by P J Tierney
Lucy slunk back to the cabin, and Jamie closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, preparing to Summon the orbs.
Zheng saw what he was doing. ‘That will not work against me, boy. You are not strong enough.’
Jamie set his mouth firmly and blocked out everything except his anger. He saw Zheng’s laughing, pointed face and drew on all the pain he had caused. He drew on the grief he’d felt all these years at the loss of his mother.
He heard the swelling, rousing roar of the orbs.
Wing cried, ‘There are thousands of them, Jamie! Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.’
Jamie thought of Master Wu and Mr Fan, who had taught him so much. He thought about Wing and Lucy, standing by him now, and Jade, and his mother again. He would protect them, to the death if it came to it. He didn’t feel sad or scared at that thought. Instead, it made him stronger and drew more orbs to his aid.
Jamie opened his eyes to a maelstrom of charging light orbs. It sounded like they were standing in a raging furnace. Yet, above it all, Zheng’s voice still rang in his head. ‘Impressive, Jamie.’
Then Zheng held out his palms and Jamie’s orbs simply faded away. The Xavier boys were visible again, cowering from the orbs.
‘Stand up, you fools!’ Zheng yelled, and they obeyed as one. They started their approach.
The Art of War’s principles reverberated in Jamie’s head. Zheng had beaten him on every one: Jamie had his back to the water, he was outnumbered, he had fallen into a trap. He’d done everything wrong and now his friends and his village would pay for his mistakes.
‘Jamie,’ Wing cried. ‘Summons.’
Jamie closed his eyes to draw more energy, but he couldn’t think straight.
He heard Zheng laughing again. ‘It won’t do you any good. I’ve blocked you. You didn’t know about that trick, did you?’ Zheng turned to the running boys. ‘Deal with the weedy one. Mayling’s son is mine.’
The Xavier boys moved forwards. Jamie took a defensive stance, positioning himself between Wing and Morris. He glanced nervously towards the cabin’s hatch.
Come on, Lucy, he pleaded silently. Send the Great Guide to help us.
Wing whispered, ‘Leave, Jamie — Ride the Way.’
Jamie shook his head. ‘No.’
‘Someone’s got to tell my mum that I stood up to Zheng,’ Wing said. ‘One of us has to get through this. Tell her I did it for her, Jamie. Make sure you tell her.’
‘Wing, you’re not going to die tonight. Understand?’
Wing looked towards Zheng’s warriors. His voice trembled. ‘Maybe you should tell them that.’
Morris raised his fist in a cobra strike and charged at Wing. The others attacked with spinning kicks and flying fists. Jamie stepped into their path to protect Wing. As he dodged the blows and folded around the kicks, it felt like the whole world had slowed down; he had all the time he needed to move out of the way. He felt the rush of fists as they passed, skimming him but never connecting.
Wing, on the other hand, was never that good at kung fu. He was being pounded. Jamie heard the thud as every punch connected, hard. Wing’s fists were flailing and he was barely upright. Every blow knocked the wind out of him a little more.
Jamie positioned himself between Wing and the boys again, lashing out at them. But the boys simply moved their attack and targeted Wing from behind. Jamie tried, but he couldn’t cover all of them at once.
Wing fell to the ground and the boys piled on top of him, punching and kicking.
Rage boiled up inside Jamie. He picked the boys up one by one and threw them aside with a strength he didn’t know he had. Bodies slammed into the deck and skidded into the bulkhead.
Wing looked up at him. ‘You get Zheng,’ he gasped. ‘You get him for me.’ Then his eyes rolled back in his head.
Chapter 32
‘No!’ Jamie screamed and he shook Wing till he blinked again. He hauled his friend towards the cabin, to get him away from his attackers.
Zheng pulled his arm back as if to throw something. He conjured a ball of light too bright to look at and hurled it at them. Jamie tried to pull Wing out of the way, but the orb was too fast. It hit Wing on the shoulder with a sizzling sound. Jamie smelled the stench of burning flesh. Wing screamed and dug at his shoulder as the orb burned deeper and deeper.
Tears streamed down Jamie’s face and his stomach churned. He heaved Wing up and dragged him closer to the hatch, but Morris stood between them and safety. Morris’s arm was poised to strike. Jamie couldn’t do anything with Wing in his arms; they were totally defenceless.
‘Morris,’ he said, ‘this goes beyond anything you and I have against each other.’
Wing was slipping and Jamie had to adjust his hold. A fine tendril of smoke rose from Wing’s shoulder.
‘He’s hurt,’ Jamie said. ‘Really hurt.’
Morris sneered and closed in.
Jamie cried out, ‘Do something!’ But he wasn’t talking to Morris, he was talking to the boy who stood nervously behind him; the one who had pleaded for Jamie to save him from the snake. Wesley looked like he might vomit as he watched Wing’s flesh burn away.
‘Now!’ Jamie screamed, startling Wesley into action.
Wesley charged forwards, dropped his knee at the last minute and skidded into the back of Morris’s legs. Morris stumbled, allowing Jamie time to swing his leg in a roundhouse kick. His foot connected with Morris’s jaw and he felt the bone give way. Morris was unconscious before he hit the deck.
Jamie nodded his thanks at Wesley. He pulled Wing closer to the hatch, but suddenly Zheng was in front of him.
‘You remind me of your mother,’ he said coldly. ‘Are you going to run away, just like she did?’
Jamie laid Wing’s body gently on the deck, then stood to face Zheng. A fire burned inside his belly. He crouched low in a fighting stance and raised his fists. There was no more time to wait for Lucy to open the orb and release the Great Guide. Jamie must face Zheng alone.
Zheng moved and Jamie tensed, but Zheng was just toying with him, feigning an attack.
‘I have been waiting a long time for this. Thank you, Jamie, you have made this easy.’
Lucy burst through the cabin door. She carried the orb with her. ‘It won’t open —’ She saw Wing unconscious and bleeding on the deck.
In that moment’s hesitation, Zheng thrust his arm towards Lucy and a shadowy heat haze shot from his hand and wrapped around her. It dragged her into Zheng’s grasp. Lucy opened her mouth to scream, but there was no sound.
‘And you brought these Warriors of the Way with you,’ Zheng said delightedly, ‘and the orb.’ His voice changed; it was low and evil. ‘I get to eliminate all of you in one go.’
Jamie clenched his jaw. Zheng was not killing his friends.
Zheng clamped Lucy around the throat. Her face was getting redder by the second.
Jamie felt sick, but he was no longer scared. He crouched lower and took a fighting stance. ‘You let her go,’ he said.
Lucy thrashed her legs, trying to land a kick on Zheng’s groin.
‘Stop it!’ Zheng yelled at her, squeezing her neck tighter.
Lucy’s eyes bulged.
Jamie flicked his wrist and formed an eagle claw.
Zheng saw the claw and a flash of shock crossed his face. ‘Ahh,’ he said. ‘Now that’s a surprise.’
Jamie’s heart raced and he felt dizzy. Zheng had Lucy and the Great Guide, and Wing was behind him slowly dying. He was losing everything and he had caused it all. He couldn’t see a way out.
The Art of War ran through his head: Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will. With those words, he understood how dear Lucy and the others were to him. He lowered his fists. ‘It’s me you want,’ he said. ‘I’m the Spirit Warrior.’
Lucy squirmed, her eyes pleading. She mouthed the word ‘no’.
Zheng dropped her.
She thumped to the ground, still cl
inging to the orb. She flipped onto her back and rammed her foot up and into Zheng’s groin. There was a dull thudding sound as his armour absorbed the impact.
He didn’t even flinch. He kicked Lucy so hard she flew across the deck and into the cabin wall. ‘Don’t give up!’ she cried to Jamie. ‘He’ll kill us anyway.’
Jamie bit his bottom lip and took a step towards Zheng. Give him what he can’t refuse. Zheng wants the Spirit Warrior. Jamie’s mind raced. Was this his life’s purpose? Was his role to be killed by Zheng? Is that why his mother had hidden him all these years? Maybe he wasn’t just the Spirit Warrior, maybe he was the last Spirit Warrior.
Jamie stepped forwards, his throat and chest heaving with every breath. His whole body trembled as he thought of his spirit captured for eternity. He swallowed as he thought of his spirit being released; he wondered if it would hurt. And as he envisaged his spirit flying free, a tiny ray of possibility began to form deep within him. He thought of the spirit that had attacked his father and the spirit that had inhabited Feng Chow. My spirit won’t be captured, he thought to himself. My spirit will be the weapon. At least this way the Great Guide will be safe. Lucy and Wing will live.
Jamie lowered his head. He didn’t take his eyes off Zheng, but he said, loudly enough for Lucy to hear, ‘Tell Wing this is for him.’
Zheng’s leather tunic creaked as he raised his sword. Jamie tensed and waited for the blow.
Suddenly he felt a rush of air behind him and looked up to see a streak of light fly past him and knock Zheng to the ground.
The streak of light turned into Master Wu.
Master Wu scooped Jamie up with one arm and Lucy with the other. He threw them towards the hatch. Jamie dragged Wing down into the cabin with them. He checked he was still breathing. Lucy tore at the burning orb on Wing’s shoulder.
‘You’ll have to cut it out,’ Jamie said, thrusting the hilt of his dive knife at her.
Lucy shook her head and backed away, so Jamie held his breath and steadied the knife with both hands. His stomach lurched as he plunged the blade into Wing’s shoulder. He angled the knife and sawed it through the flesh, digging the orb out of Wing’s shoulder. Then he leaned to the side and vomited till he brought up bile.
As he heaved and shook, Jamie felt a calming warmth spread over him. He looked up to see Mr Fan appear from Riding the Way. Mr Fan rushed to Wing’s side, his satchel of powders and herbs in his hand, and helped Lucy stem the bleeding.
With Master Wu and Mr Fan by his side, Jamie felt strong again. He stumbled to his feet. ‘The globe?’ he asked Lucy.
She handed it to him, and he went to the hatch. He peered out to see a flurry of blurred movement as Zheng attacked Master Wu. Master Wu stayed in his fighting stance, dodging and folding around Zheng’s fists and feet.
Master Wu held his hand high, his index and middle fingers locked straight, the smaller two bent at both joints. The dragon claw. A line of blue light projected from Master Wu’s pointed fingers and formed into orbs that he pelted at Zheng.
Zheng retaliated by forming a charged orb that he threw at Master Wu. Jamie cried out a warning.
Master Wu swung his hand in a circle and the light projecting from his fingers formed a spinning disc-like shield that deflected Zheng’s orb. Zheng was furious.
Jamie looked up at the sky and the stars. Sai Chun, where it had all started and where it would finish. If he was meant to release the Great Guide, this was where it would happen. Jamie knew Sai Chun’s coordinates by heart: latitude twenty-two degrees, longitude one hundred and fourteen. He held the globe up to the light and did a rough calculation in his head, dividing three hundred and sixty degrees into halves then quarters. He estimated forty-five degrees and marked twenty-two, then twisted the halves towards that point. He felt a dull thud deep inside the jade and his stomach fluttered.
He twisted the globe back to the centre and marked where one hundred and fourteen degrees should lie. He twisted the halves to meet there and felt another thud. Then he twisted them back to the centre. He was ready.
Jamie concentrated till he felt an orb of light forming on his palm. He merged it into the jade globe, then lifted the top half. A shaft of light shot out and penetrated the night sky. A voice called his name.
A stream of iridescent light enveloped Jamie and lifted him off the ground. It carried him high above the village, but Jamie felt calm and safe as he watched the houses recede beneath him.
The plume of light hovered above Zheng, then its tail wrapped around his face and throat. Zheng choked and tried to rip the noose from his neck. He gasped and thrashed in its grip, turning red, then purple, before finally slumping to the ground.
Suspended high above the village, Jamie saw the world below him and the possibilities before him. He saw Bohai and his parents on the verandah of the shop, looking up at him in awe. The private-school boys stumbled and scrambled to distance themselves from the spectacle, retreating into the shadows and the jungle. Wesley stood by, though, watching. As Jamie caught his eye, he raised his hand to his brow in the smallest of salutes. Old Mama Chow pointed and the fishermen gaped. Behind them was Hector. He looked up at his son suspended in the plume of the Great Guide, and Jamie couldn’t be entirely sure but he thought he might have been crying.
The stream of light returned to the ground and placed Jamie gently at Master Wu’s side.
‘Thank you, Spirit Warrior,’ the voice said. ‘Your journey has just begun.’
Master Wu put his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. ‘Well done,’ he said.
Chapter 33
Mr Fan burst through the cabin door with Wing in his arms. Wing’s head lolled. Lucy was right behind, reaching with a towel to press on Wing’s wound to stop the bleeding.
‘I need to get him back to Chia Wu,’ Mr Fan said.
Master Wu didn’t take his eyes from Wing. ‘You’ll have to hurry,’ he said.
Mr Fan gestured Lucy in close, then he closed his eyes. A soft white fog rose up around them, turning to a brilliant iridescence that became so bright Jamie had to look away. When he looked back, they were gone.
Master Wu waited until the light faded, then said, ‘Let’s go.’
Jamie took a final look at Zheng, who lay motionless on the deck. He noticed a ripple beneath Zheng’s skin that quickly became a writhing mass. Pustules formed and erupted, spraying black bugs into the air. The bugs grouped, then swarmed towards Jamie.
‘Look away!’ Master Wu yelled, but his voice seemed a long way off and the bugs were so close. ‘Look away!’ he screamed again, but Jamie couldn’t. He stood there petrified, and the swarm struck, penetrating his skin.
It was like he’d been plunged into an ice-cold sea. A thousand screams rang in his ears and he felt as if he was being squeezed from the inside out. His body contorted and he collapsed, the stench of sulphur suffocating him. Then there was only darkness.
‘Breathe,’ he heard a voice say above the bloodcurdling screams. ‘Breathe.’
Jamie tried to shut out the terrible sound and smell.
‘Breathe,’ he heard again, but it was a different voice, softer and coming from inside him.
He took a breath. The vice-like grip eased slightly and a single shaft of light penetrated the darkness.
‘That’s right. Breathe,’ he heard again from inside his head. It was his guide.
The screams became less intense.
Another breath and the light grew stronger.
Jamie thought of the Summons and how it was more powerful when he drew on courage, not fear. He thought of his mother and his friends, imagined his love for them forming into orbs of energy that repelled the black bugs.
Jamie heard Master Wu calling him, his voice louder and closer now. He tried to answer, but his body wouldn’t respond. He forced the air from his lungs in an attempt to make a sound and a small grunt escaped. He concentrated his energy and imagined a giant orb radiating inside him, burning away the black bugs.
He opened his eyes
to find Master Wu hunched over him, his face etched with fear. ‘Did you get them all?’ he asked.
‘I-I don’t know,’ Jamie stammered, his lips numb.
Master Wu shouted, ‘Did you get them all?’
Jamie turned his focus inwards and felt for the icy coldness or the sulphur stench. His ears still rang, but there were no more screams.
‘I think so,’ he mumbled.
‘That was Zheng’s essence,’ Master Wu said, ‘his spirit. It is vital that every last part is expelled.’
Jamie shuddered. Master Wu helped him to his feet and held him close, then conjured the white light. Jamie felt warm as its shimmering haze wrapped around him. He leaned against Master Wu and looked out through the white glow to see a thousand bugs swarming into the night.
When the bright light cleared, Jamie and Master Wu were back at Chia Wu. Jamie stumbled as his feet connected with the ground. He looked for Wing.
‘It takes a little longer to Ride the Way with three,’ Master Wu said. ‘They won’t be far behind.’ He looked at Jamie, brought his right fist to his left palm and bowed. ‘Welcome back, Spirit Warrior. You fought well and I am proud of you.’ Then his expression became grave. ‘But, Jamie, please understand that your life’s purpose cannot be fulfilled if you are dead. You may be able to justify it up here,’ he tapped Jamie’s head, ‘but giving up only makes it harder for us left behind and for you next time round too.’ Master Wu bent to look Jamie in the eye. ‘To lose you would have been a tragedy, not only because of the purpose you will fulfil but because of the person you are.’
Jamie bowed his head. He couldn’t look Master Wu in the eye, not when he had given up in a fight and had made so many mistakes. Standing there in the safety of Chia Wu, with the sun breaking over the horizon, Jamie felt the weight of everything he had done wrong. He knew that Wing was paying the price.
Master Wu placed his hand on Jamie’s shoulder. ‘When a great man makes a mistake,’ he said softly, ‘he realises it. Having realised it, he admits it. Having admitted it, he corrects it.’
