A/N : Thank you, The Dragon Chronicle for editing this chapter for me :)

Chapter 44 : Damsel in Distress

Tigress didn't slow down.

And neither did her pursuers.

Whoosh ...

Another arrow had just been shot. As if on cue, Tigress sidestepped with great agility, without even slowing her pace for a second. She cursed. How much she wanted to stop and interrogate one of these soldiers. Who sent them? The emperor? No, it couldn't be. General Luo? Most likely. What did they want with her – and more importantly – what did their boss want? Even though the soldiers following close on her tail couldn't be talked to at the moment, Tigress was convinced she already knew the answers to her questions.

Think, Tigress, think ...

She knew she couldn't just outrun them forever like this. Eventually, her energy would be drained completely, and she would find herself at their mercy.

There had to be another way.

Her eyes scanned around her. There was bamboo ... bamboo ... and bamboo ...

She chuckled in annoyance. There was nothing more she could use as a weapon besides her lethal claws. Now she regretted leaving her sword in the Jade Palace.

But she had to try to stand and fight, no matter how small her chances were. She had to try.

The kung fu master made a sudden halt. She turned around, readying herself with her claws extracted as she set a battle pose.

"Come here," she hissed.

A tiger brandishing a sword swung it at her. Tigress surprised him with a strong grip on his neck; their eyes met for a second. Tigress growled angrily, glaring at the soldier, who began cowering in fear.

Her other hand snatched a sword from the soldier's belt before she tossed him over the shoulder like he was a rag doll. More soldiers raced towards her, but Tigress had been more prepared than before.

With a battle cry, she marched forward and faced the whole army, letting her anger get the best of her.

The tiger soldiers readied themselves with their deadly weapons and started attacking the lone tigress who was accompanied with just a sword. Such a fair fight.

But indeed, it was a fair fight, since their opponent was the great Master Tigress, who was known as one of the strongest kung fu masters in China. And on top of that, she was possibly the reincarnation of the vicious Emperor Khan; it was possible she'd inherited his ferocity and habit of showing no mercy to the enemy.

In just a few minutes, after sword met sword, hand deflecting arrows, and several punches and kicks, half of the soldiers were paralyzed without her breaking a sweat. She didn't feel tired at all. Her overconfidence made her unguarded, and she had just realized it as she felt a sharp pain in her exposed left shoulder. The tiger hissed in pain as she pulled out an arrow from her shoulder and continued the fight without pausing even for a second.

She was winning this fight – she was sure about it. She would knock them out and then start an interrogation to get the answers to her questions.

She had to know who was the one behind this ambush. Who wanted her dead? Once one of these inexperienced soldiers spilled the beans, Tigress swore she would bring the one responsible to book, making sure he would suffer, beg forgiveness and regret his mistake. She would... she would...

Her view started to get blurry. Her strength was draining. What's this? Why did everything suddenly become...

Through her blurred vision, she noticed three more tigers charged right at her.

And that's when she realized something horrible, but it was too late. The arrow that had hit her shoulder was poisonous. And at this rate, the poison must have already started to spread around her body and through her veins. The more she moved, the faster the poison would reach her heart.

She couldn't fight in this condition.

Tigress suppressed the pain in her body. With sword still in her grip, she made a final blow and slashed off the three tigers at once. Her attackers collapsed, wincing in pain due to the wounds caused by the mighty stroke.

Tigress didn't waste more time. She escaped.

The remaining soldiers went after her. They knew the poison was taking effect slowly; it was only a matter of time until the tigress' body would give up and collapse.

What they didn't know, was that Tigress was more stubborn and stronger than they had anticipated. Tigress had disappeared from their sight within minutes.

"Keep looking! She can't be far from here!"

Without anyone knowing it, behind a large boulder not far from there, sat Tigress with her back leaning on it. She panted. Her head was dizzy.

She was safe, but not for long, though. Getting the antidote for the poison as soon as possible was her major priority right now. But before that, she must find a healer – and where could she hope to find one of those in the middle of the silent bamboo forest, far from any residential areas?

She stared up at the sky. The day had turned dark. The cold breeze that blew made her shiver.

Alone and vulnerable, she could only wait. She had no idea who would come and find her first; the soldiers, or the angel of death.

Is it a punishment from God for what she did to the Great Valley?

For what she did to Po?

.

.

.

So, this is what the emperor meant; once I joined his army, there was no coming back.

There's no place in this world for a villain and a traitor like me…

.

~0~0~TLoTDaTT~0~0~

.

"Are you sure about this plan?" Yuan Sheng asked. There was a tone of worry in his voice.

Po patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Don't worry, we're right behind you."

Right now, Po and his fellow warriors, plus Yuan Sheng were at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the Jade Palace.

"Just keep to the plan," Crane reminded them. "This could be our last chance to get Tigress back."

Yuan Sheng sighed. "Okay," he said. "just promise me you won't let me die."

"We won't," Po assured him. "You have my word."

Without more words, Crane grabbed the prince by the shoulder and brought him up towards the Jade Palace. Po and the others followed from behind as they watched their surroundings. So far, there was no sign from the guards. But right up there, without a doubt, dozens of soldiers must be waiting for uninvited guests like them.

Two soldiers were keeping guard on the main gate with spears in their hands. They yawned. Being a perimeter sentry sometimes felt like a boring job, especially when nothing happens. Not much to do but to stand still, guarding, watching over and making sure no intruders come, like... like a panda, a monkey, a snake, and an insect over there, that were walking casually towards them.

Wait, what?!

With a reflex movement, the guards raised their spears.

A stork flew past them and dropped something with a thud: a tiger, dressed in silk robe.

"Hold back your weapons!" Yuan Sheng ordered them. The warriors behind him set a kung fu pose.

The guards couldn't believe their eyes. "Your Majesty?!"

"Put down your spears and nobody gets hurt."

Without protesting more, the guards did as what they were told.

"B-but ...Your Majesty, what are you doing here?" one of the guards asked, his eyes squinted at the warriors suspiciously. "And what are you doing with them?"

Yuan Sheng ignored the questions. "Let us in."

Feeling under a threat, the other guard fingered a horn tied to his belt. Just one blow from it, and more guards from the palace would come to their aid.

But he was not so lucky. Quickly, Monkey kicked him and snatched the horn with his long tail before slamming it to the ground and crushing it into pieces. The guards watched in horror.

"I'm sure you don't wish to meet the same fate as that thing," Yuan Sheng continued, not in a threating tone, "unless, of course, if you refuse to let us in."

"B-but ...Your Majesty, we can't. Emperor's order!"

Yuan Sheng snapped his fingers, giving a signal to the warriors. The guards gulped in alarm. Not long after that, sound of punching and kicking was heard, the two guards fell headfirst and went unconscious.

"We should've done that earlier," Mantis scolded, looking down at their victims.

"So, we just go inside?" Viper suggested.

"No, we can't," Crane rejected. "There must be thousands of guards in there. We're not enough to fight them all."

Po smiled. "That's why we brought him, right?" he gestured to the prince, who just raised an eyebrow in wonder as he watched Po approached one of the unconscious guards and removed his armor. "Put this on and get in there."

Yuan Sheng was upset. "You'll let me look for Tigress all by myself?!"

"You're the only one who can talk some sense into her. She'll listen to you."

"It's not Tigress I am worried about, Dragon Warrior, but the guards."

"They won't know you."

"What if they do?"

"They won't kill you. You're the prince, after all."

"You forgot that my father has disowned me."

"Ugh ... alright. Take Mantis."

"This little guy?"

Mantis groaned. "Hey, are you serious – sending me along in this suicide mission?"

After a brief debate for one minute, finally Yuan Sheng agreed with Po's plan. He exchanged his robe for the armor they'd stolen. The helmet he wore – which Mantis hid under – and the lack of light in the night would make the prince difficult to be recognized.

"Now go," Po ordered. "We'll be waiting here."

Yuan Sheng set his helmet right, picking up a spear, pushing the gate open and stepping inside.

As they had anticipated, the palace courtyard seemed quiet. Only few soldiers roamed on guard duty. One of them spotted Yuan Sheng and stopped him in his tracks.

"You! What are you doing here?!" His voice sounded harsh. "Go back to your post!"

Yuan Sheng cleared his throat, inhaled a deep breath and tried to fake his voice. "I brought a message I must deliver to Master Tigress." he said calmly.

The guard squinted. "What kind of message?"

"I am afraid I cannot tell you. This is very classified."

The guard gave a smirk. "Well then, you can keep your classified message to yourself. Master Tigress has already left."

"To where?"

The guard snorted. "Darknest Land."

Yuan Sheng tried his best not to surprise. "Oh, why did she go?"

"Who cares! That fainthearted woman is not worthy of being our leader!"

Yuan Sheng felt a bit of relief wash over him. It was safer to meet and talk to Tigress when her mind was not focusing on war. They still had time to catch up with her. "Oh, well, that's bad. She promised to pay me for this message."

"It's good that she quit. It's an open secret she attempted to betray us. The emperor has no use for her."

"Well then," Yuan Sheng pretended to look disappointed for not getting the money. "Then I'll better go back to my post."

With a hurried move, Yuan Sheng attempted to leave. But before he turned, the guard grabbed his shoulder.

"Not so fast!"

And that's when he finally had a closer look on Yuan Sheng. His eyes widened.

"I knew it! You're Prince Yua -"

He never had a chance to complete his words because a small, yet strong kick was landed on his face, sending him flying across the arena courtyard a few meters away. Clinking sounds echoed throughout the arena, breaking the silence of the night.

"Quick! Run!" Mantis yelled from within the helmet.

"Hey, you!" there was an exclamation from another guard from afar. "Stop right there!"

Neither Yuan Sheng nor Mantis stopped. As they made their way to the gate, the tiger whispered in panic to the warriors outside who already had anticipated the situation.

"Don't ask. Just take us away from here! Now!"

As the guards reached the main gate, they could find nothing except for two unconscious guards and silhouettes of the warriors being carried away by a bird soaring in to the dark sky.