Feeling foolish, Leech spat on one of the bracelets.
“Now say, ‘Change!’“ Bayang said.
“Change,” Leech mumbled sheepishly. Instantly the disks rose from his palm and expanded to eighteen inches in diameter.
“Whoa,” Leech said as his jaw dropped open. The disks hovered only inches away.
“Give them a gentle push from above,” Bayang instructed.
Cautiously, the boy tapped one with a fingertip. It spiraled downward where it waited a few inches above the floor. When Leech nudged the other one, it, too descended until it was next to the other.
“Now step onto them,” Bayang said.
Puzzled, the boy set his right foot on one. “It’s sticking like glue to me,” he said in surprise as it clung to the sole of his shoe.
“Now the second disk,” Bayang said.
As soon as his left shoe touched the other disk, Leech began to rise into the air.
Leech
Leech’s feet felt so light that it almost seemed as if they had turned into balloons as he began to rise unsteadily. “Hey!” He spread his arms to keep his balance.
“Whoa,” Koko said as his mouth dropped open.
Leech had always been shorter than his friend but suddenly he was gaping down at the top of Koko’s head. And then everyone was looking up at him as he floated eight feet in the air.
Suddenly his legs crossed and he began to spin madly like a top. “What’s … what’s happening?” he yelled as the cellar seemed to whip round and round.
“Oops. The disks must be on the wrong ankles,” Bayang said. “They’re like shoes with a left one and a right one.” She gripped his ankles so that he stopped whirling.
“I feel sort of dizzy,” the boy said, feeling almost at the point of throwing up.
She pulled him down until she could hold him by the shoulders. “Lift your legs against your chest,” Bayang told him. He obeyed, feeling like a human beach ball. With Koko and Scirye’s help, he made the switch.
“Ready?” Bayang asked.
When he nodded, she let go. This time he shot up into the air until he almost bumped against the ceiling, ten feet up. It was scary being that high without a ladder or anything, but also thrilling. He gave a whoop.
Inside his head, he heard a voice exult, Yes!
As the fierce joy washed through him, he did not stop to wonder where that came from.
With a kick, he sent himself zooming across the cellar into the darkness. It was like skating on an invisible rubber sheet because he felt how the air bounced beneath his feet occasionally, making him dip a few inches or rise up a foot. It didn’t matter. He knew his body would adjust and keep him upright—knew with every fiber of his being, knew as certainly as the sun rising in the east—because this was where he was meant to be: flying through the air.
The next moment, he whizzed back toward his friends, outstretched, hair flying behind him. He let out a joyous yell for the sheer pleasure of being alive.
The boy’s delight was so infectious that Kles rose into the air and darted beside him. Boy and griffin looked at one another and laughed at the ecstasy of it all.
“Race you!” Leech challenged.
“You’re on!” Kles brought his wings down in a sudden slap and shot forward, but not for long.
With another kick, Leech shot after him. Bending his knees, he crouched in a more aerodynamic shape. He caught up with the griffin. “Bye-bye.” He grinned, and with another kick left Kles behind.
Leech almost ran into disaster as he reached the far wall. He tilted so that he could bank to the right, but at that speed he found himself capsizing. As he swung upside down, he saw the cellar’s right side looming ahead.
Somehow he managed to get himself turned, and as he headed back, the chagrined boy thought, I guess I’m not automatically going to stay upright after all.
“How do I stop?” he shouted as he flailed his arms at the air.
Bayang ran forward on her hind legs to meet him, her forelegs raised. “Say ‘change’ again,” she ordered. “But wait until you start to slow—”
But Leech was so panicky that he misjudged the timing. The landing was abrupt but not particularly violent except for a few bruises. As the boy lay on his stomach, the flying disks shrank and hovered over him.
Bayang stopped in mid-stride and lowered her forelegs. “Oops. Sorry.”
Koko was almost immediately by his side. “You okay, buddy?”
“My body felt so light, like I was the wind,” Leech enthused as his friend helped him to sit up. “I bet you could ride on my back.”
“You were flying as if you were made for that.” Scirye beamed.
Leech’s face was pure joy as he took the flying disks and attached them to his armbands again. “I was, wasn’t I? I knew it. I just knew it. This is better than wings.”
“I wouldn’t say that,” Kles said indignantly as he settled on his mistress’s shoulder. “I won, after all.”
Leech conceded defeat with a dip of his head, but that didn’t lessen his pleasure any. “I never thought I could do anything like that! I can fly anywhere!”
“Don’t get a swelled head, boy. You need more practice or you could wind up diving right into the sea.” Pele tapped Leech’s forehead in warning and then jerked her chin at Bayang. “Now will you tell him the rest, mo-o, or I will I have to? You weren’t hunting Badik originally. You had another target in mind.”
“What else are you hiding?” Koko asked the dragon suspiciously.
Bayang
Bayang realized that she had no choice and was surprised at how that saddened her. Her career hadn’t allowed friendships so she’d come to treasure the hatch-lings’ companionship—yes, and even that pompous little griffin. She’d barely had time to savor the experience before she had to alienate them with the truth. But ever since that day when Badik had invaded, she had vowed to face trouble head-on.
“When the original No Cha was just a child,” Bayang said reluctantly, “he killed a dragon prince and used his hide to make a belt.”
Leech went pale. “I did?”
Koko sprang to his friend’s defense. “You’re crazy. He wouldn’t do a thing like that.”
“Not Leech here and now.” Bayang was quick to make that distinction. “That was the first No Cha.” She could see how horrified the boy still was and tried to comfort him quickly. “I don’t believe you’re that way now. And perhaps not even then. I’ve heard that Lee No Cha wanted a gift for his father. So perhaps his intentions were good. But he was a hatchling with powers so immense that even an adult would have had trouble handling them.”
“I see,” Kles said. “If you dragons are anything like the Kushans, the prince’s death would have started a blood feud between the dragons and No Cha.”
Scirye looked as if Bayang had just kicked her. “So all the time you were keeping the truth from us. How could you?”
Bayang wanted to defend herself but by now she knew a bit of how the girl thought: What Bayang had done was not Tumarg. There was no denying it and no defending such a great deception. “I’m not proud of what I did,” she said lamely.
Pele poked a bony finger into Bayang’s side. “Go on. Tell them the rest.”
Bayang felt as if she were caught in an avalanche that was sweeping her along relentlessly. With her eyes, she pleaded with the children for understanding.
“The dragons demanded that you…” Bayang corrected herself. “I mean, he be killed. And his own family agreed that would be the end of the matter.”
Koko placed an arm protectively around his friend. “So if that ended the feud, what are you doing here?”
Pele nudged Bayang once more and the dragon went on. “No, your … his mother was able to use magic to bring him back to life.” Another nudge from Pele and Bayang felt now as if the avalanche of truth had begun. “Because of his mother’s disobedience, the dragon king demanded that the Lees track down No Cha themselves and carry out the sentence.”<
br />
Leech’s face scrunched up as if he were in pain. “My family?”
Bayang almost thought it would have been kinder to have killed the boy while he was still blissfully ignorant of his past rather than reveal the terrible truth. “Your father and brothers,” she explained. “They all had powerful magical weapons but none of them could beat you.”
“How could their heart be in that fight?” Scirye asked, as sickened as the others.
“They fought as hard as they could,” Bayang said, “or the dragon king would have declared war on their entire clan.”
“So my own family killed me again?” Leech asked in a small voice.
“What does it matter, buddy,” Koko said, trying to console him. “After all, you’re alive here and now.”
Leech looked ready to cry. “It was bad enough when I thought my mother had dumped me at the orphanage. But it’s even worse to hear that my family tried to murder me.”
“In another life, not this one,” Koko said, but Leech still remained crushed.
Dragons did not encourage physical contact as much as humans did, and Bayang’s kin had been more extreme than most. Yet at that moment she wanted to hug Leech. Instead all she could do was go on battering his fragile soul. “Even though you were a child, they couldn’t stop you. Heaven itself intervened and the battle was stopped.”
“Otherwise, my own family would have kept on trying to kill me,” Leech said miserably.
Kles folded his forelegs. “But you dragons never forgot,” he said to Bayang.
“Or forgave,” Bayang admitted. For the first time in her life, she felt ashamed of her kind.
“So the blood feud went on not just for one life but for all the other lifetimes.” Even Kles, who knew of Kushana blood feuds that went on for centuries, was stunned by the vast scale of time.
It was time for the big confession. “Dragons live far longer than humans,” Bayang said. “We have tracked Lee No Cha in his subsequent lives and each time…”
“Your kind ‘stopped’ me before I could kill another dragon,” Leech said, full of hurt and anger at her betrayal.
Koko touched an axe in his belt. “I think it’s more personal than that. It sounds like the ‘lady’ here fought some of those other No Chas. And the fact that she’s still alive means she won.”
“I could never beat No Cha with his full power and knowledge.” Bayang spread her forelegs helplessly. “I’m sorry for what I did.”
Leech stared at her as he realized what she was leaving unsaid. “Is that why you were in the museum? You were tracking me so you could…”
Bayang felt as helpless as she had the day Badik had attacked her home. There were no excuses she could give for what she had done to his other selves. Truly, she was the monster and not him. “Yes.”
Leech lifted up his chin in brave defiance. “So when were you going to kill me?”
Bayang had served her people as well as she could, but no longer. She had spent most of her life on missions away from the dragon kingdoms, alone like some abandoned waif. In the brief time they had been together, Leech, Scirye, Koko—and yes, even the pesky griffin—had given her more companionship than any dragon had in centuries. They were her clan now. It was time to quit being an assassin.
“I’m not going to obey my orders anymore,” Bayang insisted vehemently. Scirye and Kles both sucked in their breath. At least they understood what Bayang was doing. Unfortunately, the boy didn’t, so all the dragon could do was go on. “You saved my life. You’re my friend. Or”—she sighed sadly—”you were.”
Still keeping his eyes on Bayang, Leech tapped the armband and asked Pele, “Goddess Pele, is this really a weapon?”
“Yes, but I don’t know more than that,” Pele said and then jerked her head at Bayang. “She would.”
Bayang hesitated, but she owed it to the boy to prepare him for those future assassins. Knowing that she was adding treachery to her list of crimes, Bayang explained, “It expands, and yet in your hand it will be as light as a feather. You’ll be able to throw it at a target and have it return to your hand.”
“Why should I trust anything you say?” Leech shot back.
Bayang was surprised when Scirye jumped in to defend her, but the girl had balled her hands into fists, ready to stop an injustice. And Bayang was glad that Tumarg drove her to speak the truth as she saw fit.
“Think about it,” Scirye argued earnestly. “Bayang’s turning her back on the other dragons. That will make her an outlaw.”
Leech leaned to the side to gaze around Scirye at Bayang. “Is this true?”
“Yes,” Bayang said uncomfortably. “But then my profession has accustomed me to being alone anyway. If we’re successful, I’ll return to the kingdom to tell them what I’ve seen—that you’re no longer a threat to my people.”
“What will they do to you after that?” Leech demanded, suddenly sounding worried.
Bayang shrugged a shoulder fatalistically. “I’ll be placed under a sentence of death, too. But again, my career has made me used to that risk, as well.”
Leech scratched his head. “You’d do that for me?”
Bayang bent her head with great dignity. “It’s the least I can do.”
Leech studied Bayang intently and then spoke slowly. “I’m still not sure I can trust you.” He extended his hand. “But I’d like to try.”
“Yes,” Bayang said, pleased as she took it. “So would I.”
After they had shaken hands, Koko tilted his head back. “But will the other dragons hold off, too?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Bayang said. “Someone else will be sent to carry out the task. So let me teach you how to defend yourself.”
Leech pulled the iron band from his arm and held it up. “Okay, what do I do with it?”
“Spit on it and then say ‘change’ again,” Bayang instructed, and sketched another flaming sign in the air. Again the boy found it easy to copy.
The iron chimed melodically, and he felt the armband shiver in his fingers until he felt as if his whole body had turned into a tuning fork. But the vibrations didn’t make him feel sick at all. Instead, they filled him with a strange, powerful energy. The armband expanded in his hand and the open ends fused together to form a solid ring about twenty inches across, and yet it felt light as hollow bone.
Yes! Yes! the inner voice said again, and he felt strangely complete.
When he swung it experimentally, the air made a whooshing sound and the wind nearly knocked the others down. “Sorry,” he called, and then beamed at Pele. “This is amazing.”
When he tapped the ring experimentally against the concrete, small cracks appeared.
Koko whistled. “That’s harder than iron now.”
“It can shatter armor and sword blades like they were eggshells,” Bayang said.
Koko was stroking his chin speculatively. “What about a bank vault?”
“I don’t know about that but it would certainly dent your skull.” Bayang’s hand shot out to stop Leech when he lifted it to throw. “Be careful where you aim that.”
Leech nodded at the wisdom of that and shifted so that he could aim at a crate. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the ring spinning across the room. Boards splintered and bottles shattered, spilling catsup everywhere in a tomato massacre. The next moment the ring was back in his hand.
“It can do many other things,” Pele said, and turned to Bayang. “You say the feud’s over for you, so will you teach him?”
“You can also use the ring for defense,” Bayang explained. “You can parry blows and if you time it right, you can disarm an opponent. But it means catching a sword or spear thrust inside the ring. Then with a twist of the wrist, you’ll either break the blade or take the weapon away. But you’ll need a very strong wrist and a lot of training.”
Leech’s eyes grew big. “Wow.”
Pele nudged the boy. “You need a lot more practice. Don’t be reckless when you use it.”
“Sure,”
Leech said, only half listening as he ran his fingers admiringly around the rim.
Pele pursed her lips skeptically and then nudged Scirye. “Keep an eye on him, eh? You don’t want him knocking down any skyscrapers.”
“May I?” Scirye asked Leech as she extended a hand.
Leech handed the ring to her. “It’s funny, but it seems just like the plain old ring I always had.”
“And how do you feel?” Scirye asked.
“Not any different than before,” Leech admitted.
Scirye gave him a small smile. “It’s funny, isn’t it?”
He gave a nervous little laugh. “And a little scary, too. Is that what it’s like for you?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
Leech turned to Bayang as a new thought occurred to him. “Bayang, if you catch Badik, maybe your people will forgive you for letting me go.”
“If I can kill Badik, I wouldn’t care what happened to me,” Bayang said.
“Your enemy is still our enemy, too,” Scirye said, and glanced at Leech.
“That’s right,” Leech agreed.
All of Bayang’s adult life, she had operated alone. It was strange to have allies now—and not even her own kind at that. Her voice caught. “Thank you.”
Koko sidled over to Leech. “Well, partner, when you’re done playing cops and robbers, that nifty armband’ll open up all sorts of opportunities for two enterprising gents like us. When you’re on the tenth floor, who worries about thieves coming in an unlocked window? And if we found a wall safe, one tap and bing! We crack it like a walnut.”
Leech knew his friend too well. “Planning a big crime spree?” he asked as he slipped the armband back on.
Koko corrected him indignantly. “More like redistributing the wealth.”
Pele shuffled up beside them and put her arms around their shoulders. “Before you do that, bad-bad boys, we stop Roland, eh? And to do that, we might need your power too, kupua.”
Koko pulled free in alarm, “What, hey, no?”
Pele let go of Leech so she could put her nose almost against Koko’s. “You don’t want me to get mad, do you?”
City of Fire (City Trilogy (Mass Market)) Page 17
