Xie growled and glared back up the tunnel.
Long spun around to see two soldiers approaching, one tall and one short. Each held a cocked pistol. The soldiers stopped just out of Long’s and Xie’s reach. The taller of the two cleared his throat.
“Our apologies, sir,” the taller soldier said to Xie, “but you are under arrest. Southern Warlord Tonglong has ordered us to capture you, as well as Golden Dragon. Both of you, please come with us and maintain a reasonable distance. Our orders are to take you dead or alive. We will not hesitate to shoot either of you if you come too close or attempt to flee.”
Long’s heart sank. In a traditional scuffle they might stand a chance, but against firearms combined with a short distance, all the kung fu skills on the planet would not help. He looked over to see ShaoShu’s reaction, but ShaoShu was gone.
Long was about to look back at Xie when he noticed a blur of movement behind the taller soldier. It seemed ShaoShu hadn’t gone very far.
ShaoShu scurried out of the shadows and sank his teeth into the taller soldier’s right calf. The soldier howled and spun around, swinging the butt of his heavy pistol at ShaoShu’s head. ShaoShu flattened himself enough to avoid the blow.
The shorter soldier glanced sideways at his partner to see what was the matter, and in that instant Xie struck. Long had never seen a man as large as him move so fast. Xie covered the distance between himself and the second soldier with a lightning-quick shuffle-step and brought a hammer fist down onto the bridge of the soldier’s nose so hard that Long heard the man’s face crack.
The shorter soldier dropped. He would not be getting up again.
The taller soldier straightened and leveled his pistol at Xie, and Long sprang into action. He leaped with his good left leg and landed in a crouch on his left foot, just out of the taller soldier’s reach. Long whipped his body around, raising his damaged right leg and slamming it into the outside of the soldier’s right knee with the force of a dragon whipping its tail.
The soldier screamed as his knee popped!, and Long grimaced as the gash in his own leg grew wider. Long’s eyes began to water, and through the tears he saw Xie drive an elbow into the side of the taller soldier’s head. This man would not be getting up again, either.
Xie kicked the soldiers aside and knelt next to Long. “Thank you. I may owe you my life.”
“It was nothing,” Long replied in a weary tone.
“Are you okay?” Xie asked. “Your face is deathly pale. I believe you may have lost a lot of blood. Let me carry you, Golden Dragon.”
Long’s pride wanted to refuse the offer, but his common sense accepted it. He was feeling lightheaded. “Thank you,” he said. “But please call me Long. That is my real name. Golden Dragon is dead.”
“As you wish.”
Xie scooped Long into his arms, and Long looked down to see ShaoShu picking bits of silk pant leg from his teeth.
ShaoShu grinned. “How did I do?”
Xie chuckled. “I had never heard of mouse-style kung fu before tonight. Well done, little one.”
“Yes, very well done,” Long said.
ShaoShu beamed.
“Could you do me a favor, ShaoShu?” Xie asked. “Place the soldiers’ pistols in my sash.”
“Sure,” ShaoShu said. He hurriedly picked up the pistols, uncocked them, and tucked them behind Xie’s wide sash. Then he looked at Long. “I’d better get back to Tonglong before he becomes suspicious. I will continue spying on him, though, and I’ll try to figure out a way to get information to you.”
“I still think you should run away,” Long said weakly, “but I am too tired to argue. Be careful, and do not stay with Tonglong any longer than you have to. You do remember how to find Hok and the others, right?”
“Of course,” ShaoShu replied. “Go to the Jade Phoenix restaurant in the city of Kaifeng. Ask for Yuen.”
“That’s right,” Long said. “Thanks, ShaoShu.”
“Yes, many thanks, Little Mouse,” Xie added.
ShaoShu smiled and disappeared down the tunnel.
Long sighed and looked at Xie. He had never felt so exhausted. “There is an exit ahead. Are you familiar with it?”
“I am. Let’s go.”
Xie pushed forward through the tunnel with Long bleeding in his arms. He kept to the shadows and moved like his scorpion namesake, sure of himself yet cautious around every bend, every doorway. Long reached out as often as he could, extinguishing torches that were hanging along the tunnel’s stone walls, in order to put a buffer between them and any trouble on their flank. It slowed their forward progress but appeared to be worth the effort. No one caught up with them, and they reached the exit safely.