Lover with Wings

Chapter:10 The Move to Gongmen

Christine had been woken early in the morning, two 'o clock to be exact. She was told to prepare all their belongings for travel and return to the cage. When she began to question, the only answer she got was "Shen's orders". She did as she was told without protest and started fixing her, and her child's travel pack they returned to her.Waking up Lian the mother dressed the the cub in a travel cloak on before entering the cage.Everything in the camp was busy with activity as Christine and her daughter approached the cage.

Tents and pavilions were taken down and put into carts, stations the same way.  Each piece seemed to go to a puzzle as they were taken apart, even Shen's pagoda was designed the same way. Shen's pagoda. Perhaps the most elaborate structure of all Once deconstructed, was reconfigured into an extravagant carriage complete with furnishings and accessories. The wall was the last structure to be taken down, but into several large wagons with the enormous doors.the feline's cage was a piece all it's own, was actually a portable prison cell already mounted on a cart of sorts that pulled out of the platform Shen's pagoda was on.

christine was quite impressed she had never seen an organization or building design quite like this before.When everything was packed and ready to go, (which only took three hours to complete) the cage was taken to the front of the procession; right behind Shen's ornament of a carriage. A large wooden box was behind them followed by all the stations, tents, pavilions, and finally the wall and doors made up the procession. It was nearly dawn when they were finally on the move. They couldn't have picked a worse day to travel either.The journey turned out to be arduous. The cool morning turned out to be a very hot day. Not the bearable dry heat no, it was hot and muggy.Water boys were kept busy running back and forth bringing goblets of water to wolves pulling the heavy carts. Christine never got any water. She was quite content in this weather and if she did get any the cat would pass it to her daughter, or one of the wolves charged with pulling there cart. Boy, they were the envy of all the wolves by the time the after noon came around.

 By the time Shen decided to stop and and set up a temporary cam, the water boys were thoroughly tired out and all the wolves, despite the many water trips, were beginning to overheat. They had a brief rest before setting things up.This is how things went for the next three days, long tedious marching followed by a hasty camp set up and repeated the following day. On the fifth day of travel, christine was meditating when a falcon flew overhead. No one payed mind to him but christine looked up. It swooped closer and dropped a sack. She opened the sack to see what treats her friend had sent her. To her delight, she found many acai berries and two large dragon fruits. "Nice!" she praised silently. No sooner had she dropped back down, and called lian to settled in to eat, Shen stopped the train, gotten in her cage and was in her face.

 "What is this?" he demanded snatching the care package away from her."They're just berries" lian replied, a bit upset he took her food."What kind?" he asked taking a handful out and inspecting them. He had seen many berries in his lifetime but none like these. "They're acai berries" christine informed, managing to get her goodies back. "Eating three a day can boost your energy, slow aging and help your immune system." she said. "And what of these?" Shen questions getting a hold of the bag again and lifting one of the dragon fruits out. "These don't look like berries."

"Those are just dragon fruit" lian giggled. The mother reclaimed her treasures again. "They're a sweet grainy fruit that can be made into many delectable dishes or eaten the way it is." As christine spoke, Shen backed her into the bars and was inches away from her face by the time she finished. He looked into her eyes to see if he would detect any deception before snatching back the fruit and walking out of the cage to his carriage. leaving the two alone the cub pouted with her arms folded. Rather unhappy at the loss she sat down, arms still folded and scowled. "I was going to eat that." The wolves around her couldn't help but snicker.