Fated av-1

by Benedict Jacka

  Khazad let me get almost to the end of the hall. ‘Oh, Verus?’

  I stopped and turned. Khazad was standing there, smiling. The hallway was quiet.

  As Khazad lifted his arm to cast the spell that would kill me, I made a small gesture with the fingers of my right hand, the same one Onyx had made.

  Black lightning surged from the bracelet on Khazad’s wrist, crackling over his body, and the spell he’d been about to throw dissolved. Shock flashed across his face, followed by agony. He hit the floor with a scream.

  ‘Did you know death bracelets work on a signal?’ I said to Khazad. The bracelet was still discharging, pouring out lethal energy as Khazad writhed and screamed. I walked back towards Khazad and stopped, my voice absent. ‘They’re old magic, these things. Not many people study them any more. If you understand how they work, you can change the signal. Make it respond to your command, instead of someone else’s.’

  Khazad’s head snapped up. He glared at me, but all he could do was twist in agony as the negative energy crackled into his body, his limbs, his heart. ‘You-’ he managed to gasp. ‘You-’

  I looked down at Khazad without expression. ‘I warned you. At the ball. I gave you a chance. But you could never believe it, could you? That someone like me could ever be a threat to someone like you.’ I paused. ‘Tobruk was the same, you know. Right to the end.’

  Khazad couldn’t speak any more, but he stared hate at me even as he clawed at the stone. I looked down and I watched the black lightning play over his body, and I waited for him to die.

  I didn’t wait long.

  When Starbreeze arrived I was slumped against one of the pillars. Starbreeze whisked in and hovered over Khazad’s body, looking down with wrinkled nose. She was in her elfin form, short sticking-up hair and skinny arms. ‘Dead man,’ she announced.

  ‘Dead man,’ I agreed. I pulled myself to my feet, wincing at the pain in my muscles. ‘Starbreeze, I need to get to the heart of this place. The centre. Can you take me there?’

  ‘Middle?’ Starbreeze said in interest.

  ‘Middle.’

  ‘Middle!’ Starbreeze swept around me and turned my body to air. I had one last glimpse of Khazad’s corpse, then Starbreeze whisked me forward, through the gaps in the stonework, carrying me the last stretch of the way.

  The heart of the facility was a huge circular room. Columns rose around the edge, supporting a high-domed roof. There were inscriptions of some kind on the walls, but the light was too dim to make them out clearly. On the columns were magelights, weak and widely spaced, leaving the room just bright enough to see in, yet dark enough to cast shadows. The middle of the room was bare except for a dais at the exact centre. Upon the dais was a pedestal. Two figures stood before it.

  Starbreeze set me down behind one of the columns, hidden in the darkness. As I scanned the area I felt other presences. We weren’t alone.

  ‘Alex,’ Starbreeze whispered.

  ‘I know,’ I said quietly. I peered around the column. Griff and Luna were on the dais at the centre, just visible in the gloom. Luna was standing stiffly upright, as if she was being held, and Griff was close. Too close. There was a small cage of force over the pedestal’s surface, and something was inside it.

  ‘Men,’ Starbreeze whispered.

  ‘I know,’ I said again. Griff and Luna weren’t the only ones here. I could sense three more: two hiding in the columns to the left, and one opposite. A moment later, I knew who they were. Cinder and Rachel to the left, and Onyx up ahead. From where they were standing, they could see Griff and Luna, but they couldn’t see each other.

  ‘Three more,’ I whispered to Starbreeze.

  Starbreeze shook her head vigorously. ‘No!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Another.’ Starbreeze pointed towards the ceiling.

  I looked up and saw nothing. I scanned the area and again found nothing … and then had a sinking feeling as I realised who it was. ‘Oh. Right. Her.’

  ‘She’s wrong.’

  ‘You can feel her?’

  Starbreeze shivered. ‘Wrong.’ She swept in a tight circle, looking distressed. I looked into the futures in which I moved forward towards the dais, getting a closer look.

  The pedestal on the dais was three feet high, and resting on it was a plain, slim, ivory-coloured wand. A cube of unbreakable force topped the pedestal, just barely visible against the darkness. A moment later, I saw why Griff hadn’t opened it. On the rim of the pedestal, just outside the force barrier, were square holders exactly the right size and shape to place Luna’s cube into, just like the one at the entrance. Three of them.

  Griff was up on the dais. He was holding Luna’s arm twisted up behind her back, forcing her onto tiptoes. ‘Think harder,’ he was saying.

  ‘I don’t know!’

  I focused on Griff with my mage’s sight and saw that the silvery mist of Luna’s curse was crammed in so brightly around him that he looked like a searchlight, the glow so intense that it actually made it hard to see. I’d never seen the curse so concentrated, and more and more was pouring in. Griff twisted Luna’s arm a little higher, and she gasped; the silvery mist flowing from her into Griff seemed to intensify. ‘Think harder,’ Griff said again.

  ‘I don’t know!’ Luna’s voice was high, laced with pain. ‘How could I know? I’ve never been here!’

  Griff pushed Luna sprawling to the floor. He lifted a hand, and pale brown energy glowed. The stone of the dais flowed and reshaped itself into chains, locking around Luna’s ankles and binding her to the foot of the pedestal. ‘Well, then,’ he said calmly. ‘We’ve got a problem.’

  I snapped back to the present. ‘I’m going to get her.’

  Starbreeze looked upset. ‘No!’

  I shook my head. ‘Let’s go,’ Starbreeze urged. ‘Away.’

  ‘Griff’s going to kill her.’

  Starbreeze shrugged.

  ‘You don’t care. I know.’ I looked at Starbreeze. ‘But I do. I need you to send a message. Whispering wind.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Cinder and Rachel. The two over there.’ I pointed, then leaned close and whispered into Starbreeze’s ear. ‘Cinder, Deleo. It’s Alex Verus. Onyx is waiting in ambush behind the column at the north side of the chamber, ten pillars to the left of where you are now. He’s expecting you to come from the middle.’

  There was a moment’s silence as Starbreeze carried the message, then a whisper floated back. ‘Verus, you bastard! How the hell are you still alive?’

  I smiled. ‘Hi, Cinder. Before you ask, we’ve still got a common enemy.’

  ‘You think we owe you anything?’

  I didn’t reply. After a second, I heard Rachel’s voice through the whispering wind. ‘Is he moving?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Tell us if he does.’

  Then silence. Starbreeze looked at me. ‘Gone.’

  I nodded and started to plan my course.

  ‘Alex!’

  I turned to see Starbreeze floating in the air, gazing at me imploringly. She looked miserable, and even with everything else, I felt a sudden stab of pity. Starbreeze is a creature of whim and freedom and ever-changing movement. Violence isn’t in her nature. She was lost here, out of her depth, and I knew her instincts were telling her to flee. One word and she’d take me with her.

  ‘Sorry, Starbreeze,’ I told her. ‘I can’t run this time.’ I pulled up the hood of my mist cloak and disappeared into the shadows.

  As I circled the room, I reached out with all my senses, keeping tabs on the other mages. Onyx was watching and waiting, a spider in his web. Rachel and Cinder were creeping around towards him, and as far as I could tell Onyx hadn’t spotted them. I knew I wouldn’t see Thirteen until she struck, so I didn’t waste time worrying about her. Most of my attention was focused on Luna and Griff. Once I’d circled far enough I stepped into the open, trusting to my mist cloak and my magic to keep me unseen.

  I could make out the outline of the fate
weaver through the barrier, and for the first time in days, I was calm. All my decisions were made. I would take the fateweaver and use it. If I succeeded, Luna and I would live. If I failed, both of us would die. As I walked softly forward, I wondered if Abithriax was watching us, pieces on the chessboard all fighting for the same prize.

  My circling had taken me behind Griff, and as I crept across the open stone I could see that he was focused on Luna. ‘Put the cube in,’ he ordered.

  ‘I don’t know which!’

  There was the thud of a blow landing, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I heard Luna gasp. ‘Figure it out,’ Griff said.

  ‘I don’t know!’

  Another thud, and Luna cried out. I sped up, pushing the limits of how fast I could safely move. Griff knelt down next to Luna, giving me a clear view of her. Luna’s lip was cut, drops of blood staining her skin. She looked up at Griff, afraid, but Griff’s voice when he spoke was suddenly gentle. ‘Luna,’ he said. ‘I really don’t have anything against you. You’re obviously in over your head here, and it looks to me like you don’t have any idea what you’re dealing with.’ Griff looked at her, his voice steady. ‘But you see, I need that barrier opened, and if you can’t do it, you’re no use to me. So I’m just going to keep hurting you until you try.’

  ‘You said it’d kill me if I pick the wrong one!’

  Griff raised his eyebrows. ‘Then you’d better make sure you get it right.’

  I’d covered half of the distance to the centre. Across the room, I could sense Rachel and Cinder closing in. Onyx hadn’t moved. Luna was lying awkwardly on the stone chains that trapped her, breathing quickly.

  Then Luna’s head came up, and I caught my breath at the look in her eyes. ‘I always hated my magic,’ Luna said quietly. ‘It’s taken away my life. But it’s what I am. It’s part of me and I’m not hiding from it any more.’ She stared up at Griff and spoke softly and clearly. ‘Die.’

  I felt something shift, and I realised that all of a sudden I could actually feel Luna’s curse radiating from Griff, an aura of doom that was almost tangible. I reached the dais, swift and silent, as Griff looked down at Luna and the futures flickered and changed.

  Then the futures settled as Griff made his decision. ‘You know,’ he said, and his voice was quite calm, ‘you don’t need to be healthy to use that cube. You just need to be alive.’

  I saw then what Griff was going to do. Normal people, when something bad happens, get to tell themselves that they couldn’t have known. Diviners don’t. I knew what Griff was about to do, and I knew that if I tried to stop him he would swat me like a fly.

  I held still.

  Griff broke Luna’s wrist.

  Luna’s scream was physically painful, like knives scraping down my spine. Griff waited for it to trail away into sobbing, then spoke again. ‘Try the cube.’

  ‘I–I-I-’

  ‘Try the cube.’

  ‘I won’t. I won’t. I-’

  There was the sharp crack of another bone and Luna screamed again, a heartbreaking sound. I clenched my fists, a fine tremor going down my arms. ‘Try the cube,’ Griff repeated.

  Luna only sobbed.

  Griff made an exasperated noise, and I felt him channelling earth magic. I couldn’t see what he was doing; the pedestal was in the way. All I could see was the faint brown glow. Then Luna shrieked, and kept on shrieking. It was ear-splitting, but underneath it I could hear a grinding, scraping noise, like rock grating against rock. Griff spoke again, but this time I couldn’t make out his words. I dug my hands into the stone until they bled. I knew Cinder and Rachel were right on top of Onyx’s hiding place. Come on, I prayed, come on, come on, come on-

  There was a roar and a flash of flame. The glow from the other side of the pedestal snapped out, and Luna went silent. Griff whirled, searching for the noise, and for an instant his back was to me. It was long enough.

  Griff felt me coming. You don’t catch a battle mage totally off guard, no matter how quick you are. He was turning back towards me when I reached him, a shield of energy coming up to block my attack, but I wasn’t using a weapon. I slammed into him in a bull rush, and as I did I felt Luna’s curse suddenly take, hard. Looking into the future, it was as if every strand but one was extinguished. The one strand that led to Griff’s fate pulsed brightly, becoming real.

  Griff staggered backwards, off balance, on the edge of falling but not quite going over. He kept going far further than he should have, and was halfway across the room before he came to a halt.

  The shadows around Griff moved. Onyx strode out to his right, Rachel to his left, Cinder behind. The three Dark mages formed a triangle with Griff at the centre. Sea-green light flowed at Rachel’s hands; fire burned around Cinder’s. Onyx showed nothing at all. All three noticed Griff at the same time, and turned to stare at him.

  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 and 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.

  Fewer 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 L
una 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 mid-leap, 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.