Blue Dragon Part 50

'Granted,' John said, and Michael leaned back against the wall.

John sat down on the other side of Leo from Meredith and Simone wriggled into his lap. Simone's eyes had become very wide when she saw the tubes and machines, but now she seemed only concerned. She reached over and took Leo's hand, holding it tight.

I moved behind Meredith and put my hand on her shoulder, examining Leo through her. I gasped when I saw the extent of the injuries.

'How bad is it?' John said softly.

'It's like someone hit him with a sledgehammer,' I said. 'Everything inside is bruised and bleeding. Most of his ribs are cracked. His breastbone is fractured. Even his heart is damaged.' I glanced over at Michael. 'You did this?'

'I had to hit him hard to stop him, but I didn't do that,' Michael said. 'When he went down, one of the demons. .h.i.t him with some sort of black energy, right in the middle of his chest. I think if it weren't for Master Liu's healing skills, he'd be dead.'

Meredith nodded without saying anything.

'Was it like black chi?' I said, desperate.

'No,' Michael said. 'Nothing like anything I've ever seen before. It wasn't chi, I'm sure. It was more like...' He paused and thought. 'It was more like pure demon essence, thrown straight at Leo.'

'Not possible,' John said. 'They can't throw demon essence.'

'And they can't kill stone Shen,' I said.

'A stone Shen was killed? Not Gold Gold?' Michael cried, horrified.

'Gold's okay,' I said. 'Somebody slipped a stone into Leo's pocket that put him under their control. It was a stone Shen that had been changed somehow into an object. No longer intelligent or sentient, just a rock. Gold is reporting to the Grandmother.'

'He's coming around,' Meredith said softly. 'Lord Xuan, take his hand.'

John didn't question her, he just took Leo's hand out of Simone's and held it himself. I sat carefully on the bed next to Leo's ma.s.sive thighs. I checked with Meredith and she nodded: I was okay to sit there.

Leo's dark face screwed into a grimace of pain and then his eyes fluttered open.

Michael quickly moved to stand behind Meredith.

Meredith lowered her head and concentrated. 'I'm just relieving some of the pain that he's feeling when he breathes. You can talk to him for a few minutes, then I'll put him under again. It's hurting him too much to breathe.'

'My Lord,' Leo said, staring at the ceiling. 'Lord Xuan. Simone.' His eyes closed again. 'Emma? Michael?'

'We're all here, Leo,' John said, leaning forward over Simone and holding Leo's hand tightly. 'We're all safe.'

Leo breathed a huge sigh of relief, then coughed, a strangled sound. He gasped with the pain. 'What happened to me?'

'Your mind was controlled by a demon. You probably don't remember anything,' I said. 'Everybody's safe. If it hurts too much, say so, and Meredith will put you under again.'

'Meredith's here?' Leo said. 'Master Liu?'

'I'm here, Leo,' Meredith said. 'We're all here. Michael too.'

'Hey, Leo,' Michael said, his voice full of affection. 'That demon certainly hit you hard.'

'Hey, Michael,' Leo said. He turned his head, not seeing. 'Simone? Simone, sweetheart? Are you okay?'

'I'm fine, Leo,' Simone said, her little voice as stricken as her face. 'Does it hurt?'

Leo coughed again, then moaned. 'It hurts a little bit. But I don't care, sweetheart, 'cause you're okay.'

Simone was silent, her eyes still wide.

'What happened wasn't your fault, Leo,' I said, rubbing the blanket that covered his leg. 'You were controlled by a demon. Rest, get better, and then we'll take you home. I think you should put him back under now, Meredith.'

'Wait,' Leo gasped, a heavy breath.

We all hesitated.

Leo was silent for a while. Then, 'I don't know what to say.'

'You don't need to say anything,' John said, still grasping Leo's hand. 'Concentrate on recovering. That's all you need to do.'

'Somebody needs to guard Simone at school,' Leo said. 'Somebody needs to guard Emma, and Simone.' His strained voice became urgent. 'The family must be guarded. I have to get out of here!'

'Simone's school is finished for the year, Leo,' I said gently. 'She can spend her holidays at the Academy where she'll be safe. I'll be in the Academy too. You don't need to worry about us.' I patted his leg. 'Worry about yourself for a change, and concentrate on getting better.'

'Is that an order?' Leo breathed with some of his old defiance.

'd.a.m.n straight it is. Now Meredith's putting you back to sleep, and I'll be here to visit you tomorrow morning, first thing. Okay?'

'Okay,' Leo said, but he was already asleep before he'd finished saying it.

A week later we brought Leo home from the hospital. He was still very weak, even with the additional a.s.sistance in healing from Meredith. I held one arm and John held the other as we guided him into his room.

We led him to his bed, turned him around, and gently lowered him to sit. He winced; he was still very sore inside. I bent and pulled his loafers off, and John moved to undo the b.u.t.tons on his s.h.i.+rt.

'Stop,' Leo said, and we both hesitated. 'Emma, Mr Chen, please don't do this.'

I rose to speak to him at his level. His face was full of misery. 'Who else can do it?' I smiled and shrugged, patting his arm. 'You're like a brother to me, Leo.'

Leo glanced from me to John.

'I'll go out,' John said.

'Wait,' Leo said, and John hesitated. 'My Lord, could you ask Michael if he would be willing?'

John concentrated, his eyes unfocusing. 'Michael is on his way. Are you sure?'

Michael tapped on the door and came in.

'I'm sure,' Leo said. 'Out. Both of you.'

Michael stood to one side and let us leave.

'Leo and Michael?' John whispered as he closed the door.

'Of course not,' I whispered back impatiently. 'Leo's like a father to Michael, that's why he asked for him.' We went back up the hall towards the training room; we'd decided by silent mutual agreement to do some weapons work together. 'You really don't understand people very well sometimes, John.'

'I don't think I ever will,' John said as he held the training room door open for me.

'What about me?' I said as I collected my sword.

'Especially you,' he said as he studied the weapons on the wall, and eventually selected a pair of sais sais. He turned to face me, spinning them appraisingly in his hands.

I pulled out my sword and tossed the scabbard aside. 'Okay, Raphael, do your worst.'

'See?' he said, and attacked.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN.

The New Zealand woman Gold had recruited was called Amy. She was half-Chinese and exceptionally talented. She and I became good friends very quickly; not surprisingly, we had a lot in common. She knew about Chinese culture from her Chinese father, and the Australian and New Zealand cultures were very similar. She was friendly and happy and the difficulties she'd had in her marriage didn't seem to have affected her much at all.

I began to suspect there was something special about her when she generated chi the first time she tried. I sat her in my office to speak to her.

'Amy, you remember you swore allegiance?' I said.

'Yes, ma'am.'

'Okay then, keep that in mind. I want some answers.'

Amy straightened.

'First: have you really been studying the Arts for only a year?'

'Yes. I wanted something to get me out, something different. Something that would make me feel...' She hesitated, searching for the words. 'Strong again. I was surprised that I turned out to be so good at it.' again. I was surprised that I turned out to be so good at it.'

'Okay,' I said. 'Second: are you completely human?'

Her face went strange and I interrupted her before she could say anything. 'Wait.' I tapped the stone.

'I was sleeping, Emma.'

'You will be sleeping in the water if you talk back to me again,' I said. I saw Amy's face. 'The stone in this ring is sentient, abusive, noisy, arrogant and lazy.'

'You forgot bad-tempered,' the stone said.

'Yeah.' I asked it silently to check whether Amy was telling the truth. It agreed just as silently. Both of us turned back to Amy.

'Amy,' I said, 'are you human? Tell me the truth.'

Amy hesitated, then sighed. 'I hope so.'

True.

'Do you suspect you may not be human?' I said.

Amy shrugged. 'I'm really talented. Everybody else reacted so badly when I generated the chi; I didn't even know I wasn't supposed to be able to do it yet.'

I had a sudden feeling of deja vu deja vu.

True.

'I would like to look inside you,' I said. 'Do you give your permission?'

Amy's eyes went wide.

'It won't hurt,' I said. 'In fact, I won't do it myself at all; only a Shen can do it. It is a completely painless process, the only discomfort being the fact that the Shen will be able to see everything inside you. Everything. But I would like to confirm that you are completely human.'

'Are you worried about me?' she asked quietly. 'I know I I am.' am.'

True.

I smiled and patted her hand. 'I'm sure we won't find anything.'

She smiled slightly in response. 'Which Shen?'

'Probably Gold,' I said. 'He's the best one available right now. All the other Academy Shen are flat out with the new recruits, and Jade's off doing some sort of dragon thing. Besides, as a new student, you know Gold already.'

She shrugged, the smile widening a little. 'Okay.' She shook her head. 'Who would believe it? That I'm in a martial arts school run by a turtle, taught by a snake, side by side with a dragon and a stone?'

'Freaked my parents out completely,' I said. 'Don't tell your family.'

'They think I'm a NET teacher, getting away from my husband while the divorce papers go through,' she said. 'Native English-speaker Teaching scheme.'

'Most of our older students' parents think that,' I said. 'If they're underage of course we tell the parents they're coming to learn the Arts, but if the student is an adult, like you, it's up to you to choose what to tell them.' I paused, then decided. I took the ring off my finger and handed it to her. 'Put this on for a moment.'

She studied it, turning it over in her fingers, then slipped it onto the smallest finger of her left hand.

'Okay,' I said. 'Give it back.'

She shrugged and returned it to me.

'Good,' I said. 'I'll arrange a time for you to be examined by Gold. Don't worry, you know him already. He's okay.'

'Is that the ring?' she said.

'Yep. I just had the stone look at you as well.'