Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952)

by Jacka, Benedict

  Griff looked up, and there was just enough time for his eyes to go wide. “Oh, shi—”

  Battle-mages have a frightening amount of destructive power. Mages fighting a duel spend most of their energy preventing the other from landing a solid hit. It’s very rare for a mage to hit an opponent with all his strength, but when it happens, it’s always fatal. One spell from a battle-mage can shred a human body like tissue paper.

  The effect of three of those spells hitting at the same time doesn’t bear thinking about.

  I won’t try to describe what it looked like. All I’ll say is that it was over very fast.

  Then Onyx and Rachel and Cinder turned their attention to each other, and I dived behind the pedestal as the room lit up with death and fire. “Luna! Luna!”

  Luna was leaning against the pedestal, her eyes fluttering. Griff’s stone chains still locked her ankles to the pedestal, her right arm was twisted at a horrible angle, and her face was dead white. “Don’t touch me,” she said, her voice faltering. “It’s different, I—”

  From the other side of the pedestal I could hear the roar of flame and the flat, deadly wham of Onyx’s force magic. “It’s okay. Don’t move.” I looked around, trying to figure out some way to get Luna out of here. “We need to—”

  I only had a second’s warning. I dived sideways off the dais, rolling, just as something swept through the spot I’d left with a swoosh of air. As fast as she had struck, Thirteen was gone. I came to my feet and slipped one hand in my pocket, tense, waiting.

  Less than a hundred feet away a furious battle was raging as Rachel and Cinder hammered Onyx with all of their power, trying to break down his shields and kill him, but I couldn’t spare the time to look. I stood on the open stone, and it was Thirteen I was watching for, waiting to see how she would come at me: from the left or from the right or straight above. I couldn’t see her, but I could see into the futures where she killed me, and I could see how to move to make sure that didn’t happen. Not yet…not yet…

  …now.

  As Thirteen swept in I pivoted, and her claws missed my throat by inches. I kept turning, and as Thirteen flashed past next to me my hand flung a handful of glittering dust over her.

  Thousands of the glowing grains of light fell to the floor and winked out, but hundreds more covered the air elemental and clung to her. Thirteen darted away, trying to shake the stuff off, but it had stuck. She was visible now, an outline of glittering particles in the shape of a woman. “What’s the matter, Thirteen?” I asked. “Shy?”

  Thirteen made a final effort to rid herself of the dust, then gave up. As she looked at me her invisibility faded and the lines of her body came into view beneath the dust. Pale white eyes looked at me, and she began to glide forward.

  I backed away, a nasty feeling in my stomach. I could reveal Thirteen, but I had nothing that could harm her. “Listen,” I began, “maybe we got off on the wrong foot. The truth is, I actually really like air elementals.”

  Thirteen kept advancing, and I kept backing away. Thirteen was pushing me back in a tightening spiral, coming closer and closer to the pedestal. I could feel Luna slumped against the base, fighting to stay conscious, the battle still raging behind me. “You want the fateweaver, right?” I said. “You need us to get it. If we’re dead, you can’t take it back to Levistus.”

  Thirteen didn’t answer, and with a sudden chill I realised that she wasn’t listening to me because she couldn’t. She’d been made to follow orders and nothing else, and right now her orders were to kill me. Thirteen was getting closer and closer. “Wait—” I said urgently, and Thirteen sprang, claws reaching for my throat.

  Something flashed across my field of vision and hit Thirteen in midleap, knocking her sideways. I caught one glimpse of Starbreeze’s face, then the two air elementals were rolling away in a blur of motion and slashing claws.

  I stared after them for a moment, then turned back. “Luna!”

  Luna had managed to pull herself up against the pedestal, her crippled arm cradled in her lap. Her head was right next to the three receptacles for the cube, and the force barrier holding the fateweaver glowed silently above her, casting a faint white halo around her hair. “Go away,” she managed.

  I crouched down next to her. “Luna—”

  “Go away,” Luna said. Her eyes were cloudy with pain, but her voice was clear. “Not you as well.”

  “Put the cube in one of the holders.”

  “I don’t know which, Alex, just go, I—”

  “Close your eyes and guess.”

  Luna stared at me. Her eyes were clear again—I think the sheer craziness of what I was saying had shocked her lucid. “Alex?” she said carefully as the battle raged around us. “This isn’t a good time for making jokes.”

  From the far side of the room, there was a hollow boom and Cinder came flying through the air. He slammed into one of the pillars with the crack of breaking bone and hit the floor. A moment later Onyx appeared. His eyes had gone pitch-black and wisps of darkness trailed from his hands as he turned on Rachel. Rachel faced him, and there was no fear in her eyes; beneath her mask, her lips were curled in a silent snarl. From the other side, Starbreeze and Thirteen were a whirlwind of deadly motion.

  Two mages, two elementals, two battles; as soon as Onyx or Thirteen won, we were finished. “Don’t choose,” I said to Luna, raising my voice over the sounds of battle. “Leave it up to luck.”

  “I don’t—” Luna began, then stopped. Her eyes went wide as she understood.

  From behind, I heard Starbreeze give a yelp of pain. “Alex! Hurts!”

  Luna took a deep breath, then pulled herself to her knees, gasping slightly as her right arm shifted. My hands itched to help her, but I stood my ground. Carefully Luna drew out the crystal, closed her eyes as the sounds of battle raged all around us, then reached out blindly.

  The crystal slotted neatly into the leftmost holder.

  There was no fanfare this time. The crystal pulsed, and the force field over the fateweaver pulsed with it. Then the barrier was gone, and the fateweaver was clearly visible: a simple, unmarked wand of ivory. I snatched it up, and—

  —silence.

  I didn’t hesitate. As soon as I felt the momentary dizziness, I stepped back, looking around. I could see my body crouched over the pedestal, Luna slumped beneath. “Abithriax!”

  “Well, well.” I spun to see Abithriax walking towards me across the floor, picking his way through the battle in his red robes. Onyx and Rachel were duelling all around him, and a blast of force passed straight through Abithriax’s image without touching him. “Things have gotten lively.”

  “I need to use the fateweaver!”

  “Yes, you do,” Abithriax said. “Listen carefully. To use the fateweaver, you and I must merge. I will open my mind to you; my knowledge and skill will be yours. The link requires your willing consent.” Abithriax’s eyes held mine. “Hold back even a little, and it will fail.”

  Behind Abithriax, Onyx shattered Rachel’s shield into shards of sea-green light. I knew the kind of mind magic Abithriax was describing was dangerous. If I went along with this, I wasn’t sure who I’d be when I returned to my body. I looked down at Luna. She was crouched down on the dais, trying to hide from the battle raging around us. “Do it.”

  Something flickered in Abithriax’s eyes, then they were smooth again. He nodded and walked up to the dais. “Then hold out your hand.”

  I lifted my right arm. Abithriax reached out, then paused. “I suggest you brace yourself.” He looked into my eyes. “This will feel…a little odd.”

  Abithriax grasped my hand, and everything went white.

  chapter 14

  When I came back to my body it was like waking up for the first time.

  Luna was saying something, but I barely noticed. I knew exactly what was happening without needing to look. I started walking down off the dais, twirling the fateweaver absentmindedly in my right hand. “Starbreeze,” I called. “B
reak off.”

  Starbreeze tore herself away from Thirteen. Her form was tattered, mist leaking from her wounds. She shot me one terrified look and fled. Thirteen didn’t pursue, instead turning back to me, her primary target. She’d shed the last of the glitterdust, and as she moved she faded into invisibility again.

  Thirteen was the greater threat; I should eliminate her first. I turned my back on her and looked to the other side of the room. “Onyx!”

  Onyx had crippled Rachel, sending her limping into the darkness of the pillars; now he turned to me. “Rules changed, Chosen,” I told him. I kept walking, placing myself between the two killers. “Surrender or die.”

  Onyx didn’t waste time answering. A whirlwind of razor-edged discs of force flashed towards me.

  I sidestepped and the attack hit Thirteen just as she swept in at me from behind. She flashed into visibility as the force blades chewed her to pieces. Her mouth opened in surprise, and she looked at me with wide eyes, and for a moment I thought she was going to speak. Then she was nothing but wisps of drifting air.

  I looked back to see Onyx staring at me in shock. That attack should have hit me; I knew it, and he knew it. “Last chance,” I said.

  Onyx threw a lance of force at me, followed by a spinning saw blade that could have cut me in half. Next was a series of hammer blows, then a force wave, then he just blasted the entire area in a thirty-foot radius.

  He might as well have saved his strength.

  The power the fateweaver gave me was beautifully simple. My divination magic let me see what might happen; the fateweaver let me pick what would happen. Together, they were invincible. Fighting Onyx was like a chess match where I got to play both sides of the board. Each attack had a hole, a flaw; I lined up each flaw with my own movement so that it would miss. I didn’t even move fast enough to break a sweat.

  “What the fuck!” Onyx screamed as I walked through the blast, bits of stone chipping and bouncing around me.

  I kept advancing, and Onyx backed away. “Your aim really is terrible, you know that?”

  Onyx threw an entire wall of force at me. He was panicking now, and that made it even easier; I found a flaw in the wall, enlarged it, and chose the future where the flaw was aligned with my course. I had to dip my head slightly as the wall ruffled my hair, then I straightened up and kept walking. “What the fuck!” Onyx screamed again. “I hit you! I know I hit you!”

  I sprang at him.

  Onyx struck with everything he had, but my attack had been a feint and I slipped away as Onyx filled the air around him with missiles. Onyx’s strikes were frantic, uncontrolled, and it was easy to curve one of the bolts of force around to strike him in the back. The impact threw him from his feet, blood spattering the stone.

  Onyx struggled to rise, gasping, until the sound of my footsteps made him look up. I was walking towards him, and as I did I slid my knife from its sheath, letting its blade glint in the dusk. “Should have listened when you had the chance,” I told Onyx, and I was smiling as I said it.

  Onyx looked up at me, and for the first time I saw fear in his eyes. I knew Onyx was no coward. He could face battle without flinching, but this was something beyond his understanding, and the magic that had been a sword and a shield since childhood had betrayed him. To Onyx it must have seemed as though his world had turned upside down. He made his decision and acted in the same instant, and his body vanished in a mote of darkness as he teleported away. All that was left were drops of blood on the stone.

  I came to halt with an annoyed tch. If I’d been paying more attention, I could have anticipated Onyx’s flight and prevented it. Still, not bad for a first try, I suppose.

  “Alex?”

  I looked around to see that Luna was the only one still moving. She was still kneeling, chained to the pedestal, staring at me with wide eyes. “He got away,” I said, unable to keep the irritation out of my voice. “Stay there.” I began a circuit of the room, checking for survivors.

  Griff, needless to say, was very dead. After being shredded, incinerated, and disintegrated all at once, what was left of his body could fit in a pencil case. Anyone planning to give him a burial would need a mop and a vacuum cleaner. Thirteen was gone as well, though with her I wasn’t sure how permanent it would be. The trouble with incorporeal creatures is that it’s always so hard to tell if they’re really dead.

  The big surprise was that Cinder was still breathing. The back of his head was a mess, and he was carrying a few broken bones, but he was still alive, for the moment at least. I searched his body, then glanced up as I sensed movement.

  Rachel was standing a few pillars away. Her mask had been torn away in the battle, and for the second time that day she was Rachel rather than Deleo again. She didn’t move. “Rachel,” I said with a smile, rising to my feet. I lifted the fateweaver and raised my eyebrows. “Want to try to take it?”

  Rachel didn’t answer, and I walked towards her. “Don’t tell me you’re not thinking about it,” I said. “You’re wondering if you can succeed where Onyx failed.” I reached Rachel and began to walk slowly around her. “Do you think you can?”

  Rachel swivelled to stay facing me, limping slightly as she did. Her hair was disarrayed, matted in one place with blood, but her eyes followed me unblinkingly. “Well?” I said.

  Rachel shook her head slowly, not taking her eyes off me.

  “Why not?” I leant in and suddenly I was right behind Rachel, whispering into her ear. I could smell her scent, blood and sweat and dust…and something else, as well, something that made my nerves quicken. “You like to kill by touch, don’t you? You’re close enough. Show me what you’ve learnt.”

  Rachel shook her head again. “Why not?” I said again, softly into her ear.

  Rachel was silent for a long moment. “You’d win,” she said at last, her voice as soft as mine.

  “Yes,” I said. “You were always good at knowing when you were outmatched, weren’t you? Not like Shireen.”

  Rachel held very still. I withdrew, pulling away from her. “Now,” I said coldly. “Why should I let you live?”

  “We had a deal—”

  I laughed then, my voice suddenly cruel, and Rachel stopped. “Did you think I was that stupid?”

  There was fear in Rachel’s eyes, but there was something else too: she was looking at me with respect for the first time, and I found that I liked it. “Still,” I said. “You might be some use. But payment is only put off. I’ll be calling on you. Understand?”

  Rachel nodded carefully. “I understand.” She stepped away, backing towards Cinder.

  I lifted an eyebrow. “You want him as well?”

  “He’s all I have,” Rachel said. She spoke simply, and I had the odd feeling that for once she was being honest.

  I shrugged. “He can share your obligation. Go.”

  Rachel nodded again, then opened a gateway and started to pull Cinder through it. Her movements as she pulled the big man were oddly tender. Then the gate closed behind them and I was walking back towards Luna.

  “I don’t understand,” Luna said as I reached the dais. She’d gotten to her feet and was standing with her arm cradled awkwardly, staring at me. “How did you do that?”

  “Back off two steps,” I said. Luna did, causing the chains to rattle and draw out. As the links stretched I identified the weakest points, created a pair of hairline flaws, then shattered them with two stamp kicks. I turned towards the wall. “This way.”

  “But—” Luna said, then found she was talking to my retreating back. She hurried after me, the broken chains rattling. “Where’s Starbreeze?”

  “She’ll be fine.” I stopped in front of a featureless section of wall, then spoke a command word. It darkened, then faded away, and I stepped inside. “Come on, unless you want to stay.”

  Luna started, then followed me in. I touched a control crystal on the wall, and with a shudder the room sealed itself and began to move.

  “Alex?” Luna asked. “What
does that thing do?”

  I smiled. “Oh, Luna, I wish you could feel it. It’s like being able to see where you were blind. Watch.” I stepped forward.

  Luna flinched. “Don’t!”

  I laughed. “Your curse? That can’t hurt me now.” I could see the silvery mist drifting around me, never quite reaching. Occasionally a strand would touch me, but I simply grounded it in the floor, along with the remnants I’d picked up from earlier. It was just as well I’d found the fateweaver when I had; I’d gotten altogether too close to Luna over the past few days. I pointed at Luna’s broken arm, and as she flinched I translated her movement into resetting the bone, aligning the fragments into their proper place. Luna gave a yelp of pain, then stopped suddenly, staring down at her arm. “It doesn’t hurt.”

  “I did some encouraging of your body’s healing system. Once we find a healer I’ll have it fixed before you know it.” I raised my eyebrows. “And what do you say to having your curse lifted?”

  “…What?”

  I laughed again. “Anything that’s possible, I can make real.” The room came to a sudden end and one side opened. “Our stop.”

  The journey out didn’t take long. Luna trailed along behind me, shell-shocked, as I strode along the corridors, eagerly laying plans for everything I was going to do once I got outside. Before anything else, I’d visit Morden. I was going to enjoy our next meeting, though I didn’t think he would. After that, I had a score or two to settle with Levistus. Then there were the others…

  I was so absorbed, I hardly noticed once we reached the exit. “Hold up the cube,” I told Luna.

  Luna hesitated, looking around. We were in a small, featureless room. “This isn’t the way we came in.”

  I felt a flash of annoyance that I had to explain things to her, then smoothed it over. “This is the back door. It’ll take us into the countryside.”

  Luna hesitated a moment longer, then obeyed, speaking the command words I ordered her to use. The cube lit up and a gateway opened in the wall, carrying with it a breeze that smelt of leaves and grass and cool night air. I stepped before the portal, next to Luna, and looked upwards. For a moment I could see nothing, then I started to make out pinpoints of white light. Gradually the stars took shape before me, and as my eyes adjusted I could see the shape of a hillside, trees silhouetted against the night sky. I stood there for a long moment, drinking in the starlight, basking in the rush of triumph. I’d done it. I’d won.