Wushu Were Here (2 page)

S
o that's how we got to ancient China. Now Fred was dead, and Anna and I were face-to-face with a crazed madman with some serious wushu.

“‘Finished him off,'” Anna said, repeating Angry One's words. She glared at him. “He's just a kid. How could you kill him?”

“I…I…that's not what I meant,” Angry One said.

“Fred never did anything to you,” Anna said. “He was just minding his own business when,
bam
, you challenge him to a fight.
You should be ashamed of yourself.”

There was no stopping her now. Anna was all fired up, and the angry guy was getting an earful.

“Why don't you pick on someone your own size,” Anna said. “You know what you are—”

Fred tapped her shoulder.

“Have you seen my other shoe?” he asked.

“Back there, where he killed you,” Anna said, waving her hand behind her.

Still glaring at Angry One, she continued her rant. “You're just a big bully. Fred never…”

Then it hit her.

“Fred?!” Anna said.

“Look! He's alive,” I said, clapping Fred on the back.

“Ow, ow, ow. Careful,” Fred said.

Angry One came over.

He looked a little less scary now.

“What I meant to say,” he explained, “is that I
could
have killed him. But I am a Shaolin monk, and a monk never kills. He only uses his opponent's energy against him.”

“That's what Sam said,” I said. “Sam. Where is he?”

“Where's
The Book
?” Anna asked.

Sam was stuck in
The Book
, so wherever
The Book
was, Sam was, too. And right now
The Book
was…lost.

The monk turned to Fred. “My apologies,” he said. “Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Tanzong. I thought you were a volunteer for the army I am raising to fight Wang.”

“Who's Wang?” Fred asked.

“Wang Shichong is the man who calls himself emperor,” Tanzong said. “I call him a bloodthirsty villain.”

“Hey, Joe,” Fred whispered. “Wasn't Wang the bad guy from the movie?”

Fred was right. This was all starting to sound familiar.

Tanzong continued. “Wang has taken General Li Shimin—the son of the rightful emperor—prisoner. Unless the Shaolin monks find a way to rescue him, Li Shimin will be executed and the country will descend into bloodshed.”

“But these are not your concerns,” Tanzong said. He picked up the extra fighting staff from the ground.

“May Lord Buddha protect you on your journey,” he added. Then Tanzong bowed and walked away.

“Hmm…
Li Shimin
,” Anna said. “That's what I was reading about when we warped.”

“And that's the page Sam was stuck on in
The Book
,” I said.

“If we find Li Shimin,” Fred said, “we might find…”

“…
The Book
!” Anna said.

We had to get to Li Shimin and to Sam, before someone else did.

“Wait!” we called out, as we raced off after Tanzong.

“F
irewood,” Tanzong called out as he entered the city center. “Firewood for sale!”

He was dressed like a peasant with a big pointed hat and a fake beard. Fred, Anna, and I were stuffed like sardines into a large basket slung across his back, pretending to be firewood.

See, a good plan always involves two things: (1) a costume and
(2) being really uncomfortable. And Tanzong's plan to sneak us into the city to find Li Shimin and
The Book
was no different.

After he had passed through the city gate, Tanzong ducked out of sight and opened the lid of the basket.

“Here,” he said, handing Fred two pieces of flint. “Once you have found Li Shimin, use this flint to set off a smoke signal. We will follow the smoke and free you.”

He tipped the basket on its side so we could crawl out. In front of us was a stone building with barred windows. The prison. That's where we'd find Li Shimin and (hopefully)
The Book
.

“Remember,” Tanzong said, “a monk does not kill, but Wang does. You must all be very careful.” With that, he disappeared.

Fred, Anna, and I quickly shimmied through some open windows, ending up in an empty hallway in the prison.

“Okay,” Fred said. “Let's go over the plan.
We sneak around the prison until we find
The Book
—”

“And Sam,” Anna said.

“—which is probably with this Li Shimin dude,” Fred continued. “We set off the smoke signal. Tanzong flies in and rescues us,
bam
, we warp back, catch the end of the movie, and find out how the big battle of the thirteen monks turns out.”

Maybe Fred had seen a few too many action movies.

“Let's synchronize our watches,” Fred said.

Okay, he'd
definitely
seen too many action movies.

Fred started playing with his watch, and it began beeping wildly.

“Turn it off!” I hissed. “I'm trying!” Fred said. Fred frantically pushed more buttons. Finally, the beeping stopped.

“Whew!” Fred said. “All right, let's—”

But before Fred could finish his sentence, there were some very sharp spears pointing in our direction.

T
he unfriendly guys with the spears escorted Fred, Anna, and I to our new home—a stone prison cell. Another prisoner sat slumped in the corner, but this wasn't exactly time for polite introductions.

“‘Synchronize our watches?'” I asked, glaring at Fred.

“It seemed like a prison-break-y thing to do,” Fred explained.

“Maybe if we set off the smoke signal, Tanzong could come and get us,” Anna suggested.

“Yeah,” I said. “But then we'd just have to break in again. We still haven't found
The Book
, or Sam—or Li Shimin.”

The prisoner in the corner turned to look at us. He was a young man in his early twenties. “You are looking for Li Shimin?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Fred said. “Do you know him? We're here to bust him out of jail.”

“
I
am Li Shimin,” the prisoner said, eyeing Fred.

Fred gave the guy a once-over, then leaned toward me. “The guy in the movie was much older,” he whispered.

“
You're
the big general they're all talking about?” I asked the prisoner. He didn't look the part.

“
You're
the big rescuers they sent?” He had a point.

But arguing was just wasting time.
We had to break out.

“What about
The Book
?” I asked. “You've got it, right?”

“Book?” Li Shimin said. “I don't have any books. Wang has taken everything from me.”

“Maybe it's around here somewhere,” Anna said.

We started looking around the cell, but aside from some dirty straw on the floor, it was pretty empty.

“I better start that smoke signal,” Fred said, pulling the pieces of flint from his pocket. He walked over to the barred window and began fiddling with the flint.

“I don't get it,” I said to Li Shimin. “Why does this guy Wang hate you so much?”

“I refuse to accept him as emperor,” Li Shimin explained.

“Why?” I asked. “Is he that awful?”

Li Shimin leaped to his feet. “Wang has killed thousands!” he said. “He stirs up fighting wherever he can and steals land—even from
the monasteries. If only I could get out of here, I could raise an army and defeat that tyrant. Then my father would be emperor. And eventually—myself. I have such dreams for China.” He looked sadly toward the window.

“Well,” Fred said, holding up the flint. “Once I get this baby working, we're home free.”

Fred tried to strike the flint dramatically against the stone window frame. But instead, the flint went sailing out the window.

“Oops,” Fred said. “Does anybody have any matches?”

“Great,” I said. “
Now
how are we going to get out of here?”

“Perhaps I can help?” a voice said.

“Wang!” Li Shimin cried.

“How about some
fresh air
?” Wang said.

Fresh air did sound pretty sweet compared to this nasty prison cell.

Wang gave us an evil smile.

On second thought, the prison cell wasn't
so
bad.