The creature that had once been Vitus Aubuchon stared sightlessly at us.
I moved first, half-dragging Anne in a rush for the door, but fast as I was Vitus was faster. There was a weird twisting, warping sensation and suddenly Vitus was standing blocking the exit, his breath making a cloud in the air as I backpedalled frantically.
There was one other exit, a doorway leading deeper into the building. I made a snap decision and bolted for it. Anne had found her feet again and followed me, and as we ran I heard a weird rasping, grating sound from behind us. Vitus Aubuchon was laughing.
We burst into the next room only to skid to a halt, and as I looked around I felt my mouth go dry. The walls were lined with alcoves, each about three feet wide by three feet deep, and they were all filled with human remains. The older alcoves contained bones, neatly piled on top of each other with the skull placed on top, rows and rows of them each with the skulls grinning emptily outward. The newer bodies were. . fresher. Most were desiccated and dark but the closest alcove, on the far right, contained what looked like the huddled form of a girl, black hair covering her face. But for an odd shapelessness she might have been alive. There were dozens of alcoves, hundreds. Most were full, but there was space for more-a lot more. At the far end was a furnace but otherwise there was nothing else in the room. . including doors. We’d come to a dead end.
From behind I could hear the dragging feet of Vitus drawing closer. I searched frantically through the futures, trying to find a way Anne and I could get out safely. I didn’t find one. It was getting harder and harder not to panic and I had to clamp down on my feelings as I tried to figure out what to do.
“Alex,” Anne whispered, and I could hear the fear in her voice.
“Can you do anything to stop him?” I said.
Anne hesitated for just an instant, then I saw something flash across her face and she nodded. “If I get close.”
I sized Anne up. She still looked wobbly on her feet, though at least she’d repaired the gaping wound to her throat. But while her eyes were afraid, they were steady. “Do it,” I said. “I’ll draw him in.” And let’s pray it works.
Anne drew back to the corner of the room nearest to the door; she was weaving some kind of spell about herself but it wasn’t doing anything that I could see. A moment later a shadow fell over the doorway as Vitus Aubuchon stepped in.
I stood facing Vitus, weight on the balls of my feet, tense and ready to jump. I was maybe thirty feet from him, between the alcoves filled with the bodies of those who’d died here in Fountain Reach. Anne was to Vitus’s right, less than half the distance away, but his sightless eyes were locked on me. I looked back into those empty sockets and felt a thrill of pure terror.
The energies of a spell swirled around Vitus and I threw myself right. The space I’d been in warped and shrank, the air seeming to ripple. It looked like nothing but I’d seen what would have happened if that had caught me. I came to a stop next to the alcoves; Vitus’s head turned to track me and the same spell flashed out again.
The blast radius was wider this time and I only just made it out. Two of the skeletons and an iron partition were caught in the spell and there was a crunching, snapping sound as they were crushed into fragments, the space around them crumpling like a paper bag. Splinters rattled on the floor as Vitus gave a hissing sound and advanced towards me.
Anne moved the instant Vitus’s back was to her. Vitus was just about to cast a third spell when Anne’s hand touched his shoulder.
And in that moment I finally understood why life mages are feared.
Anne ripped Vitus Aubuchon’s life out of his body like tearing a page out of a notebook. It was over so fast I literally didn’t see it. There was a green flash and then Vitus’s body was toppling, dead before it hit the ground.
I looked down at Vitus, then up at Anne, eyes wide. Anne was staring down at Vitus’s body. There was something in her eyes I’d never seen before and for just a moment I felt a chill, and then it was gone and she only looked pale and tired. “We should go,” Anne said.
Vitus’s body was starting to dissolve, the misshapen form turning black and breaking away into ash and dust. I picked my way around it to meet up with Anne. “Why didn’t he see you?”
“He can’t see,” Anne said. “He senses life, so I masked mine. . We need to go!”
We hurried back into the room with the table and the bathtub, now silent and still once more. “That was what you were doing before?” I asked.
“I played dead.” Anne’s face looked drawn but at least she didn’t seem hurt anymore. “After he. .”
I gave the room a last glance, shuddered, and was about to leave when I stopped. There had been a stir of movement from the bathtub. As I watched, a ripple spread across the dark surface, followed by another. “Anne?” I asked carefully. “He’s going to stay dead, right?”
Anne shook her head.
The ripples were increasing, and as I looked into the future I saw that in a few seconds something was going to break the surface. I ran for the door.
* * *
“ I thought you killed him!” I shouted to Anne as we ran down the corridor.
“It doesn’t stick!” Anne shouted back. “Fountain Reach keeps him alive; it’s what it was made to do. As long as he’s in this house, he can’t die!”
I swore under my breath. “So he can teleport, he can bend space, and he’s immortal. Wonderful.”
In the time we’d been inside the entrance to the building had become a battlefield. The doorway was open and ragged now, the door a pile of scrap metal, and Variam and Luna were crouched on either side with gashes torn in the walls around them. Outside, the dark hedgemaze was lit up with flickering orange light; several of the dead bushes were on fire. Both Variam and Luna turned towards us as we approached and Luna’s eyes lit up. “Anne!”
“You’re okay?” Variam demanded.
I grabbed Anne and pulled her to one side. An instant later a salvo of force blades came scything in from outside, carving through brick and metal. They cut through the outer wall, went over the heads of Luna and Variam and past me and Anne, cut through the inner wall on the other side, and kept right on going. Variam swore. “So I’m guessing Onyx is here,” I said.
“So’s Crystal!” Luna said. She sounded shaken, but she was holding steady. “It’s crazy out there, I don’t know who’s fighting who-”
“Can’t make it across that ground,” Variam said. “We need to go back the way you came.”
“That’s worse!” Anne said.
“She’s right,” I said. “We’ll be caught between them and Vitus.” I pulled a condenser marble from my pocket. “Variam, when I give the word put a wall of fire down parallel to the front wall thirty feet out. Then run. Go right, head for the far side of the maze, and don’t stop.”
Variam nodded and from outside I heard the thunderclap of force magic. I leant out and threw the condenser through the doorway and out into the clearing, ahead and to the left. It shattered and mist sprang up. “Now!” I called to Variam.
Orange light wreathed Variam’s hands, and with a roar a wall of fire flared into life, lighting up the dark hedgemaze in leaping flame. It cut halfway through the mist and ignited the dead wood of the maze to the left and right, blocking off vision. Luna was out the door first with the rest of us right behind her.
Heat pulsed from the wall of flame ahead. The comforting grey cloud of the mist hung to my left, inviting me to enter, but I’d told the others to go right and that was where I ran. Normally when I create these mist clouds I run into them, using my magic to pick out a path where others would be blind. But I’d done it a few too many times lately and I knew that was exactly what Onyx would be expecting. Onyx couldn’t see through the wall of fire but he could see the mist cloud, and I heard the hiss as a spray of force blades cut through it. A moment later we’d put the building between us and Onyx, and as we ran back into the hedgemaze I felt the familiar warp-and-twist of Vitus�
�s teleport spell. I couldn’t see where Vitus landed and I didn’t stop to check. We were back in the maze and safe. . at least for now.
We hurried through the maze, my divination magic picking us out a path. From behind I could sense the flash of attack spells as the battle continued. “Who’s winning?” Variam called from behind me.
“Don’t care!”
“They’re all still there,” Anne called. “Vitus, Crystal, Lyle, and Onyx.”
The door at the far end took us back into the mansion. The sounds of battle had faded into an eerie silence and once more Fountain Reach seemed to be watching and waiting. I led us towards the exit, abandoning stealth in favour of getting us out as fast as possible.
As I approached the door by which Crystal had entered, I felt a presence ahead of me. “Alex,” Anne whispered. “It’s-”
“Crystal,” I said. “I know. You guys stay back.”
“Screw that-” Variam began.
“You’ll stay the hell back,” I said sharply. “Crystal is not stupid. If she’s there she’s got something planned. You and Luna stay ready. Vitus is still around and we know he’s after Anne.”
Luna nodded. Variam looked frustrated but didn’t argue. I walked around the corner.
The corridor was narrow and led to the same small door. Without the key in my pocket I knew that door would open onto nothing but a blank wall, but with that key it would take us out of here. Crystal was standing halfway down the corridor, blocking my path. The weird half-light of this place blended with the yellow shades of her hair and clothes, turning her into a pale figure in the shadows. She watched me silently. I could tell she was holding herself ready, but I didn’t know for what.
I hesitated an instant, then started walking towards her. “Not bringing your friends?” Crystal asked softly.
I didn’t answer. I’d closed half the distance to Crystal, my knife ready in its sheath. Crystal watched me take two more steps, then shrugged slightly. “As you like.”
From behind me I felt a surge of magic as Vitus Aubuchon teleported into the middle of Anne, Variam, and Luna. And at the same instant Crystal drove into my mind with all her power, trying to seize control.
She was horribly strong. I’d been ready for her, but even so I was almost overwhelmed in those first few seconds. It felt like an enormous weight bearing down on my thoughts, crushing me. I staggered back but the pressure didn’t let up; if anything it grew stronger. Desperately I tried to force Crystal away, stopping her from getting any further in.
Dimly I could sense that a furious battle was going on next to me. Vitus’s horrible form was blocking the hallway: He’d trapped Anne in a prison of twisted space and was attacking Variam, trying to crush him. Variam was dodging from side to side, a snarl on his face, while Luna’s whip curled around Vitus, the silver mist soaking in. But I couldn’t spare any attention; if I took my concentration off Crystal for even a second I knew she’d have me. I could feel tendrils snaking into my thoughts, trying to seize control, and I pushed back with all of my might.
“Coming here was a very poor choice on your part,” Crystal said calmly. She didn’t even sound out of breath.
I didn’t answer. I focused on trying to hold Crystal back, drive her out of my mind. It was unbelievably difficult, like trying to push a car uphill, and in a sudden flash of understanding I knew that this was how all those missing apprentices had been brought here. “Just so you know,” Crystal said, “I’m going to make you kill Luna and Variam with your own hands.” She tilted her head. “How does it feel to know that you’ve failed completely?”
I felt a flare of white-hot anger and threw myself at Crystal’s mental pressure, hammering at it. And it shifted. It was only a tiny, tiny shift, but I’d managed to push Crystal back just a fraction and all of a sudden I knew she wasn’t invulnerable. “I don’t know,” I managed to say. “You tell me.”
I took a step forward. It felt like wading through deep water but the first one was the hardest. I took a second step and then a third, and with each one I shoved Crystal a little further back. I saw a flash of surprise in Crystal’s eyes, followed by concentration. The mental pressure redoubled and my progress halted.
Crystal and I stared at each other across the corridor. Neither of us moved but we fought as surely as if we wrestled on the floor. “Vitus is going to kill them,” Crystal said. “I hope you know that.”
I could still hear the sounds of battle behind me but I didn’t let myself think of whether Crystal was right. “You think you’re the first mage to try to possess me?” I said. I took all my anger and all my fear for Luna and Anne and Variam and threw it at Crystal, forcing her back. I took a step forward. “You think you’ll be the one to break my will? I’ve beaten a mind mage who was stronger than you’ll ever be.” Another push; another step. “I’ve had enchantresses bewitch me and elemental mages burn me. I’ve stood against one of the most powerful battle-mages in this country and watched him die. I’ve faced Light mages and Dark, constructs and assassins, elementals and dragons, and I’m still here.” Another step. “You think you’ll be the one to take me down? You think you’re going to succeed when they couldn’t?” Another step. “Not you. Not today!”
And I felt Crystal’s domination spell shatter, the force of her will scattering away and leaving my mind clear. Crystal staggered back and I moved forward, my hand going to the hilt of my knife. “Lyle!” Crystal shouted. “Help!”
Lyle burst in from a side door and I swore. “No!” I shouted, stopping him just before he could launch an attack. “We’re on the same side, damn it!”
“Put your weapon down, Alex!” Lyle shouted. He was standing near Crystal protectively, ready to strike.
“Lyle, I don’t know what Crystal has been telling you but I promise you it’s wrong. She’s the one who’s been bringing those apprentices here. It’s her house, for God’s sake! You seriously think she’s just an innocent victim here?”
Lyle shifted uneasily and I knew that whatever story Crystal had spun, it hadn’t convinced him completely. “Look, we’re just trying to get out of here,” Lyle said. Now that I got a better look at him I could see that he looked dishevelled and rattled but he didn’t seem to be hurt. “You’ve got the key, right? Just give it to us. Please?” His tone was pleading.
Crystal was standing motionless but I knew she was speaking with Lyle, even if I couldn’t hear her. I bit my lip in frustration. Crystal was right there. . but if I made a move to attack, Lyle would too, and I couldn’t fight them both. I couldn’t hear the sounds of battle from behind anymore and that filled me with dread. I needed to get back there fast. “You want the key?” I said. “Take it.” I pulled Crystal’s key out of my pocket and threw it to Lyle.
Lyle caught it and stopped. He seemed to be at a loss. Crystal looked taken aback too; whatever she’d been expecting me to do, it hadn’t been that. “What are you waiting for?” I asked Lyle. “Open it and go find the Keepers. Unless you want to stay here?”
The words broke Lyle’s paralysis and he hurried past Crystal to the door, inserting the key. I felt a flash of magic as it turned in the lock and then the door opened, spilling a wash of brilliant light into the corridor. “Crystal!” Lyle called from the doorway.
“Come on, Crystal,” I said. “Let’s go see what the Keepers say.”
Crystal looked at me, then darted for the door.
I sprang after her but Crystal had thought and acted in an instant and I hadn’t had any warning. Crystal made it through the door and swung it closed behind her. I had just a fleeting image of Crystal’s lips curling in a slight smile, then the door slammed shut, leaving me in darkness.
A second later my hand closed on the handle and I yanked the door open to see a blank wall. I felt for the keyhole and swore. Crystal had taken the key with her. I stood there, staring at the wall, then turned back to where I’d seen Luna and the others and ran.
* * *
By the time I got there it was all over. V
ariam was propped up against the wall, blood on his clothes; his right arm had been horribly mangled and was hanging limp by his side. Anne was kneeling next to him, her face lit up by a soft green glow and filled with concentration as she worked her hands around Variam’s injured shoulder. Luna was leaning against the other wall; her face was white and she was shaking. But Vitus Aubuchon’s body was on the floor, blackened and decaying into nothingness.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Where’s Crystal?” Variam said.
“Gone,” I said. “She locked the door behind her.”
Variam looked at me, then away. “Um,” Luna said. “Is there another way out?”
“I don’t know,” I said. I was trying very hard to think.
“Alex, we can’t survive another attack,” Anne said. She didn’t look up from where she was working on Variam, and her voice was calm.
I didn’t know what to do but I knew we couldn’t stay here. “We’ve got about five minutes until Vitus comes back,” I said. “And Onyx is on his way too. Let’s move.”
With Anne supporting him Variam made it to his feet and we started walking. I picked a direction away from Onyx that I thought would give us the most cover. “Okay,” I said. “If anyone has any ideas, now would be a good time.”
Anne gave me a quick glance and shook her head. “Can we get out?” Luna asked.
“I’m not sure there is an out,” I said.
“Gate magic,” Variam said.
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