The Last Victory

21. In the Crossfire

The goat swayed quietly to and fro. She sat alone in the cage and tried to find inner stability. The whole uncertainty was unbearable for her. Again and again, she wondered how the day would end. She constantly quarreled with herself about looking into the future, but her inner resistance always pushed a warning wedge before her plan.
Suddenly, she raised her head. There was a sound. It came from the door. Like the scratching of a knife. She stood up hastily and stared forward. Someone was tampering with the lock. A shadow moved under the door slot.
A cracking noise made the door open. First, the goat was shocked when she saw a bird figure in the door frame. Just when she saw the flash of a feather knife, a burden fell from her soul.
"Shen!"
Without a word, the peacock walked up to the cage and smashed the padlock.
"Where are the others?" He asked without asking about their welfare.
"You are very dirty," the goat said worriedly and pushed the cage door open. "Where have you been?"
She picked up a corner of Shen's robe and tried to scrub away a stain.
"Stop it!" With anger, Shen pulled his clothes away from her. "I was just taking a walk through the underground. Above it was a bit too crowded for me. - Where are the others?!"
"As far as I know, he housed everyone on the building site where the palace was - which you had destroyed."
It sounded like a reproach, but she didn't want to confirm it. There were more important things now.
"But he won't let you near them," Soothsayer warned when Shen tried to run through the door again.
But then Shen turned and rammed his long sword into the wooden floor.
"Then he has to step over my dead body first!" the white peacock snapped.
The goat sighed wistfully. "Shen, I'm sure he wouldn't even mind dying - at least after he achieved his goal."
"How do you want to know that?"
She looked at the blue feather that she was still holding in her hoof. "I feel that."
"Quite revealing," Shen growled sarcastically. "But that doesn't get the whole parody any further either."
With that, he drew out the long sword and turned away.
"Good luck, Shen," Soothsayer repeated after him. "I hope the best - for both of you."
Shen stopped and looked at her angrily. "How can you say something like that?!"
A barely visible, shy smile flitted over her. "Maybe because he reminds me of you."
Shen furrowed his eyebrows, but he didn't want a discussion with her and left her with his anger.

It was a simple thing for Shen to sneak up to the palace construction site unnoticed. He knew every millimeter that had been burned into his brain since his childhood.
The building site was three stories high. The construction work had not gotten any further, as it had already been hard work removing the ruins of the old building. Shen felt a terrible feeling when he remembered how he had bombed the palace with his cannons, only to destroy the panda and his followers.
"That panda," Shen growled, but he swallowed down his old anger again. He couldn't afford to distract himself with that now. His thoughts were focused upon only one thing.
Shen was surprised that even though the goat had told him that Xiang would be in this unfinished building, there were any guards to be seen. Why did his rival leave the house unguarded?
But Shen had no other choice. He was alone. He couldn't ask anyone for help. Except the soothsayer... but no, he certainly didn't want her help. In theory, he could have set the building on fire, but that would only endanger his family. He didn't know where and in what condition they were. For a brief moment, Shen really regretted being on his own. But it was his own business.
The white peacock clambered up the scaffolding and climbed the top floor. From here he could see the whole courtyard, and for a moment he was surprised about the large statue of Master Thundering Rhino. But he didn't have time for an analysis. He scurried quickly along the inner wall, where darkness surrounded him. The wooden floors for the floors were only half finished, so that he didn't have to take the stairs. But no sooner had he reached the second unfinished floor than a burning smell rose in his nose. It smelled like metal. Like hot metal.
The lord tightened his eyes. It was pitch black in the construction site building, but Shen didn't mind that much. If the construction workers had stuck to the original, then he knew every beam and every corner. Only the burnt smell was unusual.
Suddenly, Shen stopped like thunderstruck. Not far away from him, a red light glowed in the center of the building. And in front of it stood a barely visible figure. It was just a dark shadow that didn't move. Step by step, Shen crept closer to the person. It was the silhouette of a peacock. Shen was about to pull out his feather knife when suddenly...
"I would leave that alone if I were you", a voice stopped him and the other peacock raised his wing admonishingly. Shen froze. Xiang turned slowly to face him. In the red light, his plumage appeared almost purple. "I've been expecting you. A little late, but better than never."
Shen hissed loudly. "Give me a reason why I shouldn't hang your dead body over my door!"
Xiang giggled. "You're a joker, I have to say. But let's just drop the curtain."
In the next moment, thick cloths fell on either side of the blue peacock, revealing the inside of the building. Two chains hung from the ceiling of the second floor to the left and right, with something tied to each end.
"DAD!" When Xia recognized her father, she swung back and forth with Sheng. Both siblings were chained to each other and hung upside down. On the other hand, her mother was tied up in the same way. She just looked a little different. Shen narrowed his eyes. The peahen had covered with something, only it was not immediately recognizable because of the red light. Only when the peacock's eyes had got used to the irritating spectacle, he realized that she had covered with white paint that was still partially dripping down from her. It looked like someone had dipped her in a can of paint.
Xiang saw Shen's confused expression and gave a hoarse chuckle. "I would say you are a good match now, don't you?"
Shen shivered with anger, but before he could pounce on the sardonic smiling bird, Xiang raised his wings in warning. "Well, well, well. If you kill me, I'll have to drop them." He pointed under his feet where he stood on two ends of the chain. Shen's gaze wandered down. A cauldron of hot, molten metal boiled under the prisoners.
Xiang hypocritically rubbed his feathered hands together. "Well, now what? Who should I drop?" He loosened the chain that Yin-Yu was tied to. "Either your slut. Or your two offspring?"
Shen's gaze wandered between the captured peabirds, but he was hardly ready for such a game. "Then fight with me!"
Xiang smiled. "A nice offer." He gently put his wings together and he lowered his gaze briefly, before he suddenly lifting it up again. "But I play by my rules!" He jumped up and fluttered up.
Shen gave a scream as the chains slid away and the prisoners fell. The white peacock threw himself forward and got hold of the two chains. He quickly pulled them, lifting the three tied up birds more away from the glowing hot mass.
Xiang watched relaxed as the white peacock tried to hold the two chains to avoid them falling into the cauldrons. He strutted slowly along one of the roof beams.
"If you like, you can stay there until the end of your life," he scoffed. "But since my time is also limited, I will be happy to help you of course."
He patted his wings gently and immediately several black-clad Hun soldiers appeared. There were definitely more than 30. Xiang snapped with his finger feathers once. Someone fired an arrow that narrowly missed Shen.
Xiang laughed. "Now you can watch how you kill your whole family. Unless you choose one of them. Who do you want to sacrifice?"
Angrily Shen put his legs in the ground, but he looked from Xia and Sheng to Yin-Yu.
"Dad! You don't have to do that!" Xia yelled at him.
Shen snorted loudly, and all his anger was focused on Xiang only, who was not impressed by Shen's anger.
"We're kind of similar. Don't you agree?" Xiang purred coldly. "We have the same mindset. I don't like you. You don't like me."
"For once, I agree with you," Shen growled viciously.
Xiang smiled coldly. "Then you will understand my thoughts, too. I will erase you. When you are dead, I will turn the remains of your city to rubble and ashes. They will turn to dust like you. Nothing will be left of you. Neither you nor your offspring." He glanced at Shen icily. "I've already shipped your first pack to the afterlife."
Shen pulled hard on the chains and sat up threateningly. "What do you mean by that?"
Xiang's gaze wandered briefly to Yin-Yu, who had let out a loud sob. "Since your wife is hardly able to say anything anyway, I will give the answer instead of her."
With that, the blue peacock sailed onto the wooden floor across from Shen and waved his wing to someone. A moment later, something black fluttered through the air and landed on a beam just above Xiang.
Shen held his breath for a moment when he recognized Ryuga. The raven bowed apologetically. "It wasn't my intention to hurt anyone..."
"Stop your drivel," Xiang interrupted. "You only have to obey my orders. You are obliged to do this."
Ryuga nodded ruefully. "Yes, sir."
Xiang wrinkled his beak disparagingly, but left it at another reprimand.
"Ryuga was so friendly and did some of my work for me," Xiang explained. "Not only did he make sure your guards had a good night's sleep, but he also..." He purposely took an art break. "... made bringing up children a little easier for you. Honestly. A few fewer children in the world doesn't bother anyone, does it?"
Xiang interrupted himself. The white peacock on the other side looked like he could tear him apart in midair. Xiang looked down a little sheepishly. "You didn't want to hear that, did you?"
Suddenly, the white lord gave a cry. He pulled the chains back with him. Then he took out two feather knives and rammed them into the ground where they held the two chains.
Shen had a free run now. He hurled the next knives at Xiang. But before the sharp bullets reached the rival, the knives ricocheted like on an invisible wall. Then something splintered in front of the blue peacock.
Xiang laughed. "That's what I almost thought." He took a few steps towards the scratched invisible wall and stroked it gently. "Basically, I should thank you. For being in the labor camp, I met a number of clever, even if dirty, creatures who were very inventive and made a material from sand that hasn't been discovered before. You just have to melt it hot and you can create anything you want out of it. Including walls. I was so free and refined the formula a bit. It's almost indestructible."
He rubbed the shattered solid glass with his finger feathertips.
Shen stood trembling with anger. Xiang's nasty grin made him furious. He threw more knives. The glass shattered dangerously more, but it still withstood the brutal treatment.
Xiang leaned forward and smiled. "Oh, what a shame. You gambled away your joker. I gave you the choice. Now you lose both."
One of the soldiers jumped forward and cut the chain on which Xia and Sheng were hanging. Shen jumped forward, reached the wooden beam, and got hold of the chain before the two children fell into the hot metal mass.
"Oh!" Xiang's voice was almost compassionate. "That was clear. Then say goodbye to her. Guo. Give her, her cortege."
The ox Guo, who was sitting on the wooden beam over Yin-Yu's chain, swung an ax.
"NO!"
Shen rammed a feather knife into the wooden beam and fixed Xia and Sheng's chain in place. Then he pounced on the ox. But before he could reach him, something hit the white peacock from the side and threw him through the air. Shen crashed into the nearest wood wall and fell to the floor, groaning.
Xiang shook his head disapprovingly. "How can you be so blind? Can't you even manage to avoid something?"
Shen tried to straighten up, but the fresh pain paralyzed his body completely. But his anger was still there.
The blue peacock shrugged. "The day is not getting any younger either. Guo. Let her fall."
"NO! MOTHER!" Xia and Sheng screamed hysterically when the ox cut the chain with a merciless crack. Yin-Yu only closed her eyes and surrendered herself to death as she fell.
Suddenly, something broke through the next wooden wall, caught the falling peahen in free fall and tore her onto the nearest wooden beam.
The person put down the peacock woman in chains and raised his fists in triumph.
"Hey! Would you like a portion of dragon power?"
There was silence for a moment. Po smiled mischievously and gave Xiang a challenging look. "You didn't expect that now, did you?"
Xiang snorted. "I dislike unannounced visitors."
"Oh, really?" Mockingly, Po waved his arms. "And what do you want to do about it now?"
Xiang's eyebrows narrowed. "Throw him out!"
Immediately, the black soldiers rushed, but in the next moment five more figures hit the scene and punched their fists. At the same time, other Hun soldiers appeared, who put the opposing army in their place.
Po had rushed to Shen in the meantime, worried that he might have suffered damage from the impact. But Shen had already recovered and glared at the panda.
"Panda! How dare you here...!"
"Yes, yes, yes," Po interrupted and held his beak shut. "You can bend my ears later. Now we should clear a ship first."
He fought off the first soldier and Shen immediately struggled to free Yin-Yu. Tigress and Monkey had already taken Xia and Sheng off the chain and then got involved.
As soon as Shen reached Yin-Yu, he freed her from the chain. The peahen was still a little shocked and the white paint stuck to her plumage.
"Are you okay?" Shen asked worriedly and encompassed her face.
"I'm fine," she gasped. "I... I just feel..."
Shen gave her a quick hug before she started crying.
Xiang, meanwhile, was completely indifferent at first. He hadn't expected so much opposing resistance now. Especially not when suddenly a huge creature jumped next to him.
"Xiang!" The blue peacock ducked his head a little now as King Wang reared up in front of him. "Now you won't escape your punishment so easily again!"
Xiang snorted. "We'll see about that soon!"
Wang couldn't grab the peacock that quickly when he fluttered high up through the next open gap in the roof. Before that, he turned around again, at the same time Shen looked up at him. Their eyes met for a fraction. But this was enough to signal just one word, which sent a shiver of fear through Xiang's body.
Death.