28. A nightmare in the night

"Child, wake up!"

Xia blinked. Her head hurt terribly. She was lying in the semi-darkness and could hardly see anything immediately. Only when her mother bent down to her, she opened her eyes wide.

"Mother?" With a start, she sat up. She was on a bed in a room. "What happened?"

"I ask the same question to you," said her father's voice.

Startled, she looked next to her. Shen stood at the other end of the bed, his wings folded, looking down at her sternly. "You didn't come by ship, am I right?"

Xia lowered her head.

Now Po appeared, too. "How do you know that?" the panda wanted to know.

Shen rolled his eyes and gave him an annoyed look. "The ship has been going back since last night. If she had come to the river path, then it would undoubtedly have met her and she would have known immediately what was going on." His gaze fell on his daughter again. "But you only said that somebody had told you where we are on your way. If she had met our ship, she would certainly not have stayed so calm at first."

Xia gasped for air and ducked her head more down. Yin-Yu looked at her pityingly. But before she could say anything, Liu rushed over to her and grabbed her shoulders.

"What have you done to Xiang?!" she yelled at her, shaking her vigorously.

Yin-Yu grabbed her from behind and tried to pull her away. "Please, calm down," she pleaded. "Let her talk first."

"Let go of me!" Liu snapped at her.

"If you want to beat up her," Shen intervened, "Then you have to go up against me first."

Liu paused. The white peacock gave her a challenging look. "Do you want it?"

The peahen swallowed. She had no experience of fighting, and she knew how well Shen could fight. With a crouched position, she voluntarily withdrew a little.

"She has them."

Everyone looked at Xia in surprise.

"Who has whom?" Yin-Yu asked.

"Everyone," she whispered.

Po jumped up. "Now tell me what's going on!"

Xia gasped for breath. "Chiwa has the masters, and my brothers."

Po's jaw fell open. "Huh? What are you talking about?"

Yin-Yu leaned over to Xia and tried to make eye contact with her somehow. "Child, what happened?"

Shen didn't say anything, but you could see he was tensed. Po looked at him blankly, or was Shen really just as nervous as the others?

"They were abducted," Xia continued quietly. "In Gongmen City. Geckos with vultures showed up and took the three away. We then followed them, we flew after them with eagles... Viper, Crane and Mantis followed them directly, but we didn't see them anymore."

Her mother held her shoulders in dismay. "Why didn't you tell us immediately?!"

Xia didn't say anything, instead she began to sob softly. "I should hand over Xiang to her…"

Po couldn't explain it. "But we had a plan, or at least almost... at least we were about to come up with a plan."

Yin-Yu had moved her daughter to look at her by now. "Xia, why? This is not like you."

"She would have harmed the others," Xia managed to say.

"And for that you had to walk him into a trap?!" Again Liu wanted to pounce on her, but Po could catch her at the last moment. Wang stood still in a corner, unsure whether to interfere. Liu was getting harder and harder to control.

"How could you do that?! How could you do that?!"

"That's enough!" Shen yelled, sliding his wing between the two peahens.

"She had no right!" Liu yelled at him.

"Stop it!" Shen brutally pushed her aside. "I don't want to hear any more about it!"

This rebuke initially froze the young peahen. She looked at the white peacock with wide eyes. Then she began to tremble. Yin-Yu rested her wings on her shoulders soothingly.

Shen's sidelong glance fell on Xia, who had buried her face in the wing.

"Get out," Shen ordered in a firm voice. "I would like to talk to her for a moment alone."

He exchanged a quick look with Yin-Yu and she nodded. Gently, she pushed Liu out of the room. Wang also quickly withdrew. Shen's admonishing look fell on Po. "Panda, that applies to you, too."

Po sighed. "Alright." He walked away, not forgetting to close the door behind him. When Shen and Xia were finally alone, there was silence. It was so quiet that the rustling sound of Shen's robe could be heard when he moved. Xia was still sitting on the bed. Although she had taken the wings back down, but instead she was staring impassively at the floor now. Shen, on the other hand, stood right in front of her and looked at her in silence. The white peacock's eyes were still a little tensed. Then he sighed.

"Xia, I'm not here to reprimand you," he began in a calm voice. "But I still want to know the reason why you even went so far as to lie for this." He paused for a moment. "But certainly not just because your brothers at the mercy of her. There's more behind it than that, isn't it?"

She was silent and Shen tried again.

"Don't you want to tell me?"

Again she covered herself in silence.

Shen turned and folded his wings on his back. "I know he wasn't a good father. Even I don't know whether I would have been a good father to you if nothing had ever come between me and your mother."

He looked behind. Xia's demeanor still hadn't changed. She was still sitting there with downcast eyes. Shen's eyes narrowed.

"Xia, you can't fool me. Unless you deliberately postpone your explanation so that he has no chance of survival."

Only now, the young peahen winced a little.

"No matter how much you hate him, I know how it is to feel the urge to push someone so deep into the abyss that nothing remains of him." He smiled slightly. "You're kind of like me in that regard."

Xia hugged herself. Shen raised his eyebrows and now turned completely to face her and he even took a few steps towards her.

"Xia, I know you for almost 6 years now," Shen continued. "And I can never turn back time to your birth, but I can't look into you what was in the years before." He looked at her intently. "Why do you hate him so much?"

Slowly, she raised her head and looked at him. When their eyes met, she quickly avoided his eyes again. But Shen waited patiently until she moved her beak.

"Mother doesn't know about it," she began softly. "I was just a few years old…"

Almost 20 years ago…

Xiang always ate breakfast alone. In fact, he ate every meal alone, so that even a meal was no opportunity to talk to each other as a family. So it happened that they only saw each other when the blue peacock got up from his meal in the morning and unlocked the doors to the rooms so that somebody could bring breakfast to their rooms, too. No one except him was assigned this task and he always did it with guards. First, he unlocked the room of his son Sheng. Sheng was always fully dressed and just waiting to have his breakfast. Basically, he was the only one who was allowed more freedom of all three. When his father gave him permission to leave his room, the first attempt was always the training ground, even though he was only 5 years old. But that didn't happen until he finished his breakfast.

Next up was his wife, Yin-Yu. She, too, was always fully dressed and waited at a table when her husband entered the room. Then she always bowed her head in silence. They hardly ever talked to each other. Especially since Xiang had forbidden her to do so. After she had received her food, too, he always went to his daughter's room at last. Usually, she was always ready when he came in, but that day it was different. As soon as the blue ruler had unlocked the door, an excited little peacock girl in pajamas came towards him.

"Daddy, I had a nightmare!"

She threw herself against him and clung to his robe. But he pushed her away.

"Why on earth are you not finished yet?" he snapped at her.

The frightened girl stopped fearfully in front of him and looked up at him with wide eyes. "But I was scared."

Xiang snorted disparagingly. "Do not make me laugh. Get dressed, otherwise you can forget breakfast!"

He turned his back on her coldly, retired into the hallway, and slammed the door loudly. He waited a few minutes, then he stepped back into the room without warning. To his satisfaction, the girl was completely dressed.

At the same evening…

The dinner tray was cleared. As soon as the servants had left Yin-Yu's room with the plates, Xiang locked the door, which he would not open again until the next morning. Last, as always, was Xia's door. At least she had dutifully emptied her plate, too. The servants cleared the table. But when Xiang was about to close the door, the girl quickly ran towards him.

"Daddy! I want to go to mom!"

Xiang thought he had misheard and looked at her indignantly. "No! Everyone stays in their room!"

"But I'm scared. Maybe I'm dreaming something bad again today."

"And I told you that was out of the question! Everyone sleeps in their own bed!"

"But I can't sleep at all!"

"Your loss."

But before the blue peacock could leave the room, Xia clung to his leg. "Please, please, please!"

"I said, no!"

The blue peacock shook her off. But then Xia ran past him into the hallway, but Xiang caught her arm.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the room?!" he hissed.

Xia looked at him petulantly. "I won't stop until I'm allowed to see mom!"

Xiang raised his wing. At first it looked like he was about to hit her, but then he paused. A cold smile slipped over his beak.

"So, you don't want to be alone at night?"

The peacock girl shook her head.

The wing of the blue peacock clenched into a fist, but he let it drop again.

"I see, I've left you alone quite a lot lately, haven't I?"

His voice sounded strangely monotonous, but the girl thought nothing of it. To her surprise, he let go of her.

"Alright," he said. "I leave the door open, but you only go out if you really have nightmares."

"Can I see mom then?" Xia asked incredulously.

Xiang's beak corners raised again. "Of course you can."

"Thanks, Daddy!" Overjoyed, the girl hugged her father. But Xiang did not return the hug. He just stood there; his face covered in shadows. He didn't even look after his daughter as she disappeared back into her room.

It had been almost an hour since the girl got to bed. At first, she didn't dare to close her eyes. The nightmare from last night still scared her, but she was a little more reassured that she could run to her mother anytime.

Suddenly she raised her head. She thought she heard a noise in the hallway. After a while of silence, she lay down again. But at the next moment, she started up. Somebody opened the door. A shadow entered the room.

"Who's there?" the girl asked in a choked voice.

The shadow stepped into the moonlight and revealed the shape of Xiang. At first, his daughter was happy to see him, but then she paused. There was something most unnatural about the peacock's posture. His wings hung down on him, he was standing bolt-upright, his head held high. His eyes were wide open, as if he had met a ghost. His eyes were focused on his daughter.

"Daddy?" Xia looked at him in surprise. "What's up?"

"You agreed that I left you alone too often, didn't you?" He began in a flat voice.

Xia ducked her head a little. Something about him scared her. As if not he, but someone else had taken over his body.

At first, Xiang stood in front of her bed, completely motionless. But then, as if on command, the corners of his mouth rose in a strange grin. "Fine, then I can make up for what I missed earlier."

Xia was startled when he took a knife from under his wing.

"What do you want with that?" she asked uncertainly.

But instead of an immediate answer, he walked along her bed until he got to the headboard. "You contradicted me today," he said snootily. "Little children will always be punished for disobeying their father."

He raised the knife. Xia jumped out of bed in a panic and wanted to run to the door. But Xiang rushed past her and blocked her escape route. To her horror, he pulled out the key and locked the door. Then he raised the knife again.

Hastily, Xia looked around for a place to hide. Her gaze fell on her bed. She slid across the floor and tried to disappear under the bed, but Xiang slid after her. He grabbed her leg and tossed her aside. Xia landed in a corner of the room.

There was no time to run away again, because at the next moment Xiang was with her. She pressed herself against the wall fearfully. Her eyes searched for the knife, which he was hiding somewhere. The little peachick girl couldn't scream for help. Even if she did, she wouldn't be heard. Her mother's room was too far away and her door was locked. Her breathing quickened with fear.

The blue peacock stood menacingly in front of her and looked down at her angrily. Again the knife flashed in the moonlight.

"I will teach you not to stand against me!" Xiang's words echoed in her ears.

He came closer. The girl began to cry. When he stretched his wing towards her, she screamed.

"NO…!"

He held her beak shut. Then he grabbed her and pushed her onto the bed. Her small body had no chance against his strength. He leaned over her. His eyes stared down at her almost devilishly.

"Well, do you still have nightmares?" He pushed her deeper into the pillow. "Otherwise, I'll be your nightmare in the future. And I guarantee you will never sleep again." He gave her throat a squeeze. The girl kicked her feet and tried to kick him. But the great peacock put one foot on her legs. After they were immobilized, he took his wing from her mouth and stretched her little wing out on the bed. He rested his elbow on her chest. Then the knife reappeared, descending on her wing. With all her might, she tried to pull her wing away, so that Xiang had trouble holding her in place.

"Hold still!" he hissed.

The girl struggled in his grasp. "No, no, no…!"

She screamed as the knife cut through her thin skin under the feathers. At the next moment, he pressed his wing on her mouth again, so that she almost suffocated.

Xiang's face was now very close to her and his eyes pierced her. "As long as you live," he whispered ominously to her. "You will stay in my house." He held the knife in front of her face. "Either the door stays closed every night, or I come to you every night through the open door." The blade touched her beak. "And if you don't comply ... then I have to punish you again."

Again the knife moved to her wing. Her eyes widened and she screamed through his wing on her beak.

"No!" Xia screamed and held her head. "He didn't stop!"

Her father quickly grabbed her wings. "How is it that mother hadn't noticed the wounds the next day?"

"Xiang asserted, I was ill," Xia managed to say. "Mother was not allowed to come to me, under the pretext that she could get infected. Over a week."

Shen's eyes narrowed. "Did he harm you like that again?"

Her finger feathers pressed against his wings. "Sometimes he came into my room at night and sneak around like a predator. Only once he had held the knife to my throat while I was in bed and said to me with a smile: "You have no power over me."" Xia's wings clenched. "He laughed. He just laughed."

She looked up at her father. "Since then, I've never asked him for anything again and the doors always stayed locked. And he threatened me, should I tell mother something about it, he would kill me." She swallowed hard. "I know it probably wasn't right, but you understand... I was so angry when he wasn't punished so harshly... I felt so betrayed... and especially today... everything came up to me again."

She winced when Shen stroked her head. "Do me the favor and always tell me everything in the future." He raised the corners of his beak a little. "At least the bare minimum."

Xia screwed up her eyes and tears rolled down her cheeks. Then she flung her wings around his neck and wept. Her feather fingers clutched his robe on the back.

Shen didn't say anything. He let her inner pain run free. Slowly he wrapped his wings around her. At that moment, he deeply regretted that he hadn't been there for her when she needed him most. Why had his instinct never called him or was there no instinctive connection with his children? The white peacock sighed heavily and vowed that it would never happen again.

Outside in front of the house, Po was walking restlessly up and down. "Oh my, that takes a long time. We have to go."

Yin-Yu had retired to a bench with Liu. The younger one had calmed down in the meantime, but her wings were still cramped on her legs.

Yin-Yu handed her a handkerchief. Liu took it gratefully and wiped his eyes. Yin-Yu looked around, searching. With all the excitement, she had forgotten something important and only now, she realized that someone was missing.

"Po, did you see Shenmi somewhere?"

The panda looked at her in surprise. "Uh, no, I haven't."

"Excuse me."

Everyone was more than surprised when suddenly a sheep appeared.

"I had just been collecting wood," it reported. "I saw a group of vultures fly over the woods. And a white something was stuck to a cloth bag. I thought it might be... but I thought I should ask..."

Yin-Yu jumped up. "Shenmi! Oh no! She won't be with this crazy woman now!"

Po was shocked into the limbs. Fortunately, Shen finally came through the door. Immediately, his wife ran up to him. "Shen! Shenmi is gone! Somebody saw how she was dragged away to Mendong City!"

Shen snorted angrily and cursed Xiang for the millionth time today. Why did he have to look so much like his father? Shenmi was too delighted with his appearance.

"It's not your fault. I should have known, but apparently I can't even take care of my own child."

Po looked at him in surprise. "What makes you think like that now?"

Shen shook his head. "We can talk about that another time." He looked up at the sun. "It was just under half an hour ago. But I'm sure we don't necessarily have to worry about her. As far as I can judge, she will tackle Xiang first."

That made Liu jump up from the bench. "Don't you worry about him?! For my part, you don't have to care about him! But not me! Maybe it's already too late!"

At that moment, Wang spoke up. "When it is so urgent, we have no choice but to storm the building."

"And what if she sees us and kills one of our friends?" Po pointed out. "We can't risk that."

Shen snorted and hugged Yin-Yu reassuringly, but firmly. "Everything has a weak point. Also a building."

"I know how we can get in there unnoticed."

Everyone looked at Liu. She cleared her throat noisily. Probably to suppress another panic attack. "At the foot of the mountain, there is an access to the secret passages. However, there is only one lift up there, only a few could come in at a time, but we wouldn't run the risk of being spotted. At least as long as they don't guard the secret passages."

Po sank to the floor. "They really could have told us that earlier."

"There's no time for that, Panda," Shen chided him. "Come on, we're just wasting time unnecessarily!"

With these words, he disappeared into the house, where he went into the kitchen. There he took every knife he could find.

"What are you doing, Shen?" Po asked, who had followed him.

"What do you think? I arm myself. Don't you see that?"

"But you still had an operation yesterday," Po pointed out. "That is definitely not good if you already…"

"Panda, I can't just sit here!" Shen snapped at him. "Don't think I would have fought in extreme conditions. I had already fought in exile, and I was even worse off!"

He pushed the panda aside and rushed towards the front door.

"Shen, wait!" Po called after him. "What about your weakness?"

The peacock stopped.

"The more you try," Po continued. "The more likely it is that your strength will weaken at the crucial moment."

Shen was silent, but then he hit the door frame hard. "No matter what will happen... but I have to go."

He ran outside. Po let out a deep sigh. "This stubbornness. Maybe it's rampant in this family."

Chiwa stood calmly in one of the many rooms and stroked a knife with a little whetstone. Then she looked at the sharp blade and ran her finger over it, which immediately cut through the small branches of the feather. With satisfaction, she put the knife down on a cloth on a table where there were already many other knives, including Shen's feather knives, which she had taken from the white peacock. She had been waiting for Tongfu's return for hours. Her waiting was over when the door opened.

"There you are at last!" Chiwa shouted and ran towards the gecko like a child who had been waiting longingly for his Christmas present. Shortly before the reptile, she stopped and looked at him expectantly. "And? Do you have it?"

Tongfu sighed in annoyance. "Here you are."

The other geckos dragged a sack behind them, which they opened and dumped the content. The tied blue peacock rolled across the ground. At first, Xiang struggled to orientate himself after this whole ordeal. When he saw Chiwa standing in front of him, he ducked his head.

His aunt greeted him effusively. "Oh, I missed you so much!"

She wrapped her wings around her nephew, which Xiang found anything but pleasant. He turned violently out of her embrace and slid away from her a little.

"Well, well, well, you don't want to be so rude and refuse a greeting from your aunt, do you?" She rebuked him. "But since today is such a special day for you, I want to overlook it."

She smiled at him, which made Xiang startled in horror. Desperately, he tore at his bonds. Chiwa smirked in amusement and put a wing on his shoulder.

"Just take it easy, nobody will hear you here anyway. I've even already prepared everything for you."

Her feather fingers dug into his shirt. Xiang gave a low scream. He couldn't talk because of the cord around his beak, but Chiwa didn't mind in any way. Instead, she laughs and patted his cheek. "Still so scary, how sweet of you," she joked.

Then her gaze fell on Tongfu. "And did you get rid of the inconspicuous hen the way I wanted it?"

The gecko swallowed, but he didn't show anything. "Yes, everything went as planned," and crossed his fingers on his back. "Can we have our wages now?"

"Only when I have given my nephew his funeral cortege."

Her gaze fell on Xiang, who was trying to crawl away despite being enchained. But Chiwa grabbed her nephew by the bounded wings.

"Come on, we have a lot to catch up - as a family."

She dragged him across the floor, so the blue peacock could defend himself and whine as much as he wanted. For better or worse, Tongfu had to wait for his money, and he just hoped it wouldn't take too long. He withdrew with his people into the corridor and left the two of them alone, without noticing the small white figure that had crept between the pillars on the wall of the room and was watching what was happening.

Slowly, Viper and Crane were waking up from their anesthesia again. At first, they didn't know where they were and looked around. Eventually they found that they were sitting in a cage that dangled from the ceiling on a chain. It was dark all around them, only a torch provided light.

"Hey guys, are you alright?" they heard the voice of Mantis, who was hanging next to them in a much smaller steel box with air holes.

"I think so," Viper replied, moving her tongue, which was still partly numb.

"Where are the children?" she asked when she couldn't see them.

"They put them in another cell," Mantis reported. "This palace seems to have not only many rooms, but also many dungeon rooms."

Crane and Viper exchanged glances.

"What did she do with the kids?" Crane asked.

But Mantis shook his head. "I'm not really sure. All I know is that one of them, I think it was Zedong, scolded a lot when they were brought down here after a while."

Viper hissed sadly. "Then she probably tore their feathers out further."

"Well," Mantis said. "At least we're all still alive."

Crane sighed. "Yes, the only question is how long."

"The others are still outside," Viper remarked. "I'm sure that they will get us out."

A few cell doors down, the three peacock cubs crouched on the floor, albeit not in a cage like the three masters. The geckos were pretty sure they couldn't get away. At the moment, the children were still very confused from all the bad events. Chiwa had not been gentle with them when she had removed the beautiful short peacock feathers from the last one. Jian was the worst state. He was still completely distraught. Fantao held his wings in comfort. Only Zedong was more angry than scared. He paced up and down the cell indignantly and repeatedly kicked the dungeon door.

"That stupid turkey!" he hissed, rubbing his buttocks. At least the rest of the plumage was still there, so there were no bald spots.

"I want to see mom!" Jian wailed.

Zedong growled softly. "But mom is not here." He sat down on the floor and stared angrily in front of him. "I swear to you, if I get ahold of her, I will smash her into the ground."

Fantao sighed. "We'd better wait. Maybe someone will get us out of here."

Zedong looked doubtfully at the door. "If someone will come then dad." He looked over at Jian, who had taken his little pipa again and was plucking the strings a little. Zedong tried to smile. "Cheer up, I'm sure he will come. Nothing can stop him so easily."

He thought of watching Shen doing his combat exercises at times. Back then, he really wanted to be like him. But when he asked whether he could teach him his martial arts, his father, oddly enough, refused and asked him to train with Sheng instead. Zedong could not explain this until today, but at some point, he vowed to be as good as his father. He wrapped his wings around himself. "Dad, where are you?"

In the locked large room, the others were still at a loss. Nothing has happened since the two doors had closed.

"How much longer do we have to stay here?" Master Croc complained, who was slowly becoming unable to stand in the stone prison any longer.

"I can only hope that someday someone will get us out of here before we starve here," Money said worried.

Tigress, who was still leaning against the wall, could only agree with this without emotion. "If Po isn't locked up, too, then we have a good chance."

"As long as the white bird hasn't tripped him up," Master Ox grunted doggedly.

Master Croc rolled his eyes. "As if he needed it. When he finds out that his three boys are here, he'll be there."

"And what if he lets us languish here?" Master Ox growled back.

"I'm still here, too," Sheng interfered. "So I wouldn't worry that we would have to rot here for the rest of our lives." He folded his wings thoughtfully and wondered what happened to Viper, Crane and Mantis and his brothers. "Whatever happened to the others, I just hope Xia was able to remove herself to a safe place."