Blue Dragon

right.’
    ‘Yeah. What I have with him is completely different. But I do have something in common with her, I think.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘She bossed him around even worse than I do. He’s the world’s biggest softie. You’d expect the Dark Emperor of the North, the God of Martial Arts, to be harsh and scary. Instead, he’s all marshmallow inside.’
    ‘That’s why we love him,’ Leo said softly, and gave me a gentle squeeze around the shoulders.
    ‘I think you’re right,’ I whispered. I moved away from him and checked my watch.
    ‘Don’t put yourself at risk,’ Leo said. ‘Don’t take any chances. Simone needs you. Whatever you do, you must survive this.’
    ‘I intend to,’ I said, and hefted my sword.
    Leo’s voice softened and he spoke without looking away from the door. ‘And I would be honoured if you would permit me to give my life defending you. If you allowed me to do this, I would die a very happy man.’
    ‘I’m the one that’s honoured, Leo,’ I said.
    The chime pinged on my watch and we readied ourselves.
    Nothing happened. Complete silence.
    ‘Gold?’ I called.
    HOLY SHIT! the Dragon roared in my head, so loud it made me wince. Phoenix, SWAP! We have metals! The dragons are being cut to pieces!
    Water here, the Phoenix said more calmly. They are attacking our weaknesses. I am on my way. Ah Qing, come and take out the waters. Ah Bai is being attacked by fires. What the hell is going on?
    He has made elemental hybrids and is attacking the Winds at their weaknesses, Gold said into my head from the living room. Qing Long, the Wood Dragon, is weak against metal, so we have been attacked by metals here. All the dragons are weak against metal. They have no defence, they are being destroyed. Zhu Que, the Fire Phoenix, has been attacked by waters at the Folly. As has Bai Hu, the Metal Tiger. He has been attacked by fires. All attacked at their weaknesses. The Winds are quickly swapping so that they are either strong against or not affected by the elementals.
    I have not been attacked at all, John said into my head with wonder. Emma, they are coming after you and the students, not me.
    ‘Still too much of a coward,’ I said. ‘Wants to swap me or a student; too scared to face Xuan Wu.’
    Leo didn’t move or say anything.
    Gold’s voice appeared in my head. The Phoenix is here. She and her fire elementals are taking out the fakemetal elementals. Damn! Some of the demons may enter through the windows, and the fire creatures cannot follow them in without igniting the building. The metals are large and sharp and—
    There was a crash of splintering glass and a loud whirring sound, like a propeller.
    Leo and I both took a couple of steps back and waited.
    There was the sound of a buzz saw hitting concrete—a shrieking metallic noise that made me cringe. Oh my God, the elemental had attacked Gold.
    The sound stopped.
    ‘Gold?’ I called.
    I’m okay, Gold said. Look at me, I’m a daddy. Shit!
    Gold appeared in the doorway to the training room. He turned and backed so that he was standing next to Leo in front of me now. He had shrunk to about two-thirds his normal size; he was about the same height as me now. He must have lost about twenty centimetres in height, but he was in his standard battle form: his human shape made of stone.
    ‘They’ve blown the seals,’ he said. ‘Move out of the way, Leo, so that Emma can hit them with energy—see if that affects them. Weapons don’t hurt them, and they slice pieces off me, but I think energy can do it. I think that’s how I destroyed the one in the living room, but after what happened I can’t use any more energy. Having the child has drained me completely.’
    ‘Where’s your baby?’ I said.
    ‘In me,’ Gold said. ‘If I’m destroyed, it will stay behind. Look after it for me, will you?’
    I didn’t have a chance to answer him. A metal elemental appeared at the door.
    The top of it touched the doorframe. It was like a very good computer-generated image of a robot: polished metal surfaces, mirror-like, smooth androunded. Its limbs moved fluidly, taking many forms as it decided which weapon attachment to use on us. Eventually it settled on spinning blades.
    ‘Hit it, Emma,’ Gold said.
    I hit the elemental with chi from my sword and it exploded.
    ‘Okay,’ Gold said. ‘There are about forty of them—’
    ‘ Forty ?’ I cried. ‘That was about level forty equivalent. I can’t take more than about five of them with