White Tiger (41 page)

‘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.

J
ade’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.

‘You want her?’ John said.

I nodded as I trotted past.

‘You’ll have to get off her eventually, Emma.’

‘Can the Tiger teach me how to capriole?’

‘Certainly, my Lady, that is a very useful skill in battle. You handle the demons to the front and side, the horse can handle those behind. We’ve bred some heavier blood into the Arabs to give them the bone to handle Airs Above, but you will have to be careful not to stress her bones too much.’ He nodded with satisfaction. ‘It’s a good fit. You will make a striking couple riding together at the country club, my Lord. Send me a photo, I’ll put it up above my desk.’

‘You’ll never see it then,’ John said. ‘You never do your own paperwork.’

‘Then I’ll put it up above my bed.’

I cantered to the Tiger, stopped behind him and rapped him sharply on the top of his white hair with the butt of my whip. ‘Don’t you dare.’ I galloped away again.

I didn’t hear what John said, but both of them laughed.

Then they went quiet. There was a silent rush of sound and a huge vibration through the ground.

‘Emma! Come back!’ John shouted, but I was already galloping towards him. I stopped in front of them and threw myself off Black Jade. One of the grooms grabbed her.

Leo charged out of the house, pulled Simone off her pony and carried her over to us.

The Tiger and John were both rigid, concentrating.

‘This is it,’ John said, eyes unseeing. ‘Take Simone into the house, get the demons to lock it up, and send them down to the city.’ He snapped back. ‘Leo, take Dark Heavens. Emma, use your own sword. Prepare for battle on the top-floor hallway.’ His eyes turned unseeing again. ‘This is a big one.’

The Tiger vaulted onto Black Jade without bothering to put his feet in the stirrups. ‘You want a horse, Ah Wu?’

‘I’ll be better on the ground. But do me a favour, fetch me my sword?’ ‘Seven Stars?’ ‘Yep.’

The Tiger dropped his head and concentrated, then threw the large sword to John who caught it easily.

The other grooms mounted the remaining horses and weapons appeared in their hands. The ponies disappeared.

‘Go,’ John said. ‘Upstairs hallway.’

‘So, is this it?’ I whispered.

‘It could be, love.’ He smiled at me. ‘We don’t have time for goodbyes, Emma. Go.’

‘We don’t need words anyway.’

I turned and followed Leo towards the house. Ah Yat waited for us next to the front door, her face ashen.

Just as we reached the door the Tiger roared with fury. ‘That fucking bastard is
mine
! He broke into my stables in Ireland, killed all my horses, and raped and mutilated two of my women. Nobody is to touch him but
me
!’

‘Don’t kill him, I want him alive!’ John shouted back. ‘That one threatened my
family
!’

‘First to get him can have him, Ah Wu!’

‘You’re on,’ John said, but his voice was icy.

Leo and I shared a look. Only one demon could stir such emotion.

We made a stop in the training room to collect the weapons, then raced up the stairs to the hallway, Ah Yat trailing behind.

‘You know what’s happening, Simone?’ I said.

‘I know, Emma.’ She sounded unsure. ‘There’s an awful lot of them.’

At the top of the stairs I turned to Ah Yat. ‘Lock up the house, and then all four of you head down to the city.’

‘We will stay and help you defend, my Lady.’ ‘Do as you’re told!’ I shouted. ‘That’s an order!’ She bowed and disappeared.

The upstairs hallway was the perfect place for a defensive stand. It was more like a room than a hall; it had a comfortable couch, a television, and many of Simone’s toys strewn around on the floor. Simone used it as a playroom during the day. Leo and I kicked the toys to the side, clearing a space. The hall had a large picture window overlooking the lawn. We could see the Tiger, John and the grooms standing there, waiting.

A flurry of bangs and crashes echoed through the house as the demons locked up.

‘Only our demons so far, Simone?’ ‘Yes, Emma.’

Ah Sum came out of one of the upstairs bedrooms and bowed. ‘All secure, my Lady.’ ‘Good. Go.’

He hesitated, then came to me and quickly embraced me; then Simone, kissing her on the cheek. ‘Defend them, Lion.’

‘I will,’ Leo said gruffly.

Ah Sum disappeared. The other three demons appeared at the bottom of the stairs, bowed to us, and disappeared as well.

‘All our demons are gone now, Emma,’ Simone said.

‘How far away are the other ones?’

‘They’ll be here soon. Daddy shouldn’t be fighting them, he’s too weak.’

‘That’s why they’re here, sweetheart,’ Leo said. ‘They want to get him while he’s weak. If he was strong, they wouldn’t have a hope.’

‘They don’t have a hope anyway, Simone.’ A rush of cold fury went through me. ‘Your dad is the best there is. He has the Tiger with him. The demons don’t have a hope.’

Simone nodded, her little face serious.

‘Same formation as before, Emma?’ Leo said.

‘Yeah, I think so. You’re still much better than me at hand-to-hand.’

‘If you’re going to throw energy, for God’s sake let me know and I’ll get out of the way,’ he said with grim humour.

‘Me too,’ Simone said. ‘I can do it too. I want to help.’

‘I don’t know if that’s such a good idea, Simone.’ Simone hesitated and watched me.

Let her,
John said.
Let her help if she wants. Keep her to the rear, she can be a last resort.
His voice changed slightly.
Lion. If it comes to that, you know what to do.

‘My Lord,’ Leo whispered.

‘What?’

‘I don’t know, Emma,’ Simone said. ‘It’s something with Daddy and Leo.’

‘Tell your dad to tell Emma,’ Leo said.

Sorry, Emma. If it comes to that, if Leo goes down and it looks like Simone is in danger, tell them they can have my head.

‘No!’ I shouted.

Oh. And if you destroy them with
chi,
be careful. If you kill too many demons with
chi,
you could overload yourself with their energy and explode. Take care, love.

‘Simone, could you pass this on to your dad? Thank
you.
You will definitely keep for that one.’

His voice chuckled in my ear.
Sorry. I hope you have the chance to tell me off.

‘Here they come,’ Simone said.

There are about twenty-four dogs, twelve worms, ten or so humanoids, and a Demon Prince that I would very much like to see the back of.

We moved into position, Leo in front of me and Simone behind me. We stood silently and waited.

‘I love you, Daddy,’ Simone whispered.

I love you too. All of you. My family. We can do this.

Bring it on,
the Tiger growled in my ear.
I want that bastard.

Leo made a soft sound, readied himself, and then went still.

‘They’re here,’ Simone whispered a few minutes later. I checked through the window. It was a carnival of horrors.

The dog demons looked like ordinary brown farm dogs, but their faces were split into huge unnatural grins. They shot fire out of their mouths. The warriors on the lawn seemed to be able to deflect the fire, except John. He had to dodge the blasts; he was very weak compared to even the grooms.

The giant worms were shining black with a coating of slime, which they left in a revolting toxic trail. They were slower than the dogs. I’d faced these before, from the demon jar: I had to cut them into many tiny pieces to kill them. If I left them in large bits, they would continue to come at me, still spitting poison. The best way to deal with them was to blow them up with chi.

The ten-foot-tall humanoids wore armour and carried weapons. They had two legs and two arms, but their faces were grotesque and twisted, with huge bulging eyes and gaping mouths with tusks. Some had hair sticking out from their heads in tufts; others were bald with horns. Some were scaly. Some were slimy. Most were shiny black, but two were blood-red. I’d faced these in training as well. Nasty demons, difficult to destroy. Sometimes they could block chi blasts, and when they did, the chi would backfire and knock its sender over. Better to attack physically.

Simon Wong brought up the rear. He was carrying the Wudang sword and rode some sort of two-legged purple lizard. He saw me watching through the window, and waved and blew me a kiss.

The men on the lawn charged to meet the demons. I turned away and concentrated on the stairs. I had an incongruous thought: Simone and I were the only females there. I hefted my sword. Time to show them just what we chicks could do.

Glass shattered downstairs.

‘What’ve we got, Simone?’ Leo said.

‘Dogs. A lot of them.’

The dogs raced out of the dining room into the downstairs hallway in a rippling brown pack. There appeared to be about fifteen of them. They turned together, charged up the stairs and opened their mouths to blow fire at us.