Dark Serpent

  ‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Stone?’

  The stone still didn’t reply.

  ‘Don’t do that again,’ I said. ‘It hurt! Let’s find Gold and ask him to talk to it.’

  ‘When was the last time it spoke to you?’ John said, still with his hand on my back.

  ‘A few days ago, at BJ’s mineral-taking.’ My stomach fell. ‘It’s been slowly fading, hasn’t it?’

  ‘Or it had too much to drink last night at the mineral-taking party and wants to be left alone,’ the stone said, its voice sharp with sarcasm.

  ‘Better check the wine cellar, John, you know about the stone’s taste,’ I said.

  ‘I have better taste than most and I’m not afraid to admit it,’ the stone said. ‘And if you’re nice to me, I may even be persuaded to advise you on the contents of the Mountain’s cellar.’

  ‘Stone, John’s going to tell me the story of how he came to own Eighty-Eight. Can you record it for me, please?’ I said.

  ‘I even get a please,’ the stone said, its voice softening. ‘Don’t worry, I’m not gone yet.’

  ‘I’m glad,’ I said.

  ‘Let’s go to my office and I’ll tell you the tale of the Stone Turtle and the Brothel at Number Eighty-Eight Spring Garden Lane,’ John said.

  ‘Excellent,’ the stone said. ‘I’ve never heard that one before.’

  5

  Three days later, while I was studying the half-a-dozen books on Western mythology I had open on my desk in the spare bedroom of the Residence, the tower bells began to ring. I didn’t bother asking anyone what was going on; I just summoned my sword and ran towards the offices.

  Outside the armoury, Disciples were being issued with weapons and forming squads. The weapons master, Miss Chen, was supervising and yelling directions.

  ‘Third- and fourth-year energy specialists to the west wall with Master Meredith; physical specialists to the west gate with Master Liu. Second years to the other three walls in case they mount a flanking operation. First years, divide into your teams and be ready to run supplies, wounded and messages. Master Au is your supervisor.’

  The bells changed in pitch and Miss Chen looked up. ‘They’re close now, everybody to battle stations. Run!’

  She glanced at her assistant. ‘Are all the arrows out?’ Her assistant said something and she nodded. ‘Then let’s head to the west wall and help defend.’

  She stopped and pointed at me. ‘Emma Donahoe, get your little white ass into the Imperial Residence right now or else.’

  ‘No need to be offensive,’ I said. ‘I won’t participate. I’ll stand at the top of the wall near Lord Xuan and record for the Chronicles.’

  She glared at me. ‘I don’t believe a word you’re saying.’

  ‘Isn’t there somewhere you’re supposed to be?’ I said, heading towards the admin area and the western wall.

  She muttered something unintelligible and disappeared.

  John was standing on the southwest corner of the wall that joined his office, watching the demons approach.

  ‘You are not supposed to be here,’ he said without turning away from the view.

  ‘I’m here to record for the Chronicles.’

  He took Celestial Form, complete with his battle armour: plain black with the seven stars of the Big Dipper on his breastplate. His hair came loose and flowed around him as he grew to three metres tall. His skin was darker, and his square ugly face wore a thin black beard.

  ‘Stay well back and keep yourself out of trouble, please,’ he said with his usual voice. ‘I would hate to lose you to these, because the King himself is among them.’

  He changed to silent speech in broadcast mode. This is a big group: two hundred level fifty plus, but non-Mothers. They’re probably shooting for promotion. Behind them are at least twenty level seventy plus, and the King himself is at the rear flanked by two bull-head dukes. His voice changed slightly. They are all mounted on demon horse-hybrid steeds the like of which I have never before seen. It would be advantageous to take one alive and see what’s inside. Take care, all, they may be poisonous.

  ‘Venomous horse-hybrids?’ I said.

  ‘Wait until you see them.’

  He summoned Seven Stars and the dark sword appeared in his hand. He raised it and loaded the seven circular holes in the sword with his own chakra energy, lighting up the blade so that it sang with restrained power.

  ‘These will be something of a challenge with our current depleted numbers, but we should overcome them easily,’ John said. Lord Leo, to the west wall.

  Leo appeared next to him and quickly fell to one knee. ‘My Lord.’ He saw me and glared. ‘What the hell are you doing here? You should be inside the compound where it’s safe.’

  ‘Up, Leo, and stay alert,’ John said. ‘The King himself is with this group, and it’s not a threat to the Mountain by any stretch. He may be planning to do something to the Serpent to disable me while he’s attacking the compound. If he does, pull me inside the compound and notify the senior masters.’

  ‘My Lord,’ Leo said, moving to stand next to John. He took Celestial Form: a larger version of himself, the same size as John’s form, wearing a Mountain uniform with armour over the top.

  ‘Check with Ming Gui that there is no army gathering on the borders of the Northern Heavens,’ John said.

  ‘Prince Ming reports that there is nothing there that appears untoward,’ Leo said. ‘He has mobilised the defences just in case.’

  ‘Good.’

  The demons came into view, riding creatures that galloped on clouds. I rubbed my eyes as I tried to focus on them through the mist. At first glance, the creatures appeared to be horses, but had too many legs and their heads were strangely out of proportion. As they drew nearer it became clear that although they had the bodies of palomino horses, they were massively elongated and had four pairs of legs. Their heads were wider than a horse’s, and they had a circle of eight eyes on top like a spider’s, with fanged mouthparts hanging down instead of a horse’s mouth.

  ‘Dear god, they’re ugly,’ Leo said.

  ‘The one the King’s riding appears to be an ordinary demon horse,’ John said. ‘I’m glad Simone isn’t here — it looks like Freddo.’ He shifted slightly and Seven Stars sang through the air, leaving a trail of light as it moved. ‘On my mark.’

  ‘No parley?’ I said.

  ‘The Demon King used language one does not repeat in front of a lady when I offered parley,’ John said.

  ‘Good thing there’s no ladies here then,’ I said.

  ‘Emma,’ he dropped his voice, ‘hold on to that sword. It’s the only thing that will destroy him. And if it comes to that, don’t hesitate to use it.’

  ‘Seven Stars will take him down too, won’t it?’

  John glanced down at his glowing sword. ‘Yes, it would destroy him. But his dark energy would obliterate the chakra energy in Seven Stars, taking my intelligence with it. Possibly for good.’

  ‘What, permanently?’

  ‘Could be. I could even lose my Celestial alignment. The Murasame is the only weapon that is safely capable of destroying this King.’

  ‘So use yin if you have to.’

  ‘I will.’ He hefted the sword. ‘Stay back where it’s safe. As long as you’re up here I’ll be able to defend you.’

  The west gate, covered from bottom to top with the image of a gold and white tiger, opened and a cohort of third and fourth years, guided by junior and senior masters, emerged to stand in ranks on the narrow roadway between the cliffs that led to the gate. Even though the demons could fly, they would be limited in their movement by the narrowness of the canyon. To our left, at the top of the wall, another group of third and fourth years armed with bows took position, ready to pick off any demons that attempted to fly over the wall. Five of the Academy’s dragons in True Form landed next to them, ready to assist.

  ‘It’s about two to one to our advantage,’ I said. ‘For it to be an even match human to demon, it re
ally should be about three to one.’

  ‘I’m well aware of that,’ John said mildly. ‘But remember that I am here as well, and I am worth more than fifty by myself.’

  The demons landed on the roadway and spurred their horses into a gallop, charging at the students. John spread his arms and leapt off the wall, somersaulting to land on his feet at the front of the group. Leo leapt to follow him, summoning his own sword, the Black Lion, as he fell. The demons surged around John and attacked the students.

  The students fought in tight-knit groups, three or four of them to a single hybrid-mounted demon. The students on the wall used energy arrows to pick off the flying demons, complaining loudly that they couldn’t get clear shots in the mêlée.

  The Demon King stood at the back of his demon army, seemingly content to watch.

  John stopped for a moment, brought his hands together around his sword and pulled it apart into two identical blades, the indentations on each joined to the other by a shining ribbon of coloured light. He swung the swords, one in each hand, and the rainbow band destroyed every demon he caught in it. He swung the swords over his head, the ribbon of light stretching wider as it swept around him, and demons exploded into black essence.

  I concentrated on the Demon King. More than anything, I wanted to run up to him and take him down, but I’d suffered enough for my rash actions already. He was still watching, but also appeared to be speaking to someone.

  There was a shout from below. John had collapsed, returning to his small human form and dropping the swords. They singed the vegetation around them, then lost their light and returned to the single blade, which disappeared. Leo knelt next to John, quickly checked him, then tossed him over his shoulder and ran to the wall. He ran up it to the top and gently dropped John onto his back on the stones next to me.

  The demons redoubled their efforts, but the students held them off. The dragons lifted the demon horse-hybrids and threw them into the Mountain’s walls, splattering them into demon essence.

  ‘He’s barely conscious and his pupils are constricted,’ Leo said. ‘No sign of head injury. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he’d OD’d on an opiate.’

  ‘Just let me sleep,’ John mumbled, then turned over and vomited. I quickly stepped back to avoid it, but Leo wasn’t as fast.

  ‘Definitely looks like an OD,’ Leo said, picking John up again and carrying him towards the infirmary, not seeming to notice the mess all over him. ‘How did the King …’ He realised before I needed to explain. ‘They did this to the Serpent.’

  Edwin already had a bed ready for John, and quickly pulled back his eyelids and shone a light into his eyes. He went to the stores cupboard, found a testing kit and swabbed the inside of John’s mouth. Leo held the reagent strip as Edwin ran the swab over it, then both of them watched it change, seemingly oblivious to the injured students being brought in and cared for by Edwin’s assistants.

  ‘Negative for everything,’ Edwin said, confused, then his expression cleared as he understood. ‘The drugs aren’t in his system, they’re in the Serpent’s.’ He looked around the infirmary. ‘Anything major?’

  ‘Cuts and bruises mostly; a broken wrist as well,’ one of his assistants said. ‘We’re on top of it.’

  Edwin looked back at John. ‘Simone used techniques she’d learnt in school to fight the drugs they gave her at Angkor. Surely he’d have the same skills?’

  ‘I think he’s too out of it to be aware,’ I said.

  ‘I don’t want to give him the antidote. Without the drugs in his system, it could do more harm than good,’ Edwin said. ‘We can’t let him die, it’s too dangerous. We need to wake him up and talk to him.’ He shook John’s shoulder. ‘Lord Xuan, it is vitally important that you try to stay awake for us.’

  ‘No,’ John said. ‘Let me sleep.’

  ‘John Chen Wu, you listen to me right now,’ I said sternly. ‘Your Mountain is under attack, your students are in danger, and you need to wake up and defend them.’

  That roused him. ‘My students are in danger?’ He groggily tried to rise.

  ‘John,’ I said urgently, ‘the Serpent can talk through the Turtle. Can the Turtle act through the Serpent?’

  ‘Don’t want to, could rejoin,’ he said, trying to focus on me. ‘Why is it so dark?’

  ‘The Serpent’s full of opium,’ I said. ‘It’s affecting you. Can you fix it?’

  ‘Opium,’ John said with distaste, dropping his head again. ‘Never tried the stuff; it killed too many of my people. Wait.’ He raised his head. ‘In the Serpent?’

  ‘The King’s filled the Serpent with opium. It’s making you like this.’

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ he said grimly, and flopped back on the bed, closing his eyes. His face filled with concentration, then he took a deep breath in and out again. ‘You’re right. Someone put it in my food. Must have injected a litre of the stuff into the chicken they gave me. I wondered why it tasted so bitter. Just give me a moment.’ His eyes snapped open, and this time his pupils were enormous. ‘I’ve never taken opium, but I can see how it works and I think I can reverse the effect it’s having on me …’ He took another deep breath and held it.

  I held my own breath as I waited for him to let it out, but he didn’t. After a couple of minutes I couldn’t stay silent. ‘Edwin …’

  ‘I know,’ Edwin said. ‘If he goes blue I’ll do something.’

  John spasmed as if he’d been shocked and released the breath. He panted for a few moments, then turned to look at me. His eyes were back to normal. ‘Fixed.’

  Demons are retreating, Liu said.

  ‘This whole thing,’ I indicated the injured students around us, ‘it was just to try this out?’

  ‘Unfortunately, yes,’ John said. ‘And they gained some valuable information as well.’

  ‘What information?’ Leo said.

  ‘One, that I can act on the Serpent to clear any drug they try to use on it. And two, when I was talking to you, the Serpent was saying what I was saying. They know that I can speak through the Serpent — and therefore that the Serpent can speak through me.’

  ‘Oh, damn,’ I said.

  ‘I have patients to attend to,’ Edwin said, rising. ‘You’ll be fine. You may need to rest after the exertion.’

  John tried to sit up, struggled with it, and gave up. ‘Leo,’ he said.

  ‘My Lord?’

  ‘Go take a shower, you stink.’

  ‘With great pleasure, my Lord. May I suggest that you do the same because, with all due respect, so do you.’

  ‘Give me a hand to the Residence?’

  Leo grinned. ‘Sure thing, Dad.’

  John and I both stared at him in shock and said in unison, ‘Dad?’

  ‘I’m engaged to his son, aren’t I?’ Leo said, the grin not shifting. He put one arm around John’s shoulder and assisted him to stand. ‘I think that gives me every right to expect a trip to the ball game with you.’

  ‘Don’t push your luck,’ John said.

  ‘Leo, be quick, you’re needed back here,’ Edwin said.

  ‘Can you wait for me to help him back to the Residence?’ Leo said.

  ‘Go right ahead, there’s nothing critical. But come straight back when you’re done. An extra nurse is always good.’

  ‘I’ll take him, you stay and help,’ I said.

  ‘We’re both covered in turtle vomit, we need to clean up,’ Leo said, helping John towards the door. ‘You can mind him when I get him home.’

  ‘Do as the Immortal Lord says,’ John said, wincing as Leo guided him through the door. ‘He has precedence.’

  ‘Damn,’ I said, and followed them.

  Later that day, as dusk was falling over the compound, John lay on the bed and I gently worked over the acid burns, performing mild energy healing. I couldn’t fix them completely, but I was speeding up the healing process and in a couple of days he would be fine.

  ‘The biggest you can take without the Serpent’s help is
about level sixty-five,’ John said. ‘The King would have torn you to pieces.’

  ‘He raped my nephews,’ I said.

  ‘Is that good enough reason to kill yourself seeking revenge? We fixed that death wish.’

  ‘My nephews will never completely recover and it’s his fault.’

  ‘Your family would never forgive you.’

  ‘If he was gone, my family could come out of hiding and I could see them again!’ I said, my voice strained.

  He was silent at that.

  ‘Can I come in?’ Simone called from outside the door.

  ‘Yeah, it’s fine,’ I said.

  Simone stopped when she saw John’s torso covered in burns. ‘We need to do something about this, Daddy.’

  He pulled himself up to lean on the bedhead. ‘You concentrate on your schoolwork. Let me deal with this.’

  She gestured towards his injuries. ‘Cuts and burns.’ She sat on the bed next to him. ‘Give me back my yin and I’ll sort this out myself.’

  He held his hand out, his expression grim. She took it, and they sat motionless for a moment, hands clasped, neither of them breathing.

  ‘Is everything okay?’ a girl said from outside the room.

  John and Simone snapped back with a visible jump.

  ‘Sorry, Hickory,’ Simone called out. ‘I got distracted talking to my dad. My bedroom’s the first one on the side there, around the balcony. I’ll be right there.’

  ‘Your father’s in there?’ Hickory said, her voice small. ‘The Dark Lord?’

  ‘Put a shirt on,’ Simone hissed, and John conjured a black Mountain uniform. ‘Come on in and say hello if you like, Hickory.’

  ‘Uh … I think I’ll just go wait for you in your room, if that’s okay,’ Hickory said.

  ‘That’s fine,’ John said with a small smile. ‘Simone will be along shortly.’

  Hickory squeaked and we heard her footsteps run towards Simone’s room.

  Simone glared at John. ‘You like scaring my friends.’

  ‘I don’t do anything at all to them,’ he said. ‘They do it to themselves.’

  ‘I suppose everybody’s afraid of the dark, Simone,’ I said.

  Simone rose. ‘How long before you can give me my yin back?’