Tempest Reborn (Jane True) - By Nicole Peeler Page 0,17

fix my vision, which was swimming alarmingly. ‘Either somebody slipped me some shrooms or I was talking to the universe.’

‘The universe?’

‘Yeah. The universe.’

‘The universe,’ Ryu repeated, looking as skeptical as I’d ever seen him. ‘You have been under a lot of stress…’

‘Don’t be so doubtful. The universe is closer than we know,’ came a chirping, friendly voice from somewhere behind us. I tried to crane my head around, but could see nothing. Ryu helped me clamber to my feet, and we got a good look at our surroundings.

Instead of a cave, this room appeared to be a very sumptuous, modern hotel. Chrome and glass were everywhere, and a modern cityscape lurked outside the huge wall of windows. I also located our speaker, sitting a distance away.

Amid all this modernity, he cut a figure not modern at all. Small and bald, with a round, friendly face sporting even rounder glasses, sat a Buddhist monk in full regalia. He sat in a very large chair.

He had tea prepared, waiting on a low table in front of him, and he was definitely expecting us. He certainly wasn’t surprised by the sight of two strangers appearing by magic in front of him.

‘Welcome,’ he said in perfect English. ‘I believe you have a problem with dragons?’

Chapter Six

‘In this instance, who I am is of no importance,’ the man said, never losing that wide, welcoming smile. I made a small sound, for although I was pretty sure I knew the identity of the bespectacled figure, I couldn’t help wanting clarification.

The man laughed, a lovely, bell-like sound. ‘So curious!’ he said, his eyes twinkling from his smile-creased features. ‘But while I, as an individual, can acknowledge that there is far more to our world than one answer will ever account for, as a spiritual leader I must toe certain lines. So I’d like to keep our conversation off the record, as it were.’

While the monk talked, Ryu wandered toward the wall of windows on one side of the hotel room.

‘Hong Kong?’ he said. I joined him at the window to see a riotous city, full of signage in all different languages, but mostly in Chinese and English.

‘Yes. I’m sorry it couldn’t be more convenient,’ the man said.

It was my turn to smile at him. ‘Oh, believe me, it was no trouble getting here.’

‘Now, let us get to the problem of your dragons.’ The man gestured toward the chairs opposite him.

Ryu and I took our places as the man poured tea. I took one of the shortbread cookies lying on a silver platter, because snacks keep a body going.

‘I have been expecting you,’ the man began, which was not at all what we expected to hear.

‘You have?’ I said, unable to stop myself from interrupting.

The man gave me another wide smile, but this one held a note of ruefulness.

‘Of course,’ he said. ‘For what is happening in your part of the world affects everyone. I love Westerners and the West, but you do have a tendency to act as though things only happen to you and your own people.’

I blushed, although the chastising was very gentle.

‘The truth is that what you call the Red and the White are a global problem. Yes, their physical appearances have, by accident of geography, been bound to your Great Island, but their reach is far wider.’

‘Really?’ said Ryu, leaning forward.

‘Of course. They are a manifestation of great power, and as such they inevitably act on the balance of things.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t understand,’ I said.

The man took a sip of his own tea, taking the cup and saucer with him as he leaned back to place them on his robed knee.

‘As elements, as avatars of the forces that created not only our physical world, but our emotional and spiritual world as well, the Red and the White have far more power than we can really understand. Their thoughts infect the thoughts of those creatures around them that share their nature.’

‘Beings of fire and air?’ I asked, referring to the supernaturals that could wield those forces.

For the first time since we’d met him, the man frowned, but in concentration.

‘That is an obvious response, yes, but not necessarily true. There will be creatures of your world that can wield air and fire, yes, but whose natures are not of air and fire.’

It was my turn to frown. ‘Huh?’ I said intelligently.

‘What I mean is that what we are isn’t always what we should be. You know creatures, I’m sure, who are big and powerful,