Tiger - Jeff Stone [10]
“That is not true,” Grandmaster interrupted. “For I, too, am a dragon.”
Ying turned the qiang toward Grandmaster.
“Thank you for reminding me,” Ying said. “I nearly forgot. I shall kill you first, then. It seems most fitting, anyway, that you—the old man—should be on the receiving end of my new weapon.”
Grandmaster paused. Fu assumed he was taking a moment to analyze the qiang so that he could figure out how to counter it.
“Your toy does not concern me,” Grandmaster said. “What harm can come from a hollow metal staff?”
Ying laughed. “A hollow metal staff? Is that all you see? This weapon is the future. With a single finger, someone who's never trained in the fighting arts can destroy a warrior monk with sixty years of training!”
Ying waved a finger at Grandmaster as if scolding him. His voice lowered. “There is no defense against this weapon, you sneaky old man, so stop trying to figure one out.”
Fu saw Grandmaster smirk as the old man's voice boomed, “My young monks, when I count to three, run for the door!
“ONE!”
Ying took aim.
“TWO!”
KAA-BOOM!
There was an explosion of light and sound as Ying fired the qiang at Grandmaster's chest.
But Grandmaster was no longer there. The instant Ying's finger began to move beneath the qiang, Grandmaster had hit the ground and rolled toward Ying. Grandmaster lashed out with a vicious leg swipe.
Before Ying even hit the floor, Grandmaster yelled, “THREE! RUN!”
The young monks ran. Hok sailed through the flame-filled doorway first. Seh followed, quick as a whip, with Malao scampering close behind. Fu bounded powerfully through the flames, and Long zipped outside last, fast as lightning.
After just a few strides, Long was out front, leading the others through the smoky darkness toward the Hall of a Thousand Buddhas. Fu thought they should head in the opposite direction, but he knew no one would listen if he protested—so he kept his mouth shut and followed as best he could. His body was built for power, not speed. He had a hard time keeping up.
The scene unfolding before Fu was worse than anything he could have imagined. Flames leaped from every building. In the eerie glow, he could see orange robes everywhere, filled with dead monks. Hundreds of armor-clad soldiers lay flat on their backs with long spears extending straight up into the air from their throats. Fu choked on smoke and the stench of burning bodies that had been ignited by flaming arrows. He wanted revenge so badly now, he could taste it. But he knew he'd be of no use to himself or anyone else if he were dead. He picked up his pace as best he could.
Fu made it to the back door of the Thousand Buddhas hall only a few strides behind the others. He knew what Long was thinking—they would cut through the hall on their way to the main gate. But when Long thrust the door open, burning air rushed out to greet them like a kiss from a dragon. Long jumped back, and Fu heard mortar cracking and bricks exploding inside from the tremendous heat. They would have to take the long way around.
Fu shook his head. He knew they should have gone the other way!
With Long in the lead, they ran once more. They raced along paths of bloodstained bricks, and Fu saw the dining hall, the toilets, the bathhouse, and the library—all burning.
Fu was surprised when they made it through the maze of buildings without encountering any soldiers. He was even more surprised when Long stopped ahead of him at the main gate. The others were stopped, too.
Beyond the gate lay a grassy moonlit area that separated the walls of the compound from a distant tree line, which was the beginning of a great, mountainous forest. Fu knew this grassy “moat” was kept treeless and well trimmed so that an enemy attacking Cangzhen would have nowhere to hide.
Fu caught up with the group. “What are you doing?” he asked Long, panting heavily. “Why did you stop?”
“There may be soldiers positioned in the tree line,” Long replied. “They could shoot us with arrows as we run across the open space, or they could wait and attack