The Demon and the City - By Liz Williams Page 0,106

bending in on itself, causing distortions. The damage that the goddess has done to the meridians is creating an echo in her temple."

Zhu Irzh looked around at the frozen plain, the great gate.

"Where are we?"

"In Shai . . ." Mhara looked thoughtful. "When all this is over, it would benefit the Feng Shui Practitioners' Guild to have this place thoroughly investigated. Shai contains much more than it appears."

Zhu Irzh snorted. "If there's a Guild left. If they haven't been lynched by an angry mob."

"There'll certainly be an investigation," Chen said, manifesting from apparently empty air. He was joined by Robin and Paravang Roche, who looked as gratifyingly baffled as Zhu Irzh himself, and finally Jhai, who snarled at the others and slunk to the demon's side. He put a wary arm around her.

"Senditreya isn't far away," Mhara said. "She'll sense intruders." He stepped forward. "Detective Chen, this is something I must do. But I'll need your help."

Zhu Irzh thought that Robin was about to say something, but she closed her mouth and looked unhappy instead.

"All right," Chen said, adding with a smile, "I'm not going to argue with the future Jade Emperor."

"We have the ingredients for a spell," Mhara said. "Something simple, and protective, and old. You five represent the elements—the demon here is fire, because he is from Hell. Robin is water, because she's a woman. Paravang the dowser is earth, and you, Detective Chen—because you are a blade of the state—are metal. And Jhai is wood, the uncertain element."

Chen nodded, and the demon thought he understood. "Together, we are the world," Chen said.

"And even a goddess will find it a little hard to challenge the world," Mhara remarked. "But her powers are waning. She's going back to being the human she used to be, although she won't be there yet. To fight her, I need to draw on powers that are latent in me, and I'll need your strength to do that. Form a circle around me."

Zhu Irzh unwound himself from Jhai and took one of her hands. Since the dowser and Robin were clearly balking, Chen stepped forward and took her other hand. Jhai growled at him, and tried to tug away, but her hand remained firmly clasped within Chen's own.

"Jhai, be a good girl," Zhu Irzh said, feeling ineffectual.

"Grrrr!" Jhai said, showing teeth, but she let herself be pulled into the circle all the same. Paravang Roche eyed the demon with loathing and came to stand next to Chen. Mhara stood in the middle, eyes closed, and to Zhu Irzh's demonic sight he seemed suddenly insubstantial, shimmering against the frozen waste beyond. The ground rumbled and the great gate rang like a bell.

"She's coming," Mhara said. By now, the ground was shuddering so much that Zhu Irzh had difficulty keeping hold of the hands of Jhai and Robin. He was not sure whether the suddenly uncertain terrain was responsible for Mhara's increasingly diffuse appearance, or whether the prince of Heaven was doing that all on his own.

The gate clanged, sending the circle staggering. Then it opened, to reveal the goddess' chariot. The cattle had changed. They were black and bloated, their sides mottled with bloody crimson bruises, and they stank of rotting meat. Their horns were all fire now, and sulphurous smoke streamed from their gaping mouths. Senditreya had changed, too. She was monstrous, but where the cattle were swollen, Senditreya was gaunt, her comfortable cowlike flesh gone. She was stripped down to a thin layer of skin over bone and her eyes bulged in their sockets. Her dress hung on her in heavy folds; her skeletal hands gripped the reins. She looked like an ancient, desiccated woman which, the demon realized, was exactly what she was. When she saw who was standing before her, she shrieked. Zhu Irzh saw Paravang Roche cower and quail, and could not blame him.

"Don't break the circle!" he heard Chen cry. But the goddess charged. At the very edge of the circle, no more than a few feet from Chen and Jhai, the cattle stopped and tossed their heads. Mhara, by now, was no more than a glowing being of light, radiating outward. The snow beneath Zhu Irzh's boots hissed and melted, he felt warmth on his skin. The goddess reached into the depths of the chariot and produced a whip of fire, which she launched into the circle. Zhu Irzh felt a bolt of heat travel down his arm: he gasped, but kept tight hold of Jhai's hand. Mhara