The Tiger put his hands on his hips and looked around. I havent been here in a while. Good job on fixing it up.
I slithered towards True Way, heading to the part of the complex where the forge was located. I dont like coming up here. Its too quiet.
The Tiger stopped and I waited for him. The only sound was the breeze whispering through the buildings and the rustle of the pine trees that covered the hillside around us.
I see what you mean, he said. Wudang was never this quiet. There was always the noise and shouting of the Disciples, and the drums and chanting in the temples. He shook his head and caught up with me. Spooky.
We walked together along a narrow path that cut into the hillside. About three hundred metres on we came to a soaring arched bridge that straddled the deep gorge between the peaks. The breeze carried clouds below us, making the deep green pines in the gorge disappear and reappear. I led the Tiger around the edge of the peak and through a narrow passage to the next peak. A complex of smaller buildings, without open areas for practice, stood at the end of the passage. There was more noise here no voices, but the gentle background sounds of people busy about their lives. As we neared the forge, the smell of burning and clanging of metal being struck became apparent.
Good to see the Wudang forge back up, the Tiger said. Must send some orders in.
Go right ahead, I said. The revenue from the sale of some Wudang weapons would be welcome. Tell your friends. We have plenty of demons trained and working; we can handle any size order.
He grinned at me. You give me good price, okay?
Yeah, dream on, Devil Tiger.
We walked down four flights of stairs, flanked by small cypress trees, to the forge itself, with its well-worn rough stone bricks and clumsily put-together walls. The demons working there dropped to their knees when we entered, touching their heads to the floor; a couple of them fled in terror.
You may rise, I said to the head demon. Ive come to check the status of the sword being forged for the Black Lion.
The head demon pulled himself to his feet and grinned broadly. We will be fitting the handle tomorrow, maam, it has nearly cooled sufficiently. Please, come and see.
He guided me past the cowering demons to the racks in the oven where weapons were gently cooled from the forging process. Cooling them too fast would make them brittle. He gestured towards a single black sword resting on the highest rack by itself. The simple metal spike that would be the base for the handle looked incongruous protruding from the slender black blade.
The Tiger eyed it appreciatively. Is it too long?
The Masters say its the best length for him, I said.
The sword was almost two metres long and Japanese katana style. Thered been some discussion about the most suitable blade for Leo to wield, and the consensus among the Masters and the forge staff was that for someone of his size, the light and slender but balanced and deadly katana style was the way to go. I hoped Leo would appreciate it.
The handle sat on another rack nearby. It hadnt had the final leather wrap put around it yet and its studded black metal gleamed in the lights of the forge. It was decorated with the head of a black lion, mouth open to reveal its fangs. The lions eyes were covered with a strip of red paper, so that a demon could not possess it before it was blessed and its spirit entered it.
What are you going to wrap it in? the Tiger asked the head demon.
Ray skin, the demon said. Maybe even some thick sharkskin if we can get our hands on it.
The Tiger glanced up from the handle. Dont wrap it yet. I have some skin taken from one of the biggest sharks that ever lived. I caught it a couple of hundred years ago, with my own claws, off a tiny fishing boat in the South China Sea. I had the skin tanned; its not black, but you can dye it. It would be perfect.
The demon grinned with delight. My thanks, sir, that would be more than suitable.
Thanks, Tiger, I said. I turned to the demon. When are you planning to put it together?
We were planning to wrap and fit the handle tomorrow, sharpen the blade the next day, and then have it blessed three days from now, the demon said. He bobbed his head at the Tiger. Now we will wait until the sharkskin arrives.
Ill have it here for you tomorrow, the Tiger said.
The demon shrugged. Then it will be right on schedule. He nodded to me. You can present it to Lord Leo anytime after that, maam.
Ill need to send out invitations, so at least five days after that, I said.
My next stop was the mess hall, where the head caterer, a human Immortal, was preparing food for the demon workers.
The sword will be ready in three to four days, I said. Can we hold the presentation ceremony in about nine or ten days?
He quickly checked the calendar. Neither of those days are auspicious, but the day after, eleven days from now, is a good time to give gifts.
Done, I said. Ill have Yi Hao give you a list of who to invite.
He nodded. Looking forward to it, maam, its way too quiet around here. Im sure the demons that turned from the service of One Two Two will be delighted to see the Disciples back here where they belong, celebrating. His smile faded. Is there any word on the possibility of changing you back so that the Academy can be moved back here? That is what we all want to see, maam, the buildings and courts full of students again.
I have some leads that Xuan Wu himself gave me, I said. They sound difficult but Im determined.
Thats good to hear, maam.
I led the Tiger back along the narrow path cut into the side of the cliff and to the main forecourt in front of the Hall of Purple Mist.
Before you take me back down, could you give me a few minutes alone in the temple? I said.
The Tiger changed to True Form and stretched out on the stones in the sunshine. Go right ahead. Im not going anywhere.
I slithered up the narrow stairs to the temple. The Celestial version of the Golden Temple was double the size of the one on Earthly Wudangshan. Statues of the Xuan Wu the snake/turtle combination of Johns True Form guarded each side of the entrance, the snake wrapped around the turtles shell and disappearing into it where they touched. Inside the temple was a statue of John in Celestial Form a black-skinned human with wild hair and a small goatee, sitting on a throne and holding a sword across his knees. The sword was Seven Stars. A snake and turtle were beneath each of his bare feet. An altar was laid out in front of him, holding two vases of flowers, cups of wine and burning incense. A screen stood behind him.
I curled up my coils and sat in front of his effigy. His black fierce face gazed at me and he seemed ready to leap up and cut off my serpent head with the sword.
I meditated on the lives of those who had died because of the battle between Heaven and Hell. Charlie, Rhonda, Regina: women who had died caring for others rather than fighting, the way so many women in the worlds conflicts died. The Disciples who had died defending the Mountain the stronghold against the forces of Hell. April, whose naivety had killed both her and her child. The fox spirit who had died trying to hide herself and protect her child, who had died anyway. All the stone Shen destroyed by Six. It was a long list and I wished I could shed a tear for them all, but it wasnt possible in serpent form. Many of them had chosen their path and died with honour, but for some their deaths were what those in the military blithely called collateral damage and dismissed as part of the necessity of war.
Even though John was God of the Arts of War, he had never revelled in war and had always sought negotiation first. He was a study in contradictions, being the greatest fighter in existence and at the same time holding a deep abhorrence for killing. It didnt stop people from dying, however. Always so many people giving their lives, even more so recently because John was no longer present to protect them.
I raised my serpent head. I wasnt a fighter of his calibre but I would do my best to protect those who needed protection. I nodded to John, and his statue stared fiercely back at me.
I turned. I was on top of the highest peak in Celestial Wudangshan and the view was breathtaking. The mountains below me spread as far as I could see, their bases covered in mist and their peaks jagged and sharp. Something to do with the altitude and the geography made it seem that all the lower peaks were facing this highest peak and bowing to it. I turned back to glance at Johns statue and bowed to him. My warm, caring, generous, reptilian god.
I went down the stairs to the waiting Tiger.
Okay, Im ready to head back to work, I said.
Did he appear to you?
No.
Id expected his statue to take on a life of its own and come charging down to carry you away.
Hes in two pieces at opposite ends of the world. Not very likely to happen.
Has he appeared to anybody recently?
Not since Chinese New Year.
Okay. The Tiger touched my snout with his nose and carried me back to the Academy. He bowed on one foreleg and disappeared.
Gold was waiting for me outside my office. He jumped up as soon as I appeared and followed me inside. I sat at the desk and he shut the door and sat across from me, his face alight with excitement.
I can see you have something to tell me, so go ahead, I said.
I have a lead on Shenzhen. It seems that peasants are travelling there to work in the factories, and not leaving. At all. Ever.
Couldnt they just be falling through the bureaucratic cracks? I said. This is all done on paper, Ive seen it. When you go through immigration at Lo Wu, you fill in a mountain of bureaucratic forms that they dont even look at. They just stamp them and then put them in a box for filing. There must be some pieces of paper that dont make it through to data entry, even if they do have a computer system.
They do, and Ill have to investigate more; all I have at the moment is a hunch. A stone I know was working on the update of the China Bureau of Statistics databases and, in a fit of nostalgia, looked for a human ex-lover. He found her but once she moved to Shenzhen her records disappeared; in fact, shes disappeared completely. Normally people have to continue to pay taxes in their home province even if they move to the city to work, and she stopped doing it. He checked her residential, health, work permit and family planning records too and found nothing. Shes gone. No death record either.
More than one person has disappeared like this?
Several hundred.
I grimaced.
I know what youre thinking, maam: there are millions of people travelling into Shenzhen, and many of them want to disappear to avoid being sent back to their villages or to avoid paying taxes back home. But there seems to be some sort of pattern to the disappearances, and we want to do some analysis on the data.
How bigs the database, Gold?
It was his turn to grimace. Huge. Even the current years data is in the terabytes. Older data is kept separately. Its a nightmare.
Youll have to go down to crunch that.
Even with three stones linked up, it would take about a day completely offline. Possibly longer.
Do you have a couple of friends whod be willing to do this? I know how you stones hate being used as computers.
Calcite my friend who worked in the Bureau of Statistics will help. We just need to find one more.
Dont look at me, the stone in my ring said. Im not leaving Emma alone after what happened last year.
Oh, good point, Gold said. He went quiet for a moment, thoughtful, then stopped moving completely, not breathing or blinking.
Gold, stay alive, the stone said.
Gold came back with a start. Oh, sorry.
This has you more upset than usual, I said. Its not often you forget to live.
This sounds like a threesome, the stone in my ring said.
Gold wiped one hand over his face. Not a threesome. Shes my great-great-granddaughter.
Five generations? my stone said.
Gold nodded.
And you worry about her? Youve been human way too long, the stone said.
Her great-grandmother was one of my wives at the tea plantation, Gold said. When the Celestial found out that Id helped steal the tea, they only gave me five minutes to put my affairs in order before I was taken to the Celestial Plane. I never really had a chance to say goodbye to them and to make sure they were cared for. The demon servants took off, then the local warlord found out Id gone. He kept my wives as his own, but when he found that one of them was pregnant he threw her out, leaving her with nothing.
She did well to survive.
She was forced to do things that Im not proud to be responsible for. Now our descendant, Ah Fua, has disappeared.
This is ridiculous. I bet she doesnt even keep a tablet for you, the stone said. Five generations is way past any accountability.
Her mother does. She has an ancestral tablet for me at home, and one for my whole generation in the temple. Ah Fua doesnt need to do it because her mother does everything, even sweeps the graves. Theyre good, diligent children.
Do they know?
Of course not, Dad. Now, if weve finished with the interrogation, Id like to find another stone who can help locate Ah Fua.
I wonder if Zara would mind helping, I said. Shes still in hiding in the armoury, it would keep her busy.
Golds face lit up. She says yes. He grinned broadly. Ill go arrange it.
CHAPTER 10
Simone, Leo and I had dinner together that evening, just the three of us.
The appointment with the Archivist is tomorrow after school, I said to Simone. Dont forget. Ill need you to take me.
She gasped, her eyes wide. Oh, no! Ive arranged to take some of my friends out on the boat after school tomorrow!
You never asked me, I said.
She stuck her chin out at me. I dont need to. Its my boat.
Point taken; but Im your guardian and youre not an adult. Therefore I am legally required to be aware of where you are at all times.
Im going on the boat after school tomorrow, she said, stubborn.
I think an adult should go along with you, just in case, I said.
You have to go see the Archivist, and Leos Simone hesitated, obviously not wanting to hurt Leos feelings. She changed what she was going to say. Leos no good on the water.
Leo grimaced but didnt say anything.
How about Michael then? All the girls will think hes the coolest thing ever.