Black Jade (16 page)

‘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?

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.

It hit me: Martin was about to slice into me with that axe and it would hurt like hell, and I would die. All my self-preservation reflexes screamed at me to run. I knelt in the middle of the room on the crinkly tarpaulin and put my head down, fighting the panic.

Leo knelt next to me, and took my hand in his.

‘Does this become easier the more you do it?' I said.

‘It's harder,' Leo said, his voice rough with emotion. ‘For god's sake, Ming, make it a single blow. Please.'

Leo's hand was shaking as he held mine.

‘Who's first?' Martin said, standing next to us.

Neither of us replied.

Martin grunted as he slammed the axe into Leo's neck. It hit him off-centre, taking half the bottom of his head with it, but it was clean. Leo's head hit the tarp, his hand went limp in mine and he toppled, then his body disappeared.

‘I don't know how to take the body with me!' I said, panicking even more.

I half-rose, and Martin's axe hit me across the shoulders. My back and shoulders blossomed into agony. I fell face first onto the tarp, suffocating on blood, the taste of the plastic in my nose and mouth. Blood pooled under my face, sticky and hot.

‘Sorry,' Martin said, and the second blow slammed into me, crushing my head flat.

* * *

‘Holy shit, that was fucking awful,' I said, leaning on the wall of my cell.

‘I am so sorry, Emma. I did it quickly so you wouldn't have time to think,' Martin said from his cell on the other side of the corridor.

‘No, it was my fault, I shouldn't have stood up like that.' I put my hands either side of my aching head.

‘You stood up?' Leo said from the cell next to mine. ‘How many hits did it take?'

‘Two,' Martin said.

‘Ouch,' Leo said. ‘You should have done her first.'

‘I couldn't.'

‘Why not?'

‘Because he loves you,' I said. ‘The minute I'm home, I am having John teach me shen suicide whether he likes it or not.' I shook my head. ‘How come I have a headache? I'm in Hell now.'

‘Residual nerve stress,' Martin said. ‘Your brain thinks the wounds are still there. Clear your thoughts. Do a quick inventory that everything's still present, remind yourself that you're whole, and if the pain won't go away, block it.'

I did as he said, and when my head still pounded I blocked the pain. The panic was still with me, making me weak and shaky. I touched the earth, touched the sky, cleared my thoughts, and the trembling stopped. I wished I had the Murasame with me; when the sword was in my hand I felt unstoppable.

‘Got it?' Martin said.

I nodded.

‘Let's go,' Leo said.

‘Here she comes,' Martin said.

The demon guard nodded to us, then opened the cells and released us without saying a word. We walked up the stairs onto the central island that was the Celestial side of Hell. The wind whistled across the deserted space; the lawns and gardens had been abandoned and were full of weeds where they weren't dying off. We headed past the destroyed Court Ten building and to the edge of the newly-dug hole that stopped the demons from crossing onto the island.

Katie was patrolling the area with a laser weapon slung over her shoulder. When she saw us she quickly turned and headed in the opposite direction.

I changed to snake and we floated across the water barrier between the island and the end of the causeway. Martin made us invisible, and we headed towards the entrance to Level Eight. We had to pass through Eight to reach Nine.

Frankie?
I said.

The reply sounded like a sharp intake of breath.

I stopped. ‘I have him. A moment.'

Leo and Martin halted beside me.

Don't block me,
I said quickly.
It's me, Emma, the lady who played cars with you on the floor. Remember? And I showed you ponies and dogs. We had a lot of fun!

Emma?
he said, his voice bright with hope.
Are you coming back to play with me?

Yes, I am! I'm bringing some friends, and we'll have a lot of fun.

That would be good. Mummy knows you're coming, right? Mummy said it's okay?

Your mother says that you should be with me
, I said, trying to control the emotion.

Martin broke in.
Do you know where to go once we're in Level Nine?

The stone gave me a rough idea. Hopefully we can sneak through and find him without being detected.

You ask much, he said.

I know how good you are at hiding things
, I said.

We reached the end of the causeway; the brass-studded doors were closed. I changed back to human and we stood invisible in front of the doors to study the guards on either side.

We will have to take out both of them at the same time
, Martin said.
Leo, how's your ching use? If we use ching and make them implode without leaving a trace —

NO WAY
, I said fiercely, and Leo's expression matched my own. I glared up into Martin's eyes and poked him in the chest.
I know what happens when you use ching and I do NOT want to see that.

You could just look away . . .

I am not doing that in public
, Leo said.

We're invisible!
Martin said.

Emma can see us!
Leo shot back.

I changed to snake, went to the demon on the left, bit its head off and pulled the essence into me, making it implode. The other guard was only beginning to register what had happened when I took its head off and ate it as well.

There,
I said.
Achieved exactly the same thing without ruining my pants.

Conceded. I'm glad you had an alternative
, Martin said.

He went to the doors and touched the ring hanging from the left one. It slid open towards us and we backed up. On the other side was a four-metre-wide corridor with rough stone walls. We drew our weapons and eased ourselves into the corridor, checking for sentries or eye demons. Nothing.

We crept for twenty metres to the end of the corridor and stopped. There were no doors but the corridor was blocked by a shimmering field of blackness, like a net over the opening.

Sealed,
Martin said.
And by a real expert. This is a quality job. Can you break it without alerting the guards?
I said.

No,
Martin said. He looked back down the corridor.
Only way in.

Is that what our seals look like to the demons?
Leo said.
That thing is really disturbing.

Similar,
Martin said.
Ordinary seals are invisible; it has to be a really good seal to be visible like this. Ours appear white to them.
He shook out his shoulders.
It's possible that alarms will sound when I break it. Be ready.

He charged two steps through the barrier. It opened for him and closed behind him. He turned to face it, and opened a cut in his palm. His face went serene as he traced blood around the doorway. The edges of the opening glowed blinding white, and the seal barrier disappeared.

Leo and I went through, and the three of us ran down the corridor towards the Lake of Blood. A couple of half-dormant guards were at the entrance to the lake room, and Leo and I worked together to destroy them without being noticed.

There was a commotion behind us: more guards searching for whoever had broken the seal.

The Lake of Blood, Level Eight's torture pit, stretched before us. Waxy lifeless body parts floated to the surface of the red liquid and disappeared again.

I headed around the lake to Level Nine on the other side. Leo followed me, but Martin hadn't moved. I turned to see him: his face was rigid with control and his eyes glittered as he stared at the lake. His throat quivered.

‘Ming,' Leo said, touching Martin on the arm.

Martin ignored him.

‘Ming, love. Martin?' He put his hand on Martin's cheek. ‘Martin, I'm here. You're safe.'

Martin turned his face to Leo, but didn't appear to see him.

He was in that lake for six years
, Leo said to me.
In fifteen pieces, paralysed and drowning in blood, for six years. If his head made it to the surface, he could see and hear and breathe just for a moment, then he'd go back under and drown again.

‘Ming Gui,' I said.

His only respite was when they'd fish him out, let him reform, and take him to the Nests for the Mothers to play with.

‘Martin? We have to find Frankie and the Murasame,' I said. ‘If they win, you'll go back in there.'

He turned towards me and his eyes were wide and unseeing. ‘I can't,' he said, as if from a great distance. ‘I've been trying to attain Enlightenment, detachment, so that it holds no fear for me, but I can't face it. If they win, not even death will save me from it.' His voice broke and he dropped his head into his hands. ‘I can't go back.'

‘This sword is our only chance to avoid that fate, Ming Gui,' I said, trying to sound like John. ‘We must find the Murasame, otherwise all of us will end up in there. You, me, Leo, Simone —'

‘Buffy,' he gasped and straightened. ‘Let's go find that sword.'

We slipped around the lake and I tried to avoid looking at the dismembered body parts that occasionally surfaced. If someone's head came to the top, it would emit liquid-filled strangling gurgles until it submerged again. Martin winced every time the heads made a sound.

‘We can do this,' he said grimly. ‘We can.'

‘We can, love,' Leo said.

Martin took Leo's hand and clutched it as we walked around the lake. Leo pulled him closer and they walked with their arms around each other's waists, Martin leaning into Leo.

The entrance to Level Nine was on the other side — the Pit of the Trees of Swords. White corpses hung on the metre-long blades that protruded from black pillars, their arms and legs cut off.

Martin clutched Leo as we skirted the black-walled edge of Level Nine. Cells were carved into the rock wall of the cave on the far side. The demons in them were in human form, naked and
emaciated, covered in filth. They screamed silently at us as they reached through the bars.

‘With anti-psychotics,' I said, ‘anti-depressants, basic care and hygiene —'

‘These are the past Demon Kings and they knew this would be their fate if they fell,' Martin said. ‘Each of them has been responsible for the deaths of thousands.'

‘Oh,' I said, and shook my head. ‘Still. A captor this cruel has lowered himself to their . . .' I realised what I was saying. ‘Never mind.'

‘Someone may be merciful in future and destroy them,' Martin said. ‘In the meantime, they are a warning to any who would attempt the top job.'

‘Why don't they make any noise?' Leo said.

‘They're making plenty of noise, it's just muted so nobody can hear it,' Martin said. ‘Sometimes . . .' He gathered himself. ‘Sometimes they'd pull our heads out of the lake, throw them into a big net, and bring us to listen. We made more noise than they did. The Demon King called it his “Chorus of Delight”.'

‘Try not to let it get to you,' I said.

‘Way past that,' he said. ‘So where?'

‘The stone said there's an opening deeper into the cell complex.' I pointed at a rectangular doorway between two of the previous Kings' cells. ‘That looks like what it was describing.'

We moved as quietly as we could down the tunnel, with the old Kings scrabbling at us through the bars of their cells and silently screaming. The tunnel opened into a cavern that was a hundred metres each side. It contained a single-storey village-type house with a pitched tiled roof and plain concrete walls.

There are no guards here
, Martin said.
That means we're probably on camera. We don't have long.

I know,
I said.
But the three of us are a formidable force and the King will want to round up some really high-level guards to face us.

All the biggest guards are here on Level Nine. The most senior Mothers are in a Nest on the other side of the Trees,
he said.
We need to be quick.

I may not be able to when I'm talking to —
I said, and stopped
when Frankie opened the front door of the house and stood in the doorway watching us.

My baby. The living embodiment of everything John and I meant to each other, and the child I would destroy the world for — and he didn't even know who I was.

He saw Leo and Martin, turned and ran into the house.

We followed him through the front door and down the plain whitewashed hallway with the living room on one side and the bedroom on the other. He slipped into the bedroom, then hid in the gap between the bed and the wall.