Hello Gulefritz here with chapter 7 of Clash of warriors.
I am sorry for not uploading anything recently, but has been busy lately, mainly due to university projects and ofc examns.
But I am finally ready with chapter 7 and I decided to post it, so please tell me what you think and tell me if you want anything added in the story in the future.
Until then, lets get on with the show.
The furious five and Tai Lung continued their march towards Yungle pass the next day, and the six masters were meet with a sight they did not like. The trail of refugees from Thi-Dah increased the closer the group got to the pass, and the longer they got, the more trouble they found.
The citizens of Thi-Dah did not believe in the art of Kung Fu, which is rather odd since their King was a practitioner of the art. Because of this, they kept thinking that Tai Lung and Tigress were members of the Mongol Army and the remaining masters were either mercenaries or slaves to the two Mongol warriors. Several civilians screamed when they saw the masters, while some of the bolder actually went ahead and challenged the masters to combat.
Luckily enough, several imperial guards had been sent from the outlying villages and garrisons to maintain peace and order, and several rhino guards went before the scared Thi-Dah citizens and tried to explain the situation. In some cases, it worked, but in most people did not believe the guards, especially those who looked like felines, and thought they were tricks send by the Mongol Khan.
Tai Lung was happy when they reached the pass, that the number of refugees decreased, and therefore the amount of screams were reduced as well. He tried to cower the fact he hated that people were frightened of him, even going as far as claiming it was his fault. All he wanted to be, was a hero of the empire, and now some of its subjects were afraid of him.
The group walked up a hill and finally reached their destination, Yungle pass.
The emperor had sent out an elite force known as the Anvil of Heaven to hold back the Mongols at Yungle and make sure that no further harm could be done to the refugees coming from the vassal kingdom.
The Anvil had set op several barricades and started setting up small sentry towers. A messenger had reached the anvil that they would receive reinforcement and for that reason, Commander Vachir had set up several small tents, enough for at least two hundred men, and was expanding the camp for a whole imperial garrison of a thousand soldiers.
But no one had told him that the furious five or Tai Lung would join him.
He did not hate to see the six masters of the hade palace come to his aid, and to be fair he could use their aid, but he knew that two of the masters were felines, the same kind of felines that sent the people of Thi-Dah into this disaster they found themselves in. it would be sure to cause some trouble, not only amongst the people of Thi-Dah, but also amongst his own men, as some of them were from Thi-Dah.
But the one he was worried the most about, would be his "guest" from the vassal kingdom. King Teemutai, the younger, son of the legendary warrior king who dies not more than a week ago, had decided to find whatever followers that would fight for him and decided to aid the anvil of heaven and to be fair, they had been effective and setting up the camp and keeping the peace, but Vachir had honestly no idea what would happen when the young ruler sees two of the six masters. Did not help them that there had been a battle the day before.
"Master Tigress is at least smaller than the average Mongol tiger, wished I could say the same for Tai Lung" Vachir thought to himself, as he was in the middle of a meeting with the King.
A rhino entered Vachir's tent and looked very serious at the commander. Vachir nodded at the guard.
"What is it Huncun"
Huncun looked outside at some commotion outside before turning back to the commander.
"Our special guests has arrived"
Immediately Teemutai looked at Vachir and raised his eyebrow curiously at the Anvil commander.
"Special guests?"
"Here we go"
Vachir turned to the young water buffalo and nodded at him.
"The heavenly emperor has send some of his most powerful subject to our aid. Six ma-"
"Six! Emperor Aizong knows that my kingdom, the one protecting his court from the northern barbarians, is overrun and sends six warriors to aid us! Is this a mockery!"
Vachir shook his head at the buffalo and even glared at him.
"Before letting you dishonor the emperor any further with your disrespect to his judgement, will I tell you that he sends the most experienced warriors in the empire. He sends us the masters of the Jade Palace, people who are able to take out armies on their own"
Vachir nodded at Huncun, signaling to let the six masters inside of the tent. The rhino nodded, and the six masters entered, and the result from Teemutai was immediate.
Upon seeing Tai Lung enter the camp did the king immediately point at the snow leopard and looked trouble ensued.
"Ha! Strongest masters! They have been beaten into submission by a Mongol! Guards seize the Mongol!"
With that all the Thi-Dah soldiers stormed forward, raised their weapons and tried to strike down Tai Lung. The snow leopard dodged the attacks and a small battle ensued.
Tai Lung ducked under the arm of the water buffalo and applied a quick and powerful attack to its stomach, sending it back landing on the table in the middle of the room.
Another comes from the right, this one much closer, armed with a halberd. The buffalo thrusted his halberd forward in an attempt to force the snow leopard back, or injure him, Tai Lung did not know, but his form was sloppy, and the snow leopard easily disarmed the guard.
Tai Lung hit the tip of the blade with a claw which send strong vibrations from the metal down the shaft. The force was so strong, it exploded the halberd at the middle of the shaft, sending out splinters everywhere. The buffalo stared in shock, but only for a moment, as soon enough the leopard moved forward and with two fingers hit him in the middle of the chest, stunning the guard.
Tai Lung turned around and noticed the remaining guards, mostly men from China, not Thi-Dah, were not fighting. He nodded at them and they bowed. He returned the bow and turned back to face Vachir and Teemutai the younger.
"I hope you have a good explanation for this Vachir, an attack on the Masters of the Jade Palace equal that of an attack on the Emperor's men"
The Rhino sighed and thumbed in Teemutai's way.
"Did you honestly think I would try to take you down, and then send that rabble? Ha, I know I need more than a thousand soldiers to take you down. No, it was this guy over here who did it"
Teemutai looked shocked at the power of Tai Lung and finally shook out of it, when Vachir insulted him by dropping his title.
"How dare you insult me Commander, how could I believe a filthy Mongol would be one of the strongest warriors the emperor has to throw at me. Tell me, what has he done and why should I believe he is not what he looks like, a dirt savage who knows some tricks"
Vachir glared at the water buffalo and Teemutai actually backed down as he saw the angered rhino.
"I dared, because you lost the moral high ground when you attacked and insulted the emperor's men. You've done enough for the Masters here not to aid you in reclaiming your lost kingdom"
Teemutai actually smiled, not disliking the thought, but Vachir spoke again and Teemutai paled.
"And if that happens, trust me, then no Han soldier will cross the border to Thi-Dah, not even the Emperor will aid anyone who disrespect him on that level"
Vachir then turns to look at the masters, focusing on Tai Lung.
"That savage Mongol you talked about, is Master Tai Lung, master of a thousand scrolls. The amount of deeds he has done for the emperor is enough to give him a vassal Kingdom ten times the size of Thi-Dah"
Vachir then turns to look at the table with the knocked out guard. Vachir goes and pushes him off the table, revealing a map of China, Thi-Dah, Manchuria and Japan. He points at the Liaoning province, a recently conquered part of the empire.
"Surely your old father told you of the Manchurian Wars. Where his armies besieged the nomadic people of Manchuria who were raiding our lands. The Manchus had fortified the city of Shenyang and would have held it for years without resupply. Hundreds of thousands would have been lost, had this Savage as you put it stormed the gate and taken out the guards. He even saved the general and the contingent, lead by your father, who had been captured by the Manchu Khan"
Teemutai turns to look at the snow leopard, still doubting the deeds of the snow leopard. He decided to drop the matter and walked out of the tent, heading for own tent. He stopped as he passed the other masters, eyeing Tigress for a moment, before leaving them behind.
Vachir led out a loud sigh.
"Finally, that buffoon left me. Had it not been for your arrival would I have strangled that idiot and simply blocked the passage. I am sorry for the prince's action"
Tai Lung raises his hand and makes a dismissive motion.
"No offence taken Vachir, not tell us, what is the situation of Yungle Pass?"
Vachir removes one the giant map of China and folds out a smaller one, showing Yungle pass and the lands of southern Thi-Dah. Vachir points at the Imperial city of Thi-Dah and drags it down towards the pass.
"The Mongols stormed and took the Capital of Thi-Dah. They killed King Teemutai and destroyed his armies. Our scouts tells us they have raided most villages, but the looting stopped five days ago. We have seen Mongol scouts run north, no doubt gathering more men for the Khan's horde"
Vachir points at a city called Tokseong. The city is placed at the entrance to Yungle pass.
"Temujin, the one they call Genghis Khan, stormed Tokseong a day ago and completely destroyed the garrison of the city. It was held by the remaining forces of the Thi-Dah forces. Survivors told us they saw the three circles of Timur aswell, therefore we believe he is part of this aswell"
Vachir now points at the location the Anvil of Heaven barricade has been constructed.
"Right now one hundred men stands at the barricade we made. Small skirmishes has already happened, but not one attempt to take the barricade has been made. They are simply testing our skills before the charge"
Tigress would step forward, looking at the map and then to Vachir.
"Are there other ways around the pass?"
The rhino shook his head.
"All other ways are miles away, either in Manchuria or Xinjiang. Hundreds of miles to the east and west"
The master nodded, only for Tai Lung to speak up.
"When do you think the Mongols will attack?"
Vachir sighed again putting his hand to his forehead and shrugged.
"Considering how fast they took out Thi-Dah, I would say they are on their way, but I have no idea. I got no experience fighting this enemy, none of us do. They are nothing like former tribes, these are not scattered warbands under warlords, but a unified army"
The masters nodded and decided to call it for the day. Unfortunately Vachir did not have any tents prepared for them yet, and the Thi-Dah contingent were close to mutiny rather than letting a Mongol use their tents. He had a single tent for the masters to use. Tai Lung sighed.
"Those with no or thin fur should sleep inside of the tent. Mantis and Viper you are going into the tent for sure"
The two masters nodded, and before Tai Lung could say more, did Tigress immediately intervene.
"I will sleep outside under the stars aswell"
Monkey looked like he was ready to do so aswell, when a cold win from the north came and the langur immediately started shaking, together with the remaining masters. Both Tai Lung and Tigress sighed.
"It is settled then. Tigress and I will sleep under the stars, while you four will share the tent together, as good as you possibly can. Now, get some rest"
The five looked to the sky and noticed the sun was going down. Tai Lung and Tigress looked around and found a hill outside of the camp and decided to use that for their camping area. The snow leopard set up a small bonfire and Tigress lit it using two pieces of flint.
The snow leopard opened a backpack he brought with him from the Jade Palace and found a piece of bread. He broke it into two pieces and handed one piece to Tigress. She took the bread and thanked the snow leopard.
"Thank you... Tell me, why did we make camp outside the Anvil's Camp, wouldn't it seem strange to the Anvil of the Heaven?"
"This way we are away from the Thi-Dah contingent. I would rather cause some distrust in the camp than sleep near armed soldiers who believe me to be their enemy"
Tigress nodded. She did not like it, but she preferred it over being near the soldiers. Tigress looked to the sky and pointed at a constellation she had seen in the past.
"Look, the picture of the first master of Kung Fu, Chang An is in the sky. Been years since I saw that, Shifu has not taken me out to look at the sky for years now.
Tai Lung looked at the constellation and smiled. Master Chang An was a tiger from Southern China, near Guangxi. He was the inventor of the tiger style. The Snow leopard always found it fun, that the original Kung Fu practitioner preferred strong and fast strikes over the more nimble and soft blows that had been made as time passed. I was once like him.
"Tai Lung?"
The snow leopard snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards Tigress.
"Hmm?"
"You were zoned out. I asked if Shifu had taken you out to look at the stars recently"
The snow leopard shook his head.
"Shifu has not done it for decades with me. We stopped doing it when I was nine years old, three years after I hit the dummy the first time. After that he focused on my training to become the dragon warrior"
Tai Lung looked down as he mentioned the title he never got. The title that was supposed to be held by a stupid fat panda back at the temple. The simple thought made the leopard angry, bringing up thoughts he never thought were there.
"Tai Lung?"
This time Tigress sounded both concerned and a little scared.
"Sorry, what did you ask?"
Tigress shook her and smiled at the leopard.
"You were growling and your claws are out. Do you want to talk about -"
Tai Lung immediately interrupted her.
"No, I do not wish to talk about it. I was not the Dragon Warrior and that is the will of my master. I do not wish to speak any further about this. Now, it is late, we need rest for tomorrow"
Tigress's smile immediately fell. She knew the leopard was not fine with the event that happened twenty years ago and everytime she brought it up, would the snow leopard harden, determined not to show any weakness before her, or so she thought.
"Why is he so damn stubborn. One day he will be ready"
Tigress lied down on the hill, her head under her arm and the blanket over her body. They both went to rest, seeking rest after a long journey. Unknown to both, another figure, having the form of a feline, is looking at the two from the distance, and he smiles at the news he just found out about the enemy in the days to come. The figure turned around and started to climb up the cliff.
"Better bring this to Temujin, he would surely want to know about this"
With that I end chapter 7 of Clash of warriors. Tell me what you liked or disliked. Next up will be the battle of Yungle pass.