Chapter Seven
A tiny beetle scurried along a cold rock surface. Flicking its wings rapidly, it cast off a small collection of condensation that had collected atop its carapace. Now, free of the water weight, it began to move faster along the cracked and roughly hewn surface and turned in small, almost lazy circles. Before it could even notice it had been captured it was being crunched by sharp teeth and powerful jaws. Mu dug at the crack where he had seen the beetle appear and then spat with dissatisfaction of not finding more. Cursing, he then turned to glare at the figure sitting cross-legged in the cage suspended over a pit fifteen paces in diameter and dropping far below into darkness. The figure of Ping sat upright and motionless, his eyes closed and his wings folded neatly beside him. The snow leopard snarled and, after stooping to grab a rock near the cave wall, shouted at the small goose and hurled the small stone, it just catching a bar and rattling with and eerie sound.
"Hey! Are you just going to sit there in silence? Think you can out last the torture of the lord, Jing-Wei? HA!" The leopard then leapt to the side of the cage and held fast to the bars. Bringing his face level with his captives, Mu grinned wickedly and continued his taunts. "I wonder if we have a pot big enough to cook you in…" His head tilted to one side and he began salivating at the thoughts he had dancing in his head.
Ping was no fool. He knew that someday something might happen to where he would find himself captured by one enemy of his sons or another. So Shifu trained the old goose. Though by no means was Ping a master of Kung Fu, but he had a few tricks. Snapping out of his meditative state, Mr. Ping sprang to his webbed feet and shouted with all his might! Mu, though a trained killed, only had a moment to envision the look of shock on his face. Surprised he lost his grip on the cage and fell to the darkness below. Pings patience was rewarded with the sounds of a yelp and another horrible thud upon stone. Standing, he fully took in his surroundings. He was locked in a large iron cage and above a pit. Surrounding the pit was a rock wall that was only broken by a tunnel carved by some beast long ago. Where the pit ended, along the wall of the tunnel was a small bamboo table and plain wooden chair. On the table, an iron candle holder and a candle, lit and burning low. At the far end of the tunnel, Ping could make out the lit framework of the metal door that he had heard earlier, once when the one called Yong-min entered and killed the one called Su-Yi, and once when Mu opened it to order the guard stationed outside to fetch their leader… Ping had nearly forgotten. Quickly, he began rocking the cage back and forth. It was heavy and it took a few moments to get his rhythm right but soon he had the cage swinging wildly. With a nod of assurance to himself, Ping jumped up and came back down hard on the cage floor. The force had the right result as, with a yelp from the old goose and a sharp scraping sound from the hook holding it, the cage came free and landed with a crash in the tunnel. The impact neatly popped several bars from the cage floor and Mr. Ping scrambled out of the opening. Dashing towards the door, Ping reached for the doors iron ring when it began to slide open slowly, with the sounds of voices on the other side. Ping slid to a stop and ran headlong in the other direction, thinking perhaps he could fly into the pit and hide until his captors had gone. As he started to flap his wings to break his fall, he glanced up. An opening! He could see sunlight shining through and came to the conclusion that it must be a vent shaft. Winging upward, he was closing the distance to the entrance when he heard the shout of alarm from his original attacker, the leader Jing-Wei.
"Get topside," shouted Jing-Wei! "Get the nets out! I want him alive!" He began pursuing the goose out the vent shaft, leaping from wall to wall and using his claws and powerful arms to haul himself upward. However, the goose, despite his age, was faster with wings and broke surface. Pulling air beneath his wings in rough beats, Ping soared upward. The leopards began gathering below and twirling nets above their heads, weighted stones attached to the ends to allow for father casting and more assured catches. Grunting with exertion, Mr. Ping continued upward, trying to get out of their range and spotted a curious sighted within the bruised clouds and dim light; a fox. He was looking at a flying fox! Shaking his head, he still saw this creature and he was now accompanied by masters Crane and Viper around his neck! Ping was about to call out to them but his moment of shock cost him. A net closed around him and the rocks clacked together. With a shout, Mr. Ping plummeted to the ground below. With a dull and muffled sound, he struck a patch of grass and rolled to his side, groaning in pain. The leopards that had snared him tugged roughly on the braided cord rope attached to the net and hauled the goose back into the tunnel. Jing-Wei, now standing over his victim, smiled down and kicked Ping in his back. "Nice try, bird. You'll see though, a cat does love a good chase. For that, I shall let you live long enough to be questioned. Only this time, you will be watched by me until you wake and you will talk before you die!"
Unknown to the leopards, their actions had not gone unnoticed. Crane was the first to speak.
"Think he's alright? That looked like a pretty rough landing…" His voice trailed off at the end, as though the winds had taken them as they left the masters beak.
"He has to be," replied Viper. "Now that we know where to find them, we should get back and tell the others so we can take Mr. Ping with stronger numbers. Come on!"
