Blue Dragon Part 49

'Anything?' I whispered.

John and Gold shook their heads.

'I'll take Emma. Gold, Two Sixty, with us,' John said, gesturing towards the smaller car. 'Leo, Michael, Two Seven Three with Emma's parents in the big car.'

Leo pulled himself into the driver's seat of the big car. The Horseman sat in the middle of the back seat, with one of my parents on either side of him. As my parents entered the car the Horseman pulled a short sword out of a scabbard he'd had hiding on his back under his shirt and rested it across his knees. Michael retrieved his white katana from the trunk of the big car and sat in the front pa.s.senger side with it across his knees.

'In, Emma,' John said, having a last look around before he entered the smaller car.

I moved to sit in the front pa.s.senger side.

'No, in the back, between Gold and the Horseman.'

I shrugged and sat between them; I knew why.

'What are the chances?' the Horseman said softly.

'No idea,' Gold said. 'Last time they attacked before we made it to the car park.' He hesitated. 'Emma, please wake my parent, it may be useful.'

I tapped the stone.

'Hm?' it said.

'We're driving home from the concert, Dad,' Gold said, looking around as John eased the car towards the exit. Leo followed us. 'Help keep a lookout, will you?'

'Not a problem,' the stone said. Its voice became petulant. 'I missed Simone's poem? I was looking forward to seeing that.'

'Gold,' John said, 'pull down Seven Stars. Lay it on the pa.s.senger seat.'

Gold lowered his head and concentrated. The sword appeared, leaning on the seat next to John. I peered around to see it; I'd never had a good look at it before.

Gold hadn't worried about the scabbard: the blade was bare. The sword was jet black, with seven large circular indentations running down its length. Each indentation centred on a hole, about two centimetres across, right through the sword. The guard was a traditional Chinese style, silver and elaborately carved, but I couldn't see the details of the carving. The handle appeared to be white stone. The sword must have been nearly two metres long. No wonder he needed to be in Celestial Form to wield it fully.

'Whoa,' the Horseman said. 'Seven Stars. Wish I had a camera.'

'It's exquisite,' I said over the back of the seat.

'One day you'll see it shine,' John said.

'Is it usable even if you can't load it?' I whispered.

'It's a blade. It's big. It's sharp. It will do the job,' he said. 'Lean back between your guards. Provide less of a target. We cannot use firearms against them, but they can certainly use them against us.'

I huddled back between Gold and the Horseman. Gold concentrated and took battle form: his human shape made of quartz with gleaming veins of gold. The suspension of the car shifted underneath his weight.

'You sense something?' I said.

'No,' Gold said, his mouth not moving. 'Just being careful.'

We travelled up Waterloo Road, long and straight with high rises on either side. The ground-floor levels of the apartment blocks weren't gardens, they were paved car parks. We travelled through three or four sets of traffic lights.

's.h.i.t,' John said softly, checking the rear-view mirror. He concentrated, then raised his voice. 'He can't hear me, Gold, and he's getting out of the car. Get back there now now!'

Gold lowered his head and disappeared.

I didn't say anything. John was concentrating on driving, and besides, I had a good idea what had happened. John couldn't do a U-turn-there was a large concrete divider between the traffic lanes.

'd.a.m.n,' John said. His voice became fierce. 'I don't care, stop him!'

He cut through three lanes of traffic from the right lane to the left, causing cars to screech their brakes behind us. He drove like a maniac for three hundred metres, then exited to the left so quickly that the tyres on the Mercedes squealed.

'This is a direct order, Michael, Gold. Kill him now,' John said. 'Take his head immediately. Do it.'

When he was on the exit road he raced at a dangerous speed up the right lane, looking for a place to perform a U-turn, but once again the road was separated by concrete dividers.

'Kill him! I know he's controlled. Kill him anyway!' John shouted.

We came to a place where the dividers were removable metal gates rather than concrete, to allow access by emergency services. John put the hazard lights on, stopped the Mercedes next to the dividers, and concentrated.

The dividers collapsed inward. Every weld on the metal disintegrated, turning the gates into useless pieces of metal pipe. John eased the Mercedes through into the oncoming traffic, ignoring the horns from other drivers. The underside of the car grated painfully on the pipes, then we were clear.

John took off again, going the other way. 'Kill Leo now! now! He's far too dangerous to let live. Just take his head!' He's far too dangerous to let live. Just take his head!'

We raced for about five hundred metres, then took an overpa.s.s to go back on Waterloo Road, in the opposite direction from before.

John's eyes unfocused and he relaxed. 'Michael stopped him. Your parents are okay, Emma.'

'Michael killed Leo?' I whispered.

John slowed the car as we merged with the Waterloo Road traffic. 'No,' he said. 'Michael and Gold both disobeyed a direct order and are in serious trouble. Leo is still alive.'

'Were they hit from behind?'

'Yes. Somehow the demons in the car that hit them gained control of Leo. Leo killed the Horseman and was about to grab your parents when Gold and Michael subdued him together. They are both in extremely serious trouble. They should have taken his head when they had the chance.'

The Horseman next to me hissed under his breath.

We reached the scene of the accident. John checked them carefully as he drove past the other way, then turned left. We travelled through the quiet backstreets of Kowloon Tong until we found a place where we could turn right to return to Waterloo Road. We pa.s.sed Kitty Kwok's kindergarten on the way; it was only about five blocks from the school.

'Were Gold or Michael injured?' I said.

'Michael,' John said. 'Your parents are okay. Gold is uninjured. Apparently Leo received the worst of it.

Gold and Michael had to use a great deal of force to subdue him, and the demons tried to kill him after he went down.'

'How did they gain control of him?' I said as John turned on the hazard lights and pulled in behind the ambulance attending the two cars.

'I don't know. And we may never have the chance to find out, love,' John said, gesturing towards the gurney being lifted into the ambulance.

Michael was taken in the ambulance as well, Gold accompanying him. John drove me and my parents directly back to the Peak with the remaining Horseman. The Tiger and Simone waited for us in the living room, quiet and subdued. When we came through the door Simone ran straight to her father. He lifted her and held her close.

'Is Leo okay, Daddy?' she said into his shoulder.

'Michael says they don't know yet,' John said, holding her tight. 'But Meredith is there, looking after him. We'll just have to wait and see.'

She pulled back so that she could see his face. 'I want to go to the hospital and see Leo.'

'If you don't mind, Brendan, Barbara, could you care for Simone for a short time while we discuss this?' John said.

My parents didn't say anything, they just nodded grimly. John lowered Simone, and my mother came forward to take her hand and lead her into her bedroom.

My father turned to speak over his shoulder to me. 'Don't worry, Emma, we're fine. Go and talk to John.'

John, the Tiger and I went into the dining room. Ah Yat brought us a pot of tea without being asked.

'Is Leo still controlled?' I said.

'It's hard to say,' John said. 'He hasn't come around yet. Right now, though, he isn't capable of hurting anything. Gold and Michael did an extremely good job on him. They came very close to following my orders. Then the demons tried to kill him outright.'

Gold appeared beside John, still in his battle form, all of stone. He held his hand out. 'We stones have been arrogant for years about our ability to transcend normal animal energies. We have thought ourselves aloof and superior. And boy, have we been wrong.'

Gold placed a small jet-black pebble, about two centimetres across, onto the table. 'This was in the Lion's pocket,' he said. 'Somebody probably slipped it onto him while we were at the concert.'

We all leaned forward to study the stone.

'Let me see, Emma,' the stone in my ring said. 'Put me on the table next to it.'

I took the ring off my hand and moved it near the black stone. 'Not too close!' it squawked, and I placed it about ten centimetres away.

'd.a.m.n,' the stone said. 'I'm speechless. How the h.e.l.l did he manage to do this?'

Gold changed back to his normal human form, wearing a pair of tan slacks and a tan polo shirt. His face was very grim. 'This was once one of us, my Lord. Now, it is less than nothing.'

I inhaled sharply with shock. 'This was a stone Shen?'

Gold nodded. 'I knew this one too. She was a wonderful person. There is nothing left of her that can be salvaged.' He looked away, his face full of pain.

'My Lord Bai Hu, Exalted Emperor of the Western Heavens,' the stone in my ring said very formally.

'Jade Building Block of the World,' the Tiger said.

'My Lord,' the stone said, not quite as formal, 'I'd like your permission to bring the opal in on this. The opal can take this...' It hesitated, as if taking a deep breath. 'This thing thing and show it to the Grandmother. It is vitally important that she sees this.' and show it to the Grandmother. It is vitally important that she sees this.'

'The Grandmother speaks to us all,' Gold said, turning back so that he could see the black stone. 'If she is aware of this...thing, then we are all aware. We will have the knowledge to avoid such a thing happening in the future.'

'Granted,' the Tiger said, just as grim. 'Gold can come with me to the palace to talk to Amanda, then the opal can go and report.'

I glanced at Gold. 'Does Leo know that he was controlled and that it wasn't his fault?'

'He hasn't come around yet, but he'll still think it's his fault anyway, ma'am,' Gold said sadly. 'He'll be full of guilt that they managed to place this thing on him in the first place.'

'Come on, Gold, let's go and talk to this opal,' the Tiger said, and both he and Gold disappeared, taking the black stone with them. I put the jade ring back onto my finger.

'What's your name, Two Sixty?' I asked the Horseman.

'Derek,' he said with a sad smile. 'I hope my dad remembers to come back for me. This is the second time this year he's left me stranded on the Earthly.'

John's eyes turned inwards. 'Leo will survive. They moved him into intensive care. Meredith is with him, she appears as his wife.' He smiled slightly. 'Two Sixty, your father left you here deliberately, I think, to take up Leo's duties while he recuperates.'

'No! Really?' The Horseman's eyes unfocused; obviously his father was speaking to him. He grinned broadly. 'Hot d.a.m.n!'

'I'd like to go and see Leo,' I said. 'I know Simone would too. How can we do it so we're safe?'

'I will take you,' John said, rising. 'Obviously they are still too cowardly to face me. Leo will be harmless now that the stone has been removed. Two Sixty, stay here and guard the Dark Lady's parents. Ah Yat!'

Ah Yat poked her head through the doorway.

John gestured towards Derek. 'This one is staying in the room next to Michael's. Arrange it while Emma, Simone and I go to the hospital.'

'My Lord,' Ah Yat said, and her head disappeared around the door.

'You know what to do,' John said.

Derek saluted. 'My Lord.' He was hard-pressed to keep the delight from his face. 'I am extremely glad the Lion will be all right. All of us Hors.e.m.e.n have a tremendous amount of respect for him. We'll be gunning for him to recover quickly.' He grinned again. 'And d.a.m.n d.a.m.n, this is an honour to be serving you in his place.'

'Come on, Emma,' John said. 'Let's go to the hospital and try to convince Leo that he isn't the worst guard on Earth.'

'Not going to happen, John,' I said softly as I followed him out.

The staff said children weren't allowed in intensive care. Meredith came out in the form of a portly black woman in her mid-thirties and coerced them into letting Simone in. We went into the ward together. Leo was on a number of life-support machines, but they were completely silent; there wasn't the usual heartbeat blip sound that was so popular on television.

My heart twisted when I saw the signs above his bed. A brilliant black-on-yellow 'Biohazard' sign, and next to it a card with 'HIV+' scrawled on it in marker. Meredith had told them.

Meredith sat next to Leo and took his hand. She appeared to be holding his hand like a stricken wife, but she was actively healing him through the contact.

Michael leaned against the wall in the far corner of the room, his arms crossed, his school shirt bloodied on one shoulder. He didn't attempt to salute John, he just nodded. 'My Lord.' He winced. 'Leo tried to take my head off, and missed. He hit my shoulder. I healed the wound, but I'm afraid I'll be unable to salute you correctly for a while.'

'Are you sure you're okay?' I said quickly.

'I'm fine,' he said, but he didn't shrug. 'Wait until Katherine sees the scar. You'll have to help me think of a story to tell her.'

'I thought it was Betty,' I said.

'Katherine right now,' Michael said, his eyes sparkling.

'Go outside and wait,' John said. 'Rest the shoulder.'

'My Lord,' Michael said, then hesitated. He dropped his voice. 'My Lord. I know I disobeyed a direct order, but I couldn't kill him. Not Leo. Permission to remain here with him.'