Alex Verus 5: Hidden

by Benedict Jacka

  “Or if Sagash just hands you over to the Keepers himself,” I said to Crystal. “What was the reward up to again?”

  Crystal didn’t answer. “It seems we are at something of an impasse,” Sagash rasped. “Both of you wish me to side with you against the other. However, neither of you can present a convincing motivation for my support.”

  “All we need to do is—” Crystal began.

  “You have made your preferences clear,” Sagash rasped.

  Again Crystal fell silent. I knew Sagash had made up his mind, and I didn’t have any more high cards left to play. I could try to use my connection to Richard, but it would be no more than a bluff. Sagash looked towards Darren and Sam. “So far you have both singularly failed in what has been expected of you. Let us see if you can remedy this. You have heard the petitions. What would you say is the most appropriate method of resolving this dispute?”

  Darren and Sam looked at Sagash, then each other. I was expecting Sam to answer, but it was Darren who spoke first. “Uh,” he said. “Trial by combat?”

  “An excellent suggestion,” Sagash rasped.

  “Suggestion” my arse. He knew what he was meant to say. Already I was calculating my chances. Duels aren’t my specialty, but they’re not Crystal’s either. She’d gotten the best of me at the windmill, but I’d been too busy running to hit back. The last time we’d gone one-on-one, I’d beaten her. Not perfect odds, but . . .

  Crystal’s thoughts must have been running along the same lines. “Wait,” she said. “This makes no sense. There’s no reason to use a method like—”

  “Don’t fancy your chances?” I said.

  Sagash raised his eyebrows towards Crystal. “You have some objection?”

  “The decision is yours, obviously,” Crystal said, changing track without the slightest pause, “but it should be your decision, not the outcome of some uncertain combat. Why trust the result to something so unreliable? Whether Verus or I can prevail in a duel has nothing to do which course of action is the most profitable.”

  “Your point would be valid,” Sagash rasped. “However, I fear you are under a misapprehension. You will indeed be fighting a trial by combat. Just not against Verus.”

  I stared at Sagash. Who does he—?

  And then I got it. “Wait,” I said sharply, taking a step forward.

  Before my foot had touched the ground, Darren, Sam, and Sagash had turned on me. Darren and Sam both had a hand raised, watching. Sagash didn’t move, but from the doorway and from the darkness of the room below shadows moved, shifting their positions, white eyes locking onto me. I froze.

  “Were you attempting to give me an order?” Sagash asked.

  “You don’t need to do this,” I said quickly. “We can—”

  “Thank you, Verus,” Sagash rasped. “I will take your suggestion under advisement. At present I am considering you a neutral party. I suggest you take no action to alter your position.”

  You evil-minded bastard, I thought furiously. I knew what was going to happen, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Crystal was frowning slightly. A moment later I heard a metallic creaking noise as a door on the lower level swung open.

  Sagash had to have some way of controlling the shadows without verbal commands. He didn’t seem to have any trouble commanding multiple shadows at once either, given that he’d done all this while still threatening me. A part of my mind noted that and filed it away, while most of my attention was drawn to the scene below. Two shadows loped in, followed by four more, and between the middle pair, being marched between them with their claws gripping her arms, was Anne.

  Anne looked . . . bad. Dried blood was crusted at her wrists and spattered across her shorts and the pink T-shirt, which had picked up some more holes since I’d last seen her. The coat I’d given her was gone, which seemed like an unnecessary indignity on Crystal’s part, though I guess given what else they’d been about to do to her, something as small as that wouldn’t really have been a big concern. But she was alive, and she wasn’t moving as though she were hurt. Her gaze flicked to me as she came in and stayed there for a second before being dragged away to the dark figure of Sagash at the other end of the room.

  Crystal was standing on the balcony directly above Anne, but I saw her go still as she finally figured it out. “Anne,” Sagash rasped. “Welcome back.”

  Anne was silent.

  “This makes no sense—” Crystal began.

  “You have difficulty following my reasoning?” Sagash rasped. “Then let me explain. You chose to hide Anne’s presence from me. Verus’s explanation for this lapse of judgement on your part is that you were attempting to consume her and depart. It strikes me that the simplest way for you to prove your good faith in the matter is for you to eliminate her yourself.”

  “We need her for our research. If she’s dead we—”

  “—can find another,” Sagash finished. “Her continuing presence while we work here would be a . . . temptation, wouldn’t you say? I believe this shadow realm will function more efficiently with only one of you.”

  Crystal was still. “Very well,” she said at last, her voice colourless.

  “Besides,” Sagash rasped. “I am, after all, a researcher.” His eyes came down to rest on Anne. “Let us see how your skills have developed. Are you aware of why you are here?”

  Anne glanced down at the duelling circle on the floor, then up at Sagash. Her voice was quiet in the echoing room. “I know what you want from me.”

  “Excellent,” Sagash said. “In which case I see no reason to delay.”

  “Mage Sagash,” I said. I kept my voice polite, even though politeness was the last thing I was feeling. “Would it be possible for me to speak with her before the duel?”

  “For what reason?”

  “Because depending on the possible outcomes, it may be pretty damn difficult for me to speak with her after.”

  Sagash gave me a considering look. “You have five minutes.”

  I headed for the stairs down.

  chapter 12

  By the time I’d reached floor level, the shadows had brought Anne to the far side of the duelling ring. They released her but held their position around her, white eyes staring. I didn’t look around, but as I walked towards her I scanned the area. There were three doors, though only the one through which Anne had been brought was still open, and eight shadows with more above. I briefly calculated the odds of us successfully making a break for it under the noses of Sagash, Crystal, Darren, and Sam, and decided they were close enough to zero to make no difference.

  Anne looked worse up close. The blood crusting her wrists was covering two ugly-looking wounds between hand and forearm which looked like they’d pierced through and through. Her skin was paler than it should be, and she’d picked up some new bruises on her face and legs. But her eyes were steady, and she was looking at me with some expression I couldn’t place.

  “Are you okay?” I said quietly once I was within earshot.

  “Why did you come back?” Anne said.

  “Nice to see you too. You got the gist?”

  “I’ve done this before.”

  “Good. Okay, not good, but—”

  “I’m supposed to kill Crystal,” Anne said, her voice flat.

  “That’d be the better out of the two alternatives, yeah. You up to it?”

  Anne looked at me without speaking for a second. “Why did you come back?”

  “Where else was I going to go? You’re welcome, by the way.”

  “You’re welcome?”

  “Okay, maybe I’m missing something here, but I was under the impression Crystal was—”

  “About to kill me.”

  “Okay . . . then how exactly is this any worse? Work with me here. We don’t have much time!”

  “Time . . .” Anne passed a hand ov
er her face. “You don’t understand what you’ve done.”

  “Then tell me!”

  Anne closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. “I told you back at the windmill,” she said. “This was what I was afraid of. Not Crystal. This.”

  “You’ve got a chance here,” I said. “Okay, it’s not a great chance, but it’s something. If you can beat Crystal, then Sagash might let you go.”

  Anne gave a sort of half laugh, despairing. “He’s never going to let me go.”

  “How are you so sure?”

  “Because he’s Sagash.” Anne shook her head. “You don’t understand. With Crystal it would have been quick. Now . . . You haven’t made it better. Just slower.”

  I stared at Anne, reevaluating. I didn’t like the idea, but I had to admit it was possible. “Okay,” I said. “So, new plan. Don’t kill Crystal. Just take her down, hurt her a little but leave her able to get up again and—”

  “Alex,” Anne said, and all of a sudden she looked very tired. “Just stop.”

  “And do what? Give up?”

  Anne looked past me towards the floor, and when she raised her eyes again there was something distant and alien in them. “Do you know how many people I killed in this circle?”

  “No, and right now I don’t care.”

  “I do.”

  “We do not exactly have very much choice here!”

  “There’s always a choice,” Anne said quietly.

  “To do what? Stand there and get killed?” Anne didn’t answer and my heart sank. “No! Anne, I’m out of tricks here. I haven’t got anything more up my sleeve. I’m counting on you.”

  “To do what?” Anne’s voice was weary. “Be her again?”

  “If that’s what it takes to stay alive? Yes.”

  “I’m tired of making that choice.”

  “The other is worse!”

  “Is it?” Anne asked. “Isn’t that how you become a Dark mage in the first place? They don’t come from nowhere. Darren and Sam didn’t. All you have to do is choose yourself over everyone else. You tell yourself it’s just one thing . . . and then after that there’s another and another. Until you’re not sure how much of you is . . .” Anne shook her head. “I’m tired. Of all the death, and justifying it to myself. Getting more like them. If I die here . . . it stops.” She was silent for a moment. “Maybe I deserve this.”

  I stared at Anne, frustration mixing with fury. I’d never felt more distant from her than I did now. Guilt I could understand. But just giving up, letting someone destroy you . . . I wasn’t getting through and we were running out of time. I looked around to see that Sagash was out of sight, up on the balcony above, his shadows still watching. Crystal had descended and was standing at the other end of the duelling ring; Darren and Sam watched cautiously from a distance.

  This isn’t working. Anne wasn’t listening to me. I needed to get through to that other Anne, the one I’d seen in Elsewhere. Hadn’t she said that she came out in times like this? Why wasn’t Anne acting like that now?

  Because that side is weaker. She’d admitted it, or as good as. Anne could keep her bottled up. And if she decided not to fight, then that other side would die with her. Maybe I could persuade her—

  No. I was doing this the wrong way. That other Anne wasn’t a creature of reason; she was instinct and emotion. I needed something more primal. “Is that how you think this is going to be?” I said. “You die here as some sort of martyr?”

  “It’s not like—”

  “Yes, it is. You think you’re going out as a hero. You know what you’re going to be remembered as? A coward. Crystal’ll take her time finishing you off while Darren and Sam and the rest laugh at you. You’re a joke to them. The little girl who everyone can push around.”

  “Why are you being like this? I thought you’d understand!”

  “Understand what? That you’re trying to commit a really twisted version of suicide-by-cop? That doesn’t make you a good person, it makes you mentally ill. Oh, and by the way, what makes you think they’re going to kill you? Crystal still needs a research subject, remember? If she beats you she can probably beg a favour from Sagash to keep you around. Of course, they wouldn’t need all of you. An experiment doesn’t need arms or legs. I saw someone like that in a Dark mage’s lab once. The mage kept him around as a curiosity. At least, I think it was a him. After you cut enough bits off it gets kind of hard to tell. No eyes, either, or tongue. Could still scream, though. They could probably keep you alive for a good fifty or sixty years. Does that sound like fun? Nice way to spend your time?”

  Anne was staring at me. There was disbelief there, and horror—and a seed of anger, too. Good. “But sure,” I said. “If you think that’s worth doing, then go for it. Not that it’ll just be you. Once you’re gone, you think Crystal and Sagash are going to have much motivation to keep me around? Oh, and let’s not forget Variam! If you don’t get back to London, you think he’ll just sit around and wait? He’ll find a way to come after us, and Luna as well. And the same thing’ll happen to them. I’ll be dead, your friends will be dead, and you’ll be in a screaming tortured existence for the rest of your life, all because you decided not to fight back—but hey, you’ll have the moral satisfaction of not having killed anyone. Anyone else, that is. I’m sure that’ll make it all worthwhile.”

  Anne’s face had gone white. “Well,” I said. “I guess if I’m not going to be seeing Vari and Luna again, then at least I won’t have to explain to them that this was your fault.” I turned away and paused. “Or then again, maybe Sagash’ll keep them around as well. Do the same thing to them that he did to you.”

  I walked away. I didn’t look back at the expression on Anne’s face—I knew what I’d see if I did. I climbed the stairs back up to the upper level, tension and anger mixing with self-loathing.

  Most of what I’d just said to Anne had probably been a lie. The last time Anne had been the target of a ritual like this, they hadn’t been aiming to torture her, just to kill her, and I had no idea of what was going to happen to me afterwards or what Luna and Vari might be doing. But I’d known that Anne hadn’t been in any kind of state to sit down and think that out rationally. She was despairing and vulnerable and I’d hit her where she was weakest, breaking her resolve so that she would do what I wanted.

  I really am Richard’s apprentice.

  A feminine voice spoke inside my head. Don’t flatter yourself.

  I started slightly, looking around. Sagash was still at the far end of the balcony, apparently indifferent. Darren and Sam were down at ground level. Anne hadn’t moved . . . and neither had Crystal. She was looking away from me, arms folded. But it was her voice I’d heard.

  You know, I said silently, it’s not polite to listen in on private conversations.

  Did you think diviners were the only ones who could eavesdrop? Crystal replied. The whole sentence was delivered in an instant, faster than speech but without any loss of meaning. Strangely enough, Crystal’s voice actually sounded more distinctive this way; it was cool and precise, matching her perfectly. And once again, don’t flatter yourself. I’ve met your master. He wouldn’t have let himself fall into so vulnerable a position.

  I could say the same for you, I said. How long have you been working on this plan, by the way? I’d love to know just how many months of your work I managed to screw up.

  More than you know. Crystal’s voice was cold. Normally I don’t allow myself the luxury of revenge. But let me give you one piece of advice. Don’t be here when I step out of the circle.

  Confident, aren’t you? If you couldn’t beat me, what makes you think you have a chance against Anne?

  If I’d really wanted you dead, you wouldn’t be here. A mistake I won’t repeat. Last chance, Verus.

  I’ll make you a counteroffer, I replied. You, me, and Anne all team up and get out of here. You
have to know by now that Sagash isn’t going to let you keep Anne alive.

  Really, Crystal said. You expect me to betray Sagash to help the two of you escape?

  The three of us, not the two of us, and yes.

  Do explain why.

  Because you’ve got a better chance against Sagash than you do in that duelling ring against Anne.

  That would have been more convincing if you hadn’t just been trying and failing to persuade her to fight at all.

  “Time.” Sagash’s rasping voice cut across the room, and I nearly flinched. “Prepare yourselves.”

  At the far end, the shadows closed in on Anne, forcing her towards the circle. Darren made one halfhearted step towards Crystal as if to do the same. She gave him a single level look which stopped him dead, then walked to the circle’s edge.

  Well? I asked, scanning ahead to see what would happen if I stood where I was. What do you say?

  Verus, if you actually believed she could beat me, you wouldn’t be bargaining now. All you have are empty threats.

  Sagash was about to say something about terms. After that, the future forked and became blurry, but I could just make out a shifting blur of combat. It looked as though . . . huh. I looked away after only an instant, hiding what I’d just seen behind other thoughts so Crystal couldn’t catch it.

  “Stand ready,” Sagash rasped.

  Crystal stepped over the edge of the ring, her eyes on her opponent. A moment later, Anne did the same. Her head was tilted down, her hair hiding her eyes so that I couldn’t see her expression, and she was holding very still. I wished for Crystal’s telepathy so that I could know what Anne was thinking. But since I couldn’t . . . Do you know what your problem is, Crystal?

  You’re going to lecture me on my problems? Really?

  Lack of empathy, I thought. You can read people’s thoughts, but you don’t recognise them as belonging to real people. You don’t pay attention to their motivations or what they care about; you just use brute force to make them do what you want.

  So you’re capable of seeing the obvious, Crystal replied. Congratulations. You’re correct; I don’t care what you want, or what she wants, or Sagash, or his apprentices. You, all of you . . . you irritate me. You have no idea how tedious it is to hear your thoughts go round and round obsessing about your petty little problems. All I wanted was to complete the ritual and never have to see any of you again. Instead you’ve managed to make it all pointless. If you’d just waited a few more hours, I would have been able to put this girl to use. Now I’m going to have to kill her to no benefit at all. And then I’m going to leave, and then I’m going to start all over again to find another suitable specimen, going through as many adepts and apprentices as it takes. You’re so concerned about the lives of apprentices? Far more are going to lose their lives as a result of what you’ve done today, all because you had to interfere. You can think on that as you watch her die. Crystal’s voice cut off abruptly.