Black Jade

  ‘You were playing with it?’

  I shrugged. ‘Well, yeah.’

  ‘We don’t have long before they send more, and the next wave will probably be much larger,’ Martin said, looking around. ‘I suggest you hurry, Black Jade.’

  There was no reply.

  ‘BJ?’ I called.

  Again no reply.

  ‘BJ!’ I shouted, becoming concerned.

  ‘Wonderful, now we’ve lost both of them,’ Martin said. ‘Gold will skin us alive.’

  ‘Worse. The demons have kidnapped her before, and if they have her again it would destroy both of them. We must find her.’

  I scrabbled down the glassy scree towards the lake. The edges of the stones were sharp and I cut my hands on them as I tried to slow my momentum.

  ‘Stone?’ I said. ‘BJ?’

  Martin lowered his head and closed his eyes, then his eyebrows creased. ‘I can’t sense anything.’

  ‘Say something, stone,’ I said.

  There was no reply.

  ‘BJ!’ I shouted at the top of my voice.

  Again there was no reply. They were lost. Both of them were lost, and the demons were probably holding poor BJ again. She still had nightmares about the first time it had happened, and she wouldn’t cope if they had her again. I hated to think what she was going through.

  ‘We have to find her,’ I said, my voice shaking.

  I looked around at the stone-covered ground. Any of the pebbles in the scree could be either of them.

  ‘Bring another stone in,’ Martin said. ‘Supervise it carefully and make sure it doesn’t wander off.’ He raised his head. ‘More guards are on their way. At least twenty of them.’ He glanced down at me. ‘Can you take out ten level fifty-fives?’

  ‘I can take about five,’ I said. ‘Can you take down fifteen?’

  He resummoned the Silver Serpent. ‘I can try. I’m glad Father’s taught you shen suicide.’

  ‘Uh . . .’ I summoned Dark Heavens. ‘He really didn’t have time. He started to teach me and Er Lang called him away.’

  ‘Wonderful,’ he said softly. ‘Stay in my line of vision. I do not want what happened to the stones happening to you as well.’ He hefted the Silver Serpent. ‘Here they come. Nice and big.’

  The demons came out of the hole, ignoring the lava, and I wheezed with dismay. Martin lowered the Silver Serpent and raised it again. They were the black-armoured demons that had been transported on the Liaoning: more than two metres tall, and with disturbingly small faces on mounds that jutted from their shoulders instead of heads.

  ‘BJ!’ I shouted, then dropped my voice to speak to Martin. ‘How many can you yin?’

  ‘About half of them. Emma, we need to retreat. Dying to them will serve no purpose.’

  ‘Stone, talk to me, for god’s sake. Stone or BJ, say something!’ I shouted as the demons headed up the hill towards us. They weren’t carrying weapons, but their huge hands had long nail-like claws that would tear us to pieces.

  ‘We need to leave,’ Martin said. Come back when they’ve gone inside again.

  ‘All right!’ I shouted with frustration, and I turned and ran up the slope.

  Martin summoned a cloud, lifted me onto it, and we took off over the edge of the large caldera and quickly gained altitude.

  I collapsed onto my hands and knees on the cloud. Not only had we not found my stone, we’d lost BJ. I fell to sit and ran my hand over my face. The demons had her. Gold would be destroyed when I told him, and I wouldn’t blame him. I was close to the edge myself. She wasn’t yet fifteen and we’d handed her over to them. They would use her for their vile experiments. I turned around and looked back, but the demons were already too small to see.

  ‘We’ll return when they’ve gone back inside,’ Martin said. He leaned down and put his hand on my shoulder. ‘I’ll make us invisible and we can slowly and carefully check all the stones there.’

  ‘I’ll ask Gold to come and help.’

  ‘No, you’re right, it would break him. We’ll quietly go back and find your stone. It can help us find BJ.’

  ‘I don’t know what I’ll do if the demons have her,’ I said, my voice hoarse. ‘The last time she was held by the demons, we rescued her just as Six was about to cut her up with a buzz-saw.’

  He released my shoulder. ‘I know.’

  We hovered two kilometres away from the volcano, sitting cross-legged on the cloud for twenty minutes as we waited for the demons to leave. They patrolled the area a few times, then went back inside to report.

  ‘They know it was us,’ I said.

  ‘I can hide us, but the stones won’t be able to see us if I do. Do you know the Jade Building Block’s chi signature, its spiritual essence?’

  ‘It’s difficult with a stone, their nature is so different,’ I said. ‘I can try.’

  He nodded and stood. ‘Let’s go have a look.’

  We returned to the crater and he made us invisible.

  This is where we took off, he said.

  I stepped off the cloud and put my hands out, feeling for the stone and finding nothing.

  Stone? I said. Jade Building Block? I raised my mental voice and put all I had into it. Jade Building Block!

  AUNTY EMMA! BJ shouted, sounding the way she had when she was a baby stone. Where are you? I can’t see you!

  I nearly collapsed with relief. We’re right here — Martin made us invisible. I’ll knock two stones together, listen for the sound.

  I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, she said. Is everything okay? I thought you’d gone without me! Where are you? Are you here? Her voice became desperate. I can’t see you! I can’t hear anything!

  I bent down, picked up a stone and tapped it against another stone.

  I heard that! she said, sounding thrilled. I’m so glad you’re here, I thought I’d lost you! I’m sorry I was gone, I wasn’t expecting that to happen.

  What happened to you?

  She sounded sheepish. Dad told me lava was good, but he didn’t tell me how good. It’s bubbly and warm and soft and feels so delish . . . knock the stones again?

  I tapped the stones. You fell asleep in the lava?

  No. But I was kind of out of it. It felt so good that . . . what’s the word? Euphoria. I was high! Her voice changed to regret again. I’m so sorry, Aunty Emma, I didn’t know that would happen.

  Not your fault, sweetheart, but I will have a stern talk with your father.

  Me too, he should have warned me, she said. There you are, I can see your heat signatures. She appeared in front of us in tiny True Form, floating in the air. Wow, Uncle Martin is really good at hiding people. I had no idea you were there until I was right on top of you. Did you find Grandpa?

  Not yet. Can you sense where he is?

  Give me a minute.

  Emma? Martin said.

  I brought him up to date.

  Good, he said. Now find your stone and let’s get out of here.

  Did you know about lava making them high?

  First time I’ve heard of it, he said with amusement.

  Grandpa? Call it, Aunty Emma, BJ said.

  Jade Building Block?

  Help, the stone said.

  Did you hear that, BJ?

  Yes. Again, Grandpa!

  BJ?

  BJ zoomed through the air and stopped, then took human form. She crouched and picked up a tiny pebble. ‘Grandpa?’

  ‘Black Jade,’ the stone said with relief. ‘You’re in danger here. Run.’

  ‘They saw you — they’re coming back,’ Martin said.

  ‘BJ, run!’ the stone shouted.

  Martin summoned a cloud and we jumped onto it. Twenty-five demon guards charged out of the hole as we topped over the edge of the crater and flew away.

  ‘Is it him?’ I said.

  ‘I’m checking,’ BJ said, holding the stone in her hand. ‘Speak to me, Grandpa.’

  ‘I want,’ the stone said, then was silent.

  ‘What do
you want?’ I said. ‘To go home?’

  ‘Flyers incoming. Hold on,’ Martin said, and the cloud increased in speed until the air blew past us.

  ‘Where am I?’ the stone said.

  ‘You’re with Emma, me and Prince Ming, Grandpa,’ BJ said. ‘We’re taking you home to the Northern Heavens.’

  ‘Who?’

  BJ dropped her head and concentrated. ‘What did they do to you?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Grandpa’s lattice has been damaged,’ she said. ‘Some of the personality centres and the memory storage have been destroyed. It’s fused, like it’s melted. He may not remember anything.’

  ‘I remember,’ the stone said.

  ‘What?’ I said.

  ‘There’s something really important I have to tell you.’

  We waited.

  ‘He probably doesn’t remember what it is,’ BJ said.

  ‘Let’s take him home,’ I said.

  ‘No,’ BJ said. ‘Isolate him. It’s definitely Grandpa, no other stone looks like this, but I have no idea what they did to him and he could be . . .’

  ‘A plant,’ I said.

  ‘They’ve done sickening things with us before. I hate to think what they’ve done to him. He may not be himself.’

  ‘How did he escape?’ Martin said, without looking away from the direction we were going. ‘There were plenty of guards. He was in a jade cage. Now he’s free and doesn’t remember what happened.’

  ‘Too convenient,’ I said grimly.

  ‘I know,’ BJ said.

  ‘Where do we put him?’ Martin said.

  ‘Dad will know what to do with him,’ BJ said, and she shoved the stone into her chest. She turned to face the direction we were going and sat cross-legged on the cloud. ‘Might be best to give him to Grandma.’

  ‘The Murasame,’ the stone said from inside her, making her body vibrate.

  ‘That feels weird,’ she said.

  ‘What about it?’ I said.

  ‘It can . . .’

  ‘What?’ BJ said.

  I sat cross-legged as well. ‘It can destroy the Demon King.’

  ‘I know where he is. How to break in,’ the stone said. ‘The child knows you. He’d give it to you. You can destroy the King with it.’

  ‘You could destroy the Demon King with it?’ BJ asked me.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Wow,’ she said softly. ‘If you could destroy the King, it would all be over. We’d all be safe.’

  ‘Safe?’ the stone said.

  ‘Let’s take you home to Dad. He’ll know what to do,’ BJ said.

  ‘I have a dad?’ the stone said.

  ‘No, I’m talking about my dad. Your son, Gold.’

  ‘My son is gold? What’s his name?’

  ‘Let’s take him home,’ BJ said softly.

  * * *

  Gold was waiting for us back at the Northern Heavens. BJ took my stone out of her chest and they stood together studying it as she held it.

  Gold’s expression was stricken. ‘So much damage.’

  ‘Ah, my son is Gold,’ the stone said. ‘Hello, Gold. Is everything okay? How are the little ones?’

  ‘They’re safe, Dad,’ Gold said. He gestured to BJ. ‘Bring him into my lab and we’ll take a look.’

  ‘My own child calling me a him,’ the stone said. ‘You have been spending far too much time human, Gold.’

  Gold quirked a smile at BJ.

  We all headed to Gold’s IT lab. It was pristinely clean, with cupboards holding his vast array of equipment on a raised static-free floor. Gold wheeled a trolley from the side and BJ placed the stone on it. Gold changed to True Form and floated to lie next to my stone. He extended a long tendril to touch the stone.

  ‘Is it possible that he backed up the information lost from his lattice, and we can retrieve it from somewhere?’ I said.

  BJ stared at me, eyes wide.

  ‘What did I say?’

  ‘That’s about the greatest insult you can throw at a stone, Lady Emma,’ Gold said, his tendril touching the stone in different places. ‘Suggesting that we store such a small amount of information that any sort of backup is possible. One of us worked it out: it would require a contemporary computer system larger than the current universe to hold the information stored in the lattice of any stone more than a hundred years old.’

  ‘So could a stone hold the information of the entire universe?’

  ‘If it attained Enlightenment, yes, but any being that attains Enlightenment does,’ Gold said. ‘There’s so much damage. How did he do this to you, Dad?’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘The Demon King, Grandpa,’ BJ said. ‘The Demon King did things to you —’

  The stone screamed, a sound so high-pitched that it was like a glass blade through my head. The sound dropped until it rumbled through the floor, then snapped off. ‘It hurts it hurts it hurts make it stop I’ll do anything make it stop make it stop I’ll tell you!’

  ‘Oh, Dad,’ Gold said, his voice thick.

  ‘No! I won’t tell you anything,’ the stone said. ‘Don’t stop there, destroy me completely. You won’t get fuck out of me. I am sworn to the Celestial and serve the Dark Lady.’

  ‘You’re home in the Heavens and safe now, Dad,’ Gold said. ‘You’re with Lady Emma in the Northern Heavens.’

  ‘Gold?’

  Gold tapped the stone with his tendril. ‘I’m right here, Dad.’

  ‘Emma. Emma! I’m out? This is real?’ It extended a tendril and touched Gold’s. ‘Holy shit, this is real. I’m out. I’m free!’ Its voice went soft. ‘What happened to me?’

  ‘We’re trying to work it out. You flashed back when we mentioned the Demon King.’

  There was a long silence.

  ‘Dad?’ Gold said.

  ‘I don’t know what that device was,’ the stone said, its voice even softer. ‘I was disappearing. My knowledge, my personality centres, all of it was melting. I was dissolving. Nothing would be left, nothing of me. It was so . . .’ It stopped for a moment. ‘The King said he would destroy me completely unless I pledged allegiance.’

  Gold shifted away from the stone. ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘I woke up here.’ Its voice became desperate. ‘No. I wouldn’t. I remember being tortured and told to pledge allegiance, and then I was free and back with you. No. I would never pledge allegiance to the Demon King. That’s just not possible! I would not turn!’

  ‘If you’d turned, you wouldn’t be telling us about it,’ Gold said.

  ‘Yes, it would,’ I said.

  ‘Yes, I would,’ the stone said at the same time. ‘You need to put me in a holding cell and keep me well away from anything important.’

  ‘No —’ Gold began, but I interrupted him.

  ‘The stone is right.’

  ‘What about the Murasame?’ BJ said.

  ‘Emma,’ the stone said. ‘Thank the Heavens I found you. I know where your son is, and he has the Murasame. You must go in and take the sword back. It’s the only thing that will kill the Demon King. You must go.’

  ‘Where is he?’

  ‘Bottom of Level Nine, other side of the Lake of Blood. He’s in the cell complex that holds the previous Kings. All the old mad Kings. The Demon King’s . . .’ Its voice trailed off. ‘Where am I? Gold, is that you? Gold! I’m free!’

  ‘There has to be something we can do about this,’ Gold said.

  ‘The Jade Emperor restored my memory when something similar happened to me,’ I said.

  ‘You’re organic, and so is the Celestial. Even though we’re sworn to the Jade Emperor, our natures are incompatible,’ Gold said.

  ‘The Grandmother?’ I said.

  ‘The Grandmother could hold him inside her for a million years and I still don’t think it would fix it.’

  ‘Emma, is that you?’

  ‘It’s me, stone.’

  ‘Emma, you have to go to Level Nine. Your son is being held in a cell there, you need to
pull him out, the poor child is locked up! He has the Murasame. Ask him to give it to you. If you use it on the King, all of this will be over. You must go to Level Nine.’

  ‘How did you escape Hell, stone?’ I said.

  ‘I asked to be kept near the child, to teach him and care for him,’ the stone said. ‘They agreed, probably hoping to use both of us as bait to trap you. When the guards moved the child to Level Nine, they took my box and one of the stupid demons dropped it and let me out. They don’t even know I’m gone.’

  ‘The Demon King has ordered you to take me to the Ninth Level of Hell,’ I said.

  ‘The Demon King can go fuck himself.’ The stone’s voice softened. ‘But it would be a good idea for you to take the Dark Lord and his big sword and go to Level Nine and rescue that child. And if the child won’t come, you need to retrieve the Murasame. It’s the only thing that will take out the Demon King, except Seven Stars itself, and we all know what would happen if the Dark Lord used that.’

  Well? I asked Gold. Is it the truth?

  Yes, it is, Gold said. But is it a truth that someone else put there?

  15

  The next morning Martin, Leo and I went into the training room on the Peak.

  ‘Leo hasn’t learnt shen suicide yet, so I’ll have to do it,’ Martin said.

  ‘I hate this,’ Leo said, his voice rough. He knelt on the mats.

  ‘I haven’t learnt it either,’ I said, and knelt as well.

  Simone came to the door and held out a new canvas tarpaulin, still in its plastic bag. ‘You forgot this. Dad will kill you if you put blood on the mats.’

  ‘Again,’ I said, rising.

  ‘Forgot,’ Leo said, and rose as well.

  Martin unwrapped the tarpaulin, and we shifted the mats to the side of the room, next to the windows, so he could lay it on the bare concrete floor.

  ‘You guys better come back because I’m not old enough to look after Buffy all the time,’ Simone said.

  ‘We will,’ I said.

  ‘And you owe me for cleaning up after you!’

  ‘Dinner’s on us when we come back,’ I said.

  She nodded and closed the door on us.

  Martin went to the wall and chose one of the biggest axes. He tested the edge with his thumb, then turned back to us, holding it ready.