by Kylie Chan
‘So who, my Lord?’ Ma said.
‘Zhao Gong Ming, the Tiger General; Zhou Guang Ze of the Wind Wheel; yourself; Xiao Lei Qiong of the Hours —’
‘Good choice, he can manipulate time if necessary,’ Meredith said.
‘And Bi Tian Hua, the Thunder Marshal. Fire, Wind, Thunder and Time — together with Zhao, who’s nearly as chaotic as I am.’
‘How close can you go?’ Ma said.
‘To the edge of the old city. Probably about a kilometre from the main palace.’
‘Close enough; you can use your stone to relay. Should we take a stone with us?’
‘Take Wang Zhong of the Yellow River Delta,’ I said. ‘He’s an earth spirit — he can talk directly to stones — and he’s another element added to the arsenal.’
‘Brilliant,’ Martin said.
‘Obvious,’ Ma said. ‘Frontal assault, or stealth?’
‘We’ll pretend to be a bunch of Chinese tourists,’ Martin said. ‘Blunder around, talk very loudly, and go for a boat ride on the lake while filling our faces with snacks.’
‘That is breathtakingly offensive and not like you at all,’ I said. ‘They’d pick up the stereotype straightaway and know it’s you.’
‘Emma’s right, it’d be too obvious,’ Ma said. ‘Film crew? Artists?’
‘Artists is good,’ John said. ‘Park a barge and paint the island. Use that as a cover for reconnaissance.’
‘That island is supposed to be an Earthly representation of Potakala Island, Kwan Yin’s home,’ I said. ‘It’s heartbreaking to think that people have been held and tortured underneath it.’
‘No,’ John said, ‘it’s a representation of the Mountain. It’s probably eroded down to nearly nothing by now, but it was built to make me feel more at home.’
‘Why is the lake a perfect rectangle, if they made it for you?’
‘It’s on earth. Earth is square, Heaven is round.’
Ma rose to go. ‘Anything else?’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘One more dumb question. They’ve had her since yesterday morning, so where the hell is the ransom message?’
Ma fell to sit, and looked around at the other Immortals.
‘We’re not supposed to know yet,’ Liu said. ‘They’re putting stuff together.’
I shook my head. ‘That doesn’t sound right.’
‘Let’s just get down there and find out what’s happening,’ Ma said. He nodded to John. ‘My Lord?’
‘Round them up, let’s go,’ John said. He turned to Meredith and Liu. ‘Mind the Mountain.’ He nodded to Martin. ‘Number One, guard the Heavens.’ He took my hand and kissed it. ‘Stay safe.’
‘She is my sister,’ Martin said. ‘Request permission.’
John hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. ‘Guard the Heavens, Number One. That is an order.’
Martin didn’t hesitate. ‘My Lord.’
Ma and John disappeared.
‘I just ordered the entire staff of the Mountain to ignore any request you make to be carried down there, so don’t even try it,’ Liu said to me. ‘Go to one of the temples and meditate, and we’ll keep you posted.’
‘I’ll be doing katas in the training room,’ I said. ‘And definitely keep me posted.’
They saluted me and went out.
I walked over to the Residence, went into the training area on the ground floor at the back of the house, and pulled a staff from the rack. I did the first twenty or so moves of the staff kata, then put the staff away and wandered into the downstairs bathroom. The minute the door was shut, I leaned on it and pulled out my mobile phone.
‘One,’ Michael answered.
‘Michael, it’s Emma. Kitty and the Death Mother have Simone. We know where they are, and they left me behind while they went down.’
‘What? How did that … Where are they?’
‘I’ll tell you, but you have to take me there. Meet me in the Imperial Residence on the Mountain.’
‘You should stay behind.’
‘Do you want to go and help?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then you have to take me; otherwise I won’t tell you where she is. Hurry up, they’re moving faster than you can!’
‘On my way.’
I snapped the phone shut. ‘I’m trusting you not to tell them,’ I said softly to the stone.
‘I want to be down there too. Just take care, dear,’ the stone said.
I went out of the bathroom and back into the training room to find Leo waiting for me. He held his hand out. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Michael’s coming,’ I said. ‘Give him a second.’
Michael came through the courtyard and stopped when he saw us. ‘We should leave Emma behind, Leo. We’re Immortal. She’s not.’
‘But she’s the brains of this outfit,’ Leo said. ‘Both of us together should be able to keep her safe, and we need to find Simone.’ He rose out of his wheelchair and held one hand out to me and the other to Michael. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Not without me,’ Martin said, striding across the courtyard.
‘Where to?’ Michael said.
‘Join hands,’ I said. ‘Martin should take us, he’s the biggest.’
We stood in a small circle and linked hands.
‘Show me,’ Martin said, and touched his mind to mine. I gave him an image of the location of the lake and we were falling high above it through thick clouds.
I released their hands and slowed my fall.
‘Cloud under you,’ Michael said, and I landed on it.
Michael was standing on the cloud behind me, and we drifted down with Leo and Martin flying beside us, still holding hands.
‘Low cloud cover,’ Martin said. ‘Do you want me to clear it?’
‘No, just dip below it; and if you could hide us it would be very helpful,’ I said.
We slipped out from the cloud cover and the rectangular lake spread out below us — five kilometres east to west, and two north to south. The rainy season was just ending and the lake was full; during the dry it would be half-empty. A small, eroded island sat in the middle of it, its buildings and structures worn away to nearly nothing. To the east stood the city — a perfect square, two kilometres to a side — eaten now by the jungle. South of the city stood the famous Angkor Wat temple, its five terraced spires clearly visible even from this distance.
‘They built this just so Xuan Wu could visit,’ I said.
‘I can’t see anyone,’ Martin said.
‘Where’s your father?’
‘I can’t see him either. He must be further away.’
‘Is the artists’ boat still there?’
‘No. Stay here,’ Martin said, and disappeared.
‘He’s made himself invisible to have a look around,’ the stone said. ‘This is strange: the whole area is deserted. There aren’t even any tourist or fishing boats on the lake.’
‘Damn, I can see the airport and it’s tiny compared to this huge lake,’ Leo said. ‘And the lake is perfectly rectangular.’
‘Perfectly aligned east to west, as well,’ Michael said. ‘Sometimes it’s obvious when a Shen is involved in construction.’
Martin reappeared. ‘No boat. No sign of anybody.’
‘They’re either underground or they’ve been lured away,’ I said. ‘Can you make us look like tourists and drop us on the island, Martin?’
‘Done.’
We landed on the island. It was covered in scrub, with a water-filled track leading up to the main part of the small temple, which was located at the island’s centre. All that remained of it was a stone platform, twenty metres to a side, with some tumbledown carved walls and low towers. We walked up to the platform, went under the ruined gate, and stopped to look around.
Martin went to one of the towers, three metres tall and carved with Hindu figures, and nodded. ‘Under this.’
We followed him, and found a newly opened trap door with stairs leading down.
‘Me on point; Martin
with Emma; Michael rearguard,’ Leo said.
He summoned his sword, and carefully went sideways down the stairs with his right arm in front, ready to defend.
‘I need a light,’ I said as I followed him, Martin beside me.
‘Touch my back and follow me blind,’ Leo said softly. ‘I don’t want to broadcast our presence. Stone, can you speak for her?’
‘Not once we’re below ground level, I can only communicate with the one who bears me,’ the stone said in similarly soft tones. ‘Open your Inner Eye, Emma, use that.’
The stairs widened and curved as they went down, and the rock around us was carved with patterns on nearly every surface. The larger areas showed Hindu gods and heroes dancing, fighting, hunting, and making love.
At the bottom of the stairs we came to a tunnel, three metres wide and the same high, with a light shining from around the corner. We turned the corner into the blinding light and stopped.
A human copy demon was frozen in the process of exploding. The six Generals, facing away from us, were off their feet and flying backwards in the blast. General Xiao of the Hours had his arms raised to each side and his head lowered: he had stopped time. The corridor behind the exploding demon was full of more human copies, lined up and expressionless. A demon two metres back from the blast had just begun to detonate, and another one two metres behind it had a surprised look on its bright red face. The rest of the demons stood silent and immobile.
Leo made to race to the Generals and I grabbed him and held him back.
‘They were hit by a big explosion and Xiao stopped time,’ I said. ‘But he can’t hold it forever so we have to get out of here.’
‘We need to take them with us,’ Leo said, and reached towards Ma. ‘We can just —’
I stopped him. ‘You enter the time field, you’re frozen too, and just as dead as they are.’
‘Is it just me, or is it still moving?’ Michael said.
He was right: the explosion had shifted towards us, so minutely that it was almost undetectable.
‘He didn’t stop time, he just slowed it,’ I said. ‘Let’s get out of here. This will blow up in our faces.’
Martin grabbed my hand and teleported me directly up from the island, floating about a hundred metres above it.
‘Sideways too, we’re directly above the shock —’ I began, but it was too late.
The demons exploded one by one, about a second apart, under the ground, causing a visible shockwave through the island’s surface. The ground shook, then a cloud of dust came shooting out of the tunnel entrance. The blast hit us a few seconds later, and we were blown twenty metres back.
Martin was knocked free of my hand and I fell towards the water. He quickly dropped to collect me again, then guided me back onto the island.
We went back down the stairs, once again in near complete darkness. I opened my Eye and the walls around us became visible in shades of grey: something was affecting my vision.
‘Incoming,’ Michael said softly behind me. ‘Shen. A dragon and a stone … Oh, it’s Jade and Gold. What are they —’
I turned to see; it was Jade and Gold, both in human form.
‘We came as soon as we heard,’ Jade said.
I can see all of you. Go home right now. Another group of Generals is on its way; they’ll be there in less than an hour, John said.
‘All in favour of ignoring His Highness?’ I said.
‘We are in so much trouble,’ Jade said. She moved forward to peer down the corridor. ‘This tunnel is damaged. Gold, can you make sure it doesn’t collapse on us?’
‘Already,’ Gold said. ‘I can’t see what’s at the end.’
‘Simone is,’ I said. ‘Let’s go.’
Emma, please, John said.
‘Can anyone talk to him?’ I said.
‘I can,’ Jade said. She flinched. ‘Please don’t make me.’
‘I will,’ Martin said.
‘Tell him we’ll be careful.’
‘I already did.’
I ask you again, my Lady, please do not do this.
I ignored him.
The tunnel had been severely damaged by the explosions: the carvings shattered to pieces; rocks and dust covering the floor. We travelled with care, as a group, with me in the middle.
Doors at the end, the stone said. Can’t see what’s on the other side.
We approached the doors as silently as we could. They were three by three metres: the width and height of the passage. They opened before us and a brilliant green light shone from the other side.
‘Come on in, Emma,’ Kitty Kwok said. ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’
CHAPTER 33
We moved carefully as a group to the doors and looked through into a stone chamber, fifty metres to a side with a domed ceiling. It had carvings on the walls similar to those in the tunnel. Simone was sitting on a stone throne on the other side of the room. I nearly ran to her, but stopped. A pair of large demons stood on either side of her — the same demons that had flanked Kitty at the Convention Centre. One held a blade at Simone’s throat; the other held a blade over her heart.
The Death Mother, in True Form and unconscious, lay chained to what was obviously a stone sacrificial table in the centre of the room. Kitty stood between the table and the far wall, appearing relaxed.
‘Oh, look, Emma finally did as she was told and bought a suit,’ she said. ‘Come on in, I want to make a deal.’
The carvings on the walls, thrown into relief by the rippling green glow from overhead, weren’t of Hindu gods and heroes; instead, they depicted demons in the acts of torturing and killing humans and animals. The table the Death Mother was chained to had a large demonic face with huge tusks and bulging eyes carved into its side. Its arms were outstretched and holding daggers in each hand. The table had grooves around its edges to collect the sacrificial blood, channelling it to a cup that sat below the mouth of the face. I looked up: the green glow lighting the room came from ooze demons, shining fluorescent green as they slid across the ceiling in a nauseating image of fluidity.
‘Simone, are you okay?’ I said.
Simone stared at me dully. Her eyes were half-closed and she sagged in the chair, a strand of drool hanging from one side of her mouth.
‘She’s drugged, but she looks okay,’ Leo said. ‘That has to be her. No demon could possibly be that big inside.’
‘Oh, it’s her all right,’ Kitty said. ‘I know better than to mess around with so much at stake. She’s full of heroin; it’s the only thing that would keep her passive enough to control. I want to do a straight-up deal in good faith. I know when I’m in serious trouble.’
She moved slightly to the side, towards the Death Mother’s head, and a statue came into view behind her. Jade hissed when she saw the statue: a depiction of the Hindu goddess Kali, bringer of destruction. The goddess was painted black with a wide, demonic face and a huge red mouth full of tusks. A necklace of skulls sat over her bare breasts, and she had six arms: two held swords, two held human heads, and two held the impaled corpses of dead babies.
Kitty saw Jade’s reaction and smiled slightly. ‘You know, Emma, some of your people in the West worship Kali as the personification of female empowerment? Stupid.’
‘She’s not real. Tell me she’s not real,’ I said softly.
‘Three Demon Kings ago, the King liked to take female demonic form and tear the guts out of anything he touched,’ Martin said. His voice dropped with emotion. ‘That was a bad time.’
‘Uh, Emma,’ Gold said urgently. ‘Those demons on the ceiling — they’re glowing with radiation.’
‘How long do I have?’
The Shen with me were silent.
‘Nobody here’s done any work with radiation?’
‘I can see what it is. I don’t know how much of a dose you’re getting,’ Gold said.
‘What about Simone?’
‘She’s so big it probably bounces right off her.’
‘I’d better t
ell you the deal fast, and we can get on with it,’ Kitty said, moving to the Death Mother’s head and stroking her skinless scalp. ‘I’m sacrificing my little sister here as a demonstration of good faith.’ She shrugged. ‘And because I don’t need her any more.’
She walked around the table and leaned on it facing us with her hands on either side of her. ‘I know you agreed to take me to the King. I’ll give you Simone and come along quietly if you’ll agree to do one thing for me.’
‘What’s that?’
‘Leave the cage door open. Let me out again once you’ve put me in. You’ll have completed your agreement with the King, and I’ll be able to have a little chat with him.’
‘That’s all?’ I said with disbelief.
‘Thoroughly doable, eh? Give me your word, and I’ll come quietly.’
‘Do you really think you can take down the Demon King?’
She smiled slightly. ‘You’d be surprised.’
She pulled a dagger from the side of the table and moved to stand behind the Death Mother’s head. She wrenched the Mother’s head back, plunged the blade sideways into her throat, then ripped it towards the ceiling, still holding it horizontally. The Mother didn’t dissipate; she burst into a fountain of black demon essence, which gathered in the channels around the table. Her snake tail lashed from side to side, so powerful it chipped the stone where it hit, and her arms strained against the chains binding her. Eventually she stopped thrashing and dissolved slowly, her structure melting into more demon essence, like thick oil.
Kitty went to the side of the table and lifted the cup full of demon essence. She held it out towards us.
My stomach lurched with nausea as the smell of the demon essence hit me.
Jade turned away with her hands over her mouth.
‘She cannot do this,’ Martin said in disbelief.
‘No way,’ Gold said.
Kitty raised the cup with both hands and drank the demon essence, then lowered the cup and wiped her mouth. She placed the cup back on the table, then grinned at me. ‘Watch this, Emma, this is very good.’
She dropped her head and concentrated and a pale blue nimbus grew around her head.
