The Dragon Warrior

by Katie Zhao

  Moli rushed toward me as though prepared to grab firecrackers, too, but I held out my hand to stop her.

  “I’ll take care of the firecrackers. You finish the job,” I told her. And then, with a grin, I added, “Warrior.”

  A silent understanding passed between us. Then, she returned my smile with a wild, animalistic scream. Turning around, Moli leapt forward at the moment the nián covered its eyes with its paws. She arced her sword blade through the air, slicing off part of the demon’s writhing tail. There was no fear or hesitation in Moli’s movements. Only the determination of a warrior.

  Pride swelled in me.

  “Like I’m gonna let you have all the fun yourself!” Alex called, racing across the floor and joining Moli and Ren in their attack.

  Weaponless, I hung back, tossing firecracker after firecracker at the beast. The nián hissed and roared, batting away firecrackers and covering its eyes. The flying objects kept coming. Ye Ye’s phoenix soared through the air, screeching and clawing at the beast’s face, adding fury to the fire.

  “I was worried about you when you couldn’t come right after I used the prayer note,” I shouted at my grandfather. Side by side, we scooped up the remaining firecrackers and chucked them at the nián. By now, the demon was a writhing mass of burning gold and red scales. “What happened? Are you safe?”

  “Wenshu passed a new rule. His disciples are no longer allowed to communicate with mortals—or leave the study.” Ye Ye grimaced, wiping sweat and ash off his brow. “But I had to warn you, sūn nǚ er.”

  I had a whole list of questions I needed to ask my grandfather, but there wasn’t time. We’d run out of firecrackers, and the nián looked very much un-slain. My eyes searched the floor for a weapon, anything I could use to fight.

  “Use this,” said Ye Ye.

  I found myself holding a short, double-edged silver sword, smaller than both Alex’s and Moli’s. A far cry from Fenghuang.

  Ye Ye laid a hand on my shoulder. “A true warrior needs no special weapon, Falun. It is the warrior that makes the weapon, and not the other way around. Your strongest weapons lie here”—he pressed a hand to my forehead—“and here.” He patted my chest, right above my heart.

  My fingers clenched around the sword hilt. Ye Ye was right. I didn’t need a powerful weapon like Fenghuang to fight well, especially not if it came with the bossy voice of the Queen Mother of the West.

  The skills Ye Ye had taught me made me a true warrior.

  The lines on my grandfather’s face tightened. He brought two fingers to his lips and whistled. The red phoenix flew away from the demon and toward Ye Ye. “And now, sūn nǚ er, mount your dragon. We end the nián once and for all!” He climbed onto the red phoenix.

  “Ren,” I shouted.

  Master. I had no idea how I heard him—I’d thrown away Fenghuang, the weapon that was supposed to give me the power to command the dragons. Yet it was his voice, his scaly green head, his black eyes that glued onto mine. The dragon flew away from the nián and toward me, and I leapt onto his back.

  Side by side, Ye Ye and I soared high above the chaos, the nián’s yellow eyes tracking our every movement.

  “I’ll distract it,” Ye Ye shouted. “You take it out.”

  Before I could respond, the phoenix plunged downward, taking my grandfather with it. The nián snarled and swatted at the phoenix, but the huge bird was too quick. It zigzagged to avoid the claws and got in a good peck at the nián’s neck with its beak.

  Leaning closer to Ren’s ear, I urged, “Now!”

  Ren dove.

  The wind whistled past my face. I grasped the sword tightly and prepared for my only chance to deal a fatal blow. This time, I knew I wouldn’t feel the protective might of the gods.

  Yet power surged into me nonetheless, accompanied by the voices and images of the warriors shouting around me.

  My attack was fueled by the warmth of Ye Ye’s guidance. The strength of Ba’s knowledge. The courage of Moli’s defiance. The steeliness of Ren’s self-acceptance. The weight of Wang’s and Luhao’s dreams. The unwavering belief of my brother, who screamed, in that split second before I attacked— “End it, jiě jie!”

  As the demons grow more powerful, so do the gods—and warriors.

  At last, surrounded by the red-and-gold debris of the firecrackers and waves of golden energy that emanated from the warriors and into me, I knew what Ye Ye had meant. The gods didn’t give me ultimate strength.

  My friends and family did.

  The combined force of my comrades’ will allowed me to slash downward with pinpoint accuracy. The momentum of Ren’s descent, combined with the sharpness of the blade, severed the nián’s head from its body in one slice.

  Ren soared over to the phoenix. I couldn’t keep a grin off my face. Ye Ye nodded and gave me a look full of pride.

  The remaining deities shrieked and scattered as the giant, fanged head bounced on the floor. The demon’s body collapsed with a thud that shook the ruined auditorium. Then it disappeared into a wisp of smoke.

  “Piece of cake,” Alex panted. He looked down on the rubble of burned firecrackers and seared cloth, the only signs that the powerful beast had rampaged only moments ago.

  Moli swatted him on the head. Then she kissed him on the cheek. Alex’s face turned fire-engine red.

  Cue barf alert. I turned my eyes away as Ren lowered me to the ground. Shakily, I climbed off his back. My heart was pounding and I felt light-headed, but a realization filled me with elation.

  On the last day of the Lunar New Year, I’d killed the nián at the height of its power. Without the help of the gods. With only my friends—and family.

  Ren shifted back into his human form. I turned to him, ready to throw my arms around him and give him the most enthusiastic hug of his life.

  A voice boomed above the ruined concert hall, the low tenor of it causing the walls and floor to tremble and startling Alex and Moli away from each other.

  “Liu Jian,” the unseen man rumbled. “I know you’re here on the island somewhere. You dare disobey me and leave the study, disciple?”

  My grandfather froze, still hovering in the air on his phoenix. It was strange, seeing the fear that washed over his face, turning his eyes wide and alert. In my memory, Ye Ye had never been afraid of anything.

  But this wasn’t the Ye Ye I’d known, I told myself. Not exactly. Ye Ye was a deity now, a disciple of Wenshu.

  Turning his sad eyes to us, my grandfather urged his phoenix up higher.

  “Ye Ye?” Alex called with desperation.

  I couldn’t be losing my grandfather. Not again—not when I’d finally gotten the chance to see him.

  There was something caught in my throat. Something burning in my eyes. “No, please—”

  “Ye Ye, I’m your grandson … right?” asked Alex.

  “Alex!” I spluttered.

  Ye Ye jerked, slowly turning around to face Alex. “What kind of silly question is that? Of course you are.”

  “Your blood-born grandson. Am I your blood-born grandson?”

  I waited for Ye Ye to confirm Alex’s question again. To erase the doubt, the fear in Alex’s expression. What I didn’t expect was for tears to build up in my grandfather’s eyes. The young confidence seeped out of him. His shoulders slackened. He looked like a tired old man again.

  “I have watched over you since you were a one-year-old infant. In my heart, you are my own flesh and blood, sūn zi.”

  The breath deserted my lungs.

  “In your … heart?” Alex swallowed. “So it’s true. We aren’t related.”

  “It’s a long story to explain, Ah Li. I’m afraid we don’t have time.” My grandfather fixed Alex with a pained look. “All you need to know for now is that you are my grandson, and I’m proud of you—both of you. I will sneak you a prayer note when I can. Now, I must return!”

  Ye Ye’s phoenix soared upward through the hole in the ruined roof.

  I looked back at Alex. His he
artbroken expression reflected ten times the sensation of crushing loss that I felt. “Alex—”

  My brother shook his head, stumbling away from me. “No. No. It can’t be.”

  “Alex—”

  “I was right,” Alex muttered, distraught. “I knew it.”

  I moved forward to comfort him, but he pushed my hand away. “Alex, listen, it doesn’t matter if we’re not related by blood.”

  “Of course it does!” said Alex. “You don’t understand.”

  Moli stepped between us. “Faryn’s right, you know. You’re family, and family sticks together. You wouldn’t have survived without each other! Don’t you get how special your sibling bond is? I would’ve done anything to have someone like—”

  Something cracked above my head.

  “Faryn, look out!”

  A force slammed into me, causing me to sprawl across the floor. I heard a sickening crash behind me. Gasps from the deities.

  My brother’s inhuman-sounding scream of pure anguish. “No, Moli!”

  Through a haze of pain and confusion, I peeled my body off the ground and turned my head.

  I struggled to process what was going on. Ren had run after Alex, who was pawing through a mess of broken glass and shattered wood that lay where I’d stood moments ago.

  The deities spoke in hushed voices, backing away from my brother. His hands closed around a body.

  Moli. Bloody and battered. Unmoving. Surrounded by shards of glass, the remains of a huge lighting rig that had slammed into the ground.

  My vision swam. I didn’t understand. I wanted to retch.

  The sounds of horses whinnying diverted everyone’s attention. The golden chariot, pulled by our trusty four horses, soared overhead, and landed next to Moli. The horses must have felt their mistress’s distress.

  One nudged her with his muzzle. Moli didn’t move.

  My chest tightened. A nearby deity shook my shoulder. “We owe you warriors a great debt,” he told me, inclining his head. “But first, you need to leave. The Jade Emperor is on his way. And he isn’t happy.”

  As if confirming the deity’s words, thunder boomed above us.

  “Leigong,” a young female deity near me said as fearful whispers rustled through the crowd. “The god of thunder is furious. It’s beginning.”

  I wobbled to my feet. My chest and head felt hollow. Ren tugged at my hand, pulling me into the chariot. He and Alex picked up Moli’s body and heaved it onto the bench in front of me with what must have been inhuman strength.

  “Moli,” my brother kept repeating. “Moli. Moli.”

  The horses flew upward. Yet even the cool night air whipping against my face couldn’t shake the emptiness from my insides.

  I was certain that Zhao Moli had just saved my life—by sacrificing her own.

  CHAPTER

  26

  The horses soared above the lanterns and remnants of the concert hall. The minor deities scattered into the streets. The pí xiū that had been carrying the prayer notes stormed around the city, thrashing and plowing down everything in sight. Cindy You’s billboard had toppled over onto the ground, taking with it many red paper lanterns and decorations that had hung on buildings.

  A short way away, the eight immortals’ palace was in an uproar, the banquet table upturned. Flashes of light from magic and shiny weaponry showed me that the dragons and deities were still fighting. I couldn’t tell if the gods were battling the dragons or each other.

  “Demons at the Lantern Festival,” Ren said, his body quivering. “That’s gotta be a first.”

  Alex clung on to Moli’s nearly motionless body. Tears streamed clear tracks down his soot-covered face.

  “Wake up,” he pleaded, over and over again.

  My brain wouldn’t process the image. On top of Ye Ye revealing the truth to Alex and then being forced to leave, Moli couldn’t be dying. It wasn’t fair.

  The horses had only enough energy to drop us beyond the wall, on the beach. I disembarked and keeled over into the sand.

  Alex lay Moli’s body on the ground, fingers fumbling for her wrist.

  Moli’s breaths were ragged. Thick streams of red liquid ran down her lips. I scrambled closer. Just moments before, she’d been helping us take down the nián. The picture of a true, fearless warrior.

  How could Moli, one of the most strong-willed girls, whom I’d known for my entire life, look so weak and helpless now?

  “Moli, y-you have to fight this,” I said. “I promised to teach you how to fight well, and you still kind of suck at it. You can’t leave us yet.”

  Moli let out a laugh, though it quickly dissolved into choking noises. “Sorry I … wasn’t a better … student. But thank you … for being such a … good teacher.”

  There were so many words I wanted to say to my former best friend—words that had hung unsaid between us for years—that in my panic, I couldn’t figure out where to begin. I hate you. I’m sorry. Thank you for saving me.

  Those last words finally bubbled out of my mouth, as the tears escaped my eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered, and Moli nodded.

  “No no no,” Alex kept muttering, tears splashing down onto Moli’s rapidly heaving chest. He cradled her head and clutched her hand to his cheek. “You can fight this. I know you can.”

  A light tap on my shoulder and the scent of pine told me Ren was by my side. His eyes filled, and he squeezed my hand.

  When Moli spoke, her voice was so weak we had to strain to hear her. “I … can’t … die yet. Not on … the Lunar New Year …”

  The last of the fireworks exploded above. The light flickered and faded, and then the only sounds I could hear were muffled shouts behind the wall.

  “I’m so sorry, Bà ba. I left on … the Lunar New Year, and … I can’t go back.” Moli gasped, a tear streaking down her cheek and landing in the long, black hair that fanned out beneath her. “I couldn’t … protect you.”

  “Your father is safe, Moli,” I said softly. “The warriors are protecting San Francisco well.”

  Even though I knew she’d heard me, Moli’s expression didn’t change. She didn’t seem to be speaking to us but rather to the kindhearted father she’d left behind. “I’m sorry I … I never … honored our family.”

  “You did honor them,” Alex said fiercely. “You’re the most kick-butt charioteer who ever lived. There’s no w-way your father wouldn’t—wouldn’t be proud. Tell her, Faryn.”

  I managed to get the words out beneath the force that was cleaving my chest in two.

  Moli coughed. “The Society … doesn’t deserve you … either … warriors.” She reached out a trembling hand and clung to my robe, telling me what she had to say was life-or-death important. “Faryn … Alex … all those horrible things … when I was younger … I’m … sorry …”

  I squeezed her hand, letting her know I accepted the apology.

  “Forget all that. It’s in the past,” Alex said. “Just live. Live.”

  Moli’s bloody lips pulled together into a small, ironic smile. She cupped my brother’s tearstained cheek. “You live, brave warrior … both of you … prove them all … wrong …”

  Her voice drifted off, and her body stilled. Her hand fell limply to her side.

  “Moli?” Alex’s fingers scrabbled at the back of her hand. “No. No, no, no. Not like this.”

  Moli’s blurry body swam before my vision, until I saw only the young girl who’d ridden horses with me in the courtyard.

  Beside me, Ren hung his head. His face was covered in ash, as was his hair, which now looked gray. His hand squeezed mine.

  “She—Moli will be fine,” I blurted out. “She sacrificed herself to save me. The gods will look favorably upon that, and they might deify her, like they did Ye Ye. M-Moli might even be able to visit you in your dreams.”

  Confusion flickered in his dull eyes. “Dreams?”

  “Yeah. Like how Ye Ye visited mine.”

  My brother’s breath hitched. “Huh? What are you tal
king about? This is the first time we’ve heard from Ye Ye since …”

  A realization slammed into me. In all the chaos since D.C., I’d forgotten to tell my brother about my dream. “When I used my prayer note, Ye Ye visited me in a dream. He told me how to defeat the Red Prince back in D.C., and … Alex?”

  “You were getting messages from Ye Ye,” he said quietly, “and you didn’t tell me?”

  “I’m sorry. I only got one, and I didn’t mean to hide it from you. It—slipped my mind—”

  “Oh, right. Slipped your mind. Like telling me about you slaying the nián back in San Francisco slipped your mind? I thought there were no secrets between us, but ever since you became a fancy warrior, you’ve changed.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but Ren interrupted me. “That’s not what your sister’s saying. You’re twisting her words. You’re not thinking straight.” He sighed, dropping his eyes to Moli’s still body and looking away, his chin trembling. “None of us are thinking straight.”

  “You’ve always been the cool one,” Alex accused. “Mastering martial arts. Slaying demons. You’re everything Ba and Ye Ye—and even the Jade Society—always wanted, a warrior for the gods. I’m just the geeky loser who reads a lot.”

  “That’s not true,” I insisted. Alex had looked out for me this whole time—we’d looked out for each other. It was his voice, in that moment of clarity I had before defeating the nián, that had guided me to victory. “Alex—”

  “Yes, it’s true. That’s why the gods gave you Fenghuang, and not me. That’s why Ye Ye visited your dreams, and not mine. What a joke. Now I understand why you’re so much more skilled in combat than I am. It’s because we aren’t even related.”

  “That doesn’t have anything to do with—”

  “We don’t look like the other warriors, but we don’t look like each other, either.” His eyes lit up with wild accusation. “That’s why the people at the Jade Society always picked on me more than they picked on you. You must’ve known this whole time we weren’t related. You’ve been laughing at me. Haven’t you?”

  “What are you saying? Of course I didn’t know, and I was never laughing at you.”