Heaven to Wudang (31 page)

‘Xuan Tian Shang Di. Lord Leo. Lady Emma. Lord Michael.'

John nodded to him and all three men rose from the couch.

‘Welcome,' John said. ‘Up you get, lad, this isn't the Celestial Palace.'

Justin hesitated for a moment, then pulled himself to his feet, carefully not looking any of us in the eyes.

‘This isn't like your dad's house,' Simone said. ‘We're much more informal.' She grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the dining room. ‘Come on.'

John gestured for them to go first, and we followed them into the dining room. Justin held a chair out for Simone, carefully waited until everybody else was
seated, then nearly fell over with nervousness as he tried to sit himself.

‘I hope you don't mind vegetarian,' I said. ‘We're all either vegetarian by choice or it's part of the training right now.'

Justin bobbed his head to me. ‘I'm honoured to be included, ma'am.'

‘Please don't stand on formality, Justin, this is family-style,' I said. ‘Relax.'

Justin looked from me to Leo and Michael, who were both glowering at him, then to John, who was serenely unaware of the awkwardness.

Er Hao and a couple of demon servants brought in the dishes: vegetarian fungi, stir-fried gluten and steamed bean curd. She placed a plate of steamed vegetarian Beijing-style buns triumphantly in front of John.

‘Well done,' I said to her, and she blushed and hurried out.

John poured tea for everyone, and Justin watched, horrified. As John filled Justin's cup, Justin pulled himself together and used two fingers to signal his kneeling in thanks. John didn't notice.

‘Do you know who everybody is?' I said.

‘Yes,' Justin said, gazing around the table with awe. ‘Lord Xuan, Lord Leo, Lord Michael. Three of the greatest champions Heaven has ever seen, according to my father.'

Leo and Michael shared a look, then both quietly choked with laughter.

Justin continued. ‘You're Lady Emma, Simone's stepmother. I'm honoured to meet you all.'

There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment.

‘Tell me about yourself, Justin,' I said, trying to break the ice. ‘Do you live in the Eastern Palace?'

‘I do, in the students' dorms. I'm on the waiting list for an apartment of my own there,' Justin said.

‘Are you trained in the Arts?' John said, suddenly taking an interest.

Justin opened and closed his mouth a few times, then said, ‘No, my Lord. I have absolutely no aptitude whatsoever, and my father's weapons master —'

‘Ah Yeung,' John cut in. ‘One of our best graduates.' Justin didn't reply and John waved one hand at him. ‘Go on, go on.'

Justin stuttered then pulled himself together. ‘He says that if I continue trying to learn any weapon I'll probably do myself some sort of permanent damage, and it would be best if I continued my studies in other directions.'

‘What directions?' Leo said.

‘Justin is still at CH with me,' Simone said. ‘He'll finish next year and then probably go on to higher study.'

‘What are you planning to do?' John said.

‘Uh …' Justin shook his head, trying to concentrate. ‘I'll probably go down to the Earthly and study at a university; I'm very good with IT.'

He looked to Simone for reassurance, and she smiled at him. She was obviously holding his hand under the table.

‘IT?' John said.

‘Computers, technology,' I said. ‘The Dragon's Eastern Palace is very high tech, from what I hear. Uses all the latest stuff from Japan; he owns significant technology research labs there.'

‘Not the undersea one?' Michael said, obviously interested despite himself.

‘No, this is the floating Palace of the East,' Justin said, more animated. ‘The Tree itself provides the network. It's an extremely fast random neural net; it's sentient — it's amazing. When I graduate I want to work in the AI labs, to try and hook Celestial stones into the network and create some AI of our own.'

‘AI?' John said.

‘Artificial intelligence,' I said. ‘Sounds fascinating. Do you make use of Celestial stone Shen in the network or are all the stones non-sentient?'

Justin spoke with enthusiasm, more relaxed now. ‘All non-sentient. The guys in the lab — I work part-time there — are hoping to one day bring a non-Shen stone to full AI sentience. It's very exciting.'

‘Gold would find this extremely interesting,' Michael said. ‘Have you done any work with him?'

‘The Lord Gold? The Golden Boy? We're expanding his original research in Celestial Harmony, but the guys in the lab wouldn't dare contact him about it. He's far too important to be bothered by anything as mundane as this, my Lord.'

‘Just Michael, man. I've only been Immortal for a couple of days and I feel no different.'

‘I was hoping I could ask you what it felt like,' Justin said.

‘Like exploding into a million pieces of shining light, then being put back together again,' Michael said.

‘That describes it very well,' Leo said.

John picked up a bun in his chopsticks and pulled the rice paper from the bottom. ‘I hate to think that Er Hao's first organised meal may be returned cold to the kitchen. Stop talking and eat.'

Justin quickly picked up some of the fungi in his chopsticks and put them into Simone's bowl, then selected some for himself.

‘Good,' John said. ‘We'll talk more about your studies later, Justin, but right now we need to schedule. Emma, after dinner the Generals are coming to plan a strategy for the next few months. I'd also like to examine you again.'

‘The Thirty-Six?' Justin said, eyes wide. ‘All of the Thirty-Six are coming here?'

‘We lost one,' I said. ‘It's Thirty-Five now.'

‘The JE is pissed beyond belief that we haven't replaced Gao Yuan,' John said.

‘The JE?' Justin said.

‘Ah, my turn. The Jade Emperor,' John said.

Justin stared at him. ‘The Celestial One himself … What's he like?'

‘What, the JE?' I said. ‘Old.'

‘Boring,' Simone said.

‘Nearly as boring as me?' John said.

‘Not nearly,' Simone said. ‘You're by far the most boring thing on any Plane.'

‘I can't get over how … normal you all are,' Justin said. ‘You talk about this stuff as if it was every day.'

‘Unfortunately, it is,' John said. ‘Eat up, or I'll make you sit in on the meeting with the Generals. And believe me, that's a fate worse than death.'

‘That it is,' I said.

‘Back at the Eastern Palace, if you're invited for dinner with my father, it's a full-on formal banquet,' Justin said. ‘They have protocol training beforehand for any of us that are doing it for the first time.'

‘Same over in the West,' Michael said. ‘And even worse, my dad will have half-a-dozen wives and a bunch of dancing girls there too.'

‘Yeah, but your dads are creeps,' Simone said. She saw the way they were looking at her, and protested. ‘They are!'

‘Back in the East, my father's just there,' Justin said. ‘One with the Tree, spirit of the East, and totally unapproachable.' He turned to Simone and obviously squeezed her hand under the table. ‘You're very lucky to have such a close father.'

‘He's only been close for a few days,' she said. ‘This is one of the first meals I've shared with him in ten years.'

‘We have a lot of catching up to do,' John said.

‘I won't get in the way,' Justin said.

‘You're not in the way, mate,' I said. ‘It's lovely to have you over. You're welcome anytime.'

He bobbed his head. ‘Thanks, ma'am, it's a special feeling to be so welcome.'

 

After dinner, Simone and Justin went upstairs to play on the consoles on the landing. Michael nabbed me before I went out to the Generals meeting, and we sat in the living room together.

John stopped in front of me before going to the meeting. ‘They should have a chaperone up there, Emma.'

‘They do. Leo's up there being thoroughly owned at
Speed Drift 2
.'

‘I told him he isn't to leave them alone.'

‘Well, now tell him that if they decide to go for a walk around the Mountain, he's not to go with them.'

He was silent for a moment, then relented. ‘I hope you know what you're doing.'

‘Just go start the meeting. I'll be along as soon as I've talked to Michael.'

John saluted me and went out.

‘I was all ready to hate this dragon kid,' Michael said. ‘But actually, he's not too bad. He's smart and caring and probably a good match for her.'

‘I give it no more than two weeks before they decide to be just good friends.'

‘Ten yuan.'

‘Done.' We shook hands and I leaned back on my couch. ‘Are you okay? I haven't had a chance to speak to you since you came back.'

‘I'm fine. It took me some time to come to terms with the fact that Clarissa had probably been dead for a while, but …' He wiped one hand over his eyes. ‘I'll get there.'

‘That's good to hear. So what did you want to ask me?'

‘My father's offered me the position of Number One, which is stupid. All the other sons would be after my hide. I would prefer to stay on as Retainer to the North, but I know you have Leo and probably don't need me — so do you have something else I could do?' He leaned his elbows on his knees. ‘Does Simone need a full-time minder? Would Leo be willing to share duties with me?'

‘We originally put you on as a prospective replacement for Leo when he died, and it looks like that position will be available if you want it. Leo doesn't have long to live.'

‘What?'

I dropped my voice. ‘He wants to be drained by the Dark Lord, to be one with him.'

Michael's face filled with fury and he shot to his feet. ‘We'll see about that.'

I put my hand on his arm to stop him before he could charge upstairs to confront Leo. ‘You'd only make it worse. Our big hope is that Martin will convince him that he has something to live for.'

Michael flopped back onto the couch. ‘Oh God, poor Martin. I see the way he looks at Leo. They're even talking about sharing a Celestial Residence here — I offered them Persimmon Tree now that Clarissa …' He pulled himself together again. ‘Now that I won't be using it.'

‘Set yourself up in the room that my parents vacated upstairs. Your position will officially be assistant bodyguard, Retainer to the House of the North.'

‘You want me in the Imperial Residence?'

‘Yeah, why not? My parents have moved back to the West. I'll give Persimmon Tree to Leo, and hopefully Martin can move in with him and they'll have something happy and harmonious.'

‘That would be good to see,' Michael said, wistful.

‘The best part of this,' I said, ‘is that it'll piss your father off so much we'll hear the yelling from the West.' I waved my phone at him. ‘I need to run through my messages to make sure nothing vital was missed. Go play around with the guys upstairs.'

‘I don't think …' he started, then changed his mind. ‘Yeah, I will. It'll be fun.'

I
t took me about ten minutes to go through all my messages. The one I'd received during the ceremony with the Jade Emperor stopped me dead.

‘Hi, Emma, this is Edwards — Jim Edwards. Call me back on …' He gave a number with an international area code that was familiar to me but not immediately recognisable. ‘It's not terribly urgent, but this girl may be in trouble.'

I grabbed some notepaper and a pencil from the sideboard and noted the number down, then immediately called it. Jim answered.

‘Emma.'

‘Jim, please come home, we'll sort everything out. There's no need for you to stay in hiding.'

‘Is her sentence rescinded?'

I was silent at that. The young dragon Hien had been a sex slave in Hong Kong and we'd rescued her. Unfortunately we'd realised too late that she was a drug addict — they'd been feeding her opiates to keep her pliant — and she killed the previous academy doctor in a bout of withdrawal psychosis. There was a standing order on the Celestial to arrest her on sight and her sentence was immediate execution. Jim had taken her and run because she reminded him of his own dead drug-addicted daughter.

‘I take it from the silence that the answer is no — you're duty-bound to turn her in for execution. But this seemed quite important so I thought I'd let you know.'

‘Go ahead, Jim.'

‘Emily, one of the students in my junior class last year — she's from Malaysia, right? Well, I saw her two days ago in Marina shopping centre wandering around alone. I tailed her, and she wandered by herself for hours, looking lost. She's a long way from home and way too young to be in a different country by herself. I was wondering what was going on?'

‘She's a demon copy, gone to ground,' I said. ‘Is that Marina in Singapore?'

He hesitated for a moment, then said, ‘Yes.'

‘We'll be there directly. If you sight her again, don't approach; keep her under discreet surveillance and call me straightaway. I'll call you when I've landed at Changi.'

‘Don't bother. I'm throwing this phone away the minute we've hung up,' he said.

I ran to the War Room and had to stop when I was inside, panting. I leaned on the desk as my ears filled with the rushing sound of near collapse.

John jumped up from his chair and came to me. He put his hand on my shoulder and fed me chi, clearing my head. He sat me next to him at the head of the table.

‘I just got a call from Jim Edwards,' I said. ‘The demon copy, Emily — the one we sent out with a tail on her, hoping she'd head back to her nest — she's in Singapore.'

‘Where in Singapore?' Ma said.

‘He saw her in the Marina shopping centre two days ago.'

‘She could be anywhere by now,' John said.

‘I doubt it — I think that's where the nest is,' I said. ‘We have to go there right away.'

‘And stand around Marina shopping centre for days hoping that she walks past? I don't think so,' Ma said. ‘Send some people in to stake it out. We'll put people all over Singapore, watching every major thoroughfare, shopping centre, food court and MRT station. The Sixth Brigade is itching for battle; they can go in and learn some patience.'

‘As soon as you find the nest, let me know and we will raid it,' John said.

‘That is not a good idea, my Lord, you are still weak,' Ma said.

John glowered at him. ‘I am the Xuan Wu. Even in this state I am a match for any of them. Do not underestimate me, Ma Hua Guang.'

Ma nodded to John. ‘Understood, my Lord, but at least promise that you will take a couple of lieutenants and their demon cohorts.'

‘I will. What else is on the agenda?' John said.

‘This agreement you made with the Demon King to give him Kitty Kwok,' Ma said. ‘May I say, my Lord, with all due respect, now that you are back and sentient, that was a damn stupid thing to do.'

‘She's human,' Kang the Humane Sage said. ‘You don't give humans to demons. This is unheard of.'

‘He has vowed not to harm her,' John said.

‘A cage of Celestial Jade,' Zhu Bo Niang said with disdain. ‘Could it be any more obvious? If you end up captive in True Form, I will resign my commission. I cannot in conscience work for someone who would do anything that ridiculously idiotic.'

‘Done,' John said.

‘Destroy the current King and let them sort themselves out,' Bo Niang said. ‘That way you don't have to risk being imprisoned.'

‘If I destroy the current King, there is a very good chance that Kitty or the Death Mother would take his
place,' John said. ‘The Death Mother is making these exploding copies who think they're human. Kitty harmed human children. Frankly, I would rather risk being imprisoned in a Celestial Jade cage than having either of those creatures on the throne.'

‘I cannot believe you have put yourself into such an impossible position,' Zhu Bei Niang said. ‘I'm with my sister. If you let them spring this trap, I'll resign my commission.'

‘I will be careful, Ah Bei,' John said.

‘You're not strong enough to go down to Hell and face the King,' Guan Yu said. ‘There is no time limit on this agreement, my Lord; make sure you are good and ready before you take the risk and go after this Kwok woman.' He looked around the table. ‘Even the Demon King himself is scared of her. Take very great care when you do it.'

‘Are you all quite finished scolding me?' John said. He raised one hand towards me without looking away from the Generals. ‘Don't you dare start taking any sort of blame for this, Emma. It was my decision to make and you are worth it.'

‘Damn,' I said.

‘Emma's stone, the Jade Building Block,' Ma said. ‘The Grandmother herself contacted us, which is without precedent. She received a garbled message from it and was unable to locate the source. The stone is alive — if “alive” applies to it — but it's obviously being held by the demons.'

I let out a huge gasp of relief and sagged in my chair, then wiped my eyes. ‘We have to find it.'

‘I will have the stones on the Mountain look into it,' John said. ‘Oh, I have gained permission for the use of the Crucible. Round up the ingredients, will you? I want this done as soon as possible.'

‘With pleasure,' Ma said.

‘So: that's the half-yearly strategic plan done, the situation with the copies clarified, and the Jade Emperor's pet UN project shared. Anything else that we need to do?' John said.

‘You need to rest,' Zhu Bo Niang said. ‘Both of you. Take some time off — down in the Grotto in True Form if it pleases Your Highness. Lady Emma, similar, here on the Mountain. We have guarded it successfully for ten years without you. Let us continue for another week or so while you build your strength.'

‘I will, as soon as I've run a sweep for demon copies in the palaces of the other Winds,' John said. ‘After that, I will retreat for a few days until the demon copy in Singapore shows up again.'

‘Then all is well in the Heavens and Celestial Harmony has been returned to the North,' Ma said with satisfaction.

‘Very well. Dismissed,' John said.

As the Generals rose to go, Ma put his arms around John's and my shoulders and walked us to the door. ‘Normally I'd suggest we stay and play a few rounds, but frankly both of you look totally wrecked. Go get some sleep and we'll talk later.'

John stopped. ‘I'd love to play a round with you.'

Ma slapped him on the back and pushed him out the door. ‘Go play around with Emma instead, and both of you get some rest. Oh …' He winked at me. ‘Hurry up and make a son for his Highness — he needs a fully human son for the complete set.'

‘That won't be happening for a while, Ma,' I said. ‘There are a few things that have to be dealt with before we can think about it.'

‘Can't be anything too serious holding you back; you're on the Celestial Plane,' he said.

I pulled his arm to lead him into the courtyard outside the hall, then dropped my voice so the other
Generals couldn't hear. ‘I have active AIDS, Ah Guang. If I become pregnant, the disease will progress more quickly and could kill me before I give birth. Also there's a chance that the child would be born infected. We have to wait until his Serpent returns and clears it from me.'

‘That's the better option anyway,' Ma said, unfazed. ‘I'd love to see what sort of child the combined creature would sire on an interesting powerful human like yourself. Or a powerful snake like yourself — now that would be something to see.'

‘You're not suggesting that I … we …' I looked from Ma to John, who seemed to be considering the concept. ‘We're not even sure we know what I
am
, and you want to make me a mother as a
snake
?'

‘Your Serpent form
is
incredibly hot,' John said. ‘Actually, while we're talking about it …'

‘Not in front of Ma we're not,' I said. I took John's arm and led him away from Ma and towards the Imperial Residence.

‘Now we know what he really sees in her,' Ma said loudly, and went back into the War Room.

 

‘You are thoroughly freaking me out here,' I said as we entered the Residence.

‘Training room first, there's something I want to do,' he said. ‘And I think you're freaked out because secretly you're loving the idea.'

I stopped for a moment, then continued after him. I didn't want to admit it, but he was right. His Serpent attracted my snake nature in ways that I couldn't begin to understand; the Serpent's immense intellect riding on so much raw power made my snake half feel almost predatory.

‘I want to be combined and complete and have you in no danger of being possessed and absorbed though,' he
said, pulling out the demon jar. ‘Also, I want you to be confident that it's what you want. With most shape-changing Shen, it's just part of the relationship: we experiment. With you, it may be different.' He opened the jar. ‘This subject had to be broached sooner or later, and the sooner it is, the more time you have to think about it before it becomes an issue.'

‘When you're two creatures …' I hesitated.

‘Hm?'

‘How do you … in True Form … I mean, there's two of you. How do you …?'

The reptile leaped within his eyes. ‘However you want me to. I can provide you with some truly remarkable experiences — human or animal.
Both
of me.'

I gasped. ‘Just when I thought I had everything under control.'

He took a bead out of the jar and approached me with it. ‘I am yin, the force of chaos. Things always go out of control around me — get used to it.' He held the bead out towards my arm. ‘Hold your arm up.'

I did as he asked, and felt a pull towards the demon bead.

‘Fascinating,' he said. ‘Appears to be made of the same stuff; the demon essence has been compressed into the arm. If I moved it close enough, your arm would probably absorb it.'

He put the bead away and sealed the jar; then waved one hand and it drifted into the corner. ‘I need to make some more. I believe there are only about ten still in existence on all Planes.'

‘Why are you the only one who can make them?' I said.

‘Because I am what I am.'

‘When I was full of demon essence, I could do it too.'

‘Did the Dragon wet himself?'

‘I think he nearly did.'

He took my hand and guided me back towards the stairs. Everybody was still playing games; Martin had joined in and they were laughing at a four-player party game on the Wii.

‘We're going to bed,' John said. ‘Don't stay up too late.'

‘We'll move it over to my house then, so we won't disturb you,' Leo said.

‘You really should move in here, Leo,' John said. ‘We have another room free, and we can always add another floor.'

‘Actually, we're planning for Michael to move in here, and for Leo to take Persimmon Tree Pavilion,' I said.

‘You're putting Michael back on here as a Retainer?' John studied Michael. ‘Is that what you want? You could be a senior single-digit son if you wanted.'

‘Dad offered me Number One,' Michael said.

‘Whoa,' Justin said softly.

‘I turned it down, too much politics. Emma said I can stay here.'

‘Wise choice. So Michael here, and Leo at Persimmon?' John grinned at me. ‘The Empress is doing a fine job of managing the domestic household.'

There was a moment of complete silence as everybody looked from John to me, waiting for the explosion.

‘He's joking, people, hear the sarcasm,' I said.

He raised his hands. ‘I was female myself a couple of days ago, remember?' He held one hand out to me. ‘Come on, Emma, come to bed. Don't stay up too late, children, school tomorrow.'

‘Yes, Mother,' Martin said, and everybody laughed.

Simone jumped up, ran to John and hugged him. ‘Good night, Daddy. Sleep well.' She hugged me too. ‘Get some rest, Emma, you look terrible.'

‘Thanks very much,' I said, and allowed myself to be guided to the bedroom.

John stopped just inside and eyed my closet. ‘Is there enough room in there for your things? Michelle always said it was too small.'

‘I think I'll use about a third of that space.'

I went into the bathroom to prepare for bed. When I came out again he was already in bed with only his tangle of hair and dark eyes visible above the covers.

‘You cold?' I said.

‘Cold-blooded. Come and be a mammal under here and warm me up.'

‘Lies,' I said, crawling over him and under the silk quilt. ‘You're a mammal yourself right now.'

‘Oh yeah?' He slipped one hand under the top of my pyjamas and I yelped when I felt his frozen fingers against my skin. ‘I hope you don't mind: I skipped all the human “getting ready for bed” nonsense. Michelle appreciated me making the effort but right now I'm exhausted and frankly I couldn't be damned.'