Chapter 26

Their shouts echoed down the sparsely lit and damp corridor that housed the cells. Heather pressed her head towards the bars and angrily shouted towards Meixiu "What do you mean you awakened her?!!!"

"Unfortunately." Meixiu mumbled. She paid no attention to Heather's outrage, her eyes having lost any glimmer of hope.

"Heather calm down." Fishlegs told her. "We don't know the whole story here."

"What 'whole' story?" Heather growled before angrily pointing to the Chinese girl. "She's the reason we're stuck in this cell and Thor knows what is happening to my brother!"

"You really do care for him don't you?" Ruffnut suddenly asked from next to her, stilling in her lock picking. She and Tuffnut had started working at nearly the same time at the museum as Heather and Dagur. At first it looked like Heather didn't like her crazy brother, but as a sister herself she saw the small signs. Heather leaving her desk sometimes to make sure that Dagur ate if he was busy with a translation, or giving him a stern talking to when he did something idiotic like the time he chased after Hiccup with a Roman sword.

Heather shot Ruffnut a look. "You might just admit it." Ruffnut smirked. "From one sister to another I know how frustrating brothers can be." Heather raised a brow at Ruffnut before saying. "Ruffnut there is a difference with being a sister and being related to Tuffnut." Heather shuddered at some of the things the twins had done while working at the museum. They were the cause of many of Alvin's grey hairs.

"Meh, potato tomato." Ruffnut shrugged. Heather let out a sigh as she knew Ruffnut wouldn't drop it. "Fine" Heather mumbled. "Yes, I look out for my crazy brother." She admitted. "I've been looking out for him since before we were adopted by the Master."

"Wait... back up......." Ruffnut said. "The head of the Society is your dad?!"

Heather shrugged. "So what?"

"Just didn't expect that." Ruffnut mumttered. Heather didn't say anymore on the subject and instead turned back towards Meixiu. "Start talking." She demanded. "Who or what is that...... that... Empress!"

Meixiu let out a sigh before she asked "What do you all know of the Tang dynasty?" At this question both Heather and Ruffnut looked at Fishlegs.

"My speciality is the later Ming dynasty but I do have some knowledge of the Tang dynasty." Fishlegs told them and thought for a bit. "It was the dynasty that preceded by the Sui dynasty and was followed by an era of political upheaval called the five dynasties and ten kingdoms period. The Tang dynasty was seen as a Golden age for Chinese civilization."

"That is correct." Meixiu stated. "Our tale begins in this era when a mysterious object fell from the sky."

"A mysterious object?" Heather muttered as she thought for a moment. "Wait you can't mean...."

"One of the Valkyrie's artifacts." Fishlegs finished for her. Meixiu thought for a moment and then said "I don't know anything about this valkyrie but it was a cloak unlike any other. No person could touch it, not even the Emperor who was considered to be divine. The cloak would burn any and all."

"Yup sounds like our item alright." Ruffnut stated.

"So what happened to the cloak?" Fishlegs asked as the curiosity was now killing him.

"The Emperor ordered it brought to the palace. The story goes that it took eighteen men who suffered various degrees of burns to transport it all the way. Once in the palace he presented it to his second wife Empress Wei."

Fishlegs' eyes widened when he heard the name and everything clicked. "Hold on Empress Wei.... are you saying that the mummy that we saw upstairs was actually THE Empress Wei?!"

"You are correct." Meixiu stated while Fishlegs let out a groan.

"You know her Fish?" Ruffnut asked while she was still busy with the lock.

"Any Chinese historian would have probably heard of her." Fishlegs mumbled. "If this is who we are dealing with then it's bad..... Really bad."

"Fishlegs who is that woman?" Ruffnut now asked upon seeing Fishlegs freak out a bit.

"She was Emperor Zhongzhong's second wife."

"What happened to his first wife?" Heather asked.

"She was starved to death when her mother offended Empress Wu Zetian, a ruthless woman and mother of Emperor Zhongzhong as well as role model of Empress Wei."

"Her mother in-law was her role model?!" Heather mumbled surprised. "Okay now I know some screws are loose in her head. So what happened?"

"She made a move for power just like her mother in-law did years ago." Fishlegs explained. "The story goes that the Emperor was a bit of a coward and it was his wife and daughter who held all the power. Empress Wei had several affairs with high ranking members of the court and one day she and her daughter conspired to feed the Emperor a poisoned cake."

"When the Empress was finally in power a rebellion arose. She and her daughter fled the palace but they were beheaded by one of her own guards."

"Yikes" Both Heather and Ruffnut cringed at that.

"The irony of it all is, that the Empress spent so much time trying to gain power and status and as a last bit of revenge by those she had wronged she was posthumously reduced to the rank of a commoner."

"No wonder she's grouchy." Ruffnut mumbled absentmindedly.

"But....... How is she even alive again Meixiu?" Fishlegs asked. "And what does the cloak have to do with it."

"What people don't know is that Empress Wei also dabbled in the magic arts. She like many other nobility sought immortality. This palace was found in the Tang dynasty by some of the Emperor's scouts. It previously belonged to the Emperor of Qin but fell into disuse. The Empress renovated it and used this place to practice her magic and recruit followers. That was how the Cult of Tang was founded. I used to be a member up until my imprisonment."

Meixiu held the attention now of all three as she went into detail. "Our organization recovered the Oracle Bones that was used to curse Emperor Qin." She didn't elaborate further on that part but said instead "When the Empress laid eyes on the cloak for the first time she felt the massive amount of magical energy it possessed. Her magic was not strong enough to use the immortality spell, that was until she linked it with the magic of the cloak."

"Wait....... So this Empress is supposed to be immortal?" Ruffnut asked. "I just saw a pile of bones."

"Well she'll be immortal on the next full moon." Meixiu stated. "She was about to finish the last part of the ritual on the night that the rebellion broke out but never got a chance to."

"Well that would definitely suck." Ruffnut stated as both Heather and Fishlegs shot her a weird look. "What!! Oh come on guys. Wouldn't you be very grumpy if you get killed on the day you were going to receive immortality?"

"Well........." Both hesitated.

Meixiu sighed. "Had I not been tricked then none of this would have ever happened." She mumbled before explaining. "My mother is the head of the cult but I was the only one this generation who had shown any indication of powerful magic. I initially did not want to do the ritual that brought the Empress back but my mother promised that I would be free of them afterwards. After the ritual I was imprisoned in here upon the orders of the Empress herself. My mother didn't even think to disobey her."

"So you traded your freedom for reviving a potential threat to mankind?" Heather now asked.

"Life here for me was stifling. I could not take it anymore. As the only one with magic I was held to a much higher standard. If I made a mistake then it would be worse for me than anyone else. I wanted out!" Meixiu stated rather loudly. "You have no idea what it's like to be held to near impossible expectations!"

"Is there anyway to stop the Empress?" Fishlegs now asked. Meixiu nodded "I know of one way. My mother has it hidden in her room as an emergency policy."

"Well that's the best bit of news I've heard all day." Heather said. "Now all we need to do is get out of hereeeeeee....." She shrieked and pitched forward when Ruffnut managed to open the door.

"Well that's fixed." Ruffnut smirked and started to work on the door to Fishlegs' cell. Heather grumbled and stood up before dusting herself off.

It took awhile for Ruffnut to get both Fishlegs and Meixiu free. Heather stood watch in case a guard came by. So far they had been lucky.

"So what do we do now?" Fishlegs asked looking a bit uncertain.

"Find the others and kick some mummy behind!" Heather proclaimed before she started marching with determination towards the exit.

"Right on!" Ruffnut whooped as she grabbed Meixiu and followed after Heather.

"Seems reasonable....." Fishlegs mumbled before shouting "Girls wait for me!"

AN: Well things are certainly getting interesting. :) One of my nieces I was babysitting today asked me if I was going to throw one of my characters over a cliff again...
I thought about it... and thought about it some more before shrugging... anything is possible.

Now I hope you are all enjoying the story so far. The China arc has been one of my favorites to write so far.