[continuing chapter 4]
So far as Wen could see the demon made no gesture. But one second she and Liang Sheng were facing one another, and the next the old adept was hundreds of paces away, tumbling end over end in a fluttering of raggedy old silk and cotton. As Wen watched one of Liang's slippers came off his foot and flew up into the air before arcing down into the sea. Wen was sure he heard a little plop as the slipper hit the water. Then he heard Liang Sheng's wailing voice, wobbling a bit as the old man tumbled away into the distance and invisibility.
"Thank you," he said, bowing to the demon (who for some reason refused to clothe or shape-shift its enticing nakedness). "I will remember all that you have done for me." He tried very hard to look deeply into the demon's eyes as he said this, but received no response.
"You really ought to take better care of yourself," Number One Grandfather said. Wen looked up; the ancestor's emaciated shape hovered half-way up the mast. "Being thrown into the company of dragons and demons and crack-skulled Daoist adepts is now way to live."
"I needed you to tell me this?" Wen glared up at Number One Grandfather. "If you're so concerned about my helping you, why weren't you down there to help me?"
"I should have thought that was obvious. We can't go until other-worldly palaces unless we're invited. Which we weren't. And before you ask about that half-wit sorcerer, just let me tell you that he could have seen us and hurt us—and we couldn't have done anything to him. So it was better that we stayed away."
"You have an interesting concept of 'better,'" Wen said. Then he decided that he had more important things to worry about than the grandfathers. After a moment's scowling introspection, he returned to Chin's unconscious bulk. One-Eyed Lum stood, leaning back against a mast and looking down at the general. Then he looked up at Wen. "Chin fought very well," he said, nodding down at the unconscious giant. "And until you say otherwise, he's still the leader of the Green Turbans. So: What happens to him now?"
"Now," Wen said, walking to the ship's gunwale and signaling to the shrimp-soldiers, "I'm going to borrow one of your hidden daggers, One-Eyed Lum, and then Chin Gwai comes to face the same fate he decided on for me."
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