by Kylie Chan
‘I had not heard about this happening, my Lord.’
‘And you will not share it. The residents of Hell must not know about this.’
‘I understand. You have my word, I will tell no one. When did this happen?’
‘About twenty years ago. Nineteen seventy-three.’
‘Has this happened before, my Lord?’
Xuan Wu turned his teacup in his long fingers. ‘No.’
‘That may explain some of the strange weather patterns in the last ten years. The Serpent affects the weather.’
‘I am well aware of my own abilities.’
‘Apologies, my Lord, you are the only Shen who is two creatures. It must be very difficult for you, being in two pieces with one half gone.’
‘You have no idea.’
Gold straightened and changed the subject. ‘So. This woman. Tell me what you have done so far, and I will help you to take this further. Is she still in Florida? I don’t know if I can travel that far from the Centre, I am very small.’
‘She is in Hong Kong doing a concert series. This is the perfect time.’
Gold raised his teacup and smiled up at Xuan Wu. ‘Let’s win you this exceptional woman.’
Xuan Wu leaned back. ‘Good.’
‘I understand, my Lord, but there is no need,’ Gold said. ‘Lord Qing Long sent me down here to study Law about ten years ago. I’m a registered barrister both here and on the Mainland, and I already have a small bank account and full identity papers.’
‘Really? Useful,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘Why not accounting? That would be more in line with your talents as a stone.’
‘Jade is the accountant. My skills as a stone allow me to connect with devices that are also made of stone. Silicone. Computers.’
‘You can hack into networks?’
‘No computer system is closed to me. I have been through every major system in the world.’
‘It is not honourable to be prying like that.’
‘Lord Qing Long doesn’t seem to be very bothered about those details, my Lord.’
‘Stop calling me that in public. Here I am Mr John Chen. Just “sir” is enough.’
‘Sir.’
‘As I said, back here at seven. You can come with me to the Cultural Centre, and we’ll begin.’
‘Sir,’ Gold said.
The bag was already in Gold’s room when he went in. He went straight into the bathroom and had the longest, hottest bath he’d had in years.
HONG KONG
1999
THE NEXT day they attended the opening night of Tosca. They met Michelle in her dressing room, which was overflowing with flowers and costume pieces. She sat at her dressing table with the make-up charts in front of her, putting the finishing touches to her face. Her hair was a high, elaborately designed wig, and her dress was heavy golden velvet with complex silken trim in an Empire style, the skirt gathered beneath her bust and full to the floor.
She turned and smiled when Xuan Wu guided Simone into the dressing room. Simone stopped and stared for a moment, then approached Michelle.
‘You are so beautiful, Mummy!’ Simone exclaimed.
Michelle’s brows furrowed and she glanced up at Xuan Wu. ‘What did she say?’
‘She said you’re beautiful,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘And I agree with her. That dress is spectacular.’
‘We had to have it made to measure,’ Michelle said. She saw Gold. ‘Is that you, Gold?’
Gold bowed slightly. ‘Yes, ma’am, I have taken female human form and I’m pretending to be Simone’s mother out in the audience, so they don’t suspect that she is yours.’
Michelle turned back to the mirror. ‘That is completely unnecessary, we are well protected by Lo Wu and Leo.’ She spun back and glared at him. ‘Have you been teaching my little Simone Chinese, Gold? Because Lo Wu never speaks Chinese to her.’
Gold and Xuan Wu shared a confused glance, then turned back to Michelle.
‘You heard that as Chinese?’ Xuan Wu said.
‘Yes, Simone said something in Chinese,’ Michelle said. She bent to speak closely to Simone. ‘You are very clever, my darling.’
‘Nobody’s been teaching her anything, ma’am,’ Gold said. ‘Shen just speak our language, Chinese, and we are understood by all.’
‘Is she a Shen?’ Michelle demanded of Xuan Wu. ‘Is she one of you?’
‘No, no, no,’ Xuan Wu said, moving closer to Michelle, then hesitating at her expression. ‘She is a perfectly normal child, love. She has probably just picked up some Chinese from being with Gold and Jade.’
‘But they don’t speak Chinese,’ Michelle said, gesturing towards Gold. ‘They speak English.’
‘Actually, we speak Chinese, and because we are Shen, you can understand us,’ Gold said. ‘Being with the Dark Lord also allows you to understand any Chinese spoken to you.’
‘Well, then why isn’t it working now? And will my daughter be able to speak English at all?’
‘I can understand you, Mummy, don’t worry,’ Simone said.
Michelle relaxed. ‘So you have just been picking up some Chinese after all. I am glad.’
‘She has probably been speaking some Chinese and some English all along,’ Xuan Wu said. He grimaced. ‘I am very low on energy, Michelle, I wanted to talk to you about it later this evening…’
‘Oh no,’ Michelle said. ‘Not again.’
‘As soon as the season finishes, we will go up to the Mountain for about a week, and all will be well.’
‘A week!’ Michelle raised her hands with horror. ‘I will miss all of the press reviews, all of the after-production parties, I will miss everything!’ She turned back to the mirror. ‘I will stay here with Leo and your pet small Shen. I will be fine. You go.’
‘It’s too dangerous,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘They will find out about Simone eventually. As soon as they do, I’m not sure Leo will be able to hold them off by himself.’
‘Pfft.’ Michelle waved him away without looking at him. ‘Three weeks ago he destroyed three big demons without difficulty. He has always been more than enough of a guard for me. I will be fine.’
‘I’d prefer you went to the Mountain with me.’
‘We will discuss this later,’ Michelle said. ‘I will be on stage soon. Go out to the audience, and enjoy.’ She turned back and held Simone’s little hands. ‘There will be people pretending to get hurt and die on the stage, Simone, but it is all just acting. Even me. All right?’
Simone nodded, her little face serious.
‘Now go, everybody, and enjoy the show,’ Michelle said.
Someone tapped on the door. ‘Ten minutes, Miss LeBlanc.’
‘Shoo!’ Michelle said, her smile wide.
At first Gold was fascinated by the elaborate sets of the opera, but he soon found the singing a tedious repetition of the same words, even though the story was a high drama full of love, sacrifice, and betrayal. He hooked into the stone network to find someone to talk to while he waited for the opera to finish.
The shared stone consciousness was curious, many Chinese stones had never even heard of Western opera and wanted to share his experience. He connected the input to the network so that all could share.
‘So she loves him…but she’s jealous, and thinks that he’s fooling around with her…’ one stone said.
‘Isn’t there any fighting?’ another stone said.
‘Apparently not,’ Gold said. ‘No martial arts involved. Just singing and acting out the story.’
‘Well, that’s boring,’ a couple of stones said, and dropped the connection.
‘Which one is Xuan Wu’s wife?’ one of the stones asked, curious.
Gold indicated Michelle.
‘Damn, she’s loud.’
‘She has a microphone. It’s not visible from here.’
‘The singing is so strange. Her voice is so low!’
‘They think Chinese opera is sung very high.’
‘And do they depict Western gods in these sto
ries? It would be interesting to see which gods they have over there.’
‘No, just people. They only really have one God, but he’s divided up into some family thing. Quite complicated really. They say they have one god, but really it’s three.’
‘Only three? Visiting the temple must be really boring,’ one stone said. ‘Imagine if there were no small shrines for the little village gods.’
‘With the Western gods being followed in China, and the recent ban on religion, those shrines for the little village gods are becoming obsolete anyway,’ Gold said.
‘Hey, I’m a little village god. Am I going to be obsolete?’
‘We’re all obsolete,’ one stone said sadly. ‘Nobody puts incense in our roadside shrines any more. Nobody thinks that mystic stones like us have spirits any more. One day we’ll all be ordinary rocks.’
‘As long as the other Shen treat us right, we’ll be okay.’
‘Yeah, and as long as the Golden Boy doesn’t do anything else to ruin our status and give us a reputation as troublemakers.’
Gold disconnected from the network, settled himself into his seat more comfortably, and prepared himself to be bored for the next two hours.
Two weeks later, Jade, Gold and Xuan Wu met to arrange the trip to the Mountain.
‘The timing is perfect, my Lord,’ Gold said. ‘Lord Thunderbolt will be on the Mountain as well to kickstart the network. Without his electrical power, the connection doesn’t work. We will do the Mountain machines first, power up the router, then come down here and complete the connection. With your family all on the Mountain, and Michelle’s family going home tomorrow, it will be easy.’
‘I’ve delayed the trip a couple of days so that Michelle can attend the post-production party,’ Xuan Wu said. ‘But I really am fading and must go up there as soon as possible. I’ve received notes of concern from the staff of the Mountain, they can sense the energy drain from there.’
‘You won’t lose it, my Lord, will you?’ Jade said, worried. ‘It would be awful if Lady Michelle had to go to the Celestial full-time to wait for you to return.’
Xuan Wu rubbed one hand over his face. ‘I doubt she would agree to it. We just have to ensure that I do not fade away.’
‘Do you think you could take True Form and retain your intelligence for a while?’ Gold said. ‘It would be an ideal solution to the problem, just ask Lady Michelle to release you from your oath.’
Xuan Wu looked down at his hands. ‘That is no longer an option. The animal is strong. If I were to take True Form now — I would be gone.’
Michelle burst into the room, full of excitement. ‘Lo Wu! It is unbelievable! Unheard of! A triumph!’
‘What is, my love?’
‘They are extending the season! There are to be five more performances. We knew the show was sold out, but there are still people lining up to buy tickets, it has been so popular that they have had to double the run. This is one of the longest-running operas I have ever been involved in. Some of the majors cannot stay, but talented youngsters from the academy will take their places.’ She jumped in a circle with excitement. ‘A triumph!’
‘Five more performances?’ Xuan Wu said with horror.
‘Two weeks more!’
‘Two weeks?’ Gold said. He turned to Xuan Wu. ‘Will you last another two weeks, my Lord?’
Xuan Wu ran his hands over his face. ‘I suppose I must.’
‘Go up to your silly Mountain,’ Michelle said. ‘I will be fine, I have Leo here, Gold and Jade are here, and my family are going to stay until the end of the opera. Daniel has pulled out his camera to do the photo essay, and my parents say they want to take a small trip into China and visit…’ She grinned with mischief. ‘Lo Wu.’
Xuan Wu glanced at Jade and Gold, thoughtful.
‘I won’t be here for a couple of days during that period,’ Gold said. ‘I will be on the Mountain setting up the network.’
‘Postpone it,’ Xuan Wu said.
‘I can’t,’ Gold said. ‘Lord Thunderbolt has agreed to set up a similar network for the Jade Emperor right after he’s done with the Mountain. It has to be done now, so that the Celestial One may be connected at the arranged time.’ He grimaced. ‘You yourself agreed to share the data on the Mountain cohort.’
‘And you do not make the Jade Emperor wait,’ Xuan Wu said. He looked up at Michelle, beseeching. ‘Are you sure you must do this? I do not want to leave you alone!’
‘I will not be alone! I will have Leo, and Gold, and Jade. They are more than enough to guard all of us.’
‘I will be gone…’ Gold began.
‘For two days. I know. Two days out of two weeks.’ Michelle waved one hand airily. ‘That is no time at all.’
‘What do we tell your parents?’
‘We tell them that you have to go across the border into China on a business trip. They are probably more surprised that you haven’t been to China in the time they’ve been here. You are supposed to have a large company there, remember.’
‘I suppose.’ Xuan Wu rubbed his hands over his face. ‘I really don’t like this.’
‘You don’t have a choice.’ Michelle turned to go out. ‘This opera has made history, Lo Wu. Be proud.’ She grinned broadly. ‘Because I am!’
‘Can’t this business trip wait?’ Daniel said as they said their farewells at the base of the apartment building. ‘I want to come with you, and see your operations in China!’
‘I’m sorry, Daniel, it takes at least twenty-four hours to get a visa for China,’ Michelle said. ‘But in a couple of days we will all take a quick trip to the border, and have a look across the “bamboo curtain”.’
Simone ran to her father and threw herself at him. He lifted her and held her on his hip, and she buried her face in his shoulder. ‘I want to come too, Daddy.’ She wiped her eyes. ‘I like the Mountain. I like the dragons.’
‘You can’t go to the Mountain without Mummy, and Mummy still has the singing thing,’ Xuan Wu explained sadly. ‘But next time I go to the Mountain, you can come too, okay?’
Simone nodded, serious, and wriggled to be released. Xuan Wu let her down and she returned to her mother and held her hand. ‘Don’t worry, Daddy, I’ll look after Mummy and make sure the bad people don’t get her.’
‘We have Leo and Jade and Gold,’ Michelle said. ‘We’ll be just fine.’
‘Simone, come with Grandmama Violetta and Grandpapa Victor, and let your mummy and daddy say goodbye,’ Violetta said.
‘Okay, Grandmama,’ Simone said. She took her grandmother’s hand. ‘Want to play “Go Fish” while we wait for them to do their icky stuff?’
Violetta laughed. ‘That sounds like a good idea.’ She looked around. ‘Come on, everybody, let’s go up.’
As Gold went into the lobby with the rest of the family, Leo started the car, ready to take Xuan Wu to a private place where he could summon his cloud. Michelle and Xuan Wu moved closer to each other, their faces full of longing.
‘Gold!’ Violetta called, and Gold jumped, then hurried to enter the lift.
Gold was working on the new node to be installed in Xuan Wu’s office when Leo entered a couple of days later. ‘Got that stuff working yet, Gold?’
Gold changed back into human form and stood up. ‘Just need Lord Thunderbolt to send a spark through it, and we should be good.’ He grinned at Leo. ‘Then I’ll have a lot more time to spend beating you at Fantasy Battle.’
Leo grimaced. ‘I sort of met someone.’
Gold didn’t hesitate. ‘That’s great, Leo, good to hear.’
‘It’s real casual at this stage…’
‘Even better. Exactly what you’re looking for. Human?’
Leo checked behind him, then lowered his voice. ‘Yeah, a real nice human guy. American, like me.’ He shrugged and smiled slightly. ‘You should meet him.’
‘I’d love to.’ Gold ducked under the desk, checked the cable between the stone node in its sleek black box, and then stood back up a
gain. ‘I need to head to the Mountain, Lord Thunderbolt is already there waiting for me to connect this up, and then it will all be active.’
‘I’m going to take Michelle and her family to Sheung Shui, to the border, to have a look across to the Mainland,’ Leo said. ‘We’ll probably have lunch at the country club out there. Jade’s gonna fly overhead and keep watch.’ He gestured towards Gold. ‘Why don’t you come and meet us later?’
‘I will.’ Gold bent so that he could see down the hallway. ‘Nobody there?’
‘Nah, they’re all asleep. They had another party last night, they may not even wake up until lunchtime. If so, they’ll have lunch at the country club first before we go sightseeing.’
‘I should be back in a couple of hours, call me on your mobile phone when you head out,’ Gold said. He returned to True Form to travel to the Mountain. ‘I’ll be back soon.’
‘Okay,’ Leo said, and went out.
‘All ready?’ Thunderbolt said.
Gold changed to True Form and settled on top of the PC. ‘Go for it.’
‘Uh…’ Thunderbolt grinned at Gold through his glasses. ‘Are you sure? This is going to be about six hundred volts.’
Gold wished he could grin back. ‘It’s fine, I’m a rock.’
‘Okay, here goes.’
GOLD! Jade shrieked in Gold’s lattice. We’ve been attacked! HELP! Leo is down, I think they’re dead. Help me!
‘Stop, Thunderbolt,’ Gold said.
Thunderbolt hesitated, his hand over the node box. ‘Changed your mind?’
‘No, my family’s been attacked.’ Where are you? Send me a signal!
Leo, Daniel, Victor — here. Jade indicated a location near the border in Sheung Shui. I’m chasing the demon prince — that same one — it has Michelle and Violetta. Go to the men! The Dark Lord is pursuing the demon with me.