Dark Serpent

  ‘Dear god,’ Edwin said.

  ‘Don’t leave her like that!’ Simone said, distraught.

  ‘If I push her into human form, the arrows will do more damage,’ Meredith said.

  ‘I can’t work on her like that. Not even a vet could work on her like that,’ Edwin said. ‘We’ll handle the injuries. Do it.’

  ‘Sorry, Emma,’ Meredith whispered, and slapped the inside of my head.

  I fell into human form, and the arrows burrowed deeper into my back. Thankfully they’d put me on my stomach so I wasn’t lying on them.

  ‘All yours, Edwin,’ Meredith said, her voice full of regret.

  ‘Stitch the rest of this up while I do these arrows,’ Edwin said.

  He stabbed me next to one of the arrow injuries and I made a clipped sound of pain.

  ‘Local anaesthetic,’ Edwin said, putting his other hand on my shoulder. ‘The pain will ease now.’ His voice became more urgent. ‘Forget that, get the gas. I need to operate. Find the anaesthetic trolley, we have to put her under now. This damn arrow’s gone into her liver.’ He started yelling. ‘Prep the room! Get me the trolley! Leo, are you okay to finish there?’

  ‘I’m good,’ Leo said from the other side of the room. ‘Two more.’

  ‘When you finish with him, hand him off and come help me in theatre,’ Edwin said. ‘She’s bleeding out from the other arrow; it looks like it’s clipped her aorta. Forget the trolley. Meredith, put her under and help me.’

  ‘Done.’

  The room was too bright and I winced.

  ‘Emma, thank the Heavens,’ Simone said.

  I tried to say something but my throat was too dry.

  ‘Do you think you’d be more comfortable lying on your back?’ Edwin said next to my head.

  I raised my head slightly and pain shot down my back. I dropped my head again, then shook it in a reply.

  ‘Do you need anything?’ Simone said.

  I tried to croak out ‘Water’ but nothing happened.

  ‘She’s trying to say something,’ Simone said.

  I tried again.

  ‘I think it’s water.’

  ‘Give her some ice to suck,’ Edwin said.

  I winced at that; I was dying of thirst. Simone slipped some ice into my mouth and I worked around the cold to try to get as much of it down me as I could.

  I tried to speak again. ‘John?’

  ‘He lost a lot of blood,’ Edwin said, ‘but Meredith said it was important to keep him alive after he’d been so close to the Serpent. We stitched him up and he’s in better shape than you. He’ll be up and around in twenty-four hours. You look like you’ll need a few days.’

  ‘Damage?’

  ‘Pierced liver and clipped aorta. We need to keep an eye on you to make sure that the stitches in the blood vessel aren’t leaking.’

  I let my breath out in a huge sigh. ‘Okay.’

  I raised my head slightly and winced at the pain it caused down my back. I considered asking them to turn me over, but the idea of the pain it would cause made me decide against it.

  ‘More ice,’ I croaked. ‘So thirsty.’

  Simone slipped another cube into my mouth and I nodded my thanks with minimal movement.

  ‘Let me know if the pain is too strong and I’ll top up the painkillers,’ Edwin said.

  ‘Others?’ I said.

  ‘What others?’ Simone said. ‘Oh, Ma and Zhou. They lost nearly their entire hosts of demons, and one of the Zhu sisters was killed as well. The demons were waiting for them.’

  The ice soothed my dry throat and it was easier to speak. ‘Waiting for us as well.’

  ‘Daddy said there were hundreds of them.’

  I smiled grimly. ‘We took a great many of them down before we fell.’

  ‘That’s exactly what he said,’ Edwin said. ‘Wait — that’s exactly what he said.’

  ‘I wish you wouldn’t do that,’ Simone said.

  ‘Is he in this room?’ I said. I wanted to turn my head to the other side to see him, but it would probably hurt too much.

  ‘No, you’re in here by yourself. You need to rest in quiet,’ Edwin said. ‘He’ll be in as soon as he’s walking around. For now, just rest. Get some sleep, and heal. Meredith will be back later to block your meridians again and give you some energy healing.’

  ‘Thanks.’

  ‘Leo’s with Daddy. I’ll stay here,’ Simone said.

  I closed my eyes. ‘Thanks, sweetheart.’ I opened them again. ‘Sorry.’

  She patted my hand. ‘I don’t mind.’

  A couple of days later, I was up and sitting with John under a tree in the cool autumn sunshine. The flow of staff and students checking up on us had stopped, and we sat in companionable silence, enjoying the fresh air.

  Meredith walked over one of the arched bridges from the training area and sat on a bench across from us. ‘How’s the pain, Emma?’

  ‘I’m managing on minor painkillers. I don’t need your help any more.’

  ‘Good. You’ll both be well enough to travel after Mid-Autumn Festival.’

  John didn’t reply, brooding.

  ‘I hope we find what we’re looking for in less than a month,’ I said. ‘Being away for so long will be tough.’

  ‘It’s strange,’ she said, leaning back, ‘I’m originally from the UK and I feel the same way. Are you ever homesick for Australia?’

  ‘No, not really.’ I put my hand on John’s thigh and he covered it with his. ‘Everything I love is here.’

  ‘How about the place in your dreams?’ Meredith said.

  I didn’t reply. Something inside me would throw away everything to be there. John squeezed my hand and I squeezed it back.

  ‘Don’t forget that you’re nearly there,’ Meredith said. ‘The Elixir will be ready soon and neither of you will need to worry any more. It’ll be two out of three, found and Raised, and the third is just a formality.’

  ‘I know,’ I said.

  ‘And it’s a huge relief to be out of her back,’ the stone said.

  Meredith rose gracefully. ‘I have students to harass. Don’t overdo it.’

  We both waved her goodbye as she headed back over the bridge.

  ‘Someone told the Demon King,’ I said.

  ‘Possible.’ John shifted slightly, making himself more comfortable. ‘But it would not have been hard to work out what we had planned. I should have taken a larger force with us, and not relied on stealth.’

  ‘We were so close,’ I said with a sigh.

  He gripped my hand. ‘To losing you. I won’t try again until after you’re safely Raised.’

  ‘I’ll drink that Elixir as fast as I can, and we’ll go straight down to bring you back.’

  He released my hand and put his arm around my shoulders. ‘It doesn’t work like that,’ he said.

  ‘I remember … Leo was carried away on a cloud.’ I straightened slightly. ‘And everyone was concerned that he might not return.’

  ‘It’s always a possibility when the new Immortal is particularly enlightened,’ John said. ‘Frankly, I’m surprised that he returned so quickly.’

  ‘You’ll have nothing to worry about with me then.’

  He kissed the top of my head. ‘I wish.’

  12

  Two weeks later, I was doing a Tai Chi set under the tree outside what used to be my office when John sent a broadcast message to the entire Mountain.

  I’m closing the pool. I believe some of you wanted to see this. If so, come now.

  There were shouts and a rush of people coming out of training rooms and residences. I joined the crowd heading towards the eastern wall. As we went, students called to each other to let those who’d missed the broadcast know, and the group became even larger. Eventually, there were nearly a hundred students crowded around the pool.

  Simone saw me and waved. She was standing next to Michael, and the students had left a respectful space around her.

  ‘How are you feeling?’ sh
e said when I joined them.

  ‘Nearly back to a hundred per cent,’ I said. ‘Everything’s healed up nicely.’

  ‘That’s good to hear,’ Michael said. He glanced up at the pool. ‘This is very impressive. I’d like to know how he does it.’

  The pool was a block of water fifty metres long, twenty wide and five deep, standing on four slender pillars of what appeared to be ice that thrust from the base of the gorge on the eastern side of the Mountain. Crystalline stairs led from the wall to the top of the block of water, but there were no other barriers around the pool.

  ‘The bottom and sides are solid, but you can’t see it,’ Simone said.

  ‘What, they’re ice?’ Michael said. ‘Doesn’t that make the water cold?’

  ‘Not ice, solid water. It’s like ice, but at room temperature,’ Simone said. ‘Most frightening thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life. He’s the only one in the whole Celestial Plane — which basically means anywhere — who can make it. He’s teaching me how to do it.’

  ‘Why’s it scary?’ Michael said, then dropped his voice. ‘Holy shit.’

  ‘Exactly,’ Simone said. ‘If he were to change the water in your body to a solid, your blood would stop flowing and you’re dead. If all the world’s water was changed to this, every living thing would die.’

  Michael floated into the air to hover above the wall, then went to one side of the pool and touched it. He ran his hand over its surface, then shook his head and returned to us.

  ‘This puts my abilities with metal firmly in their place.’

  ‘Which is an exceptional place,’ Simone said. ‘I’ve heard what your dad says about you.’

  Michael shrugged. ‘This is the first time since I was made Number One that I’ve gone for more than a week without losing a duel.’

  ‘Judge Pao must be sick of the sight of you,’ I said.

  ‘Every time I go down there, he makes my court hearing exactly one minute longer than the last one,’ Michael said. ‘I didn’t realise at first, it’s so subtle. The guy’s OCD in the way he makes me suffer.’

  ‘Sounds about right,’ Simone said. ‘One of the advantages of being mortal is that I don’t have to deal with him.’

  He gazed down at her. ‘Hurry up and learn to dance the stars and ride the wind, Simone. I worry about you.’

  Their eyes locked for a long moment.

  I shuffled my feet and coughed, but didn’t need to interrupt. John floated up to the top of the wall, his long hair twining around him. The students all went silent and fell to one knee in unison.

  ‘Show-off,’ Simone said softly.

  ‘It’s not showing off if you’re just being your awesome self,’ Michael said with quiet amusement.

  Simone gave a soft sigh of pleasure. ‘I am so glad to have him back with us.’

  ‘All of Heaven is,’ Michael said.

  John changed into a giant black sea turtle swimming through the air, and the students made chorusing sounds of wonder. He soared over us and dived into the swimming pool. He was a dark shape in the water for a long moment, then the block of water collapsed and fell into the gorge, the Turtle falling above it.

  ‘Is he supposed —’ I began, but Simone was ahead of me.

  ‘Daddy!’ she screamed, and jumped off the wall after him.

  He tumbled through the air, his eyes half-open. Simone hit the water at the same time he did and they disappeared into it.

  Michael peered over the edge of the wall, moving left and right to try to get a better view. ‘I can’t breathe underwater,’ he said. ‘Damn, it’s a long way down!’

  He climbed onto the wall and jumped off. There was a long, horrified silence, then Simone and Michael floated back up out of the gorge and landed on the wall. She fell into his arms and sobbed.

  ‘He’s dead; he hit the bottom,’ Michael said to me. He spoke to the top of Simone’s head. ‘Come on, we need to check what happened to him. I’m sure he’ll be fine, Simone. He took the body with him, so that probably means he knew where he was going.’

  Simone nodded into his chest. They turned and jumped off the wall into the compound, still with their arms around each other’s shoulders, and headed for the administration section.

  I couldn’t order the students to return to their quarters, so I just followed Simone and Michael on foot, full of dread. If John had been unaware of his surroundings when he hit, he could have rejoined the Serpent and the Demon King could have both of them.

  When I arrived at John’s office, Meredith and Liu were there too, with Michael and Simone, all looking concerned. Zara had taken the androgynous human form that she normally used when working as John’s assistant. Her face was full of concentration, and then she came back, smiling broadly. ‘He’s in Court Ten. He didn’t rejoin.’

  ‘Oh, thank god,’ Simone said, and leaned on John’s desk. ‘How long do you think … Never mind, I know the answer to that.’

  ‘Leave it to us,’ Meredith said. ‘We can manage things for a few days while he’s away.’ She nodded to Zara. ‘Was he lined up for anything urgent?’

  ‘There’s a court session in the Northern Heavens tomorrow, but Ming Gui and Yue Gui can handle that,’ Zara said. She shrugged. ‘Apart from that, nothing terribly urgent.’

  ‘We had a charity thing tonight. He was planning to introduce his new persona to everybody in Hong Kong,’ I said.

  ‘That’s right. He’s using his old identity papers, which means he has to pretend to be my grandfather,’ Simone said.

  ‘We had David Hawkes lined up to be there and confirm his legitimacy,’ I said. ‘We’ll just have to do it another day.’

  Michael stopped me as we left the office. ‘When you have a moment, Emma, could you come to the Western Palace and talk to Clarissa for me? We’d both appreciate it.’

  From the corner of my eye, I saw Simone scowl; then just as quickly the expression was gone and she composed her face.

  ‘Go, Emma,’ she said. ‘See if you can bring Clarissa out of it. I really hate to hear about her like this.’

  ‘Now is good,’ I said. ‘I have nothing on right now. I’ll pop back to the Residence and get some better shoes,’ I indicated my canvas boat shoes, ‘and meet you back here, okay?’

  ‘Those shoes are fine, Emma,’ Simone said.

  ‘Last time I wore them to the Western Palace, the Tiger called me so many offensive terms for low-grade workers that I vowed to wear stilettos every time after that,’ I said. ‘Shame I don’t own any.’

  I headed back to the Residence, pulled off the boat shoes and opened the shoe cupboard. ‘Er Hao!’ I yelled, staring at the shoes with shock.

  ‘Yes, Miss Emma?’ Er Hao said, coming out of the kitchen. She stopped when she saw the shoes. ‘You bought new shoes?’

  I pulled out my loafers; they’d been changed from dark brown to brilliant violet. Leo had changed all my shoes and arranged them in colour order so that they formed a rainbow along the cupboard shelves. I pulled out my pumps; he’d changed them from tan to fluorescent orange. My kung fu shoes were no longer black, they were lime green.

  I sighed. ‘Never mind. It’s good to know Leo’s back to his old self.’

  I pulled on the violet loafers, which clashed with my jeans and black T-shirt.

  ‘It’s very pretty,’ Er Hao said diplomatically. ‘Maybe he can do your clothes to match?’

  I shut the cupboard door. ‘That man is not to get anywhere near my clothes, do you understand? If he comes in here again when I’m not around, let me know.’

  ‘I didn’t know he was here when he did these shoes,’ Er Hao said. ‘I’m sorry, Miss.’

  ‘Then he had help from Martin,’ I said under my breath, and stormed back to meet Michael.

  Simone came with us to the Western Palace; she wanted to pass on her good wishes to Clarissa as well. She and Michael waited outside Clarissa’s private room in the Tiger’s medical centre while I went in.

  Clarissa was sitting up in bed readi
ng an ebook. The television was running softly in the corner, showing one of the news channels. She smiled when she saw me and turned the television off with the remote. Her hands were no longer rigid claws, but she obviously had some difficulty closing the cover of the ereader and placing it beside her.

  I sat next to the bed. ‘You’re looking way better, Clarissa.’

  She smiled gently and brushed one hand over her thin hair. She hadn’t put on much weight and her skin was sallow and transparent. ‘I know I still look awful.’

  ‘At least you look halfway alive,’ I said.

  She touched my hand. ‘That’s what I always liked about you, Emma, you tell the truth when it’s needed.’

  ‘And sometimes when it’s not,’ I said. ‘Have you decided what you want to do with yourself? The doctors told me that with physical therapy you can probably regain the use of your hands, and might even be able to run and ride your bike again.’

  ‘Did you ask the psychiatrist about the ongoing mental damage?’ she said, curious.

  ‘No, your mental health is your own business.’ I paused, and shrugged. ‘Funny, isn’t it? I didn’t hesitate to ask about your physical state, but your mental state is hands-off.’

  ‘You probably have more of an idea of what I’m going through than anybody else around here,’ she said. ‘I hear you have some problems of your own.’

  I nodded. ‘Flashbacks, mostly.’

  ‘I understand.’ She looked down at her hands. ‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you — you’re always willing to tell the truth, however painful it might be.’ She looked up into my eyes. ‘Michael and I have been talking. After everything we’ve been through, we still feel the same way about each other. Stronger, if anything. I think we can build a future together, but there’s some things I need to know. If I ask you a couple of questions, will you answer them truthfully for me?’

  I didn’t shift my gaze from hers. ‘I promise.’

  She looked down again. ‘First question is: How does Michael feel about Simone? What do those two have together? Tell me the truth.’

  ‘That’s two questions, and I’ll answer them both truthfully for you,’ I said. I took a deep breath and she winced. ‘Don’t worry, Clarissa, Michael sees Simone as a little sister. Nothing more.’