Читать книгу Heaven to Wudang - Kylie Chan - Страница 10

CHAPTER 6

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I came around in my own bed in the servants’ quarters. As soon as I sat up, Meredith and Simone appeared next to me.

‘How do you feel?’ Simone said.

‘Great. Full of energy. How are the others?’

‘They’re in the infirmary, they’re fine,’ Meredith said. ‘We’ve done some energy healing. With a few hours’ rest they’ll be up and around again.’

‘Any permanent damage?’

‘No,’ Simone said. ‘But we need to talk about Michael later. I honestly think he’s out of his league guarding you; he keeps getting injured.’

Meredith leaned in to study me carefully. ‘That’s right, talk later. Right now, tell me: do you crave Shen blood? Do you want to taste it again?’

I thought about it for a moment, then shook my head. ‘No. Not like I did when I had the demon essence in me. I have to admit that it tasted great, but I don’t feel like an addict.’

‘It tasted great?’ Simone said, incredulous.

‘It doesn’t taste like blood at all,’ I said. ‘Remember that drink at Nu Wa’s palace?’

‘That was awesome.’

‘That’s what Michael’s blood tasted like. Better than that, if possible.’

Simone hesitated. ‘I wonder if it tastes like that to me too.’

I was wearing my pyjamas. ‘How long have I been out?’

‘Only a couple of hours,’ Simone said.

‘So it’s what … 2 am? Why aren’t you in bed?’

‘I wanted to make sure you were okay. I don’t have school tomorrow anyway.’

I found my tatty purple chenille robe in a pile of clothes next to the bed and pulled it around me. ‘Go to bed.’

‘Where are you going?’ Meredith said.

‘I’m going to check on the others.’

‘They’re asleep, leave them,’ Meredith said. ‘Leo’s there watching them. They’re fine.’

‘It’s so cute: Clarissa’s asleep at Michael’s bedside,’ Simone said.

‘I still need to check something out. You two go to bed.’

‘Check what out?’ Simone said suspiciously. ‘It’s the middle of the night.’

‘I want to see if the Murasame came back,’ I said. ‘It won’t come when I call. It only came when I did my strong thing.’

‘You haven’t recovered enough to do any sword work,’ Meredith said. ‘When did you call it?’

‘This evening, when the Mothers cornered us. I just want to pop down to the Armoury and see if it’s there. If it isn’t, then I’ll need to get myself a new one, because it’s probably at the bottom of the sea somewhere, or back in Hell.’

‘Go straight back to bed after you’ve checked it,’ Meredith said, and disappeared.

‘I’m coming too,’ Simone said. ‘I won’t sleep unless I know. That sword is kind of like a bad-tempered guard dog for you.’

‘Careful, you’ll upset the stone,’ I said.

We headed down the hill and around the peaks to the Armoury. Mist had gathered in the gorges and we walked carefully across an arched bridge, the scent of the pine trees filling the air around us. The sky had the clarity of late autumn, and the stars blazed bigger and brighter than any on the Earthly. The seven stars of the Big Dipper shone in the centre of the sky: the symbol of the Dark Lord’s power. I shivered in my robe; the early autumn breeze was chilly. First snow soon.

‘I must have some eucalypts planted here,’ I said. ‘I miss the smell.’

‘Can you see okay?’ Simone said, gesturing towards the ball of light she’d summoned for me.

‘Just fine.’

We wound past the forge to the Armoury building, which dwarfed its much smaller neighbour, its roof soaring twenty metres above the ground. The back of the Armoury was flush with the stone mountainside, and it had black walls and a black-tiled roof, making it more difficult to spot from the air. We went to the front of the building. The black stone doors stood silent, each one fifteen metres high and four wide, carved with images of the combined Xuan Wu, the snake and turtle heads facing each other with their mouths open as if in conflict.

‘Open,’ I said, and the doors slid smoothly apart.

We stepped into its dark interior, the black roof tiles visible high above us. The building didn’t have an internal ceiling, making it bitterly cold in the middle of winter. The huge open space stretched for fifty metres away from us, and a rustling sound came from the high beams above.

An unadorned ebony screen, three metres tall, stood just inside the entrance, and in front of that stood a metre-tall bronze urn, filled with sand, to hold incense.

I moved to the side of the urn and opened the cupboard next to it.

‘Move the light closer, I can’t see,’ I said, and Simone obliged.

The cabinet contained open canisters of incense sticks, their wooden ends protruding so they could be easily removed. I rifled through the canisters, checking the sticks: some were dyed red, others were plain wood. Eventually I found the one I was looking for: it had a tiny dot of black on the very end of the stick. I pulled it out, lit it from the candle burning below the urn, then shook it until the flame went out. Blowing out the flame was an insult to the wind spirits. I stuck the incense into the sand and waited a moment for the fragrance to waft through the hall and into the ceiling.

‘I can smell it, we can go,’ Simone said, and we moved into the main part of the hall.

Racks of weapons stood on either side of us, resembling the shelves in a library. Those closest to the door held the standard training weapons used by students; the Celestial weapons were further back.

The rustling above us changed to flapping, and one of the flying demons that resided in the roof flew down to us. Simone readied herself to destroy it, obviously concerned that I’d chosen the wrong incense. The demon was black and a metre long with four legs and wings; it looked something like a flying lizard but much uglier. It clacked its grotesquely toothed beak at me and strutted up and down, blocking my way, then turned to speak. It sounded like a parrot.

‘Dark Lady.’

‘Hello, little one,’ I said.

‘It’s the middle of the night, Lady, why do you disturb us?’

‘I apologise for disturbing you. I wanted to check my weapon. Is it in there?’

The flyer hissed and took a few steps back, shaking its wings. ‘I don’t want to know anything about that thing.’ It took off again, spiralling up into the rafters.

We walked past the shelves to the back wall of the building, which was the Mountain itself.

‘Open,’ I said, and the wall disappeared, revealing a room full of brass that shone in Simone’s light.

The ceiling in the Celestial Weapons Archive was much lower, and carved with twining snakes and turtles. The walls were smooth polished stone, and the pillars and beams holding up the roof were clad with brass, again embossed with the symbols of snakes and turtles. Soft voices sounded just at the edge of hearing: some of the weapons were talking in their sleep.

The far end of the room, from one side to the other, was partitioned off with iron bars clad in gold. I stopped and took a few deep breaths: this was the hard part. I preferred not to do it, but it was the only way.

‘It’s in there, Emma, don’t worry about it,’ Simone said.

‘That’s beside the point,’ I said. ‘I need to go in there and have a little chat with it about why it’s not coming when I call it.’

‘It’s not worth the risk.’

‘No risk. I can do it.’

‘I’ll bring it out for you.’

‘It’s not talking to me so I can’t tell it not to hurt you. Still want to try?’

Simone was silent at that. She’d touched the sword before and knew how much it hurt.

I took some more deep breaths and concentrated, then closed my eyes. I took three steps forward and opened them again. I was inside.

Simone did the same thing, and stood beside me.

Seven Stars stood vertically on a solid silver stand in the centre of the room, its presence dwarfing the auras of the other weapons. I went around it, but Simone stopped to run her finger over the well-worn hilt.

The Murasame sat in the corner, laid horizontally Japanese-style on a stand of carved bone. Its darkness provided an eerie counterpoint to the brittle whiteness of its stand. I went to it and took its handle, then hissed with pain and pulled my hand away.

‘It hurt you?’ Simone said.

‘It doesn’t recognise me,’ I said.

‘This is the first time since you’ve recovered,’ she said.

‘I know,’ I said. ‘It hasn’t seen me without the demon essence.’

‘Want some blood?’ she said.

I turned to her and glared. ‘Don’t you even think about it.’

She shrugged. ‘Worth a try.’

I put my hand out towards the sword. ‘I’ll just have to tell it who’s the master.’

‘Well, that’s what you’re good at,’ she said, and moved away.

‘Is that you, Simone?’ Miss Chen, the Weapons Master, called from the main room.

‘It’s just us, Lucy,’ I said.

She walked through the bars with her eyes closed and approached us. ‘What are you doing here at this time of night?’

She was wearing a hot pink bathrobe pulled around her portly form, over old-fashioned flannel pyjamas decorated with tiny pink flowers. Simone stared at her for a moment, then grinned.

Miss Chen peered at Simone through her thick glasses. ‘What’s so funny?’

Simone smothered the grin and turned away. ‘Nothing, nothing.’

Miss Chen straightened the curlers in her hair. ‘You’ll get as old as me one day, young lady, and it’ll be just as much hard work.’ She turned to me. ‘Now what are you doing here in the Celestial Armoury in your pyjamas? Seems a strange place for a sleepover.’

‘The Murasame won’t come when I call it,’ I said.

She came to stand next to me and studied the sword without touching it. ‘This is the first time you’ve called it since the demon essence was burnt from you?’

I nodded.

She frowned for a moment as she thought about it. ‘I guess the reason you’re not touching it is because it doesn’t recognise you as its master any more and it’s hurting you?’

I nodded again.

She rubbed her chin. ‘But it’s still here, so it hasn’t reverted to anyone else’s ownership. Basically what you have to do is tell it who’s the boss.’

‘Which is what she’s good at,’ Simone repeated with humour.

‘Can you wrap something around your hand and try?’ Miss Chen said.

‘The pain isn’t from the contact itself,’ I said. ‘It’s more like spiritual damage from the proximity.’

‘Go to bed and come back tomorrow,’ Miss Chen said. ‘The sword’s not going anywhere. It’s nearly 3 am and both of you are tired, making it a bad time to be messing around with one of the most powerful destructive forces on the planet. Do it tomorrow, and I’ll come help you.’

‘She’s right, Emma,’ Simone said.

I tapped the sword with frustration and it burned my finger. ‘All right.’

The next morning I headed straight for the infirmary. Bridget, David and Michael were sitting in the courtyard under the peach trees in the sunshine. All three of them were wearing plain black Mountain uniforms, and Bridget had a pair of crutches leaning on the bench next to her. Michael rose, fell to one knee and saluted me, to David’s and Bridget’s obvious amusement.

‘No need, Michael,’ I said as he rose and painfully sat on the bench again. ‘How are you all feeling?’

‘Remarkably good, all things considered,’ David said. ‘Thanks so much for looking after us.’

‘Don’t thank me. You took a bullet because we were there,’ I said. ‘Bridget, do you mind giving me your hand? I’d like to check you.’

She hesitated a moment and looked at David. He nodded confirmation, so she held her hand out. I took it, holding her wrist at the pulse point. She gasped as I entered her energy stream to check the wound in her leg.

‘Does it hurt?’ David said.

‘No,’ Bridget said. ‘It just feels … strange.’

I moved my energy to the wound in her knee. The bullet had lodged itself in her kneecap, but someone had removed it and done a rough job of half-healing it. The energy healers would have been stretched fixing all three of them, particularly as Michael’s and David’s injuries had been severe. I completed the job, moving my energy over the shattered bone, knitting its structure together and fixing the tendon damage. Bridget shivered as I withdrew my consciousness.

‘All fixed,’ I said. ‘Try standing up.’

She leaned heavily on the bench and gingerly put weight on the leg. Her surprise was obvious as she stood with more confidence and took a few steps around the courtyard. ‘This is amazing.’

‘It’s not a hundred per cent yet,’ I said. ‘Don’t do any strenuous exercise on it for a week or so; the bone hasn’t completely healed.’ I turned to David. ‘Hand, please, let me look at you.’

‘What about young Michael?’ David said without giving me his hand. ‘He was hurt more than I was.’

‘I’m Emma’s bodyguard, it’s my job,’ Michael said. ‘You were innocent bystanders and definitely come first, and I know it.’

David shrugged and held his hand out.

‘You are slightly more difficult, Mr Hawkes,’ I said as I entered his energy stream. ‘This is more than a simple bone and muscle injury, there are multiple layers involved here.’ I boosted the healing process as much as I could, and snapped back.

‘Wow, it does feel very strange,’ he said.

‘Same for you: take it easy for a week or so, and no heavy lifting,’ I said. ‘Have you called home?’

‘Yes, one of your staff gave us a mobile phone,’ Bridget said. ‘We need to get home as soon as we can, the boys need us. Emma …’ Her voice trailed off.

‘Hmm?’ I took Michael’s hand. His was the worst injury of all; the bullet had clipped his liver and spleen, and he’d require more than a couple of days to recuperate. I didn’t have enough energy left to help him out. He’d have to wait a day or so before he could be completely healed.

‘Are we really in Heaven?’ Bridget said. ‘Your staff tell us we’re definitely not dead and we can go home, but … really? Heaven? And John is a god?’

‘Really,’ I said. ‘Chinese Heaven doesn’t work like Western mythology. It’s a higher plane of existence.’

‘Is that why you were asking her about Taoist philosophy?’ Bridget asked David.

‘Absolutely,’ David said. He spread his hands. ‘Wouldn’t you want this?’

Bridget took a deep breath. ‘It’s wonderful.’

‘Come and take a walk with me, I’ll show you around,’ I said, releasing Michael. ‘Not you, Michael. You stay put, and don’t move around too much for forty-eight hours.’

‘I have three classes this afternoon!’ Michael said, protesting.

‘No teleporting, no heavy lifting, no energy work, no martial arts for forty-eight hours,’ I said. ‘That’s an order.’

He grinned ruefully and saluted me, shaking his hands in front of his face. ‘Yes, ma’am.’

‘Teleporting?’ David said, looking from Michael to me.

‘No teleporting, flying, changing shape except to tiger, and no manipulating metal,’ I said, counting them off on my fingers. ‘And you have to stay home from school.’

‘But, Mooom …’ Michael whined, then winced as he realised what he’d said.

I patted him on the shoulder, then turned to Bridget and David. ‘Come on. Let me show you around Celestial Wudangshan.’

‘You often hear about buildings being evacuated because of the smell of gas, then the authorities finding nothing there,’ Bridget said as we headed along the path towards the centre of the complex. ‘Is that what happened to us?’

‘Yes, it’s a tool the demons use to clear an area,’ I said. ‘It’s a damn nuisance.’

‘The police think it’s mass hysteria,’ David said, linking his arm in Bridget’s and looking around with delight as we passed through the gardens.

‘The effect is very similar: everybody gets an awful feeling of horror and foreboding and takes off,’ I said. ‘It’s the best option, actually, as you can see.’

‘The best option for what?’ Bridget said.

‘Emma fights those monsters. She doesn’t want people like us around to get hurt when she does,’ David said.

‘And you knew all about this and didn’t tell me?’ Bridget said.

‘Guess what Emma Donahoe told me today?’ David said. ‘You know John Chen? He’s a god. And Emma lives in Heaven, and her huge black friend Leo is a Taoist Immortal.’

Bridget shook her head, smiling. ‘I see your point.’

We’d arrived at the forecourt of Yuzhengong, in front of Dragon Tiger and Purple Mist halls.

‘This reminds me of somewhere,’ Bridget said, studying the layout. She pointed at Golden Temple. ‘I’ve seen that before.’

‘You’ve been to Earthly Wudang then,’ I said.

Her mouth fell open as she realised. ‘But this is three times bigger, and not nearly as run-down.’

I nodded. ‘Thank you.’

‘Master present!’ someone yelled, and a group of students who had come up behind us saluted me, then waited.

It was a senior weapons class, led by Miss Chen herself. I moved Bridget and David to one side so that the students could go through to the forecourt. Miss Chen saluted me as they passed and I nodded back.

‘When are you going to talk to your sword?’ she said.

‘When I’ve sent these two home.’

‘Don’t start without me, I don’t trust that bastard blade,’ she said. ‘Let me know when you’re going in.’ She turned to the students. ‘Take positions.’

I went to stand next to Bridget and David and we watched the students move into position on the forecourt.

‘Is that the teacher?’ Bridget said.

‘That’s the Weapons Master,’ I said. ‘The only one better than her with weapons is John himself.’

‘Is she an Immortal too?’ David said with interest.

I nodded. ‘She’s over seven hundred years old.’

Bridget raised one hand towards Miss Chen, who began to lead the spear set with elegance and grace despite her short and portly form. ‘Why does she look so ordinary?’

‘You’re stuck in the form you were when you were Raised to be Immortal,’ I said. ‘They can change their form, but it takes effort. And frankly, I think she likes being underestimated.’

The students changed position to work in pairs, and Miss Chen moved between them, supervising.

‘That looks very dangerous,’ Bridget said. ‘They’re going to take each other’s eyes out.’

‘Leo will be furious,’ I said. ‘He loves spear, and never misses a chance to join in. How are you both feeling? You can probably go home now.’

They shared a look, then turned back to me.

‘That would be for the best. We need to reassure the boys, and there’s probably been at least three disasters back at the office,’ David said.

‘I’ll arrange for someone to take you back down,’ I said, and guided them towards my office. ‘I’m so sorry this happened.’

‘I’m not, I got to see what I’m aiming for,’ David said. ‘And I could share it with Bridget.’

‘Yes, I think I may look into this Taoism business a little more myself,’ Bridget said.

Heaven to Wudang

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