by Kylie Chan
‘Horsemen, yes; a good number came here after the fall of the West. We have a few Red Warriors who survived the fall of the South as well.’
‘Most of the phoenixes are in the Northern Heavens regrouping for another attempt,’ I said. ‘They’re more focused on winning their volcano back right now.’
‘They won’t do it,’ John said without looking away from the Disciples.
‘We know that, but they don’t,’ Er Lang said.
‘What?’ I said. ‘How do you know?’
‘We’ve seen it,’ John said. ‘They won’t re-enter the South for at least three months, when this is all resolved. They will return to the volcano either in triumph or in chains.’
Er Lang nodded agreement.
‘Then tell them to stop messing around and join the defence of the Celestial,’ I said.
‘Hope is important in these dark times,’ Er Lang said. ‘The Emperor will not take that away from them. I’ll have the fifteen top physical workers and the top two energy.’
‘Make it thirteen and two. The bottom two physical workers won’t be good enough,’ John said.
‘None of them are good enough.’
‘To survive your training.’
‘Oh.’ Er Lang hesitated, then said, ‘Yeah, you’re right. But it’s not enough.’
‘Nobody has enough,’ I said.
* * *
Leo drove me to the two-storey house on Shek O peninsula that used to be a happy residence for David and Bridget Hawkes and their boys. The new staff were all demons.
The maid at the front door smiled and welcomed us in. Bridget was sitting stiff and nervous in the living room, while the David copy lounged on one of the armchairs.
He rose when I entered and saluted me; and I saluted him back. He gestured for me to sit in the other armchair, and Leo positioned himself behind me.
‘Before we start,’ I said, ‘I’m holding a poison capsule in my mouth, that’s why my pronunciation isn’t perfect. Try to take me and I’m gone.’
‘You sound like Leo,’ the David copy said, grinning. ‘Retarded.’
Bridget turned to him to tell him off for the offensive remark, then changed her mind and shook her head.
He’s just trying to get a rise out of you, I said, and she jumped.
‘None of that,’ the David copy said. ‘Out loud, or go home.’
‘All right.’ I leaned over my knees towards Bridget. ‘I’m here, Bridget.’ I took her hand, and she gasped for breath, trying to hold back the tears. ‘Stay strong.’
‘Thanks for coming, Emma.’ She squeezed my hand and released it. ‘I know how dangerous this is for you, but he won’t tell me anything and I have to know. You’re one of them now, so you must know.’ She wiped her eyes with the shaking heel of her hand. ‘Will I ever see David again? What’s happened to him? The copy won’t tell me anything and it’s killing me. Please, can you tell me? Will my boys ever see their father again?’
‘Oh, is that what this is about,’ the copy said. ‘You didn’t need Emma to come for that, I’ll answer for you. He’s dead and gone, sweetie. We killed him, and you’ll never see him again.’
She persisted. ‘But what happened to him after that?’
The copy leaned back, crossed his legs and grinned. ‘I changed my mind; this will be fun. Go ahead and answer her questions, Emma. Let’s see it.’
‘Do you remember when David tried to call me “Empress” and it didn’t work?’ I said to Bridget. ‘He couldn’t say it?’
‘No?’
‘Damn. Okay. The Jade Emperor’s rulings are unbreakable. If he says I can’t talk about something, then I can’t talk about it even if I want to. And this includes what happened to David.’
‘So where is he?’ she said, obviously not hearing a word I’d said.
Hope in these dark times. ‘If two people are destined to be together, then nothing will keep them apart.’
‘So I have a chance of seeing him again?’
I couldn’t look her in the eye. ‘Not in this lifetime, Bridget.’
She hesitated, then, ‘Perhaps in another lifetime?’
‘I can’t answer that.’
‘I see.’ She was silent for a moment, studying me. ‘The David demon says you were Raised. They chose to make you an Immortal.’
‘That’s true,’ I said.
The demon grew even more smug as Bridget continued. ‘So why didn’t anyone Raise David like they Raised you? Why just you?’ She leaned forward and her voice filled with venom. ‘What’s so special about you?’
I flinched, and Leo put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I can’t answer that question either,’ I said.
‘There is a legend,’ Leo said from behind me, ‘that those who have spent their lives helping the less fortunate and working to make the world a better place, who have acted nobly and sacrificed much, are Raised to join the Immortals in Heaven.’ Bridget opened her mouth to speak, but he interrupted her. ‘Any who have lived a life of cruelty and selfishness, whether they are Immortal or not, are sentenced to be punished in Hell. It’s ten levels of torture. When you’re an Immortal, the torture can last for centuries.’
‘That’s not really true, is it?’ she said.
‘If the demons were to gain control of this system, they could hold all Immortals in the Pits and torture them for eternity,’ Leo said.
‘I don’t see what . . .’ Her voice faded. ‘That could happen to you?’
‘We’re not allowed to talk about it,’ Leo said. ‘We can share legends but confirm nothing.’
‘Thank you,’ I said.
He squeezed my shoulder and dropped his voice. ‘I’ve had some practice at this.’
‘But David isn’t Immortal, he isn’t down there being tortured, is he?’ Bridget said. ‘Oh lord, tell me he isn’t Immortal!’
‘David isn’t Immortal.’
‘So what happened to him? You said I’d never see him again in this lifetime.’
My phone rang with the default ringtone. I pulled it out and rejected the call; it had no caller ID.
‘Sorry,’ I said to Bridget.
‘You Celestials make me sick,’ the demon said. ‘Stop dancing around the words. David’s dead. Dead and gone. We threw his body into the ocean and the fish feasted on it. If he was very unlucky, a sea turtle went past and took a bite out of him as well. Hell knows, the Turtle caused him enough misery while the poor bastard was alive.’
Bridget jumped to her feet, sobbing. She ran out of the room and up the stairs.
‘Show’s over,’ the David copy said. ‘Go home and enjoy it while it lasts, Emma. If you’re nice to the King, he may let you stay in the Heavens with your kids while the Turtle’s in the Pits.’ He rose and gestured. ‘Out.’
Next time, turn your phone off before you speak to the grieving widow, Leo said as he opened the car door for me, checking around us.
I did turn it off before I went in.
He pulled himself behind the wheel. ‘It rang when it was turned off?’
I took it out of my pocket and checked it. ‘Yeah, and it’s still turned off. I don’t know what happened. That isn’t my usual ringtone. Everything’s gone strange on it.’
‘You must have sat on the buttons.’
‘It’s one of Gold’s specials. It doesn’t have any buttons.’
He shrugged and headed back towards Wan Chai.
* * *
After I’d returned to my office, one of the Dragon’s younger sons came to see me. It was Justin. He’d had a two-week relationship with Simone, before they’d quickly called it quits and decided to stay friends.
‘Hi, Justin, how’s things?’ I said. I studied him: his Asian black hair appeared to have gold glints through it. ‘You transformed? Congratulations!’
He winced. ‘Nope, no transformation. The Archivist is adding me to the records. I’m the only full-blood dragon in history who doesn’t transform.’
‘How’s university?’ Then I remembered —
all the students had been called up to the safety of the Celestial Plane. ‘Sorry. So what are you doing here?’
He saluted me. ‘I wish to apply for the position of Mountain demon master, if you will have me.’ His face filled with quiet hope. ‘Has anyone else applied?’
‘Nobody, you can have the job,’ I said, and he sagged with disappointment. ‘You don’t want it? Then don’t do it.’
‘I’ve been ordered.’
‘Who ordered you?’ I said sharply.
‘Dad.’
I tried to control the ire in my voice; it wasn’t Justin’s fault. ‘Did he say, “Do the job right this time or don’t bother coming back”?’
He stared at me. ‘How did you know? Wait.’ Sweat broke out on his forehead. ‘I will definitely do the job of demon master to the best of my ability, as he has ordered.’
‘I’m not talking about demon master,’ I said, my voice still sharp. ‘He wants you to hook up with Simone.’
He sagged with dismay and wiped his hand over his eyes. ‘I really like Simone. But . . . not like that, and she feels the same way.’ He looked away. ‘I’m beginning to wonder if I’m really more into guys than girls. I tried to explain to Dad, and he threw me out and ordered me here.’
‘Bastard,’ I said under my breath. ‘Go back to the East and tell him that the position’s already filled.’
‘I can’t, ma’am. I’ve been ordered to stay here.’
‘Yi Hao!’ I yelled at the door.
‘Ma’am?’
‘Where’s the Golden Boy right now?’
Justin squeaked.
‘In his lab,’ she said.
‘Ask him to pop over, please?’
Gold came into the office in human form, accompanied by his child, BJ, who was in her usual teenage girl form. ‘Ma’am? I’m awfully busy.’
I gestured towards Justin. ‘Son of the Dragon. Postgrad IT student at Todai. He’s been called home from the Earthly. Nothing to do, and he can’t go back to the East at the moment. He’s been working on the Dragon’s stone AI. Need an assistant?’
Gold grinned broadly. ‘Excellent.’
He turned to Justin and stopped. Justin and BJ were looking at each other as if they were the only people in the world.
‘Maybe not,’ I said.
‘No, it’s fine,’ Gold said. ‘Justin. Justin!’
Justin jumped, then stood and fell to one knee. ‘Lord Gold.’
‘Cut it out. Stand up. Can you teleport?’
‘No, sir,’ Justin said, rising. ‘Absolutely no supernatural abilities whatsoever.’
Gold shrugged. ‘No big issue. Can you carry him?’ he asked BJ.
‘Let me look,’ BJ said.
Justin shivered.
‘Yeah,’ BJ said.
‘Okay, you two, let’s go sort out the file servers; and, Justin, you can share what you know about the new bio-storage technology. About time animals were used to store information as well as us stones.’
BJ held her hand out, Justin took it, and they all disappeared.
‘You should have given him the job, ma’am, someone needs to do it,’ Yi Hao said from her desk. ‘There’s half-a-dozen gardeners out there right now, standing around because nobody gave them an order to move to the next section.’
‘Can you go and tell them?’
She sounded unsure. ‘I can try. I was very much smaller than they are. I don’t know what I am now.’
‘Let me know how it works out — I’d be interested to see.’
‘As long as you promise not to make me demon master.’
‘You’d be perfect.’
‘That’s why I need your promise, ma’am.’
Gold and Justin reappeared next to my desk.
‘Only if you’re sure,’ Gold said.
Justin fell to one knee on the other side of the desk, and I had to stand to see him.
‘We passed more than fifty demons who are standing parked, doing nothing, and Lord Gold explained the situation to me. You really need a demon master, Lady Emma,’ he said.
‘Not so much we’ll force someone to do it.’
‘I volunteer.’
‘Denied. Go with Gold.’
‘I choose this, ma’am. Gold and BJ can run things. Let me do it.’
It was awfully tempting. ‘Are you completely sure?’
He stood. ‘I’ll take up the post helping Gold with the IT after all this is over and you have a new demon master.’
‘Gold?’ I said.
‘Let him do it. He’s right, it needs to be done. BJ and I can handle the tech.’
I sighed with defeat, and Justin dropped his head with a similar emotion.
‘Go report to LK Pak, the previous demon master,’ I said. ‘He will show you everything you need to know. Tell him that he is still to find a permanent replacement for both of you.’
Justin shook his hands in front of his face, obviously unhappy, but determined to do the job.
‘I appreciate this, Justin,’ I said.
He nodded, and he and Gold went to find LK.
Yi Hao came in and put some papers on my desk. ‘It’s the right thing to do,’ she said as I sat.
‘We need to win this, so everybody can be doing something they enjoy rather than something that traumatises them, wrecks their spirit, and could leave them dead.’
‘Being demon master won’t do that to him.’
‘Being a soldier does it to everybody.’
‘What about you, ma’am?’
I waved it away. ‘All right, it does that to sane people, and I hate having to make them experience it.’
‘You’re doing the best you can, my Lady. It will all be over soon, one way or the other.’
I sighed as a grim foreboding filled me. ‘That’s what scares me.’
5
I walked through the tent city in the main court of the Northern Celestial Palace. Many of the refugees wore the red of the South or the white of the West: the Tiger’s and Phoenix’s families, homeless now that the Bastions had fallen. The stars came out above me as I picked my way between the tents, occasionally stopping to share a word of encouragement with the refugees. Many burnt small camp fires for cooking and heat; the late spring air had a chill in the evening. A phoenix in True Form lay on the ground in front of one of the tents, his feathers alight, providing a fire for the white-garbed refugees around him. They talked softly, sharing stories, and nodded grimly to me as I passed.
I reached the gate between the residential and administrative sections. The residential gardens and courtyards were also full of refugees. I turned right and went through a moon gate into the dragon tree courtyard, which contained more tents, then to the Imperial Residence, where the Tiger’s more elderly wives were housed. I returned the DVDs I’d borrowed to the living room bookshelves, shared a few quiet words with the gracious wives, then went out, changed to snake, and flew to the Mountain to have dinner with my family in Persimmon Tree Pavilion. I landed near the pavilion and changed back to human to walk the rest of the way.
My eldest nephew, Colin — Jennifer’s son, and brother to Andrew who had been kidnapped and tortured by demons — was waiting for me at the entrance with his Immortal stepfather, Greg. Colin had obviously been working out: he was no longer a pudgy teen; he was strong and muscular and moved with grace. He’d had a growth spurt too and was taller than me, with dark hair and eyes from his human father, Leonard.
‘Hi, Colin,’ I said. ‘Is everything okay? You look serious.’
‘Can I talk to you before you come in for dinner?’ he said. He looked over his shoulder at Greg, who nodded. Colin turned back to me. ‘In private.’
‘Greg, can you take him to the Residence?’ I said. ‘There’s nobody there.’
Greg nodded, put his hand on Colin’s shoulder, and they disappeared. I changed back to snake and flew from Persimmon Tree to the Residence on the other side of the Mountain, again changing to human before I could freak anybody out.
They were waiting at the front door for me, and I guided them into the living room.
‘Sit,’ I said, gesturing towards the couches.
‘No, I want to show you something,’ Colin said.
‘What?’
‘Greg?’ Colin said.
I watched them, bewildered, as Greg summoned a short Chinese-style sword and passed it to Colin.
‘Oh, no,’ I said. ‘Not happening.’
‘Watch this,’ Colin said.
He went through the open doors into the Residence’s central courtyard, then around to the training room. I followed him, and leaned on a wooden pillar next to the door.
‘If you’re planning what I think you are,’ I began.
‘Just watch,’ Greg said from behind me.
Colin began a Wudang level-four short-sword set — the highest level — and I watched with admiration that quickly turned to alarm. He wasn’t just good, he was brilliant.
‘Who taught you this?’
‘I did,’ Greg said. ‘Watch.’
Colin moved with deadly grace, performing the set close to perfection. His technique was nearly flawless.
‘Holy shit,’ I said under my breath.
As he reached the end of the set, he concentrated, generated chi, and loaded the sword with it, making it vibrate and glow. The weapon made a deep bass thrum that I could feel through the floor, and his hair floated from the static. He had generated much more chi than could be expected from a human his age.
‘Holy shit,’ I said even more softly.
I sent an image of Colin to John, who was in the Celestial Palace with the Generals.
Not surprising, considering his bloodlines, John said. I wonder if the other boys are as talented as this? They’re your family, Western serpents, after all.
Colin reabsorbed the chi and his hair fell. He turned to me and put the sword away. ‘Okay, you’ve seen what I can do. Now use me.’
‘Colin, I can’t —’
‘Aunty Emma, I’m eighteen in three months. I’m the oldest of all of us. Andrew can do it — Greg’s taught him as well — and it’s helped him recover. Mark’s too broken by what he went through and no amount of training will help him. David’s showing talent, but he’s only fifteen. I’m the oldest, I’m nearly of age, and . . .’ He fell to one knee and held the sword horizontally towards me. ‘I would be honoured if you would accept my blade in the coming battle. I want to protect our family and avenge my brother and my cousin.’
