Burned (29 page)

Morden stayed silent for a moment. ‘Interesting,’ he said at last. He turned to face me, his face shadowed and blank. ‘You make a compelling case. However, there appears to be one point you have overlooked. To speak to the Council, you have to be alive.’

I felt the mood in the group shift. The two mages who’d been working on the sarcophagus looked up. I could sense spells ready to go, primed and eager. ‘Not quite,’ I said.

‘Why?’ Morden said. His voice was soft. ‘Think fast, Verus.’

‘Because time mages can use timesight,’ I said. ‘Mind mages can use telepathy. Space mages can scry. The Council might be bad at a lot of things, but one thing it’s not short on is resources. If you kill me, there are a dozen ways they can find out that it was you, and once they do, you’re done. Oh, I’m sure you could get away, but you’ll never hold Council office again.’ I looked at Morden. ‘Ever since I first met you, this Council seat is what you’ve been working towards. Now you’ve got it. Is this relic really more important to you than the ambition you’ve spent your whole life pursuing?’

‘And if it is?’ Morden said quietly. ‘Are you willing to take that risk?’

I shrugged.

Morden stared at me. The bubble realm was dead silent. I couldn’t hear the battle from below, or any movement from behind us; we were alone in a tiny circle of light, the only living things in a dead and empty world. The other Dark mages were tense, ready. I knew there was no way I could dodge this many attacks from this short a range. If Morden gave the word, I’d be dead in seconds.

But I couldn’t see any futures in which that happened. And that was why I’d been willing to try this insane plan in the first place. Trying to divine a future through conversations with other free-willed creatures is one of the hardest uses of divination magic, but if you’re good – and I’m very good – then you can pick up a sense of what is and isn’t possible. And while I’d been hiding in the darkness, I’d noticed something: I couldn’t detect any futures in which Morden actually killed me. There’d been plenty where I’d been attacked by the other Dark mages (usually if I’d done something to provoke them), but I’d never seen Morden himself raise a hand against me. In fact, in quite a few futures, he’d been the one keeping me
alive
when another Dark mage had wanted to kill me and be done with it.

For whatever reason, Morden didn’t want me dead. Maybe my guess had been right, and he didn’t dare take the risk of killing a Keeper auxiliary, not where it could be traced back to him. Maybe he wanted me alive so that he could use me in some future plan. Maybe it was some other reason that I had no way to know about. It’s the same story as always with my magic – I know what’s going to happen, but I don’t know why. But sometimes, you don’t need to know why. You just have to be willing to take advantage.

‘Withdraw,’ Morden said.

The fire mage stared at Morden. ‘Are you—?’

Morden didn’t look at him. ‘Don’t make me repeat myself.’

The fire mage looked at Morden in disbelief, then stared at me. He wasn’t the only one. Even behind the masks, I could feel the enmity in those stares; if I’d been alone, I wouldn’t have fancied my chances. But Morden’s authority held, and one by one, the Dark mages rose and disappeared back into the darkness, leaving the lights behind them. Morden and I were left alone.

‘This won’t earn you the Council’s gratitude, Verus,’ Morden said. ‘Or their loyalty. They’ll turn on you soon.’

‘I guess you’d be the expert on that.’

‘Just remember what I’ve said,’ Morden said. ‘I’ll be seeing you.’ He turned and walked away. The blackness swallowed him and I was left alone.

I stood quite still for five seconds, checking to make absolutely sure that he was gone, then let myself sag, the breath coming out of my lungs in a huff. All of a sudden my muscles felt weak. I walked on shaky legs to the sarcophagus and knelt down, bracing myself against the stone. I could feel wards on the thing, half deactivated – the Dark mages had almost broken through before I’d interrupted. I could probably finish the job, given a little time. I fumbled in my pocket for a conductor probe. Most of my attention was still on Morden and his cabal, and I was tracking them through the futures, looking at the possibilities in which I pursued them, making absolutely sure that they were gone. I was mostly focused on the Dark mages in front of me and the wards on the sarcophagus that I was kneeling next to, and it didn’t occur to me that the electric lights were still on, illuminating me clearly in the middle of the open platform, and so when the attack came from behind it caught me almost completely by surprise.

My precognition saved me, but only just. Futures of pain and death screamed at me and I threw myself into a backwards roll, heat washing over me as a narrow beam of fire passed overhead. I came to my feet to run and had an instant to see the next spell coming in. I saw all the possible directions in which I could dodge, the futures making a curving shape on the open stone floor. Before the next spell hit, I had just enough time to get to anywhere within about a ten-foot radius.

The spell coming in on me was going to create a blast of flame with
more
than a ten-foot radius.

Divination’s good for dodging. It’s not always enough.

Searing heat flashed around me and the world went red. I managed to take the worst of the blast on my back and keep running, trying to get out of the light; a third spell missed but I could smell burning hair and cloth and knew that my clothes were on fire. There was pain all through my torso and I rolled on the ground, frantic, trying to put the fire out; my cloak was engulfed in flames and I tore it off and let it fall. Another spell was coming in and I managed to dive away just before it hit, lighting up the darkness in flame.

All of a sudden everything was still. My clothes were smouldering and there was pain down my back and right arm, but I wasn’t on fire and for now at least I was hidden by the darkness. At the centre of the platform the electric lights cast their glow, and to the right my cloak was a burning mass, but everything else was black. I didn’t move.

Flame shimmered in the darkness, and a man emerged on to the edge of the circle of light. His figure was hidden by a shield of fire, but I knew who it was. ‘Come on out, Verus,’ Ares said. His voice echoed weirdly through the flame shield. ‘Let’s make this quick.’

Very slowly, I backed away. Pain was still spiking through my body, but it wasn’t as bad as it should have been. I could feel a strange sensation at the top of my chest, and carefully and quietly I touched my hand to the top of my shirt. My fire-hunger stone was there, hidden underneath my clothes … or at least it had been. As my fingers brushed it, I could feel that it was twisted and warped. The stone had burned itself out, but it had absorbed enough of that fireball to keep me alive.

Ares kept walking forward. I kept backing away. I was hurt, but I could still run. More importantly, I knew that he didn’t know where I was. Fire mages can see heat, but the supernatural darkness was obviously messing with his magical vision as well as his normal eyesight, otherwise he’d have picked me out already. More Keepers had to be on their way. As long as I stayed quiet and didn’t let him hear me …

Ares walked forward. I couldn’t see what he was doing through the fire shield, but he seemed to be looking or listening for something. I kept easing backwards very slowly. As long as I stayed out of sight, he had to guess at which direction I’d gone in. For all he knew, I was moving towards one of the ramps – I couldn’t from my current position, not easily, but he didn’t know that. Ares walked towards my burning cloak and stopped again. I saw him turn to look in my direction.

Lucky guess?
I kept creeping away, letting my feet fall softly on the stone. Ares was out of sight now, and I had to track him through my divination. I saw him look down, then up, then start walking towards me. I sped up a little. He kept following.

How does he know where I am?
I couldn’t understand it. He
couldn’t
see me, the darkness was—

I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach.
Oh crap.

Ares wasn’t looking up, he was looking down. He was tracking me by the heat of my footsteps.

I thought fast, fighting off panic. The pain was making it hard to concentrate. I could try to shoot him, but I could tell from my magesight that his shield was reinforced with kinetic energy this time – he’d obviously learned his lesson from two nights ago. Without my fire-hunger stone, the next hit would kill me. Run? No, he’d hear the movement and block off my movement with walls of fire. I could feel the edge of the platform behind me, a black void falling away into nothingness. One of the one-shot items I carry with me is a life ring, an air spell that slows your falling speed. I could break the ring and jump off, and I’d drop at a slow, steady rate … except that there was nothing to drop
to
. I’d be falling for ever.

Almost out of time. If Ares caught me up by only a few more steps, he’d see me. As if he could tell that, Ares sped up. I had to choose—

The platform shook, trembling as if in a very small, localised earthquake. Brown light bloomed in the distance, fuzzy and vague, and a figure came striding out of the darkness. ‘Ares,’ Caldera said. Her voice was flat. ‘Back off.’

I felt the flame shield around Ares wink out, replaced with his own light spell. ‘What are you talking about?’ Ares asked.

‘I’m not that fucking stupid, all right?’ Caldera said. ‘Back off from Verus, right the hell now.’

I felt the futures flicker as Ares considered lying, then decided against it. ‘You know,’ he said, ‘this would have been a lot easier if you’d stayed out of it.’

‘Yeah, well, I’m not.’ Caldera was ready to attack; I could sense it and I knew Ares could too. ‘What’s it going to be?’

‘The Council have ordered—’

‘Don’t care.’

‘You
work
for the Council.’

‘Yeah?’ Caldera said. ‘Then if this is all so official, where’s your warrant? How come Verus was allowed on the op?’ Caldera came to a halt a little way from Ares, her hands by her sides, her gaze locked on to him. ‘Know what I think? I think you’ve got someone paying you under the table to bump Verus off. Which makes you guilty of treason. So unless you’ve got legal authority that you can show me, then you’re going to walk away. Or we’ll find out whether fire mages can fly.’

‘Verus isn’t on our side,’ Ares said.

‘Still don’t care.’

Ares shook his head in frustration. ‘You know what the consequences are going to be for this.’

‘You haven’t got a warrant and you’re not the ranking officer,’ Caldera said. ‘Means you’re not in charge. Simple as that.’

Ares studied Caldera. ‘I suppose to you it is, isn’t it?’

‘Well? Going to make a fight of it?’

Ares looked at Caldera for a long moment. ‘No,’ he said at last. ‘I won’t kill a Keeper. Not an honest one, at any rate.’ He shrugged. ‘You win this one, Caldera.’ He walked away.

Caldera turned to watch Ares go, tracking him as he disappeared into the darkness. Only once he was gone did she turn to me. ‘Alex? You all right?’

I walked into Caldera’s light. I didn’t have far to travel; Ares had been very, very close. Caldera’s eyes widened as she saw me. ‘Jesus. You look like shit.’

‘Thanks,’ I said wearily. ‘Help me get to that sarcophagus?’

Caldera moved to my side and let me lean on her as I limped back to where the Dark mages had set up their electric lights. ‘How badly did he get you?’ Caldera asked.

‘Burns on my back and arm,’ I said. ‘I can run, but I’m not going to be doing much fighting. What happened to Landis and Vihaela?’

‘Vihaela’s here too?’

‘You didn’t see her?’

‘Too busy tracking you,’ Caldera admitted. ‘Hope Landis is okay. That woman’s bad news.’

We reached the sarcophagus and Caldera helped me down. I pulled out my conductor probe and started working on the wards. ‘Thanks,’ I said quietly, without looking at her.

‘Don’t worry about it.’

‘I don’t have many friends. When someone goes out on a limb for me, I notice.’

‘Yeah, well, don’t get too used to it. If he had had a warrant, I’d still have kicked his arse, but I’d have arrested you right after.’

‘Could you have done it?’

‘Done what?’

‘Beaten him.’

‘Probably not,’ Caldera admitted. ‘But he didn’t know that.’

I worked in silence a little longer. ‘Sorry for not telling you what was going on,’ I said at last.

‘Just get this frigging relic so we can go home.’

Traps and other obstacles are only really effective when defended. Rivers, minefields, barbed wire and similar inconveniences can slow down an armed force, but on their own, they’re just a nuisance. Rivers can be forded, minefields can be cleared by engineers and an apron of barbed wire can be removed by a single person with enough determination and a set of bolt cutters. Add some hostile snipers, though, and all of a sudden those obstacles take a major jump in difficulty. If you have to clear a minefield while someone’s shooting at you, then you’ve got a problem.

The wards on the sarcophagus were elaborate, and moderately powerful. But without any hostile mages trying to blow my head off, getting through them was really just a matter of time. And when some people did show up, they were on our side.

‘Verus, Caldera,’ Rain said. Slate and Trask were with him, along with a scattering of security men. ‘You all right?’

‘In one piece,’ Caldera said.

‘What happened?’ Rain looked around. ‘And where did those lights come from?’

‘We had some visitors,’ I said absently, not looking up from the sarcophagus. ‘There.’ I straightened up. ‘Go ahead and roll it.’

Caldera nodded and put her hands to the sarcophagus lid; it was solid stone and probably weighed close to half a ton. Caldera levered it up and slid it aside, dropping it to the floor with a thud.

Rain took a step forward and hesitated. ‘Is it safe?’

‘Wards are down,’ I said.

Cautiously, Rain moved forward. As he came closer to the lights, I saw that the side of his coat was cut and darkened with what looked like blood. It didn’t look like he’d received any healing, but then we hadn’t brought along any healers; it’s Council policy not to deploy life mages on missions. Rain didn’t seem to be seriously hurt though, and after only a moment’s pause he reached into the sarcophagus to draw out a box. It was small, no more than a foot or so square, and crafted out of some kind of dull metal. I could feel time magic radiating from it. ‘This it?’ Rain asked.