Chapter Thirty-Five: Long Time Coming
Once again, Khasar Khan now held the Dagger of Deng-Wa. From where he sat enthroned upon his noble perch overlooking the upheaval of Xiangyang in the distance, the leopard ruler remained entranced by the artifact. His fascination was now doubled after having seen its full destructive power for himself - surely there must have been nothing else like it in the entire universe. His only remaining disappointment was that he seemed to lack the ability to wield it himself.
Looking up from the weapon in his grasp, he looked to Yuelen and Ganbataar standing before his throne. Gan seemed to be withdrawn somewhat, not even looking towards him; Yue had an eagerness about her face as if expecting something. Slightly behind the two of them was a stone platform where a terrifying beast of black and white was held down by numerous iron fetters. The thing was not even trying to resist the chains at all, just sitting upon the platform in a relaxed state, its crimson eyes fixated upon the Dagger of Deng-Wa. The few surviving members of the elite party huddled around the beast with unease.
"Tell me," the Khan said after taking in the spectacle of it for some time, "why is it that so few of you have returned?"
Yuelen hesitated for a moment; seeing that Gan had no interest in speaking, she stepped forward.
"We finally caught up to them just southwest of Jinzhong. The tiger… she took down many of our best soldiers."
Khasar looked disappointed, "And?"
"I killed her myself." Yue stated proudly, if a bit hastily.
"Shame." the ruler lamented. "I rather liked her - she was very strong. Could have been quite useful."
Yue's expression hid the fact that she was now simmering within; not once had he given her any credit for retrieving the dagger, either. All of her accomplishments were being glanced over like they were nothing - just as Tigress had predicted.
That bitch was right.
Having the eye to see that the princess was feeling the rebuke of the Khan, Gan stepped up to speak at last, "We should also note that the weapon was used once again by the panda - it was what changed him into this vile creature you see before you now."
Khasar studied what remained of the panda once more. The dark horns that protruded from its head betrayed the almost-pleasant neutral expression it held, simply watching him right back. The Khan wasn't sure if the red-eyed beast was aware they were speaking of him, but it clearly did not care in the slightest either way. Those eyes were cold and piercing; they were hard to look into for even the briefest time.
"And what of that treasonous daughter of yours, Gan? What became of her?"
The grizzled leopard warrior's eyes darted up to the ruler, revealing a growing distrust and anger between those who had seen each other as brothers for most of their lives. Gan felt as though things had never been the same after this whole business with the dagger started; Khasar had been driven entirely mad over the infernal thing.
"She escaped, along with the bird master."
"Ah." Khasar mused, twirling the mythic prize in his paw before clutching it tightly once more, "She escaped - or did you let her escape?"
"The bird bested him in combat, father." Yuelen interrupted promptly.
Gan gave a quick side-eye to the princess before speaking, "It is true. I was knocked aside, and did not see much of this transpire."
Khasar shook his head in a near-mocking way.
"I should expect better from my most decorated warrior. Perhaps you've gotten soft after all these years."
Gan now looked very angry, unafraid to hide it from the Khan, who seemed to no longer care very much for their friendship.
"But it doesn't matter," Khasar started as he stepped from his throne and straight towards the panda-demon, "I believe we now have everything required to bring this tiresome siege to an end."
Both Yue and Gan watched the Khan uncannily toying with the beast, moving the dagger left and right and watching its eyes follow it perfectly.
"If my hunch is correct," the ruler said with malignant zeal in his tone, "this should be quite the show."
"Are you sure you don't want to join the others, Xian?"
Crane looked up to find an uncertainty in Mei Ling's eyes.
"Yes - this is something I must attend to; especially after everything that has happened."
She nodded wordlessly, not wanting to fight the determination that had been in his voice. She knew Crane well enough. The other remaining members of the Furious Five had just departed camp once again to follow Shifu and the other members of the Masters Council into battle. While the red panda had publicly told the others that the two of them were still wounded and therefore unfit to fight, Crane wondered if there had been another component to this; Shifu had said almost nothing at all to them since their conversation the previous evening.
Having made his preparations, Crane was about to leave - but stopped when he noticed that Mei was offering him something. It was a hat, one identical to the one he had worn proudly for so many years.
"I made you another one." the golden cat said with a friendly smile crossing her face.
"Auh, you didn't have to-"
"It's fine! I still remembered how to do it after all these years." she insisted. "Besides, I had to find something to do with all the time waiting around the infirmary."
Not hesitating, Crane took the carefully-made conical hat and placed it upon his head; his silhouette returned to the one so keenly recognizable by his friends and enemies alike.
"Thanks, Mei." the bird master said with gratitude. "Are you sure that you're well enough to come along?"
The golden cat smiled with confidence, doing her best to minimize the visibility of the bandages still tightly wrapped against her side.
"Of course - if you have to do this, then I want to be right there with you."
Crane smiled in response. He could never hope to deny her when she gave him that look.
"Fine then - let's go!" he announced, snatching her up and taking flight.
Instead of heading north towards the opposing Mongol battle lines, they went directly west into the embattled city of Xiangyang itself. Easily avoiding the midair obstacles, Crane guided them swiftly over the wealthy districts and into the large palatial complex atop the highest embankment within the walls. It was not victory in battle that Crane was seeking, but rather the settling of a very personal score. He wanted vengeance that was long past due. Landing atop one of the richly-tiled rooftop terraces of the palace grounds, the bird master set Mei Ling down as they devised a means to infiltrate the place.
Back out on the battlefield, Shifu watched as his students formed up beside him as they had become all-too-accustomed to doing as of late. Only this time, there was no enthusiastic eagerness or lighthearted playful bearing about any of them. They had no serious physical damage, and yet each one now had wounds that were entirely too fresh.
"Hold steady." the red panda commanded.
The Mongolian forces were slowly encroaching upon them - more carefully than usual.
"Let them come." Monkey said, unafraid. "I need to take my mind off things, and this will do just fine."
"You and me both, brother." Mantis affirmed.
Viper wilted somewhat, sad that her companions wished to drown their sorrow in violence - but understanding their pain, nonetheless.
Surprisingly, the enemy lines now halted their advance entirely. The Chinese forces had not anticipated this, and at once some unease sprung up amidst the ranks.
"What are they waiting for?" Viper asked the others.
There was no reply. Shifu's eyes narrowed, watching their opponents closely.
What are you playing at now?
Amidst the fortified royal residence of Xiangyang, Crane had just glided himself and Mei Ling towards the lightly-defended rear gate of the palace. Approaching quickly with the golden cat close behind, the avian found himself faced with a familiar adversary from before - the gorilla captain of the palace guard.
"Hey there." Crane greeted awkwardly.
The primate seemed to have nearly had a double-take when seeing the same kung fu master from months and months before - one who was most certainly supposed to be dead.
"Wait - what?"
Before the ape could say any more, Crane had kicked the large fighter through the wooden doors behind him - cracking them clean open. The other guards panicked and scattered immediately; many had also been present the night the avian had nearly bested them all at once. Mei followed the bird master as they went through the entrance and right past the now-unconscious guard captain.
"That was… easier than expected." Crane observed.
As they walked through the mostly-empty rooms of the palace, they realized the majority of the guards were too preoccupied with the ongoing battle preparations to even notice them. Mei Ling did the best she could to blend in as well, folding her arms behind her like some esteemed dignitary. Crane was already thinking of the reason they'd come - the Lord of Xiangyang. As he angrily envisioned finally confronting the treacherous ruler, he readjusted the brim of his hat in the hope of appearing more intimidating.
They were nearing the centremost hall - a room protected by heavy decoratively carved doors and two guards standing just before them.
"You already know I'll follow you in there no matter what." Mei whispered over her companion's shoulder. "But I feel like I should say… this won't bring either of them back. Revenge never truly heals anything."
"I know." Crane said far too quickly for the statement to have been sincere, already sizing up the two guards. "I have to try to do something - anything - about it or else I think I'm going to go crazy."
Mei looked down, ashamed.
"We still have each other, Xian. We should honor your friend's sacrifice in the proper way." she advised, placing a paw over his wing and trying to gesture him back away from the doors - but he shrugged her off.
Crane took his first step at the defenders, "I'm about to."
Sensing his aggression, the guards met his advance and drew their weapons. Crane was unbothered, tilting his form to the side around the first strike and cleanly slashing horizontally with his wings; the powerful move sent the two bovine sentinels slamming against the opposing walls. Not delaying in the slightest, the avian master kicked open the great doors.
Across the lord's hall, all of the occupants were immediately made aware of the arrival of the bird and golden cat who had just loudly intruded upon their deliberations. The Lord of Xiangyang himself recoiled in shock before rising from his throne.
"Just who do you think you are?" the ibex questioned angrily. "Those doors are worth more than half of Jiannan Province!"
Crane and Mei Ling just kept advancing steadily, and the bearing of the avian was now giving the impatient lord a thorough sense of fear. Seeing that neither of them were going to answer his accusatory query, the ibex motioned for his protectors to come forth.
"Guards! Stop these interlopers at once!"
Crane raised the brim of his hat to reveal his face at last - his eyes were squinted in hatred as the first soldiers of Xiangyang moved to engage them. From all angles, the royal protectors surged in; the veteran warriors were unphased. Her weapon of choice having been destroyed by the Mongolian princess, the unarmed golden cat simply grabbed the first spear to be thrust at her and disarmed the antelope who had wielded it. With a beat of his wings, Crane subdued the fighters in the front part of the hall before vaulting backwards over himself and landing upon two who had been about to attack Mei.
The golden cat master showed her appreciation for the gesture, pirouetting her newfound weapon about herself and easily dueling several of the less-experienced soldiers simultaneously. Another thrusting attack attempted to skewer Crane, but the agile defensive master just guided it aside with his wing and jabbed at the guard's neck with the other. Now possessing the spear for himself, he lofted it into the air before kicking it right towards the ibex lord. The ruler jumped to the side clumsily as the shaft of the weapon reduced his throne to splinters.
"Kill them now!" the lord screamed with childlike helplessness.
More fighters continued to enter from numerous side entrances to the great hall. Mei Ling blocked several strikes with the spear before extending her other appendage out in a chi attack; some of her opponents flew straight back against the support columns and collapsed to the floor.
"Xian - go for their leader!" the golden cat yelled over the sound of the fighting throughout the hall.
Taking a half wingbeat and kicking downwards at the heads of a few more soldiers, the bird followed her suggestion and came straight for the ibex. A last line of defenders closed in at once, but Crane just stepped back as most of them charged in too hastily and crashed against one another in a clumsy heap. Almost embarrassed on account of the incompetence of his opponents, the avian just looked up to the Lord of Xiangyang. The ibex was retreating back as he drew his ornamental weapon, but quickly running out of space to fall back to.
"Have we met before?" the lord asked of the enraged bird as Mei Ling continued to best numerous warriors behind them, flipping back and forth despite her injuries.
"No." Crane answered coldly.
In another instant, the ibex had backed all the way against the furthest wall of his throne room; seeing the violent intention in his opponent's stride, the sword he had drawn just moments before hit the ground with a loud clang.
"I yield, I yield! Please spare me!" the cowardly lord pleaded, surrendering. "You wouldn't murder a noble in cold blood, would you?!"
Crane just about rolled his eyes, but kicked the dropped weapon aside for good measure, moving behind the ruler and facing him towards the still-fighting guards.
"Call off your soldiers - now!" the avian demanded.
Without hesitating, the ibex signaled them to stop fighting Mei Ling, and the room grew quiet once more as the golden cat cast down the now-unnecessary weapon she had stolen. As she walked over to join Crane at the head of the large room, the bird master threw the Lord of Xiangyang to the ground roughly and pinned the digits of his foot against the ibex's throat.
"You may not have met me, but you betrayed me just the same." Crane nearly yelled, gazing down right into the lord's terrified eyes. "You poisoned my friends and left us to die in the desert."
"Ah yes… now I remember that unfortunate bit of business." the ibex choked out, pushing up against Crane's appendage to no avail. "I hope you know that it was nothing personal!"
"It felt pretty personal!" the avian countered, tightening his grip. "My friends are gone now because of your greed! I loved them, do you understand?!"
Mei Ling was growing increasingly concerned at the bird's enraged outbursts. She had never seen Crane like this before. As she came even closer to them, she kept a watchful eye upon the remaining soldiers in the room who looked on still. Meanwhile, Crane had grown impatient with the lord's silence.
"Now," the bird started, "you're going to convince me why I should spare your pathetic life."
The ibex's eyes widened even more than before, "Wait, wait! That won't be necessary! I'm sure we can work something out!"
Oblivious to what was now taking place in the most fortified center of the strategically-critical Chinese city, Shifu and the other masters remained holding their positions in the field. The reason for the Mongolian army's delayed advance was about to be revealed. The enemy lines opposite the imperial forces opened up at numerous key points and many wooden cart-like weapon platforms were being wheeled forward to face them. Those among the Chinese ranks who had survived the great battle long enough to have previously seen these nefarious weapons immediately grew more concerned than before - Shifu chief among them.
Hwacha.
The platforms were established in place as teams of sappers and blacksmiths came forward from the enemy ranks to operate them - there was no longer enough time for the imperial forces to close the distance. In seemingly no time at all, the Hwacha were set alight and were launching forth a constant barrage of fiery arrow-like projectiles. The air filled with flame and smoke as the hundreds of searing rockets collided into the Chinese positions; completely exposed, they were taking heavy casualties immediately.
"Master - what do we do?!" Monkey asked Shifu with desperation, using his bo staff to deflect the nearest projectiles as best he could. "We cannot stay here!"
Shifu's gut instinct was to order a full retreat, as anyone could see that the Mongols clearly now had superior artillery support from their rudimentary gunpowder weapons - but he also knew that to abandon their positions now could very well induce a full-on rout of their army if the steppe warriors pressed the advantage. It was a lose-lose dilemma, and the old red panda was left speechless as his students did their best to weather the ongoing onslaught of inflamed siege ordinance.
In the far distance, overlooking the beautiful spectacle of the high-arcing flames, Khasar was boasting a wide grin. His gamble to use nearly all his remaining ammunition for these weapons appeared to be paying off tenfold.
"It seems we've got them on the back-foot!" he declared proudly to Gan, who still seemed distant from their exchange earlier.
"So it seems."
Khasar shrugged aside his chief warrior's lack of enthusiasm, "Now is clearly the time to force the issue further."
"What do you mean, father?" Yue added now, standing from the nearby overlook with uncertainty in her tone.
The Khan did not answer, only walking down straight towards where his Kheshig guards were still watching the panda-demon. Lifting up the Dagger of Deng-Wa again, he signaled to the closest soldiers authoritatively.
"Release it."
"What?!" came the simultaneous outbursts from both Gan and Yuelen.
"My Khan, you cannot seriously think this is the wisest-" the veteran warrior tried to advise.
"Silence!" Khasar yelled, cutting him off. "We will release the beast upon our enemies!"
The two nearby Kheshig gave a "your funeral" sort of look to their ruler, but not wanting to lose their heads, slashed at the chains holding the mythic beast down upon the stone platform. The manacles fell down at once, but the demon did not move at all, unaffected. Impressed that he had been correct, and was not already dead, Khasar extended the dagger out to the creature invitingly.
"Wait, we can't just give it-" Yue started, but Gan held her back with an arm.
"Too late now…" the leopard said, knowing it was best to not interfere with the terrifying beast now on the loose.
The panda-demon seemed to be greatly satisfied with Khasar's offering, lifting its own clawed appendage upwards to accept the artifact. Hesitating briefly, the Khan laid it softly upon the paw pad of the thing and backed away.
"You're mad, brother." Gan whispered under his breath, still holding back the princess.
The great monster's reddened glare looked down towards the silver weapon now in its possession. There was a moment where everything remained still, but with a slight rumble the ancient shard began to shake once more. Khasar and the other Mongols were understandably afraid, backing away a few paces as the Dagger of Deng-Wa started to inexplicably become fluid. As the moments passed, the silver dagger gradually shifted to an aqueous shimmering layer of light that hovered just over the demon's paw. Some of the less hearty soldiers were running away now.
"It's… It's beautiful." Khasar commented with undeniable insanity.
The liquified weapon remained levitating no longer, and at once diffused through the skin of the monster's paw. The dagger that had been fought over so brutally and for which so many had perished was now gone entirely, consumed by the body of the beast that had once been Po. After the creature remained still for a slight passing moment, radiant beams of red light shot outwards in all directions. A building roaring sound grew across the entire battlefield. Even across the expanse, the kung fu masters could see the brilliance of the lights being cast towards them.
Gan no longer had to hold Yuelen back, as the terrified princess was now joining everyone else's attempt to get as far away from this bullshit as possible. That was, save for Khasar, of course. The Khan just kept standing right before the beast, seeming to know something that no one else did.
"Yes! Rise up and defeat our enemies - Dragon Warrior!" the manic ruler screamed. "The prophecy is fulfilled!"
With a mighty outward flourish, the beast rose up from the platform at last, having assumed an entirely different form than before. In the place of the panda-demon now stood a massive and fearsome monochromatic dragon - an actual dragon warrior indeed. The thing took a brief look at Khasar as if thanking him for granting something of infinite value; no sooner had it done so than it turned about to look into the Chinese battle lines in the distance, and the now-doomed city of Xiangyang.
The hefty black and white dragon took its first mighty strides, shearing the very earth apart underneath it as it tore off down the slope of the hill towards the imperial forces. Even from where they stood, Shifu, Monkey, Mantis, and Viper could see what was now coming for them. There was nothing to be said. Even though he had not wanted to believe a word of it, Shifu now knew without a doubt that Crane had spoken the truth. Po truly had been corrupted into something truly menacing.
The Dragon Warrior was now among them.
Author's Notes:
- Hey everybody! Thanks again for reading!
- It feels great to reach the milestone of 35 chapters and nearly 130,000 words in this story!
- I have a pretty detailed outline for the next five chapters or so, and I look forward to getting those out as soon as I can
- Appreciate the help of Ying once again for beta reading this chapter, it's a great service and helps me straighten out all the little kinks before publishing!
- Also should thank him for introducing me to some historical gunpowder weapons such as the Hwacha that were used by the Mongolians in this time period
- Until next time!