Blue Dragon Part 11

'Precisely,' John said. 'As my equal. Over everybody.' He spoke firmly. 'You're free, Gold. Go.'

Gold didn't move. 'No.'

'Why not,' John said, and it wasn't a question.

'Because I love serving you,' Gold whispered. 'I will go if you order me, but I beg you, please, let me stay.'

My father came in and closed the door softly behind him. He hesitated.

'Brendan,' John said, still seated on the floor, 'do you blame Emma for all of the troubles we are having right now?'

'No,' my father said. 'I blame you.'

'Good,' John said. 'You've laid the blame in the right place. Does it make any difference, now that the blame has been laid?'

'Not a bit,' my father said. 'We're still in the same situation, and we'll all make it through somehow.' He leaned on the wall. 'Don't mind Jen, Emma, she'll survive. Right now her kids are fighting with Amanda's for rides on the Tiger. They're having a great time. Don't worry about them.'

'Jade nearly died,' I whispered.

'And if I attempted to free her, she would stay as well,' John said.

'We all love you, my Lady,' Gold said, still without moving. 'We are profoundly honoured to serve you and the Dark Lord. I would rather be here with you than anywhere else in the world, and so would Jade.'

'We do what we have to,' my father said. 'And we survive.'

'Your father is a very wise man, and I can see where you gained much of your own wisdom.' John looked up at my father. 'No snake spirits in the family tree?'

My father shrugged. 'How would I know? Until a couple of weeks ago, I didn't even know that snake spirits existed. What does that have to do with it?'

'Snake spirits are renowned for their wisdom,' I said into my knees.

'Are they renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy?' my father said.

'Nope,' I said, smiling despite myself, 'that's definitely a female thing. All women are renowned for falling in love with the wrong guy.'

'Your mother didn't,' John said.

'I don't think you did either, pet,' my father said. 'This man is about as good as you can get. It's just the situation that's difficult.'

'Thanks,' John said softly.

'Come and help with the kids,' my father said. 'Are all the sleeping arrangements organised?'

'You should take my room,' John said to me.

'We've had that discussion, and you need your rest,' I said, looking up from my knees. 'And the boys want want to share the same room. They'll have a ball.' to share the same room. They'll have a ball.'

'Where will you sleep?' John said, gesturing towards Gold.

'I'll move,' Gold said.

'You'll stay right there,' I said quickly. 'That's an order. I'll find somewhere to sleep, don't worry about me. I can share with Leo, sleep on the floor in the student room he's using. Or on the floor here.'

'Leo won't let you sleep on the floor; he'll give you his bed and you won't be able to stop him,' Gold said with amus.e.m.e.nt, without moving.

'Now go and do those sword katas,' John said. 'Round Leo up, he can do them too.'

'You really have to do that?' my father said.

'Oh yeah,' I said, rising. 'Absolutely. When it comes to the kung fu, he's the Master and I'm just the student. If he tells me to do a hundred push-ups, then I have to do it.'

'You still owe me a hundred push-ups from last week,' John said. 'You are extremely disobedient sometimes, Emma.'

'Oh, shut up, old man,' I said as I took my father's arm in mine and opened the door.

Gold made a strangling sound behind us as we went out.

While Jennifer settled herself in the room she would share with my parents, the rest of us went into the training room for the demonstration. Jennifer didn't want to see it, and the children were too little to stay still in such a small s.p.a.ce.

'Did you do those katas yet?' John said from the doorway as my parents, Amanda and Alan lined up against the long wall.

'After we've done this,' I said.

John nodded and went out. 'I'll call the carriers for tomorrow.'

'What would you like to see?' I said.

'I'd love Alan to see you take down Leo,' my father said with a grin.

Alan gestured towards Leo. 'He's huge, Brendan, no way could Emma do anything like that.'

'I saw her knock him down with a staff,' my father said proudly.

'She can take me down hand-to-hand, without a weapon, as well,' Leo said. He sounded as proud as my father did. 'And she's one of the finest energy workers that Lord Xuan has ever seen.'

'Lord Xuan?' Amanda said.

'John's real name is Xuan Wu,' I said. 'It means "Dark Martial Arts".'

They all went silent.

'It doesn't mean he's bad,' I said. 'It just means that he's dark and he's the G.o.d of Martial Arts.'

'Dark?' Amanda said.

John poked his head in the door. 'Yin. Dark, cold, water, winter, death. That's me.' He grinned. 'I rounded up enough carriers for tomorrow. About 10 a.m. Is that okay with everybody?'

'Death?' my mother whispered.

'He's Death?' my father said.

'No, that's Yanluo w.a.n.g,' John said. 'Lord of the Underworld. Great guy. Haven't seen him for ages, haven't been killed in years. I'm just yin.' He pulled his head back into the corridor and disappeared.

'Ten is okay,' I called.

'Good,' he said from halfway down the hall.

'He doesn't seem like a G.o.d,' Amanda said. 'He's more like just an ordinary sweet guy.'

Leo and I shared a smile. I turned back to my family and shrugged. 'That's because he is.'

'What did he mean, he hasn't been killed in years?' my father said.

I was silent.

'Tell us, Emma,' my mother said.

'When Immortals are killed, they go away for a while, then return. Every time John's mortal body is killed, he pays a visit to Yanluo w.a.n.g, in the Underworld,' I said.

'Don't mince words, Emma,' Leo said.

I sighed. 'h.e.l.l.'

There was complete silence.

'They won't talk about it,' I added. 'So don't bother asking him.'

'Hand-to-hand, Emma?' Leo said, moving to the other end of the room, ignoring the looks on my relatives' faces. 'How long has it been?'

'I don't know,' I said, moving into a fighting stance. 'A couple of weeks?'

'Everybody stay still,' Leo said, moving into a guard stance as well. 'We won't touch you, but if you move you could be moving into the line of fire. So stay exactly where you are; we know you're there.'

'Don't worry, as long as you don't move we won't touch you,' I said. 'But if you're freaked out by any of it, just say something and we'll stop.'

Leo grinned and waved a come-on.

'Oh no,' I said, shaking my head. 'You first, Lion.'

'He's a lion lion?' my father said with disbelief.

'Yes,' I said.

'No,' Leo said, and performed a magnificent jumping high kick right at my head.

I ducked and rolled underneath him. 'Oh, come on on, Leo,' I said, exasperated, as I spun to face him, 'don't treat me like a first year.'

Leo moved forward until he was just out of reach. Then he attacked me. He swung at my face with the blades of his hands, left and right, and I blocked both. I ducked and spun, throwing my leg out with the movement, trying to take his feet out from underneath him, but he easily jumped over my foot and performed a backward somersault, landing in a long defensive position.

'Whoa,' Alan said softly.

I threw a spinning high kick at his head and he grabbed my foot. I used the energy centres and twisted my body, knocking him sideways. He released my foot, rolled and spun upright next to Amanda, who flinched away.

'Don't move,' he said, and raced forward to throw punches at my head and chest, again left and right.

I blocked each fist, but I didn't release them; I held them. I crossed his arms in front of him and arm-locked him with one hand. I readied myself to quickly take his feet out from under him before he could free himself.

Leo grimaced, the muscles of his arms bulged and he moved to throw me off before I could complete the spin. I held him, then hesitated, still holding him.

He tried again and I still held him.

It became a test of strength. He couldn't move his arms; I had them. With one hand.

Holy s.h.i.+t, I'd never done this before, and I was stronger than Leo stronger than Leo.

Leo fought me, but he couldn't move his arms at all. His face filled with bewilderment. 'd.a.m.n, Emma,' he said quietly, and I released him. He stepped back and studied me with awe.

I tapped the stone.

'No need to hit me, I saw it,' it said. 'Why are you acting so surprised?'

'What is it, Emma?' my mother whispered.

'I'm stronger than Leo,' I said.

'What?' my father said sharply. 'How is that possible?'

'The stone told me,' John said from the doorway. 'Emma, see if you can lift Leo.'

'No,' I said.

John came to me. 'Hold out your hand.'

I held my hand out. John gestured to Leo without turning. 'Put your hand on top of hers.'

Leo moved forward and put his dark hand on top of mine.

'Up,' John said.

Leo didn't hesitate. He readied himself, then did a handstand on my hand. I s.h.i.+fted my weight, pushed my elbow into my side, and I could hold him. He held his other arm out, steadying himself, but his balance was perfect. I raised my left arm to help me balance as well. The tips of Leo's toes in his soft leather martial arts shoes brushed the high ceiling of the training room.

'Holy s.h.i.+t,' my father said.

'I'm inclined to agree with you,' John said, watching Leo as he balanced on my hand. He glanced at me. 'Can we put Michael on the other hand?'

'No,' I said. 'I couldn't hold him as well. Leo is about as much as I can handle.'

'How much do you weigh, Leo?' John said.