Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (53 page)

My demon swung at my head. I dodged under its guard, swung my head up with my mouth open and gripped its wrist. Before it had a chance to take my head with its left hand, I bit its right hand off and snapped back out of reach again.

This was enough. The demon essence spiralled out of the injury in its hand, destroying it. I siphoned the essence into me; again it turned into something bright, dark and powerful.

Martin’s demon struck him in the side, its blade cutting through his armour and burying itself at least fifteen centimetres into his abdomen and lodging there. The demon lifted the other sword to take his head, but he blocked it with his own. They were deadlocked. The demon tried to finish Martin with the second sword as it attempted to free the first, but he was fast enough to block every blow.

Simone finally found an opening in her own demon and sliced it through from shoulder to hip, tearing it open to release its demon essence. It spread out into feathery black streamers, sticking to Simone where they hit her and dissipating into the air where they didn’t. She raised Dark Heavens and threw it like a spear at the remaining demon’s head. The sword travelled straight through it and destroyed the demon, which exploded all over Martin.

Martin fell and the bucket holding the stones toppled, scattering them everywhere. He held his side where the demon’s sword was still lodged in it; it was a Japanese-style wakizashi dagger, at least forty centimetres long. He gripped the handle and winced with pain, then gasped as he yanked it from his side and threw it sideways. He fell back clutching his side, which was now dark with blood.

‘Rinse him off, then I’ll heal him,’ I said. ‘I don’t want any venom inside him when I seal the wound.’

Simone concentrated and a small cloud, dark with moisture, appeared above Martin. A tiny deluge fell from it, warm and salty, and Martin gasped again as it hit him. He raised himself so that his side was flooded with the water, his face stiff with pain.

Simone moved behind him to hold him up. ‘Sorry, Ge Ge, I can only do salt water.’

‘Salt is better for me,’ Martin said, his voice hoarse with effort. He focused with difficulty on me. ‘You can heal it?’

‘I can try,’ I said. I waited for Simone’s rain shower to finish rinsing him clean, then touched my serpent snout to him. ‘Lower him gently,’ I said.

Simone returned him to the floor, then looked behind her. ‘Leo, can you collect the stones back up, please?’

‘We already are,’ one of the Leos said behind me.

I concentrated on Martin. I didn’t even try to touch him with my tongue; the taste of a Shen would definitely push me over the edge. I knew that this was the demon inside me, not the serpent; the snake liked the taste of blood, but didn’t have this raw, gnawing addiction to it that my demon side had.

We need to clear
—

We need to clear this essence out of me, I know
, I said before the stone had finished.
John said I was to visit the Three Pure Ones. I hope they can help.

Anything’s better than going to the Demon King, and don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it
, the stone said.
Can you heal him?

I can give it a damn good try.

‘Can you heal him?’ Simone said.

‘If you can’t heal me, just leave me here,’ Martin said.

‘If we leave you here, there’s no way for us to get out,’ I said. ‘Simone can’t carry all of us.’

‘Simone can touch you while you’re a snake,’ Martin said. ‘She can carry you out. Leave us and go.’

‘Not an option,’ Simone said. ‘Can you do it?’

‘Will everybody stop asking me if I can do it and let me see if I can?’ I said irritably, and they went quiet. The only sound was the stones hitting the bottom of the bucket as the Leos collected them.

I moved my consciousness through Martin. His only injury was the slash in his side; the demon had caught him with a lucky blow.

‘I thought you could take down just about anything if you had a weapon,’ I said.

‘I’m out of practice,’ Martin said. ‘I haven’t had to fight a demon in eight years.’

‘You can still do the katas,’ I said.

‘Wasn’t allowed to,’ he said, and flinched as I touched the wound with my nose. ‘Just go and let me die here. It’s all the same.’

I checked the depth of the wound; it had clipped his large bowel—ugly. Bacteria from his bowel would contaminate his abdominal cavity and cause infection. He needed hospital care, where they could cleanse the wound and fill him full of antibiotics—both inside the wound and through his bloodstream. If I closed it up with that amount of bacteria in him, he would die within a week without hospital care, Shen or not.

I raised my head. ‘I can fix the wound now, but he will need to go to hospital later. The wound is contaminated and needs antibiotics.’

‘Close it up, and I’ll take you out,’ Martin said. ‘Then we can either let me die or take me to a hospital. Your choice.’

I touched my nose to him again and healed the bowel wound, then closed up the exterior slash, knitting the muscles as best I could. I didn’t need to do a thorough job as it would have to be opened again and cleansed.

‘It needs binding,’ I said. ‘The join is weak and may split open again.’

Simone used Dark Heavens to tear away part of the bottom of her flowing demon robes and wrapped the fabric around Martin’s abdomen to cover the wound. He watched, impressed, as she worked with precision and competence.

‘Nice job,’ he said.

‘I did first aid as part of an adventuring award program they have in Australia,’ Simone said. ‘I want to do it all the way up to the gold award—it’s a great learning experience. I hope my new school has it.’

Martin leaned on her and she helped him to his feet.

We exited the room and turned right again.

‘Is there any more ground we need to cover to find another Leo?’ I said.

Simone nodded. ‘We have about another fifty or so metres of corridor to check.’

‘Can you make it that far, Martin?’ I said.

Martin nodded, but his face was fierce with pain. ‘I’ll make it.’

‘Let us carry him,’ one of the Leos said. ‘He can go between us.’

‘Good idea,’ Simone said, and passed Martin to the Leos, who stood one on either side of him with his arms over their shoulders.

About halfway down the corridor Simone stopped. ‘There’s something on the right here.’

‘Anything we’ll need to fight?’ I said.

‘No, nothing alive. It just feels…strange.’

I pushed the double doors open with my nose and went in. There was another rack of shelves in this room, again covered with dead stone Shen but these ones didn’t smell dead. They flew up off the shelves and grew to take the form of fake stone elementals; so many of them that they completely filled the room, forcing us back out the doors and into the corridor.

‘There are at least fifty of them, and more growing!’ Simone said. ‘We need to get out of here—I can’t destroy that many!’

‘Come to me,’ Martin said, and put his hand out from where the Leos were holding him. ‘Touch me. I’ll take us out.’

‘Go with him,’ the stone in my ring said. ‘Get out of here!’

Simone raised her hand and touched Martin’s; I touched his hand with my snout. There was a flash of light, a feeling of disorientation, then we were on a grassy lawn next to a wide lake. It was night; the stars above blazed brighter than any I’d seen before. To our left, further along the shore of the lake, were the lights of a city, golden and welcoming. A fresh breeze full of the scent of the water and the mown grass blew from the lake, but it was chillingly cold.

One of the Leos stiffened as if he’d been struck, then exploded into a mass of black feathery streamers, disappearing quickly. The other Leo gently lowered Martin to sit on the grass, holding him so that he could see around him.

Simone changed back to her normal human form and put her hands on her hips. ‘You stupid
asshole
! You could have killed Emma!’

‘How?’ Martin said. ‘It’s just the Celestial Plane. It can’t hurt her.’

‘Because of the demon essence in her, travel to the Celestial Plane in human form will destroy her,’ Simone said, furious.

Martin nodded to Simone. ‘My apologies. I didn’t know. But she seems to be all right.’

‘We’re on the Celestial Plane? Where?’ Leo said.

‘We’re in the Northern Heavens,’ Simone said. ‘That’s why the other Leo died; he wasn’t the real one, he was a demon copy. Obviously you’re the real…’ She hesitated, then threw herself onto the grass to hold him. ‘You’re the real Leo!’

‘I’m not, sweetheart,’ Leo said sadly. ‘I’m Leo Four.’

Simone pulled back to see him, confused. ‘You’re the one that attacked Emma?’

Leo nodded.

‘The demon must have been controlling you, same as when you attacked us at the school concert,’ Simone said.

Leo’s face cleared and he grinned. ‘I remember that. You wore a tiger mask and said a little poem in Putonghua.’

‘Check to see if there are any stones planted on you,’ I said. ‘When you attacked us after the concert, a stone was put in your pocket to make you obey.’

Leo rose and felt his pyjama pants. ‘No pockets here.’ He grimaced. ‘They may have…it could be…’ He shrugged. ‘If there’s one on me, we have to take it out.’

‘We’ll have someone check when we get home,’ I said.

‘What?’ Simone said. ‘You think they shoved a stone up your
ass
?’

‘He was on his stomach on the table,’ I said.

Leo stared at Simone for a moment, then said, ‘You are growing up way too fast, missy.’

‘I’ll take that as a compliment,’ Simone said. She knelt and took Martin’s hand. ‘We can take you to the hospital here, Ge Ge. The physicians will treat you; there’s no need for you to make another journey through Hell.’

‘I just need to take True Form and rest in the lake for a while,’ Martin said. ‘But I am not sure that I am welcome here.’

‘I am Regent, Simone is Princess,’ I said. ‘We say you are welcome. You are.’

We heard a splash from the lake and turned. The turtle that we had found in Sai Kung had pulled itself out and was making its way laboriously to us.

‘By the Heavens, Jie Jie,’ Martin said with wonder. ‘What are you doing here?’

The turtle crawled up to Martin and rested its head on his knee.

‘This is your sister?’ Simone said.

‘This is our big sister,’ Martin said. ‘I am Ming Gui, the Bright Turtle. This is Yue Gui, the Moon Turtle.’

‘A demon gave her to us,’ I said. ‘She can’t speak.’

Yue Gui nudged Martin with her nose.

‘I wonder what has happened to you,’ Martin said. He put his hand on her head. ‘She cannot speak at all, not even mind to mind. I have never seen anything like this before.’

The turtle raised its head from his knee, turned away, and crawled back down to the lake. It hesitated for a moment, looking at the moon, then slid into the water and disappeared.

‘I will take True Form and join her,’ Martin said. ‘She may be able to talk to me that way.’ He moved to rise, then grunted and clutched his side.

‘Good idea,’ Simone said. ‘Meet us at the city later.’

Martin nodded. Leo and Simone helped him to the edge of the water. He took a couple of steps into the lake, then raised his head and concentrated. He shrank and changed into a green sea turtle. He turned his head back to see us.
I will return to the city in an hour. I will see you there.

Simone waved to him. He turned away and slipped further into the water, disappearing beneath it.

‘My family keeps growing all the time,’ Simone said. ‘Now I have a sister too. I wonder how many other children Daddy had.’

‘He was going to tell me but I asked him not to,’ I said.

‘I don’t blame you,’ Leo said.

Simone gestured towards the city. ‘You guys up to walking? I can’t summon a cloud.’

‘I’m going to crash badly when we get there,’ I said. ‘I think we’ve been going for nearly twenty-four hours straight.’

‘You’d better go back home before you do that,
Emma,’ Simone said. ‘If you change back to human form while you’re asleep, you could be destroyed.’

‘Good point,’ I said. I lowered my serpent head. ‘I’m buggered. I hope we can find someone to take me home. I just want to sleep.’

Leo choked with laughter and I rounded on him. ‘It means something else in Australia!’

‘I know, you told me when we were there,’ Leo said.

I slithered away to follow Simone around the edge of the lake towards the city. ‘You are the real Leo. Only you would remember that.’ I turned my head to see him. ‘But some stuff you don’t remember. What did they do to you?’

‘I don’t know,’ Leo said.

‘Is your ass sore?’

‘Not even in a good way.’

Simone put her hands over her ears. ‘La, la, la, la, I can’t hear you.’

I nudged Leo with my serpent head. ‘It’s good to have you back, my friend.’

‘You still can’t trust me, ladies,’ Leo said grimly. ‘You should lock me up until you’re sure you can.’

‘Simone is one of the most powerful…’ I hesitated, searching for the word.

‘Creatures,’ Simone said. ‘I’m one of the most powerful creatures on the Celestial Plane. Don’t worry about hurting me, Leo, you would never even get close to me.’

‘You’re still my little girl,’ Leo said.

Simone went to him and put her arm around his waist. He put his arm over her shoulder and they walked together. ‘I’m glad,’ Simone said. ‘Leo, you’re shivering like crazy, you must be freezing!’ She raised one hand and conjured a big padded parka, like those worn by Hong Kong people when there was even the slightest chill in the air. ‘Here, put this on.’

Leo shrugged the jacket on and nodded. ‘Thanks, sweetheart.’

‘He’s barefoot too, Simone,’ I said from behind them. ‘He could probably do with a pair of ugg boots as well.’

Simone conjured a pair of big white sheepskin boots and passed them to him. He quickly pulled them on. ‘That’s way better.’

Simone looked back to see me. ‘You okay, Emma? You’re slowing down.’

‘It’s hard to move,’ I said. ‘It’s like something’s draining my energy.’