The Yu Dragon

by Aiki Flinthart

  Phoenix tried to put himself back in the dojo. He’d practiced two-on-one before but three-on-one was different. What had his aikido sensei said? Ah! Keep circling. Keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t let them corner you. Let them get in each others’ way.

  Two came at him at once. He waited until the last second then dodged to one side. He caught an outstretched hand. Two quick steps, a deft twist of the wrist and the guard flew through the air to land in a twisted, motionless mound up against a wall. Only two left.

  They came at him from two directions at once. One had a sword, the other a short dagger. Phoenix began to move, running at right angles to his attackers so he could keep them both in sight. Instinctively, they paired up and came at him together. Perfect. Again he waited until the last moment before moving. This time he dodged left, putting the sword-wielding man between himself and the dagger. Turning fractionally, he deflected the downswinging sword arm with his own forearm, redirecting the guard’s momentum just enough so the sword swished harmlessly past.

  The soldier staggered on, turning to look back in confusion. Phoenix caught the second man under the chin with the palm of a hand. He arced his hand up, controlling the head then drove back down, dropping to one knee. The guard’s feet flew out from beneath him. His head and shoulders hit the hard ground with a sickening thud. Out cold, his arms and legs flopped and the dagger skittered away in the dust.

  Phoenix stood quickly, facing his final opponent again. The guard with the sword looked frantically about for help. All around, the black and red insignia of Zhudai’s men lay scattered, unmoving on the ground. Not far away, Jade, Xinyu and Brynn clustered together, watching. The soldier swallowed hard.

  Then, unexpectedly, his eyes flicked back over Phoenix’s shoulder and widened in surprise. Phoenix shook his head.

  “Oh no, I’m not falling for that old routine. There’s no-one behind me. It’s just you and me.”

  There was a soft chuckle that sent chills down Phoenix’s spine.

  “But you are wrong. There is someone behind you.”

  Phoenix froze. He knew that voice. Jade gasped and he saw a look of fearful surprise on her face. OK. Not his imagination then. Slowly, he turned backing away from both opponents, not wanting to stand directly between them. Eventually, he came to a halt near to his friends. He risked a look at his newest, old enemy.

  A familiar, dark-skinned, grinning face greeted him.

  “Oh man!” Phoenix groaned, “not you again.”

  Yajat, the Indian assassin, smiled more broadly, his white teeth almost glowing in his dark face. He inclined his head gracefully and drew a long, curved blade from a sheath at his belt. It made a whining noise as it sliced through the air around his head. He wore black, flared pants, tight at the ankles and waist; coupled with a black, longsleeved shirt, open at the chest. He looked like a pirate.

  “The moment is finally here,” Yajat swished his sword again, slicing dramatic figure-eights in the air. “The moment when I kill you for the last time.”

  The two stood, facing each other like a standoff in a bad Western movie

  Phoenix rubbed his forehead wearily. “I really don’t have time for this, you know.”

  “Correction,” Yajat replied, “you no longer have time for anything.”

  “Oh please,” Phoenix shifted his balance and rolled his eyes, “spare me the bad-guy talk. I’ve had enough of that from your boss. I really don’t care, you know.”

  “When I am through with you,” the Indian began to move to the left with smooth, tigerish steps, “you will not care about anything.”

  “Get a decent script writer, would you?” Phoenix taunted. “Or better yet, just come here so I can kill you and get on with more important things.”

  Yajat bowed slightly. “As you wish but I expect a good fight before you die.” He began to advance, murder in his eyes. “But perhaps you are not the warrior I thought you were. Perhaps you are too weak to fight the best of the best.” He thumped his bare chest, grinning arrogantly.

  Phoenix gritted his teeth, allowing a surge of anger that followed Yajat’s mocking words to wash through him and slip away. Behind the assassin, Phoenix saw a flicker of movement as more of Zhudai’s troops advanced through the neighbourhood. Taking a deep breath, he straightened up, made a quick decision and shook his head.

  “I really don’t have time and y’know what one of the best things about being here is?” Phoenix half turned away and slipped one of Cadoc’s throwing knives from its sheath across his shirt. It nestled neatly in the palm of his hand, hidden from view.

  Yajat frowned at him. “What are you talking about? Fight!” He swept his sword in another series of flashy moves, the blade glinting hypnotically.

  Phoenix grinned at him, continuing as though he hadn’t been interrupted. “The best thing is: you haven’t seen Raiders of the Lost Ark.”

  The Indian straightened slightly, his expression puzzled and annoyed. Seeing the perfect moment, Phoenix drew his arm back and flipped the knife expertly toward the assassin.

  Yajat paused in mid-step, his eyes widening in shock. He looked down. The knife was buried up to the hilt in the left side of his chest. He stared at Phoenix, his mouth opening and closing like a beached fish’s. Abruptly, his face slackened and he slumped to the ground, dead.

  Phoenix grinned, satisfied. “Told you - I really don’t have time.”

  The sound of many male voices reached his ears. Behind him, the Red Lotus blazed, sending a huge column of black smoke and sparks high into the paling sky. Brynn appeared at his elbow, looking apprehensively around. He tugged at Phoenix’s sleeve.

  “I think now would be a good time to run away and hide.”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “Are you sure this is the right place, Brynn?” Phoenix grumbled, pushing the half-rotted remains of a withered fruit from his arm.

  The boy smirked over his shoulder and nodded. “It’s an abandoned warehouse. I spotted it yesterday when the guards were after me. I don’t think anyone’s been here for years.”

  “I can see why,” Phoenix sniffed his clothing. “Having to dig through a mound of rubbish to get in would discourage most people.” He peered into the gloom. Dust danced in shafts of morning sunlight streaming in through cracked roof tiles. Pigeons roosted on rotting ceiling beams, making soft cooing noises and leaving unpleasant mounds of pigeon-poo on the packed-earth floor. Here and there, piles of timber and scraps of furniture attested to a once-thriving business. Now it waited, silent, cool and musty.

  Brynn brushed away a cobweb. “As long as we can keep the horses quiet once they get here, we should be safe enough. There’s water in a trough in the corner but no feed. If we wrap their hooves in those old sacks over there it should stop any noise.”

  “Good thinking,” Phoenix approved.

  “Well,” Jade murmured, “it’s time we did some more. With Baiyu captured and Zhudai planning to start his immortality scheme in less than six hours, we don’t have a lot to work with. Are you sure no-one followed us, Brynn?” She asked for the third time.

  Brynn gave a one-shoulder shrug. “Once you’d put that last guard to sleep, who was to see us leave?” He caught Jade’s glare and flapped his hands at her. “I checked, I checked. We weren’t followed.”

  Jade jerked her head and sat down on a rickety chair, only to jump back up and begin pacing restlessly. “I hate sitting around waiting like this. Where are Zhi Hui and Xinyu with the horses, anyway?”

  Phoenix sank onto the heap of sacks. “They’ll be here. It would have been too suspicious for us Westerners to traipse through town with the horses.”

  “Yeah,” Jade replied, her tone sour, “that’s what Xinyu said. I did think it was interesting how quickly you agreed with everything she says.”

  “Hey!” Phoenix could feel himself flushing. “You’re just jealous because you didn’t think of it.”

  Jade curled a scornful lip. “As if. You act like a brainless idiot around her, Ph
oenix. Don’t let a pretty face turn your head. We need to think straight now.”

  Phoenix sputtered in indignation. “Me? Talk about letting a pretty face turn your head – what about you and Cadoc?”

  “Hey,” Brynn stepped between them as Jade opened her mouth to retaliate. “Enough. You’ve both made mistakes.” He looked meaningfully between them. “Dumb mistakes. Both of you. All of us. Forget it and move on.”

  Jade and Phoenix glared at each other a moment longer then turned away. Jade sighed and sat down on a stack of timber.

  “I’m sorry, Phoenix. Brynn’s right. I…” she raised her hands and let them fall again. “I just don’t know what to do next. I honestly thought that we’d actually have a chance, with Baiyu on our side. If what you’ve said about him is true then without him, we don’t.”

  “There has to be something we can do, or we wouldn’t have got this far,” he argued, trying to remind Jade of their real situation. “Remember where we are? There has to be a way to win.”

  “I suppose so,” she shrugged. “I just can’t think of it. I mean,” she began to tick off points on her fingers, “we have no significant weapons any more, I have limited magical ability and we have three women, a boy and one warrior against Zhudai and his thousands of soldiers.”

  “Hey, don’t forget that I’ve already killed off the sub-badguy,” Phoenix pointed out. “That has to count for something.”

  She managed a small smile. “I have to admit that I’m kind of glad not to be looking over my shoulder for Yajat any more.” She sighed. “But we still need to come up with a plan. We have to think of some way to get to Baiyu, get back the Horn and stop Zhudai from taking over. Last time I looked at our Life-daggers, we were out of spare lives to risk, so it will have to be a pretty foolproof plan.”

  The three were silent a moment. Phoenix frowned.

  “Hey, what did happen to our Life daggers and amulets? You said you’d tell me if we had time later. Well,” he gestured around the empty warehouse, “we do.”

  Jade shrugged. “I didn’t want them falling into Zhudai’s hands, so I put them in a time-pocket. It’s a variation on that speed-up spell I did on us but it has to be stationery. If you happen to be out on the courtyard today at about the same moment, our stuff will appear at the same spot. Retrieving them is one thing we have to plan for, too. I’m pretty sure we will need them to get home, somehow. If we make it that far.”

  Phoenix and Brynn stared at her, slackjawed.

  “What?” she shied away.

  Brynn grinned. “That is so awesome!”

  “Could you do it with people?” Phoenix gazed absently through both of them, turning over the possibilities.

  She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I used the spell because I was desperate. I don’t know what’s inside a time-pocket. There might not be any air; it might take way too much energy from me to create and maintain it; you might come out at the wrong time or end up inside a person standing in the wrong place when you rejoined the normal timestream. There are just too many unknowns.”

  “But it could be worth a try, don’t you think?” he persisted. “It’s the best idea we’ve got so far, anyway. We just need to find out where Zhudai is going to hold the ritual to sacrifice Baiyu. If we can get there early and if you can put one or all of us into a time-pocket-thingie or your speed-up thing then we can break out at the right moment, kill Zhudai and rescue Baiyu all at once.”

  “There are a lot of ‘ifs’ in that plan,” Jade sounded doubtful. “I can’t do the speed-up one for long enough to get us across the whole courtyard. It takes way too much energy. So are you willing to risk your last life on a new spell?”

  “What else have we got?” Phoenix said fatalistically. “Besides, if it goes wrong, it will at least give you a good reason to blow the Horn.”

  “Not helpful,” she grimaced, “especially if you’re dead and I’m stuck here with a megalomaniac running the world and no way to get home. Besides, we don’t have the Horn, remember?”

  “So I repeat,” he tried to be patient. “What other options have we got?”

  She closed her eyes. “None that I can think of right now.”

  “Right then let’s test it, huh?” he jumped up, galvanised by the thought of action again.

  Jade eyed him wearily. “So who am I supposed to test this little plan of yours on? Do you want to sacrifice yourself, or Brynn? I can’t cast the time-pocket one on myself, or I would, so who’s it going to be: the one person who has to survive with me if I want to get out of this world, or a ten year old boy?”

  There was a long, significant pause as Phoenix and Brynn exchanged looks. Brynn shrugged and stepped forward. He opened his mouth.

  “What about me?” A new voice echoed in the vaulted room; a deep, masculine voice.

  As one, the three companions turned slowly toward the source. A figure stepped out of the gloom, into a shaft of sunlight. It haloed his dark hair and handsome, faintly-smiling face.

  Phoenix’s mouth fell open. He couldn’t find the words to say anything at all. Brynn laughed.

  Jade’s astonished whisper came out as a choked gasp. “Marcus?”

  “Whoo hooo! It worked!” Brynn’s exclamation caused the horses Marcus led to roll their eyes and throw their heads back. Bridles jingled and hooves stomped. Brynn clapped his hand over his mouth but his eyes sparkled with excitement. He did a little jig on the spot. Behind Marcus, Xinyu took the horses, giggling as she led them to the water trough.

  Jade was the first to finally unfreeze. She took three hesitant steps to bridge the gap. With a wondering expression, she reached out and traced the familiar features of their friend.

  “You’re alive?”

  He smiled and nodded. Seemingly unable to speak further, she threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his broad shoulder. He returned her embrace briefly, before Phoenix broke them apart so he could thump Marcus on the back and give him a quick, rough hug. The Roman gripped his forearm with both hands, smiling more widely than they had ever seen him do before.

  Phoenix swore and shook his head, awestruck. “Dude, you have no idea how glad we are to see you. I really thought I’d seen everything here, but this takes the cake. Man!”

  Jade nodded, apparently still unable to find her voice.

  Phoenix cleared his throat, suddenly aware of the charged atmosphere between the two of them. He stepped back, feeling awkward. Marcus went back to her side and smiled gently down at her, his fingers intertwining with hers. Her cheeks flushed bright pink. She leaned her head on his shoulder, a hint of tears glittering in her green eyes.

  “I think explanations are called for,” Phoenix cleared his throat again, glancing back and forth between Marcus and Brynn. The latter grinned manically at him.

  “I gave him a Life Potion,” the boy explained, as though it were an everyday occurrence.

  Jade raised her eyebrows. “Where did you get a Life Potion from?”

  Brynn tried to look casual but was clearly proud of himself. “Back in India, when Cadoc got killed, he said he’d drunk a ‘pretty blue potion that restored a life’.”

  “So?”

  “So in Egypt,” he explained patiently, “one of the pieces of treasure I ended up with was a little glass bottle of blue liquid. It was in my pocket.”

  Phoenix, Jade and Marcus all stared at the boy incredulously. Jade shut her mouth with a snap and glared at him.

  “You used a completely unknown potion on Marcus because it was blue? What if it was meant to turn someone into a werewolf; or…or to grow really big potatoes.”

  Brynn scowled. “It wasn’t, was it? Marcus didn’t exactly have much to lose. He was dead. Now he isn’t. Can’t you just say ‘thanks’?”

  Jade looked as though she regretted her critical words and caught the boy to her side in a quick hug. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It was worth the risk and I’m glad you did it.” She looked again with amazement at the Roman. “I still can’t
believe you’re here.”

  Marcus nodded. “I too. Thankyou Brynn.” He bowed to the boy, took Jade’s hand again and pulled her close. “Now, I think we have an evil Grand Vizier to defeat, don’t we?”

  Phoenix shouted a laugh and slapped his friend on the shoulder. Marcus remained unmoved.

  Xinyu returned to the group and they dragged pieces of half-made old furniture into a circle. She brought out food and water and soon the friends were sharing an impromptu celebratory picnic on the remains of a once-grand dining table. Jade sat close to Marcus, her cheeks flushing every time he smiled at her; her expression starry-eyed and dreamy. Phoenix had to look away, uncomfortable with their obvious affection for each other. It was about time, of course, but it did complicate things. He focussed on eating instead. Finally, replete, he leaned back with a sigh of contentment – until he realised they were down one person.

  “Hey, where’s Zhi Hui?”

  Xinyu cast down her eyes. “Grandmother felt she could not be of much assistance to our cause and would only slow us down. She has stayed to take care of an old servant who was injured when Zhudai’s men came to her house.”

  “Will they be ok?” Jade asked.

  The girl nodded. “They will stay in hiding. Grandmother gave us what few weapons she could find.” She produced a dagger for Phoenix and a beautifully carved bow and arrows for Marcus. He accepted it gravely, quickly stringing it and testing its draw with a faintly pleased expression.

  Xinyu swallowed hard. “Grandmother also asked me to tell you one thing. She said that, if you cannot free my father before the ceremony, at the height of the ri shi, then you must kill him. Zhudai must not be allowed to use his living blood for the rite.”

  The four travellers exchanged uncomfortable looks. Phoenix grimaced. “What is it about his blood that’s so important, anyway? How is it supposed to make Zhudai immortal?”

  “To attain immortality, Zhudai must say the Rite and drink the blood of Long Baiyu at the right time,” Xinyu explained.

  “Drink it?” Jade sat up straight, her face pale, eyes wide. Xinyu nodded. Jade’s hand stole to her cheek. She stared off into the distance.