Phoenix (12 page)

I fell down. I remembered the pedal cage and jerked my foot free, silently cursing myself. I rolled onto my back, trying to put some distance between myself and whoever was holding that spear, but it was no use. The spear tip flashed downward, stopping half an inch above my thumping heart.

“Stand,” a deep voice commanded in Mandarin.

As I stood, the spear tip followed me the whole way up.

“Who are you?” the voice asked in Mandarin.

I understood this, too, but I didn’t answer. Instead, I focused beyond the spear tip for the first time. I saw an impossibly old man with the physique of an NFL linebacker.

The man was well over six feet tall, with shoulders as wide as a doorway. He wore a tattered orange robe, beneath which I could see a thick chest. The skin on his bald head sagged with age, and his face was covered with liver spots the size of silver dollars. His eyes were as bright as PawPaw’s, and he stared at me. Unlike PawPaw, though, who appeared to search for kindness, this man sought weakness. I knew better than to look away. I locked eyes with him, my irises flashing green fire.

The old man nodded as if I had passed some kind of test, and he lowered his spear. The breeze picked up, and I caught a familiar scent in the air. The man was sweating,
and he smelled just like Grandfather and PawPaw. This had to be the guy I was supposed to find.

The old monk spoke again in Mandarin. “Answer my question, young man. Who are you?”

I bowed and replied in English. “My name is Phoenix Collins. I’ve come in search of Cangzhen Temple. Do you speak English? I am sorry, but my Chinese is very poor.”

The man glowered and answered in English. “I speak your language. You are American?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What does an American know about Cangzhen?”

“Not very much. My grandfather sent me to find it, and a monk who may live within its ruins. Are you the man I am looking for?”

“Who is your grandfather?”

“His name is Chénjí Long—Silent Dragon. We live in the state of Indiana, but he spent his life in China until thirteen years ago, when he moved to the United States to take care of me. He said he lived at Cangzhen Temple when he was a boy.”

The old man slowly shook his head, as though he were unhappy. He seemed to drift into deep thought, and I turned my attention to the spear’s metal tip. It was almost a foot long and cut into a wavy pattern. It was nasty. I had seen one like it many times. It was a snake-head spear, and it was Grandfather’s favorite weapon.

The old man’s mind appeared to return to the moment, and he said, “I know who you are, and I can probably guess why you have come. I never expected to meet
you, Phoenix. Something must be very wrong for you to be here. The Cangzhen Temple ruins are near. If you can prove yourself, I will show them to you.”

I flinched. “What do you want me to do?”

The old man nodded at his spear.

A chill ran down my spine. I knew exactly what he wanted. He wanted me to show him that I knew how to fight by doing a kata, or form, with him—a series of practice moves. We weren’t going to fight for real, but I needed to choose wisely nonetheless.

I dropped into a deep Horse Stance and thought quickly. I needed a kung fu form in which one person with a spear attacks another person who is empty-handed.

Say Sow Seh
came to mind—“Four-Hand Snake.” This form was representative of snake-style kung fu, which happened to be my favorite and the one I did best. Timing and precision would be critical, because one false move by either individual with even a practice spear could mean serious injury, and I had the scars to prove it. Doing the form with an unknown partner who was holding a sharpened spear—a snake-head spear, no less—was practically suicidal. I hoped he knew this form as well as I did. There was only one way to find out.

“Say Sow Seh!”
I challenged.

The old monk smiled and attacked, his foot-long spear tip heading straight for my liver. I weaved out of the way like an undulating serpent. As he pulled the spear back, he sliced at my thigh, attempting to sever my femoral artery, but I spun clear, keeping low to the ground.

The spear tip changed direction suddenly, and the
old man thrust it at my back. I rolled forward, snaking around a tree as the razor-sharp blade barely missed me, cutting a wide swath of bark from an elm.

The old monk clearly knew the form, but he was playing for keeps. It made my blood boil. I emerged from behind the tree and spat like a cobra, raising my hands into snake-head fists.

The monk lifted the spear high over his head and began to spin it like a helicopter blade. Now it was my turn. I coiled and struck, lashing out at his abdomen with rigid fingers. I managed to hit my target before he could twist out of the way; however, I wished I hadn’t. His stomach was as hard as steel.

“Ow!” I said.

As I shook my tingling hands, he took a swing at my head with the spinning spear. I nearly forgot to duck.

I rolled backward and popped to my feet. The monk stopped swinging the spear. I readied myself for the next attack, which would be at my throat, when I heard a bloodcurdling scream from behind the old man.

My eyes widened as Hú Dié burst through the trees atop Trixie, pulling a high-speed wheelie. The old monk turned to see what was going on, and Hú Dié rammed him square in the chest with Trixie’s front tire. The monk went down awkwardly, the spear still in his hands.

Hú Dié released her grip on Trixie’s handlebars and unclipped her shoes, jumping off her bike. She landed on top of the huge old man, who was lying on his back.

“Hú Dié, NO!” I shouted.

She didn’t seem to hear. She clasped her hands
together over her head and dropped to her knees, swinging her arms down toward the monk’s head as though she were swinging a sledgehammer.

The old man raised the thick spear shaft in front of his face to protect himself, but Hú Dié’s forearms smashed through the shaft as if it were a number-two pencil. The monk moved his head just in time to dodge the rest of Hú Dié’s brutal blow, which blasted an impressive crater in the dirt.

The old monk hissed like a dragon and shrugged Hú Dié off him. He sprang to his feet, and Hú Dié sprang to hers.

“Hú Dié!” I shouted again. “Stop! Everything is okay!”

Hú Dié shook her head as though clearing it of cobwebs. She turned to me. “Huh?”

I raised my arms in the universal gesture of surrender. “Everything is cool. He wasn’t attacking me for real. We were just doing a two-man kung fu form.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You know kung fu?”

“Yeah. I’m actually pretty good at it. Ask him.” I pointed toward the old monk.

The old man nodded. “Phoenix is quite good, and so are you, young lady. That trick with the bicycle was ingenious, and you shattered my favorite spear with your bare arms. Iron Forearm training, I presume?”

Hú Dié stared hard at the old monk. “None of your business. Who are you?”

The monk seemed taken aback by her disrespectful response. For a moment, I thought he was going to club
her with one of the broken spear halves. But then his face softened, and he lowered his voice.

“Fair enough,” the old monk said. “Perhaps you do deserve some answers. You certainly have fought hard enough to earn them. Come, let me show you who I am.”

Hú Dié and I followed the
old monk through the patch of new-growth forest. The old man carried the broken halves of his spear, while Hú Dié and I pushed our bikes. My helmet and pack hung from my handlebars, banging against Hú Dié’s dented helmet, which dangled from Trixie’s handlebars. Her helmet was even more beat up than before. I turned to her.

“Thank you for coming to my … um … rescue,” I said. “I appreciate it.”

Hú Dié took off her sunglasses and glared at me. “The next time you go on a ride with someone, you stick with that person at all times, understand?”

“I know. It’s just that …” My voice trailed off. I couldn’t decide whether to tell her why I’d wanted to leave her behind, or why I’d even come here in the first place. I felt as if she deserved to know after she had just risked her life for me.

“It’s just what?” she asked.

I hesitated. “I want to tell you something.”

“So tell me.”

I took a deep breath. “Have you ever heard of a substance called dragon bone?”

The old monk shot me a questioning look but said nothing.

Hú Dié looked from me to the monk, then back to me. She shook her head. “No. Is that why you came here?”

“Yes.”

“What is it?”

“A kind of medicine.”

“What does it do?”

“Basically, it helps people live longer—people like my grandfather. His remaining supply was stolen. If he doesn’t get more soon, he will die.”

The old monk stopped in his tracks. “Stolen?”

“Yes,” I said. “Two guys came to our house. They took all of it.”

“Who would do such a thing?” Hú Dié asked.

“I don’t know. I was thinking Grandfather might have been mixed up with Triad gangsters or a secret society or something long ago. One of the guys was Chinese.”

“Not the Triads,” the old monk said. “Your grandfather would have nothing to do with them.”

“Who could it be, then?”

“I do not know,” the old man replied.

Hú Dié looked at the monk. “Do you have more of this dragon bone?”

“Before we discuss this any further,” the old man said to Hú Dié, “I must insist that you tell me your name.”

“Fine,” she replied. “My name is Tiě Hú Dié. My father and I own a bicycle shop in Kaifeng.”

The old man stared at her for a moment. He nodded and seemed to look at her with new eyes. “Iron Butterfly. That explains your powerful arms. Though I’ve never spoken with him, I know of your father. I also knew of your grandfather, and of your great-grandfather. Your family is well known in certain circles. You sell more than bicycles, do you not?”

“Sometimes.”

The old man nodded. “To each his own. If your family knows how to do one thing, it is to keep secrets. I trust there is no harm in your hearing more of my conversation with Phoenix if you agree to never mention dragon bone to anyone.”

“Of course,” she said.

The old monk nodded again and turned to me. “You, either.”

“Yes, sir,” I said.

“Now that we have an understanding,” the old monk said, “Long is
my
name, not your grandfather’s.”

“Excuse me?” I said.

“Your grandfather’s real name is not Chénjí Long. It is Seh.”

I was confused.
“Snake?”

“Correct. Shame on him for disguising his serpentine lineage. Shame on him, too, for denying you yours. You
clearly move like a member of that species, and you do it well.”

“My grandfather is a good man,” I said in a defensive tone. “I owe everything to him.”

The old monk straightened. “I apologize if I have offended you. Your grandfather is indeed a very good man in many respects. On the other hand, he is also a stubborn, secretive individual who would rather run from his past than embrace it. Your family history is long and dark, Phoenix. While it may be your grandfather’s nature to hide the truth from others, he should hide nothing from you. You are the last of his line. You are among the last of the Five Ancestors.”

I felt my head begin to spin.

“Hold on a minute,” Hú Dié said. “Are you saying that
Phoenix
is related to one of the Five Ancestors?”

The monk nodded. “He is, as am I. You both may call me Grandmaster Long. I am the last Dragon to come out of Cangzhen Temple.”

Hú Dié’s eyes widened. “So the legends are true? There really were five kids from this region who helped save China?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

“It was the Year of the Tiger, 1650,” Grandmaster Long said. “The children grew up right here.”

I was having a difficult time taking all of this in. What were Hú Dié and Grandmaster Long talking about? I asked, “Who were the Five Ancestors?”

“
That
is a very long story,” Grandmaster Long replied. “It will have to wait. First, we must address the dragon bone. How long has your grandfather been without it?”

I fought an overwhelming urge to push for more information and instead focused on Grandfather’s current situation. “Almost five days,” I said, “but he has an emergency supply of about a week’s worth.”

“You made it here quickly. I am impressed. I will do what I can for him. While he and I do not get along, I wish him no harm, and I value the fact that he sent you to me instead of infringing upon our mutual friend in Beijing. I am assuming PawPaw helped you find me.”

“Yes. We wouldn’t be here without her.”

Grandmaster Long looked up at the midafternoon sun. “Then let us make sure you do not disappoint those who have brought you this far. You have no chance of making it back to Kaifeng before dark. I suggest you spend the night here and leave at first light, for your grandfather’s sake. I will supply you with enough dragon bone to keep him in your life for as long as you and he wish. I like you, Phoenix. You have a good heart.”

I had a hard time believing my ears. This really was going to work out. I blinked away a tear that was beginning to form and bowed. “Thank you, Grandmaster Long. Thank you so much.”