Forged

by Benedict Jacka

  I wanted to tell Anne that killing them hadn’t been necessary, but stopped. She wouldn’t care and we didn’t have time. “Lifesight readings?” I asked instead.

  “Few more on the second and third floors,” Anne said, looking upwards at the ceiling and frowning. “No sign of Levistus or Barrayar.”

  “Hmm.” I strode over to the nearest desk and glanced quickly through the papers, searching in both the present and future. “This isn’t well guarded enough.” A thought struck me. “What can you see down below?”

  “You mean the basement? I don’t think there’s . . .” Anne’s eyes widened. “Oh. It’s shrouded. How’d you know?”

  “It’s how the Council builds. Let’s go back down. And please stop your jann from going up through the house killing Levistus’s maids and cooks.”

  Anne shrugged.

  * * *

  —

  It took us a couple of minutes to find the hidden entrance down to the basement, and another minute to disarm the traps and descend the stairs. Long enough for the defenders to get organised.

  The wood-panelled staircase went down a long way before opening up into a wide chamber. It was an entrance hall, but while the one on the ground floor had been sized for a house, this one was sized for a palace. A white-and-black stone floor stretched out to the size of a tennis court, engraved with geometric patterns, and wrought iron staircases wound up to a gallery running around the walls at half the height of the ceiling. Doors at the far end led into what must be the heart of Levistus’s operations.

  The hallway was crowded with people, and all of them were waiting for us. More security guards were stationed up on the gallery and down on the ground floor, crouched behind bulletproof barriers. Unlike the men above, they were carrying submachine guns. Behind and between the barriers were icecats, graceful and low to the ground, panther-like constructs with wisps of cold rising from their claws.

  The next group were the adepts and staff members, and it was clear they weren’t here by choice. They were wearing outfits more suited to an office than to a battle, and wielding a highly uneven collection of weapons. They were shooting uneasy glances around them, and seemed unsure whether to huddle together for protection or to scatter.

  And finally there were the mages. There were three, standing at the very back of the formation, evenly spaced across the hall. One was a man I’d never seen before, tall and slim with a refined cast to his features: he watched us both with an expression of boredom. The second was Barrayar. He was wearing his expensive business suit and looked as if he’d just been interrupted from work and was very irritated about it.

  But it was the third mage who caught my attention. She was round-faced and heavyset, her arms and legs thick with fat and muscle. Unlike the first two, her face was blank as she watched me. To my magesight, the pale brown of earth magic glowed around her.

  I hadn’t expected Caldera. I’d expected her to have gone with Talisid’s hit team; how she’d ended up here instead I didn’t know. The last two times I fought Caldera, I’d been able to disengage and avoid her. There’d be no avoiding her this time.

  “Okay,” I said to Anne. “This is what I’d call well guarded.”

  Anne and I had come to a stop only a couple of feet from the doorway. A half cylinder of force magic barred us from going any farther, running from floor to ceiling. It didn’t block sound—I could hear the breathing and the shuffle of feet of the crowd facing us—but it would take significant power for any intruders to break through. Assuming they had the chance. There was an antipersonnel mine buried in the floor right beneath our feet, and I knew from glancing at the futures that Barrayar was holding the detonator in one hand.

  But Barrayar obviously didn’t know everything that I could do, or he would have pressed the button already. As soon as I’d detected the explosive, I’d started to work on it with the fateweaver, picking out the futures in which it failed. Behind us, the jann started to sidle into the room, staring at the security guards with hungry eyes.

  “Verus,” Barrayar said coldly. “You’ve gone too far this time.”

  “Hello, Barrayar,” I said. “So, that exchange that was supposed to happen today? I didn’t like the delegation you sent very much. Thought about sending a strongly worded letter, but figured I might as well tell you in person.”

  “You know, Talisid had one job,” Barrayar said. “I should have known he’d fuck it up. Did he tip you off, or was he just that incompetent?”

  “Do you care?”

  “I suppose I don’t.”

  “Hey,” Anne interrupted. “You two going to kiss, or shall we kick this off?”

  Beneath our feet, the mine’s electronics failed. It was easier than the ones in Sal Sarque’s fortress had been: Levistus hadn’t kept this one well maintained. Probably he’d never seriously expected to need it. “You know, I really thought your boss would be here,” I told Barrayar. “What’s he doing, watching on camera?”

  “Whatever you’re hoping to achieve, it won’t work,” Barrayar said. “I’ll give you and Miss Walker one chance. Turn around and leave.”

  “Hey, Barrayar,” Anne called. “Just curious. Was it you who signed off on that order for Lightbringer and Zilean to torture me?”

  Barrayar looked back at Anne with raised eyebrows. “Is that why you’re here?”

  “No, I’m going to kill you anyway. It’ll just make it a bit more satisfying.”

  Without changing expression, Barrayar pushed the button on the detonator. The faint click was loud in the silence. There was a moment’s expectant pause.

  I spoke into the vacuum. “Now you can kick off.”

  Black energy stabbed from Anne, meeting the force barrier with a crack of black lightning. The barrier flickered and died. The jann charged, flowing past and around Anne in a black wave as Levistus’s forces opened fire.

  Light and sound hammered the entrance hall, a dozen battles and duels breaking out across the room. Fleeting images caught in my memory, fractions of a greater whole. An icecat and a jann hit each other in midair and tumbled to the floor in a whirl of claws and teeth. Fire stabbed down from the gallery on the left, grim men almost invisible behind their weapons, jann falling as they tried to close the distance. Cutting blades of air and force flew the length of the room to shatter against Anne’s shield. More jann poured down the stairs, throwing themselves into the meat grinder, drones dying for their queen.

  I had only a second to take in the larger battle before I had to focus on myself. Two icecats charged me as fire tracked in, and I snatched futures from the rushing tide. One icecat was struck mid-leap by a jann; bullets whistled by on my left and right. The second icecat leapt for me, missed, and was pounced on before it could turn.

  There were so many enemies that they were blocking each other. I broke into a swerving run, aiming for a doorway on the right side of the hall, firing a burst from my MP7 as I did. A burning red line streaked past my head, carrying the smell of ozone. More security men and one of the icecat handlers tried to bar my way; I wove through the attacks, death waiting in the futures and in the present, snapping off short bursts, only vaguely aware of the men falling away as their futures wisped out. It was a surprise, somehow, to reach the door and realise there were only bodies left to guard it.

  A storm of air and force magic drove me to cover. I crouched inside the doorway, my back against the wall as bolts of electricity crackled off the stone. My MP7 was empty and I reloaded, taking a second as I did to scan. The icecats were all crippled or destroyed, along with a good number of the jann. Many of the security men were dead, but on the left side of the hall a tight group had held their ground and were killing any jann that tried to approach.

  Anne was duelling the mages. Shadowy black wings seemed to stretch out from her shoulders; things that might have been limbs overlaid her arms. Her eyes were alight, and she fought
with a fierce joy. Barrayar and the third mage were engaging her with force and air, but the translucent black threads of the jinn’s magic formed a shield that deflected all their attacks. It was the first time I’d had the chance to watch the new Anne going all out, and it was frightening to watch. She had all of her old speed and lethality, with the jinn’s power behind it. The jinn’s magic didn’t seem to follow the rules of most combat spells. What it reminded me of most was death magic, pure destruction and nothing else.

  Pounding footsteps sounded from around the corner, and I stepped back as Caldera appeared in the doorway. She aimed a punch at me that would have broken my neck, and I backed into the room. Caldera stalked after me, heavy footfalls ringing on the stone.

  The room I was in was a swimming pool. God knows why Levistus had one. The water, tinted blue-green from the pool tiles, stretched out down one side of the room, sculptures and houseplants standing around the other. I backed away into the side of the room where there was space to move, Caldera following.

  A young man appeared in the doorway behind Caldera; one of the adepts. He was carrying a wand with a glow of red energy hovering at its tip; he levelled it at me but I’d already moved to place Caldera between us. “Keeper!” he called over the screams and gunfire behind. “Move!”

  Caldera didn’t take her eyes off me. “Back off.”

  “Give me a clear shot!”

  I raised my MP7 and fired. Caldera moved instantly, trying to block the shots; the adept in the door activated a shield ring. I’d seen both events and compensated accordingly. The first and second shots of the three-round burst deflected off Caldera’s hand and the adept’s shield; the third blew his brains out.

  Caldera whirled, saw the body, then turned on me with her face twisted in rage. She charged and I dropped left, leaving my leg extended. Caldera tripped, sliding on the polished tiles to crash into a display of plants. I turned and waited for her to rise.

  Caldera came up, earth and leaves in her hair, breathing heavily. “You murderous piece of shit.”

  “Pot and kettle, Caldera.”

  Caldera thrust out her hand at the entrance hall behind, where shouts and gunfire mixed with the flash of battle-magic. “You did this! You set it all up!”

  “How many times have you come after me?” I said harshly. “Did you expect me to just sit there and take it?”

  Caldera lunged. Her arms and limbs were wreathed in earth magic, giving her the toughness of stone and the strength of a bear. I stepped away from her punches, blows like hammers whistling past my head. “I’m here for Levistus,” I told her. “Not you.”

  “I. Don’t. Give. A. Shit.” Caldera sent a punch with each word.

  I stepped back from the blows, putting my back to the swimming pool. “I’m not here for you,” I repeated. “But I’ll kill you if I have to. First warning.”

  “Fuck your warnings!”

  Caldera tried to slam me into the pool. I ducked, caught her shoulder, twisted in a hip throw. Caldera went over my thigh and into the water with a boom of displaced water, sending a wave splashing up over the sides.

  I was already moving, crouching by the adept’s body. As Caldera broke the surface, floundering and gasping, I scanned the adept’s items. The shield ring I discarded at a glance. The wand was more interesting. It was a combat focus that produced some kind of directed energy attack; I didn’t recognise the effect but it looked powerful. I clipped it to my belt and strode back into the main hall.

  The tempo of the fight had changed while I was gone. All of Anne’s jann were dead, but they’d done heavy damage: all the icecats were gone, the adepts were down to a couple of survivors, and the only remaining security men were in a cluster up on the gallery on the far side. Barrayar and the other mage had closed ranks; their shields were overlapping and they were engaged in a furious long-range duel with Anne.

  But the biggest change was that Levistus had sent in reinforcements. There were two giant four-armed gold-and-silver constructs at the far end of the hall, radiating magic and power in equal measure. Mantis golems. One had its feet planted and was spitting golden death at Anne from an energy projector. The second had been advancing towards my door with a heavy tread; as it saw me its energy projector came up and it fired.

  No time to think. I acted on instinct, darting forward to the nearest staircase, then up the stairs to the gallery. The golem’s energy projector tore fragments from the wall, melted the iron steps just behind my feet. I reached the gallery and sprinted clockwise. The security guards on the opposite side added their fire to the golem’s, shots glancing off pillars and striking sparks from the railing. I caught a glimpse of Anne below; Barrayar and the other mage and the golem were battering her shield with attack spells. The roar of gunfire and battle-magic hammered at me from all around.

  As I reached the corner of the room I went into a roll, coming up in a kneeling stance with my gun levelled, aiming down the gallery. The knot of security guards had been waiting, but a pillar had blocked their view of me for just long enough and their aim was high. I fired down the length of the gallery, sending three-round bursts as fast as I could pull the trigger. Caught out of cover, the guards were slaughtered. Bullets drilled through flesh until the MP7 clicked empty.

  Only one guard was left, half-shielded by a dying man in front of him. His gun sighted on me as I pushed hard at the future I needed; the guard pulled left as he fired and the bullets plucked my sleeve. I closed the distance in five running strides, ducked his panicked blow, hit him in the throat and face. On the floor below, the mantis golem aimed its energy projector: I shoved the guard back against the railing and the energy blast caught him in the back, exploding his body and spattering me with blood.

  Down on the lower level, Anne and the two enemy mages were still engaged. Anne was more powerful, but the overlapping air and force shield from the other two mages was deflecting her attacks, and I could see frustration on her face as her death spells were turned away. I scanned the battlefield below, analysed it in a split-second, then grabbed one of the dropped SMGs, clicked it to full-auto, and threw it with an overhand swing.

  The gun went flying over the heads of Barrayar and the other mage, and as it did I sorted through the futures, pushing away hundreds, choosing one. The weapon hit the floor and went off, chattering flame. Bullets tore into the shield’s weaker side, some breaking through. The other mage staggered, his shield flickering.

  Anne struck instantly. Green-and-black death flashed down the hallway, and the other mage died.

  My precognition shouted a warning. I looked across to see Caldera in the doorway to the swimming pool, dripping wet and furious. Ignoring Anne, she raised a hand towards me. The gallery cracked and broke under my feet, the metal railing twisting as the stone came rumbling down.

  I jumped clear of the avalanche, hitting the floor and rolling as the gallery fell in a cloud of dust and a roar. The mantis golem was lining up another shot, and I sprinted through another doorway and out of sight.

  I’d come through into a canteen. White tables dotted the room, with orange-upholstered benches along the walls. Trays and half-eaten food were still laid out. A cloud of dust hung in the air around the doorway, obscuring sight.

  I could still hear shouts from the entrance hall, combined with flashes of magic and the sounds of running feet. Caldera had broken off her pursuit—even she wasn’t going to run right past Anne in battle mode—but the mantis golem hadn’t. It would be on me in another ten seconds. I unclipped the wand from my belt and waited.

  Heavy footfalls sent a tremble through the floor, and the mantis golem loomed out of the dust, striding forward before planting its feet and coming to a halt. I studied the construct, watching the solid line of its future shift in response to my actions. The golem was seven feet tall and looked like an enormous insect sculpted in silver and gold, with faceted eyes and triple-jointed legs. The upper
two arms held a sword and some sort of stunning weapon; the lower two held the metal energy projector. Mantis golems are enormously strong, and invulnerable to all but the most powerful attack spells. But this wasn’t the first time I’d fought one, and I knew their weaknesses. They’re slow moving, they’re stupid, and those energy projectors they carry are deadly but unstable.

  The mantis golem aimed its projector at my chest.

  I’d been waiting with the wand aimed. I sent a surge of energy into the focus; its tip glowed red and a beam of scorching red light went down the energy projector’s barrel, piercing its inner workings just as it tried to fire.

  The projector exploded in a burst of golden light, shards of white-hot metal flying in all directions. I’d closed my eyes against the flash; as I opened them I saw that the middle section of the golem was melted and shredded. Both lower hands had been destroyed; the armour on the abdomen had been burned away to reveal glowing silver veins with deep gouges from the shrapnel.

  The golem ignored the horrific damage. It stood still for a moment, momentarily blocked in fulfilling its command, then the futures shifted and it began striding forward, its footsteps sending tremors through the floor, the sword and stun weapon lifted. I studied the golem as it closed in. I could make out the spell powering the golem, chains binding the spirit at the construct’s heart. It was enormously complex, energies working in weave and counterbalance. The sword whistled out and I stepped back, still calculating. There were holes in the construct’s armour, and a shot would hurt it, but if I wanted a kill . . .

  There. A tiny node where several lines of energy met. I didn’t understand how it worked or why that spot was the one that mattered, but that’s how it is when you’re a diviner. I used the fateweaver, sifting through the lines of the construct’s future.