Risen, p.26
Risen, page 26
part #12 of Alex Verus Series
Rain knelt down in front of Caldera and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Caldera,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘Wake up.’
Caldera raised her head. Her eyes were muddy and confused, but they were human again. ‘. . . Rain?’
‘You’ve been controlled by an ifrit jinn,’ Rain said. A burst of gunfire stammered from the window nearest to him, but he didn’t take his eyes off Caldera. ‘Hold still.’
‘Rain . . .’ Caldera said. ‘What did I . . . ?’
The futures shifted; looking ahead, I felt a chill. The jinn was rebuilding its connection to Caldera, and it was doing it fast. Very fast. It’s coming back, I sent through the dreamstone to Rain.
‘We’re going to get you out of here,’ Rain told Caldera.
The building shuddered as a lightning bolt struck the roof. Fear flickered in Caldera’s eyes. ‘It’s coming.’
‘Fight it,’ Rain said urgently. ‘You can do this.’
The futures were coming closer and closer. None of them were good. Rain, I sent. It’s not going to work.
Emotions flashed back through the link at me; anger, frustration. Caldera drew a ragged breath, fixed her gaze on Rain. ‘Get away,’ she said hoarsely.
Rain didn’t take his hand off Caldera. ‘Fight it.’
Rain!
‘Shut up!’ Rain snapped.
Caldera’s eyes flicked from Rain to me. Fury flashed, replaced in an instant by that deadly blank stare.
‘Caldera, you—’ Rain began.
Caldera’s fist swung in a short, deadly arc. There was the crack of breaking bone and I caught a glimpse of Rain flying through the air, his head twisted at an impossible angle.
Caldera surged to her feet, turning towards Compass, but I was faster. The sovnya rammed through Caldera’s chest, pinning her in place.
Caldera swayed back but held her ground. The sovnya flared, trying to incinerate Caldera from the inside, but as the flesh around the blade blackened it turned to sand. Caldera – the thing inside her – fixed its gaze upon me. It reached forward, took hold of the shaft of the sovnya and pulled itself forward, impaling itself to get closer to me.
I pulled my hands back, gripping the sovnya by its end. A paralysis spell from Slate slammed into Caldera, along with an ice blast from Hoarfrost. Caldera kept going, pulling herself further along the shaft.
One more pull and she’d be in reach. Caldera was pushing me towards Compass and she was staggeringly strong; it was all I could do to hold her back. Ji-yeong’s sword clanged off Caldera’s side. ‘Landis!’ I yelled.
‘The focus,’ Landis called. Fire was dancing at his hands, but we were too close for him to loose his spell.
My muscles were screaming at me; only the strength of my right arm was letting me hold my ground. The lattice was still on my left hand but both of my hands were locked in a death grip on the sovnya’s haft and if I let go Caldera would be free. Caldera pulled herself along the shaft one last time and now I could smell the scent from her body, scorched sand and flesh. Blank, empty eyes stared into mine as she reached for me.
A blue ray flashed across my vision and disintegrated Caldera’s head.
Caldera wavered. Her arm was still raised, but her head and neck were gone, a neat spherical pattern carved out of shoulders and collarbone. Staring down into her body, I could see white bone and spine, red blood replaced with flowing sand. The sand pooled, began to pour upwards as if to try to re-form, but the ifrit had expended too much power. The sand darkened, slowed, stopped. Caldera’s body fell with a crash, yanking the sovnya out of my hand. Something seemed to move at the edge of my vision, a shadow expanding down into the earth, then all was still.
The futures were quiet. I looked towards where the ray had come from.
Rain was lying against the wall, one arm still raised. His finger pointed towards where Caldera had fallen.
Slate hurried to Rain and I turned back to Compass. Somehow, in all the time that Caldera had attacked, fought and died, Compass hadn’t stopped working on her spell. ‘Aether falling back to the keep,’ Thunder reported over the comm.
‘They’re running!’ a soldier called.
‘Vesta,’ Compass said tightly. ‘Now.’
Luna stepped up, touching Compass’s back. The grey mist around her shimmered, turning to gold as she directed the full power of her curse into Compass. The futures seemed to clear, random possibilities flaking away, leaving only one glowing path with slight variations.
I was looking down at what was left of Caldera’s body. It was dissolving into sand and for a moment it was as though I saw a patchwork of my memories of her. Our first meeting in the shop. Drinking in the pub, working in the office. Caldera standing between me and a pack of enemies. Caldera facing me on the roof of Canary Wharf, chasing me into traffic, shunning me in the halls. Caldera in the basement of Levistus’s mansion, bloodied but coming for me one last time.
A flash of pain went through my mind and I forced the memories away. ‘Ozols, set for six seconds,’ I said. ‘Activate on my mark.’
Ozols nodded and hefted the backpack. ‘Twenty seconds,’ Compass said, her voice tense. I could feel the gate taking form.
‘Aether is next to the node,’ I told Landis. ‘Need cover.’
‘Hoarfrost,’ Landis ordered. ‘Aegis.’
The mages lined up behind Compass. The futures wavered one last time, then set, and the golden mist around Compass ebbed. Luna stepped quickly away as a portal formed in the air.
The portal was a circle instead of the standard oval, six feet in diameter. It appeared in front of Compass, revealing a room tiled in dark stone. In the centre of the room was a vertical spike of black metal that radiated power.
But it was hard to see the spike through all the jinn. The room was packed with them, and Aether was hovering over their heads. They’d felt the gate coming, and as it opened death and lightning exploded out through the portal.
A triple shield flashed up from Landis, Aegis and Hoarfrost, fire-force-ice, concentric layers stopping the attacks cold. ‘Mark!’ I told Ozols.
Ozols twisted something inside the backpack.
I grabbed the backpack by one strap, my artificial arm taking the weight, and darted forward. I curved around Compass and the mages, spinning like a hammer thrower, then swung back in and flung the backpack through the gate.
Aether threw up a shield of air. The backpack thumped into it, bounced off a jann’s head, landed flat on the floor.
Aether looked down at the backpack, then up at me.
Behind me, Compass cut the spell. The portal vanished, and Aether, the jann, the metal spike and the room vanished with it. I looked up through the hole that Compass had been using to sight with.
Back when we’d been laying plans for this assault, I’d looked through the contents of Compass’s spatial storage. And just as I’d thought, she packed with an eye to the battlefield. She’d been Landis’s gate expert and space mage for some time, and she’d learned to bring the kinds of things he asked for. Which, apparently, mostly consisted of tea, good food and high explosives.
As it turns out, a hiking backpack can fit a lot of high explosives.
There was a massive hollow whump, as though someone had dropped a sandbag the size of a building.
Halfway up the tower, a section of the keep bulged and cracked. Dust and smoke burst outward in a cloud, and stones came plummeting out of the sky to slam into the courtyard. With a groaning noise, the upper part of the tower slumped, stones cascading down until the collapse stopped.
But for all the destruction, it was dwarfed by what I could see in my magesight. The node that had acted as the anchor point for the keep’s wards was gone. Not damaged, gone. The complex net of wards around the keep was shrinking, collapsing in on itself, the lines of power tearing. It was like watching a massive tower with one of its legs cut away; the remaining nodes held out a few seconds longer, then the second collapsed as well, followed by numbers three and four.
A thunderclap shook the air. Magical energy surged, flashing outward, all the spells unravelling at once. The shields in our room flared, reacting to the discharge. All around us, I felt the ward network dissipate. I could use the dreamstone to enter Elsewhere again, and the Council forces could gate home.
The sultan’s ritual had failed. The battle was over.
18
Landis started issuing orders to the troops. I clapped Ozols on the shoulder, then walked over to Rain.
Rain was propped up against the wall, with Slate kneeling next to him. ‘. . . don’t think I’m walking out of here,’ Rain was saying.
‘We’ll handle it,’ Slate said, then looked up at me with a frown.
I stopped a few feet away from Rain. ‘How the hell are you still alive?’
Rain closed his eyes, resting his head against the stone. ‘Transmutation,’ he said, his voice raspy. ‘Turn the broken bone into liquid, reshape it, turn it back.’
‘I didn’t even know water mages could do that.’
‘There’s a reason they don’t,’ Rain said. ‘Have a guess what happens if you get it wrong.’
‘Well, glad you didn’t.’
There was a moment’s pause. Behind me, the first soldiers were moving out.
‘I’m sorry—’ I began.
‘Not now, Verus,’ Rain said. He didn’t open his eyes. ‘Okay?’
Behind me on the floor lay the pile of sand and tattered clothes that had once been Caldera. Slate was staring at me, his eyes cold, and I could sense a barrier between me and the two Keepers. They’d put their grudges aside, but only for the battle. Now it was over.
There was nothing more to be said. I walked back to Luna and Ji-yeong.
Luna was looking tired but satisfied. ‘Too bad it wasn’t Barrayar in there,’ she said. ‘Remember how he mined my flat with explosives? Would have been kind of poetic justice.’
‘We’re at the endgame,’ I told them both. ‘Any last things you need to do, do them now.’ I bent down to pick up the sovnya from Caldera’s remains and headed for Landis.
Landis was talking with Tobias and Compass. ‘. . . already deteriorating,’ Compass was saying. ‘It’s only a matter of time before the drift is serious enough to collapse the realm’s link to our world.’
‘How long?’ Landis said.
Compass raised her hands helplessly. ‘An hour? A day? Five minutes? There’s a reason no one uses isolation wards!’
‘Well, it’s not five minutes,’ I said, walking up. ‘But there’s too much noise in the futures for me to see any further. Landis?’
‘Evacuation’s under way,’ Landis said.
‘Are you taking a shot at Anne?’
‘No,’ Tobias said.
I nodded. Now that the ritual had failed, an attack on the keep was pointless. The marid would just gate away. ‘Guess this is goodbye then.’
‘Verus,’ Landis said. His expression was serious. ‘I know I asked you to rescue Variam, but that was before we discovered his situation. I don’t want you and Mage Vesta to throw away your lives.’
‘Like I said, we were doing this anyway.’ I looked at Compass. ‘If all goes to plan, I’ll have a last few evacuees for you. If you could keep the gate open, I’d appreciate it.’
‘I’ll try my best,’ Compass said.
Landis extended a hand. ‘It’s been an honour, Verus.’
I shook Landis’s hand, then shouldered the sovnya and walked back to Luna and Ji-yeong. ‘Let’s go.’
Luna, Ji-yeong and I faced the keep.
We were maybe a hundred paces from the front gate. A flagstone avenue, bordered with lanterns of black iron, ran in a straight line from our feet to the double doors. In the distance I could hear the faint calls of the Council forces as they co-ordinated their evacuation, but nearby there was nothing. The keep loomed above us, cracked and broken but no less threatening. A wind blew over our heads, catching the trails of smoke rising from the south-east tower and carrying them away to the north.
As we stood, a quiver seemed to go through the castle, like a tremor in the world. It wasn’t as violent as the shockwaves we’d felt earlier, but there was something disquieting about it.
‘Wards are definitely down,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘But I can’t see the jinn.’
‘They’re hanging back,’ I said.
‘So,’ Luna said. ‘Just to review. Once we go into that keep, we’re going to be facing two marids and God knows how many lesser jinn. Not only do we have to beat both marids, we have to do it without killing Anne and Vari in the process. Does that sum it up?’
‘Don’t forget that the shadow realm’s going to collapse soon.’
‘Right, thanks for reminding me. Next point. Based on what we’ve been through since coming to this shadow realm, I think it’s fair to say that if it comes down to a fight, either of those marids is more than a match for the three of us.’
Ji-yeong raised a hand. ‘I’m not fighting a marid.’
‘Correction, the two of us,’ Luna said. ‘So, Alex. I don’t want to make it seem like I’m always coming to you for help. You know, I’m an independent mage now, I solve my own problems. But I really, really hope you’ve got a plan. Because I’ve been trying to think up a way to make this work and I’m drawing a blank.’
‘We’ve got a few cards left to play,’ I told her. ‘First is the Council’s focus. It worked on Caldera. Although that said, doing that burnt up about a quarter of whatever fuel this thing uses, and I think the marids are going to take more than that. Card number two is an idea I’ve had floating at the back of my mind about Anne’s dress. That dress is the last thing Arachne gave her. Arachne foresaw what was going to happen to Anne – well, maybe she foresaw this too. She might have woven in something to help.’
Luna looked sceptical. ‘I hope you’ve got a card number three.’
‘Card number three is the big one,’ I said. ‘I don’t think the marid possessing Vari wants us dead. It serves the sultan, yes. But every time we’ve faced it, it’s chosen to interpret the sultan’s orders in ways that don’t involve killing anyone unless it has to. I had it in the Arcana Emporium for nearly ten years and all it did was make a contract with a new host every twelve months or so. Maybe it might be willing to make a contract now.’
‘Well, it’s a better idea than fighting it.’
I looked at Ji-yeong. ‘How are you doing?’
‘I don’t think I’m getting my make-up out of my room.’
‘Ji-yeong.’
‘What?’
‘I know you weren’t especially close to Sagash or Aether,’ I said. ‘But you’re allowed to be upset.’
Ji-yeong was silent for a second. ‘I knew something like this could happen one day,’ she said. ‘I just didn’t think I’d be on the other side.’
Diviner curiosity is a funny thing. Even this close to the end, I couldn’t help but wonder what was keeping Ji-yeong at our side. It couldn’t be just self-interest or she’d have deserted long ago. Was it really just that she didn’t like to lose? Or did she see something in us, a way of living that was new to her?
Our footsteps echoed off the walls around as we approached the keep. I felt another barely perceptible shudder go through the castle. It was hard to be sure, but it felt a tiny bit stronger than the last one.
The double doors of the keep were closed. Luna covered us while Ji-yeong and I pulled them open to reveal a long corridor floored and walled in black stone. It ran straight as an arrow as far as the eye could see, disappearing into darkness. Small ominous-looking slits were spaced along the walls at regular intervals.
‘This is a trap,’ Luna stated.
‘Barbican corridor,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘Wards are meant to kill intruders. At least when they’re working.’
I walked in. Behind me, Ji-yeong cast a light spell and Luna clicked on a torch. The green and white lights cast two shadows from my body, bobbing and wavering as we moved, stretching out into the darkness. Our footsteps continued to echo, three times as loud, the sound bouncing up and down the tight corridor. The air seemed to grow colder the further we went. This was Sagash’s lair, the heart of his power. For decades he’d schemed, seeking to become immortal. Now he was dust and ashes, but his presence remained, dark and brooding.
A door appeared out of the darkness. My twin shadows bobbed, drawing together. As they touched each other, I stopped.
Ji-yeong halted just behind my left shoulder, and I could feel her staring at the door. ‘He’s there,’ she said.
‘Luck, be with us now,’ Luna said quietly.
Ji-yeong took a breath. ‘Master Verus?’ she said formally. ‘These past few days, I’ve been learning my limits. A marid is outside them.’
‘Fair.’ I turned to face Ji-yeong. ‘It’s been a dangerous road, and you’ve walked it well. Once you get back to London, if you need anything, use that phone I gave you and ask for November. For now, our agreement’s at an end. You’re free to go.’
Ji-yeong hesitated, then nodded. I looked at Luna. ‘Ready?’
Luna bit her lip. ‘Let’s do it.’
I pushed open the doors.
The space within was wide and square. Lamps along the walls cast a feeble glow, swallowed by black stone. The room looked like a final defensive position to hold any intruders; beyond were corridors to the left and right, and a central staircase at the back.
Variam stood at the centre. His black clothes and turban faded into the shadows, making him look like a disembodied face floating in darkness. Luna and I started forward, me holding the sovnya, Luna holding her whip. Ji-yeong hung back. Variam watched us approach, hands clasped behind him.
‘Halt,’ Variam ordered once we were ten feet in.
Luna and I stopped. ‘Marid,’ I said.
‘Host.’
‘I have a matter to discuss with your ruler.’
‘Yes.’
I could almost forget that Variam was possessed while looking at him, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the illusion broke. His voice was dissonant, inhuman. ‘Will you let me pass?’ I asked.
