29. The Way of Origami

Xiang trembled with fear as Chiwa tightened the ropes around his wings. The blue peacock lay on his back, stretched out on a table, his wings and legs tied to a table leg with a rope. After the last rope had found its place, Chiwa surveyed her work with satisfaction. Then she stretched out her wing to her helpless nephew and ran a feather finger over his head, over his beak, then over his neck. The peacock's whole body trembled uncontrollably under her touch. He mumbled something what sounded like a pleading. He still wore the cord around his beak. But his aunt left his request completely cold. With slow steps, she went to the little table where the many knives lay. With a wistful smile, she picked up one of the knives and looked at herself in the reflection.

"Oh, my dear Xiang," she whispered to herself. "I thought I'd have to bury you when my first gray feathers had sprouted. But that would be very gross, wouldn't it?"

She looked over at him with her dark eyes. But Xiang didn't look at her. He stared at the ceiling, breathing so hard and fast that his chest rose and fell visibly.

Chiwa smirked and went back to him, leaning down to him in a whisper. "Well, did your former daughter lead you to me so nicely that you are now angry about it?"

At that second, Xiang sucked in a sharp breath. The dark peahen laughed.

"Did I hit the sore spot? Oh, you can't help feeling sorry for yourself."

She turned away again. The blue peacock was beginning to get tears in the eyes. No matter what others said, it was clear to him that all women were just traitors.

"I apologize for the delay," Chiwa said, putting the knife back in its place and instead taking one of Shen's feather knives into the wing. "It would have been faster if you hadn't pushed yourself so deep into the abyss." She clicked her tongue. "I wonder what your mother would think of you today. Her own son, arrested by the Huns? How embarrassing."

She turned back to him and looked down at him reprovingly. "That made my work twice as difficult. Because they didn't want to tell me, where they had hidden you." She came closer. Xiang tensed his muscles. Chiwa twisted her beak and smoothed out a feather for Xiang. "Really, you didn't hold up well with your plumage either. You are really not a likeness of a man."

She looked at the feather knife in her wings and twisted it thoughtfully. "But don't worry. Soon you won't have to struggle with your looks any longer." Again she stroked the sharp blades. "And actually, I should thank this pale bird." Xiang froze when she lowered the feather knife to him and she pressed the sharp blade against his chest. "So you can watch your heart slowly stop beating."

Her gaze wandered to the side. "And please make an effort. Your mother is watching us, too."

Xiang looked to the side. The oil painting of his mother and his aunt was leaning against the wall not far from them. Xiang narrowed his eyes, which only amused Chiwa.

"That brings back memories, doesn't it?" she whispered to him. "But this time you will have no way to evade your punishment." She stroked his chest. "I will finish her work. But according to my method. My sister was more of a friend of strangulation." She squeezed his neck a little. "But I still prefer the sharp-edged method." Again she held the knife in front of him. He stared at it with wide eyes. Chiwa giggled. "I see, you want to rip it out of my wing, don't you?"

She got up and for fun, she put the feather knife in his left wing. Xiang's wing trembled when he felt the knife in his feathered hand.

"Well, do you want it?" she scoffed.

Xiang grabbed it, but Chiwa snatched it from his hand again. "Oh no, you don't get it," she giggled. "Bad boys don't get anything anymore. What a shame you were a bad boy. Bad boys are always punished. Remember that. Always."

Xiang's breathing quickened. Then he pulled the ropes.

I wasn't bad! It was self-defense... absolute self-defense...

Over 30 years ago...

He wanted to scream for help. But nobody could hear him. Not even the universe came to his aid. He looked behind. No, she was still behind him. She had purposely made a break just to torment him longer.

He screamed again, but the gag in his mouth almost choked him. That was the 20th feather of his splendor of colors that she tore out of him.

"I told you to keep count!" a woman's voice hissed behind him.

The teen young blue peacock swallowed hard.

"Mpmff pf," he muttered.

The dark peahen behind him folded her wings in annoyance. "You could really do better before than that... but what of it?"

Something metallic fell to the floor. The peacock looked behind. She had thrown the knife away and was now three feet away from him.

"It's about time to say goodbye anyway."

She went away. Because of the poor light in the room, he temporarily lost sight of her. He wanted to run away now, but he couldn't.

In vain, he shook the ropes. His wings were tied together on a pillar so that he was facing the beam. He groaned exhausted. The young peacock was a mess as far as his appearance was concerned. His torn-out peacock feathers were scattered all over the ground. His once neat robe was cut at the back, completely torn apart. His gag was soaking wet from the many tears that ran down his face. There were bloody spots on his back that she had inflicted on him with the knife.

He heard her giggle softly. Panic welled up in him. Again his gaze wandered over to the knife that was still on the floor. He reached for it, but couldn't reach it. In desperation, he tugged at the ropes around his wings and stretched further. He touched one of the long tail feathers. Then he knew what to do. He grabbed one of the long feathers with his claws and pushed it towards the knife. The center of the feather could touch the knife. Panting, he pulled the metallic sharp object closer and closer to him. His heart almost stopped with excitement when he finally felt the knife in his foot. Shivering, he pushed the knife across the floor, clutched the handle and lifted it to his wings, where he immediately began rubbing the blade on the ropes.

He was startled when a shadow approached him from behind. In the faint light, he recognized a cord that she was stretching between her wings. She laughed.

"You really were a naughty boy." She pulled his head closer to her. "Now it's time for a good night kiss."

At the next moment, Xiang felt the rope around his neck, which was tightening quickly. He gasped for air, but the gag gave his lungs less oxygen. She pulled the cord tighter together. Around Xiang everything slowly went black. But he still held the knife tightly. Breathing heavily, he continued rubbing the blade against the ropes that held his wings together. He couldn't breathe anymore. His cutting movements were now only carried out mechanically. He couldn't think anymore. His eyes rolled back. Then he felt the rope loosening around his wings. His wings were free, he still held the knife in his agony. As if in a trance, he stabbed the knife backwards. The following scream echoed in his ears for a long time. He withdrew the knife and stabbed it again, over and over again. Finally, the tightness around his neck disappeared. At first, everything spun around him. All he remembered was how he sank to the ground. It felt like he was falling to a depth that gently caught him. For a while, he lay on cold marble stone. He started to freeze. Everything hurt. Mostly his head, which slowly began to work again through the regained air. Gradually, the heaviness vanished. He got up with difficulty. Something lay beside him, stretched out and motionless. He felt something strange between his feather fingers. His gaze wandered to the floor. There was something wet there. He lifted his wings and rubbed the dark red liquid between his feather fingers. He stared at it, speechless. Then he realized it and he began to tremble.

"I killed her, I killed her…"

Xiang narrowed his eyes and shook his head.

"No, it wasn't my fault!" he shouted in his mind. "It was her; it was her…!"

"Well then," Chiwa's words brought him back. "Let's start where we left off."

Xiang pulled against the ropes and shouted. "MMmOOOOO!"

Chiwa acknowledged that with a flick of the eyelashes. "Tz, I haven't even started yet, and you're yelling like a little child." She stroked the knife blade. "You will probably never grow up."

The white feather knife approached him. In vain, the peacock tried to avoid the approaching knife. Annoyed, she held him tight. "Now hold still for a while. You are so terrible."

"It must have been here!"

Liu pointed to a rock wall. Everyone ran there quickly. Fortunately, it didn't take long to find the secret door. As soon as it was open, Liu ran in first, dragging the army doctor with her. He had spontaneously agreed to come along. Just in case, if there was something for him to do.

"Okay," Wang called out. "Who else is coming with us?"

This question was mainly directed to the others. For the ox, it was clear that Shen and Po would definitely come along.

Huan immediately volunteered. Since he was the custodian of the building, he was best able to show them around the rooms.

"I'll come with you, too," Yin-Yu said.

"Me, too," Xia added.

Shen's eyes narrowed. "You are not trained enough. I can't guarantee that you won't be attacked." But then he smiled. "But I suppose I can't persuade you to stay outside anyway, can I?"

"No!" the two peahens denied.

Po twisted his mouth. "It has to run in the family again."

He leaned over to Shen. "Do you feel fit enough?" he whispered to him.

Shen glanced over at him somberly. "Do I have another choice?"

Wang nodded and turned to his soldiers. "Alright, the others wait outside. As soon as we give the signal, you come up the stairs."

With that, the rest disappeared into the secret passage.

"Please hurry up!" Liu called to them.

Po sighed and hoped that Xiang was still in one piece when they arrived. Otherwise, he feared that he would not be able to hold his food in his stomach.

Xiang closed his eyes. The blade pierced the skin on his chest, but not deep. Chiwa grinned. This peacock didn't want to scream, but she was sure he wouldn't hold it back much longer. Slowly, she cruised down the skin with the knife.

"Hey, let him!"

Chiwa stopped. Even Xiang's eyes widened. To his relief, his aunt took the knife away. He raised his head, trembling. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Shenmi had grabbed Chiwa by the dress and pulled hard on it.

Annoyed, the dark peahen pushed her away. "Please get out of here, you little brat. Bothering adults at work is impolite! – Tongfu!"

Immediately, the door flew open and the gecko hurried in. "What is it this time…"

He froze when he saw the peacock girl standing next to the peahen.

"Did you get your degree in independent thinking in a kindergarten, or what?" Chiwa snapped. "Get this thing off my back!"

At first, Tongfu stood there completely confused. But then he nodded hastily and grabbed the girl by the wings. Shenmi struggled violently.

"Let me go!"

Chiwa snorted indignantly. "These barnyard fowl is the purest plague."

She leaned over Xiang again and wanted to pick up where she left off. A small stain of blood had already formed on the blue plumage. Chiwa laughed and rubbed the blood-smeared area with her wing. Xiang struggled under her touch. He wanted to get away, just away from this place.

"Hey, leave him alone!" Shenmi shouted.

Chiwa let out an annoyed snort. "My goodness, finally carry away the little monster!"

"I'm doing it!" Tongfu dragged the girl away. Shenmi braced herself against it with all her might. She heard Xiang screaming loudly, albeit with muffled sounds. Chiwa, on the other hand, burst out laughing.

"Leave him alone, you ugly goose!"

Tongfu froze into a pillar of salt. At first, he thought he had misheard. But when Chiwa was thunderstruck, he knew that she had really said the word.

Ugly.

Suddenly the peahen turned around. Her face was contorted with anger.

"WHAT?! HOW DID YOU CALL ME?!"

Chiwa looked so flaming mad that even Tongfu was scared stiff. He backed away. Chiwa had raised the knife and hit it from above to the girl.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Shenmi ran away screaming into the hallway. Chiwa missed her very close. The feather knife dug into the marble floor. With an angry snorting, she got up again. Her angry gaze shifted to Tongfu.

"What are you standing around here?!" she yelled. "Catch that brat!"

Immediately, Tongfu ran outside and waved to his people in the hallway, who had been surprised at the running white girl.

"And you!" Chiwa turned her attention to her nephew for a moment. "You don't move from the spot! I'll be right back!"

She left a feather knife in the ground and grabbed another knife. No sooner had she rushed out of the room, the blue peacock tugged at the ropes.

It seemed like an eternity to Liu before the elevator finally reached the top floor.

"Very useful an elevator like that," Po remarked appreciatively.

"We have to go this way," Liu said. "From here it goes into the basement."

Liu always ran far ahead of the others. Po was sure that she would have loved to walk on alone. Finally, they came to the secret door that led into the cellar. The panda looked around in amazement.

"Haven't we been here before?"

"Stop talking!" Liu cut him off. "We have to find him!" She raced up the stairs, still pulling the doctor after her.

"Wait," Shen held her back. "Xia, do you know where your brothers are?"

But Xia shook her head. "No, I didn't see where they were taken."

"Probably in the dungeon," Wang said.

Shen nodded. "Well, we'll split up. You look for them in the dungeon. I go with her."

Liu looked at him in surprise. "With me?"

Shen gave her a withering look. "Not because of him!" he hissed. "Because of my daughter."

Liu ducked her head humbly. "Of course, I'm sorry."

"Uh, I also look around a bit in the vault," Po said. "It could be that my friends are there, too."

Shen didn't mind. "Fine, do what you want."

He looked at Yin-Yu. She embraced his wings. "Are you sure?"

Secretly, she hoped that Shenmi was being held captive somewhere, and had not ended up in the wings of this crazy woman. But Shen wasn't afraid to suspect it.

"If Shenmi is not in the dungeon, I will most likely find her with him."

He turned away. He didn't want to waste any more time, which was especially good for Liu. The two peafowls quickly disappeared with the army doctor to the top floors.

"Well," Po began after a while. "Then let's have a look around. Mister Huan, where exactly is the dungeon?"

Shenmi didn't know how long she had been running, but she felt her strength slowly weaken. Still, she couldn't decide which room to take refuge in. The fear of being discovered constantly drove her to flee.

Suddenly she stopped. She knew this passage and this door, too. Again she heard cursing voices behind her. She quickly pushed the door open and slipped inside.

Chiwa just saw the door close. She ran faster. No sooner had she reached the door, she pushed it open with a loud crash. Snorting angrily, she looked around. They were in the great art room. The geckos followed her, panting.

"Come out, show yourself! Where are you, little rat?" Chiwa snapped.

It was quiet in the room. Nothing moved. Every picture and every color box were still in its place.

Chiwa rubbed the blade of her knife like a predator. "I'll find you, white plague-spot."

Suddenly, something flew through the air. It landed right in Chiwa's face. The geckos backed away in shock when splashes of green paint rained down on them, followed closely by a ball of paper. Tongfu picked it up in amazement. It was an origami cube filled with green paint.

"My goodness! How do I look now?!" Horrified, Chiwa touched her face, which was smeared all over with green paint.

The next with color filled origami cube hit the gecko with the bandage on his arm also directly in the face. Tongfu, who was standing next to him, was so frightened that he raised his fist and hit him.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry," Tongfu apologized. "I didn't recognize you, I thought you were a monster."

Chiwa had now recovered from her shock and was now foaming with anger.

"OH! I tear out each feather of her! - Look for her!"

Chiwa waved right and left. The geckos spread out. They carefully walked past every shelf that was filled with painting utensils and art literature.

"Well, finally we're here," Po said in relief.

Immediately, the panda ran from one cell door to another. At last, he came to an iron door that was firmly locked. "Somebody has to be in here."

Po reached for the key that was hanging next to it. He unlocked the cell door and jumped inside.

There he found a large and a small cage. Po recognized Viper and Crane immediately.

They weren't necessarily surprised to see their black and white friend.

"Po! You are fine," Viper shouted in relief.

"Hey! People! You're here!" Po jumped up to them, but stopped immediately when he saw only Viper and Crane in the cage. "But... where are the others?"

"The boys are locked in another cell," Mantis reported after King Wang freed him from the iron box. "Unfortunately, we don't know where the others are either. Maybe they're down here somewhere."

The boys looked up in shock when someone tampered with the door of their cell.

"Who's coming?" Jian asked anxiously.

The door opened and a shadow appeared in the door frame. At first, the boys backed away, frightened. Only Zedong jumped into the breach.

"Just don't come any closer, you nasty turkey!"

"But children."

The figure stepped into the torchlight.

"MUM!"

Immediately, Jian rushed towards his mother, and the others followed him. Overjoyed, Yin-Yu closed her wings around them. "My little ones. I'm so glad that you are fine…"

She stroked the boy's back, but she noticed immediately that something had changed.

"What…"

"She tore our feathers out!" Zedong shouted angrily. "She was really mean!"

Yin-Yu looked at them in dismay. Jian started to cry. She hugged him comfortingly. "I'm so sorry about that."

"We tried to prevent that," Viper explained. "But she stunned us with something. We couldn't do anything more."

Yin-Yu tried to calm down Jian. "Don't worry. They grow back again."

"I want to hit her!" Zedong shouted and stormed out the door, but was intercepted by his big sister. "Better not," she advised him. "Father is already taking care of her."

Zedong looked at her in surprise. "Father is here, too?"

"Hey, buddy!" Po greeted him.

The little piebald peacock looked at him in surprise. "Dragon warrior? Are you here, too?"

Po smiled at him, but immediately he became serious again. "I looked in every cell door. But Tigress, Monkey and the other masters are nowhere to be found."

"Oh no, Shenmi is not here!" Yin-Yu shouted, startled. "Then she has to be with her."

Po narrowed his eyes. "I'll look for her. And you go back. I still have to find the others anyway."

"Po, we'll come with you," Viper offered himself.

"That's very nice, but the others need some protection, too."

"Then at least let Viper come with you," Crane said. "We accompany the others back."

"Well, then I'll go with the dragon warrior," Wang said.

Po raised his thumb. "Alright. Let's go beat up some bad boys. Or more precisely, a crazy aunt. Wish me the best luck!"

With that, Po, Wang and Viper disappeared into the corridors.

Huan rubbed his head. "Then we'd better start on our way immediately."

Yin-Yu nodded. "Alright."

She picked up Jian, who was still sobbing a little, while he was still clutching his musical instrument tightly.

"It's okay, we're going home," his mother told him soothingly. "Xia, you take Fantao and Zedong."

Xia nodded and wanted to take Zedong by the wing, but Zedong avoided his sister. "But I also want to fight!" he protested and wanted to run after Po.

"No, we go back now," Xia said firmly. "Come on."

In the meantime, Xiang lay exhausted on the table. He had meanwhile given up trying to break free from the ropes. He raised his head in fear when he heard footsteps in the hallway. His breathing quickened again. Suddenly the shape of a peahen appeared in the doorway. He screamed and wriggled like crazy.

"Xiang!"

Liu forgot the title "Lord" and ran towards him. Xiang had not yet noticed who had called him and lay cramped on the ropes. He was just waiting for the next pain to be caused to him. When he was greeted by soft wings and a concerned voice instead, he hesitantly opened his eyes. He thought, his senses were playing tricks on him when he saw Liu.

"What did she do to you?" she asked worried at the sight of the blood stain on his chest. "Don't worry. I'll get you out of here."

She grabbed one of the knives from the table and quickly she cut the ropes that held the peacock in place. As soon as he was free, Xiang tore down the cord from his beak. Breathing heavily, he gasped for air. Liu held his shoulders reassuringly.

"Doctor, could you take a quick look at this!"

The monkey rushed over immediately. In the meantime, Shen had arrived, too. His eyes fell on the feather knife that was stuck in the floor. Then his gaze wandered to the table.

"Well, what do you say, there they are." Shen picked up one of his feather knives from the cloth on the table.

The doctor checked Xiang's wound. "Don't worry. Is just a superficial cut. Nothing serious."

"W-what are you doing here?" Xiang managed to say.

Liu looked at him in surprise. "Did you really think I'd just leave you alone?"

"Was Shenmi here?" Shen asked and gave Xiang a stern look.

"W-what?" The blue peacock was still completely confused.

"Where's Shenmi?!" Shen yelled at him and grabbed his shirt. "Where is my daughter?!"

Xiang pointed to the door. "Out of here. Somewhere."

Shen let go of him. He grabbed the feather knives from the table and ran down the corridor.

Liu watched him go. She was afraid he would pounce on Xiang. Her gaze wandered back to Xiang, who was still shaky.

"Come on, I'll take you out of here," she offered him. It was only with difficulty that she got him off the table and with the help of the doctor they brought him out of the room.

"We'd better go to the exit," Liu decided. "Xiang, do you know where to go to the main door?"

Xiang stood there, completely indifferent. Only when Liu waved his wing in front of his face, he reacted and he pointed the passage to the right. "Go there."

Po paused. He was still on the lower floor when a cracking, dull noise made him sit up and take notice.

"Hey, did you hear that, too?" he asked and turned to Viper and Wang. They listened hard.

"Yeah, now I've heard it, too," Wang confirmed. "What could that be?"

"I know those banging noises," Po said. "That can only be from Master Storming Ox."

"Then the others must be around somewhere," Viper said.

They followed the blows as if someone was beating up the walls. Finally, they arrived at the place they were looking for.

"It's coming from behind this stone wall," Po said and presses against it. "Phew, I can't open it."

"Po, look here. Here's a lever." Viper pointed around the corner.

"Oh, let's see if that solves our problem." He threw the lever.

"It serves no purpose," Master Croc sighed, while his friend Master Ox didn't stop beating against the locked stone wall.

"Nonsense!" the ox snorted. "At some point, she has to give in. No stone in the world could stand up to me permanently."

He made another attempt. He raced against it with a loud scream. However, this time his run ended in emptiness. The stone wall had suddenly opened and the ox rushed against the next opposite thick wall.

The other prisoners looked up, startled.

"What was that?" Monkey wondered. "Has the wall got scared now?"

"Hey! Guys!" a happy panda greeted them.

"Po!"

The others could hardly believe their luck when they saw the dragon warrior storm in.

Po quickly counted through. "... five... and six." He pointed to himself. "Yes! We are all complete again!"

He hugged Tigress and Monkey with joy. "I was so worried about you! You also care about me, don't you?"

"Why six?" Monkey asked in amazement. "Where are Crane, Viper and Mantis?"

"I'm here," Viper answered.

Po rubbed his head in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry, I forgot to say. They are fine. Crane and Mantis bring Yin-Yu and the others to safety."

"Yin-Yu?" Tigress raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Was she here?"

"And what about the boys?" Sheng wanted to know.

Po looked at him in surprise. "Oh, you are here, too? Oh, of course. Your sister was here, too."

"Xia?" Sheng jumped up. "How's she doing?"

"Everyone is fine. Don't worry," Po reassured. "Shen is fine, too... at least I hope so."

"Well, well," Master Ox now interfered in the conversation after he had recovered from the encounter with the other wall. "And where is he now?"

"Probably there where we want to go, too. But that's a long story. Come on, I'll tell you on the way. First, we have to find this crazy pigeon."

"A pigeon?" Monkey asked in surprise.

"And is there really an elevator here?" Zedong asked excitedly.

"Yeah, right over here," Xia said and pointed down the passage. When they finally reached to the hoist way, they paused.

"Where is it?"

This was the question what the rest of the group was now asking themselves, too. The elevator was gone.

"He was up here recently," Xia said.

"Maybe someone else is using it," Mantis suggested.

"I don't think so," Yin-Yu said, who was still carrying Jian. "Otherwise, you would hear something."

"You will hear something else in a moment," suddenly a gloomy voice spoke over their heads. "And this will be your death screams."

Almost five vultures sat on the beams, one of them was Laishi and looking down at them with lust for murder.

"Get out of here!" Xia yelled and pushed everyone back into the corridor before the vultures could pounce on them. Crane barely fended off the approaching Laishi and quickly disappeared with the others through the secret passage back into the basement.

"Where should we go now?" Xia asked her mother during the race.

"Best to go to the entrance. Maybe the soldiers are already there."

In the large art room, Shenmi was hiding on the top of a shelf and was carefully peering down. Two geckos, Tongfu and another, were right next to the shelf.

"Let's take a look upstairs," the gecko leader suggested, causing Shenmi to panic. She quickly grabbed a few strips of paper that she had taken and folded as fast as she could.

In the meantime, the two geckos climbed up the wooden shelf. But as soon as they were up there, some sharp objects flew towards them.

"Ouch! Hey, what's that supposed to be?"

Shenmi quickly threw a few more paper planes at them, then she jumped off the shelf and fled around the corner.

"Hey, we have her!" Tongfu yelled and ran after her.

When he turned the corner of the shelf, she was gone. "Hey, where did she go?"

He paused when he saw a small shadow on the wall.

"I have you," the gecko thought triumphantly.

He jumped around the corner and lunged at the small figure who had cast the shadow on the wall.

"Haaa! Huh? What…?"

In surprise, he stood up, because what he was holding in his hands wasn't a peacock girl, just a paper peacock figure.

"Hey!" another gecko cried on the other side of the shelves. "Here she is!"

He jumped. But then... "That's just an origami figure."

Tongfu snorted angrily.

"Keep searching. One of them has to be real!"

The geckos swarmed again. But every time they thought they saw the girl's shadow; they only found a paper peacock figure.

In the meantime, Shenmi had climbed up the ladder to the balcony-like floor. From here, she could reach the upper windows, which the painters had probably used to have a nice view of the city from this point.

While the geckos in the lower area of the large room were busy finding the girl, she silently opened one of the windows. She peeked over the edge. From here it went deep down. She swallowed hard. But the entrance to the room was guarded. She couldn't take refuge in the hallway. Quickly, she grabbed a paper kite, which was standing in a corner for decoration and climbed onto the window ledge. She was not heavy; she could easily escape through the window and fly away.

She took another deep breath, then she pushed off herself from the windowsill and sailed outside. The wind was strong and lifted the paper kite.

Suddenly, a strip of a cloth wrapped the white peacock girl. The fabric tightened and Shenmi was pulled back into the room. At the next moment, she found herself in the wings of Chiwa, which the girl had caught in the air like a lasso with her sleeve strips. Shenmi froze in fear. Chiwa was still smeared with green paint on her face, but her evil look made everyone's blood run cold.

But before Shenmi could scream, the dark peahen held her beak tightly.

"You little ugly toad!" she hissed. "I'll wring your neck!"

At that moment, Tongfu and the others appeared. "At last."

He pressed his lips together when he saw Chiwa in the sunlight.

The peahen narrowed her eyes angrily. "Stop laughing! Bring me a bowl of water so I can wash this brew off my face!"

Chiwa rubbed her face dry sullenly. At least, the paint wasn't waterproof, otherwise she would have screamed everything into the ground. Shenmi lay tied up between a couple of geckos and watched helplessly as Chiwa threw the cloth into a corner and turned her eyes, glowing with anger, back on her.

Shenmi ducked her head as Chiwa grabbed her. "Now let's go back to my nephew," she hissed. She had a devilish grin on her face. "Then you can keep him company."

Shen ran down the hallways. She had to be here somewhere. His heartbeat quickened every minute. He would never forgive himself the thought that something bad had happened to her.

Suddenly he stopped in the middle of the run. Somewhere a little girl was screaming.

"Shenmi!"

Po looked around in the corridors. "Hey, did you hear that, too?"

"Mm, sounded like a little girl," Viper said.

"Where did that come from?" Monkey asked.

"That came from over there!" Po shouted and ran ahead of the others into the next splendid corridor.

"Stop it, you damn thing!" Chiwa cursed and hit the girl on the beak. "You'll scream enough soon."

She paused. Something was running towards her. She turned around. She just caught sight of the white figure at the other end of the corridor. Shen didn't hesitate a minute and threw his feather knives at her. There was a flash of light in Chiwa's eyes. But before the feather knives could reach her, she swung around, pulled out her black hand fan and caught the feather knives, one after the other, as if in slow motion.

When Shen saw this, he was paralyzed for a brief moment. The dark peahen shamelessly took advantage of this moment. She hurled the trapped feather knives at the white peacock again with full force. Shen reacted a tenth of a second too late.

He jumped aside, but he knew that this jump wouldn't be enough. Suddenly, something pushed him aside, which quickened his leap. A sharp pain pierced his left wing near the shoulder just before he hit the ground, followed closely by a thud beside him.

The five masters, Sheng and King Wang couldn't believe what Po was doing. Shen was only a few yards away from them. Po looked around the corner. Chiwa had caught Shen's feather knife with the hand fan without any problems. Po suspected that she would throw them back. It was too late for Shen. He wouldn't take the evasive jump. Po threw himself forward and pushed the white peacock aside. As soon as they both fell to the floor, Shen sat up, panting. Po lay on the floor and didn't move anymore.

Tigress opened her eyes wide. "No!"