Yep, that was a pretty cruel cliffhanger in the last chapter.

But still it could have been worse... my first draft of the chapter had the demon punching a hole in Po's chest. Heh heh heh...

Anyway, on with the story!

Po sat bolt upright.

His heart raced in his chest and it took a moment for him to realize that he was hyperventilating. He forced himself to slow down his breathing.

After a few moments he lifted a shaking paw to his throat.

His neck was still intact.

It had been just a dream.

He was still alive.

Taking deep breaths through his nose as he struggled to calm himself, Po looked up from the cold stone floor he was sitting on and found himself staring at a wall full of bookshelves.

He was in the library. The top floor to be exact. And if his memory was correct, he was sitting with his back to the bookshelf that concealed a secret passageway.

Po blinked slowly. Had he been sleepwalking while he was dreaming? Was the secret passage with the treasure vault and the tomb real?

Was the demon that had warned him and then murdered him real?

Po clenches his paws into fists at that last thought.

He was suddenly aware of a presence to his right.

He turned his head and saw Crane sitting by his side, staring at the ground, as pale as the snow that covered the Himalayas.

"Crane?"

The avian jumped with a small gasp. He turned to stare at Po.

"Po?"

Po stared back.

"What are you doing here?' He asked.

Crane looked at him with wide eyes.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

Neither of them spoke again for a few moments.

"Po…" Crane eventually said. "Did you by any chance…"

"Yeah."

"And did you see…"

"Yeah."

"And did it…"

"Yes."

Silence again.

"Just a coincidence, right?' Po asked, almost hopefully.

It was a while before Crane answered.

"Yeah…" He whispered. He looked like he was trying to convince himself as well as Po. "Just a coincidence."

"Ah! Master Shifu, I've found them!"

Po and Crane jumped and turned towards the stairs. Su was standing right at the top, pointing at them while looking down at something below her.

That something soon turned out to be Shifu, who quickly ascended the steps and stepped towards the two warriors with his lips pressed into a thin line.

"What are you two doing up here?" He demanded. "We've had the entire fortress up looking for you!"

"W-we're sorry, Master Shifu!" Po stammered as he and Crane scrambled to their feet and quickly saluted the grandmaster. "We seriously have no idea how we got here!" His heart was still racing from the nightmare, and he put his paw over it in a futile attempt to slow his heartbeat down.

What he had said was mostly true: it was true that in their dream they had walked all the way to the spot they were standing in just now, but whether or not they had sleepwalked was very unclear.

"Both of you really have no idea how you got to this spot together at the same time?" Shifu was clearly unconvinced. Su merely yawned; it was evidently still very early. Through the entrance to the outdoors observatory, the sky was still dark indigo.

"Yeah!" Crane said hastily. When he saw the look in Shifu's eyes, he added. "We're not lying, we swear!"

"Yeah!" Po said.

Both of them fell silent at once. They knew that their behavior just now had not helped them in the slightest.

"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Shifu stepped forward, his staff raised threateningly. "Tell me the truth, or so help me…"

"Master Shifu, no!" Su suddenly cried, stopping the red panda in his tracks. "I think they're telling the truth!"

Shifu slowly turned to face her. Po and Crane stared at the little girl standing by herself on the top of the stairs.

"Excuse me?" Shifu asked in a non-threatening manner.

"I don't think they're lying." Su said calmly.

"What makes you say that?" Shifu said testily, but not superciliously. He respected Su too much for that.

"Well, if you look at their faces, then you'll have noticed that both of them are making eye contact with you, and it's a well known fact amongst the law enforcement that avoiding eye contact is usually a sign of lying." Su spoke, one small paw pointed at the two warriors, her blue eyes gazing into Shifu's. "Plus, neither of them are making exaggerated movements such as scratching their ears or touching their faces, and if you didn't notice, Po touched his heart with his open paw while explaining that they had no idea how they got here, something a liar is unlikely to do."

Po looked down at his paw, then back up at the girl with a stunned expression. Shifu was blinking very slowly. Su continued to speak, looking utterly innocent as her words shocked all three adults into near-speechlessness.

"If you're still not convinced, both Po and Crane used contractions when talking, which makes what they said likely to be truthful. Also, Crane directly denied lying by actually saying the word 'lying', when a liar would simply imply answers. Also, neither of them used distancing language."

"Distancing language?" Crane asked in a tiny voice.

"It means using an indirect statement implying an answer." Su explained with no sign of condescension. "For example, if you said 'why would I do such a thing' instead of 'I didn't do it', then that's a sign of lying. But neither of you did that, so it's very likely that you're telling the truth."

"Indeed." Shifu muttered, with an utterly flabbergasted expression. "Is there… anything else you'd like to add?"

"Yeah!" Su said cheerfully. "The fact that you both are definitely telling the truth more or less confirms that you both got here through sleepwalking."

"How so?" Shifu asked.

"You see, I read in the medicinal section of this library that one of the symptoms of sleepwalking is that the victim doesn't remember how they got to a certain point after waking up. Because both Po and Crane are telling the truth that they don't remember how they got into the library, then it's very likely that they were indeed sleep-walking. So please don't hit them with your staff, it'd be really unfair!"

By then Shifu's grip on his staff had loosened considerably.

Su suddenly realized that the three men were staring at her like she had grown twenty seven heads.

"Uh…" She gulped, beginning to feel a little nervous. "Did I saw something wrong?"

"Su…" Po paused, the hinges of his jaw loose. "How did you know all that?"

Now Su understood.

"Well, do you remember when you and Shifu went down to Constable Hu's office to speak with him about permits a couple of months ago?" Su asked.

"Yeah, and we brought you along because you hadn't left the palace in weeks." Po replied. "And?"

"And while you were talking I got bored and did a little reading of Hu's bookshelf. I found a scroll explaining to how detect a liar."

"Of course you did…" Shifu said simply.

When Su wasn't looking, Po leaned in towards Crane and whispered in the spot on the side of his feathered head which the panda guessed was where a bird's version of an ear was.

"Crane, I don't think her mental awesomeness is limited to languages." He whispered.

Before anything else could be said, they were interrupted by the sudden arrival of Tigress, Viper, Monkey and Mantis.

"There you guys are!" Viper exclaimed. "We've been looking all over for you!"

"Why weren't you both in the guest room?" Tigress demanded. Po and Crane winced under her glare.

"They said they were sleep-walking." Shifu said. "Don't bother interrogating them, Su more or less confirmed they're telling the truth."

"It's true." Su spoke.

"Both of them sleep-walking at the same time?" Mantis raised an eyebrow. "That's a little unlike them."

"Nevertheless, it's the truth!" Po said quickly as memories of the horrific nightmare came flooding back. "New topic, it's embarrassing enough as it is!"

"Okay, okay." Viper chuckled when she saw the redness of Po and Crane's cheeks. She turned to Su. "Su, honey, are you ready to head home?"

Po blinked. He had forgotten that Su and Di Tan were returning to the Valley of Peace today.

"Yeah, I'm ready." Su replied. "Is it okay if I have something to eat first before going?"

"Of course, Su. Di Tan's waiting in the mess hall anyway. Do you want me to accompany you?"

"No thank you, I'm sure I know the way." Su replied. "Do you know what Mr. Di Tan's cooking?"

"I believe it's noodle rolls."

"Oh, my favorite!" Su cried in delight and made for the stairs.

Before she could reach the stairs, a dark shape suddenly swooped in through the entrance to the observatory. The warriors recognized General Tujiu as he perched on the rail and gazed at them. Po and the others gave him dirty looks. They hadn't forgotten the way he'd insulted them the day before.

"Good morning, Grandmaster Shifu." Tujiu said casually. "Why such a large gathering?"

"It's nothing important." Shifu replied irritably. "Shouldn't you be in the study with the Emperor?"

"I am well aware of where I'm expected to be." Tujiu replied. "But pointless discussions will have to wait."

"And why is that?" Tigress asked coldly.

"Well it's just that…" Tujiu sighed with mock-sadness. "Oh how I hate to be the bringer of such… such bad news…"

"Spit it out!" Shifu snapped.

"I am afraid that neither the girl nor the goose will be leaving the Himalayas today."

"What?!" Shifu took a step forward, but Su quickly reached out and grabbed his arm. "What the hell do you mean neither of them are leaving?"

"Well, grandmaster, it was like this…" Tujiu said. "Early this morning, I flew up to the roof of this very fortress for some fresh air, and while enjoying the view, I was surprised to see that the entrance to the underground shortcut has suffered a landslide."

The library fell silent.

"A… landslide?" Su asked, shocked.

"Evidently this means that the only means of leaving is a very, very long walk over the largest mountain range in the world." Tujiu went on, taking no notice of Su whatsoever. "And what with a gang of murderous thieves on the loose, attempting such a journey would be very unwise."

"If this is such bad news, then why do you have that smile on your face?" Monkey asked.

"What smile?" Tujiu asked with what he seemed to think was an innocent expression.

"Never mind that!" Viper snapped. "We can't possibly have Su remain here! She'll be in life threatening danger if she stays!"

"Excuse me, but we're all in life threatening danger." Tujiu replied coolly. "But if you want, you can go over to the entrance and see if you can clear it up. Worth a shot, isn't it?"

"Well let's go then!" Po exclaimed. "The sooner we clear up the entrance the sooner Su and Di Tan can go home and be put out of harm's way!"

"Wait Po!" Mantis yelped. "Have you forgotten what happened last time we ventured outside?"

"Mantis, the entrance is located to the east of the fortress." Monkey said. "It's pretty far away from the west where we were attacked. If we stick together and stay frosty, then we'll be fine."

"Oh really?" Mantis glared at the primate on whose shoulder he was standing on. "Weren't we in a group when we had fricking boulders tossed at us?"

"That's enough." Shifu barked. "While venturing outside would indeed be dangerous, I'm afraid Po and Monkey are right. We cannot leave the entrance blocked, because unless we risk a month's journey through a frozen wasteland then we're effectively trapped here."

Mantis fell silent as he understood Shifu's point.

"Po, you, Tigress, Crane and Monkey head to the tunnel entrance and see what you can do about it. Mantis, Viper, you two can stay here and keep searching for information. That and look after Su."

Mantis looked very relieved at being told to stay.

"Okay, guys, let's go!"

Po was at the forefront of the group of four as they ran down the steps (Crane flew) towards the ground floor. Shifu watched them go before turning back to Tujiu.

"I'll see you later… 'grandmaster'."

Tujiu flapped his wings then took off, flying back through the observatory entrance.

"He's not very nice." Su said.

And so once again, Po and his comrades venture away from the safety of the fortress. Will characters in thriller stories ever learn? Sigh.

Don't forget to review after reading! Thx.