The Last War

11. Cold Water

Cold weather, cold feet, cold rice from yesterday.
It wasn't the ideal breakfast, but better than nothing, Po thought while their rickshaw pulled them through the snow. Fortunately, the cold journey didn't take long. After a while, Po tapped Xia on her shoulder. "Hey, look!"
In a valley they could see a long-bent water street.

"Could you repeat that, please?"
A gander and a pig didn't know what to say when the lord was standing in front of them after they had given him an answer whether they could bring them with a ship up the river.
"As I said," the pig started again. "Nobody sails up this river, only downstream. At this time of year, there are particularly many bandits lurking in the upper areas. For this reason, we avoid this river way."
Both village people cried as a sharp sword stopped very close in front of their faces.
Po tried to ease the situation. "Shen, that's not necessary."
A hissing of the lord, and Po lost his courage.
"I take what I want and I take what I need." Shen's voice was more than angry. "Either we take this ship or we have to conquer it by force!"
The harsh voice of the warlord let the mariners cringe. The pig raised his hand. "I'm for a peaceful variant."

The ship wasn't big enough to transport a coach. For this reason, they had to leave the coach and rickshaw. The sheep and the ram agreed to drive back to town, while the others continued their journey. The shipowner didn't prevent them to take the ship, albeit grudgingly.
Po got a bad feeling in his stomach when they put out to the river, because the village people only shook their heads and muttered a farewell sailing.

The river trip began slowly and without troubles. There was not much activity on board. The ram conned the ship, while the others sat and walked on the aloft.
Shen had placed himself on the roof of the ship cabin and overlooked all. Especially his eyes stuck on Po. When the panda felt his glance, Po waved his paw at him. But the lord just avoided his gesture and looked away.
"Did he stand up with the wrong foot or what?"
"Don't worry," the old goat said. "He is just a little nervous."
"Oh, of course, meeting an old love must be exciting."
"She isn't my old love!" the lord said next to him like he came from nothing. "We are just traveling to her to sort things out!"
"Don't forget my brother, please," Xia said. "Maybe it will be the first and last time that you see him."
The lord snorted with a derogatory gesture. "Alright, but don't expect I will let him welcome in my life. I will treat him like every stranger."
She lowered her face, until something crossed Po's mind.
"Hey! Wait! You still didn't say the name of your brother!"
"Didn't I?"
The panda shook his head. "No, you didn't."
"Oh, sorry, after so many things, I forgot. Uhm."
Her glance glued on Shen's face. Did he want to know the name too?
"Well, his name is Sheng."
"Sheng?" Po looked at her in surprise. "Sounds similar like Shen."
A gentle smile played on Xia's beak. "Maybe my mother wanted to keep a memory."
She sent to her "father" a hopeful look. But Shen just turned around and walked away a few steps and stared down the river.
Po petted the sad peahen on her shoulder. "He needs just more time."
She nodded depressed. With lowered face, she leaned against the railing and watched the soft movements of the water.
Meanwhile, Po took together his courage again and walked over to the silent lord. Before he could clean his throat for a first sentence, the lord cut panda's breath. "You should stop intervening in things what doesn't concern you."
"Maybe it's not my concern," Po replied. "But her behavior concerns something to me. Just do her a favor and don't treat her like a stupid girl."
"Her mother wasn't different."
Po gasped for air, but he controlled his anger. "Alright, we should talk about that later when we will meet her."
The lord said nothing. He just stared ahead. Po sighed and turned around.
"Our peace agreement still holds, doesn't it?"
The panda looked at him in big surprise. "Of course, why do you ask?"
"Just to make sure."
Po didn't know what he should think about that insinuation.
"Oookay, if you think that I would forget my oath in my village, I have to disabuse you. I often quote the words of my master Shifu, who always use to say, holding his vows is an obligation for a kung fu warrior."
But Shen didn't listen to him anymore. With tensed eyes, he watched the hilly riverside, where he had seen a quick movement of a shadow.
Soothsayer discerned his tension first. She knew him good enough. And he showed her, something wasn't right in the environment. Slowly, he pulled out his feather knife more out of his wings. Meanwhile, Po didn't realize anything and spoke on.
"And this is why you can trust my inner conviction..."
"TAKE COVER!"
Shen pushed him so hard away that the panda slithered a few meters over the deck.
In the next second, two big figures landed with a loud crash on the wooden ship floor.
"What do you say, today is our lucky day!"
A big goanna looking animal, covered in thick fur clothing and a second one raised their swords.
Po meanwhile had recovered from the wild greeting.
"In this case you must be the bandits, who paint the river red."
"You know much, in this case, give us what we want."
They laughed.
Po rubbed his paws. "Not without a fight!"
The lizards hissed amused. "Nice invitation."
With loud cries, they ran at them. Po took the first one, Shen the second one.
First, the bandits thought to have an easy battle, but the kung fu panda and the white warlord were hard enemies. But shortly after, another danger appeared.
"Surprise from behind!" Po cried over to the rest of the group.
Three more lizards were climbing over the railing and rushed upon them. Meanwhile, the ram Wulong had taken his sister-in-law aside and fended off the attackers with his ram forces. Xia scared when one of the big lizards stood in front of her at knife point.
"Hey!" Po cried over to her. "Take something and hit him!"
The young woman looked around and grabbed for the next best rod.
The goanna laughed. "What do you want with that toothpick?"
Xia took a deep breath, but before she could swing the cane, the bandit snatched it from her wings and pushed her with all forces. The peahen stumbled. With a splash, she fell backwards into the cold floods of the river. Fortunately, the current wasn't strong.
Po waved at her. "Swim over!"
But the girl just crawled without control. "I can't swim!"
Po's eyes went over to Shen, who had dispelled the last lizard from the battlefield. But instead of doing something, he just looked at the struggling girl in the cold water.
"Do something!"
But Po's cries didn't reach the lord's head. Either he ignored it or he didn't listen.
The panda's eyes grew wider. Xia was going to sink.
With a big jump, Po landed in the river deeps and swam to her. His fingers searched in the coldness and felt wet feathers of a wing. He grasped and pulled it. As fast as he could, he swam back to the ship. Shortly after, he had reached the ship body, some strong arms pulled out the soaking wet castaways. Carefully, Wulong put them on the board.
In Po's head was just rushing, but accompanied by loud curses from far away. The Dragon Warrior rested upon his upper body and saw how the bandits sought refuge in flight. But then his view was directed at Shen, who still stood there calmly with crossed wings.
Po narrowed his eyes and stood up. "Why didn't you rescue her?!"
Shen showed himself unimpressed. "Why on earth should I do that?"
"Are you water-shy or what?!"
Now there was an angry wave over the lord's face. "Be careful what you say!"
"Stop it!" Soothsayer cried. "Both of you."
"What did you think?!" Po cried. "She could have drowned!"
The white bird just raised an eyebrow. "Not my problem."
Po cramped his fists, but a loud exhausted cough let him wince. The peahen lay there with strong trembling body.
Gently, Po took her in his arms. "She will freeze to death. We have to make a campfire."