone else hanging around here."
That cleared the fog a little in Po's head. "Uh, yes... it must be like that." He frowned. "Someone's lounging around here. Then it must have been the same person who attacked Shen."
"I want to see daddy!" Shenmi begged.
Po looked at the girl helplessly. Then he picked her up and smiled at her. "Don't worry, we'll find him."
Po broke off. "It's just a question of - where."