Dragon by Jeff Stone Page B

him fend off an attack, but the walls were bare.
    As the men neared, Long’s eyes fell upon the stable door. Tall and wide, it slid along a track hung across the top of the door. A cord ran through the track, one end tied to the door, the other tied to a small counterweight. This counterweight made the door easier to open and close.
    It might also help save Long’s life.
    When the men were three steps from Long, he grabbed the half-filled water skins slung over GuangZe’s rump and hurled the containers at his attackers. The men turned to protect their faces, and the water skins collided harmlessly with their backs and shoulders. By the time they straightened and poised once more for attack, however, Long had reached the door.
    He leaped up and grabbed hold of the cord near the center of its length. As he came back down, the counterweight went up, stopping abruptly when it reached the first pulley.
    The cord snapped in Long’s hand, just as he had hoped. He released his grip and let the counterweight fall to the ground, the broken cord snaking out of thepulleys and landing in a pile on top of the counterweight.
    Long grabbed the broken end of the cord as his two attackers sprang into action. Coiling the cord in his left hand, he took the counterweight in his right and cocked his right arm back. When the first attacker was within range, Long hurled the counterweight at the man’s head, letting the cord out while maintaining a tight grip on its end.
    It was a direct hit. The man dropped to his knees and the cord went slack. However, the man was only dazed. His turban had absorbed more of the impact than Long would have liked.
    Long switched the end of the cord to his right hand. He took several steps backward to make additional space between him and the second approaching man, and swung his right arm in a wide arc, the counter weight lifting off the ground and flying through the air like the weighted end of a chain whip or, more precisely, a rope dart.
    Long had always been quite skilled with the chain whip and rope dart. Both mimicked the powerful sweeping motions of a dragon’s tail. He aimed the airborne counterweight at the second attacker’s head, and the man raised his sword in front of his face in an effort to protect himself.
    The swinging counterweight wrapped the cord around the weapon’s hilt. Long gave a vicious yank, pulling the sword from the astonished man’s hands.
    Long glanced at the first attacker and saw that hehad stumbled to the stable and was fumbling with a saddlebag. He produced a pistol and aimed it at Long’s chest.
    “I should have used this from the start,” the man said. “Drop the rope and—”
    Long’s
dan tien
began to twitch. He heard hooves pounding behind him. He turned to see an elderly man much like Cang roar past on what appeared to be a Heavenly Horse. The rider halted in a cloud of dust in front of the stable and pulled two pistols from his sash. He pointed one at the armed man inside the stable, and the other at the unarmed man.
    “Drop the pistol,” the rider said to the man in the stable.
    “I don’t think so, DingXiang,” the man in the stable replied. “I believe this is a stalemate.”
    “Think again,” said a new voice from behind the stable. Long looked over to see a young man step around the corner carrying a pistol in one hand and a pair of glowing blacksmith tongs in the other. He dropped the tongs in the sand and positioned himself so that the man in the stable could not shoot or even see him, but he still had an easy shot at the weaponless attacker.
    The weaponless attacker swallowed hard and called out to his companion inside the stable, “It’s the apprentice and he’s got a pistol aimed at my head. Do as he says. That horse is not worth dying for.”
    The man inside the stable cursed and returned his pistol to the saddlebag. He tied the bag closed and looked at DingXiang. “Satisfied?”
    “I will be satisfied when the two of you leave. Take your