臥虎藏龍
Wò hǔ cáng lóng
Crouching tiger, hidden dragon.
Talented individuals in hiding, concealed talent.

*~*~*~*~*~*

I had told my story to Zakhar that night, in the cabin, as the wind howled around us, and his life snuck away.

The story was long, and winding, and filled with truths I was not proud of, but it had been mine.

When I finished, and looked away from Zakhar. I had not looked at him the whole time I had spoken. I did not want to see his face. I knew he loved me, so he would not show disgust, but I did not want to see pity or fear or—

"That was a bloody good story."

*~*~*~*~*~*

"You just swore yourself to the Sixth Clawed Dragon, prince. She is Liu Zhua."

Sita's words hung in the air like fruit, ripe and ready to pick.

Liu Zhua. It had been so long since I had been called that name that my first impulse was to deny the tigress's words. But I couldn't. They were true.

There was silence in the courtyard save for the crackling of flames in the braziers and the held breath of a hundred men.

All eyes turned to me, where I crouched beside Sanli. I felt the weight of them. It was as though they pushed me into the courtyard, into the gravel and dirt beneath my feet.

It was me, who all the empire feared. Me, who the mad rebels in the Central Regions chanted for. Me who had caused chaos, in the Inner Empire and beyond.

I was who I was. I was Liu Zhua.

It felt like I was waking, after a long dream. So long I had lived nameless, denying who I was, hiding myself from existence. Even this past year, as I had gotten to know the prince, and Zakhar, and Kageyama, I had encouraged the prince's illusion of a tragic wandering goddess, stripped of her position for foolishly consorting with a monster.

But really, I was the monster.

Those in the courtyard were like statues. Sanli had at last looked up from the dirt of the courtyard and was staring at me, the look on his face lost. Confused.

The look was mirrored on Zhangyu's face, and the face of many of the guards and servants around us.

I could hide who I was no longer. So I wouldn't.

I stood. Then I reached to my fingers and drew off my rings. One. By. One.

I took off all of them, not just the silver bands on my small fingers. The gold ring with the blue stone. The silver band sprinkled with soft coral covered pearls. The jade band about my middle finger. All of them I dropped to the stones and dust of the courtyard, hearing them clink against stone. They fell, rolling in ever shrinking circles and finally spinning to a stop by my feet.

Then I held up my six fingered hands, bare for all to see.

Many of the guards looked confused, not seeing the sixth finger at first. It was easy to miss, as it was shaped and looked much like my little finger. But when they counted, they realized there was one too many digit on each hand.

Some faces twisted in disgust, others their eyes widened ever so slightly in fear.

I lowered my strange hands. "The prince is mine, as you all heard. I will take what's mine."

I reached down to Sanli's shoulder to pull him to his feet. He flinched, and my hand stilled.

"Ahaha, look how he fears you now!" Sita laughed. She found the oddest things funny. "It seems he is regretting his vows."

Sita prowled a circle around me and the prince, swinging the golden sabre easily in one hand. "It is just as you told me," the tigress said, smile smug. Her beautiful bronze skin positively glowed in the torchlight. "When we first met, you said you were 'Nobody'. And you really are nobody. You have no body, no name. Just a relic of the past."

Sita stopped and raised her sword, her many bracelets jingling about her wrists. "Liu Zhua, Xiyu, whoever you are, you are a god no longer. The prince's oaths are meaningless. Step aside, and let me carry out the sentence."

I didn't move.

Sita laughed again. "Hah. Fine. Then you will be cut down with him."

But she made no move forward. Instead, she turned to the guards, gesturing them toward me.

Baihu would not have warned me. She would have cut us both down.

And then I realized. She is afraid of me.

I almost laughed to myself. The absurdity of it. Here I stood, in my small human body, wet and bedraggled from spending the day in the canals, and then the torture cell. I was a shadow of what I once was. A nobody, as she had said.

And yet as the guards approached me, steps firm, I could see the wariness in their eyes, a tenseness in their arms as they reached for their swords.

It is my name that scares them. It is all I have.

The nearest guard drew his sword. As if in a distant dream, I heard Zhangyu protesting, reaching for the sword he wore about his own waist.

Well, not quite all...

I felt the weight of Kageyama's sword in my hand.

The lacquered sheath was smooth and cool in my left hand, as my right reached to wrap my six fingers around the worn wood of the hilt.

I had lied to Kageyama, when the kitsune had asked me if I had any knowledge of the Wa sword. I had pretend inexperience. In truth, it was one of the first weapons I had learned.

My feet twisted in the dirt of the courtyard. I crouched low and drew.

The blade flashed in the firelight, and the first guard fell to his knees, his sword still halfway from its sheath. He looked up instead of down, at the red stripe appearing across the breast of his white uniform. It started to run and he collapsed forward to his hands.

The guards behind him froze. It was all the opportunity I needed.

I took a step, and a leap. My foot found the back of the fallen guard and pushed him down, propelling myself up as well.

A slash to the face set the second guard to howling. The third I caught in the shoulder, and the fourth I stabbed in the side, just below his right arm, as he lifted his sword to swing it at me.

He at least got to draw his sword.

The fifth and sixth guard fell similarly to the first, cruel red slashes across their white chests as they hurried to draw their swords.

And then the soldiers Sita had gestured forward were done, lying prone in the courtyard, or moaning and clutching at their injuries.

Kageyama had not lied. His sword cut flesh and cloth and leather armor all as easily as air.

I cleaned the sword with one quick pass using the corner of my sleeve, then slid it back into its sheath.

The whole thing had taken less than a minute. But that minute was more than enough time for Sita to kill the prince. To kill me.

And still she stood, face uncertain, the golden sabre in one hand.

"You will not recognize my claim as a god. That is fair enough," I said with a shrug, moving to stand beside Sanli once more. "But as a mu'ren, I challenge you for the prince's life. It is mine, and I am a dragon. I do not give up what's mine without a fight."

Sita laughed again, but the look on her face was uncertain. "Hah, you are mu'ren no longer as well. I do not have to honor your claim."

I walked to the center of the courtyard, placing myself between her and Sanli. I smiled smugly. "Afraid to fight me?"

Sita's laugh was scornful. "Afraid? What do I have to be afraid of? You are crippled. The most powerful being of all, trapped in such a feeble little body. Gods, how pathetic." She twirled her wrist to emphasize her disgust. "If I were you, I would have ended my life long ago rather than endure such a shameful existence."

My grin widened. "If I am as feeble as you say, why not fight me?"

The tigress's mouth twitched, and her eyes struggled not to flicker to where the six guards still lay, moaning from their injuries. "Fine," she said. "I will enjoy humiliating you here. Choose the weapon, Six Claws."

I laughed. "Oh, little kitten. You are inexperienced in these matters. You are the youngest of us, and so have the right to choose."

"She is skilled in the spear," said Zhang'yu suddenley, speaking for the first time in a while. "I have fought her before. Be careful."

The second prince's eyes fixed on Kageyama's sword. Is he trying to help or hinder me?

Sita scoffed. "What need do I have to be careful? Let her use a spear. Let her use any weapon she wants!"

She threw her arms wide, voice loud, but I knew forced bravado when I saw it.

I bowed slightly in thanks. "How generous of you, princess. You may use any weapon you want as well then." I gestured to one of the guards, and at Zhangyu's nod he brought his spear forward, shoved it at me, and hastily withdrew.

The weapon was heavy, the spear blade near as long as a sword, and it felt awkward in my hand. But for the plan I was quickly forming in my mind, it would do.

Sita returned her golden sabre to the sheath and passed it back to her attendant. "Hah. I need no weapon. I only need my claws. A shame you no longer have yours."

Sita held up her own hands, covered in the long golden nail guards. I remembered those golden points sinking into my cheeks, and the ensuing dizzy and darkness that had followed.

Her claws are poisoned. I could not afford any injury by them.

I felt the vial I had taken from Zhen in my breast pocket, and worried my smile showed my thoughts. She is not the only one who will be using such methods.

Zhangyu gestured for someone to collect the groaning Western soldiers I had cut down and carry them away. Then he turned to Sanli.

"Let us move, uncle," the second prince said, reaching down for his uncle.

But Sanli shook his arm away. "Ao, what is happening? What are you doing?"

I smiled down at him. "There is only one rule in the world of mu'ren prince. Strength. I will fight her to decide my claim."

Sanli shook his head. "No. No. Don't do that. Don't-"

I did not want to see the grief in Sanli's eyes. The desperation. He thinks his teacher is dead, and I am all he has left. I held out Kageyama's sword to him.

"Hold the fox's sword for me, little prince. I will tell you if I need it."

Numbly, Sanli took the sword. Then he let Zhangyu pull him to his feet, and tug him to the side lines.

And then I was alone in the courtyard, with the tigress.

Well, not completely alone. The guards still stood around the edges, though quite a few had retreated up steps to stand in rows along the veranda that surrounded the courtyard.

I could see the fear in the tight edges of their shoulders, the rigid way they held their spears.

It gave me pleasure, their fear, in a way I had not felt in years. It felt so nostalgic, so... right.

They should be afraid. Perhaps my body was not as it once was, but in my heart I was still a dragon, and a fight between a tiger and a dragon was not something to be dismissed.

I grinned savagely.

As if by agreement, Sita and I started pacing a slow circle around the courtyard, keeping each other on opposite sides. Sita's long white gown swayed with each step, and her many bracelets tinkled. Her long, lithe limbs were exposed, as she had no sleeves, and the slits up the side of her gown exposed her legs in their entirety. She looked the picture of an elegant princess. I imagined I, in my begrimed boy's clothes borrowed from Sanli, looked very different.

"I am looking forward to maiming you and taking you back for my brothers to use as toy," the girl said, smiling at me. Her metal tipped shoes rang against the stones of the courtyard, and left pressed points in the dirt.

"You have brothers?" I asked, lazily swinging my spear to get a feel for it. "My, Baihu has been busy. She used to have no time for anything but the throne." Sita's face shifted almost imperceptibly, and I quickly calculated. "Or perhaps she still doesn't have time," I said, condescendingly. "That's why you are here, trying to win her approval in another god's kingdom."

Sita's sneer became closer to a snarl. "I have heard you have no honor. You try to anger your opponent, to turn their emotions against them."

"You heard right," I replied proudly. "Is it working yet, cat?"

"Not at all!" Sita said, and lunged.

One second she was on the opposite of the courtyard. And then next she was inches away, gold claws flashing before my face.

Shit-

I quickly stepped back, twirling my spear before me to block her attack.

The tigress's claws closed around my spear and pulled. The weapon nearly jerked from my hands.

Shit shit. I forgot how strong she was.

I did a quick twist and pulled my spear away from her grasp before she could pull it from mine.

We began pacing once more, and now it was my smile that was tense.

I had thought having the longer reach an advantage. Now I realized, it was a hinderance. Sita could catch my weapon, pull it from my grasp, and then I would be weaponless.

I cursed internally. I should have kept the sword.

But...

Having failed to grab my weapon, Sita danced away, and resumed pacing once more.

Silence fell again in the courtyard, save the crunch of our footsteps on loose stones.

She really is afraid. Or inexperienced. She should have pressed her advantage, while she had me surprised.

I smirked. Oh well. It was her loss. I would not be surprised again.

I was done with pacing. I drew my hands along the shaft of my spear, till my right hand gripped near the base.

Then I held the spear high above my head, in a position that did not appear ready to counter or deliver and attack.

Sita looked confused. I knew why. It looked like I was performing some sort of circus trick, not preparing to engage in battle.

"Do you know, little cat, many think the spear only a melee weapon?" I broke from our circle and started towards her.

Sita warily crouched, fingers spread, claws at the ready.

"They think it too long a reach for more... intimate fights," I said, smile widening as I approached. I was ten paces away... five... three. I was close enough to see Sita's muscles tense beneath her smooth skin, the flecks of orange in her gold eyes.

"But, it can be a weapon of close reach as well... if you know how to use it."

A single pace away Sita lunged and I twisted, showing her my back. But it was my back with the spear behind it, for I had let the spear fall through my hand, to the head, and now grabbed it tightly just below the blade, looping my elbows around the shaft to keep it close to my body and allow for short, quick moves.

Sita's golden claws flashed past me to the left as I twisted right and around, driving the spear up toward her unguarded side.

The move surprised the tigress. She barely had a chance to collect herself and dodge away. And then I was on her again, this time twisting in from the left, bringing my leg up in a kick that she was forced to block with one arm, leaving her only one hand to block my spear point-

Splish. Sita grabbed my spear by the blade to stop it, and it cut into the smooth skin of her pretty hand.

She is not afraid of pain, I'll give her that, I thought, as I beheld the tigress's savage smile, indifferent to the blood dripping from her palm.

I twisted, attempting to bring the butt of the spear up to hit her, but she caught that end as well.

Now I was effectively trapped, my weapon held behind me, gripped on both sides by the tigress.

But anything can be a weapon.

The tigress was strong, but there were still parts of mu'ren's bodies that were soft and vulnerable, just like humans.

Sita was taller than me, so as she stood behind me she was the perfect height for me to drive my skull back and up into her nose with all the force I could muster.

CRUNCH.

I laughed aloud as I heard the sound, then spun away from the tigress, tearing my spear from her grasp.

Sita staggered back, clutching at her nose. The blood ran from it onto her uncut palm. Now both palms were bloody.

I laughed again, then made a great show of collecting myself. "I realize, we forgot to set terms of the fight. Do you want to go to first blood? If that is the case, it seems I have won already..."

Sita snarled. "This result of this fight was already a foregone conclusion." She flung her hand away, and her own blood spattered across the courtyard. "The only question is how many limbs you will have when it finishes."

I grinned. "Are you really so sure of the result? Why? Because you're stronger than me? Faster?"

I threw my arms wide, my six fingers spread for all in the courtyard to see. "The old gods were many times more powerful than me, and I still beat them all. Why is this situation any different?"

And suddenly, after I said them, I realized my words were not just for show, or to anger my opponent. Why had I thought I couldn't win this? I had all the weapons I needed. Experience. Patience. And as Yan had said, a foolhardy belief in myself.

After all, the greatest weapon is confidence.

I glanced over at the veranda, where Sanli stood beside Zhangyu, clutching Kageyama's sword as though it was keeping him afloat in the sea.

I will win this, and take him away from here.

"If you would like, you may get another weapon, little tiger," I said, gesturing to where the guard stood holding her golden sword. "It might make this more challenging for me. Unless you care to surrender?"

Sita did not even speak, just snarled, pushing strands of her messed hair from her face with bloody hands.

She gestured the guard her, the one who held her sword. I realized the man must be a personal attendant, as his uniform varied from the others.

I reevaluated my opinion again a second later when the man came closer, and I saw their body language together. And the guard's handsome face.

He is her lover. I glanced at Zhangyu. I was sure the cunning prince knew. I wondered if he cared.

The tall, handsome guard and Sita exchanged some quick whispered words. I could see concern in his eyes, as he looked over her injuries, and then hate as he looked up at me.

I smirked back.

Sita angrily hissed, and held out her hand. The guard reluctantly produced something from the pocket of his uniform. A velvet bag.

Sita emptied the contents of the bag onto her hand, and I stilled.

That is...

I had let my guard down. The tigress had another trick up her sleeve. Or her lover's sleeves, as her own gown was sleeveless.

In her bloody palm she cradled a white marble yinzhang, larger than most. It was square in shape, the red of countless past seals stained into the relief side where the zih were carved. The zih for 'white' and 'queen'.

In her hands Sita held the seal of the Western Kingdoms. Baihu's seal.

Fucking phoenix feathers-

Sita's lover had already cut his palm, and Sita pressed the seal to the blood there.

Then she pressed the bloody seal to her bare chest, just below her right collar bone.

I turned to the terrace to shout to the prince to run, but it felt as though my voice came from underwater.

There was a crackle, like thunder, and a flash of white filled the courtyard. I threw up an arm to protect my eyes from the light.

When I lowered it, Sita was no more. In her place a monster couched, all orange and black fur and rippling muscle. White teeth sprouted from black and pink lips. A long tail lashed angrily behind the beast, like a snake striking to and fro.

A tiger. A Dahu.

Oh it was her. I knew from the clothes, scattered in the courtyard at her feet, and golden chains looped around the tiger's neck like a collar. They had been loose on Sita, almost down to her exposed navel, but they were tight on the huge muscular neck of the tiger.

For the tiger was huge. I had seen normal beasts before, and they were half the size of the monster Sita had become.

And the tigers I had seen did not have the intelligence this beast's eyes had. The golden eyes found me, and hatred burned in them.

Oh shit.

All thoughts of winning evaporated. Now I merely thought to survive.

"Little prince, run!" I yelled as I turned and sprinted toward the veranda.

Before I had gotten two strides a weight hit my side with all the force of a falling tree.

I flew through the air and hit the courtyard wall so hard my world instantly went black.

*~*~*~*~*~*