Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952)

by Jacka, Benedict

  Cinder shut up then, and the three of us stood there quietly. After all our history, it was a strange feeling to have them just wait there. At last, it was finished. I stepped back. “Done.”

  Cinder and Rachel looked at their bracelets. “Doesn’t look different,” Cinder said.

  “It’s different,” I said.

  “I believe you,” Rachel said. She looked at me. “So.”

  “So,” I said.

  The moment stretched out, silent, tense. I stood watching the pair of them, looking at the two possible futures, wondering which one they were going to choose.

  “Don’t get in our way,” Rachel said at last. She turned and walked towards the nearest exit. Cinder gave me a final scowl and followed her.

  As their footsteps faded away into the distance, I let out a long breath and let my shoulders slump. I stood still for a moment, alone with my thoughts, then shook myself and looked across at the secret door. “Guys? You can come out.”

  Cautiously, Sonder and then Luna emerged. Sonder looked around. “Where did they go?”

  “Farther in,” I said. Suddenly I felt very tired.

  “Oh,” Sonder said, and scratched his head. “Well…I guess that’s better.” He walked forward, rummaging in his bag. “You know, I think I’ve seen this layout before…”

  Luna waited for Sonder to get out of earshot, then looked at me. “We’re going to run into them again,” she said at last.

  I didn’t answer. I led Luna and Sonder into the corridor Rachel and Cinder hadn’t taken, and together we headed deeper.

  chapter 13

  The hands on my watch pointed to 2:13. As I stared, they blurred and seemed to swim until I was no longer sure what I was looking at. I forced my eyes to focus, knowing I couldn’t afford to sleep.

  We’d been inside the tomb for four hours. The closer we spiralled in towards the centre of the facility, the more lethal and hard to bypass the traps and security systems were. Our progress had slowed to a crawl—worse, the number of paths was steadily diminishing, forcing us closer to the others hunting the fateweaver.

  Cinder and Rachel were the easiest to spot, and I stayed away from them, not wanting to find out how long our truce would last. More of a concern was Khazad. He had split from the others and was searching the corridors on his own, and in the last hour we’d been forced to hide from him three times. Each time we let him pass, he reappeared again a short while later. I was starting to worry that it wasn’t a coincidence and that he was actively hunting us. I could vaguely feel his presence through the futures of our meetings, somewhere behind us and to the left. Having to stay constantly on the alert was wearing me down.

  I shook off my fatigue and looked up at Sonder. “Which way?”

  Sonder had held up better under the strain than I’d expected, but he was looking tired as well. He’d managed to piece together a sketch map in his notebook, extrapolating from the parts of the facility we’d seen and from the designs of other Precursor structures he’d read about. It wasn’t perfect, but it was getting better. “Left, I think. It shouldn’t be trapped.”

  I glanced ahead through the futures. We were standing at a T junction. “They’re both trapped.”

  “There’s supposed to be a corridor. It might not be easy to open the other end, but…The right way is open, but I think the traps are denser.”

  I sighed and slid down against the wall. “I need to rest. Try to figure out which path will get us through.” I closed my eyes and made myself relax.

  I’d been sitting only a few moments when a voice penetrated my thoughts. “Alex?”

  I opened my eyes to see Luna looking at me. She was crouching in the room’s far corner, the crystal cube held absentmindedly in her fingers, as though she’d forgotten about it. Luna had been quiet for the past two hours, her thoughts and manner more distant since the encounter with Cinder and Rachel, and I knew she’d been thinking about it.

  When she spoke, though, the subject came as a surprise. “These traps and barriers. This isn’t normal, is it?”

  I gave Sonder a glance, and he shook his head. “No. We’ve found defence systems before, but nothing like this.”

  “I’ve been thinking about it too,” I said. “All I can think of is what Abithriax said. Fateweavers were supposed to be very powerful. If what he said was true, his might have been the only one stable enough to be preserved.”

  “Why, though?”

  I frowned. “Why the traps? To make sure no one could get it.”

  Luna shook her head. “No, I understand that. I mean, why would they seal it away and not keep it for themselves?”

  I opened my mouth to answer and stopped.

  “Maybe they thought it was too powerful?” Sonder said doubtfully.

  “No,” I said with a frown. “She’s right. If it was that useful, there’d have to be one hell of a good reason for them to give it up.”

  Sonder suddenly got a thoughtful look. “You know…” he began, but as he did my precognition flashed a warning. I looked into the future and my fatigue vanished as I pulled myself to my feet. “Damn it.”

  Luna scrambled up, pocketing the cube. “What’s wrong?”

  “Khazad again.” I looked through the futures, calculated. “We’ve got less than five minutes. Sonder, which way?”

  Sonder hesitated. “I don’t know.”

  “Then we go with your first guess.” I turned left and started down the white corridor. Luna followed me without hesitation, and Sonder hurried after.

  We reached a crossroads. A doorway led into a long hall, while the corridor went further, bending out of sight. Behind, I could feel Khazad following in our footsteps. He was moving faster now, and I wondered if he had some way of tracking us. “Into the hall,” I said. “We’ll seal the door behind us.”

  “But we’ll be trapped!” Sonder protested. “The door at the other end’s sealed too!”

  “We can open doors faster than Khazad can.” I glanced back; I thought I could hear footsteps. “Out of time. Let’s go.”

  Luna stepped through, and with only a moment’s hesitation Sonder followed. I stepped inside and touched the control crystal on the wall. The area across the doorway darkened and became an opaque wall of force. The sound of distant footsteps cut off abruptly, and everything was silent.

  “Can he get in?” Luna asked absently. She was playing with the crystal again.

  “Eventually,” I said, reaching out with my senses to search ahead. “We just have to…” I trailed off. “Someone’s here.”

  Luna and Sonder turned, their eyes flicking. The hallway was crowded with square pillars, providing plenty of cover. I reached into my pocket for a weapon. “Show yourself,” I said, my voice echoing around the columns. The silence stretched out, tense.

  Movement, footsteps. A man leant out from behind a pillar and stopped, staring. “Verus?”

  It was Griff. I searched the hall quickly and verified that no one else was inside. “Master Griff!” Sonder said in relief.

  Griff walked closer and the four of us stood still for a moment. Only Sonder had relaxed; Griff and I were watching each other closely. Luna had hidden the cube away, and I kept my hand in my pocket.

  Then Griff spoke. “You okay?”

  I nodded, and the tension eased suddenly. “You?”

  “So far.” He looked at the door. “You closed it?”

  “Khazad’s outside.”

  “Shit.” Griff ran a hand through his hair. “I was hoping I’d lost him.”

  Now that Griff was closer I could see that he looked on edge. There were rips in his clothing, and he had the look of a man who’d been fighting hard. “What’s at the end of the hall?” I asked.

  “Locked door. I was trying to get past when I heard you.” He looked at Luna. “You got that cube? Maybe that’d do it.”

  The four of us came together, Luna staying a little back. I took my hand from my pocket but didn’t drop my guard. “What happened at the entran
ce?”

  Griff grimaced, his hand creeping towards a rip along the side of his coat. “Khazad and that bastard Onyx tried to take my head off. Didn’t miss by much, either. If they hadn’t been in such a hurry…”

  “No one else made it in?” I asked

  Griff shook his head. “We’re all there is.”

  Which means it’s either you or Sonder. “Let’s have a look at that door.”

  The hallway bent right and left and right again, ending in a sealed door. I studied the door for a second, then nodded and walked up to the controls, pulling out a tool. “I can open it. Griff, I’ll need you to throw up some barriers. Khazad’s going to be in the hallway before long.”

  Griff gave a glance at me and Luna, then nodded. “Will do. Sonder?”

  Sonder jumped eagerly. “I’ll help!” The two of them disappeared back around the nearest corner.

  Luna watched them go, then looked at me. “You think it’s one of them.”

  I nodded as I began working on the controls. “Or both.”

  Luna stood there for a while. “Can you tell which?”

  “I can’t see beyond a choice that hasn’t been made,” I said. “Right now we need them and they need us. Once that changes…”

  I didn’t finish, and Luna didn’t ask me to. We couldn’t depend on either Griff or Sonder, and our only sure ally was Starbreeze. It was tempting to call her, just for the reassurance of having her around, but Starbreeze couldn’t carry Luna, and the air elemental was our one trump card. I didn’t want to reveal her to Sonder and Griff until I had to.

  “Alex?” Luna asked.

  “Hm?”

  “Why did you let them go?”

  My hands went still. I didn’t need to ask who Luna meant.

  Why do we do what we do? I think the reasons run deeper than we can know, and often we can only guess at the truest one. “If you can’t have another ally,” I said at last, “next best thing is to give your enemy another enemy.”

  Luna was silent, but I could feel her gaze on me. She knew I was holding something back. I stopped work on the controls and sighed quietly. “That’s one reason. The other one is…whenever you kill someone, it becomes a little easier to do it the next time.” I turned to look at Luna. “You’ve never killed.”

  A shadow flickered over Luna’s face. “I’ve—”

  I cut her off. “Not the same. I mean deliberately.” I paused, looking at her. “It might come to that before this night is out. If it does…then be very sure about what you’re doing. Because either way, you’re going to have to live with the consequences forever.”

  Luna stared back at me, then dropped her eyes. After a long moment, I turned back to the controls. It took me a while to get back my concentration.

  When I heard Griff’s footsteps again, I glanced back to see that Sonder was with him. “I’ve set some wards,” Griff said. “But the lock on the door’s going screwy. You sure it’s Khazad?”

  “It’s Khazad,” I said. “He’ll be inside in ten minutes. Your wards’ll hold him another ten, maybe less.”

  “Can you get this open before then?”

  I nodded. “Give me a hand.”

  Griff came forward to help, and Luna stepped back. The minutes ticked by as the two of us worked together, me guiding, Griff using the power of his earth magic to manipulate the controls more quickly than I could. Griff was skilled with wards, and smart enough not to question what I told him. We worked quickly and efficiently.

  There was a distant grating from far down the corridor. “Khazad’s in,” Griff said with a grunt.

  “So are we.” I pointed. “There.”

  Griff aimed a surge of earth magic, and with a rumble the door slid open. Beyond was a dark corridor. I scanned quickly ahead and confirmed that it was safe. “Sonder, get the lights,” I said. “You go in too, Luna.”

  They obeyed. “Wait,” Griff said sharply. He pointed back down the hallway, and I turned to look.

  There was a scuffle of movement. I spun back just in time to see Griff dart into the corridor after Luna and throw a scattering of gold discs down at the floor where the corridor opened out into the hallway. As they struck the ground they flared to life and a wall of transparent force sprang up, blocking the entrance. Sonder had just gotten the lights working; now he spun. “Master Griff! What—”

  Griff gestured and a hammer of earth magic smashed Sonder into the wall with stunning force. Sonder’s head cracked against the stone and he hit the ground limply, his glasses bouncing away. In the same motion Griff swung back and Luna was slammed against the wall, dull-brown energy pinning her arms and legs.

  I hit the barrier as Griff turned back to face me. The wall didn’t give, and Griff watched me struggle for a few moments before giving me a nod. “Sorry, Verus. Looks like you’re staying behind.”

  “You!” I snarled, straining against the invisible wall. “It was you!”

  Griff shook his head. “Don’t act so surprised. You were recruited by Levistus, same as me. Difference is I’m permanent and you’re temporary.”

  “Alex!” Luna cried.

  Griff gestured and the brown energy flowed up over Luna’s nose and mouth, cutting off her breath. I saw her eyes go wide with panic as she struggled to breathe. My fist tightened against the wall of force. I was less than five feet away but the barrier was just as unbreakable as the one I’d used on Canary Wharf. “Griff,” I said, my voice low and deadly. “If you hurt her—”

  Griff ignored me and stood and watched Luna choke. There was nothing I could do, and he knew it. After a few seconds he drew his finger down and the energy withdrew just far enough for Luna to gasp in a breath. “Stay quiet if you want to breathe,” he told her before turning back to me. I willed myself to remain calm. “You’re making a mistake,” I said. “If we stayed together—”

  “Sorry, Verus,” Griff said. “I’d been hoping to have you around to help with Onyx. But you see, it’s you Khazad’s after. He told me two hours ago. This way I get rid of you and him. That’s too good a deal to pass up.”

  “You want the fateweaver? Take it. Let them go.”

  Griff shook his head and started working on the door controls. “Love to cut out the deadweight, but I need her along. The fateweaver’s got a lock that works the same as the front door, and she”—he nodded at Luna—“is the only one who can open it. Well, her and that cube.”

  I looked down at Sonder, lying sprawled at Griff’s feet, and hoped desperately for him to get up, but as I looked into the future my heart sank. Sonder was out cold. There was nothing I could do to stop Griff from sealing the door behind him.

  “Oh, one more thing,” Griff said. He snapped his fingers and I felt a surge of energy from down the hall behind me. “I just took down the wards. Have fun with Khazad.” He took a step back towards Luna.

  “Griff,” I said. I didn’t speak loudly, but there must have been something in the way I said it. Griff paused and looked at me.

  Griff was next to Luna, within her danger zone, and I could see the silvery mist of her curse drifting through the bonds imprisoning her. The strands flowed lazily through the air, reaching Griff, soaking into him. “You are going to find,” I said, my voice soft, “that Luna is very bad luck for people who try to hurt her.”

  Griff looked back at me, and I had one second to remember him like that: stocky and strong, his iron-grey hair mussed slightly from the struggle. He gave me an amused smile. “I’ll take my chances.” He put out one hand, and a fist of brown energy smashed the control crystals. The ones on my side flickered and went dead, and with a rumbling sound the door rolled across. I had one glimpse of Luna’s eyes going wide in panic, then the door ground shut with a thud.

  I was alone in the hall. And distantly, from behind me, I heard Khazad’s footsteps coming closer.

  Back when I was a prisoner in Richard’s mansion, Tobruk would sometimes play cat and mouse. He’d set me loose to run the dungeon, give me a head start, then come after m
e. Some of my memories of that time are blurred, but that feeling I remember crystal clear. Pressed against a wall, my heart in my throat and my breath coming fast, straining my ears for the sound of footsteps, feeling only dread because hiding never worked; Tobruk always found me, the only question was when.

  Standing in that hallway, I felt all the old terror rush into me. Khazad was coming and he was stronger and crueller than I was, and when he found me he was going to hurt me and he was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do. I scrabbled in my pocket, pulled out the glass rod, and channelled a thread of magic into it, speaking in a rush. “Starbreeze. Starbreeze, can you hear me? I need you. Please come. If you’ve ever listened to me, come now, please—”

  I broke off as I felt something black and cold open up within me. Starbreeze would hear me, and she would answer…but too late, far too late. I turned, searching frantically for a way out, another exit. There wasn’t one. All that was left was to face Khazad. Me with my tricks and toys against the full power of a Dark mage. I stood helplessly in the empty hallway, listening to the footsteps draw closer, and I was nineteen years old again, cowering in the dark, paralysed with fear.

  And then something spoke inside me, something older and steadier. You aren’t a child anymore. You told Luna there’s always a way out. Time to prove it.

  I took a deep breath, stood up straight, and waited.

  Khazad came around the corner like falling night. The Dark mage was a small man, but as he walked a cloak of shadow seemed to gather around him, turning him into something larger and more menacing. The lights dimmed slightly as he passed, and didn’t brighten. Black eyes met mine.

  “Hello, Khazad,” I said. My voice shook the tiniest bit.

  Khazad strode forward without answering. I watched him and wondered as I did how I could have ever thought he looked like a bird. He moved with a smooth, unhurried grace, not taking his eyes off me. I knew he was probing the area, scanning for traps, making sure I couldn’t trick him the same way again.

  Khazad came to a stop twenty feet away, studying me. “Where are the rest?” he said at last.