Blue Dragon

would be able to do it.’
    ‘Why?’ the Tiger said. ‘I thought it was just me.’
    ‘The walls of the tunnels have been coated with the essence of powerful stone creatures,’ the stone said, its face and voice expressionless.
    ‘No,’ Gold whispered, gripping the stone’s hand. ‘No.’
    The stone dropped its head. ‘The demon has painted the walls,’ it said, then took a deep breath, ‘ with the guts of my children !’
    ‘Go,’ I said. ‘Both of you. Thanks, stone. Gold, take him out, look after him.’
    The stone ran its other hand over its face and smiled at me with misery. ‘I’m not finished, Emma. There are well over fifty extremely large demons in those tunnels.Most of the demons are between level eighty and ninety; some are bigger than ninety.’
    ‘Holy shit,’ the Tiger and Michael said in unison.
    ‘The demons are turtle and snake hybrids,’ the stone said with anguish.
    John shot to his feet. He stalked to the door of the dining room and opened it.
    ‘You don’t have time to do sword katas right now, John,’ I said with compassion. ‘Come back and sit down, and we’ll work out what to do about it.’
    John hesitated, holding the door, without looking at me. Then he shrugged, closed the door, turned and returned to sit at the table. He dropped his forehead into one of his hands and didn’t move.
    ‘What?’ Leo said.
    ‘They were turtle and snake hybrids, Leo.’ I gestured towards John. ‘Heaven knows how many of his children were destroyed to create them.’
    ‘You would know if your children were missing, my Lord, wouldn’t you?’ Leo said, his face filling with the grim realisation of what had happened.
    ‘I am a reptile, Leo,’ John said into his hand without looking up.
    ‘Go,’ I said to the stones.
    ‘Some of the things that demon has done are beyond comprehension,’ the stone said, hoarse with emotion. ‘Humans. Demons. Shen…’ Its voice trailed off and it shook its head.
    ‘Come on, Dad,’ Gold said, putting his arm around the stone’s shoulders. ‘Let’s go and work out how many of our family we’ve lost.’ He guided the stone gently out.
    ‘Gold,’ John said loudly as they opened the door.
    Gold turned. ‘My Lord?’
    ‘You are relieved of duty until further notice,’ John said. ‘You may take True Form as often as you want until I order otherwise. Understood?’
    ‘My Lord,’ Gold said, then turned and went out, holding his parent’s arm.
    ‘Take your time, stone,’ I called after them.
    Neither of them replied.
    ‘He’s waiting for you, John,’ I whispered. ‘I wonder what else he has ready for you.’ I suddenly remembered, and inhaled sharply. ‘No.’
    ‘Leo, Michael, leave us,’ John said.
    ‘No, you don’t,’ Leo said loudly. ‘I’m staying. I’m a sworn Retainer. I’m part of this. I’m coming with you, I’m fighting this bastard, and there’s nothing you can do about it.’ He glared at Michael. ‘Out.’
    ‘Let them stay,’ I said. ‘It won’t hurt for them to know. You can trust both of them.’
    ‘How many of your children know about this, Ah Bai?’ John said.
    ‘Nobody knows. I’m surprised you told Emma,’ the Tiger said. He smiled wryly. ‘Actually, no, I’m not.’ He turned back to Michael. ‘Emma’s guessing that the demon has a little surprise planned for us. With the right sort of…’ he hesitated, ‘cage, we can be imprisoned.’
    Both Leo and Michael went completely still, staring at the Tiger. Then they glanced at John.
    ‘Yes, me too,’ John said.
    ‘What sort of cage, Dad?’ Michael said.
    The Tiger hesitated.
    ‘Tell them,’ John said. ‘It makes no difference, we can trust them. Both of them would die before divulging this information, you know that.’
    ‘It needs to be constructed entirely out of Celestial jade,’ the Tiger said. ‘Jade that has been on the Celestial Plane for at least five hundred years. A single unbroken piece of jade should be carved to make the cage. We must be in True Form to be taken. If we are caged by such a thing, we can be held indefinitely.’
    ‘Has this happened before?’ Leo said softly.
    ‘The Turtle has been imprisoned in the past,’ John said. He smiled wryly and shrugged. ‘A human sorcerer did it to me, and presented me to the Emperor, hoping to curry favour. He didn’t even know what I was; he thought I was just a mystical turtle. A demon gave him the cage and told him where I was.’
    ‘Stupid damn Turtle,’ the