by Kylie Chan
‘Don’t release them just yet,’ I said. ‘They may be more copies. Check their numbers.’
Martin and Simone went to each of the Leos and bent to see their wrists from underneath.
‘This is four,’ Simone said.
Leo Four came around. ‘Simone?’ he said, sounding groggy. ‘Is that you?’
‘Simone?’ the other Leo said.
‘This is number one,’ Martin said. ‘Should we destroy the four and take the one? Four is the one that attacked you.’
‘Why do you look like demons?’ Leo One said.
‘We’re sneaking in the back door, these are disguises,’ I said. ‘The serpent lady is Simone, the black demon is Martin, and I’m Emma.’
‘Kill me,’ Leo Four said. ‘I’m a copy.’
‘Kill both of us,’ Leo One said. ‘We’re both copies.’
‘Then where’s the real Leo?’ I said.
Neither replied.
‘Destroy Four, take One,’ Simone said.
‘We’re not sure!’ I said.
‘Destroy both of us, Emma,’ Leo Four said. ‘You can’t trust either of us. We’re both copies.’
‘That’s the best plan, guys,’ Leo One said. ‘Just kill us both. That would be the kindest thing to do to us; we’re demon copies anyway.’
‘How do you know that?’ I said.
Leo One gestured with his head as best he could towards Leo Four. ‘He told me what happened. You found him in a nest and took him home, and when Six turned up, he found he had to obey Six. He’s been beating himself up about it since, and asking Six to let him die.’
‘We don’t have time to mess around with this,’ I said. ‘Free them and take them with us. We’ll work out what to do with them later.’
‘Just take them to the Celestial,’ Martin said. ‘If they are demons, they will be destroyed.’
‘And if they both die?’ I said.
‘Then there’s an original around here somewhere,’ Simone said, ‘and we’re going to find him.’
‘Does Six have any other nests apart from this one?’ I asked Martin.
‘Not any more,’ Martin said. ‘You drove him out of his other two nests.’
‘And we’ve kept an eye on them and they’ve stayed vacant,’ I said. ‘Good. Any other Leos have to be somewhere in here. Let’s go.’
Martin and Simone freed the Leos and helped them off the tables. Both of them were slightly unsteady on their feet.
‘What is this one doing with you, Emma?’ Leo One said, gesturing towards Martin. ‘He betrayed you. I remember that much.’
‘He’s trying to make good,’ I said.
‘I hope you don’t trust him,’ Leo Four said.
‘No more than I trust you,’ I said. ‘I’m ready to destroy either of you the second you attempt anything.’
‘Good,’ both Leos said in unison.
‘This is very freaky,’ Simone said.
We went out of the room and back into the corridor that seemed to run the length of the facility. Doors opened on the right side but not the left, where there were more of the narrow cabinets against the wall. I lifted my snout and tasted the air. ‘Something’s dead around here.’
We went to the first set of doors on the right; the smell of death was coming from this room. ‘In here,’ I said.
There was a large stainless-steel vat in the centre of the room, much like a commercial-sized mixing or cooking vat, at least a metre tall and around. There were shelves all around the edge of the room, which was about four metres by three. The smell of death was almost overpowering, but it was tempered by the scent of something, like talcum powder.
Simone went to one of the shelves and studied its contents. ‘Stones,’ she said.
I moved to stand next to her. ‘These are what’s dead,’ I said. ‘They were once alive. I think they’re stone Shen.’
‘These are the missing stone Shen,’ the stone in my ring said quietly. ‘This is where he made the essence to line the walls and the stone tools he used. They’re all dead.’ Its voice went hoarse with grief. ‘They’re all dead!’
I raised my head to see. There were at least two hundred stones, of all sizes and colours, on the shelves, and all dead. The mixing vat was full of what appeared to be white clay-like mud; the ceramic lining before it was baked and placed on the walls.
‘They weren’t using stone demons to make lining,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘They were using adult stone Shen.
‘We have to take them with us, to return them to the Grandmother. We can’t leave them here.’
‘Look around for something to put them in,’ Simone said.
Martin raised a bucket that had been sitting next to the vat. It was a typical cheap red plastic bucket used by many householders in China to hold trash. ‘This will do.’
‘This is most unfitting,’ the stone grumbled as Martin, Simone and the two Leos went around the shelves and carefully placed the dead stones in the bucket. I didn’t help, and nobody questioned me. They probably knew that I didn’t want the taste of dead things in my serpent mouth.
‘This building is kinda square, with a corridor all around the edge,’ Simone said as she put the last of the stones in the bucket. ‘I can see about twenty metres, and all the rooms are empty. The kiln’s two doors down.’
‘Let’s check everywhere else then,’ I said. ‘But Six’s scent has gone, he may have taken off already.’
Martin placed the lid on the bucket and we went back out of the room. We turned right and followed the corridor; there were still cabinets all along one side.
‘These cabinets are everywhere. What were they for?’ I said.
‘I think they held the stones,’ Simone said. ‘Kind of like little jail cells for them.’
‘And the seals held them in,’ I said, understanding.
‘But the cabinets are empty now. All the stones are dead,’ Martin said.
‘If you don’t mind, Emma, I would very much like for us to track this demon down later and rip its throat out,’ the stone in my ring said.
Martin and Simone stopped and both turned their unseeing heads to the right.
‘The kiln room,’ Simone said.
‘That’s where your students were,’ Martin said.
I tasted the air; it tasted of death and ash. We moved down the corridor and opened the door on the right. The room contained a large kiln of the type used for firing pottery, and a plastic storage bin stained black from holding ash.
‘That bin contained the remains of your students,’ Martin said. ‘They baked them and combined them with the stone Shen to make the ceramic lining.’
‘That’s what happened to the students that were replaced by the demon copies,’ Simon said. She wiped her eyes. ‘This demon needs to die.’
Heads up, I’m the only one left, General Ma said into our heads. There are about three big demons remaining, and I only have one working arm and internal injuries that will kill me in the next five minutes or so. I may lose consciousness and die soon, so I suggest you hurry it up and get out of here.
‘Let’s move,’ I said. ‘Sweep the corridor. Look with your Inner Eyes — above and this level. Let’s see if there’s anything left.’
We moved quickly down the corridor. Simone and Martin swept their heads from side to side, their eyes wide and unfocused. At the end of the corridor we turned right again, and walked as fast as we could down it. We reached the middle, which led to the lift lobby, and passed it.
‘Ma is down,’ Martin said.
‘Still nothing in any of the rooms,’ Simone said. ‘The demons are above us, they’ll be coming down in the lift any minute.’
We turned right again: final corridor. When we reached the middle, another corridor branched to the right and three big humanoid demons charged down it towards us. Simone raised her hand and Dark Heavens appeared in it. Martin did the same with the Silver Serpent. I raised my head and opened my mouth, swinging my fangs out.
The dem
ons were standard humanoids, about two-and-a-half metres tall and black with scales and tusks. They carried a sword in each hand, and at level seventy-five were a formidable challenge.
‘Leo stay back,’ I said. ‘Guard the rear. These are too big for you.’
‘Yes, ma’am,’ both Leos said in unison.
Martin took the one in the centre. He filled the Silver Serpent with shen energy, making it sing, and swung it at the demon’s head. It blocked with both of its swords, swung Martin’s blade down, and attempted to take his head. Martin made a few fast attacks that unbalanced it slightly, making it give ground and move back along the corridor.
I raised my head to strike, watching the location and direction of the swords carefully. As the demon swept both swords left — obviously its strong side — I evaded them, went through underneath, opened my mouth as wide as I could and buried my fangs in its abdomen. I injected it with poison, then quickly released it and pulled back out of the way of the reverse swing of the swords.
The poison seemed to have no effect on the demon. I checked Simone — my eyes were on the sides of my serpent head — and she was battling her demon with no difficulty, just waiting for it to open its guard and allow her to finish it.
My demon swung at my head. I dodged under its guard, swung my head up with my mouth open and gripped its wrist. Before it had a chance to take my head with its left hand, I bit its right hand off and snapped back out of reach again.
This was enough. The demon essence spiralled out of the injury in its hand, destroying it. I siphoned the essence into me; again it turned into something bright, dark and powerful.
Martin’s demon struck him in the side, its blade cutting through his armour and burying itself at least fifteen centimetres into his abdomen and lodging there. The demon lifted the other sword to take his head, but he blocked it with his own. They were deadlocked. The demon tried to finish Martin with the second sword as it attempted to free the first, but he was fast enough to block every blow.
Simone finally found an opening in her own demon and sliced it through from shoulder to hip, tearing it open to release its demon essence. It spread out into feathery black streamers, sticking to Simone where they hit her and dissipating into the air where they didn’t. She raised Dark Heavens and threw it like a spear at the remaining demon’s head. The sword travelled straight through it and destroyed the demon, which exploded all over Martin.
Martin fell and the bucket holding the stones toppled, scattering them everywhere. He held his side where the demon’s sword was still lodged in it; it was a Japanese-style wakizashi dagger, at least forty centimetres long. He gripped the handle and winced with pain, then gasped as he yanked it from his side and threw it sideways. He fell back clutching his side, which was now dark with blood.
‘Rinse him off, then I’ll heal him,’ I said. ‘I don’t want any venom inside him when I seal the wound.’
Simone concentrated and a small cloud, dark with moisture, appeared above Martin. A tiny deluge fell from it, warm and salty, and Martin gasped again as it hit him. He raised himself so that his side was flooded with the water, his face stiff with pain.
Simone moved behind him to hold him up. ‘Sorry, Ge Ge, I can only do salt water.’
‘Salt is better for me,’ Martin said, his voice hoarse with effort. He focused with difficulty on me. ‘You can heal it?’
‘I can try,’ I said. I waited for Simone’s rain shower to finish rinsing him clean, then touched my serpent snout to him. ‘Lower him gently,’ I said.
Simone returned him to the floor, then looked behind her. ‘Leo, can you collect the stones back up, please?’
‘We already are,’ one of the Leos said behind me.
I concentrated on Martin. I didn’t even try to touch him with my tongue; the taste of a Shen would definitely push me over the edge. I knew that this was the demon inside me, not the serpent; the snake liked the taste of blood, but didn’t have this raw, gnawing addiction to it that my demon side had.
We need to clear —
We need to clear this essence out of me, I know, I said before the stone had finished. John said I was to visit the Three Pure Ones. I hope they can help.
Anything’s better than going to the Demon King, and don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it, the stone said. Can you heal him?
I can give it a damn good try.
‘Can you heal him?’ Simone said.
‘If you can’t heal me, just leave me here,’ Martin said.
‘If we leave you here, there’s no way for us to get out,’ I said. ‘Simone can’t carry all of us.’
‘Simone can touch you while you’re a snake,’ Martin said. ‘She can carry you out. Leave us and go.’
‘Not an option,’ Simone said. ‘Can you do it?’
‘Will everybody stop asking me if I can do it and let me see if I can?’ I said irritably, and they went quiet. The only sound was the stones hitting the bottom of the bucket as the Leos collected them.
I moved my consciousness through Martin. His only injury was the slash in his side; the demon had caught him with a lucky blow.
‘I thought you could take down just about anything if you had a weapon,’ I said.
‘I’m out of practice,’ Martin said. ‘I haven’t had to fight a demon in eight years.’
‘You can still do the katas,’ I said.
‘Wasn’t allowed to,’ he said, and flinched as I touched the wound with my nose. ‘Just go and let me die here. It’s all the same.’
I checked the depth of the wound; it had clipped his large bowel — ugly. Bacteria from his bowel would contaminate his abdominal cavity and cause infection. He needed hospital care, where they could cleanse the wound and fill him full of antibiotics — both inside the wound and through his bloodstream. If I closed it up with that amount of bacteria in him, he would die within a week without hospital care, Shen or not.
I raised my head. ‘I can fix the wound now, but he will need to go to hospital later. The wound is contaminated and needs antibiotics.’
‘Close it up, and I’ll take you out,’ Martin said. ‘Then we can either let me die or take me to a hospital. Your choice.’
I touched my nose to him again and healed the bowel wound, then closed up the exterior slash, knitting the muscles as best I could. I didn’t need to do a thorough job as it would have to be opened again and cleansed.
‘It needs binding,’ I said. ‘The join is weak and may split open again.’
Simone used Dark Heavens to tear away part of the bottom of her flowing demon robes and wrapped the fabric around Martin’s abdomen to cover the wound. He watched, impressed, as she worked with precision and competence.
‘Nice job,’ he said.
‘I did first aid as part of an adventuring award program they have in Australia,’ Simone said. ‘I want to do it all the way up to the gold award — it’s a great learning experience. I hope my new school has it.’
Martin leaned on her and she helped him to his feet.
We exited the room and turned right again.
‘Is there any more ground we need to cover to find another Leo?’ I said.
Simone nodded. ‘We have about another fifty or so metres of corridor to check.’
‘Can you make it that far, Martin?’ I said.
Martin nodded, but his face was fierce with pain. ‘I’ll make it.’
‘Let us carry him,’ one of the Leos said. ‘He can go between us.’
‘Good idea,’ Simone said, and passed Martin to the Leos, who stood one on either side of him with his arms over their shoulders.
About halfway down the corridor Simone stopped. ‘There’s something on the right here.’
‘Anything we’ll need to fight?’ I said.
‘No, nothing alive. It just feels … strange.’
I pushed the double doors open with my nose and went in. There was another rack of shelves in this room, again covered with dead stone Shen but these ones didn’t smell
dead. They flew up off the shelves and grew to take the form of fake stone elementals; so many of them that they completely filled the room, forcing us back out the doors and into the corridor.
‘There are at least fifty of them, and more growing!’ Simone said. ‘We need to get out of here — I can’t destroy that many!’
‘Come to me,’ Martin said, and put his hand out from where the Leos were holding him. ‘Touch me. I’ll take us out.’
‘Go with him,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘Get out of here!’
Simone raised her hand and touched Martin’s; I touched his hand with my snout. There was a flash of light, a feeling of disorientation, then we were on a grassy lawn next to a wide lake. It was night; the stars above blazed brighter than any I’d seen before. To our left, further along the shore of the lake, were the lights of a city, golden and welcoming. A fresh breeze full of the scent of the water and the mown grass blew from the lake, but it was chillingly cold.
One of the Leos stiffened as if he’d been struck, then exploded into a mass of black feathery streamers, disappearing quickly. The other Leo gently lowered Martin to sit on the grass, holding him so that he could see around him.
Simone changed back to her normal human form and put her hands on her hips. ‘You stupid asshole! You could have killed Emma!’
‘How?’ Martin said. ‘It’s just the Celestial Plane. It can’t hurt her.’
‘Because of the demon essence in her, travel to the Celestial Plane in human form will destroy her,’ Simone said, furious.
Martin nodded to Simone. ‘My apologies. I didn’t know. But she seems to be all right.’
‘We’re on the Celestial Plane? Where?’ Leo said.
‘We’re in the Northern Heavens,’ Simone said. ‘That’s why the other Leo died; he wasn’t the real one, he was a demon copy. Obviously you’re the real …’ She hesitated, then threw herself onto the grass to hold him. ‘You’re the real Leo!’
‘I’m not, sweetheart,’ Leo said sadly. ‘I’m Leo Four.’
Simone pulled back to see him, confused. ‘You’re the one that attacked Emma?’
