by Kylie Chan
He smiled wryly. ‘You sound like him. What’s that expression he used? Played like a pipa.’
‘That’s the way I feel,’ I said. ‘They’ve played me. I’m really not up to this job.’
‘If he thought you were up to it, you’re up to it,’ Leo said. ‘Let me think about this draining thing. I need some time.’
‘Take as long as you need. But if you do go for it, then it would be best to take the Elixir of Immortality. It will clear you of the disease and give you abilities beyond the norm as well as the Immortality thing. You’ll be able to wait for as long as it takes.’
‘I don’t care about any of that, but I would be willing to do it for the chance to be one with him,’ Leo said.
I buttered my toast. ‘So would I.’
‘Simone needs to eat her breakfast,’ the stone said.
‘Send it to her room, she can eat in there,’ I said.
Her scrambled eggs disappeared.
‘You forgot the coffee,’ I said.
‘She took it, I didn’t,’ the stone said.
‘You forgot your coffee,’ I said loudly, but the coffee had already disappeared.
Martin met us at the grassy lawn next to the lake. It was 9 am but it was still dark, the stars in the sky blazing brighter than any I had seen.
‘Let me see if I can call her,’ he said. He went to the edge of the water, raised his head, and concentrated.
She emerged from the water, pulled herself onto the dark sand at the edge of the lake, then waited patiently.
‘Take care, she isn’t sentient,’ Martin said. ‘Don’t frighten her.’
‘What if we find a stone and have to cut her open?’
Martin hesitated. ‘I suppose one of us will have to hold her.’
I carefully approached her and could see that she was watching me. I curled up next to her, Martin and Simone with me, and touched the back of her neck with my serpent snout.
‘She has one,’ I said. ‘There’s a stone here, where her neck meets her shell. It’s almost invisible under the front of her shell.’
Simone grabbed the front and rear of her shell, lifted her, and sat with Yue Gui in her lap. ‘Okay, I have her.’
‘I can’t do it in serpent form,’ I said. ‘Martin, you’ll have to do it.’
Martin nodded. He summoned the Silver Serpent and knelt next to Yue Gui. He felt the back of her neck and she struggled, her flippers striking Simone on either side of her body.
‘Do you have her?’ Martin said, his focus not moving from the back of Yue Gui’s neck.
‘Yes. Do it,’ Simone said.
Martin placed the sword on the back of Yue Gui’s neck and sliced it. Yue Gui struggled harder, and Simone grunted with the effort of holding her. Martin pulled out a black stone identical to what had been in Leo’s neck, quickly rose, and took it about five metres away, dropping it on the grass as if it was toxic.
‘That is nasty!’ he said, brushing his hands on his slacks. He dismissed the sword. ‘Can you heal her, Emma?’
Yue Gui changed form, becoming thinner and larger and longer and freeing herself from Simone’s grip. She changed into a young Chinese woman in a silvery Tang robe, lying across Simone’s knees. She rolled off onto her back on the grass, her eyes glazed.
‘Roll her over,’ I said, and Martin turned her over.
I touched my snout to the back of her neck. Martin had done well; the cut was shallow and hadn’t even broken any large blood vessels. I sealed the wound. ‘Fixed.’
Martin gently put her on her back, took her hand and gazed into her eyes. ‘Jie Jie. Do you hear me? Yue Gui.’
She gasped and her eyes went wide. She shuddered and her body went stiff, then she relaxed. She cast around, confused. ‘What happened?’
Martin pulled her up to sit on the grass and she saw me. ‘Father?’
I bobbed my serpent head. ‘Hello, Yue Gui, I’m pleased to meet you. My name is Emma Donahoe.’
Her face filled with understanding. ‘You’re Father’s promised. I remember.’ She saw Simone. ‘Are you See Mun?’
‘My English name is Simone.’
Yue Gui moved to rise and Martin helped her. She looked around. ‘I don’t remember what happened. How I came to be here.’
‘A demon planted a stone in your neck. It forced you to stay in turtle form and locked out your sentience.’
‘How long have I been like this?’ she said.
Martin held her hands. ‘We don’t know, Jie Jie.’
She smiled at him. ‘Di Di. It is good to have you back in the Northern Heavens.’ She turned to Simone, who had risen to stand next to them. ‘And you are my new Mei Mei, my new little sister.’ She smiled at both of them. ‘Our family has grown. I am glad.’
Simone reached for Yue Gui’s hand and Martin released it so that she could hold it. The three of them stood in a ring, holding hands, and immediately the sky changed from black to the pure dark intense blue of the Celestial Plane. The air warmed and filled with the scent of living things. Martin, Simone and Yue Gui raised their heads, apparently revelling in the feeling of bringing the energy to the Heavens.
I spread out on the grass, opening my ribcage to make myself flatter to absorb the warmth. An orange glow appeared on the horizon—the sun was about to rise.
‘The sun has not risen in the Northern Heavens in six years,’ Martin said with wonder. ‘See if we two can do it; Simone needs to go to school—when we find one for her.’ He released Simone’s hand and gestured for Yue Gui to give her other hand to him. The rising sun’s glow disappeared, but the sky didn’t go dark again.
‘I need to come back in,’ Simone said, and they took her hands again. The warmth and feeling of growing things filled the air and the sun peeped over the horizon. ‘Needs all three of us.’
‘Three of us to build the energy for a few hours, then the two of us can keep it going, Mei Mei,’ Martin said. ‘You don’t need to be here all the time.’
‘You can restore the life to the Northern Heavens?’ I said.
They nodded.
‘The trees won’t die?’
‘No,’ Martin said. ‘Life will return to the Heavens. No more trees will die.’
‘Can you stay and do this, Yue Gui?’
‘Of course. I have always been part of the administration here.’
‘Yue Gui is a member of the Council,’ Martin said.
‘That’s a relief,’ I said. Suddenly I remembered. ‘We need to go see Sang Shen! See if he will change his plea now that we can assure them the trees won’t die!’
‘The judgement has been recorded, Emma. It cannot be changed.’
‘I have to try,’ I said.
‘Is this the one that cannot resist a challenge?’ Yue Gui said.
‘That she is,’ Martin said.
‘Sang Shen has a sentence recorded against him?’
‘He tried to kill Emma,’ Martin said.
‘Why?’
Martin raised one hand to indicate the sky, which was fading again without their energy. ‘Revenge for the death of his father.’
‘Sang Da Ren died?’
‘Not six months ago.’
Yue Gui dropped her head. ‘That is sad news. I knew Sang Da Ren for a very long time.’ She raised her head. ‘Let us save Sang Shen.’
We found Sang Shen standing under his tree with the guards, one of whom carried a petrol-powered chainsaw and another a large axe. He was still in the white of a convict with his hands chained behind him and his expression defiant.
He was a mulberry tree, and enormous, at least fifteen metres high and a similar amount around, spreading like a huge umbrella. His branches were bare, with yellow serrated leaves covering the ground beneath them.
‘Mulberry trees are practically indestructible once established,’ Yue Gui said sadly. ‘Conditions must have been extremely bad to kill him.’ She glanced at Martin. ‘How many more plants have died?’
‘Not many. Most of them are like Sa
ng Shen, however, with only a year or so to live before the darkness and cold kills them.’
Sang Shen saw Yue Gui. ‘Mother!’ He struggled with his bonds for a moment, then gave up and ran to us, falling to his knees in front of her. ‘Mother, I thought you were dead.’
Yue Gui touched Sang Shen’s head and the chains fell away.
Simone raised her hands. ‘Wait, wait, wait. You’re his mother?’
Sang Shen pulled himself to his feet and took Yue Gui’s hands, gazing down at her with adoration. ‘It is a long story.’
‘That is his way of avoiding embarrassing me,’ Yue Gui said with amusement.
The guards approached us and Yue Gui raised her hand to stop them. ‘Hold until we are finished talking to him, then you may have him.’
The guards saluted and moved back.
Yue Gui nodded to them and turned back to Sang Shen. ‘I was walking through the Palace grounds one autumn day and one of the mulberry trees was heavy with dark fruit. They looked so delicious that I ate some. Later that evening, the spirit of that tree came to me and asked me if it was as good for me as it was for him.’ She dropped her head, coy. ‘I could not lie to him.’
‘This tree sprouted the day I was born, and I have been that tree ever since,’ Sang Shen said. ‘I am the tree child of a turtle.’
‘That means that you’re my nephew,’ Simone said in shock.
Sang Shen nodded to her. ‘That I am, I suppose.’
‘What about Sang Ye?’
‘She is not mine, she is all tree,’ Yue Gui said. ‘My time with Sang’s father was short. I felt the call of the sea and left him, and when I came back he had found a new love. But what we had together was very special.’ She held her son’s hands harder. ‘Sang Shen, you will not die. We can save you. We can save all of you.’
‘Yue Gui, Ming Gui and Simone together can bring warmth and light to the Heavens again,’ I said.
Sang Shen gazed down at her. ‘No more trees will die?’ He released his mother’s hands. ‘Show me. Show me that this is true.’
Martin, Simone and Yue Gui joined hands, raised their heads, and the sky immediately filled with light and warmth. The breeze changed from chill to comforting, full of the scent of life.
Sang Shen raised his face and arms to the light, his expression beatific. His tree sprouted shoots, turning green all over, and the grass beneath our feet turned greener and grew as I watched.
‘Can you hold it though?’ Sang Shen said. ‘It will not drain you? You will not plunge us into darkness?’ He shook his head. ‘It feels so good! My sap is moving for the first time in years.’
‘Too much information,’ Yue Gui said with amusement. ‘Yes. We can charge it like a battery, and it will last at least two weeks. We will need to top it up every now and then, but it will not be a serious drain on us.’
‘By the Heavens, I think I’m going to flower,’ Sang Shen said, embarrassed. ‘I can’t control it. Right in front of everybody too.’
The tree sprouted greenish-grey flowers, each long and narrow and hanging in bundles off the branches. Sang Shen’s face was full of rapture.
‘Spring has arrived in the Northern Heavens,’ Simone said. ‘It’s a good feeling.’
Sang Shen nodded to her. ‘You have returned my mother, and with her, life to the Heavens. I thank you.’ He turned back to the guards. ‘I am ready now.’
‘Let us try to save you,’ I said. I gestured with my nose towards his tree. ‘You are full of life, we can’t cut you down now!’
Sang Shen ignored me and walked back to his tree.
‘The sentence must be carried out, my Lady,’ one of the guards said. ‘You may not want to watch. Whatever happens to the tree happens to the Shen as well.’
Yue Gui released Martin’s and Simone’s hands, but the warmth remained. She came to stand next to me. ‘He will be the first Shen tree cut down in living memory.’ She glanced down at me. ‘And when somewhere is populated by Immortals, that is a very long time.’
I lowered my head. ‘I don’t want to watch.’
‘You can’t close your eyes, you’re a snake, same as our father,’ she said. She touched the top of my head. ‘Come. All will be well. The Heavens are just.’
She reached out and took Martin’s hand and the sky flared to life again.
Sang Shen knelt under his tree, his head bowed and face expressionless. One of the guards pulled the cord to start the chainsaw and approached the tree.
Simone looked away. ‘I don’t want to watch either.’
‘Take our hands and add energy to the Heavens, See Mun,’ Yue Gui said. ‘And watch what happens.’
‘Okay,’ Simone said, and joined hands with them. The sky visibly brightened and the guards looked up, then returned to the tree.
‘Did you know that some of Heaven’s finest silk is produced by worms that eat the leaves from his tree?’ Yue Gui said as the guard approached the tree with the chainsaw. ‘One of his main sources of income was his own leaves, carefully harvested and sold at a premium to silk producers in the Eastern Heavens.’
‘They did not tell anyone that their mulberry leaves came from the north; they wanted the legend to stand that their own trees were better,’ Martin said, and winced as the chainsaw hit the tree.
The guard stood with the chainsaw against the trunk of the tree and an expression of confusion swept across his face.
‘It is enough,’ Yue Gui said. ‘We just need to hold it.’
The chain on the saw broke, and the guard turned it off and stared at it, confused. The other guard hefted his two-handed axe, took a deep breath and swung it into the trunk. It bounced off ineffectually. He tried again twice more; each time the axe made no mark on the bark.
The guards stood back and stared at the tree, perplexed.
Yue Gui released Simone’s and Martin’s hands and stepped forward. ‘Report this matter to the judiciary. I will take custody of the prisoner until a solution to this problem has been reached. Suggest to the magistrate that the best option might be a suspended sentence until the execution can be carried out.’
The guards knelt and saluted Yue Gui, then walked back to the Palace complex.
Yue Gui turned to us and smiled broadly with her arms out. ‘I hope the demons in my residence have maintained it while I was away. Who is hungry? I believe it is lunchtime. And after lunch, Ming Gui, See Mun and myself have some more trees to save.’ She threw one arm around Martin’s shoulder. ‘I think I still have some really ripe whale in my freezer that I found in the South Pacific about twenty years ago. This is a special occasion, I hope it is still good.’
‘You eat whale?’ Simone said with horror. ‘Hunting whales is barbaric!’
‘Only whale that has died of natural causes,’ Yue Gui said, her smile not shifting. ‘Do not be concerned, little sister, I think the human hunting of whales is barbaric too.’
‘A treat I haven’t had for a very long time, sister,’ Martin said. ‘Lead on.’
‘What about me?’ Sang Shen said.
‘You are released into my custody,’ Yue Gui said.
‘No.’ He didn’t move. ‘I deserve to be punished.’ He turned to return to the Palace complex. ‘They can put me in jail.’
‘Ah Shen,’ Yue Gui said, but he didn’t stop. She went after him and took his arm. ‘You are released into my custody. Obviously you don’t understand. You’ll be living with me. Full-time.’
He stared at her for a moment, then turned back to the Palace. ‘I’d rather go to jail.’
‘I know, that’s why you’re coming with me,’ Yue Gui called after him. ‘Don’t make me put the chains back on you.’
He stopped, dropped his head and shook it, then returned to us. ‘You are a cruel woman, Mother.’
She bowed slightly to him. ‘Thank you. Now let’s go find some lunch. I might be able to send someone to the market for some lemonade for our tree.’
‘It is good to have you back, Mother, Uncle.’ He grinn
ed at Simone. ‘Auntie. I will ask Sang Ye to join us for lunch; she did not want to watch this.’ He lowered his head and shook it. ‘She will not die. None of us will die.’ He raised his head. ‘This is a great day!’
‘My family just keeps growing all the time,’ Simone said with wonder.
‘This is not a bad thing,’ Yue Gui said.
‘I guess it’s not.’
‘I’ll go back to the guesthouse and wait for you,’ I said.
Martin gestured towards the Palace. ‘There is an Empress’s apartment in the Palace, and I believe that is yours.’ He stopped and turned. ‘But please, come with us.’
‘No, this is for family only, I think,’ I said. ‘And I don’t want to lord it over the Palace staff as a snake; it’s not right. Sang Shen has a point: I’m the cause of most of this and it would probably be a good idea if I kept a low profile. You’re a much more acceptable representative.’
Simone came to me and touched my serpent head, then threw her arms around my neck. ‘You’re family too, Emma, you’re like my mother.’ She turned to Sang Shen with one arm still slung over my neck. ‘Don’t hate her. The only crime she’s committed is falling in love with Daddy. The rest of it is his fault more than hers.’
‘This is true,’ Martin said. ‘Come to Jie Jie’s house, and we’ll tell you the whole story and you can decide for yourself.’
Sang Shen hesitated, then shrugged. ‘I don’t think I have much choice.’
‘Oh, excellent idea,’ Yue Gui said with enthusiasm. ‘While you stay at my house, you will have to listen to Di Di’s jokes and stories every day you are there.’
‘What’s wrong with my jokes?’ Martin said, indignant.
‘You really are a very cruel woman indeed,’ Sang Shen said. He spread his arms. ‘Let’s go. Lunch with the family sounds good.’ He nodded to me. ‘I suppose I am willing to give you a second chance if they all say you are genuine.’
CHAPTER 34
I went into the kitchen the next morning to find breakfast and once again Ah Yat shooed me into the dining room. Simone and Leo were sitting there together, talking as if a day hadn’t passed since he left. Martin was intent on his soup noodles and didn’t notice me come in.