Dark_Serpent

9




Zhenwu

John, Leo and Martin landed their clouds outside the North Gate of the Celestial Palace. It was embossed in black and silver with a ten-metre-tall motif of the Xuan Wu in True Form. John walked towards it and it swung open for them. He stormed through the breezeway under the red-gold trees towards his apartments, unable to control his frustration. The Jade Emperor’s quarters and casual hearing rooms were less than two hundred metres away on his left, but he was unable to do anything until the next morning. He wound his way through the corridors, distantly aware of voices nagging at him.

‘John!’ someone said loudly, and he stopped and turned.

Leo’s jaw was set, ready to face the consequences of calling him by his first name.

Then John saw the problem. Yin was following him in a trail of destruction; the walls and floor of the corridor had been stripped down to the wooden framework. A Celestial Palace fairy floated five metres away between Leo and Martin, out of range of the cloud of yin, wearing an expression of mild exasperation.

John called the yin back and bowed to the fairy. ‘My apologies. Do not spend your own energy repairing this. Have it repaired by hand and pass the cost on to me.’

She quickly shook her head and floated past him towards his apartments, nodding to him as she passed.

‘Looks like you’re forgiven,’ Martin said with amusement.

‘I guess the Palace is becoming accustomed to me,’ John said, continuing towards his apartments, this time keeping his anger in check.

The fairies had prepared a meal for them and waited in the dining room to serve them.

‘Eat,’ he said to Leo and Martin, and went into the courtyard.

He sat cross-legged on the grass under the tree in the clear, cool evening. He wished he could return to the sea for the night, but he wouldn’t risk being late to see the Jade Emperor in the morning. He and Emma had sat under this very tree, making plans for their future together, and the pain of missing her pierced him.

He wound down completely, stowing his intelligence away and becoming nothing, unaware of his transformation into a small tortoise sitting on the grass.

Martin and Leo came into the courtyard.

‘We should make him eat something,’ Leo said. ‘They must have some lettuce or grapes or cat food around here.’

‘He doesn’t need to eat. He’s gone,’ Martin said. ‘He’s completely insensible.’

‘What if something happens?’

‘He’s relying on us to tell him. Come on, even if he won’t eat, we should. We have a long night ahead of us and we need to be strong. We can do this.’

‘As long as we have each other we can do anything,’ Leo said.


Emma

The bull-head demon led me through corridors of rough-hewn black stone that glittered with hidden jewels. Other demons, mostly humanoid guards, passed us. Some stopped to study me curiously, then saw the bull-head’s sneer and quickly moved on. We dropped down a ten-metre-wide hole, and I could taste and smell the decay from below as we fell. We landed on a platform that edged the hole, and he pulled me through an opening into a black tunnel. Screams could be heard coming from the other end, and the bullhead grinned.

He turned right before the end, into a tunnel flanked by stone chambers, each with a barred front and door. Some held sleeping serpent-type demons; others were empty. He took me down the corridor to the very end and into a cell, the screams of the tormented drifting all the way into this part of the complex.

He led me into the cell, which although black stone was warm and dry. He poked the end of the pole out through the bars, went out and closed the door. Then he released the noose around my neck and pulled the pole quickly out.

‘Just sit tight and your boyfriend will be along shortly,’ he said. ‘Anything you need, give the guards a yell. It’d be sort of pointless to try to escape since we plan to let you go anyway.’ He shook his head, flicking his ears. ‘Try to see it as a research trip. I don’t think you’ve been this far into the demonic side of Hell before. If you’re lucky, you might see some of the poor wretches that we play with on this level. We love it when we get one with a snake phobia; we see how long we can play before they go mad.’

He nodded to me and walked away.

I slithered around the perimeter of the cell. Three of the cell walls were rough-hewn black rock and the fourth was the cell door set into the bars. I was trapped.

For a human, the cell would be unpleasant, but for a snake it was a cosy habitat. The black stone was warm and dry, and there was a pile of soft rubber foam chips in one corner under a rocky overhang, perfect for making a nest. Next to it stood a small cage containing a live rat. All I had to do was bang the push-button door with my nose and the rat would be released: dinner. A rodent-type drip water feeder was clipped to the bars of the cell.

You there? I asked the stone.

I’m underground, I can’t contact anybody, it said.

I’m well aware of that.

A series of screams drifted down the hallway, then abruptly stopped.

I hope he comes soon, I said.

I curled up in the nest of foam chips and moved my chi through my serpent body, cycling down to meditate and trying to ignore fresh wails of terror.

Don’t attempt to change to human, the stone said. You heard what the Demon King said.

He wanted to do things to my human form, and I had a good idea what they involved. What my nephews had suffered would be nothing in comparison. I know.

I’m here. You’re not alone.

I was silent for a moment, trying to think of a way to express exactly how much I appreciated it, and found myself lost for words.

Thanks, was all I could manage.

Emma, quick! the stone roared telepathically, so loudly that I banged my head on the overhanging stone ledge. Lock your door!

I can’t lock the door, I’m on the inside.

They lock on the inside. They’re to keep things out not in. Now hurry!

I slithered up to the cell door. The stone was right. The door was closed and the latch was on the inside; a large wide ring that was easily manageable by my serpent nose. Screams and the sound of scuffling echoed down the hall as I pushed the latch across.

All the way into the cover, the stone said. That way they can’t open it from the outside.

What’s out there? I said as I pushed the ring into the metal cover, then saw what was coming down the corridor towards my cell and quickly backed away. It was a level seventy-five Mother in True Form, holding a writhing snake demon in each hand.

Her skinless head brushed the ceiling of the hallway as she stopped and stared at me. ‘What the hell are you?’

‘I’m just a little snake,’ I said. ‘Nothing important.’

She moved closer to the bars and flicked her forked tongue. ‘You smell different, and different is important.’ She raised the serpent demon in her right hand and spoke to it. ‘Tell me what she is and I won’t eat you.’

‘That’s the Dark Lady, the Xuan Wu’s promised,’ the snake demon said. ‘Let me go!’

‘Really?’ The Mother grinned at me through the bars, and absent-mindedly bit off the snake demon’s head. ‘Fascinating.’

‘You promised you wouldn’t eat her,’ the other snake demon said.

The Snake Mother spun and smashed the living demon against the wall of the corridor, making it explode. ‘I know. I forgot. I’ll remember next time.’ She took another bite out of the dead demon’s corpse, licking at the demon essence. ‘What are you doing here, Emma?’

‘Oh, you know, the usual,’ I said. ‘Beautiful princess held in the gleaming tower waiting for her handsome prince to come and rescue her.’

The Mother guffawed. ‘I like that. I heard you’re an ugly bitch, but that he’s an uglier one.’ She took another bite of the snake demon, then popped the end of its tail into her mouth and wiped it with the back of her hand. Her voice went sly. ‘He’s not here right now, though, and you look like you’d taste different.’ She leaned towards the bars and flicked her tongue again. ‘I haven’t eaten Western in a long time.’

She took hold of one of the bars and pulled at it. When it didn’t give, she yanked harder on it, making the door rattle. The bar bent in her hand. She stopped.

‘You don’t seem that big. I wonder if you have to do what I tell you?’

‘The King’s holding me here at his pleasure. Do anything to me and he’ll be pissed,’ I said. ‘Really, really pissed.’

‘You sure about that?’

She raised her other hand, summoned a mobile phone and texted someone. She waited for a moment, then a jangling Chinese pop ringtone went off. She checked the message.

‘Damn, he says to leave you alone.’

The phone disappeared and she turned to look back up the hallway. ‘I’m still hungry. See ya.’

She slithered away, leaving a trail of toxic slime behind her. I went back to the bedding and hid underneath the foam chips as much as I could. I curled myself into the tiniest ball possible and watched the door of the cage.

How long was I asleep? I asked the stone.

About four hours. It’s midnight. I think she sneaked in for a snack while the guards aren’t alert.

How long have I been here? I’m losing track of time.

Six hours.

He should be here by now!

He has to gain permission, Emma, and he won’t be able to do that until court is in session at the Celestial Palace. You’ll be here at least another six to eight hours, and possibly longer if the Jade Emperor delays granting access to Hell.

What about the Demon King granting access?

The stone hesitated, then said, I know. He’s supposed to ask the Demon King for permission, but the King knows that the Dark Lord has to find you for the oath to be fulfilled. Its voice changed slightly. Hold tight, dear one, look after yourself. This may take a while.

I buried myself deeper under the chips.

When I woke again there were quiet discussions and the sound of movement down the hall, but no screams. I crept out from under the rock ledge and studied the rat in its cage. Maybe later. I sipped at the water bottle and it worked surprisingly well for my serpent form.

What time is it?

The stone was silent.

I’m losing track. I feel like I’ve been here a couple of days already. Tell me it’s morning and he’s coming for me.

It’s only 2 am. The stone’s voice grew more affectionate. Go back to sleep, Emma, there’s nothing you can do. He will find you, remember that. Once that is done, he can Raise and marry you, and you can live on his Mountain and you will be together. That’s the whole oath, and it will happen.

I didn’t reply; I just crawled under the stone ledge and buried myself in the foam again.

If you’re bored and can’t sleep, I can play you a recording of something pleasant, the stone said. Pick a place and I can put you there.

Thanks for the offer, but I want to be fully aware when he comes.

I understand.

There was a disturbance outside my cell. I poked my head out from under the rocky overhang to find a group of demons standing at the door of the cage.

‘Look! She stuck her head out,’ one said. ‘The Mother was right.’

I moved further out to see better. There were two guard demons with a serpent-type demon. One of the guards held a small human male by the scruff of the neck. The man was wearing nothing but a stained loincloth and hung dully in the demon’s grasp, his mouth open and saliva dribbling from one corner.

The serpent demon raised its head and moved it from side to side. ‘What is it? I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

‘It’s the Dark Lady,’ one of the guards said in awe. ‘The real deal. That’s her.’

‘But what is she?’

‘Some sort of Western snake Shen hybrid thing,’ the other demon guard said. ‘Apparently if they breed two of these things together, you get a powerful snake like her, and the King did it.’

I waited silently, watching them.

‘Does she talk?’ the serpent demon said.

‘Should do, supposed to be a major brain.’ The guard grinned, revealing four tusks in the corners of his mouth. ‘For a female, anyway.’

The snake demon glared at him. ‘I’ll tell the Mothers you said that.’

His grin was quickly replaced by a look of concern. ‘Hey, no, I didn’t mean that. You girls can be brighter than us men sometimes. Really.’ He moved back so that the snake demon could see better. ‘See if you can get her to talk.’

The human prisoner wailed quietly, gradually rising in pitch and volume to a scream. He didn’t move or change his expression otherwise.

‘Ah, shit, better get this one back to the prison section,’ one of the guards said. ‘Oh, he was heard.’

‘Da Shih Yeh,’ the demons said in unison with reverence.

A tiny, white-skinned elderly man wearing a simple ragged tunic down to his knees and leaning on a twisted wooden staff hobbled up to the group. His beard nearly touched the floor and his eyes glittered with intelligence under his bushy brows.

‘Is this the one making that racket?’ he said.

Don’t say a word, Emma, the stone said urgently.

The demon guard pushed the human victim towards the old man. ‘Can you shut him up for us, Da Shih Yeh?’

Da Shih Yeh held out one bony hand and put it square over the prisoner’s face. The man’s eyes went wide and he stared into Da Shih Yeh’s eyes, then completely relaxed. His eyes half-closed and he almost smiled.

‘That will keep him quiet for a while,’ Da Shih Yeh said. He swivelled on his staff to look inside my cell. ‘And what is this? I’ve never seen anything like this before.’ He shuffled closer. ‘A human serpent thing?’ He chuckled with delight. ‘I love to see new things, don’t you?’ He spoke over his shoulder to the guards. ‘You’d better put that human back where it belongs before someone realises he’s not where he’s supposed to be.’

‘Uh, yeah,’ one of the guards said. ‘Come on, guys, let’s get out of here. The boss’ll be down on us hard if she finds us slacking around here.’

I waited until they were out of earshot, then quickly slithered to the bars of the cage. ‘You need to get out of here right now. He knows who you are and if he finds you he’ll have you. Go now.’

‘They all know who I am, little one,’ the Grandfather said, leaning on his staff. ‘I just move faster than they do.’

‘Those guards will be running to tell the King!’

He glanced back down the corridor. ‘I’ve done all of those ones a favour in the past. None of them would exist without me and they know it. They won’t do anything.’

‘What if he ordered them to tell him if you showed up?’

‘They would tell him; they have to. But they can take a couple of days thinking about whether or not it was really me.’ He reached through the bars to touch my nose and the warm feeling of comfort spread through me. ‘I am here if you need me, but sometimes I need to move away quickly.’ He raised his head. ‘Now is one of those times, I am sorry. I will return later if you are still here.’ He took his hand from my nose. ‘I will tell those who need to know what they need to know.’

‘No!’ I said urgently. ‘Don’t tell him where I am. He needs to find me —’

Da Shih Yeh disappeared.

‘— himself.’


Zhenwu

There were sounds above him, but they didn’t break into his reverie. Then one loud noise did. Someone was calling ‘Father’. Simone?

‘Ah Ba! ’

He opened his eyes and saw the huge humans. They needed him. He pulled himself back into his shell and took human form.

‘Is it time to go?’ he said.

‘No, there’s a message for you. The fairy won’t give it to anyone else,’ Martin said.

The fairy floated to John and held out a piece of paper, carefully folded into four. He took the paper and opened it, then shot to his feet.

‘Who gave you this?’ he asked the fairy, and his tone made her flit backwards with fright. He waved the paper in front of her face. ‘Who has done this? Where did this come from?’

The fairy’s face went serene and a voice echoed around the courtyard, whispering with the sound of trees and water, ‘Buddha.’

‘Which Buddha?’

The fairy shook her head.

‘I suppose we all look the same to you. What did the Buddha look like?’

The fairy gestured towards the pond and an image of Kwan Yin appeared in the water.

John dropped his arm, suddenly limp. ‘I cannot believe she would do this to me.’

‘What does it say?’ Martin said.

John handed him the note and Martin glanced at it, then smiled broadly. ‘This is marvellous. It will mean much less searching.’ He glanced up at John. ‘Why are you unhappy? This is good news.’

The fairy had disappeared. John fell to sit cross-legged on the grass again and checked his watch: 3 am. Still hours before he could see the Jade Emperor, and Kwan Yin had ruined it.

Leo glanced at the note. ‘Oh, that was a rotten thing to do. I understand how you feel.’

‘What?’ Martin said. ‘What am I missing?’

Leo gestured towards John. ‘He vowed to find her, Raise her and marry her. She’s lost in Hell, so if he finds her now it’s one of three, and they can stop worrying about being separated. It’s been driving both of them nuts.’

‘I don’t see what this has to do with it,’ Martin said.

Leo tapped the paper in Martin’s hand. ‘Kwan Yin found Emma first. And this tells him where Emma is; she’s not lost any more.’

‘If you go through that maze in level six to find Emma, you are still finding her,’ Martin said, confident. ‘Don’t be concerned, Father, this is nothing. I’m sure that finding her in Hell will fulfil your oath.’

John leaned the back of his head against the tree. ‘I sincerely hope so.’ He pulled himself to his feet. ‘I suppose I should try to sleep until we see the Jade Emperor. I suggest you two return to bed as well.’

Martin and Leo nodded and turned away. When they reached the doorway into their quarters, Martin stopped and turned back. ‘Do not be concerned, Father. You will find her.’

‘Thank you,’ John said.

He walked around the courtyard to his own bedroom, stripped off and fell onto the black silk sheets naked, too emotionally drained to change into sleep clothes. The fairies would just have to put up with him.


Emma

Later that night, it became quiet. The other residents of the cells were parked in the demon equivalent of sleep. I couldn’t sleep, so the stone retrieved the Archivist’s files and projected them into the air in front of the rocky overhang.

‘There’s so little to go on,’ I said, frustrated.

‘Serves them right for not writing anything down,’ the stone said. ‘Oral tradition. That’s nearly as bad as the way kids learn by recitation rather than understanding.’

‘I didn’t know you were pro education reform,’ I said. ‘I would have thought you’d support the way it’s always been done.’

‘One of my children helped start the Native English Teacher Scheme,’ the stone said with pride. ‘Look how that’s improved the standard of English in the Territory. When they made all the schooling in native language, he said —’

‘Psst! Snake lady!’ someone hissed at the door of the cage.

The stone blinked the projections off and I poked my head out of the overhang. It was a snake demon; a small one, about level thirty.

‘What do you want?’ I said.

He dropped his head. He had many similarities to a natural snake, but his scales jutted out in spiked disarray, his head had horns and there were pointed projections under his chin.

‘Can I ask you something?’ he said.

‘What?’

He looked around furtively, then back to me. ‘Come closer. I don’t want anybody to hear.’

Are there any other demons close by?

No.

I slithered out of my alcove and approached the bars, but stayed well back.

‘Go ahead,’ I said from two metres away.

‘You have a crown,’ he said in awe.

‘It’s to hold my engagement stone. It’s pretty, isn’t it? The Tiger made it for me.’

‘Is it silver?’

‘Platinum.’

‘I love the work they put into it,’ he said. ‘It’s all twisted wires, so lovely.’

I dropped my head slightly. ‘Thank you. Is that what you wanted to ask?’

He looked around again, then moved closer to the bars. ‘Can you give me a lesson?’

‘A lesson in what?’

He dropped his voice to a whisper. ‘Kung fu.’

‘Why do you want to learn?’ I said with interest.

‘You must have seen what happened earlier. That Mother grabbed my sister and ate her. I don’t want that to happen to me.’ He raised his head and spoke with dignity. ‘I want to be a Mother too one day. There has to be more to life than torturing adulterers.’

‘You torture adulterers?’

Don’t ask, Emma, you really don’t want to know, the stone said.

‘Not all of them,’ the demon said. ‘Just the ones the judges send here, which is only a small fraction of them. The boss keeps complaining that the judges are too lenient, whatever that means. We only get the really bad ones — you know, the ones who messed with little kids, or hurt other people physically or mentally. Some of the people we get down here are really nasty pieces of work.’ He dropped his head. ‘I can’t believe how cruel humans are sometimes. They put our efforts to shame.’ He looked back down the hallway. ‘Had one evil bastard here for close on ten years and every day we made him scream. I enjoyed every second of that, until they took him to the Hell of Red-Hot Grates next level down.’ He cocked his head at me. ‘So will you teach me? I don’t want to die like my sister did.’

‘I can’t teach you,’ I said.

‘Could you just tell me what to do?’

‘No. The Jade Emperor’s locked me out from teaching as punishment. I can’t teach anyone.’

‘He has no jurisdiction down here,’ he said.

‘His Edict applies to me wherever I am.’

‘Okay.’ He sounded disappointed. ‘Hey, it’s been nice talking to you anyway, Emma. I hope we never meet again.’

‘Thanks. So do I. What’s your name?’

‘Rocky.’ He took human form: a young, round-faced Chinese boy with dyed blond hair, wearing the white shirt and pants that served as a school uniform in China. ‘What do you think of my human form? I’ve been working on it for a while.’

‘You need to either make your head smaller or the rest of you taller,’ I said. ‘Your head’s slightly too big so it looks a little strange. Apart from that, it’s very fetching.’

‘Thank you,’ he said shyly.

There was a loud hiss down the corridor. He looked and his face filled with terror. He backed towards the wall. ‘Oh shit, no, a Mother. No, no, no.’

He spun towards the cell across from me, which was empty, and frantically worked at the door. ‘Let me in! Let me in!’

The door wouldn’t open and he huddled against the wall.

I went to the door of my cell and opened it. ‘Come in here. Quickly! You’ll be safe.’

No, Emma! the stone said, but I ignored it.

Rocky raced into my cell and I slammed the door shut, flipping the latch across just as the Mother appeared on the other side of it. She was in True Form: massive snake back end with human front end.

‘You two having some sexy times?’ she said. ‘Don’t stop on my account.’

I backed away from the door. ‘We were just talking.’

‘What the hell sort of accent is that?’ She moved closer to me and I backed further away. ‘You don’t belong here. What are you?’

Rocky changed back to snake and moved next to me; we were of a similar size.

‘This is the Dark Lady herself, Ninety-Four, so piss off. We were just talking, and if you hurt her the King will rip your scales off.’

‘So this is her. She smells delicious,’ the Mother said, then focused on Rocky. ‘So do you.’

Rocky’s voice squeaked with effort. ‘You can’t hurt us.’

‘I’m bigger than you,’ she said, her voice silky. ‘Come to me, my darling.’

Rocky swayed as if mesmerised, then slithered towards the door.

The Mother pulled at the door and grimaced with frustration when it didn’t open. ‘Oh, it’s locked on the inside. Open the door for me, honey.’

There’s nothing you can do for him, Emma, back up! the stone said.

I slithered under the stone ledge as Rocky pulled the latch across and opened the door. I poked my head out and watched with frustration as the Mother reached in and picked him up by the base of his neck. She opened her mouth impossibly wide and shoved his head in, biting it off and sucking the demon essence out of him.

When she was done, she dropped on her coils and leered at me. ‘Your turn.’

She came into the cell and grabbed me with one hand, dragging me out from under the overhang. She held me around the throat hard enough to cut off my air and I thrashed against her, trying to suck in enough to breathe. She raised me to her face and dropped me. The cell walls spun around me in a dizzying spiral and the floor slammed into my head.

When I came around, it was to a jumbled vision of blackness and a shiny silver needle, different in each eye. I lurched up to see what was happening, hitting whatever was standing over me.

‘I told you she was coming round,’ a woman said.

A group of demons were crowded into my cell: a small black-skinned one with a bulbous head and impossibly skinny body and limbs, holding a syringe; and a humanoid guard carrying weapons, with two similar guards behind it.

The small black demon put its hands up. ‘I was just treating you. I’m not here to do any damage.’ It sounded like a middle-aged man.

I hesitated, swaying my head in front of them.

It’s speaking the truth, the stone said. They destroyed the Mother before she could eat you, then they called a doctor. They were worried you were poisoned.

The skinny demon spoke to the guards without looking away from me. ‘I’d say she’ll be fine, but I really have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like her before. Keep an eye on her, and if she complains about anything at all let me know.’

He tossed the syringe into a physician’s bag sitting next to him, then nodded to me. ‘Dark Lady. It has been an honour to meet you. I hope you survive whatever it is that His Loathsome Majesty has in store for you.’

‘I apologise for hitting you,’ I said. ‘A disadvantage of having no eyelids is that when I wake up I see everything right in front of my face.’

‘You aren’t the first,’ he said.

The guards parted and allowed him to walk out of the cell, lugging the big bag with him.

The head guard turned back to me and spoke in a gruff woman’s voice. ‘The King’s put us here to guard you. Apparently the Mothers know about you and they all want to see you.’ She looked down the hallway. ‘Three of us should be able to handle any of them.’ She turned back to me and raised her axe in front of her gleaming, black-scaled face. ‘I hear the Dark Lord is coming for you. I hope he’ll do me the honour of letting me take a swing at him before he destroys me.’

She nodded over her shoulder to the other two humanoids, and the three of them took up position outside my cage.

‘Turn and he won’t destroy you,’ I said. ‘Pledge to me and I’ll make sure you’re treated well.’

She gestured with her chin towards the ceiling. ‘Can’t turn while Grandad’s watching us.’

I moved closer to the bars and looked where she’d indicated. A slime demon, more than a metre across, was stuck to the ceiling. It was made of bright orange and green filaments that writhed over each other, and was completely covered in glassy opaque eyes of all sizes, blinking and moving over its liquid surface. When it saw me looking, it made some sticky hissing noises.

‘Grandad says hi, and sorry about the Mothers,’ the guard demon translated for me. ‘He says, how do you like the security camera? Oh, he wants me to tell you how he made it.’ She grinned, revealing gleaming white tusks. ‘He grabs the eyes out of any demon that has displeased him, and holds them in shape while the rest of the demon explodes. Then he pokes the eyes into that thing so it can keep watch for him.’

‘Charming.’