Journey to Wudang

‘How are you feeling?’ my mother said.

  I rubbed my hand over my forehead. ‘Weird. Starving!’

  ‘That’s a very good sign,’ John said. ‘Come into the dining room. Can you walk?’

  ‘I can try,’ I said, and they helped me up. I had a wave of dizziness but managed to stand upright, and walked arm in arm with my mother to the dining room at the back corner of the house.

  ‘Edwin is on his way to examine you,’ John said. ‘He wants to do some tests.’

  ‘I’m not physically damaged …’ I began, then understood. ‘Brain damage.’

  ‘Possibly.’

  ‘You can see inside me; can’t you see any damage?’

  ‘I can see inside, but I don’t know what to look for, so he will use me as a scanner.’

  A servant came in with a variety of vegetarian dishes, and another with bowls on a tray. They set the table and served the food for us. One of them was a middle-aged woman and I stared at her; she seemed familiar.

  ‘Do I know you?’ I said.

  ‘I’m Er Hao, ma’am. The Dark Lord kindly permitted me to take over the management of this residence.’ She nodded to him. ‘I am honoured.’

  ‘One of your demons runs your office, the other runs your home,’ John said. ‘I like the symmetry.’

  ‘I’m sure I will too when I remember who they are.’

  After we’d finished the meal, a young man in a plain business shirt and slacks came to the house — Edwin, the Academy doctor. He took us upstairs to the master bedroom, and had me lie on the bed with John sitting next to me. My parents and Simone stood behind John, hovering with concern.

  ‘Tell me what you want to see and I’ll try to show it to you,’ John said.

  ‘What would be ideal would be a 3D projection of your observations above her head,’ Edwin said. ‘Like an MRI.’

  ‘I’d need a stone to help me, I think,’ John said, and concentrated.

  Gold came in, his child floating at his left shoulder. ‘I’ll see what I can do. I need to take True Form.’ He changed to a stone and floated above my face. ‘Link up, my Lord, and let’s see what we can achieve.’

  John put his hand on Gold and concentrated. There was a loud crack.

  ‘Too cold!’ Gold said. ‘You’ll damage me.’

  ‘Don’t hurt Daddy,’ the baby stone said, its voice high-pitched with concern.

  ‘Brendan, Barbara, take the stone child out,’ John said. ‘We need to be able to concentrate, and it may be best if none of you see what we’re about to show Edwin. Simone, you too, this could be unpleasant.’

  I turned my head to look at them, but John put his other hand on my face to stop me. His touch was like ice-cold metal. ‘Keep your head very still. Tell me if it hurts.’

  ‘What’s hurting is the cold of your hand,’ I said.

  ‘Sorry,’ he said, and his hand warmed to slightly less freezing.

  ‘Can you project the image of her brain above her face?’ Edwin said. ‘The same size, or slightly larger?’

  I watched with horror as the image appeared. It was one thing to see an X-ray of a brain; this was mine, in lifelike colour, the blood clearly visible moving through the vessels around it.

  John felt my distress and a wave of calm travelled from his hand into me. I relaxed.

  ‘Rotate it about its vertical axis,’ Edwin said, and the brain spun. ‘Now the other axis.’ His finger appeared above my face, pointing to an area at the base of my brain, and I watched with detached interest. ‘Can you enlarge that area?’

  The brain zoomed larger, and hung motionless above me.

  ‘That’s fine. Shrink it back to normal size, and, if you could, show her skull around it?’

  The brain shrank again and my face appeared, hovering above me. The skin peeled back to reveal just my skull.

  ‘Ew,’ Gold said. ‘You animals are disgusting. So many layers.’

  ‘Now for the difficult part,’ Edwin said. ‘Can you show it in slices?’

  ‘Now you ask a great deal,’ John said. ‘I hope you’re not pushing my nature too hard here.’

  ‘If there is the slightest risk, don’t try it,’ Edwin said.

  ‘Help me, Gold,’ John said, and they both went quiet.

  The image of my brain separated into two-centimetre slices, each about a centimetre apart.

  ‘Lift them one by one?’ Edwin said.

  The slices shuffled, each of them lifting in turn, then the whole image disappeared and John collapsed over me, breathing heavily.

  ‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘I have to go down to the water for a while. But before I go — is she all right?’

  ‘I can’t see any damage whatsoever,’ Edwin said. ‘There’s no permanent brain injury. All we have is some memory loss that will probably return over time.’

  ‘Emma,’ John said, gasping, ‘I have to go into the lake. Our audience with the Jade Emperor is at 3pm tomorrow. Forgive me, love, but I need to go down there until close to the time. Call me up when we have to leave.’ He dropped his head on my stomach. ‘I am so sorry.’

  ‘Go. Rest. You need it,’ I said, but he was already gone.

  ‘Gold, call her family back, and arrange for them to stay here overnight to keep her company,’ Edwin said.

  ‘You mean to watch me,’ I said.

  ‘That too. I suggest you take it easy. No administrative work, take a short walk, and rest until your audience tomorrow. Heaven will not fall if you both take a day away from your duties.’

  ‘Is it a few miles lower, Gold?’ I said.

  He stared at me, obviously confused for a moment, then grinned. ‘Not a few miles, ma’am. I’d say the most it dropped was a few hundred metres.’

  ‘We did well, then, to manage while he was gone,’ I said, leaning my head back and closing my eyes.

  ‘That examination probably tired you out as much as it did us,’ Gold said. ‘Rest. Spend time with your parents. Tomorrow you have the enviable experience of a top-level audience with the Jade Emperor — something very few of us ever get to witness let alone participate in.’

  ‘Only because you stay the hell away if you’re smart enough.’

  Edwin rose, and Gold did too. ‘I’m glad you’re still yourself, ma’am,’ Gold said, touching my hand.

  I was too exhausted to reply.

  Early the next morning, I sneaked out of the house and walked around the Mountain. I passed over the soaring bridge connecting the section that held the Imperial Residence and Armoury with the administration section. Memories returned to me as I wandered through the campus: students working, battles fought. I studied the slate pathways and low stone walls, looking for bloodstains from the most recent attack, but couldn’t find any.

  I reached my office, and touched the tree as I passed underneath it, sparking more memories. It would all return to me eventually.

  I went into the reception area for my office. Yi Hao sat behind the desk, her face blank. She erupted into life when I neared her, shot to her feet and raced around the desk. She hugged me, pulled back, and hugged me again.

  ‘I thought we’d lost you, ma’am,’ she said, and wiped her eyes.

  ‘I’m here. He has an oath to me, remember?’ I said. I went around her to go into my office but she moved to block me. ‘Oh, come on, Yi Hao, there’s probably a zillion emails waiting for me, and the in-tray has to be piled up to the ceiling.’

  She screwed her face up with determination. ‘There is nothing urgent that the senior members of staff can’t handle.’ She was obviously reciting from memory. ‘You are to rest and not do any work in your office for twenty-four hours.’

  ‘What if I ordered you out of the way?’ I said.

  Her face fell. ‘I would let you in, but the Celestial Masters would be very cross with me.’

  I patted her on the shoulder. ‘No, they wouldn’t. They’d be mad with me.’

  ‘Same thing, ma’am,’ she said, miserable.

  I leaned to speak conspiratorially
to her. ‘I just passed the mess. They’re putting out the breakfast things, and they just opened a brand new caterer’s size jar of really crunchy peanut butter.’

  She hesitated for a moment, then shook her head. ‘Not until I’m sure you won’t go into your office.’

  I raised my hands. ‘All right, you win. I’ll go for a walk all the way around the Mountain and be back here tomorrow. And Yi Hao?’

  ‘Ma’am?’

  ‘Find yourself some quarters and try to be more human. Turning yourself off like that behind the desk is wrong, and you deserve better.’

  ‘But it’s all I need. And it means I am always here when you need me.’

  After doing nearly a full circuit of the six lower peaks, I arrived back at the Imperial Residence, and saw John walking past it towards the Armoury. I was too far away to call out to him so I just followed him, and when I was closer I realised it wasn’t John at all, but his son, Martin.

  Martin went to the wall of rock next to the Armoury, put his hand out, and opened the entrance to what I remembered now was the Grotto. I followed him, opening the wall myself and heading down the stairs.

  ‘Martin,’ I called, and he turned to see me, then created a ball of light so I could see him. ‘I’ll come too.’

  He waited for me to join him, and we proceeded down the stairs together.

  ‘Is he talking?’ I said.

  ‘No, that’s why I’m down here,’ Martin said. ‘Oh! Father. Father is talking, yes. He said he prefers to be left alone and is dozing at the bottom of the water.’

  ‘Who’s not talking then?’ I said, then saw Leo come into view, sitting in his wheelchair next to the water. ‘Never mind.’

  I told him how you got AIDS, Martin said silently. He’s been down here since.

  Martin raised one hand and a pair of ordinary white PVC outdoor chairs appeared, one on either side of Leo. I sat on Leo’s left; Martin sat on his right.

  Does Martin think I should talk to Leo about the AIDS? I asked the stone, then remembered that it was gone. It was supposed to be indestructible, but what Prince Six had done with stones was very disturbing, and he’d obviously passed the knowledge on to Kitty Kwok. The more I remembered of the stone’s irritating ways, the more I missed it.

  I didn’t bother asking the question out loud. We sat silently for a while, watching the bioluminescence of the fish smear and shimmer as they played under the surface of the water. Eventually, I took Leo’s hand and held it. Leo raised my hand and kissed it without looking away from the water, then dropped it back into his lap and held it with both hands. Martin leaned his head on Leo’s shoulder. We stayed there watching the fish for a very long time.

  We woke John at 2pm, and he came out of the water and retook human form. We went together up to the Imperial Residence to try to find something suitable to wear for the audience with the Jade Emperor.

  ‘I’ll just take full Celestial Form when we’re at the Celestial Palace,’ John said, eyeing my closet in my servants’ quarters. ‘You, on the other hand, have to dress up human.’ He turned to me, his dark eyes full of amusement. ‘Does Qing dynasty work on you?’

  ‘Nothing works on me. I usually just wear a warrior’s Tang robe with my armour over the top, like I did at Court Ten.’

  ‘No need for me to summon the outfit for you if it’s here already.’ He sat on the bed. ‘Is it back from the Northern Heavens?’

  I pulled the robe and armour out of the closet and showed them to him. The robe particularly was starting to wear around the edges from being worn to so many official functions.

  ‘That robe needs replacing,’ he said. ‘The armour needs upgrading, with more platinum and something more suitable etched onto the breastplate. That really is much too plain for someone of your station.’

  ‘Your armour’s plain,’ I said.

  ‘Only the battle suit; the full Celestial armour is much more decorative. I haven’t summoned the dress armour in a very long time. I think the last time I wore it was when I told the Jade Emperor to go to hell.’ His voice became wistful. ‘It’s in my apartments in the Celestial Palace, gathering dust.’

  I pulled my T-shirt over my head and slipped my jeans off, leaving them on the floor.

  ‘Oh, yes. Even better in daylight,’ he said. ‘You’re still in terrific shape; it’s very good to see. But make sure you have some demons move all of this stuff up into the main house. You shouldn’t be down here in the servants’ quarters.’

  I wrapped the robe around me, pulled the armour over my head, and moved closer to him so he could help me with the straps and buckles. ‘I’ve never seen the quarters in the Celestial Palace.’

  ‘I hate to think what state they’re in. I hope the staff have at least been oiling the weapons; it would be painful to return to a rusty set.’ He pulled the final strap tight. ‘There you go.’

  I went into the bathroom to stand in front of the mirror, pulled my hair up into a bun and shoved an ebony spike into it. I tidied the remaining wisps of hair with bobby pins, and turned so that he could see me. ‘How’s that?’

  He wasn’t paying attention, and I waited for him.

  He snapped back. ‘Sorry, Simone’s ready. We’ll meet outside, in front of the house, and travel to the Celestial Palace together.’ He unfocused again. ‘Everybody is waiting for us there, and apparently most of the residents of the Celestial are in the Grand Audience Hall already.’

  ‘Charming,’ I said, and turned to go with him.

  When we arrived at the main gates of the Celestial Palace, John raised one hand and the twenty-metre-high doors swung open. We stepped through, me on his right and Simone on his left, and they closed behind us.

  The main square of the Palace, with the stream running through the middle, was deserted. There weren’t even any fish or dragons playing in the water.

  ‘Change here,’ John said, and he and Simone shifted into full Celestial Form.

  John was three metres tall, with dark skin and a thin black beard. His hair was a wild, unbound tangle that spread around him down to his waist. His black armour was edged in silver filigree and carved and filled with silver abstract turtle motifs. He wore his name — ‘Xuan Wu’ — on a shoulder bracer. The Seven Stars of the Big Dipper adorned his breastplate.

  Simone matched his majesty: she was more than two metres tall, with her blue-black robes floating around her and her immensely long honey-coloured hair drifting on a Celestial breeze that wasn’t there. Her robe was dotted with pinpointed stars, and her gold belt was embossed with black serpents.

  John turned to see her, hooked his thumbs into his belt, and his face creased into a smile. ‘Very impressive, Simone.’

  She bowed slightly to him. ‘Thank you, Father.’

  ‘Not scared of me any more?’

  She quickly hugged him and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. He had to bend down so that she could reach him. ‘I don’t think you’re scary any more. I think you’re just my silly old dad.’

  He put his hands on her shoulders and smiled into her eyes. ‘That is exactly right.’ He smiled at me over her shoulder. ‘Ready, Emma?’

  ‘Feeling thoroughly unimpressive next to you two, but ready as I’ll ever be,’ I said. ‘Just take care you two giants don’t tread on me.’

  ‘Wouldn’t dream of it,’ John said. ‘Grand Audience Hall of the Majestic Celestial Eminence.’ He took a step forward and disappeared.

  Simone and I followed. We arrived at the bottom of the ramp up to the hall doors. The Door Gods, Jade, and Gold were waiting for us at the doorway. Jade and Gold were in their Celestial Retainer forms, both of them close on Simone’s height. Gold was in tan robes, with long white hair streaked with gold; Jade wore a brilliant green robe embroidered with golden chrysanthemums, and her dark green hair reached down to her knees.

  John strode up and slapped the Door Gods on the back. ‘Qin. Wei. Good to see you, gentlemen. We must catch up.’

  ‘Have your people contact our people an
d we’ll do lunch,’ Qin said, and winked at me. ‘That’s the correct Hollywood phraseology, isn’t it?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ I said.

  Er Lang walked around the corner of the building and approached us, with his dog in the form of a black Doberman at his heels. He saluted around to the three of us, and we returned it.

  ‘The Celestial requests a formal handover ceremony,’ he said. ‘General Donahoe is to take her place at his right hand with her ruyi —’

  ‘I don’t have it!’

  ‘I’ll get it for you,’ Simone said. ‘Where is it?’

  ‘Ask Yi Hao.’

  ‘Emma, to the Celestial’s right hand; me, on the left,’ Er Lang continued. ‘Ah Wu, you and the Princess up the centre of the main hall to the dais, where the Dark Lady and you will salute each other to officiate the handover. Then the Dark Lord takes the Celestial’s right hand, and the Dark Lady and Princess abase themselves, then move to their positions at the front with their Retainers. Is that suitable?’

  ‘We can,’ John said. He glanced around at us. ‘All ready?’

  My ruyi appeared in Simone’s hand. She passed it to me.

  ‘Emma, come with me around the back. We’ll take our places behind the Jade Emperor,’ Er Lang said. ‘When we’re in position, I’ll signal for Xuan Tian and Simone to enter.’

  ‘Gotcha,’ I said. I grinned up at John; my eyes were level with his wide black belt. ‘Can’t wait to offload this back onto you.’

  ‘Oh, thank you very much,’ he said, glaring down at me.

  ‘The Celestial says for us to move our asses,’ Er Lang said.

  ‘Whoops, sorry,’ I said, and followed him around the outside of the building to the back entrance.

  ‘You’ll need your weapon,’ he said before we entered. ‘You can’t summon a weapon inside.’

  I put my hand out and summoned the Murasame. I pulled out its telescoping strap and clipped it diagonally to my back. I nodded to Er Lang.

  He shook out his shoulders and led me into the rear of the hall. The dais was in the middle, and a clear path led from the rear door to it. Screens sheltered us from the crowd waiting on the other side. We walked to the back of the dais and up the stairs. The Jade Emperor was already present on the throne, and the hall was full of Immortals and Shen, many in True Form, all of them silent. To the left, dressed in black, were the Mountain staff in their uniforms.