Dark Serpent

  Chang tried to kneel behind Leo and me, but we manoeuvred him to kneel between us. He was silent, awestruck, until Leo poked his arm and he jumped.

  ‘Uh, Celestial Highness,’ he said, obviously intimidated. He bowed low from his knees over his hands on the mat, then sat upright. ‘I have a humble request …’ He stopped, appearing to be lost for words.

  John reached out and put his index finger on Chang’s forehead. ‘What is your request?’ He was silent for a moment, then nodded and dropped his hands into his lap. ‘I see your plan. There are already orphanages in each of the Twelve Villages. This is unnecessary duplication of work we are already doing. Why did you let him come, Emma? You know all about the orphanages.’

  ‘I thought we could integrate what he’s proposing into what we already have,’ I said. ‘The Twelve Villages are always complaining about having to run them. Sorry to have wasted your time, Chang.’

  Chang bowed low over his hands again and rose to leave.

  ‘I did not grant you leave to depart,’ John said without looking at him.

  Chang fell to kneel on the floor again and bent low.

  ‘Sit up,’ John said. ‘Look at me.’

  Chang sat up, head bowed.

  ‘Look into my face!’ John snapped.

  Chang looked up.

  John put his index finger on Chang’s forehead again. ‘You wish to be given custody of a large number of children, boys and girls. What would you do with them?’

  ‘Teach them,’ Chang said. ‘Only through education can we change the world. Give them a life, a home, knowledge and the tools they need to go out and make the world a better place.’

  John dropped his hand. ‘You are to go to my office and report to my secretary. It will either be in human form outside my office or in the shape of a stone on my desk. It is called Zara. Tell it that you have been given the task of reviewing the orphanages run by the Twelve Villages and expanding them as you see fit. Liaise with Miss Donahoe on the funding of this expansion directly from the House of the North. With your intelligence and ability overseeing the administration, I think we can easily double the population of the orphanages and remove management from the Twelve Villages, who have always found this task a drain on their resources. I approve your five-year goal to have twelve large residential schools connected to, but not run by, the villages. Dismissed.’

  Chang sniffled loudly, wiped his eyes, and bowed again. He rose to go out, and Leo and I moved to join him.

  ‘Emma, remain. Leo, go with him to ensure Zara carries out this task; sometimes she can be …’ he smiled slightly, ‘stubborn about obeying anyone but me.’

  Leo saluted John and he and Chang went out.

  John waved one hand at me. ‘Sit, Emma.’

  I sat cross-legged opposite him.

  He glared at me from under his brows. ‘There is no need for you to still be wearing servant’s black and white.’

  I shrugged. ‘Couldn’t be bothered changing. It’s comfortable enough.’

  ‘Not fitting.’ He put his hands on his knees. ‘His motives are completely pure, which is surprising considering his history with women when he was an assassin. He will do well.’

  ‘It never occurred to me that his motives could be anything but genuine.’

  ‘You’re only human. It’s to be expected.’

  I gazed into his eyes. ‘Am I?’

  He looked deeply into my eyes. ‘Yes. You are mortal, and forgetful, and prone to emotional outbursts and the occasional fit of ridiculous stupidity.’

  I raised my hands. ‘Guilty as charged.’

  He gracefully rose and put out one hand. I took it and he pulled me into him.

  ‘But it’s the serpent side of you that really drives me nuts,’ he said softly into my ear.

  ‘You said taking snake form wasn’t a good idea,’ I said, matching his low tone.

  ‘It isn’t,’ he said. ‘Please, for all our sakes, don’t change to snake.’ He wrapped his arms around me and held me. ‘It’s a very bad idea. But sometimes bad ideas are the most enticing.’ He ran his mouth down the side of my throat, making me gasp, then moved back to whisper in my ear, ‘One day, both my reptiles will show your serpent pleasure like you’ve never known.’

  I shivered. ‘Why does that sound terrifying and exhilarating at the same time?’

  He moved so that his mouth was close to mine and put one hand on the side of my face. ‘Reptiles together,’ he said, and closed the gap.

  The cylinder of water rose around us.

  4

  The doctor in the medical centre at the Tiger’s Western Palace opened the door to his office. ‘Emma?’ he said without looking up from the card he was holding, then he saw me in the waiting room. ‘Oh! I’m sorry, I didn’t realise it was you.’ He held the door open for me. ‘Please, come on in.’

  I raised one hand before I entered. ‘Do you know about the restrictions on me?’

  He nodded. ‘I do.’

  I went in and sat in the patient’s chair next to his desk. ‘Thank you. Just call me Emma; that’s all you’ll be able to use.’

  He tried to say ‘ma’am’ and choked on the word. ‘I see.’ He turned and flipped open a new medical file for me. ‘What can I do for you, Miss Donahoe?’ He relaxed when he realised he could call me that. ‘What brings you to the West when your own medical facilities in the North are some of the finest on the Plane?’

  ‘Fertility,’ I said. ‘Your fertility clinic is the best. I only have one ovary and I want to make sure that I’m capable of having children with the Dark Lord.’

  He looked down and shook his head. ‘Damn. That’s a big assignment: assisting the Dark Emperor.’

  ‘We don’t need to test him; he’s already fathered Simone on a human woman so we know it can be done. We’ve been trying for a year now and I’m not getting any younger. We need to isolate any problems now.’

  ‘Date of birth, Miss?’

  ‘October twenty-third, nineteen seventy-three.’

  ‘So you’re already past forty.’

  ‘Exactly. My biological clock is ticking.’

  He wrote my birth date on the folder. ‘Not really. On the Celestial Plane your child-bearing ability will extend for at least another ten years even without attaining Immortality. If you attain Immortality, you’ll never have to worry about it.’

  ‘Even if I attain Immortality after menopause?’

  ‘Even so. An Immortal chooses their form and physiology. If you take a younger form for a year or so, you can still bear children. Even though it is slightly draining, many Immortals have done it without risk.’

  I leaned back and sighed with relief. ‘Thank you. I didn’t know that.’

  ‘Most Immortals are past the point of caring about having families.’

  ‘Except your father.’

  He chuckled. ‘Even my father. Having us is just a side effect for him.’

  ‘I see.’

  He turned back to me and raised his pen. ‘Last menstrual period?’

  I looked up, trying to work it out. ‘About six weeks ago?’

  He checked his calendar and wrote the date. ‘Are they normally six weeks apart?’

  ‘They’re as irregular as anything. Can be anything from three to ten weeks apart.’

  ‘That may be from having only one ovary and insufficient hormones,’ he said, writing notes. ‘Nothing to be terribly concerned about. I’ll start with some basic tests, just to make sure that everything is working. Blood tests, maybe move on to some X-rays, then if we don’t establish anything we can try a laparoscopy.’

  ‘You don’t have anyone who can look directly inside me?’ I said. ‘I know you have routine ultrasounds, but I thought you’d have someone on staff who could do it without any invasive devices.’

  ‘Only as a last resort. It’s considered degrading to use someone with enhanced vision as a scanner. We don’t generally ask unless it’s absolutely necessary.’

  ‘I see.’


  ‘We have excellent fertility therapy here, and if the worst comes to the worst we can always use IVF. You have multiple options.’

  ‘Thank you.’

  He pulled an empty vial out of a drawer and placed it on the desk. ‘I still need a semen sample from the Dark Lord. He’s in very different shape now to when he fathered the Princess. We have to eliminate the possibility that he’s the cause of the problem. It would be silly to do multiple invasive tests on you only to find that the issue is with him.’

  ‘I’ll arrange it.’ I smiled slightly. ‘You’re in for a surprise there.’

  He glanced at me and raised one eyebrow.

  ‘Black,’ I said.

  ‘No way. Really?’

  ‘And cold. Just like him.’

  He leaned forward. ‘How cold?’ He leaned back and waved one hand. ‘Sorry, my curiosity got the better of me.’

  ‘Not cold enough to hurt, if that’s what you’re asking. Just … cold.’

  ‘Fascinating. We’ll start these tests straight away. Oh, and one other thing.’ He closed the folder. ‘It’s about young Clarissa Huang.’

  ‘How is she progressing? The psychiatrist won’t let me see her.’

  ‘Not well. Her kidneys have failed; she is on regular dialysis. Her organs can’t recover from what she went through when she was held by the demons because her kidneys aren’t cleansing her system correctly. If we don’t find her a donor kidney soon, we may lose her to complete organ failure.’ He shook his head. ‘She is deteriorating rapidly.’

  I held my arm out. ‘You just need a blood sample to see if I’m compatible, don’t you?’

  He rifled through his equipment trolley for a syringe. ‘Are you offering to donate a kidney if you’re compatible?’

  ‘Absolutely.’

  He nodded as he fitted the needle to the syringe. ‘Let me see if you’re compatible first, then you can decide. This is not a decision to be made lightly. Immortals or Shen can’t donate organs; their organs will kill an ordinary human patient. The donor organ must be from an ordinary human and they’re in a limited supply on the Celestial Plane.’

  He tightened the tourniquet around my upper arm and took a blood sample.

  ‘Is there anything else I can do for Clarissa?’ I said.

  ‘She is withdrawn. The psychiatrist counsels her, but she’s not very responsive. She won’t talk to her family.’

  ‘What about Michael?’

  ‘She refuses to see him. It is a tragic situation.’

  ‘Can I talk to her?’

  ‘The psychiatrist won’t let anyone except family or Michael in; she said that outside visitors would probably do Clarissa more harm than good. Right now the poor girl needs to be completely sheltered from the world, and to be reintroduced to it very slowly when she’s strong enough.’

  ‘If we don’t find her a new kidney she may never be strong enough.’

  ‘True. I hope we can find a compatible donor in time.’ He transferred my blood into the vial. ‘You didn’t ask me whether you being European and her being Chinese made a difference to the possible organ compatibility.’

  ‘That’s because I know, medical wise, there isn’t a difference.’

  He nodded. ‘As far as we doctors are concerned, there’s no medical way to identify race. Racial differentiation doesn’t exist; we’re just all human beings.’

  ‘I wish that was true for people who aren’t doctors.’

  He smiled at me. ‘Snakes, however, are something completely different.’

  ‘Will I still be compatible even though I can change to snake?’

  ‘Let me test your blood and we’ll see. Since your human form is so mundane, I think it may be possible.’ He labelled the vial. ‘Wait until we establish whether you’re compatible or not and we’ll take it from there. You can’t donate a kidney if we’re working to get you pregnant anyway.’

  ‘Clarissa’s life comes first.’

  ‘Nevertheless, we can still start work on making a little snake baby for the Dark Lord. Goodness, that is a scary thought.’

  I wound my way through the red stone archways of the Western Palace. Even though summer was nearly finished, the morning heat was radiating off the bricks and most of the residents were indoors in the shade. I passed through a small garden with a fountain in the middle spraying water that shone with a rainbow. I took the stairs down the steep hillside from the palace to the riding flats spread below. Blue-green mountains rose from the other side of the plain, and stretched so far and high that they became invisible, their snowy tops merging into the sky. The riding area was green in some places with irrigated grass; in other places, its natural sandy soil was used as a base for the training arenas.

  Simone was having a lesson on Freddo in one of the sandy areas. They performed a near-perfect half-pass diagonally across the arena, Freddo lifting his feet and placing them carefully to cross as he trotted. The arch of his neck and the collection over his back was impressive to see, although the strain was obvious: he regularly twitched his tail with the effort of holding the shape.

  ‘All right,’ the instructor said. ‘Now go around and try it again, and this time don’t start until Simone actually gives the aid.’

  I recognised the instructor: it was Lisel, one of the Tiger’s more senior wives, an Olympic dressage medal winner.

  Simone and Freddo straightened up, powered down the long side of the arena and turned to do the move again.

  ‘Stop, stop, stop!’ the instructor yelled. She pointed at the ground. ‘Come here.’

  Both Freddo and Simone looked sheepish as they walked towards her.

  I leaned on the fence and watched them. Freddo looked particularly magnificent; he hadn’t started his shaggy winter coat yet and his smooth golden summer coat was glossy with bronze highlights in the morning sunshine.

  ‘I said wait for the aid,’ Lisel said, obviously exasperated.

  ‘But I don’t need it,’ Simone said. ‘I just tell him.’

  ‘And she didn’t even need to tell me, because I know what to do,’ Freddo said.

  ‘What if you’re in battle and there’s fifty demons screaming all around you. What then?’ Lisel said.

  Simone shrugged. ‘I talk to him telepathically.’

  Freddo shook his ears, agreeing with her. ‘I give up my will and let my Simone control me directly.’

  ‘No, no, no!’ Lisel stomped in a circle. ‘So that’s what you two have been thinking. No wonder you’re not progressing.’ She put her hands out towards them. ‘How stupid are the two of you? Freddo, would you give your life for Simone?’

  ‘In a second,’ Freddo said, turning his head to look at Simone. ‘She’s my whole life.’

  ‘Do you want to be the best you can for her?’

  ‘I want to obey her. I want to give her my will and let her control me completely.’

  Lisel sagged with defeat. ‘You need to work intelligently as a team member, not be a puppet.’

  ‘She’s right, Freddo,’ Simone said. ‘I need you to make your own decisions. Sometimes we may be overwhelmed and we’ll have to work as a team. You’ll need to watch my back. And if you surrender your free will and let me control you, that’s an extra complication that I really don’t need.’

  ‘Simone understands!’ Lisel yelled, raising her arms in triumph.

  ‘This is too hard. I just want to do what Simmony tells me,’ Freddo said.

  Simone dropped her face into his mane and wrapped her arms around his neck. ‘Oh, Freddo.’

  ‘You are worse than useless if you just sit around waiting for orders,’ Lisel yelled, really losing her temper with Freddo. ‘You will get Simone killed with your laziness.’ She turned her back on them and stormed off. ‘Go clean up, and come back when you are ready to protect your owner, horse. Until then I want nothing to do with you. You are useless.’

  Freddo dropped his head with shame but Simone didn’t let go of her clasp around his neck. Eventually he turned, head s
till bowed, and shuffled towards the stables.

  ‘Tell Simone I’ll be up in the coffee house waiting for her?’ I said.

  The stone didn’t reply.

  With its new position in my back, I couldn’t tap it to wake it up, so I pulled out my mobile and texted Simone to let her know where I’d be.

  I turned and walked back up the stairs to the Turkish-style coffee house. It was full of bright blue and purple woven mats and dark wood benches piled with glittering cushions against the red stone walls. A few of the Tiger’s wives lazed around on the cushions, chatting, reading books and working with laptops. I sat on the veranda overlooking the riding plain and waved at the barista behind the bar.

  He brought me a frappé in a condensation-covered glass. ‘I’ve been watching the Princess and her demon horse,’ he said. ‘They’re magnificent; you should be proud.’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘You were coming out of the clinic before, Emma. Is everything all right?’

  ‘Perfectly fine.’

  ‘You don’t have any issues at the moment?’

  I grinned into my frappé. ‘No, Adrian, I’m in outstanding health.’

  ‘I see.’

  I didn’t give him any more and he wandered away, obviously still curious.

  We scheduled an estate management meeting that afternoon in the Peak apartment. I could participate in family decision-making provided neither the Mountain nor the Northern Heavens were involved.

  It was sad to enter the empty Peak apartment. We used it as a base in Hong Kong whenever we needed to overnight there, and some of the furniture was still there, but everything else had been moved up to the Mountain. The memories of our happy times in the apartment were strong, but every time I returned to the Mountain the sheer joy of being in such a wondrous location on the Celestial Plane made those memories fade into contented history.

  The dining table was still the main meeting area, and Simone, John, Gold and I sat around it to discuss our plans.

  ‘You’ve had more than enough time to look into my options for the Earthly,’ John said. ‘Fill me in.’

  Gold opened the folder in front of him. ‘This is an unusual situation, my Lord. Your severed head was recovered and you were definitely declared dead. This means that you can’t return to being John Chen Wu; you’ll have to take a new identity. You won’t be Simone’s father or Emma’s fiancé on the Earthly, and you can’t assume ownership of the properties.’