I don't own JCA and this fanwork is not used to make any money.
I had enormous trouble writing this chapter so it would be interesting to know if you think it shows negatively in the quality.
DEMONIC DREAMS
Chapter 11
The sky was smudged with the same grey tone as before. The yellowish grass was dry and dusty under their feet, promising to give a good victim to any stray spark that might have needed something to demolish. Valmont was suddenly glad that he was stuck with the water demon and not her aggressive brother, Shendu.
He slit his eyes as he gazed towards the mountain. Savannah spread before them farther than the eye could reach, and the only sign of that it didn't go on endlessly was the mountain looming in the distance. Valmont guessed it would take them at least half a day to cross the grassy field and reach their destination, and that was if they were lucky and weren't interrupted by anything. The Brit felt reluctant to leave the relative sanctuary of the woods. In the forest they could hide themselves from curious eyes more easily and lose whoever might come after them, but they were an easy target in the open savannah.
Then again, so were their enemies.
"Look," Bai Tsa said all of a sudden.
Valmont turned his eyes to the direction the demon was pointing at and did a double take. He hadn't even noticed them at first, but now that he knew where to look, he could see the rows of various animals standing near the forest, partly hidden behind drying bushes. Though they were too far away for him to see the look on their faces, a shiver went down his spine nevertheless.
"What do you think they want?" he asked. The memory of the monkeys assaulting and biting them randomly was still too fresh in his mind, and he didn't care to repeat the experience.
Bai Tsa frowned thoughtfully. "There must be something in their mind. Last time they attacked us at once. Now they're just standing there," she observed.
"Maybe they haven't seen us yet," Valmont suggested.
"They must have. I think they're waiting for us," Bai Tsa said, her voice lowering into a whisper. She didn't turn to look at Valmont as she spoke, but the Brit could see her eyes slit as she glared at the demonic animals.
It made sense, Valmont mused. They hadn't run into any animals in the forest, so it was possible they dwelled on the savannah. Maybe they couldn't cross the line and enter the woodlands but were bound to the open fields, the only place where they could hunt.
He shivered again. The whole thing was starting to remind him of the kind of surreal B-class horror movies that he and his friends had watched at university parties. It was fun laughing at the corny special effects and idiotic plots, but getting inside such a story was far from entertaining – especially since these movies usually had high body counts.
"We have to cross the savannah if we want to make it to the mountain," he said.
Bai Tsa nodded. "Thank you for stating the obvious," she said, but there was hardly any irritation in her voice. "I wish Hsi Wu was here," she added.
"Which one was that again?" Valmont asked. He couldn't remember all the demons that well, especially since Shendu had been in control for most of those misadventures.
"The annoying one with wings," Bai Tsa said.
"Ah."
A silence followed. Valmont kept shifting his look from the animals to the mountain and measuring how long it would take for them to reach it if they ran really fast, and the result was too big for his liking. Then again, he assumed that Bai Tsa could simply sink her claws into him whenever the animals were about to catch them, and they'd continue with renewed energy the next time he fell asleep.
"I'd feel a lot more secure about this if you took your real form," he pointed out to the demon.
"As much as I don't like agreeing with you, so would I," Bai Tsa said. Still eyeing the animals warily, her shape started shifting. She grew taller, eventually looming over Valmont, her legs melted into one powerful tail, her skin turned into blue scales and almost all of her human features were twisted into the ugly face of a demon. It was a while since Valmont had last seen her like that, but to his surprise he didn't do a double-take in disgust. She was a horrible sight, yes, but it was starting to feel natural.
"I'm pretty fast like this," the demon said.
"What do you mean?" Valmont asked.
"I could scoop you up in my arms and make a run for it, so to speak. I bet we'd get farther away like that," Bai Tsa said.
"I'd rather run myself, thank you," Valmont said as he glanced up at the demon. Sure, it probably was the practical thing to do, but he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable when he thought about the demon carrying him. Having to get up on her shoulders earlier on had been bad enough, and he could still remember what her dry scales had felt like against the skin of his hands.
Besides, he'd then be at the demon's mercy and that thought gave him a heavy feeling in his stomach, like he had eaten something bad that was now trying to crawl back out through his skin.
Bai Tsa rolled her eyes, having realised what was going on in his mind. "You're exactly like Tso Lan," she said, and her tone made it clear it wasn't a compliment.
"He's the moon demon, right?" Valmont asked. He didn't know whether to be thankful about it or not, but he had no clear memories of their adventure in space and the moon demon was perhaps the most obscure one of the demonic family to him.
"Yes, and the most uptight prick I've known in my life. If he had to choose between being handled by a female and getting torn to shreds by the enemy, he'd pick the latter as well," Bai Tsa said.
"Don't put words in my mouth. I'm not uptight just because I refuse to be treated like I'm worthless and can't do anything on my own," Valmont snapped.
Bai Tsa blinked. "You're such an idiot! It's a fact that I'm faster than you, or have you forgotten how I escaped from Chan and his friends in Rome? This has nothing to do with that you're a pathetic mortal, though I must thank you for reminding me!" she hissed.
Valmont was certain that if he did or said the wrong thing and upset the demon any further, they'd go back another square and resume their old useless arguments that never led anywhere and were only a waste of time.
"I'm still planning on walking," he announced defiantly. If he gave in now, Bai Tsa might start to think she had some kind of power of him, and then she'd expect him to act like a slave. He'd rather trade insults with her than try to climb back from a pitfall like that.
"So, you don't trust me?" Bai Tsa asked with slit eyes. There was an edgy tone in her voice that made Valmont lift a brow in surprise.
"What?" he asked. "Of course I don't trust you! You're a demon!" he blurted.
Bai Tsa didn't say anything to that, and Valmont wondered if that had been the wrong answer. But what else could he have said? It was a simple truth that in normal circumstances he wouldn't have even dared to turn his back on Bai Tsa, not to mention let her carry him around like a doll. Surely the demon knew that? And if not, what did she expect?
"Should I trust you?" he asked, frowning in doubt. The water demon had given him no reason to do so, quite the contrary in fact.
"After being stuck in a situation like this for as long as we have, I would expect most people to be a little more trusting," Bai Tsa remarked. She didn't sound upset, so Valmont was fairly certain he hadn't hurt her feelings. The mere idea of being able to make an evil and power-hungry demon like Bai Tsa feel bad with mere words was so ludicrous that he felt like laughing out loud. She was just being practical and didn't like being denied.
"Let's just get going. I might wake up at any moment," he said in order to turn their attention back to what was important. He was sleeping in an aeroplane, so they didn't have an eternity at their hands.
"Finally you say something sensible," the water demon said.
They took their first steps towards the savannah, and Valmont felt more and more insecure the farther away they got from the safety of the forest. He kept his eyes glued to the rows of animals and every muscle in his body was so tense that he almost stumbled as he walked. If the animals as much as even shifted, he would bolt right back to the forest and reconsider this plan.
He glanced briefly at Bai Tsa who was slithering in the lead. Though she was fast, she kept the distance between them as short as possible. It was fine with Valmont; he would be happy to have the demon close by if the animals decided to do anything.
For the time being, nothing happened. Their silent observers were sitting like they were made of stone, not moving or even turning their head to glare at them. As creepy as the sight of the zombie-like creatures was, Valmont was starting to relax. Maybe they had been paranoid, maybe the animals didn't want anything of them after all.
Then something moved and his heart jumped to his throat. A slender cheetah was taking lazy steps towards them, like it was in no hurry to reach them.
"Bai Tsa," he warned the demon who hadn't yet noticed the animal.
"What?" she asked, the worried tone in his voice making her turn back to look at him. Then her eyes spotted the cheetah as well and she froze for a split second.
"They're blocking our way back to the forest," she growled under her breath. As she said these words, more animals left their places in the row and repositioned themselves between the forest and the two of them. Valmont knew that trying to get back to safety was a lost cause, which left them with only one option.
"Let's try to get as far as we can before they reach us," he said.
Bai Tsa didn't need to be told twice. With one swish of her tail, she had leapt into motion and was on her way before Valmont even had the time to start. He swallowed an annoyed objection to this and sprinted after her, though it was clear that he would never reach her if she kept going like that. The demon hadn't lied when she had said she was fast.
How can she do that without legs, Valmont wondered.
He wasn't bad either, and glancing behind his shoulder and seeing a mixed group of monkeys, zebras and antelopes pursuing him made him find strength that he hadn't known he had. Had he always been able to run like that, he guessed he wouldn't have embarrassed his sports team back at the boarding school.
Valmont tried to measure how far the mountain still was, and to his dismay he realised that it was at least a couple of more miles. He would never be able to keep ahead of the animals that long, and since Bai Tsa was already that far away, there'd be no help coming from her. His only option was waking up, which shouldn't be a problem since pain always resulted in that.
Something grabbed his leg all of a sudden and he fell on his face to the ground, letting out a faint yelp. He saw that one of those horrible grey monkeys had caught up with him and was now hanging onto his knee, growling and glaring at him with enormous wide eyes.
"Get off!" Valmont snapped and tried to kick the thing away, not wanting to touch it with his hands. Unfortunately, the monkey was like glued to him and was digging its claws into Valmont's skin, like it was hoping to reach his bones through his flesh.
Valmont staggered back to his feet, a difficult task with a monkey hanging onto him, and it was then that he noticed all the other animals that were about to reach him. Among them were five more monkeys, two zebras and a cheetah. If possible, his eyes grew even wider at the sight and, forgetting all about the monkey for a moment, he tried to resume his escape. This only resulted in him falling back to the ground. He tried to yell to get Bai Tsa's attention, but the air was knocked out of his lungs as something heavy landed on him and pinned him painfully against the ground.
Why am I not waking up, he wondered in panic as his lungs burned from the impact and the lack of air. Lesser pain had caused him to leave the dream world before. He waited another split second, but then the feeling of sharp claws digging into his back convinced him that there was no waking up this time, and he used all his strength to roll away from under whatever had hit him.
Hot pain flashed through his back as the claws tore through his skin, but that was the price he had to pay for getting free again. The monkey was no longer clutching onto him but had stepped back when the latest assailant, which Valmont now realised was a cheetah, had attacked.
The slender animal glared at him with empty eyes and its mouth hanging half-open, revealing the tips of sharp teeth. Valmont had always thought that cheetahs were the most harmless of felines after domestic cats because they didn't look as a dangerous as lions or tigers, but it took only one look at the creature to change his opinion.
"Nice cat," he hushed as he took another step away, but he barely heard his own voice from the thumping of his heart. How was he supposed to get out of this situation if he wasn't going to wake up?
The cheetah let out a low growl and Valmont winced as he saw the animal's muscles tense, getting ready for a leap that would end up in a lot of pain for him. Though he knew it was useless, he turned around on his heels and ran as fast as he could, to win even a few seconds more time before entering a world of hurt.
He barely made it twenty feet away when the cheetah slammed against his back and pulled him back to the ground. Valmont cried out in pain as the feline bit down in his leg, trying to immobilize him like a helpless prey. He tried aiming a kick at the cat's face, but the creature was a lot stronger than Valmont had expected and he could barely move his legs.
Panic kicked in and his mindless trashing only managed to get him more hurt, but he barely realised this. Some instinct told him that he should try to keep his neck away from the feline's teeth so brought up his arm in an attempt to protect the area that was most vulnerable to an attack.
From the corner of his eye, he saw how the monkey and the rest of the group were simply sitting and watching the cheetah do its work. Had he been any less concerned about his life, Valmont might have wondered why animals who were enemies in the real world could work together like this in the dream land.
Suddenly, he felt a breeze brush against his neck and then the weigh of the cheetah disappeared from on top of him, followed by a low thud somewhere to his left. Valmont rolled on his back to see what had happened, and the first thing his eyes caught was the blue and slender form of the water demon, her tail retreating from the hit that had sent the cheetah sprawling to the ground.
"Bai Tsa! What --" Valmont started, but his question turned into a yelp as the demon charged at him and scooped him up in her arms. He was too startled by this to even complain about his wounds or how roughly she was handling him and could only stare at her with wide eyes. Where had she appeared from so suddenly?
"Trust me now?" the demon asked with a smirk. Valmont barely understood the words, but he nodded numbly.
The cheetah was struggling to get back on its feet, so Bai Tsa took this as her cue to get away as fast as possible. The scenery around them was a brownish blur in Valmont's eyes as the demon raced, and he realised it had been stupid of him to refuse this method of travel earlier.
He dared one glance behind them, but the animals were too far behind to reach them now. The cheetah was injured and couldn't catch up, and it couldn't have kept up its famous speed long enough to get to them anyway. At least for the time being, they were safe, and that allowed Valmont's thoughts to start circling other things.
The fact that the other side of his face was pressed against Bai Tsa's breast was one such topic. Valmont couldn't think why he was suddenly aware of this fact since his companion was far from beautiful and she wasn't even human, so he shouldn't have noticed such things about her.
I hope Uncle Bernie's problem doesn't run in the family, he thought with sudden worry. Then his mind, completely against his will, of course, started wondering why Bai Tsa wasn't wearing any clothes, even though her brothers did. And then he realised that Po Kong didn't have clothes either, and the mental image he got from that shook him so that even Bai Tsa noticed.
"Why are you making such faces? Do your wounds hurt?" she asked.
"No!" Valmont snapped in a snappier tone than he had been intending.
He was more than relieved when they reached the bottom of the mountain with no further incidents and the water demon put him down. Valmont winced a little as he had to put weigh on his injured legs, but he had suffered worse. It was the claw marks on his back that were mostly bothering him.
"What happened?" Bai Tsa asked. Valmont tried to guess the emotion behind her voice, but the demon sounded indifferent, like she was doing it on purpose.
"What do you think? They got me!" he said and pointed both hands towards the savannah to illustrate his point. The two of them could still see the animals as small dots in the distance, but they didn't seem to be getting closer.
The demon's face twitched like she was doing her best not to smirk. "That wouldn't have happened if you had listened to me," she pointed out.
Valmont swallowed. Bai Tsa was more than right and he knew something bad would have happened to him if she hadn't come back for him, but saying either of these things out loud was difficult, as if he had something stuck in his throat. He wasn't the kind of person who liked to show gratitude, and it was especially hard when his helper was someone he didn't like.
"I know," he admitted. Even those two words felt like he was giving in too much.
"Maybe you'll remember that next time you decide you can't trust me," Bai Tsa said, and now some emotion finally crept into her voice. It was arrogance, and it stung like salt in Valmont's wounds.
"There is something that worries me," he said. He rolled up his trousers a little to reveal some of the cuts the monkey had given him and showed them to Bai Tsa.
"I could do worse," she commented.
"I don't doubt that," Valmont said with a frown. "But even these should be painful enough to wake me up, and yet I'm still here."
Bai Tsa's eyes widened in surprise as she realised what Valmont was getting at, and she immediately lost the smug aura around her, letting out a hiss in thought.
"You're right," she admitted. Valmont noted that she didn't have trouble saying something like that to him.
"I should have woken up the moment the monkey dug its claws into me," he said. He ran his fingers through his hair, only to notice that it was covered in sand and that his ponytail had come half-loose.
I must look terrible, he realised with disdain.
"That would have been an easy way out. I don't think we should be expecting anything to work in our favour here," Bai Tsa said.
"But it happened before, remember?" Valmont snapped. "When you… kissed me that first time, slapped me, threw a vase at me, and attacked me! Why not now?"
"I didn't realise my kiss was that painful," Bai Tsa said. Now she was definitely smirking, and from the sneaky look in her eyes, Valmont was certain that she was thinking back to that moment when they had first appeared in this world. His traitorous thoughts turned to that subject as well before he could stop himself, and he shuddered as he remembered how the demon had climbed on top of him and… He wondered what would have happened if he hadn't started to question her back then.
"I believe immense disgust does the trick as well," he said carefully, forcing his mind out of the gutter. To his horror, he realised that the idea of Bai Tsa sitting on him in her human form wasn't quite as dreadful as it should have been. He quickly banished the idea by glancing at her and reminding himself that in truth she was an overgrown fish with attitude.
"Well, you're a bad kisser anyway," Bai Tsa muttered childishly.
"As I was saying," Valmont said loudly, "the point is that I didn't wake up when I should have. That must mean something."
A terrifying idea suddenly struck him. "What if we're stuck? What if we can't get back anymore?" he asked.
Bai Tsa didn't look worried. "It's possible, but I think it's more likely that you didn't awaken because it wasn't me who caused the pain this time."
"It sounds probable," Valmont said. It was true, every occasion when he had woken up because of pain had been a result of Bai Tsa getting angry at him, or in the case of that one attack, the two of them panicking. If what she was suggesting was true, it meant that the only way for them to get away in case of danger was for the demon to dig her claws into him.
All of a sudden, Valmont didn't want to be separated from her again.
Bai Tsa pondered the new information they had just deducted and wondered what it meant. There had to be a reason only she could wake Valmont up, but she couldn't imagine what it was. She would have to talk about the issue with Tso Lan once again, though she doubted the moon demon knew more than she did.
"Do you want to give it a try?" she asked.
"What?" Valmont asked as he lifted his eyes to her in surprise. Bai Tsa had noticed that he had been dozing off in his thoughts a lot lately, and she had to admit she was curious about what he was thinking about.
"I mean my theory. If I try pulling your insides out, you should wake up," she said with an impatient growl. "Or maybe I should kiss you again," she added coyly.
"No!" Valmont blurted and stepped back, bringing his hands up to protect him from the threat. "I mean, why waste this opportunity? We should continue on our way since I'm still asleep."
Bai Tsa grimaced. She couldn't understand why the human was being so paranoid about the whole issue. It wasn't like she wanted to start a relationship with him or anything, but even mere teasing seemed to drive the man over the edge.
He really must think I am disgusting, she thought to herself. It shouldn't have bothered her because that was how humans tended to view demons, but there was something about this case that gave her an uneasy feeling. Maybe it was that Valmont obviously liked her more when she was in her human form, and then he acted like he had almost forgotten who he was actually dealing with. She didn't like the idea of pretending to be someone else just so that the man could behave himself.
And it's not like he's that desirable either, she mused angrily. As far as she was concerned, black was the only acceptable hair colour and human eyes should be dark. Valmont looked like the exact opposite of all her past human lovers.
"As you wish. Let's go then," she said and nodded to her left where a small path was slithering upwards.
The mountain was far taller than either of them had expected, and though there was a clear path for them to follow, Bai Tsa knew that it would be a long and difficult journey to the top. She was certain that there would be obstacles ahead of them and that they would be the underdogs in case they had to fight. She wasn't used to battling in her human form, and she couldn't do much of anything because her real form was not suitable for a fight on a steep path.
She glanced briefly to her side where Valmont was struggling to keep up with her pace. She had seen him fight before, so she counted on that he would have no trouble driving off anyone who might give them trouble – not that she needed to be protected, of course.
Again, she had to wonder what they would find at the mountaintop. The clue they had found in the hut was certainly pointing them to that direction, but for all they knew it could be a trap. Maybe there was something terrible waiting for them. If they were extremely lucky, it might be something that would end this nightmare for them, but it was also possible that Khala was simply playing with them.
The image of the dark hunter spirit made Bai Tsa glance around, and even though she couldn't see or hear any sign of him, she wasn't satisfied. Khala had been trapped in this world for thousands of years, and he knew all the tricks, traps, and dangers that she and Valmont could fall for, and no doubt was sinister enough to use all of them to his advantage.
He must be using us to get out of here, she thought as she recalled the conversation she had had with Valmont last time. That meant that there was a way out, and maybe even she could use it to enter the real world this way and leave the Netherworld forever. Her body was still in the void since Tso Lan reported she was asleep whenever these adventures took place, but she wasn't going to give up on that thin sliver of hope just yet.
There was so much for her to do in the real world that the mere idea of getting back filled her with dark glee. She hadn't let herself ponder these plans much after being banished again because she knew she couldn't take the disappointment of never achieving all that, but now that she had some hope again, she found herself plunging right into her fantasies.
First, she would find Chan and his family and kill them all, as slowly and painfully as possible and starting from the little girl. Chan would spend hours watching his loved ones tortured to death and Bai Tsa would cherish every scream and tear and plea for mercy. Then, after everyone else was dead, she would take Chan in more ways than he could ever imagine and maybe let him die after a year or two once he was so broken that tormenting him was no more fun.
Maybe she would let Valmont watch. He, too, had a bone to pick with Chan, and he might find the man's pain amusing.
"What kind of torture methods do you like?" she asked.
"What?" Valmont asked in bewilderment, staring at her with wide eyes. Then his expression grew suspicious and he added, "I prefer not to be tortured in any way, thank you!"
"I wasn't talking about you!" Bai Tsa snapped. "I meant Chan! Once I get back to the real world, I will show him in exactly how many ways it is possible to make a man beg for the finishing blow!"
Valmont grimaced a little. "Back to the real world? I thought the old Chan's spells sealed your portals permanently," he pointed out.
The water demon felt like strangling the Brit right there for reminding her of that, but she quickly told herself to calm down. It wouldn't do to ruin their chance to reach the mountaintop.
"I know that, but do you think that's going to stop me? There are always ways around spells," she hissed. She decided it wasn't a good idea to tell Valmont about her plans. It was possible the man might try something foolish, like stopping her. He had joined forces with Chan and fought against her before, after all.
"Inform me of your arrival beforehand so that I know to move to inner land," Valmont said with an indifferent tone in his voice.
"You don't believe that I can do it?" Bai Tsa asked.
"I didn't say that."
"But you meant it. Don't play with me. I have the knowledge of thousands of years on my side. Some sealing spell performed by a senile mortal isn't going to stop me," the demon threatened.
Valmont shrugged. "As you wish, but I have to remind you that you and your siblings failed spectacularly time after time because of that senile mortal. You shouldn't underestimate him," he said.
Bai Tsa snorted. "And what do you know about magic?" she asked.
Valmont frowned now, the line of his lips turning slightly downwards in annoyance. "Do I have to remind you that the old Chan was able to seal Shendu inside me? I don't think holding back a demon like that is an easy trick," he argued.
"He did that?" Bai Tsa asked in surprise. It was true that she had wondered what kind of game Shendu had been playing back when she had tried to flood San Francisco, but she had simply assumed that her younger brother had wanted to let her have her fun and had only joined in after things turned difficult for them.
"Yes," Valmont said, stressing the word. "I asked him to," he added then.
"You asked the old fool to do that?" Bai Tsa asked. She couldn't help but stare at the human, who shifted uncomfortably under her eyes.
"Why do you sound so surprised? Of course I tried to get rid of Shendu the moment an opportunity presented itself!" he said.
"I can understand that. He really is a twat," Bai Tsa admitted, "but I didn't think you had it in you to defy a demon like that. Do you have any idea what he could have done to you?"
"My imagination is quite vivid," Valmont muttered.
And you still risked Shendu's wrath, Bai Tsa thought to herself. Though Shendu wasn't the most powerful of the demon sorcerers, he was easily the most frightening one and made up for his lack of power with his tongue, which could reduce even the bravest of men to sobbing fools with just a few examples of the torture the dragon was capable of. Few were those mortals who had had the courage to go against her brother.
Maybe he didn't know what Shendu could really do, Bai Tsa thought as she glanced sideways to Valmont, but somehow she found it doubtful. The man had been carrying Shendu's soul in his body for months by the time of the betrayal, and he would have been an idiot not to catch glimpses of Shendu's mind. And though she did it with reluctance, Bai Tsa had to admit that Valmont was no fool.
He is very brave, then, she decided. She couldn't help but feel just a tad of newfound admiration for the man.
"How long do we have to keep walking?" Valmont wondered by her side. She guessed his wounds were hurting, and she smirked slightly at his discomfort.
"Getting tired? Do you want me to carry you again?" she teased.
"Absolutely not," Valmont said, and Bai Tsa believed that he'd rather faint from exhaustion than submit to her will like that again. Brave men had the tendency to be idiots as well.
She gazed up the path ahead of them, but she was no better at determining the remaining journey. As the path had become steeper and steeper step by step, their travelling had slowed down and become harder – especially for Bai Tsa who was still slithering in her true form.
"Hsi Wu would be useful right now," she said, hoping for the second time that her younger brother was there. The sky demon was annoyingly whiny and bratty from time to time, but at least he could have flown up in minutes and eased their journey considerably.
"Just my luck to be stuck with the most useless demon," Valmont commented.
"I didn't know you would have rather kissed Hsi Wu. I'll tell him when I get back," Bai Tsa said. She looked expectantly at the Brit, waiting for him to freak out or snap at her, but he did no such thing. Instead, the man merely rolled his eyes and sighed in exasperation. Maybe he really was tired.
"You're no fun when you're like that," she pointed out. "Do you want to wake up? Because my claws have been itching for a while."
Valmont turned to her and opened his mouth to say something, but it was then that the both of them noticed something. There was a familiar person standing on the path ahead of them, and both the man and the demon stopped at once.
"I was wondering when he would show up," Bai Tsa muttered. She glared at Khala's unmoving form, waiting for the spirit to say or do something, anything, to reveal his intentions. There had to be something he wanted from the two of them.
It felt like minutes had passed before Khala finally said anything.
"You're very slow."
Bai Tsa blinked and glanced at Valmont, but the man seemed equally puzzled.
"We weren't aware that there was a time limit," Valmont said. Bai Tsa certainly hoped there wasn't. The last thing they needed was another obstacle in their way.
"There isn't, but I was expecting you would have reached the mountaintop already," Khala said. The expressionless mask on his face and his slow and patient voice unnerved Bai Tsa somewhat because she knew the spirit could jump into motion and take the both of them by surprise if he wanted, and she didn't like it when people were something other than what they looked like.
"I take it that means you'll gain something if we complete this journey. What makes you think we want to help you?" she asked and she straightened to her full height. Even as she was hovering taller than the spirit, she didn't feel very confident in his presence.
Khala didn't say anything and at first Bai Tsa thought that he wasn't going to offer an answer. Then he spoke, and this time his voice was a low rumble that seemed to emerge from the very depth of the mountain under them.
"Being imprisoned here for thousands of years has made me very patient. I can wait until you see reason," he said.
"You wish to find a way out of this world," Bai Tsa stated. She hoped that she could lure the spirit into revealing more about his plans so that she could come up with her own strategy and escape. Maybe she could even strike a deal with Khala.
Khala tilted his head curiously. "Do I? Maybe. It is not a very pressing matter, and I'm still undecided about whether I should simply devour your souls instead. It has been long since I've last eaten."
"Oh, I'd like to see you try," Bai Tsa hissed, though in the back of her head she knew that it wouldn't be an easy fight. Khala had already bested her before and they were in a realm that she didn't know and couldn't get away from without Valmont's help.
She glanced briefly at the man to make sure he was still there with her.
Khala bent his knees and Bai Tsa stiffened, certain that the spirit would bounce on her, but she was surprised to see him simply sit down and cross his legs.
"Not now. I find the taste better when the soul is devastated and knows there is no escape. You're too self-confident at the moment," he said. Then he pointed one black finger towards the mountaintop. "Do not let me keep you from your destination."
Bai Tsa and Valmont looked at each other and shrugged. The water demon guessed that Valmont didn't feel any more at ease than she did, but at the moment they didn't really have any options other than doing exactly what Khala wanted.
"Did you have to talk to him like that?" Valmont snapped as soon as they were out of earshot.
"What? Would you have wanted to me grovel at his feet? I'm a demon sorcerer!" Bai Tsa snapped right back.
"There are times when it's better to swallow your pride," Valmont said, his voice tight with anger.
"Like you did with Shendu?" Bai Tsa challenged.
"That was different! I had a chance against him, but if you anger Khala, there is no telling what he will do!"
"He's not going to do anything. Haven't you already realised it? He's just playing with us and watching how we jump every time he shows up. He likes it," Bai Tsa said.
"Well, it does take a demon to know one," Valmont muttered and Bai Tsa had to roll her eyes. They were falling back to their routine of snapping insults at each other and it was so pathetic that she couldn't even bring herself to be angry about it.
"Not that again. We have to try confronting him if we want to know exactly what is going on. I don't know about you, but I don't want to do blindly everything he says. Who knows, maybe he's the one who planted these clues for us?" she asked.
Valmont lifted his brows. "Do you think it was him?"
"Who else is there?"
"Alright, fine," Valmont said after a brief moment of consideration. "I see your point, but we should still be careful." Then he frowned.
"What now?" Bai Tsa asked.
Valmont rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You say it must have been Khala who planted the clues, but he couldn't have had any idea that we'd end up here. We're in this mess because of that woman who cursed me," he said.
"And yet this place has rocks painted with our images," Bai Tsa concluded. She had already forgotten all about the woman, even though finding out more about her spell had been one of their main priorities.
"It cannot be a mere coincidence," Valmont reasoned, but neither of them liked where that line of thought was leading.
"I'll talk about this with Tso Lan," Bai Tsa decided. Valmont got the hint and shut up about he subject.
They continued their climbing in silence. Bai Tsa's thoughts turned to how long they had been travelling already, and she had to wonder if Valmont was going to wake up any time soon. This dream had lasted longer than any of the others.
She noted how it was getting colder and how the air smelled just a tad clearer now. She shivered at the feeling of cool sand and stones against her scales, but she was determined not to let it bother her.
Neither of them was expecting them to reach the mountaintop any time soon, which was why they stopped to stare in surprise when they realised they had come to a point where the path stopped. For one dreadful moment Bai Tsa thought they would have to continue by climbing, but then she saw a little circle of rocks that she hadn't noticed at once. There was fog in the air, making everything farther than a few feet away look like dreamy blur.
"That's it?" she asked, though she was pleased they didn't have to go any higher. It was already cold enough.
"Don't tell me you're disappointed that we didn't run into any trouble," Valmont said.
"You have to admit that this is rather anti-climatic after how we had to battle Khala last time," the demon replied.
"I prefer it this way," Valmont said. He knelt down beside the rocks and picked up a wooden plate that had been placed at the centre of the ring. Bai Tsa towered over his shoulder to get a look at it. She wasn't surprised to notice that it was another crude drawing of them, this time swimming in something that looked like a large lake with waterfalls around it.
"I think I'm going to like that," she said with a grin. Valmont only groaned.
"I'm getting tired of this fetch quest. I feel like I'm a character in a mediocre fantasy book whose author has no concept of originality," he muttered.
Bai Tsa wondered briefly what kind of fantasies Valmont liked to read about, but she decided to ask him about it later when the man was in a better mood and more probable to share such intimate details with her.
They started getting back from the mountain. As they passed the point where they had met Khala, they saw that the spirit was still sitting there in that same position, unmoving and silent. It was only when they had already passed him in a hurry that he spoke again.
"Now that the wind blows this way, I can almost taste your soul, demon. Maybe I will have a bite the next time we meet."
To be continued…