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his head and spoke softly. ‘I can’t cure death.’
    â€˜Our only loss in the mission and it’s from friendly fire,’ I said, leaning back and wiping my eyes. ‘We don’t do friendly fire on the Celestial. We have eyes in the sky, we have telepathic communication. We’re better than this!’
    â€˜It is the first in a while,’ John said sadly, changing back to human and catching the young archer as he fell, stricken with guilt. He passed him to Meredith. ‘First of many.’
    He raised his head and concentrated.
    Guan Yu appeared on the grass next to us and looked down at Grace’s body. ‘She will be given full hero’s honours.’ He looked around, then fell to one knee. ‘I thank you all for returning the Gates to the Heavenly Host.’
    The archer was sobbing, his head in Meredith’s chest as she held him.
    Guan Yu rose. ‘Are they all definitely gone?’
    John concentrated. ‘All gone.’
    â€˜I will need replacement guards.’
    â€˜You may borrow some Elites from Er Lang,’ John said, and Guan Yu disappeared.
    John listened for a moment, then nodded. ‘Er Lang’s complaining that we just gave away all of his remaining Elites. I’vetold him he can hold an evaluation on the main court tomorrow morning.’
    â€˜Our students aren’t ready for that,’ I said.
    â€˜They never are. Meredith, escort the rest home,’ John said.
    He took my hand, and everything disappeared.

4
    John, Er Lang and I stood at the edge of the main court on the Mountain and watched the Disciples run through the weapons drills in perfect synchronicity, with Liu at the front leading them.
    Er Lang crossed his arms over his green armour and nodded. ‘Good. I was worried you’d keep the training focused on disablement. It’s obvious these are trained to kill.’
    â€˜Of course,’ John said. ‘The training isn’t about technique any more.’
    â€˜You’ve brought them up to speed remarkably quickly.’
    The God of War shrugged. It was what he did.
    Er Lang leaned around John and spoke to me from under his green burnished war helmet. ‘How’s your training proceeding? There’s a distinct possibility that the Jade Emperor will order you to join us in the Elites.’
    â€˜He’d better not,’ John and I said in unison.
    â€˜I’m too new an Immortal and close to useless,’ I added. ‘I can’t fly safely unless I’m in snake form, and I can’t teleport at all. I did it a couple of times before I was Raised but now the skill eludes me. It’s driving me nuts.’
    â€˜The Jade Emperor’s probably blocked you from learning until after the wedding, so you can’t change your mind and make a run for it,’ Er Lang said.
    â€˜That makes sense,’ John said. ‘Decided yet?’
    Er Lang ran his eye over the students. ‘None of these are good enough.’
    â€˜I know that,’ John said, his voice low, ‘but you need to take some anyway. The Jade Emperor must be guarded.’
    â€˜Are they genuine volunteers?’
    â€˜They are.’
    â€˜Do you have sources other than the Earthly for Mountain cadets?’ Er Lang said. ‘Has the Tiger provided any Horsemen? Dragons?’
    â€˜Horsemen, yes; a good number came here after the fall of the West. We have a few Red Warriors who survived the fall of the South as well.’
    â€˜Most of the phoenixes are in the Northern Heavens regrouping for another attempt,’ I said. ‘They’re more focused on winning their volcano back right now.’
    â€˜They won’t do it,’ John said without looking away from the Disciples.
    â€˜We know that, but they don’t,’ Er Lang said.
    â€˜What?’ I said. ‘How do you know?’
    â€˜We’ve seen it,’ John said. ‘They won’t re-enter the South for at least three