Jade War

Tar had opened a duffel bag and was laying out some tools: a cordless drill, a length of plastic tubing, duct tape. Hilo crouched down. The teenager jerked away from him, straining with Strength to break his bonds. He threw a Deflection that rippled out in an unfocused wave, sending the dirt on the ground puffing against the stone walls and swaying the hanging camp lantern as Hilo dispelled the panicked effort with a casual counter Deflection. Doun came over and pinned the prisoner’s shoulders to the ground to stop his flailing. Hilo undid the buckles on the cuffs and removed them one by one. He reached around the boy’s straining neck and unfastened the clasp, gathering the long string of jade beads into his hand. Hilo tucked Lan’s jade into his inside jacket pocket. He patted a hand over the bulge, reassuring himself that it was secure.

The thief moaned; his eyes rolled and his body shook and shuddered with the initial jolt of jade withdrawal. Hilo removed the gag from his mouth. The teen spat blood-tinged grit through broken teeth, and to Hilo’s surprise, he swiveled his head to stare at Tar, his face contorted and gaze burning with a loathing that seemed larger than his skinny frame could hold.

“You,” the thief snarled, his voice shaking. “You killed my da. You slit his throat and threw him in the harbor. I hope you and your whole family die screaming, you soulless piece of shit.”

Tar glanced over with interest, then went back to fitting a drill bit. “Who was he?”

“His name was Mudt Jindonon.” The boy began to weep; ugly tracks ran down his muddy face. “He owned a store and a bit of jade, that’s all. He was my da, and you killed him.”

“I remember Mudt Jin.” Tar nodded that it all made sense now. “Mountain spy, shine dealer, jade thief, crime ring leader. Helped to plan the cowardly murder of a Green Bone Pillar. Normally I don’t like to think that bad blood runs in the family, but I guess in this case it’s true.”

Hilo looked at the noisily crying teenager who’d killed his brother and escaped, then desecrated the family’s grave for its jade. He felt no sense of triumph, just an overwhelming disgust and pity, a heavy and impatient desire to finish something that should’ve been done long ago. Hilo unbuttoned his shirt down to the navel and pulled it open. He removed three jade studs from his chest, wincing a little as he worked them free. He rolled them in the palm of his hand, his own jade, won in his youth against some enemy he could not now remember. He would barely feel the loss of them now, but back then, every bit of green he’d added to his body had tasted like destiny. “Look at me,” the Pillar said softly. He held out the three jade studs in his hand. “This is Kaul family jade. It’s what you were willing to kill and steal for. I’m giving it to you. You’ll take it with you to the grave, just like a Green Bone.”

“It wasn’t me!” Mudt screamed, animal fear finally blotting out his deep rage. “There was another guy! He did it—the whole thing, it was all his idea. I just went along—”

Hilo gripped the thief’s jaw and squeezed, forcing his mouth open and cutting off his frantic protests. One by one, he dropped the three jade studs into Mudt’s mouth, then clamped the jaw shut. Tar tore a piece of duct tape from a long silver roll and sealed the teen’s lips. They wound more tape around the wrists and ankles to make the bonds extra secure, then Tar took the thief’s feet, and Doun gripped him under the armpits, and they hefted him easily, placing him inside the metal box. With knees bent, he fit with barely any room to spare and could not turn over inside. Hilo caught one last haunting glimpse of the white face, stark with terror, before they dropped the lid in place. Thuds, faint screaming, and spiking jade aura shrieks emanated from inside the container, interrupting the whine of the cordless drill as Tar made holes all around the edge of the lid and fastened it in place with metal screws. Using the largest drill bit, he made a hole near the top of the box big enough to stick a finger through. Into this he inserted a length of plastic tubing through which air could flow. They didn’t want the trapped man to suffocate.

Tar and Doun carried the box outside. The two men in the field had finished digging and were leaning on their shovels, resting. When they saw the Pillar coming out of the building, they set down their tools and hurried to help Tar and Doun balance the box and lower it into the hole in the earth. Filling in the two-meter-deep grave took an hour, with all five men taking turns with the shovels while the others rested. At last, there was only a patch of fresh soil to mark where the box was buried, and poking up from the ground, a barely visible stiff plastic air tube.