Journey to Wubang 01 - Earth to Hell (12 page)

We whisked quickly through the Aberdeen Tunnel. On the other side, the view opened out; we were no longer in the dense urban high rises of Happy Valley. On the left were the prestigious large low-rise apartments of Shouson Hill, mostly occupied by expatriates who didn’t mind being a little further away from the action of the centre of the city. Directly in front of us, the hillside above Ocean Park was decorated with an enormous garden in the shape of a sea horse, the logo of the park.

We continued through Wong Chuk Hang industrial area. Factory buildings in Hong Kong usually towered up to fifteen or twenty storeys, with each floor occupied by a manufacturing enterprise. Elevators large enough to hold the trucks that were Hong Kong’s transport life blood serviced each floor.

Before we reached the ‘fishing village’ of Aberdeen, which was actually a tightly packed district of high-rise apartment buildings, we turned off and headed towards the Aberdeen Boat Club. Marcus wound through the back of the international schools and apartment buildings, eventually arriving at Shum Wan pier. A walkway with a traditional, upward-sweeping tiled roof meandered along the side of the long lay-by area, which was occupied by at least six large tourist buses. This was where the tourists were brought to have yum cha at the floating restaurants. They were ferried across from the two piers, one for each restaurant—the Jumbo and the Tai Pak. The Sea Palace restaurant, which had been moored next to the Jumbo on the other side, was long
gone, towed away to become a tourist attraction in Manila.

‘Is the yum cha here still awful?’ Michael asked as we walked down to the old Sea Palace pier, now unused.

‘Couldn’t tell you. I stay well away from the tourist traps,’ Simone said.

‘The restaurants have been renovated recently, they’re much nicer inside now,’ I said.

‘You still pay tourist prices though,’ Simone said.

I shrugged. ‘You pay extra for the “experience”.’

Michael peered at the Jumbo restaurant across the water. ‘You’re kidding. A theme park on the sea?’

‘If you’re going to have tourists, you have to give them an “experience”,’ I said.

‘And something to buy,’ Simone said. ‘They put shops in there too!’

No one seemed to notice us as we stepped over the chain blocking off the third pier and walked down towards the water. A number of noisy mainland tourists were on the pier next to us, shouting with excitement as the boat approached them.

Michael chuckled. ‘Typical, going over to a huge restaurant for a banquet and they all have food in their hands.’

He was right. Most mainland tourists carried bags of food around with them, usually small snacks such as dried fish or nuts.

‘Oh, give it up, Michael, they’re enjoying themselves,’ Simone said. She gestured with her head. ‘That looks like our boat, it’s completely non-tourist.’

A five-metre motor launch was docked at the pier, its white sides gleaming. It had no registration or name. When the deckhand saw us approach, he pushed a gangway out to the edge of the pier for us.

We boarded, Simone leading and Michael guarding the rear. As the deckhand prepared to release the rope,
a middle-rank demon appearing as a young Chinese man dressed in a smart black business suit came out from the main cabin. He quickly saluted all of us.

‘Passage is payment of a black jade coin,’ he said.

I handed him the scroll tied with vermillion ribbon that contained the Jade Emperor’s edict to let us into Hell. He perused it quickly; this part of the proceedings was just a formality. He returned it to me and nodded. ‘Your passage has been confirmed. Please come with me. There is tea and soda inside if you wish.’

As he spoke, the boat and the sky both went black and the surge of waves beneath the boat ceased. The sound of the noisy tourists on the next pier was cut off, as was the noise from the myriad boats moored in the typhoon shelter. The air echoed with the eerie sound of the inside of a huge cavern and darkness surrounded us. The water was completely still and black as ice, and the temperature dropped.

‘Come inside,’ the demon said. ‘It’s about an hour’s journey and it’s freezing out here. And I’m very honoured to make your acquaintance.’

‘Yes, I’m well aware of the similarities to the Western legend of the River Styx,’ the demon said as he poured the tea. ‘I’ve studied the mythology and I’m interested in the way that theirs—or yours—matches up with ours. I’d love to travel to the West and see for myself, but of course I’m much too small to travel that far from my Centre.’

‘Has the King ever said anything about it?’ I said.

The demon made a soft sound of amusement. ‘I have been lucky enough in my long life to avoid attracting the attention of the King. It is not something I would do by choice.’

He nodded to Simone. ‘I remember when you came through as a child, Princess. You scared me to death with the amount of shen energy you were radiating.
You threatened to destroy me if I didn’t take you across. Of course, I couldn’t take you without the payment of a coin and I readied myself to die.’

‘I remember now, it’s all coming back to me,’ Simone said. ‘At the time I was so upset it was just a blur. I was going to destroy you but then I decided not to waste the time.’

‘You rose on your shen energy and floated across the water. You were a thing of terrifying beauty, making the water beneath you ripple as you drifted above it.’ He smiled slightly and shook his head. ‘You should have been destroyed—the water is full of the power of yin itself; one touch is destruction. Being in the centre of the river is like being in a vortex of yin and therefore should annihilate anything except this specially constructed boat. Yet you were completely unharmed. Later I learnt that you had summoned yin, and I understood. You could probably manipulate this water if you wished to control it.’

Simone smiled back tightly. ‘I don’t think I’ll bother. I’m just here to find my Retainer.’

‘As you wish, ma’am,’ he said, and we continued in silence.

The landing on the other side was a rough-hewn alcove cut out of the dark grey rock with a smooth stone floor. The only break in the wall of rock was a modern black-doored elevator with a single black smoked-glass button next to it. The demon pressed the button and the light went on.

‘This is where I leave you. There is only one destination for this lift,’ the demon said. He saluted us. ‘Ladies. Sir. Good luck on your sortie and I hope that I will be able to ferry you on your return.’

We saluted back. The demon returned to the boat and it pulled away, disappearing into the darkness.

A bell sounded and the lift doors opened.

‘Here we go,’ Simone said, and we went in.

‘How much of this is coming back to you?’ I asked as the lift doors closed and we descended.

Simone looked up but there were no floor lights above the door. ‘Some of it. They kept telling me you were here by choice; and the counsellor I was seeing acted as if you were dead, but I knew you weren’t dead because I could sense you. When Rhonda took me to school on my first day back and the stone told me that this was the way my life would be now, without you, or Daddy, or Leo, I just snapped. I thought, “To hell with this, I’m getting back the person I can get, and that’s Emma”.’

‘The stone did that on purpose?’ I said, incredulous.

The stone didn’t reply and I moved to tap it. It spoke before I touched it. ‘Some of us had the brains to realise what the King was doing when he manipulated Simone into coming down here, destroying Wong and freeing you.’

‘Rubbish,’ Simone said. ‘You just wanted her back as much as I did, and you didn’t give a damn either.’

The stone didn’t reply.

‘Simone isn’t as much fun to torment?’ I said.

‘She’s getting there,’ the stone said. ‘Give her some time.’

Michael quirked a small smile and shifted his sword, the White Tiger, more comfortably where it lay diagonally across his back. I saw his face; it was strained with tension.

‘Are you okay, Michael?’

He nodded, serious. ‘I can feel the nature of this place and how it wishes to reject me, but I can tolerate it.’

‘I don’t feel that it wants to reject me,’ Simone said. ‘I don’t feel anything much.’

‘You’re probably too powerful, Simone,’ the stone said, and Michael grimaced slightly. ‘Emma?’

‘I don’t feel rejected,’ I said quietly.

The doors opened and we stepped out of the lift into a large bright courtyard full of small trees and flowing water. The water ran in narrow channels between paths of light tan pavers and raised garden boxes. Small pavilions with white-tiled pillars and traditional roofs were scattered around the garden. The whole area gleamed, and a fresh breeze full of the scent of jasmine lifted the air. A bird sang nearby, and I looked up. There was no ceiling, but neither was there a sky; it was just bright above us, and nothing else was visible. It was impossible to tell how high the ceiling was, if there was one.

An official wearing a traditional black silk robe and a high, square hat with long extensions either side appeared. Meredith was with him. He bowed slightly to us and saluted. ‘This way, please.’ He turned to our left and led us through a large moon gate. On the other side of the gate was a landing with stairs leading down to the right.

We all stopped on the landing and watched in wonder. The ground below—about a hundred metres away—spread before us to the sandy edge of a large, still, brilliantly blue lake that stretched to the horizon. The beach was bordered by a metre-high tan stone wall, and on its near side was an expanse of manicured lawn dotted with bauhinia trees, their pink and white blooms covering the ground around them. The courtyard we had been in had an open rooftop and the building below us had ornamental arches for windows in its light tan stone walls.

A white marble causeway led out across the lake, with traditional cloud-patterned balustrades on either side. It was about three metres wide and disappeared
into the misty distance. Similar causeways could be seen about two hundred metres away on either side of it, spreading out from where we were and stretching across the lake.

Next to our causeway stood a two-storey mansion with red pillars and wooden screens, a large veranda around it, and an upward-sloping roof of green tiles. Identical mansions stood next to the other two visible causeways.

‘This is an island, and there are nine of those bridges spreading out across the lake in all directions,’ Michael said. ‘We’re in the middle of a huge wheel and those are the spokes.’

‘The Wheel of Rebirth,’ the official said. ‘Down these stairs are the cells, further along on the right.’

He indicated a row of villas facing the lake, each with a tiny fenced garden that opened onto a white pathway that skirted the edge of the water. The villas were two storeys high and had traditional Chinese roofs with white tiles. The fencing around their gardens also had a small tile roof with decorative fan-shaped, square and circular windows cut in them.

‘Leo’s cell is the second one,’ the demon said.

‘Tell me that you see these as luxurious houses,’ I said to Simone and Michael.

Simone nodded.

‘Yep,’ Michael said. ‘If this is Hell, then to hell with Heaven.’

‘This is the tenth level, Celestial side of Hell,’ Meredith said over her shoulder as she walked down the stairs in front of us. ‘Not all of Hell is this pretty, believe me.’

The sky was still the same; just a universal warm, white glow. It was bright enough that it seemed to be the middle of the day but completely without glare. We reached ground level and walked along the white path
towards the villas. People sat on the grass and strolled on the pathway, all of them seeming happy and relaxed. A couple waved to Meredith and she waved back.

‘Don’t ask, because we cannot tell you,’ the official said before I could speak. ‘You are here to collect your Retainer. Please convince him to take the Elixir and fulfil his destiny. It saddens all of us to see him like this.’

As we approached the villas we saw Leo. He was sitting in a wheelchair on the path outside the second house, watching the water.

‘Leo!’ Simone called, and raced to him. He looked up and saw her but his dark face was expressionless. When she reached him, she crouched to throw her arms around his neck and held him.

Michael put his arms around Leo’s neck from behind and rested his cheek on the top of Leo’s head. I crouched next to the chair and held his arm.

Meredith stood back, letting the family have its moment.

‘God, Simone, you’ve grown up so beautiful,’ Leo choked. His restraint dissolved and he smiled up through his tears at Michael. ‘You’re a fine young man.’ His smile turned wry. ‘Hey, Emma, you guys don’t know how long I’ve hoped you’d come and visit me.’

‘They wouldn’t let us,’ I said. ‘I’ve been fighting the Celestial bureaucracy for eight years to let us down here.’

Simone raised her head so she could see into his face. ‘Come home with us, Leo, we need you.’

Leo gestured slightly with one hand. ‘No, you don’t, beautiful. I can see that you can look after yourself just fine.’

She traced his cheek where the tears fell. ‘I miss you so much, Leo, please come home.’

Michael spoke to the top of Leo’s head. ‘Come home, old man, back where you belong.’

Leo shook his head. ‘I’ve been hoping for so long that I’d see you all again. They kept telling me to take the Elixir and go back.’ He sighed and rubbed his hand over his face. ‘Emma, can I talk to you alone?’

‘Whatever you want to say, you can say in front of all of us, dear Leo,’ Simone said gently. ‘Don’t worry, I understand. You loved Daddy. But we love you.’

Michael placed one hand on Leo’s shoulder. ‘You’re more of a father to me than the Tiger ever was.’

Simone put her head on Leo’s lap and spoke softly. ‘We need you.’

Leo stroked Simone’s hair. ‘Please let me talk to Emma alone.’

Michael straightened. ‘Come on, Simone, let’s go skip stones or something.’

Simone glared at him. ‘I’m not a little kid, Michael.’ She smiled up at Leo. ‘Okay, you talk to Emma, and then we’re taking you home.’

Leo waited until Simone and Michael were out of earshot. ‘Let’s go inside.’