Risen, p.14
Risen, page 14
part #12 of Alex Verus Series
I sent out a call. There was no sound, but my skills in Elsewhere were far advanced beyond what they’d once been, and I knew that Anne had heard me. I stood and waited.
Nothing. No shift.
She wasn’t coming.
I walked forward into Anne’s Elsewhere.
Instantly, the world changed. I could feel a presence in the air, charged and alive. The wind whipped up around me, hissing through the trees and rising to a roar. I’d crossed into something’s territory, and it had noticed me.
I changed direction, moving next to one of the trees. It was a huge oak, hundreds of years old, great branches rising up into the sky. I leant against it and let the essence of the tree flow into me, feeling the earth, the water, the leaves. Anne’s Elsewhere is its own world, sculpted over many years. It’s not my world, but I loved Anne, and this place was made in her image. I knew it because I knew her.
The colour of the tree’s bark spread to cover my body, its leaves hiding my hair. My feet ran down into the earth. I took my essence, the core of myself, and muted it, smoothing it out below the surface of the forest around me.
The storm hit seconds later. A roaring gale lashed the trees, rain hissing through the leaves. Through the canopy above, I had a vague image of a monstrous shape, legs like mountains, its head hidden in the clouds. I felt its attention turn towards me, massive and terrible. It brushed across the forest like fingers sweeping a carpet, huge yet strangely delicate. With a crash, a branch broke above my head, smashed down into the earth nearby, the sound almost drowned by the scream of the wind . . .
The presence passed over without finding me. It groped away to the north, fading, and was gone.
I stayed quite still for maybe a minute, neither moving nor breathing. The rain above died away to a drizzle and stopped, and the wind fell off until it was only a breeze.
I pulled my consciousness together again and stepped away from the tree. The broken branch was lying nearby, jagged and wet from the rain. I put my hand on the tree trunk in silent thanks and set off through the forest. Far away to the north, the storm raged.
I slipped through the trees quickly and quietly. When the wall of black glass loomed up in front of me, I jumped it in a single bound. I came down in an open courtyard, the only feature the black tower rising up ahead.
The sounds of the storm felt muted here. The wind blew less strongly and the hostile presence was weaker. I could still sense it, but there was something between, a kind of shield. The thing could still find me, but it would take time.
I crossed the courtyard and entered the tower, absent-mindedly creating a doorway that closed behind me. The inside was made of the same reflective black glass, soft lights glowing at intervals from the walls. I climbed a spiral staircase and opened a door.
The room within was the one that I’d come to think of as Dark Anne’s drawing room. A long dining table of dark wood occupied the centre, with a sofa off to one side. The room was barer than I remembered: the chairs by the sofa were gone, as were most of the ones at the table. The sofa was green, as were the glass bowls on the table, contrasting sharply with the black walls and ceiling. Open arch windows at the far end looked out onto a spectacular view.
Dark Anne was leaning on the table with her head propped up in one hand. Her dress was the vivid red one that she’d worn to our first meeting, but it was rumpled, as though she’d been sleeping in it. With her free hand, she was playing with a long knife. Her eyes flicked up as I walked in.
‘You could at least answer when I call,’ I said.
Anne flipped the knife into the air, catching it by the blade.
I crossed the room and walked past her. There was one other chair, placed opposite from Anne, but I didn’t sit down. Anne’s eyes tracked me as I moved.
The view from the windows was just as amazing as I remembered, the forest beyond the walls stretching away into a fantastic landscape of tower-sized trees, mirrored lakes and distant mountains . . . but there was a difference. The first time that I’d been here, most of the world had been bathed in sunlight, while the tower and the walls around it had received only the murky light of an overcast day. Now the contrast was the other way round. The tower was still overcast, but the world outside was covered in black storm-clouds. Lightning flickered around the mountains, and the towering trees swayed in what had to be gale-force winds.
Dark Anne’s prison hadn’t changed. Everywhere else had.
‘I’ve got to say,’ I said, ‘I don’t really like what you’ve done with the place.’
She shot me a look.
‘Your jinn tried to catch me on the way in,’ I said conversationally. ‘You know, when you only see them in the outside world, it’s easy to forget how powerful they are. Having to act through a possessed human really limits them. Here, though . . . they’re like a sea monster in the ocean.’
No answer. I turned, leaning my elbows on the window-sill. Dark Anne was spinning the knife between her fingers, watching me out of the corner of her eye. ‘Just as well, I suppose,’ I said. ‘It’s so powerful it’s hard for it to find me. Like a giant hunting a mouse.’
Dark Anne finally spoke. ‘Are you going to talk all day?’
‘You’re trapped here, aren’t you?’
‘Right, because I’ve got nothing better to do than come running when you call. Get over yourself.’
I shrugged. ‘You’re not a prisoner?’ I pointed out through the window. ‘Then step past those walls and back again.’
Dark Anne scowled.
‘I can even tell you when it happened,’ I said. ‘It was last night. You were thinking about paying your family a visit, weren’t you? I mean, you’ve dealt with everyone else. So after you took down Sagash, you figured it was time to go settle some old scores. Only the jinn didn’t want that, did it? It was happy to feed you all the power you needed as long as you were using it to fight Sagash. But once it had his shadow realm, well, it wasn’t going to put all that at risk just because you had a grudge against your two pain-in-the-arse cousins. Of course, you weren’t going to take no for an answer, so you forced the issue. After all, you’ve done that lots of times, and the jinn’s always backed down, right? Except that was when you discovered that all the times it did that, it wasn’t because it was weaker. It was because it was biding its time. And now that it’s stronger than you, it doesn’t need you any more. Which is why you’re slumped over your dinner table, feeling sorry for yourself.’
‘Oh, screw you!’ Anne snapped. ‘Like you’ve done anything to help!’
‘I haven’t helped?’ I said, and suddenly my voice was harsh. ‘How about all the times I told you this was going to happen using these exact fucking words? I told you the jinn wasn’t your friend, I told you it was stronger than you, I told you only a complete moron would let a marid into her head and expect to be the one running the show. And you just rolled your eyes and sniggered. Well, you going to laugh at me now? How about it, Anne? Still think it’s funny?’
Anne glowered at me but didn’t speak. ‘Four weeks,’ I said. ‘Four weeks! That’s how long it took you to end up here. You know what’s really ironic? When I first met you, you were a prisoner in this tower. You finally get your freedom, and it takes you less than one month to end up stuck right back inside the same prison you were trying to get away from!’
‘I’ve noticed, okay?’ Anne snapped. ‘Is that all you came for? To say “I told you so”?’
‘The only reason? No. But now I’m here I’m going to do it, because I am really pissed off. I expect this shit from the Council. They don’t trust me and they don’t know whose side I’m on. But you knew damn well I was giving you that warning because I loved you. I’m one of the foremost experts in the British Isles when it comes to possession and imbued items, I know a fair amount about jinn, and I can see the future. I am one of the best people in the entire country to give advice on not getting possessed. And your response was to do literally the exact opposite of what I told you!’
Anne stared at me, then suddenly broke into a grin. ‘Aww, you still love me? That’s cute.’
I threw up my hands. ‘Damn it!’
‘All right, all right, cool it.’ Anne leant back in her chair, but her back was straighter and she seemed more alive all of a sudden. ‘Fine, I might have made a few mistakes. No need to make a big deal over it.’
I drew in a breath to explode, then stopped myself. I was fairly sure she was just baiting me at this point.
‘So,’ Anne said. ‘You going to help?’
‘I’ve wanted that jinn out of your head from the beginning. Why the hell else do you think I’m here?’
‘Works for me.’ Anne jumped to her feet. ‘Let’s do it.’
‘Do what?’
Anne nodded towards the window.
‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Your plan is . . . what? Fight it?’
‘Yep.’
I stared. ‘Are you serious?’
‘Uh, yeah?’
‘Anne, you just went up against this thing last night,’ I said. ‘It kicked your arse. And if I had to bet, it probably wasn’t even trying.’
Dark Anne scowled. Something I’d learned about Anne’s shadow – she really hated looking weak. ‘It caught me by surprise, okay? I figure we can manage with the two of us. Are we doing this or what?’
I looked at Anne for a second. Then I pulled out the spare chair, sat down and covered my face with both hands. ‘Oh my God, you’re an idiot.’
‘Hey,’ Dark Anne said. ‘I gave that thing a hell of a fight. Yeah, it pushed me back here, but it didn’t have an easy time of it.’
I took a deep breath, took my hands away. ‘Anne. The reason it had trouble pushing you back is because it had to work really, really hard to do it without killing you.’
‘No, it didn’t.’
‘You saw that thing.’ I pointed towards the north wall. ‘You seriously think you are going to beat that in a contest of strength?’
‘She did it.’ Dark Anne never uses her other half’s name. ‘And I’m stronger than she is.’
‘Okay, number one,’ I said. ‘She fought back instantly. Possessing entities gain power the more you rely on them, and she didn’t. As soon as I woke her up, she went for the jinn all-out, with everything she had. No compromise, no hesitation. You’ve been letting the jinn act through you for weeks. You lost your chance a long time ago.’ Anne started to speak and I held up two fingers. ‘Number two. One of the last pieces of advice that Arachne gave me was that if I went into your Elsewhere and tried that same trick again, it wouldn’t work. The jinn will swat me like a mosquito.’
Dark Anne put her hands on her hips. ‘You got a better plan?’
‘As a matter of fact, yes.’
‘What is it?’
I just looked at her.
‘I’m not hearing anything.’
‘I’ve told you enough times.’
‘Told . . . ?’ Anne trailed off and her face darkened. ‘Oh no.’
‘You knew this was coming.’
‘No.’
‘There is exactly one way you’re going to have a chance against that jinn,’ I said. ‘And that’s to stop flying with one wing.’
‘No.’
‘Even your other half wouldn’t be able to do it on her own any more.’
Dark Anne’s face was set. ‘No.’
‘Come on, Anne!’ I rose to my feet, started pacing. ‘What’s your endgame here? Even if we could get rid of the jinn with just the two of us – which we can’t – you seriously think you and your other self can keep on living with some supercharged magical version of multiple personality disorder?’
‘Worked so far.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘It hasn’t. The whole damn reason the jinn could possess you in the first place was by wedging itself into the crack between the two of you. You were going to fall apart anyway, Dr Shirland was pretty clear about that. The jinn just sped things up.’
‘So you want me to do what, kiss and make up? Screw that.’
‘Listen—’
‘No, you listen.’ Dark Anne pointed across the table at me. ‘That bitch kept me locked up for years. Shut away from light and feeling and . . . everything! She got everything! The only reason you’re even here is because of her. You don’t care about me.’
‘Anne—’
‘Screw you. I’m not giving her anything.’
‘You can’t manage on your own! Neither of you can! She can’t handle violence or confrontation and deals with problems by pretending they don’t exist. And you’re a violent criminal with the impulse control of a rabid wombat.’
‘Yeah, well, I’d rather be me than her.’
‘You’re going to end up dead, enslaved, or worse.’
Dark Anne shrugged.
I threw up my hands. ‘What does it take to get through to you?’
‘You think you’re so clever, you figure out some way to fix things,’ Dark Anne said. ‘Something that doesn’t involve her.’
‘There isn’t one!’
‘Well, then I guess you’re out of luck.’
I stared at her. ‘You really are this short-sighted, aren’t you? If you were on a plane that needed two people to fly it, you’d let it crash rather than work together.’
‘Sounds good to me.’
Frustration boiled up inside me. How could anyone be so stupid as to . . . ?
. . . except I already knew the answer, didn’t I? I’d said it myself. Because she was violent and short-sighted with no impulse control. Trying to reason with Dark Anne was like arguing with a hungry tiger. There was a damn good reason the other Anne had kept her locked up.
I wasn’t going to solve this by talking.
Light Anne had to be in this tower. If I could find her . . .
‘You try and break her out,’ Dark Anne said, ‘and I’ll fight you with everything I’ve got.’
That’s the trouble with being close to someone. They can read you too. ‘It’s the only way you’re getting out of this.’
‘Bullshit.’ Dark Anne’s face was set. ‘You just want your girlfriend back.’
We stared at each other across the table. I knew she wasn’t bluffing. I’m far more skilled than Anne in Elsewhere, but this was her Elsewhere and she was on home ground. If it came to a fight then I might be able to get past her, force my way down to the basement, where Light Anne was trapped . . .
. . . but there was no way I could do it without drawing the attention of the jinn. It’d come down on us both like a hurricane.
‘Fine,’ I said, and straightened. ‘You win. You get to stay here, just the way you are. Enjoy it.’
Dark Anne shrugged.
‘You remember the first time we met?’ I said. ‘You told me that if there was one thing the two of you agreed on, it was that you weren’t going to be a slave again. You told me you wanted to be the one in charge, the one who made the decisions. You told me you wanted to be queen.’ I gestured to the room around us. ‘How’s that working out for you?’
Anne said nothing, and I turned and left. I could feel the jinn’s presence, drawing closer. It wouldn’t take it much longer to find me.
I opened a door in one of the black-glass walls and stepped out of Anne’s Elsewhere, back into my own dreams.
10
I woke up next morning in a good mood. The morning sun lit the castle and glittered off the sea, the air smelt fresh and clean, and the waves made a soothing sound on the rocks below. Everything seemed bright and clear.
I really shouldn’t have been so happy. Anne was possessed, Variam was a prisoner, the marid was planning an apocalypse and I had maybe a day to live. But I was in a good mood all the same, and it was because of the conversations I’d had last night. I’d been carrying around an enormous amount of pent-up stress, and it had been a relief to let it out. Even getting to tell Anne that she was an idiot had made me feel better. In a weird way, it had been the most honest conversation we’d ever had.
Nothing had really changed, and all the horrible things due to happen today were still going to happen. But there’s really only so long you can keep on feeling miserable about stuff. Eventually you just have to accept that this is the new normal and that’s how things are. And I’d already decided I wasn’t going to waste my last day moping.
I got up, stretched, worked the kinks out of my muscles while enjoying the view from the window, then went downstairs to wash my hands and face in the pond. There was a new sentry outside the windmill; I chatted with him, asked if the night had been quiet (it had), then once I’d freshened up I headed for the barracks.
The barracks was busy with morning bustle. I got a few hellos as I waited in line for breakfast. Once I had a moment, I reached out through the dreamstone. November?
November’s reply came instantly. Oh, Mr Verus. I’m glad to hear from you, I was becoming a little worried.
November’s physical shell was back in our world, in a south London flat, but I could talk to him as easily as if he were right next to me. Dreamstones are handy like that. So what’s been happening with the Council?
A constant stream of rather frantic communications, November said. With the tail-end of Nimbus’s force not making it into the shadow realm and the reserves being cut off, the Council were somewhat concerned. They demanded reports, but since the mages they were demanding them from were under attack at the time, they had some trouble getting an accurate picture. Still, things apparently quieted down after the first hour, and since then they’ve been in more or less constant contact with Landis and Nimbus and their seconds for, well, the entire night as far as I can tell. I’ve never seen the Keeper net so active.
I’d got close enough to the front of the line to see that the cook – it was Jamie again – had done a fry-up. The soldier ahead of me scooped bacon, fried tomatoes and mushrooms onto his plate. The smell reminded me that I was very hungry. Active with what?
