Heaven to Wudang (19 page)

‘Heaven's greatest champion was once the cruellest of the cruel, little one. Destruction is sometimes a necessary path that must be taken, but it is far better to teach understanding, serenity and enlightenment.'

I rose. ‘What of me?' I said, taking advantage of her unusual openness.

‘You are another example, nearly as great as his, of overcoming your nature and seeking enlightenment.'

‘What is my nature?'

‘Send out your agents, and hurry. You must meet quickly and tell the Winds of this infiltration,' she said, and disappeared.

L
iu, Meredith and Gold were already in the conference room near my office when I arrived.

I went to Gold and held out the beads to him. ‘Send three stones out to the other three Winds, tell them to recite the Lotus Sutra over these beads right away. Tell them that's an order.'

Gold took the beads and raised them in front of his face. ‘Are they all the same?'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘Hurry.'

‘What do they do?'

‘You're wasting time,' I said. ‘Just do it. It is important that these sutras are said immediately; and you don't question Kwan Yin.'

He saluted me with the beads in his hand and disappeared.

‘In the meantime,' I said, ‘it's time to share a special secret with one of our high-ranking students. Let's get Roderick and take him down to the Grotto and show him the lake. As an initiation.'

Liu picked up my intent immediately. He rose and pushed his chair back, saying for the benefit of anyone eavesdropping: ‘I'll go get him. It's an important part of the retreat preparation.'

Liu and Roderick were already standing on the ledge next to the water when I arrived in the Grotto.

Roderick gestured towards what I was carrying. ‘What's that? Is it part of the initiation?'

‘Sort of,' I said.

‘It looks like a dish for dog food.'

‘Cat,' I said, and placed the dish on the ground. I peeled open a can of pilchards and tipped them into the bowl, then slid it to the edge of the water.

Nothing happened, so I took a small amount out of the bowl and threw it into the water, wincing at the slimy feeling.

What's going on?
the fish said.

‘Don't eat it, it's not for you,' I said.

Wouldn't eat that disgusting stuff anyway, we're not cannibals
, the fish said with dignity.

The Turtle surfaced and raised its head slightly above the water, peering at me. It slid gracefully to the edge, then hauled itself out of the water and took a few steps. It was around two metres long, significantly bigger than when Simone had first brought it down to the Grotto. It buried its beak in the cat food, then raised its snout and half-closed its eyes with bliss, eating with loud smacking sounds.

‘Do you feel anything special here?' Liu asked Roderick.

‘Nothing,' Roderick said. ‘Is that the Dark Lord's Turtle?'

I nodded. ‘Come and touch its head and receive its blessing for your retreat. Hopefully you will attain greater understanding in your search for the Tao.'

‘I am blessed already to be on Wudang,' Roderick said. He walked quietly to the Turtle, crouched and touched its head. The Turtle paid no attention to him, concentrating on the cat food. ‘It's all animal right now, isn't it?'

Liu, standing behind Roderick, scowled with frustration.

‘Yes, it's terribly drained by all that's happened recently,' I said. ‘But he comes and goes, and is with us for longer periods all the time.'

Roderick rose again and saluted the Turtle. ‘I feel blessed. To have touched the Dark Lord, even when he is beast, is truly wonderful.'

‘Won't be long before you'll be taught by him,' Liu said, composing his expression again. He gestured towards the stairs. ‘Let's go back up. I'm sure you still have some packing to do.'

‘Why didn't you bring the others who are coming to the retreat down here?' Roderick said. ‘Why just me?'

‘You've been teaching; they're still just students,' I said. ‘It's part of the transition from student to Master.'

‘I see.' Roderick took a few steps towards the stairs then turned back. ‘Is it very difficult to come down here?'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘You have to be attuned to the gate, otherwise it will just be rock to you. It's something we teach the more senior Masters when there's a need for it. Most of the time, though, there isn't.'

Roderick bobbed his head. ‘I should like to learn so I can help with the care of the Turtle.' He smiled slightly. ‘I used to have a cat; it would bring back fond memories.'

Liu shot me a concerned glance behind Roderick's back.

I nodded to Roderick. ‘We'll see what happens when you come back from retreat.'

Roderick saluted me and proceeded up the stairs. Liu and I followed.

 

Gold met me back at my office. ‘We gave them the beads and received the usual shit from them — sorry for the expression but that's what it was. They'll do it immediately.'

‘Good. Be ready for transport,' I said, and the world around us disappeared.

We arrived on a pavilion in the middle of a lake so huge that its edges weren't visible. The water was flat and black — frozen. Scattered snowflakes floated through the air, but the temperature was brisk without being cold. Mountains surrounded the lake, dark grey in the distance.

The pavilion was fifty metres to a side, with no walls and a gold-tiled roof held up by red pillars and beams. The roof rose in three tiers, and each tier had windows beneath the roof line. The three Winds sat at a large table that held steaming tea and bamboo baskets of small white buns.

Gold, Liu and Meredith materialised next to me.

The Dragon waved us impatiently towards them. ‘Come and tell us what's so important that you had to drag us all the way here.'

We entered the pavilion and sat at the table. As the most junior Immortal there, Meredith reached for the teapot and poured for all of us, the Winds nodding their thanks without tapping the table.

‘Now what's all this about?' the Tiger said, pulling out a bun and breaking it open. He grimaced and put it back when he saw it had vegetarian stuffing.

The Phoenix glared at him, took the bun he'd discarded, delicately pulled the bread from the filling and popped it into her mouth. She passed the filling to the Dragon and he ate it without a word.

I gestured for Liu to explain.

‘Wudang has been infiltrated by a hundred demons that are such good copies they are undetectable by anybody except the Dark Lord himself,' Liu said. ‘He took human form for a brief moment, identified four of them, then returned to animal in the lake at the core of the Mountain. We have no way of knowing
who the others are. He said the copies all appeared as human, but not Immortal or Shen. Every human is suspect.'

‘We need to see these copies,' the Tiger said.

‘As soon as we are done here, we'll show them to you. They don't know we're onto them; we've separated three of them out for a Taoist meditation retreat.'

‘Good,' the Phoenix said. ‘The second they know you're onto them, all hundred will attack.'

‘Explode, actually,' I said with resignation, and they became even more concerned.

‘What about the fourth?' the Dragon said.

‘We sent her home with a tail on her,' Liu said. ‘Reports so far are that she has returned to her home town in Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo.'

‘We need an excuse for visiting the retreat,' the Phoenix said to Liu.

‘Go and yell at him about something,' I said. ‘That way they won't suspect you're working together.'

‘All three of us?' the Tiger said. He leaned his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand. ‘What could we possibly have to yell at Old Liu about?'

‘I taught your kids something wrong?' Liu said. He shook his head. ‘That wouldn't work.'

‘Drag races,' I said.

Liu leaned back and glared at me. ‘Nobody was supposed to know about that.'

I stared at him. ‘You have been drag racing with their kids?'

Liu's face fell. ‘Uh-oh.'

Gold spluttered with amusement.

‘Where is this retreat?' the Phoenix said, suddenly stern.

‘Blue Star Peak,' Liu said, wincing.

‘I will be there in thirty minutes. Be ready,' she said, and disappeared in a swirl of red.

Liu spread his hands. ‘It's perfectly safe, I swear, and all of them have their licences …'

‘I want a list when I get there,' the Tiger growled, and disappeared as well.

‘I don't care what they're up to, but if they've used one of
my
cars there will be hell to pay,' the Dragon said. ‘I'm checking the odometers now, and if any of them shows unusual mileage your ass is mine.' He rose, saluted me, and disappeared.

Liu's misery deepened. ‘The Dragon has a splendid collection of supercars. Loves them more than he loves his children.'

‘Wow, you are in serious trouble,' Gold said.

‘Good,' I said. ‘They won't be acting.'

 

Liu reported back to me later that morning. ‘The other Winds can't find anything different about them,' he said. ‘Emily is with her family in Malaysia; one of our stone Shen is keeping watch on her.'

‘She wasn't suspicious about being sent home?'

‘It isn't that unusual to be sent home for a while,' he said. ‘She has been struggling with the energy work, so I told her to take a break and see her family.'

‘Maybe we should isolate the other juniors who are having trouble with energy.'

‘That's most of them, Emma. You know how hard it is.'

‘We should send them all home.'

‘You know how well that works out.' He rubbed his hands over his face. ‘We need him back right now, dammit.'

‘Keep Leo away from the Turtle,' I said.

‘All the energy from Leo wouldn't be nearly enough to bring him back fully.'

‘Just make sure he doesn't try to make the sacrifice.'

‘Any sign of the Serpent?'

‘No.'

Liu's head shot up and he unfocused, listening. ‘Emily has disappeared. The tail lost her. They have no idea where she is.'

 

I was waiting for Simone in her living room, reading a book, when she arrived home from school in the middle of the afternoon.

‘You're not stalking me?' she said, incredulous.

I held up a piece of paper. It said:
Don't ask any questions. Don't say anything. Just take me down to the Peak right now.

At the same time, I said, ‘No, I just needed to be sure that you'd be home on time. Now let's go down to the Peak and pick up your books.'

She looked from the paper to me, opened her mouth to speak, then thought better of it. She came to me and held out her hand and took me down to the Peak.

We landed in the living room, which had been returned to its original configuration, except with a darker shade of cream for the carpet.

Simone put her hands on her hips. ‘What's this about?'

I sat on one of the sofas and gestured for her to join me. ‘Your dad came around, took human form and told us there are a hundred demon copies on the Mountain right now. He didn't have time to identify them all before he lost it.'

‘So why aren't we up there destroying them?' she said.

‘Because we don't know which ones they are, and the minute we start taking them down, they'll all activate and either explode or attack the students.'

She opened and closed her mouth a few times. ‘I didn't know.'

‘He told us while you were with Freddo. We can't do anything even slightly different, because that will tip
them off. We have to keep everything absolutely as normal as possible until John comes back and identifies them.' I sighed. ‘Either way, you have to stay down here, where it's safe, until this whole business is sorted.'

‘Did he identify any of them?'

‘Yes. Four. Three of them are on retreat at Blue Star Peak with Liu —'

She disappeared.

I threw myself back in the chair. ‘Great. There goes my ride.'

‘Do you want to wait for her to return or head back up now?' the stone asked.

‘I'll wait for her.'

I turned on the television. Although we had cable in the Peak apartment, there was only one English channel, which targeted the Middle Eastern market and cycled a constant stream of
Baywatch
reruns. I turned it off again and headed to the training room to do sword katas until Simone returned.

John appeared after I'd been practising for about half an hour. ‘Why are you here alone and unguarded?'

‘It's a long story.'

‘I have all of eternity.'

‘I don't.'

He smiled slightly. ‘Yes, you do.'

He summoned Dark Heavens and pointed at the floor in front of him. I didn't move.

‘We need you back,' I said. ‘A hundred demons on the Mountain.'

‘I remember.' He raised one hand, dismissed the sword, and his eyes unfocused. ‘They really are very well hidden. I can't see them from here; I have to be on the Mountain.'

I went to him and put my hand on his arm, relishing the ability to touch him without hesitation. ‘I put a couple of boxes of brightly coloured spray paint in your
office on the Mountain. If the demons attack, grab the paint and mark the demons so we can identify them.'

‘I should do it right now,' he said.

I gripped his arm tighter. ‘No. We're not ready. All the students are there, and these copies could explode when they know we're onto them.'

‘I see. Where's Simone?'

‘Blue Star Peak.'

He disappeared. A minute later, Leo appeared on the other side of the room in his wheelchair. He glanced around, appearing surprised, then saw me.

‘What am I doing here?' he said.

‘I think John just dropped you here to guard me.'

‘Lovely. Don't I get a say in the matter?'

‘Yes,' I said. ‘You can choose not to be my personal guard.'

He grunted and pulled himself out of the chair to stand, then summoned the Black Lion. ‘You're not getting rid of me that easy, lady.'

I sighed, summoned the Murasame, and saluted him with it. ‘It was worth a try.'

He saluted me back and we readied ourselves. He started with a broad horizontal sweep towards my neck; more style than substance. I parried it with the Murasame, pushing his blade down. He moved with it, yielding, then swept his sword back up and swung it in another arc towards my right shoulder. I twisted my blade in my hands and blocked him, and again pushed him down.