The Demon and the City - By Liz Williams Page 0,84

into the bathroom, where he locked himself in. Apart from sleep, it was the only privacy he'd managed to obtain over the last forty-eight hours. Did she never stop talking? Who did she talk to in Hell, or were there battalions of middle-aged, gossiping dead ladies who all entertained one another? It was almost worth making a final effort to get into Heaven, Paravang thought, but somehow he didn't think that things would be much different there.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror, somewhat horrified. He looked so much older . . .his unshaven cheeks sunken and hollow, his hair stringy. He was certainly a fitting bridegroom for poor Mahibel, if looks were anything to go by. And the coldness she had brought with her was still there, sipping gently at his will to live. Was that the idea, perhaps? Get him into her clutches and then debilitate him so that he ended up in Hell several years too early? Just like a woman, Paravang thought bitterly. It struck him that if this were the case, then he might as well just give up and succumb to the Assassins' Guild. After all, they could only kill him as well, and they'd probably be a lot more efficient about it.

Forty-Five

As he had expected, Zhu Irzh was not getting on well with Heaven. They had now been taken ashore and led up a pretty cliff path through fields of blossoming trees and into a pavilion. Here, someone so august had been waiting that Zhu Irzh had been unable to look at him and was obliged to stumble outside. It was quite some time before the dazzle had faded from his eyes and, when it did, he looked up to see Chen standing beside him. The badger was at his feet.

"You too, eh?" the demon said.

"It didn't affect me as badly, but yes, the sight of the Jade Emperor is a bit much, I agree." The badger grunted, as if in agreement. "How are you feeling now?" Chen added.

"Weak. This place is sapping me. I can't even think about sex."

Chen looked a little pained, but said that he had expected as much.

"After all, you're a creature of Hell. It's only reasonable that you should react badly on the Celestial plane. Badger doesn't like it either."

"I wish to return to Earth," the badger muttered.

"What's happening back in the tent?"

"Not a lot. Joyful reunions between father and son. Robin's gone to sit outside, but I don't think there'll be any serious difficulty there. She seems to feel pretty badly about the whole thing, but she didn't know what she was doing and she did free him, after all. The goddess wants to speak with me later, I don't know what about."

"So where do things go from here, Chen? Does Heaven take over and sort things out?"

"I don't know. I suppose so. But Senditreya's fled, of course."

"Where to?"

"Either Earth or Hell. There aren't many places for a renegade goddess to go. But what's worse is that the meridian disruption is continuing. And it's affecting the city. I really would prefer to go back and make sure that Inari's all right, at least. Time passes oddly in the Night Harbor—she might be back from Hawaii by now."

"Even Earth's better than this," the demon remarked, gloomily kicking at a tuft of pleasantly scented grass.

"But possibly not for long." Chen looked up. The goddess was approaching through the trees.

"Chen. I need to speak to you. To both of you." She glanced at the badger. "And you, creature of Earth."

Zhu Irzh, the badger and Chen followed her into a grove of flowering plum. As they entered the grove, Zhu Irzh glanced up and saw that a kind of night had fallen: there were blazing stars visible through the white blossoms, visible in a burning azure sky. When he stepped back out of the grove, it was day once more. Kuan Yin was regarding him with an impatient tolerance.

"When you've finished, young man . . ."

"Sorry."

"There is a problem," the goddess said. She sounded curiously hesitant, as if unused to sharing her difficulties with mortals. Let alone Hellkind, Zhu Irzh thought. "Now that the son of the Jade Emperor has returned, the Emperor has announced His intention to sever links with the other worlds."

"What?" Chen was staring at her, aghast. "That would surely mean that not another human soul can enter Heaven."

"I know."

There goes Chen's pension, the demon thought. Well, it would be nice to have Chen down in Hell