Jamie Reign the Hidden Dragon

by P J Tierney

  Jade was two years older than Jamie and easily the best kung fu fighter the school had produced. She was all muscle and attitude, and had an air of superiority that was utterly beguiling. Jamie had to admit that she’d caught him staring on more than one occasion, but he wasn’t the only one, not by a long shot.

  The six Warriors of the Way assembled at the edge of the hole and looked over. They took in the wide space between them and the other side, scanned the area for another option, then finally rested their eyes on Cheng and the beam.

  ‘I’m not going across that,’ Bruce said.

  Jamie didn’t blame him. A tantalising thought began to form. Maybe Bruce and Lucy could take Wing back and he could continue the race.

  Jade was silent; she seemed to be weighing something up. While Jamie stared at her, distracted by the way her forehead made a little crease when she was thinking, Edwin stepped up to the beam.

  As Cheng took his final step at the far end, Edwin stepped onto the near end. Cheng stumbled as he reached the solid ground on the other side and in trying to recover he knocked the beam with his foot. He turned and lunged to catch it, but it was too late. Edwin shrieked as the beam fell from beneath him and he plunged into the abyss.

  Jamie launched himself across the stone path, skidding along his belly towards the edge of the hole and thrusting his hand down to catch Edwin’s. Edwin stretched his hand up, but he was falling faster than Jamie was sliding and their hands couldn’t reach one another.

  Jamie stretched further down over the edge as Edwin’s panicked eyes bored into him. He felt his chest then his stomach slide over the edge until he was at toppling point. He was still sliding when he felt the massive weight of a Warrior or two slam against his legs and pin him down. He came to a sudden, jarring stop and the gap between his hand and Edwin’s grew larger. Edwin screamed.

  Jamie strained to reach him and summoned every bit of energy he could. He felt his palm tingle and saw a shimmering white tendril of light emanate from it. The light shot down towards Edwin, wrapped around his outstretched wrist and yanked him to a sudden stop. Edwin swung like a pendulum into the face of the cliff.

  Jamie focused his concentration on the thin, smoky line of light that was the only thing stopping Edwin from falling onto the jagged and unforgiving rocks below. He didn’t dare breathe lest he lose that tenuous lifeline.

  As he hung headfirst over the edge, he felt the weight pinning his legs shift slightly. One wrong move from the Warriors up top and Jamie and Edwin would be plunging to their deaths. Jamie wanted to scream at whoever was lying across his legs to stay still, but the rock edge was digging into his lungs and he could barely breathe, let alone cry out.

  The pressure across his legs eased and he was immediately sucked further into the abyss. The white light from his palm wobbled and Edwin swung around, his mouth and eyes wide with terror.

  The Warriors above saw their error and rammed their weight onto Jamie’s legs again, sending a shower of pebbles down over him then Edwin, before clattering to the bottom of the abyss. Gradually this time, and with more hands pressing him into the stone, the Warriors rearranged themselves so they could pin and haul at the same time. As they pulled Jamie back up, the rock edge snagged under his ribs and held him fast. The blood rushed to his head and squeezed the oxygen from his lungs. He couldn’t breathe. Everything went fuzzy. He tried to keep his focus on his hand, but the bright light was fading.

  From the brink of unconsciousness Jamie heard Edwin scream his name.

  Jamie fought to stay awake; he gritted his teeth and forced every bit of energy into his hand. But the beam of light was contracting till it was so thin it was bound to break.

  ‘Jamie!’ Edwin screamed again.

  Jamie refocused and saw only Edwin’s face etched in terror as the tendril of light snapped.

  Edwin fell, his piercing scream reverberating from the side of the cliff. Jamie pushed up and filled his lungs with air. His head cleared instantly and he saw Edwin plummeting towards his death. Jamie gritted his teeth and bore down till a faint line of light trickled from his palm. He felt a rush of air as the tail of a Chia Wu belt flicked past his ear.

  Edwin flung his arms about and his hand seized on the dangling black line. In a flash he wrapped his wrist around it and came to an abrupt, jarring halt.

  Jamie whipped around, Jade standing over him. She held one end of her belt out over the edge and swinging on the other end was a whimpering, dangling and very, very grateful Edwin.

  Jade hauled Edwin back to safety, hand over hand as if he weighed nothing.

  Very slowly, Jamie got up; every breath was like a knife plunging through his ribs. He tentatively pulled his shirt up and saw that the bottom of his ribcage was grazed and swollen. The skin was already turning from deep purple to black.

  Wing winced and Lucy turned away. Jade, however, leaned in close to inspect the damage. Jamie sucked his stomach in.

  But Jade barely glanced at the injury. Instead, she hissed at him, ‘You idiot. You can’t Summon up here — it’s not protected. You’ve put us all in danger.’

  ‘But it was to save Edwin,’ Jamie protested. Nevertheless, he shot a nervous look over each shoulder.

  ‘Did you Summon?’ Jade asked.

  Summoning drew energy from things around you. Jamie had done it a couple of times when he’d been under pressure and the energy had taken the form of balls of brilliant light. This time felt different, though, more like the time he’d rescued Wing from the sinking sampan boat, when the energy had come from inside him.

  ‘No,’ he said defiantly, ‘I didn’t Summon.’

  Jade glared at him, unconvinced.

  Jamie knew that drawing on the Way, the universal energy of life, left a trail that any Warrior of the Way could follow. But the only Warrior who was a threat to them was gone. Jamie had seen Zheng crushed and his spirit scattered on the wind.

  Jade must have read the confusion on his face because she looked at him sadly and shook her head. ‘Zheng’s never really gone, Jamie, not completely.’

  Jamie’s stomach churned and bile rose in his throat. He looked past the crumbling wall to the sea beyond. Zheng was still out there somewhere.

  Chapter 2

  The six young Warriors of the Way stood at the edge of the precipice and considered their options.

  ‘Maybe we should go back,’ Jamie offered, not because he wanted to but because it seemed the right thing to do. Wing was clearly sick and Edwin a trembling mess.

  Lucy scoffed and said, ‘I am not letting that maniacal egotist win now. Not after what he did to Edwin.’

  ‘Gee, Luce,’ Wing said, sounding impressed. ‘Don’t hold back. Maniacal egotist?’

  ‘Well, that’s what he is.’ Then she blushed a little and mumbled, ‘No offence, Jade.’

  Jamie whipped around to look at Jade, who shrugged as if Lucy’s comment meant nothing to her. He turned back to Wing and whispered urgently, ‘Are Jade and Cheng together?’

  Wing gave a resigned sort of shrug. ‘Beats me why,’ he said. ‘Cheng’s such a loser.’

  Jamie’s stomach, and his heart, plummeted.

  Wing’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why?’ he asked as a grin formed. ‘You didn’t think you had a shot with her, did you?’

  Jamie scoffed. ‘Who, me? No.’ But his burning cheeks gave him away.

  He turned away from Wing and dared a glimpse at Jade again. He thought of the words she’d said to him after the battle at Sai Chun. He whispered them now, just to remind himself they were real: ‘Our lives are intertwined.’

  ‘Your lives are intertwined?’ Wing said far too loudly and in a tone that mocked.

  Jamie thought his cheeks would ignite. He glanced around nervously to check who was in earshot and saw Lucy watching him. She looked sad.

  Then she huffed, jutted her chin out at him and said, ‘What makes you think they’ll intertwine in a good way?’ And flicking the long droopy ears of her panda hat over her shoulder, she turned
her back on them.

  Jamie stared after her and Wing said, ‘Who’d have thought you could pull off righteous indignation in a panda hat?’

  Jamie offered a half-smile, distracted by Jade again as she toyed with her belt and studied the branches that overhung the wall. Her face cleared, as if she’d come to some sort of conclusion, and she removed her belt and asked for Lucy’s too.

  Chia Wu belts were different from any other kung fu belt Jamie had ever seen. They were extremely long and wrapped a few times around the body. One end was woven into a monkey’s fist knot and the other had a loop stitched into it. Another thing that had surprised Jamie when he first saw them was that — no matter what grade the Warrior who wore it was — each of their belts was the same colour: black. There was one distinguishing mark on each of the belts, though, and that was the unique chop mark-like symbol that was embroidered into the end. It was the symbol of the Warrior who wore it, it alluded to their family history and their past lives, it encompassed everything the Warrior ever was and what they would be. If Jamie had one — and how desperately he wished he did — his would have the circular dragon symbol of the Spirit Warrior stitched into the end.

  Lucy handed her belt over and Jade passed the knot of one black belt through the loop on the other end. She pulled it tightly. She waved for Wing to hand his belt over and did the same again. She added Bruce’s and the rope of knotted belts was already quite long. Then she held her hand out for Edwin’s. She waved her empty palm impatiently, then turned in a huff.

  Edwin was standing as if to bow, his right fist in the upright palm of his left hand. Jade’s expression softened and she said, ‘You don’t have to do this, Edwin.’

  He bowed to her. He removed his belt, folded it till it was a neat wad of fabric, then he dropped to his knees.

  Worried for him and his knees, Jamie took a step towards him, but Bruce flung his arm across Jamie’s belly, stopping him short. Bruce didn’t look at him, merely shook his head. Jamie stayed put as Lucy then Wing stood either side of him, forming a small semicircle around Edwin and Jade.

  Edwin held his belt out to Jade, then kowtowed before her, till his forehead was resting on the stone walkway.

  ‘Is he all right?’ Jamie whispered to Lucy. She nodded, then sniffed as if holding back a tear.

  Edwin lay his belt at Jade’s feet.

  Jade bowed and picked up his belt.

  Lucy made a sobbing-type sound, then turned away as she dabbed at her eyes.

  ‘So what was that all about?’ Jamie asked as Jade tied Edwin’s belt to the rest of them.

  ‘It’s a thing we do,’ Lucy said, smiling indulgently at Edwin. ‘It’s the highest sign of respect one of us can show to another.’

  ‘Oh,’ Jamie said as he caught Edwin’s eye and Edwin quickly looked away.

  Wing sidled up and said, ‘Don’t know about you but I reckon that belt should be yours.’

  Jamie shrugged as he said, ‘Jade did the saving — I dropped him, remember.’ But all the while he was thinking that maybe half the belt should be his at least.

  Jade stared up at the canopy, her lips moving as if she was doing some sort of calculation. She said, ‘Jamie, where’s that monkey of yours?’

  Jet responded quickly to Jamie’s call, thank goodness, and Jade gave him one end of the rope while she held the other. She pointed to a thick branch up in the canopy.

  Jamie grinned. He loved that little monkey, but he didn’t have a lot of confidence in his ability to follow instructions.

  Jade glared till Jamie stopped smirking, then she held the belt rope up to Jet and pointed at the branch again. She mimed passing the belt over it. Jet looked up at the branch, clamped the end of the rope in his mouth and darted up into the trees.

  Jamie’s mouth dropped open. That monkey never did anything he asked him to do. Then again, Jamie supposed with a shrug, he’d do anything Jade asked of him as well.

  Jet made his way to the branch Jade had pointed out, then stood there screeching and looking proud of himself.

  ‘Over the branch,’ Jade called, and mimed the action again.

  Jet cocked his head and stared blankly at her, which was pretty much what Jamie had expected from him.

  ‘He’ll get it,’ Jade said.

  Jamie raised his eyebrows as high as he could.

  ‘You have no faith in him,’ Jade said, flicking her ponytail as she turned away from Jamie.

  Lucy and Wing copied Jade’s arm movement. ‘Over the branch, over,’ they called out.

  Jet screeched and jumped up and down in excitement.

  ‘He’s got it,’ Wing said.

  Jet smiled with glee as he waved his arms around, proudly copying their movements exactly — using his arm to simulate the branch just as they had done — achieving nothing.

  Bruce shouted in frustration, ‘Over the tree, stupid!’ The booming voice startled Jet and made him stumble. He overbalanced and made great looping movements with his arms as he toppled off the branch.

  Jamie clamped his hands to his eyes, then peeked through his fingers to see Jet clinging to the rope and swinging through the air. The rope had snagged on the branch Jade had indicated and was flinging Jet straight back towards them. Jamie opened his arms to catch his flying monkey.

  Jade smirked at Jamie as she took the looped end of the rope from Jet. She passed the knotted end through the loop and pulled until the knot ran all the way up the branch and locked the rope in place. They could all see that it was long enough for each of them to swing across the gap.

  Jade smiled smugly as she handed the rope to Jamie. ‘Thanks,’ he mumbled.

  He made sure Jet was clinging tightly to his shoulder before he pulled the rope back and gave it a yank to test if it would hold him. Then he swung out over the crevasse. Through the hole he saw for the first time the exposed and barren southern side of Chia Wu island. Waves crashed into a rocky, jagged headland, sending plumes of white spray high into the air.

  The pendulum reached its highest point and Jamie dropped onto the path on the other side of the chasm. He turned and swung the rope back to the others.

  Lucy crossed next. Then as Wing took his place at the edge of the crevasse, Jade took him by the forearm. She seemed to say something to him, then, as quick as a cobra strike, she lifted his arm up, made a loop in the belt rope, twisted it and yanked it back down with his wrist locked inside it. Wing opened his mouth to protest, but Jade sent him swinging out over the gap before he had the chance. The knot around his wrist kept him from falling to his death, but it also cut off the circulation to his hand and by the time he landed safely on the other side it was bright red and swollen to twice its size.

  Jade did the same with the faint and fragile-looking Edwin.

  Bruce was pale as he caught hold of the rope. His massive bulk made the branch creak and he squealed, then turned bright red. He stumbled as he landed, and looked at his feet while they waited for Jade.

  When it was her turn, Jade didn’t pull the rope back for the extra momentum. She just stepped off the edge of the path and, not surprisingly, was left dangling in the middle of the chasm.

  ‘What’s she doing?’ Jamie asked.

  Jade clamped her feet either side of the rope and climbed up to the branch. At the top, she swung her legs over her head and perched on the tree’s limb to haul the rope in.

  ‘How’s she going to get back?’ Wing asked.

  Jamie wondered the exact same thing.

  Jade stood up, held onto the rope and met the eyes of the Warriors on the other side of the hole. She gave a small smile and fell backwards.

  ‘No!’ Jamie screamed, lunging for her. Wing and Lucy both grabbed at him to stop him flying over the edge.

  Jade freefell till the rope caught on the branch and flung her towards the ledge where the others were standing. Jamie hadn’t realised it, but when she’d brought each end of the rope up, they were on opposite sides of the branch. Still in mid-flight, Jade released one end of th
e rope and it ran across the branch with just enough friction to stop her from plummeting.

  Jamie and the other Warriors had to scramble to make room for her to land. She touched down lightly and skidded to a stop. The tail of the rope flicked off the branch and fell with a slap against the cliff face. She went back to the edge and very casually coiled up the rope.

  Jamie stared. ‘How’d she do that?’

  ‘Do what?’ Lucy huffed. ‘Make the rest of us look stupid?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Jamie breathed and Lucy slapped his arm. ‘What?’ he gasped, looking from Lucy to Wing.

  Lucy put her nose in the air and turned so briskly she sent the panda ears flying.

  ‘What?’ Jamie asked again. He turned to Wing. ‘What’d I do?’

  ‘Oh, Jamie,’ Wing said, shaking his head. ‘You just told her she looked stupid.’

  ‘No, I didn’t,’ Jamie said. ‘She didn’t look stupid. I just said —’

  Wing put his arm around Jamie’s shoulder. ‘You haven’t had much to do with girls, have you?’

  Jamie could have punched him.

  Jade gave the others their belts back and raised her chin in Jamie’s direction. ‘Haven’t you got something to prove?’ she said.

  Jamie looked blank.

  ‘Run!’ she yelled.

  Jamie cringed, feeling stupid. Every moment he stood here was lost time in the race against Cheng. He wheeled around and, for a second, felt like a cartoon character, his arms and legs moving frantically but taking him nowhere. Then everything clicked into place and he was running quickly and powerfully. He leaped down a small flight of steps and hoped Jade was still watching.

  The battlements blurred as Jamie charged past them. He was running faster than he ever had before. Jet was faster still, but Jamie was gaining on him. His heart and feet pounded the path, yet all he could hear was his breath and the rush of wind past his ears. He felt as if he was being propelled along; it was almost like he could fly.

  He passed Jet, who leaped down from the battlements to keep pace with him.

  There was a sharp turn ahead. Jamie judged the distance and his stride. He slid into the corner, his leading leg straight and braced, his trailing leg bent at the knee. He skidded and held out his right hand for balance, but he was too low, he was about to topple. He tensed his arm to break his fall and felt his palm prickle as if he had pins and needles. He looked down and saw a shimmering shaft of light extending from his tingling palm to the stone pathway. ‘Whoa,’ he said.