by Kylie Chan
The Tiger raised his hands and a circular metal blade appeared in front of him, spinning in the air. He ran it into the wall, and moved it through, creating a doorway. He pulled it out again, but the wall flowed back together as if it hadn’t been damaged.
‘This wall is at least a metre thick,’ he said. ‘Maybe our oh-so-clever stones have an idea for getting through it … What the fuck?’ He suddenly shot into the air and hit the ceiling with a bang.
I turned and saw that the arms of the not-so-dead demon were holding Tiger and Simone by the throat. The Tiger seemed unfazed, but Simone was obviously choking and clutched at the stone tentacles strangling her.
Michael leapt to cut off the tentacle holding her and it broke to the floor. It reformed and grabbed him around the throat as well; now it had all three of them. The stone Shen gathered into a cloud and coalesced onto the body of the demon, trying to stop it, but it ignored them. Simone’s struggles became more frantic, and the pool of water on the ground rose as a sphere and attacked the arm where it held her.
Na Zha and the Monkey King attacked the demon, but their blows bounced ineffectually off it.
‘Move away from the body now!’ I yelled. ‘Do it!’
The stones and Shen hesitated, then moved back. I saw the body of the demon through the cluster of stones, and moved quickly, driven by Simone’s strangled cries of distress. I concentrated, planted my feet, pulled the Murasame from its scabbard and lowered my head. I pulled the demon energy out of the stone demon and into the Murasame. The demon quickly folded up into a small black bead and fell, rolling slightly, into the water.
The Celestials dropped to the ground and I raced to Simone. I couldn’t touch her, but Michael could. He held her by the shoulder and studied her. ‘Are you okay?’
The Tiger came over and knelt next to her, but Na Zha and the Monkey King stood back and stared at me.
‘You okay, little one?’ the Tiger asked Simone gently.
She nodded, then took a deep breath, closed her eyes and concentrated. Her face went completely peaceful for a moment, then she snapped open her eyes again. ‘I’m fine. All fixed.’
‘You need practice in that,’ the Monkey King said with disdain. ‘A little bit of choking never hurt anyone.’ He pointed at the demon bead on the floor. ‘And I want an explanation quick smart on why you could do that, lady.’
I rose and shrugged. ‘I just can. You know I can do some stuff that humans aren’t supposed to do, like white and black chi, and multiple chi balls.’
‘That’s just because you’re talented and were trained by the Dark Lord,’ Na Zha said, studying me as closely as the Monkey King was. He nodded to the demon bead. ‘This is way different. How come you can do this?’
I shook my head, confused, and moved to collect the bead. ‘It’s just one of the things I can do that’s a little different from normal. Can someone call a jar here and I’ll pop it inside?’
The Tiger summoned a small jar with a wire-clipped lid to hold the demon. ‘This isn’t a little different, Emma,’ he said. ‘This is major. They’re right. Why didn’t you tell anyone you could do this?’
Na Zha took a step closer to me and turned his Inner Eye on me. I felt as if I was being squashed flat and fell to sit in the water, dropping the sealed jar containing the demon.
‘No Inner Eye! Stop it, stop it!’ Simone yelled.
The squashing feeling left me and I gasped for breath, still sitting in the water.
The Monkey King stood in front of me. I was still weak and could only see up as far as his staff and simian feet.
‘Why can you make demon pearls?’ he demanded.
‘I just can, it’s nothing special,’ I said. I made an effort and glanced up at his suspicious face. ‘Isn’t it?’
‘Only the Dark Lord can create the demon pearls,’ the Tiger said gruffly. ‘Many of us have tried to collect the essence as he can, and only end up destroying the demons. Only he can do it, because of his true nature.’
‘Jointly of Heaven and Hell,’ I said, understanding. I rose from the floor and took some deep breaths. ‘He’s the only one?’
Na Zha glared at me. ‘We thought he was.’
‘What the fuck are you?’ the Monkey King said.
I nearly laughed at the irony. ‘Damn, Monkey, if I knew that I’d be a very happy Serpent indeed.’
‘I know what the Dragon would say if he was here,’ the Tiger said. ‘He’s said for a long time that you’re some sort of demon.’
‘I know,’ I said. I pointed at the wall. ‘But right now, I have a Retainer in there who’s an ordinary human and marked as Worthy. How about we concentrate on getting him out, and then later you can have fun with the usual sport of Emma baiting?’
The Monkey King hesitated, then raised his staff. ‘Works for me.’ He jammed the staff into the wall again, chipping the rock.
‘Oh, move back and let us do it,’ Gold said with resignation. ‘Why are you constantly ignoring us and our abilities?’
‘Ego,’ I said, and the Monkey King and Na Zha glared at me. ‘Go right ahead, Gold.’
‘Give us a couple of metal elementals,’ Gold said, studying the wall.
The Tiger raised one hand and the metal elementals appeared as glowing silvery globes, each about twenty centimetres across, floating in the air.
‘Why didn’t you get help from these when the demon had us?’ Simone said. ‘Mine came to help.’
‘They don’t help me. I’m the boss,’ the Tiger said. ‘I help them, and I use them for mundane tasks. I never need rescuing.’
‘You are so full of shit it’s surprising your eyes aren’t a darker brown,’ Na Sha said, watching the stone Shen as they worked on the wall.
They scrabbled at the rock like insects, scratching away at its surface, a visible dent appearing as they worked. Then an enormous whoomph came from the other side of the wall that made dust rise and knocked off a few of the stones. The Shen still on the wall shrieked and scattered away from the large crack that had appeared down its centre. The wall was hit from the other side again, and we all took a step back. The stone Shen rose and floated to hide behind us.
‘Any ideas?’ I said.
‘I do not believe what I am seeing,’ the Tiger said as a hole a metre across opened in the wall. A black turtle’s head poked through and tore at the edges with its beak. When it had enlarged the hole slightly it grinned at me. ‘Hello, Emma.’ It turned to see Simone. ‘My little one.’ Its dark eyes sparkled at me. ‘Come on through.’
‘Daddy!’ Simone shrieked and threw herself at the wall, tearing at the rock to break through.
There was a large open area on the other side, an underground complex of two-storey buildings with red wooden pillars and doors like a traditional temple. John, in True Form, stood in the middle of the large courtyard. Although underground, it was brightly lit even though there was no visible light source.
Simone fell to her knees and clutched his head. She put her forehead against his. ‘Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,’ she said through the tears.
He butted her with his nose. ‘I can’t stay long, sweetheart. I was brought by your suffering and I don’t know how long I’ll be able to stay conscious.’ He glanced at me and grinned his tortoise grin. ‘What happened to you, Emma? You’re full of demon essence.’
I knelt in front of him and raised my hand to touch his nose. He was completely black and about three metres long. His shell rose in a graceful arc from his sides, but was covered in intimidating spikes. His head was like a cross between a lion’s and a dragon’s, but much uglier, with a large black shining frill around his neck. He smiled at me with the eyes I’d loved for so long and I nearly joined Simone in weeping to see him.
‘Simon Wong injected me with the essence,’ I said, stroking his turtle nose. ‘I change into a Snake Mother if Simone touches me or if I get really mad.’ I touched my forehead to his as well, joining Simone. ‘I’m trying to control it, and I hope to be rid of it before you co
me back for good.’
‘Don’t worry, you will be whole again, love,’ John said, and I nearly wept again to hear his voice. He glanced up at the Tiger. ‘Ah Bai.’
The Tiger, Na Zha, the Monkey King and Michael all dropped to one knee and saluted him.
‘Xian Tian,’ the Tiger said.
‘Nu Wa, and the Three,’ John said.
The Tiger’s face went blank with shock.
‘Emma is to see Nu Wa. If she cannot help, then go to the Three Pure Ones. They may be able to help.’
‘Nobody’s visited Nu Wa in a thousand years,’ the Monkey King said with scorn. ‘Remember what happened last time an asshole Emperor went up there.’
‘This does not concern you,’ the Turtle said, glaring at the Monkey King, who dropped his head. John turned back to face me. ‘Go see Nu Wa, love, she will have some ideas.’ He butted Simone with his nose again. ‘This place was full of demons. I had some fun and cleared it up for you. Why are you here?’
‘We think Leo is here,’ Simone said.
The Turtle raised its head and its gaze unfocused. ‘There are three copies of Leo here, all demon. There are some stone Shen being held here as well.’ It pointed with its nose. ‘Down that way, down some stairs, there’s more demons below. I only took out the biggest ones on the top here.’ He concentrated. ‘None of those Leos is the real one.’
‘Dammit!’ Bai Hu said.
‘How many Shen? And where is the real Leo?’ I said.
John’s eyes unfocused again, then he snapped back to me and grinned. ‘Five stone Shen are held here. Leo: no idea. Listen,’ he rubbed the side of his face on my hand, ‘I don’t have long. Once I revert I’ll probably be gone for a while again.’ He glanced from me to Simone. ‘But I am slowly returning, my beloved ladies. Still no idea what happened to the damn Serpent though.’
His dark eyes studied me with amusement. Hope I can see yours soon, it really is incredibly hot.
‘Anyway,’ he said, switching back to out loud, ‘there is probably some clue here to where the real Leo is, but remember, Emma, more than anything, Leo wants to die. He felt that he failed me in not protecting Michelle, then again when not protecting Simone, and he does not feel worthy to share this world with us.’
‘He’s been judged Worthy,’ I said.
‘Of course he has,’ the Turtle said. Its eyes glazed over slightly, then it shook itself. ‘Damn, I’m fading.’ He looked around, and smiled at me and Simone. I love you both. Thank you for waiting for me. Simone, I am so proud of you …
Simone released a huge sob that made her shoulders shake and buried her head in her father’s enormous black frill.
Emma, I love you …
And he was gone.
CHAPTER 25
‘They’re here!’ a voice yelled from the other side of the hole in the wall. We all turned to see who it was. A group of warriors from Rabbit Village were visible there, about five or six of them, all wearing a polo shirt with a small rabbit on the front where the designer logo usually sat. They clambered through the hole, then knelt on one knee and saluted us.
‘We heard you were clearing a nest in here, Exalted Ones, and wanted to help,’ the senior Rabbit, Tu Gong Wei, said. ‘It is an insult to the honour of the Rabbit Village that this nest exists so close to our home.’
‘That’s right, Rabbit Village is in the mountains south of here,’ Simone said. ‘We flew right over it.’
‘These yours?’ the Monkey King asked me.
‘They’re from one of the Twelve Villages of the Arts,’ I said. ‘Rabbits are the shadow casters.’
‘Useful if we have to face a large number of demons,’ the Tiger said. ‘Bring ’em.’
The Rabbits, still kneeling, saluted him.
‘We would be honoured,’ Tu Gong Wei said.
I looked around. With the stones and the Rabbits along, our force was close to thirty, all skilled in Arts and stone magic. I shrugged. ‘Fine.’
‘What do we have here, sir?’ the head Rabbit asked the Tiger.
The Monkey King replied without looking away from the courtyard. ‘Lot of demons holding some stone Shen and a few Black Lion copies that we’re here to get out.’
The Rabbit leader nodded. ‘Let’s go then.’ He saluted me. ‘We can take it from here, ma’am.’
‘I’m sure you can,’ I said, and hefted my sword. ‘Let’s go. We need information on where they’re keeping the real Leo, and how they’re making the stone copies.’
The two-storey building surrounded the courtyard on three sides, with a rock wall on the fourth side. The building was made of grey bricks with red wooden pillars holding up a balcony with a red railing all around the inside. Red wooden doors and hexagonal windows opened out from the rooms to the courtyard.
‘Run a sweep through all these rooms and see if there’s any strays,’ I said. I turned to Gold. ‘Assign a couple of stones to each Rabbit and work as teams.’
Gold nodded. ‘Ma’am.’ He turned and raised one arm, speaking telepathically to the stones and Rabbits.
‘That’s not the right way to do it,’ Tu Gong Wei said. ‘It would be better to have stones together and Rabbits together rather than mixed groups.’
‘I think a mix of skills is a better way,’ I said.
Tu Gong Wei grimaced. ‘As you wish.’
The Rabbits grouped into teams of three and entered the ground-floor rooms, some of them jumping from the ground level to the balcony. The stones floated in True Form beside them.
There was a brief yell and sounds of fighting, then the Rabbits and stones reappeared. Tu Gong Wei saluted the Tiger. ‘One demon, only level eighteen. All clear.’
‘Good job. Where are the stairs?’ I said.
‘This way,’ Gold said.
Can I thump Gong Wei? Simone said into my head. And did you notice that all of these Rabbits are guys? That Rabbit girl you told me about was right!
There was a standard stairwell inside the building through a pair of red wooden doors. We took the stairs down, the stones floating with us. At the bottom was a corridor with rooms on either side, looking very much like an old-fashioned high school. The walls were plain dark grey stone and the doorframes were the same red wood.
The first room on the left held a mah-jongg table, a couch and a television. There were weapons racks on the wall, but they were empty. A table to one side held a large Chinese-made metal hot-water flask, and a teapot and cups black from constant use. The room across the hall on the right went almost the length of the corridor, about fifty metres, and was obviously a training room, with more empty weapons racks but no mirrors — small demons couldn’t stand the sight of their reflections. Neither of the rooms had any windows or visible light sources, but they were still brightly lit.
‘Looks like our little friends were tipped off,’ the Tiger said. ‘They’ve either taken off or they’re further in, waiting for us.’
‘Can anyone sense anything?’ I said.
‘No,’ Simone said. Michael shook his head. The Celestials didn’t reply — their way of saying ‘no’.
We went to the end of the corridor to another stairwell, again leading down. The rooms we passed on the left were empty — no furniture or weapons. Demon resting rooms — they didn’t require furniture, they just shut down and stood motionless, like automatons.
The stairwell at the end didn’t go anywhere, just down a couple of steps into a rock floor.
‘Dead end,’ I said, confused. ‘That’s all there is here?’
‘That’s not the floor, that’s a demon,’ Simone said, studying the rock. ‘Some sort of stone thingy.’
The Tiger was standing behind me, and his musky big cat scent filled the stairwell. ‘Can you pearl it?’
I shook my head. ‘I can’t do it to really big stuff, and this might be too big. I have no idea what size it is.’
‘That one in the cave was pretty big,’ Na Zha said.
‘That one in the cave was killing Simone,�
� I said.
The Tiger raised one furry clawed hand and a lance of shining metal appeared in the air above the stone demon, then fell to skewer it. The demon appeared unharmed.
‘Wish the Turtle had hung around a bit longer,’ the Tiger said.
‘We need a dragon,’ I said. ‘Stone is weak to wood.’
‘Now she works it out,’ the Monkey King said.
I glared at him. ‘Don’t see you being terribly useful right now.’
He bared his teeth at me in a simian threat. I turned back to the stone demon blocking the stairwell. ‘Stone, ask a couple of dragons to come and see what they can do about this. Maybe Silver and Precious?’
‘On their way,’ the stone in my ring replied.
Simone walked the few steps down to the stone demon and stopped, thoughtful. She crouched and put her hands on it.
‘Move back, Emma,’ she said, as if from a million miles away.
The Tiger grabbed my arm, dragged me out of the stairwell and shielded me with his body, just as the demon exploded into a huge mass of feathery streamers all over the rest of the group.
‘Oh yuck,’ Simone said. I peered around the Tiger to see her; she was covered in black demon essence. She summoned an elemental, and it enclosed her completely in a sphere of water, then disappeared, leaving her clean and dry. She raised her hand and similar spheres of water appeared around the rest of the group, cleaned them, then disappeared.
‘That worked,’ Na Zha said, studying the staircase stretching down. ‘Nice Third Eye. Looks like a long way down.’
The dragon Silver appeared in the corridor behind us in Celestial Form, tall with silver-scaled armour and holding his spear. He was accompanied by Precious, another of the Academy dragons. She was about thirty centimetres shorter than him, and wore traditional Tang-style robes of pink and lilac, with her hair elaborately pinned in twining braids adorned with enamelled silver birds and flowers.
The Tiger grinned at her. ‘Well, hello, gorgeous! What are you doing wasting your time in Wudang?’
Precious replied in her high-pitched, almost little-girl voice. ‘Learning how to kick the shit out of assholes like you.’