The Yu Dragon

by Aiki Flinthart

  Finally, she spoke in a broken, soft little voice that tore at his heart.

  “We failed, Phoenix. We tried so hard but we failed. I failed.” She sighed and drew her knees up again, resting her chin on them and closing her eyes. “Now we’ll never get home. It’s impossible.”

  Phoenix dug deep inside himself, trying to find reserves of hope.

  “You don’t know that for sure,” he pulled her closer. “Maybe…maybe Zhudai was lying about having the Bag. I mean, why would he need Brynn to gift it to him when he could get us to do it if he really tried? He obviously doesn’t know the knives and amulets aren’t in the Bag. Maybe it was all just a bluff. Maybe…we’ll find a way to escape and stop Zhudai after all. You can’t give up now.”

  Jade sighed again. “The Horn can’t be taken under any sort of duress. If we’re in prison or tortured then we can’t gift it to him. Aurfanon said it had to be freely given. If Brynn is still free then only he can Gift it and Zhudai must know that. Plus, when he can’t find the daggers in the bag, he can just use your life as leverage to get me to tell him where they are.”

  She turned her face away. “Anyway, what’s the point? Even if he survived, Brynn will think we’re dead because the Binding Spell is broken. We can’t escape without outside help. Tomorrow Zhudai will kill Baiyu and become immortal. He’ll torture the daggers and the amulets out of us and he’ll use them to take over our world as well. Face it, we’re stuck here. We’re never going home.”

  *****

  Brynn sat, staring at his left hand in disbelief. It was early evening and he had finally made it back to Zhi Hui’s house. The guard who had taken the Bag at swordpoint was quick enough to snatch it but not quite quick enough to catch Brynn when he took advantage of the momentary distraction to bolt for freedom. As much as he hated giving up the Bag and the Horn in it, being free was his only hope of saving the others.

  Guards still patrolled every street, searching randomly for him, he assumed. Twice he’d hidden in piles of rubbish to avoid them. Stinking and tired, he’d climbed over a wall so as not to disturb Zhi Hui’s servants or cause suspicion in the neighbourhood. He didn’t want to get Zhi Hui in trouble, so he’d snuck in to get the rest of the weapons and gear and mount a rescue on his own.

  Now, it was too late.

  No sooner had he collected everything useful he could carry, than his breath was stolen by a sharp pain in his left hand and a strange, forlorn feeling of solitude in his soul. He knew immediately what had happened: his friends were dead. There was no other explanation. He had left them in the hopes that he could save them but he hadn’t been fast enough. They were dead and he was alone again.

  Hours later, Zhi Hui found him, curled into a small, pitiful ball in a corner of her guest bedroom. He had long since stopped crying and simply stared silently at the wall with his arms wrapped around his chest.

  Zhi Hui bustled in and stopped on the threshold, pursing her lips. “Come on, boy. There’s work to do. Get up.”

  “Go away,” Brynn muttered. “We’ve failed. Zhudai wins.”

  The old woman came into the room instead, standing over him with her hands on her hips. “Fall seven times, get up eight; then you have not failed.”

  “Oh stop it with the stupid sayings, I don’t care,” Brynn hunched a shoulder, dashing fresh tears away.

  Grabbing him by the elbow, Zhi Hui hauled him to his feet with surprising strength. “Don’t be silly. You have a job to do. Now take a bath and get dressed in clean clothes. Something dark.”

  “Why?” He defiantly shook free of her grip. “There’s no point. I can go home now. It’s over.”

  “Over?” She raised thin eyebrows at him. “So you’re going to leave Marcus unburied and your companions to rot in Zhudai’s prison, are you? Well, some friend you are.” She huffed and turned away.

  “Jade and Phoenix are alive?” Brynn ran around in front of her, his heart pounding. “Are you sure?”

  Zhi Hui nodded. “I overheard Zhudai speaking with them just a little while ago. I have Marcus’ body, too.” She grimaced and spat. “Zhudai had his guards throw him onto the rubbish pit like carrion. He has no respect. Come. We must prepare him for a proper burial and find a way to save your friends and my son.”

  When Brynn did not follow her, Zhi Hui frowned at him. “Come on, boy. There’s no time to be lost. We have only this night and the morning before the ri shi. We must stop Zhudai or Marcus’ sacrifice is for nought.”

  “Yes…” Brynn replied, thinking hard. He nodded sharply at the old woman. “Let me see his body first then I’ll take that bath.”

  *****

  “Marcus knew this was coming, you know,” Phoenix finally broke the long silence between them.

  Jade turned to stare at him in vague astonishment. “How could he? How do you know?”

  He shrugged, glad she was showing at least a little interest again. “We met an old Buddhist monk in India after you’d been kidnapped. He talked to Marcus for ages in private. Afterward, Marcus got very quiet…” he stopped when he saw her upraised eyebrows. “OK, quieter than normal.”

  “And?” She prompted.

  “And when we got to China, he said something about having to help you make the ‘right choice’ sometime soon.” Phoenix shook his head. “I didn’t understand what he meant. I thought he was talking about something like when you chose to come with us instead of living with Arawn as an Elven princess – y’know, some sort of moral choice. Not this.”

  Jade looked again at the spot where their friend had died. “So you think he knew he was going to die? That I would have to choose between the two of you?”

  Phoenix frowned. “Yeah, he did; and he also knew that you would find it hard to let him go. Did he….did he say anything to you?”

  She turned away, hiding her face. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  “Right,” he gave up, not really knowing what else he could do to bring her out of her depression.

  Silence fell between them again, broken only by the continuous trickle of water and scurry of unseen, small animals. Slowly, Jade allowed her witchlight to fade until they were left in complete darkness.

  Phoenix shivered. The chill intensified, making his head ache worse than ever. Despondently, he drew up his own knees and rested it on his folded arms, wishing the dull thud in his skull would go away.

  Now would be the time, he thought, for one of their god-acquaintances to turn up and miraculously free them. He looked up hopefully. The darkness pressed in unchanged. No gods, no miracles. Maybe Jade had been right: maybe they were stuck here.

  “Do not anxiously hope for that which is not yet come; do not vainly regret that which is already past.”

  One of Jade’s lights popped into being and Phoenix looked at her. She was as startled as he by a seemingly disembodied voice in the cell with them. They peered into the shadows.

  “Hello?” She sent the light skittering off into the darkest corners of the room. There was no-one visible. Still, in this world, that didn’t necessarily mean anything.

  “My mentor always said that,” the voice came again, “but I was never very good at following it.”

  The light flitted in a different direction, toward the stone wall opposite where they sat. There, in the wall, a piece of mortar between the stones had fallen out and an eye now blinked through the gap at them. A single, dark, narrow eye.

  They crept closer.

  “Are you Long Baiyu?” Phoenix ventured.

  “Yes, and you are Phoenix Carter and Jade Lockyer of England,” their neighbouring prisoner stumbled over the unfamiliar names.

  Jade and Phoenix exchanged puzzled glances.

  “How do you know us?” Jade finally asked.

  There was a faint sigh from the other side, “I brought you here. It’s my fault you are in this place. My fault your friend died. I am so very sorry.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “You?” Phoenix and Jade said it at the same tim
e but Jade was the one who continued. “You brought us here? To this world you mean? How? Why? Can you send us back?” She leaned forward, fighting against the hope that rose in her chest.

  There was a long silence and the eye disappeared for a moment then returned. “I sent out a Seeker Spell to find those who could free me from this prison. I am no longer strong enough to escape on my own. I just did not expect the spell to Seek so far from my own world. I did not know it would draw you from so far away in time and space. You are both so young, too. I am sorry.”

  “Enough of the apologising,” Phoenix broke in, sounding irritated. “Just answer the question. Can you send us back?”

  “When your horse is at the edge of a precipice, it is too late to pull on the reins,” came the regretful, cryptic reply.

  “Not you, too,” he groaned. “What does that mean?”

  There was a faint laugh from the other side, “It means I can’t send you home; not until you have completed your last Quest.”

  “So we really are stuck here unless we can master the Yu dragon and defeat Zhudai, huh?” Phoenix slumped against the stone wall. He pushed slimy fingers through matted, dirty hair, wincing as they must have brushed the bruise on his head.

  “I am afraid so,” Baiyu agreed.

  “Pretty bloody tough to do from inside a prison,” Phoenix growled.

  Jade flicked him a glance, wondering how much he blamed her for their imprisonment. It was her fault, after all. Cold depression settled in her stomach again, clouding her mind. Her heart ached. Hope faded.

  There was a long silence.

  “Well, it’s nice to finally know who’s to blame for getting us into this mess,” Phoenix finally said, “but I don’t see how it helps us get out of here. I’m assuming you don’t have any bright ideas, or you wouldn’t have sent for us in the first place.”

  There was a faint sigh from beyond the stone wall. “You are right. My poor old mother is a cleaner here but she has not been able to do more than occasionally bring me food. She cannot open the locks nor clear the spells placed upon them by Zhudai. If I were stronger, I could but Zhudai has been very careful about keeping me in the dark.”

  Jade sent a questioning look at Phoenix when he nodded like he knew something about Long Baiyu’s conversation that she didn’t.

  “Yes,” Phoenix must have caught her expression. “I’ve met your mother: Zhi Hui. She’s the one who told us we had to complete these quests, right at the beginning, back in Albion. Very interesting lady. She told us you need light to regain your powers.”

  Jade gaped at him. Long Baiyu’s mother was the lady in the grey limbo world? She shook herself, trying to see if this could help them. Light. “Will my little lights help?”

  “No,” Baiyu said regretfully. “They are simply not strong enough and I would draw the last of your power trying to harness them.”

  “So we aren’t going anywhere,” the brief flicker of hope again died in her and misery crowded back.

  “When you fall into a pit, you either die or get out,” Baiyu replied.

  “Oh, please,” Phoenix scowled. “I’m really over the mystical sayings. Fine then.... how about a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush?”

  There was a pause then Baiyu’s voice came back, faintly amused. “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”

  Phoenix grinned. Jade rolled her eyes at him.

  “Waste not, want not,” he returned.

  “Do not remove a fly from a friends’ forehead with a hatchet,” came the answer.

  “Ummm… a stitch in time saves nine,” Phoenix scratched his head, looking at her for inspiration. Jade folded her arms and glared at him. This was not the time for silliness.

  “The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names.”

  “Hey!” Phoenix sat up straight, “I’ve heard that one before. The old Buddhist monk in Karla caves said it just before we came through to China.”

  “Then perhaps it is something important for you to know,” Baiyu said mildly.

  Phoenix frowned. Jade wondered what it meant. She was about to ask when she caught the faintest sound outside the cell. It was the sound of someone trying to be stealthy and doing a reasonable job of it. Only her keen Elven hearing made it possible for her to catch the soft brush of cloth against stone.

  Jade grabbed Phoenix’s arm as he opened his mouth to speak. Putting a finger to her lips, she pointed at the door. With no more than a head jerk and a mutual nod of understanding, they crept over to stand on either side of the opening. She doused the light and they waited in breathless, dark, silence.

  There was a scuff of soft-shod feet on stone; the brief flare of a dark lantern; a dull thud quickly followed by a muffled curse.

  “Don’t step on my heels!” It was a familiar voice. “I knew I should have left you behind.”

  “Some roads are not meant to be travelled alone,” a quavering, older voice replied.

  “Oh, be quiet and let me concentrate. Hold the lantern still. This lock is being stubborn and I can hardly see a thing.”

  “Brynn?” Jade hissed. “Is that you?” She lit a witchlight and with it came a fresh spark of hope. Was he alive?

  “Who else would it be?” The boy’s cross reply came through the door. “Now all of you shut up and let me work.”

  “We’re glad to hear you, too,” Phoenix replied.

  “Look,” Brynn’s tone was impatient. “Zhi Hui gave the guards a drink that makes them sleep but it will only last a few minutes. Are we going to stand around and exchange pleasantries, or are you going to let me get on with it?”

  “You won’t be able to open the door by picking the lock,” Baiyu chimed in from next door.

  “Says who?” Brynn’s indignant reply made Phoenix grin.

  “There’s a magic component, too,” Jade explained.

  There was a short silence, followed by the sounds of cloth rustling. A hinged flap in the bottom of the door was pushed open. A wrinkled hand came through, holding a small, parcel wrapped in cloth. The hand waggled.

  “It’s herbs, girl. There is ginseng and some ma huang. Use them now. Release the locks.”

  Jade snatched the little bag and opened it quickly. Several of the distinctive, needle-like leaves of the ma huang fell into her palm. “It is the Ephedra plant,” she showed Phoenix, awed. “This is banned in a lot of places. It’s considered too dangerous.”

  Carefully, she picked up one, small needle-leaf and looked at it. Then she handed it to Phoenix. “Maybe you should have some, too.”

  Err...” he eyed it with misgiving. “What’s it meant to do?”

  “It’s been used for thousands of years for treating asthma, colds and generally giving you more energy,” she explained. “It increases your bloodpressure and opens up your lungs. Too much can cause nasty side effects but it is the basis of modern cold medicines. You know: pseudoephedrine drugs.”

  “So why give it to me then? Why don’t you just take it?” He stopped with the leaf halfway to his mouth.

  Jade shrugged. “You need the energy, too. Besides, you know how much these herbs seem to affect me. We should see what it does to you, first. If you’re fine with one then I’ll take it, too.”

  “Oh. Nice – make me your guinea pig,” he returned sarcastically but he did put the herb in his mouth and chew. Jade watched him.

  “OK?” She prompted.

  He nodded. “Sure. I don’t feel much different. A little warmer, maybe.”

  “Good. If one doesn’t affect you much then it should be about right for me.” Without further ado, she put a needle in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. A few seconds later, she blinked rapidly, feeling a flush of colour bloom in her pale cheeks. “Wow,” she breathed. “I’m glad I didn’t take more.” Turning back to the door, she whispered through it. “You done yet, Brynn?”

  There was a grunt and a click then a sound of satisfaction. “Done and ready. I’ll go work on Baiyu’s door while you
do your thing.”

  “The lock mechanism is iron,” Phoenix warned. “Can you still deal with it?”

  Jade waved him back, frowning in concentration. She laid her hands on the wooden door and closed her eyes. There, wrapped around wood and sunk into stone – an invisible net of purple-blue energy. “The magic element is nowhere near the iron. Give me a second to figure out what he’s done.”

  There was another click and Brynn called softly to tell them he had done his part with Baiyu’s door. Jade said nothing, chewing on her lower lip. Whatever Zhudai had done, it was hideously complex magic. Phoenix began to shift from foot to foot beside her.

  “Come on..” he began.

  “Shut up, will you,” Jade snapped, glaring at him. She ‘looked’ again at the weave of the spell and shook her head in despair. “It’s no use. I can’t do it. I don’t know what he’s done.”

  “It will be something similar to your Binding spell,” Baiyu’s voice drifted to them, “but with a component not unlike a Shield spell thrown in. It was his favourite method of keeping me out of his cupboard as a child.”

  Jade reached out again, feeling through her skin the magic that encased the door. Ahh. Yes, now it made sense. Muttering counter-spells under her breath, Jade slipped her own enchantment inside Zhudai’s and twisted, breaking his wards apart deftly. Invisible bonds fell free and the door swung inward.

  Brynn threw himself into her arms and hugged her tightly. His small face was pinched with worry. “I thought you were all dead.”

  Jade hugged him back. “Marcus…” she began but choked on the words

  “I know,” he murmured. “Zhi Hui brought him to me. It was all my fault. I shouldn’t have left you behind. I shouldn’t have let the guard take the Bag. But…”

  “It wasn’t your fault, Brynn,” she interrupted him, trying to stem the flow of grief that threatened to swamp her mind with blackness again. She leaned her cheek on the top of the boy’s head briefly then put him aside. “It was mine. We can talk about it later. We have to get Baiyu free. Let me go now.”