Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (13 page)

I did, and waited for the tea to be ready. There was something comforting about the old ritual of waiting for Helikaon to make sure it was prepared to his satisfaction, listening to his grumbling when it wasn’t exactly right. It was a beautiful view, looking down through the clear air onto the wilds of Scotland, and the fire held back the worst of the mountain chill.

“I’m surprised it’s still standing,” I said at last, looking at the weather-beaten hut.

“It’ll last.” Helikaon gave me a glance. “Longer than you, maybe.”

“So I guess you know why I’m here.”

Helikaon snorted. “Please. You’re
loud
when you walk through the future, know that? I haven’t been able to get any peace all day.”

“Okay.” I set the cup of tea carefully down upon the ground. “Why did you turn Lyle down?”

“Why d’you think?” Helikaon pointed at me. “I don’t want to do what you’re doing, and if you’re smart you won’t either. Go back to Arachne and find a hole to hide in.”

“It’s not as simple as that.”

“You get in the middle of this, could end up dead. Council can’t pay enough to be worth that.” Helikaon glared at me from under his bushy white eyebrows. “Used to be I had to twist your arm to go near those old men.”

“There’s someone else.”

“Ditch ’em.”

“What’s with turning your house into a death trap?”

Helikaon grinned. “Caught you out, heh? Shouldn’t have been snooping.” His grin vanished. “These boys play rough. You want to persuade them to leave you alone, you have to talk their language.”

I looked away.

Helikaon studied me. “Time was you’d be happy as a pig in shit to see a Dark mage get eaten by a trap like that. Change of heart?”

“It’s not that.” I turned back to Helikaon. “Look, I’ve been out of the loop. I know you’ve still got your contacts. What’s going on?”

Helikaon sipped his tea, then shrugged. “Been building a few years. Dark mages pushing for status. I know”—he held up his hand to forestall me—“they’ve got it. But they want more. Seats on the Council.”

I stared at him. “The
Council
?”

“Old news, boy.” Helikaon gestured out towards the vista below us. “Council are split as usual. Some want to give in, some want to stall. Darks’ll probably get their way in the end. Weight of numbers.”

“Numbers?”

“They’ve been recruiting. Pretty aggressive. Some mages, they can turn. The ones they can’t…”

“I know what happens to the ones they can’t,” I said flatly.

“But not united. That’s what it’s about.” Helikaon pointed south. “That relic’s got a Precursor artifact, big one. Dark mage who got hold of it could set himself up as their leader. More power than any faction in the Council. Council wants it too, use as a bargaining chip. All of ’em need a seer to get inside.” Helikaon pointed at me. “All’d rather see you dead than helping the others. ’S why I’m up here. You should be too.”

The two of us sat silently for a minute. “What does this thing do?” I asked.

“Don’t know. Wards too heavy. Council knows more. Not getting close enough to ask.”

“So that’s what Cinder and Khazad are after.”

Helikaon shook his head. “Muscle. Someone’s giving ’em orders.”

I remembered the masked woman I’d seen just a few hours ago, and somehow I was sure it was her. “So now you know,” Helikaon said, interrupting my thoughts. “What’ll you do?”

“I don’t know,” I said after a pause.

Helikaon snorted. “Bull. You’re going to that ball no matter what. I’ll tell you what’s going to happen with that relic. Light and Dark are going to fight and kill for it. Use their fancy magic to blow holes in each other till one side wins, then everything’ll go on just the same.” Helikaon paused. “What’s up with you, Alex?”

I sat silently. “When you came to me I told you,” Helikaon said. “Forget about revenge. Keep your distance. You listened then. Now you’re getting involved. You’re smarter than this.”

“Maybe I’m tired of not getting involved,” I said. I looked up. “What about friends, family? Don’t you have anything you’d stand and fight for?”

“You ever listen to a word I say?” Helikaon looked at me, his eyes hard. “Remember what I told you first time we met? Anything you take into your life, you have to be able to walk away from ten seconds flat, never see it again. Anything else,
anything
else, it’s dragging you down. You’re asking if I’ve got anything I’d stand and fight for? No, Alex, you fucking idiot, I don’t. That’s why I’m eighty-three and still alive. You think you’d have found me, I didn’t want you to? Soon as you leave, I’m moving on. You won’t see me till this is over.”

The silence stretched out. “Hard way to live,” I said at last.

“You think life’s supposed to be easy?”

I finished my drink and set the cup down with a click. “Thanks for the tea.”

Helikaon didn’t say anything and I walked away. The pegasus came trotting over to me as I passed out of sight,
and I gave him a final pat. “Bye, Thermopylae.” Then I reached into my pocket for the gate stone that would take me home.

I
had a lot to think about on the journey back.

When I’d first met Helikaon, it had been right after the final showdown with Tobruk. Even back then Helikaon was a master, able to do things with divination magic I didn’t even know were possible. I’d learnt more about the art from him than from anyone else—path-walking, precognition, future sight—but more important had been
how
he’d taught me to use my powers. At the time I met him, I was burning with fear and anger from the nightmares I’d been through in Richard’s mansion. I had fantasies about taking revenge, going back and killing them all. Helikaon taught me to shut away the fear and the fury, detach myself and find a measure of peace. It saved my life, I know that now. I would have died if I’d gone back. Getting away and staying away, letting everyone forget about me, had been the only way to survive, and that was what I’d done.

But despite all he’d done for me, Helikaon and I never became master and apprentice, and now I remembered why. There was a coldness to him, a distance, which I was repulsed by and yet envied him for. I knew that the way Helikaon shut out others gave him a clarity of vision I couldn’t match, but I still couldn’t bring myself to share it. I’d fled to my shop in Camden, stayed away from other mages, but I hadn’t stayed detached. I’d made friends: Arachne, Starbreeze, Luna. Did that make me a worse diviner than him, or had I gained something as well?

By the time I made it back to Hampstead Heath, the sun was a red glow in the western sky. I leant against the tree, thinking, looking at the branches above me. Their tips were glowing red in the sunset, the contrast vivid against the blue sky. The earth was still warm from the day’s sunlight, the Heath gradually becoming quieter as more and more people turned their footsteps towards home.

For the first time I seriously considered taking Helikaon’s advice. What if I did as he said and walked away? I’d be safe again, just as I had been since I escaped from Richard’s mansion…

Did you?

The thought startled me. I came to a stop, wondering where that had come from. I
was
safe, always had been, since then. I’d kept away from other mages, kept to myself. I wasn’t in danger anymore. If I left I could stay that way.

But even as I imagined leaving, I realised I wasn’t going to do it. When I’d been in greatest need, Lyle and everyone else from the Council had abandoned me. If I ran now, I’d be doing the same thing to Luna that they’d done to me. I shook off my doubts and reached up to open the tree.

I
t’s always risky introducing two people who’ve never met. You can never be quite sure how they’ll get on, especially when one’s human and the other looks like the star of a high-budget horror movie. So I was pretty nervous as I returned to Arachne’s chamber. I couldn’t help thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong: Luna panicking and running off alone, Arachne losing her temper with Luna and kicking her out. So far Luna had been bearing up well, but it was a lot to absorb in a very short time. What if being left alone with Arachne had been one shock too many?

Lost in thought, I didn’t recognise the sound I was hearing at first. When I did, I slowed, puzzled, then turned the last corner and walked in.

Luna was laughing, though her voice was distant. I couldn’t see her, but from the sound she was in one of the small side chambers to the far left of the room. Arachne was in the centre, working at a table. “There, you see?” Arachne said. She was working on a dress in white and green, altering something in its design. She worked with all four front legs at once, needles and scissors moving so fast I couldn’t
follow what she was doing. “Now, I think your instincts were right the first time. Pale colours look much better on you. I’ve taken out the green, so why don’t you give it another try?”

“Okay!” Luna said from across the room. “I really like the pink one as well though.”

“It does set off your skin…I’ll keep it out just in case. Oh, hello, Alex.”

“Hey.” There was a pile of dresses on the sofa nearest to the changing rooms. “Been busy?”

“Hi, Alex!” Luna called from behind the curtain. Her voice was muffled, as though she were pulling something over her head. “Have you seen these clothes? They’re amazing!”

I grinned at Arachne. “Arachnophobia’s no match for shopping, huh?”

“Don’t be graceless,” Arachne said, and glided across the room to pass the dress over the top of the curtain. Luna’s bare arms reached over to take it. “Here you go, dear. Have a look at both while I see to Alex.” Arachne drew the curtain back from another side chamber. “Now, Alex, before you put these on, I want you to promise you’ll take
care
of them.”

“Sure.”

“I mean it. You hang them up properly, have them washed in that funny way, what’s it called—”

“Dry-cleaned.”

“—and don’t get them slashed or dissolved or chewed up or burned.”

“It hasn’t happened
that
many times.”

“Oh, really? What about the first set I made for you?”

“That was
ten years ago
! Would you have even noticed if it had been me that didn’t come back instead of the clothes?”

“It was a full wardrobe. Some of my best work, too. With a little work they’d still fit…”

“Look, you know what happened there. I couldn’t exactly have gone and asked for them back.”

“And the outfit I made you for Unicorn’s Run. Have you
any idea how hard it is to get blood out of silk? Then there were the ceremonial robes for the investment ceremony. You said to make it fire resistant, and I did. I even told you exactly what temperature it would tolerate. And then—”

“I didn’t say fire
resistant
, I said fire
proof
. Besides, that thing with the inferno elemental was
not
my fault.”

“What are you two talking about?” Luna called from behind the curtain.

“Nothing,” Arachne and I said at exactly the same moment, then looked at each other.

“I think it’d be a good idea if she went with you to the ball,” Arachne said.

I blinked. I’d been trying to decide the same thing, but…“A mage’s ball isn’t exactly the safest place for a newbie.”

“She has to learn sometime. Besides, Alex, I think you should have a talk with the girl. You aren’t doing her any favours by sheltering her.”

Before I could ask Arachne what she meant, she’d scuttled away into her private chambers. I shrugged, then went into the changing room and took a look at the outfit laid out on the table. I probably should have asked for something specific instead of leaving it all up to Arachne. Oh well.

“What was that about?” Luna asked curiously, her voice muffled from the wall and the curtains between us.

I started to undress. “Arachne gets upset about the state I leave my clothes in.”

“It doesn’t happen often, does it?”

“No.” I hesitated, mentally counting. “Not really.” I counted again. “Okay, maybe. But I only get clothes from her when I’m going to meet a lot of other mages.”

“You mean like now?”

“Yeah, like—”

I stopped and turned my attention to my new outfit. Laid out on the table it looked like a dinner jacket, although there was something a little different about it. I picked up the shirt.