Chapter Eleven: Khanbaliq
Two spotted cats in a duel.
As she quickly dodged the disorienting jabs of her opponent's spear, Yuelen decided on an ambitious and unorthodox plan of attack. Somersaulting backwards to gain some distance from the center of the dusty open training area, she landed with her weight on her back leg. Keeping her stance low and her own guandao spear pointed towards her foe, she reassessed the state of the duel. The heavily-armored male snow leopard opposite her was in a similarly anchored position, waiting patiently for the next move in their current dance of combat.
He's weak up high, and I'll certainly have the element of surprise… but I'll also be exposing myself. The risk is worth it – I'm doing it.
Like a spring being released, the leopardess launched forward as she shifted her weight back towards her male counterpart. Seeing her sprinting right for him, Ganbataar brought his weapon up across his upper body to parry any thrusting attack she would attempt. Catching the veteran warrior completely off-guard, she performed a spinning leap above his impenetrable defenses. While flying through the air, she watched as his shocked eyes followed her upward, and she couldn't help but smile. Making a slicing motion at the shaft of his guandao, she broke it cleanly in half; to solidify her victory, she planted a precise kick to the back of his head which sent the powerful warrior falling to the dust below. As soon as Ganbataar turned himself over, he was met with the end of the leopardess' weapon at his throat.
"You're getting slow in your old age, Gan!" Yuelen jested, pulling her spear away and offering her defeated mentor her other arm.
The grizzled snow leopard tossed the fragmented shaft of his own weapon aside with a grin, and accepted her paw so she could pull him from the dust.
"Hey, I'm not dead yet – maybe you've just gotten that good. Imagine how my soldiers will react when I tell them that a woman has more skill than the lot of them!"
She looked at the ground with a toothy smile. "Indeed. Their skill in battle isn't as monumental as they think."
At this moment, the golden cat that had recently arrived in the Mongol capital of Khanbaliq appeared in the training grounds. Both snow leopards immediately gazed in her direction.
"Have you met the newcomer yet?" Yuelen asked. "I don't trust her – the cat just shows up out of nowhere, and all of the sudden she's allowed free reign over Khanbaliq; it's not right if you ask me."
Inexplicably, Gan started to laugh.
"Something funny?"
"I reckon I could alleviate some of your concerns on the matter." he offered smugly. "I happen to trust her a great deal."
"Oh really? And why's that?" she asked, still lightly panting from the fight, following the martial arts master's movements closely with her deep purple orbs.
"She's my daughter."
Yuelen practically choked on the very air she was breathing; she quickly turned back to face the older leopard.
"What!? How!?"
The hardened warrior's smile lessened somewhat.
"Now that… is something of a story; I think I'll let her tell you when she's ready." the leopard said as he received a stern gaze from his daughter. "Besides, the two of us aren't exactly on speaking terms."
Gan and Mei Ling made sure to keep their distance as they switched places in the training grounds, and the veteran watched on as the golden cat approached Yuelen. The newcomer gestured toward the leopardess with her own bladed polearm weapon, having since removed it from the sheath on her back.
"Able to best the Khan's favored warrior in single combat... you must be quite skilled; may I have the next spar with you?"
Still in shock from what she had just learned, the leopardess gave a slow, angled nod in response, and both cats readied their weapons. Mei Ling opted for a firm defensive stance, holding her spear behind her back and outstretching her other arm in front of her in a blocking position. Yuelen also held her polearm behind her, but pirouetted the shaft of the guandao between her digits as she slowly paced back and forth, staying parallel to her opponent.
Mei Ling noticed that the leopardess was dressed in entirely onyx-black clothing; this only made her unusually dark purple eyes stand out more. As she traced the loose, relaxed movements of her opponent's body, she also noticed that this Mongol was well above the usual size for a female of her species; she was evidently a half-breed of some type.
"Aren't you a little large for a snow leopard?" the golden cat inquired with a grin.
"Aren't you a little large for golden cat?" was the immediate response from the snow leopard.
The two hybrid felines smirked at each other; they had at least one thing in common. The warriors lunged forward at the same time and the duel had begun.
They were nearly polar opposites in combat: the leopardess striking and dodging with acrobatic flair and extreme maneuvers; the golden cat holding her ground, making only the required adjustments, and being entirely devoid of excess movement. A small audience of the Khan's palace guards started to watch the increasingly entertaining bout between the two female felines.
The sheer speed of the duel was proving to be hard to follow, as the two cats became engulfed in a cyclone of twirling wood and clashing metal. The red and black drapery of their tunics became like banners in a high wind; the dust in the air circled around them in a wide vortex, becoming thick enough to reveal rays of sun. One combatant would possess the upper-hand momentarily, only to yield it back to a determined counter-attack from the other.
After many chaotic parries that sent sparks flying off of the blade edges, Yuelen decided it was time to end this fight with a move that never failed her. Faking a high jab attack, she drew back, luring her opponent toward her; as part of a single motion, she rotated the entirety of her guandao around her back to be received by her other arm, and she promptly pressed the spearhead against the exposed side of the golden cat's neck.
Gotcha.
"Yield!" the leopardess demanded.
"Look down." her opponent stated blankly.
Yuelen did, and found that the pointed end of the other feline's weapon was right over her heart; the golden cat had reacted to her intricate move with dizzying speed. In spite of herself, the leopardess' torso lurched with a confused chuckle.
"I don't think I caught your name, golden cat."
"Mei Ling."
"Yuelen."
Both felines lowered their weapons.
Mei Ling returned her spear to the sheath on her back, while the leopardess continued to hold hers idle in her paw. Seeing the fight at an end, most of the onlooking males started to clear out of the area. Yuelen had since taken notice of the other cat's unique clothing and wanted to break the silence that had sprung up between them.
"So, what's with the feather theme? It's all over your tunic..."
Mei Ling smiled. "Is that jealously I hear?"
"Please, I wear all black for a reason; I have no need for useless excess."
Funny. Your fighting style says otherwise.
Mei Ling would have rolled her eyes, but wasn't quite sure how the leopardess would react, and chose to not outwardly show her thoughts. She sighed and drifted her gaze to the side.
"In truth, it's to honor a friend. A very good friend."
Yuelen recognized the look that was now on the golden cat's features.
"Just a friend? Are you sure that's all he is?" she pried, catching the golden cat off-guard and making her eyes go wide in a sudden panic.
Unexpectedly, another newcomer to the training grounds saved the martial artist from further embarrassment. It was a tiger, the first male one that Mei Ling had ever seen, and he didn't look very happy as he approached Yuelen.
"Zhenjin – it's good to see you, brother. Have you met Mei Ling yet?"
The tiger, who was dressed far more colorfully than his sister, was ignoring Yuelen's greeting entirely and didn't even seem to register the golden cat's presence.
"You emptied nearly all our remaining coffers on a vibrating piece of scrap metal! I could have taken the town and claimed the stupid dagger for our father with only two-hundred men!"
"Oh, I'm certain you could've, Genghis." she quipped with biting femininity. "Xiangyang was nigh-impregnable; and even if you did take the city, you would have alerted the Tang ren to our plans. A mission like that required subtlety - something you are sorely lacking in, brother." she finished, tapping at his nose with her claw amusingly.
"I am very subtle!" Zhenjin roared, loud enough to draw the attention of guards clear across the massive courtyard area.
The two females exchanged a glance.
"I rest my case." Yuelen said through a prideful smirk.
Frustrated, the tiger shook his head angrily and pointed vindictively at his sister.
"Reckless actions like this are exactly why father is giving the Khanate to me and not you!" he spouted out, before turning to leave just as abruptly as he had arrived. It was Yuelen's turn to shake her head.
Idiot. If I were a man, the Khanate would already be mine. Besides - father is the very one who ordered the mission in the first place; it's not surprising that he didn't entrust such information to you.
She gestured mockingly with her eyes towards the retreating tiger.
"Behold: 'The Next Khan of Mongolia.' Just magnificent, isn't he?" she said with as much sarcasm that could possibly be jammed into so few words. "Please, just… pretend none of that ever happened."
As Mei Ling smirked with her arms crossed, Yuelen started pacing around the area, spinning her weapon around her body with noticeable frustration. She eventually settled the wide of the metal spearhead in front of her face to see her reflection.
"My father, the Khan, spends most of his days trying to instruct that fool on how to govern a kingdom instead of someone… more qualified." The leopardess just kept examining her own reflection as she spoke. "He might as well not even be my father; he didn't teach me how to fight, didn't teach me how to read, didn't teach me how to live life. All of that – Gan did for me; he's my real father."
Although, one would think he'd trust me enough by now to tell me he had a daughter…
"Guess that makes us sisters, then." Mei Ling joked offhandedly as she inspected her own paw. Yuelen at last lowered the reflective blade from her face and turned back to the golden cat, showering her in the penetrating gaze of her lilac eyes.
"Well then, sister, what brings you to Mongolia?"
"I don't understand – the clan armies should have been here by now." the Khan said as he toyed with some of the oddities that hung from the ceiling of the court shaman's yurt. "I hope the chieftains aren't conspiring against me… again."
The shaman looked up from the table where he was transcribing an ancient text with a sigh.
"Why don't we talk about what you actually came here for."
"Fine; have it your way." The snow leopard quit his aimless meandering around the yurt at once and approached the sheep. "There's something you're not telling me, old man. What do you know about the dagger?"
"It's not what I know; it's what I remember – what others have forgotten."
The Khan rolled his eyes. "I've heard the stories: the 'amazing power' and how it 'leaves no survivors' – why wouldn't we want such a force of nature like that in our arsenal?"
The argali calmly finished the transcription of the document before answering.
"Fascinating."
"What? What's fascinating?" the Khan spat out, annoyed that the shaman had sidestepped his question entirely.
"What history chooses to immortalize, and what it does not record – all people care about is how efficient something is at taking lives. What the stories will not tell you, however, is what the dagger does to the wielder."
"And that is…"
For the first time, the argali looked the leopard directly in the eyes.
"It destroys people - corrupts them beyond all recognition; the warlords who once wielded it were driven to madness. Having that power... it will only bring you pain."
The rosette-spotted feline leaned in close, the two fangs that protruded up from his maw now only inches from the sheep's snout.
"They were weak; I am strong."
Feeling heat of the Khan's breath on his face didn't fail to intimidate Subutai, but he recovered quickly.
"I assure you, those before you thought the very same - it is beyond the control of mortals. Do not let the lust to immortalize your own name blind you."
The leopard backed away slightly and straightened his tunic.
"I see. You think I'm weak too – unfit to be Khan!"
The sheep exhaled loudly, now showing his own frustration.
"That is not what I am implying at all!"
"No, it's all right… it's just fine. I will overlook these words between us, despite their treasonous nature. True, you have helped the Khanate in the past, but you are not infallible."
The shaman hung his head, shaking it in defeat; he could see the pointlessness in this discourse.
"If this is how it's going to be, we have nothing more to speak of." the sheep nearly mumbled.
The Khan started to move toward the exit.
"Indeed – it won't be long until I prove just how wrong you are."
Before the ruler left the large tent, he turned his head back to the sheep.
"Oh, and Subutai,"
"Hmmm?"
"Speak to me like that in front of my daughter again, and I will not hesitate to kill you where you stand."
As he left the yurt, the Khan's fur was reacquainted with the assertive chill of the Mongolian winds; he saw that Gan was waiting for him nearby. The other leopard had a relaxed stature, arms crossed as he leaned against a post.
"Well, how did it go?" the warrior inquired as he pushed off the post to stand up straight.
"Nothing has changed, the sheep will not give me what I desire."
The two started back towards the palace at the center of town.
"Shame, that. But I'm sure we won't need him, my lord." Gan said, trying to feign genuine interest in the matter; he never put much stock in the mystical, only in the more physical efforts of warfare.
"Agreed." The two walked for a few moments before the ruler spoke again.
"By the way, where the hell have you been all morning?"
"Ensuring our daughters crossed paths. I figured since they have so much in common-"
The Khan nodded in sudden understanding, and Gan knew he need say no more.
"How is she taking it, your daughter?"
"Around here, she still sticks out as if she was furless, but she knows her place. Anything you require, she will be honor-bound to see it done."
"So you trust her to keep to an oath of servitude?"
"We are nothing without our honor; for us warriors, honor and loyalty are one in the same. I trust her years in China haven't diluted that belief."
"You could have just said 'yes' Gan."
The two leopards chuckled as they walked up the steps of the Khanbaliq palace, having reached their destination. Several pairs of guards nodded to them respectfully as they proceeded through multiple entryways. Turning off from the main hallway, they entered a large room; the centerpiece of the well-lit area was a massive map that sat on a table. The Khan and his trusted military adviser each stood at opposite sides of it.
"Please tell me you have something good for me." the Khan said through an exhale.
Gan immediately started shifting small multicolored rocks around the map, the meaning of which only the two of them fully understood.
"Just because we've been playing a long time, that doesn't mean the game can't change. The Chinese army has been bolstered by even more mercenaries as of late; rhinoceroses from India. An army packing that much heavy infantry will have to be lured into the open and destroyed - no small feat."
"True - but all that armor won't mean shit if we can outmaneuver them."
Gan nodded, and pushed several of the rocks into the northern Chinese part of the map.
"But no matter how we attack initially, I believe we will have to seize control of this region here." the strategist said, tapping a specific point near the center of the map. The Khan leaned in over the map to read the name of this all-important territory.
"Xiangyang... Well, that'll never do." He scratched at his neck as Gan looked up from the map with surprise. "I've already agreed to a non-aggression pact with the lord there."
"Gods - what in the hell for?"
"It was part of a monetary arrangement to acquire an item of... immense value to me."
So the rumors are true. He's gone and given the Khanate's money to a Chinese lord...
"If that is the case, then it seems we will be taking our coin back by force - we need the city; it would give us a base of operations to strike at the Tang ren below the Han and Yangtze." Gan explained, tracing his claw along the path of the rivers in question on the map.
The Khan couldn't argue with his reasoning, and bared his teeth slightly in internal frustration.
"Yuelen reports that the 'city' is more of a fortress - stone walls, reinforced gates, and a standing army for a garrison. It'll be a tough nut to crack; how do you plan to take it?"
The warfare maven gave a wary shrug. "Still working on it. My first thought involved a little bit of subterfuge, but with the size of the army we'll have by then, that won't be an option..."
"Indeed; our intentions will be obvious long before we get anywhere near Xiangyang."
"This may be the least of our worries at the moment, as there is still no word from the other clan armies, nor this 'great warrior' you keep going on about. Might I remind you that it's still not too late to call off this invasion?"
No... not Gan too... He's no better than Subutai. Can no-one else see that I am destined to lead us to victory?
"Don't give up on me now, old friend. It was once said that my grandfather couldn't take the Great Wall, and yet today it lies in Mongol territory; we will overcome the odds just as our ancestors have for centuries."
Gan nodded, conceding this to his Khan.
Before they could continue their strategic planning, a jackal servant entered the room and began to speak.
"My Khan, your-"
The jackal's words got stuck in his throat, as the leopard he was addressing had just launched a sword at his head without hesitation; the stunned canine looked up at the blade now stuck into the wall between his ears, less than an inch from the top of his head.
"What did I say about interrupting me when I'm planning?"
As the Khan started to approach angrily, the jackal waved his paws frantically. "Yes yes, I know, it's just..."
"It's just what!?" he growled, raising a paw to strike.
"Your wife - she's requested your presence at once; your children are trying to kill each other again!"
The ruler pulled away from the servant, his eyes meeting with the other leopard's, searching for an understanding sentiment.
"It's always something, isn't it?"
Gan smiled. "Shall we finish this later, then?"
"I wouldn't bother waiting for me; it's turning out to be just another fine day in Khanbaliq."
Author's Notes:
- Khanbaliq was the Mongolian base of operations in the late Song Dynasty period, and today this place is a little town called Beijing... maybe you've heard of it :)
- While this area is part of modern-day China, at this time it was pretty deep within the territory loosely known as "Mongolia"
- Mei Ling has familial ties to Mongolia... surprise?
- I hope the interactions between the Khan and his shaman seem loosely similar to Shen and the Soothsayer, but not too close; I probably took a great deal of conscious and subconscious inspiration from their dynamic in KFP2
- This was a fairly long OC-focused chapter, but fear not - we shall return to the three Kung Fu masters soon enough...
- Thank you to all my reviewers, readers, and those who have given my story a follow/favorite! Until next time, friends!
