The Yu Dragon

by Aiki Flinthart

  Marcus and Brynn appeared at his side.

  “We released a drop-stone designed to block the entrance. It was probably meant to trap us in the tunnel but the mechanism had corroded. They won’t get through. Now don’t move,” Marcus ordered, his brow furrowed with concern.

  “That bad, huh?” Phoenix coughed again. Something dark sprayed from his mouth. Gently, Marcus and Brynn lay him down on his stomach. There was a jostling, painless tug and a spear clattered to the floor beside his head. He eyed it resignedly. The tip glistened with blood in the torchlight. A loud ringing in his ears blotted out the words he could see Marcus speaking. His toes and feet were cold. This was getting to be way too familiar a feeling. Dammit.

  The world went dark. Again.

  An unknowable time later, Phoenix awoke. Marcus crouched beside him but Brynn had disappeared. Phoenix eased himself up and sighed.

  “One more down. Two to go,” he joked, trying to ignore the sickening sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. There were now only two life-rubies left in the hilt of his dagger.

  “You must guard them more carefully,” Marcus admonished, holding out a leather water bag for him to drink from. “We have yet to rescue Jade, master the Yu dragon and defeat Zhudai.”

  “I know, I know,” Phoenix returned irritably, raking back his long hair. “This stuff is a lot harder to do without Jade around to help with the magical stuff, you know.”

  Marcus sat down, re-capping the water and stowing it away.

  “I know,” he echoed.

  There was an odd note to his quiet reply that made Phoenix look sharply over at his friend. Realisation dawned. How had he missed it?

  “You.. you like her, don’t you?” He murmured, glancing about for Brynn. The boy wandered a little further away, torch raised high, inspecting what looked like regular piles of stone on the floor of the room they occupied.

  Marcus turned bleak, dark eyes on his friend then looked away, his lips pressed hard together.

  “But…” Phoenix faltered, not knowing what to say. He wasn’t exactly big on experience in these matters. “You know we have to leave at the end of all this, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  For once, Marcus’ minimal conversational style annoyed him. “So what are you going to do?”

  The Roman raised his brows and stood up, brushing his pants off. “I’m going to keep you alive so we can rescue her, finish your last Quest and send you both home.”

  “But…but what about you?” Phoenix blurted. “If we don’t finish then she can stay here with you. Isn’t that what you want?”

  Marcus shrugged. “It’s not about what I want.” He shook his head. “It’s about doing what’s right. There’s more to your Quests than simple treasure hunts and revenge against Zhudai. I know that much by now. The lives and happiness of many, many people are at stake. Surely my own happiness is a small matter compared to restoring Balance to the whole world, possibly two. I will do what’s right, and so will you.”

  He turned to stare off into the darkness, as if seeing into the future. “Jade, however…”

  “What about her?” Phoenix was confused. This emotional, talkative Marcus was unsettling.

  The Roman’s eyes were hard now. “There may come a time when Jade has to choose the right thing over what she wants and she will find it difficult. We must be there to help her.”

  “What are you talking about?” Phoenix demanded, rattled. “She’s the one who’s always going on about helping people. She already had to choose when Arawn offered to let her stay with the Elves. If anyone knows the right choice, it’s Jade, not me.”

  When Marcus didn’t answer, Phoenix spoke again, more urgently. “Do you know what she’s going to do? How? What is it?”

  Marcus picked up his horses’ reins and those of the pack horse. “The old monk told me....”

  “What did he tell you – exactly?” Phoenix grabbed his friends’ arm.

  Those dark eyes lifted again. “He told me… just what I said: that Jade will need help to make the right choice sometime soon.” He shook off Phoenix’s grip. “Now let’s find a way out of here before Brynn finds something to steal and awakens that.” Pointing into the gloom, he marched away, leaving Phoenix to stare after him uneasily.

  He glanced at where the Roman had pointed and swore. By the flickering glow of a torch, Phoenix could just make out the enormous shape of a stone dragon statue. Its ruby eyes glittered strangely in the half-light and shifting shadows gave it the illusion of movement. With half-furled wings, it’s long, snaky body coiled and wound about a sarcophagus of pure jade in the centre of the room.

  Startled, Phoenix took in his surroundings for the first time – and realised they must be inside the Emperor Qinshihuan’s tomb.

  The domed ceiling darkened into gloom overhead but where it could be seen, star patterns of pearls and diamonds glittered in the torchlight. All around the base of the jade sarcophagus lay what looked like a vast map. It wasn’t flat but three dimensional – like a miniature world. Knee high mountain ranges were painted green to simulate forest. At their foothills, silvery rivers shone smooth in the torchlight, winding toward a beautifully-laid out, walled city.

  Brynn, looking exactly like some sort of giant in a bad monster movie from the fifties, stepped gingerly between the buildings. He crouched down and dipped a finger into a river, examining the shining silver digit curiously. Poking out his tongue, he was about to taste the liquid when Marcus knocked his hand away.

  “Quicksilver. It’s poison.”

  Unabashed, Brynn shook his finger and dried it on his shirt. Tiny droplets of mercury flew through the air like silver rain and ran down the walls of perfect little dolls’ houses.

  “It’s incredible,” Phoenix said, awed. Every building was exact: every tile in place; every door hinged; every interior perfectly furnished; every wall decorated with minute murals and paintings. Apart from a thick layer of dust, it could have been made yesterday. He half expected tiny little people to come out and run screaming from the invading monsters who towered over them.

  “Hey,” Brynn called out excitedly, beckoning them over toward the jade sarcophagus. “There’s sure to be treasure in here, don’t you think?”

  Phoenix reached out and swatted the boy lightly on the head. He pointed up at the dragon. Its white teeth and red eyes gleamed down at them.

  “What’s the bet that great big lizard would wake up the minute you touch the coffin?”

  Brynn, whose hand had already been outstretched, turned his gaze upward. Slowly, his hand fell back to his side.

  “Maybe you’re right.” He swallowed and stepped away. “Maybe we should find a way out, instead. I don’t really need any more treasure.”

  Phoenix and Marcus exchanged amused looks.

  The three investigated the tomb with sinking hearts. There seemed to be four exits – one in each wall. Or at least, there used to be four. Marcus’ trick with the drop-stone must have triggered the other three to close the same way. All four exits were now blocked by enormous chunks of stone.

  “Uh…ok then,” Phoenix spun around, looking for other ways out. “Now you can say we’re up to number seven, Brynn. Only Five for you, though Marcus,” he added mock-patronisingly. The Roman raised an eyebrow at him but disdained to answer.

  Phoenix sighed. “So where’s one of Jade’s secret exits when you need one?”

  “Hello? Hello there? The secret exit is this way, please. You come now. Yes?”

  The three companions stared at each other in confusion.

  “Who said that?” Phoenix peered into the darkness beyond the torchlight.

  Out from behind the dragon, tottered a wizened, bent old woman. Narrow, dark eyes sparkled up at them from a face like scrunched up brown paper. She wore a plain, dark, long sleeved shirt with a high collar and matching loose pants. In one hand she held a knobbly wooden cane, on which she leaned every once in awhile to aid a particularly tricky step through the mi
niature city. She didn’t look dangerous.

  “Long Zhi Hui,” the old woman said, smiling so hard that her eyes were just black slits.

  “Pardon?” Phoenix asked, feeling stupid. Whatever those words were, they sounded like incomprehensible gibberish. He slapped himself lightly on the side of the head, wondering what had happened to the translation spell that had been cast on them all back in Svealand. Had it stopped working?

  The elder hobbled forward and bowed. “My name. Long Zhi Hui. You may call me Zhi Hui.”

  “Oh, now I get it. Phoenix,” he pointed to himself, “and my friends Marcus and Brynn. Umm… how did you get in here?” For some reason, he had a nagging feeling he’d met this old woman before somewhere but couldn’t for the life of him think where or when.

  Zhi Hui smiled and bobbed her head. “I told you: the secret entrance. I am the Tomb-sweeper. It is the first day of the Qingming festival.”

  When they looked blank, Zhi Hui shook her head. “You are from far away. Maybe you don’t have this day in your year. It is a celebration of Spring and also a time to tend the graves of the departed. It is my job to clean the tomb of the Emperor Qinshihuan. This tomb.”

  “Ah ha,” Phoenix hoped he sounded like he understood. “Well, I’m sorry we messed it up a bit. We came here by accident and the terracotta warriors kind of…er… came to life and started chasing us. We weren’t going to steal anything, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Zhi Hui grinned, showing worn, yellowing teeth. “I was not worried. If you had stolen anything, you would have awakened the Dragon god and we would not be having this conversation.”

  Phoenix looked sideways at Brynn who managed to look both sheepish and a picture of outraged innocence.

  “Come,” Zhi Hui waved a gnarled hand. “You must come to my house and rest. You are tired and have a difficult task still ahead of you.”

  The companions had nodded and gathered up their gear before the full import of the old woman’s words broke on Phoenix.

  “Hang on,” he stopped in his tracks, glaring at the bent figure. “What difficult task do we have ahead of us? Who sent you here?”

  “Why, Long Baiyu, of course,” Zhi Hui spread her free hand. “He was worried you would be eaten by the Dragon if young Brynn succumbed to temptation.” Chuckling, she turned away again, her cane tapping on the stone floor.

  Stunned and lacking any other options, the three travellers followed. Behind the dragon, Zhi Hui tapped on a certain carved stone with the tip of her cane. A dark, low door opened in the stone plinth, under the dragon’s tail.

  Brynn looked up and stifled a giggle. “If the dragon was intending to eat us then we’re going in the wrong end.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Jade awoke slowly. She kept her eyes closed and stretched languorously against the smooth, silk sheets. A slight smile of contentment curved her lips as she smelled the delicious aroma of breakfast drifting through the air. If it weren’t for the fact that her bladder was bursting, she might have been tempted to stay in bed all day. It seemed like forever since she’d had a good sleep in.

  That thought banished the last fog of lazy sleep and she sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide. What was she thinking? She wasn’t home! Somewhere out there, her friends were searching for her, battling who knew what dangers to try and rescue her from Zhudai’s clutches and here she was, revelling in the comforts of her jail.

  Disgusted with herself, Jade slid off the bed and padded toward the bathroom. Once she’d relieved the most pressing of her needs, she’d find her old clothes and find some way to get out of here. She felt strong again. The effects of Cadoc’s poison must have finally worn off. There had to be a way.

  There was someone else in the main room: a woman with her back to Jade, hands busy laying dishes on the low table. Jade stopped, hoping the stranger hadn’t heard her.

  “Your breakfast is ready, miss,” a shy voice disabused that hope. The girl turned around and bowed deeply. She wore a plain, dark-blue silk robe and flat slippers. Her skin glowed porcelain pale, her dark, glossy hair was swept up and pinned on top of her head in an ornate style that looked as uncomfortable as it was beautiful. Two long hairpins stuck out from one side, their jewelled tips dangling and sparkling in the morning light.

  “Ummm…” Jade faltered, her determination derailed by this unexpected politeness. “Thanks. I’ll just…” she edged past, toward the bathroom.

  The girl bowed deeper. “Yes miss. I’ll help you dress and do your hair when you finish.”

  Jade fled to the privacy of the bath-room. She glanced down at the blue robe she’d put on last night. Sleeping in it had crinkled it beyond wearability. After using the facilities, she washed her hands and face then glanced around. A clean robe had been laid out for her. Her own clothes were nowhere to be seen.

  This one was even prettier than the blue one. All in silver-grey silk with a long-feathered bird embroidered in pale green across the back and wrapping around onto the front panels. The material floated, soft and thin, around her body. A matching pair of loose silk trousers went with it. Jade slid everything on and tied the ties and sashes as best she could.

  When she emerged, the girl looked at her and giggled a little before casting her almond-shaped dark eyes down.

  “I am Li Lei, miss, your maid.” She gestured for Jade to sit at the table.

  “Thanks. I’m Jade,” Jade said politely, sinking down crosslegged onto a cushion.

  “In our language, your name would be Lin,” Li Lei said meeting Jade’s eyes shyly. “It means ‘beautiful Jade’.”

  Jade blinked, taken aback. “Lin,” she rolled the name around on her tongue and smiled. “I like that. Thankyou.”

  “I’m glad, miss. Now you eat while I do your hair properly,” Li Lei ordered.

  Jade relaxed a little and began picking at the various exotic foods that lay on the table. There was little she recognised, except the rice, so she ate cautiously, not knowing what would taste good and what wouldn’t. There was nothing like cereal or toast to be seen. Two types of soup, dumplings, small cubes of what she thought might be tofu, plus various steamed vegetables. Wonderful for restoring her Spellweaver strength but a very strange fare for breakfast – to Western eyes, at least.

  Li Lei brushed, tugged, twisted and pinned Jade’s hair until Jade felt like her head weighed twice as much as it had before. When she was done, Li Lei held up a large, round mirror of polished bronze.

  “Do you like it, miss?”

  Jade stared at a stranger in the mirror. She’d been dressed up several times now: as a concubine, as an Elven princess, as an Indian Lady; but this was different again. Her pale hair swept smoothly up into an ornate knot on her crown. Three silver, jewelled pins sparkled in it. She looked, somehow, older; serene; elegant; more beautiful.

  “It’s…it’s very nice,” she wasn’t exactly certain. This was getting harder and harder to understand. She stood up, shaking her head - carefully. “But I have friends waiting for me. I’d like my clothes and gear back so I can join them as soon as possible.”

  Li Lei gazed at her for a long time, her black eyes wide. Then she bowed.

  “I’m so sorry miss but the Master has asked for you to visit with him now. Maybe you can speak with him about your friends. Please,” she moved toward the door, “this way.”

  Jade hesitated. What did she do now? If Zhudai wanted her dead, he could have ordered Yajat to do it or just left her in that miserable cell, chained with iron. He was the ultimate badguy; the endgame of this digital scenario. Why was he treating her like an honoured guest when all he had to do was kill her to put paid to any opposition to his plans? None of this made any sense.

  She bit her lip, wishing she could talk to Marcus and Phoenix. She needed to bounce ideas off them. They often thought in terms of strength, strategies and tactics that would never occur to her. Brynn’s devious thinking would be handy too. Maybe they would understand Zhudai better than she. Maybe all this wo
uld make sense to them.

  For the first time, Jade truly felt the gap left by her friends’ absence. Without knowing it, the four of them had become a team – each one shoring up the weaknesses of the others; supporting; pushing; helping. Without them, she felt all her old sense of inadequacy rushing back. Self-doubt took her in its grip and fractured her thin veneer of confidence.

  Reluctant but unable to think of an alternative, Jade followed Li Lei out of the room. Two heavily armed guards fell into step with them as they emerged into a long, white-cloth-walled corridor. She walked in numb silence awhile, eyes downcast, mind skittering in all directions, chased by worry and fear.

  She looked up as they passed through an awe-inspiring hall. Huge pillars, painted red and ornamented with golden dragons, supported a high ceiling decorated in red, green and gold geometric patterns. The floor was an intricate pattern of parquetry, festooned with more golden dragons. From the ceiling hung immensely long banners of white silk marked with hundreds of black, Chinese characters proclaiming the Emperor’s achievements and brilliance. They drifted and fluttered in each wayward breeze; hiding and revealing the darker areas beyond the giant pillars. At one end, on a raised dais, was a gilded, much-carved throne covered in gold cushions.

  It was empty.

  Jade breathed a silent sigh of relief. Perhaps Zhudai was out and Li Lei would take her back to her rooms now. Li Lei did not pause in the throne-room. Instead, she continued, exiting through a narrow door behind the throne, into another long corridor. Helplessly, Jade followed. She briefly considered putting both guards and the maid to sleep with a Command spell. A glimpse of a parade ground outside ruled that idea out. It swarmed with black-armoured guards: hundreds of them. The sheer size and complexity of the buildings surrounding the courtyard was also daunting. If the small section she had already traversed was any indication, this palace was an enormous maze of rooms, courtyards and corridors – all alike. Finding her way out without being caught seemed impossible. She could hardly leave a trail of sleeping people behind her without being noticed.