Risen, p.21
Risen, page 21
part #12 of Alex Verus Series
‘I’m sure the Council’s told you about the item I have,’ I said, lifting my right hand for a second before letting it drop. ‘So far I’ve been using it for personal combat, but that wasn’t what fateweavers were made for. They were tools for commanding armies. During the attack on the tombs, I got a sense for how that would work.’
‘Were you using it?’ Landis asked.
‘I tried, but every time I’d try something on a large scale it’d fizzle out. I’d try to bring about a favourable outcome, but every single person on our side was trying to do the same thing on a smaller scale in different ways and they’d pull the futures in a dozen different directions. It was only later that I realised what the problem was. In the Dark Wars, fateweavers were carried by generals.’ I looked between Rain and Landis. ‘To make this work, I need tactical command. The Keepers and soldiers in the attack have to be following my direct orders.’
Rain snorted.
‘It’s not a joke,’ I said.
‘Verus, there’s no way in hell Nimbus is giving you command,’ Rain said. ‘Hate to break it to you.’
‘It’s not Nimbus’s support I need,’ I said. ‘He might be director, but it’s the two of you that the Order of the Star and the Order of the Shield really trust. Being assigned command doesn’t matter a damn if the troops won’t listen. But the Keepers do listen to both of you.’
Rain and Landis looked at one another.
‘I think I can win this battle,’ I said. ‘With much fewer losses than we’d take otherwise. But I’ll need you two to vouch for me.’
‘Even if we take your word for it,’ Landis said, ‘might I raise the inconvenient point that we have been specifically ordered not to attack, and that we are, furthermore, disobeying our orders right at this moment by continuing to stand here?’
I nodded. ‘On that subject, I think we can expect Nimbus any minute now.’
Rain and Landis didn’t say anything more, and neither did I. We stood and waited on the rooftop. The midday sun shone down, heat radiating from the stone.
We heard Nimbus coming before we saw him. Raised voices sounded from below roof level, drawing closer. There. I pushed with the fateweaver, aiming for a point five or ten minutes away.
Nimbus came striding up the stairs, looking pissed off. Two Keepers were trailing him, Slate and Avenor; I knew both, and neither liked me. ‘Rain,’ Nimbus demanded as he walked towards us. ‘What are your men still doing here?’
Rain glanced at Landis.
‘I’m afraid a withdrawal isn’t viable,’ I told Nimbus.
‘I wasn’t talking to you,’ Nimbus snapped. He came to a stop ten feet away, with Slate and Avenor standing a step back. Rain, Landis and I stood facing him, the six of us forming two sides on the sunlight roof. Back at the stairs, a few other men hovered nervously.
‘We’ve got some concerns,’ Rain said.
‘I don’t care if you have concerns! You’ve been doing nothing but bending my ear about the attacks you’ve been taking. Well, now you’ve got orders to pull back. I’d have thought you’d be grateful.’
‘And then what?’ Rain asked.
‘That isn’t your concern! I am in command of this task force and I am giving you a direct order. Withdraw your men now!’
Behind Nimbus, I saw Slate shift. He and Avenor didn’t show anything on their faces, but I could tell they were uneasy.
‘Your command authority over this task force is delegated to you from the Council,’ I said. ‘You were granted that authority on the understanding that you’d use it to complete the mission’s objectives.’
‘A withdrawal is the best way to achieve them.’
‘How?’ Rain asked bluntly.
Nimbus looked as if he wanted to explode, but controlled himself with a visible effort. ‘With the loss of the accumulator, we no longer have a means to destroy the wards on the keep,’ he said, his voice tight. ‘Withdrawing will allow us to set up a strong defensive perimeter where we can wait for the Council teams to overcome the wards on this shadow realm. Once they do, we can bring in reinforcements as well as specialised siege equipment and end this battle without further casualties.’
‘The last I heard from the Council ward teams, they had no estimate for how long it would take them to break in,’ I said. ‘It could be hours, days or weeks. You’re gambling on something completely out of our control.’
‘I did not ask for your opinion, Verus!’
‘Second,’ I said, ignoring him, ‘anything that gives us time also gives them time. Drakh is going to be fortifying his position and laying contingency plans. He’s seen us attack once; next time he’ll be better prepared. And the situation with the marid is even worse. We killed Barrayar, but we didn’t kill the ifrit inside him. All the marid needs is another host body, and it can summon it straight back. Or summon something worse. The marid is an escalating threat. Pulling back and leaving it alone is the worst way to fight it.’
Nimbus looked at me in fury.
‘Director, I’m afraid I do rather share Mage Verus’s concerns,’ Landis said politely. ‘In addition, I feel we should bear in mind that the men comprising this portion of the task force are somewhat dispirited. They suffered heavy losses last night and they’ve heard what happened at the windmill. Add on the losses they’ve taken over the last few hours, and it’s starting to look rather like an unbroken string of defeats. If we order them to retreat, I’m quite certain they’ll do it, but I rather suspect that once they’re inside that defensive perimeter, they won’t be willing to leave.’
‘They’ll obey the orders they’re given,’ Nimbus said, his voice hard. ‘As will you.’
Silence fell. Neither Rain nor Landis moved, and the six of us stared at each other across the rooftop. The only sound was the whine of the wind.
‘Director, we were told that the marid represented a threat to the whole country,’ Rain said quietly. ‘If we’re not stopping it, what the hell are we doing here?’
Nimbus looked about to snap, then drew in a breath and seemed to calm himself. ‘All right,’ he said. He glanced around: no one else was in earshot. ‘You want to know the real problem? We’ve been in this shadow realm less than a day and we’ve got six dead Keepers and four dead mage auxiliaries. Ten mages. If the wounded don’t make it, it’ll be fifteen. We started this war with less than a hundred Keepers in the Order of the Star and a third of that in the Order of the Shield, and we’ve been bleeding numbers ever since. We just lost over ten per cent of our remaining combat-effective Keepers in one day. You want to lose even more? The Keepers are the backbone of the Council. The reason anyone does what the Senior Council tells them is because we’re out there making them. We go away –’ Nimbus snapped his fingers. ‘– and that’s it. Won’t matter who’s won.’
‘If the marid is able to carry out its plans and begin mass-producing jinn-possessed mages,’ Landis said, ‘then it will matter very much who won. How exactly are you expecting us to maintain the Council’s authority when there are twenty or thirty Calderas and Barrayars running around?’
‘Then we call in help,’ Nimbus said. ‘Or step up security recruitment. It doesn’t matter. There’s a line for acceptable losses and we’re over it.’
The futures looked peaceful – too peaceful. It couldn’t be much longer now. ‘Council orders were to stop the marid,’ Rain said. ‘At any cost.’
‘Oh, come on,’ Nimbus said impatiently. ‘You know what the Council means when it says something like that. If we win this battle but lose most of our Keepers, you think they’re going to care when you point to that order? Maybe they won’t put us on trial, but it won’t matter. It’ll be round our necks for ever.’
‘This is bigger than you or me,’ Rain said.
‘You going to tell yourself that when they pension you off?’
Rain looked at Nimbus in disgust.
‘Look, Rain, it doesn’t matter what you think,’ Nimbus said. ‘The Keepers here aren’t expendable. End of story.’
‘You don’t understand the Council as well as you think, Nimbus,’ I said. ‘In the long run, everyone’s expendable.’
‘Maybe you are,’ Nimbus said, his voice hard. ‘The rest of us? Not so much.’
I could feel the futures through the fateweaver, strands of fate drifting around us. I felt them brush over the men on the rooftop, considering. Slate and Avenor were ignored after only a touch. Rain was measured, then discarded. It was between me, Landis and Nimbus.
‘We have the opportunity to finish Drakh’s forces and end this war,’ I said.
‘It doesn’t matter what you think,’ Nimbus said.
Me, Landis, Nimbus. Landis, Nimbus, me. I pushed with the fateweaver, feeling the strands of fate shift under the pressure. It was harder without my divination, but combat is a chaotic thing. There are always little things, gusts of wind, shifts of position, tiny events that can nudge someone to choose one target over another.
‘Enough of this,’ Nimbus said. ‘Withdraw those men.’
Landis and Rain looked back at him.
Me, Landis, Nimbus. Nimbus, me, Landis. Landis and Nimbus. Nimbus and Landis. Nimbus. Only Nimbus.
The moment of stillness before the shot.
‘I will not ask again,’ Nimbus said, biting off his words. ‘I am issuing a direct order and you will obey or—’
The projectile came darting in too fast to see. Nimbus’s shield flared in my magesight, triggered by the incoming spell; the projectile pierced it in a green-black flash. Nimbus jerked and fell.
Shouts rang out across the rooftop. Shields flew up; Slate threw a deathbolt in the direction of the attack; Ilmarin came running across the roof. ‘Incoming!’ I shouted.
Another shard of green-black death came flashing in. Landis’s magic met it at the edge of the rooftop and exploded it into light and heat, then he, Rain, Slate and Avenor all struck back. The corner of the building from which the attack had come disintegrated under a barrage of fire.
Ilmarin grabbed Nimbus’s body, and he and Avenor dragged him back towards the stairs. Landis and Rain covered them, backing away with their shields glowing red and blue. I ran after.
Avenor and Ilmarin didn’t set Nimbus down until they were back at ground level, the buildings around us blocking our view. ‘He’s not breathing,’ Ilmarin said.
‘He’s not going to,’ Slate said, his face twisted in anger. ‘He was dead before he hit the roof. Fucking Vihaela.’
We stood around the body. After the brief flurry of combat, everything was quiet. Soldiers were peering out at us from where they’d been stationed, their eyes going down to rest on Nimbus. The former Director of Operations of the Order of the Shield was lying on his back, eyes open in a last expression of surprise.
‘Well,’ I said, and turned to Landis. ‘I suppose that puts you in command.’
Landis looked at me. I returned his gaze, my face showing nothing.
‘Captain?’ Ilmarin asked.
‘. . . Yes,’ Landis said. The futures flickered for just a moment, then he turned away, business-like once more. ‘Ilmarin, please take Nimbus’s body to whatever you’re using as a morgue. Have your healer take a look, though if Slate says he’s dead, I’m sure he’s dead. Rain, assemble your Keepers at your forward command post with as many of your squad leaders as you can afford to pull off the line. Order the rest of the men to stand down. Briefing is in ten minutes.’
The people around Landis looked around, then began to disperse. I joined them. I felt Landis’s eyes on my back as I walked away.
15
The room Landis had chosen for his briefing was crowded. There was no projection table this time. Keepers, other mages and sergeants stood waiting for Landis to begin.
‘All right, boys and girls,’ Landis said without preamble. He was standing on a box so everyone could see him. ‘We don’t have much time, so I’ll make this quick. We are going to destroy Drakh’s force and remove his ability to project power within this shadow realm. Elements of the Order of the Star will hold the western perimeter while all remaining forces will push up from the south in standard sweep formation. We keep going until everyone in Drakh’s force is dead or captive, or until we run out of castle, whichever comes first. Now, I’m sure you have questions, but Councillor Verus has something to tell you.’ Landis stepped down.
I stepped up onto the box. The men looked up at me with expressions ranging from neutral to unfriendly. The bulk of these mages were Keepers, and up until three days ago, their job had included hunting me. I didn’t have many friends here.
‘Before you go into this battle, I’m going to tell you what you’re fighting for,’ I said, trying to copy Landis’s confidence. ‘We entered this shadow realm under a truce with Drakh. As you know, he betrayed us immediately. Now, the Council’s assumed that this was just Drakh doing what he always does and trying to weaken the Council to give him an advantage in the war. And that’s true, he was. But there’s another reason.
‘About a week ago, Drakh’s forces attacked the Southampton facility and stole the Council’s prototype anti-jinn weapon. Then two days ago, when Drakh met the Council for negotiations in Concordia, he told them that the marid’s ritual worked by granting the marid’s host, the mage Anne Walker, the power to more effectively summon greater jinn. We now know that that was a lie. The ritual affects the shadow realm, not the host.
‘So why did Drakh lie? Because he wanted to draw attention towards Anne – towards a person and away from the place. His goal was never to stop the ritual. He wanted to let it complete, then take control of the marid himself. The Council’s divinations confirmed that we could expect swarms of greater jinn coming out of this shadow realm. They didn’t say who’d be controlling them. We’ve been assuming that it would be the marid. Drakh intends that it’ll be him.’
‘Now that isolation ward’s been triggered, this shadow realm’s a ticking time bomb,’ Rain said. ‘How’s he planning to use it as a base?’
‘He’s not,’ I said. ‘Not any more. That part of his plan has failed. But the fact that he’s still here means that he still believes he can turn this into a win. Drakh’s got the item that the marid was bound into, Suleiman’s Ring. With that and the weapon, he probably thinks he can bring the marid back under his control. It’ll mean starting from scratch with a new host, but Drakh’s patient. If he gets out of here with that jinn, then sooner or later, in a few months or a few years, this whole thing is going to start all over again. The Council is not willing to let that happen. Neither am I.’
I held up my right hand, the too-pale fingers gleaming in the light. ‘This is a fateweaver,’ I said. ‘Those of you hunting me this past month will have been briefed on what it does. They were intended as tools for commanding armies. That’s what I’m going to use it for today.’
People looked around. ‘Commanding?’ someone said.
‘Hey, you’re not . . .’
Landis spoke loudly from my side. ‘Councillor Verus will have tactical command for this operation.’
A storm of protests and complaints broke out. ‘Are you frigging—’
‘—a Dark mage—’
‘—killed Levistus—’
‘—not going to—’
‘—crazy—’
‘ENOUGH!’ Landis roared at the top of his voice.
Silence fell. ‘I have spoken to Verus!’ Landis said, his voice ringing out. ‘I believe that he is the best choice to carry out this mission with the minimum amount of lives lost. This decision is final!’
A few people looked towards Rain.
‘I agree with Captain Landis,’ Rain said loudly. ‘We both vouch for Verus on this matter. You have a problem with it, take it up with us after the briefing.’
No one spoke, but their eyes turned back to me. They looked even less friendly than before.
‘The fateweaver gives me the ability to alter the flow of battle,’ I said. ‘I will direct you through comms and through a telepathic focus called a dreamstone. Sometimes I will give you orders to move, or attack, or pull back in a way that makes no obvious sense. When that happens, I need you to trust that I know what I’m doing, and obey immediately.’
‘Why should we trust you?’ a Keeper asked.
It was the big question. ‘Most of you have been fighting against Drakh for less than fifteen months,’ I said. ‘He’s been my enemy for over fifteen years. I have far more reason to hate him than any of you will ever have. On top of that, I struck a bargain with Councillor Alma before coming here. My half of the deal was to make sure Drakh ended up dead. I intend to keep it.’
‘From where?’ another Keeper asked derisively. ‘Back at the command post?’
I smiled without humour. ‘No, Keeper . . . Travis, was it? I’m going to be at the front. Try to keep up, because I’m not planning to hang around.’
Silence fell once more. I looked around to see if there’d be any more challenges. No one spoke and after a few seconds I hopped down off the box.
Behind me, Landis stepped up and started ordering squad deployments. Other mages crowded around him and Rain. I imagined that most were there to complain about me.
Luna and Ji-yeong appeared out of the crowd. ‘That was pretty good,’ Luna said. ‘Where do you want us when the fighting starts?’
‘Watch my back,’ I said.
‘Against Richard’s lot, or ours?’
‘Ours. Let’s get to the lines.’
The three of us stood waiting, our backs against a wall. The sun shone down from right overhead, casting small shadows beneath our feet. Luna was glancing around and spinning her wand between her fingers. Ji-yeong leant against the wall with her arms folded. I had my eyes closed, the sovnya in one hand.
‘Eastern perimeter is ready,’ Rain said over the comm. ‘Interdiction field holding.’
‘Understood,’ Landis said. ‘Last southern elements are moving up now.’
