An author's note for those who watch Legends of Awesomeness... have you seen the episodes Maltese Mantis and Bride of Po yet? Is this show shipteasing or what?!
Anyway, on with the story. Please read and please review.
"There you go." Xian muttered as he gently laid Su down on the bed in Shifu's guest room. Di Tan immediately climbed onto the bed and carefully unwrapped Su's knee to examine her injury.
"Oh dear." He said as he pulled out a clean napkin and began dabbing at the blood. "You poor thing, this must be really painful."
"It doesn't hurt so much now." Su replied bravely. She leaned back into the pillow, which was more than half her full size.
"This won't need stitches, but you should probably stay off this leg for the rest of the day." Di Tan said, smiling sympathetically. "I'll get the bandages out once I got your knee cleaned up."
"Okay, just let me get my coin out my belt so I'll be more comfortable…" Su reached down… and suddenly her eyes were wide as dinner plates. "Oh no!"
"What's wrong?" Shifu asked.
"My coin! I must have dropped it when I fell through that hole in the wall!" Su made to get up, but Shifu put a hand on her shoulder and eased her back down against the pillow.
"Calm down, Su." Shifu said. "I'll find your coin while I investigate that passage."
"While you what?" Di Tan looked up from his dabbing.
"That passage must be investigated…" Shifu straightened up. "And since my students are absent, I shall do it."
"You're kidding, right Shifu?" Xian suddenly said. "You seriously plan on going into that black hole at that age? By yourself?"
"Of course I am. I am Grandmaster, so I am perfectly capable of…" Shifu suddenly realized what Xian was implying. "No, absolutely not! You are too important to the empire to put yourself in this kind of danger!"
"Oh god, you're not still griping about that, are you?" Xian retorted.
"Damn right I am!" Shifu snapped, his anger rising. "I'll tolerate you being here in the middle of a frozen wasteland, but right now I'm drawing the-"
"HUSH!" Su suddenly cried, silencing the two men at once. "Stop fighting! Both of you! You're both grown-ups! Stop it!"
"He stared it!" Xian turned to the child.
"I don't care, I'm ending it!" Su glared at the pair like a disapproving mother. "Mr. Emperor, you should know better than to let your temper get the better of you like that! You and Master Shifu are grown men, only you're fifteen years younger!"
"Thirty-five!" Xian said.
"Twenty-five." Su folded her small arms.
"Deal." Xian replied grudgingly.
"And as for you, Master Shifu, why can't he go with you? He's just as good a kung fu kicker as any!"
"Su, if anything happened to him it could have dire consequences for the empire." Shifu said firmly.
"Oh really? Because while I was hiding in that cart, I overheard him saying that he and Master Eagle Jr. had gotten everything taken care of."
"She's absolutely right!" Xian said. "Besides, I want to know what's so important about that passage that Tujiu wouldn't tell me about it!"
"Emperor Xian, it's still too dangerous!"
Xian threw his arms up in frustration.
"Um, Mr. Emperor?" Su asked. "I'm not an advisor or high ranking chancellor, but is it okay if I offer you a teensy bit of advice?"
Xian nodded. Su gestured for him to come closer, and he leaned down so she could whisper in his ear. After a moment, he grinned.
"Heh, why didn't I think of that?"
He stood up to his full height, pointed down at the stubborn Shifu, and exclaimed;
"Grandmaster Shifu, I order you to let me accompany you!"
"You what?" Shifu's jaw dropped.
"I just gave you an order, Master Shifu!" Xian folded his arms. "And since I'm the emperor, you cannot disobey me!"
"He's right, that would be very dishonorable." Su said innocently.
For a moment, Shifu looked like he was going to start shouting. Instead he groaned in exasperation.
"Alright, fine!" He snapped. "But at the first sign of trouble, get yourself out!"
"Fair enough." Xian shrugged. "Shall we then?"
Shifu nodded curtly and he and Xian headed for the door. For a few seconds, Xian stopped and turned.
"Di Tan, would you mind wiping that flabbergasted look off your face and get Su's knee cleaned?"
Di Tan blinked a few times, shook his head, and resumed his dabbing.
"Also, when Masters Viper and Mantis return, be sure to tell them where we are. Oh, and don't tell Tujiu."
"Why not?"
"I don't want him meddling before I can find out exactly what he's been hiding from me."
As the tiger and the red panda ascended the library stairs, Xian suddenly started chuckling.
"What's so funny?" Shifu asked, still steaming from his defeat.
"You don't realize what just happened, did you?" Xian continued to laugh.
Shifu stared at him.
"Master Shifu, you are the most stubborn red panda I have ever met." Xian said. "It's almost impossible to win an argument against you… but that young girl just did."
Shifu's eyes widened, and then he too started to chuckle. Before either of them knew, both men were covering their mouths as they fought to keep from laughing so hard.
"Sh-She sure handled us, didn't she?" Xain snorted.
"Yes, she sure did!" Shifu replied. "It's usually Master Oogway who could have gotten me to behave!"
"She's a real special kid, alright!" Xian said as he and the still chuckling Shifu reached the top of the stairs. "I haven't laughed like this in years!"
"Neither have I!" Once Shifu had calmed down to an extent, he added; "It feels good."
"Yes… Master Shifu, what's that in your sleeve?"
"Pardon?"
"There's something stuck inside your sleeve."
Shifu reached into the sleeve covering the arm he had raised when adjusting his grip on his staff, and pulled out a familiar piece of brownish black hair.
"What's that?" Xian asked.
Shifu's smile vanished.
When he had entered the library half an hour earlier, he had planned to show Xian the hair he had found on the balcony the night before, but discovering Su's accident had wiped it clean from his mind. The hair must have fallen into his sleeve when he had dropped it in his rush to aid the injured child.
"What's that?" Xian repeated.
"It's hair I discovered on my guestroom balcony last night." Shifu said. "It's very likely that we had been spied on last night."
Xian's smile was wiped from his face.
"Let me see that!"
He grabbed the hair to examine it.
"I had showed it to Tujiu earlier this morning, but he dismissed my concerns." Shifu said as Xian fingered the hair. "I was going to show it to you earlier, but when Su was injured it was wiped clean from my mind. I'm sorry."
"It's alright." Xian said, not taking his eyes off the hair in his paws. "Are you sure this came from someone spying on you?"
"Positive. Last night, Su said she heard breathing coming from the balcony, and I had been meditating in the middle of the room at the time. I highly doubt that she had imagined it."
"Neither do I. She's very bright for her age."
"Emperor Xian, you used to get around a lot before your coronation. What can you make of it?"
"It's not gorilla hair, though it bears a few similarities." Xian murmured. "I don't recall encountering any animal that this hair may belong too."
"I came to the same conclusion." Shifu said. "However, when I told Tujiu, he just insisted that bandits were to blame for the murders and flew off."
"Stubborn militaristic fool." Xian growled. "Come on, let's get into that passage and find out what he's been hiding from us."
Shifu nodded, and the two men stepped up to the passage entrance, which they had decided to leave open when they took Su back to the guestroom. The light of the library lit up the first few steps of what was a very long staircase, but other than that it was pitch black inside.
"Clearly we're going to need a torch for this." Xian grabbed a torch from the bracket closest to the one that was already empty, and headed back to Shifu's side. "After you."
The trip down the stairs was uneventful, and the pair descended in silence. When they reached the bottom, they found the ladder that had brought Su down the stairs, still in one piece despite the accident. It was lying on a floor covered in six inches of dust.
"Best put this to one side." Xian grabbed the ladder and propped it against the bare stone wall as Shifu spotted a glint of gold in the torchlight.
"There you are." He grinned as he lifted Su's precious lucky coin from the floor, brushed off the dust, and tucked it safely inside his robes.
As he did so, he spotted the footprints in the floor and he called for Xian.
"Hey! Over here."
Xian turned away from the ladder and looked down at the floor.
"Footprints." He said. "I recognize this set. A carnivorous bird with sharp talons. And I know only one bird of that description in this fortress."
"Tujiu." Shifu nodded. He looked back down at the floor, and suddenly his blood went cold. "I recognize these two other footprints. They're Po and Crane's. Su was right, they have been down here."
"Once we get out of here, we should have a word with them about their sleepwalking episode last night."
"Agreed." Shifu nodded. "Come on, let's see where this corridor goes."
And so they resumed their exploration.
The corridor was just as seemingly endless, silent, cold and dark as the staircase. The walls were plan and bare, with none of the exquisite detail that made up the rest of the fortress. They encountered no forks in the road, the footprints continuing straight ahead. Despite their fears, nothing leapt out to attack them, and so they walked in silence, tense and cautious and waiting for something to happen.
"What a warm and homely place." Xian muttered at one point. Shifu didn't reply. His attention was more focused on the metallic object glinting in the torchlight several feet away.
"Xian, look at this."
As they walked closer, they saw that it was a helmet. A helmet that looked to be decades old and bore a small similarity to the imperial soldier's helmet. It was also three times Shifu's full size.
"This definitely wasn't dropped by one of Tujiu's soldiers." Xian said. When he saw the dark brown stains on the metal, he added; "This place has a busy history."
"We'll probably find out more farther down." Shifu said. "Come on."
After five more minutes of silent walking, listening out for scurrying in the distance or any other signs that they were not alone, the corridor suddenly opened out in what must be the largest treasure vault they had ever entered. Gold and priceless gems glimmered in the light of Xian's torch.
"My god…" Xian whispered, as he slowly spun round in awe of the immense wealth, holding up his torch so the light illuminated as much treasure as it could reach. "I can't even begin to imagine what this must be worth. If we somehow find a way to bring this back to China…"
"This kind of wealth would bring the empire into an era of prosperity." Shifu's voice echoed in the massive room. "Somehow it doesn't surprise me anymore that Tujiu kept this kind of wealth from us."
"Wait, let's not jump to conclusions." Xian said. "Let's keep walking and see if there are any other reasons why Tujiu didn't tell us about this place."
Shifu agreed, and they continued down the wide gap amongst the treasure that seemed to cut right down through the middle of the room. At the end they found a large pair of double doors.
"Master Shifu, do you see any sign of a trap?" Xian asked. "Forgive me if I'm being paranoid, but this little trip seems a bit too easy for my liking."
Shifu carefully observed the doors in front of him. He looked up at the floor, and then the ceiling. He saw no sign of a trap.
"Seems safe enough, but let's be careful anyway. You're right, we should have run into some trouble by now. This place reeks of death."
Cautiously the red panda walked up to the door.
"Perhaps I should open it." Xian stepped forward. "I can reach the handles better than you."
Shifu scowled, but stepped aside so Xian could open the door. He pulled on the handle, but nothing happened.
"Locked." He sighed. "And there's no keyhole."
"Let me have a look." Shifu said. He put his ear to the door. There was nothing but silence. After a moment's thought, he rapped his staff on the door to determine the thickness of the wood. His keen hearing determined that it was ten inches thick.
Is someone there?
Shifu back away from the door, quick as lightning.
"Did you hear that?" He demanded.
"Hear what?" Xian asked.
"That voice!"
Shifu's heart raced.
The voice had been so faint that at first Shifu had thought it was the sound of his own breathing, but when he realized what it was, a chill had gone up his spine.
"Shifu, what are you talking about?" Xian asked in confusion. "I didn't hear anything."
Shifu shook his head. The dark ambience of the room must be getting to him.
"Never mind, I probably imagined it. Let's get out of here before the torch goes out."
Xian nodded in agreement, and the pair turned away from the door.
Creeeaaak…
Shifu and Xian froze.
"You did that…" Xian said. "Didn't you?"
Shifu shook his head.
Slowly, their hearts filling with dread, they turned back round.
One of the doors stood open. There was no sign that anyone had snuck in and opened it for them.
"Okay…" Xian said. Each breath was a silent gasp. "What the hell is going on around here?"
"I don't know." To his own surprise, Shifu was having trouble maintaining his own cool. None one of the scrolls he had read in all his years of training and teaching had prepared him for something so unexplainable. "Should we risk investigating?"
"Er…" Xian gulped. "I think I've seen enough. What do you say we leave then come back with more people?"
"A lot more people." Shifu added. His mouth had done dry. Though he didn't want to show weakness, the terror in his gut was too much. "That seems like a good idea."
They turned round, and the two figures that suddenly appeared out of the darkness made them both yell.