Demon Child (21 page)

‘You’d better be good enough,’ John growled.

Simone again tried to plunge her right-hand weapon into my abdomen and I blocked it. Her left came towards my head, so I pushed her right down and out of the way and stepped back to block her left. Her right came at me, again at waist height, and I twisted my blade around hers, pushed it down and smashed the blades into each other with a visible spark of her chakra energy.

‘Good,’ John said.

I didn’t wait for her to recover; I spun with the movement and took a swing at her neck, but her crossed blades were already there to block me and she swung my sword down. She released one of her blades as mine was forced down and again attempted to take my head off. I dropped the Murasame beneath her push and somersaulted sideways to avoid her strike, feeling the blade whistle past me as I went underneath it. Close.

John must have been thinking the same thing. ‘That was too close. Stop this now.’

As I righted myself I put my left hand out and the Murasame’s scabbard flew into it.

‘No!’ Simone shouted.

She stepped forward and tried to put the point of Bo under my chin before I could ready myself to attack again. I used the Murasame’s scabbard to block the blade coming for my throat while I used the sword in my right to block the other one coming towards my head.

Simone used brute force to push my blocks away and kicked me square in the abdomen, sending me sliding three metres across the floor. She was in front of me before I’d stopped moving and had a chance to recover. She held the tips of both viciously curved blades at my throat.

‘I win,’ she said with satisfaction.

She was at least three times stronger and faster than me and there was no way I could defeat her. I stepped back, turned the Murasame horizontally between us and formally slid it into its scabbard. ‘I concede.’

She straightened, her expression full of triumph.

‘Dammit, Emma,’ John said with dismay.

I turned to him. ‘I thought you’d be pleased. She’s improved so much since you returned it’s miraculous.’

‘You. Will. Get. Yourself. Killed!’ John shouted at Simone.

‘You’ll go back on our agreement?’ she said, glaring at him. She pointed at me. ‘I beat her. I can go tomorrow.’

‘Oh, no way.’ I dropped the sword and staggered as my knees buckled. ‘No way. Simone, don’t do this. Please, for us. You’re
mortal
!’

‘So are all the Disciples, the Elites, the Winds’ armies …’ She looked from her father to me. ‘I’m not special!’

‘You’re my daughter,’ he said with anguish.

‘Even more reason for me to go.’ She gestured towards me. ‘Five years of solid training with you and I just bested her. Easily. The Heavens need me.’ She summoned yin and it spiralled around her. ‘I could be the difference between victory and defeat.’

‘You’ll get yourself killed,’ he said, his voice weak with misery. He put his hand over his eyes and went out.

Simone pulled the yin in, dismissed her swords and came to me. She put her hands on my arms. ‘I have to do this, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I have to help. All the Celestial, all the Earthly, all of it is at risk, and I would sacrifice myself without hesitation to protect it.’ She gazed into my eyes. ‘Didn’t you just do the same thing a couple of days ago?’

‘You’re just a child,’ I said.

‘Like the Tiger said: he’s had wives younger than me, and it’s about time I grew up,’ she said with grim humour. Then her expression softened. ‘But you weren’t thinking of going down and helping fight tomorrow, were you?’

‘I have more sense,’ I said, my voice thick.

‘Good.’ She raised her head and concentrated. ‘He’s coming back to give me as much training as he can before tomorrow.’ She sighed. ‘I hope he forgives me for this.’

‘Just don’t get yourself killed tomorrow, Simone. I don’t know what I’d do.’

She embraced me. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful. Nothing will happen to me.’ She pulled back to see me. ‘I’ll be fine.’

John came back in, his expression frozen into a grim mask.
Give her the Tiger’s claw before she goes tomorrow
.

‘I will,’ I said.

You won’t be able to explain what it’s for
.

‘I know.’

‘What? That’s so rude!’ Simone said.

‘Contingency plans,’ I said. ‘I’ll tell you later.’ I picked the Murasame up from where it was floating ten centimetres above the floor. It quivered and felt heavy in my hand; it really hated it when I surrendered. ‘If your father isn’t sure you’re good enough, please don’t go.’

‘He already agreed.’ Her face softened. ‘But I’ll listen to his advice.’

‘Start with the level three double-handed set,’ John said. ‘From the beginning.’

She moved into position in the middle of the room and brought her swords back out.

I headed back to my office, my heart heavy with dread.

Later that afternoon, I was checking the weapons in the forge with Moaner when the bells rang once and then stopped. I waited for them to pick up a code I knew, but nothing happened.

‘Once?’ I said to Moaner, and he shrugged.

Then it hit me so hard I staggered. I stared blindly at Moaner for a long moment, paralysed with shock.

‘The Jade Emperor is
here
?’ Moaner said, incredulous.

‘What the hell?’ I said, and ran to the great square in front of the Hall of the True Way.

‘You’re not dressed for him!’ Moaner shouted behind me.

‘He’ll just have to put up with me,’ I said as I arrived in the square and stopped next to John, who was standing in Celestial Form at the edge of the square to greet the Jade Emperor and his entourage. A crowd of students was gathering at the side of the square, jostling to see, with a few of the Academy dragons in the air above them.

Attention
, John said, and the students settled, the taller ones moving back so the shorter ones could have a better view.

‘Before you ask, I have no idea,’ John said to me, and straightened.

The Jade Emperor appeared, floating slightly above the grey stone pavers in glowing Celestial Form, more than two metres tall.
He wore his robes of Imperial gold, embroidered with six-toed dragons, and his flat square hat with beads hanging in front of his eyes. A pair of Celestial Palace fairies, in robes of pink and red, stood behind and to either side of him.

Er Lang and Venus flanked him, also in Celestial Form. Er Lang was in his human mid-thirties warrior form, wearing green-scaled armour and with his dog at his foot. Venus appeared as a Tang gentleman in robes of pale pink and violet with his long hair bound into a topknot and covered with a five-centimetre-wide filigree crown.

Everybody in the square, including John and me, fell to one knee on the pavers as the group approached, the Jade Emperor still floating slightly above the ground.

‘Celestial Majesty,’ John said, his head bowed. ‘This humble Shen welcomes you and your —’

‘No need, Ah Wu,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Up you come, this won’t take long. War room, please.’

He settled onto the pavers and we stood to one side, heads still bowed, as he strode past us to the war room.

‘We need a contingency plan if Hell should fall tomorrow,’ the Jade Emperor said without any preamble as soon as we were sitting.

‘Hell will fall?’ I said with dismay.

‘I keep forgetting you are young and mortal,’ the Jade Emperor said with amusement. ‘Ah Wu will explain later.’

He can’t share his knowledge of the future because our actions will change in response
, John said.
That could affect the outcome — and possibly not in our favour. We must trust him to guide us
.

‘Or he will explain immediately,’ the Jade Emperor said, still amused.

‘Emma grasps concepts so quickly that there is no need for long explanations,’ John said.

‘True.’ The Jade Emperor rapped his fingertips on the table. ‘Contingency plans. I need to know that they exist and what they are. Lady Emma keeps telling everybody that defeat is not an option, when we all know that it is.’

I rose and pushed my chair back. ‘It’s all on my desk. I’ll go and —’

Yi Hao came in and handed me my copy of the document.

‘Never mind,’ I said. I flipped it open. ‘How much information do you need from me?’

‘Do we have backups for every major Celestial?’

‘All except you,’ I said.

‘The Number Ones are covered?’

‘The Number Twos are up to date, except for the North where they’re both ready to take over from each other,’ I said.

‘The Number Threes?’

‘Each Wind is sharing as much information as possible, Majesty,’ John said. ‘We would need to lose a significant number of top-level people before our efficiency is compromised.’

‘Good,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Have you stationed extra guards on the Courts?’

‘Each Court has a full cohort of demons from the Tenth,’ I said.

‘Sufficient. I am giving you two Elites to assign to Pao in addition to the cohort already present. Pao is to be guarded day and night.’

‘Majesty.’

‘Now tell me the contingency plan if Hell should fall.’

‘We’ve erected barricades around Court Ten that should be impervious to all physical and elemental attacks,’ John said. ‘If they overrun the ends of the causeways, we will pull back to Court Ten and do our best to hold that. Even if the rest of Hell falls, as long as we hold Court Ten our people will be free to return to us, and we can use it as a base to retake our side.’

‘Court One?’

John hesitated. ‘There’s a suicide squad in Court One, and they will fight until the end to hold it, but we will sacrifice Court One if needs be so we can retain Court Ten.’

‘Majesty,’ I said, my voice low, and everybody turned their attention to me.

‘Miss Donahoe?’

‘I’ve asked the Dark Lord this question and he does not know the answer. What if we place bombs in the Courts to destroy them if they should fall? How would the fate of our people be affected if the Courts don’t exist?’

‘Interesting concept,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘Let me see.’ He was silent for a moment. ‘They would just land in the middle of the rubble.’

‘The walls of the Court would not be around us?’ John said.

‘No.’ The Emperor leaned back. ‘I see your plan. There is a chance of escape and return if Court Ten has fallen but its walls are not around you.’ He was silent for another long moment. ‘A novel idea, but it would serve no practical purpose and make no difference in the end, apart from having to rebuild when all is over. Do not proceed in that direction.’

‘Majesty,’ John and I said together.

‘Now. The treaty business tomorrow,’ the Jade Emperor said.

‘Majesty, may I once again —’ John began.

‘No,’ the Jade Emperor said, interrupting him. ‘We will not display any sign of weakness. They will only see our strength and confidence. We will not compromise our adherence to the protocols.’

‘They didn’t adhere to the protocols!’ John protested. ‘They attacked us in Hell when we collected the treaty.’

‘And if they attack us in Heaven, I am counting on you to defend us,’ the Jade Emperor said. ‘I do not doubt your ability. Do you?’

John grunted with frustration. ‘They have been doing things to themselves. The Western King —’

‘Just be ready. They may try something. But we will not diminish the purity of Celestial Harmony by not adhering to the protocols! This is not negotiable. They will not terrorise us into any sign of weakness.’

‘There’s a vast difference between weakness and simple prudence —’

‘The matter is settled. The negotiations will take place tomorrow in the Hall of Supreme Harmony.’

‘At least evacuate the Celestial Palace,’ John said, distraught.

‘It has been. It will only be us and those required to maintain our presence.’

John rested his forehead in his hand, grim with defeat.

‘Er Lang, Venus, dismissed,’ the Jade Emperor said, and John’s head shot up.

John and I shared a glance as the two men rose, went to the door, bowed to the Jade Emperor and went out.

I nodded towards the fairies.

‘The Celestial Palace knows all that I know,’ the Emperor said. ‘Your secret is safe with it.’

‘Majesty,’ I said.

‘I am pleased that the two of you have not concocted some ridiculously daring plan to rush in and extract your child,’ he said. ‘There is still hope that you both will attain some degree of wisdom before this is over.’

‘It’s the hardest thing we’ve ever done,’ I said.

‘I’m well aware of that. I have twenty-three children myself, Lady Emma, and eight of them are Elite guards. If Hell falls they will be at the mercy of the demon horde, and it is a certainty that they will not be adopted and loved by the King himself.’

‘I understand and sympathise, Majesty,’ I said. ‘But this isn’t about our child, is it? It’s about me and his Serpent.’

‘How many know?’ the Emperor said.

‘It’s becoming obvious to everyone around us,’ John said. He gestured slightly towards me. ‘They hear me in her.’

The Jade Emperor leaned his elbow on the table and his chin in his hand.

We waited silently for him, then I realised why he hesitated.

‘Oh hell, no,’ I said. ‘Not you too.’

He smiled slightly, still with his chin in his hand.

‘This is absolutely none of your business,’ John growled.

The Jade Emperor spread his hands, giving us the full benefit of his kindly old gentleman persona. ‘I didn’t say anything. I didn’t order you to do anything.’

‘All right,’ I said, brisk and businesslike. ‘If we were to do it — and I’m not saying I’m agreeing to you prostituting me here — how much would it affect the Celestial’s chances of victory?’

‘Not even a question, because if you don’t want it, it won’t happen,’ John said, his voice still a low growl.

‘I have not prostituted you, madam, because I have not told you to do anything,’ the Emperor said with dignity. ‘It would not affect the outcome of any aspect of the upcoming conflict with Hell in any way at all.’

‘There’s your answer then,’ John said.

‘But it would increase your chances of surviving this conflict from close to zero to about fifty-fifty,’ the Emperor said to me.

‘What?’ John said, then gathered himself. ‘I will Raise her!’

‘Even so.’

‘But if she’s Raised,’ John’s expression darkened, ‘how could she not survive? Give us more.’

‘I don’t need to.’ The Emperor gestured towards me. ‘She knows.’

‘We’ll merge before we can liberate your Serpent, and I’ll be lost into you,’ I said with resignation.

‘There’s still a fifty-fifty chance she’ll be lost into me anyway?’ John said, his voice hoarse with horror.

‘No, because right now the likelihood of her being lost is a hundred per cent.’

‘I would rather die than force my wife to submit to this,’ John said.

‘She is not your wife,’ the Emperor said. ‘And no force is necessary. All you need to do is reassure her that she will not be harmed and that the experience will not be unpleasant. She is well on the way to saying yes anyway, Ah Wu, she just needs a little encouragement.’

John glanced at me and I smiled slightly. The Jade Emperor was right. I’d been unable to concentrate for most of the afternoon because I’d been debating whether I should ask John about it that evening, and the possibilities were driving me to distraction. All I needed when we were going into battle the next day.

The Emperor rose and we stood as well. ‘My sincerest apologies for interfering in your private affairs in this way, but to be honest, Emma, I’ve grown quite fond of how you are completely unfazed by his grandiose displays of power and never hesitate to yank him off his altar when he becomes too arrogant.’

‘I am never arrogant!’ John protested.

‘I’m more arrogant than he is,’ I said. ‘He’s one of the most humble people on the Plane.’

The Jade Emperor went to the doorway, turned and slipped his hands into his sleeves. ‘We need to hurry and have this Hell business out of the way so that you two can settle down together and we can all enjoy watching your antics. I am very much looking forward to that.’ He bowed to us. ‘I will leave you to it. Both of you are doing a fine job and the Celestial thanks you for your diligence.’

‘Celestial Majesty,’ we said in unison, and he and the fairies went out.

‘Of all the interfering, intolerable, ridiculous old men —’ John began.

‘I try,’ the Jade Emperor said outside the door. ‘Venus, Er Lang, let’s go.’

At 7 pm I went from my office back to the Imperial Residence to have dinner with the family. The dining room was deserted. I sat at the twelve-seater round table and Er Hao came in.

‘They say they’re on their way, ma’am. Do you want to wait for them or eat?’ she said.

‘I’ll wait. Can I have some tea, please?’

She nodded and went out, then returned with a pot and three cups. I filled one and leaned back in my dining chair to wait for them.

Half an hour later, Simone stormed in. ‘Sorry I’m late. I was with Leo and Ge Ge — they can’t come but —’

She stopped, and I jerked upright. I’d fallen asleep against the back of the chair.

‘Sorry, Emma,’ she said more gently. ‘I was just with Leo and Ge Ge at the Peak. We were teaching Buffy some martial arts.’ Her eyes went bright with pleasure. ‘She is so cute! I love her to bits. She’s like a little sister. You should come down …’ Her face fell as she realised I couldn’t plane-shift and she changed the subject. ‘Daddy’s not here with you? You’re all alone?’

‘He’ll be along when he’s finished what he’s doing,’ I said.

She concentrated and nodded. ‘He says to start without him, he’ll be here as soon as he can.’

‘Have you eaten?’

‘No, I wanted to share this last —’ She stopped herself again, then rallied. ‘I wanted to be … with you. And Daddy. I asked Leo to come, but he’s with Martin and Buffy, and that makes sense. Everybody should be with their family.’

‘Did you talk to Nanna and Pop?’ I said.

‘Your family are stupid!’ she snapped, then relented and sat next to me. ‘Sorry. They wouldn’t come. Something about the boys
not wanting to come up here, so they all decided to stay together. They’re stupid.’

‘I only hope Greg’s enough to guard them,’ I said. ‘Did you tell them to all stay in the same place with Greg while we give the treaty back tomorrow?’

‘Yes, they —’

John interrupted her, stumbling into the dining room and falling into a seat on the other side of her. ‘I’m here,’ he said.

‘Daddy, you look a million years old,’ Simone said.

‘I feel it,’ John said, resting his face in his hand. ‘What’s that about Emma’s family?’

‘They’re all together at Aunt Jennie and Greg’s house, and Greg’s guarding them,’ Simone said. ‘Greg will let me know if anything happens, and I’ll go straight there.’

‘Thanks, Simone. You tried, and that’s what’s important,’ I said.