Alex Verus 5: Hidden

by Benedict Jacka

  A figure appeared from the way I’d come, moving at an unhurried walk. The swords at her belt swung slightly as she descended the stairs. Once she was forty feet away, she stopped and the two of us watched each other.

  chapter 10

  Yun Ji-yeong was tall for a girl, though still shorter than Anne or me. She wore a white sleeveless top and grey leggings, the twin shortswords hanging off her belt. Her right hand rested on one of the hilts, and her fingers tapped it as she watched me with a considering sort of look. Now that I got a proper look at her she seemed young, twenty at the oldest. Despite the fact that she’d been chasing me for a good half hour, she wasn’t breathing hard. The sea breeze blew across both of us, tugging at my armour and rippling her hair.

  I spoke first. “So I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”

  “You’re the one who’s been making trouble for Darren and Sam.” Ji-yeong tilted her head, studying me. “You don’t look like much.”

  “I suppose I don’t.” I was aware of the two shadows at my back but didn’t show it. “Yun Ji-yeong, right?”

  “That’s right. Not running?”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re faster than I am.”

  Ji-yeong smiled. “That’s why it’s fun.”

  “For you, maybe.” Scanning the futures, I couldn’t sense any immediate aggression. “Mind if I ask you something?”

  “Like what?”

  “I’ve been kind of getting the feeling that you’re the odd one out in your trio.”

  Ji-yeong frowned slightly. “Sorry?”

  “Darren’s friends with Sam,” I said. “Sam’s friends with Darren. I don’t think Sam and Darren are friends with you.”

  “They’ve always been like that.”

  “So I’m curious. Why are you helping them?”

  “I knew you’d gone down here,” Ji-yeong said. “I’ve had a lot of time to explore this castle. Darren figured you’d gone south.” Ji-yeong shrugged again. “I haven’t told him yet.”

  I noticed the yet. “Why, was there something you wanted to ask?”

  “Why does Crystal want that girl?”

  “Do you know what Crystal did before she came here?”

  Ji-yeong didn’t take the bait, but from her body language I was pretty sure the answer was no. Interesting. “Crystal used to be a Light mage, researching life extension,” I said. “She’s got a ritual that she thinks will give her immortality. She tried to get Anne once, and ever since she’s been hiding. She’s been here what, two months?”

  “Three months.”

  I nodded. “She can’t set foot in Britain, not safely. So she sent Darren and Sam to do her work for her.”

  Ji-yeong tapped her sword hilts thoughtfully. “You know, I’m a bit surprised you don’t know all this,” I said. “Crystal was big news for a while. Don’t you get out much?”

  “No,” Ji-yeong said, slight irritation showing on her face. “Sagash hardly ever lets me go out. It’s really annoying.”

  “You didn’t get invited to the party?”

  “Sagash made me stay and guard the castle.”

  “You don’t have a flat in London or something?”

  “Sagash won’t get me one.”

  “Seems a bit stingy.”

  “I know, right? We’re his apprentices, but he’s too cheap to spend any money on us. It’s not as though he’s poor.”

  “Darren and Sam seem to have their own places.”

  “Oh, they’re not theirs. That flat of Darren’s belongs to his sister. And Sam lives with his parents.”

  “What about you—your family back in Korea?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Do you stay in touch?”

  “I call once a week or so. We do video calls on Skype.”

  “I guess you can’t really get an Internet connection here.”

  “No, I have to gate out to London. It’s a pain, it’d be nice to do it from my room in the keep.”

  “Shadow realms are a bit inconvenient that way.”

  “I know.”

  There was a pause. We looked at each other across the stone.

  “So are you going to come along quietly?” Ji-yeong asked.

  “I think I’d rather not.”

  “I could kill you and drag your body back,” Ji-yeong said brightly.

  “That seems like a lot of work. I’m kind of heavy.”

  “Oh, two of these shadows can carry a body easily as long as they don’t fly.”

  “Okay, leaving aside just how disturbing it is that you know that particular detail, who exactly would you be taking me back to? Crystal or Sagash?”

  “Sagash,” Ji-yeong said. “It’s one of our jobs. We’re supposed to stop anyone getting in here without Sagash’s permission.”

  “Darren and Sam managed to screw that one up pretty badly.”

  “Yup,” Ji-yeong said with a smile. “Telling Sagash is going to be fun!”

  “So that’s your plan?” I said. “You take me back to Sagash, tell him what happened, get Crystal and Darren and Sam into trouble and come out looking good?”

  “Pretty much,” Ji-yeong agreed. “You coming?”

  “How about we do this a different way? The way I see it, Crystal, Darren, and Sam don’t like any of us very much right now. And it doesn’t sound as though you like them that much either.”

  “Not really. I only went along with them because I didn’t have anything to do. When Sagash is busy with his research, it gets really boring. You and that girl are the most fun we’ve had for months.”

  “So why don’t we work together?” I said. “The only reason I’m here is to find Anne. And you don’t care if she gets out of here, right?”

  “Not really,” Ji-yeong said. “But I don’t care if she doesn’t get out of here, either. And if I go back to Sagash on my own, he’s not going to listen because it’ll just be my word against theirs. But if I bring you back then he can question you for proof, and I get the credit.”

  “Slight problem with that plan,” I said. “I don’t really think I want to cooperate.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Ji-yeong said. “I watched you fight Sam. You haven’t got anything that can hurt me.”

  “You could still—”

  “Nope,” Ji-yeong said. Steel rang as she unsheathed her two swords, sunlight glittering off metal. “Done talking. Time for me to kick your arse.”

  I sighed. “Well, can’t blame me for trying.”

  “Don’t worry,” Ji-yeong said. “I’ll make sure to keep you alive for afterwards.” She spun the swords from a forward to a reverse grip and back again, then advanced. I backed towards the pillars as she drew closer.

  Ji-yeong was slim and fit. She wasn’t obviously muscular, but I could see the life magic woven through her body, reinforcing and strengthening. I know life magic can be used for enhancement, but I’ve never seen it used much—Anne can do it, but only the basics. For Ji-yeong, enhancement seemed to be her specialty. The spells were densely woven, complex and hard to read, but they looked like direct boosts to her physical abilities. Not only was she fitter than me, she was probably stronger and faster too.

  But no matter how strong or fast, she was still an apprentice. If Ji-yeong was better than Anne with that kind of life magic, she had to be worse with others. Her two swords were less than two feet long, on the borderline between sword and knife. I was fairly sure they were focuses of some kind, but the fact that she’d drawn them suggested that she couldn’t paralyse or kill with a touch the way Anne could.

  Ji-yeong caught up with me when I was still a few feet from the pillars. I stopped retreating and stood side-on, my hands low. Ji-yeong made an experimental cut at my wrist and I twitched it away; she tried twice more for face and arm and each time I swayed just out of range. The next thrust was a feint;
she stepped through and spun low, whirling through a full circle to slash with the other sword at ankle height. I jumped back, retreating into the cover of the pillars.

  Ji-yeong came up gracefully. “Not even going to try?”

  “I think I might be a little overmatched,” I said dryly.

  “Boring,” Ji-yeong said, making a face. “Thought you were going to make this fun.”

  My divination was my only warning. The right sword missed my face by about three inches, and I leapt back as the other cut the air where my arm had been. Before I had the chance to catch my balance Ji-yeong was on me again, moving at full speed this time. She was stronger than me, and frighteningly quick. Her swords were a blur of metal.

  But while Ji-yeong was fast, she wasn’t that good, something I’d already suspected from her choice of weapons. Wielding two swords at once looks good in the movies but doesn’t work too well in practice—it isn’t really possible to strike effectively with both sides of your body at once, and the human brain isn’t wired to operate both hands simultaneously and independently. There are a few niche cases where it can work, but most of the time you’re better off learning to use one weapon well instead of weighing yourself down with two. Ji-yeong didn’t look like she’d spent much time learning to use her swords at all. Her attacks were showy and inefficient, much of her speed wasted on unnecessary motion.

  I backed away, ducking and slipping the attacks as Ji-yeong pressed me. Her movements were a blur, but I could see her strikes coming and they hit nothing but air. Surprise showed on her face, then concentration. I kept giving ground, dodging between the pillars to interfere with her swings. The more I watched the way she moved, the more sure I became that she didn’t have much experience against skilled opponents.

  On the other hand, if you have enough unfair advantages, you don’t need experience. I could dodge Ji-yeong’s attacks, but none of my magic items could hurt her. My stun focus wouldn’t touch her reinforced body, and the dispel would be an annoyance at best. Glitterdust could blind her, but with her lifesight she didn’t need eyes to know where I was.

  Well, if magic wasn’t going to work, I’d have to do this the regular way.

  I still hadn’t made any attacks of my own. With no threats to make her careful, Ji-yeong was getting more aggressive, taking less trouble to guard herself. A shock went up my arm as one of her swords grazed me, my armour taking the blow. I stepped back around one of the pillars, my right hand going to the sheath at my belt, turning sideways so my body hid the movement. Ji-yeong followed, slightly off-balance from the angle.

  This time as she stepped in so did I. Her arm hit my shoulder and I caught it; Ji-yeong was just starting to pull back as my right hand came up in a flash of steel. The knife cut deep, severing tendons, and her hand spasmed open, sword clattering to the stone as she broke away.

  Ji-yeong caught her balance and we stared at each other. Blood welled from the ugly wound at her wrist, running down her now-useless fingers and dripping to the bricks. Without taking my eyes off her I stepped to the side and bent to pick up her discarded sword, then flicked the blood from my knife and returned it to its sheath.

  As I did, I noticed the blood had stopped dripping from Ji-yeong’s fingers. Green light glowed about her wrist; the gash narrowed and closed, skin and vein and tendon reknitting. In only a few seconds her arm was whole again. She flexed her fingers experimentally, then shook off the blood and switched her remaining sword back to her right hand.

  I hate fighting life mages.

  “Nice trick,” Ji-yeong said flatly.

  I lunged. Ji-yeong’s sword parried mine with a clang, slashing back at me as I leant away from the riposte. She was fighting at full strength now, and from her stance it was clear she’d finally started taking me seriously.

  Our swords clashed again and again, footsteps stuttering on the stone. The sea breeze whirled around us, carrying away the smell of blood and sweat. Now that our weapons were matched, my longer reach let me slash Ji-yeong across the forearm and knee. Blood welled up, but the gashes in her skin healed almost as fast as I could inflict them. I moved in . . . and this time Ji-yeong came in to meet me, sword thrusting low. My precognition showed me a brief agonising vision of the sword ramming through my armour and into my stomach, and I threw myself desperately to one side, aborting my attack. The blow clipped me, spinning me off balance, and I hit the ground hard, rolling and coming back to my feet before Ji-yeong could follow up.

  “You’re good,” Ji-yeong said. She wasn’t even out of breath. “You did beat Darren, didn’t you?”

  This isn’t working. Ji-yeong could heal herself; I couldn’t. None of her attacks had gotten through my armour, yet I was more hurt than she was.

  But even life magic has limits. If I could hurt Ji-yeong badly enough I could take her out of the fight, force her to shut her body down to heal. A sword or knife wasn’t going to cut it. I needed really excessive force.

  Ji-yeong attacked again, slashing and stabbing. I gave ground, nicking her once or twice, but this time she didn’t even slow down. The fight had moved away from the pillars and Ji-yeong used her speed to put herself between them and me, forcing me towards the cliff. I let Ji-yeong drive me back towards the edge.

  Five steps to the edge, four. My arms ached from the strikes, and sweat dripped into my eyes. Three steps, two steps, and I held my ground, aware of the sheer drop behind me. Ji-yeong didn’t let up, striking again and again, trying to push me back over the edge. Her blade slipped past my guard and I had to block with my forearm, the impact sending a shock up the bone.

  My next parry was at an awkward angle, and with a ring of metal the sword spun from my hand. I jumped left as the sword clanged to the stone, only a foot or two from the edge. Ji-yeong moved to block my path to the sword as I circled around.

  Now Ji-yeong was the one with her back to the drop. The classic move at this point would be to kick her off and send her falling to the stone below, but that was clearly exactly what she was expecting and she was holding herself low and braced, making herself a difficult target. Staying low, Ji-yeong edged towards where the sword lay, one inch at a time. Her foot came up against the blade with a click, but she didn’t take her eyes off me. I didn’t move. Ji-yeong crouched down, reaching for the sword with her left hand. Her fingers closed around the hilt.

  I charged, left hand slipping into my pocket. Ji-yeong straightened in a flash, coming side-on to make herself a difficult target, but I didn’t slow down. If someone knows you’re coming and has time to brace themselves, then pushing or kicking them off a ledge is really hard.

  Tackling them off, though . . . that’s easy. As long as you don’t mind coming along for the ride.

  I slammed into Ji-yeong at full speed. Her sword flashed up and pain flared along my face, but I was heavier than her and my momentum carried us both over the edge. When you fall your first reaction is to grab something and Ji-yeong’s arms went reflexively for me, but her fingers were locked around her swords and the blades scraped off my armour. We fell apart, accelerating, and with my left hand I snapped the item I’d drawn from my pocket.

  Life rings look like small hoops of metal and glass, woven in a twisted circle. As the ring broke the spell within it activated, expanding to engulf me in a bubble of air magic. The spell lightened my body, steadying my motion, and suddenly I wasn’t accelerating anymore, just sinking at a steady rate of ten feet per second. I started carrying life rings after an incident a couple of years ago involving a burning building; when you have to make a quick exit from somewhere high up, it’s useful to be able to fall like a feather.

  Ji-yeong didn’t have a life ring. She fell like a rock.

  A human body hitting a hard surface makes a very distinctive sound, a kind of snap-thud. The impact drives the breath from the lungs so there’s no shout or cry. I landed a few seconds later, touching down gently; the life ring’s
magic lingered a moment longer, then dissolved into the air. One of Ji-yeong’s swords had bounced towards the wall. I picked it up, testing the edge to make sure it hadn’t been dulled or chipped, then walked over.

  Ji-yeong had fallen forty feet onto flat stone: crippling if not fatal for a normal human. Life mages are tougher, but even so they’ve got their limits. Ji-yeong was lying flat, legs twisted in a way that suggested multiple broken bones, struggling to breathe. In my mage’s sight, trails of green energy twined frantically around her body and limbs: I couldn’t make out the details but I knew what they were doing. I leant over and placed the point of the sword under Ji-yeong’s chin.

  Ji-yeong’s eyes came open, hazy with pain. “I know you can regenerate from that,” I told her. “Try anything and I’ll drive this sword through your jaw and into your brain. Clear?”

  Ji-yeong had to try a few times before she managed to speak. “Okay,” she said in a raspy voice. She had to keep her head still to stop the point of the blade from breaking the skin.

  I straightened up, moving the sword away. “Where’s Anne?”

  “Windmill,” Ji-yeong said with difficulty. “Crystal.”

  “That was where she was then. What about now?”

  “Don’t know . . . Crystal . . . moving her. Sam’s shadows.”

  “Through a gateway?”

  “Doesn’t have gate stones . . . Foot.”

  “To where?”

  “Keep.”

  That had been more than half an hour ago. Even on foot, Crystal would be back at the keep by now. “How much does Sagash know?”

  “He doesn’t.”

  I dipped the sword towards her. “Don’t lie to me.”

  “I’m not!”

  “You’re telling me none of this showed up on the sensors?”

  “Crystal messed with them.” Ji-yeong’s words were clearer now; she’d already begun to recover. “I looked. There wasn’t any proof, that was why . . .”

  Why you wanted to take me back instead. Yeah, you might not want to remind me of that little detail. “Where’s Sagash?”