Chapter 7: The Curse

Silvermist and Kai looked at each other. "I'm going to end this now," Kai said firmly.

"Don't bet on it," Silvermist said back.

"You don't stand a chance against me. I'm going to end this once and for all," Kai said with a growl.

Silvermist growled back and then the two raced to see who could eat the most dumplings. Fengbao and Sue finished getting their food and turned back to their table. They stopped once they saw the two at it again. They had done the same thing everyday for a week.

It had been a week since Silvermist's temper and the two had been training. Now, they did their usual eating competition.

Their chopsticks picked up dumpling after dumpling quickly and without one slip up. Silvermist and Kai didn't exchange any looks, they kept their focus on the dumplings.

Sue rolled her eyes while Fengbao chuckled. "Want to go see who shall win?"

"I don't care," Sue said simply with a sigh.

The two walked over to their table and saw the competition was winding down. Kai and Silvermist stopped momentarily. They looked at one another.

Their cheeks filled with dumplings and both of them tired of eating them. They both swallowed and saw three more dumplings. Kai felt sick and so did Silvermist. "I dare you to," Kai told her.

Silvermist looked at him and narrowed her eyes. She grinned and stuck the chopsticks through the three dumplings and ate them. She swallowed and asked with her grin, "Who's the champion now?"

Kai sighed and let his head hit the table. "Kai," Sue said firmly.

Kai looked up at his mother who was giving him a look. He sat up straight and tried not to laugh. Sue smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Mom," Kai whined.

"So, who won?" Fengbao asked.

Silvermist held her head up high, her tail wagged. "I did," she said proudly.

Kai just said glumly, "Yeah, she did."

Fengbao chuckled again. "So I guess Silvermist is in the lead," he said.

"Only by five," Kai said.

Silvermist smiled and stuck his tongue at him. "Why don't you two go and play?" Sue suggested.

The two nodded and slowly walked to the hall. They felt stuffed. "Let's agree on one thing," Kai began. "We don't run."

Silvermist nodded, feeling over stuffed as well. The two trudged to their hideout unnoticed.

"Now, let's take a long break before we start training okay?" Silvermist said.

Kai nodded. They leaned against the door, playing rock, paper, scissors. Then, they heard a fight from the other side of the door.

Kai looked through the lock. He couldn't see much, but he could tell it was the rhino that had gotten beaten up by Silvermist.

The rhino was demanding something from a little sheep. "P-please leave me be. I d-don't have w-what you want," she stuttered.

The rhino narrowed his eyes and yelled, "You better give it to me now or else you will not live a good life here."

"I'm not happy here anyway," she told him.

The rhino was about charge at the little sheep, but she got away quickly. The rhino stopped before ramming into the door.

Kai looked at Silvermist who was chasing after her own tail. "Break time is over, we have to save that sheep!"

"Okay," she said after catching her tail.

Kai swung open the door and once the rhino guard saw Silvermist he stood back. Kai saw he was afraid of her and pushed her forward. "Are you sure you want to face this wolf? The wolf that floored you a week ago?"

The rhino guard shook his head no. Silvermist narrowed her eyes and growled, "What did you want from that sheep?"

"I just wanted to know where she kept our leader's yard tools," the rhino said.

"Since when does your boss need a yard tool if he doesn't have a yard?" Kai asked.

"Our leader doesn't stay here, you fool. He lives up there," the rhino guard said pointing upwards.

"You mean, that sheep got up there?" Kai asked.

The rhino nodded. Kai smiled and pushed Silvermist closer to the guard. "How do we get out?"

Silvermist growled and the rhino guard blurted out in a rush, "I can't tell you otherwise our boss will kill me!"

Kai sighed and took a step back. "Then at least tell us where that sheep is being held," Kai said.

"She's in the room just across from you," he said.

"Thank you," Silvermist said.

The two left the guard and planned to ask the sheep questions. They knocked on the door and it slowly opened. The little sheep looked to see who it was and asked softly, "Who are you?"

"Hi I'm Silvermist," she said happily and loudly.

The sheep was startled and slammed the door shut. Kai just looked at her and she smiled sheepishly. Kai knocked on the door again. "Listen, we're sorry. My friend Silvermist is just a little excited is all."

The sheep slowly opened the door and looked up at the two. "W-what do you w-want with me?" she asked nervously.

"We just wanted to ask how you got out. Up to the top where the goat keeps his yard tools," said Kai.

"You don't want to know," the sheep said shivering.

"Please tell us," Silvermist begged.

The sheep looked down and then said, "The torn down city outside of this building has a secret entrance. You know by that worn down building that looks 'V' shaped?"

Silvermist and Kai both nodded. They knew the odd looking building well. That's where Fengbao was always forced to go to. He would have to clean up the large half torn down building by himself.

"Well," the female sheep continued. "To the left of that, looks just like the rest of the horrible village, but is actually an invisible passage way to the hall."

Silvermist's tail wagged. Kai felt his heart pound. They were intrigued at the thought of freedom.

"But," the sheep said, which made them stop. "There's a terrible beast that guards that hall! It's a fire monster that's totally huge and scary!"

"We can take him!" Kai said confidently.

Silvermist wagged her tail. "Sure we can," she said positively.

"I don't know. He was asleep when I snuck in. Also there are these weapons that appear out of nowhere."

"Random flying weapons? Awesome," Kai said happily.

"Just be careful," the sheep said. She heard her mother call her name. "Farewell."

"Wait, what's your," Silermist began, but the door closed and she heard the lock click.

She looked at Kai. "Well, let's go," she said.

Kai jumped up and down, no longer feeling tired and stuffed from the meal. "Now, you have to be prepared for this. We just might get out chance of freedom from this one trip."

Silvermist nodded. "I will, Kai."

"And another thing," Kai added starting to pace back and forth. "We should have nicknames for each other so the guards don't get too familiar with our names."

"Okay. How about I be Wolf and you could be Lion?" Silvermist suggested.

"Nah," Kai disagreed. He pondered while pacing and then came up with something. "You could be Misty. I could be," he paused and said proudly, "The Magnificent Kai!"

Silvermist rolled her eyes and said, "Misty is a good nickname, but I don't know about Magnificent Kai."

Kai shrugged, "I think it's good."

Silvermist just grabbed his arm and led him towards the torn down village that was just outside the building. "I'll just call you Kai, for now."

The two looked both ways as they managed to get out of the building. They saw people in line to see someone. They had no idea who it was though.

Kai looked behind them and saw a guard spot them. He grabbed her paw and said, "Hurry, they've spotted us!"

Silvermist at first was too unfocused to run fast. Her thoughts were on returning to her parents. She smiled and her heart raced. She ran on all fours and started out running Kai.

Kai had to go on all fours to catch up. The guards were losing their breath.

"There's the 'V' shaped building, Kai," Silvermist said to the mountain lion cub.

He nodded. He looked over to the left. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," she responded.

The two leapt for the secret entrance and tumbled onto the ground. Silvermist blinked. They had done it! They had gone through the secret passage way.

She looked over to her right. She shook Kai as he tried to catch his breath. "Come on, Kai! We're almost there!"

Kai opened his eyes. They were in a dark, gloomy, slightly cold hall. There are so many halls in this place, thought Kai.

Kai slapped her paw. She stopped shaking him. She smiled and looked ahead, but frowned once she saw through an eerie mist were a pair of red eyes.

She shivered. "Alright," Kai said getting up and brushing the dust off of him. "Let's keep going."

Silvermist was too scared to respond. The eyes narrowed at her and sent a chill down her spine. Her tail tucked between her legs and her ears went flat down.

Kai saw the eyes and got into his fighting stance. "Toughen up, Misty," he said using her new nickname.

Silvermist shook her head when she snapped out of her fear. She got into her fighting pose as well. A loud roar erupted from where the eyes were.

The fire monster the sheep had told them about came out from the mist. It looked down at them. It seemed to smile and chuckle softly.

The fire monster didn't see them as a threat. He didn't see anyone as a threat since he was much stronger than anyone he had ever faced.

Kai felt something hit the back of his feet. He looked at Silvermist. "Misty, don't hit me."

Silvermist looked at her best friend. "I didn't hit you."

The two looked behind him and saw that they were a pair of nunchucks. "The mysterious weapons," said Kai remembering the sheep's words.

He took it and hurled it at the fire monster who was still chuckling. The nunchucks hit the side of his face and it snarled.

It let out another roar and breathed out fire. The two quickly dodged the fire blast and tried to find more weapons. Silvermist called out, "Come out nunchucks! Here nunchuck."

Kai saw a sword swing his way. He quickly ducked and grabbed it after it hit the floor. He ran towards the monster and swung at its hand.

The sword left a cut on the fire monster's hand and it snarled at the lion cub. It bent down and picked Kai up in its jaw, grabbing Kai by the scruff of his neck.

"Put me down," he growled.

Kai winced from the flames that completely covered the fire monster. Kai rubbed his arm and struggled to get out. Some of the fur on his arm was singed.

Kai saw Silvermist run over with a bo staff in her paws. She jumped up and swung it at its head. The fire monster growled and accidently dropped Kai.

Kai hit the ground and saw a chance to run past it. "Misty, follow me," he called out running underneath the monster.

Silvermist threw the bo staff aside and followed him.

The two ran for their lives with the fire monster now coming after them. Silvermist saw some stairs that led up to a trapdoor.

Kai let Silvermist go up first. He saw the fire monster was too close. He looked around for something. He saw a nunchuck by his feet. He had only once chance. He needed only a few minutes to run. He twirled it in the air and then threw it at the monster.

The fire monster closed its eyes shut and roared out in pain from the hard hit to its head.

Silvermist waited for Kai and they opened the door. They climbed up and shut the door closed.

They looked around. They were in a shack. It was filled with yard tools.

Silvermist gazed at the different things. She gently touched the shovel. She remembered helping her mother with the garden.

Kai chuckled softly once he saw a watering can. "What's so funny?" she asked.

"I always rolled in the mud and dirt. My mother got so tired of me leaving mud all over the floor so she rinsed me with the watering can," Kai explained making Silvermist giggle.

Kai and Silvermist felt cold. He looked at her with a wide smile. "Are you ready?" asked Kai.

"I'm ready. We'll go outside and go back for your parents," said Silvermist.

He nodded. He swung open the shack's door and the light shone in. The light hit Silvermist's eyes and she closed them. She only caught a glimpse of the world outside of the shack.

She opened her silver eyes and panicked. She was back in the dungeon room. She breathed in and out heavily. Tears welled up in her eyes. "No! I was so close," she cried.

Kai searched for her desperately. "Misty? Misty?! Silvermist, where are you?" he called out.

Silvermist wiped the tears away from her eyes. I'm never getting out of here, she thought sadly.