by P J Tierney
Jamie clenched his own hands so tightly that his nails dug into the flesh of his palms.
The rivercraft captain dragged Mr Leung forward, then swung the stick into the back of his legs to make him drop to his knees. Mr Leung didn’t cry out, but Jamie saw him bite down on his lip and squeeze his eyes shut. The children hurried to kneel beside him.
The chimes rang out again and Jamie turned to the pagoda. There was the swishing sound of robes sweeping across the floor, then an ancient-looking man stepped out into the light. Jade grabbed Jamie’s arm and clenched it.
The Recollector’s skin was so thin it looked translucent. He wore robes of white silk embroidered with a metallic thread that caught the light. Over his shoulders was a golden cape of stiff silk lined with black, and on his head he wore a hat of red velvet. His neck was so thin that Jamie marvelled it didn’t snap.
The Recollector’s deep, soulless eyes darted across the field and up the hill to where Jamie and Jade hid. Jamie felt as if his heart had stopped beating. Jade squeezed his arm so tightly he thought she’d crushed the bones. Neither dared to breathe.
The Recollector flicked back his robes and sat on the small wooden chair as if it was a throne. He raised his hand and pointed one long, bony finger at Cheng. His nail was filed to a long point.
‘Provoke him,’ the Recollector ordered. His voice was so high it could have come from a little girl.
The two crewmen picked long staffs from the weapons rack and circled Cheng, tapping him with the end of their staffs then moving away. Cheng was blinded by the harsh floodlights and his swollen eyes; he only knew where the men were by the sting of their staffs. They laughed at his attempts to swat them away.
He crouched low and held his bound hands up in front of his face. Jamie saw that his fingers were bent in the tiger claw. He tilted his head as if he was listening, then he attacked, swinging his arms around and twisting into a spinning kick. He sent one of the men flying.
Men came from everywhere then. Two from the corrugated-iron pagoda, another from the bushes behind the long shed. One man stood up from the scrub only metres from where Jamie and Jade had passed. Jamie flinched.
There were six men, plus the riverboat captain. He hoped there weren’t any more still in hiding.
The crewmen circled Cheng and took turns to hit him with their staffs.
‘Oh, hurry up,’ the Recollector demanded.
The men attacked all at once. Cheng didn’t stand a chance — he was kicked from one side and punched from another. He couldn’t block all of them. He reeled from every blow, then one of the men tripped him. He huddled on the ground with his arms over his head and still they went at him.
Jade flinched and started to stand up. Jamie held her back.
Cheng leaped to his feet and threw his arms out wide, ripping the bindings on his wrists and sending three of the men flying. He crouched low in a strike position, brought his hands up, flicked his wrist and brought his fingers together in a point like a cobra about to strike. He spun around so fast he was a blur, hitting every single one of the men as they came in to attack. Jamie knew he wasn’t Cheng any more.
Above the sounds of the fight, Jamie heard the high-pitched voice say with glee, ‘Excellent.’
The men stumbled to their feet and coordinated an attack. One went low and took out Zheng’s feet while another blocked with a fighting staff. They overpowered him, and this time they held him upright and made him face the Recollector.
The Recollector smiled and the skin pulled so tightly across his face it became see-through. It was like looking at a skeleton, Jamie thought.
The Recollector swept his arm towards the captive children. ‘I wanted you to see this, Zheng,’ he said, talking to his old master and not the boy hosting him. ‘My army.’ He gestured to take in the island. ‘And my lair. Looks familiar, does it?’ He chuckled. ‘Just like your childhood school. I’ll show that fool Wu how to create true Warriors.’
Zheng looked at the men holding him.
‘Your so-called loyal troops will not help you now,’ the Recollector said. ‘They recognise a true leader, one who rewards them.’ Then he sneered and said, ‘One who is not scattered in a thousand pieces. I’m in charge now, and no-one can stop me.’
Jamie bit his lip and turned to Jade, who was breathing heavily, as if she could barely contain her rage.
The Recollector leaned in close to Zheng. ‘Have a good look around. It will be your last for a very, very long time.’
The fight and the cobra fist seemed to leave him. Cheng stared wide-eyed at the man in front of him.
Jamie’s pulse quickened.
One of the Recollector’s men asked, ‘So how do we get Zheng out of him?’
The Recollector looked at him blankly. ‘Why, you kill the host, of course.’
Jade gasped and Jamie was afraid the men would hear her, but Mr Leung’s voice covered the sound.
‘No!’ he screamed. ‘He is a child.’
The rivercraft captain swung the stick across Mr Leung’s back. It hit him with a sharp cracking sound and Mr Leung slammed face first into the dirt. Yang and Ye cried out.
The Recollector waved dismissively towards Mr Leung. ‘Make them watch,’ he said to the guards.
Mr Leung lunged forward but was snapped back by the chain on his leg. ‘Run!’ he said to Cheng. ‘Get out of here.’
The captain hit Mr Leung again. He lay still for a moment, then spat blood and dirt. ‘Run!’ he yelled at Cheng again and again as the men dragged him back to the children.
Jamie jumped to his feet, ready to run into the clearing and do something, anything, but Jade grabbed his leg and yanked him back.
‘You’d be dead before you got anywhere near him,’ she whispered.
Mr Leung pulled the children in close and rocked them back and forth. He looked over to Cheng and held his chin up high. Cheng knew what he meant and he raised his own trembling chin. The gesture conveyed courage and defiance. It was all Mr Leung could give him, but at least Cheng knew he wasn’t alone.
The Recollector tilted his head back, exposing his bony neck, and laughed. It sounded like fingernails down a chalkboard.
‘Look at you, being all brave,’ he said. ‘You think this isn’t going to happen? You think there will be a last-minute rescue? The Spirit Warrior maybe? Let me assure you, young man,’ his voice turned deadly serious, ‘no-one is coming to help you.’
He flung his hand out towards the wooden dummies and a fighting blade shot out of his draped sleeve. It flew like an arrow and lodged squarely in the piece of paper pinned where the dummy’s head should be. Jamie squinted to make out what was on the paper. It was the front page of a newspaper, the one that showed a full-sized image of his own face. The fighting blade was sticking out of his head, right between his eyes. Jamie shuddered and felt an eerie sense of déjà vu.
‘And to think,’ the Recollector said, talking to Zheng again, ‘it was you who made all this possible by disposing of the one potential threat to me.’ His mouth curled up in a snarl. ‘My great-granddaughter.’
Jade’s face twisted with rage, but she kept her position.
Jamie could see Cheng sizing the men up: he glanced left, then right, and shifted his weight very subtly. Jamie repositioned himself too, ready to race to Cheng’s side. He was fast; he knew he could make it in time.
He heard Mr Leung say to the children, ‘Close your eyes, don’t watch,’ and he pulled them close again. The Eurasian girl moved out of his reach, though, and stood back so she could see.
Jade squeezed Jamie’s hand so tightly her fingernails drew blood. As he glanced down at his hand, the rivercraft captain came up behind Cheng and slammed the stick down on his head. There was a sickening crack then a thump as Cheng’s lifeless body hit the ground.
Jade screamed and so did Elizabeth, Hong and both the Kwok boys. Yang and Ye clung silently to their father.
Jamie was frozen, his mouth open. He stared at Cheng’s body. It was o
ver, just like that, and he’d done nothing.
Cheng’s head moved and hope flooded through him. But the movement was caused by small black bugs wriggling out of the wound in his skull. Jamie felt bile burn the back of his throat.
The Recollector Conjured a tendril of smoky grey light and sent it towards the bugs. The light sucked them up like a vacuum cleaner. The Recollector directed the tendril into an open box on his lap, then he closed the lid and smiled his skeletal smile.
‘Now you will never be whole again,’ he said.
Jamie felt as if the Recollector could have been talking to him.
Two of the guards grabbed Cheng beneath the arms and dragged him from the clearing. His lifeless feet left tracks in the dirt. They took him past the cages and headed straight towards where Jamie and Jade were crouched behind the rock.
Jamie tapped Jade to get her moving. She was frozen in place. He nudged her and she seemed surprised to see him. He pointed at the men and gestured that they should move.
They had only one escape route and that was uphill. They ducked down in the scrub and clawed their way to the top of the hill, making sure they kept the rock between them and the men below. They realised too late that they’d made a mistake. The other side of the hill was a sheer cliff face, with a deadly drop to the rocks and sea below. They were stuck, too far from cover and not far enough away from the Recollector, with two burly men coming towards them.
Jamie peered over the cliff face, then he looked at Jade and wrapped his arms around her waist. She was startled and attempted to pull away from him. He smiled at her and jumped. The two of them dropped towards the rocks below, but Jamie thrust his palm towards the cliff face, anchored a shimmering beam to its surface and swung them onto a ledge not more than three metres down. Jamie stumbled on landing, whereas Jade did it perfectly. As they stepped apart, they heard the men right above them. Jamie and Jade lay on their bellies and scooted beneath a small outcrop and out of sight.
‘Remind me why we have to drag him all the way up here,’ one of the men said, breathing hard. ‘Why can’t we just roll him onto the beach and let the tide take him?’
‘Because,’ the other one panted, ‘the drop will finish him off.’
Jamie and Jade looked at each other. If he needed finishing off, did that mean Cheng was still alive?
The men were close to the edge now. Jamie had only seconds to come up with a plan to stop them throwing Cheng to certain death. He would have to fight them — there was no other way.
He held Jade’s shoulders and whispered for her to stay in place. ‘Whatever happens, don’t come to my aid, you’ve got to surprise the Recollector. You’re the hidden dragon, Jade, not me. You’re the only one who can finish him off for good.’
Jade looked like she was about to argue, but she held her words back then nodded, albeit reluctantly.
Jet wriggled in Jamie’s satchel. Jamie tried to hold him still through the fabric bag, but Jet squirmed and screeched. Jamie flipped the top open, ready to clamp the monkey’s mouth shut, and Jet leaped out. He used Jamie’s arm as a launching point to jump up to the next niche in the cliff face. He saw another hold and leaped again.
Jamie went to go after him, but Jade whispered, ‘Wait.’
From above they heard a man’s voice. ‘Did you see that?’
‘What?’
‘A monkey.’
‘No kidding. Where did it go?’
There was a dull thud as the men dropped Cheng’s body to the ground and two pairs of feet ran after Jet. Jamie could have kissed his little monkey.
But his jubilation quickly evaporated when he heard one of the men say, ‘Let me just deal with the boy first.’
The footsteps returned, there was a grunt, then Cheng’s body was falling past Jamie and Jade.
Chapter 18
Jamie dived to the edge of the ledge and Conjured a beam of brilliant light that reached down towards Cheng. He was falling fast and Jamie willed the light to go faster. It reached Cheng and lit up his face in the dark, then wrapped itself around his wrist. Jade threw herself on Jamie’s legs as Cheng was yanked to a sudden stop, and Jamie was pulled towards the edge.
Jamie breathed deeply and willed the beam to retract and bring Cheng with it. But Cheng was much heavier than Edwin had been, and he was a dead weight too. He just hung there, dangling on Jamie’s beam of light like an old tea bag.
Jamie concentrated his efforts but only managed to bring Cheng a few centimetres closer.
There was a jubilant cry of ‘Got him!’ from the top of the point and a loud screech from Jet.
Jamie cursed. ‘They caught Jet.’
‘He’s a smart monkey, Jamie, he’ll be all right,’ Jade reassured him. But Jamie added his talisman to the long list he had to worry about.
Cheng’s body hung at the end of the shimmering beam, moving neither up nor down.
‘Hurry,’ Jade whispered.
A voice from above said, ‘Come on, I want to get a rope on this monkey before it gets away again.’
Great, Jamie thought. Just go.
But then the other man said, ‘Let me check that kid’s dead first.’
Jamie’s heart raced. He strained to bring Cheng up to the ledge.
‘Make it quick,’ the guard said. ‘This monkey just tried to bite me.’
Jamie had run out of time. He gave up on lifting Cheng and lowered him instead. He extended the beam as far as he could, then dropped Cheng the rest of the way. He hit the rocks hard and bounced, coming to rest with his head at an awkward angle and his arms and legs splayed. Jade punched Jamie in the arm.
Cheng looked dead enough to satisfy the men at the top of the cliff, and even made Jamie wonder too.
As soon as the men had left, Jamie and Jade climbed down the cliff face. Jamie ignored the pain in his knee and the glares from Jade. She got to the bottom first and went to Cheng to feel for a pulse or a breath. Jamie hoped he was alive, he really did.
‘He’s got a pulse, but it’s very, very faint,’ Jade whispered.
They dragged Cheng off the rocks to an area where they wouldn’t be seen from above, then Jamie put him on his side and cleared his airway. He laid his hand over Cheng’s head wound and felt the healing energy drain from him and into Cheng. He stayed like that until he was so drained of energy that he became dizzy. It was time to ask his spirit guide for help. Jamie closed his eyes and concentrated. He instantly felt calmer, a hazy vision too bright to make out came to him and he heard a whisper: ‘I believe in you, young Warrior.’
Jamie’s stomach fluttered and he felt warmed from within.
All the time, Jade paced up and down, opening her satchel then seeming to reconsider and closing it again.
After a while, Jamie sensed that Cheng was no longer drawing on his energy. He opened his eyes and looked down at him.
‘Is he okay?’ Jade asked.
Cheng moaned and groped around. ‘Water,’ he said.
Jade fumbled around in her satchel, removed a bottle and held it to Cheng’s mouth so he could sip it. He drank, then closed his eyes once more.
Jamie was drained of energy again and a chill set in. He sat on a rock and shivered. The waves lapped against the shore and the sandflies bit his arms and legs. The moon was getting low in the sky. Mr Leung’s battered face was burned into his brain, along with Elizabeth’s and Hong’s. Jamie felt torn. Zheng was at his most vulnerable, with bits of him locked in the Recollector’s box. But he weighed his desire to rid the world of that part of Zheng at least against Mrs Leung’s tears and Elizabeth’s parents’ need to have their daughter back. There was no choice; there had never been really, not since he’d witnessed Mr Leung’s bravery and the way he was looking after all those children. It was up to Jamie to be brave now.
He said to Jade, ‘We’ve only got one shot at this, don’t we? While the Recollector still thinks you’re dead.’ She nodded, and he added, ‘We’ve still got the advantage for now, I suppose.’
He
added up the pluses: it was still dark, no-one knew they were there, Jade was a really good fighter, and he could do the Wu-spin. Against eight grown men, it was pitiful, really.
Jamie looked towards the horizon, hoping for the strange heat haze that preceded Master Wu’s arrival to rescue them at Sai Chun. He wished he’d told someone where they were going.
Jade followed his gaze. ‘Do you think he’ll come?’ she asked.
Jamie bit his bottom lip. ‘I don’t know how he’ll find us. If I Summon, the Recollector will be all over us. Have you had any luck with telepathy?’
She shook her head.
‘I think we might be on our own, Jade.’ He felt strangely confident, knowing his guide was with them. He gave her an encouraging smile. ‘At least we’re not up against Zheng, right? That’s a pleasant surprise.’
She glared at him. ‘For you maybe.’
Cheng moaned again. He rubbed his face and slowly sat up. He grimaced, then gently felt the back of his head. He saw Jade and said, ‘You’re alive? I thought I …’ He didn’t finish, but went to stand up before pain got the better of him. ‘The last thing I remember from Chia Wu is seeing that blade flying right at your throat,’ he said.
Jade shrugged, as if it was no big deal.
Cheng jutted his chin towards Jamie and said, ‘I suppose he saved you?’
Jamie watched Jade for her response. She simply nodded, giving nothing away.
They sat silently for a minute, then Jamie said to Cheng, ‘I bet your head hurts.’
‘It does, but I suppose it could be worse. You did that healing hand thing, didn’t you?’
Jamie nodded. ‘It’ll be sore for a while, and the skull is really soft where I’ve healed it. You need to be careful.’
