The Shadow Of Weng-Chiang Part 20

A large temple structure dominated the plateau.

The temple was about seventy-five feet long, with vermilion walls inlaid with the finest carvings. The yellow tiles of its corrugated double roof gleamed like molten gold in a crucible formed by the surrounding peaks of neighbouring mountains.

A small stuccoed pavilion stood adjacent to each corner of the temple. The pavilions' roofs were supported only by delicate pillars, and had no walls. The pine-scented fresh breeze that blew through the gardens would undoubtedly be as refreshing to anyone in the pavilions as would the shade provided by the pointed golden roofs.

HsienKo and Kwok were sitting in the shade of a cypress, holding each other and looking out at countryside spread beyond the mountain. HsienKo was glad to have the chance to relax in this garden-like area and be pampered for a while. The reactor below was a miracle of engineering, but she loved the fresh air far more. The front line of the j.a.panese advance was only a few miles away and easily within sight of this elevated spot, but T'ai Shan was like a lighthouse for her; solid and immutable against the waves. 'It hardly seems possible, does it?'

'I suppose not.'

'You seem very curt today.'

Kwok nodded. 'I've nearly lost you several times in the past few days.' He fell silent for a few moments. 'I have never paid much attention to feelings, but I've been so afraid of that.

When we first met, I wasn't looking for anything like this, but...'

HsienKo understood perfectly. She had been bought by so many faceless men over her early years that the last thing she would look for was another. 'Sometimes people who aren't looking for anything find it anyway. It sometimes happens that a farmer ploughing his field will unearth some ancient and long-buried treasure. He wasn't looking for it, but he found it anyway. The question he has to ask himself is whether he should keep the treasure.'

'If he admires its beauty and it has value for him, then I'd say he should keep it.'

'I know.' She kissed his mouth. Her tongue traced the line of his upper lip while he wrapped his arms more tightly about her. He tasted of oranges. They separated at the sound of Romana's approaching footsteps. 'It's a beautiful view,'

HsienKo commented, trying to cover the unexpectedly girlish embarra.s.sment she felt. Kwok glowered silently.

Romana didn't disagree. 'Do you know what this mountain is called?' To HsienKo's surprise, she didn't sound very worried, just curious.

'T'ai Shan, in Shangdong province. It's the holiest of the seven sacred mountains.'

'And how far is it from Shanghai?'

'About four hundred miles northeast, as the crow flies.' To travel such a distance smacked of magic, HsienKo knew from long experience. 'Before the Dragon Paths, only Chang-Kao Lao could make such journeys. His donkey would carry him, then he would fold it up into a small piece of paper for safekeeping.' Romana looked round at her sharply, and she wondered why. 'I never asked why you and the Doctor came to Shanghai.' The Doctor had spoken of a segment of something...Perhaps it was something useful.

'We were looking for something a key.'

'The trionic lattice that opens the Cabinet of Weng-Chiang?

The Doctor destroyed it fifty years ago, and there was no spare.'

'Another key. Why do you ask?'

'I had wondered whether you came seeking myself; whether I had attracted the Doctor to Shanghai somehow.'

'In a way you did. Your Dragon Paths or the chronon energy behind them, rather caused interference in our equipment.' HsienKo nodded thoughtfully. So use of the Dragon Paths could be detected and tracked. She wondered how that was done, since it would be prudent to develop a defence against it. Fortunately the Doctor's box was in her possession and this equipment of his must be inside. That meant she could examine it at leisure. Romana looked around.

'What's so special about this mountain? Apart from being sacred.'

'It was from here that the Boxer rebellion began. It also has a rock structure I find interesting. In terms of its meaning for the Tong of the Black Scorpion, this is where Weng-Chiang first arrived in 1872. His Time Cabinet appeared in a fireball in this temple, the Jade Emperor Temple. I have always felt at home here.'

Woo felt very tense and nervous as he entered the Club Do-San. Now that HsienKo had identified him, there could easily be a squad of Tong a.s.sa.s.sins waiting for him.

The Doctor rapped the top of K9's head with his knuckles.

'Be alert; we need as many lerts as we can get.'

K9's ear antennae started waggling by way of answer as they walked warily into the club. Everything seemed peaceful enough in the gilt and marble hallway, and only a few cleaners were around in the main floor. As Rondo emerged from the office Woo summoned him. 'Rondo, get onto Nang Tao airfield and book seats for the first flight to Jining two pa.s.sengers and ' he looked at K9 uncertainly ' some cargo.'

He turned back to the Doctor. 'Help yourself to some refreshments; you probably need them and I won't be long.'

Woo went through the door behind the fountain, but ignored the door to his office. Instead, he opened a concealed panel that masked a small lift and went up to his penthouse apartment above the club. He then strode into the whitewalled room which had bamboo frames around the sliding part.i.tions, taking off his coat. He lifted a katana katana from the rack and slung it over his back, then put the coat back on. He carefully peeled half a dozen from the rack and slung it over his back, then put the coat back on. He carefully peeled half a dozen shuriken shuriken from a board on which they were mounted and dropped them into an inside pocket. From the shoulders of the suit of lacquered armour in the corner, he lifted a white belt with elaborate st.i.tching. He didn't believe in good luck charms like the belt, but tradition was tradition and so ought to be observed. from a board on which they were mounted and dropped them into an inside pocket. From the shoulders of the suit of lacquered armour in the corner, he lifted a white belt with elaborate st.i.tching. He didn't believe in good luck charms like the belt, but tradition was tradition and so ought to be observed.

Thus armed and turning to leave, he found the Doctor leaning against the door jamb. Woo froze. Only Rondo knew of this room and its contents, and in the current climate anyone else who knew of it was automatically dangerous. Woo suddenly felt a chilled ball form in the pit of his stomach. Was the Doctor working for the Sakura Kai after all? Or worse still, working for the Nationalists, who certainly wouldn't understand what he was doing here. Visions of a firing squad crept up on him.

The Doctor cleared his throat, holding up the framed death certificate from Woo's office. 'Ishiguro Takashi? I could see you weren't Ainu, since you can pa.s.s for Chinese, but your accent gave you away. I imagine you pa.s.s it off as being from a different province.'

'Hong Kong, actually.' Woo's mind raced; should he turn against the Doctor to protect his own secrets, or stick to their original plan and hope that the Doctor could see that they were on the same side?

'Why don't you tell me what a j.a.panese is doing posing as a Shanghai club owner and part-time vigilante?'

'You make it sound as if the two things are separate.'

Information might provoke a reaction from the Doctor that would make the decision easier. 'I am here solely to make certain that there is a united front against the Kwantung Army when they come south.'

'Against your own people?'

Woo knew it sounded unlikely: if his people were known for anything, it was loyalty. 'My brothers were civil servants in Tokyo. In February last year, there was a revolt by the First Infantry Division in Tokyo, engineered by the Cherry Society as part of a power struggle between the Kodo Ha and the Tosei Ha over their plans to expand the empire into other countries.'

'Starting with further consolidation in Manchuria,' the Doctor murmured.

'Exactly. Many members of the government were killed before the mutiny was put down by imperial order.'

'Including your brothers?'

'Yes. As you see, I have no great love for the traitors who now run the imperial military. Most of the bigger criminal organizations here are gearing their efforts towards resisting any future invasion, and I don't have any objection to that.

Crime against the people here, though, that's another matter.

That is the sort of thing that distracts everyone from the real enemy.' And stops them coming out to places like this, he added mentally. He shouldn't really think that way; he was a warrior, not an innkeeper. So why did he have to remind himself of that more forcibly every time?

'So you're really living a double life to keep down any unauthorized crime that might distract this embryonic Resistance.'

'Not exactly. Everything I do the club, the culling of Shanghai's underworld, everything is with the express purpose of manipulating that resistance into the best possible force for defeating the j.a.panese military. There's no duality or double life involved; I am simply myself. This Yan Cheh nomenclature is not a secret ident.i.ty I have chosen, but a description given to me by the people here.'

The Doctor rubbed his nose. 'There's never anything very complex about revenge, is there?'

Romana had accompanied HsienKo and Kwok back down to the Dai temple while telling them something of her adventures with the Doctor. She had carefully omitted any reference to whatever it was she was searching for, HsienKo had noticed.

Weng-Chiang taught us that mankind would travel between the stars,' HsienKo commented as they entered the temple complex. 'That they would abandon this planet and leave it in ruins. Of course, he lied about much.'

'How can you tell?'

'That was the sort of person he was: a crazed psychotic with delusions of grandeur.'

Romana's eyes widened. 'That doesn't sound a very faithful thing to say about your G.o.d.'

Kwok's pockmarked face cracked into a brief smile and HsienKo laughed aloud. 'Proof denies faith. I learnt of him while he was travelling the world with my father, searching for his Time Cabinet. Everything he ever said or did was purely with the objective of making himself seem greater and more important. He stayed on Earth as a part of the Supreme Alliance, therefore those who left were weak, in his eyes.'

'And you want to rescue him from his fate?'

'Rescue? I don't know that that is the right word. I want him here, now, yes. Beyond that...' She trailed off, noticing that the door to Li's prison was open. 'What?' She dashed over to the door and saw the dead guard lying amidst a maroon puddle. Of Li there was no sign. 'Kwok, notify everyone that Li has escaped. Tell them he is to be killed on sight.'

Rondo pulled the car to a stop at the edge of a gra.s.sy landing field. Woo leant forward. 'Perfect as always.' He handed over a set of keys. 'Keep the club open the Black Scorpion are less likely to try anything in public. If anyone asks where I've gone, tell them...tell them I'm on a pilgrimage.'

Rondo nodded grimly as the Doctor got out of the car. Woo paused to help K9 out after him, then followed. He turned back to Rondo. 'If you don't hear from me in three days, there's an envelope with instructions in the safe.' He clapped Rondo on the shoulder, and Rondo covered his hand with his own. 'Yes, I know. Just don't let anyone steal the gla.s.ses.'

Woo stepped back as Rondo drove off. Woo wondered if he would ever give the man another order, or indeed ever see him again. He knew that those were vaguely paranoid thoughts, but paranoia was a required qualification for members of the military going undercover in a foreign country. He stuck another toothpick in the corner of his mouth and turned his attention back to the current situation.

The aircraft ahead of them had oddly shaped wings that tapered in from the engines to the fuselage as well as out from the engines to the wingtips. The livery of China's CNAC airline was faded by the lack of light. Woo paused on the gra.s.s parking area, brushing his fringe aside. 'What is that piece of junk?'

'A trimotor,' the Doctor said tersely as he strode past.

'I can see that.'

'The vehicle,' K9 announced with a faintly lecturing tone, 'is a Stinson Model A Trimotor, first flown in nineteen thirty-fo'

'All right, K9, we don't need the full service history.'

Woo regarded the Stinson Trimotor more than a little suspiciously. It had neither the solidity of a Junkers 52 or the panache of a Lockheed Electron, but Woo was mostly put out by the fact that the wings appeared to be held on by struts that came down from the top of the fuselage. Three smallish ports were set into the side in the shadow of those disconcerting struts, with a narrow doorway behind them. The twin-blade radial engine on the port wing was already spinning, the starboard and nose engines just spluttering into life. 'You can't be serious?'

The Doctor held his hat down with one hand as a gust of wind from the starting engines threatened to blow it off. 'I'd have preferred a Comet, but that hasn't been invented yet.'

Woo merely looked at him. 'If this is the first plane heading north; it'll have to do.'

A huge mural ran the length of three of the walls inside the Tiangong, depicting a holy quest, though many of the scenes were obscured by noticeboards and posters.

HsienKo was pointing out the positions for new cable junctions on a map to the engineers when Kwok returned from giving orders about Li. HsienKo looked up as he approached.

He leant on the table to speak into her ear. 'We've received word from Shanghai: the Doctor and Yan Cheh were seen boarding an aircraft bound for Jining. They can only be making their way here.'

'By aircraft?' HsienKo echoed.

Kwok nodded. 'One of CNAC's Trimotors.'

HsienKo thought for a moment, drumming her fingers.

She had no desire to harm the Doctor, but Woo was dangerous. That one would kill without compunction, she knew. If anything, he was even more dangerous than Li. She couldn't attack Woo in flight, so he would undoubtedly feel safe on board. Offhand, she couldn't think of a better time to attack than when the enemy felt safest; but how? 'Bring the charts.' Kwok was unrolling a chart with a tight smile before she'd finished the order; he always seemed to antic.i.p.ate her desires.

The chart displayed a contour map of China's east coast from Hankow to Tientsin. HsienKo traced a line northeastwards from Shanghai with her finger. 'The aircraft will have to detour around the southernmost tip of the hills, yes?'

'As far as I'm aware.'

'Then they'll pa.s.s over Lake Weishan at the foot of the hills. Water and mountains make that a perfect gateway for a Dragon Path.'

Kwok nodded, then shrugged. 'I just wondered if you're taking into account the aircraft's alt.i.tude. This works well enough on the ground, but...'

HsienKo responded with her typical smile. 'The Dragon Paths will operate anywhere in the Earth's magnetic field, including in mid air. I think that perhaps the recent loss of Amelia Earhardt may be a result of her having flown into one accidentally. Without control, she may well have re-emerged at the bottom of the ocean or entombed in a mountain somewhere. Have the aircraft tracked; I'll want to know its exact speed and alt.i.tude.'

Kwok nodded, then hesitated. 'You weren't thinking of going yourself...?'

She shook her head with a smile, touched by his concern.

'I'll be too busy.' She let her eyelids droop, staring off into the distance as she tried to focus her thoughts. 'Sin,' she said aloud, 'Sin! Come to me. I have a task for you.'

Kwok shifted uncomfortably. 'HsienKo...sometimes I'm afraid for you when Sin is here. I don't trust that...thing at all.

You know the reports: even Weng-Chiang himself could not control it in the end.'

HsienKo was about to tell him his fears were nonsense, but thought better of it. At least he cared, even though his worries were misplaced. That was a comfortable feeling, somehow.

'Weng-Chiang ' Was a fool, she wanted to say, but that would have been disconcerting for her troops to hear. 'Weng-Chiang didn't understand Mister Sin as my father did. The only danger is in giving him self-control; even then, he is no more than a mechanism left uncontrolled, like a runaway lawnmower. I, like my father, know to keep him under direct control.'

Seventeen.

he CNAC Stinson Trimotor occasionally quivered as it pa T ssed through an area of turbulence, but for the most part it had been a smooth flight.

Inside, Woo and the Doctor had spread the feng shui feng shui map over the narrow table between their seats. Woo had long since given up on trying to understand its relevance to the situation, however. 'I suppose you know what the significance of this map is?' map over the narrow table between their seats. Woo had long since given up on trying to understand its relevance to the situation, however. 'I suppose you know what the significance of this map is?'

The Doctor nodded. 'It's a kind of geological survey. Very useful if you need a sizeable chunk of crystal-bearing rocks.'

'Crystals?'

'Mm. For energy resonance, or piezoelectric effects.'

It wasn't a term with which Woo was familiar. 'Electrical power from rocks; you can't be serious.'

'Me not serious? Romana's been talking far too much, obviously...' He trailed off, his eyes widening even further than normal. Instantly alert, Woo turned to see what was attracting the Doctor's attention. Ripples of light were spreading across the bulkhead that separated the cabin from the baggage hold. The ripples danced and coalesced in the most astounding manner, brightening as they did so.

Woo hurled himself instinctively to the side as a grotesquely snarling form burst from the trunk and landed on his seat. It was the same leering midget who had been with HsienKo on her junk, and even the Doctor looked on it with loathing. 'Sin!'

K9 extended the gun barrel set into his nose. 'Danger, master, danger.'