The Yu Dragon

by Aiki Flinthart

  “What?” Phoenix prompted.

  She snapped back into focus. “What did that old Buddhist monk say to you – something about names?”

  Phoenix thought for a moment. “The beginning of wisdom is calling things by their right names.”

  Jade mouthed it back to herself silently then her green eyes lit with amazement and her jaw dropped open.

  “What?” Phoenix almost yelled at her. “What is it?”

  “The meaning of names,” she repeated, as though it should now be obvious.

  He grabbed two handfuls of his own hair and pulled it with a low groan of frustration. “Just tell us, would you?”

  “If you stop thinking of names as peoples’ names and translate them into what they actually mean,” her tone was tinged with impatient excitement, “it will start to make sense.”

  Marcus looked at the Chinese girl. “I see. So Hua Xinyu becomes…’Flower, precious jade’.”

  Xinyu nodded, a small, secret smile on her lips as she watched them work it out. “Hua is my family name. It means ‘Flower’. My mothers’ name is..was Hua Mei-Lien, which means ‘Beautiful Lotus flower’.”

  Enlightenment changed Phoenix’s irritation to comprehension. “I get it. So ‘Long’ is umm…. ‘dragon’ and Long Zhi Hui is… ‘wise dragon trainer’.”

  Xinyu stifled a giggle, nodding again.

  “Which means,” Jade continued triumphantly, “Long Baiyu translates to ‘White Jade Dragon’ and one of the ways to attain immortality is to drink the blood of a white dragon.” She stopped and frowned at Xinyu. “But surely it has to be the blood of an actual dragon, not just someone whose name is ‘white dragon’?”

  Xinyu inclined her head. “He is the White Jade Dragon. It is in his bloodline, passed down through three hundred years from our ancestor, the Dragon Emperor, Qinshihuan. When the need arises, my father can transform into the White Jade Dragon to protect the people of the Empire. Only now, he is weak from lack of sunlight. He draws strength from the sun, the Light.”

  “And you?” Phoenix shifted on his seat, made uneasy by her words. Liking a girl was one thing, liking a dragon-girl another entirely. “Do you go Dragon, too?”

  Xinyu shook her head. “Only one at a time can have the power. Grandfather passed the ability on to my father seven years ago. I will inherit it when the time is right…or when he is….dead.”

  “So that’s what caused the big falling out between Zhudai and Baiyu then?” Brynn concluded. Xinyu nodded.

  “Zhudai could not stand the thought that Baiyu was somehow more; somehow stronger. He was angry and went to find a way to become his equal again.” Xinyu looked at them all, solemn and wide-eyed. “I fear he has found it and, once he is immortal, he will be impossible to defeat.”

  “Wait,” Jade held up a hand, frowning again. “That’s not all. Phoenix, remember what our last Quest is?”

  “Sure,” he shrugged. “Master the Yu Dragon and defeat Zhudai. How could I forget?”

  “And if ‘Yu’ translates to ‘Jade’ and ‘Long’ is ‘Dragon’,” Jade said patiently. “Then the Yu Dragon is Long Bai Yu.”

  There was a dumbfounded silence as they digested this news. Then the babble started – mostly between Brynn and Phoenix. How did they master him? What did it mean? How did you master a person? Did they have to make him their slave? Did they have to control him somehow? Did they have to kill him? Finally, Jade slapped her hands over her ears.

  “Enough!” They subsided and she dropped her hands, looking relieved. “I think it’s safe to say none of us have any idea what we have to do to ‘master’ him. We’re running out of time, so, at least we can work on a plan to rescue him. Then we’ll get a chance to do any mastering after Zhudai’s been stopped. Agreed?”

  The others nodded reluctantly. Phoenix leaned back in his chair, tucking his hands behind his head and staring at the ceiling as ideas collided with each other in his tired brain.

  “The first thing we need to know,” Marcus advised, “is where this ri shi ritual will take place. If it’s inside the palace walls, we could have a problem.”

  “It will be held in the great courtyard in front of the palace gates,” Xinyu said, quietly confident.

  “You sure?” Phoenix asked.

  She seemed certain. “Grandmother said the servants have been ordered to set up a dais in the very centre of the courtyard; with an altar and blood-bowl to be placed on it in preparation.” Shuddering, she looked away. Phoenix edged closer, putting an arm around her shoulder. She leaned into him.

  “It’ll be ok. We’ll save him somehow,” he assured her. She smiled gratefully.

  “If the place is full of servants and soldiers now,” Jade mused, “then your idea with the time pocket spell won’t work, Phoenix. We won’t be able to get close enough to the dais to place anyone in a time pocket without being seen. Besides, I just can’t be that accurate with when you’d come out of the pocket anyway.”

  “What about our daggers and amulets,” he asked, feeling very self-conscious about having his arm around Xinyu’s shoulders. He wasn’t quite sure how to remove it. Xinyu solved his dilemma by sitting up and moving slightly away.

  “We need to get them back but I don’t really see how they’re going to help in rescuing Long Baiyu,” Jade screwed up her nose. “If I’m right, they’ll appear at almost exactly the same time as the eclipse – maybe a little after - but they’ll be about…umm,” she closed her eyes, “ten or fifteen metres west of the dais.”

  “OK,” Phoenix leaned forward, elbows on his knees, fingers intertwined. “So we need to free Baiyu, get our stuff and defeat Zhudai – all in front of a few thousand soldiers and peasants, I’m betting.” Xinyu confirmed his guess with a silent nod.

  Jade gazed off into the distance, her head characteristically tilted, one finger tapping her front teeth; deep in thought. Phoenix clamped down on his own impatience. He had to let her think.

  Finally she glanced over at the Chinese girl. “Xinyu, if we could free your father before the ri shi, how long would it take for him to absorb enough light to be strong enough to take on Zhudai himself?”

  “Maybe five minutes,” she replied. “I’m not really sure. He was very weak.”

  “So…” Jade drummed her fingers on the tabletop, looking intently at all her companions as though assessing their abilities. “What we need is some way to get close to him and a diversion to keep Zhudai distracted long enough for Baiyu to recover his strength.”

  Phoenix leaned over and murmured into Brynn’s ear. “I think I sense a plan coming.”

  Jade sat up straight. “You do but it will only work if we can get the Bag back. I don’t imagine Zhudai will let it out of his sight, so we’ll have to take it off him before the eclipse.”

  “Oh good,” Phoenix closed his eyes momentarily. “For a moment I thought you were going to ask us to do something hard.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “This has to be your most insane idea yet,” Phoenix whispered hoarsely. Jade put a finger to her lips and pulled the hood of her cloak closer to hide her bright hair. “Why can’t we do it now instead of waiting?” He asked for the third time.

  “I told you, I can’t sustain it for very long,” she repeated. “We’re only going to get one shot at this. Besides, Baiyu hasn’t even been brought out yet and we don’t know where the Bag is.”

  Phoenix elbowed his way through the growing crowd, hunching his shoulders in a futile attempt to be less conspicuously tall. Everywhere, black-and-red clad soldiers eyed the milling peasants with suspicion. Tensions ran high. The crowd murmured and Phoenix overheard snatches of hushed, frightened conversations that told him the people of Xijing knew what was happening and didn’t like it one bit.

  “Y’know,” he turned to mutter to Jade, close behind, “if I were the badguy, I’d be doing this little ceremony somewhere in private. Why the big song and dance? Why expose yourself to the chance of things going pear-shaped?”

  She
flashed him a tense grin. “I think it’s written into his bad-guy subroutine to be showy. If it was all done and over behind closed doors, how would we be able to win?”

  Phoenix paused, blinking in surprise. “I think you’re right, y’know. It’s way too easy to believe in this ‘reality’ and forget that things here are, sort of, scripted.”

  Jade grimaced. “That might not be true in our case. I think we’ve established that none of the other gamers have been sucked into this.” She gestured at the growing crowd. “There’s always a chance that Zhudai won’t stick to the script when the time comes.”

  “I’d say he’s already deviated several times,” he growled back.

  She nodded.

  Phoenix scanned the crowd again, wondering how many were spies and plants.

  “Just a thought,” he whispered into Jade’s ear, “but won’t Zhudai be expecting us to try and free Baiyu?”

  She sighed. “More than likely.”

  “Won’t he be ready for us?”

  “Probably,” she agreed.

  “So aren’t we being just a little bit mad, walking into another trap?” he pointed out the obvious.

  Xinyu, who had been listening, leaned closer. “As Grandmother would say, Those who hear not the music, think the dancers mad.”

  Phoenix looked sideways at her. “Thanks. That helped. Really.”

  She smiled in amusement. “Then how about: Four things come not back: the spoken word, the sped arrow, the past life and the neglected opportunity.”

  He reached up to shove back his hair only to hesitate, remembering his Western looks. Instead, he tugged his hood closer about his face. “OK, now that one I get: this is our only chance. Alright already.”

  “Enough philosophy,” Jade shushed them. She looked up at the sun. “We all need to get into position now.”

  Phoenix gripped her arm. “You sure about this?”

  She shook her head. “No but we don’t have a lot of other options. Brynn and I’ll be fine. Go.” She made a shoo-ing gesture.

  He looked at her for a long moment, wondering how much was truth and how much bravado, then shrugged, turned away. The whole plan hinged on Jade, so whichever it was; she’d better just make it work. He really hated having to rely on someone else at a time like this.

  Jade and Brynn headed toward the dais.

  With a sigh, Phoenix nodded to Xinyu and the two of them elbowed their way toward where Jade wanted them to wait. Somewhere, hidden in the nearby rooftops, Marcus watched over them all with his bow at the ready. They were not taking any risks this time. Well, Phoenix glanced around at the stiff-faced soldiers holding back the crowds, not many risks. The palace gates opened. He groaned as more soldiers poured out. OK. It was all one big risk but they were out of choices. If only he had Blódbál.

  “Is that Baiyu?” he whispered to Xinyu. She stood on tiptoes to look over the crowd, nodding as a group of six soldiers emerged carrying a black-swathed box slung on bamboo poles.

  “Yes. Zhudai will hide him from the sun until the ri shi. Only once the sun is fully obscured, will it be safe to free him long enough to kill him.”

  Phoenix followed her a few more steps as they gauged their distance from the dais and where the Life Daggers should appear. Their position had to be just right or they’d lose the daggers in the chaos their distraction would – hopefully – create.

  Glancing up at the high palace walls, Phoenix’s eye was caught by a flutter of golden cloth. A man, richly clad in yellow robes, stood on the defensive parapet, gazing impassively down at the gathering crowd. Several paces away, palace servants in red robes watched also, looking nervously back and forth between their master and the dais below.

  Phoenix nudged Xinyu. “Who’s that?”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “It is the Han Emperor himself. I heard he was in the city.”

  “So why doesn’t he stop Zhudai?” Phoenix wondered. “Surely he must know what’s going on. Everyone in the crowd seems to. What’s he waiting for? Why doesn’t he just march on out and arrest him?”

  Xinyu shushed him urgently, pulling on his shoulder to make him shorter again. Indignation made him stand too tall and he towered over the crowd. “For one, the Emperor does not leave the Palace while he is in Xijing. It would be unthinkable for him to walk among the peasants.” Her expression reflected genuine shock, so Phoenix didn’t bother to argue. “And General Ban Chao, who leads the Han army, has been sent on a mission to the west. No one else is powerful enough to stand against Zhudai’s personal forces.”

  Phoenix scowled. “How convenient.”

  “No,” Xinyu shook her head seriously, misunderstanding his sarcasm. “I believe Zhudai fabricated the order to send the General away because he was gaining too much influence over the young Emperor.”

  Before he could reply, Xinyu stopped so fast that Phoenix bumped into her. She tipped her head to one side, narrowing her eyes.

  “There,” she pointed. Phoenix twisted, trying to see around the milling masses. Sure enough, in the midst of this hot and very crowded courtyard, a small open space existed where one should not. It was as though people just didn’t see the gap; or they walked through it but didn’t stop. In spite of the pressure of thousands of bodies, this small space remained empty.

  “How did you know?” He frowned at her. Then he recognised the signs. “You can see magical stuff; like Jade can?”

  Xinyu nodded. “I have a very small gift. Enough to see the time pocket. I sense the time loop is almost closed.” She and squinted up at the sun. “The ri shi is close. You must take your position and do your job. I will bring them to you.” Standing tall, she kissed him on the cheek. “Good luck.” Swiftly, she slipped through the crowd to stand beside the empty space, waiting for the Life Daggers to emerge.

  *****

  Beside Jade, Brynn craned his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the palanquin holding Baiyu.

  “Can you see a way to get close enough?”

  Draped in black and carried by six burly soldiers whose muscles bulged with the effort, it was clearly no ordinary litter. The crowd parted slowly before it, opening a path to the dais with obvious reluctance. Jade discretely elbowed her way closer until they were in the front row. Baiyu’s mobile prison would pass directly by.

  She glanced up at the sun. “We’ve only got about ten minutes. It’s going to be close. The cage is made of iron. I can feel it from here. Do you think you can do it?”

  Brynn eyed the contraption. “I won’t know if I can pick the lock until I see it. What if there’s a magical part again? Will you be able to break it?”

  Jade shook her head, biting her lip. “Zhudai can manipulate iron because he’s not Elven. I can’t.”

  “This whole plan will fall apart if we can’t release Baiyu and give him sunshine time,” Brynn warned.

  “I know. I know.” Jade frowned, thinking hard. The soldiers were only a few steps away. “We have to try anyway. Like Xinyu said: it’s our only chance.”

  “Actually,” Brynn corrected caustically, “Phoenix said that. Xinyu said something much more obscure.”

  Jade ignored him. She was busy muttering the spell she’d devised to get them into position. She yanked him closer just as the casting was complete. There was a barely-visible flash of purple-blue which quickly died to an almost-imperceptible shimmer in the air around them. The crowd surged forward. Jade and Brynn stepped out into the middle of the cleared path. Nobody reacted; not a head turned; not an eye twitched: nobody saw them.

  “Wow,” Brynn breathed.

  Jade made shushing motions. When they’d formulated this plan, she’d experimented with a new version of her shield spell. By altering the way it refracted visible light, she’d managed to make herself invisible. However sound was still an issue. If she made noise, it could be heard. She couldn’t stop the flow of sound without stopping the flow of air molecules also. Since breathing was pretty important, she couldn’t do that. So it was essential they remain
silent until their task was complete. This new invisibility shield also sapped her energy quickly. She could only maintain it for twenty minutes before utterly exhausting herself. In the presence of iron, it would be even less. They were working on a tight schedule and would be very vulnerable if anything went wrong.

  Pushing the thought firmly aside, Jade dragged Brynn down to the ground. Together, they crouched, hidden in plain sight. The palanquin passed overhead and three pairs of legs marched steadily on either side, neither stopping nor hesitating. As the last one passed, Jade and Brynn stood up, moving to keep pace. Hurriedly, they clambered on board the litter, trying to make as little noise as possible. Jade had to smother a gasp of pain as she grabbed an iron bar to haul herself up. Even through the black silk that covered the cage, the iron burnt her hand. Luckily, one of the soldiers grunted at the same time and shifted his grip on the bamboo pole. Their walking pace slowed as the soldiers strained to carry the extra weight.

  Balancing on the slippery bamboo litter, Jade nodded to Brynn. He quickly felt the bars beneath the cloth and shook his head. The lock was not on this side. It was frustrating but not unexpected. Jade signed that they should split up and go around the sides to the front. The lock was probably there anyway. It would be difficult to maintain two smaller shields with so much iron between them but the cage was narrow and this seemed the most efficient way to make sure they didn’t miss the lock.

  It was a harrowing walk. Twice Jade accidentally brushed the iron bars and flinched back, almost falling off. Her shields felt like they were being stretched, twisted and put through a ringer by the presence of iron. It took all her concentration to maintain them. By the time she rejoined them and Brynn, at the front of the litter, she dripped with sweat and shook like a leaf in a winter gale.

  Brynn gave her the thumbs-up when his fingers finally found the telltale lock. Jade concentrated fiercely. Every swaying motion of the soldiers provoked spikes of agony as metal sapped strength from her shield, burned and weakened her. Cautiously, she extended her senses, feeling the lock with tiny probes of magic - just enough to test it, hopefully not enough to alert Zhudai to their presence. She sagged and shook her head at Brynn. Zhudai had once again used magic. Even if Brynn could pick the lock, there was no way she could break the magical component. It was firmly embedded in the iron of the mechanism. Zhudai had learned from his past mistake.