‘The Masters say it’s the best length for him,’ I said.
The sword was almost two metres long and Japanese katana style. There’d 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 hadn’t 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 lion’s 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. ‘Don’t 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; it’s 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.’
‘I’ll 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, ma’am.’
‘I’ll 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. ‘I’ll have Yi Hao give you a list of who to invite.’
He nodded. ‘Looking forward to it, ma’am, it’s way too quiet around here. I’m 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, ma’am, the buildings and courts full of students again.’
‘I have some leads that Xuan Wu himself gave me,’ I said. ‘They sound difficult but I’m determined.’
‘That’s good to hear, ma’am.’
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. I’m 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 John’s True Form — guarded each side of the entrance, the snake wrapped around the turtle’s 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 world’s 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 wasn’t 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 didn’t 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 wasn’t 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 John’s statue and bowed to him. My warm, caring, generous, reptilian god.
I went down the stairs to the waiting Tiger.
‘Okay, I’m ready to head back to work,’ I said.
‘Did he appear to you?’
‘No.’
‘I’d expected his statue to take on a life of its own and come charging down to carry you away.’
‘He’s 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.’
‘Couldn’t they just be falling through the bureaucratic cracks?’ I said. ‘This is all done on paper, I’ve seen it. When you go through immigration at Lo Wu, you fill in a mountain of bureaucratic forms that they don’t even look at. They just stamp them and then put them in a box for filing. There must be some pieces of paper that don’t make it through to data entry, even if they do have a computer system.’
‘They do, and I’ll 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