Chapter 40 - Discovered

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Ewan tried to slide the bolts holding the cell door shut but they were too heavy and he couldn’t move them.

Lian put his hand on his son’s shoulder, “It’s not always possible to do everything all the time. Wisdom is about knowing your limits and when you can push past them and when to ask for help.” He reached up and grabbed hold of the bolt with both hands but it still refused to budge, he then braced himself by putting a foot on the edge of the door frame and pulled again. Lian was sweating but still the door remained shut.

“I wouldn’t want to meet whoever’s job it is to open that” added Dylan, the others including Lian all turned and looked at him, “what?” He said.

Lian reached up and raised the flap on the door so he could talk to his brother, “we can’t get the door to budge, you’ll have to hang on whilst we look for another way to get you out.”

Ewan could hear the voice from within the cell, “I think it might be sealed by some kind of magic, I could hear the grunts uttering something as they threw me inside.”

Lian banged his fist on the door, “why in heavens name didn’t you tell us that before.”

There was a chuckle from behind the door, “I thought it’d be funny to listen to you struggle.” Lian kicked the door again, “ok genius, have you got any bright ideas?”

There was silence for a moment before Monkey responded, “I have but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”

“This is the craziest idea I think he’s ever had.” Lian said to his son.

“Even crazier than faking your death so the demons would throw your body out for monster food?” Ewan said.

Lian smiled, “he’s done some crazy things in his time, I’ll give him that.”

“I’d like to hear about them sometime,” Ewan said.

“When we get home definitely,” Lian replied but for now we had better keep quiet and wait to see if he’s right.”

Anna and Mac sat huddled in the corner of the cell furthest from Monkey’s with two of the camouflage jackets spread out covering them. Ewan and Dylan sat in the opposite corner with another jacket and Lian stood to the side of the doorway wearing the last one. They had left the door ajar so that they could get out, but were under strict instructions from Lian that they were to push it shut and keep it closed at the first sign of trouble.

Monkey’s plan had been simple, wait until whoever had placed the spell on the door came back to open it. During his previous visits to the arena Monkey had been escorted by two grunts and he didn’t see any reason why that might change.

So far Monkey had been compliant with the Demon’s instructions with the hope that he’d been lulling them in to a false sense of security. His didn’t think they’d expect to be jumped the moment the door was open and certainly not at the same time from behind by his dead brother. For a race of creatures that lived in hell the Demon’s could be overly sensitive to the dead and they were especially fearful of ghosts. This alone should give them an edge, but the last thing they needed was for a terrified Demon to escape and raise the alarm.

Monkey was right, Lian hadn’t liked it but reluctantly agreed that it might be their best hope. It had been Anna’s idea to use the jackets to help hide and Lian had to admit he could see traces of her aunt, Ewan’s mother, in Anna. Her intelligence and caring nature were traits that seemed to flourish in the McCawley family. All they could do now was wait.

They didn’t have to wait very long.

Lian signalled the Ewan and the others to be quiet as he heard the footsteps in the corridor outside. A few seconds later the door was thrown open and Lian could see a squad of four demons enter and approach Monkey’s cell door. He silently cursed to himself but realised he was committed to this course of action.

One of the guards reached in to his pocket and withdrew a handful of dust, he held his hand up to the upper bolt and uttering a few words blew half the dust across the bolt which appeared to sparkle briefly. The guard repeated the gesture on the lower bolt then stepped back.

Lian took a deep breath and readied himself, he hoped that Monkey was ready and that the element of surprise would carry them through the uneven odds.

The guard closest to the cell door reached up and drew back the bolts which slide easily back as if they had been greased. He then went to kick open the door as if repeating his standard procedure but before his foot could make contact the door opened inward and the guard lost his balance and toppled forward.

There was a loud Kiai from the cell and Monkey leaped forward catching the already off balanced guard and sending him flying. At the same instant Lian spring forward shouting his own battle cry and executed a flying kick at the back of the guard closest to him.

The initial shock was enough to catch the squad off guard but only for a moment, they soon realised what was happening and as the first guard recovered another fell on Monkey pushing him back in to his cell the other two turned to face Lian and drew their weapons.

The guards were obviously intending to subdue the prisoner because they appeared to only be armed with short clubs as opposed to any blades. In that area Lian knew he had the advantage, but he also knew from bitter experience that those clubs could just as easily break bones. Without his armour he would have to rely once more on speed to keep him safe.

The fight was quick and brutal and from almost the first strike Lian knew they were in trouble as the guards seemed able to soak up massive amounts of physical punishment and carry on where as he and Monkey seemed to be feeling every blow.

Ewan and the others had moved from their hiding places and were watching the fight hidden from view behind the doorway.

“We have to help them”, said Ewan.

“Your dad said to wait here,” replied Anna, “if between them they can’t handle these demons what chance do we have?” She added.

“No, Ewan’s right,” said Dylan, ”if they lose then we’ll be next.”

Anna and Dylan looked from the fight to Ewan, the hopelessness of the situation evident on their faces.

Mac was the first to take action, he picked up the spear that Lian had given him earlier and moved through the door.

Two of the demons had Lian pinned down and the third one was preparing to deliver what he hoped would be a fatal blow. As the demon raised his weapon Mac used both hands and holding on to the end of the spear swung it like a baseball bat and broke it in two over the demons back.

The demon stumbled forward and although Lian was pinned by his arms, he was able to deliver a solid front kick that connected with the falling demon. The demons head snapped back and he fell on to his back. Lian was able to use the guards surprise at the sight of their fallen comrade to break out of the demons hold and between him and Mac they were able to knock the other two demons unconscious.

Mac and Lian turned as they heard a several loud thumps coming from cell block, followed shortly after by Monkey walking out and brushing the dust of his hands and clothes. Lian snorted at his younger brother, “you took your time, what’s the matter? Getting too old for all of this?”.

Monkey rushed forward to embrace his brother, “Tiger, it’s so great to see you up and about, my...” before he could finish the sentence Lian had stepped forward and delivered a clean right hook that knocked Monkey clean across the table.

“Ow, what did you do that for?” Monkey said as he picked himself up and rubbed his hand over his jaw.

“I just wanted to make sure you were who you claim to be,” Lian replied, “and besides, I owed you one for nearly killing me with your Wind Strike.”

“Well I was expecting more of a thank you for keeping your son safe and rescuing you, but whatever...”

“Safe? You call leading a teenage boy and his friends in to the bowels of hell safe, what were you thinking?”

“I didn’t lead them anywhere, they made their own way here with the help of the Dragon Spirit I figured as they were already here I might as well make use of them.”

“But how did you know they’d find me and be able to revive me?”

“Sometimes you just have to have faith and trust that things will work out as intended.”

“So what you planned all of this?”

“Not all of it no, but you have to admit the boy and his friends did well, and it all worked out, agreed?” Monkey said, smiling.

Lian spat on the floor, “I should hit you again, you incompetent fool.”

Monkey squared up looked Lian in the eye, “you’re getting old brother, I’ll not be so accommodating next time.”

Before Lian could react Anna stepped between the brothers and placed a hand on each of their chests.

“Stop it both of you, we’re all stuck in this mess together and we’re going to have to work together if we want to get home.” The two brothers both looked at each other and took a step back.

“Good, now, the first thing to do is work out what to do with these lot,” she said indicating to the unconscious guards sprawled around the room.

“Why don’t we lock them in the cell like Monkey was?” Suggested Ewan as he and Dylan left their cell and joined the group in the middle of the room, “can you use any of that magic dust to seal them in again?”

Monkey and Lian nodded and started stripping the bodies of all armour and equipment before dragging the unconscious demons back in to Monkeys cell. They then pushed the door shut and slid over the bolts which still had a slight shimmer to them. Monkey closely examined the small bag of powder that he’d recovered from one of the guards and looked again at the bolts, “I don’t think this stuff works in reverse, besides it looks like the grease spell is starting wear off.” He then tried to move the bolt and noticed that it was a lot stiffer than before. Leaving the bolt in place Monkey turned his attention to the guards equipment.

“We can’t stay here too long, if I’m not in the arena soon then someone will come looking for these idiots.”

Monkey thought for a second and then looked at Ewan, looked back at the armour and then looked at Dylan, Anna and Mac in turn, “unless...”

“No, I’ve seen that look on your face before, you must be crazy, it’d never work.” Lian said.

“I don’t see what choice we have. You all dress up like the demons and escort me to the arena, wait outside whilst I put another demon down and then escort me back here, that way we’ll have a nice long break to work out our next move before the next fight.”

“You make it sound so simple, what could possibly go wrong.” Lian snorted,

“Exactly,” replied Monkey, his usual enthusiasm starting to show through.

“I was being sarcastic.” Lian said.

“Oh.”

Ewan turned to his father, “I agree it does sound like a stupid plan, no offence,” he said smiling at his uncle, “but he’s right, we don’t have any other options and we need the time to work out how to get the relic back from Dong Shen and rescue Bai before we go home.”

“Oh don’t worry about Dong Shen, the relic I gave him was a fake, if he tries to use it as part of his resurrection ceremony he’ll be in for a shock.”

Ewan looked sheepish, and rolled a bit of loose gravel under his foot, “err, uncle, I have a confession to make, the sword, relic thing.”

Monkey’s face dropped, “you didn’t?”

“We found it in the container and I thought we might be able to trade it for my father.”

“Oh Ewan, you stupid, stupid boy.”

Lian stepped in between Ewan and Monkey, “hey, that’s enough, how were they supposed to know, you didn’t tell them anything, it’s not their fault.”

Monkey sighed, “fine, fine, whatever, let’s get this next fight to the death out of the way and then come up with a new plan.” Monkey paused for a second and then looked closely at Ewan. “Hang on a minute, what did you mean rescue Bai, where is the Dragon Lord has he been captured?”

“He was in my backpack, the stress of opening a portal almost killed him and he was resting in his box, then when the patrol went straight to the place where you left us we panicked and ran away.”

Monkey just sat back against the table and put his head in his hands, “and you left the bag for them to find?”

“They were coming straight for us and we thought you’d sold us out, how did they know where we were?”

Lian looked down at his brother, “if I found out you attempted to sell out my son I’ll skin you alive and fly your hide round the heavens like a flag from that bloody cloud of yours.”

Monkey stepped back, hands raised, “no, no, it was nothing like that. Yes I was contacted by an demon emissary after you were kidnapped which is not that unusual, and yes I sort of agreed to help procure some items in exchange for aiding in your release.”

Lian started to seethe,

“Steady on brother. I haven’t seen you for years and I didn’t know what I would be walking in to. I came to help and I had no idea what was going on. I was doubled crossed and setup just like you.”

“And what about Ewan?”

“He was never supposed to be part of this. I’d been keeping an eye on him for a while.”

“It was you I saw then.” Ewan interrupted, “back then outside my house and again in the park, why didn’t you step in or help me.”

Monkey sighed, “you were never in any real danger, and it was important for me to see how you reacted under pressure.”

“Why?” Ewan asked,

“It doesn’t matter now, but you need to know that there are people who’ve been watching you for a long time now. People who have a vested interest in you and your future.”

“What people, who?”

“Your family, particularly your great grand…”

“Enough!”, Lian banged his fist on the table, “I’m done with them and that life and I swore to his mother that he’d never be a part of it.”

“He might not have a choice,” Monkey said, “he is a Wu after all and the appearance of the Dragon Spirit was not by accident, this is only the beginning.”

“What’s he talking about dad? Who is my great grand…”

“I said enough, we’ll sort this out when we get home.”

“But dad…”

“But nothing, we have to follow along with his stupid plan,” he thumbed towards Monkey, “if we’re to have any chance of getting home.”

“But what about Bai?”

Lian thought for a moment, “I don’t know, if the chance arrives then we’ll see what we can do, but I can’t make any guarantees, this life… Nothing is ever guaranteed, but I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

Monkey straightened up and stood front of Ewan and looked him straight in the eye, “Ewan, I promise, on my honour and my life, I Zhou Zhang Wu, chosen of the Monkey Lord and custodian of the balance between heaven and hell, do solemnly swear that I will not rest nor leave this realm without ensuring the safety and security of The Sacred Dragon Lord.”

Ewan reached forward and threw his arms round his uncle and gave him a hug.

Lian began sorting through the kit on the table to try and create the most convincing demon armour disguises possible. Fortunately there was no official uniform for the demons and traditionally they tended to wear whatever they could scavenge. The fact that most of the armour was oversized would help to disguise them even further.

As Lian began to help Ewan and the others strap on the various pieces of armour and Ewan couldn’t help but start to giggle, “hey Dylan, look at me, I feel like a real demon hunter now.”

Lian stopped and looked his son straight in the eye, “don’t be a fool boy, this is no game, we are not playing at being glorious heroes, this is serious. I’ve fought all my life and there’s nothing glorious, heroic or honourable about getting your arse kicked from one side of a muddy field to the other. When it’s time to fight, fight. When it’s time to run, run. I’ve known many so called Heroes and they’re all dead!”, he looked across at Monkey as he emphasised the last word throwing it across the room like a challenge.

Monkey stood up and accepted Lian’s challenge. “Your father is mostly right Ewan. There is a time to fight and a time to flee, but you must know this about honour. Honour is a personal thing, it is a man’s gift to himself that only he can take away. It is following the right path even if you know it will end in your own demise, especially if you know.” He paused for a second, “Honour can be earned on the battlefield, when a man stands by his brothers and doesn’t run and leave them to suffer their final death alone, that is honourable, because those that do will suffer a thousand little deaths every day.”

Lian tensed.

“But what about glory?” asked Ewan.

“Never go on to the battlefield looking for glory,” replied Lian, “the graveyards are full of romantic fools that went looking for glory and found only a rusty blade in their guts.”

He turned his back on Monkey and resumed checking over the straps on Ewan’s armour before moving on to the others.

Five minutes later they were ready or at least as ready as they’d ever be and Monkey was keen to get moving as knew the crowd would be getting impatient.

Lian took the last opportunity to brief Ewan and his friends and give them some basic instructions on using the weapons in case things went wrong. He then opened the cell door stepped out in to the corridor. Monkey followed behind with Ewan and Dylan at his side with Anna and Max bringing up the rear.