Dragon Moon by Carole Wilkinson

he’ll have you beheaded.”
    The commander had come out to watch. He laughed. “Of course you will.”
    “You’re as stupid as your men!” she shouted.
    The commander walked over to her and grabbed her by the hair. “What did you say?”
    The other guards came out to see what was happening. The guard with the crossbow had finally managed to load a bolt and was waving the crossbow in Ping’s direction. She had to calm down, control her anger. She couldn’t take on 50 men.
    The man with the crossbow came closer and aimed. His hands were shaking, but he was so close, there wasevery chance he would hit her. The others stood back, egging him on. It was dark now and another guard held up a lamp so that the marksman could see what he was doing. The guard with the lamp moved closer and shone it in Ping’s face.
    “I know who this is, Sir,” the guard said. “It’s not a boy, it’s a girl. She’s a sorceress. It’s because of her I was sent from an easy post at Ming Yang Lodge to this miserable place.”
    Ping didn’t recognise the guard, but all the men were glaring at her as if she were responsible for them being stationed at the edge of the Empire.
    “Good,” the commander replied with a malicious smile. He put up his hand to stop the guard with the crossbow. “I’ve always wanted a slave.”
    Anger swelled inside Ping’s chest. She was prepared to put up with many discomforts. She would sleep in a barn, she would wear worn-out clothes, and eat nuts and berries, but she would never be anyone’s slave again. Her
qi
power focused without her having to think about it. She flung out her arm and sent out a strong bolt of
qi
that flattened ten men as well as the commander. Ping knocked the crossbow out of the hands of the man from Ming Yang Lodge with another well-aimed
qi
bolt. She looked around for a way of escape. The men recovered from their surprise, picked up their spears and confronted her again. Her third
qi
bolt was much weaker, it hit just one guard and only made him stumble. She’d used upall her resources on the first two bolts. Before she could summon more qi, six guards grabbed her arms.
    “She’s a sorceress all right.”
    The guards muttered in agreement.
    “I’m not a sorceress!”
    She knew that her display of
qi
power had helped reinforce the idea, but what else was she supposed to do to protect herself?
    “She
was
friendly with the Emperor,” the Ming Yang Lodge guard told the commander. “She might have some influence with him.”
    “Then kill her,” the commander said, as casually as if he was ordering the death of a goat or a barbarian.
    The flame of Ping’s anger was smothered by fear. She’d let her temper get the better of her. Now her life was in real danger. And Kai’s. She wished she knew where he was.
    The man from Ming Yang Lodge drew his knife. His hand was steady, he wasn’t as drunk as the other men. The blade glinted in the lamplight. He’d had plenty of idle time to keep it sharp.
    “Kai!” she called in her mind. “Where are you! Help me.”
    The man leaned closer. He had an ugly pimple on his chin. He took a firm grip on his knife. Terror spread through Ping. Belatedly she realised that her second sight only warned her of danger to Kai. Not herself. Kai wasn’t with her. He wasn’t in danger—but she was.
    The man with the knife drew his hand back, ready to plunge the blade into her heart. There was a piece of goat’s meat stuck between his teeth. Ping closed her eyes.
    Voices suddenly rang out, piercing the night. The hands holding her loosened. Ping opened her eyes. The guards were ignoring her completely.
    To the east, two yellow fires blossomed like chrysanthemums.
    “Two beacons!” someone shouted. “An attack! Three thousand barbarians!”
    The commander yelled out orders, but no one listened to him. Each man ran to get his weapons, concerned only with his own survival. The ragtag imperial guards clambered up onto the wall facing north, their