Blue Dragon

‘Probably caused by the shift in location, and the stress that you’ve been through—when that demon poisoned you. You’ll be fine.’
    I sighed. He was right. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you sometimes, Leo.’
    Leo smiled slightly, his small brown eyes sparkling.
    Gold interrupted us. Lady Emma, are you free to talk? I have something I would like to ask you.
    I tapped the stone to wake it. ‘Can you talk to Gold, or should I call him?’
    The stone paused, checking. ‘No, I can talk to him.’
    ‘What, Emma?’ Leo said.
    ‘Gold,’ I said. ‘Wants to ask me something. I’ll get him to conference call. Tell him to talk to Leo too, stone.’
    Okay.
    ‘This would be easier using the phone,’ Leo growled.
    I have seen an extremely talented practitioner , Gold said, ignoring him. Only been learning a year, but appears to be close to generating energy already. Very talented at hand-to-hand. I’d like to bring her in.
    ‘Where are you?’ I said.
    Christchurch.
    ‘Where the hell is that?’ Leo said, still growling.
    ‘You American !’ I said with scorn. ‘It’s in New Zealand. I can’t see the problem, Gold. Does the family object? And if they do, why are you asking us? You know that if the family objects that’s the end of it.’
    She is twenty-eight years old. Married. Separated. Divorce will be final very soon.
    ‘Children?’ I said.
    Of course not.
    ‘Too old,’ Leo said. ‘Waste of time.’
    ‘Talented at hand-to-hand?’ I said.
    Exceptionally talented.
    ‘Bring her in,’ I said. ‘Not a problem at all.’
    ‘She’s too damn old, Emma,’ Leo said. ‘She’ll be a total waste of both our time. Don’t worry about it, Gold.’
    ‘You think if somebody’s twenty-eight they can’t learn to generate energy?’ I said.
    ‘Nobody who started above the age of about twenty-two has ever made it,’ Leo said with conviction. ‘Ever.’
    ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ I said. ‘You can start it older than that, it’s just harder. We should give her a chance. Gold.’
    My Lady.
    ‘Ask her if she wants to come. She may need some convincing—’
    They always do, ma’am.
    ‘But get her to come. I want to teach her.’
    ‘You are totally wasting your time, Emma,’ Leo said. ‘It’s just not possible. Absolute maximum is twenty-five.’
    ‘Absolute maximum?’ I said.
    ‘Absolute.’
    ‘I bet you a beer that there’s been a student who did it older.’
    He walked right into it. ‘No way. You’re mixed up. We sometimes take older people for hand-to-hand, but nobody for energy that’s older than twenty-two.’
    ‘I bet you a beer. Older than twenty-five. Generated energy for the first time.’
    He eyed me sceptically. ‘Human?’
    I nodded. ‘Human.’
    He pushed his huge dark hand over the desk and I shook it firmly.
    ‘Okay then, smarty chick, who?’ Leo said.
    I crossed my arms over my chest. ‘Me. I was twenty-nine when I generated my first chi.’
    He looked at me blankly. Then he grinned. ‘But you’re not human.’
    ‘Damn straight I am.’
    ‘You’re a goddamn snake , Emma. You’re not human, and that’s why you could do it.’ He waved his hand over the desk at me. ‘Look at you. Completely cold-blooded. One minute freaking out about your weirddreams, the next minute making stupid damn bets that you’ve obviously lost, because you’re not human .’
    ‘I. Am. Human. And you owe me a beer.’
    ‘I want a second opinion as to your humanity,’ Leo said sternly. ‘Lord Xuan.’
    ‘Whoa,’ I said. ‘High stakes. Okay, a beer and dinner as well. If he says I’m not human, I’ll buy.’
    Leo pushed his chair away from the desk and rose. ‘And if he says you are human, I’ll buy. Let’s go.’
    John was sparring with the Weapons Master, Miss Chen. She swung a vicious metal spiked chain whip with three hooks on the end. He was bare-handed.
    I winced. If she hit him with it, anywhere along its length, it would shred him. The spikes were on every link of the chain, razor-sharp and more than two centimetres long.
    ‘He is completely crazy,’ Leo said softly beside me, crossing his arms and leaning on the doorframe. ‘Overconfident.’
    Miss Chen was a tiny Chinese woman, around one and a half metres tall, who appeared to be in her early sixties with a round, grandmotherly face and a plump, matronly figure. Her hair was braided into a long queue that was almost completely white. Like most things on the Mountain, though, she was much more than