Heaven to Wudang (12 page)

I leaned against the wall and watched. The two Shen had changed to Celestial Form: Leo in his larger form, wearing the Mountain uniform; Na Zha in his more adult form, wearing pale blue Tang robes. Na Zha had no difficulty with the two demons he was facing, and Leo was
more than a match for his. I sat down on the concrete with the wall at my back, still trying to suck in air.

Na Zha seemed to be enjoying himself, blocking the blows from weapons on both sides with his whip and wheel without doing any damage to the demons in return. Leo wasn't wasting energy, though; as I watched, he broke through the demon's guard and sliced it from midriff to shoulder and out, making it dissipate. He turned and took the head off one of the demons fighting Na Zha, then dismissed his sword and came to check on me. He knelt in front of me and put his hands on my head, feeling for lumps, then pulled my eyelids open, checking my pupils.

‘I'm okay,' I said. ‘Just winded.'

‘Did you hit your head?'

‘No.'

‘Lion!' Na Zha yelled, and Leo turned, then jumped back up and recalled his sword.

Na Zha had finished the humanoid he was facing and had taken a couple of steps back. A flock of flyers approached us, more than twenty of them.

‘These are really big ones,' Na Zha said. He glanced back at me. ‘Run, Emma. Take off over the rooftops and wait for us.'

I shook my head; I wouldn't leave them.

‘A stray could get through us with this many,' Na Zha said. ‘We'll keep them busy; just move so we don't have to worry about you.'

The flyers landed on the roof between us and the stairs. I couldn't go back inside now.

Leo patted me on the shoulder, then helped me up. ‘He's right. Head along a few roofs to the end of the street and wait for us there.'

‘Let me help you,' I said. ‘Let me fight.' I summoned the Murasame and it came to me without difficulty. I raised it. ‘I can do it.'

Na Zha backed up slightly as the flyers moved menacingly towards him. ‘Remind me to get you to sign a waiver next time I see you, so that black bastard doesn't blame me if something happens to you.'

Leo stood in front of me and faced them. ‘I won't blame you, because nothing will happen to her.'

‘I didn't mean you.'

‘Call Simone,' I said to the stone.

‘I'm blocked,' it said.

‘Absolutely bloody useless in a crisis,' I grumbled.

‘Stay behind us,' Leo said, and moved next to Na Zha.

‘They're scared of you,' I said, watching the flyers hesitate. None of them wanted to be first to attack. I gathered the energy within me, generated a ball of chi and blew up a couple of them that were trying to ease their way around Na Zha and Leo to me. The energy return bolstered me and I stood straighter and stronger.

That was enough to set them off. The demons attacked.

Leo and Na Zha had no difficulty with them, the flyers never made it through their guard. Leo worked with elegant precision, close on the skill he'd had before he'd gone to Hell all that time ago. It wouldn't be long before he exceeded any human warrior.

A flyer leapt over Na Zha's head and he missed it on the way through. I destroyed it with chi and enjoyed the sensation of its energy returning to me — it'd been a long time since I'd felt that rush.

A couple more made it round Na Zha, and I destroyed them with the Murasame before they even hit me.

I scanned around, watching for anything bigger that could possibly ambush us. These were too easy; there had to be something else.

The rooftop door opened and Clarissa appeared
behind the flyers. She looked around and her face filled with fear.

I took a huge leap over the top of the flyers to Clarissa and pushed her behind me into the top of the stairwell. The demons turned to face me, and Leo and Na Zha took advantage of their distraction to hit them from behind.

‘Stay there, don't move,' I said to Clarissa, and stepped forward.

The stairwell was in the corner of the roof and only a couple of them could try for me at a time. They were slower than me and, although bigger and stronger, also clumsy. The one in front of me swiped with its front leg and I stepped back to avoid it. It swung its head to grab me in its mouth, and I rolled under its chin and shoved my sword into its belly.

‘That is very bad technique!' Leo shouted as I ducked to avoid the spray of demon essence then jumped back.

‘You can talk!' I shouted back as I used my backwards momentum to avoid another flyer's foreleg, bounced off the wall of the stairwell and sliced its head off, somersaulting over it.

I stuck my sword into the forehead of the next one, turned sideways to avoid the attack behind me, and sliced off the head of the one behind. I continued the stroke to take both the front legs off the one to the right of me, and ducked to avoid the head of the one to the left. I rolled backwards and righted myself, leaning against the wall of the stairwell.

Leo's face went rigid and he sent a blast of chi from his sword into one of the three remaining demons. He stepped forward and took the head off another; and Na Zha's ring weapon sliced the third into two pieces.

The three of us stood there panting. Now that the adrenaline and chi rush had worn off I felt like I'd run a marathon, and that shin really did feel cracked.

I caught my breath then checked on Clarissa. She was huddled in a corner of the stairs with her arm over her eyes. I knelt next to her and put my arms around her. She let go into my shoulder, her whole body shaking with sobs.

‘Humans,' Na Zha said with distaste. ‘Always making a fuss.'

I spoke to him over Clarissa's head. ‘Get rid of that goddamn graffiti before I haul you before the Courts of the Northern Heavens. And never do that to any of the Dark Lord's property again.'

He shrugged and turned his back on me.

‘Leo,' I said, and he came to sit with Clarissa for me.

I limped to Na Zha and spoke to his back. ‘I am ordering you as First Heavenly General, asshole. Get rid of it and never do it again.'

Na Zha jumped a metre off the roof and his fire wheels materialised beneath his feet. ‘It's already gone.' He spun on his wheels to face me. ‘I don't appreciate being called an asshole, madam. Particularly for something I didn't do. Next time you're attacked, I won't be there. Hey!' He shouted to Clarissa. ‘Human!'

Clarissa looked up at him from the floor, her face swollen and terrified.

Na Zha took full True Form; his head had four faces, one in each direction. He sprouted six more arms, stretching his torso to fit them. He leaned towards Clarissa, still on his fire wheels, and she cringed into Leo.

‘You made a bad decision working for the North, human, because without the Dark Lord around, you're gonna get yourself killed. These amateurs have no idea how to deal with a real threat.'

His wheels slowly rose with a sound like a jet engine, roared into flames with a blast of heat that drove me back, and he flew away.

I went back to Clarissa and sat next to her on the concrete. I put my arm around her shoulders. ‘Are you okay?'

She shook her head into Leo's chest.

‘Take a moment to catch your breath, then we'll go downstairs and have a cup of tea in the office,' I said. ‘Stone.'

‘Michael's on his way,' the stone said.

‘Thank you. Zara?'

‘I'm not sure what to do,' Clarissa's stone said in her soft female voice. ‘I don't know what to do.'

‘Next time, call Michael,' I said. ‘He can protect her.'

‘Can her stone talk direct to others?' Leo said. ‘Yours can't.'

‘It can. Mine's useless, it's too old to communicate directly,' I said.

‘Not my fault I'm old,' the stone said.

W
e went back down to the office and I guided Clarissa into the meeting room, then sat to check my leg. Citrus and Feena saw how distraught Clarissa was and came in.

‘What happened?' Citrus said.

‘Just a scare: a man came and yelled at us,' I said. ‘Can you put the hot water on? We'll make some tea for her.'

Citrus nodded and went out to the shared tearoom in the corridor outside the office. Feena put her hand on Clarissa's shoulder, trying to comfort her.

‘I know I'm safe,' Clarissa said. ‘I shouldn't be worried while I'm with you. I should be enjoying all this action movie stuff. Why can't I stop crying?'

‘Your stress index is probably through the roof,' I said, rolling my jeans up to examine my throbbing shin. ‘You've just agreed to move house — and moving up to Wudang will be as good as moving countries. Of course you'll have a strong reaction to anything else that's thrown on top of it. I think uncontrollable crying is a perfectly understandable response to having your life threatened, particularly when you saw what was threatening you.'

‘I just want to stop crying,' Clarissa said, pulling another tissue out of the box. Leo patted her back and she leaned into him.

My shin hadn't started to bruise yet, but it was hugely swollen over the bone, tight and painful. I knew better than to try and rub it.

‘Michael will be here soon, he'll look after you,' I said. ‘Take some time away from everything.' I glanced up from my leg. ‘Actually, you could get the Wudang staff to do the move for you, and go spend some time together in Malaysia or Thailand. What do you say?'

‘I'd rather get the house on the Mountain all set up.'

‘Just don't overdo it, okay?' I glanced up at Feena. ‘Is there any ice in the fridge in the tearoom, Feena? I fell down and hurt my leg.'

She bobbed her head. ‘I'll look, ma'am.'

‘Thanks.'

Leo peered over the table with his hand on Clarissa's back. ‘How bad is it?'

‘I think it's cracked. I'm too weak to use my Inner Eye at the moment. Can you see?'

His eyes unfocused and his face went slack. ‘Whoa,' he said. ‘This beats X-rays every time. The bone is definitely cracked. It's not too severe, more like a stress fracture, but it's definitely broken.' He straightened in the wheelchair. ‘Would energy healing work on it?'

‘Yes, but again I'm too drained to do anything,' I said.

Leo gave Clarissa a parting pat on the back and wheeled himself around the table to me. ‘Show me what to do.'

‘You didn't look that weak on the rooftop,' Clarissa said, taking deep breaths and controlling the tears. ‘You kicked ass.'

‘Thanks, but that was pure adrenaline,' I said, taking Leo's hand and linking up to him. ‘I'm turning into an adrenaline junkie. Soon I'll start putting myself in harm's way just for the rush.'

Clarissa gasped. ‘Michael …?'

‘Maybe, Clarissa.'

‘Shut up, woman, and show me how to do this,' Leo growled. ‘Deal with Michael's mental problems later.'

‘He's not that mental,' I said. ‘Look at her.'

‘Shut up.'

‘Focus your energy on the damage,' I said, showing him where to place the chi. ‘Wrap it around a small section of the fracture — not too much chi, that's too hot — that's perfect. Cover that small part of the fracture with the energy, and leave it there until the bone has knitted together.'

‘This is like watching a clinical video of the healing happening in fast-motion,' Leo said. ‘That's about four weeks' worth of healing right there, and it cost me next to nothing.'

‘He's mending a broken bone?' Clarissa said, fascinated.

‘And doing a fine job of it,' I said. ‘Move to the next section. If it costs too much chi, just leave it.'

Citrus came back with a thermos jug full of hot water and put it on the table. She pulled some ceramic mugs, tea bags and sugar out of the cupboard in the meeting room.

‘Any coffee in there?' Leo said. ‘But not for Clarissa, caffeine's a bad idea for someone suffering from shock.'

‘We have yin-yang,' Citrus said.

‘What's that?' Clarissa said.

‘Half-tea, half-coffee, vilest concoction on the face of the planet,' Leo said.

‘Ew,' Clarissa said. ‘Tea, please.'

Feena came back with a jug. ‘No ice, Emma, would cold water do?'

‘No, it's fine,' I said. ‘Leo's doing some Reiki on it, it's very small.'

She nodded and went back out again, unperturbed.

‘We're fine, Citrus. We'll let Clarissa get her breath
back then take her home,' I said. ‘The graffiti will be cleaned off, no more problems.'

‘Okay, Emma,' Citrus said. She gave Clarissa a friendly pat on the back and went out.

Clarissa put three big teaspoons of sugar into a cup of tea. ‘Reiki, eh?'

‘Perfectly normal, humdrum Reiki,' I said.

Michael stormed in and sat next to Clarissa, peering into her eyes. ‘Are you all right? What happened?' He glanced around the room. ‘Is everything okay?'

‘Everything's fine,' I said. ‘A few flyers, a couple of humanoids, nothing major.'

‘Emma broke her leg, though,' Clarissa said with relish.

‘You should have told me — I would have been down here straightaway to help out,' Michael said.

‘What took you so long?' Leo said.

‘I apologise,' Zara said. ‘I didn't know what to do.'

‘Next time this happens, you let me know right away,' Michael said fiercely to Zara. He put his arm around Clarissa and held her so hard she spilled her tea. ‘Next time I'm not letting you go out by yourself.'

Clarissa snorted and pushed him away, then grabbed some tissues to wipe up the tea. ‘That's all I need, you following me around all the time.'

‘I just want to make sure you're safe,' he said.

‘It was my own stupid fault. If I'd stayed down here like they told me, I wouldn't have been in any danger at all.' She elbowed him in the ribs. ‘You don't need to follow me around — next time I won't give in to any stupid urges to check out what's happening.'

‘Done,' Leo said, withdrawing the energy from my leg.

I flexed the knee; the pain had eased and most of the swelling was gone. ‘Thanks.'

‘You still need to take it easy for a couple of days,' Leo said. ‘No brisk weapon work, no running. Soft, slow Tai Chi only.'

I saluted him Western style, the same way Clarissa had saluted me. ‘Yes, sir, Lord Leo, sir!'

‘Oh, cut it out,' Leo said. ‘Let's go back to the Mountain, it'll heal up three times faster there.'

‘If I came down here by myself to manage the properties, how much danger would I be in?' Clarissa said.

‘I can come down with you if you're worried,' Michael said.

‘You're an untrained ordinary human, absolutely not a target,' I said. ‘If you don't mind bringing Michael with you, he could guard you as part of his Mountain duties. Then you'd be in no danger at all; he's one of the finest talents among the non-Immortals.'

She wagged her finger at him. ‘Only if you promise not to smother me.'

He raised his hands. ‘Cross my heart.'

‘Then do you have time to stay with me while I look over the files?' Clarissa said.

‘I'll help you with them,' he said.

‘No, this is my job,' she said. ‘If you want to do it for me, you can go back up and someone else can guard me.'

He grinned with delight. ‘I'll just sit in here and drink coffee and be a good little driver, then. Do you want me to bring the car around when you're done, ma'am?'

‘Good idea. We can grab the stuff out of the flat when I'm done here and take it up to the Mountain,' she said.

He saluted her Chinese-style. ‘Ma'am.'

‘If you need me for anything, call me on my mobile, or get Zara to contact my stone through the network,' I said, and raised my hand for Leo to take it.

‘Out through the front door, the staff are human,' Leo said, slapping my hand away. ‘And slowly on that leg.'

I pulled myself up with difficulty; it still felt stiff and all the fluid hadn't drained completely. ‘Yes, sir.'

‘See you later, Emma,' Clarissa said, and I waved to her as I went out.

‘Want the wheelchair?' Leo said as I opened the office door for him.

‘That would look really good,' I said. ‘You go in disabled and come out healed, and I come out disabled. People will flock to the office looking for the miraculous remedy.'

‘Everything about us is miraculous,' Leo said as he pushed the button to call the lift.

‘Damn straight,' I said.

The lift doors opened; the lift was empty. We went in and, after the doors had closed, we linked hands and went back to the Mountain.

 

I managed to stay upright when we landed, tottered a few paces, then stopped. ‘Is it eleven yet?'

‘Close enough,' the stone said.

I bent to hug Leo. ‘Meditation time. See you at lunch.'

‘I'm having lunch with Martin,' he said.

I patted him on the shoulder. ‘Awesome, have fun. See you later then.'

‘Energy work at three, don't forget.'

‘Don't worry, I have my iPhone with all the appointments in it. Don't I, stone?'

The stone made some squeaking noises at that but didn't say anything.

I walked to the western side of the Mountain, towards the student residences. An ancient, clay-brick temple stood on the edge of the area, with a paved garden all around it. Wizened pine trees stood in patches of open ground, and there were large bonsai trees — some as tall as a metre — in pots. Bamboo
lattices marked the pathways, adding the final touch to the traditional Chinese look.

I went into the temple, removing my shoes at the entrance. The ceiling was thick with enormous incense coils, up to sixty centimetres around and as many high, suspended from the rafters and filling the air with fragrant smoke. The monks and nuns had already seated themselves on mats. I took one at the back, furthest from the altar where two of the clergy were ready to tap the drum and gong. Nobody paid any attention to me.

They all went quiet and very still. I sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, and the chanting began. The low intonation of the Scriptures was marked by the tapping of the fish-shaped wooden drum and the tiny bell-like gong. I let myself drift away into the rhythm of the chant, the Heart Sutra, and became disconnected.

Reality is emptiness; emptiness is reality. Emptiness is not different to reality; reality is not different to emptiness. In the same way, emotions, ideas, logic, and consciousness are emptiness.

Therefore all experience is emptiness. It is not defined. It is not created or destroyed, impure or free from impurity, not incomplete or complete.

Therefore in emptiness, there is no reality, no emotion, no ideas, no logic, no consciousness; no eye, no ear, no nose, no tongue, no body, no mind, no form, no sound, no smell, no taste, no touch; no vision up to no mind leading to no consciousness; no ignorance, no end of ignorance leading to no old age and death, no end of old age and death; no suffering, no origin, no end, no path; no clear awareness, no attainment, and no non-attainment.

Therefore, for Bodhisattvas, there is no attainment; they abide, trusting the perfection of wisdom. With nothing clouding their minds, they have no fear. They
leave delusion behind and come to the emptiness of Nirvana.

As I drifted away it felt like I was on the Second Platform, the Heaven of Perfection and Enlightenment, where the Buddhas lived. The feeling of purity resonated amongst all present, filling the air around us with perfect harmony and love for all living things. Time meant nothing as the sound of the sutra filled the air, the gentle rhythm clearing my thoughts and filling me with the peace of emptiness.

It seemed like only a couple of minutes before the echoes of the sutra faded away, leaving me with a feeling of perfect contentment. I took deep breaths, moving my chi, and felt the tiny roiling centre of darkness within me stilled and controlled. Even without the demon essence, something dark and powerful and bloodthirsty sat inside me that would never allow me to reach the perfection that these humans sought.

I went to the head monk and greeted him Buddhist-style, hands clasped as if in prayer. He greeted me back and waved for me to sit on the mat near the altar.

‘Your energy is progressing well,' he said, sitting cross-legged in front of me. ‘Now that the demon essence has been cleared, the path is open.'

‘Thank you for coming to the Mountain. We all appreciate your time.'

‘Time means nothing. Spending time sharing the Teachings, however, means a great deal to us.'

‘Can you help me with something that's bothering me?' I said.

‘Probably not, but fire away.'

‘I'm having visions of the future. When the session finished just then, it came even more clearly. It's a horrible feeling of foreboding. Something terrible is going to happen.'

‘You are not the first,' he said.

‘You should all leave,' I said.

‘Why? To protect our lives? Life is an illusion.'

‘To protect those who would lose access to your wisdom if you were to be pulled into our conflict. Wudang is a centre of turmoil. You are centres of peace. Please leave.'

‘We will go when we must.'

‘Then you'll stay much longer than the three months you promised.'

He leaned forward and clasped my hands in his. ‘We will not. But when we do leave, it will be without warning. And when we do, arm yourself, Lady Emma, because the Teachings are the Truth, but the Dark Lord keeps all of humanity safe.'

He released my hands and rose, then leaned to help me up. ‘Don't you have something productive to do? You shouldn't waste your time sitting around in here all day with us navel-gazers.'