Red Phoenix

  ‘Yes, let us see, Emma,’ Leonard said. ‘I’ve heard about this sword of yours. I want to hear what it sounds like.’

  ‘You’ll want to throw it in the garbage after you’ve heard it.’

  I went to Leo, and he handed me the sword, hilt first. I pulled it from its scabbard, held it in front of me and made it sing. I ran it through a slow scale. Fortunately no dogs started to howl, but Jennifer put her hands over her ears and winced.

  I pulled the chi out of the sword and it went quiet.

  ‘And that will blow up demons?’ Leonard said.

  ‘Low-level ones, yes,’ John said. ‘Higher-level ones are unaffected.’

  Please don’t do that again, Emma, Simone said straight into my ear and I laughed.

  ‘Don’t worry, sweetheart, I won’t,’ I called, and she nodded. She and Andrew were playing on the swings together. Looked like she may have made a friend after all. Without his big brother to egg him on, Andrew seemed to be a nice kid.

  Jennifer glanced from me to Simone. ‘What was that about?’

  ‘She can talk to me silently, right into my ear,’ I said as I put my sword back into its scabbard. I gestured towards John as I returned the sword to the table. ‘Both of them can. It’s a pain in the neck.’

  ‘Telepathy?’ Leonard said with wonder.

  I stopped at that. ‘I suppose it is.’

  ‘Of course it is,’ John said. ‘That’s what it’s called, anyway. The Monkey King once went to the CIA in America and told them he could do it. He demonstrated it to them. They were sure they had a new secret weapon. The little bastard played along with them, pretending to be American and patriotic, the whole works. When they started field testing, he destroyed the entire testing centre and left the place in a complete shambles.’

  ‘Next time he challenges me I will take him up on it,’ Leo lisped softly, almost to himself.

  ‘I would like to be there. I think you could take him, if he didn’t have that blasted staff of his. Enough storytelling. Emma,’ John said more briskly, ‘let’s get you wall running.’

  He gracefully pulled himself to his feet and gestured for me to accompany him to the house.

  Leonard, Jennifer, Colin and Jade all followed at a respectful distance.

  John stood back from the house about three metres, then ran to it, took three steps up the wall, leapt off somersaulting, and landed on his feet where he’d started, facing the house. He gestured to me. ‘Now you.’

  ‘You told me that was the most useless move in the entire suite,’ I said. ‘While you’re in the air, your opponent has plenty of time to set themselves up to hit you hard when you land.’

  ‘It’s not a practical move by itself,’ John said, tying his hair back. ‘It’s a base for working with more complicated stuff.’

  ‘Oh, okay.’ I did the same thing; I stood a couple of metres away, ran to the wall, took a couple of strides up the wall, flipped, and landed on my feet.

  Jennifer’s family all stared at me with awe.

  ‘Spectacular but useless,’ I said with a shrug.

  John waved for me to move back. He turned so that he was nearly parallel to the house. He readied himself, then ran to it, took a few steps along the side of the house, and flipped off.

  ‘Harder,’ he said. ‘You have to remain sideways on the house. More than that I can’t do right now; you’ll have to do the rest without demonstration. Give it a try.’ He raised his hand. ‘Wait. Jade, move away from the Blacks and transform, we may need you.’

  ‘My Lord.’ Jade moved away from Jennifer and Leonard. ‘Don’t worry, I’m perfectly harmless,’ she said with a small smile.

  She transformed into her dragon form: three metres long, gleaming green, with gold claws and fins behind her legs, and a gleaming gold fin on her tail.

  Jennifer gasped and her eyes went wide. She went completely stiff. Jade stood very still and waited for her to get over it, her green eyes glowing.

  ‘Are you okay, Jen?’ I said.

  Leonard moved closer to Jennifer and put his arm around her. He spoke quietly in her ear. She nodded.

  ‘Okay, let’s see you do it, Emma,’ Leonard said.

  Jade positioned herself under me. I was glad that she was there.

  I ran as fast as I could at the wall and attempted similar momentum to the flip. I managed about two steps along the house, but I was losing it. I was falling off. The ground somersaulted to meet me and I readied myself to hit, but Jade was there and she caught me easily with her front legs.

  She tipped me gently onto my feet and I nodded to her. She smiled her dragon smile, all gleaming gold teeth.

  ‘You have more gold teeth than a little old Chinese lady,’ I said quietly.

  ‘I am a little old Chinese lady,’ she said.

  I turned back to the wall and faced it appraisingly. ‘What did I do wrong, John? Not enough momentum?’

  ‘That’s right,’ he said, sounding pleased. ‘Give it a little more of a push. Hit the house hard. Try to push it over.’

  ‘Please don’t push my house over, Emma,’ Leonard said.

  I laughed. ‘I’ll try not to.’

  I made another run at it, really pushing myself. I hit the house very hard; I could feel the force through my feet, enough to crack the brickwork. I took three strides along the side of the house. When I felt myself coming away I flung myself off it, somersaulted, and landed lightly on my feet. I quickly checked the brickwork to make sure that I hadn’t damaged the wall but it seemed to be all right.

  ‘Perfect,’ John said. ‘Now let’s add energy.’ He gestured for me to approach him. Jade came as well.

  ‘That was really cool, Daddy,’ Simone said behind me. ‘Can I try that too?’

  Simone and Andrew were watching me with Michael behind them.

  ‘You can’t do things like that yet, Simone,’ John said. ‘Your bones are too soft, you’d hurt them. You can do this sort of stuff when you’re bigger.’

  ‘Oh, okay,’ Simone said. ‘Can we go to Andrew’s room to look at his cars?’

  ‘I wanna show Simone my cars,’ Andrew said.

  ‘Sure, go.’ I nodded to Michael and he followed.

  Leo rose to go with them.

  ‘Stay, Leo. Rest,’ I said.

  He grimaced impatiently. He actually opened his mouth to argue with me, speech impediment or not.

  ‘You need to rest, Leo,’ John said gently. ‘You are still recovering.’

  Leo looked from John to me and then nodded sadly and sat. He was still very weak from the blood loss.

  ‘Why does the other boy follow her around everywhere?’ Jennifer said.

  ‘He’s guarding her, Jen,’ I said. ‘She could be attacked any time. She needs someone next to her to defend her every minute of the day.’

  Jennifer watched them go back to the house. ‘The front door’s locked, Emma. Nothing can get in.’

  ‘They won’t come in the front door,’ I said. ‘Remember how Jade came here?’

  Jennifer’s face was unreadable.

  ‘Right,’ John said briskly, ‘we only have a limited time, let’s have you doing this. Adding energy. Focus on the three dan tian. You will need to lift the energy and raise all three of them at the same time. That will raise the rest of you. You need to be moving already, with good momentum, otherwise you won’t be able to pull it off.’

  ‘Will I injure myself if I fail?’ I said.

  He understood; I wasn’t talking about hitting the ground. ‘If you fail spectacularly you may explode,’ he said cheerfully, and Jennifer gasped. ‘But I don’t think you are that much of a novice. You have good control. You should be able to pull it off. If you lose control of the energy centres, then just let go and fall off, and recentre them. Try to run up the wall, using the energy centres to pull you. Got it?’

  I nodded. I faced the wall and concentrated. This was extremely difficult. I needed to have enough physical momentum and focus on moving the energy centres at the same ti
me.

  ‘Try running halfway up and then letting go,’ John said. ‘We really need to find a place in Hong Kong where the Disciples can practise these skills. There’s not a single place I can think of where we can do it.’

  ‘Field trips to Guangzhou,’ I said, still concentrating.

  ‘Good idea,’ he said. ‘Getting there?’

  I nodded. I just about had it. I focused. I went very still as I concentrated.

  Then I launched myself at the wall as fast as I could. My feet hit the wall very hard. I used the momentum to push me the first few steps, then grabbed my energy centres and lifted them.

  ‘Evenly,’ John called, and I heard him, but he didn’t need to tell me. If I did it unevenly I would become unbalanced and lose control of my energy. All three types. The results could be disastrous if they all moved around too much at once.

  The energy centres moved and lifted me from the inside out. It was spectacularly euphoric; I was carried from the inside by my own energy. I managed a couple more steps up the wall, lifted by the energy.

  The energy began to get away from me, so I immediately dropped it. I let go of all the energy centres, centred the energy, and fell off the wall. The ground spun to meet me. Jade caught me in mid-air.

  ‘Well done, my Lady,’ Jade said quietly as she tipped me back onto my feet.

  ‘Thanks, Jade.’

  John shrugged. ‘You have it. You just need to practise the skill now. See if you can have yourself on the roof before Gold’s charm wears off.’ He returned to the table. ‘Come and sit and watch, Leonard, Jennifer. This should be fun.’

  ‘Would you like a beer, my Lord?’ Leonard said.

  ‘Off the hard stuff right now, Leonard, but if you have some tea that would be tremendous,’ John said, falling into a very English accent.

  ‘You sound like my ring,’ I said as I leaned forward and concentrated on the wall, readying myself.

  ‘Heaven forbid,’ John said.

  ‘Ewe wan may tah sun Strine?’ the stone said.

  Both Jennifer and I laughed.

  ‘I do not sound like that,’ I huffed.

  ‘Who said that anyway?’ Jennifer was still giggling. ‘That was the worst fake Australian accent I’ve heard in ages, and you definitely find some here in England.’

  ‘You will be in serious trouble with the Grandmother of All the Rocks if she hears you sound like that, Dad,’ Gold said.

  I gestured behind me without turning. ‘I’m busy. Explain for them.’ I concentrated on the wall. Then I stopped and straightened. ‘Who’s the Grandmother of All the Rocks?’ I understood. ‘Uluru. Of course.’ I readied myself and concentrated.

  ‘Remember the stone I put on the table, then Leo put on the grass?’ John said as I focused on the wall and ignored them.

  ‘Emma said it was your lawyer in Hong Kong,’ Jennifer said.

  I launched myself at the wall. I took three huge strides, then lifted myself with the energy. I managed another four strides up the house before I lost it. Jade plucked me out of the air and lowered me gently.

  I concentrated on centring the energy.

  ‘Good,’ John called. ‘You should be on the roof next one.’ His voice went quieter. ‘Anyway, the stone in the ring woke up, and it’s been sending Emma berserk with its cryptic comments since then. And it has an English accent that drives her nuts.’ His voice changed slightly. ‘Couldn’t have thought of a better gift.’

  He would definitely keep. When I was able to touch him again, I really would beat the living crap out of him. I faced the wall and concentrated.

  I launched myself at the wall, took three strides up, and used the energy to lift me. I managed a few more strides and felt a shot of delight: I had it. The energy moved evenly through me and I was still going up the wall. I heard yelling but ignored it, I was concentrating too hard. As I passed one of the windows I glanced in and saw a demon materialise in the room. Simone and Michael had put Andrew behind them and stood ready to face it.

  ‘Jade, come and get me!’ I screamed as I allowed myself to drop off the wall. ‘Demon! In the room with the children! For God’s sake, get up there!’ I yelled down to John and Leo, but they were already inside the house.

  Jade flew up and caught me. ‘That window,’ I said, and she nodded and carried me to it. She flipped me out of her arms through the window and I raced towards the demon. Jade flew in the window behind me.

  Simone, Andrew and Michael faced it with their backs to me. Michael had pushed Simone behind him as well as Andrew, and stood ready.

  ‘Let me handle it,’ I said to Michael as I rushed past him. I stopped and studied the demon. It was a small red humanoid in True Form, about level fifteen.

  I generated a ball of chi and blew it up. The door flew open just as it exploded and poor Leo was covered with black stuff.

  John was behind him. He spun and raced straight back out, his feet thumping on the landing. Leo stood motionless in the doorway.

  ‘There’s more coming. They’re downstairs, Emma,’ Simone said breathlessly. She froze, her eyes wide. ‘Everywhere.’

  ‘Leo.’ Jade gestured with one gold-taloned claw. ‘Come with me, I’ll clean you up. We’ll take them on downstairs.’ She dashed past us through the door and Leo followed.

  ‘Leo,’ I called, and he turned back. ‘I’ll make a stand here with the children.’ My voice changed as my throat filled. ‘For God’s sake, don’t let them hurt my sister or her family.’

  Leo nodded then charged down the hallway.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Gold appeared next to me and handed me my sword. He transformed into his stone self: a human shape all of stone.

  Another red humanoid demon came up the stairs and raced towards us. I blew it up.

  ‘I can only handle a couple more before I run out of chi space,’ I said. ‘Then I’ll have to go physical.’

  ‘I’m with you, Lady Emma,’ Gold said. ‘We can take them.’

  ‘What’s it like downstairs?’ I said. ‘Bad.’

  Two more red demons came up the stairs. ‘Let me,’ Gold said. He went out to meet them. His hands grew into giant hammers and he squashed the demons flat with a sickening wet crunch.

  Gold moved back to stand beside me. He held his hands out and made them vibrate quickly, shaking off the black stuff. It dissipated into feathery streamers as it flew into the air off his hands.

  ‘Is my sister okay?’ I said softly.

  ‘I defended them until the Dark Lord arrived. They are fine.’ Gold froze and his eyes turned inwards. ‘Shit.’ He disappeared.

  ‘If you know what’s happening I’d appreciate an update,’ I said softly. ‘It’s okay, kids, I’m not talking to you,’ I added more loudly. I spoke quietly again. ‘If you can just tell me without letting them know, I’d really appreciate it.’

  ‘Birds. Fire elementals.’ The stone in the ring hesitated. Its voice went very soft in my ear. ‘A Demon Prince.’

  ‘Shit,’ I said, so quietly that the children couldn’t hear. ‘Have they stopped coming up here?’

  ‘The way from downstairs is blocked by Gold,’ the stone said. ‘Both physical and direct. They cannot come to you any more. All of you here are safe, unless the Dark Lord is defeated, which is highly unlikely.’ Its voice became fierce. ‘Get those children away from the window! Birds!’

  ‘Get away from the window!’ I yelled to the children, pushing myself between them and the window frame. Michael spun to face the window and put Simone and Andrew behind him. A crow flew in, and Michael plucked it out of the air and snapped off its head with a flick of his wrist. It made a small explosion of black stuff onto his hands.

  Two more crows came in; I took them out with the sword. They dissipated.

  ‘Close the window,’ I said to Michael.

  ‘No, don’t!’ the stone said loudly. ‘They will just come through the glass and you will be cut. Better to leave the window open and take them as they come in.’ Its voice calmed
. ‘Make the sword sing as they come.’

  ‘How are they doing downstairs?’ I said.

  ‘They are holding their positions and waiting for One Two Two,’ the stone said. ‘At this stage nobody has been injured.’ Its voice softened. ‘Jade is checking on us for the Dark Lord as I check on them for you.’

  I breathed a sigh of relief. ‘This attack is awfully close on the heels of the last one, stone. That was only two days ago. The attacks are closer together all the time.’

  ‘That was the King. This is the Prince. You will not see the King again unless you decide to call him. If you defeat the Prince this time, he will probably stay quiet for a while,’ the stone said. Then, ‘The Tiger is downstairs.’

  ‘He has a personal score to settle with Wong,’ I said. ‘He made us promise to invite him along to our next little party.’

  ‘Birds!’ the stone said.

  I spun to face the window and made the sword sing. Five birds exploded before they reached the house. ‘How many more birds?’ I said.

  ‘Ten. Eight. Jade is chasing them down in the air. Six. Three. At the window!’ the stone hissed. I made the sword sing. The three birds exploded.

  Jade appeared at the window. She didn’t say a word; she nodded, turned, and snaked down through the air.

  ‘She is making it rain to take out the last few fire elementals,’ the stone said. ‘Gold was required to handle them; humans cannot physically face them, they are too hot.’

  There was complete silence, only the sound of the rain pattering gently on the roof. The rain stopped. ‘Stone?’ I said softly.

  ‘Nothing,’ the stone said. ‘They are waiting. The Prince has not yet arrived.’

  I waited. There was still complete silence.

  ‘We’re okay, Emma,’ Simone said.

  ‘Good,’ I said without turning away from the window.

  I heard someone coming up the stairs.

  ‘Who is coming?’ I said.

  ‘The Dark Lord. Alone,’ the stone said.

  ‘Really him?’ ‘Yes.’

  John appeared at the doorway. Simone raced to him and he picked her up. He smelled strongly of smoke.

  ‘He changed his mind, Emma, when we took out his thralls. We were obviously too strong for him, and he did his usual cowardly thing. It’s finished.’