by Mark Hayden
‘There’s only one Mage. The one at the back,’ said Lloyd. ‘Plus that bitch Irina, of course. They’ve all got Anciles, though.’
‘Was that a Gnome on Irina’s boat.’
He spat on the dock. ‘Fuck, no. When you punctured the Construction, I saw him for what he was. A Fae Squire. He’ll be half way to Birmingham by now.’
A Construction is more than just a Glamour. It’s a total magickal makeover, which is why I’d believed that the woman in the boat was Hannah.
‘I’m done,’ I said, standing up with a groan after I’d shoved the black box against the wall. ‘Geh langsam vorwärts.’ My mother made me choose German over French at school. One of the men in black understood me and looked round for guidance. Lloyd also understood, and we moved forward, very slowly.
Irina had made it out of the other boat and was about to confer with the Mage in black. Before they could plot anything, I spoke up. ‘This is what’s going to happen.’
They stopped talking and looked at me.
‘See that box? It’s pelletised TNT. You can see the blasting caps.’ I held up my hand. ‘And here’s the remote control. We’re going to advance to the doors. Lloyd is going to open them, and we’re going inside the Hall. When the doors are closing, I’m going to set off the TNT. If the blast doesn’t kill you, you’ll all die under thousands of tons of rock when the roof collapses.’
Unfortunately, the doors to Niði’s hall were closer to them than us. ‘Block the doors,’ said the woman in black. They advanced slowly, as did we.
I took the chance to whisper to Lloyd. ‘Keep going until I can get near that tarpaulin.’
‘Bit bloody close,’ said Lloyd, but he kept going. Yes. We were there.
When we stopped, and when the opposition had blocked us from the doors, Irina said, ‘Fine. I get it. If you’re going to die, you’ll bring everything down on top of you. I can believe that. No one has to die. Give us the diamond and we’ll walk away.’
Lloyd flicked a glance at me. I shook my head, ever so slightly. He nodded.
‘Why don’t you lot leave?’ I said. ‘That way, no one dies.
Irina turned her attention to the clan second. ‘Lloyd, this really isn’t your fight, and now you don’t have to protect him. All he has to do is hand over the diamond and you can both live. I know you’d die for a Swordbearer, but are you going to die for a bit of rock?’
Lloyd was done talking. He lifted his axe and rested it on his shoulder, ready to swing at anyone who came any nearer.
I stared at the four who stood in our way, making eye contact with each of them. ‘You’ve seen how shallow the water is. You don’t need a boat. You can jump off the dock and wade out of this basin. If you don’t, who’s going to die first? Is it you? Is it you?’
Why did the men go over the top at the Battle of the Somme? There was a module on that in officer training. All sorts of reasons, but fundamentally, because each one believed that someone else would die, not them. When there’s only four of you, that gets a bit harder. And it got harder still when I bent down, lifted the tarpaulin and picked up the sword. My gun has a name – the Hammer. I reckoned that the sword deserved one, too.
‘This is the Anvil,’ I said. ‘Who wants to test their mettle on it?’
‘Just so you know,’ said Lloyd. ‘That was a terrible joke, and that spear has a poisoned tip. One scratch from that and you’ll be dead in minutes. I might last a bit longer.’
Adrenaline had kept me going since the fight on the boat. I was soaked, and that dock wasn’t warm. If they decided to wait it out, I’d have hypothermia before anyone came looking. I was going to give it a few more minutes before suggesting that we attack, then the woman in black made up my mind for me.
‘Get Clarke. You know the drill.’
One of the men, the black one, said, ‘C’mon! Let’s go!’
‘Lloyd. Outside channel,’ I said and braced myself for the attack. He stepped right, towards the water, and swung his axe off his shoulder.
The three men made a sort of tortoise around the woman with the spear and prepared to shuffle forwards. They’d clearly practised this.
‘Get down, Conrad,’ said Lloyd. ‘Use them.’
I backed off a step and crouched lower. Their Anciles were now my Anciles, leaving Lloyd free to go for Irina and the woman in black.
Their boss didn’t fancy that, and shouted, ‘Number Four! Stop the Gnome.’ The white guy nearest the canal broke off and went to intercept Lloyd, leaving one less for me. Now I was only facing three. Wonderful.
They’d done their homework. The remaining white guy was a leftie, machete in his left hand, and that meant they could protect the spear wielder, keeping her safe behind two riot shields while their blades stopped me flanking her.
It also meant that most of the spear was useless. I couldn’t reach her, but they’d have to get quite close to reach me. It would be hard for her to kill me like that, but she didn’t have to kill me, she only had to get a knick. They started to move forwards.
Lloyd wasn’t going all out against Number Four because his left side was too exposed, and was his one-handed swing a little less vigorous? Yes. He was slowing down, and that axe was a hell of a weight. It was time to take a risk.
I stood up, exposing my head for a second. Both women Mages tried to get an angle to blast me. I turned side on in the classic fencing stance and weighed up the guy on the left of their tortoise. His machete was almost as long as my sword, and much lighter. What it didn’t have was a tip.
I took a half step to the right, and he started to bring his shield round. Before he could protect himself, and before the spear could get set, I lunged, dancing forward and sliding the tip of the Anvil into his forearm, just above his wrist. In, out, withdraw, then a blast from the woman in black blazed at me.
Most of it was deflected by her own team’s Anciles, but enough got round to blow me back onto my arse, right in the open. I cringed for a second blast.
The guy I’d stuck with my sword had dropped his machete and gripped his wrist, screaming in agony. He also staggered in front of me, blocking the Mages. ‘Get him now,’ said the black guy, pushing the spear woman at me. She lowered the spear and charged the two steps. Big mistake. She had a poisoned spear. All she had to do was prod my leg. Maybe she didn’t believe in the poison. Maybe she was a psycho. Either way, she aimed the spear at my chest.
I lifted my sword arm and waited until she was committed. A spear is deadly, this one doubly so. I’d still rather face that spear than a Ross Miller bouncer. His bouncers are a hell of a lot faster.
I didn’t roll out of the way, I waited until the last moment, then swept the tip aside with my sword. It struck the ground just by my shoulder and skidded away. The woman had braced herself for a crunch, and her momentum sent her pitching down. She lost control of the spear, dropping it then rolling away as I got up.
‘Shit,’ said the black guy. He didn’t fancy it, but he came at me to protect his unarmed colleague. I swept my sword in front of me, enough to stop him, and enough for me to find the spear with my boot and kick it back. It made a lovely splash as it hit the water. I looked my opponent in the eye, and he knew they were in trouble.
I went en garde again, moving him to get him between me and the magick and feinting at various exposed parts of his body. The woman had got up and scampered down the dock, where she joined the two Mages and the guy I’d stuck in the arm. My opponent fell back half a step every time I feinted, fearful of the lunge. I made several stabs towards his face until he raised his shield too far, then I dropped my blade and slashed down his thigh. He collapsed in a heap, dropping his weapon and screaming.
Lloyd’s opponent started backing towards their boat. The woman in black screamed, ‘Get back, get at them,’ trying to push the wounded man and the spear woman towards us. They were having none of it, and got in the boat. Lloyd and I advanced on the two Mages and the one remaining combatant.
Irina broke first
, getting in the boat, too, and starting to untie the rope. The woman in black took something from her pocket and chucked it over our heads. I watched it sail past us and land on her fallen comrade. Instead of a bang, there was a flash of magick. Lloyd and I stopped to let the woman in black and the last man get on the boat.
The sixth ninja, who’d never left their boat, started the motor and swung away from the dock. Their boat was just small enough to make a turn in the basin, and I expected them to race off, but they stopped in the middle on a command from the woman in black. She moved her hands, making a Work of magick, then bent down and picked up a black metal shape. I flinched instinctively; I always do when faced with a submachine gun.
She didn’t aim at us. She aimed at the guy on the dock. The guy who’d been facing Lloyd realised what she was going to do, and tried to deflect her aim, but it was too late. She let her fallen comrade have most of the magazine then turned the weapon on the rest of her team, shouting something I couldn’t hear because I’d raised a Silence.
She must have been threatening them, because they sat down and put their hands on their heads. Of course. She’d removed their Anciles. The woman at the back cranked up the motor, and they disappeared down the tunnel.
I checked the guy on the dock. Dead.
Lloyd collapsed down, sweating heavily. I laid down my sword and stripped off my wet shirt and base layer. I picked up my dry coat and shrugged it on. The diamond had been sitting on the dock, in my coat pocket, the whole time we’d been fighting, but I didn’t tell Lloyd that. I got out my cigarettes and the hip flask, passing it to Lloyd and sitting down next to him.
‘It’s a good job you were no oil painting before,’ he said. ‘With those burns on your head, you’re certainly not one now.’
27 — Sitting on the Dock of the Basin
‘There’s no signal,’ I said, checking my phone.
Lloyd got up and went to the repeater box. ‘Bugger them all. They’ve disconnected it. And there’s this. Hang on.’ He came back and showed me a small camera. ‘No wonder they knew when to come after us.’ He dropped the device and ground it with his boot, then he sat down again. ‘I know that your boss is Jewish. I get that, but I take it you wouldn’t normally offer her pork scratchings.’
‘No more than I’d offer Mina a beefburger.’
‘So what tipped you off about the Construction?’
‘The Jewish bit. No one as observant as Hannah would say, “Thank God.” She’d have said, “Baruch Hashem.” Plus, the real Hannah would have wanted to know about the team first and foremost. She’d have been screaming about Vicky and Desi from the moment she saw us. Irina didn’t even know that Desi had gone down there.’
Both our phones started pinging with messages when the network repeater came online. And mine did something else: its clock jumped forward by six hours. I showed it to Lloyd, whose phone had done the same.
‘Bloody hell,’ he said. ‘I never believed that bit. You were joking about General Relativity before, yeah? The elders said that time in the Labyrinth flowed differently. It must have. Well, I’ll be blowed.’ He shook his head, put his phone down and turned to look at me. ‘Did you really set those explosives?’
‘No. Not enough time. I just needed them to see it in your eyes. You believed it so they believed it. They were half beaten before they took to the field, and with a leader like that, I’m not surprised. Thanks for standing by me, Lloyd. Now I really do owe you.’
He nodded his head. ‘So what now, Boss? You need medical attention, I’m afraid.’
‘I think you’re right. I need to retrieve the Hammer, and we need some forensic samples. Can you deal with the body afterwards?’
‘Yeah. Have you any idea what this was all about?’
‘It was the third attempt on my life. The first two were to stop me summoning my ancestor’s Spectre and finding out about the Codex. When that failed, they tried to stop me getting to see the Dwarf, when that failed, they tried to get the diamond. Who could have conned the master in 1689 and still be alive today?’
He shook his head. ‘One of the Fae. Well, good luck with that one. There’s two good things come out of this, Conrad. First, I can bury my father properly, and second, we’ve got rid of Irina. I’d say that was fair exchange for my left arm. Now, let’s get you to hospital.’
I checked the first few messages. ‘Can you get me to Queen Elizabeth’s in Birmingham? That’s where the girls have gone. I wonder if the staff there will remember me from when they put my leg back together.’
28 — The first Day
Desirée didn’t get a medal, but she did get a Mention in Dispatches. For that, you’re allowed to wear a small bronze oak leaf on your uniform. She was going to be presented with it this afternoon, when Vicky and I got our medals in the rearranged ceremony. Desi was out of hospital, but still in a wheelchair most of the time. The Svartálf’s sword had sliced through her abdominal wall, and she wasn’t supposed to put any strain on it.
She had actually been discharged before me, much to my embarrassment. They’d admitted me for observation, and during the night I’d fallen victim to something nasty that I’d swallowed in the canal. I won’t go into detail. Vicky had been an absolute angel, running down to Clerkswell to get some stuff for me. She’d even contacted Mina.
On Friday morning, still feeling rather delicate, I’d walked out of hospital to meet Lloyd and be driven to the early train. He gave me a large box to pass on to Hannah, and I even got to meet his wife. That was most unusual, and wouldn’t have happened if he wasn’t waiting to get his car adapted for one armed driving.
When I got to Merlyn’s Tower, it was strange to see a young white girl sitting outside Hannah’s office. Tennille had told the boss that she was taking compassionate leave to look after her daughter, and Hannah hadn’t argued.
‘It’s Amy, isn’t it?’ I said. ‘You’re from Ian’s office.’
Amy was the daughter of a Witch from Surrey. Amy hadn’t inherited any Gift at all, but she was part of the magickal world, and she was bright enough to get an internship with the Deputy Constable before going to read law at Cambridge. That meant she was eighteen. Life at school had not prepared her for this.
‘You must be Conrad.’
‘Well spotted. Perhaps I should grow a beard, then no one would recognise me.’
That went straight over her head. Oh well. Stick to business.
‘Is the boss ready?’
‘Erm…’ She searched through twenty Post-it notes of different shapes and colours. ‘It was on a pink heart. Or a lemon.’ She started to blush. ‘Sorry. It must be here somewhere … Ah. Conrad Clarke … Oh.’ She blushed more.
‘What?’
‘Erm. It says, “Under no circumstances sign Conrad Clarke’s expenses until I’ve seen them. Why’s that?’
Before I could answer, the doors opened and Vicky grinned at me. From further inside the office, Hannah shouted, ‘Is he here yet?’
‘Yes, Hannah,’ said Amy.
‘Then send him in before he enlists you in his private army and invades France.’
‘Why would he …?’
‘Never mind,’ I said. ‘You’ll get the hang of it.’
‘I hope not,’ said Amy. ‘I want to go back to the Annex building before I end up like you lot.’
‘She means old,’ said Vicky. ‘She couldn’t believe that I was only five years older than her.’
Amy went red. Something she probably did a lot. ‘I didn’t mean that. I meant that you’re all sweary-bonkers, like my dad when he loses at golf, but you do it all the time.’
Hannah shouted again. ‘Get your lanky arse in here, Conrad. Now.’
‘See?’ said Amy.
The others were already there, gathered around the conference table – Hannah, Vicky, Rick, Francesca and a very fragile looking Cora Hardisty. There were two sticks, one propped against Francesca’s chair and one lying on top of a very expensive looking handbag. That would be Cora’s.
As Vicky closed the doors, Hannah came over, carrying something in brown paper. She pulled at my jacket, forcing me to bend down so that she could kiss me on the cheek, then she wrapped her arms round me and squeezed for a second. When she stood back, I was blushing and everyone round the table was staring.
She offered me the brown paper packet. ‘I got you this. Open it.’
I peeled back the paper and found a square of silk. It had been specially printed with the shield of 7 Squadron, my old unit in the RAF. My current unit, technically. I’m still on their books.
‘You should know how to tie it,’ she grinned. ‘You’ve seen me tie mine often enough, and you can’t wear your hat on those burns without something soft to protect them.’
This was the most bizarre, and most personal, gift I’d ever received. ‘Thank you ma’am. I don’t know what to say.’
Vicky had resumed her seat at the table. They were quite far away, and Hannah leaned up to whisper, ‘Don’t say anything. Just keep coming back, okay?’ She patted my arm and went back to the head of the table. ‘You can pour, Conrad,’ she said. ‘As you’re standing up already.’
I made a point of asking after Cora’s health as I served the coffees (with Vicky’s help). The Dean of the Invisible College was still not fully healed, and she admitted that there had been magickal assistance during the first operation. I wished her well and joined the group.
‘This is what we’ve got,’ said Hannah. ‘Thanks to Conrad and Clan Flint, the forensics from that attack on Niði’s dock led very quickly to a martial arts group in West Bromwich. I’m afraid that four members of that group are missing, five if you include the one they shot. They all left home the night before the attack and haven’t been heard from since. No phone trace, no bank activity, nothing. Even their cars were left behind. They’re either dead or being held against their will somewhere.’
‘That was a terrible, terrible thing to do,’ said Francesca. She had aged a lot in the last week. ‘To kill one of your own like that.’