by Kylie Chan
Er Lang and I both knelt and saluted the Jade Emperor as warriors. He nodded back, and we took our positions behind him: me on the right and Er Lang on the left. I held my black jade ruyi in the crook of my left arm.
The Jade Emperor appeared to be concentrating for a moment. Images filled my head, like a video on fast-forward. My life scrolled across my eyes. The feeling stopped and I staggered slightly, then righted myself. The Jade Emperor turned his head slightly to nod to me. I straightened and nodded back, hoping that was enough to show my appreciation for what he’d done.
The Jade Emperor turned his attention back to the hall and nodded, and the Door Gods walked into the hall, one on either side of the massive doors.
‘Xuan Tian Shang Di has returned,’ General Qin said, his voice echoing through the hall.
‘He brings his only human daughter, Princess Xuan Si Min,’ General Wei said.
John and Simone strode in side by side, and stopped just inside the doors. Jade and Gold were behind them, heads lowered. John caught my eye and smiled, then his face filled with horror. ‘Oh shit, I forgot my sword,’ he said, loudly enough for everybody to hear, and dashed out again.
The hall echoed with laughter.
‘Any chance of you staying on as First, Lady Emma?’ the Jade Emperor said without looking at me. ‘At least you remembered your weapon.’
‘Actually, I didn’t, Majesty,’ I said, without looking away from the crowd. ‘Er Lang had to remind me.’
‘And before you ask: no, I do not wish to be promoted,’ Er Lang said. ‘Ah Wu can have the job. He deserves it.’
John strode back into the hall, his face composed into a fierce mask. He stopped next to Simone, nodded without looking at her, and the two of them walked down the brilliant yellow carpet through the middle of the crowd of Shen. They stopped at the base of the dais, and both fell to one knee to salute.
‘I am Xuan Tian Shang Di, Emperor of the Dark Northern Heavens,’ John said, his voice boosted by his size so that it resonated through the hall. ‘I have returned to take up my duties as the Celestial directs.’
Simone wasn’t senior enough to use first person. ‘This small daughter of a Shen greets the Celestial Majesty, and presents herself as first human child of the Xuan Wu.’
The Jade Emperor rose with a rustle of gold silk. He hadn’t taken any impressive Celestial Form; he appeared to be an ordinary, slim, elderly gentleman, slightly shorter than me. He raised one hand towards John and Simone.
‘Welcome on your return, Dark Lord. Greetings, Princess. You may rise.’ He turned to me and nodded. ‘You have served me well in the capacity of First, Lady Emma. I now request that you stand down and allow the Dark Lord to return to his duties.’
‘With pleasure, Celestial Majesty,’ I said. I walked down the stairs to the base of the dais, then turned and saluted him on one knee as a warrior. ‘I relinquish my position as First; and trust my services have been satisfactory.’ I rose and saluted John, then moved off the carpet to stand at the front of the crowd.
John strode up the steps and stood in front of the Jade Emperor. He pulled Seven Stars out of its scabbard, fell to one knee and rested the sword point-down on the dais. He was so huge that, even kneeling, his head was level with the Emperor’s.
‘I, Xuan Tian Shang Di, Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens, Celestial Minister of Jade Emptiness, Master of the Glorious Teachings of Primeval Chaos and the Nine Heavens, vow to serve the Celestial and protect both the Heavens and the Earthly from any that would disturb the order of your realm.’
‘Take your place as First, Xuan Wu,’ the Jade Emperor said.
My mobile phone went off loudly. Unfortunately, I’d thought it cute to set the klaxons from the game show QI — loud sirens and ringing bells — as the ring tone. I fumbled through my armour, looking for the pocket in my robe where I’d stowed the phone last time I’d worn it, and couldn’t find it.
‘Help!’ I hissed softly, to the amusement of those around me.
Gold held one hand out towards me and the phone went silent.
‘Never in all my reign have I seen a pair so perfectly matched,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘You are as disruptive, chaotic and disrespectful as each other.’ He gestured to the right side of the dais. ‘Take your place, Lord Xuan, and welcome home.’
John moved to stand behind the Jade Emperor at his right. He spared a second to glare down at me, and I shrugged in return, then touched the hilt of the Murasame at my back. He shook his head, smiled slightly, and looked back at the crowd.
‘I summon the Northern Heavens to meet with me in my private apartments,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘This matter is concluded.’
He turned and left from the back of the dais, with John and Er Lang following.
Gold, Jade and Simone came to me, and the rest of the crowd began to mill around and discuss proceedings.
‘I swear I didn’t know the phone was there,’ I said, then froze as the summons hit me. I looked around. Nobody else had noticed.
‘I’ve been summoned to the Jade Emperor,’ I said.
‘Do you know where you have to go, ma’am?’ Jade said.
‘Yes. It’s like a map was just slotted straight into my head. He has absolutely no respect for privacy.’
‘The map will disappear when you arrive at your destination,’ Gold said. ‘Good luck.’
The summons hit me again and I jumped.
‘He even knows I haven’t moved yet!’ I said. ‘That’s not fair.’
‘You’d better go,’ Jade said. ‘After that phone business, he won’t want to be kept waiting.’
CHAPTER 23
The Jade Emperor, John and Er Lang were waiting for me in one of the small audience halls at the back of the Palace complex, all in normal human form. I saluted the Emperor on one knee first, then sat next to John on the silk-cushioned couch.
‘Welcome, Miss Donahoe,’ the Emperor said. ‘As I said, all we have achieved to date is that we have managed to contact a few of the other Shen, and they have agreed to meet. Africa and Australia are willing — the Grandmother says she will attend. Europe and North America are silent. South America is prevaricating.’
‘Who are your emissaries?’ John said.
‘My sons, numbers Four and Twelve. They are doing their best, but the Shen appear to be … non-existent.’
‘I will be taking Emma to Europe as soon as she is Raised and we are married,’ John said. ‘We will be able to assist.’ He rose and knelt in front of the Jade Emperor. ‘This small Shen requests the use of Lao Zi’s Crucible to synthesise the Elixir of Immortality for the human woman he loves.’
‘Granted. Get to it so we don’t risk losing you again over a mortal, Ah Wu. Oh — this Kwok woman and that Snake Mother. Find them and do something about them — these demon copies are intolerable. Be careful though, Ah Wu; you know my dominion doesn’t extend to the demonic side of Hell and there may be more going on than first appears.’
‘Nothing would please me more,’ John said. He rose and sat next to me, holding my hand. ‘They have both harmed my family enough. It is time for them to be neutralised.’
‘Have you found a replacement for Gao Yuan?’
‘Not yet.’
‘I can put the Elite Guard at your disposal: choose one of them. Some of the senior officers in that guard are Heaven’s finest, trained by yourself.’
‘No need to rush into something as vital as this,’ John said.
‘No rush, but ensure there is a replacement soon. And one last thing.’ The Jade Emperor nodded thanks to the female servant in flowing lilac robes who poured the tea for us. ‘I gave you the Jade Girl and the Golden Boy to assist you while you were stuck on the Earthly. What am I going to do with them now you’ve returned to the Celestial?’
‘You have two choices here, Majesty,’ I said. ‘They’ve served us well. But the Jade Girl now has three dragon children by Qing Long; if she were to leave our service, he would demand she return to his palace u
ntil the children are grown. She may have had children with him, but she doesn’t really like him that much and doesn’t want to do that.’
‘And the Golden Boy?’
‘He has married a dragon and they have two human children together. He also has a stone child.’
‘Your point, Lady Emma? What are my two choices?’
‘Leave them in our service where we allow them a reasonable amount of freedom to care for their families. Or release them from their servitude.’
‘I have the feeling that if I release them they will continue to work for the North anyway.’
‘That’s right. It doesn’t make much difference. I recommend you leave them in our service. The population of Heaven will see your strength in continuing to discipline them, and that situation is best to enable them to care for their families, which is the most important thing of all.’
‘I must grant them their freedom eventually.’
‘If they ever ask for it, I’ll let you know.’
John squeezed my hand and I squeezed his back.
‘Such a shame the Tiger monopolised the Crucible to make that Elixir for his Empress. It would have been good to have some on hand to Raise you now,’ the Emperor said. ‘The last two batches have both resulted in the subject exploding — first the Leo copy, then the Western Empress. Pray be sure that will not happen to you.’
I released John’s hand to pull the sleeve of my robe further down over my right arm.
‘When are the peaches ripe?’ Er Lang said. ‘That is an alternative.’
‘You know, my wife nearly left her retreat and came down from the peach garden to say hello,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Most singular. Not for at least another two thousand years, I’m afraid. The trees are still recovering from the damage that blasted monkey did.’
Er Lang dropped his head.
The Jade Emperor slapped the arm of the couch. ‘Oh, come on, Er Lang, get over it already. The combined forces of Heaven couldn’t stop him; there was no chance you could. It took the mercy of a holy Bodhisattva to subdue him.’
Er Lang saluted the Jade Emperor without raising his head.
‘Now, I believe the Dark Lord has a great deal of catching up to do. Go check your quarters, Ah Wu, I think the fairies …’ he glanced up at the young servant in the lilac robe, who bowed slightly, ‘have been caring for it suitably. Then keep me up to date on all that’s happening in the North — and please have Emma continue to write the monthly reports. She has a vivid, entertaining style, much more amusing than your stuffy rows of numbers.’
‘Is the Elite fully staffed?’ John said.
The Jade Emperor turned to Er Lang.
‘Adequately,’ Er Lang said. ‘We will need to boost numbers in the next fifty years or so if the candidates for Immortality don’t achieve it.’
‘Call on the Mountain anytime,’ John said. ‘One of my priorities is bringing my army back to full strength.’
‘That will be good to see,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Are we done? Nothing else?’ Nobody replied, and he nodded with satisfaction. ‘Good. Dismissed.’
John retook Celestial Form to guide me through the Palace to his apartments. The walls were dark wood around white panels, and the floor was also wood, polished to a silken sheen. Decorative windows spaced along the wall on the left gave glimpses of the formal garden and pond at the centre of the quarters.
He turned right and the doors slid open. We entered his hearing room. It had a cold slate floor, with a raised dais holding a single rosewood desk and chair, with ‘Xuan Tian Shang Di’ in the Emperor’s own hand on a calligraphy plaque above it. A set of the Eighteen Weapons stood against the back wall behind the desk.
John went up to the desk and brushed one finger over the wood. ‘Good.’
I walked up to him and turned to study the room. ‘You must be horribly forbidding sitting behind this desk in Celestial Form, dealing the discipline that the Jade Emperor is too squeamish to hand out.’
He lifted me and sat me on the desk, moving the ink-brush stand out of the way. ‘Am I forbidding now?’
I gazed up at his face, which seemed close to the ceiling from where I sat. ‘Yes, you are.’
He shrank to normal human size, wearing his Mountain uniform, and Seven Stars disappeared from his back to reappear on its hooks on the wall below the calligraphy. He smiled gently at me and his eyes crinkled up. ‘How about now?’
I didn’t reply; I just put my hand around the back of his neck and pulled him down for a kiss. He wrapped his strong arms around me and pushed himself into me. I gasped as my body responded, and his arms tightened.
I wrapped my legs around him and pulled him as close as I could. ‘Anywhere we can go?’ I said between the kisses.
The doors at the other end of the room slid shut and his hands moved to unbuckle my armour. ‘We won’t be disturbed here.’
He helped me pull the armour over my head, and I undid the toggles on his jacket, starting at his throat and working my way down over his broad chest. I nearly tore the fabric when I ripped it open, and ran my hands over his chest and onto his back. He quickly shrugged out of the jacket and tossed it onto the desk on one side.
‘You could make the clothes disappear,’ I said into his ear.
He slipped the belt of my robe undone, then pulled the string that held the other side together, making it fall open over my shoulders. ‘Why? This way is much more fun.’
I pulled the robe down and released my arms from the sleeves. His hands went to my breasts, making me jump with response. He slipped them around to my back, and we pressed into each other, our hands running over each other’s back.
He slid his hands down to his pants and undid the drawstring. I squeaked with pleasure as he shook them down.
‘This is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time,’ he said into my hair.
My own pants disappeared and I was wrapped around him, skin to skin.
‘That’s cheating,’ I said, breathless.
He went perfectly still for a moment, gazing into my eyes, and we were suspended in time. Then we moved together and everything disappeared.
Afterwards, we sat in plain Mountain uniforms on a rug on the grass in the courtyard of his quarters. The Celestial Palace apartments were smaller than the house on the Mountain: single storey, with two bedrooms and an office, but no training area. The Palace staff provided us with a teapot, cups and some steamed vegetarian buns, and we sat under a tree in the autumn shade.
John lay back on the blanket and put his hands behind his head. ‘Family dinner tonight? Michael’s back and wants to talk to you.’
I lay down to join him, watching the sun shine through the leaves. ‘Which family? It starts as just us four — you, me, Simone, Leo. If we extend it, it includes your kids and Michael, then extends to my parents, my sisters, and then if you go to biggest family it includes the Winds. I hope I remembered everybody.’
‘Four? Not five? Leo and Ah Ming aren’t a couple?’
‘Leo’s heart is lost, and Martin knows it.’
‘When I saw them sitting together in the Grotto, I hoped that Ah Ming had accepted his true nature and stopped trying to run from it, and Leo had found something worthwhile to live for.’
‘Leo was watching you at the bottom of the water. Martin came down to look for him.’
He rolled over to see me. ‘I don’t want to do it, Emma. They have a chance together. I can’t take that away.’
‘I don’t want to either, but I promised Leo I would do everything in my power to make it happen.’
‘It’s easy to make that sort of promise when you’re not the one who has to kill him.’
‘True. But I’ll have to watch.’
He rested his hand on my side and stroked me. ‘This is as good a time as any to talk about this — about absorbing him. I don’t want it to happen to you either.’
‘We may not have a choice, Xuan Wu. Your Serpent is powerful and has a mind of its own.
It’s possessed me at least three times when we were in serious danger. I think it loves me as much as you do.’
‘Of course it does; it is me.’
‘But with you back, you’ll protect us and we won’t be in danger. There’ll be no need for it to possess me.’ I touched his face. ‘Do you have any sort of control over it at all?’
‘None.’ He rolled onto his back again and closed his eyes. ‘I still have no idea where it is.’
A great yearning call filled the air and I jumped to my feet. The call wasn’t audible, but it made the ground tremble and the air shimmer; the water in the pond vibrated in resonance. My heart felt pulled from my chest with need. I cast around, looking for the source. It was coming from John; and the pull was so strong that I fell to my knees and dropped my head, full of nausea.
The call stopped and I flopped sideways on the grass, panting.
He sat up and stared at me. ‘You heard that?’
I nodded without rising from the grass.
‘Promise me you’ll never take Serpent form again,’ he said. ‘You’ve spent too much time as a snake and you’ve made it easy for me to possess you. Don’t risk it.’
‘I can’t promise you that. My snake form has saved Simone’s life more than once.’
He grabbed me and pulled me close, clutching me tight.
We heard the sound of a silver bell being struck and looked up. One of the Palace fairies, in silver robes to match the décor, had appeared in the doorway. She bowed to us, then held out one arm: my black Tang robe was draped across it.
‘Yes, you can go ahead and clean it, thank you,’ I said.
She bowed again, then approached us and held something out to me. I took it; it was my mobile phone. I had left it in its special pocket in my robe after the ceremony at the Northern Heavens, and had completely forgotten about it until it had gone off during the handover ceremony in the Celestial Palace.
‘Thank you,’ I said.
She bowed again and floated out of the courtyard.