Taken av-3

by Benedict Jacka

  “He didn’t even accuse you of anything,” Luna said. “He just said ‘loss and harm.’”

  “Probably he’ll send that part in a formal letter.” Anne and Variam had left the hall while we’d been dealing with Onyx, but I hadn’t seen where they’d gone. I took a guess and headed down a corridor that I hoped would lead us into the bedroom wing, Luna following.

  “And he can just do that?” Luna said. “Fight you in a duel and try to kill you without anyone stopping him?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “This is such bullshit!” Luna said. “How can he just walk in here? What about what he did in the spring at the British Museum? He should be the one getting accused of stuff and having to defend himself!”

  “There were never any formal charges made about that, remember?”

  “He tried to kill us! Everyone knows he did it. We saw him!”

  “And it’s covered by Council secrecy.”

  “He tried to kill you yesterday!”

  “Which I can’t accuse him of without admitting that I was here when I wasn’t supposed to be.”

  “And all those men he killed at the British Museum?”

  “None of them were mages.” I led Luna down a flight of stairs and through a sitting room. A pair of mages were standing talking; they glanced at us, and both Luna and I fell silent as we walked by. “Onyx is Morden’s Chosen,” I said quietly once we were out of earshot again. “Accusing Onyx would be the same as picking a fight with Morden. No one on the Council wants to do that.”

  “I can’t believe this,” Luna said. “How can the mage world be so screwed up? I go to classes and everything seems fine, but-Mages like Levistus and Griff and Belthas and Morden and Onyx, they do all this and everyone just pretends like nothing’s happening!”

  “Remember how I kept telling you it was dangerous to get involved in my world?” I said. “And how you never listened?”

  Luna glowered down at the floor. We walked a little way in silence. “What are you going to do?” Luna asked.

  “Wait for his formal challenge,” I said. We’d come into a long corridor with no doors leading off it. It didn’t look anything like bedrooms. “By the way, I think we’re lost.”

  * * *

  Getting unlost and finding our way to the bedroom wing took us twenty minutes and by the time we got there Anne and Variam were somewhere else. It took us the best part of an hour to find them and when we finally did someone else had gotten there first.

  Variam and Anne were in the dining hall, along with the girl who’d been talking to Anne earlier. Standing opposite them were three apprentices. Two I recognised as the ones I’d seen back in the duelling class: the blond-haired boy with glasses, Charles, and the round-faced girl, Natasha. There was another girl with them too; like Natasha she looked Pakistani or Bangladeshi. To a casual glance they seemed to be just talking, but there was something about the way they were standing that didn’t look all that friendly. “. . let you in here?” Natasha was saying.

  “They let you in, didn’t they?” Variam said.

  “We’re not Dark apprentices working for a monster,” Natasha’s friend said sweetly.

  The younger girl I’d seen talking to Anne made a slight movement, trying to get behind Anne, but it only drew attention. “Why are you with them?” Natasha’s friend said. “Do you want us to report you to the Keepers? Go on, get lost.”

  The girl gave a frightened glance back at Anne and scurried away. I watched her vanish down a corridor.

  “You didn’t have to do that,” Anne said quietly. She was looking steadily at Natasha’s friend, and for the first time I got the impression she might be angry.

  “Oh, what are you going to do about it?” Natasha’s friend said. “It’s not like you even entered-”

  “Hi, kids,” I said, walking up to them.

  Charles, Natasha, and Natasha’s friend stopped abruptly and turned to me. “Hello, Mage Verus,” Natasha said.

  “Hi,” I said. “Anne, Variam, could you come with me please?”

  The other three looked satisfied. Variam’s face darkened, but Anne stepped forward with a nod.

  I led Anne and Variam back around the corner to where Luna was waiting. As soon as we were out of sight of Natasha and the others I shook my head. What was it about the apprentice program that made so many of the people in it act like they were still in high school?

  “We didn’t need your help,” Variam said.

  “I was under the impression,” I said, “that Jagadev asked you to help me.”

  Variam scowled and looked away. “Hey, Anne,” Luna said with a wave.

  “Hi. Thanks for coming in, Alex.”

  “I said we didn’t need it,” Variam said. “Why are-?”

  “Anne, did you enter?” Luna interrupted. “The tournament, I mean.”

  Anne shook her head. “No.”

  “You know, maybe if you’d actually fight once in a while I wouldn’t have to keep chasing those idiots off,” Variam said.

  Luna looked from Variam to Anne. “You know why I don’t fight duels,” Anne said patiently.

  “Maybe it’s about time you started.”

  Luna glared at Variam. “Maybe you-”

  “All right,” I said, cutting off the argument before it could start. “I assume you two know why Luna and I are really here?”

  “Yes,” Anne said, just as Variam said “No.”

  I looked between the two of them.

  “You’re trying to find out what’s happened to the apprentices who’ve been disappearing,” Anne said.

  “That’s what Jagadev thinks they’re doing,” Variam said sharply. Anne looked at him in surprise.

  “Well, Jagadev’s right,” I said.

  “What’s the plan?” Luna asked.

  We’d gotten away from the noise and the chatter into a quiet corridor. Luna and Anne were already waiting for my answer and even Variam turned to watch me suspiciously.

  “For now I want you to protect yourselves,” I said. “Keep your eyes open and follow up on anything you see, but your priority is to stay alive. Onyx is here, and he’s not the only one-something tried to attack me last time I was here and I don’t know what it was but I don’t want any of you running into it. And finally there’s whoever or whatever’s going after apprentices.” I looked from Luna to Anne to Variam. “And all three of you qualify. So while you’re here in this mansion, I don’t want any of you going anywhere alone.”

  All three of them looked back at me, puzzled. “All of the disappearances that have happened so far had something in common,” I said. “The apprentice was always on their own when they vanished. Anne, are you sharing a room with anyone?”

  “Ah. .” Anne said. “I was supposed to be, but-”

  “You are now. Luna, you’re moving in with her.”

  “I think we were supposed to be assigned rooms,” Anne began.

  “Just find one that no one’s using and take it. If anyone gives you any trouble, tell them it’s on my orders and for them to come to me, but odds are they won’t.”

  “Wait a minute,” Variam said. “We don’t need-”

  “You aren’t going to be keeping an eye on her all the time, Variam,” I said. “Not unless you’re going to follow her into the bathroom.”

  Variam scowled. “What about you?” I asked him.

  “What?”

  “Are you sharing a room?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “If you’re not,” I said mildly, “then I think you should start.”

  Variam looked me up and down. “Are you in charge of us?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You’re not our master,” Variam said. “Is there some Council rule that we have to do what you say?”

  I hesitated. “No, but-”

  “Okay, then we’re going,” Variam said. He glanced at Anne. “Come on.” He turned and walked away. Anne gave us both an apologetic look and followed.

 
; I watched the two of them disappear down the corridor. “You know, that guy is beginning to get on my nerves.”

  “You think he gets on your nerves?” Luna said. “I have to take classes with him.”

  “I’m starting to sympathise.” I shook my head. “Who was that apprentice Anne was talking to?”

  “In the dining hall?” Luna shrugged. “I don’t know her name. The younger apprentices really like Anne. They tell her everything.” Luna looked at me. “You aren’t sure what to do, are you?”

  I always have trouble hiding things from Luna. “I think we’re in the right place,” I said. “But we still don’t know what to look for.”

  “Are you sure there’s anything here?”

  “No, but it’s my best guess. Everyone’s been pointing me to Fountain Reach. I don’t know what’s going on but I know there’s something.” I gave Luna a glance. “I want you to keep an eye on Anne. Stay with her if you can and if you can’t then make sure she’s not alone. Someone tried to kill her only a couple of days ago and I don’t want to give them an easy shot.”

  “I will. You think she’s in danger here? In the middle of everyone?”

  I looked around at the walls of the mansion for a moment before answering. “Yeah, I think she is.”

  * * *

  I was sick of getting lost and so I spent the time until dinner exploring the mansion, keeping to the populated parts and trying to build up a mental map. The more I explored the weirder the layout seemed and I made a note to find out what the story was behind this place. It felt as though it had been designed to be hard to navigate. There were plenty of mages around, some of whom I knew, but I avoided them.

  After dinner I went looking for Luna and Anne’s new room. I found it quickly and turning in to the corridor I saw the door open with their voices coming from inside. Luna was laughing-not something she used to do, but a sound I hear from her more often these days. I slowed, and as I did I saw that Variam was about to arrive from the other end of the corridor. I stepped back behind a corner and watching with my divination I saw Variam turn in to Luna and Anne’s room. Luna and Anne’s voices fell silent. Variam said something, his tone harsh and accusing; Luna answered. Variam gave her an angry reply; Luna gave him one back. Anne tried to intervene and Variam told her to be quiet.

  I kept my distance. Footsteps sounded and Luna emerged from the room, turning towards me. She was walking fast and sounded angry. “Problems?” I said as she walked past.

  Luna jumped and whirled. When she saw it was me she sighed. “Don’t scare me like that.”

  “I told you not to go off alone,” I said.

  Luna covered her eyes. “Crap. Sorry, sorry. Variam just pissed me off. .”

  With my mage’s sight I could see the silver mist of Luna’s curse writhing around her, tendrils curling outward like angry snakes. Luna’s curse is tied to her emotions; she can control it fairly well when she’s calm but it’s a really bad idea to be around when she’s upset. “Well, might as well take advantage of it,” I said. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” Luna asked as she fell into step a few paces to my side.

  “When I get annoyed I find a workout helps,” I said. “Let’s see if it’s the same with you.”

  * * *

  The hall was much smaller than the one in which Crystal had read out the matchups, but it was just barely big enough for a set of azimuth duelling focuses, and it was empty except for us. “What’s this place?” Luna asked.

  “Practice room,” I said. “Tomorrow you’re going to be fighting in the tournament and you’re going to need a weapon.” As I spoke I reached into my coat and took out the wand Arachne had given me that afternoon. “I talked to Arachne and she came up with a design that she thought would fit.” I held it out to Luna. “This is for you.”

  Luna looked at the wand curiously as I held it out to her by the tip. With its pearly colour and tapered design, it looked more like a decoration than a weapon. “Really?” Luna said. Hesitantly she reached out and took it by the handle. “Thanks.”

  As soon as Luna took it I stepped back. To my sight Luna’s curse had been curling lazily around her, the silver mist pulsing softly. She’d pulled it back to take the wand from my hand, keeping the lethal stuff away from my skin, but she couldn’t stop it from soaking into the item as soon as she touched it.

  Luna’s curse works on objects as well as people, although nowhere near as strongly. Usually I can tell if something belongs to Luna by looking for the silver aura. As her curse touched the focus, though, something different happened. Instead of sticking to it the mist was drawn in, being absorbed. “It’s attuned to you,” I said. “It draws in your curse and uses it.”

  “Okay,” Luna said. She was holding the thing by the handle but still looked a little puzzled. “What does it, um, do?”

  I was about to tell Luna to try it and see when I remembered Arachne’s warning. “Wait a sec.” I walked out of the room and into the corridor, then put my back to the wall and leant into the doorway so that the only part of me visible from inside the room was my head. “Try it now.”

  “Uh,” Luna said. “Okay. So I’m supposed to-”

  Luna’s curse poured into the focus and it activated. A thin tendril of mist snaked from the tip, extending to ten or twenty feet long. All of a sudden Luna wasn’t holding a wand but a whip, the thong made from the silver mist of her curse. To anyone who couldn’t see Luna’s curse it wouldn’t have looked like anything at all, but I could see the whip curling around her. “Hey,” Luna said curiously. “It’s doing something, isn’t it?” She lifted the handle to look at it, turning it back and forth.

  The whip slashed outward, zigzagging across the room, its length amplifying the small movements of the handle. I ducked behind the door frame as the end of the tendril lashed into the corridor. “Okay, it’s working!” I shouted through the doorway. “Turn it off!”

  I felt the effect shut down and peeked my head cautiously around the corner. Luna was standing at the centre of what looked like a spiderweb of silvery lines. Glowing trails of invisible silver mist traced lines along the floor, walls, and ceiling. Luna was looking at the handle with new interest. “Invisible whip,” she said. “Cool.”

  “Arachne based the design off an Australian stock whip,” I said, walking back out. “The long handle’s for balance, but since the whip’s weightless it doesn’t take any strength to use.” I glanced around at the glowing lines on the walls. “On the downside, the whip’s weightless and doesn’t take any strength to use. We’re going to have to work on your aim.”

  “It feels. .” Luna said, frowning down at the focus. “Strange. Not in a bad way. Natural, I guess. Like it fits.”

  “Arachne designed it for you,” I said. “The thong of the whip is formed from your curse. If you hit someone with this whip it’s as if you’d touched them. It’s just as subtle and just as lethal.” I locked my eyes on Luna. “This is a weapon, not a toy. You can use it on an azimuth piste safely. But never use it anywhere else unless you’re intending to kill whoever you point it at. I’m trusting you with this. Don’t make me regret it.”

  Luna nodded. “I understand.”

  “Good.” I walked to the end of the azimuth piste and activated the shield. “Let’s give you some practice.”

  I worked with Luna late into the night, and she picked up the basics of attack and defence very fast. Both the whip and her curse seemed eager to do their job, striking out at targets and protecting her in return. The problem was control-the whip didn’t want to hit just one target, it wanted to hit everything, and only the azimuth shields kept me safe. By midnight we were both exhausted. I dropped Luna off at her room and checked that Anne was there before saying good night. I wanted to sleep, but this was a good chance to get a look at the deeper parts of Fountain Reach.

  * * *

  The outer rooms of the mansion were busy despite the late hour. Apprentices were still up and chatting in each other’s
rooms, excited about their first night at the tournament, while their masters talked over drinks in the lounges. I prowled the corridors, a silent shadow in my mist cloak. My cloak doesn’t make me invisible-good light or movement makes it possible for a watcher to spot me, and both together make it almost certain. But when I combine it with my divination magic, watching for the areas where people will look and avoiding them, there’s not much that can find me if I don’t want to be found.

  As I went deeper, the background noise died away. It seemed most of the guests had been housed around the edges of the building, and as I walked the halls I could see why. There was something oppressive about the inner mansion-the ceilings felt too low, the architecture too alien. Most houses are designed as places to live and they’re meant to be comfortable for the people who use them. Fountain Reach didn’t feel like that. It was as though it had grown for its own reasons; the people inside were just trespassers. All around I could sense the thrum of the wards, limiting my vision, and it felt as though the mansion were looking for me.

  Turning in to a corridor I heard a muffled voice from ahead of me. The corridor was old and crooked, the floor age-darkened wood. Animal heads were mounted on the wall, gazing down with dead eyes: deer, leopard, buffalo. I stood still and listened. The voice came again: a woman. It was coming from a door a little farther down. I moved forward, placing my feet softly on the bare planks.

  As I drew closer I recognised the voice as Crystal’s. She was arguing with someone, but for some reason I couldn’t hear the other half of the conversation. “. . take some time,” Crystal was saying.

  A pause, then Crystal spoke again. “The end of the tournament, obviously.” Another pause. “That’s impossible. You’ll just have to wait.”

  It sounded like she was on the phone with someone. I sized up the corridor and decided to take the risk of getting in close. A stag’s head was mounted above the door, antlers reaching almost to the ceiling, glass eyes staring at the opposite wall. I put my ear to the door and listened.