White Tiger

came for me. He did exactly what I wanted. I watched him carefully as he swung his staff at my lower legs, trying to sweep my feet out from under me. I easily stepped over the staff. I used my own and helped it along, giving it a good push in the direction it was already going, then spun mine in my hands and used it to twist his foot from under him. He fell with a thud.
    He flipped himself upright and moved into position again.
    ‘Hold!’ Mr Chen shouted from the corner. We immediately halted, turned and snapped to attention, the tips of our staves on the floor next to us.
    ‘Having fun?’ Mr Chen growled.
    Neither of us said anything. Then we both stiffened with horror.
    Oh my God, he said attack the staff. Both of us went for each other. We were in big trouble. I could see from Leo’s body language that he was thinking exactly the same thing.
    ‘Emma, you will sharpen every single sword in this room until it will cut a silk scarf dropped on it from the height of a metre. I will provide the silk. Leo…’ Mr Chen scowled. ‘You went for Emma first. You will sharpen every other bladed weapon in the room to a similar edge. I will come back in two hours and you will each demonstrate your work.’
    He stalked away from the wall, then stopped between us. ‘Emma, you are absolutely the fastest damn human I have ever seen in my entire life. I knew the minute I had you sparring with Leo I’d see it. Faster than Li. Faster than anybody. I must start you on larger demons immediately. With that speed you could probably take a level fifteen without difficulty.’ He grinned broadly. ‘You’re amazing,’ he whispered. Then his face closed up again. ‘Go and get the stones and sharpen those blades. And next time, both of you, try to do what I tell you.’ He sighed with resignation. ‘I really don’t know what to do with the pair of you.’
    We each saluted, staff in hand. ‘Yes, sir.’ But I couldn’t control the huge grin on my face. Leo was grinning as well.
    ‘He’s right. I’ve never seen a human that damn fast before either,’ Leo said as we went through the kitchen to the storeroom to find the whetstones. ‘I never knew Li when he was training with Mr Chen—he was gone long before I was here—but everybody knows how fast he was, he was almost inhuman. And you could take him.’
    ‘Are you okay, Leo?’
    ‘Are you kidding? Staves, day off, I know a place—how about it? Full on, no quarter, you and me, what do you think?’
    ‘You are damn well on,’ I said. ‘I can take you any day of the week.’
    ‘We’ll see about that. Now I know how fast you are I can deal with it easily. But if either of us gets injured we will be in deep trouble.’
    ‘You won’t have a chance to get injured. It will be all over before you even know it’s started,’ I said, and quickly ducked.
    I raised my hand and rested the tip of my staff on the floor. ‘Stop, Leo, I’m done. You can best me. I concede.’ I stretched my left arm. ‘And my arms are ready to drop off.’
    Leo lowered his staff, then strode to me and quickly embraced me. ‘Mine too.’
    We both stiffened when we heard a loud round of applause. We turned to face the glass frontage of the tae kwon do dojo. A crowd of delighted residents of South Horizons, Ap Lei Chau Island’s major residential development, had been watching us. They cheered loudly when they saw us notice them. Both of us quickly saluted them, staves in hand, and the cheers became even wilder.
    ‘Did you know we had an audience?’ I said.
    ‘No idea.’
    ‘Wonder how many of them are demon spies.’
    ‘Probably at least two or three. They have your number now, Emma.’
    I shrugged. ‘Completely worth it.’
    The owner of the dojo came up to us, his face full of delight. He put one hand on Leo’s arm and pumped his hand with the other. ‘Thank you, my friend, that was magnificent.’ He nodded to me. ‘Both of you are magnificent. Can you come back next Sunday? I have had thirty or so people asking to learn tae kwon do because of what they’ve seen. Will you come and teach? Please?’
    Leo and I shared a look.
    ‘I may be able to come in on an occasional Sunday and help out,’ Leo said. ‘But Emma’s not ready.’
    ‘She looks thoroughly ready to me.’
    ‘I’m just a junior compared to Leo,’ I said. ‘I’m really not qualified to teach anybody.’
    ‘You are as skilled as anybody I’ve seen,’ he said with awe. ‘How long have you been