by Lorna Reid
‘Please, no. Please,’ he begged.
Katrina didn’t understand what Thom meant, what her look had meant.
‘Thomas Kinnell Kolton. There isn’t much time.’ She smiled up at him and then her faced creased with some internal pain – pain that seemed to go far beyond physical. With a movement that seemed weighed in emotion, he lifted his head and nodded to the medics.
‘Leave. Now. That’s an order.’ His voice was as broken as the slivers of mirror scattered over the floor.
‘Sir?’
‘Now,’ snapped Knox, also unable to steady his voice. The medics looked at one another and left, muttering and casting frequent glances behind them as they moved to assist their colleagues.
‘Please, Connie. I’m fucking begging you. I can get you to the Gateway …’
‘It’s too late,’ she said, managing to squeeze his hand. He brushed a wisp of hair from her face as she looked at Katrina, who had half fallen, half crouched, beside her.
Silver tears tracked down Concessa’s face. ‘You have a dark path to walk – like your friend Danny, but different; don’t let your magic consume you chasing a fantasy.’ She smiled faintly. ‘When all seems lost beneath the waves of battle, look to the dawn. And when fire swallows the darkness, remember, the enemy will be your friend when you face the dragon.’
‘I don’t understand,’ sobbed Katrina. Knox slid his arm around her, tears easing down his face and neck.
‘Read my message, Thom. Protect her. But be careful, you aren’t as shielded as you think. A darkness is rising and old enemies need to gather what was lost, shattered, and scattered, that which you paid blood for, and they aren’t the only threat … the other lies in the shadows, using the chaos.’
She squeezed Thom’s hand and forced herself to continue, tears trailing down her face and neck. ‘Crowmount’s dead will rise and the City of Mages will fall.’
Her eyes flicked to Katrina and then Knox. ‘He never stopped loving you, Knox. So close … His blood alone can save him. My sister will give you what you need.’
Concessa’s voice faded out and she took a sharp, deep breath. For a moment, Katrina thought that she was regaining strength. ‘Protect her, Thom. Love her. Forgive me.’ And then her body softened. The tension caused by the pain and the effort of clinging to those last precious threads slipped away, and her eyes closed even as her hand lost its grip on Thom’s.
A small growl left Thom and turned into a sob as he clutched her body to him, burying his face in her hair and crying. Everything started to blur around Katrina and she realised how cold she felt. How alone. The frozen beauty of the silver tears on Concessa’s face, which were slowly vanishing into nothing, made a cruel mockery of the ugliness of death, of grief, and it burned and chilled all at once.
Warmth descended around her and soft material brushed against her twitching hands. She clutched at it, wanting to hang onto anything that resembled comfort.
‘Come away from here now.’ Knox’s voice was breaking and his face was streaked with tears. He helped her up. ‘You’ve seen more than you ever should.’ She looked back at Thom, still cradling the Oracle, his broken form hunched over her, while medics hovered at a respectful distance like useless moths waiting to move in on her dying light.
The last thing she saw as Knox pulled her from the room was a slumped figure, with shards of mirror jutting from his body reflecting a lone, flickering candle on the mantle.
Chapter 13
◊
KATRINA SHIFTED IN A deep armchair and tugged her blanket around her, trying to ignore the horrified stares from Poppy and the others. She hadn’t realised how much she was shaking until Knox pushed a mug of steaming tea into her hands. He perched on a footstool beside Thom, who adjusted the blanket so that her bare feet were covered. They had scrubbed their faces, but the grief was deeper engrained than just tear tracks.
‘How …’ She broke off. She’d thought she would be able to speak, but her treacherous body had decided otherwise. Katrina battled it and forced the words out. ‘How could she die? This world. When I found out, I mean … the magic. I always thought that magic was special, that … I don’t know.’
‘It was a cure-all?’ said Knox. ‘People still die here. All the time. Magic or not, people – good people – die.’ His voice fractured and he sipped at his own drink to bury his grief for a moment. ‘Just ask me. I know you’re going to. I’d rather you got it out of the way.’
‘Time magic,’ Katrina said.
His smile was laced with bitterness. ‘It isn’t the ultimate get-out clause. It’s fraught with risk. You tug or twist too many threads, you could unravel more than you know.’
‘Could you go back and warn her?’ ventured Poppy, who, up until now, had kept silent.
‘She knew. Most Oracles know when they’re to die,’ he said, peering into his tea. ‘She knew. A feeling I’ve had through our recent time together.’
‘Why didn’t she fight it?’ Poppy frowned.
‘She has, in the past,’ he said. ‘This time, she must have had a reason. Perhaps someone else was going to get hurt instead and she wanted to prevent that.’ He shook his head.
‘But surely, you—’
‘Just because I’m a Time Mage, doesn’t mean I can bounce merrily around in time and tweak things on a whim. It’s draining to the point of collapse or death. Everything is possible, but that doesn’t mean it will always have the outcome you want. That things won’t just happen anyway. Or that your interference won’t cause the very thing you’re trying to prevent.’
Poppy opened her mouth to speak again, but Knox rose abruptly from his seat and set down his tea. Thom patted his shoulder and took his place. The door banged shut behind Knox.
‘Sorry,’ Poppy whispered. ‘I didn’t mean to upset him.’
‘Tell me,’ Thom said, swirling the dregs of his tea around and studying the bottom of his cup. ‘What’s above Knox’s left temple?’
‘I don’t know, why? His hair?’ Poppy frowned.
‘White hair,’ said Russell, quietly. ‘Just a lock. The rest is blonde.’
‘I remember the afternoon he got it,’ Thom said. ‘Years ago. A friend of ours from the company, Race Hardin, challenged Knox to go forward in time and see if he could see the outcome of the battle we all knew was coming. Crowmount.’ Thom’s fingers were white, clawing against his mug as he spoke.
‘He did, despite knowing the risks, the cocky little bastard. He came back half-dead. Collapsed. One lock of hair was white from the sheer expenditure of magic. No one knows what he saw, or what he did, or what he changed. Just that it nearly cost him his life.’ He drew a breath and continued. ‘He’s only done that one other time, when he went back to try and find Blake and Niri. That time he was out cold, circling death for nearly a fortnight.’
No one spoke for a long time.
‘They must have really wanted the Oracle dead to send that many people,’ whispered Katrina. She felt the others staring at her and remembered that they hadn’t seen what she had.
‘They wanted her wounded and everyone around her dead,’ said Thom. ‘Then they could take her to whomever orchestrated this and have them kill her for the last prophecy he or she clearly wanted.’ Every word Thom spoke was raw and seemed to come from somewhere deep inside, needing all his strength to be dragged out.
‘How did you end up in there?’ Poppy asked Katrina.
‘Saw it happen in the mirror. I don’t know how or why.’ She circled the rim of her mug with a finger. ‘That man. Did I kill him?’ Her eyes met Thom’s. Poppy’s eyebrows hiked and Danny and Russell gaped.
‘The one with the mirror shards embedded in him?’ Thom said.
Her face burned at the intense scrutiny from her friends. ‘Yeah. I didn’t know that would happen. Is he dead?’
Thom nodded. ‘Very. Hey …’ He set his mug down and took her own away before lifting her hands. He kissed them and then clutched them to his chest. ‘It’s okay. You
were trying to help. You tried to help save her. A murderer lost his life.’
‘To me,’ she said.
‘He wouldn’t have mourned you. Or her.’ Thom tried to smooth away her tears. She wished everything would stop playing endlessly in her head. The mirror, the Oracle, the blades, the shards, the man falling, the Oracle slipping away as Thom cradled her.
‘You’ll have time to talk about all this, and you’ll need to talk about it … We all did,’ he said, softly. ‘And we’ll be there for you, but not tonight. You should have been in bed an age ago. You need to rest as much as you can. In the next few days, someone will likely want to speak with you about what you saw. It’s okay.’ He caught her alarmed look. ‘Just a formality. And you’ll have Jen and me there. And Knox. And likely, Jack.’
Thom stood up. Katrina rose with him and was about to ask him where her mother was and when she’d be back when there was a rap on the door and Adalric entered the lounge.
‘My deepest apologies for the intrusion. However, Thom, I need to speak with you and Knox. I’m sorry that this has to come at such an inopportune time’ – he paused – ‘but it is unavoidable. There’s been another attack.’
‘On an Oracle?’ Thom said.
‘No. Another of the Ianuan Soul Core fragments has been taken. Husk, Youngland. Perhaps half an hour ago.’
Katrina saw Poppy and Russell share a glance and wondered if they were also worried about their parents being pulled into a fight. She was, more than ever now.
‘Do we know who?’
‘No. We also don’t know whether it was related to the Oracle’s attack.’
Thom frowned and rubbed his head. ‘Seems unlikely.’
‘This is the third such attack in as many months,’ continued the Sentrum. ‘The tide’s coming in; I can feel the pebbles stirring.’ He looked past Thom a moment and played briefly with a ring on a chain around his neck.
‘The Oracle seemed to suggest as much,’ said Thom.
Three heads spun Katrina’s way and her face reddened. She knew she wouldn’t be allowed any peace until every last scrap of information had been milked from her, and she dreaded it.
She wished they would all go away so that she could curl up in a ball and pretend none of it had happened. This wasn’t the escape she had wanted from her world. What was an escape if into fire? Into blood.
‘I’ve had a discreet word with my counterparts in Braefal and Pertuga. They’re joining us in sending support to neighbouring Lands, to guard their fragment locations as well as our own. Thom, I’ll need you with Jack’s company for now to act as a response force. Knox will be assigned elsewhere for the time being.’
‘I have certain responsibilities that will need taking care of.’ Thom nodded at Katrina and the rest of them.
‘Indeed. You could perhaps hold on for Pete or Jen to return? We can discuss it later. You should sleep.’ With a nod to everyone, the man glided away, leaving Thom to wish them all goodnight before making his own exit.
‘What—’ Poppy began as soon as the door shut.
‘Don’t. Just don’t.’ Katrina held up her hands. ‘All I want to do right now is sleep.’ She gathered the blanket around her and headed for her room.
Katrina closed the door and slumped down on the bed, wishing it would swallow her, and yanked the covers over her. Through the muffled blankets, she heard other doors close in the lounge and then silence fell. Her own crying and the looping horrors plagued her until she finally drifted into an exhausted, fitful sleep.
*
Danny watched Poppy squirm through breakfast, clearly aching to find out everything from Katrina. Russell had towed her away the previous night to the point where Danny could almost swear her toes had gouged trails in the floor. As soon as the meal was over, Katrina retreated to the corner and curled up beneath a pile of cushions.
He knew how Poppy felt. He also wanted to find out what had happened, especially with the dead assassin. She’d actually killed someone. A tiny part of him secretly wondered what it would feel like; whether he would be fine about it, or screwed-up. If Katrina was anything to go by – and she was not the flimsy-floaty type, which was one of the reasons he liked her – then it wasn’t that easy to take. But then, Danny considered, she had just seen the Oracle die, too.
‘What’s going to happen to us if Thom gets shipped off, do you think?’ asked Poppy.
‘Dad will arrive and ground me forever,’ said Russell, looking as though someone had confiscated all his birthdays and shredded them in front of him.
‘Nah, he’s getting sent off to one of the fragment locations,’ said Airrell, who had joined them for breakfast and was busy ploughing his way through his third round of toast and eggs.
‘How do you know that?’ Russell said, picking at a bread roll.
‘I hear things.’
‘You spy, more like.’ Isa had barely made a sound as she had entered, and Danny, whose back was to the door, jumped. ‘He’s right, though. Jen will be going with Thom, and Pete will be taking you home, apparently. They won’t be here until maybe tomorrow, though, so at least you get to stay until—’
‘You mean on their way back?’ Danny pounced. ‘From the tower? Do you know if they found my mother? Who told you they were coming back?’
Katrina had sat up, and the only sound was Airrell trying to slide a piece of toast into his mouth as quietly as possible.
‘I don’t know anything else at the moment,’ Isa said, pouring herself a cup of tea from an ornate silver pot. ‘But given that the tower will be busy right now, maybe they couldn’t spare the resources. With more troops on the move, due to the fragments vanishing, it’s understandable.’
Danny puffed, earning a look from both Poppy and Russell. ‘I need to speak to Thom.’
‘About what, Dan?’ Thom closed the door behind him. He was in full uniform. Tall black boots, fitted black trousers, white shirt, dark blue velvety jacket. Danny’s eyes momentarily dropped to the sword and set of daggers at his sides, feeling a wave of envy, before glaring at him.
‘Mum. And why Dad’s on the way back here. I don’t need a babysitter. I want him to find her.’
Thom sat down beside him. ‘I can’t stay. And nor can the others right now, as much as they may want to. And you can’t stay on your own.’
‘I can,’ protested Danny. ‘This is more important. Please.’ He could typically read Thom better than anyone except his father, but he hated that he had still never cracked Thom’s poker face. He scanned it for something, anything.
‘Danny … Look, about the tower.’
‘Did they find her?’
‘They got a message out, but they don’t know if it was received. It eventually broke down and the beacon was lost. They couldn’t find it again. They think it’s been irreparably damaged by the tinkering.’
A chill washed over Danny and trickled down his spine. His fingers twitched and jerked and he leapt from his chair and hurled his cup across the room. Shards flew everywhere and the largest remains bounced on the rug and rolled past Katrina. She looked at Poppy, who looked at Russell, who closed his eyes.
‘So we still don’t know where she is?’ he raged at Thom. How could he be so calm? How could he sit there, pouring himself a cup of tea?
His guardian seemed determined to ignore his outburst and stared down into his cup. ‘I’m sorry, Danny. Take heart, though. We’re closer than we’ve ever been.’
‘It isn’t good enough,’ he half whispered.
‘No, but it’s called a start. We’ve narrowed down where she is. As soon as we all get home, we can work out the next course of action,’ Thom said. He gulped his hot tea and stood to go, but Danny circled round in front of the door.
‘I’m not going. I want to find her.’
‘Something crucial is happening, Danny. Something dark. More lives could be lost.’
‘I care about her life.’
‘So do we. But she also fought to protect the Soul Core of Ianua,
and to keep the fragments of it safe. If they fall back into the enemy’s hands somehow, they won’t be contained for long, and everyone who died in that battle would have done so in vain.’
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Poppy flinch.
‘The Darklanders have been trapped for more than ten years. They’ll be useless by now,’ scoffed Airrell, quaffing his tea.
‘That’s the allied propaganda talking,’ said Thom. ‘The reality could be very different. Danny, Niri, hasn’t been forgotten. There’s a lot going on right now that we also have to deal with. The Oracle’s prophecies have sent shockwaves through the upper ranks. It’s all being kept extremely quiet.’
Danny tried arguing, coaxing, cajoling and raging, but his guardian was steadfast and, after Thom gave them all a hug, he made his excuses and left, looking drained.
‘Well, I also have things to attend to. I’ll leave you to clean up after your childish outburst.’ Isa’s voice was pure ice as she left. Danny glowered back, glad when the door shut on her judgemental face.
‘Ignore her, she’s just got a lot of shit to deal with in the wake of all this Oracle stuff,’ said Airrell, finishing his sister’s tea and then emptying the last of the fruit juice into the cup.
Danny threw himself back into a chair while Russell crawled around on the floor, retrieving pieces of the smashed cup and handing them to Katrina, who had moved to help.
As he watched the pieces clink into the shattered base, he became aware of Russell’s glare. In avoiding it, his eyes moved to the signature squiggles on the base of the broken cup and it jerked a memory to the front of his mind. ‘Edred Tarrin?’
‘Hmmm?’ Airrell was poring over the Aquattrox news in the centre of a newspaper.
‘You said that Edred Tarrin would be able to decipher those symbols I saw my mother looking at?’ Danny yanked the programme he’d been doodling on from his pocket.
‘Yeah, he’s your best bet,’ said Air, half-distracted by a pictorial spread of the match’s top ten worst injuries.
‘Where is he? How do we get there?’
‘What do you mean “we”?’ demanded Russell, plonking the bin down for Katrina to ditch the wrecked cup.