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    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)
    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)
    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)
    Ebook137 pages1 hour

    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)

    By Martin Chu Shui

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    When East and West combine...

    Half-Chinese, half-Australian, Liz is not interested in her father’s ancient Tao wisdom, or his cryptic tales. She is more concerned with environmental issues—particularly the plan to mine one of Australia’s great landmarks, Wave Rock. Her father’s latest gift, a Chinese calligraphy pen, seems set to take its place in her bottom drawer forever.

    Then Wave Rock is blasted open by something more than a mining operation, and Liz finds that she must battle monsters from ancient times as well as creatures from other worlds, all intent on destroying Earth. She must call on all her powers, from both her Eastern heritage and her Western upbringing, to save her world. Her pen becomes her way into a new and magical world, and Liz discovers she has powers—and allies—that she never could have guessed.

    An exciting, fast-paced tale that combines the wisdom of ancient tradition with the pace of a Kung Fu movie and brings them to life in contemporary Australia, this exciting tale takes the best of two cultures and blends them to open up a new world of adventure and mystery.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMartin Chu Shui
    Release dateMar 18, 2013
    ISBN9781301263998
    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)

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    Reviews for Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1)

    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      For my full review, look for paperback goddess on blogger.The Sword Guest is an exciting and original story, and I thoroughly enjoyed it once I got into it. The narration in The Sword Guest is abundant with cultural lore. The characters are well all developed, each having their own desires and dreams. I am really glad that I got to read this book though, because it had all of the elements of a good book - interesting characters, good background and lots of lore, a few surprises, and plenty of momentum. I am definitely looking forward to more from this writer.
    • 4/5
      This was an interesting and entertaining young adult book. The main characters are all fourteen. Liz, her twin brother Henry, and best friend Sue find themselves battling monsters out of legend to save the world. They are pretty ordinary Australian kids. Liz and Henry are half Chinese. They have grown up hearing but not listening to their father's Chinese legends and folktales. They, along with their friend, have studied Tai Chi since they were little. They are concerned about the environment and attend a lot of protests.One day they attend a protest at an Aboriginal site that is going to be opened for mining and witness an explosion. They think they see monsters escaping from the new hole in the ground. But most others dismiss this as nonsense. Their Tai Chi teacher Li Ping and a few others believe them. Li Ping prepares them to battle the monsters in what the kids call the Long Dream. They have three years intensive training in using Tai Chi, Gong Fu, and Qi as a way to fight during the course of one night's sleep.It is a good thing they did too. Because during the first battle with the Vampire King Li Ping is so badly hurt that she that she flies away on a yellow crane which the kids realize is the Chinese way of saying that she died. The kids are left on their own to battle the monsters. What I liked about this story besides the Chinese mythology which was new to me was the fact that the kids aren't your typical superheroes. They aren't seven feet tall and bulletproof. They can be hurt. They can wander around and not know what to do. They can make mistakes. After Liz is hurt in one battle, she goes to China to see if she can find some help. There she learns a number of things that will help them in their battles.This was a good story with lots of action. I think young readers would enjoy it. The characterization was a little thin. We learn mostly about the characters quirks - Liz's crush on Fred, Henry's over-willingness to fight, and Sue's fears. The characters are a little one-dimensional. However, in this one, the action carries the day. Even though Liz gets most of the emphasis, I think that boys would like this one because of the action and battles.

    Book preview

    Dragon's Pupils - The Sword Guest (Part 1) - Martin Chu Shui

    Dragon’s Pupils

    The Sword Guest

    Martin Chu Shui

    Dragon’s Pupils – the Sword Guest

    Copyright 2009 by Martin Chu Shui

    Smashwords Edition

    For my father

    Prologue

    Fifth Century, China.

    Zhang lifted his calligraphy pen from the south wall of Anle temple, stepped back, stroked his long white beard, and smiled. He had been painting for three months, and now he had finally completed the last scale on the last dragon on the last wall of the temple.

    ‘What a masterpiece!’ the chief monk of Anle temple exclaimed. ‘Master Zhang, these have to be the best dragons you ever painted.’ He accompanied Zhang, followed by a large procession of monks, around the temple’s walls, now stepping back to see each of the four ferocious creatures in full, now leaning close to inspect the exquisite features such as a curve of a spur or a filmy twist of steam.

    Following along the dragon’s long wangled tangled body, the group reached the end of the west wall, where the dragon met the dragonhead stretched around the corner from the south wall.

    ‘Look at these talons—they could definitely cut your finger,’ said one monk.

    ‘You could almost pull their whiskers,’ said another.

    ‘Master Zhang, how many dragons have you painted in your life time?’ asked the chief monk.

    ‘Well,’ Zhang stroked his beard. ‘Today I finished my ninety-ninth.’

    ‘Ninety-nine dragons! Truly incredible! I’ll apply for the Emperor’s permission to rename the temple the Four Dragon Temple.’

    The chef monk heard a quiet babble behind him. He turned around. ‘What’s the matter?’

    A young monk in his early twenties blushed. ‘Sorry, chief monk and master Zhang. I just noticed that there are no pupils on these two dragons.’

    ‘What? Let me have a look.’ The chief monk stepped forward, staring at the dragons’ eyes from only inches away. ‘Yes, you are right; there are no pupils in their eyes. Master Zhang, could you please explain?’

    Zhang looked at the cloudless blue sky for a few seconds, and then said slowly, ‘I haven’t forgotten to paint their pupils. If I did, they would fly away.’

    Surprised noises rose from the crowd of monks.

    ‘Please be quiet,’ the Chief Monk said. ‘Master Zhang, we cannot have pupil-less dragons on our temple walls. You know the Emperor visits annually. It would be unforgivable if the emperor noticed the error…’

    ‘Chief Monk, it is not an error; the dragons would fly away if I painted their pupils.’

    More noise rose from the crowd.

    The chief monk raised his hand for quiet. ‘Master Zhang, as the chief monk of Anle temple, I formally request that you paint the dragons’ pupils.’

    Zhang looked at the endless blue sky for a long time, and then sighed. ‘All right, I’ll do it; but be prepared.’ Taking out his calligraphy pen, he made four rapid strokes on the wall.

    As soon as the pupils appeared in the dragons’ eyes, they winked and twisted their whiskers a bit; large chunky rain clouds gathered in the blue sky, and the two dragons wiggled their bodies.

    A bright bolt of lightning struck the walls, and they crumbled. The two dragons shook themselves and leapt into sky, against the heavy grey rain. There was a roar of wind and a howl of thunder, and they disappeared into the dark clouds.

    The two walls with the pupil-less dragons remained intact.

    Part one

    1

    Saturday Morning

    Perth, Western Australia

    ‘Time to go!’ Henry knocked on Liz’s bedroom door.

    Turning her bedside light on, Liz glanced at her clock. ‘In a minute!’ Eyes closed, she dragged herself to the edge of her bed, searching the floor with her feet. A couple of minutes later, holding her shoes and a pair of socks, she walked downstairs slowly. While Henry held the flyscreen door open waiting patiently for his twin, Liz sat on the floor and put on her socks and sneakers.

    ‘Ready?’ said Henry.

    ‘Yeah, let’s go.’

    It was very foggy. Along the Swan River, jogging on the damp grass, Liz could only see five metres ahead. Through the heavy mists drifting above the water, a large flock of black swans emerged.

    It was strange. Liz had never seen so many black swans before. Then, along the river bank, more and more birds came into sight—hundreds of pelicans, black water birds, seagulls, and ducks. What was going on here? These birds usually came out here at dusk, and in summer, not winter! Then she saw the reason—hundreds of little fish had jumped out of water and were flopping on the riverbank; the birds were having a feast.

    Henry pointed at the birds. ‘What’s going on?’

    Before Liz opened her mouth, a blast of screeching heralded a large group of white parrots swooping down at them.

    No time to think but act. Throwing herself to the ground, burying her face in the grass and crossing her arms behind her neck to protect her head, Liz felt the breeze from hundreds of fluttering wings only inches away. The noise was deafening.

    A few minutes later, although it felt like eternity, the world became quiet again.

    ‘This is mad! Fortunate I…we both reacted so quickly; otherwise God knows what would have happened to us!’ Henry spat out bits of grass and gave Liz a hand up.

    Liz stared at the clusters of birds fighting for a share of the suicidal fish, said. Yes I agree with you that something was wrong with those parrots: we haven’t seen them for months, and there have never been so many of them and being so aggressive.

    ‘We’d better go.’ Henry said.

    They resumed their jogging.

    Across the Narrows Bridge and across the overhead pathway they ran, up the steep hill of Kings Park. It was hard to keep jogging on the zigzag uphill paths. After reaching the hilltop near the war memorial, Liz and Henry bent, hands on their knees, panting heavily. When they raised their heads again, the river, the bridge, and Perth city were nowhere to be seen. The only thing in sight was the mist drifting over the hill.

    ‘We’re already five minutes late.’ Henry glanced at his watch trying to encourage Liz to hurry up.

    ‘I heard you,’ said Liz.

    They jogged downhill towards a flat grassy area, and Li Ping and Sue materialised from the fog when they were only a few metres away. ‘Sorry we’re late,’ panted Liz.

    ‘It’s all right, said Li Ping. We’ve only been here a couple of minutes. Shall we start?’

    While Li Ping walked among them, Liz, Sue and Henry started the slow, graceful Tai Chi movements, moving smoothly from the ‘Immortal Crane Stretching Her Wings’ to ‘Wild Horse Galloping’; then from ‘Single Arrow Shooting Two Eagles’ to ‘Fishing Moon from the Bottom of the Sea’. In the next hour, they accomplished the seventy-two cycles of Tai Chi.

    ‘You are doing very well,’ Li told Henry, ‘but recently you seem to have been losing your concentration a bit during class. Can you tell me why?’

    ‘We’ve been doing this Tai Chi for so many years, and now we’ve mastered all cycles you taught us, so it’s a bit boring. I wish that I could learn something more exciting, like hand to hand combat skills.’

    ‘Henry, you may think you have mastered all seventy-two cycles of Tai Chi, but I haven’t even started to teach you the real stuff yet.’

    ‘What do you mean?’

    ‘Do you know that Tai Chi can be used in real combat? Moreover, it is far more powerful than any other martial art you have ever heard about.’

    ‘You must be joking; these slow moves can be used in real combat?’

    The fog had become much thinner, so now they could see quite a distance. Henry pointed at a tree near the footpath. ‘Look at that dog; it’s climbed a tree.’

    Li turned around. ‘That is a bit strange.’

    ‘I almost forgot.’ Liz told Li about the strange behaviour of birds and fish earlier that morning.

    The smile faded from Li’s face. She counted on her fingers, mumbling words that Liz did not understand; Mandarin, she assumed. A few minutes later, Li said. ‘That is all for today; I’ll have to fly to Beijing tonight, but I should be back in a couple of

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