A Great Escape

Chapter 18: How to save a life

The last traces of sleep, fogginess, and confusion dissolved from Shen's mind like hot steam in the polar ice caps. He had two incredible strokes of luck back to back that kept him relatively free of harm: number one, he was already pumped full of adrenaline from his eerily prophetic nightmare, and number two, he hadn't been trained as a martial artist in order to stare into space stupidly when fatal danger was imminent.

In a single swift motion, just as Lady Xuilan was beginning to drive the dagger down towards him, he kicked himself free of his blankets and quickly rolled off of the bed mat. Her blade would have sliced into his pillow, but her reflexes were fast enough that she was able to stop up short.

Shen scrambled to his feet and flailed for one of the knives that should have been in his robe…and remembered that he hadn't been carrying any knives on him all day. He usually kept at least a few razors concealed in his sleeves, but he hadn't wanted to risk tearing his dress robe during the formal dinner that night, and he hadn't brought weapons to bed with him since losing his paranoia that one of his subordinates might kill him in his sleep. He was unarmed and unprotected, standing before a woman who obviously wanted to murder him in nothing but a thin cotton sleeping robe. All of his spare knives were packed up so that he could take them home tomorrow, and he'd never be able to reach them in time.

All of these thoughts flew through his mind in about one half of a second.

Xuilan drew herself up, her dagger clutched tightly in her fist. Its cool silver metal and the blue jewel embedded into its hilt gleamed in stark contrast to her blood-colored finery. He remembered that the one other time he had seen her in person, she'd carried an aura of self-entitlement and smug superiority about her. Right now, she seemed to be radiating bloodlust and animalistic determination. She was determined to make him her prey.

"Xun!" Shen cried, but the wolf was not in the room. He must have decided to bed down somewhere else after being subjected to Shen's little rage blackout earlier. The peacock groaned inwardly, but he reminded himself that he wasn't exactly helpless, and shifted into a fighting stance. As always happened when he got especially defensive, his magnificent train unfolded.

Xuilan didn't seem about to waste any time on formalities, and she lunged for him, blade pointing towards his throat. Shen used her own momentum against her, grabbing her outstretched wing as it neared him and swinging her towards the wall. She tumbled downwards as if he'd pushed her outright, skidding hard against the ground.

She looked up at him, stunned. Her eyes really did look like two rubies glinting up at him; they were deep red and polished, and they contained about as much of a soul as a pair of shiny rocks.

"You…" Her sharp beak curled back in a bitter snarl. "You're going to pay for that."

But Shen hadn't wasted any time; he had already flung the door open and was off and running.

…

Masters Storming Ox and Croc rushed out of their rooms at the sound of a crash in the kitchen, and were greeted by half a dozen black-clad figures in the hallway. The adversaries weren't a huge challenge to get through, but after disposing of the first batch, they saw that there were many more. "They're trying to take over the grounds!" exclaimed Croc as he dispatched one of the invaders with a lash from his tail.

"Who and what are they?" growled Storming Ox, which was when he spotted a certain wispy white figure sprinting down the hall. Instantly suspicious, he barked, "Shen! What in the gods' name is going on?"

"How should I know?" Shen called back frantically, running for the door as a grayish form pursued him.

Meanwhile Xun, ever the heavy sleeper, had nodded off in a corner of the soothsayer's room and only woke up when he heard her scream. Someone in dark clothing had broken the door down and was now advancing on her. Without thinking, he leapt up and propelled himself towards the intruder at full force. As he bared his teeth in its face, he heard it splutter out, "B-Boss?"

Xun was so shocked that he nearly released his grip on his captive. With a slightly trembling paw, he reached out and pulled away the mask concealing its face…and found himself face to face with one of the wolves from Shen's obliterated army.

"You – you're one of Shen's wolves!" gasped Xun.

The mystery wolf growled. "I was one of Shen's wolves."

Xun narrowed his eye and growled lowly in the back of his throat. He normally wasn't a particularly intimidating presence, but he saw his former subordinate swallow fearfully. "What are you doing here?" he snapped. "What's going on?"

"I-it's not my fault, Boss!" stammered the mystery wolf. "Lady Xuilan told us to come here!"

"Lady Xuilan?" repeated Xun. The named seemed to be somehow familiar, but he couldn't quite place it. "And what do you mean, 'us?' There's more of you?"

The mystery wolf nodded shakily. "Lady Xuilan gathered us together – a-almost everyone who survived Shen's defeat. She told us that he'd betrayed us and that she'd let us get revenge on him. We were all supposed to wait in a village outside the city, and then tonight she called us in and told us to come here!"

Xun's eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. He could probably get all of the information he needed about Lady Xuilan out of this wolf; he remembered that the soldiers in his army had never quite gotten the hang of keeping their mouths shut. (Then again, Xun himself had never been especially tight-lipped, either. Maybe it was a wolf thing.)

So Xun did his best to channel Shen's temper and bared his teeth menacingly. "All right. Tell me who exactly this Lady Xuilan is and what she wanted you here for, and I might let you go. Don't tell me, and you might end up with worse vision than me, if you catch my drift."

The mystery wolf seemed to be making an effort to remain silent, but he blurted it out nonetheless. "Lady Xuilan says she's the rightful ruler of the city. I don't know that much about her. She told us that Shen is trying to take over the city again and he's in league with some political advisors, so she's gonna kill Shen, she sent Lady Ming to kidnap the advisors' daughter, and we were supposed to take out the Masters Council!" His words broke off into an involuntary dog's whine. "Now please don't kill me, Boss…"

Xun lifted up the mystery wolf's head in his paw and slammed him against the wall. The wolf crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Xun turned around to find that the soothsayer had been standing there and apparently listening to the exchange, with her eyes wide and her mouth gaping.

"Nana, are you hurt?" he asked quickly.

"I'm fine!" The soothsayer narrowed her eyes into a look of fierce determination. "Xun, you must find Shen! Tell him that he is in grave danger – that Miss Xifeng is in grave danger!"

"Gotcha!" Without prolonging the conversation any further, Xun got down on all fours and bolted from the room at top speed.

…

Lanying was laying on top of her bedspread, staring up at the ceiling glumly. She knew that she needed to sleep so that she'd have enough energy for tomorrow's journey, but her eyes refused to remain closed. It was at this time of night that her ears became the most sensitive, so she tried to concentrate on the settling noises of her parents' house rather than the heartbreak that the petulant child part of her wanted to dwell on.

Then she heard what sounded like slow, deliberate footsteps coming up the stairs. She sat up a bit, listening hard. Her mother would still be too tipsy to walk so carefully, so maybe Jie was coming up to talk to her or see if she was awake. But these didn't sound like her father's footsteps, either; she had never known him to move in a way that enabled him to make barely a sound, and she didn't hear the shh-shh of his train dragging against the floor. "Father?" she called uncertainly.

There was a pause. Then the door to her bedroom opened the barest sliver. She squinted into the darkness, trying to make out the shape of what had been making those footsteps. After a few seconds, she thought that she did indeed see a figure there…but the form was too slight to be her father or even her mother, it was standing in an odd position, and it hadn't said a word…

Something metallic flashed from the shadows.

Lanying screamed and threw herself out of the way just as the arrow was fired. It impaled itself into the wall just above her window, where it vibrated slightly at a pitch that sounded like a mosquito's whine. The unseen archer – Ming, although Laying didn't know that – stepped into the room, her small, slender body making almost no noise at all. She kept her eyes trained on her still-living target. Her spotted face held no disappointment for missing the shot, only blankness.

Lanying screamed again, involuntarily, when she saw how many more weapons the spotted linsang was carrying. Her mind raced, transforming into the mentality of a trapped animal (which was exactly what she had become) until her only thoughts were those of escape. There was no way she could make it to the door, so her only option was…the window.

There was no time for conscious decision. Ming was already pulling another arrow from her quiver. Lanying shoved the blackout curtains aside and threw open her window, which was more than wide enough for her to fit through. Before climbing out, though, she hesitated. Her room was on the second floor, and she knew very well that peafowl couldn't properly fly; they only glided, and peahens couldn't even do that very well. She wasn't exactly physically adept, so there was a definite chance that she could fall…

Ming slipped her arrow into position and pulled back the drawstring of her bow.

Lanying took a deep breath, spread her wings wide, and jumped out of the window.

For a moment she was soaring towards the ground gracefully, with all the lightness of a fallen leaf and all the purpose of an eagle diving for its prey. The illusion was shattered by her altogether clumsy landing. She twisted her ankle when her feet hit the ground, but with no time to waste, she took off running as Ming effortlessly shimmied down the outer wall of the house and started after her.

…

There were more wolves in the hallway, and Xun didn't want to be there long enough to risk getting recognized again. He shouted to Masters Storming Ox and Croc, "Have you seen Shen?"

"He went that way!" Croc yelled, pointing a scaly finger towards the front door of the dormitory. "Someone was chasing him!"

Xun dashed that way without pausing for breath. On all fours, his running legs turned him into a bundle of speed, power, and brute strength. Whatever he lacked in finesse, he made up for when he caught sight of Shen and Xuilan after less than two minutes. The two of them appeared to be locked in a struggle, the muscles of both birds tense and straining; Xuilan had a dagger that she was trying to force towards Shen, and Shen's lack of weapons made him only able to try and keep it away from him.

Xun didn't pause, continuing to barrel forward and gather inertia…then, taking the best aim he could manage, he launched himself into the air and tackled Xuilan to the ground.

Shen stumbled and fell, but was now out of harm's way. Xuilan found herself to be pinned beneath Xun's paws. She struggled and writhed beneath his heavy weight, trying to lift her blade, but he had made sure that her weapon hand was temporarily inaccessible.

"Get off of me!" she shrieked, the black comma-shaped markings on her face making her eyes appear to glow like coals.

Xun turned his head to the still-stunned peacock. "Shen, this lady is trying to kill you!" he cried.

Despite the dire situation, Shen managed to roll his eyes. "No, really? I hadn't noticed!"

Ignoring his sarcasm, Xun continued, "She got together all the last of the wolves from my – your – our army! They're attacking the masters, and another one of her lackeys is going to get Lanying!"

Shen might have started questioning his friend about the wolves who apparently now served Xuilan, but the name Lanying felt like a punch in the stomach to him. "What? Where is she?"

"I don't know! You have to find her!" Xun looked down just in time to see the tip of Xuilan's knife getting dangerously close to his stomach. He growled and moved his paw to clamp her arm further. "I'll try to hold this one for as long as I can!"

Shen leapt to his feet. He wasn't sure where to start searching, but he did know that he needed some sort of a weapon, and fast. He sprinted back into the dormitory, where the Masters Council had almost completely subdued their attackers, and skidded through the door of Master Croc's bedroom. There had to be at least one weapon in here, there just had to be…

The room was decorated with souvenirs from triumphant battles. Shen spotted leather armor, a broadsword, and several capes piled haphazardly on the shelves. Then he caught sight of a tall, thin object propped up in the corner, and his breath caught. It was a halberd.

Shen's signature ji had been lost after he was crushed in the final battle of Gongmen City, and he hadn't used one since, as he had yet to find a suitable replacement. But this halberd looked just like his old ji. He wondered if it actually was his, or if this was just an enormous coincidence. Either way, he grabbed it without a second thought and felt a peculiar thrill at the familiar weight and balance of the weapon.

Now focused on nothing but finding Lanying, he brandished his halberd and fled out into the city.

At the same time, Xun made the mistake of trying to manhandle Xuilan in order to get her somewhere that she could be detained. As soon as she wasn't trapped under all those pounds of lean muscle, she was able to land a sharp kick to his muzzle with her talons that made him yelp and stumble back painfully. She immediately pushed off into the air and took flight, scanning the ground for her target, not bothering to use her dagger on someone who she considered to be a worthless subordinate.

Xun rubbed his nose, only able to watch helplessly from the ground as Xuilan soared over Gongmen. "Be careful, Shen," he muttered. "Be careful…and hurry."

…

Gongmen City was huge, sprawling, dark, and freezing cold. Shen persistently ignored all of that and kept moving forward as if he knew exactly where he was going. He went with his gut instinct when he came to turns or forks in the road, encountering very few bystanders (after all, who would be out on the street at this time of night, or in these temperatures?). The cold air stung his cheeks and rubbed his lungs raw, and the winter wind effortlessly slipped sharp, icy fangs between his feathers and sleeping robe and into his skin. But he kept on going.

He wasn't sure how far he'd gotten when Xuilan swooped down from the night sky, landing on the path directly in front of him. As she spread her tail feathers and talons, he had just enough time to see how much more well-equipped for this she was than him; peacocks were show birds, made to look pretty, unable to even fly, while Xuilan had the body of a hawk and the disposition of a hunter. The dagger in her hand flashed too brightly to look at for a moment, like a shard of lightning clutched in her fist. He felt an uncanny sense of déjà-vu surge through him, realizing that this had been the scene of one of his recent nightmares. He could remember nearly every motion of the fight that he knew would now ensue…

Xuilan lunged towards him, driving the dagger in the direction of his chest, but he intercepted this move and grabbed her arm. They struggled for a moment in a frozen fight, Shen attempting to pry the blade from its dangerous wielder, Xuilan pulling and tugging and trying to shake him off. She raised her arm, striking him backwards. He tumbled into the street, but unhurt, he jumped up again immediately. He unfolded his train as he advanced on his attacker, the display of brilliant white feathers rippling in the night air like a distress flag.

"Get out of my way," he commanded, knowing very well that she'd never listen to him.

"Not until I'm finished with you!" she hissed.

"Let's make this quick, then." He raised his halberd (well, his dream wasn't perfectly accurate; he recalled being unarmed during it) and shifted into a fighting stance. "I have somewhere that I need to be."

"You're not going anywhere!" snarled Xuilan, and before he could react, she lunged towards him. For a split second, his brain seemed to put the world on freeze-frame. He experienced that same horrible moment that he had during the dream, where in her psychotic eyes, he saw a mirror image of the monster that had overtaken him for decades and that he feared still lurked below the surface…

And he realized something.

He could beat her. Xuilan was imbalanced, and he was balanced; he could beat her, just as that flabby panda had beaten him long ago. All he needed was to tap into the fierceness of his old temperament, without dredging up the instabilities and the broken tunnel vision. And it was in that one frozen moment that he realized that he never should have feared going insane again. Even if his temper got the better of him sometimes, that was hardly something that only happened to him. After all, he needed just a little insanity to counterbalance the fact that he was now predominantly sane. That was the only way to maintain his natural balance.

He reached inside of himself, feeling his temper kept repressed inside of him, hot and simmering and ready to seize him when he got too emotional. Without trepidation, he released it.

Time returned to normal speed, and Xuilan slashed at him, again and again and again. He spun his halberd with ease, deflecting every blow. She was definitely skilled in kung fu, and normally her demonic fervor would have gotten the better at him, but Shen fought like a man possessed and kept her attacks at bay. The two of them stabbed and blocked and grappled, circling each other as if closing in for the kill…

Suddenly, something flew over Shen's head and barreled into Xuilan, knocking her off-kilter. Before she could recover, two muscular figures grabbed her from behind, liberated her of her dagger, and pinned her against the nearest wall. Shen snapped out of his vehement state just in time to realize that it was Xun, Storming Ox, and Croc who had come to his aide.

"Hey, buddy," grinned Xun as he twirled Xuilan's dagger between his fingers. "Fancy seeing you here."

"Xun!" Shen blinked, startled, then managed to return the smile. "Thank you for that, I suppose…although I was doing fine on my own."

The wolf snorted. "Oh, come on. You know you would have run out of steam eventually."

"I wouldn't start joking around just yet," warned Storming Ox as he and Croc kept Xuilan pressed against the wall. "We've got Lady Xuilan, but from what Xun told us, Lanying Xifeng is still in danger."

Shen nodded, all of the good humor instantly disappearing from his face. "I'll find her. You three take care of Xuilan." Without pausing for confirmation, he immediately took off again.

Xun rolled his eyes and muttered, "Yeah, you're welcome, you stupid peacock."

…

Ming continued to trace Lanying through the streets of the city. Lanying was not the most physically adept peahen around, but it was amazing how long her body managed to maintain itself when she thought that she was in mortal peril. Ming's orders had been to subjugate and kidnap the Xifeng's daughter, of course, not to kill her, but Lanying had no way of knowing that.

And so she kept on running.

After a while, she became acutely aware of the pounding of her heart…much too acutely aware, and her heart was starting to flutter irregularly, instead of just beating like a drum as it struggled to send oxygen to her the exerted cells in her body. And, come to think of it, wasn't she shaking? She raised a wing in front of her face and saw definite trembles. But it must have been because of the cold…she prayed to the gods to please let it be because of the cold…

And then the panic set in.

Of course, she was already panicked; after all, she was running for her life, not taking a midnight stroll. And she was used to feeling the irrational fear that always accompanied her panic attacks. But this was a feeling of an intensity that she had never known: it was blind, utter terror, cinching her throat and squeezing her heart, turning every shadow into a demon and every tremble of her body into a violent convulsion.

She wasn't going to make it…she couldn't keep running…she could barely breathe, barely see…

Lanying went sprawling out over the street, crumpling into a heap on the ground. She tried to get up again, but her arms and legs were suddenly too weak to comply with her commands. Every breath ripped through her throat painfully, and she was so scared that she could no longer think straight.

The running footsteps that had been behind her during the whole chase advanced on her slowly. Ming approached her, not even bothering to reach for a weapon. The spotted Linsang didn't even appear to be winded by her sprint.

"P-p-please…" Lanying begged, only able to lift her head ever so slightly. She was crying now, not consciously, but sucking in hiccupping, hysterical sobs. "P-please, don't…d-d-d-don't h-hurt m-m-me…I-I'll do w-w-whatever y-you want, I-I…"

But Ming was no longer even looking at Lanying – her eyes were fixed on something behind the peahen, and they had widened in fear.

Shen had arrived.