He licked her hand again. ‘I don’t have a name.’ He dropped his head and eyed her shyly. ‘Can you give me a name? I’d really like that.’
‘I’ll have to think of something that’s as impressive and handsome as you are,’ she said. ‘I can’t just call you Freddo Frog or anything.’
‘Freddo Frog! I love that!’ He gambolled around the stall, flicking his tail. ‘I’m Freddo Frog, the wonder horse. I belong to Simonny, the wonder girl!’ He turned to her and reared, then dropped and kicked out his tiny back feet. ‘Freddo Frog and Simonny!’
Simone fell to sit on the straw, hysterical with laughter. Freddo lay down next to her and rested his head in her lap, gazing up at her. ‘Thank you, Simonny.’
She cupped his head with both hands. ‘You’re welcome, Freddo. Can I come and visit you every day?’
‘I’d like that,’ he said.
Sorry, Simone mouthed to Miss Ling over the top of his head. She switched to silent speech. You should choose a stud name for him; you can’t call him Freddo Frog!
‘Ling’s Golden Freddo (DX) it is,’ Miss Ling said.
‘DX?’ Simone said.
‘It’s an indicator we put at the end of the stud name to show demonic offspring,’ Miss Ling said. She turned to me. ‘What does Freddo Frog mean anyway?’
‘It’s a small chocolate bar that you can buy in Australia,’ I said. ‘Simone loves them.’
Ling gestured with her head towards Simone and Freddo. ‘I think this is love as well.’
‘You have to go back to school, you know that, Simone,’ I said.
Freddo popped up onto his feet again, excited. ‘Can I come with you?’ He stamped his hooves and looked from me to Simone. ‘Can I?’
‘Your mummy won’t be able to come with us,’ Simone said. ‘You should stay with her here — she has good milk for you to grow big and strong.’
‘Oh yeah,’ Freddo said, eyes wide. ‘I’m hungry!’
‘Oh, he’s definitely your horse,’ I said to Simone as Freddo started nursing again.
Simone rose and brushed off the sawdust. ‘You don’t mind, Emma?’
I moved back as Miss Ling let Simone out of the stall. ‘Not at all. He’s perfect for you; a steed fit for a princess.’
Freddo stopped feeding and turned to look at us. ‘You’re going, Simonny?’
‘You eat and then have a big sleep so you have lots of energy when we play tomorrow,’ Simone said.
‘Okay!’ Freddo returned to his mother, his tail frantically waving as he sucked.
‘We need to get back to the palace, I have one more hearing,’ I said. I bowed my head to Ling and Toi. ‘Please, if there is anything you need that I can help with, do not hesitate to contact myself, Ming Gui or Yue Gui.’
Ling and Toi bowed, their hands held formally at their waists. ‘We appreciate your time and presence, my Lady,’ Ling said, ‘and look forward to serving you in future.’
Simone put her arm around my neck as we made our way back to the car. ‘Let’s have lunch with Martin and Yue Gui before I go back to school,’ she said. ‘Five dollars says Martin tells the story about the archery contest again.’
‘You’re on,’ I said. ‘He only told that one yesterday, no way would he think to bore us with it again.’
Simone grinned. ‘Five bucks, all mine. I’m rich!’
CHAPTER 6
Sang Shen entered the courtroom accompanied by his mother, Yue Gui — Simone’s older sister — and a single demon servant. The Blue Dragon was attended by five lithe young women in multi-layered Ming robes. Both Sang Shen and the Dragon stepped forward, kneeled and saluted me, then rose again.
‘Sang Shen,’ I said.
Sang Shen saluted. ‘This humble Shen is present and honoured.’
‘Qing Long.’
The Dragon glared at me with his turquoise eyes, flicked his long hair over his shoulder and gracefully saluted. ‘This …’ I watched with amusement as the words stuck in his throat. ‘This humble Shen is present and honoured.’
‘The applicant will present his case,’ I said.
Sang Shen gestured towards his demon servant and the servant passed him a scroll. He opened it and read aloud: ‘This humble tree Shen provides mulberry leaves whose quality and purity are unmatched on any Plane. Since this Shen’s death sentence was suspended, and the Heavens have been rejuvenated by your own most wise and generous self, his leaves have become even richer and more beneficial, and the silk produced by worms fed on these leaves is unparalleled in quality, the finest silk that has ever come out of the East.’
‘That’s because it’s the East,’ the Dragon said under his breath.
‘The respondent will remain silent until given leave to speak,’ I said with relish.
The Dragon flicked his long hair again and subsided.
‘This tree Shen therefore has raised the price of his leaves accordingly.’ Sang Shen closed the scroll with a snap. ‘If the buyer does not wish to pay the premium, then the buyer may look elsewhere.’
‘Bluff,’ the Dragon said.
‘You were warned,’ I said.
The Dragon bowed gracefully to me, making a point of bowing low.
‘You may state your case,’ I said to him.
‘This is extortion,’ the Dragon said. ‘The leaves are not worth this amount. This criminal is still being held at your pleasure, ma’am, and he does not deserve to accrue wealth while paying for his crimes.’
‘What does that mean — “held at her pleasure”?’ Sang Shen said. ‘I resent the implications of this slander!’
‘It means that I have had you incarcerated to pay for your crimes,’ I said. ‘It’s an archaic English term. He’s been doing his homework, probably to try to ingratiate himself with me.’
‘No more than this tree Shen has infiltrated your family and tried to ingratiate himself with your stepdaughter,’ the Dragon said.
‘That was unnecessary; he is family,’ I said. ‘And so are you, East Wind. Let me summarise the case. Sang Shen wishes to charge a premium for his excellent leaves; and Qing Long says he doesn’t have the right because he’s a prisoner of the Court of the North.’
‘This is true,’ the Dragon said.
‘My leaves are truly excellent,’ Sang Shen said.
‘Geez, that sounds so wrong,’ I said. ‘Okay. Record my judgement.’
Sang Shen and Qing Long exchanged venomous looks.
‘You two go and set a value for the leaves together. Sang Shen gets ten per cent of it, held in trust until his sentence is served. The rest is to be converted into Earthly currency and donated to Earthly charities as proceeds of a convicted criminal. No details of this case are to be discussed outside this courtroom.’
‘He’ll just inflate the price by ten!’ the Dragon protested.
‘Then refuse to pay,’ I said.
‘Ten per cent makes the sale of the leaves