Dark Serpent

  The whole building shook, hard enough to nearly knock me off my feet.

  Another tremor shook the floor, and I wondered if it was an earthquake, until the explosion outside my bedroom window made me instinctively duck. The shock was so great that I was surprised the building was still standing. Another explosion went off and the building rocked again.

  I charged out of the shower, dried myself quickly and pulled on some clothes. The window high on the wall was cracked. Another shockwave hit the building and the heavy central light fitting rocked. I was nearly thrown off my feet again. The window went black as something slammed into the side of the building. A writhing tentacle of stone plunged through the glass and thrashed around inside my room, nearly hitting me, then withdrew just as quickly.

  The door flew open to show three terrified demons in the doorway. Two of them carried guns and the third held handcuffs. As I readied to defend myself, long green spikes shot out through their faces and they crumpled. The stone stood behind them in human form.

  It pulled back the long, sharp fingers it had used to stab the demons, then bent and grabbed the handcuffs. It took my arm and dragged me into the room. ‘Come on, Emma, not like you to be so slow,’ it said, pulling my wrists out.

  ‘I’m pregnant with John’s baby,’ I said.

  It paused in fastening the cuffs over my wrists, then grinned ruefully and shook its head. ‘Splendid.’

  It carefully pushed the cuffs closed without snapping the locking mechanism into place, then concentrated and took the form of a Western demon.

  ‘I was about to say walk in front of me and look blank, but you’re one of two already.’ It raised its demon head and unfocused for a moment. ‘The Grandmother says to move your shit, she’s trying to bring the whole place down. Let’s go.’

  As we passed the dead demons, the stone bent and grabbed one of the rifles. ‘Interesting how some of the Western ones don’t explode, eh? Wonder what they’re made of.’ It gently pushed me in front of it. ‘Left and up the stairs. We’re going out the back door, then we’ll try to find a boat to carry us around the island.’

  We climbed the stairs, largely ignored by the terrified demons. The shocks through the building worsened; the Grandmother really did seem to be trying to knock it down. I broke into a run, worried the whole thing would collapse on top of us.

  The stone stopped in the ground-floor hallway that led towards the back of the house. ‘Not this way.’ It turned back and pulled me towards the front door. ‘Grandmother’s helping us.’

  In the entrance lobby, the chandelier had crashed to the floor. One of the huge paintings had fallen off the wall and was leaning across the room, blocking the stairs to the higher floors. The demons were all heading towards the back of the house to escape that way.

  The double front doors were made of solid hardwood. They had holes caused by the Grandmother’s attacks but were still largely sound.

  The stone pushed my head down with inhuman strength. ‘Duck.’

  It covered me while the Grandmother plunged a couple of her stone tentacles through the doors, knocking them off their hinges with a shower of wooden splinters. The tentacles receded, but there was only darkness in the doorway. The Grandmother was leaning against the side of the house, preventing any daylight from entering.

  The stone pulled me upright, led me to the doorway, and dropped the gun. ‘Stop hesitating, I know what I’m doing,’ it said as it pulled me into the stone mass.

  We entered a cave made of morphing, almost liquid mud. We were inside the Grandmother herself. As we neared the far wall, it receded and the opening behind us closed.

  ‘Gah,’ the stone said, pulling me along faster. ‘She’ll suffocate us.’

  ‘I understand how you feel,’ I said as he led me through a tiny air pocket that opened and closed around us. ‘This is horrible.’

  Thank you very much, the Grandmother said.

  ‘I appreciate this,’ I said.

  You’re welcome.

  We emerged from the Grandmother onto the grass. The stone looked left and right, then pulled me next to the side wall of the building. I dropped the cuffs from my wrists and looked up. The Grandmother was bigger than the house, towering over it, a shapeless mass of mud that grew stone tentacles to plunge into the building’s windows and walls to destroy it. Now that we were free of her, she pulled her full weight back and slammed into the manor’s front wall, making the ground shake and tiles fall from the roof.

  More than twenty stones, each a metre tall and twenty centimetres across, were pursuing the demons across the grass, leaving deep grooves in their wake. When they reached the demons, they leaped into the air and crushed them.

  One of the stones slid across to us and spoke with a young woman’s voice. ‘There’s a boat hidden in the trees to the left about three hundred metres away behind the stables. I’ll escort you but I suggest you run.’

  A regular hammering noise grew louder above us and the wind picked up.

  ‘How the hell did they get a fucking helicopter onto the Celestial Plane?’ the female stone shouted.

  ‘Worry about that later. Let’s use it as a distraction to get to the boat,’ my stone said.

  We ran together for the trees, the other stones crushing any demons that tried to follow us.

  The Grandmother flailed her tentacles at the helicopter, but it dodged her and landed on the grass near the water. She broke off her attack on the house and ponderously turned to pursue the chopper, the stones gathering to assist her. The two Demon Kings raced to the chopper, jumped in and closed the doors. It rose into the air. The Grandmother tossed the metre-tall stones at it, but couldn’t get sufficient distance to damage it.

  ‘Go, Emma,’ the stone said, pushing me forward.

  We threaded our way through the trees along a path that at any other time would be a pleasant walk, and arrived at a stone wall, the water lapping against it. A three-metre-long wooden boat, shaped like a swan with a graceful head, bobbed next to it.

  ‘In,’ the stone escorting us said.

  The Jade Building Block hesitated. ‘I’m still stone inside; I don’t have the strength to be fully human. If I stay like this, I might sink it.’ It changed to True Form and returned to my ring. ‘Okay, Emma, go.’

  I hopped into the boat and looked for oars or an engine. There was nothing.

  ‘Caer Wydr,’ the stone said, but nothing happened. ‘Put your hand on the neck of the swan and tell it to go there.’

  I did as the stone said; nothing happened.

  ‘It was worth a try,’ my stone said. ‘Any ideas, Basalt?’

  ‘I thought that was how they ran,’ the female stone said. ‘How about the stables? I know there are horses in there.’

  ‘Natural or demon?’ I said.

  ‘Big natural ones; they’re all screaming and scared.’

  ‘Waste of time then,’ I said, climbing out of the boat. ‘It would take me too long to get the gear on one, and riding a hysterical horse through this would be suicide.’

  ‘Heads up, incoming,’ Basalt said. ‘Damn, a lot of them.’

  Demons crashed through the trees towards us, shouting to each other. I moved to a clear space; about time I had something that I could take down. I felt a rush of satisfaction as I called my sword and readied myself.

  Five of them — really big ones — emerged from the trees and stopped in front of me. I filled the Murasame with my chi and hurled it from the sword into the ground at their feet.

  ‘No, Emma!’ the stone shouted.

  I pushed the energy under their feet behind them, pulled it out and ran it through three of them. Basalt crushed the other two. I let the energy return to the sword, and it hit me with so much force that I was knocked backwards off my feet. I sat on the ground gasping and still holding the sword and hoped there weren’t any more coming for us.

  ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ Basalt said, full of fury. ‘You’re pregnant! You can’t do that.’ br />
  ‘I’m okay, I’m not drained at all.’

  ‘That’s not the point!’

  ‘Nobody told her,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘Up you get, Emma, we need to move.’

  I rose, then stopped and stared down at myself. My stomach looked larger, and the baby inside me was moving even though it was far too soon for me to feel it.

  ‘What the hell?’ I said.

  ‘Move, Emma,’ the stone said. ‘And don’t work with any more energy. It hurts the baby.’

  I held my stomach as I pushed through the branches blocking the path. ‘Working with energy hurts the baby? I thought it would just drain me and that’s why John said not to do it.’

  ‘Nothing to do with you. When the energy backlashes into you, the baby eats it up and … changes.’

  ‘Dear Lord, what have I done to it?’ I said, my voice hoarse with horror.

  ‘No, it’s nothing like that. Don’t stop! You haven’t hurt it. Yet,’ the stone said. ‘The energy forces the baby to grow. If you force it too much, it will become too dark and too strong —’

  ‘The baby will turn into a demon?’ I said, still catching my breath as I pushed through the trees.

  ‘You already have some demon characteristics,’ the stone said. ‘You know the Dark Lord’s nature. Feeding the baby energy will strengthen it too much until it’s not really human. Just don’t work with energy and both of you will be fine.’

  ‘Okay, I understand.’

  We came to a clearing with the sun shining through the leaves. I stopped to check the area.

  ‘Nobody around. Go. Move fast,’ the stone said.

  I slipped across the clearing to the trees on the other side and the sounds of battle faded behind me. ‘How’s the Grandmother doing?’

  ‘They have destroyed nearly all the demons and they are in the process of freeing the captive stones,’ Basalt said. ‘The biggest demons escaped in that helicopter, which is a shame.’

  ‘There’s a road up ahead that we can follow west to the other side of the island,’ the stone said. ‘They’ll be looking for her. How about you take her form and lead them on a chase?’

  ‘I can’t leave you,’ Basalt said. ‘What if you run into someone?’

  ‘I can make us invisible,’ the stone said.

  ‘You’ll kill yourself, Jade,’ Basalt said. ‘You don’t have enough left to do that after what you’ve just been through.’

  ‘The Lady herself helped me out before we came,’ the stone said. ‘I’ll be fine.’

  ‘No, you won’t,’ Basalt said. ‘Wait.’

  ‘That’s them coming now,’ the stone said. ‘You’d better go.’

  ‘It’ll take more than a day to walk to the other side of the island. Can you live off the land?’ Basalt said.

  ‘I’ve downloaded the info from the other stones here,’ my stone said. ‘We can do it.’

  Basalt turned in the small groove she’d been making in the ground and changed to a copy of me, looking pale and haggard with red-rimmed eyes. She nodded to me. ‘All the best, Dark Lady.’ She reached out and touched my hand, then crashed through the trees back the way we’d come.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll look after you,’ my stone said. ‘Let’s go.’

  ‘Has anyone contacted John yet?’ I said as I walked along a path that seemed to be going in the right direction.

  ‘There’s no contact with anyone outside this Celestial Plane,’ the stone said. ‘It’s strange. We can talk freely among ourselves, and we’re keeping track of what’s happening, but we have no link to the network down on the Earthly.’

  ‘When one of the stones returns there, they can tell John, I suppose,’ I said, disappointed.

  ‘We need to go further left — watch for a road or something that travels in that direction,’ the stone said. ‘The Grandmother is having trouble staying in this Heaven. She says it was a tremendous effort to bring herself and all of the stones here; there’s some sort of barrier to stop us. The only reason she managed it was because I was already here and had my free will — I could open the way for her. As soon as she’s rescued all the stones and all of the demons are destroyed, she’ll be leaving. It’s too hard to stay here, and she belongs on the Earthly.’

  ‘What about us?’

  ‘When she arrives on the Earthly, she’ll tell the Dark Lord where you’re headed and give him a stone escort to contact me. The Shen in the mirror said to go west, and Holyhead is as far west as you can go without travelling across to Ireland, so it’s probably there. If you take it easy, you can be there by nightfall tomorrow. It’s quite possible the Dark Lord will meet us before we get there. I doubt it will take long once he knows where we are.’

  My spirits lifted at the thought of meeting John in this lovely land and sharing the joy of our new child, and I picked up my pace with new purpose. I could be in John’s arms before dark and home tomorrow, and I could tell Simone and Leo we were adding to the family.

  The stone guided me along the trails, some of them very overgrown, but eventually it became quiet. I trudged on in silence, trusting it to warn me if I was travelling in the wrong direction. I distracted myself by making plans for the baby. I could clear out my mock-office in the Residence and make it a nursery. Whether the baby was a boy or a girl was immaterial, as long as it lived. I decided not to make any serious plans until I’d reached my first trimester and there was less chance of me losing it. But shopping for baby furniture with John would be tremendous fun; we’d probably argue non-stop about the best choices, and Leo would have to have his opinion heard as well. I smiled slightly as I thought of the entire family sharing this wonderful experience. I couldn’t wait to tell Louise and my family as well. My heart lifted with joy as I thought of the bright future this child would bring. The look on John’s face when I told him would be truly wonderful.

  I tried to work out how far along I was, and failed. I hadn’t had a period in ages. It could be anything from two weeks to three months. I looked down at myself and wondered if that really was a bump, or Francis was right and I was just getting fat from inactivity. Probably somewhere in between.

  The sun sank lower in the sky in front of us, and my stomach grumbled so loudly it must have woken the stone.

  ‘I don’t think it would be a good idea for you to stop to eat,’ the stone said. ‘Even if we catch something, cleaning and cooking it will be a pain.’

  ‘I’m vegetarian.’

  ‘There’s no plant matter around here that’s even remotely edible without complex preparation and cooking. Do you think you can manage without food for a day?’

  ‘Of course, but dehydration is another issue. I need to find something drinkable otherwise I’ll be seriously weakened by tomorrow.’

  ‘Oh, good point, I forgot,’ the stone said. ‘This is the Celestial Plane, so any water you run into should be drinkable … Let me see.’ It was silent for a moment. ‘It will take us out of the way somewhat, but it’s worth it to keep you strong. The next time you see a way to head off to the right, take it. There’s a small stream about two kilometres that way that you should be able to drink from. It may even have fish in it. If it’s life or death, will you eat fish?’

  ‘Yes. What time is it?’

  ‘Oh dear, I must have dropped off — it’s already four thirty. I’m sorry, Emma. You did well to continue going in the correct direction.’

  ‘It’s not difficult to follow the setting sun. It seems it’ll be cold tonight, though. I hope I can find somewhere warm. Has the Grandmother left the Plane yet?’

  ‘Not yet, she’s still pulling out stones. They were in some sort of stasis, and it needed the combined effort of a number of our people to make them strong enough to travel. She says she’s nearly done and will be heading down before the hour is out. There’s a fork in the path; go right.’

  I followed the stone’s instructions, glad that my shoes weren’t giving me blisters. Nevertheless, I was dreadfully out of shape and seriously beginning to
tire. My stomach growled loudly again, and I thought about all the different types of fungi that I’d ask the staff to prepare for me when I returned to the Mountain. I hadn’t had wood ear in a while, and some white fungus in a sweet soup with lotus seeds sounded really good. A really good rich soup of dried bak choy with lots of bean curd and fresh tasty straw mushrooms …

  ‘Watch where you’re going, Emma, you’re drifting off the path,’ the stone said.

  ‘Sorry, I was thinking about mushrooms.’

  ‘Don’t even think about eating any; some may be very toxic.’

  ‘I wasn’t.’

  ‘The water’s another kilometre dead ahead; you’re doing great. I suggest you stop for a drink, then look around for a cubby hole to spend the night. There doesn’t seem to be anything alive here larger than a bird, so you should be safe.’

  ‘Has the Grandmother left yet?’ I asked again. I was impatient for her to link up to the network and tell John where I was.

  ‘She’s just about to leave; some of the stones will stay behind to keep an eye on things. She says to keep safe, and the Dark Lord will be here as soon as she tells him.’

  ‘Tell her thank you. For everything.’

  The stone didn’t reply. I continued along the path, listening for the sound of water.

  ‘Am I going the right way?’ I said.

  Again the stone didn’t reply. I moved to tap it in the ring and stopped — it was gone from its setting.

  ‘Stone?’

  Nothing.

  ‘Jade Building Block?’

  Still no reply.

  I moved slightly off the path into the trees and sat on a rock to wait for it to return, wondering what had happened to it and trying not to panic as the sun slid down the sky.

  After nearly half an hour, thirst drove me back to my feet. I kept the setting sun on my left as I blundered along the darkening path looking for the water. I smelled it before anything else, and the fresh moisture quickened my protesting muscles.