Marla nodded, feeling the power of his spell. “And a poisonous death for any promise-breakers, I assume.”
Ch’ang Hao nodded. “If you free me from my master’s thrall, I will owe you a favor in return, to be named at your convenience.”
“Sounds good to me,” Marla said.
The snakes began to devour one another, the circle constricting, and Ch’ang Hao and Marla stepped over them. The snakes somehow, impossibly, devoured one another completely, until no sign of them remained.
“My blade is back at the hotel,” Marla said. “Come back with us?”
Ch’ang Hao frowned. “I am not properly attired for human company.”
“What, because you’re wearing a bloody harness of leather straps?” Marla said. She waved her hand. “Please. This is San Francisco.”
“She’s got a point,” Rondeau said. “But I’ll loan you my jacket, just in case.”
Seeing Ch’ang Hao in the mundanity of a hotel room was oddly disconcerting. Marla had experienced the same sense of fundamental dislocation in the past, during her few brushes with non-human intelligent entities. It wasn’t so bad talking to him outside, in the night, but having this ancient creature sit calmly on the edge of the bed while Marla sliced through the individual silver lines connecting him to his master…that was bizarre. She could feel Ch’ang Hao’s age, radiating from him like the heat of a star. Most people would take him for human, as Marla had at first, but now that she knew, it was different. Standing beside him was like standing close to a lion—a mixture of awe, fear, and wonder. All that despite the fact that Ch’ang Hao was dressed in one of Rondeau’s T-shirts and a pair of his flannel boxer-shorts.
Rondeau was unbothered, sitting up in bed watching a reality show about strippers on HBO. Maybe the fact that Rondeau was, at core, non-human himself made him more comfortable around beings like Ch’ang Hao. Or maybe he was just being Rondeau.
Marla’s dagger of office cut cleanly through the last silvery thread, and the trailing ends that still touched Ch’ang Hao’s back disintegrated into silver sparkles, then disappeared. The longer ends, trailing out through the walls back to their friend in Chinatown, turned black and melted away.
Ch’ang Hao stood up, turned slowly around, and bowed to Marla. “For the first time in decades, I do not feel the weight of the chain on me.”
“I guess our friend in Chinatown knows you’re not his lapdog anymore, right?”
“He, too, will feel that the connection has been severed.”
“So is he going to try to kill us again?” Rondeau said. “Like, before morning? Because I could use some sleep. Watching Marla fight tires me out.”
“My…former master…will be otherwise occupied for some time, I think,” Ch’ang Hao said. “I may still be muzzled, as Marla says, but I am not without resources, and I may now turn those powers against my former master.”
“Give him hell,” Marla said. “But don’t get yourself killed, all right? Not while you still owe me.”
“I would not dream of dying and depriving you of a favor, Marla,” Ch’ang Hao said.
“There is one more thing,” Rondeau said. “It’s possible that the guy you think is your former master isn’t, and his apprentice is.”
Ch’ang Hao appeared to mull that over, then shook his head. “This is not my first language,” he said, apologetically.
Marla clarified. “What he means is, there’s a chance that our friend in Chinatown has switched bodies with his young apprentice. We’re not certain, but it’s a distinct possibility.”
“That is ugly magic,” Ch’ang Hao said. “If it is true, he owes the world an even greater debt of suffering than I had imagined. It appeared to be the old master who gave me my orders, but I have seldom spoken to him, and cannot be sure. Though I owe no mercy to my former master’s assistant, I shall proceed carefully, as I wish the fullness of my vengeance only upon him who imprisoned me. There are ways and means to tell which mind resides in each body.” He bowed. “Good night, Marla. If you need me, simply find any snake, and tell it you require my service. The message will reach me.”
Marla nodded.
Ch’ang Hao started to leave, then hesitated. “In the interests of honesty, and so that you understand the nature of our relationship fully, I feel I must tell you something.”