Free Snake by Jeff Stone

NgGung answered. “That's how we know him. You might know him as the Drunkard.”
    Fu slammed his fist into the dirt next to NgGung's head. “What do you know about the Drunkard?”
    Hung chuckled, low and deep. “He's Sanfu's boy, all right.”
    “Fu,” Seh said, “you can question NgGung later. We need some other answers first.” He looked at NgGung, then at Hung. “Why did you attack us?”
    Hung scratched his heavy beard. “It's a rite of passage. You should feel honored.”
    NgGung laughed. “Right! And Hung is still upset that Malao got the best of him! I'd wager he also hasn't forgotten that you were the one who threw Malao the spear, Seh. Hung is still walking with a bit of a limp.”
    Hung growled.
    Seh ignored him. “Where is Mong?”
    Hung flashed a sarcastic grin. “He left last night to get AnGangseh. You know who
she
is, don't you?”
    “Yes, I know who she is,” Seh snapped. “When will they return?”
    “Two weeks,” Hung said.
    “Two weeks!” Seh said. “We can't wait that long. We have to do something now!”
    “Don't worry,” Hung replied. “We have plenty for you to do now.”
    Fu rolled off NgGung and stood. “Like what?” he asked.
    “Yeah, like what?” Malao said as he climbed down the tree.
    NgGung stood and stroked his long, thin mustache. “Well, for one, we have to prepare for the banquet.”
    Fu's eyes widened. “Banquet?”
    “Yes,” NgGung said. “The biggest this stronghold has ever seen. But first we need to finish building the banquet hall.”
    Seh looked at NgGung. “Tell me more.”
    “Mong has always wanted a banquet hall,” NgGung said. “This year, he finally decided to build one. We weren't supposed to finish it until this summer, but when he learned you might be coming here, he ordered us to speed up construction. He told us if you showed up while he was gone to have a banquet ready when he arrives. It will be especially important for him because AnGangseh will be here, too.”
    Hung nodded. “And since we have to speed things up because of you, you and your brothers are going tohelp.” He pointed to Fu. “You're coming with me, big boy, and your brothers will go with NgGung. We have a lot of work to do. Let's move.”
    The stronghold was alive with activity. There were many more people inside the stronghold than Seh had imagined. He counted close to two hundred men and women in all.
    Seh realized the stronghold functioned like a small town. He saw several blacksmiths and two shops selling food. There were people making clothes and others making shoes and boots. He even saw several buildings overflowing with pigs, chickens, and other animals.
    They passed through the buildings and stopped at the edge of an open plateau. It was large, with small pockets of evergreen trees spread in every direction. Seh felt like he was on top of the world.
    “It's nice up here, isn't it?” NgGung said.
    Seh nodded. “What's that?” He pointed to the skeleton of a very large building.
    “That, my friend, is the banquet hall,” NgGung replied.
    “We have two weeks to finish it?” Seh asked.
    “I'm afraid so,” NgGung said.
    Seh spent what was left of the day in the rafters with NgGung. Malao did, too, but they had very different jobs. Malao leaped from rafter to rafter and scurried up and down support posts getting tools for people, while Seh made his way slowly along eachrafter with NgGung, joining the rafters to their supporting beams. Occasionally, Seh caught a glimpse of Fu, dragging enormous sections of lumber to the work site with Hung. Fu did not look happy.
    Before leaving the work site for the evening, Seh released the snake for the night like he always did and turned his attention to the three dragon scrolls he had been carrying. He had spread them out to dry on a huge rock earlier, where he could keep an eye on them. They were now ready to be rolled back up.
    Seh saw that two of the scrolls contained detailed descriptions of dragon-style kung fu