"I'm so sorry," Jhai said, for what must have been the tenth time. Go lingered by her side, staring down at the demon's body. Not a tigress, not this time, yet how he wished it had been. But this demon had been beautiful, too, and Chen's wife. Jhai had insisted on coming over as soon as she got Chen's message, and Go wasn't leaving her side; he felt, however irrationally, that Jhai was still the only one capable of protecting him. Some kind of tiger-to-tiger thing, perhaps.
Chen spoke with a calm that, Go realized, was in itself a response to shock. "Thank you, Jhai." He'd thanked her the other nine times, too. "What we really need to do now is to work out where Inari is now."
Jhai took Chen to one side, though Go could still hear her. He stayed where he was, at the side of the "deceased" demon. She had been laid on a table in the middle of the temple, her head placed neatly above the severed neck. From this angle, she looked merely as though she wore a thin red necklace. Her body would undergo no decay or mortification, Chen had explained, still with that unnatural calm. Mhara had enspelled it, and besides, demons' bodies behaved differently when they were killed on another plain. The spell sparkled blue around the demon's corpse: Go took care not to get too close.
He heard Jhai say, "Can't Mhara just restore her?"
"Apparently it doesn't work that way. He's not omnipotent."
"Honestly, what use are these deities?" Jhai sounded as though she were about to sack an incompetent employee. "Emperor of Heaven and can't even restore the spirit of a minor demon."
"She's not under his jurisdiction," Chen said. "We'd need the Emperor of Hell for that."
"Yeah, Chen—the Emperor of Hell, who owes you one. Big-time."
"That's true, but it takes time for messages to get to Hell's Emperor these days. If Zhu Irzh was here, he could just call his mother and explain, but I'm not sure she'd listen to me."
"She might listen to me," Jhai said. "I'm about to be her daughter-in-law, after all."
"Then please try," Chen said. The man sounded exhausted and Go could hardly blame him. "I have tried to put a call through, but I can't reach her."
"I'll try," Jhai said. "If you're sure there's nothing Mhara can do. Who did this, anyway?"
"An assassin. Listen, Jhai—" and here Chen drew Jhai away into an annex, leaving Go alone with the demon's corpse. Evidently there was something that Go was not meant to hear. Fair enough.
He tore his gaze away from the body and wandered around the room, looking at the sparse furnishings. A serene place, despite what had so recently happened here. Go had never been a religious man, but something in him responded to this Zen simplicity. As he was standing there, someone came out of a side annex, a young woman. She looked tired, but there was also something else about her, something not quite right—it reminded Go of the spirits his father used to raise, as though the girl was already dead. How odd. Not unattractive, though.
"I'm just waiting for Jhai," Go explained.
"I know," the young woman said. "She's still with Chen. My name's Robin; I'm a priestess." She gave him a rather direct look. "I suppose you know your tiger lady's in the news?"
"Lara?" Go's heart felt as though it had dropped through his ribs and hit the floor.
"Yes. I've just been listening to the radio, trying to take my mind off things. Inari—" she gestured toward the corpse "—was a friend, you know? Still is, wherever she's gone." She sighed and Go felt a breath of icy air run across his skin. "I caught the news. Lara went through the early morning market like a dose of salts. One man dead, several people injured."
"This is all my fault," Go said. Things had gone from bad to worse, and all because he wanted to be a Svengali to the movie actress from Hell.
"Well, yes," Robin said. She did not sound accusing. "It is. But these things—I've not led a perfect life myself."
"But you're a nun," Go said, before he could stop himself.
Robin laughed. "I wouldn't say that, exactly. I need to let Jhai know about Lara as soon as she comes out."
"Is the news still on?" Go asked. Some stations were devoted to nothing but the news, recycling it endlessly. He might as well hear this for himself, depressing though it might be.
"I think so. Do you want to listen? I can probably find a station."
"You're being very kind," Go said.
Robin gave a sad shrug. "All I can do at the moment."
Go said hesitantly, "Your—deity. Jhai explained a couple of things to me in the car. Is he here?" Can he help me? But Go did not want to ask that. Odd: a few months ago, he'd have been entirely happy to make what use he could of the situation. Now, he felt a definite reluctance to ask for such aid; he was beginning to feel that this would have to be worked through, no matter the consequences. And he had an awful feeling he knew what those consequences might be.
But the news surprised him. Lara had indeed been on the rampage through the port market, but there were other sightings filtering through now, along Shaopeng and in Bharulay. Robin frowned as she listened to the reports.
"Lara's moved fast, hasn't she?" Go said in a whisper.
"I don't think these can all be Lara," Robin said. "These places are miles apart and you heard what they just said: these sightings are within the last few minutes."
"Is she using magic?" Go wondered aloud.
"Or there's more than one tiger," Robin said.