White Tiger

  I crossed my arms on the desk and buried my head in them. ‘I suppose you’re right, but I don’t want to hurt anybody. Particularly wonderful people like Ah Sum. He shouldn’t have to suffer for me. I scared him to death.’

  ‘How much do we suffer for each other, Emma? You and me?’

  I raised my head so that I could look at him in the mirror. He wasn’t looking at me; he was gazing out the window.

  ‘That’s different, we…’ I couldn’t finish. He turned his head to see me. ‘It is an honour to suffer for those you love, isn’t it?’

  I rested my chin on my arms and watched him.

  ‘My demons love me dearly. And so they love you, as my Lady. Ah Sum was delighted to die for you. He was honoured.’

  ‘That is so wrong.’

  ‘That’s the way it is. You need to learn to bind demons, Emma. Please.’ He looked out the window again. ‘Go back to Gold and complete the training. The fact that you nearly drained Ah Sum is a very good sign. You should have the skill mastered next time you try.’

  ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just go to your Mountain with Leo and Simone, and stay there, just the four of us? Not have to worry about demons, or energy drains, or Simone’s safety, or anything? Just live a peaceful life together, as a family. Free to share our joy, our feelings, our love, everything.’

  ‘That would be the most wonderful thing in all the world,’ he said, full of pain. ‘I would give anything to be able to Raise all three of you and take you to live on my Mountain with me. But remember…’ He looked at me in the mirror and smiled sadly. ‘Most of the Mountain is gone.’

  He rose. ‘Go and learn the skill, Emma. It is the last skill you will learn here. We’ll stay a couple more days to teach Simone the rest of the skills, then we will go home and you can help me to rebuild.’

  He opened the door for me and we went back downstairs together. Gold and Ah Sum waited patiently for me on the lawn.

  I had it exactly right next time I tried.

  The next morning Simone ran through the field with us trailing.

  She stopped and pointed towards the trees that lined the field. ‘Ah Yee! There.’

  Ah Yee emerged from a thicket and bowed. ‘Well done, my Lady.’

  ‘Stop here, you’re about in the middle,’ John said. ‘See if you can spot the rest of them.’

  Simone dropped her head and concentrated. She turned slowly on the spot. Then she stopped and grinned, pointing. ‘Ah Sum!’

  Ah Sum came out of the trees a good fifty metres away at the end of the field. He waved his arms and grinned.

  Simone pointed right. ‘Ah Say!’

  Ah Say was about twenty metres away at the side of the field.

  Simone concentrated again. ‘And Ah Yat’s on her way back from the city.’

  ‘What?’ John stopped and concentrated too. ‘Well done, Simone, she’s a good two kilometres away. Can you sense any others?’

  Simone turned, looking. She pointed. ‘There’s about five dog demons over there, and a big lizard thing.’

  John concentrated as well. His face went rigid. ‘I can’t see them, Simone. Wait.’ He concentrated again, and Jade flew down to us in dragon form, with a bucket in one claw and a rag in the other. ‘How far away, Simone?’ John said.

  ‘Twice as far as Ah Yat.’

  John indicated the direction Simone had pointed. ‘She says there are about five dogs and a reptile that way. Should be four, five kilometres. Fly up and have a look.’

  ‘My Lord,’ Jade said. She dropped the bucket and cloth, raised her head, her green eyes flashed, and she flew into the air.

  ‘Why’s she holding a bucket?’ Simone said.

  ‘She’s in trouble and she has to wash the windows in her True Form,’ John said.

  ‘Oh, that’s mean, Daddy.’

  ‘It was Emma’s idea.’

  Simone giggled. ‘You’re mean, Emma.’

  ‘She did something really, really naughty, Simone.’

  Jade landed lightly on the grass. She bowed, still as a dragon. ‘Princess Simone was quite correct. Five dogs and a reptile. They sensed me coming and fled.’

  We all shared a look. Simon Wong’s little friends.

  John shrugged. ‘You can sense them coming from a long way off, Simone. You’ll be fine at school.’

  Simone jiggled with delight. ‘Cool!’

  ‘Return to the windows, Jade. You should be onto the gutters by now.’

  Jade picked up the bucket and cloth and grinned, revealing gleaming white dragon teeth. ‘Yes, my Lord.’ She flew back to the house.

  ‘Why could Simone sense them and you couldn’t, John?’ I said.

  ‘Right now I think Simone is slightly more powerful than me,’ John said. ‘Now.’ He dropped to one knee to talk to Simone. ‘Have you noticed how I summon Jade and Gold sometimes?’

  ‘You mean when you call them?’ Simone said.

  ‘Exactly,’ he said. ‘I can call them to come to me. It doesn’t matter how far away they are, I can tell them I need them.’ He paused and selected his words. ‘It would be good if you could call us when you’re at school, if you see a demon. That way we can come and get it for you.’

  ‘That’s a good idea, Daddy,’ Simone said, her little face serious. ‘That way I can study hard and not worry about demons.’

  ‘Okay,’ he said, rising. ‘Let’s try it.’

  ‘How do I do it?’ she said.

  ‘Hold my hand and I’ll show you. I’ll call Emma. It’s about time I showed her how this works.’

  He smiled into my eyes. ‘The first time this happens it can be quite disconcerting, and I’ve been waiting for a chance to show you…’ His voice trailed off.

  ‘Without freaking me out?’ I said.

  Yes, he said, and I jumped. It sounded as if he’d spoken right into my ear.

  Are you okay?

  ‘That’s a very strange sensation.’ ‘Did you see what I did, Simone?’ he said. ‘I don’t know, Daddy. Could you do it again?’ Lady Emma, please remain right where you are. Hello, Emma, Simone said. ‘Did you hear that?’ ‘Yes I did, Simone, well done.’

  She jumped up and down and clapped her hands with delight. Then she hugged her father around his legs. He hoisted her and kissed her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. They shared a moment of triumph.

  ‘Call Leo,’ John said, still holding Simone in his arms.

  Simone went still.

  Leo came charging out the front door, across the lawn and skidded to a halt in front of them.

  ‘Try calling Gold,’ John said. ‘This will be harder. Let me see where he is.’ He paused. ‘He is on the Mountain. The Shadow one, on the Earthly Plane. It may be too hard for you.’

  Both of them stilled, and a minute later Gold appeared. ‘Yes, my Lady Simone?’

  Simone threw her arms above her head with triumph. ‘Yay!’ she yelled. ‘I’m really good!’

  John twirled her and she shrieked with delight.

  ‘Try it, Emma!’ Simone shouted. ‘It’s really easy!’

  ‘Emma can’t do it, Simone. She’s not half Shen like you are,’ John said.

  ‘Don’t be silly, Daddy, I’m not half Shen. Shen are the gods that you see in the temples back in Hong Kong. I can’t be half one of them.’

  John lowered her and went down on one knee to speak at her level. ‘I’m a Shen, Simone.’

  ‘No, you’re not, silly Daddy, you’re just a special man,’ she said, explaining patiently.

  ‘I’m a Shen.’

  She put her little hands on her hips, disbelieving. ‘Okay then, which Shen are you?’

  ‘Remember the temple on Cheung Chau? The one for Pak Tai?’ he said, using his Cantonese name.

  ‘I remember that temple.’ She wrinkled her nose. ‘It was really yucky. Too much incense.’

  ‘I am Pak Tai. I am Xuan Wu.’

  She didn’t say anything, she just glared at him, hands on hips.

  ‘Which Shen
is in charge of the West?’ he said. ‘The White Tiger God, everybody knows that.’ ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Bai Hu.’

  Her hands fell from her hips and her eyes went wide. She flopped to sit on the grass.

  ‘She’s just realised,’ I said quietly.

  ‘I wondered when she would,’ he said just as softly. He sat next to her. I sat on the other side.

  John waved Leo and Gold away. Leo walked back to the house; Gold just disappeared.

  ‘Kwan Yin,’ she said softly.

  He nodded.

  ‘Xuan Wu.’

  He nodded again. ‘That’s me.’

  ‘You’re a snake turtle?’ she said with disbelief. ‘My daddy’s a snake and a turtle?’

  ‘I’m the turtle,’ he said gently. ‘I don’t know where the snake is. I’ll find it again soon.’

  Simone looked at me.

  ‘I’m just an ordinary person.’

  ‘Did you know he’s a turtle, Emma?’

  ‘Yes, I did, Simone. I’ve known for a long time.’

  ‘Did you know he was a Shen?’

  I nodded.

  She looked down, digesting this for a moment. Then she quickly glanced up at her father. ‘Mummy?’

  ‘Mummy was a normal person too. She was very beautiful, and very wonderful.’

  ‘I think I should go now,’ I said, moving to rise.

  ‘Please stay, Emma,’ Simone begged me, putting her hand on my arm. ‘Don’t go away right now.’

  ‘Okay.’ I sat next to her and held her hand. ‘I’m here.’

  Simone watched her feet for a while. Both of us waited patiently to see what would come out next.

  ‘Can you show me the turtle, Daddy?’ she said. ‘Bai Hu is always giving me tiger rides.’

  ‘I can’t change into the turtle right now.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘Because if I change into the turtle, I can’t change back again,’ he said, very sad. ‘I’d be stuck like that for a long time.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You know how I’m low in energy?’

  She nodded, her little face serious.

  ‘If I lose human form and turn into a turtle, I don’t have the energy to change back again.’

  ‘You have to stay in human form?’ She studied him carefully. ‘That must be really hard. Uncle Bai has to change back into a tiger all the time.’

  ‘Kwan Yin is helping me.’

  ‘So that’s why we go to Paris,’ she said, wide-eyed. ‘You are very clever, you know that?’ ‘You need to look after yourself, Daddy, so you don’t change into a turtle,’ she said. ‘If you change into a turtle then you can’t fight the demons for me. Leo will have to do it all.’

  ‘Should I, Emma?’ John glanced desperately at me; he wasn’t sure if he should tell her he was leaving. His voice was thick with emotion. ‘Help me, Emma, I don’t know what to do.’

  I wanted so much to hold him and comfort him. He needed me; his face was full of pain. I remembered what Simone had said in London. She didn’t understand, she was still too young. Soon, though. Something I wasn’t looking forward to.

  ‘I think that’s enough for now, John. The rest can wait until later.’

  He nodded and rose, taking Simone’s hand and helping her up. I rose as well.

  ‘Are you and Emma going to get married?’ Simone said. ‘Don’t worry, I won’t be mad, I’d be happy. I want you to.’

  I nearly fell to sit again. She’d seen the ring. She’d heard me call him John. She’d heard me called Lady Emma. She wasn’t stupid.

  ‘Right now I can’t even touch Emma,’ he said sadly. ‘I’m too drained. I’d hurt her.’

  ‘You’d just suck all the energy out of her,’ Simone said. Her voice became breathless as she understood. ‘Goodness, Daddy, make sure you don’t touch Emma, you could kill her.’

  ‘Don’t worry, we’re very careful,’ I said.

  ‘But that means you can’t get married, ‘cause you can’t kiss each other,’ she said with a child’s logic. ‘That’s really sad.’

  ‘I’m happy to be with your daddy and I’m happy to be with you,’ I said. ‘That’s what’s important.’

  ‘I’ve promised Emma that one day I will marry her, Simone.’ John moved slightly away from me. ‘So she’s not the nanny any more. She’s my Lady, the one who’ll marry me one day.’

  ‘Good,’ Simone said, very serious. ‘I’ll be a flower girl.’ She screwed up her face. ‘I’m hungry.’

  ‘Why don’t you call Ah Yat and tell her to have something ready for you back at the house?’ John said.

  Simone concentrated. ‘I asked her to make some tea for you too, Daddy.’

  Come on, Emma, she said straight into my ear, and I jumped. Let’s go.

  ‘I can see that in the very near future I will really regret that you’ve learned this,’ I said.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE

  Jade’s face spoke volumes when she returned with Simone’s and my riding gear. She’d done well to find mine in the disaster area that passed for my wardrobe. ‘It’s mine,’ I said.

  ‘I’m not saying anything, ma’am,’ she said with a small smile.

  About mid-morning Bai Hu turned up with three horses, two ponies and five grooms to help. The horses were superb: pure-bred Arabs, two steel grey and one black, all small and solid with gorgeous dish-shaped faces. Simone grinned in delight when she saw the ponies and raced to try them. The smiling grooms helped her to mount.

  ‘She’ll be fine. Those ponies are completely bombproof,’ Bai Hu said. He waved a hand and one of the grooms brought the black Arab mare to us. She stood just over fifteen hands, and when the groom stopped with her she remained completely still, watching us with huge, intelligent eyes.

  ‘I have chosen this one particularly because she is the Dark Lord’s colour,’ Bai Hu said. ‘She’s slightly small for you, my Lady, but she can carry you easily. She is well-trained, sound and has a very even temperament.’

  ‘She’s gorgeous.’

  Bai Hu vaulted onto her. He pushed her into a trot and she stepped out beautifully. He flung her into a fullout gallop. She was magnificent; her tail went up and her long silken mane flowed as she ran. He stopped her about thirty metres away, spun her around and galloped back; going direct from gallop to halt in front of us. The horse stopped dead and didn’t move a muscle.

  Bai Hu saw my face. He rode like a Mongolian—all arms and legs and loose reins flying. My pony club instructors went berserk at him in my head.

  He turned the horse and galloped her away again, arms and legs flying. He stopped about fifty metres away and spun her on her haunches.

  He straightened in the saddle, took up the reins and pushed her into one of the nicest collected canters I had ever seen. He performed two turns on the haunches at the canter, then dropped her into a trot. He trotted her sideways in a near-perfect half-pass. He half-passed both ways, then brought her, still trotting, to a near standstill: a flawless piaffe. He cantered her forward and changed legs every stride, showing off.

  He stopped her. She stood perfectly still in a square halt. He made her leap straight up into the air and kick out behind her in mid-air, all in faultless control: a perfect capriole.

  ‘War-trained, as he said,’ John said. ‘I love the colour.’

  ‘No way am I good enough to ride that,’ I said. ‘That was Grand Prix stuff. That last bit was Spanish Riding School stuff.’

  ‘Don’t worry about that, all the Tiger’s horses are like that. You can do what you like with her; just ride her out on the trail with us if you want.’

  The Tiger threw himself off the horse and brought her over. ‘I think this one is the pick of the bunch. Have a try.’

  I touched the horse’s head and she didn’t move. ‘Isn’t she scared of you? Doesn’t she know that you’re a tiger?’

  ‘These horses have been trained not to be scared of anything, not even a tiger. Most untrained horses are terrified of me.’

 
I scratched the horse between the eyes and she sighed with pleasure. ‘Is she really just an ordinary horse? She’s not some sort of supernatural creature?’

  ‘Perfectly ordinary Arab mare, just trained by the best in the world.’

  ‘What’s her name?’ The horse dropped her head and nudged me affectionately.

  ‘Black Jade.’ Bai Hu’s head shot up and he glanced at John. ‘What?’

  ‘That’s the second encounter Lady Emma has had with black jade in three days,’ John said. ‘The earrings she chose for the ceremony were also black jade.’

  The Tiger stood very still for a moment. ‘I don’t like the implications of Lady Emma being presented with so much black jade. Let’s look at the other horses instead.’

  ‘You will tell me what all this is about later, John,’ I said.

  ‘Is that an order?’ His eyes were alive with amusement.

  ‘Damn straight it is.’

  The Tiger burst out laughing. ‘I would never have believed it. The Dark Lord has met his match, and she is an ordinary human a good head shorter than him.’

  ‘Nothing ordinary about her,’ John said, smiling into my eyes.

  ‘Give it a rest.’ I checked the length of the stirrup leathers and pulled them up to suit me. ‘I’m not superstitious, whatever this black jade thing is. Let me have a sit on her.’ I stopped when I saw the saddle. ‘This is an Australian synthetic saddle.’

  ‘Very useful,’ the Tiger said. ‘Washes clean, adjusts to size, a good fit on most horses, even these round Arabs. Saves a tremendous amount of work for the grooms.’

  ‘How many horses do you have?’

  ‘I have no idea. Two five nine! How many horses we got right now?’

  ‘Nine hundred and forty-eight altogether, my Lord, in the Palace,’ the groom called back. ‘Another couple of hundred on the Earthly Plane in the racing stables, and some of this season’s mares have yet to drop.’

  ‘The answer is: I have an awful lot of horses, my Lady. Try the mare.’ Bai Hu nodded towards Simone, who was gleefully charging around on a cute skewbald pony. ‘I think Princess Simone has already chosen. I knew she’d pick the coloured one.’

  I couldn’t ride well enough to get nearly as good a performance out of Black Jade, but nobody seemed to care. I tried the other two, but couldn’t wait to get back on the first mare.