Chapter Twenty-Four: Embers
Now what?
The thunderous crashing of flamed projectiles upon the city's southern skyline was impossible for Crane to ignore, no matter how untimely such developments were. More and more furious balls of light were cast up into the night sky, his attuned eyes tracking them in pace from the commanding overlook atop the Khanbaliq citadel.
"Mei, what's happening?"
"I can't believe it..." the golden cat said, taking the briefest of moments to assess the barrage, "We're under siege."
Her words had been direct, her tone much less so; Crane's instinctive urge to ready himself brought only overwhelming fatigue. He was reminded of the fight with Tigress, the shattered evidence of which was strewn all around them on the roof.
"Siege? It can't be - China doesn't have the strength to strike this far north."
"Khasar Khan has more enemies than China alone. It could be..."
Mei looked down to the Dagger of Deng-Wa clutched firmly in her paw. Crane caught on to her thoughts at once.
"No... No it can't be!" he shouted, an engulfed tower collapsing in the distance. "How could all this be over a damn dagger? Who would even know it's here?"
Watching the ensuing chaos unfold as the city below was awoken to the attack, Mei raised her paw up to the side of her head in disbelief.
"I don't know! I don't know - and it doesn't matter right now." she said, beginning to collect herself. "We need to get to the southern gate."
"Wait, you mean we're going to-"
"No choice. It may not be our fight, but I have my oath - and we're trapped here, regardless."
The revelation infuriated Crane, but he surrendered a single nod to show his hesitant understanding.
"The gates need to be shut before they can overwhelm the Mongols, any attackers that slip through need to be dealt with."
Crane put out a wing to stop Mei from taking her leave too soon, "What about the dagger?"
"I'll get it somewhere safe." she answered, tucking the weapon into her tunic. "I'll meet you there - go!"
The avian didn't wait to answer this time, taking off at once despite his weakness. Behind him, the golden cat bounded from the citadel roof into the dark below and away from his sight. His focus was now solely on the destruction ahead. Thrusting his wings for more speed, a fiery projectile apexed just ahead of him and left behind a heatwave. He rode the thermal for more height and scanned below for the strategically crucial gateway.
Come on... Where is it?
The darkness was pocketed with bursts of flame, making picking out structures difficult from above. Crane began to panic, knowing that each wasted moment allowed more time for the invaders to pour in. After what seemed like an eternity, he saw the unmistakable juncture just underwing. The air began to fill with arrows and bolts as he neared the walls, and the defensive master determinedly swatted away any that came too close. Landing himself as gently as he could manage in the gateway courtyard, loose groups of Mongol soldiers began to collect in the area amidst the bedlam.
"More guards to the southern gate! They're coming!" came the booming directive from the leopard commander in charge. "Lower the portcullis!"
The second order was inexplicably not heeded; the sturdy iron grates remained up, the operators clearly already dead or missing. Heavily armored figures carrying torches and arrays of vile weapons could be seen sprinting towards this exposed opening in the city's defenses. It was clear to Crane that the only remaining option was to hold back the assault as best they could.
Okay...
The bird's nares drew in the hot stench of smoldering flame; the surging invaders were almost upon them. Crane's body was tensing with dreaded anticipation.
You can do this. You can do this.
There was no more time and battle was joined. As the first attackers cleared the threshold, the leopards loosed a quick volley of arrows. It was brutally effective, cutting many of them down at once in a heap; but more quickly replaced these, and a thick melee became inevitable.
Right before being closed up, Crane got his first glimpse at the enemy, heavy-set bovine warriors wearing thick armor of Chinese design. Their horns amidst the fiery dark was nothing less than horrifying, the ground continuing to shake from the hoofed masses. The first to reach Crane cleaved at him with a massive broadhead axe, and the bird barely registered himself sidestepping it as his muscles coursed with instinctual desperation. The weakness from before was completely gone now as he crushed into the bull with his full force - leading with his legs and powering through with titanic wingbeats.
As his foe's body drove backwards it parted the oncoming aggressors like a sea for the briefest time, a feat that encouraged the leopards around him. With a chorus of battle cries they pushed back in formation just as the invaders came in force once more. A most terrible impasse was formed along the entrance gateway, splattered crimson and limbs being cast about like an unholy rain.
Simply unable to register disgust, Crane pressed on, backing from the front line and deflecting projectiles to try and cover the leopard archers. Before long, some of the bovine vandals began to vault over the shorter feline defenders and engage the secondary line. One determined fiend launched his spear right at the bird master; Crane captured the shaft of the weapon in his wings before reversing it in its course and sending it back. It immediately impaled the attacker with enough force to pierce yet another warrior behind him with deadly effect.
"Hold the line!" the commander barked once more. "We hold here or the city is overrun!"
In another instant, a slimmer and more agile bull leapt up with a dandao saber and slashed the leader's neck with nearly decapitating force. Sensing the morale crisis for the Mongol soldiers, Crane jumped forward again to avenge the loss. With a single beat he pushed off the ground, removing the distance between them before his enemy could bring his menacing weapon to bear. This allowed the bird to succeed in disarming the bull - but he was caught unprepared when the warrior tried to gore him with his horns. Flapping to the side, Crane was left vulnerable as he got swatted down to the ground by the determined effort of the bovine.
Trying to feebly crawl back, he was helpless to stop the invader from recovering the dandao and preparing it for a finishing stroke. Glancing around frantically, there was no one coming to his aid - the leopards being too preoccupied with individual marks. Once more he had found himself looking up at a cold steel fate; but again, it was not to be.
Puncturing straight through the bovine's chest with vengeful haste was the elaborately decorated spearhead of a guandao. Crane's limbs faltered as relief overcame him, wholly expecting to see the face of the golden cat coming to his rescue. But as the spearhead drew back, the body of his foe fell to its knees before being roughly kicked aside in a mangled heap. The ruthless excess and flair left no doubt about the identity of his rescuer.
"And so we meet again, pretty bird."
All Crane gave in return to the princess was a halfhearted scowl, but it seemed to satisfy her nonetheless. Following close behind the leopardess was Mei Ling, leading a small group of reinforcements into the fray.
"Are you alright, Xian?" the golden cat asked, seeming flustered as she helped him up.
Across the street, a doomed warehouse collapsed in on itself amidst the flames and shot out a deadly heatwave. Those unfortunate enough to be caught in its path erupted into screams as their flailing and writhing forms illuminated the night. Even the princess had to avert her gaze from such a sight.
"He's fine." Yuelen interjected, regaining focus as she grabbed Mei by the shoulder. "Get the damn gate lowered or we're all dead!" she added with a shove in the proper direction.
As Mei headed straight for the thick of the fighting, Crane covered her closely from above. The feline wielded her own gilded spear with offensive prowess as the bird defeated any attacks that were levied at them. Launching themselves amidst the bovine soldiers, the princess helped the defenders behind them to strengthen their line.
Gaining momentum between fatal clashes with her opponents, Mei signaled the bird master towards the partially collapsed walls above. Wordlessly understanding, Crane intercepted her course as she leapt up, giving her a mid-air boost with his wings as the golden cat shot upwards. The chi master drew back her arm and crushed through the wall of the upper gatehouse with a yellow burst of light. Moments later, the unmistakable creaking of the portcullis resounded as heavy iron came down upon the fighting mass of soldiers below and crushed several in place. Seeing the futility in trying to break through, the attackers outside the gate gradually began to draw back into the moonstarved darkness. The dreadful ruckus present mere moments before was replaced with only distant rumblings and the smoldering of nearby fires.
"Is that it - have we won?" one of the less experienced Mongol soldiers asked timidly.
"No." Yuelen stated, passing him by.
The leopardess walked amidst the carnage-strewn entryway, finishing off a maimed enemy with a surgical thrust of her spear. Her lilac glare shot between the bars of the grate with an annoyed haste.
"We've hardly begun."
Early morning light flooded the streets of Khanbaliq, tapered rays cutting through clouds of smoke as much of the outer fringes of the city remained burning and in complete disarray. Heavy stone projectiles had replaced the flaming ordinance from the night before, easily audible as they rained overhead into buildings and homes. Outside the walls, a myriad host surrounded the city. Having amassed under the cover of darkness, they had caught the Mongolian defenders completely off-guard. A variety of hastily-assembled trebuchets and siege engines fired ceaselessly as the attackers exchanged arrows with those on the battlements.
Under the blackened rubble of a building that was standing mere hours before, Po began to regain consciousness. The tang of fire hung in the air, passing in and out of his nostrils with every breath. Opening his eyes, he found himself looking up into a sky polluted by flames and whizzing arrows. Screams echoed in the distance as the persistent thunder of battle prevailed over his ears. His body was partially buried by debris, which had fortunately prevented him from burning to death. Pushing a charred wooden beam off himself and stumbling into the street, he briefly recalled what had occurred the night before and a flood of unwanted emotions came rushing back.
The recent events were overwhelming, they manifested a ringing in his ears at a fever pitch - he pushed them away in his mind. The panda couldn't remember anything after the roof underneath him had collapsed; he struggled to gain his bearings, senses drowning under the lurching hum of marching soldiers that echoed down the streets, deathly shrills from indiscernible directions. His eyes darted about the surrounding area in search of Tigress.
Strewn amidst the remnants of the destroyed house nearby was the unmistakable striped form of the tiger master. Po feared the worst, shuffling through the debris as best he could to get to her. To his relief, the panda discovered she was still breathing. As he shook Tigress from unconsciousness, she began to cough on black dust and all manner of soot.
Po offered her a paw to get up. "You okay?"
It had immediately seemed like a stupid question when looking upon her rugged features, still streaked with blood from the night before; and yet, the amber fire burning in her eyes remained undaunted still. She didn't take his arm - the tiger had instead caught sight of something behind Po.
"Watch out!" she growled, shoving him aside as she stood under her own power.
She had acted just in time, as a javelin came whizzing past where Po had been standing a mere second before. Dazed by the near miss, the panda turned back towards the rubble-strewn street where heavily armored figures were beginning to draw forth from the obfuscating clouds of ash. Acknowledging their arrival, Tigress grudgingly paced at them with an intimidating composure. Seeing her do so surprised Po, knowing all too well what ilk still preyed upon her psyche. Once more, the masters found themselves at an impasse with unknown enemies; but with no clear alternative, the Dragon Warrior followed her towards the invaders.
Fully emerging from the smoke, a mace-wielding bovine surged ahead of the rest and took his best swing at Tigress, only to be promptly disarmed when she caught the shaft of his weapon in her paw. In another instant she had kicked him through a collapsed wall to the side. More of them quickly followed, and soon the two masters were stuck in the thick of a melee amongst the ruined buildings and streets. In every direction around them similar engagements were taking place between the attacking and defending forces; their efforts simply melded with the overpowering chaos that had swallowed the city whole.
"Want some of this?" Po taunted as three of the warriors closed in on him. "Come and get it!"
The first thrust at him with such force that the panda spent little effort in redirecting the velocity, bashing their face into stacks of nearby pottery. The other two were more coordinated with their efforts, testing his defensive technique. With impressive fluidity, Po kicked the warhammer of the nearest one out of his grasp and squarely into the head of the other, swinging the now-unarmed fighter overhead and body-slamming him into the pavement.
"Ha!"
Meanwhile, Tigress was just finishing with two canine soldiers, adding to the growing tally of defeated challengers that were strewn about on the ground. In what would have otherwise been a break in the fight, she was caught unprepared as a large form pulverized the wall to her side. Diving away from the debris that nearly crushed her, she looked up to discover she was facing down a gorilla - an opponent as rare as they were incredibly strong. Still exhausted from the last day's fight, she was reduced to trying to take the brute down by attacking his legs. Merely annoyed by her efforts, the behemoth snatched the tiger up by the throat, hoisting her up with one arm.
As Po tried to help her, he was tackled to the ground by even more of the invaders; he was immediately in just as precarious of a situation, crawling backwards to narrowly avoid slashes and stabs in equal measure. All the while, Tigress was finding it nearly impossible to breathe as she struggled to free herself from the death grip around her neck. As a last resort, she loosed her claws, tearing into the massive primate's arm. As he dropped her in pain, the tiger master struck with renewed determination - her efforts were blunted once more by fatigue.
The beast landed a fair hit, kicking her some distance down the street. Every part of her body ached, and standing became more of a task than it normally ought to be.
Always something. Always someone to fight. I've had just about enoughof this.
For the first time she could recall, the tiger master had to search for the will to keep fighting. Despite the bedlam of the moment, the pounding ache in her chest, Crane's words from before pierced her just the same. The gorilla thudded towards her, death in his eyes; she didn't move. The corner of her vision caught sight of yet another falling projectile coming right for them.
Still not flinching, Tigress took a half step back. The gorilla lifted its arms to attack; but the beast was smothered in perfect time by the falling impact which had been precisely anticipated by the feline.
"Well that's that, then." she mumbled, unimpressed.
The tiger turned her attention to the Dragon Warrior, pushing the nearest fiends off of him and incapacitating them with merciless strikes. The panda was more than thankful for the help.
"Where to?" Po asked, watching her catch a flying arrow and toss it aside without much effort.
"The palace - to find out what the hell is going on."
Not waiting for an answer, Tigress started off down the street and Po made sure to keep pace as more projectiles continued to soar above. The utter chaos they had awoken to stabilized marginally as they worked their way closer to the center of town, the richer districts being seemingly out of range of the attackers' trebuchets. Disorganized groups of soldiers periodically sprinted in the opposite direction of the masters as they navigated the streets. Po felt awful, too many terrible sights in so little time.
So much death...
As he watched the tiger master pace briskly ahead of him, Po briefly reflected on the conversation they'd been having before the current calamities had ensued. He badly wished to have continued it, but this was surely no time for such things. The palace had come into view.
"Almost there." Tigress noted, her mind clearly focused only on the present.
Here at last, in the strongest enclosure of the city, there was some semblance of order. The army of snow leopards, previously camped in the open square, were now standing to attention in evenly-spaced ranks. Commanders and sergeants barked orders to their lower-ranked counterparts and no one seemed to mind the panda and tiger walking past them to the stairs of the palace. Reaching the top, the masters were met with a defensive perimeter of Kheshig guards standing shoulder to shoulder - weapons at the ready. Waiting for them before the doors to the Khan's throne room was the jackal minister, Tsagaan.
"Ah, so it seems you two are alive after all. Tengri be praised." he said with the least amount of enthusiasm imaginable. "That bird master of yours is already inside."
Po and Tigress exchanged an uncertain glance.
The jackal stepped aside, and the guards opened a path for the masters to enter. Pushing through the main doors, it was immediately clear that none of the occupants of the hall had taken any notice of the two of them. The nobles, generals, and ministers were all too busy being in a collective uproar over the state of affairs, bickering back and forth incessantly. The Khan's family stood somewhat detached from the rest at the head of the room, where Khasar, Altan, and Ganbataar conferred with noticeable frustration. In a similar fashion, the Khan's children were at each other's throats, soberly overseen by the Khatun herself.
Tigress eventually noticed that Crane and Mei Ling were standing not far from the royals, off to the side from the throne. They preferred not to make eye contact, remaining guarded in posture. Tigress' ears flicked as she looked away from them, anger still simmering within her. Those wounds were still too fresh. She wanted few things more than to be far, far away from this place and from Crane especially.
"Do you two have any idea what's going on?" Po asked desperately as they approached.
Crane seemed as if he were about to answer, but Mei Ling spoke first, "We're about to. The Khan has just been delivered a message."
As if right on cue, Po caught sight of Tsagaan striding between the uproar towards the throne with a missive tightly clutched in his grip. It wasn't long before Khasar noticed the desert jackal as well, waving off his generals impatiently.
"Well? Let's hear what the bastards have to say for themselves!" the ruler barked angrily, prompting the minister to unravel the scroll with haste.
The congregation present in the great hall seemed to take heed of the development and quieted down as Tsagaan began to read.
"To whoever may call themselves ruler of Khanbaliq, know that I, Temutai, warrior-king of the Qi-Dan, slayer of foes, harbinger of destruction, lord of-" the jackal paused to take another look at the scroll before concluding, "This... goes on for some time."
"On with it!" the Khan ordered, furiously annoyed.
"Erm, yes - at once!" the minister fumbled with the parchment and continued, "have seen fit to lay siege to this place with the full force of my clan armies. I can assure you that my victory is certain and that failure to accept my terms will result in the razing of this city and the annihilation of all who dwell within. Death comes swiftly to those who test the extent of my mercy."
It was now completely silent in the great hall.
"My terms are as follows: the ceasing of all hostilities and the withdrawal of the Qi-Dan hordes in exchange for the Deng-Wa artifact and the head of the one known as Tigress, who stole it from my rightful possession."
Seemingly all the eyes in the room now fell on the Chinese masters, especially the tiger among them. The Khan however, was stuck in shocked disbelief; his claws found their way deep into the worn grooves of his wooden throne as his mind raged.
How could he know?! Who does he think he is?! The dagger is MINE!
"My forces shall grant a brief reprieve. You have until daybreak forthcoming to decide." Tsagaan wearily rolled up the scroll, "That is all."
For several moments afterward not a single word was uttered, only for the commotion to erupt once more into argumentative chaos. Some of the more desperate nobles and dignitaries were pointing accusingly at Tigress while the more prideful among them were vehemently against any sort of cooperation with the aggressors outside the walls. Khasar himself was being hounded from all angles but still had said nothing.
"All for a silly dagger!" some said, "Send them all their heads for good measure!" cried others.
The Khan at last shot up from the throne, shouting heartily, "ENOUGH!"
The manic ire of the ruler was clear for all to see, and silence prevailed once more. Order through fear, as always.
"I am the Khan of Khans! I have not spent decades spilling the blood of my enemies only to be commanded about by the likes of this Chinese warlord scum!"
"My Khan, the terms provided to us-" Gan tried to interject, only to be shot down by the piercing, unhinged glare of the sovereign who was like a brother to him.
"No - my words shall be final on this!"
Bowing his head obediently, Gan backed away from the throne, ashamed.
"There will be no compliance with any such terms. If this Temutai and his hordes of lowborn filth think they can take this city - the pride of my empire - then let them fucking try!"
The hall clamored with shouts and cheers as Khasar drew his gilded saber emphatically.
"They may have thought they had a chance against us with the element of surprise - striking like cowards in the night! Come tomorrow, we'll give them a proper welcome to Mongolia!"
The screams grew louder as fervor became bloodlust. Po could only shake his head; there would be much more death to come.
Author's Notes:
- Okay, so I'm not going to even try to make any excuses for how long it's been between updates, I'm very sorry about it but suffice to say I'm still alive and all and I do like to finish what I start
- In the future, I'm thinking about perhaps shortening the chapter length in favor of more frequent updates, and I'm curious for people's thoughts on the pros/cons of that approach
- To those of you who have stumbled upon this more recently, and to those who have been there reading and reviewing from day one, you have my deepest thanks for taking some time out of your day to give my story a read!
- Here's to hoping next time around it won't take an actual eternity for me to update, eh? ;)
