Chapter 18
Reunite and into the Fight
"Gongmen City! The Black Moon Pack, which we thought only existed in the ghost stories we tell around the campfire at night, is coming for the city." I stood on a platform on the palace walls addressing my people. "You all need to get hunkered down in your homes and find a way to protect yourselves, should the Master's Council, our friends from the Jade Palace, and I fail to stop the wolves from getting to the city."
The Kung Fu Masters Council had made it to the city that afternoon, after I had sent out a summons to them. I was glad they had made it so quickly. Master Shilee(sh-I-lee, female), a gangly, striped okapi from far western China, who fought with a bamboo staff like Monkey; Master Jade (female), a cheetah who fought with perfect precision and speed (she had written the Seven Scrolls of Stealth); and Master An (female), a spunky red panda from eastern China who seemed to have a history with Shifu (Sorry their all girls, I felt like we needed a bit of girls to kick some butt in this story XD too many guys ;)). They stood to either side of me with Storming Ox and Croc to my immediate left and right.
"We won't let you fight alone!" A brave antelope called from the crowd. The crowd nodded and murmured their agreement.
"I will not be alone. I will have my fellow masters by my side. I cannot put you in danger because of this." I replied.
"We will be in danger anyway! You stood by us to rebuild this city; so we shall stand by you to preserve it!" He replied and the entire city cheered their approval.
"You can't turn them away now." Shifu beamed.
"I suppose you're right." I chuckled and nodded to Ox so he could open the gates. "If you wish to fight, then I must do my best to equip you. Come in the palace and follow me to the armory." I called out to them and soared down to the courtyard. Eagerly the males and a few rebellious females followed me to the old wolf barracks where we had preserved our armor and weapons. I threw open the doors. "Take what you need and find a master. You'll be part of their squad and will take orders from them. Good luck, my brave warriors."
"Thank you Lien!" They placed a fist in their hands and bowed to me. I returned the gesture and beamed.
"Well done Master Lien-Hua." Master Shilee came up behind me with a smile on her stripped face. "Most female rulers never gain this much respect from their people. In that regard, I am jealous of you. Well done." She gave me a playful pout then grinned again.
"Thank you master, but I am not ruling alone. Shen will be free from the mountain soon and we shall rule together." I explained.
"Maybe I'll stick around for the wedding. Whadda you guys say?" Master Jade stepped up, her bright green eyes glowing, and playfully elbowed the okapi.
"I think that would be a grand idea." Master An agreed.
"I would be greatly honored if you ladies chose to stay." I nodded to each of them, "But if you'll excuse me now, I must take a head count. Talk to you later." With that I flew back to my perch on the wall and looked around. I had about five hundred people in the courtyard, all ready and willing to fight for me. I swelled with pride.
"Would you just look at yourself? You're practically glowing." The voice came from behind me, and it made my world pause; I felt tears brim in my eyes as I slowly turned around. There, standing as though he couldn't really believe he was their either, was Shen. He had a soft smile on his beak and his eyes, too, brimmed with happy tears.
"H…How did you…?" I asked stepping up to him and reaching my wing out to stroke his face. He leaned into my wing and caressed my cheek. I felt a warm chill as his flight feathers tickled down my neck to rest on my shoulder.
"I knew I had to get back to my city; and you." He crooned so only I could hear. Two full seconds later, I was wrapped in the warmest hug, my beak pressed to his in a long, passionate kiss. I couldn't help but let my tears fall as I pulled him closer to me, just so I could make sure the peacock in my wings was real. It seemed as though it was all a dream; a wonderful wonderful dream.
"Don't cry, my love." Shen murmured as the kiss broke. "I'm here, and I always will be." He dried my eyes and locked his handsome red-amber ones with mine. "Always." He used my own line against me, the scamp! It made even more of my happy tears fall as I laughed.
"I have no words to tell you how happy I am that you are really alive, and back in my wings." I gasped through the waterworks. Then I pulled him into a tight hug again and buried my face in his shoulder.
"I came as fast as I could after we got out of the mountain." Shen told me through his own soft tears.
"We?" I sniffled and stepped back. He nodded and that soft smile that seemed to be plastered on both of our faces, brightened.
"Yeah. We're here too sis." It was Shen's turn to step to the side so I could see my twin brother and sister looking at me with joy filled faces, their own eyes misted over.
"Genji-Feng? Bo-Chen? It really is you!" I cried and ran up to hug them both. They met me halfway and I was soon enveloped in their golden feathers. Together we cried our eyes out in pure elation of being together again after all these years. We stood there for what seemed like forever and I couldn't have been happier.
Soon Shen snuggled into the hug pile and every single bystander "awed" as we stood there in the sunshine wrapped in each other's wings. "You've gotten so big!" I ruffled their feathers as we stepped apart.
"And what about you? You're going to be the queen of our city!" Genji teased and punched my wing.
"Aw, that's nothing! You guys are going to be turning, what now? Eighteen?" I smiled as Shen wrapped his wing around my shoulders and I snuggled into his feathers.
"Twenty actually." Bo-Chen giggled and hugged me again.
"Twenty! Jeez, do I feel old." I pouted, and Shen rubbed my shoulder affectionately; letting his actions speak what was in his mind.
"Just kidding. It is eighteen." They chorused and I ruffled both their crests.
"Ornery to the core." I shook my head.
"We learn from the absolute best." Genji ruffled up and smiled as I rolled my eyes. Then an eerie howl drifted across the valley.
"Oh right!" I stood and faced the outer wall. "Shen, darling, we seem to be under attack." I looked to him and smiled slyly.
"Is that so? Well, actually, that howl would be our reinforcements." Shen beamed.
"Reinforcements?" I asked as my family lead me over to the outer wall. The black wolves had made it to the outer edges of the field and were full out running for us now. "The Black Moon Pack? They're evil, Shen!" I exclaimed.
"No! Not them! Look at the mountain." He pointed to where the tunnels would be and I watched as a huge pile of rock bust out of place and hundreds of pure-white wolves spilled out of the hole.
"The Snow Pack! You found them!" I kissed Shen again. "How did you do it?"
"It's a long story really, but when we were trapped in the tunnels, we met Sariah, who seems to be of high birth among the pack." Shen explained.
"She got us out of the tunnels and we met her whole pack. Those coming out of the mountain," My little brother pointed to the seemingly endless stream of white wolves, "That's only half of them!" In that moment the Black Moon Pack took notice of the silvery canines and stopped. A few words were exchanged between a young female and the huge black alpha male.
"That's Sariah, talking to Rafael." Bo-Chen told me.
"She's very brave." I replied.
"They have her mother and father. She has to get..." A blood-curdling howl broke the tension in the air and the two packs charged. "Oh no!" My little sister gasped as Sariah was pinned by the black male.
"We have to help them! The rest of the pack isn't here yet!" Genji keened a battle cry and took off, with Bo-Chen on his tail, to help the little she wolf.
"We can't let them have all the fun now can we?" I asked Shen with a gleam in my eyes.
"Of course not." Together we walked to the platform to address our soldiers. "My people! Now is the time for us to defend our city from the ones who think they can take it from us! To Arms!" Shen called and the people roared their approval.
"And to Battle!" I cried. Simultaneously, the white peacock and I keened our battle cry and our people cheered even louder. The soldiers ran through the streets and out onto the field as the Master's Council, The Furious Five, Po, and Shifu sprang over the palace and city walls.
"Through here!" Sariah called to the wolves following her through the dark tunnels. "This one up here should be right where we want to be." She was running point with Garrett and his team right on her tail. The, former, hermit was truthfully elated to be back with her pack. She hadn't realized how much she missed the company of other creatures until Shen, Bo-Chen, and Genji arrived.
"You sure know what you're doing." Garrett panted, lengthening his stride to run alongside her. "If it were me I'd have gotten lost long ago."
"That's why I'm leading and you're not." Sariah snipped.
"What's eatin' you? You get a tick or something down here?" The male teased. Sariah had to stifle her growl.
"No." Was all the she wolf said as she pulled up at a pile of rock. "This is where we need to break through. Get to work." Garrett joined his wolves and hefted a section of the log they had carried in to use as a battering ram.
"On three. One…Two…Three!" They chanted over and over as they slammed into the rocks. Instantly they started to crumble.
"There you go boys! Perfect! Keep it going!" Sariah cheered as the log finally broke through. Instantly they started throwing rocks into the valley and her squad poured through the opening.
"For freedom!" Some of the dogs called as they sprinted down the mountain to meet the Black Moon Pack on the field of battle. Howls rang out across the valley floor and Rafael stopped.
"Here I come." Sariah breathed to herself and caught Garrett's smile as he heard her.
"Try to keep your head this time." He teased. Before she could reply they reached the black wolves.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't our cowardly little trespasser." Rafael stood almost two heads taller than Sariah but she faced him with her teeth bared and fur bristled. "I had really thought you to be dead after all of this time, but no."
"Cut the talk Rafael." She growled and the two began to circle each other. "Where are my parents?"
"Oh you mean the ones that you attacked and ran away from like a scared little pup? They're right here." The huge black wolf stopped so she could see the small group of white wolves within his ranks.
"Sariah?" An old male asked and stepped forward. A few of the black wolves growled at him but didn't move to stop him.
"Baba?" Both pricked their ears and a shocked look was plastered on their faces.
"You did survive." The male breathed.
"Of course I did. I'm your daughter." She moved to walk up to him.
"Oh how sweet." Rafael crooned jumping between them. "Too bad, Talon, that you thought her dead for all these years. Now you get to watch as she really dies!" Before any one of them could blink Sariah was pinned to the ground, the huge black alpha male pressing on her throat.
"No!" Talon howled and charged into Rafael's ribs. "This is the last battle. You and me."
"Just the way I wanted it!" The black wolf leaped forward, fangs bared, for Snow Pack's alpha male.
"Sariah! Get up!" Garrett ran over to the little she wolf and helped her to her paws. Sariah was gasping for breath, but was able to rise.
"That was the scariest thing that has ever happened to me." She said.
"Same here." The young male nuzzled her nose and smiled.
"Aww, how cute!" Two beta wolves jumped forward to meet Garrett with smirks on their muzzles, and Sariah realized the there was a wiry little female looking at her with nothing but hatred in her eyes.
"Bring it!" Sariah snarled and shot forward to meet her in midair. They collided and slammed into the dirt biting and clawing at each other with all their might. The black female grabbed her by the nape of her neck and Sariah went completely limp. Then the enemy dropped her on the grass and dove to bite her neck. Then she jumped up, and flipped her opponent onto her back. Pressing a paw to her throat Sariah growled, "Get out of here and never let me see your ugly face again!"
The other she wolf whimpered and wiggled to her feet. Then tucking her tail she ran for the mountains. "Take that. And that! Yeah, that's right! Get outta here before I really go crazy on ya!" Sariah turned to see Genji-Feng fighting back to back with his sister. They were demonstrating incredible Kung Fu skills and sending the wolves nearest them packing.
"Good job guys!" Sariah called to them. They smiled and waved, but were attacked again. Where is Shen? She wondered. Just then a keening battle cry came from the walls of the city, which were far closer than Sariah had thought, and she saw the silhouettes of two full grown peacocks dive into the battle. Asked and answered. She smiled.
More and more creatures came flying over the walls. The Furious Five came as one being plowing through wolves and making Sariah's jaw drop open. The Master's Council, along with the Dragon Warrior and his master, spread throughout the fray to squeeze the Black Moon pack into tighter quarters. Then, from the city, charged hundreds of citizens waving strange swords and cutlasses, and screaming at the top of their lungs.
YYYYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSS! Finally Shen and Lien are together again! I'm sorry I just had to celebrate a little there. XD I will also have to inform you that I will be a little slow from here on out, just because Spring Break is over and I really have to focus on school, 'cause there's only 10 weeks of school left! haha!