‘How am I supposed to make a living with you taking the majority of my income?’ Sang Shen shouted, his brown face livid with rage.
‘You’re a convicted criminal by your own admission and you should not be earning a fortune while incarcerated,’ I said. ‘Remember, Sang Shen, this agreement you made with the Dragon is confidential. I am warning you now: if anyone discovers that the Dragon is buying the leaves from you, I will hold you responsible and you will receive none of the income from your leaves.’
He made some incoherent, spluttering noises, then stormed out as well.
Yue Gui’s face glowed with suppressed amusement as she came up to the bench. ‘That was the most fun I’ve had in a while. Well done, Emma, you thoroughly pissed off both of them. What a triumph.’
‘He’s your son, Yue.’
‘And it’s about time he grew up.’ She saluted me and turned to address the Dragon’s servants. ‘Why are you still here? Follow your master.’
One of the women stepped forward and bowed with her hands clasped in front of her. ‘By your leave, ma’am, we have a favour to ask of the Dark Lady.’
‘Come forward,’ I said.
The five of them walked towards me with tiny steps, delicate ladies-in-waiting. The lead attendant stopped next to Yue Gui and the others stood behind her.
‘My Lady,’ the lead woman said. ‘My name is Purple Jade.’ She bowed again, obviously nervous, and looked back at the other women. ‘We have a request for you. We wish to ask you this thing in confidence.’
‘Don’t be afraid,’ I said gently. ‘Just ask.’
‘We would prefer to speak to you alone,’ she said.
‘Yue Gui is Councillor of the Northern Heavens and one of my most trusted aides. She will keep this matter confidential. You may speak freely in front of her,’ I said.
Yue Gui bowed slightly. ‘I thank you, ma’am, but if this matter is to remain confidential …’
‘No, stay. You can advise me if this turns into a Celestial matter,’ I said.
‘The Dragon is a harsh master!’ Purple Jade said, almost an explosion of emotion. She stopped, seemingly surprised at her own outburst. She pulled herself together. ‘We would request that we be allowed to work for you, ma’am. Please, we wish to be freed from his service and to serve you instead.’
The other women nodded, their eyes downcast in deference.
‘Are you demon servants?’ I said. ‘I see you as humans, not demons, but if you are tamed demons then you’re his possessions and I can’t take you.’
The woman glanced at Yue Gui. ‘This matter really should be confidential, ma’am. It is between us, you and the Blue Dragon. We are human, not demon. We are third-generation servants of the Qing Long. Our mothers and grandmothers were servants.’
‘Wait,’ I said sharply. ‘Are you paid for your services? You’re not forced to work for him?’
Purple Jade nodded, still nervous. ‘We are paid, we are free to choose to work for him, ma’am. He pays extremely well. We would be happy to tell you the details of our arrangement with him, but not in front of the honoured councillor.’
‘Phew,’ I said. ‘For a moment I thought that asshole had human slaves. Would you like to return to the Earthly and live normal lives?’
‘No!’ she said, eyes wide at the concept. ‘We live long and illness-free lives here on the Celestial Plane. We do not wish to descend.’ She bowed lower, trembling. ‘We just request that we be allowed to join your service instead of his. As his sovereign, you are within your rights to requisition us.’ She leaned in to whisper: ‘You and you alone. Please, ma’am. We know a place we can go to discuss this in private.’
‘Right, this is getting way too obvious. Summon the Blue Dragon,’ I said.
The women squeaked with dismay and stepped back. The Blue Dragon stormed into the room, strode up to my bench and quickly saluted. ‘You summoned me, ma’am?’
‘Check these servants of yours to see if they’re demon copies, please.’
The Dragon turned his turquoise eyes on the women and they stopped pretending to be servants and straightened. The lead one raised her arms. ‘Now!’
The other four changed from women to fake water elementals, two metres tall and roughly human-shaped. One of them flew up and engulfed me in a sphere of water. I held my breath but knew I wouldn’t last long. Then everything went black and suddenly I could breathe again. I tried to move but I was encased in something.
I have you, the stone said. I’m strong to water. I think they forgot that I’m here.
‘Can you lift me out of the water elemental?’
I’m doing as much as I can. These people had better find a way to destroy these elementals quickly, because I can’t bring any more air from outside for you.
‘So that’s a no and I’m suffocating,’ I said.
Just relax. They’re fighting them. Sang Shen came in as well, and he’s helping. Yue Gui has called guards. Oh, good, she’s lifting us …
I felt the vibration as the stone hit the ground, and it split open in front of me. The Dragon had taken True Form and stood beside Sang Shen facing the four water elementals. The woman leading them had gone; probably already destroyed. Yue Gui changed to turtle form and stood on the other side of Sang Shen, who had summoned his spear and held it towards the elementals.
‘Can you talk? Turn and we will spare you,’ I said to the fake elementals.
They didn’t reply, they just changed form to spheres, obviously planning to engulf us and drown us. One enclosed Sang Shen, who stood rigid inside it, his nut-brown face blank with concentration. The Dragon tried to take a bite out of one, but it oozed around his jaws and reformed over his head. Yue Gui was enclosed by the third, and the last one came for me.
I slithered back out of the way. I couldn’t fight these in serpent form, there was nothing to hit.
Sang Shen loaded his spear with shen energy, making the tip glow blazing white, and the elemental exploded into a cloud of steam. The Dragon thrashed his head around, trying to free himself from the globe of water but unable to shake it off. Yue Gui’s turtle face was serene as she glowed white with shen energy and made her elemental explode. She concentrated and the elemental coming for me exploded as well.
Sang Shen thrust his shen-loaded spear into the sphere engulfing the Dragon’s head and water splashed everywhere as it disintegrated.
The guards ran into the room, but it was too late: the Shen had taken care of it. We all stood there panting and staring at each other.
The stone folded up and floated back into my crown. I need a nap. Hold my calls, please.
Sang Shen pulled the shen energy out of his spear, held it upright in front of him and pointed an accusing finger at the Dragon. ‘They were yours!’
‘They were demon copies,’ I said. ‘More and more of them are showing up. They’re almost undetectable. My stone was probably too worn out from changing form to record them. Your servants are probably dead, Qing Long.’
‘I’d like to know when that happened,’ Qing Long said with menace. ‘Those girls were some of my best.’
‘You walked out and left them here,’ Sang Shen said.
‘They can look after themselves,’ Qing Long said. He changed back to human form. ‘There’s no way of detecting these copies?’