And now we find out what becomes of poor Po... in the chapter after this one!
Oh writers, thou art heartless b*****s.
"I praise the all-seeing, shine-faced Dike
who sits beside the throne of Zeus
and from heaven she oversees
the life and conduct of all animal-kind,
coming upon the unjust as just avenger
and bringing close the opposites
on the basis of truth and equality.
Because not all evil thoughts, urging men
towards acquisition of more in unjust ways,
are easily discernible.
But you, enemy of the wrong doers,
immediately come upon them and punish,
while being good with the righteous.
Come, goddess, be fair with the fair minded
Till the destined end of life comes."
With raised eyebrows, Emperor Xian looked up from the scroll he was reading. The voice had come from the second library, the one full of languages Xian had never learned.
"Su?" He called. "What was that just now?"
Su stepped out from the second library, and gave a small gasp when she saw who had spoken.
"Oh! Um…" Her cheeks turned pink as she clutched the scroll she was holding. "Ju-just a Greek poem I found. I thought it related a lot to what Master Shifu and the others do."
"I can see why." Xian chuckled, and knelt down in front of the girl. "What is that poem called?"
"'In Praise of Justice.'" Su said. "I think this Zeus the poet mentioned might be some kind of ruler, like you."
"Perhaps…" Xian mused. "Why don't we talk on the bench where we'll be more comfortable."
"Uh… sure!"
Xian and Su sat down on the nearest bench. Su's short legs barely reached the edge. By the cooking section, Di Tan was once again rifling through ancient recipes.
"Tell me, Su…" Xian said. "How many languages do you know?"
Su seemed surprised that he had asked.
"Er… well, aside from mandarin, I know some Greek, Japanese, Latin, and a little bit of this language which I think I kinda dead."
"What language is that?"
"I think it's called Atlantean."
"Never heard of it."
"I don't think anyone around here has heard about it, except for Master Oogway. And he kinda died." Su replied sheepishly.
"Well, from what I learned he travelled all over the world. It wouldn't surprise me if he came across some ancient civilization on the way." Xian chuckled and he felt the sickness in his head and his gut lift. His eyelids felt less heavy.
"Um, Mr. Emperor?"
"Yes?"
"When will Master Viper and Mantis be back?"
"They just left to give Shifu some important information. It shouldn't be too long now."
"Oh, it's just that if Master Shifu's in the study with Mr. Tujiu, then it would only be about six and a half minute's walk. And it's been half an hour since they left."
"Try not to worry, Su." Xian said. "They are kung fu masters and we are perfectly safe in this fortress. I highly doubt that something has happened to them."
As he gazed down at the child, Xian caught a glint of something shiny and gold tucked into her belt.
"What's that?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"What's that in your belt?"
Su looked down at her belt and her face lit up.
"Oh! It's my lucky coin!"
"Your lucky coin?"
Su pulled out the object Xian had noticed: a large golden disk engraved with a dragon on both sides. Xian was momentarily stunned that a young child Su possessed something that looked to be worth hundred of thousands of yuan.
"Where in the world did you find that?" He asked.
"In the forest surrounding the village where I used to live." Su said. "It was stuck in the mouth of this statue, and it looked really old. It didn't seem to belong to anybody and it looked really pretty so I kept it. I've kept it close by ever since." Su rubbed a bit of dirt off the coin. "It wasn't until Master Shifu and the others came to the village that the coin turned out to be the key to an ancient and scary tomb. It also makes a pretty good mirror."
She giggled at her own joke and Xian laughed with her.
It was strange. The more he talked with this child, the more he felt like his old self again. It was difficult to explain. Conversing with a little girl with a nice voice whose words didn't sound like utter nonsense was like a pleasant tasting medicine, slowly washing away the pain and sorrow that had secretly ailed him for almost thirty years. Or maybe it was the way she smiled so sweetly and innocently, he wasn't sure. Or maybe it was just the tonic Di Tan had given him.
"Su, why is there a dent in the middle?" He asked.
"Oh, Master Tigress used it to redirect a meteor hammer into a giant crocodile's face."
"Oh."
Su tucked the coin back into her belt and asked; "Is it alright if I just go and put this back in the second library?" She held up the scroll which contained the Greek poem.
"I don't see why not."
Su lowered herself down from the bench and rushed into the second library.
Xian got up from the bench and walked over to Di Tan, the goose still engrossed in his cooking scrolls.
"Hey, Di Tan." He said, making the goose look up. "I just thought I'd check up on you. Have you learned anything new?"
"Lots!" The goose was beaming. "Mr. Ping will have kittens when he hears of some of the thing's I've learned here in this library. How are you feeling?"
"Much better, thank you." Xian said. "That tonic of yours has worked wonders."
"I'm glad to hear you say so."
Xian sat down on the floor beside the goose, trying not to step on the scrolls and books that were scattered all over the place.
"How are you feeling about the tunnel being blocked?" Xian asked.
"Oh, I'm fine." Di Tan wasn't looking at him, both eyes back to studying the scroll.
"Really, because without that shortcut, we're trapped here."
"Don't fret, my boy..."
Fifty-something year old Xian blinked.
"Master Po and the others know what they're doing. I'm sure they will find a way to clear that landslide in no time." Di Tan went on. "Now why don't you-"
He was interrupted by a cry of outrage coming from the second library.
"Hey, this isn't right!"
"Su, what's wrong?" Xian called.
Su re-emerged, bearing another scroll and a very sour expression.
"This is an astrology scroll!" The girl exclaimed. "This shouldn't be in the second library! It should be on the top floor!"
Xian fought against a smile.
"Mr. Emperor, may I go and put this scroll back in its rightful place?" She asked.
"Yes, you may." Xian chuckled as Su stormed up the stairs. Was this child with extremely high intelligence, a knowledge of several languages, the ability to detect a liar, an ancient coin and a dislike for badly arranged books ever going to stop surprising people?
He was proven wrong minutes later by the sudden sound of scraping rock and Su's surprised cry.
"Su?!"
Di Tan looked up from his recipes in alarm.
"What just happened?!"
Xian didn't answer him, for he was already half way up the stairs.
With Oogway's staff in one hand and the mysterious piece of hair in the other, Shifu approached the entrance to the fortress library. Explaining his suspicions to Tujiu had proven frustratingly ineffective, but Xian would certainly listen. Shifu wondered if he, Su and Di Tan had discovered anything interesting yet.
When he entered the library, he was surprised to find the area empty.
Where have they gotten to-
He heard a voice coming from high up on the top floor. A frantic voice that could have only belonged to Di Tan.
Shifu didn't bother taking the stairs. Instead he leapt on top of the nearest bookcase, then leapt several feet into the air until he was perfectly balanced on the rail of the next floor, then he sprung to the opposite wall, and rebounded onto the top floor to find Di Tan staring at a large gap in the wall in between two bookshelves.
"Di Tan?" Shifu asked, making the goose jump. "What in the world is going on?!"
"I don't know!" Di Tan cried. "Su went upstairs to replace a scroll that had been put in the wrong place. We heard the sound of rock scraping and Su cry out, and when we reached the top of the stairs, we found this hole in the wall and Su was gone!"
Shifu's stomach plummeted.
"Where is Xian?" He demanded.
"He went down into the hole to look for her. He told me to stay here no matter what!"
Shifu pushed past Di Tan and ran for the hole. If something had happened to Su…
He was stopped in his tracks when Xian emerged from the gap in the wall, carrying Su in his arms like she was a baby.
"Su!" Shifu rushed over, his heart racing.
"I'm okay, Master Shifu." Su said.
Thank god, Shifu thought. She was conscious.
Xian leaned down and placed Su on a nearby bench.
"Su, sweetheart, are you alright?" Shifu asked, leaping onto the bench and kneeling beside her. Su nodded in response.
"I found her at the bottom of the stairs." Xian said. He looked like he had also been panicking. "She's fine, other than the cut knee."
Shifu noticed that Su's right knee was wrapped up in a piece of fabric evidently torn from Xian's own vest. Blood was seeping through.
"We will need to get this bandaged." Shifu said relief flooding through his system that the cut knee was all she had suffered. "Su, what in god's name happened?"
Su winced from the pain in her knee before speaking. There were tears in her blue eyes, but she didn't look like she was about to burst out crying.
"Well, I put the scroll back in the astrology section, but then I found another scroll that belonged to another bookcase." She said. "I grabbed one of those ladders because the scroll's proper place was impossible to reach from the floor. I was putting the scroll back when I noticed that there were two torch brackets on either side of the bookshelf. One of the torches was missing, and the other looked like it was attached to some kind of hinge. I was curious, and pulled on the torch. Suddenly the bookcase disappeared and I fell right through that hole in the wall!"
"Good gracious!" Di Tan exclaimed. "It's a miracle you weren't seriously hurt!"
"I was lucky." Su said, rubbing the part of her leg that was right above her bandaged knee. "I kind of rode the ladder down the stairs. Kinda like a really long sled."
"Did you say stairs?" Shifu frowned.
"That passage leads down a rather long flight of steps." Xian said. "I also noticed that the passage continued down a corridor, but Su needed more attention."
"Darn." Su suddenly said, grimacing. Shifu guessed that her knee was throbbing like crazy. "Mr. Tujiu could have told us about that secret passageway!"
Shifu and Xian turned to face Su.
"What did you say?" Shifu asked.
"I said that Tujiu could have told us about the passageway." Su replied.
"What makes you say that?" Xian asked. "Tujiu couldn't have known about this. He would have told us."
"Well, I found this on the floor after I fell." Su held up a single black feather. "Judging from this feather, the corridor was either walked through by Mr. Tujiu or a housekeeper who sucks at feather-dusting."
Shifu grabbed the feather.
"This is definitely Tujiu's." He said in a low voice. Xian released a growl that made Su's eyes widen.
"What is that idiot playing at?" He snarled. "Why didn't he tell us about this?"
"We might find out if we find out where that passage leads." Shifu said. He clenched his fist, crushing the feather. What else was Tujiu hiding from them?
"Oh, there's something else!" Su said. "The floor's really dusty, so there were a lot of footprints. I noticed a set of prints that might belong to Mr. Tujiu, and there were also two sets that I think may belong to Master Po and Crane."
"What?" Shifu look at her sharply.
"There were circular footprints with a paw-print design like the one on Po's shoes." Su explained. "And there were a set of bird footprints that I don't think belong to Mr. Tujiu."
Shifu slowly turned to stare at the passage entrance.
Now that he thought about it, that entrance was located in the same spot where Po and Crane had woken up from their sleepwalking episode.
Cripes, this Tujiu gets more suspicious with each chapter!
Don't worry, next chapter will have us finding out what becomes of Po and his friends, promise.
In the meantime, please review!