Eagle (8 page)

The small round eye peeked over Ying's shoulder. “Wait, that's not a map. It's just a sketch of a person. Those are pressure points, right?”

“I saw a sketch on the other side, too,” a different round eye said. “Looked like
chi
meridians to me.”

Hok pushed a lantern toward Ying. “There
are
sketches on both sides. Hold the scroll in front of the light, Ying, and watch how the two sketches blend together.”

Ying followed Hok's instructions and, sure enough, a map came clearly into focus. Seh had done an
amazing job. Ying had traveled quite a bit during his days in the fight clubs, and he clearly recognized that the main
chi
meridian channel running from the figure's head to its belly button was the Grand Canal, China's great north/south waterway.

The round eyes began to chatter around Ying in their native tongue, and Ying tuned them out. He set about memorizing every detail of the map. It wasn't all that difficult, as he'd long ago memorized pressure point and
chi
meridian charts. He aligned the places he'd traveled with the different sections of the map, and in no time Ying could tell what each major area represented.

The head of the figure symbolized Peking, China's capital and home of the Emperor's fabled palace fortress, the Forbidden City. The main
chi
meridian running from hand to hand represented the Yellow River. Different pressure points highlighted dif ferent cities, including Jinan. The map was a work of genius.

Ying thought about the
chi
meridians shown in the sketch and realized that they were all rivers, not roads. Most dragons were water creatures, and the mapmaker had made waterways the key to this dragon scroll map. Ying had always felt more connected to the earth than to water, but perhaps he would come to feel closer to water over time. It appeared as though he would be spending a lot of time on it, following the map to its end point far to the south.

A thought came to Ying, and he paused.
A water creature! Of course!

Ying hastily rolled up the scroll map and handed it to Hok with a gleam in his eye. He had the beginnings of a plan.

“Okay, little sister,” Ying said. “Here is what we are going to do … ”

T
onglong sat at the stern of his dragon boat with twenty of his best men. They were well hidden by heavy brush and the approaching darkness. Beyond them, anchored downstream in the center of the Yellow River, was HaMo's rented barge.

Tonglong adjusted his long ponytail braid and glanced down at the note he'd received from HaMo earlier in the day. He crumpled it and threw it overboard.

The note had begun oddly enough with an apology. HaMo had said that he was sorry for having crushed two of Tonglong's men to death. He also apolo gized for taking Charles. However, he said that he was certain Tonglong would quickly get over these things after hearing his proposal.

HaMo said that he was going to use Charles as bait to capture Hok, along with the fabled dragon scroll map that he knew Tonglong wanted. HaMo had managed to squeeze information out of Charles and learned that the dragon scroll map in Tonglong's possession had been altered. However, Hok's brother Seh had a copy of the correct map. HaMo said that he would soon have it and offered to exchange Charles, Hok, and the map for ten thousand gold pieces.

HaMo had designated a place to meet Tonglong the next morning to make the exchange. However, Tonglong was not about to give ten thousand gold pieces to anyone. He would take what he wanted. A few hours ago, his men had discovered the location of HaMo's rendezvous with Hok, and they had disposed of a backup team HaMo had positioned in this very location. Tonglong's men were learning fast, and he was proud of them. HaMo was in for a big surprise.

“Sir,” a soldier whispered from the bow of the dragon boat. “A skiff is approaching.”

Tonglong squinted in the fading light and saw a well-cared-for skiff heading downstream toward HaMo's boat. Standing at the back of the skiff, steering along with the current, was a girl with short hair in a battered white dress. It was Hok, and she was alone.

Tonglong watched as Hok neared HaMo's ancient wooden barge. The barge was perhaps thirty paces long and ten paces wide, and the rear section contained what appeared to be a small house complete with a roof. Light spilled out from several windows.

The barge floated low in the water and was anchored at its bow. It pointed nose-first, upstream. Hok pulled alongside the barge on Tonglong's side of the river. Tonglong could see everything.

A man hurried out of the barge's small house and leaned over the vessel's low side rail, facing Hok. He helped her tie the skiff off, then hauled her aboard. The man pushed Hok roughly into the little house, and Tonglong heard a door slam closed.

Tonglong signaled to his men. They would give HaMo a quarter of an hour to subdue Hok, and then they would make their move.

Y
ing hung on to the slippery rope with all his might, nothing but a hollow reed connecting him to the surface. He rode the river's current as best he could, wondering how Cheen and Sum, the eel twins he'd heard about at the bandit stronghold, ever managed to do this on a regular basis.

Hok's skiff stopped suddenly with a loud
thump,
and Ying knew that they had finally reached HaMo's barge. He held fast to the rope and waited, the current tugging at him, urging him downstream.

Above the surface, Ying could make out random banging noises. The skiff was being tied off to the barge. He saw the skiff rock slightly, then float noticeably higher in the water. Hok had boarded HaMo's vessel.

Ying counted to one hundred, then took a deep breath. He spat out the reed, dove beneath the barge, and swam across the current, surfacing on the other side of the large vessel. He reached up, grabbed hold of the barge's low railing, and silently pulled his shoulders and chest out of the water.

Ying looked across the deck. It was almost dark now, but he could see well enough to know that there was no one on it. Lights burned inside some sort of living quarters that looked just like a small house. Hok must be inside there.

Ying pulled himself the rest of the way out of the water onto the barge. He stifled a groan as his healing ribs strained. Once aboard, he lay down and untied his chain whip from his waist, folding it into his right fist. He wished he could have brought his new
qiang
with him, but it would have been rendered useless after being underwater.

Ying slid on his belly over to the living quarters. He flattened himself against the outer wall on the opposite side of the house from the skiff and listened. Inside, he heard talking.

Ying rose up cautiously and peeked inside a window. The round eye Charles was sitting inside a low bamboo cage at the back of a small room. Hok was sitting on the floor next to Charles with the scroll map in her hands. HaMo stood across the cluttered room, arguing with two Chinese men whose backs were to the front door.

There wasn't much room to maneuver in there, especially with HaMo, the
Toad,
as part of the equation.

He weighed as much as three normal men and was nearly as big around as HukJee. At least, Ying's eagle-style training would prove useful here. It was famous for its close-quarters effectiveness.

Ying sank back down and thought,
HaMo plus two others against me and Hok. Not bad odds.

Ying eased his way around to the closed front door and stood. With thoughts of his best friend, Luk, running through his head, Ying kicked the door down with a mighty back-kick. Using the momentum he already had going in that direction, he spun around and leaped through the doorway with his arms spread wide. HaMo's eyes widened, and the two henchmen turned to face Ying.

Ying landed and unfurled his chain whip forward with a powerful punching motion. The sharp weighted end buried itself deep within the first henchman's sternum, and the man dropped like a stone.

Ying yanked his chain whip free and HaMo leaned forward, grabbing the second henchman. He pulled the man in front of himself like a human shield.

Ying tried to swing his chain whip, but there just wasn't enough room. He shrieked in frustration and saw the second henchman break loose from HaMo's grip. The man lunged toward a long counter and grabbed something, then spun around and pointed it at Ying.

It was a short
qiang.

The ear-splitting shrill of an angry bird filled the room, and Ying saw a flash of white as Hok flew past
him. She knocked the
qiang
from the second henchman's hand with a lightning-quick snap-kick, and attacked the man with a flurry of elbows and crane-beak fists to the head.

The
qiang
rattled to the floor and Ying made a move for it. However, HaMo unleashed a tremendous
CROAK!
that shook the entire boat, and he hopped on top of the
qiang
before Ying could pick it up.

Ying took a step back and was surprised to see HaMo glance out of a window as if he were looking for help. Perhaps he had a backup team somewhere and that tremendous
croak
was a signal.

Ying glanced over at Hok and saw that she was now standing over the second henchman. The man was out cold.

HaMo aimed the short
qiang
at Hok. “Very impressive, little lady. Now give me the map.”

Hok shook her head, and Ying noticed the map poking out of the collar of her tattered dress.

Ying took a tiny step toward HaMo. HaMo glared at him. “Make a move against me, Ying, and your little sister dies.”

Ying paused. “Go ahead,” he said. “I'd rather you use your only shot on her. It would save me the trouble of having to do it myself.”

“You can't fool me,” HaMo said. “I know you came here with her.”

“Did I?” Ying asked. He began to creep forward.

“I'm warning you—” HaMo began to say, and Ying saw something flash across his field of vision. HaMo
yelped, and Ying was shocked to see a small throwing knife stuck in the side of HaMo's enormous neck.

Ying glanced back at the bamboo cage and saw that Charles had removed the heel of one of his boots. The knife must have been hidden inside it.

Ying looked back at HaMo and could hardly believe his eyes. HaMo shook his huge head, and the knife popped out of his bulbous flesh as though it were some sort of child's toy. The wound was bleeding, but it didn't appear to be very deep. HaMo's mounds of fat had protected him from the throwing knife's short blade.

“What the—” Charles said.

HaMo laughed. “Better luck next time, Round Eye.” He turned back to Hok. “Give me the—”

But Hok was already flying toward him. She grabbed HaMo's short
qiang
with both hands and drove her face into the back of his lumpy hand, biting him hard enough to draw blood.

“Arrr!”
HaMo growled through clenched teeth. Still, he didn't let go of the
qiang.
Hok released her teeth but held firm with her hands. HaMo raised his other lumpy hand high to strike at Hok with an open palm, and Ying leaped for HaMo's raised hand, catching HaMo by the thumb.

Ying wrapped both his hands around HaMo's stubby, fat thumb and pulled back with all his might.
Control the thumb and you control the entire body
was one of his former teacher's favorite sayings.

HaMo squealed like a child and released the
qiang,
swinging his bloodied hand wildly in Ying's direction.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ying saw Hok run over to Charles with the
qiang.

Ying kept constant pressure on HaMo's thumb, weaving back and forth to keep HaMo off balance. Ying was so busy weaving around and watching HaMo's free hand that he failed to keep an eye on HaMo's feet.

“Look out!” Charles shouted, but it was too late. Ying felt his legs sweep out from under him. Even so, Ying refused to let go of HaMo's thumb. As Ying crashed to the floor, he heard a
crack
like the sound of dry firewood in a roaring blaze. HaMo roared as the main bone in his thumb snapped in half.

Ying lost his grip on the dangling thumb half, and HaMo pulled his hand free. Ying saw HaMo bend his knees in preparation for a crushing jump, and Ying tried to roll out of the way. After half a turn, however, Ying came to a dead stop against the unconscious body of one of HaMo's henchmen.