Tiger (15 page)

“Oh, but there is, sir,” Fu said, desperation in his voice. “You could let me empty my sour stomach somewhere.”

One of the men stepped forward. “Just take care of your business in the corner of your cage, animal.”

“Are you crazy?” another man said. “The whole village will stink until the cage is gone! And do
you
want to be the one to give Major Ying a cage full of foulness?”

“All right, all right,” said the Governor, waving the torch. “That's enough bickering. Young monk, do you swear by Buddha that you won't attack anyone tonight?”

“Yes, yes,” Fu replied impatiently. “I swear I won't attack anyone tonight. Please, hurry.”

The Governor handed the torch to one of the men and unlocked the cage's latch with a key he had hanging around his neck. He lifted one whole side of the cage, and Fu crawled out. Fu stretched, and his
stomach grumbled loudly. Everyone backed away, including the Governor. The Governor took the torch back and tucked the key into the folds of his robe.

“I am glad to see you've mended your pants, young man,” the Governor said to Fu. “Now I wish you luck in keeping them unsoiled.”

The Governor turned to the men. “Gentlemen! Please escort this poor soul to the edge of the village and let him take care of his business. Then bring him back here and lock him up. The lock will engage automatically. Simply close the cage door. I am going home to spend some time with my son. Good night.”

Fu watched the Governor and Ho depart. The Governor returned the torch to its spot in front of the bun vendor's shop, and Fu saw that a large basket of rice was now sitting on the ground outside the shop's door. It could have just been an illusion from the flickering light of the torch, but the top of the basket appeared to be shaking slightly—almost like it was laughing.

“Let's go, boy,” one of the men said to Fu. “We don't have all night.”

Fu followed. When they reached the edge of the village, one of the men pointed to a pile of leaves beneath a large oak tree.

“There you go,” the man said to Fu.

“You want me to go there?” Fu asked, surprised. “In plain sight?”

“Yes. I'm not going to let you head off into those trees alone.”

Fu rubbed his bald head. He needed to think of something—fast. He closed his eyes and concentrated. A moment later, the man closest to him grabbed his nose and took several steps backward. Then the other men did the same thing, one right after another.

“Jeez, kid—that's disgusting!” one of the men said.

Fu shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry. So, who's going to follow me into the trees?”

“Nice try, monk,” one of the men said. “You're NOT going into the trees. You'll go right over there where we told you to go.”

Fu had no choice but to walk to the leaf pile. He walked slowly, pausing once, concentrating.

“Come on, kid!” someone blurted out. “Enough, already!”

The men backed up even more. So much more, in fact, that they were soon out of sight in the inky darkness. Fu took a deep, cleansing breath and exhaled. He wanted so badly to get down to business. However, what he wanted even more was to be free. Fu took another deep breath and ran off into the trees.

“
V
illagers, I have returned!” Captain Yue announced the next morning. He sat atop his stallion at the edge of the village square, which was full of people. “I had to spend the night on the trail, so I'm in a terrible mood. Don't even think about trying my patience. Bring me the boy from Cangzhen Temple. NOW!”

Captain Yue was greeted with several hundred blank stares. The entire village was gathered in the square, packed tightly together around the bamboo cage. The cage door was high in the air, which meant that it was empty. Captain Yue scowled. Infuriated, he waved his hand and fifty soldiers marched up behind him, armed to the teeth. Two of the soldiers held
qiangs.
Captain Yue looked down at the two villagers who had traveled to Cangzhen to inform them of the young monk's capture.

“How dare you mock me?” Captain Yue shouted, spit flying from his flapping jaws. “You bring me here, and now your people stare at me ignorantly while standing around an empty cage? Somebody has some explaining to do. Immediately!”

Both men stared back with blank expressions. Neither of them knew what was going on, and none of the villagers wanted to tell Captain Yue that Fu had escaped.

Suddenly there was a stir among the crowd. The Governor approached Captain Yue briskly. In his hands were the dragon scrolls.

“Most honorable Captain Yue,” the Governor said, bowing low. “I have what you've come for. It is with great respect I deliver these scrolls to you with my humble hands.”

Captain Yue reached down from his horse and snatched all four scrolls. He opened one roughly and found it to be genuine. Then he threw it and the other three at one of his men. The soldier put the scrolls away for safekeeping.

Captain Yue stared down at the Governor. “Where is the boy?”

“I have given you the scrolls,” the Governor replied simply. “Of what use is the boy?”

“You do not appear to be a fool, Governor. Do you not recall the penalty for harboring a Cangzhen
monk? Bring the boy to me now, or perish.”

The Governor frowned. “I'm sorry, sir. The boy has escaped.”

“What?” Captain Yue shouted. “This is outrageous! How could you be so incompetent?”

“Again, I apologize,” the Governor replied. “But—”

“But nothing!” Captain Yue said. “Men, string this sorry excuse for a Governor from the tallest tree. Destroy the village to teach these people a lesson!”

The soldiers rushed forward and there was a tremendous
BANG!
Everyone stopped and looked toward the source of the sound—the bamboo cage. The door had slammed shut and the lock engaged. A deep, gravelly voice spoke loudly from inside it.

“I am the one who brought trouble into this village, and I will be the one to take it out. Soldiers, take me away.”

“Who is it that speaks?” Captain Yue shouted, plunging into the crowd with his horse. Several villagers cried out in pain as the heavy horse trampled upon their legs and feet, stopping only after it reached the cage. Inside sat Fu, staring defiantly up at Captain Yue.

“Who are you?” Captain Yue demanded.

“I am Fu, the one you seek. Take me, and let these good people be.”

“How do I know that you are the one I seek?” Captain Yue asked.

“Because I am the one in the cage.”

“The cage was empty when I arrived,” Captain Yue countered. “A prisoner does not come and go as he
pleases. You must be an imposter. Where is the real monk?”

“I
am
the real monk,” Fu said. “I escaped last night and hid at the edge of the village. I saw you arrive and knew the Governor had promised the scrolls to you, so I decided to ambush you as you left the village. I wanted the scrolls back. But once I heard that you planned to destroy the village because I wasn't in your grasp, I decided to put myself in your hands. I don't want any more harm to come to these good people. I snuck back in here through the crowd as they all stared at you, listening to every one of your stupid words. Take me away, and leave this village alone.”

The villagers stared at the cage. Every one of them was touched by Fu's words, including those villagers who wanted him gone. Only Captain Yue seemed unaffected.

“I don't believe you,” Captain Yue said. “No one is that noble, especially not a child. LISTEN TO ME NOW, ONE AND ALL! I refuse to take any chances. This boy is coming with me, and so is
every
boy in this village between the ages of ten and fifteen. Hand them over immediately, or my men and I will burn this village to the ground!”

“No!” cried Fu. “You can't!
I'm
the one you want. Take me, and leave them be.”

“Shut up, fat boy,” Captain Yue scowled. “You're coming with me, and so are all your little friends.”

“Who are you calling fat?” somebody said. Fu recognized the voice. It was the Drunkard.

“Who said that?” Captain Yue demanded.

“I did,” said the heavyset Drunkard, stumbling forward as the crowd parted. He pushed his tangled hair from his eyes and stared hard at Captain Yue. “The boy may be stout, but at least he can lose some weight if he wanted to. You are a fool, and there is no cure for that.”

“Watch your mouth, Drunkard,” Captain Yue said. “I suggest you leave now before I let my horse trample you to pieces.” The horse neighed loudly and rose up on its hind legs, pawing at the air with its deadly front hooves. Its nostrils flared savagely.

The Drunkard laughed. “You ask a horse to do your dirty work for you? I see what kind of man you are. You are weak.” The Drunkard swayed from side to side, crashing heavily into the cage. If not for the stout bamboo bars, the large man would have fallen over completely.

“You try my patience, Drunkard,” Captain Yue said.

“Oh, really? What does that mean? Aside from your horse, I see that you are equipped with a sword, and my ears tell me that you are also equipped with a tongue. You wield your tongue clumsily. I doubt you can do much better with your sword—or your horse.”

“Ayyyaaaaa!” Captain Yue shouted as he jerked back on the reins. The horse reared up again, then came crashing down, its front legs pawing wildly at the Drunkard. For an instant, the heavyset Drunkard seemed as nimble as a cat. He darted to one side of the
large, angry beast, only to stumble into the horse's side. Fu saw the Drunkard's thick right hand shoot forward to catch himself, his palm tapping the horse's rib cage before he stumbled backward. For the briefest of moments, Fu could have sworn he saw the Drunkard rooted firmly to the earth.

“Come here!” shouted Captain Yue. “You—”

The horse suddenly fell over. Captain Yue went down with it.

“ARRRR!” screamed Captain Yue as the full weight of the horse fell upon one of his long, skinny legs.

“Get this thing off me!”

Fifty soldiers rushed forward, and an entire village ran backward. An entire village, that is, except for the Drunkard, the Governor, and Ma.

G
et out of here!” the Governor shouted at Ma, his eyes fixed on the advancing soldiers. “This is no place for you.”

“Sure it is,” Ma said stubbornly “I know how to fight.”

“Listen to me,” the Governor said. “This is not a game. Leave, now!”

“NO!”

With the soldiers nearly upon them, the Governor did what he knew in his heart was best. He turned and kicked Ma in the backside as hard as he could, sending him flying out of harm's way. Ma sailed all the way to the outer edge of the group of villagers, and several village men grabbed him tightly to keep him from joining in the attack. Ma thrashed about violently, but
found he could do nothing more than watch as the Governor ran to the cage to free Fu while the Drunkard stood his ground in front of Captain Yue and the horse. The soldiers divided into two ranks. Twenty-five men ran after the Governor. Twenty-five swarmed the Drunkard.

“Have you ever seen Drunken kung fu?” asked the Drunkard with a grin as he began to stumble around within the surging mass of soldiers. His attackers lunged inward—two and three at a time—with swords and spears. The Drunkard responded by wobbling and hobbling this way and that, bouncing unpredictably off the soldiers, one at a time. To the soldiers' complete surprise, the Drunkard's erratic movements were impossible to hit with spear or sword, and every time he stumbled into a man, that man was hurled to the ground with tremendous force. One of the soldiers even fired his
qiang
at the large, swaying target but missed cleanly. The soldiers were so occupied with trying to subdue the staggering Drunkard, none of them noticed that his seemingly random movements led the group farther and farther away from the villagers.

Unlike the Drunkard, the Governor didn't fare so well. In fact, he didn't stand a fighting chance. In the blink of an eye, he was beaten down by the second mob of ruthless soldiers and left barely conscious. A key swung loose from behind the folds of his robe, and one of the soldiers snatched it away, snapping the cord that held it. Unsure of what to do with the
Governor, the soldiers called out to Captain Yue for direction.