The Lamb and the Gray Battle

March 10, 1354

Yuemu said, "She's going to be an acrobat. You're going to have to teach her how dance, just like I taught you."

Diyiren pumped his head, swore on his life he would. He didn't even think about how bad he was at dancing, that his energy was at war with hers. Gods and demons, those were history lessons and those stayed in Laoshi's classroom. If Diyiren pretended he was choreographing a sword fight, then he could move fluidly and gracefully.

"You're a good boy," Yuemu said. "I will be with you always. Both of you," rubbing the bump. She had a spoon in a pot, stirred some soup for lunch. Niang swore about the wench making pauper's gruel and BoBo insisted on a rigid diet, fish, noodles, vegetables, food that wouldn't exacerbate his demon nature.

Yuemu sang an old Irish tune, Dindsenchas, as she stirred. She said it was the lore of the Ireland her mam and gran had grown up in and she encouraged Diyiren to sing along. Diyiren was obedient, but he whispered. Like dancing, it grated his energy.

Eating with Yuemu wasn't like eating with the old cook. He could pick at the vegetables with his fingers, slurp soup directly from the bowl and wipe his mouth with his sleeve. And after, the pair tromped to the bathhouse. Just as eating, cooking and outside adventures were games, so was bath time. Diyiren dove into the tub, went under the surface, splashed the water everywhere. And then with a few motions, he guided the water to the drain.

Laoshi fetched him for his afternoon lessons, made no comment as he led him to the courtyard classroom. If anyone else came in, Diyiren was expected to kowtow, beg forgiveness for his audacious behavior. But then, Diyiren could hear a flea seven leagues away when he tried. If he had to kowtow, it was his own fault.

Sounds of the iron gate being lifted and the wooden door cranking open. A new person came to the Fortress, a midwife. A female person. Laoshi allowed Diyiren to peek at her. He had a suspicion that the midwife was going to help give him Qizi, since wife was part of her name.

When Yuemu's travails started, Laoshi had no ability to restrain Diyiren. He ran toward her room, but BoBo blocked his path. Diyiren halted, straightened his back. Laoshi was silent, a few strides behind him, so Diyiren didn't have to kneel.

"Running in the halls?" BoBo said, his lips slick with their smile.

"Yuemu's scream," Diyiren started, "sounded urgent. I answered it promptly."

"This pocket dimension isn't as sturdy as Earth. Djehuty cannot maintain it indefinitely," BoBo said. "Your father's minions are prowling. You must behave. Stay near me."

Sutekh muttered, "If Djehuty folds dimensions one more time, I'm going to vomit."

"As soon as little Aoibh is here, he will be able to move the castle back to the Earthly plane," Laoshi said.

The midwife had Yuemu by the hand and Yuemu was half bent over, supported her stomach and back. Niang was permitted out of her room for the celebration.

"Some celebration," she complained, her arms folded. She stood straight, her hair immaculate and a gold crown perched on her head. It was from the Tang Dynasty, belonged to her great grandmother, a queen of the gold dragon clan. Guards surrounded her, but it wasn't for her protection. It was to protect everyone else from her. She picked at her black silk robe with white cranes and gold embroidery.

The full moon had just passed and the sky was bright with light. Diyiren fell asleep waiting for his wife to be born. BoBo was the one who shook him awake.

Niang hissed, "This is women's work. Let him sleep."

Usually, Diyiren ranked obeying his mother above BoBo, but the statement had the opposite effect. It chased away his dreams. In fact, a nightmare of Yuemu disappearing, a monster gobbling her up.

The sky was dark blue and the moon no longer shone through the window. Soon it would be gray and the morning would be here.

Niang jerked her son out of BoBo's grasp, but BoBo slithered his hand between Diyiren's arm and Niang's talon. No adolescent looked as threatening as BoBo when he smiled.

"You want to go back to your cage, old hag?" BoBo said.

Niang spit on BoBo, strutted to the bedside. Guards lifted iron spears, but Niang was only a small Chinese woman who couldn't be bothered by peasants.

Yuemu interrupted the battle with a howl that crumbled the walls. The noises she made were like a wild animal, a dog growling, but Diyiren didn't like thinking of Yuemu as a mongrel bitch. He didn't like that Niang called Yuemu that.

Torches burned on the wall and Yuemu's chemise was pushed all the way up. Sweat filmed her face and her legs were open, her knobby knees up to her ears. Her hair moved and rippled, screamed in a voice all its own. The folds of her vagina were bizarre to him and he didn't understand what that bulge was pushing out. What he understood was that Yuemu was grunting and howling, that her twiggy fingers dug into the sheets. It was like that first night and he wanted it to stop. He clung to BoBo's leg and burrowed his head into his stomach.

BoBo tore him loose. "Watch your wife emerge." Not like his smarmy uncle to grab him like that.

Diyiren's lower lip quivered and he chewed it. Niang was a few feet away and she would yell if he cried. His fingers vibrated. His claws and fangs pressed against his human flesh. He should have been happy that his demon side was rearing its head, but he just wanted it to stop.

The bulge popped out and the thing had bulbous eyes under thick lids. The thing was squashed and goopy and disgusting. Yuemu kept screaming and pushing. The midwife said it was going well.

Like Satan it was!

More screaming and grunting. All that red. The smell of blood. Yuemu's little tendril-like hairs between her legs flicked at the midwife's hands.

And then the whole body popped out.

"And," BoBo said, "that's your wife."

Wife.

BoBo pushed him toward it, but Diyiren dug his feet into the floor. It was the first time claws came out of his toes.

There was a silvery white cord coming from between Yuemu's legs. With a pair scissors, it was cut and blood and fluids pattered to the floor.

Diyiren scampered back.

"Coward," Sutekh muttered. "Some leader he'll make."

BoBo mewed, "He's exactly what we want."

Diyiren shook all over. He tasted blood in his mouth, but it never occurred to him that his teeth had shifted to fangs, that it was his own blood he tasted. The little blob terrified him.

The red ball was washed, wrapped in swaddling. BoBo pranced to the midwife and Yuemu, as if this whole thing was his doing. Yuemu looked near death, wan and lolling. BoBo beckoned Diyiren.

"This is what you've been waiting for. Take her."

Diyiren shook his head, but Sutekh hauled him over. The midwife was gentler, helped him support her head, put this little thing in his arms. The little heap of skin had eyelashes and she opened them. Bright blue eyes, just like Yuemu's. But instead of a yellow glow like the sun, hers had a dark red fire in them.

"Like Lao Hong-er," Diyiren muttered.

And it was like a trance again. Like dancing for the first time.

Wife.

Qizi.

He understood now.

Tears splashed forth and Diyiren's lip quivered. Niang screamed out a curse, was marched out of the room.

BoBo guided Diyiren to Yuemu, let her look at the little bundle. The midwife massaged the uterus, coaxed out the placenta and extra blood.

All he could say was, "I love her."