by Ino Lee
“What should we do now?” Tofu said.
Xiong thought carefully. “We cannot go back to the tunnel. It will either be blocked or barricaded if this force is as large as you say. They will not let us escape this land so easily.”
“We could press past them to the Dragon Pass,” Zedong said.
“They will have dug in. At this point, our options are fight through an army to navigate the treacherous Dragon Pass, or fight through an army to get to the Great Wall. I choose the Wall.”
Li agreed. “The Wall is our only hope.”
Zedong bowed in understanding. “The Koon Gee force is not far behind us. We should move quickly.”
Li examined the crowd and saw tired faces, a few marred with blood. He had no doubt that the Shaolin warriors were resilient, and these were some of the finest, but they had already been chased by dragon fire, crawled hours through a narrow tunnel, and lost a third of their force since entering the Koon Kagi, one by one, assassinated by the masked demons in their own dark land. Still, there were hopeful souls, proud warriors that had fought with him through many battles. He noted Shen and Qi, the fighting brothers, common in Shaolin since high chi ability often ran within families; Aiying, the sharpshooting archer and champion of the firework contest, whose chi was geared to long range combat; and Wenyen, an experienced monk and a longtime friend.
He held up his sword horizontally with both hands.
“Shaolin warriors. We have accomplished half our impossible task. Kai is with us, and now we will make for the Great Wall to bring him safely home. The Koon Gee will try to stop us, but we will wage war and make them pay . . . for Kai, for Tienkow, our fallen brothers and sisters, and most of all, for Shaolin. Are you with me?”
A unified shout arose from the warriors, reminiscent of the chi fire ceremony at the Shaolin Temple not long ago.
Xiong shouted, “Battle position, wedge guard two!”
The warriors shouted again, arranged into formation, and marched off into the unknown.
35
“THIS PLACE IS annoying,” Wong said.
He stopped after a long run across a deep swamp and unan territory to take the most direct route to Kai. The wet, murky earth was difficult to get through, forcing them into the trees at points. Though they expected to encounter masked demons along the way, none appeared.
“At least the worst of the swamp is over,” Jaguan said. He observed the open terrain ahead of them. “There are Koon Gee on the move. I sense conflict.”
“What kind of conflict?”
“It is not insignificant. If I had to guess, I would say I feel the ripple of war.”
Wong acknowledged him. He deliberated and then snapped on the mask of Shenren.
“Something’s changed. The mark was headed straight for us, but now it’s changed course.” He pointed. “I think it’s moving back the other way.”
“Out of the Koon Kagi?”
“It appears so.”
“That is encouraging, no?”
He took off the mask. “I would say so.”
“That might explain the conflict. We should go.”
Wong looked behind them. “Let’s deal with this thing that has been following us. It’s close.”
“Do you suspect a masked spirit?”
“No, something much worse. A big smelly monkey.”
Renshu dropped from the trees.
“How much of that did you hear?” Wong said.
“Big smelly monkey.”
Wong laughed. “So nothing you aren’t used to.”
“What are you doing here?” Jaguan asked.
“We are allies, yes? I could not return to Tangled Root. Adventure calls.”
“This is no mere adventure. There is a great battle at hand.”
“So more adventure then.”
“Where is Toutoumo?” Wong asked.
“Sent to rally the magaus.”
“Are you sure? This was not your fight.”
“It was always. Where is this boy?”
“Tracking back out of the Koon Kagi. We will cross many Koon Gee and there will be little tree cover.”
Renshu understood. “I will test this Dragon Arm.”
“We appreciate your company.”
“Yes,” Jaguan said. “The magnitude of your gesture will not be forgotten.”
“Yes, yes.” He waved them off. “Let’s go kill Koon Gee.”
36
THE FIRST OF the Koon Gee battalions arrived, made known by the trickle of dagwais and ninjas that stormed the front line.
“Ready!” Li yelled.
Three dagwais and two ninjas approached. The Shaolin warriors formed a narrow two-column wedge behind the Shoukui, fattening out to three columns around Kai in the rear. Shian and Tofu were up front, directly behind Li, followed by Qi and Shen. Xiong flanked Kai on the left, Zedong stood on his right.
Li pointed his sword at an oncoming dagwai and weakly checked its mace swing, slicing strongly down and nicking it on the side before sidestepping and moving on, never slowing. Shian followed with a crack of her staff to its face, being second in line and closest to the action. Tofu continued behind Li and saw him lift his sword to deflect ninja stars.
A second dagwai was behind the first, offset to the right, holding a shield. Li struck its defense so it knew he was there, then shifted and made for the ninja spewing shuriken. Tofu was next and stepped to the opposite side of Li’s blow, sweeping the dagwai’s legs with his massive sword and moving on. Shen caught up to the fallen dagwai and ran a blade through its skull, leaving its shield to be picked up by the warrior behind and passed to the rear, where Zedon could use it to protect Kai’s right side.
The third dagwai reached Shian at the same time the second reached Tofu, wielding a similar shield. The dagwai guarded against a staff strike and prepared to unleash its short sword the moment it occurred, but Shian’s blow did not come. Instead, her staff grew bright with chi, held up in the air to mesmerize and hypnotize it, drawing its gaze for Qi behind her to impale it with a knife. Its shield was also retrieved, but stayed with the warrior.
Li swatted aside two more shuriken and slashed at the ninja, which parried and backed away. A second ninja moved in against Li, but Tofu let his sword fly with an overhead two-handed heave. The heavy weapon impaled the ninja and knocked it violently off its feet, startling the first ninja before Li’s blade entered its throat.
The Shaolin formation tightened again and kept up the pace. Li was satisfied with the results as the meager opposition only reached a few rows deep, swiftly broken by their force like a stake hammered through dirt. The Shoukui belted out a Shaolin shout that was promptly answered by the efficient line.
More opposition appeared from multiple directions.
The front line broke up, giving their overall shape the look of a prong. Two warriors fought side by side to take on the Koon Gee on both fronts: Li and Shen manned the left flank, while Shian and Tofu headed the right.
Li rushed forward, his crescent moon knife out, along with his sword, a reaction to the thickening opposition. He slashed with the sword, followed with the knife, spun, and jump kicked the next foe. Four Koon Gee assaulted the left flank while five took the right.
Shian shifted a naginata thrust and slid her staff against the shaft to the ninja’s body, shocking it with spark and causing it to drop its weapon. Qi finished it off and moved on with a new ninja spear in tow, which was then used to impale a second ninja swept off its feet by Shian.
Tofu hammered a dagwai and spotted a second, which braced for attack by hunching behind its shield. The burly warrior jumped and planted hard with both feet, squashing it underneath.
Xiong waited impatiently behind the front lines for action, eager to help, but unable to leave Kai’s side—the task to protect him was his and perhaps the mo
st important in the entire formation. When the second wave of attack was over, he shouted instruction.
“Reform the line!”
They reformed their initial position with four new shields and three naginata added to their arsenal. Xiong had instructed them to retain shields for defense, naginatas for extra reach when fighting in line, and arrows for their quivers. They brought no shields and few spears to their ambush on Black Mountain, but had plenty of bows, mostly present in the rear of the line. Though they had not yet come across any arrows on their march, they didn’t need to fire any either, facing light opposition and preferring to save their chi arrows for more powerful enemies.
“How do you manage?” Li said.
“I am well,” Shian said.
Tofu raised his sword. “We are behind you, Shoukui.”
“And how is the line?”
“Intact,” Shian said.
They marched steadily, skirting an uphill climb. The twists and turns in the terrain were challenging. Li had to avoid navigating to a ledge or dead end where they would be trapped and have to waste time backtracking. A few Shaolin hawks linked to monks would have been helpful for obtaining aerial views, but the birds weren’t brought to Black Mountain because it was night and their use in the desolate territory would have alerted the unan.
“Keep ready,” Li shouted. “It’s going to get worse.”
Kai stayed close to Xiong, who reminded him somewhat of Wong because of his affection for weapons. He often thought of the fighter as what Wong would have been if he had not left Shaolin so early, though with less humor and creativity, and perhaps, less anger; a more serious, less eccentric warrior in the Shaolin mold. He had not made up his mind whether that was a good or bad thing.
“Can you keep up, Kai?” Xiong said.
“Yeah.”
“Keep sharp. You have the greatest sensory range of all the monks.”
“We are heading toward more Koon Gee. Lots of them.”
Xiong looked solemn. “I know.”
Kai wished for another weapon besides a ninja dagger, yearning for his staff and even contemplating Xiong’s bow, which was probably too taut for his hands.
Open ground ahead of them revealed a mass of troops—an organized contingent rather than a sparse grouping of enemies. The horned heads of four zhuk kwais formed the back line for the Koon Gee, war hammers and maces leaning against their shoulders.
“Not good,” Tofu said.
Li raised his voice and lifted his sword. “Shaolin! Ready!”
The line shouted in unison.
The Koon Gee soldiers were on an intercept course for their left flank. Two rows of dagwais stopped and kneeled, angling their bows up, while the other soldiers continued on.
“Arrows incoming!” Li said.
“Wedge one, shields up, left flank,” Xiong yelled.
The formation shortened in length, collapsing to a triangular structure; those with shields moved to the left and center to defend.
The dagwais released their arrows and followed with several more rounds. Xiong grabbed an arrow out of the air and used it to return fire. A few more hit their shields, but the majority broke apart on the rocky ground ahead—their primary purpose was not to hit them, but to prevent escape from the advancing wave of Koon Gee.
Li understood their purpose and grinned. A mistake had been made. He had no intention of running away, turning the formation sharply into the enemy.
“Hidden monk wall!”
“Hidden monk wall!” Xiong echoed.
The formation flattened to form a front line of the five fastest and most skilled fighters, with a row of the most powerful monks behind. Xiong moved to the front with Li where his speed was needed, while Tofu dropped back to be Kai’s guardian where his strength was a better fit. Zedon passed his shield to Tofu and moved up to the monk line.
The Koon Gee neared. A row of dagwais came first, typically used as a front line because of their toughness and strength. There would normally be more rows of the hardy lizards, but many stayed behind to form the archery core, as dagwais were especially skilled with long range bows. Two rows of ninjas followed, more skilled fighters and better suited with craftiness to pick off opponents once the dagwais were engaged. They were also susceptible to monk light, which often kept them behind the front lines in open combat. The powerful zhuks formed the rear, ready to clean up and crush opponents with single blows.
“For Shaolin!” Li screamed, raising his sword as they were about to collide.
The warriors let out a war cry and charged, when the front line abruptly stopped, allowing the monks to go past them and send out a directed pulse from their staffs as only the most powerful monks could do. The opposing first line of dagwais was stunned and the monks lowered to one knee. The fighters rushed back past the monks and newly fallen dagwais, making directly for the next line of ninjas. An intense light flashed from the monk staffs directly behind the fighters to distract the ninjas at the moment swords were upon them. The third Shaolin row advanced past the monk line to finish off the dazed dagwais and enter the fray against the floundering ninjas.
The Shaolin warriors’ tactic worked marvelously as two rows of Koon Gee were quickly decimated, but now the zhuks loomed large. Fortunately, the fastest fighters were deployed first to combat them, with monks now mostly in the rear, who were typically bad matchups for the large beasts.
Li parried and sliced, pushing his way through the ninjas to reach the zhuks. He did not have to push far—a metal hammer came down at him, and he dove out of its way. The giant weapon swept the ground, sparking against rock and causing him to use his feet to deflect the blow overhead. He was up again and moved in quick, diving and slashing the zhuk’s thigh with his crescent moon knife.
He moved on to another zhuk, knowing his enemy was handicapped, when he saw a Shaolin fighter flying through the air, slammed by a war mace. Xiong was quick to retaliate, finding an angle and lining up an arrow at the offending zhuk. He let it fly straight into its forehead.
The other zhuks were loose, plowing through the lines, as dagwai archers moved within range.
“Archers!” Xiong yelled. “Flank with shields if you have them.”
A contingent of warriors split off, including Zedon and everyone with a shield. Tofu was the exception, staying with Kai and making good use of his shield by thwacking the only ninja to make it near them.
The remaining warriors backed off the remaining two zhuks, not counting the one that had been hobbled.
“Arrows!” Li said. “Cripple them.”
It did not take long to bring down the beasts. The Koon Gee stalwarts were completely surrounded and made for easy targets. They left two alive, their injuries ensuring they would cause no further harm; killing such large creatures as they lay helpless seemed inhumane and a waste of time.
The breakaway contingent of Shaolin warriors was equally fast and successful. They took out half the dagwai archers and scared the rest away, no match for close combat against shield and sword. Zedon hailed them and lifted a quiver of arrows to signal triumph.
The Shaolin warriors came together again. They looked over the dead, which included three of their own.
Zedon handed Xiong a quiver.
“These will do you more good than me,” he said.
“How many quivers in all?”
“Five. The rest of the archers ran away.”
“Five is good. They will help.”
“We must regroup,” Li said. “This land will not be forgiving.”
“That was a fine call, Shoukui,” Xiong said. “Hidden monk wall. Our losses could have been much worse.”
“We’ll take what we can get. And now we must march again—”
The wind picked up, laden with moisture.
“—before storms are upon us.”
“Battle
formation, wedge two,” Xiong yelled.
“Wait!” Kai blurted.
He ignited an orb above their heads and exposed a menacing black shadow that hovered and watched over them.
“Lo-shur,” Shian exclaimed.
Aiying smoothly drew a chi arrow to her bow and released with a quick motion, firing straight through the demonic spirit with a sizzle as the projectile scorched its spectral flesh. The lo-shur twisted and shriveled, dodging several more rounds fired by the others, then sped away.
“Should we chase?” Xiong said, aiming for another shot, then relaxing his grip.
“No,” Li said. “Let it go. The arrows are not effective enough and the Koon Gee will be drawn with or without it. Let’s get out of this open space before another platoon arrives.”
They formed a wedge and moved again, their victory tempered by the demon’s haunting as they marched off to face more danger.
37
“HOW DID YOU know it was there?” Zedon asked.
“I felt a tingle, like the hairs on the back of my neck rose,” Kai said.
“So you knew it to be them, the lo-shur specters?”
“I was trapped in a room with them once. I don’t think I could forget.”
Zedon felt bad for him. “If the feeling comes upon you again, let me know. I am here to protect you.”
He scanned the sky, critical of shifts in the dark clouds and wary of more spying phantoms. He flanked Kai on the right while Xiong was back on his left, in their original wedge formation. They crossed open ground anxiously, feeling naked and vulnerable in the exposed stretch, worried of more troops to come.
Kai looked back across the expanse at the hills from where they came.
“What is it?” Xiong said.
“I don’t know.”
“Is it Koon Gee?”
“Not sure, but it’s a good thing we’re not going back that way.”
Kai adjusted a strap on his shoulder holding a half-full quiver. Though he was unable to use the arrows, he somehow felt more protected carrying them, having taken a quiver from Xiong after watching him awkwardly carry two on his own. Xiong disagreed at first, but relented after redistributing more of the weight to his load.