by Kylie Chan
‘I suggest you ask a Celestial to look at him,’ Regina said. ‘Leo, could you wait outside for a moment?’
Leo nodded, went out and closed the door softly behind him.
‘What?’ I said.
‘This isn’t about him, this is about you,’ Regina said. She pulled another file across the desk towards her. ‘You’re due for another set of blood work, Emma. I want to make sure you’re all right.’
‘Okay, I’ll come back in this afternoon and you can take it,’ I said.
Regina rose, went to the cupboard and pulled out a hypodermic syringe. She pushed the needle onto the end and took the cap off. ‘Sure you will. I know you’re lying, Emma, you’re not planning to come back at all. So let’s do it right now.’
I was about to argue but gave up. She was right. She tightened the rubber hose around my arm and slipped the needle into my vein. Red blood filled the syringe and I sighed with relief.
‘Roughly how much of your dan tian is demon essence, do you think?’ she said as she watched the syringe fill.
‘Dammit, Regina, leave me some, I have a challenge in half an hour,’ I said. ‘Still just over half-full of demon essence.’
‘It shows up on the blood work as toxins in your blood,’ Regina said. ‘The White Tiger’s been giving me some assistance about demon physiology, but you’re something completely different.’
‘Yeah. “Never seen anything like you before, Emma.” Heard that so many times now I’m sick of it.’
‘Are you writing down your dreams?’
I nodded. ‘I don’t know what’s at the top of this hill that my snake is always climbing, but the snake sure as hell wants to get there in a hurry.’
‘Any ideas on where this home place is?’
‘All I know is that it’s very green with a sky that’s sort of pastel blue, not brilliant blue like the Plane. Mostly rolling gentle hills, and the village on top of the hill has views for miles over meadows. There’s two places: the hill that the snake is racing to get to the top of, and the village on top of the hill. I don’t know how I know, but they’re two different places. Every time I have that dream I search the web trying to find any sort of place on the planet that looks like that — thatched cottages, low stone walls, rose gardens. Most of the places are in Europe, but none are on top of a high hill like that.’
‘But your family is Australian?’
‘My father is thinking of checking the family tree, doing a family history, to see exactly where we came from. May be able to trace the source of the Serpent Essence.’
‘Interesting,’ Regina said. ‘Good luck with that.’ She plastered a small bandage over the puncture wound on my arm. ‘I’ll let you know the results of the blood work as soon as I get them.’
‘Thanks, Regina.’
I used the same changing room at the Arena, and the same demon helped me with my armour, bowed and left the room. I nodded to the small statue of Xuan Wu and went out into the hallway. The same young man guided me down the hall to the Arena.
‘We have been seeing quite a lot of you lately, Madam General,’ he said. ‘I have heard of Princess Simone’s announcement. I hope it does not cause you too much difficulty.’
‘What is your honoured name?’ I said.
He bowed slightly. ‘Chan. I am one of the Arena facilitators.’
I nodded back. ‘I thank you for your concern, Mr Chan. I’ve yet to be seriously injured, and it’s good practice for me.’
‘My Lady,’ he said, and raised his arm to indicate the entrance to the Arena.
This time the challenger had chosen a hilltop clearing as the setting. The high, thin mountains of China’s Guilin area surrounded us, mist at their bases.
My challenger and the officiator stood together at the other side of the clearing and I approached them. As I neared my challenger I stopped and studied her. She was obviously trying to look like a boy, in cotton martial arts pants and a brown jacket, her hair tied back into a topknot. She appeared to be about fifteen years old, and even to my limited vision she was completely human, no Shen or demon essence about her at all.
I raised my arms. ‘This is ridiculous. How can a woman challenge for Princess Simone’s hand?’
‘Woman?’ the officiator said.
‘Put your glasses on, Mr Zhou,’ I said. ‘This is a fifteen-year-old girl.’
A pair of spectacles appeared on the officiator’s head and he pulled them down to peer at my challenger. He did a double-take as he realised I was right. ‘This is highly unusual, young lady. You are obviously under age and the wrong gender to be challenging here.’ He bowed slightly to me. ‘Apologies, Lady Regent. This challenge is forfeit.’ He took his glasses off and cleaned them with the edge of his silk robe’s sleeve. ‘Sorry, ma’am.’
The young woman stepped forward. ‘I want to fight you! I’m good enough for the Mountain and I want to prove it!’
‘You’re too young for the Mountain,’ I said. ‘You know we only take adults.’ I moved closer and patted her arm. ‘Keep training, and come and try out when you’re seventeen or eighteen.’
She pulled her arm away. ‘I’m from Rabbit Village. I’m sixteen, I’m old enough. But the sexist assholes in charge of recruitment there won’t approve me for the Mountain.’
‘Sexist, eh? Stone, how many female Rabbits did we get last year?’
‘Six.’
‘How many male?’
‘Eleven.’
‘Year before?’
‘Four, and thirteen.’ The stone was quiet for a moment. Then, ‘What’s your name, Rabbit?’
‘Tu Men Jiu,’ the Rabbit girl said, defiant.
‘What’s your email address?’
She hesitated, then said, ‘Fire horse twenty-three at sinoconnect dot com dot cn.’
‘You’re not a fire horse,’ the stone said. ‘You’re a fire rat.’
‘I want to be a fire horse,’ she said, still defiant.
‘You want to be the only zodiac sign that’s regarded as completely unsuitable for women, making them bad-tempered, argumentative and difficult?’ I said.
She raised her chin. ‘Yes.’
‘More power to you,’ I said. I moved to the side of the Arena and pointed to the ground across from me. ‘Okay, let’s see how good you are.’
She grinned broadly and saluted me. ‘Thank you, Lady Emma.’
‘I will also have my people check whether your allegations are correct about the officials at the Rabbit Village,’ I said. ‘If what you say is true, there will be something of a shake-up.’
‘Kick their asses, ma’am,’ she said.
I put my hands up into a standard long defensive position, and she moved with fluid grace into a similar position across from me.
‘Light contact, we don’t want to do any damage, please. I’ve had enough crap kicked out of me the last week or so.’
She smiled tightly. ‘I find that hard to believe, ma’am. You’re famous for being one of the best, completely unbeatable.’
I shook my head. ‘Just about every single Master, human and Shen, on the Mountain has beaten me, Men Jiu. I’m not really that good.’
Suddenly there were two of her. One of them lunged at my head, and the other jumped completely over me and attempted to attack me from behind.
I did a quick side-flip and the two Men Jius passed through each other as they tried to strike me.
‘Stop,’ I said, and raised my hands.
One of the Men Jius disappeared, and the other bowed and saluted me.
‘That was shadow casting. I know that the Rabbits are experts in this sort of thing, but it’s an advanced energy technique and, at sixteen, I’m surprised you know it.’
‘My mother taught me, because the Masters in Rabbit Village don’t teach it to girls,’ she said.
‘I think they don’t teach it to people who are too young, actually,’ I said, ‘because it requires extremely good energy control, and that usually only comes with a degree of matur
ity.’
She didn’t reply.
‘I’ve seen enough, leave it with me, Men Jiu,’ I said. ‘I will discuss your case, and that of women in general at Rabbit Village, with the elders.’
‘Promise?’ she said.
I nodded. ‘You have my word.’
She grinned. ‘Did you stop the match because I could beat you?’
‘Defend yourself,’ I said, and before she was even into the defensive position I had gently turned her over and flipped her onto her belly on the floor of the Arena, her arms pinned behind her.
I moved back and let her up.
‘Try again. This time you tell me when to start,’ I said.
She was already moving before she said, ‘Now.’ Once again she formed a copy of herself and tried to take me from behind, with the copy distracting me in front.
I spun to face the real Men Jiu behind me and used a simple weight transfer manoeuvre to knock her off her feet again. The shadow’s foot passed harmlessly through my head. She landed on her back and stared up at me.
‘You’re very fast, Lady Emma,’ she said, gasping.
‘I don’t rely on it though, Miss Tu, the way that you rely on your shadows,’ I said. ‘Obviously this gift has helped you to win many times, but when you find someone who can deal with it, you have no skills to fall back on.’ I held my hand out and she took it so that I could help her up.
‘That’s why I want to learn at the Academy, ma’am,’ she said. ‘I want to gain more skills! I want to cast more than one shadow. I’ve seen the Masters cast twenty or more!’
‘I understand completely. I’ve seen how good you are, Men Jiu, leave it with me. Are there any other women in your group who have skills as good as you and would like to come to the Academy? We just had the intake from Rabbit Village two months ago.’
‘I think there are a couple, ma’am.’
‘I’m sending you an email, Rabbit. Reply with the names of the good students in the Rabbit Village,’ the stone said.
‘You should call her by name, not just “Rabbit”, stone. Don’t mind the stone, it’s very rude sometimes,’ I said.
She smiled and glanced down at my ring. ‘I know, ma’am, your ring is famous.’
‘Of course I am,’ the stone said.
‘Famous for being an asshole?’ I said.
Her smile widened. ‘Ma’am.’
‘Humph,’ the stone said, and went quiet.
The officiator came to us with a clipboard. ‘May I speak with you, Lady Regent?’
Men Jiu fell to one knee and saluted me. ‘I hope to see you at the Academy, ma’am.’ She rose, saluted me again, and went out through the tunnel.
‘What’s up, Mr Zhou?’ I said. ‘I know these challenges have been a pain. Hopefully they’ll settle down soon.’
‘It’s about Er Lang,’ Mr Zhou said. ‘Your challenge with him is scheduled for Saturday afternoon, two days from now. The Arena will have to be extended for the period of the match; we have a large number of people who have requested entry to watch.’
‘I’d prefer this be a closed challenge,’ I said. ‘He’s going to kick my butt, and although I’m not bothered about people seeing me beaten, it’s not good to display such division at the highest levels of the Celestial Bureaucracy. The Second General shouldn’t be calling out the First; we should be working together.’
‘The challenger has the choice of venue and whether the match is open or closed,’ Mr Zhou said.
‘I know, I know.’
‘Oh, and the tree’s trial is scheduled for next week. You’ll be called to testify. Your stone too.’
‘Tree?’ I said, confused, then remembered. ‘Sang Shen is on trial?’
‘He tried to kill you, ma’am. That’s really not allowed.’
‘Stone, clear the time in my diary. I want to be there to make sure nothing happens to him.’
‘Done.’
I saluted Zhou. ‘Thanks, Mr Zhou. See you at my next challenge.’
‘Hopefully, ma’am, there won’t be another before Er Lang.’
‘I don’t want another at all,’ I said ruefully, and went out.
CHAPTER 18
I took the MTR back to the Academy after the non-event challenge; it was actually quicker to take the underground train from Central to Wan Chai than having Denis drive me through rush-hour traffic in Hong Kong’s busy streets. I entered my office, dropped my bag, and sagged when I saw a Celestial box on my desk. My in-tray was overflowing, I had this Rabbit thing to deal with, I had to find a tutor for Simone, the real Leo was out there somewhere, and now the Celestial was bugging me. Great.
‘Stone, ask Yi Hao to start researching schools and tutors for Simone,’ I said. ‘And order me some ho fan, please.’
‘Done,’ the stone said. ‘Might need to import a tutor. There’s a shortage here; most of them have moved over to China where there’s more work.’
I flipped through the in-tray: mostly minor administrative matters, more requests for assistance for students travelling home for Christmas or Winter Solstice, and the press cuttings. Nothing urgent, so I sat at the desk and thumbed the clasp on the box.
I pulled out the single vellum scroll. It was tied with a scarlet ribbon. I opened the scroll; it was a direct edict from the Jade Emperor himself, written in red in his distinctive English script.
Hi, Emma. This business with Er Lang is getting out of hand. You have precedence here, and I suggest you summon him immediately and have it out. See if you can make him back down.
‘This has the weight of an edict, doesn’t it,’ I said to the stone.
‘’Fraid so, Emma. Even though he says he’s suggesting it, it’s effectively an order.’
‘The Jade Emperor expects me to make Er Lang, who is a hundred times older than me and a zillion times more powerful, back down,’ I said. ‘He should talk to Er Lang himself.’
‘The Jade Emperor always knows what he’s doing,’ the stone said.
‘You know, when we met him I thought that he actually liked me,’ I said. ‘Now I’m not so sure. Summon Er Lang, ask him to be in my office this afternoon, please.’
The stone was silent for a moment, then, ‘He says he is busy and he can come next week when he is free.’
I looked back down at the edict. ‘Immediately’. Dammit.
‘Tell him to be in my office at three this afternoon, on the dot, and that’s an order,’ I said.
‘Done. My goodness, Emma, but you just pissed him off.’
‘I think that’s the whole idea, stone. I just hope that you’re right and the Jade Emperor knows what he’s doing.’ I pulled my in-tray closer. ‘Now, let’s see what we have here.’
One of the press cuttings was a three-paragraph column about the explosion at Kwun Lung Lau; the reporter noted that safety was being reviewed on the site as people had witnessed a second explosion after the first gas leak had cleared the building. A scathing comment was also made about the poor construction standards of these early estates, as it had been found that parts of the roof were lacking their steel reinforcement rods. The reporter brought up the 1997 demolition of an entire Sha Tin housing estate that had been constructed with insufficient foundation pilings, but moderated her anger by saying that construction standards in the Territory had improved dramatically since those bad times.
My desk intercom buzzed and I pressed the button.
‘I have a couple of students here who’ve been waiting in the office to see you, Emma,’ Yi Hao said. ‘They want to speak to you urgently.’
‘Send them in.’
The two students entered my office; both of them were slim, blond and European, in their mid-twenties. Scott was Canadian and his best friend, Tymen, was from the Netherlands. Tymen looked like he’d been crying: his eyes were red and his face was swollen.
‘Scott, Tymen,’ I said. ‘Take a seat, gentlemen, how can I help you?’
They shared a look, then Tymen leaned forward over his knees. ‘Ma’am, I need y
our help. I’m desperate. You’re the only one who can help me.’
I put down the press cutting I was holding. ‘What’s the matter?’
He looked down at his hands and took a deep breath. ‘It’s my mother. She has ovarian cancer. They diagnosed her six months ago and operated, but they couldn’t get it out. It’s already spread, ma’am.’ He wiped one hand over his eyes and looked away. ‘She doesn’t have long.’
‘I’ll arrange the plane tickets for you,’ I said. ‘Go home to her.’
Scott clasped Tymen’s hand and Tymen held it. ‘Actually, ma’am, she’s on her way here.’
‘Your training is not more important than your mother, Tymen,’ I said. ‘That’s ridiculous. You should have gone home instead of bringing her here.’
‘I didn’t bring her here so I can train, ma’am,’ Tymen said. ‘The doctors in the Netherlands say it’s too advanced to treat, and you’re our last hope.’
‘I can’t cure cancer, nobody can,’ I said. ‘Not even Meredith has that sort of ability. I know you’re desperate, but energy manipulation isn’t that accurate, and it’s very hard to pinpoint cancer cells and clear them all. The Dark Lord’s Serpent has been known to cure cancer, but he’s the only one.’
‘Your Serpent might be able to cure her,’ Tymen said.
I leaned back and stared at them. Most of the longer-term students at the Academy knew about the Serpent, from the times I’d changed when Simone was younger. There was a sort of blanket agreement that none of the newer students were to know, however, because many of them were freaked out if they found out about it.
‘Your Serpent has immense healing powers,’ Scott said. ‘I’ve looked it up.’ He glanced at Tymen. ‘Both of us have been researching healing, and whenever we bring up a medical site, there’s the Serpent, right on the top.’ He squeezed Tymen’s hand. ‘Please help, ma’am.’
I opened my mouth and closed it again. I hadn’t brought the Serpent out often enough even to try this sort of healing; I had enough trouble holding back from changing to demon form, and trying to change to the serpent might make me slip into a Mother.