He did not see her hit the ground. Chen and Zhu Irzh watched as the dragon dived, a flurry and glitter of wings and then a surge of dust as it landed.
Zhu Irzh said, "What was that all about?"
"I don't know," Chen murmured, but as he spoke he saw again with inner sight: the shining presence of the Celestial Emperor, turning with a snarl of fury, and then the great spread of the dragon's wings shivering, folding, diminishing—until a little figure was standing in the dust and Chen recognized him.
"It's Mrs Pa's grandson," he said. "It's Precious Dragon."
"Aptly bloody named," Zhu Irzh said, after a moment, and Chen could only agree. The Celestial Emperor raised a hand and Chen felt the surge of a spell, an incantation he had only ever encountered once before: the conjuring of a thunderbolt. The Emperor's hand flickered but the air was empty.
"He can't do it," Miss Qi said, stunned.
"Just as well," Chen remarked. "That was aimed at the child. Or whatever he is."
"He is the Dragon King," Miss Qi said. "The Emperor of Heaven just tried to kill the Dragon King."
"Former Emperor of Heaven," Jhai said. She pointed. A battalion of the unicorn cavalry was floating down from the sky. They surrounded the Emperor briefly, and then they were floating up again, as serenely as if they had been gliding through the skies of Heaven itself. The Emperor was gone. Further across the plain, however, so were the small boy and the small, crumpled body beside which he stood.
Miss Qi turned to Jhai. "I think I'll take you up on the job offer, if that's still all right with you."
"Fine. You're on the payroll as of now." Jhai hesitated. "All we have to do is get back to Earth."
That, thought Chen, was likely to be their biggest problem. But in this, he was wrong.
"Zhu Irzh!" A harsh voice, easily recognizable. Chen and the demon looked up to see a tank coming toward them. On it, somewhat battered and dusty, sat a canopy and beneath that, stood the Minister of War and Zhu Irzh's mother. "What are you doing here?" Mrs Zhu demanded.
"There was an issue. With the Ministry of Lust."
"Never mind that," Mrs Zhu said. "This family is allied to the Ministry of War now."
"Now that the Emperor's gone," Chen said, "I suppose the Imperial connection with Lust is no longer an issue either."
"Lust will be rebuilt," Mrs Zhu said. "But it will be under our control."
"Hang on," Zhu Irzh said. "What do you mean by 'our'?"
"We," Mrs Zhu said grandly, "are the Emperor now. Since Erdzhe and I are to be married."
Chen had often wondered if there was anything in any of the worlds that was capable of rendering Zhu Irzh speechless and now he had found it. It wasn't the only thing, either. Jhai stepped forward.
"Mrs Zhu, what a pleasure. Allow me to introduce myself. Jhai Tserai. I'm Zhu Irzh's fiancée."
"What?" said Zhu Irzh.
An expression of what might, in a less icy countenance, be described as delight crossed Mrs Zhu's features, a faint thawing. "Why, I've heard of you. A very old family." Not Chinese, the expression seemed to say, but never mind. It was clear to Chen that Mrs Zhu was dynasty building.
"Wait a minute," said Zhu Irzh.
"But this is wonderful news," Mrs Zhu said to her son, with unaccustomed sweetness. "I'm so pleased you've decided to settle down."
"And congratulations on your own fiancé's appointment," Jhai said, warmly. Mrs Zhu wasn't the only one. Jhai had seen a chance to mend relations with Hell and she was grasping it with both professionally manicured claws.
Mrs Zhu looked frostily gratified. "Why, thank you. Irzh. Now. About your grandfather's heart."
"Right. We gave it back to him. He took on the Emperor of Hell, they went into the reactor together. That was why it blew."
"So," the Minister of War said. His lizard voice hissed out across the plain, sibilance sending sand skittering over the ridges and ripples. "A new Emperor in Hell and a new one in Heaven."
"We don't know who that will be yet," Mrs Zhu said.
"I think I do," Chen said. His mind went back to a little, half-ruined temple on the outskirts of Singapore Three, a calm young man, and the ghost of a girl. Mhara was next in line and Heaven was known to be highly traditional. "He's got rather different views about the relationship between Heaven and Earth." Thank God. Literally.
"Hell is in disarray," the Minister said. "We need to return."
"You're going up?" Chen asked. "If so, we'll hitch a ride."
It seemed that the order had already been given, because Hell's troops were beginning to rise, the tattered remnants of trucks and other vehicles lurching up from the floor of the plain and drifting upward into the clouds. Chen was looking around for Pin H'siao, but the spirit was nowhere to be seen.
"Come on," Zhu Irzh said in his ear. "Looks like we're leaving. Including my fiancée." Chen could not tell whether the demon was displeased or not. Jhai and her new bodyguard were already taking their place in one of the trucks, which were forming a disorderly queue behind the Minister's tank. Zhu Irzh swung up and Chen followed him. The truck started to rise.