Demon Child (9 page)

‘Everybody back! Yang’s going to lift the earth!’ the Dragon shouted.

‘Back! Back!’ the Tiger yelled.

The armies retreated to the island at the end of the causeways, and the demons surged to follow them. The ground fell out from under the demons’ feet and the last ten metres of the causeways became deep holes, which the demons toppled into. The demons still on the causeways tried to stop their rush towards the Celestial army, but were pushed into the holes by the demons behind them. The holes filled with water and the demons thrashed and screamed, eventually disappearing beneath the water. The ends of the causeways peeled upwards like ribbons, sending the demons on them sliding down towards the demonic side of Hell. Demons tumbled as the causeways became almost vertical, some demons hitting the water and others landing on their companions and crushing them.

‘Birds, go,’ the Phoenix said.

Glittering red phoenixes, each with a wingspan of four metres, fell into view from the sky above the Dragon and blasted the demons with fire from their beaks.

‘I have a visual on camera three. Elementals just appeared on the other side of the Celestial island,’ the young man said over the comms. ‘Wood and metal. Thirty of them.’

‘I’ve stopped time around them, but I can’t hold them forever!’ Xiao shouted. ‘I could do with a hand here!’

‘Elementals at causeways three and four,’ Haruna said. ‘Wood and metal.’

‘I have two fire elementals on camera six,’ the young man said.

‘Where the
fuck
is Ah Wu?’ the Tiger shouted.

‘Never mind him. Squad five, are you still with the Dark Princess?’ Ma shouted.

‘My Lord,’ a demon soldier said.

‘Escort her to the causeways where the elementals are and guard her with your lives, you hear me?’ Ma’s voice dropped. ‘Anything happens to her, we’re all quite majestically fucked.’

‘I’m already there,’ Simone said. ‘Shut up and let me work.’

‘Haruna, can you relay a visual of Simone for me?’ I said.

‘Hold on and I’ll send a dragon around,’ she said.

The screen still showed the phoenixes mopping up the ends of the causeways. The demons on the causeways had fled back towards the demonic side of Hell, and there wasn’t much left moving on the battlefield except for the injured soldiers from our side being examined by field medics and the occasional lost and bewildered demon being torched.

‘Phoenix, tell your people to stop destroying the stragglers and try to tame them instead,’ I said.

My ordinary phone rang in my pocket and I answered it.

‘Emma, it’s Yue Gui. The Northern Heavens are under attack and we need Father. Where is he? He’s not answering.’

‘This is ridiculous!’ I said. ‘He’s unavailable. He’s healing. He can’t help. Where’s Martin?’

She was silent for a moment. ‘He’s not replying either. Is he with Father?’

‘No. What about Leo? Is he with Martin?’

‘No answer from him either.’

‘This is insane. Where are they?’ I said. ‘Do you need reinforcements?’

A man’s voice came on the phone: Martin’s second-in-command and general of the defensive legion of the North. ‘It’s these damn insects. We’ve locked down and everybody’s inside the screens, but the seals are gone and the wasps are so big that they’re actually beginning to tunnel through the mesh. How did the Horsemen take them down? The minute my soldiers try to fight them, they sting us and we’re dead.’

‘Tiger!’ I shouted at the Dragon’s phone on the floor, which still
displayed the deserted ends of the causeways on the screen. ‘How did you destroy the wasp demons?’

‘We tried everything and the best thing to hit them with is fucking tennis racquets,’ the Tiger growled. ‘You smack them out of the air and squash them. What, we have them? Where?’

‘Northern Heavens.’

‘Well, fuck. I’ll have people take a bunch of racquets over to the North for you and hand them out. Your people are trained by Ah Wu; once they have something to hit the little bastards with, it won’t take long.’

‘You should have told us this before,’ I said to the Tiger.

‘These are too big — I can’t stop them!’ Simone shouted from the phone on the floor. ‘It doesn’t do anything. Help!’

‘Fall back!’ Ma shouted. ‘Fall back! And pray to the Buddhas, because we need their help.’

‘My elementals did
nothing
,’ Simone said, distraught.

‘Neither did mine, little one,’ the Phoenix said. ‘We’re out of options. We have to retreat.’

‘Emma?’ Yue Gui said into my ear, drawing me back to the situation in the Northern Heavens.

‘Tennis racquets take them out; the Tiger’s sending you a bunch of them,’ I said.

‘Well, that’s a new one,’ she said with amusement.

I turned on the spot, trying to keep the anguish from my voice.

‘Hell’s falling, Ah Yue.’

‘No,’ she whispered. ‘No!’ She yelled, ‘Smash it! Don’t let it near you!’ The line went dead.

‘Where the
fuck
is Ah Wu?’ the Tiger shouted. ‘Hold them off as long as you can! Simone, encase them in ice.’

‘I am!’ Simone shouted, then screamed so loudly that the screen above the phone flickered.

‘Come on, little one,’ the Tiger grunted. ‘We’re not letting you go now, you’re not Immortal yet. You still have a lot to do.’

‘Michael?’

‘Hold on to me, Simone.’

‘Oh, Michael,’ she said. ‘You came for me.’

‘Not Michael, I’m Uncle Tiger,’ the Tiger said with gentle affection.

‘Oh. I thought you were Michael.’ She coughed. ‘We’re leaving? We can’t leave Hell, we need it.’

‘How is she?’ I said.

‘She’ll live,’ the Tiger said.

‘We have a camera over the … carnage,’ Haruna said.

The screen flicked to a view over the central island. Four-metre-tall metal and wood elementals were striding through the demonic and Celestial soldiers on the island and indiscriminately tearing them to pieces. The Generals and Winds had retreated onto the roof of Yanluo Wang’s office building, and the Horsemen and Celestial demon soldiers were defending them against a couple of wood elementals and a fire elemental that were attempting to make their way up the stairs. Simone was leaning against the Tiger; her face and arms were blackened with burns and soot and she seemed semi-conscious.

The Dragon became visible as he dropped over one of the wood elementals, picked it up in his claws and flew it over the water. Long branches whipped out of the tree-like elemental and stabbed him in the eyes, killing him. He dropped it and fell into the water.

‘All evacuate at the same time!’ Ma shouted from the middle of the rooftop garden. ‘On my mark!’

‘Wait,’ someone said, more a rumble through the earth than a sound.

The people on the roof looked around, bewildered. A fire elemental, a human shape of flame, hesitated halfway up the stairs to the roof.

‘Haruna?’ I said.

‘Do you know what that was?’ Haruna said at the same time.

‘What was that?’ Ma said.

A swirling cloud of dust materialised above the roof. ‘Everybody stay put,’ it said, sounding like the wind.

‘It’s stones! Do as they say!’ Ma shouted, and everybody on the rooftop stopped moving.

The cloud of tiny stones swirled so that parts of it became thicker and then thinned again. The cloud split into several, and parts of it blew over the fire elemental, surrounding it. The cloud shrank and changed from dust to a single huge boulder that
continued to shrink. When it was the size of a basketball, it fell onto the ground.

Another cloud of stones encased a wood elemental that was making a try for the stairs and contracted that down to a similar size.

The stones encasing the fire elemental lifted from the ground and flew up to hover in front of Simone.

‘Princess, we need your help,’ they said.

The Tiger assisted Simone to stand upright.

‘I’ll do my best,’ she said, then bent to cough, wincing at the pain.

‘The wood we can kill without difficulty, but we need your help with the fire ones,’ the stones said, sounding like hundreds of people speaking in unison. ‘We will make a hole in ourselves. Can you push ice into it?’

‘Yes,’ Simone said, her voice a hoarse whisper. She straightened with difficulty and raised her hand towards the stone ball.

‘Not water ice,’ the stones said. ‘Frozen oxygen.’

‘That’s a very bad idea,’ she said. ‘It’ll explode.’

‘We’ll hold the blast. Can you do it?’

‘Yes.’

‘Be quick. The elemental will try to escape through the hole.’

‘I’m ready.’

‘On three.’

The stones counted, and Simone slapped her hand on the side of the ball. It expanded then contracted quickly. It fell open in two halves and dust came out.

‘Thank you. Can you do the other one for us?’ the stones said, returning to their cloud form.

Simone leaned on the Tiger again and he held her. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Just bring it here and I’ll do it.’

‘Dragon’s daughter on the comms,’ Ma said. ‘What’s your name?’

‘Haruna,’ she said.

‘Do you have a visual on the other demons on the causeways? Are they returning?’

‘Yes. No,’ Haruna said. ‘I can see them and they’re not returning. I’ve sent one of my brothers to fly over them and they’re headed back to the demonic side.’

‘Give me a visual,’ Ma said.

The view over the phone switched to one of the causeways. The demons were running, checking behind them and obviously terrified. It appeared that whoever was controlling them had let go and they were fleeing the battle in panic.

‘They won’t be permitted back into the demonic side if they run,’ Ma said. ‘Twenty-First, follow them and mop up. Maybe recruit a few.’ He dropped his voice. ‘Heavens know we will need them.’

The camera zoomed in on the air above the fleeing demons. A pair of flyers with riders were hovering, their wings flapping too fast to see. The camera zoomed in closer but the resolution was too poor to show any detail of the riders.

‘Who is that?’ Ma said.

‘Could be the Demon King, hard to tell,’ the male dragon said. ‘And a really small demon on the other one. They saw me — they’re taking off.’

The two flyers spun in the air and headed back towards the demonic side of Hell, faster than the running demons below them.

‘The day is ours,’ Ma said. ‘Haruna, we need transport and care for the wounded and collection for the dead. Can you arrange that?’

‘I can coordinate from here,’ Haruna said, her voice thick with relief and grief at the same time.

‘And we need that goddamn Turtle back as soon as possible so he can reassign defensive units back here and we can build some barriers,’ Ma said. ‘How much longer will he be washing his hair, Emma?’

‘I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘I’ll keep you informed.’

‘War room on the Mountain in two hours to debrief, I suppose,’ Ma said. ‘I’m sending Simone home with the Tiger, and stationing the remaining legions here to make sure the demons don’t try to come back.’

‘Thanks, Ma. Simone, are you okay?’

‘Burnt,’ the Tiger said. ‘I’m taking her to the Mountain infirmary. Be there soon.’

I sat on the bench and rested my head in my hands. The turtle didn’t move.

‘Emma,’ John said, waking me.

I sat up; I’d fallen asleep with my head on the cage. The tortoise was sitting inside with a wise, ancient grin on his face.

‘Let me out, love,’ John said.

‘You’re completely yourself?’ I said.

He nodded. ‘Open up, let me out. I must do this more often, it’s a huge relief to have my feet back. You have lines on your face from the cage …’ He saw my expression. ‘Something happened.’

‘We nearly lost Hell.’

I opened the latches, lifted the lid, and the tortoise floated out of the cage. He changed to his human form and landed lightly on the rock in front of me.

‘How nearly?’

‘We won, but it was a close thing. How are you feeling? You’re not dizzy or weak or anything?’

‘No. Why do you ask?’

‘They did something to you. You were completely out of it when they attacked Hell.’

He unfocused for a moment, remembering, then his face went rigid with shock for a second before he composed himself.

I sagged on the bench. ‘They can see through my eyes. They waited until you were in the cage and then they attacked.’

‘No,’ John said. ‘They knocked the Serpent unconscious to have me out of the way. I heard what they said: they were hoping my Turtle would be somewhere dangerous and killed and I would rejoin. They didn’t know the Turtle was in the cage. They can’t see through your eyes, Emma, you don’t need to worry.’ He crouched in front of me. ‘Tell me what happened in Hell.’

I pointed at my forehead. ‘Too much to tell. Just take it out directly.’

He shook his head and sat on the bench on the other side of the cage. ‘No need. No rush. Just tell me.’

‘The Generals are waiting for us in the war room for a debrief.’ I took his hand and placed it on my forehead. ‘Go ahead, you know I don’t mind.’

‘I mind. I hate invading your privacy like this, and twice in one day is too much.’ He moved his hand so his index finger was directly over my third eye. ‘Go.’

I quickly ran through everything that had happened and he absorbed the information.

He took his hand away and leaned on his knees. ‘Just a minute.’

He communicated silently for a while as I put the lid back on the jade cage and returned it to its casket.

‘Are you all right?’ he said, studying me. ‘You look …’ He searched for the word.

‘Wrecked,’ I said. ‘I watched it all happen.’ I raised one hand and dropped it, feeling helpless. ‘I feel the same way that I did when the Mountain was attacked by those copies and I had to bring you back. We won, but it feels like we lost.’

‘That’s because we did.’ He took the casket from me and helped me to rise with his other hand. ‘The minute we take up arms, we lose.’

‘We don’t have a choice when it’s demons; they can’t give up. No room for compromise.’ I leaned into him and we started back up the stairs. ‘You need to put that casket somewhere safe before we go to the war room.’

‘I’ll put it in the armoury on the way.’

‘Did you ask about Simone? The Tiger says she’s all right.’

‘He is with her. He says her lungs were burnt and all her breathing passages are damaged. Nothing terribly serious; she’ll
just have to rest for a few days. He’s helping out with some energy healing.’ He squeezed me around the shoulders as we walked. ‘Are you okay to join the meeting? As you said, you look wrecked.’

I hesitated; I really was exhausted. I sighed deeply. ‘I need to be there.’

‘I know. Duty calls,’ he said, and opened the door for us.

It was late afternoon. The sky was grey and cold, stinging rain was falling. Smally was waiting outside the Grotto, holding an umbrella and a warm padded silk jacket for me.

The five Generals from the battle were waiting for us, seated at the table already. The Phoenix was there too, talking softly and intensely to Yue Gui. They all stood and saluted John and me as we took our places at the head of the table.

‘Did it work?’ Ma said.

‘It did,’ John said.

‘Good. We’ve just been discussing reassignments. Five more battalions were nearly destroyed today.’

‘Zara, post the losses,’ John said.

A list of the five battalions and their losses appeared, floating above the table.

The Tiger came in, saluted John and joined us. ‘Simone will be fine.’

‘Thank you.’ John scanned the list of casualties. ‘Field promotions are confirmed. Xiao is relieved. Twenty-Two and Thirty-One are to merge under Wang’s command.’

‘I’m not objecting to losing my command, but why?’ Xiao said. ‘My demons will be sorely upset.’

‘I’m freeing you to concentrate solely on manipulating time in battle if necessary,’ John said.

Xiao nodded. ‘Makes sense. I’ll talk to my soldiers.’

The list items shuffled to show four battalions.

‘The other three to stay as they are.’ John wiped one hand over his face. ‘I’m ordering Zhao to find a way to recruit more demon soldiers. We’re down to twenty-eight battalions and losing soldiers
faster than we can replace them. Did we lose any civilians in the palace, Ah Yue?’

‘Zara,’ Yue Gui said, and Zara replaced the floating list with a new one showing the losses in the Northern Heavens: at least twenty names.

‘That many?’ I said with dismay.

‘The Tiger’s warriors were able to electrify their bats, which killed the insects on touch,’ Yue Gui said. ‘We couldn’t do that. If they survived the first blow, they became angry and even more deadly.’

‘Liaise with the Dragon to find a technological way around this,’ John said. ‘A larger version of the electrified fly swatters they use on the Earthly.’

‘My Lord,’ Yue Gui said.

‘Did you find Leo and Ming Gui?’ John said.

Yue Gui shook her head. ‘I am deeply concerned. Neither of them is answering their phones or direct calls.’

John’s face went grim as he concentrated, calling them. Obviously he’d spoken to one of them because he became even grimmer.

‘They were at a movie and turned their damn phones off,’ he said. ‘Completely unacceptable. When they return to the Heavens, they are to attend me in my office.’

‘My Lord,’ Yue Gui said, carefully keeping her expression composed. She shot a glance at me, and from her face we were both thinking the same thing: why the hell were they ignoring direct calls if they were only at a movie?

‘Zara,’ John said, ‘reviewing the data that Number One gave us: what is their plan if their attack on Hell should fail?’

‘They didn’t plan for failure,’ Zara said. ‘They assumed they would succeed.’

‘No alternative strategy if they failed to take Hell?’ John said.

‘No, my Lord,’ Zara said. ‘Our information is already out of date.’

‘What were they planning to do after they’d secured Hell?’ I said.

‘Take an army through the Gates to the Western Heavens and conquer that, then proceed to the South.’

‘Take the South?’ the Phoenix said. ‘Not possible.’

‘How?’ John said.

‘Stones,’ Zara said, her voice weak with dismay. ‘They have artificial stones, and they will use them to take the South.’

‘Completely impossible,’ the Phoenix said. ‘Any artificial stone they create would melt in the heat of my nest. Our sweet lava is the essence of molten stone.’

‘We don’t melt, Highness,’ Zara said. ‘We natural stones enjoy a lava bath. These … things may have similar properties.’

The Phoenix went silent, her long face thoughtful.

‘Anything else?’ John said.

‘It’s started on the Earthly,’ the Tiger said. ‘I have reports coming in from the far west of my domain. Two in Europe, one in the Middle East, beyond our jurisdiction.’ He rubbed both hands over his long sideburns. ‘Same scenario each time: there’ll be a peaceful protest about the economy or political incompetence. It’ll be noisy — shouting, drums — but peaceful. The police will be relaxed, almost on side, it’s a bit of a carnival. Then suddenly a large group of young men will show up out of nowhere, armed with clubs, sticks, some with machetes or even guns. They’ll charge straight into the police and attack them. The protesters shout at them to stop but it’s too late and the police are forced to defend themselves, and in their panic they counterattack hard. Carnage. Lives lost. The protests turn into riots and the protesters are arrested and vilified in the press for being violent anarchists.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s a perfect environment for recruiting an army intent on toppling the cruel government.’

‘Is there nothing we can do to stop this?’ the Phoenix said. ‘We have to help the humans.’

‘I have people investigating. We’ll move as soon as things are settled in our region,’ the Tiger said.

‘We should send some of our armies in to protect the humans in these situations,’ the Phoenix said. ‘My Red Warriors —’

‘We can’t, much as I would love to,’ John said. ‘We’re already stretched too thin. We need to concentrate on protecting the East. The West has already fallen; we have to stop it from happening here.’

‘Won’t be long before it does,’ the Tiger said, looking pointedly at the Phoenix. ‘Some parts of the southeast are ready for political turmoil and ripe for exploitation.’

‘Your domain in the West is just as bad. If the human governments did their jobs properly this would not be an issue,’ the Phoenix said, tapping the table with her index finger. ‘Anywhere there is corruption and deceit from the government, the populace will be ready to listen to those who would change things, uncaring as to what sort of change it is.’

‘Anything more to report?’ John said.

Everybody either remained silent or shook their head.

He placed his hands palms down on the table. ‘Ma, with me. Let’s head down to Hell and shore up the defences. Everybody else, dismissed.’

‘Me?’ I said as they rose and gathered their notes.

‘You’re not needed. Go and rest,’ Ma said.

‘He’s right, Emma,’ John said. ‘Go.’

I nodded and went out. Smally was waiting for me in the courtyard. She passed me the silk jacket again, and held the umbrella over me. I shrugged the jacket on and headed towards the infirmary. Edwin was at his desk.

‘How is she?’ I said.

‘A couple of hours’ rest and she’ll be fine,’ Edwin said. ‘She’s absolutely remarkable. I never saw her father when he was whole, but I think she must have close on his healing power. She can recover in a day from something that would take a normal human a week.’

‘Can I sit with her?’

‘Of course.’ He opened the door of her room. ‘She’s asleep, but you can stay as long as you like.’

I turned back to tell Smally to wait for me, but she had already settled herself in one of the chairs and obviously switched off: she sat stiff, unmoving and completely blank, with my jacket in her lap.

I went into Simone’s room and had a moment of panic: she wasn’t in the bed. Then I heard the water running. She was in the shower. I sat beside the bed and waited for her to come out. She stepped out of the bathroom naked.

‘I’m here,’ I said.

‘Whoops,’ she said, and scooted back in again.

‘I’ve seen it all before, I know what it looks like,’ I said, smiling as I leaned one arm on the chair.

She opened the door slightly and poked her head out. ‘If you tell me that you used to give me baths when I was little, I will blow you up with the biggest ball of shen …’

‘Just get dressed,’ I said, waving one hand at her.

She grinned and pulled her head in. A few minutes later she came out wearing a hoodie over her underwear. She towelled her hair, which fell to her waist in a thick dark gold tangle, and dropped the towel on the bed. She took some jeans from the end of the bed and pulled them on.

‘That feels better,’ she said.

‘How are the burns?’

She held her arms out in front of her. ‘Nothing to see. All healed.’

I rose to check. ‘Edwin’s right. That’s remarkable.’

‘Uncle Bai helped. I’d still be healing if it wasn’t for him.’ She concentrated and her eyes unfocused. ‘I should go down to Hell and help Dad.’

‘He doesn’t need you. Go back to Todai.’

‘Uh …’ She turned away and dropped her head.

‘What?’

She started making the bed, angrily tugging at the sheets. ‘All Celestial students have been pulled off the Earthly, by Edict. We’ve all been drawn back to Heaven. That includes me.’ She dropped the blanket and turned to me. ‘I haven’t even started and I can’t go!’

‘It’s only temporary.’

She hopped up to sit on the bed. ‘How long do you think this whole thing will take? Please don’t say years. I don’t want to wait until I’m much older than the other students. I want to go now.’

I sat next to her and took her hand. ‘I don’t know. A lot depends on the outcome of our next skirmish with Hell. If we win, they’ll probably call it quits.’

‘And if they win?’

‘That isn’t an option.’

‘Oh well.’ She shrugged. ‘I suppose I should be up here anyway. I have to help fight them.’

‘Only if you’re sure you want to. Today was tough.’

‘I’m my father’s daughter,’ she said with an edge of cold menace. ‘Go rest. I’m heading to the training room in the Residence to
work with my elementals and my new blades.’ She patted my hand. ‘When you’re feeling better, come and spar with me. I want to see what my swords say to your sword.’

‘Deal.’

At the Imperial Residence, Simone went into the training room and I collapsed on our bed. I woke an hour later and stared at the ceiling for a while, then pulled myself up.

I checked on Simone in the training room, but she wasn’t there. She’d obviously given up waiting for me. I headed to my office to go over the requisitions and outfitting of the Disciples.

Leo walked in fifteen minutes later. ‘John’s not back yet, and they said to come see you.’

I leaned over the desk to shout at him. ‘Where the hell were you?’ Yi Hao squeaked at her desk so I controlled my voice. ‘The Northern Heavens were attacked, we nearly lost Hell, and both of you were offline.’

‘Can’t a couple of guys have a minute of privacy?’ he said with false bravado as he sat at the other side of the desk.

‘It was more than two hours,’ I said. ‘You didn’t even check your phone messages. What. The. Hell, Leo?’