Blue Dragon (21 page)

‘Is it useful for anything?’ Louise said. ‘Or is it just annoying?’

‘It can come in handy, but I really wonder sometimes whether it’s worth the suffering.’ I shrugged. ‘Enough.’

‘Yeah, that was the last one,’ Louise said. ‘I thought you could do all of those things, so I mostly win. But some of the stories they tell about you are obviously ridiculous. Like, they say that you took out a level fifty demon with your bare hands—’

‘Yep,’ I said through the udon.

‘Damn,’ she said softly, ‘I really should have brought a video camera. They say you told the King of the Demons to his
face
to piss off—’

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘You should have seen the look on John’s face.’

‘John? You call the Emperor
John
?’ she said, incredulous.

‘It’s his English name. Sounds like Xuan. Xuan Wu.’

‘Oh, that makes sense.’

‘That’s not the only thing I call him,’ I said into the udon, and Louise giggled.

‘They say that you can jump off high places and float down without getting hurt—’

‘Yep,’ I said. ‘Just learned that one not long ago.’

‘Geez, Emma,’ Louise said. ‘I really should have brought a video camera. If I could get a video of this I’d be in the Tiger’s bed every night for six weeks.’

‘
What
?’

‘You don’t think we bet for money, do you?’ Louise said with a grin. ‘We bet nights with Tigger.’

I couldn’t hold back the laughter. ‘
Tigger
?’

‘He’s very bouncy,’ Louise said, her eyes sparkling. She glanced down at her notebook. ‘Damn. I really should have brought a video camera. They won’t believe me without proof on those last ones.’

I pulled out my mobile phone and called home.

‘
Wei
?’

‘Ah Yat,’ I said, ‘could you grab the video camera and bring it to the Tokyo private room in the Japanese restaurant in the hotel in Sha Tin?’

‘Ma’am,’ Ah Yat said. ‘Give me about five minutes, I need to find it.’

‘Okay, no rush,’ I said, and hung up.

‘Thanks, Emma,’ Louise said. ‘You’re great, you know.’

I shrugged.

‘Did you really tame a level seventy demon?’ Louise said.

I nodded, sipping some miso soup.

‘Tell your helper to hurry with the video camera,’ she said.

I studied her. All of my exceptional abilities didn’t seem to have fazed her at all.

‘Louise,’ I said.

‘Hm?’

‘None of this stuff I can do seems to worry you at all. You don’t seem to be jealous, or bothered by it, or anything.’

‘Jealous?’ she said with a grin. ‘I’m
privileged
. Do you have any idea how impressed people are when I say that you’re my friend, and that we shared a flat for a couple of years? You’re a legend in your own lifetime.’

‘Oh, great,’ I said, lifting the last piece of yam tempura with my chopsticks. ‘That’s all I need.’

‘Can I come to the wedding?’

‘Do Chinese weddings have matrons of honour? ’Cause that’s what I want you to be.’

‘Who cares whether they do or they don’t,’ Louise said. ‘’Cause I’m coming, and I’m wearing something frilly and awful in pink with a dreadful cocktail hat.’

‘You’d better be careful what you wish for, mate,’ I said. ‘’Cause it could very well come true.’

‘Coronation too,’ she said. ‘My roommate, Empress of the North. Do you get a crown?’

I thumped my chopsticks on the table with mock fury.

She grinned and her eyes sparkled. ‘Have you heard from April?’ She saw my face and the grin disappeared. ‘Is she okay?’

I sighed and dropped my head. Then I pulled myself together. April was Louise’s friend too. She had a right to know.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘You know this demon bastard who’s after us? After my family?’

‘Yeah,’ Louise said softly. ‘It once broke into the stables in Ireland and did some really bad stuff to the wives who were managing there. One of them’ll never walk again, and the other was horribly disfigured.’ She bent over the table to confide in me. ‘And the Tiger still sees them both, you know. He loves us all.’

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Well, that particular demon is the head of all the underworld activity in Hong Kong…’

Louise inhaled sharply, eyes wide.

‘…and Kitty Kwok was helping the demon to launder its dirty money through the kindergartens—’

‘Holy
shit
, Emma. Kitty Kwok? The woman you worked for?’

I continued. ‘And Kitty Kwok’s been building demon hybrids for him, and taking samples from the children in the kindergartens—blood and tissue samples—’

‘No,’ Louise said. ‘No.’

‘Kitty Kwok has labs in Dongguan where they’re building the demon hybrids—’

‘Hybrids?’

‘And Andy, April’s husband, was involved in triad activity—’

‘I knew there was something wrong with that guy,’ Louise interrupted again. ‘He was a total creep to her. He was in league with the demons?’

‘I think he is a demon. He just married April to get her pregnant. So that they could…’ I stopped.

‘What, Emma?’ Louise whispered.

I dropped my head. ‘Kitty sent April to Dongguan to have a caesarean delivery,’ I whispered.

‘She got the baby!’ Louise shouted, furious. ‘She killed April! No!’

‘I saw April last week,’ I said, and Louise relaxed. ‘She doesn’t remember anything—her marriage or her pregnancy. She told me her family were all killed in a car accident in Australia, and Kitty is looking after her.’

Louise straightened. ‘Okay, Superwoman, go in and get her and her baby out.’

‘I wish I could,’ I moaned. ‘But I have no idea where she is, and nobody else does either. All we know is that she’s in Causeway Bay somewhere.’

‘What about Xuan Wu?’

‘He won’t leave Simone,’ I said. ‘And neither will I.’

‘That makes sense.’ Louise smiled. ‘I’ll talk to Tigger about it. See if we can’t send some Horsemen in and get April out.’

‘I doubt very much that the Tiger will send his sons to certain death,’ I said. ‘That demon is incredibly powerful, and it would be on his own turf.’

Ah Yat appeared in the corner with the video camera and Louise jumped. ‘I still have to get used to that,’ she said.

Ah Yat handed me the video camera, and I set it up to record, then passed it to Louise. ‘What were those questions you wanted to ask me?’

‘We will get April out, Emma,’ Louise said as she pressed the button. ‘Now, generate some black chi first—that was great.’

I sighed and put my hands out.

I
taught a first-year energy-work class straight after lunch. Everybody froze when Monique managed to generate chi.

‘Hold it carefully, Monique,’ I said softly, moving the other students away so that I could sit in front of her. ‘Concentrate. Everybody else, to one side, silence. Don’t move.’

Monique’s face was a mask of concentration. She hadn’t generated much chi, only about a golf ball’s worth, but it was an achievement for someone from a Western background to be able to do it at all. Her mother had studied in China and learned Tai Chi and had taught Monique from an early age.

‘Do you have it?’ I said.

She didn’t say anything. Her face was rigid, her green eyes very dark from her dilated pupils. Her brown hair drifted slightly with the static from the energy.

I put my hand on her arm to supervise: she had it.

‘Very well done,’ I said softly. ‘Now, you know what to do. Slowly and carefully, let it drop.’

Her face stiffened as she prepared to let go of the energy.

My mobile phone rang.

The chi rocketed back into her hands, her eyes rolled up and she collapsed.

‘Damn!’ I said, catching her. ‘Anybody here her roommate?’

A black girl stepped forward: Sofie, from Ghana. ‘Me, ma’am.’

My phone was still ringing but I ignored it.

‘Okay, Sofie. Take Monique down to the infirmary, lie her down and let her rest. She’ll be fine.’

I pulled my phone out clumsily, still holding Monique, and checked the screen. Leo. I pressed the ‘reject’ button.

‘Brad, Joe, help Sofie to carry Monique. I’ll be down shortly.’

‘Ma’am,’ the three of them said. Brad was a huge black kid and he gently lifted Monique, the young Cambodian, Joe, helping him. Sofie hovered, concerned.

I pulled myself to my feet. ‘She’ll be fine, guys. I’ll come down to the infirmary and apologise personally,
on behalf of Leo
, later.’

They all grinned and nodded, and Brad carried the unconscious Monique out. The other students stood frozen with wonder.

‘Well, she did it. When will you guys manage it?’ I said cheerfully. ‘Go and take a break. I’ll see what Leo wants.’

The students filed out, chatting.

I pulled the phone out and called Leo back.

‘One of my energy students had just generated her first chi when the phone rang,’ I said.

‘Why didn’t you switch it off then?’ Leo shot back.

I hesitated. ‘You know why.’

He was silent as he understood. Then his voice returned, more brisk. ‘I need your help down in my office. You’re really gonna love this. One of the new students has a major problem with his roommate at the New Folly.’

‘On my way,’ I said and snapped the phone shut.

I passed the tea urn on the way to the lift. ‘Be right back, guys,’ I called to the students clustered around the tea table. ‘I expect all of you to be able to generate chi the size of a basketball when I come back.’

‘Yes, ma’am,’ the students said in unison, grinning.

Leo’s office door was shut. I tapped on it and went in.

Leo’s desk was free of paperwork; he didn’t have much to do with the administration side of things. The room was more of a bolt hole for him. The bookshelf held an extensive library of martial arts books and videos, though, and he had been trusted with many of John’s older and more valuable scrolls on the Arts. A signed poster of an American college football team was the only decoration on the wall.

Leo saluted me without rising, but the kid just sat and scowled. I didn’t recognise him; he must have been very new.

‘This is Scott,’ Leo said. ‘He’s just been recruited from Gold’s latest run through the US and Canada. Canadian. Arrived last week.’

‘Hi, Scott,’ I said, and took the chair next to him. ‘What seems to be the problem?’

The kid was silent, still scowling, and it dawned on me: he didn’t know who I was.

‘He’s been told everything, Leo?’ I said without looking away from Scott.

‘I don’t think he completely believes it yet, my Lady,’ Leo said.

Scott’s face went slack as he realised and he quickly rose and saluted me, falling to one knee. ‘Apologies, my Lady.’

‘Maybe I won’t throw you out, after all,’ I said, amused. ‘If I did, I think you would be the quickest ejection in the history of the Hong Kong-based Mountain. Do you believe it yet? Tell me the truth.’

Scott glanced down and didn’t say anything.

‘Sit,’ I said, and he sat in the other chair. ‘Are you willing to go along with us crazy people to learn the Arts?’

Scott nodded, his face serious. ‘Anything. I want…’ He paused. ‘I want it to be true, you know? I’ve seen chi. I’ve seen some of the stuff you guys can do. But it’s hard.’

‘Have you met the Dark Lord?’ I said.

Scott nodded. ‘But,’ he said with a small smile, ‘he’s not really that impressive. He just looks like an ordinary guy.’

‘You’ll get there,’ I said, rising. ‘Can’t see a problem here, Leo. He’ll get there.’

‘Sit, Emma, that’s not the problem,’ Leo said. His expression became wry. ‘He has a major problem with his roommate at the New Folly.’

‘The guy’s a freaking
faggot
,’ Scott said viciously. ‘You put me in with one of
them
. I want out right now.’

I fell back into my chair, speechless. Leo’s face remained wry.

‘I don’t know what he’ll do to me in the middle of the night. You know they’re all…’ He paused, and pulled himself together. ‘You can’t trust them. And he could be diseased, or anything. We’ll be sharing the same goddamn
bathroom
. You’ve gotta move me out
now
.’

I struggled to find words. Leo began to look amused at my reaction.

‘I cannot believe you let one of
them
learn here,’ Scott said fiercely. ‘Don’t you know about him? He told me like it was the most natural thing in the world, you know: “I’m from Holland, here’s a photo of my family, by the way I’m gay.” I could not believe it.’ He dropped his head. ‘I’ve heard they’re more relaxed about that stuff in Europe, but geez, he just came out with it like it
was completely normal. And he didn’t even
look
like one of them. Usually you can spot them a mile off—they’re totally gross.’

Leo leaned back and waited.

‘Hold out your hand,’ I said.

Scott seemed surprised at the strange request, then shrugged and held his hand out. I took it and examined him.

‘Definite energy potential, Mr Alexander,’ I said, releasing his hand. ‘But I think we should throw him out anyway. How good is he in hand-to-hand?’

‘Brilliant,’ Leo said. ‘Feel free to have some fun with him if you like, my Lady, this is the first one I’ve had in a while.’

‘You’re going to throw me out? Don’t throw me out!’ Scott looked from me to Leo. ‘I didn’t do anything! What—you think this is
okay
?’

‘How many staff of the Mountain have you encountered so far, Scott?’ I said kindly.

‘Of course, Gold,’ Scott said. ‘He recruited me, showed me the quarters in Happy Valley, set me up, that sort of thing.’

‘Do you like Gold?’ I said. ‘You know he’s really a stone, not a human being at all.’

‘Yeah, somebody said that, but I can’t really see how the guy can be a rock,’ Scott said. ‘But he looked after me, he’s an okay guy.’

‘After Gold had you settled in, what happened next?’

‘I had the orientation with Master Leo. I’ve spent the last week being issued gear, being shown around, things like that. Everything was explained. I was presented to the Dark Lord and had to swear allegiance.’

‘It’s been a busy week,’ Leo said.

‘They haven’t sworn allegiance to me yet,’ I said.

‘We’ll get there,’ Leo said. ‘Sometimes it’s better if they don’t know who you are for the first few weeks.
I mean, they know you’re there, they see you wandering around, but they don’t connect the stories with
you
.’

‘My plain appearance,’ I said, understanding. ‘They’ve heard stories of the Dark Lady, and they expect me to be about two metres tall, raven-haired and spitting fire, not short, plain and scruffy.’

‘Exactly,’ Leo said. Scott appeared astonished.

‘You’re really clever sometimes, Leo,’ I said. ‘Good lesson for them: nothing on the Mountain is ever as it seems.’

Leo made a soft sound of amusement.

‘I want to meet his roommate,’ I said. ‘Can you get him?’

‘Tymen!’ Leo yelled without moving. ‘Come on in.’

Tymen tapped on the door and came in, carefully closing the door behind him. He was similar in appearance to Scott; they could almost be brothers. Both were tall, angular, and bony, with the gangly limbs that signalled some growing still to do. Both were fair with sandy blond hair. Scott was younger, probably only seventeen, while Tymen could have been nineteen or twenty.

I rose. ‘Sit, Tymen.’

Tymen sat in my chair. Scott went rigid and Tymen sagged.

‘Do you know who I am?’ I said kindly.

Tymen shook his head, his blue eyes wide.

‘This is the Dark Lady herself, Tymen,’ Leo said in a low growl. ‘Watch yourself.’

Tymen shot to his feet and fell to one knee, saluting. ‘My Lady.’ He rose and studied me closely, then offered me his seat.

‘Sit,’ I said. ‘I’ll stand.’

‘Do as she says,’ Leo said when he saw Tymen hesitate.

I leaned against the wall. ‘Young Scott here has a
problem with you, Tymen. He thinks you’re going to rape him in the middle of the night.’

Leo made another soft sound of amusement. Scott’s scowl became defiant. But Tymen sagged again. He was obviously accustomed to it.

‘Please find me alternative quarters, ma’am, sir,’ Tymen said softly. ‘I have no wish to offend anyone with my presence. I know some people have issues with people like me. I thought…’ His voice trailed off and then he pulled himself together. ‘I thought the environment would be more accepting here, after talking to both Gold and Master Leo. I spoke too soon.’ He glanced desperately up at me. ‘Please don’t throw me out, ma’am, I want this more than anything. I’ll keep my head down and my mouth shut, I promise.’

Scott glared at Tymen with contempt.

‘Did you have a boyfriend back home?’ I said kindly.

Scott looked horrified.

Tymen sighed. ‘I had a lot of friends. Nobody special; I think I’m too young. But I gave up a lot to come. Please don’t throw me out.’

‘Hold out your hand.’

Tymen didn’t hesitate, and I took his hand and examined him carefully. ‘Hand-to-hand?’

‘Just as brilliant,’ Leo said. ‘These two could be brothers.’

I suddenly knew with a certainty that left me breathless that one day they
would
be like brothers. The shock of the feeling nearly knocked me off my feet.

‘Are you okay, Emma?’ Leo said softly, seeing my reaction.

I dropped Tymen’s hand and pulled myself together. ‘Two of the Masters you have already met and spent time with are gay, Scott. I won’t tell you which two, because you said you can pick them.’

Scott’s mouth dropped open.

‘You haven’t had much contact with many of the staff of the Mountain, so it shouldn’t be too difficult to work it out. One of them can’t really be said to be gay because he’s not human, despite the fact that right now he’s dating another guy. But the other one,’ I said, carefully not looking at Leo, ‘is one hundred per cent pure flaming fairy queen, right the way through.’

Scott’s eyes were very wide, but he still hadn’t put it together and didn’t look at Leo. I saw Leo’s reaction out of the corner of my eye and nearly lost it. Tymen made a small choking sound but I couldn’t see his face.

‘If you have a problem with learning from a Master whose private life is absolutely none of your goddamn business anyway, say so now,’ I said. ‘If you have a problem sharing with Tymen, tell me right now and I’ll throw you out.’ I leaned forward to speak intensely to him. ‘We will not have discrimination on our Mountain. We take the best; it doesn’t matter where they come from or what they are. Some of the students are perfected demons. Many of them aren’t even
human
. The Dark Lord himself is a reptile, Scott. You will encounter a great deal of very strange stuff in the near future. Compared to that, a gay roommate will be a refreshing dash of normality.’ I straightened and folded my arms. ‘So say the word. If you aren’t prepared to learn to be more accepting of those around you, I will quite happily throw you out right now.’

Scott’s eyes were still very wide. ‘Who?’ He turned to Leo. ‘Who?’

Leo made another amused sound but didn’t say anything.

‘Scott,’ I said, and he turned back to me. ‘Are you scared of snakes?’

Scott’s face went blank. ‘I don’t like them, but I wouldn’t say I’m
scared
of them…’

‘I change into a snake when my family are threatened,’ I said, very calmly. ‘How big is it, Leo?’

‘Oh, it’s a good ten metres long, Emma,’ Leo said, still amused. ‘Big, black, ugly thing too.’

‘Big, black and ugly, just like you, Leo,’ I said.

‘Yep,’ Leo said with a grin.

Both Scott and Tymen stiffened.

‘Weirdness is the order of the day at Wudangshan,’ I said. ‘About the only thing that’s not weird around here is the fact that some of the staff and students are gay.’

Scott didn’t say a word.

‘I’m leaving you with Tymen, Scott, and I know for a fact that you two will be good friends one day,’ I said. ‘Tymen, don’t hide yourself. There’s absolutely no need. Scott, try to learn, open your mind. ’Cause if you don’t do it yourself, the first time you see a Snake Mother it’ll get opened so wide and so fast the damage will be permanent. Enough, Leo?’

‘I can handle the rest, my Lady,’ Leo said. ‘Gold can help me.’

‘Don’t tell him who they are,’ I said as I turned to open the door. ‘Let him try to work it out himself.’

I winked at Tymen. ‘Don’t you tell him either; it’s obvious you know.’

‘You read my mind, Emma,’ Leo said softly as I went out to find Monique and see how she was doing in the infirmary.

Tymen’s grin completely made my day.

On my way to the infirmary to check on Monique, I passed Sonia in the lift lobby. She was pushing the mail trolley. When she saw me she stopped and fell to her knees.