‘I see,’ Mr Li said, the grin not shifting. ‘But she is trained. She has been trained by the Dark Lord himself.’ He gave me my hand back and gestured towards the back of the shop.
‘That’s right, she asked to learn,’ Jade said, smiling sideways at me.
‘Excellent,’ Mr Li said, grinning over his shoulder. ‘This way.’
He led us through the door at the back of the shop and I stopped dead.
We were in an enormous factory room. The far wall was so far away it was almost invisible. Rows and rows of young women worked on old-fashioned industrial sewing machines. Sunlight streamed in from windows set high on the walls. Outside, it had been a grey and miserable day.
‘Jade, this room is bigger than the whole shopping centre. Where the hell are we?’
‘This is the back room,’ Jade said. ‘Come. The silk is at the end.’
Some of the girls smiled up at us as we passed them. When we reached the far wall Mr Li sat us at a large high work table covered with books of fabric. He
gestured towards the bolts of silk covering the entire wall behind us. ‘I will let you take your time and choose. Tea?’
‘Bo lei,’ Jade said. ‘We just had yum cha.’
Mr Li barked orders to the staff in Cantonese.
Jade sat next to me and pulled the fabric books closer. There must have been at least twenty of them.
‘God, there are so many,’ I said, overwhelmed.
‘No, it’s easy,’ Jade said. She flipped one of the books open. ‘This is embossed, not embroidered. Longevity.’ She studied me. ‘Do you know what that is?’
I shook my head, flipping through the pages of different-coloured silk, all embossed with stylised circular patterns.
‘Each pattern is a character for longevity.’ She pulled another book out and flipped it open. ‘Flower brocade.’ Another. ‘Dragons.’ She held the book up at the green dragon brocade. ‘I like this. I may have one made as well.’
‘Feel free to take a sample if you wish to make your own, Princess,’ Mr Li said as he passed behind us. ‘You know you do not require my services.’
‘Are you sure?’
Mr Li stopped and gestured towards the rows of busy young women. ‘I have quite enough work as it is.’
‘Is the Dark Lord’s suit finished?’
Mr Li’s face lit up. ‘Of course. I forgot. Let me fetch it for you.’ He chuckled. ‘Who would have thought of such a thing. The Dark Lord Xuan Wu himself requiring the services of a tailor. I must have a plaque made.’
‘You should see what he wears at home,’ I said, studying the silk in front of me.
‘He is the scruffiest Immortal on
any
plane,’ Jade said, and we giggled together.
Mr Li tutted and raced away to fetch the suit.
Jade turned to look at me. ‘We should choose a colour that suits your complexion first, and then you can select the design. You have beautiful white skin, Emma, what do you use to whiten it?’
‘Whiten it?’
‘You know, make it a lighter colour.’ She smiled and touched my arm. ‘Of course. I forgot. You’re European.’
‘You forgot for a moment that I’m not Chinese?’ She nodded, still smiling.
I threw my arm around her shoulder and gave her a quick friendly squeeze, making her smile widen. ‘I am absolutely delighted. I’ll take it as a compliment. Now…’ I flipped through the book. ‘How about this white silk? It’s beautiful.’
Jade’s face went strange.
‘Oh, of course, white is for funerals.’
‘Tai chi chuan uniform,’ Mr Li said as he charged past. ‘Suit coming.’
‘He is quite correct.’ Jade raised her voice. ‘And the suit had better hurry, we are nearly ready to choose.’ She lifted a book of silk and flipped it in front of me. ‘Dark blue suits you. Pink is lovely.’ She raised another book and opened it. ‘This.’
I looked down. She held a sample of black silk with large golden chrysanthemums against me. ‘The gold flowers bring out the highlights in your hair.’
‘And the black brings up her pale complexion.’ Mr Li dropped a linen bag onto the table next to us. ‘Lord Xuan’s suit.’ He nodded at the book of silk. ‘Lord Xuan’s colour. His livery. Most fitting.’
I hesitated.
‘Oh, black is for mourning in the West,’ Jade said, pulling the book away.
‘No, we wear it all the time anyway,’ I said. She put it against me again. ‘It really is perfect.’
Mr Li turned and barked some orders in Cantonese, and a whole bolt of the black silk floated off the shelves towards me. I backed away; the bolt was easily big enough to crush me
‘Stay still, it won’t hurt you, I have it,’ Mr Li said. He guided the silk to wrap itself around me, then waved one hand. A mirror appeared, floating next to the work table. It had no frame; it was as if the air itself was suddenly reflective.
‘Look, Emma,’ Jade said, and I turned to see.
They were right. The black silk suited me perfectly. The golden chrysanthemums shimmered against me, making my hair glow.
But it was Xuan Wu’s…John’s colour. I realised then, there was nothing I wanted more in the world than to stand side by side with him, wearing the black silk. Both of us in black. And have him smile down at me.
I wanted it so much it hurt.
‘I’ll have blue embroidered with small flowers, and pink embossed longevity,’ I said, pulling the black silk away. The silk unwrapped and floated from me.
‘You should take the black, it’s perfect,’ Mr Li said.
‘No. No black.’
‘Are you sure, Emma?’ Jade said, disappointed. I sat at the work table and opened the books I’d chosen. ‘This. And this. No black.’
‘The black is lovely on you,’ Jade said. ‘Maybe next time.’
‘Would you like a lift home, Emma?’ Jade said as we walked back through Central.
‘Leo is collecting me from Theatre Lane,’ I said. ‘I didn’t know you had a car.’
‘I don’t, I can’t even drive.’ Jade stopped at one of the designer shopfronts. ‘That jacket is beautiful.’
‘Oh my God, that’s real fur!’
‘The shoes are beautiful too.’
‘Animals had to die for that coat, Jade.’
Her eyes widened. ‘I never thought of it like that. Of course. And the shoes are snakeskin.’ She shook her head. ‘I didn’t even think of it.’
‘Some of my other Chinese friends are like that too,’ I said. ‘They didn’t connect the leopard-skin coat that pop star wore at those awards with—’
‘I saw that,’ Jade said. ‘Stunning.’
‘—with the fact that the pop star was wearing a dead protected animal. That was so wrong.’
‘You Westerners eat your pre-packaged cuts of meat, all clean and tidy, without thinking of the dead animal behind them.’
‘I suppose you’re right.’
‘It’s a cultural thing.’
‘I guess. Still like the coat?’
‘I adore it, but I wouldn’t buy it now.’ Her eyes turned inwards. ‘Leo is at Theatre Lane to collect you.’ My mobile phone rang. ‘How do you do that?’ ‘Do what?’
I shook my head and flipped my phone open. It was Leo.
I
pulled away from the computer and stretched. I rose and went into my bedroom to look out the window. The low grey clouds roiled across the sky; it was probably only about eight degrees outside. It never dropped below freezing in Hong Kong, but in mid-January the wind could become bitter. Although Hong Kong was nearly in the tropics, sometimes it was colder than my home in southern Queensland. There was a tap on the door. ‘Emma?’ I opened it and let Mr Chen in. His black cotton pants seemed to be more shredded every time he wore them.
He took a seat on the couch. I leaned on the desk next to my computer.
‘You spend a lot of your free time in front of your computer,’ he said. I shrugged.
‘The weather’s going to be fine, clear and quite warm tomorrow. I’ll take Simone for a hack around the hills at the club. We’ll be longer than we usually are. Do you still want to come?’
I glanced at the grey cloudy day outside my window. He smiled slightly.
I sat on the couch next to him. ‘Sure.’
He moved a short distance away from me on the couch. ‘Good.’
‘Why do you do that?’ ‘What?’
I gestured towards him. ‘You never want to be too close to me.’ I shifted closer and he quickly stood and went to the door.
‘Is it that unpleasant being close to me?’
He hesitated with his hand on the doorknob. Then he shook his head. ‘The problem is exactly the opposite.’ He opened the door. ‘Early tomorrow, Emma.’ He went out and closed the door.
I sighed loudly and returned to the computer. His freaking choice. I changed my mind, threw myself out of my chair and stomped into the training room to hit something for a while.
Of course he was right. The breeze had shifted and it was warm and mild as the sunshine streamed through the bauhinia trees on either side of the trail.
After half an hour of riding I broke the silence. ‘It’s nearly six months since we went to Paris, Mr Chen. We need to go back.’
He pushed Star to walk slightly ahead of me.
‘I wanna go to the Science Museum!’ Simone called at his back.
‘You need to see Ms Kwan,’ I said.
He ignored us. Simone and I shared an exasperated glance and trotted our horses to catch up.
Mr Chen stopped his horse. His eyes turned inwards and his face went rigid. Star danced sideways, but he paid no attention.
‘What, Daddy?’ Simone said.
He raised his hand to hush her.
He listened for a while, then snapped back to the
here.
He held Star with his knees and the horse stopped,
his ears flicking backwards and forwards. Mr Chen ripped his mobile phone out of his pocket and quickly dialled.
‘I need you here now,’ he said. ‘I don’t care if you have to steal a car or hijack a taxi. Nobody can carry you, you’ll have to make your own way here, but I need you here within twenty minutes. I’ll meet you outside the stables.’ He closed the phone and grimaced.
‘Are you okay?’ I said, but he raised his hand again. He listened for a long time, his face becoming more and more intense.
He snapped back and grabbed Simone’s reins. ‘We need to go back to the stables right away.’
He turned Star and trotted along the path, then slowed to a walk because Simone’s pony couldn’t keep up with Star’s long strides.
‘What happened?’ I said.
‘My Mountain is under attack.’
‘How bad?’
‘Very bad. An army of demons. My Dark Disciples are holding them off, but it is an extremely large force and they need me there.’
‘Can you go? Without losing your human form?’
He hesitated, still leading Simone’s pony. He didn’t look at me. ‘I hope so, Emma.’
‘Go now,’ I said. ‘I’ll mind Simone.’
He turned but didn’t really see me. ‘No. This may be a diversion so they can grab Simone. I need to see her safely with Leo before I go.’
I nodded, understanding. If anything really big came after us I didn’t have the skill to hold it off. We needed Leo.
When we returned to the stables the grooms for Simone and me were already waiting. Mr Chen threw himself off Star and cast around; his groom was nowhere to be
seen. He hissed with frustration and gently led the horse into its stall. Then he took us out to wait at the entrance to the stables.
His eyes unfocused again. He listened for a long time. ‘They’ve broken through the wall. My Palace is on fire,’ he whispered, stricken. ‘They are desecrating my halls and pavilions. They need me there
now
to make some rain to put out the fires.’ He refocused. ‘
Where the hell is Leo
?’
‘There he is, Daddy!’ Simone shouted, and ran to Leo who was charging down the drive towards us.
Mr Chen turned to go, but I stopped him with a hand on his arm. ‘John.’
He hesitated.
‘John. This could be goodbye.’ I swallowed. ‘I just want to say…’ I struggled to find the words. ‘I just wanted to say…’
He took my hands, raised them to his face and kissed them. He gazed into my eyes, full of pain. ‘You don’t need to say anything. I know.’ He released my hands and ran into the stables.
Leo approached me with Simone on his hip, carrying her easily.
‘—and Daddy said there’s a lot of demons up there and he’s going there now and we have to stay here and we’ll be just fine with you, Leo,’ Simone finished without taking a breath.
‘Let’s get her home and safe, Emma,’ Leo said grimly. ‘How bad is it?’
We turned and walked back up the drive towards the car. ‘Very bad.’
‘Damn.’ We reached the car and he unlocked it with the remote. He gently dropped Simone into the back seat. ‘This may be it, Emma.’
‘I know,’ I said softly. I buckled Simone in and Leo pulled himself into the driver’s seat.
‘It? What, Leo?’ Simone said. ‘Lunchtime.’
‘Oh, yeah. Daddy will be hungry after killing all the demons. We should make him some tea. I wonder if he’d like some bean curd? Or some noodles?’
‘I’m sure he would,’ Leo said. He choked and tried to turn it into a cough.
When we arrived home Leo pulled down Dark Heavens, the sword in the hallway. He turned to me and spoke softly. ‘Emma, take off now. They don’t want you, they want her. Get yourself out of this now; as long as you’re not here you’ll be completely safe.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous.’
‘Go, Emma.’
I moved closer and glared up into his face. ‘No! I’m staying here with Simone!’
He bent and studied me carefully. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I’m sure!’ I took Simone’s hand. ‘Where’s the safest place?’
Leo shook his head. ‘You are amazingly stupid sometimes.’
‘I know. Where?’
‘Training room. Monica!’
Monica came out of the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel. She saw the sword in Leo’s hand and her eyes widened.
‘Monica,’ Leo said, ‘Mr Chen won’t be needing you for the rest of the day. Take the afternoon off.’ He hesitated, then spoke with force. ‘
Out
.’
Monica nodded and returned to the kitchen, undoing her apron.
‘I’ll see her out and lock up.’ Leo followed Monica into the kitchen.
I led Simone into the training room. ‘You know what’s happening, Simone?’
‘Daddy’s Mountain,’ Simone said. ‘We’ll be safe with Leo.’ ‘I know.’
Leo charged into the training room and stopped. He took Simone’s hand and led her to the mirrors. ‘Sit here.’
Simone sat cross-legged in front of the mirrors, unafraid.
Leo gestured towards the weapons rack. ‘Anything in particular he’s been working on with you?’
‘Yeah.’ I selected the short sword from the rack. ‘But what I’d really like is a machine gun and I don’t see one here.’
‘Guns don’t hurt them,’ he said. ‘Knives, poles, bladed weapons. You need to cut them or break them.’ ‘What else didn’t he tell me?’
‘Probably a lot,’ Leo said with grim humour. He turned to me, raised Dark Heavens and lowered his voice. ‘If I go down, take this. It’s his. It will do a great deal of damage.’ He gestured. ‘In front of Simone.’
I moved into position. Leo stood in front of me. They would have to make it through both of us to get to her.
‘Sharpened your sword recently?’
‘Yep. Mr Chen showed me how. But I’d prefer not to have to use it.’
‘I’d prefer you didn’t have to use it either.’ Leo faced the door. ‘Ready?’
I prepared myself in front of Simone. ‘Bring it on.’
‘Have I told you how stupid you are?’
‘Yep.’
We waited silently.
I began to feel ridiculous, standing over the child with a sword, when it was possible that nothing would happen.
Leo lowered Dark Heavens. ‘Maybe we’ll be lucky and they won’t—’
The door crashed open. Simone squeaked, then, ‘Demons coming, Leo.’
‘Good girl, you remembered.’ Leo unsheathed Dark Heavens and threw the scabbard to one side. ‘How many?’
‘I don’t know,’ Simone said.
‘They can only come in one at a time,’ Leo said. ‘The seals stop them.’
I pulled my sword out and readied myself.
The demon appeared in the doorway. It was only about four feet tall, skinny and as black as Leo. It had huge ears and a grotesque, almost comical face. It grinned at us and disappeared.
‘Small one,’ Leo said. ‘Saw its own reflection. How many more are there, Simone?’
Mr Chen walked in the door, holding his sword and smiling. I dropped my arm with relief. ‘Thank God.’
‘That’s. Not. My. Daddy,’ Simone said loudly and clearly.
The demon smiled, raised its sword in a salute to Leo, and moved into a defensive position.
Leo didn’t move at all in front of me.
The demon rushed forward and Leo sprang to meet it. Their swords met over their heads then moved together to lock at the hilts with a painful grating sound. Leo and the demon were face to face. The demon’s smile widened. Its other hand shot out to hit Leo’s head, but Leo dodged the blow, spun and jumped back, twisting the demon’s sword away at the same time.
The demon’s smile disappeared as it leapt forward to strike. Leo blocked the blow, the swords ringing together, but the demon continued to come at him with lightning-fast attacks. Leo moved back as he parried the
blows, but when Simone cried out behind him he stood his ground and blocked the demon’s thrusts without shifting his feet.
The demon became concerned as it saw that Leo had no difficulty dealing with its attacks. Leo didn’t miss the shift in control and pressed forward, still parrying the blows.
The demon jumped back out of Leo’s reach.
Leo didn’t give it time to recover. He tore straight into it with a series of fierce attacks. The demon grimaced and fell back. Leo hit it harder each time and the demon blocked with difficulty.
Leo feinted into the demon’s face with his left fist, and at the same time ran it through with his sword. He twisted the blade inside the demon, then slashed upwards through the demon’s body and out its shoulder.
The demon smiled. ‘Now you will meet my mother.’ It dissolved.
Something came down the hallway. A sickening wet slither.
‘Mother, Leo,’ Simone whispered. ‘Oh my God,’ Leo said under his breath. I readied myself and hefted my sword. ‘I’m right behind you.’
‘Stay there. Don’t get in the way. If I go down…’ He hesitated. ‘Don’t let it have you, Emma. It won’t hurt her, she’ll be okay. But whatever you do, don’t let it take you.’
‘I understand.’
The demon appeared in the doorway.
Its back end was a slimy snake that oozed toxin over its black scales. The front end looked like the top half of a man with the skin taken off. It had to lower itself on its coils to fit through the door; it was enormous.
It came halfway into the room and raised its body on the coils. Its skinless head nearly touched the ceiling. ‘You are the Black Lion? Disciple of the Dark Lord?’
‘I am just an ordinary man.’
The demon smiled and its red eyes flashed. ‘I like your skin. I think I will take it.’
Leo readied himself. ‘Come and get it.’
It moved incredibly fast for something without legs. Leo stepped forward and spun to strike it with the sword, but it was too fast. Its right hand snaked out and wrapped around Leo’s sword hand at the wrist.
Leo dragged his hand back and tried to free it but the demon had him. It raised itself on its coils and lifted him easily.
Leo struggled. He tried to prise the demon’s fingers loose with his left hand. His muscles bulged as he attempted to free himself. His feet hung just above the floor.
The demon’s one-handed grip slid on Leo’s wrist so it used both hands. Its forked tongue flicked out and snapped over Leo’s face, tracing his features. He screwed his eyes up and grimaced.
I lunged forward to attack it, but Leo was ahead of me. His free left hand flashed out, grabbed the demon’s tongue and, with a twist and a snap, pulled it out.
The demon dropped him and screamed. It held its hands to its face, still screaming.
Leo landed on his feet, spun and sliced the demon in half. The human part hit the floor and exploded into black demon stuff. The snake part writhed for a long time before dissipating.
Leo took a deep shuddering breath and backed to stand in front of us again. ‘Any more?’
Simone took a gasping breath and screamed. She collapsed over her knees into sobs. I wanted to comfort her but stayed where I was.
‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ Leo said. ‘Don’t move.’ ‘I’m still here,’ I said.
‘You’re still stupid too. Looks like the Mother blew the seals. This is a really big one, isn’t it, Simone?’
Simone whimpered something unintelligible.
The demon appeared in the doorway. It was of average human height. It appeared to be a perfectly ordinary Chinese human male.
Leo hissed under his breath. It was Simon Wong.
Wong leaned one shoulder on the doorframe and crossed his arms over his chest. ‘Hello, everybody. Been having fun with my little pets?’
Leo shifted his grip on the sword.
‘Three little girls.’ Wong didn’t move from the doorframe. ‘Kissed any nice boys lately, girls? Got a new boyfriend, Leo? Still haven’t made out with the boss yet, Emma? And dear little Simone—’
Leo swung at Wong’s head. He disappeared. The sword took a chip out of the doorframe.