Blue Dragon (3 page)

‘I want to come too,’ Simone said. ‘I brought my wallet.’

‘Go,’ John said. ‘If any demons approach you, send them up here.’

Roland stiffened when John said ‘demons’ but didn’t move otherwise.

‘Hi, Roland,’ I said.

Roland didn’t move or shift his gaze from John.

‘Look behind you, at the end of the hallway.’

Roland still didn’t move.

‘See the altar at the end of the hallway there?’

‘I know it’s there,’ Roland said.

‘Who put it there?’

‘Leo.’

‘Yeah,’ I said with a broad grin. ‘Which god is it for?’

‘Pak Tai.’

‘Yeah, Pak Tai. Chen Wu,’ I said. ‘Leo put it there ’cause Leo works for
Chen Wu.
’ I gestured towards John. ‘This guy.’

Roland dropped his arms and his face went slack. ‘No.’

‘Come on, guys,’ I said to my parents. ‘Let the boys have their fun.’

‘I think you spoiled their fun already, Emma,’ Simone said with delight. ‘That was great.’

‘Call me when you have them all tamed,’ I said as we left.

My parents’ faces were white as we took the lift down to street level. I didn’t know what to say.

‘Can we go to Toys R Us, Emma?’ Simone said. ‘I have some money to spend.’

‘How about we show my mum and dad some grown-up stuff?’ I said. ‘You can go to Toys R Us any day.’

‘Oh, okay,’ she said. ‘Of course.’ She looked up at my mother. ‘What sort of things would you like to buy?’

My mother stared at Simone as if she were a creature from another planet.

‘She’s just a little girl, Mum,’ I said.

‘Yeah,’ Simone said with a grin. ‘Emma’s the one that’s the
snake
.’

Both my parents stiffened.

‘Damn,’ I said softly. I raised my voice and tried to sound cheerful. ‘Let’s go to the China Products store. There’s a lot of great stuff there from the Mainland—Chinese handicrafts. You said you wanted to see that, right, Mum?’

My mother watched me, silent.

‘Are you okay?’ Simone said.

Neither of my parents spoke.

What’s the matter with them, Emma?
Simone said into my ear.

‘Come on, guys,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and be tourists. Perfectly ordinary, normal tourists.’

F
inished, Emma, come on back.

‘John’s finished with the demons at the dojo,’ I said. ‘We’ll go back and move on to Bright Mansions.’

When we reached the dojo, Roland Pak was in his office with John, beaming with delight.

‘Where’s Leo and Michael?’ I said.

‘In one of the training rooms,’ John said. ‘Leo’s teaching a group of youngsters. Michael’s assisting.’

‘Come in, come in,’ Roland said to my parents. ‘Come. Sit.’

He rose and gave his seat to my mother, and gestured towards an empty chair for my father. The tiny office was a squeeze with all of us in there. Simone climbed into her father’s lap.

‘You can throw chi too, Emma?’ Roland said, leaning one hip on the desk.

‘Yep,’ I said, standing behind my father and resting my hands on his shoulders. ‘I’m about ten times as good as Michael.’

‘And that’s just in human form,’ John said. ‘In Serpent form she’s another ten times better than that.’

My parents stiffened and I glared at John, but Roland’s grin didn’t shift.

‘Where did you put them all?’ I said.

‘I sent them up to the Mountain. Construction will move three times more quickly with so many extra hands, even if they are unskilled. I may have some of them taught to use heavy equipment; we’re short on bulldozer operators to clear the rubble.’

‘One Two Two’s really done us a huge favour then,’ I said. ‘On to Happy Valley.’

‘How about I drop you at the Jockey Club clubhouse in the Valley on the way?’ John said. ‘You can have lunch there while I sort the demons out.’

‘Uh,’ Roland began. ‘Before you go…’

‘Yes, Roland?’ John said.

‘You want me to show you some stuff, don’t you,’ I said.

Roland nodded.

‘Oh, of course,’ John said, leaning back. ‘Least we can do for you, Roland, after putting you through all of this. Imagine having a hundred demons turn up at your front door like that. I’ll get someone to set seals on the studio early next week.’ John rose and slid Simone off his lap. ‘Do you have a free room we can use?’

‘Come this way,’ Roland said, his grin even wider.

‘You guys can stay here and wait for me, if you like,’ I said to my parents.

‘I’d like to see, Emma,’ my father said. ‘Barbie?’

My mother nodded, silent.

Your mother’s not talking much,
Simone said into my ear.
Is she okay?

‘If it’s all too much for you, just say so, Mum,’ I said, linking my arm into my mother’s and giving her a squeeze as I led her out into the hall. ‘I’ll take you home and let you rest.’

‘I’m okay,’ my mother said softly. ‘I want to see.’

Roland took us down the hall, past the room where Leo had resumed his lesson, to another training room.
It was only about three metres square and didn’t have any mirrors. One wall was windows overlooking the busy Causeway Bay street. I jammed my foot into the mats on the floor to test them: not as good as the ones up on the Peak, just cotton wadding. But they would do.

‘What would you like to see, Roland?’ I said.

‘Siu Lim Tao,’ Roland said.

‘You’re joking. The basic Wing Chun set?’

‘I’m impressed, Roland,’ John said. ‘Good thing to ask for. If Emma performs the set for you, you will see it done by a true Grand Master, in perfection. You should take a video.’

‘I can’t do it perfectly,’ I said, annoyed. ‘Nobody can.’

‘Not even me?’ John said with a grin.

I glared at him. He could see that I wanted to thump him and his grin widened. ‘Do it, Emma. If Roland can find any imperfection in your performance of the set, I will be very impressed indeed.’

‘I’m going to do the basic set of moves for one of the more lethal types of Chinese kung fu,’ I said to my parents. ‘But the most effective styles are the least impressive to look at. Don’t expect too much, okay? After I’ve done this for Roland I’ll do some pretty stuff for you. And I’m not a Grand Master, Roland. Call me
sigung
and I’ll be very cross indeed.’

‘
Sigung
,’ John said loudly. He dropped to the floor to sit cross-legged and pulled Simone into his lap, holding her around the waist.

‘When I am able to touch you again,’ I said, moving into position, ‘old man,’ I flipped my fists and moved into Wing Chun stance, ‘I really am going to beat,’ I punched with my left fist and then my right, ‘the living crap out of you.’

‘Stop,’ Roland said, and I froze. ‘Sorry. Apologies. But you didn’t do a signature.’

‘A signature?’ my mother said.

I nodded, still with my right fist out. ‘That’s right. Each Master adds a small move to the start of the set. All of their students do that move first, to acknowledge the Master who taught them. It’s like the Master’s signature.’

‘But you didn’t do one,’ Roland said.

‘No. She was taught by me,’ John said.

‘Oh,’ Roland said softly.

I worked through the rest of the set, finished and saluted. I was greeted with complete silence.

I looked at my parents; their faces were frozen in masks of restraint. They weren’t impressed at all.

John and Simone smiled indulgently.

Roland grinned like an idiot.

‘Emma,’ John said, ‘show it to Roland at full speed.’

‘Some of it’s meant to be done slow.’

‘Show him the fast bits at full speed.’

‘Okay.’

That didn’t take much time at all; at full speed I moved through the set very quickly. My hands were a blur.

I stopped and saluted again. Once again there was complete silence.

Then, ‘I couldn’t see your hands,’ my mother whispered.

Roland had a huge smile on his face and tears ran down his cheeks. He spun and went out. ‘Don’t go anywhere,’ he called from the hallway. ‘I’ll be right back.’

‘Roland’s seen Michael do energy work. Do some for your parents,’ John said.

‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Do you want to see me throw energy?’

‘What does it involve?’ my father said.

‘I take some of my personal energy and push it outside my body. It’s difficult to explain. Might be
better if I just showed you. Don’t be scared, I won’t hurt you. If it bothers you, just say so and I’ll stop.’

Both my parents stiffened but remained silent.

‘You sure you want to see?’ I said.

‘Show us,’ my father said, and my mother nodded.

I generated a small ball of chi, only about the size of a tennis ball. I held it on my hands and waited as they became accustomed to it.

‘Okay?’ I said.

My mother nodded. My father didn’t move.

I lifted the chi and floated it around the room. I didn’t move it close to them.

‘Generate another the same size,’ John said.

I hesitated. I’d never tried that before. I put the chi into the centre of the room and left it there, hovering. I held my hands still and concentrated and, to my surprise, managed another one. I moved it off my hands and put it near the first one. Now there were two balls of energy hovering in the centre of the room.

‘Do you think you could produce a third?’ he said.

‘Let me try.’

‘If it gets away from you then drop it,’ John said quickly.

I nodded and concentrated, and produced a third ball. I moved it next to the other two. I tried something; I made them spin vertically around a common axis, like a little Ferris wheel.

‘Cool,’ Simone said softly.

‘Merge them,’ John said without moving.

I pulled them closer together and they joined to form a larger ball of chi.

‘Now separate them again.’

I concentrated and the ball of chi split into three smaller balls again, still spinning. I didn’t have it perfect, each ball of chi was a slightly different size.

Roland came in and stopped dead. ‘
Wah
!’

‘Make them blue,’ John said.

I concentrated. They went from gold to green, then greenish-blue. I lost it completely: the chi snapped back and hit me in the middle of the stomach, knocking me flat.

Simone burst out laughing, but my parents rushed to me, concerned.

‘Are you okay, sweetheart?’ my mother said as my father lifted me.

‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ I said. ‘Happens all the time when I’m working with energy. It’s on an invisible rubber band. If I lose control, it snaps back and knocks me flat.’ I gestured towards John and Simone who were clutching each other with delight. ‘They think it’s really hilarious.’

‘Well it
is
, silly Emma,’ Simone said, still giggling.

‘She’s right, you know, Emma,’ John said. He sobered. ‘Oh. You should know—only Immortals can do that. Humans can’t work with more than one chi ball at the same time. Or change the colour. Well done.’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

Roland saluted me, falling to one knee. ‘Lady.’

‘Oh, for God’s sake,
cut it out
, Roland,’ I said. ‘I’m not any sort of Immortal.’

‘You certainly look like one to me, Lady,’ Roland said with a huge grin. ‘If you were Chinese I would swear that you were the Lady Yim Wing Chun herself. Or more likely her teacher Ng Mui.’

‘Oh, thank you
very much
,’ I said. ‘What next?’

‘Me,’ Leo said, coming through the door with two staves. He threw the smaller one to me.

‘Now this is more like it,’ I said. ‘I haven’t beaten Leo up in quite a while.’

‘I’ve been learning, Emma,’ Leo said, readying himself. ‘Bet you a day’s guard duty I can take you.’

‘You are
on
!’ I said with delight. ‘I haven’t had a proper day off since I finished my thesis.’

‘Whoa, whoa, wait a minute there,’ my father said loudly. ‘Leo’s much taller than Emma and must weigh three times what she does. This is hardly fair!’

‘You are quite right, Brendan,’ John said. ‘Not a fair match at all.’ He concentrated.

Michael appeared in the doorway, holding a staff.

‘This is more like it,’ John said with satisfaction.

‘All bets are off if I’m facing both of them,’ I said. ‘Michael’s half Shen.’

‘Double or nothing,’ Leo said.

‘Come on, Emma, give it a try,’ John said. ‘We might even be able to bring the snake out.’

I gestured towards Michael. ‘He’s half goddamn Shen!’

Michael grinned and saluted me, holding the staff.

‘She’ll fight
both
of them?’ my mother said softly.

‘Yes!’ Roland said. ‘I have a video camera in my office. Wait! Please!’

‘There are a hundred and fifty demons out there waiting for you,’ I said.

‘Let them wait,’ he said. ‘I don’t think this will take long.’

Roland came back with a video camera. ‘Move into the big room.’

‘But there are students in there!’ I protested.

‘Tell them you taught her,’ John said to Roland.

‘They wouldn’t believe me, Your Highness,’ Roland said. ‘I’d have to tell them that
she
taught
me
.’

‘That would work,’ John said. He pulled himself up off the floor and took Simone’s hand. ‘Let’s go.’

‘You know Emma’s only been learning off the Dark Lord for less than a year and a half?’ Leo said to Roland as we went out.

‘
Wah
!’ Roland said. ‘Amazing! Such talent!’

‘Damn,’ I said softly.

‘She turns into a snake, you said. Why is that? Is she a Shen?’

‘Nobody’s quite sure what she is,’ John said amiably. ‘She’s not a demon, that’s for sure. We’ll just have to wait and see.’

‘Maybe she’s the White Snake,’ Roland said.

John stopped and his face froze. ‘Not possible.’

‘I’m black in Serpent form,’ I said.

‘If the Pagoda has fallen then she may be the White Snake,’ Roland said.

‘If I’m the White Snake then where’s the Red Snake?’ I said.

‘Ah. You know the legend,’ Roland said.

‘Of course I do,’ I said as I entered the larger room. ‘I’ve been doing an enormous amount of research on the nature of Serpent Shen, for obvious reasons.’

‘She is not the White Snake,’ John said, moving to catch up with us. ‘Not possible.’

The students lounged against the long wall, waiting quietly for Leo to return. Roland directed them loudly in Cantonese. ‘All of you, back to the far short wall, stand still, stand quiet. You are about to be extremely privileged. Silence!’

The students moved back, quiet and cowed.

Roland gestured. ‘Whenever you are ready, my Lady.’

‘Mum, Dad, you okay?’ I said. My parents nodded. ‘Go stand with John.’

My parents moved over to John and Simone in front of the mirrors. This room was larger, about six by four metres. Simone took my mother’s hand and smiled up at her.

‘Wait,’ Roland said. He pulled the video camera out and turned it on. ‘Okay, go.’

I nodded to both Leo and Michael. They saluted back. We moved into position. Both of them faced me, side by side.

I held my staff out in front, guarding. Leo I could take easily, but Michael was an unknown quantity: not just
half Shen, but half tiger as well. He had been learning from John for months now, and had probably come a long way since I had easily bested him when I trialled him for the job as trainee bodyguard to replace Leo.

Leo came at me first. He swung at my head. I blocked it with my own staff, swung it down, twisted it, and tried to take his feet out from under him with the other end.

Michael came at me at the same time. As Leo’s staff went down, Michael went for my head. I flipped my staff under Leo’s and guided it into Michael’s. Their staves clashed together hard and both of them winced.

Leo dropped one hand from his staff and shook it, grimacing.

I jumped back and waited for them.

‘Don’t hurt them too much, Emma,’ John said with delight.

Michael went for my feet, trying to sweep them out from under me.

I leaped over his staff, somersaulted, and planted both feet into Leo’s chest, hard enough to knock him over without hurting him. I bounced off him and somersaulted backwards. I jammed the end of my staff into the floor before my feet hit, spun around it and hit Michael in the chest with my left foot. He staggered back but didn’t fall.

I landed lightly on my feet in front of Michael, jumped right over the top of his head, and spun my staff behind me to take his feet out from under him before he had a chance to turn around.