Black Jade (20 page)

‘My Lord,' Gold said, and hesitated.

‘What did he say?' John said.

‘Uh . . .' Gold looked around, then back at John. ‘He said he doesn't know.'

‘What?' Er Lang said.

‘Did you ask him for more than that?' John said. ‘Did you push him?'

‘Push the Jade Emperor,' Gold said under his breath.

‘Well?'

‘My Lord, I did. I asked if he knew anything. Where they are. When they'll attack. What will happen!'

‘And?'

‘He told me he doesn't know anything and threw me out. He actually slammed the door in my face.'

‘My turn,' Er Lang said grimly, and disappeared.

‘What. The. Hell,' I said.

‘What, Emma?' my father said.

‘Gold asked the Jade Emperor, and the JE said he doesn't know what will happen.'

‘But don't you kind of count on him knowing everything? Isn't he like the top god around here?' Amanda said. ‘How can he not know?'

‘He's supposed to know everything,' I said.

‘So what happens now?' my mother said.

‘We sit tight until we're absolutely sure that they won't attack. We'll stay on high alert with the army on the field for at least the next twenty-four hours.'

‘And what do
we
do?' my mother said.

‘Stay here and stay guarded until we're sure the attack isn't coming. Hopefully we'll have about twenty minutes' notice when they breach the entrance to the Heavens, but there's a chance they'll sneak in through one of the lesser-known gates. It's happened before. So we'll stay here and wait until we're sure we know what's happening.'

‘I wish I'd brought a book now,' Amanda said ruefully. ‘The last thing I expected was to be sitting here doing nothing.'

‘Welcome to war,' I said with grim humour. ‘You're either sitting bored out of your brain hoping something will happen, or terrified that you're about to be torn —' I saw their faces. ‘Never mind. Sorry.'

‘Sometimes I think you're around John far too much,' my mother said weakly. ‘You sound just like him.'

Er Lang reappeared on the television screen and he and John had a short conversation. Er Lang was agitated, moving with jerky intensity. John nodded as he listened, then raised his hand to Er Lang who subsided, still obviously frustrated.

We will break for lunch
, John broadcasted.
The army will rotate. After lunch we will reform and hold position until dark. Stay on high alert. We are still expecting to be attacked in the next twenty-four hours.

‘Twenty-four hours?' my mother said with dismay. ‘We have to hang around waiting for twenty-four hours?'

‘Even after that I won't feel safe,' my father said.

‘You can fill the bath with water now if you like,' I said. ‘But I think Jennifer will probably want to bath Matthew in it tonight.'

I went to the doorway to tell Yi Hao, and found her laughing under all the boys who had piled onto her like a mountain of puppies.

Two hours later I was doing a Tai Chi set in the courtyard outside Persimmon Tree when my mother opened the front door.

‘Something's happening, love. You need to come and see.'

I followed her back inside. Every adult in the family was gathered around the television. Jennifer was clutching Greg's hand with tears running down her face, and everybody else's expressions were grim with dismay.

At first I thought there was something wrong with the screen; then I realised that the black blot on the horizon was the demon army. Tens of thousands of them, marching in step or slithering or flying.

John and Er Lang stood silently on the platform watching them. The soldiers in front of the platform were trembling.

The demon army stopped before the individual demons were clearly visible; a dark morphing horde that covered the ground as far as the eye could see. A small cluster came out of the group, one of them holding a white flag on a lance.

‘I didn't know they used white flags here as well,' I mused as we watched them approach.

‘We've been using them longer than the West has,' Greg said. ‘The Dark Lord speculated that the Romans appropriated the
symbology from us. Not that the Romans ever surrendered to anyone,' he added under his breath.

‘They're surrendering?' Jennifer said, full of hope.

‘No, it's a flag of truce for parley,' Greg said.

‘Oh,' she said, the hope turning to disappointment.

It was the Demon King's Number One, Andy Ho, in human form and riding a big bay horse. He was flanked by a pair of bull's-head demon Dukes who were on foot; so tall that their heads were level with his shoulders. He stopped halfway between the armies and stood on the grass, waiting.

John nodded, and Er Lang summoned his horse and mounted it. His dog walked beside the horse through the quivering ranks of Celestial soldiers. It seemed to take forever for him to ride the hundred and fifty metres from the dais to meet the demons. He stopped in front of Andy, and the horses stood without moving.

Andy and Er Lang spoke for a couple of minutes, then Andy wheeled his horse and returned to the demon army at a canter, the Dukes running beside him and easily matching his speed.

Er Lang rode back and dismounted at the platform. His horse disappeared and he strode up the stairs onto the dais to stand next to John. He spoke to John for a moment, then disappeared again.

‘What happened?' my mother said.

She turned to me, and everybody else gave me questioning looks too.

‘I don't know,' I said.

Emma?
Greg said.

‘I really don't know. I'm staying out of his head to avoid distracting him. He needs to concentrate.'

The demon army parted on the other side of the plain and everybody on our side readied themselves.

A shiny new Land Rover with a white cloth attached to the antenna and towing a trailer drove between the demons and halted at the centre of the field. Five humanoids jumped out. They swiftly unpacked the trailer and assembled a small garden marquee like those used in street markets on the Earthly: closed on three sides and open towards us. They erected a plastic folding table inside the tent, then four folding chairs. They covered the table and chairs with crisp white linen covers, and brought out a pitcher of
water on a silver tray with four glasses. One of the demons placed a leather portfolio and an expensive fountain pen onto the table with a flourish, then they all returned to the Land Rover and drove back behind their lines.

‘They're having a wedding?' my mother said, bewildered.

‘I've seen something like that before,' my father said. ‘Oh. I remember. France.'

‘I didn't see anything like that in France,' my mother said.

‘You didn't come on the tour, you went to Reims Cathedral,' my father said.

My mother sagged with dismay. ‘The Museum of Surrender.'

My father nodded.

‘My guess is that the demons offered us a chance to surrender, and Er Lang's gone to talk to the Jade Emperor to see what he wants to do,' I said.

My mother made a soft sound of dismay.

Er Lang reappeared next to John and spoke to him. John stood silently, unmoving. Er Lang became agitated, waving one hand towards the demon army. John grew even more still.

‘Don't do it,' Jennifer whispered.

Er Lang finished talking and glared at John, who stared down at him, impassive. There was a long moment while they faced off, then John shook his head.

Er Lang stomped around in a circle with his head down, nearly treading on his dog, who quickly backed away. Then he planted his feet, put his hands on his hips, and looked directly into the camera.

Emma, come and talk some fucking sense into him.

I jumped, and everybody looked at me.

Greg went very still, then nodded and put his hand out towards me.

‘No,' I said. ‘The Dark Lord knows what he's doing.'

‘We don't doubt that, Xiaoyizi,' Greg said, using my family relationship title, ‘wife's little sister'. ‘But he's taking orders from the Jade Emperor, who doesn't.'

‘What?' my mother said, looking from me to Greg. ‘What did he say?'

‘He's the
Jade Emperor
,' I said. ‘He's so powerful they don't even put statues of him in the temples.'

‘Even so. Go and talk to the Dark Lord. Something's wrong. The Jade Emperor should be there for us, and he's hiding away in his Palace, refusing to answer our calls.' He nodded towards the screen, where John was stubbornly standing with his arms crossed over his chest, glaring at Er Lang. ‘Your humanity is sorely needed right now.'

He put his hand out towards me again.

‘If my humanity is needed, then we are in really, really deep shit,' I said as I took his hand and the room disappeared around me.

We landed next to John and Er Lang on the platform. The acrid scent of the soldiers' fear filled the air around us.

‘Talk to him,' Er Lang said, and strode off the dais to meet with the section leaders.

Greg disappeared, and it was just me and John on the platform. I opened my mouth to speak to John but he spoke first.

‘If we surrender it's all over. The demons will have control over every place a human can live. No human will be safe. He'll use the ones we most love as toys.'

The Demon King appeared on the platform next to us. He raised his hands holding a white handkerchief and grinned. ‘Truce,' he said, but couldn't say more than that because Er Lang yelled with fury, ran up the stairs, and stood panting with the blade of his halberd at the Demon King's throat.

‘This is very bad manners, and no way to treat an adversary under a flag of truce,' the King said without moving, his voice mild. ‘Back off, Number Two. You know it wouldn't work anyway.'

‘Stand down,' John said.

Er Lang backed off, glowering.

The Demon King gestured with his head towards the marquee. ‘Save everybody a great deal of anguish and do it, Ah Wu. I'm waiting for you.'

He disappeared and reappeared in the marquee.

‘He's meeting you halfway!' Er Lang shouted at John. ‘Take the smart gweipoh with you, make the right decision, and do the same.'

‘I advised the Jade Emperor to surrender three weeks ago,' John grumbled as he took full huge ugly Celestial Form and stepped
down off the dais. ‘We've said all that needs to be said. There are no more words. The Jade Emperor has not ordered surrender, so we must fight.'

‘Go with him and talk some sense into him,' Er Lang said to me as John walked away.

‘You go with him,' I said. ‘You're Second Heavenly General and I'm just a smart gweipoh.'

‘He'll listen to you. He isn't listening to me. Go,' Er Lang said.

I reluctantly followed John through the ranks of soldiers. Pao was right: this was not my place. Er Lang was vastly more experienced at this than I was and should have been the one beside John.

‘Do you think he has something up his sleeve?' I said as I caught up with John, who had slowed his pace for me.

‘Who, the Demon King or the Jade Emperor?' he said without looking at me.

‘Oh, I'm damn sure the King has something up his sleeve. What about the JE?'

‘I wish I knew,' John said.

It took all my courage to walk across the open ground with the armies in front of and behind me. Something inside me, left over from being merged with John, resonated with joy at the thought of battle. The rest of me — the real me — felt nauseous and terrified.

‘Lady Emma, Xuan Tian,' the Demon King said as we approached. ‘Thank you for coming. I would speak to the two of you.'

‘Speak to the Dark Lord,' I said. ‘I have nothing to say to you.'

‘I understand that,' the King said. ‘But there are things I need to say to
you
. Truce. I just want to talk.' He gestured towards the table and chairs inside the marquee. ‘Nobody else can hear what we say here. We can be completely open. And this has gone quite far enough.'

‘So you'll call your army off?' I said, waiting two metres away to see if he tried anything.

John shrank to human form and sat at the table. ‘You have multiple agreements with all of us. What do you want to talk about now? I don't think there's anything left to say.'

‘If nations were willing to talk even when there's nothing left to say, there'd be many fewer wars,' the King said. ‘Sit, Emma, this is
legitimate.' He gestured towards John. ‘He's always been willing to negotiate anything to avoid war.'

I sat next to John and shot him a questioning look. He shrugged.

‘Very well,' the King said, sitting on the other side of the table. ‘You've seen the size of my army. You said you'd talk to the Jade Emperor. What the hell, Ah Wu? How many do you have — four, five thousand? Don't throw them to their deaths. There has to be a better way.'

‘I don't have a choice,' John said, staring at the water carafe on the table.

‘The Jade Emperor's completely lost it,' the King said. ‘This is madness. If you stop it now we can salvage something out of this. I don't want to kill these poor terrified humans, there is no honour in it. It will be a massacre.'

‘I still have no choice.'

‘Do the sensible thing: surrender and renounce your allegiance. You won't have to obey this madman any longer, and every life on the field will be saved.'

John was silent.

‘You'll kill them anyway,' I said.

‘Not if you turn and take responsibility for them,' the King said to John. ‘Call it off now, pledge allegiance to me, and I won't put you in a jade cage. Instead, I will give you your Mountain and your Northern Heavens to rule independently. They will be untouched and they will be yours.'

John's head snapped up and he looked into the Demon King's blood-coloured eyes.

‘You will have complete jurisdiction over your North and your Mountain. You can run the places as you see fit. Make them into refuges for the remaining Celestials if you want. We have to do
something
to avoid this bloodbath. I don't want to be held responsible for this. My newly conquered subjects will hate me.' The King pushed the portfolio towards John and placed the pen on top. ‘Please, Ah Wu, do the right thing by your friends, your family and your subjects: surrender the Heavens and swear allegiance to me now. I don't want to kill every single terrified soldier out there for no good reason.'

‘I am sworn to the Jade Emperor,' John said.

‘You've changed allegiance before! Do it now, to protect the humans.'

‘Changing allegiance would not be protecting them,' John said. ‘If I swear allegiance to you and join your corrupt administration, I will betray them to demons who relish making humans suffer. The humans come first. They always come first.'

‘Throwing them to their deaths is not putting them first!' the King said, sweeping one hand towards our army. ‘When I defeat you in battle and occupy the Heavens, I'll be forced to use terror to subdue the population. If you capitulate now, they will follow your lead and the result will be a peaceful change of administration. Please.' He placed his hand on the portfolio. ‘Save your subjects this suffering, swallow your damn stubborn pride, and admit that I've won.' He rounded on me. ‘Tell him, Emma, for fuck's sake. Stop this madness now.'

‘John,' I said, without looking away from the Demon King.

‘Yes, Emma?'

‘Has the Jade Emperor ever made a mistake in his leadership that has led to a Celestial defeat?'

John hesitated for a long moment, then said, ‘Yes, he has.'

I tried not to let my shock show. That wasn't the answer I'd been expecting.

The Demon King's face filled with triumph. ‘He made exceptionally bad decisions a dozen times during the Shang/Zhou. And he's been leading you towards this defeat for more than twenty years. If he'd permitted you to live with Michelle on the Earthly and provided you with the resources to defend her adequately, none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have been forced to set up such a small, exposed and understaffed residence that put all of you at risk. It's his fault we're all here right now.'

‘Is that correct?' I said, remembering how John had used Leo, a mortal human, as guard when all the Celestial Masters were available to him. ‘The Jade Emperor wouldn't permit you the resources to guard Michelle properly?'

John hesitated, then nodded without looking at me.

‘I'd like to discuss this silently with him,' I said.

‘Go right ahead,' the King said, obviously relieved. ‘Talk some goddamn sense into him.'

If you surrender, what will the Jade Emperor do? Can he still force the army to fight?
I said.

No. The army is mine, as First Heavenly General. If I turn, the Jade Emperor will have no choice but to throw open the gates of the Celestial Palace and surrender the Heavens.