Forged

by Benedict Jacka

  With a shudder I let go of the spear and the image winked out. The spear bounced on the grass and lay still. “I think I’m figuring out why Levistus left this thing hanging on his wall.”

  “I do not like that weapon,” Karyos said.

  “When you picked it up,” Luna said slowly, “I thought I felt . . .” She drew back slightly. “Does it want to kill everyone?”

  I shook my head. “Not you or me. But Hermes, and Karyos, and all of those jann—that’s another story. I think it’s an imbued item meant to kill magical creatures. Or maybe anything nonhuman.”

  “Remove it from this shadow realm,” Karyos said clearly.

  I nodded.

  “This isn’t getting us anywhere,” Luna said. “What do we do about Vari?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Then find him!” Luna said. “The longer we wait, the harder it’s going to be.”

  There was a frantic note to Luna’s voice, and I looked at her sideways. I knew Luna cared about Variam, but this . . .

  Luna read my expression. “You don’t get it,” she said. “Anne wasn’t going for Vari.”

  “At the beginning—”

  “Not at the beginning. At the end. That gate spell was meant for me. I was out of it, but my curse wasn’t. It couldn’t stop Anne’s spell, but it could redirect it. The curse made her take Vari instead of me.” Luna stepped closer, eyes alight with urgency. “We have to save him. Please.”

  I looked back at Luna and hesitated. But before I could form an answer, something flickered on my precognition. I looked up, my eyes narrowing.

  “Alex,” Luna said.

  “We’ve got trouble,” I said.

  A chime sounded, echoing through the Hollow. The note was harsh, warning. It sounded twice more before falling silent.

  Luna frowned, looking around. “Wait, is that . . . ?”

  “Breach alarm,” I said. Since we’d set up the wards, we’d never had an enemy successfully force entrance to the Hollow. Now we were getting two in one day.

  “Breach alarm?” Karyos asked.

  “We set it up when we moved in,” I said. “Gives us warning when someone tries to force their way through the gate wards.”

  “Can they do it?” Luna asked.

  I’d already seen the answer to that. “Yes.”

  It was the worst possible time for us to be facing an attack. Variam was gone, Anne had switched teams, and both Karyos and Luna were hurt. And I was already tired.

  But who would be attacking? Anne wouldn’t trip the alarm. The Council would, but I couldn’t for the life of me think why they’d choose now of all times. Morden was gone, Rachel was gone, Onyx was gone. The only one that really left was—

  Reason and divination gave me the answer at the same time. “Oh, shit,” I said, my heart sinking.

  “What?” Luna said. “What’s wrong?”

  “Both of you, take Hermes and get out,” I said. “Right now.”

  “And leave my tree?” Karyos asked. “Humans may flee their homes. I cannot.”

  I looked at Luna.

  “No,” Luna said. “We need to go after Vari. We are not splitting up.”

  I let out a breath. I wasn’t sure if running would do any good anyway. “Fine.”

  * * *

  —

  The wards on the Hollow failed thirteen minutes later.

  Luna, Karyos, and I were standing ready. I’d identified the spot where the breach would occur, and we’d taken up positions around it, myself on point with Luna and Karyos flanking me a good distance back. I was wearing my armour and holding the spear, and could feel the presence of both imbued items, one defensive, one aggressive. It was the best display of strength we could manage. I wasn’t sure it was going to be enough.

  A patch of air a little way ahead began to darken. With my magesight, I could see the strands of a gate beginning to form.

  Let me do the talking, I said through the dreamstone.

  The air darkened, becoming opaque, and the darkness took the form of a ragged oval. The strands of the gate completed as the spell activated. A foot broke the surface of the black portal, and a mage stepped through. His feet came down on the grass of the Hollow, and the portal faded away behind him as he stopped, his eyes glancing over Karyos and Luna before coming to rest on me.

  “You are not welcome,” I told Richard.

  “You can lower your weapon, Alex,” Richard said. As always, his voice seemed to dominate the area, resonant and clear. “I haven’t come to fight.”

  “That’s funny,” I said. “Normally, forcing your way through gate wards means exactly that.”

  “You’ve been making rather a habit of entering shadow realms uninvited, as I understand,” Richard said, but held up a hand before I could answer. “I offer a truce. I have come to speak to you, and nothing more. You have my word.”

  I looked back at Richard.

  I don’t trust him, Luna said. I’d kept the mental link open, and her thoughts were sharp and wary. Is he working with Anne? Why is he here?

  I know, I thought back at her. I lowered the spear slightly. “Very well.”

  Richard made an inviting gesture. Hold, I told Luna and Karyos, and advanced. I came to a stop maybe ten feet away from Richard, studying my old master. At this range, I could reach him with the spear in less than a second. I couldn’t sense danger, but I knew better than to rely on that.

  “I have come to extend you an invitation to a meeting between myself and the Council,” Richard told me.

  I looked back at him for a second before replying. “A meeting about what?”

  “I will be proposing a temporary alliance.”

  “And you expect them to agree?”

  “The decision is of course theirs,” Richard said. “But ultimately, yes.”

  I looked back at him.

  “Shall I assume you will be attending?” Richard asked.

  “Sorry, I was distracted,” I said. “I’m trying to figure out whether you’re lying or just delusional.”

  “Neither is the case.”

  “As of this moment, you are possibly the only person in this country that the Council has more reason to hate than me. So please do explain to me why they would have the slightest interest in an alliance.”

  “They have an interest in an alliance,” Richard said, “because otherwise, they have perhaps a week before your lover effectively destroys this country.”

  I stared.

  “I am inviting you to this meeting for two reasons,” Richard said. “Firstly, because I believe you can contribute in ways that neither my cabal or the Council can fully match. And secondly, because this whole mess is entirely your fault. By freeing Anne’s jinn, you have triggered a threat that has the potential to cause more destruction than any war in recorded history.”

  It took me a long time to come up with an answer. “I don’t believe you,” I said at last.

  “Then listen and I will explain,” Richard said. “But make no mistake. You caused this. And I fully expect you to clean it up.”

  * * *

  —

  Richard kept talking. For the most part, I listened. Once he was done, he left. I watched the gate close behind him, then once the last wisps of darkness had disappeared, I turned and walked slowly back to Karyos and Luna.

  “So that is your old master,” Karyos said thoughtfully, looking over my shoulder.

  “What happened?” Luna demanded.

  “He invited me to a meeting,” I said absently. My thoughts were far away. The spear was still pushing me to strike at Karyos, but all of a sudden that seemed a very small concern.

  “Yeah, screw that,” Luna said. “How are we going to find Vari?”

  I hesitated for a long moment. “I think . . . we might have a bigger problem.
”

  Luna opened her mouth angrily, but before she could speak, I cut in. As I kept speaking the anger faded from her face, her eyes widening. Karyos watched me, her expression unreadable. Above us, the sun of the Hollow sank through the multicoloured sky, evening fading slowly into dusk.

  About the Author

  Benedict Jacka is half Australian, half Armenian, and grew up in London. He's worked as a teacher, bouncer, and civil servant, and spends his spare time skating and playing tabletop games. He's the author of the Alex Verus series, including Fallen, Marked, Bound, Burned, and Veiled.

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