by Kylie Chan
I didn’t do anything; she remembered herself.
‘You don’t need to kneel,’ I said, still gentle. ‘He’s your father. Come in and sit.’
Mother, actually, John said, and I glared at him. He shrugged again.
‘You summoned me, Highness?’ Grace said without rising, her head still bowed.
John stood so he could see her. ‘Rise. Come and sit. This is not formal.’
She stood gracefully — she moved like someone much younger than she appeared — and sat, without looking at us, in a chair as far away as possible from John.
John sat. I rose, and the woman flinched. I went around the table and leaned on it next to her.
‘How are you, Grace?’ I said. ‘You were under that stone’s influence for a long time — is everything back to normal yet? Do you need anything?’
‘My family were so glad to see me back,’ she said.
A thirty-year-old woman came in. She was small but muscular and obviously trained in the Arts. She came to me and put her arm around my shoulders, saying with warmth, ‘Emma. It’s good to see you.’
Grace hissed under her breath and gestured with her head towards John.
The other woman squeaked and quickly fell to one knee. ‘Xuan Tian Shang Di.’
John stood to acknowledge her. ‘Rise.’
Both of them shot to their feet.
A young man walked in, saw John, and backed out again.
‘All right, enough of this,’ I said. I turned to John, who was still standing and looking bemused. ‘You,’ I jabbed my finger at him, ‘disappear until I have everybody rounded up, and then come back in as something small and not at all scary.’
‘Define “not at all scary”.’
‘Piss. Off!’
He raised his hands. ‘Okay, okay.’ He disappeared.
‘I cannot believe you just did that,’ Grace said with wonder, looking at where John had been standing.
‘He does it deliberately, I swear,’ I said, and stormed out to find the young man.
Fifteen people were standing in the courtyard and talking softly together. The air was full of the sharp scent of their anxiety.
‘Hi, everyone,’ I said loudly, and they turned and fell quiet. ‘Thanks for coming. Lord Xuan’s left the room. Please come inside and I’ll tell you what’s involved.’
They all hesitated, some moving from foot to foot with discomfort.
‘Seriously,’ I said, ‘I threw him out. So come in and meet your brothers and sisters, and I’ll explain why he asked you to come.’
They looked at each other, then a couple of young women went into the room, and the rest followed.
I went in last and stood at the head of the table. ‘The reason we’ve asked you here is because you’re the only ones who can retake the Gates of Heaven,’ I began, and they listened silently.
About halfway through my talk, John appeared at the back of the room in his normal male middle-aged human form. He leaned on the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. Fortunately I had them so engrossed they weren’t aware of his arrival.
‘Any questions?’ I said when I was finished.
Nobody spoke.
‘Somebody ask me a question, please. I’m sure there are details I haven’t covered.’
They still didn’t say anything.
‘Okay, I’ll ask one myself. Miss Donahoe, who designs your clothes?’ I sat on the table and crossed my legs. ‘I’m glad you asked — I’ve been wanting to share my fashion and beauty tips for a while now. When I’m not in my sexy Mountain uniform, my eclectic fashion sense comes from Kmart. My complex daily beauty regime mostly consists of soap and water —’ One of the women made a soft sound of frustration and I nodded to acknowledge her. ‘Or Mena could ask me a worthwhile question.’
‘You said they’d be shooting at us, but Lord Xuan would shield us,’ Mena said. ‘How much danger will we be in? I’m married to a stone, we have two human children together, and my husband’s disappeared. How dangerous is this?’
‘I won’t pretend that you will be completely safe,’ John said, and they all turned towards him. He strode around the table and stood next to me. ‘I will be there to protect you, but if something unforeseen emerges — such as Western hybrid demons — there still may be risk.’
‘These children need me,’ Mena said. ‘I’m all they have.’
‘Then don’t go,’ he said. ‘Up to five of you could leave right now and the mission would not be compromised. We had a test run and nobody was injured. The snipers can’t hit you, and you will be destroying the stone hybrids, which don’t fight back.’
She sat silently watching him, her mouth in a determined line.
‘I must also warn you that if you have strong water alignment, you won’t be able to see them,’ John said. ‘I can’t. So if you’re very strongly aligned — if both your parents are turtles, for example — then it might be best if you sit this one out.’
‘Not being able to see them shouldn’t be a major issue for a good practitioner,’ one of the men said.
‘Very true; and I can guide you,’ John said. ‘So this is your choice: stay or go. If you don’t want to come, leave the room now. You will suffer no penalty, and I thank you for your attendance today.’
Mena, the single mother, still sat with her mouth in a grim line, but didn’t say anything. Another woman fidgeted, but went still when John turned his attention to her.
‘If you’re not comfortable with this, then just say the word and you can go,’ I said to Mena.
She shifted again, and looked away.
‘Okay,’ I said, and raised my hand behind me without looking away from Mena. ‘You. Out.’
‘Oh, come on, Emma,’ John said with exasperation. ‘This is my war room!’
I waved at him again, still focused on Mena. ‘Out.’
‘Humph,’ he said, and there was a change in the air when he disappeared.
Grace giggled.
I looked around at everybody. ‘Who wants out?’
Nobody moved.
‘Mena, you don’t want to do this,’ I said. ‘You can go.’
She didn’t shift.
I sighed with exasperation. ‘All right.’ I looked down at the list in front of me and read out ten names. ‘Everybody else can go.’
A couple of people rose and went out, obviously relieved.
‘Mena, you weren’t on the list,’ I said.
‘I want to fight them,’ Mena said.
‘What about your kids?’
‘He was their father,’ she said, distraught. ‘I loved him. So many stones are gone. I know the demons took him, and they tortured him and experimented on him . . .’ She wiped her eyes with a trembling hand. ‘He’s probably dead. And I want to make them pay! I want to grab those bastards in my mouth and I want to eat them. I want to take them apart and I want to destroy them.’ The anguish was gone from her voice, replaced with cold fury. ‘I’m coming with you.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘Let someone else take vengeance for you. As you said, your children need you.’
‘I’ll bring a dead demon rock back for you,’ Grace said. ‘I promise.’
Mena looked from Grace to me, then nodded. ‘Thank you. I will throw it into the deepest ocean in the farthest seas.’
‘Last chance. Anybody who doesn’t want to come, you don’t have to,’ I said. ‘You can leave now.’
One of the middle-aged turtle Shen rose, nodded to me, and left.
‘Twelve remaining,’ I said. ‘Good. We won’t have to eat so many of these bastards that it makes us sick. Does anybody want to say anything before I let Lord Xuan back in?’
‘Let him in?’ someone said with amusement.
‘Let’s do this,’ Grace said with menace.
You can come back, we’re ready to go. Twelve of them.
Thank you, my dear lady, for giving me permission to re-enter my own damn conference room.
Weapons of choice when we’re back from
the Gates.
About time, he said with satisfaction, and reappeared with a smug smile on his face.
* * *
We arrived at the lawn behind the Gates of Heaven building, and stopped just out of range of the snipers. All of us were in reptile form: eight turtles and four snakes, not including both of John’s reptiles and myself. A squad of Meredith’s finest energy archers were with us.
This is the first time I have seen so many of my reptilian children together, John said. Thank you for bringing me this opportunity.
I was thinking of holding a reunion for all of you — I began.
And then you discovered that with the nature of our loose family bonds, nobody would show and it would be a waste of time, he said.
Yeah. Can you remember their names? I can’t recognise anybody in this form.
Not even in human form.
Damn.
‘Hold formation here,’ John said. He rose above the ground and drifted towards the Gates, the Serpent’s head writhing above the Turtle’s shell.
The grass was greener and more lush closer to the Gates building; fertilised by the blood that had flowed there a scarce few weeks ago.
There was a flurry of gunshots from the top of the wall, and everybody hit the ground.
I have them, John said, and we all carefully stood again.
John’s True Form reappeared next to me. His two reptiles separated, and the Turtle grew to five metres across.
‘Archers on my shell,’ he said.
The archers climbed up onto his shell, their faces a mix of bewilderment and concern. When they were all sitting, he gently rose into the air, with Meredith flying next to him on one side and the Serpent on the other.
‘The rest of you wait here,’ he said, and floated towards the Gates.
There was another volley of gunshots, but the bullets never reached us. We were too far back to see the archers fire, but the glowing arrowheads were clearly visible as they arched from John’s shell towards the Gates. There was a reduced round of gunfire — obviously some of the snipers had been taken out — and an answering volley of arrows.
A single shot rang out.
‘Incoming!’ John shouted, and his Turtle plummeted towards the ground and landed next to us. ‘Everybody off,’ he ordered. ‘Continue to fire at the snipers — they’re on their way, protected by the stone demons. They’re —’
The fake stone elementals stepped off the top of the Gates building, fragmented into piles of rocks on the ground, then collected themselves and headed towards us, faceless and menacing.
The archers fired arrows at the snipers hiding behind the walking demons, but there were still bullets for John to catch.
When the stone demons were ten metres away, I led the charge towards them. John hovered above us and took out the snipers with energy, aided by the archers who continued to pick them off with arrows.
I rushed up to one of the demons, dismantled it, and looked around. The other reptiles were more hesitant, but they quickly had the hang of it. An occasional shot rang out but John dealt with them. His Serpent dipped out of the air, picked up one of the humanoid snipers, and threw it at the wall of the Gates, where it exploded.
The reptiles had demolished about ten of the stone demons. They didn’t fight back; they didn’t seem to be intelligent or self-aware, they were just animated piles of rock. In perfect unison, they turned and walked away, heading down the hill away from the Gates. The reptiles followed, chasing them down to destroy them.
‘Hold,’ John said, boosted by telepathy. ‘Don’t follow. Come back. We’ve achieved our goal.’
The demon snipers continued to take shots at us from behind the stones as they retreated. The reptiles hesitated, then came back to us, some with obvious reluctance.
One of the snakes struggled at the rear with a large stone in her mouth. It was Grace, fulfilling her promise to Mena. A demon sniper took aim at her back and fired. It missed her, and she screamed with frustration through a mouthful of stone and spun to go after it.
‘Stop!’ I shouted. ‘They’re retreating. Let them go!’
The sniper raised its weapon to fire at Grace again, and one of our archers took aim at the sniper.
‘No!’ John and I shouted in unison, but it was too late.
The arrow sang through the air as the shot was fired. Grace dodged the bullet — snakes could move incredibly fast — and moved into the path of the arrow. It went through the back of her neck.
‘No!’ I shouted again, and ran to her, the other reptiles following.
‘Stop right there!’ John roared with the force of an imperative, and we halted. ‘Meredith, stand guard. Everybody else, back.’
John recombined, took human form, and ran in to collect Grace. He picked her up, tossed her over his shoulder, and carried her back to us. We gathered around her as he laid her on the grass. The arrow was stuck in her serpent throat, in the back and out the front, and possibly through her spine or even the base of her brain.
‘Please, you have to save her,’ a young archer said, his face pale with concern. ‘I shot her. I shot her! I’m here to protect the Celestial and I hurt one of our own.’
‘It’s all right,’ Grace said. Her breath came in short wheezes and faded. ‘I’m really cold. Why is it so cold?’
‘Grace,’ John said, softly and urgently, ‘you must stay as snake. Don’t change to human.’ He looked up at me. ‘Emma, help her to stay in snake form.’
‘Can you heal her?’ I said.
‘Yes, but the arrow has to come out first. Grace, stay very still, and don’t change to human. Emma, help her. Meredith, stand by with pain relief for when she changes back.’
‘Something for the pain!’ Grace gasped.
‘After we pull the arrow out,’ Meredith said. ‘I can’t do anything while you’re a snake.’
I put my hands on either side of Grace’s head and assisted her to stay in serpent form. It was a struggle with so much damage. Her body wanted to change to human to avoid the injuries from the arrow.
‘Quickly, John,’ I said. ‘She can’t hold it.’
Meredith put her hands on mine and both of us worked to keep her as a snake. John snapped the arrowhead off where it came out of her neck, and she screamed as the shaft moved inside her.
‘Grace, you have to hold it,’ I said. ‘Don’t change!’
We put more effort into keeping her in serpent form, but she slipped away from us. Her scales disappeared and her body stretched. Her face morphed to human.
‘John, do it quickly!’
He grasped the shaft of the arrow and pulled it out of her neck, and she screamed again, now completely human. John tossed the arrow aside and shimmered into combined True Form. The Serpent put its snout against Grace where she lay, naked and pale, on the grass. John’s dark healing energy hovered over Grace but didn’t go into her.
‘Too late,’ he said. ‘The arrow was in her spine, and when she changed it went into her brain. The change to human killed her.’
‘You can cure anything!’ I said, putting my hands on her chest to perform CPR, hoping that I wasn’t squeezing too hard.
He lifted his head and spoke softly. ‘I can’t cure death.’
‘Our only loss in the mission and it’s from friendly fire,’ I said, leaning back and wiping my eyes. ‘We don’t do friendly fire on the Celestial. We have eyes in the sky, we have telepathic communication. We’re better than this!’
‘It is the first in a while,’ John said sadly, changing back to human and catching the young archer as he fell, stricken with guilt. He passed him to Meredith. ‘First of many.’
He raised his head and concentrated.
Guan Yu appeared on the grass next to us and looked down at Grace’s body. ‘She will be given full hero’s honours.’ He looked around, then fell to one knee. ‘I thank you all for returning the Gates to the Heavenly Host.’
The archer was sobbing, his head in Meredith’s chest as she held him.<
br />
Guan Yu rose. ‘Are they all definitely gone?’
John concentrated. ‘All gone.’
‘I will need replacement guards.’
‘You may borrow some Elites from Er Lang,’ John said, and Guan Yu disappeared.
John listened for a moment, then nodded. ‘Er Lang’s complaining that we just gave away all of his remaining Elites. I’ve told him he can hold an evaluation on the main court tomorrow morning.’
‘Our students aren’t ready for that,’ I said.
‘They never are. Meredith, escort the rest home,’ John said.
He took my hand, and everything disappeared.
4
John, Er Lang and I stood at the edge of the main court on the Mountain and watched the Disciples run through the weapons drills in perfect synchronicity, with Liu at the front leading them.
Er Lang crossed his arms over his green armour and nodded. ‘Good. I was worried you’d keep the training focused on disablement. It’s obvious these are trained to kill.’
‘Of course,’ John said. ‘The training isn’t about technique any more.’
‘You’ve brought them up to speed remarkably quickly.’
The God of War shrugged. It was what he did.
Er Lang leaned around John and spoke to me from under his green burnished war helmet. ‘How’s your training proceeding? There’s a distinct possibility that the Jade Emperor will order you to join us in the Elites.’
‘He’d better not,’ John and I said in unison.
‘I’m too new an Immortal and close to useless,’ I added. ‘I can’t fly safely unless I’m in snake form, and I can’t teleport at all. I did it a couple of times before I was Raised but now the skill eludes me. It’s driving me nuts.’
‘The Jade Emperor’s probably blocked you from learning until after the wedding, so you can’t change your mind and make a run for it,’ Er Lang said.
‘That makes sense,’ John said. ‘Decided yet?’
Er Lang ran his eye over the students. ‘None of these are good enough.’
‘I know that,’ John said, his voice low, ‘but you need to take some anyway. The Jade Emperor must be guarded.’
‘Are they genuine volunteers?’
‘They are.’
‘Do you have sources other than the Earthly for Mountain cadets?’ Er Lang said. ‘Has the Tiger provided any Horsemen? Dragons?’
