‘Dragons exist,’ Lily said. Her voice cut through the mutters of panic that were spreading around the area. ‘So do dragon-slayers. That’s what people like me do. Isn’t that right, Jeanette?’ Her smirk said Contradict me if you dare. She snapped her rifle closed again, moving to brace herself against the side of a truck. ‘Jeanette here’s not a dragon. And the one that’s just gone up there to distract the others – well, he’s under her control. So as long as they behave themselves, they’ve got nothing to worry about.’
Irene could feel how shaky the metaphorical ground under her feet had grown. Out of the corner of her eye, she noted that Hu was getting a light for his new cigarette from one of the guards. Now that was really impressive. It set a whole new standard of blending into the crowd for her to work towards in the future.
Thunder rolled above them, and all of them looked up to see the three dragons descending.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Kai was doing a good job of acting as if he was fleeing in panic. At least, Irene hoped it was acting. Both the other dragons were bigger than he was – twice his size, at a rough estimate, possibly three times – and there was nothing playful about the way that they were harassing him. While she had no expertise in interpreting dragon-attack flight patterns, Jin Zhi and Qing Song were moving with authority, clearly setting the pace for the confrontation, and Kai was having to dart and ripple through the air to avoid them, like a dolphin dodging sharks. They moved through the air like the after-flare of fireworks, and all three of them glowed with power.
‘Everyone clear!’ Irene shouted as they winged closer. ‘Evariste, over here with me!’
She wasn’t the only one who’d been staring. She didn’t take her eyes off the dragons, but she heard the sound of running feet as people stampeded in all directions. Behind her, Evariste said, ‘What’s the wording?’
Hu was a safe distance away. ‘“Glass bottles, shatter,”’ Irene said, her voice low. ‘Then “Alcohol, rise up to form a mass above the gold and green dragons, and ignite”?’
‘It’s a bit wordy,’ Evariste said. Then the actual meaning of the words sank in, and he gaped at her. ‘Did you say what I think you just said?’
‘I was looking for practical criticism, not artistic commentary.’ Irene watched Kai barely avoid a body-blow from Qing Song. Jin Zhi moved in while Kai was distracted, stooping from a higher plane. Irene coiled her fingers into fists, feeling the old scars on her palms, willing self-control into her voice. ‘Any better suggestions?’
‘Nah, it’ll do. I like this. I like it a lot.’ The nervousness in his voice was being rapidly overlaid by vengeful pleasure. ‘Say when.’
‘In just a minute. Lily, are you ready too?’
‘Sure I am.’ Lily sighted through her rifle’s scope. ‘So, if I’ve got this right, you hit them with the fire and I shoot them with the drugs. And at some point your pet there drops the river on top of them?’
‘Or drops them in the river. Whatever. I’ll leave the timing of the shot to you, just don’t hit Kai.’
Lily didn’t bother replying. Her finger caressed the trigger.
Kai had to drop from his current height to avoid Jin Zhi’s claws. He fell towards the river like a trailing ribbon, the other two following him down at the same speed.
‘Now!’ Irene turned to face Evariste and raised her hand like a conductor, then brought it down, and they spoke in unison. ‘Glass bottles, shatter!’
Gin poured out of the trucks, gushing from the broken bottles and running through the cracks in the floor. The fragments of broken glass had been contained by the trucks, but the raw smell of the alcohol was so thick it was hard to breathe.
The air seemed to hum with significance – something to do with the Language’s nature, gaining so much more power as their voices harmonized. Irene and Evariste looked at each other in surprise for a moment.
Kai curved just above the surface of the river, and it rose up to meet and flow past him. The water glowed like molten metal in the burning light that emanated from Jin Zhi, and it reached for Jin Zhi and Qing Song as if it were alive. The two larger dragons beat against it, thrashing their wings as it grappled with them. Where the water touched Jin Zhi, it hissed wildly and boiled off as steam, draping veils of mist around her.
Lily’s rifle cracked once, then a second time.
Then Irene gave the signal to Evariste again and they spoke together: ‘Alcohol, rise up to form a mass above the gold and green dragons, and ignite!’
The spilt gin burst heavenwards in thousands of drops, rushing towards a space just above Jin Zhi and Qing Song. It didn’t have the elegance of Kai’s element. But the gush of alcohol surged in a straight line through the air to a point above its targets, cleaving through the surrounding waters without being diluted.
Hu’s face was a mask of horror. He thrust aside the man he’d been talking to, shouldering towards Irene and Evariste. ‘No, you can’t—’
His voice was lost in the boom of the detonation.
The explosion threw everyone at the waterside to the ground. It was eye-searingly bright, painting Irene’s vision with after-effects. The remains of the gin came pattering down in burning droplets.
It certainly distracted Qing Song and Jin Zhi. They went crashing down towards the river, as much from the shock of the igniting alcohol as from the force of the blast. Rivers of blue flame poured over them, briefly outlining their thrashing forms.
Then the waters rose to swallow them.
Irene pulled herself to her feet against the side of the truck, rubbing her eyes. The river heaved and rippled, as if about to flood its banks, with gouts of bubbles swelling up from beneath the surface. The wide expanse of water shuddered from side to side, shaking the anchored boats until they ground against the piers. Huge shapes moved beneath the surface, only their outlines perceptible. The smell of decaying waterweed mingled with the reek of alcohol as the river was churned up by the struggle taking place beneath its surface.
As they all watched, it began to subside.
The gangsters, drawn by the irresistible human urge to risk danger just to get a better view, began to move closer. Hu was in the forefront. Irene stayed back, and gestured for Evariste to remain beside her.
Then Kai rose from the depths of the river, his wings spread as he circled above it. The bodies of Jin Zhi and Qing Song drifted to the surface, still in dragon form, but unmoving, barely breathing.
‘Holy shit,’ Evariste said. ‘It worked.’
‘Of course it did,’ Irene said. It would be a bad idea to admit to uncertainty in front of her current audience. She urgently hoped the attack hadn’t gone too far: if they’d killed or severely injured Qing Song or Jin Zhi, they’d just exchanged one catastrophe for another. ‘Now we get to the difficult bit.’
Evariste looked at the rising circle of gangsters and police, all of whom were armed, and most of whom were now openly holding their guns. ‘I think—’ he started.