Chapter 13 : Your Highness

Tigress' attention didn't waver as their boat approached the dock. The place seems vibrant with activities. The citizens were all tigers. Amidst everything however, she noticed that there were a number of adults and children pacing around aimlessly. She continued staring at the scene with mounting excitement. It was the first time she had seen so many tigers with her own eyes. With the sun shining above, she started to wonder why the land was named 'Darknest'. It wasn't dark there and the land didn't seem like a nest.

"Come on down." Prince Yuan Sheng invited as he jumped down when the boat reached the dock.

Tigress didn't respond.

"Hey." The prince called out again.

She remained where she was.

The prince walked up to her, leant close to her and yelled into her ear. "Hey!"

"AH!" Tigress jumped in shock and instinctively punched Prince Yuan Sheng in the face before covering her ears.

The prince fell onto the ground, hard. "Ugh..."

Tigress shot him a look of anger, but didn't say anything.

"What?" the prince said indignantly. "I was just trying to snap you back to reality."

Tigress lowered her palms from her ears as the prince tried to get his feet.

"Come on."

"I would rather stay in here."

Prince Yuan Sheng rolled his eyes. He had tried his best to be nice and gentle, treating her with some form of kind mannerism, but Tigress was being difficult, sticking to her stubborn self.

"You'll become a pauper if you refuse my help. Come on, I've been nice enough to you. The very least you can do is to let my father see you."

"Your father?"

"Yes. The Emperor. He is the one who sent me to look for you. He'll be delighted when he knows that I'm bringing you to him."

Tigress didn't respond.

"Which will you choose? To live on the streets in poverty or in my palace in luxury?"

"I—"

"Hey, look!" someone yelled. "The prince."

Soon, all attention was fixed on the two of them.

"The prince is back. The prince is back." The citizens chanted as they surrounded them.

"Welcome home, Prince Yuan Sheng..."

"We're so happy to see you again, Your Majesty..."

"Your Majesty, who's that?" a tiger pointed at Tigress.

The prince smirked. "It's her."

"Her?" They all looked at each other in bewilderment.

"She's our hope. The reincarnation of our leader."

"Ohh..." they gasped. As if they had rehearsed many times before, all the tigers prostrated themselves and knelt before her, their heads bowed low in reverence.

Tigress wasn't used to seeing this. Back in the valley, people usually show their respect with only a respectful bow.

Prince Yuan Sheng glanced at Tigress. "See?" he whispered. "I was right, wasn't I? You'll be well respected here."

An old tiger crawled towards Tigress with his head bowed low. He then kissed her feet gingerly and spoke. "It's an honour to see you, Your Highness."

'Your Highness?'

"Okay everyone, rise up," Tigress told them. "I'm not a god, so please don't worship me."

The tigers rose up one by one. Not long after that, five armoured tigers approached them.

"Prince Yuan Sheng," the leader bowed. "We're glad you're back."

"Me too, General Luo."

"Your Majesty, your father will be happy."

"He'll be happier when he sees 'her'." Prince Yuan Sheng replied as he patted Tigress' shoulder repeatedly.

"Oh." Five pairs of eyes went widen when they realized who the tiger with the prince was. They were about to kneel down when Tigress stopped them.

"No. Please. Don't."

"Your Highness," General Luo bowed as he spoke to Tigress. "It's...it's an honour to meet you. The Emperor and the Empress will be delighted." He then turned to Prince Yuan Sheng. "Your Majesty. We should head home."

"Sure." The prince agreed as he grabbed Tigress' wrist and dragged her along.

For the first time, Tigress didn't resist. She allowed the prince to lead her to the palace, not noticing that the other tigers were trailing behind them.

.

~TLoTDaTT~

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"Are we there yet?"

Crane rolled his eyes, sighing."For the tenth time Po. No! We've only walked for an hour."

"Right, so how long more do we need to get there?" Po asked again as he tried to catch his breath, with limited success.

"Hmph..." Crane looked at the map on his wings. "If we can cross this river," he pointed at a blue line on the map. "We will need only eight hours."

"Yeah, let's hope there'll be a boat waiting for us when we arrive at that point."

They continued walking. Nothing else was heard other than for Po's continued groans. He wasn't used to walking for such a long distance with a heavy load on his back.

After an hour of walking,

"Yep," Crane made a sudden stop. "We're here."

"Really?" Po perked up excitement. His head then drooped down in disappointment when he realized that they weren't. A large body of water still blocked their path.

"Okay?" Monkey mumbled. "Now what?"

"We go through it," Crane answered. "This is the fastest way to Darknest Land."

Po scanned their surroundings. "But there aren't any boats."

"So how are we going to cross 'this'?" Mantis asked.

"I don't know about you guys," Crane said. "But I'm gonna fly."

"Lucky for you, we don't have wings."

"We can swim through it?" Viper suggested.

"Snakes can swim," Monkey said. "Monkeys are afraid of water."

"Then what should we do?"

"That was my question."

"Maybe Crane can carry all of us over to the other side."

"I can't," Crane complained. "It's too far."

Po flopped down onto the floor. He stared at the river blankly, totally at a loss on what to do next.

"Tigress is over there...," he mumbled. "There must be a way for us to get to her."

They all stopped to think of what to do next. Crane flipped the map upside down and tried to find alternative path.

"AHA!" the avian exclaimed. "I found another way! We can avoid the river now."

Po and other rushed to Crane. "How?!"

"By crossing this path," Crane pointed at a winding line, his wing tip tracing a faint line on the map. "This path lies down the river. Since we can't pass through the water, we'll take the ground route instead."

"How long more will we need to get through it?" Po asked.

"I don't know exactly. Maybe a day or more? It'll be tough travelling through this terrain. We will be walking along slippery and narrow mountainous roads. If we aren't careful, we might slip and fall off the cliff. Many in the past have tried this path, but I don't think anyone has ever made it through."

Mantis gulped. "Sounds dangerous."

"Indeed. But that's the only path without water where we could walk on. Oh, did I also mention that the path is so foggy that at times you might not even be able to see your hands in front of you?"

"I'd say that there's no point wasting any more time. I recommend taking the mountainous path." Viper suggested.

"Alright." Po stood up as he cracked his knuckles. "Let's go!"

"Po?"

"We're warriors. Nothing can stand our way to save Tigress." He turned and started walking. "Tigress, hang on. We're coming!"

All his friends smiled. They could understand how he was feeling. Only a person who's desperate to save his best friend would he be willing to take a path which might lead them to their deaths.