"I'm so excited!" Po muttered again and again after he had climbed into one of the barrels.
It was almost in the noon, when Hangfan came with a cart into the village like promised. But it needed more than persuasiveness to persuade Shen to climb inside the primitive transportation. Especially after Hangfan told his camouflage method, that he would superimpose a wooden plate to fill material on it so that if the guards of the castle would control the content, they would never discover the stowaways.
Xia watched them from the distance. Of course, nobody wanted to take her along. It would be too dangerous for her. All the same to Soothsayer who promised to have an eye on her and on her brother.
"Alright," Shen surrendered and took one foot inside the cask.
Po who had already sat in his hide place didn't try to look his way. But before Hangfan could close his cask, Xia came closer.
"Good luck Dragon Warrior!"
"Oh, thank you. And don't worry. I will bring back your mother, alive and well."
Xia forced a smile. "Watch over her, please."
She gave Shen a worried look.
Po saluted. "No problem. Everything is under my control."
"But be wary of Xiang."
"Och, I had dealt with many guys before, we will come to terms with him."
Xia shook her head slowly. "You don't know him. I had the impression that the attack of the Huns had a sense."
Po paused. "An attack and abduction a sense?"
"It's just a feeling."
"Aha."
"We have to go," Hangfan said.
Po ducked and the sheep put the wooden plate over him and closed the barrel so that between Po and the aperture were some inches of free air until Hangfan filled the empty space with fish.
Po wrinkled his nose. "You didn't speak about that. Alright. A dirty hide place is maybe the best shelter to be hidden before the enemies' eyes."

Po rubbed his palms together. It was cold, but he was happy about his thick fur. From time to time, he looked through a little hole in the barrel so that he could watch the environment outside.
The cart drove through hills and snow until the snowed wood became bleaker, rocks and higher hills changed the landscape. Po didn't know how long, but somewhen Hangfan knocked against the casks.
"Be careful. We come to the first control station of the Huns on the border between China and their land."
"I'm ready for everything and everyone," Po muttered back. Shen said nothing, but nobody cared.
"Silent like the wind," Po thought and covered his mouth with his paws just to be sure.
It didn't take more than a few minutes and the cart stopped. Deep voices met the merchant and the stowaway's ears. The Hun guards didn't sound very friendly. No longer and they surrounded the cart, accompanied by Hangfan who taught them about his goods. Po watched through the barrel hole and caught a glimpse of two big bullocks.
The panda heard how the boxes were opened. His heart stopped when the cap of his barrel came next. Shortly after, it was closed again after the guard saw the fishes only on the top of the wooden hiding place. Po took a silent breath of relief, but he wouldn't be angry about a fight. But maybe it was the best for all not to make a stand.
The cart moved on. Po cheered. The first step was done.
After a while, they heard the quiet voice of Hangfan again.
"The castle is not far away," he said. "We are already there. We just have to pass the guards on the gate."
"Nice," Po muttered. "The Hun king can make a little trip from the Hun land to China to buy cheaper clothes. How practical."

Po's efforts to get a look at the castle of the Huns were useless. The little hole in the cask was too small to get an overview. He had no other choice than to wait until the cart arrived the guards who stood before the gate of the castle.
It was a luck for both that the guards knew the merchant and didn't control too long the goods on the cart. The gates were opened and the cart drove through the big entrance. The shadows of the stony walls swallowed them.
"Wow, heebie-jeebies," Po thought and continued his watching.
Dark stony walls passed them and guided them through narrow alleys. Maybe it was something like a backdoor what they had passed. The alleys were too small for an army.
The cart drove a while longer until it stopped.
"Okay, the coast is clear," Hangfan said.
Shorty after, Po heard how the top of the cask was cleared and the plate removed. Carefully, the panda peeked over the edge and looked around.
They stood in a very little yard in near of a little house, maybe for supplies of food. His eyes moved higher and saw high walls around with towers and more towering walls.
"We are near the middle of the castle," Hangfan explained after he let out the lord from his hide place. The peacock rubbed his feathers and smoothed down his robe, then he put his wings together and raised his head like always in a proud posture.
Po jumped from the cart and watched his environment curiously.
"And what next?"
"From here you can go through an underground path," the merchant explained. "Not many people know about it. Even not King Wang himself. It's a very complicate way system."
Po rubbed his head. "And how should we find the way?"
A little chirping let him wince. "What...?"
Something jumped on his head. It was a cicada.
"Greetings black-white rock," the brown insect said.
"Uhm, hello, my name is Po."
Hangfan waved his hoof. "This is Tu."
"Tu?"
The cicada chirped loudly. "Tu my name, yes."
Po chuckled. "Alright, Tu."
Tu looked in the panda's right eye angrily. "Do you have a problem?"
"Uh, no, I just thought about tutu."
The insect pulled his eyelid. "Watch your mouth, buffing wheel! Or I will let you alone in the labyrinth."
For the first time a smile flickered across Shen's face.
"Many apologies," the lord said. "He has bad manners."
The cicada looked up and eyed the white peacock. Then he jumped on his beak and eyed him more.
"Mm, by the look of you, I could imagine why you are here. I saw one of your species, but he had much worse manners than that fatty."
Po rubbed over his belly. "Hey, it's just too much fur."
"One of my species?" Shen asked who had a guess.
"Indeed," the insect continued. "Wang's new prisoner is a little tyrant."
Hangfan came closer. "Are you talking about Xiang?"
"That was his name," Tu confirmed. "A terrible guy. In contrast to his wife. She is like a closed book. She says no word, but she is not a stupid person."
"How are they?" Po asked, still Xia's words in mind.
"They are fine until now. I already saw her husband in the dungeon."
"And what about his wife?" Po asked. "Is she in the dungeon, too?"
Tu shook his antennas. "No. Wang allows her more freedom, but under observation. She got a room for her own. I have the impression Wang is going to make a deal with her."
"A deal?" Po asked and wondered why Shen asked nothing.
Tu nodded. "That's what he wants to talk about with her this evening. If we're fast, we can have a share their conversation."
"This evening?" Po jumped around. "Let's go!"
"Not so fast, fatty," Tu said and jumped down on the floor. "Don't forget, without my help, you could be lost in the underground halls. Just follow me."
With that, the insect jumped with big jumps away. Po wanted to run behind, but then he stopped.
"What about you?" he asked Hangfan.
The sheep shook his head. "I have to unload the cart. Go with him."
"Roger!"
With that, Po disappeared around the corner. Shen followed them with quick footsteps. Despite his long feathers he made no single sound.
In a threesome they sneaked along the walls until Tu stopped in front of a wall. He tapped on a stone and a little part of the wall opened. Po and Shen didn't ask when Tu disappeared in the dark wall cave. Together they entered a dark corridor which was lighted by some torches.
"Follow me," Tu said and jumped ahead.
They went through small corridors and stairs, until they reached the top of a building tower wall. Here they got the chance to take a look outside through very, very small slit windows.
"Don't be surprised," the cicada said. "The hidden ways were built behind second walls of the building. But you can't see it if you look at the building."
"It's like a spy place," Po said and peeked through the stony slits. Now they realize how big this castle really was. It was more than a castle with a few towers and a wall around. Behind the main walls stood the main building and more behind flat stony houses and a big yard, which must be a part for the Huns Army. On the top of the walls Po could see more oxen, very muscular and armed and looked like they could run through a thick wall easily.
Po looked to the sky. It was almost in the evening. Suddenly, a light Chinese gong of a bell sounded through the air.
"Was that the signal for dinner time?" the panda asked. "My stomach is rumbling."
Shen sighed. "That's a typical sound of a signal that the king is expecting someone."
"We're almost there," Tu said. "Here we can take a look."
The cicada made a few jumps more around a corner and touched a stone plate in the ceiling. He opened it and they stood in a small gouge at the edge of a roof which was impossible to see from the walls around. With ducked heads, they went along the hidden way and peeked over the roof edge. From here they had a good overview about a big yard which lay directly in front of the main building. In the next moment, two oxen carried a roofed with curtains covered palanquin close to the entrance.
They put it down and the guard of the house walked over to it. One of the carriers pulled the curtain aside and a dark figure climbed out. The figure was much smaller than them.
Po held his breath.
It was a peahen.