by Kylie Chan
‘Wait,’ Xuan Wu said, and nobody moved. All of the Shen concentrated for a few uncomfortable minutes, then they relaxed and retook human form.
The White Tiger, Bai Hu, fell to one knee before Xuan Wu. ‘This stupid Shen has failed you most miserably, my Lord.’
Xuan Wu stared emotionlessly at Bai Hu. Then he said, ‘What’s done is done, he still does not know of the existence of the child. Find what has caused this! It is of great concern if they are capable of breaking Celestial seals!’
Bai Hu rose and nodded. ‘I don’t know what caused it. But I will find out immediately.’
Er Lang glanced around the standing guests, then pointed at some of the other Shen present. ‘Li Fu Long. Zhang Lei Gong. Zhou Guang Ze, Guan Yu. Take up positions to guard the doors, we cannot have a repeat of this, and the seals must be completely down now.’
The four named Generals rose, took Celestial Form, and took up guard positions, one on either side of the two double doors to the hall.
Jade released the binding on Simone, and the baby started to squall. Michelle rushed to take her, patting her back and talking softly to her. Simone soon settled in her mother’s arms.
Gold studied Michelle. She was shaking, but all her concentration was on her child. Michelle looked up and called to Xuan Wu. ‘Come, let us finish our dinner. We must not let horrible little people like that spoil it for us!’
‘You are quite right, my love,’ Xuan Wu said. He glanced around the hall, then he and the other Shen retook their positions at the table. Jade concentrated, and the waiters began to bring out the next course, deep-fried scallops with dipping mayonnaise, and a deep-fried mushroom vegetarian alternative. Each table was also served with whole pigeon soup, with bean curd and winter melon soup as the vegetarian option. Michelle nodded to Jade, Gold, and Leo as the plates were placed in front of her. ‘You all did a fine job of protecting my little one. I thank you.’
‘You were so brave, ma’am!’ Jade said, her voice full of approval. ‘To stand up there and sing so courageously, when your child was threatened!’
‘Pfft.’ Michelle waved them down, her hand still shaking. She emptied her wineglass in a single swallow, gesturing for a waiter to fill it again. ‘I will not let anyone threaten my child. Any mother would do the same.’
The White Tiger filled his wine cup from his old-fashioned teapot-shaped silver wine jug. ‘Whoever set those seals will feel my claws,’ he grumbled quietly. ‘Five of them came in with no difficulty at all.’
A demon servant slipped into the back of the hall, approached the Tiger, and whispered urgently into his ear. The Tiger grimaced and rose.
‘The Demon King couldn’t leave without having a little fun first,’ the Tiger said. He saluted Xuan Wu. ‘By your leave, my Lord, I need to replace some of the wait staff; the king’s entourage realised that they were tame demons, and killed a few of them before my White Horsemen could intervene.’
Xuan Wu nodded. ‘Go.’
‘Michelle, we are only going for two weeks, and anything you need can be brought up for you,’ Xuan Wu said when he saw the four suitcases on the living-room floor.
‘Only three are mine, one is Simone’s,’ Michelle said.
‘Who will take the ladies?’ Gold said.
‘Jade,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘She is faster, she can travel to the plane more quickly than any of us.’
Jade nodded and stepped forward. ‘Hold on tight to the Princess, ma’am, and close your eyes.’
Gold grumbled under his breath about taking so much luggage, changed to True Form, and lifted all the suitcases with his stone to carry them to the Mountain.
Leo stood in the living room, forlorn. ‘Take care, everybody.’
‘Look after Monica, Leo,’ Michelle said, but Jade had already taken her.
The journey to the Mountain on the Celestial plane was a long one. Celestial Wudang, Xuan Wu’s Mountain of Martial Arts, was at least an hour from any Earth-based location, even at dragon-speed; and as far from the hordes of Hell as any place on the Celestial. This did not stop the Demon King and his multitudinous children from occasionally attacking the Mountain, hoping to break the back of the Celestial army that held them at bay.
Jade writhed quickly away as a dragon, her wingless form sliding sinuously through the air. They travelled high and fast, covering the distance between Hong Kong and Hubei province quickly, the clouds far below them. Jade had gently sedated Michelle and Simone as she carried them on her massive green front legs, and they rode cradled in her arms, oblivious to the height and travel.
When they arrived at the Earthly Wudangshan, Jade and Gold travelled almost to the edge of the atmosphere and through the gate that led to Heaven. The gate, one of many, was at least a hundred metres wide, with three red pillars topped with golden tiles. Live guardian dragons writhed up and down the pillars on either side. Jade whisked through with her human and half-Shen passengers, and Gold toiled solidly behind, lugging the increasingly heavy luggage. Xuan Wu, riding his Celestial Cloud, glided past Gold without a glance in the stone’s direction.
‘Did you get a tip, busboy?’ one of the guardian dragons sniped at Gold as he passed through the gate, but passage through the veil between Earth and Heaven did not permit him to reply.
Once through the gate, they travelled for another forty-five minutes on the Celestial plane. The Northern Celestial landscape was a mountain range, with high, sharp peaks separated by deep valleys. Each valley had its own internal light source, glowing from the hillsides, so although they were shadowed by the mountains during the day, the valleys never lacked light. The valleys had green meadows and tree-bounded rivers, with Celestial villages nestled into the riverbanks. Most valleys had a waterfall where a river cascaded from the mountain cliffs into the valley below, and were unreachable by foot; the only way to visit a village in the Northern Heavens was to fly.
They travelled towards the craggier mountains further west, and Celestial Wudangshan towered majestically before them. The Mountain comprised seven peaks, joined by impossibly soaring bridges over deep gorges. The base of the Mountain was perpetually in cloud; and ancient, twisted pine and spruce trees clung to its craggy sides. The buildings of the Wudangshan Academy spread between towering walkways, with small open areas where the Dark Lord’s Disciples could perform their martial arts sets.
When Gold arrived at the Mountain, Jade and the Dark Lord had already landed on one of the open practice areas. The Mountain’s household staff, all tame demons in the traditional black and white of servants, were fussing over Simone and Michelle. Simone was wailing, and Michelle was unconscious, unable to be roused.
Gold dropped the bags and went to Jade and Xuan Wu, concerned. ‘Is Lady Michelle all right?’
Xuan Wu was on one knee next to Michelle where Jade cradled her in her dragon arms. ‘She lent her energy to allow one so small to make the passage to the Celestial and it has exhausted her.’
‘She will be okay, my Lord?’
Xuan Wu rose and nodded. ‘She will be fine. Jade, take her to our quarters.’ The servants were all attentive and eager to assist, and listened carefully as he addressed them. ‘Keep watch on Lady Michelle. Take the child to her room, and care for her.’ He turned away. ‘I must go now to my private wing and rebuild.’ He glanced around. ‘Do not disturb me unless lives are threatened, and only if those lives are Michelle’s or Simone’s.’
‘What if the Celestial summons you, my Lord?’ Gold said.
‘Tell him to go to hell, I’m taking a nap,’ the Dark Lord said with grim humour.
Twenty-four hours later, Michelle could still not be roused and Gold met with the two most senior Celestial Martial Arts Masters to see what could be done.
When he had first arrived to take up duties as the Dark Lord’s Retainer at the Mountain, he had been surprised to discover that the academy’s head Energy Master was the same European woman who had assisted him in rescuing the American woman, Anne, from the brothel so many years ago.
Her name was Meredith, and she was married to the Shaolin Master, Liu. Both of them hurried back to the Dark Lord’s quarters with Gold when he told them that Michelle had not regained consciousness.
‘What about the baby?’ Meredith asked as they walked quickly along one of the narrow paths that clung to the side of the Mountain, a chasm of a thousand metres on the other side of the stone balustrade.
‘The demon staff are caring for her. Lady Michelle had her put on bottle-feeding a good month ago, and there are demons who are trained in the care of little ones. She is perfectly fine.’
‘It’s just Michelle, then,’ Liu said. He shook his head. ‘It must have been a tremendous drain on her to protect one so small. Normally we wait until the child is at least two or three years old before bringing it to the Celestial, it strains the mother too much protecting them from the transfer.’
‘Michelle is strong,’ Gold said.
‘And the Dark Lord didn’t have much of a choice,’ Meredith said. ‘I could feel how drained he was when he arrived. It was frightening how little of his energy remained. It was like a black hole had arrived on his Mountain, trying to suck all nearby energy into it.’ She shook her head. ‘He must not touch her when he is like this, he could suck the life right out of her.’
‘He didn’t,’ Gold said, remembering. Then he realised with shock, ‘They can’t have normal marital relations while he’s like this?’
‘Absolutely not. He’s best not to touch her at all.’
‘No wonder she’s been in a filthy mood lately!’
‘That, and she hates being here,’ Meredith said.
They arrived at the Dark Lord’s private apartments. The buildings were set on the highest part of the Mountain, on a specially cleared platform that had been flattened and terraced into the slope. The buildings flawlessly complied with the rules of fung shui; a courtyard shape with a front entrance facing out towards the smaller mountains below Wudang. The building was constructed of Celestial hardwood from trees grown in Heaven, in the traditional pillar and beam construction. The black-tiled roof swept up at the corners.
The front entry had a large veranda with a carved wooden balustrade. The double doors then opened into the entry hall, where Xuan Wu would entertain his closest guests. Gold led the Masters into the entry hall which opened into the central courtyard beyond.
The courtyard was bordered on all four sides by the house, and was a hundred metres each side. A sparkling clear pond of koi carp sat in one corner, with a fountain in the shape of the Xuan Wu — turtle and snake — in onyx pouring water into the pond. Some bonsai pine trees, obviously extremely old, stood on carved stone benches on either side of the courtyard. Another veranda encircled the courtyard, allowing an open air walkway between the rooms of the house.
Gold led them up the stairs in the entrance hall to the second storey. They went through the private living room with a large widescreen television, library of DVDs, and baby grand piano to the bedroom beyond. The bedroom was decorated with carved rosewood furniture and an enormous rosewood Chinese-style four-poster bed with black and silver sheer silken canopies.
Michelle lay on the thin, hard mattress, her head on a soft Western pillow next to the traditional ceramic Chinese pillow favoured by the Dark Lord. She lay on her back, her face ashen, her breathing so slight it was almost undetectable.
Meredith went to her bedside and took Michelle’s hand, her face rigid with concentration. Then she relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. She smiled up at Gold. ‘She’s fine. I don’t even need to feed her energy. This is a normal sleep. She’ll probably sleep for another eight or nine hours, then wake up starving.’
Gold rubbed his hands over his face, sharing her relief. ‘I’ll let the demon servants know, and they can have something ready for her.’
‘Do they know how to cook any Western food?’ Master Liu said. ‘She prefers that to Chinese.’
Meredith gazed down at the sleeping Michelle. ‘She’ll be so hungry when she wakes that she won’t care.’ She glanced around. ‘Where’s the baby?’
Gold led them to the baby’s room next to the master room, at the back of the house in the safest location with the rear wall nestled against the stone spine of the Mountain. A demon in the form of an elderly Chinese woman sat in a chair next to Simone’s cradle, gently rocking Simone. Gold, Meredith and Liu went to Simone’s bedside and Meredith lightly touched her hand.
‘She has been distressed at being separated from her mother, and she has fallen into an exhausted sleep, Masters,’ the demon said. ‘I am on duty, and three others are on standby. We thought only one at a time would be best, as it is what she is accustomed to.’ She glanced into the next room. ‘Will the lady be all right?’
Meredith released Simone’s hand and straightened. ‘Both of them are well and should recover soon. I expect Lady Michelle to be up and around in the morning. Simone will stop fretting when she is in her mother’s arms again. I suggest that if Simone frets, put her next to her mother. It may wake Michelle, and the familiar scent of her mother may settle Simone.’
The demon nodded. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
Meredith turned to Gold. ‘You’ve done well. Michelle should wake soon.’ She shrugged. ‘Then you have to deal with her being completely bored.’
‘The television and movie library are for Michelle, ma’am,’ Gold said, ‘but she says that the Dark Lord has impossible taste in movies, and she threw many of them away.’
Meredith leaned into Gold and spoke softly. ‘Michelle’s right.’ She patted Gold on the shoulder. ‘I’ll leave you to it. Don’t we have a bunch of students to review tomorrow?’
Gold sagged. ‘Yes. The Dark Lord should stop the student intake while he’s living on the Earthly.’
‘What, and stop supplying our trained people to other Celestials to act as guards and weapons masters?’ Liu said.
‘Yes!’ Gold said.
‘And the Jade Emperor’s Elite Guard too?’ Meredith said. ‘If the Jade Emperor says that he needs a few new swords, we just tell him, “no”?’
Gold hesitated.
‘And the demon students that graduate from the academy, when they’re ready to take up duty in the Vanguard of the Thirty-Six, we just hold them here indefinitely?’ Liu said.
Gold raised his hands in defeat. ‘I concede. We need to continue bringing in new students. But the Dark Lord is always working with outdated information. I really need to find a way to network the Mountain with his home computer, so that he has the latest data. The other day, he promoted a student who had already been moved up the day before.’
Meredith winced. ‘He would hate something that makes him look out of touch like that. He prides himself on knowing the status of every student in the academy.’
‘Tell me about it,’ Gold said wryly. ‘He wondered out loud what temperature gold melts at.’
Liu snorted with amusement. ‘Get a few of your stone friends to create the data link. They can just sit there, and work like a computer network, transferring information. It’s what you stones do all the time anyway.’
‘I’ve asked, nobody wants to volunteer,’ Gold said.
‘Why not?’ Meredith said. ‘It would be a simple solution.’
‘It’d be too boring,’ Gold said. ‘Nobody I’ve asked has been interested.’
‘Not even if we paid them very well?’ Liu said.
Gold shrugged. ‘For most stones, payment is irrelevant, if we need to purchase something, we just create a precious gem to sell for the money. If we agree to work, we agree because we are interested in the task.’
‘Any other stones held in servitude because they did something stupid?’ Meredith said.
‘Just me, and I’m full-time dealing with the legal matters and assisting the Dark Lord,’ Gold said. ‘Don’t worry, I’m working on a way to link up the computers, it’s just a matter of time.’
‘Make it biological, not geological time, Gold,’ Meredith said.
‘There�
��s a difference?’ Gold said innocently.
‘Final item,’ Gold said.
‘About time,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘We’ve been here a couple of hours now.’
The office door opened slightly. Gold and Xuan Wu both looked, and saw nothing. Then a tiny set of fingers appeared at the edge of the desk. A pair of bright hazel eyes, topped by a short wispy mop of honey-coloured hair, appeared over the edge of the desk at them.
‘Hello, Simone,’ Xuan Wu said with warm affection. ‘Are you visiting Daddy?’
‘Daddy!’ Simone said. ‘Daddy and Gol.’
‘Gol — d,’ Gold corrected her.
‘Gol.’
Gold sighed.
Simone toddled around the desk and pulled herself up into her father’s lap.
‘What is the final item, Gold?’ Xuan Wu said, and Simone busily tried to poke her fingers up his nose. He turned her around on his lap and she brushed at the papers on his desk.
‘We have received a missive from the Celestial one. The Jade Emperor would like to see Simone. She will be turning a year and a half old soon, and it is time for her to be presented, and to be formally invested as Princess of the Dark Northern Heavens.’
‘You’re a princess,’ Xuan Wu whispered into Simone’s ear, making her giggle. He spoke louder for Gold’s benefit. ‘It’s a good idea. She can see her Celestial heritage, meet those she will one day serve.’
Gold grimaced. ‘She is so young to be a servant.’
‘It is the fate of all the rulers on any plane,’ Xuan Wu said, ‘to serve those who they rule. But first, I must travel to the Mountain, and rebuild my energy. It would not be acceptable for me to present myself to the Jade Emperor looking as weak as I do.’