Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (27 page)

‘Is he too big for you to tame, Princess?’ Denis said.

‘I’ve tamed a level eighty-nine, Denis,’ Simone said. ‘I don’t think so.’

Denis whistled softly between his teeth. ‘
Eighty-nine
? Damn.’

‘Tomorrow, we’re going to take you to the Academy and we’re going to clear up once and for all whether you are a human being or a demon copy,’ Simone said. ‘Go get some rest, Leo. If you’re hungry ask Ah Yat for something.’ She picked her little backpack up from the floor. ‘I’m going to bed. If any demons attack the Celestial Plane, or Hell erupts and demons take over the world, or the Celestial Palace starts to fall from the sky,’ she grinned at me, ‘tell them to get lost.’

‘Sounds like a very good idea. Night, Simone,’ I said.
‘Come on, Leo, your room is the same, pink underwear and all.’

‘Pink underwear?’ Leo asked.

‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘This way.’

Leo stopped just inside his room. ‘This feels very strange.’

‘How much do you remember?’

‘It’s weird.’ He went to his television unit in the living section and fingered his R&B CDs. ‘I can remember all of this and yet it’s all new.’ He looked around. ‘Which is not surprising since I’m a copy. I have Leo’s memories, but I’ve never been here before.’

‘Get some rest,’ I said. ‘We’ll go to the Academy tomorrow. Regina and, if we’re lucky, Meredith can check you out.’

‘I don’t know what the Academy is but I know that I want to be there, it’s one of my favourite places,’ Leo said. He pulled me into a warm embrace. ‘It’s good to see you again, Emma.’

I held him close and buried my face into his huge chest. ‘I’ve missed you so much. You’re like a brother to me.’

He held me close for a while, then pulled back to see me. His expression became intense, and he raised his hands to circle my throat. I felt a moment of concern but he smiled slightly, pushed one hand behind my neck, and raised the other to brush my cheek.

‘I could never hurt you, Emma,’ he whispered, pulled me closer, and lowered his face to mine to kiss me. I kissed him back, a chaste kiss, but he wanted more. He opened his mouth on mine and turned the kiss from gentle to passionate and full of need. I freed myself and stared at him, bewildered. ‘What are you doing?’

He raised his hands and smiled ruefully. ‘Sorry. My hormones got away from me there, my bad.’ He dropped his hands. ‘Won’t happen again, Emma, I promise. But
you really can’t blame me—you are still just as attractive as ever.’

‘You find me
attractive
?’

He shrugged. ‘Of course I do. Always have. Must be exhausted or something, because I never acted on it before.’ He smiled ruefully again. ‘Don’t worry, I know that the Dark Lord has your heart.’

‘Get some rest, Leo, we have an early start tomorrow,’ I said, and went out, closing the door behind me. I hesitated for a moment, then tapped on Simone’s door.

‘Come on in, Emma.’

Simone sat on the bed wearing a cute set of ‘I hate boys’ pyjamas she’d bought on our last trip to London. ‘What happened? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.’

I went in, pulled out her study chair and sat on it. ‘Leo just made a pass at me.’

She didn’t seem surprised. ‘I know, the elementals told me. More evidence that he’s a demon copy, Emma.’ She waved one hand at me. ‘Go to bed. Don’t worry about him—I have a couple of elementals standing guard over him. If he tries anything I’ll know about it.’

‘The elemental thing working out okay? It was just today you learned to summon them.’

She quirked a small smile. ‘Actually, it’s really easy. And they’re quite fun to talk to as well, they travel around a lot. Must thank Aunty Zhu for teaching me.’

She held out one hand and a tiny water elemental, only about ten centimetres tall, appeared on her palm. The little elemental waved to me, then turned into a streak of water and shot up into the air, separated into droplets that spread horizontally in a circle, and disappeared.

‘That’s great, Simone.’ I took a breath to ask about Celestial High, then changed my mind and rose from the chair. ‘I’m going to bed. Night.’

‘Night, Emma. Sleep well. Don’t worry, we’ll find the real Leo. This fake one wants to help.’

The next morning I took Leo with me to the Academy and Regina checked him out. She was as confused as everybody else was.

‘Human, not demon, as far as I can see, Emma,’ she said. ‘Even his blood is red.’ She sighed and leaned on her desk, studying Leo. ‘What we have here is a perfectly normal forty-one-year-old human male, HIV positive, exactly the same as when he left, except he is no longer a paraplegic with a speech impediment.’

‘Still HIV positive?’ I said. ‘He’s a demon, he can’t be!’

Regina nodded. ‘His blood is human, and he has AIDS.’

Leo sagged and leaned his elbows on his knees where he sat. ‘Wonderful. Back exactly the way I was, but now I’m a demon that has a maximum of twelve months to live, probably less, and I can’t be trusted to protect you or Simone.’ He glanced up at me. ‘We need to find the real me in a hurry, before I turn or die.’

‘I suggest you ask a Celestial to look at him,’ Regina said. ‘Leo, could you wait outside for a moment?’

Leo nodded, went out and closed the door softly behind him.

‘What?’ I said.

‘This isn’t about him, this is about you,’ Regina said. She pulled another file across the desk towards her. ‘You’re due for another set of blood work, Emma. I want to make sure you’re all right.’

‘Okay, I’ll come back in this afternoon and you can take it,’ I said.

Regina rose, went to the cupboard and pulled out a hypodermic syringe. She pushed the needle onto the end and took the cap off. ‘Sure you will. I know you’re
lying, Emma, you’re not planning to come back at all. So let’s do it right now.’

I was about to argue but gave up. She was right. She tightened the rubber hose around my arm and slipped the needle into my vein. Red blood filled the syringe and I sighed with relief.

‘Roughly how much of your dan tian is demon essence, do you think?’ she said as she watched the syringe fill.

‘Dammit, Regina, leave me some, I have a challenge in half an hour,’ I said. ‘Still just over half-full of demon essence.’

‘It shows up on the blood work as toxins in your blood,’ Regina said. ‘The White Tiger’s been giving me some assistance about demon physiology, but you’re something completely different.’

‘Yeah. “Never seen anything like you before, Emma.” Heard that so many times now I’m sick of it.’

‘Are you writing down your dreams?’

I nodded. ‘I don’t know what’s at the top of this hill that my snake is always climbing, but the snake sure as hell wants to get there in a hurry.’

‘Any ideas on where this home place is?’

‘All I know is that it’s very green with a sky that’s sort of pastel blue, not brilliant blue like the Plane. Mostly rolling gentle hills, and the village on top of the hill has views for miles over meadows. There’s two places: the hill that the snake is racing to get to the top of, and the village on top of the hill. I don’t know how I know, but they’re two different places. Every time I have that dream I search the web trying to find any sort of place on the planet that looks like that—thatched cottages, low stone walls, rose gardens. Most of the places are in Europe, but none are on top of a high hill like that.’

‘But your family is Australian?’

‘My father is thinking of checking the family tree, doing a family history, to see exactly where we came from. May be able to trace the source of the Serpent Essence.’

‘Interesting,’ Regina said. ‘Good luck with that.’ She plastered a small bandage over the puncture wound on my arm. ‘I’ll let you know the results of the blood work as soon as I get them.’

‘Thanks, Regina.’

I used the same changing room at the Arena, and the same demon helped me with my armour, bowed and left the room. I nodded to the small statue of Xuan Wu and went out into the hallway. The same young man guided me down the hall to the Arena.

‘We have been seeing quite a lot of you lately, Madam General,’ he said. ‘I have heard of Princess Simone’s announcement. I hope it does not cause you too much difficulty.’

‘What is your honoured name?’ I said.

He bowed slightly. ‘Chan. I am one of the Arena facilitators.’

I nodded back. ‘I thank you for your concern, Mr Chan. I’ve yet to be seriously injured, and it’s good practice for me.’

‘My Lady,’ he said, and raised his arm to indicate the entrance to the Arena.

This time the challenger had chosen a hilltop clearing as the setting. The high, thin mountains of China’s Guilin area surrounded us, mist at their bases.

My challenger and the officiator stood together at the other side of the clearing and I approached them. As I neared my challenger I stopped and studied her. She was obviously trying to look like a boy, in cotton martial arts pants and a brown jacket, her hair tied back into a topknot. She appeared to be about fifteen
years old, and even to my limited vision she was completely human, no Shen or demon essence about her at all.

I raised my arms. ‘This is ridiculous. How can a woman challenge for Princess Simone’s hand?’

‘Woman?’ the officiator said.

‘Put your glasses on, Mr Zhou,’ I said. ‘This is a fifteen-year-old girl.’

A pair of spectacles appeared on the officiator’s head and he pulled them down to peer at my challenger. He did a double-take as he realised I was right. ‘This is highly unusual, young lady. You are obviously under age and the wrong gender to be challenging here.’ He bowed slightly to me. ‘Apologies, Lady Regent. This challenge is forfeit.’ He took his glasses off and cleaned them with the edge of his silk robe’s sleeve. ‘Sorry, ma’am.’

The young woman stepped forward. ‘I want to fight you! I’m good enough for the Mountain and I want to prove it!’

‘You’re too young for the Mountain,’ I said. ‘You know we only take adults.’ I moved closer and patted her arm. ‘Keep training, and come and try out when you’re seventeen or eighteen.’

She pulled her arm away. ‘I’m from Rabbit Village. I’m sixteen, I’m old enough. But the sexist assholes in charge of recruitment there won’t approve me for the Mountain.’

‘Sexist, eh? Stone, how many female Rabbits did we get last year?’

‘Six.’

‘How many male?’

‘Eleven.’

‘Year before?’

‘Four, and thirteen.’ The stone was quiet for a moment. Then, ‘What’s your name, Rabbit?’

‘Tu Men Jiu,’ the Rabbit girl said, defiant.

‘What’s your email address?’

She hesitated, then said, ‘Fire horse twenty-three at sinoconnect dot com dot cn.’

‘You’re not a fire horse,’ the stone said. ‘You’re a fire rat.’

‘I want to be a fire horse,’ she said, still defiant.

‘You want to be the only zodiac sign that’s regarded as completely unsuitable for women, making them badtempered, argumentative and difficult?’ I said.

She raised her chin. ‘Yes.’

‘More power to you,’ I said. I moved to the side of the Arena and pointed to the ground across from me. ‘Okay, let’s see how good you are.’

She grinned broadly and saluted me. ‘Thank you, Lady Emma.’

‘I will also have my people check whether your allegations are correct about the officials at the Rabbit Village,’ I said. ‘If what you say is true, there will be something of a shake-up.’

‘Kick their asses, ma’am,’ she said.

I put my hands up into a standard long defensive position, and she moved with fluid grace into a similar position across from me.

‘Light contact, we don’t want to do any damage, please. I’ve had enough crap kicked out of me the last week or so.’

She smiled tightly. ‘I find that hard to believe, ma’am. You’re famous for being one of the best, completely unbeatable.’

I shook my head. ‘Just about every single Master, human and Shen, on the Mountain has beaten me, Men Jiu. I’m not really that good.’

Suddenly there were two of her. One of them lunged at my head, and the other jumped completely over me and attempted to attack me from behind.

I did a quick side-flip and the two Men Jius passed through each other as they tried to strike me.

‘Stop,’ I said, and raised my hands.

One of the Men Jius disappeared, and the other bowed and saluted me.

‘That was shadow casting. I know that the Rabbits are experts in this sort of thing, but it’s an advanced energy technique and, at sixteen, I’m surprised you know it.’

‘My mother taught me, because the Masters in Rabbit Village don’t teach it to girls,’ she said.

‘I think they don’t teach it to people who are too young, actually,’ I said, ‘because it requires extremely good energy control, and that usually only comes with a degree of maturity.’

She didn’t reply.

‘I’ve seen enough, leave it with me, Men Jiu,’ I said. ‘I will discuss your case, and that of women in general at Rabbit Village, with the elders.’

‘Promise?’ she said.

I nodded. ‘You have my word.’

She grinned. ‘Did you stop the match because I could beat you?’

‘Defend yourself,’ I said, and before she was even into the defensive position I had gently turned her over and flipped her onto her belly on the floor of the Arena, her arms pinned behind her.

I moved back and let her up.

‘Try again. This time you tell me when to start,’ I said.

She was already moving before she said, ‘Now.’ Once again she formed a copy of herself and tried to take me from behind, with the copy distracting me in front.

I spun to face the real Men Jiu behind me and used a simple weight transfer manoeuvre to knock her off her
feet again. The shadow’s foot passed harmlessly through my head. She landed on her back and stared up at me.

‘You’re very fast, Lady Emma,’ she said, gasping.

‘I don’t rely on it though, Miss Tu, the way that you rely on your shadows,’ I said. ‘Obviously this gift has helped you to win many times, but when you find someone who can deal with it, you have no skills to fall back on.’ I held my hand out and she took it so that I could help her up.

‘That’s why I want to learn at the Academy, ma’am,’ she said. ‘I want to gain more skills! I want to cast more than one shadow. I’ve seen the Masters cast twenty or more!’