Her palm tilts.
The stone fist slides sideways along it, dragging the Rock Guai's shoulder down. She turns, takes my arm and helps me off the flower plinth. The fist crashes into the place we were standing. Crystal chips roll past my shoes.
I'm still holding on to her. My knees nearly give way.
‘I'm not a princess!’
She steadies my elbow. ‘Can you walk?’
‘Yes. Run, even.’
She moves me behind her as a soldier lunges from the left. Her palm settles against its black shell and guides it on past us. It crashes into a flower plinth; the one following piles into it.
‘Why have you come here?’
‘Grandfather Moon told me to find you—’
She leaves the soldiers where they are and looks towards the hall doors. ‘Come. We must find a way out.’
I plant my feet. My knees are still shaking.
‘This is your place. You know it. Which way—’
The Rock Guai wrenches its fist free before I finish. Crystal petals clatter to the floor. Soldiers pick their way over the fragments on both sides of us.
She steps back towards me, keeping herself between me and the stone creature.
‘Both doors ahead are guarded. The passage on the right leads to a ramp, but its entrance is narrow—’
I look right. The soldiers outside are bunched into a single file, with the ramp somewhere round the corner behind them. The Rock Guai is dragging a foot out of the crystal rubble.
‘Wait. I've got an idea. Don't go that way yet.’
She stops.
‘Those ones listen to the clicks. If I make them come in here, the doorway—’
She's already turning towards the right-hand door, taking me round the flower beds instead of straight into it. I breathe in and make the clicks again.
The whole file turns and marches into the hall.
The Rock Guai frees its foot and takes a step towards us. Zuobituo has an arm round my waist. She brings me through close to the door frame, so close that the last soldier's black shell almost scrapes my nose as it squeezes in. I hold my breath. My toes have barely touched the passage floor when the fox spirit shrieks behind us.
‘Stop! Those orders are false! Guard the ramp!’
The soldiers falter.
We're already running.
Cold air slips round the corner ahead, smelling of rain. I know this draught. It blew from there when I came in.
‘Ahead! That's the way I came!’
The corner opens onto a broad ramp leading upwards. I hurry after her. Every step feels as if someone is pulling down on my legs.
More clicks from above. Soldiers wait at the top with their blades held across their bodies. They aren't coming down.
Zuobituo slows and turns to look at me. I brace my hands on my knees, gasping hard enough it hurts. Behind us, the Rock Guai crashes through the hall doorway and comes towards the ramp.
She looks from the soldiers above to a narrow staircase beside us. ‘That leads to the next level, then back to the entrance.’
She takes the stairs first. I haul myself up the rail, using hands and feet. For the last few steps I put my palms on the stone and push myself up. She waits at the top, steering a pursuing soldier into the passage wall with one hand and reaching for me with the other.
I take it. She helps me to my feet.
The stone footsteps turn towards the ramp. We cross a short passage and come back into the place where I can see corridors on several levels. Below, black shells keep pouring up. A fox spirit lifts its nose, sniffs and screeches at them to come to our level.
Zuobituo leads me towards the entrance. Two soldiers emerge from a doorway ahead and to one side. She turns into the first one's charge, guiding its arm outwards so it blocks the second.
I'm already past the doorway. The hole ahead is full of light. The wind smells of rain.
Behind me, the soldiers collide with a clatter of shells.
Her hand hasn't come back to mine.
I stop and reach back. She's still by the doorway, just beyond my fingertips.
‘Zuobituo!’
I take a step towards her. The scraping armour below is getting closer. She retreats past the two soldiers and catches my hand. I turn and run for the hole, with her following.
‘B-boss! They're there!’
The fox spirit's voice catches, rising to a squeal.
Someone in black stands in front of the opening. Spiked plates cover his shoulders and chest. His mask has raised brows, three eyes and a wide, snarling mouth. Rain drips from its pointed fangs.
‘What is he wearing? A ninja outfit?’
‘You mean his battle dress?’
‘His dress?’
I edge left. The three eyes turn with me. He reaches over his shoulders and draws two blades.
I hear them leave their sheaths. Then one is coming down at my face.
Zuobituo sweeps me behind her and slips aside. The blade passes her shoulder as her palm meets his wrist, pushing it outwards. He pulls his elbow back at once and brings the sword round in a horizontal cut.
Her hand supports my back as she takes me towards the opening. I've barely found my footing when the second blade comes.
She guides his arm away. He checks the cut, turns the point past her and thrusts at my chest.
My shoulders hunch.
She whips round. The point grazes her metal arm in a streak of sparks.
I catch her hand. The hole that was beside us is several steps away again. He advances, both blades still between us and the way out.
Stone feet strike the floor behind me. I don't dare look back. Her hand settles at my waist as she brings me into the wider entrance passage.
Another cut. She slips past its edge, but he twists into a kick. Her chest rings with the impact. We retreat together; my shoes skid over loose stone. I can hardly lift my legs any more.
‘Seal the exit!’
His voice is muffled by the mask. Outside, another Rock Guai turns its shoulder towards the hole. Black-carapaced soldiers surge past its feet.
Before he's finished speaking, a blade sweeps towards us. Zuobituo puts an arm round my waist, turns low beneath it and lifts me. She's heading for the opening before he can bring the sword back.
Light flares behind her. Long, transparent wings unfold, violet-gold light running through their fine veins.
Dragonfly wings?
Wind rushes down my collar.
‘Hold tightly.’
I grip her shoulder. One arm supports my legs; the other holds my back.
Footsteps race up behind us. I keep looking ahead.
There's still a sliver of light on the left. The Rock Guai is forcing its shoulder into the hole, with a few soldiers coming towards us round its feet.
One more step and that light is gone.
I bite the tip of my tongue and click out the order I've just heard, as fast as I can. Three soldiers turn right, crowding in front of the stone feet.
The creature looks down and lifts a foot to stamp. Its shoulder stops moving inwards.
‘There!’
Zuobituo is already turning her shoulder, folding the wings back. My knee nearly hits the edge of the hole.
Footsteps right behind us.
I pull my legs into her arms. She turns sideways, holding me against her chest. A blade flashes down in front of my eyes and scrapes the metal arm beneath my knees. The clang jolts through them.
I shut my eyes. She doesn't let go.
Something shatters behind us.
Rain hits my face.
I force my eyes open and look back. The stone foot comes down, breaking black shells. The creature's shoulder and back plug the opening. A blade pokes past its side, already too far away to reach us.
The wings spread again and carry us through the rain. My stomach drops. Both hands grab her shoulders.
‘You can fly? Why didn't you say—’
‘You did not ask.’
Rain pours into my open mouth. The rest comes out as coughing. She draws me a little closer.
We keep rising. The rain thins.
I peer down past her shoulder. The Rock Guai has backed out of the opening and is rubbing its head. A few soldiers struggle to turn themselves over at its feet. A fox spirit stands beside the Rock Guai. The two from inside follow the masked man out. His swords are put away, but his mask stays turned towards us.
I look away.
Violet-gold light streams from the wings, leaving a thin trail behind us. I watch it fade into the rain.
No more drops hit my eyes. There's a pale glow in the distant dark. I look for a while, but can't make out what it is.
I loosen one hand and feel a groove in the arm beneath my knees.
‘Your arm—’
She lifts it a little, settling me more securely against her.
I let my tucked-up feet hang. No more running. No more climbing.
The hand still gripping her shoulder slowly opens. She keeps holding me.
I still want to ask about her arm, but my eyes close—