The Yu Dragon

by Aiki Flinthart

  As the travellers dismounted wearily from their horses, a small group of orange-clad monks emerged from this structure and shuffled toward them. As they approached, they moved apart to reveal a bent and frail old man at the centre. Also wearing faded orange robes and with his head clean-shaven, the wizened monk put his hands together and bowed deeply.

  “Namaste. Welcome to our home, Phoenix Carter of Cambridge,” he intoned. “The portal is waiting within. You must hurry. There are only three days until the ri shi and Long Baiyu is weak. Even worse, without your strength, Jade Lockyer is in danger of losing the path.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Jade followed the old servant up several flights of stairs, noting that her surroundings became progressively more pleasant along the way. The steps went from slippery, dark stone, to polished marble then to polished red wood. Smells changed from damp decay to the enticing aromas of exotic food. From somewhere nearby floated the melancholy sounds of a stringed musical instrument; the unseen musician plucking a strange but pleasant tune. The walls on either side of the stairs began as rough black rock, altered to gleaming wood and then to something translucently white that she suspected was nothing more than thin cloth framed in black wood.

  This last change reassured her. They couldn’t possibly hold her prisoner in walls that you could put your finger through. Maybe it had been all a big mistake, like the old man had said.

  At last, the servant and soldier ushered her through a sliding door, into a huge room. Jade stopped, staring in surprise. She didn’t even hear the door slide shut behind her as the soldier took up a post outside. This was far from the misery of her cell. Smiling, the old man bowed and gestured for her to inspect the place. After a moment’s hesitation, she did so. A raised bed was half-hidden behind an exquisitely decorated screen in one corner of the room. She ran a hand over the intricate silk coverings and drapes that decorated it. They were in every imaginable colour and embroidered with brilliant designs of birds, clouds and lotus flowers. It was beautiful.

  In another area, a low table, surrounded by silken cushions, invited her to relax. Placed perfectly on it was a tea set of the palest porcelain, delicately painted with blue birds. They were paired with a small bowl and set of chopsticks. Her nose caught the enticing scent of fish and vegetables in two gently steaming, covered bowls. Her mouth began to water. Unconsciously, she moved toward the table.

  The servant stepped in front of her and she shied back. He smiled reassuringly and held out a key.

  “Let me take those off of you,” he tut-tutted at the iron bands around her wrists and ankles. He unlocked the chains and hurried to hand them out the door to a waiting servant. Jade glanced longingly at the food.

  “Soon, soon,” the old man said. “First you must bathe. Through here.” He waved her toward another sliding door. “There are towels, fresh clothing and creams for those burns. Take as long as you need. The food will still be hot when you are ready. Eat, sleep. The Master will see you in the morning. I will send a maid to help you finish dressing, then.” Bowing again, he slid the door closed behind her and she heard his soft footfalls patter into silence.

  Listening hard, Jade slid the door open and tiptoed out. Glancing around, she saw the silhouettes of two soldiers standing outside the main door. Assessing her inner strength, she realised she didn’t have enough magical ability at the moment to put a narcoleptic cat to sleep, let alone two guards.

  Biting her lip, she turned to look for other exits. There were none. All of the other walls were solid wood. There was one, wide window but a quick look outside revealed she was high above an enclosed, ornate courtyard garden with no easy way down and no obvious exit. Golden afternoon sunlight shafted through the room from a pierced wooden screen high up in one wall. If another way out existed, it wasn’t an easy one. In the mean time… she cast another longing look at the food and the bathroom. She might as well regain her strength and get clean.

  Within a few minutes – after first working out how to use the hole-in-the-floor toilet facilities - she shed her filthy trousers and tunic and slid blissfully into a standing tub of warm water. Now this was more like it.

  *****

  Far away to the west, Phoenix, Marcus and Brynn followed their escorts into the grand Chaitya of the Karla Caves temple complex. They passed between the lion-topped columns, beneath the arched window, into a vaulted, colonnaded room that made even Marcus blink in astonishment. Sixteen metres overhead, curved wooden beams supported a stone ceiling, mimicking an upside down boat hull. Marching down both sides of the wide hall were rows of hand-carved stone pillars topped by intricately carved figurines. Just this hall alone represented thousands of hours of labour with the basic hand tools Phoenix had seen so far. If their guides were to be believed, there were dozens of other halls carved out of the very guts of the mountain; hewn with love by the monks who followed the peaceful path of the Buddha and all he taught.

  The sound of their horses’ hooves echoed like gunshots in the enormous room, making Phoenix uneasy. There had been some contention amongst the monks about allowing the animals inside the hall but their objections were overruled by the elderly Lama. He listened to every argument with a benign smile then bowed to his advisors and calmly told them his decision: the travellers and their animals were to pass through the great prayer hall. It was necessary. Silenced, the monks followed their aged leader. Ignoring them, he shuffled ahead to catch up with Marcus; murmuring into the Roman’s ear. Phoenix eyed them suspiciously, wondering what was being said but unable to overhear without being obvious.

  Finally, deep inside the hall, the monk stopped. They had reached the farthest corner, behind a large, domed stone structure that shadowed the end wall in darkness.

  “There,” he pointed with a bent finger. “The Portal is in the far wall. You know how to use it and where to go. Good luck, young ones.”

  “Don’t we even have time to stop and eat?” Brynn whispered at Phoenix’s elbow. His young face was pinched with exhaustion and hunger. None of them had slept much the last few days and their meals had been sketchy at best.

  Phoenix cast an inquiring look at the Lama, who shook his head regretfully, bowed and said: “The diamond can only be polished by friction; the man perfected by trials.”

  After mulling that over for a few moments, Phoenix turned to Brynn. “I’d have to say that meant ‘no’.”

  The Lama sighed. “I am sorry, young man but your friend is in danger and it is up to you three to save her. The ri shi coincides with the Qingming Festival and Zhudai will be greatly strengthened at this time. If you wait, it may be too late and the balance of the world will be upset forever.”

  Brynn groaned. “So we have to go save the world again, huh? Seems to be a regular thing in my life since I started travelling with you. It’ll be nice to get back home where the only thing I have to worry about is how to pick the purse of the nearest Roman without getting caught.”

  Phoenix caught the faintest flash of fear and hurt beneath the boy’s bravado.

  Marcus and Brynn moved over to the doorway and Marcus stretched out his hand to touch the stones. Phoenix hesitated, looking back at the old monk.

  “Hang on,” he folded his arms across his chest. “We do know where to go and how to use it but how do you know so much about us and about Jade. Are you some sort of magician? Do you have special powers that told you we were coming?”

  The old face crinkled in childish delight. “Dear boy, I am not anything special but you and your friends are. I have known you were coming for many years. When your friend, Cadoc, arrived through the portal a few days ago and asked for you, I knew your arrival was imminent. I do hope you met with him?”

  “Oh yes,” Phoenix growled. He still had mixed feelings about the Player Prince who had befriended them, betrayed them then redeemed himself by helping them against Yajat.

  “Oh good,” the monk rubbed his hands together with glee. “Please tell Long Baiyu when you see him, that I am so glad
I was able to fulfil my foreordained task correctly. Now you must hurry.” He ushered him toward the three-stone portal that could be seen dimly in the corner of the hall. “If you do not, both your friend and mine will be lost forever and you will be trapped in this realm.”

  “Hang on,” Phoenix repeated. “That’s twice you’ve mentioned this Baiyu guy. Who is he and what does he have to do with Jade? I thought Zhudai had her.”

  “Yes, of course he does,” the lama blinked in surprise, “but he also holds Baiyu prisoner and it is your task to free my friend as well as your own.”

  “Oh no,” Phoenix backed away, shaking his head. “Freeing Jade is fine but our job after that is to master the Yu Dragon and defeat Zhudai. I’m not getting involved in anyone else’s little problems again, not after the war we’ve just been through.”

  The old man smiled enigmatically and bowed. “Of course. You must do what is right and only you can decide that.”

  “Oh man!” Phoenix threw up his hands in defeat. “You sound like my father.”

  The monk’s grin broadened. “Where do you think Alex Carter got his ideas from, son? And while you’re thinking about that, consider one more thing: the beginning of wisdom is to call things by their true names.”

  There was a bright flash of light as Marcus activated the portal to China. Distracted, Phoenix looked over. When he turned back, the old man was gone, the great hall echoed emptily and he was left with nothing but mysteries and enigmas.

  “Dammit,” he muttered, irritated and unnerved, “I really hate it when they do that. ‘Their true names’? Whose names? What names? ‘Fred’? ‘Mary?’ They’re names. How did he know my dad’s name? How could he possibly know my dad at all? Great. More riddles.” With a growl of frustration, he dragged his reluctant horse into the shimmering portal.

  *****

  Jade emerged from the bathing room almost an hour after she’d entered. Her fingers were prunes but she felt really clean for the first time since they’d left Heron’s bathhouse in Alexandria. It took a few tries to get dressed in the exotic, silken wrap gown that had been left for her but it suited her well enough. A pale blue under-robe showed at the hem and throat, beneath an over-robe of delicately embroidered silver and blue silk. Flowing sleeves fell almost to the ground. She wondered if she’d be able to eat without getting them dirty. There were a number of combs and jewels that seemed to be for her hair but she had no idea how to use them, so she left it loose. One of the longer, jewelled pins, however, now nestled in the front of her robe – just in case she needed a weapon in a hurry. The bath had been nice but Jade wasn’t about to forget that Yajat had kidnapped her, chained her in iron and pushed her into a dungeon.

  As promised, the food on the table still steamed. After a moment’s thought about the possibility of poison and drugs, Jade shrugged and fell to. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d eaten – or even felt like eating. If Zhudai wanted her dead, he could have killed her already.

  After she’d eaten her fill, she wandered toward the inviting bed and thought hard about taking a nap. Darkness had crept in sometime during her bath and someone had lit lamps around the room. It was later than she realised. She sat down on the edge of the bed, running her hand absently over the smooth silk bedspread. The servant had said something about seeing his Master in the morning. She could only assume he meant Yajat’s master, Zhudai; but he was the arch-nemesis of this game, so what did he want to see her for? Why was he treating her so nicely?

  Kicking off her slippers, Jade slid backward until her spine pushed up against a pile of cushions at the head of the bed. She frowned, nibbling on a fingertip as she tried to work out exactly what Zhudai and Yajat were playing at. Why try to kill her then kidnap her instead? Why throw her in a dungeon then treat her like an honoured guest? Was this some sort of bizarre mind game? What did they want from her?

  What had Cadoc said? Something about rumours in Xijing: rumours that Zhudai wanted to make himself immortal; that the Han Emperor himself was coming from his capital in Luoyang to speak with Zhudai. What on earth did that have to do with her?

  Jade stretched her stiff neck and wriggled a bit lower so the cushions supported her head. The hairpin prodded her stomach, so she took it out of her robe and laid it on a side table. Maybe Zhudai thought her Elvish blood could somehow transfer Elven longevity to himself? She shook her head, dismissing that idea. Cadoc said immortal, not long-lived. Even Elves died eventually, so the blood of a mere half-elf wouldn’t be of any use in helping Zhudai become immortal.

  So what would? Jade let her mind drift, trying to access all the lore her avatar knew regarding magical ways to become immortal. Somewhere in between contemplating drinking the Water of Life, the blood of the White Wyrm, or the Elixir of the Gods, exhaustion fogged her mind and muffled it with sleep.

  She dreamed, briefly, that Phoenix, Marcus and Brynn were somewhere close by and in trouble: outnumbered by faceless warriors. Calling their names, she ran through darkness to reach them but a barred door slammed shut in front of her face. She was trapped in a cage made of gold. It burnt her skin like iron. Then her mother and sisters appeared, pointing at her through the bars and laughing; mocking her. Even the beauty and skill of her avatar was not enough to impress them. Behind them, Phoenix, Marcus and Brynn just stood watching. Behind them stood a shadowed figure gesturing urgently to her as though he or she wanted help of some sort. Frustration made her grip the bars unthinkingly. Pain pierced her sleep.

  With a cry, she awoke to a dark room, convinced her hands were burnt; that her friends were really there after all, ready to rescue her. When the room remained silent and empty, her hands unmarked; she clutched at a silken pillow and hid her face in it until she slept again.

  *****

  Far below, in a cell not unlike the one from which she had been released, Long Baiyu struggled upright, his eyes wide in the darkness. When Jade was close, he had hoped to speak with her. By removing her, Zhudai had also removed that idea. Baiyu was once again alone. He tried reaching her in her sleep, as she had been reached once before when she was between-lives but she was too caught up in her own fears to hear his thoughts.

  Now, he sensed her weakening; and sensed also that Phoenix was in trouble. Jade now walked a path only she could choose: Baiyu could not help in the decision she had to make. He could only hope she chose wisely, for all of their sakes.

  Phoenix, however….

  Baiyu closed his eyes and reached out mentally to contact someone close by who might be able to help the young warrior.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Phoenix, Marcus and Brynn all stepped through the shimmering surface of the portal at the same time, blades drawn. Once through, Phoenix caught only a fleeting glimpse of close walls and a low ceiling before the horses crowded through and the portal schlorped out of existence. Shadows closed in immediately, as though they had been waiting to pounce. Darkness blanketed everything so absolutely that he had to reach up and touch his own eyelashes to make sure his eyes were open.

  For several seconds the three companions stood in front of the portal in silence, ears and eyes straining to hear anything beyond restless animal sounds made by the horses. Nothing. Phoenix decided he was glad the horses weren’t silent. Their stompings and huffing breaths were the only feeling of normality about this oppressive place. In an effort to dispel his own sense of unease, he cleared his throat.

  “So,” he tried for light and cheery but didn’t quite manage to suppress the uneasiness in his voice, “we’ve come through into a small, dark, enclosed space.....what an astonishing surprise.”

  Brynn snickered but there was an edge of nervousness to his tone as well.

  “Yep. You’d think they’d come up with something original.”

  “ ‘They’ who?” Phoenix reached out to lay a hand on the boy’s shoulder, fumbling in the dark.

  “These ‘programmers’ of yours,” the boy sounded offhand, as though he didn’t really care much. “The magicians
who sent you two here and who keep throwing all these obstacles in our way. I have to admit, whatever you did to offend them, it must have been bad. Do me a favour and apologise to them, would you?”

  Phoenix shut his mouth with a snap, realising Brynn couldn’t see his astonished look anyway. Obviously the boy had sharp ears and had put together snatches of his and Jade’s conversations in an interpretation that made some sort of sense to him. There was no point in trying to explain that Phoenix had never met the game programmers and had no way of contacting them, so he just nodded then added aloud,

  “I’ll do what I can. In the mean time, let’s get some torches lit and find a way out of here.”

  “Does this count as number seven?” Brynn’s question was slightly muffled as he dug into his backpack.

  Disconcerted, Phoenix had to think before he realised what the boy was talking about: being trapped or imprisoned. He and Brynn had a sort of competition going; counting how many times it had happened now. He grinned and shook his head.

  “Nah – we have to be accidentally trapped or deliberately imprisoned. That’s the rules.”

  Brynn’s incredulous reply echoed dully, as though the sound was being sucked up by the walls. “There are rules now?”

  Phoenix shrugged. “We can’t claim every dark place we end up is on the list or we’d be up to about ten by now. Besides,” he peered into the darkness, “we don’t even know where we are. It might be easy to get out.”

  “Just spare me the rock falls this time, huh?”

  Phoenix chuckled. “No guarantees.”

  Brynn made a triumphant sound, which was shortly followed by the click of flints being knocked together. Very quickly, he had a small flame going and then a torch lit. Handing it to Marcus, the boy lit a second and kept hold of it himself. Phoenix eyed him askance. Brynn cocked his head.