“Where do you think you're going?” the soldier asked. “You'll kill yourself over there! Stop!”
Hok glanced back over at the soldier and saw that he was now holding a short qiang. She had to act fast.
Hok swung the fiery bundle over her head and hurled the flaming mass into the night. As it flew, she caught a glimpse of the compound wall and the ground beyond it. She made her best guess of the wall's dimensions and her distance to the ground beyond it.
And then she jumped.
Hok landed without a sound on the far side of the compound wall. She rolled several times on the damp grass to disperse the energy of her landing, and hopped to her feet.
Like Cangzhen, Shaolin had a grassy moat around its perimeter to make it harder to approach without being seen. Hok ran across it. She made it to a pitch-black tree line some distance away and stopped to catch her breath. Though smoky the night air was much clearer here than it had been inside the burning compound. Hok inhaled deeply. Repeatedly. She was still nauseous from the Dream Dust, but this was no time for a long rest.
Hok glanced around, and froze. She realized that she wasn't alone.
Overhead, a smooth voice purred, “That was quite a leap you just made. I'm glad you announced your intentions by waving that burning projectile beforehand. Otherwise, I might have missed you entirely.”
Hok looked up and saw Tsung crouched on a large tree limb. He was wearing her Cangzhen robe.
Hok's eyes narrowed.
“I told you that you were going to be my ticket into Shaolin,” Tsung said with a laugh. “Borrowing your robe to wear while I did my dirty work will make for great rumors, don't you think? My men have no idea that it was me who killed Shaolin's sentries from within and opened the main gate for them. They think it was you! A Cangzhen monk other than Ying responsible for the downfall of the mighty Shaolin Temple! The people of this region will be furious! It's a shame you won't be around to witness it firsthand.”
Hok's mind began to race. She wondered if what he was saying was true or just a trick to distract her.
A beam of moonlight slipped between the leaves and illuminated Tsung's shoulders. Hok saw them flex ever so slightly, and she knew what was about to happen.
Hok leaped backward as Tsung exploded out of the tree. He landed in the exact spot where she had been standing. Hok couldn't believe a human could move that fast.
Tsung grinned his toothy grin. “You're very perceptive. That's good. It will make this kill all the more exciting—”
Tsung lunged at Hok again, and Hok hopped sideways. She escaped the brunt of the impact, but Tsung reached out at her throat as he passed by. His long fingernails connected with a glancing swipe and five thin lines of blood oozed horizontally across the side of her neck.
Hok knew that she had to take action. Tsung was far too fast for her to respond defensively especially with the Dream Dust still in her system. As soon as Tsung hit the ground, Hok lunged at him, swinging her right elbow at his head.
Tsung's bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise and he grabbed her incoming elbow with his left hand. Hok heard him grimace as her bony elbow made contact with his palm, but he didn't release her. Instead, he tightened his grip and latched on to the back of her arm with his other hand.
Tsung began to dig his long fingernails into Hok's arm, and she responded by forming a crane beak with her free hand. She swung it at his face, expecting him to release at least one of his hands to block it. He didn't. Instead, he simply turned his head to one side and let Hok strike him. Hok nearly took out his eye. Blood began to run from the spot where she had hit him.
Hok was confused. She pulled back her free arm to strike Tsung again, and Tsung went on the offensive. Still gripping Hok's right arm with both hands, he yanked her to one side and kicked her legs out from under her.
Hok landed hard, the side of her face colliding with the ground. She felt Tsung let her arm slip through his hands until her wrist reached his fingers, and he clamped down powerfully with both hands, locking on to her wrist. With her arm now outstretched in his hands, Tsung dropped to the ground on his back, perpendicular to her, and thrust each of his legs on either side of her outstretched arm.
Hok found herself flat on her back, trapped in a straight-arm lock that she could not escape from. Tsung had a firm grip with both of his hands on her right wrist, her arm clamped tightly between his thighs. The back of Tsung's left leg was over her shoulder, and the back of his right leg was across her chest. Hok was pinned to the ground with her arm painfully outstretched.
“I bet they never taught you that move at Cang-zhen,” Tsung said. “Great fun, isn't it?” He laughed.
Hok's eyes began to water from the strain she felt on her arm. Tsung raised his hips slowly, and Hok felt her elbow hyperextend in a direction it wasn't designed to move—inside out.