Tiger - Jeff Stone [16]
“Don't EVER let your guard down!” Ying shouted, raising the hook swords once more. “Not on my command!”
“I will never make this same mistake again, sir!” Tonglong said, looking up. “Please forgive my incompetence.”
“ARRRRRGH!”
Ying threw the tiger hook swords far across the compound and leaped down from the high roof in a perfectly executed double flip.
“Everyone, follow me!” Ying shouted. “Now!”
Tonglong waited for Ying and the others to travel some distance before he tucked his thick braid into his sash and leaped down in a perfect triple flip.
Ying led the group to the main gate and instructed them to form a circle around Grandmaster's limp body. He strode to the center of the moonlit ring of soldiers.
“Men, we set out to destroy Cangzhen Temple and all its monks,” Ying announced. “I am afraid we have only partially succeeded. At least one young monk has escaped, and there may be more. A group of you will collect every dead monk, and I will personally review each and every body. Another group will count all our fallen soldiers. I fear we have lost more than two thousand men to just one hundred monks. This is inexcusable, and my response will be additional intensive training for those of you who are still breathing. I refuse to continue with such incompetence.”
The soldiers cast their eyes to the ground and shuffled their feet.
“Look at me when I'm talking!” Ying commanded. “All of you!”
The men looked up at Ying's contorted, raging face.
“Tonglong, bring me your sword!”
Tonglong hesitated.
“Prove your loyalty to me, Tonglong,” Ying said. “Trust that I will do what is best for the group and for the Emperor. Bring me your sword.”
Tonglong hesitated for another moment, then slipped his sheathed sword from his sash. He formally handed the heirloom over, bowing low. Ying ripped the scabbard from the sword and cast it disrespectfully aside onto the dusty ground. He raised the sword high over his head with both hands.
In one long, sweeping motion, Ying brought the sword down in a powerful arc. The sword breezed over Tonglong's bowed head as Ying twisted around. When the arc was complete, the sword dug deep into the earth, and Grandmaster's head rolled away from his lifeless body.
Ying released the sword from the ground with a rough jerk and cast it aside irreverently. Then he grabbed Grandmaster's bald head by one ear and threw it at Tonglong. Tonglong caught the spinning object with outstretched arms, ignoring the blood that pelted him from head to toe. Tonglong respectfully placed his catch on the ground beside him and wiped his bloody hands across the front of his green silk robe.
“I promised to take that to the Emperor,” Ying said to Tonglong. “You will take it to him for me at once. You will also give him the unfortunate news that my mission is not yet complete, and I would not dream of accepting the title of General until I have fulfilled my end of our agreement. Understood?”
“Completely, sir,” Tonglong said.
“Good.”
Ying turned to his number-two-in-command, Commander Woo. The powerful, stocky man stood at attention. He adjusted his armor.
“Commander Woo, you and half the men will remain here to sort and count bodies. Then you will strip the armor from our fallen comrades. You will work through the night.”
“Yes, sir!” Commander Woo replied.
Ying turned to Captain Yue, his number-three-in-command. Captain Yue sighed and fidgeted with his large silk hat.
“Captain Yue!” Ying said. “Pay attention! You will break the remaining men into groups and spread out to inform every village within one hundred li that I am searching for anyone resembling a young monk. Five monks between the ages of eleven and thirteen may be out there, and one of them has a set of scrolls that I want back. You are to inform one and all that it will mean instant death for them, their entire family, and all their neighbors if they are found to be harboring one or more of