White Tiger

out laughing. ‘I would never have believed it. The Dark Lord has met his match, and she is an ordinary human a good head shorter than him.’
    ‘Nothing ordinary about her,’ John said, smiling into my eyes.
    ‘Give it a rest.’ I checked the length of the stirrup leathers and pulled them up to suit me. ‘I’m not superstitious, whatever this black jade thing is. Let me have a sit on her.’ I stopped when I saw the saddle. ‘This is an Australian synthetic saddle.’
    ‘Very useful,’ the Tiger said. ‘Washes clean, adjusts to size, a good fit on most horses, even these round Arabs. Saves a tremendous amount of work for the grooms.’
    ‘How many horses do you have?’
    ‘I have no idea. Two five nine! How many horses we got right now?’
    ‘Nine hundred and forty-eight altogether, my Lord, in the Palace,’ the groom called back. ‘Another couple of hundred on the Earthly Plane in the racing stables, and some of this season’s mares have yet to drop.’
    ‘The answer is: I have an awful lot of horses, my Lady. Try the mare.’ Bai Hu nodded towards Simone, who was gleefully charging around on a cute skewbald pony. ‘I think Princess Simone has already chosen. I knew she’d pick the coloured one.’
    I couldn’t ride well enough to get nearly as good a performance out of Black Jade, but nobody seemed to care. I tried the other two, but couldn’t wait to get back on the first mare.
    ‘You want her?’ John said.
    I nodded as I trotted past.
    ‘You’ll have to get off her eventually, Emma.’
    ‘Can the Tiger teach me how to capriole?’
    ‘Certainly, my Lady, that is a very useful skill in battle. You handle the demons to the front and side, the horse can handle those behind. We’ve bred some heavier blood into the Arabs to give them the bone to handle Airs Above, but you will have to be careful not to stress her bones too much.’ He nodded with satisfaction. ‘It’s a good fit. You will make a striking couple riding together at the country club, my Lord. Send me a photo, I’ll put it up above my desk.’
    ‘You’ll never see it then,’ John said. ‘You never do your own paperwork.’
    ‘Then I’ll put it up above my bed.’
    I cantered to the Tiger, stopped behind him and rapped him sharply on the top of his white hair with the butt of my whip. ‘Don’t you dare.’ I galloped away again.
    I didn’t hear what John said, but both of them laughed.
    Then they went quiet. There was a silent rush of sound and a huge vibration through the ground.
    ‘Emma! Come back!’ John shouted, but I was already galloping towards him. I stopped in front of them and threw myself off Black Jade. One of the grooms grabbed her.
    Leo charged out of the house, pulled Simone off her pony and carried her over to us.
    The Tiger and John were both rigid, concentrating.
    ‘This is it,’ John said, eyes unseeing. ‘Take Simone into the house, get the demons to lock it up, and send them down to the city.’ He snapped back. ‘Leo, take Dark Heavens. Emma, use your own sword. Prepare for battle on the top-floor hallway.’ His eyes turned unseeing again. ‘This is a big one.’
    The Tiger vaulted onto Black Jade without bothering to put his feet in the stirrups. ‘You want a horse, Ah Wu?’
    ‘I’ll be better on the ground. But do me a favour, fetch me my sword?’ ‘Seven Stars?’ ‘Yep.’
    The Tiger dropped his head and concentrated, then threw the large sword to John who caught it easily.
    The other grooms mounted the remaining horses and weapons appeared in their hands. The ponies disappeared.
    ‘Go,’ John said. ‘Upstairs hallway.’
    ‘So, is this it?’ I whispered.
    ‘It could be, love.’ He smiled at me. ‘We don’t have time for goodbyes, Emma. Go.’
    ‘We don’t need words anyway.’
    I turned and followed Leo towards the house. Ah Yat waited for us next to the front door, her face ashen.
    Just as we reached the door the Tiger roared with fury. ‘That fucking bastard is mine ! He broke into my stables in Ireland, killed all my horses, and raped and mutilated two of my women. Nobody is to touch him but me !’
    ‘Don’t kill him, I want him alive!’ John shouted back. ‘That one threatened my family !’
    ‘First to get him can have him, Ah Wu!’
    ‘You’re on,’ John said, but his voice was icy.
    Leo and I shared a look. Only one demon could stir such emotion.
    We made a stop in the training room to collect the weapons, then raced up the stairs to the hallway,