Ice Phoenix

by Sulin Young

  “Damn you,” he said out loud before unblocking his qi points. The attacker’s qi flowed out immediately, and Baneyon watched in dismay as the dark figure stood up and fled. Every part of him screamed to give chase but there was no time left — he had to save the people first.

  His eyes began to glow, imbued by the flow of qi returning to his body. The sky darkened and swirled as Baneyon whipped the air particles into a frenzy. As onlookers watched, the sky seemed to rip in half above the towers, and a dark funnel descended like a python converging on its prey. It swallowed the teetering section of the towers and twisted away, descending to the ground.

  Baneyon tried to guide the funnel down as quickly as possible, praying that the people inside could hold their breath. It had been necessary for him to create a vacuum inside the funnel, and he couldn’t guarantee that he had not removed vital air from the towers.

  Eventually, the funnel touched ground, depositing the truncated sections safely. The terrifying ordeal had lasted slightly over a minute. The glow from Baneyon’s eyes vanished and he stumbled forwards, exhausted. A pair of strong arms reached out to steady him.

  “Easy there, mister. You did great.”

  Baneyon found himself staring into the eyes of the young man who had activated the emergency grid.

  “Thanks,” he said hoarsely. He looked around for his attacker but, as expected, he had long gone. Baneyon hadn’t been able to get a good look at him. He cussed under his breath.

  18

  The boy in the stable

  Tap, tap, tap. Her fingers played out a rhythmic trot on the desk as Terrana waited for Baneyon’s reply. A half hour had passed without any response from him. She wanted to tell him about her dream the previous night, but she supposed that would have to wait. Annoyed, she flicked on a music channel to listen to the harmonious tunes of a guzheng, bamboo grass and flowing water, and turned her attention to Kazu.

  He was snuggled against her thigh, enjoying her awesome chair as much as she was. He purred as Terrana stroked him gently. Her fingers went bump along his back, and she glanced down at the barely discernible ridges on his spine that hadn’t been there a minute ago.

  “What’s this?”

  Kazu rolled over and stretched, his look pointedly indicating that she shouldn’t stop.

  “Look at you — you’ve grown so much in the last three weeks.” She scratched him behind the ear and he purred even louder, wrapping all four legs around her hand. “Uff —you’re much heavier too. Maybe you’re not getting enough exercise.”

  His rough tongue licked at her fingers and his look said it all. You scratch my back, I scratch yours. Okay, it’s your turn now.

  Unfortunately for him, though, Baneyon’s silence had upset Terrana and she needed something else to distract her. Looking around her room, she spotted a dark coat hanging from the bathroom door and an idea presented itself. She leapt from the chair, sending the startled Kazu tumbling to the floor. Striding to the door, she removed the coat, folded it neatly, and stuffed it into her satchel.

  Next, she changed into a pair of dark trousers and a light T-shirt. Grabbing the satchel, she walked out of the room, calling out as she did so.“C’mon Kazu. We’re going for a walk!”

  Kazu couldn’t have looked more reluctant.

  “C’mon. Don’t you wanna climb some trees?”

  No, he didn’t. But he didn’t want to be left alone in the room either, and so he followed her. It was only a few seconds to the chutes and then they were zooming up to the surface. They emerged through a puddle of water that covered the floor of the elegant lobby like a mirror. This wasn’t the only exit puddle — students and teachers popped in and out of some others across the lobby.

  Kazu knew the way well. He strutted across the floor, his bushy tail held high. He led his mistress to an exit on the far left, and in a sudden switch of mood, he glanced back at Terrana. As usual, his expression said it all — Hurry up!

  He looked so comical that Terrana laughed. Together, they rushed out the exit and into the sunshine. The mountains rose majestically behind them and the lake sprawled ahead.

  Choosing a well-worn path, they headed to the pet ground, which lay at the boundary of Minda Yerra, close to the forest. Students were permitted to keep pets for therapeutic reasons. Many of them had travelled a long way to attend Minda Yerra and, unsurprisingly, they suffered from homesickness. Their pets comforted them and provided a sense of home.

  Smaller pets could remain with the students in their rooms provided they were exercised regularly, but larger animals were housed on the pet ground. For Terrana and Kazu, the pet ground was a wondrous, fascinating alien zoo, full of weird and wonderful creatures.

  As they strolled through the high grass, Kazu went wild, pouncing on anything that moved. He chased after the invisible mog-rats that scurried through the grass and scampered up the trees. It was hilarious to watch him pouncing on a mog-rat, only to smack his head against a rock.

  “Terrana!”

  She and Kazu gazed across the ground towards the mountains and saw an enormous, towering hunk of flesh lumbering their way. The earth thundered beneath their feet and they backed away nervously. Kazu did one better than his mistress and reversed quite skilfully up a tree. Not about to argue with his escape method, she scurried after him and together they made a comical pair, perched side-by-side on a tree branch.

  The entire tree shuddered as the animal approached, threatening to topple the both of them.

  Terrana heard a familiar voice shout, “Whoa, Niku!” When the monster came to a stop, she heard the voice again. “Hey Terrana, what’re you doing up there?”

  Terrana found herself staring into a gigantic, yellow eye almost hidden under a wicked looking horn that nearly reached her feet. With a start, she realised she was looking at a relative of the extinct three-horned triceratops back on Earth. Then she located the owner of the voice.

  “Bagruth?” she said incredulously, when she saw her friend peeking out from behind the bony frill around the monster’s neck. She could hardly believe the Gratchonian boy was riding the strange beast. She cringed as the animal snorted and hot, moist air bathed her legs, and she yelled again, “Bagruth, is that you?”

  “Yeah. Were you planning to see the stallions by any chance?”

  “Stallions?” Terrana had no idea what he was talking about. More to the point, however, she wanted to know about the dinosaur. “What is that animal? It nearly flattened us!”

  “Niku? He couldn’t hurt a fly.”

  “That’s cos they can see him coming from another galaxy! What is he?”

  “He’s a brudisaurius. He’s from my home planet.”

  “A broody sorry ass?”

  “Yeah, a brudisaurius. By the way, great match on the lake today. No first-year has ever bested Misa before.”

  “Er, thanks. What did you mean by the stallions?”

  Bagruth seemed surprised by her question. “Didn’t you know? Five stallions arrived from Cubeyon yesterday and Master Riddick announced he was going to let them run.”

  Master Riddick was the stable master and was also in charge of the pet ground. He came down hard on the students if he discovered them neglecting their pets in any way. Terrana was glad that Kazu didn’t have to live outside, she was afraid she’d lose sight of him and then Master Riddick would have her shovelling piles of horse dung for weeks. She glanced at Bagruth’s pet and shuddered. It could be worse.

  “No, I didn’t know,” she said. “We only came out for a walk, but now that you’ve told me, I’ll take a look.”

  Kazu meowed and paced along the branch, obviously agitated.

  “What is it, Kazu?”

  Kazu peered over the branch, attempting to get closer to Niku. The brudisaurius spotted him, a mischievous glint appearing in its eye. Out of the blue, it caught the branch with its horn and shook it, causing Terrana to yelp as Kazu toppled over, fell to the ground and landed flat on his face.

  “Kazu!” She y
elled while climbing down to save her beloved kitten. But Bagruth stopped her.

  “Don’t! Just look,” he said softly. “Niku likes him.”

  So it seemed. Niku sat his large rump on the ground and followed Kazu with his eyes. A long, blue tongue slithered out from his mouth and slathered the kitten in thick saliva. When it pulled back, a startled Kazu looked around, his fur slicked back in thick, shiny goo.

  “Eeew!” cried Terrana. However, Kazu didn’t seem to mind. He pranced up and down Niku’s face, pouncing on imaginary creatures.Terrana looked at Bagruth. “He’s not coming back to my room like that!”

  “You could give him a bath in the lake.”

  Her face fell. She had had enough of the lake for one day. Bagruth sensed her reluctance.

  “Otherwise, I can take him and I’ll bring him back later all nice and clean! You have nothing to worry about.”

  Terrana hesitated. Kazu and water. Bagruth didn’t know what he was in for. On the other hand, the kitten seemed to adore the brudisaurius and pranced about its face, even stopping to lick its ear. Niku snorted and grunted, enjoying the attention.

  “Well?”

  “Okay,” Terrana acquiesced, “and good luck with trying to bathe him. You can drop him off at my room when you’re done.”

  “That I can do. See you later!”

  She watched them amble towards the lake. If she hadn’t known any better, she could have sworn the kitten had taken control of the brudisaurius because, despite Bagruth’s best efforts to lead it into the lake, it refused to go into the water.

  She continued to the stables, which was as good a place as any to start searching. She only had to locate a large, flying animal to bring her that much closer to the person who had rescued her. She hurried towards a long wooden structure at the far end of the ground and eventually came to the training tracks, where a large group of students gathered.

  “Oh look! Master Riddick’s released the stallions!”

  Curious, Terrana headed to the rails, expecting to see some majestic horses stirring up a dust storm around the tracks. Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw.

  “Snails?” she said out loud. Luckily, no one heard her or she would have received contemptuous looks for being so ignorant. Each snail was about the size of a horse and, according to Terrana’s calculations, was crawling no faster than a metre and a half per minute.

  She was about to turn away when the snails raised their antennae. Her mouth fell open when they suddenly vanished from sight and appeared halfway down the track. Unable to believe her eyes, she watched as they blurred their way down the homestretch and passed by her. She quickly juggled the numbers in her head and reached a new figure of thirty-three metres per second.

  A very humbled Terrana turned about and slunk to the stables, praying that nobody would spot her face of shame.

  Once inside, the cool air soothed away her embarrassment and her nose crinkled slightly from the smell of animal manure. The ground was soft, a mixture of compacted earth and hay. Terrana had never been in a stable before, and this one was enormous with pens spread out in three directions.

  Unsure of where to go next, she stopped when she heard a voice.

  “Easy now, Jisha.”

  Following it, she ended up outside a pen at the far end and peered in. She saw a boy crouched over the leg of an enormous white horse. He must have sensed her presence because he looked up and Terrana found herself staring into the bluest eyes she had ever seen.

  “What do you want?” he asked, none too friendly.

  His voice was strong, and he had dark hair that reached his shoulders. Even though he was crouching, Terrana could tell he was tall. She figured he was around sixteen, the same age as Lorn.

  “I’m looking for someone,” she replied, surprised by his abruptness. She pointed at the horse. “Is something wrong with him?”

  He returned his attention to the animal, gently raising its front left leg. The leg was bleeding. Amazingly, it didn’t pull away.

  “He was injured in a fight with another stallion. Jisha is aggressive by nature.”

  “Oh. Will he be okay?”

  “His leg will heal. It’s only a flesh wound. Hand me that pli-gel bandage.”

  He pointed to a stool in the far corner of the pen. To reach it, she had to step in, being careful to avoid coming into contact with the stallion. She handed the bandage to the boy, trying not to wince as her own memories of being wrapped in them returned.

  “Something wrong?”

  “No.” She watched him carefully apply the bandage to the stallion’s leg. When he finished, he stood up and petted the animal’s rump. He caught her staring and frowned.

  “So, who was it you were looking for?”

  “Oh. I don’t know.” She followed him out of the pen, watching as he bolted it from the outside.

  “You don’t know?”

  She squirmed beneath his cold gaze and tried to explain.

  “I need to find an animal first. It flies and it’s big enough to carry two people.”

  The corner of his mouth turned up ever so slightly but she didn’t notice. “Can you describe it?”

  “Erm … I don’t know.” She had been sniffing its backside for the entire ride.

  “You must be the most observant person I’ve ever come across.”

  Terrana turned red. “There were circumstances!”

  “Such as?”

  “I couldn’t see anything because I was throwing up all over the place! It happened about three weeks ago.”

  “I see. Do people usually have to wait three weeks before you thank them?”

  Terrana didn’t know whether to scowl or squirm, so she did both. “I tried every day but … something always came up.” That was true. For some reason or another, every time she had tried to search for her rescuer, Bindal required her presence, Mikin needed help with his homework, and Lorn always seemed to distract her.

  “Well, do you or don’t you know where I can find this animal? I have something to return to its owner.”

  “What would that be?”

  “It’s a coat. I got some of my sick on it, but I washed it off and now I’d like to return it.”

  The boy blanched a little. “Most people would have burned it or —,” his eyes narrowed, “bought a new one.”

  “Oh, I could never afford something like that,” said Terrana promptly. “My guardian’s a miser. It’s a beautiful coat, made from Swivan wool. It’s probably worth a fortune!”

  “Not if it’s been covered in alien bacteria.” He started walking out of the stable. Terrana followed.

  “I’m not an alien. I’m from Sector Thirteen.”

  “That makes you an alien.”

  “I’m a very clean person! I’ve taken three showers today!” She counted her drenching in the lake as a shower. “Anyhow, do you know where I can find this animal? I’d really like to thank the person who rescued me.”

  The boy sighed, coming to a halt. They were outside now and he pointed at the mountains behind the stable.

  “Up there.”

  “Huh?”

  He sighed again and caught her by the shoulder, pulling her towards him until she was standing only centimetres from his chest. He spun her around and pointed to a trail leading up the mountain. “You’ll find the animal if you take that trail.”

  Terrana looked at the trail uncertainly. It was dark, covered by thick bushes and trees on both sides, disappearing into a world from which she might not be able to return. She turned and faced him, smiling sheepishly. “You’re not by any chance going up there now, are you?”

  Cold blue eyes assessed her. “Let me guess, you’re scared of a few trees.”

  “Plus I have no sense of direction,” said Terrana quickly. “Your directions lacked specifics. Up there could be anywhere. Also you didn’t tell me how high up there is.”

  “Are you always this persistent when you want something?”

  “I’ve been trying
to thank my rescuer for weeks! And as you pointed out earlier, three weeks is a long time.”

  His gaze lingered on her face, holding her eyes. “If you found this person, how would you thank him?”

  Terrana’s heart pounded, although she didn’t know why.

  “You bear no gifts, you’re too poor to take him out for a meal, and you’re too young for anything else.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve got sincerity. Lots of it.”

  The corner of his mouth curled again. He turned away and began striding towards the trail. “Try to keep up. I won’t wait for you.”

  She beamed and ran after him.

  He meant what he said about not waiting for her. He didn’t look back once as he led the way up the rocky, steep trail which sometimes disappeared completely from sight. Terrana caught her trousers on the jutting rocks several times, ripping them in the process. This upset her of course, but she kept her mouth shut and did her best to keep pace with the boy, who moved with the ease of a mountain lion.

  Eventually, after several bruises, scratches, and a lot of huffing and puffing, they reached a clearing in the trees and stumbled out onto a wide plateau. Terrana blinked in the sudden brightness of the sun, unaware of the twigs and dirt clinging to her hair, and gawped at the magnificent sight before her.

  From where she stood, Minda Yerra had never looked more spectacular. The great dragon gazed out over the never-ending lake in a contemplative manner, seeing things that no living being could.

  It reminded her of another scene that similarly used to take her breath away — her heart contracted as it returned to her. She could see coconut trees fringing a white beach and shells sparkling in crystal waters. She could even hear waves crashing gently on the reef. The silver form of a dolphin broke through the water, sending jolts of happiness through her body. She took a step forwards, hoping to get closer to the dolphin, but pain lanced her feet and she looked down to see the ground on fire. Angry flames licked at her legs and she gasped.