I shook my head and shuddered at the memory of Badb Catha.
“Nothing like having a homicidal support system in place.”
“It’s complicated,” TK said. “In many ways she and I are still entwined. In certain respects, I still represent her. A failing on my part reflects poorly on her. Badb doesn’t do well with failure.”
“Or bad PR, it seems.”
“She has her pride, brutally earned over millennia.”
“Any chance we can call her to deal with Evers?”
“Of course,” TK said calmly, which should have clued me in immediately to what a bad idea it was. “Unlike the Morrigan, she will require some years of service from you for her assistance.”
“How long?” I asked. “I mean, hypothetically speaking, suppose I agree to her help?”
“Nothing too extensive, just one or two cycles.”
“Cycles? What’s that? Years, decades?”
“Centuries,” TK said, her voice grim. “One or two centuries serving a living nightmare. Do you want that, or do you want to take your chance with Evers?”
“I’ll take my chances with Evers, thanks.”
“Good choice, because you will be the one facing her.”
“Excuse…excuse me?” I asked in mild shock. “I could’ve sworn I heard you say that I was facing Evers. What will you be doing? Cheering me on?”
She gave me a glare and I dialed it back immediately. Skating on thin ice is only fun until the ice breaks. Then you’re drowning in the dark frozen water. That look was the ice cracking.
“I’m a creative mage,” TK answered. “What is Talin?”
“He’s a negomancer…Oh. That makes sense. Me facing Evers doesn’t make any kind of sense though, unless it’s nonsense.”
“Evers is a chronomancer, and you’re an immortal,” TK pointed out. “She will try to kill you how?”
“With extreme prejudice?”
For a brief second, I could sense she wanted to thwack me. I saw her take a slow breath and let it out.
“What method will she use?”
“Chronomancy? I’m guessing?”
“Her chronomancy works by accelerating the age of anything it impacts.”
For a moment, I wanted to ask her how she knew all of this, and then I remembered who I was speaking to. She probably had files on every serious mage on the planet.
“Roxanne said under no circumstances should I get hit by Evers’ orbs of death.”
“Normally, she would be right. Evers casts instances of frozen time, and then accelerates whatever is caught in the instance.”
“I’m guessing that this isn’t a normal situation?”
“You aren’t facing her the same way you did on the skywalk,” TK clarified. “Kali marked you and corrected your tangled mess of bonds. More importantly, it looks like she made some changes I can’t figure out right now. In addition, you have that”—she pointed at the ring on my hand—“and you’re going to need it. You have one use left.”
“One? I only used it against Monty,” I said, glancing down at the softly glowing ring. “Kali told me I had three uses.”
“Dex informed me you fired a blast of pure energy at him.”
“Yes, he was trying to kill me; or at least I thought so at the time.”
“Do you find yourself firing blasts of pure energy often?”
“No, I’ve never fired a blast like that one.”
“One use left,” TK said. “Save it for Evers.”
“So, I’m immune to her ability?”
“Did I say you were?”
“No, but…”
“I said she will try and kill you with chronomancy,” TK said. “You can still be hurt by other methods. I don’t know what will happen if she decapitates you. Can you survive something that catastrophic? I don’t know. Do you?”
“Can we not find out?”
“What I want you to understand is that she will try and use her ability on you,” TK continued. “Once she sees it’s ineffective, she will resort to other, less magical methods of dispatching you. She’s dangerous and deadly, but we will try and even the battlefield, if possible.”
“You have an army of mages hiding around here somewhere?” I asked, looking around the columns inside the temple. “Because that would totally make things even.”
“There are nullifying runes in here, runes you can activate, but only as a last resort,” TK said. “Tell me why.”
“Because if I create a null space, my curse stops working, which means she can…”
“Kill you, with ease. She possesses the ability to manipulate energy, but she’s also a war mage. They are trained to…”
“Stand and die.”
“Precisely,” TK said with a hint of approval. “I will try to help you if I can. I will replicate Tristan’s energy signature in here and draw Talin away. Negomancers are difficult to face, but not impossible. Once I separate them, you will be on your own for the most part. Can you do this?”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Yes,” TK said, surprising me. “You can refuse and run, as long as you are prepared to run for the rest of your extended life. Evers won’t be the last to come after you and Tristan, especially now with your…upgrade, Marked of Kali.”
“I’m not a big fan of running and dying tired, thanks,” I said. “Besides, where would I run? I’m standing in a pocket dimension waiting for a chronomancer bent on revenge. I’d say my travel options are limited.”
“Agreed,” TK said. “Now pay attention. I will show you the sequence you need to activate the complete null state of this room. The key to this working lies where?”
I looked around the spacious temple room. There was only one large doorway. I saw where Monty had been sitting, and realized he’d been channeling energy to disrupt the null runes in the temple. Part of him must have been fighting the schism using the runes in this room.
“I have to stay in this room, don’t I?”
“Correct,” TK said. “I will place a simulacrum of Tristan with his energy signature in here with you. The deception won’t last long. Once it’s dispelled, the room will seal, closing off the only exit.”
“With me inside of it? With Evers?”
TK stared at me for a few seconds.
“Sorry, of course, with me inside of it with Evers.”
“I’m not asking you to kill her,” TK said. “I don’t think you can. You need to keep her engaged. Eliminating her would be a pleasant bonus.”
“Keep her engaged for how long?” I asked, concerned. “This sounds like me being bait.”
“Long enough for Dex to untether this pocket dimension,” TK said. “This will trap her inside and…”
“Cast her adrift forever?”
“Yes, how do you know this?”
“Monty mentioned something similar, but he thought Dex was going to do it to him,” I said. “Wouldn’t it be more merciful to eliminate her outright?”
“When you face her, you are welcome to inquire which option she would prefer,” TK said, stepping around several columns, over to a wall of runes and symbols. “Dex wants her trapped for crimes she never paid for during the war. I’m not going to argue with him. Do you want to?”
“Pass,” I said. “He bounced me around enough today. If this place is going to be her cell, what’s going to happen to the Golden Circle?”
“We can ask him if we survive this.”
“Well, now my confidence is really boosted.”
“Close your mouth and pay attention as I show you the sequence,” TK said, pointing to the wall of symbols. “If you get this wrong, it will be the last thing you do…ever.”
THIRTY-TWO
TK was an excellent teacher. Without a word, she was adept at using fear as a motivator to memorize the runes and symbols in front of me. We ran over the sequence until she was satisfied I knew what I was doing.
“What happens if I get this sequence wrong?” I asked, leaning on one of the o
rnate columns. “Does it have a reset button if I mess it up?”
“No. The null state won’t activate,” TK said matter-of-factly. “Evers will retain the use of her ability and attempt to escape…after killing you.”
“That sounds like the worst-case scenario.”
“It isn’t,” TK said. “The worst-case scenario is her locating Fordey and launching an attack there against LD and an incapacitated Tristan.”
“She’s a mage,” I said. “Yet she wants to destroy magic?”
“Yes,” TK said, nodding as she began gesturing. “Her kind usually does.”
“What does that mean? She’s a mage,” I repeated. “How can she want to destroy magic?”
“There’s usually a condition,” TK said, focusing in front of her. “Destroy all magic, except the magic I wield, or destroy all magic, except the magic that serves me.”
“She’s insane.”
“No,” TK said sharply. “Do not minimize her mental state. If you do, you will perish. She’s not just insane, she’s corrupt. Corruption doesn’t equal madness any more than power does. Evers has abandoned ideals, morals, and limitations. For her, killing you, Tristan, me, and anyone who obstructs her path is a means to an end. She will lose no sleep over it.”
“So, she’s insane and pissed?”
“No, she’s insane and corrupt,” TK stressed. “Vengeance will do that to a mind. Twist it, deform it, until there’s nothing else left except an all-encompassing, burning hatred that can never be satiated.”
I took a step back at the intensity in her voice.
“Whoa, can we dial down the murder vibe a notch?”
“Do not conflate the two, Simon. She is unstable, but she is also corrupt. Remember the distinction. The two states feed on each other like an ouroboros.”
“Got it, madness and corruption,” I said. “Why is she so angry at Monty and Dex?”
“She was one of the original Black Orchids during the war,” TK said. “I’m sure it has something to do with that.”
“You don’t know?” I asked, surprised. “I thought…Well, you have information on everything.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t know,” TK said, focusing on the gesturing again. “Did you do things you regret in your past?”
“We all have.”
“Some of us more than others,” TK answered as if lost in thought. “The things the Orchid did during the war would be considered unthinkable now. The root of her vengeance lies there.”
“But you can’t say?”
“I won’t say,” TK answered, with a smile that warned me I was back on that thin ice and the cracks were getting larger. “There is a difference. If you really must know, ask Dex or Tristan. It’s not my place to answer for them.” She pointed to the wall with the symbols. “Now, practice the sequence again.”
I went around the columns, over to the wall, and went over the sequence when I felt the familiar energy signature.
Monty.
I turned to see him sitting on the far side of the floor in a lotus position, eyes closed, and back to the wall.
“Monty?” I said under my breath. “What the hell?”
“Look again,” TK said, still gesturing. “This time, really look.”
I focused on the unmoving figure of Monty and saw the energy racing around his body, interlaced and intertwined with symbols. It was and wasn’t Monty at the same time.
“It’s him, but it isn’t him,” I said, pointing at the illusion. “Won’t Evers see through that?”
“I’m almost finished. When the cast is complete, it will appear to be him with the flaw of the schism,” TK said. “You, on the other hand, need to be under a veil. Explain why.”
“If she walks in and sees me and Monty just hanging out, it will seem off,” I said, giving it thought. “If he’s in a schism, he would be attacking me, not meditating in here.”
“Precisely,” TK said and gestured one last time. “It’s done.”
The simulacrum of Monty was incredible. If I had not known TK was creating an illusion of Monty, I would have been fooled. Even with the knowledge that it wasn’t him, it was convincing.
“Is Dex a creative mage like you?”
“Dex is…an anomaly,” TK said. “Most mages master one discipline and work to perfect it over the course of their lives. Dex has mastered several disciplines. This makes him powerful, and deadly.”
“No kidding,” I said, remembering my recent sparring session with him. “He created a simulacrum that had me fooled.”
“That sounds like him,” TK said, moving to the corner next to the entrance. “He was instrumental in making most of Nana’s ‘deaths’ seem authentic. Over here, please.”
She pointed to the corner.
“What do I do when she arrives?” I asked. “It’s not like I can invite her to a duel.”
“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” TK answered. “She will sense you once the veil drops.”
TK gestured, and the world became hazy. I looked down at my hands and they appeared transparent. I drew Grim Whisper and switched out for entropy rounds before holstering it again.
“Am I invisible?”
“Only if you keep absolutely still,” TK said, stepping back and narrowing her eyes in my direction. “That will work. Once the seal closes off the exit, the veil drops.”
“How’s this for the duel invitation?” I asked. “Hallo, my name is Simon Strong. You tried to kill Monty. Prepare…”
“Finish that sentence and I will blast you myself,” TK said, pointing at the simulacrum. “That gets her attention. Then, you keep her attention. She will be homicidally livid when she uncovers the ruse. Be ready.”
“I’m really looking forward to an enraged, unhinged chronomancer—thank you.”
“Use your wits, abilities, and your strengths,” TK said, heading to the exit. “This is one of the few times I would actually suggest speaking. It will unbalance her. You have an uncanny ability to anger everyone when you do.”
“Thank you,” I said. “It’s a gift.”
“Don’t make it a curse.”
I felt the energy shift a second later, and TK nodded.
“She’s here, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” TK said, stopping at the exit and looking out into the distance over the complex. “I will draw out Talin. Are you ready?”
“Nothing in my life has ever prepared me for something like this.”
“You only believe that because you’re scared. It will pass.”
“The fear?”
“The belief. The fear is a constant companion. The sooner you embrace it, the easier it is to overcome.”
“You feel fear?”
“Yes, fear for what I could become if I ever lose myself…again.”
“Again?”
“Prepare. She’s close.”
TK vanished from my sight.
A few seconds later, another figure entered the temple.
Evers.
THIRTY-THREE
She was dressed the way I remembered, from the time she tried to melt me on the skywalk at Haven: black Armani power suit, white shirt with a silver pocket kerchief, a silver triquetra pin rested in her short black hair.
The only difference was that this time, she made no effort to hide her energy signature. She radiated power as she stepped into the room. A few steps behind her stood Talin, looking much better than the last time I saw him.
“He’s here,” Talin said. “I can sense him. He’s still in the schism.”
“And he will die in it,” Evers said. “After I destroy him, we kill the uncle.”
“That’s…not going to be easy,” Talin answered, peering into the dim interior of the temple. “Dex is powerful and dangerous.”
“Are you scared of him, Talin?”
“Yes, and you should be too,” Talin answered. “Killing Tristan is one thing. Dex will not be an easy matter.”
“Where would the pleasure be, if it were easy?”
Evers answered, stepping forward. “It will only be satisfying if it’s difficult.”
“Difficult, yes; suicidal, no,” Talin said. “We will need reinforcements, many of them.”
“That is being handled,” Evers answered. “In time, we will have all the help we need.”
“You contacted them, didn’t you?” Talin asked, fear evident in his voice. “There’s no stopping them once they begin.”
“I never mentioned anything about stopping,” Evers answered. “They will help me eradicate magic.”
“They will eradicate…everything,” Talin said, stepping around one of the columns. “Think hard upon this. Once unleashed, they will not be easily contained.”
“Are you questioning me?” Evers answered. Her voice was soft, but held a dangerous edge. “Do you question my judgment, my motives?”
“Never,” Talin answered with a slight hesitation. “I just don’t think dragons are the solution, nor a good idea in any scenario.”
“They are the only ones strong enough to deal with Dexter Montague…unless you would like to face him?”
Talin shook his head at the invitation.
“No,” he said. “You’re right. They will accomplish what we can’t.”
“More importantly, he will never expect it,” Evers answered. “By the time he realizes what is happening, it will be too late.”
“With him gone, we can begin.”
Evers gave him a smile that only confirmed that she was near the top of the psycho-batshit mage scale.
The muffled sound of an explosion filled the temple, stopping Evers in her approach to pseudo-Monty.
“Go see what that was,” Evers said, looking around the interior. “He may have friends trying to come to his assistance.”
“Are you certain?” Talin said, sweeping the room with his gaze. “This seems suspect.”
“It’s only Tristan in a schism. Whoever is out there is no match for a negomancer of your caliber. Dispatch them, and return to watch me make a Montague beg for his life.”
Talin nodded and smiled, sweeping the room with his gaze one more time before leaving.
Walking The Razor: A Montague & Strong Detective Novel Page 22