Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (31 page)

“Inside, and likely to stay inside. What’s happening out there?”

“Are you all right? Who’s with you?”

“Luna and Sonder. We’re fine.”

Talisid’s figure seemed to relax slightly. “That’s the first good news I’ve heard all day.”

“What happened?”

“Cavein.” It was hard to make out fine detail on the small projection, but Talisid’s clothes looked scuffed. “I don’t know who it was, but the whole room and most of the stairwell’s rubble. We’re starting to dig through, but—”

“Talisid?” I said. “That wasn’t really what I was asking.” I didn’t raise my voice, but there was an edge to it. “I gave you advance warning that an attack was coming. I gave you the most likely day. You had twenty-four hours to prepare and a full Council security detail. Onyx had three people.”

Talisid said nothing. He didn’t look happy.

“Please tell me you got at least one of them.”

“We haven’t been able to confirm anything yet.”

“That’s a no, isn’t it?”

Talisid was silent and I put a hand over my eyes. “I’d ask for an explanation, but hearing the full details of exactly
how
you screwed up is kind of moot at this point.”

“Look, Verus, I’m getting enough crap from the Council right now. I don’t need any more from you.”

“And we’re inside a sealed-off relic with anywhere
between zero and four Dark mages who want to kill us. Who do you think got the better end of the deal?”

Talisid stayed silent. I took a deep breath and got myself under control. “Where’s Griff?”

“We don’t know.”

“How many of the Dark mages made it inside?”

“We don’t know. It’s possible they were caught by the collapse—”

“Don’t bet on it. Who else is there?”

“We don’t know. It’s
bad
out here, Verus. We’ve got dozens injured and at least three of the security staff are dead; Onyx went through them like a buzz saw. Everyone we can spare is on medical detail or digging out survivors or on guard, and we still haven’t linked up with everyone. Everyone was in the wrong place, it’s as though—” Talisid checked and then went on. “I was with Ilmarin—he’s an air mage, one of the ones in the Great Court. He told me he felt something go after Onyx’s group during the attack. Completely invisible, both to the eye and to magic. The only reason he could sense it was by the displaced air. He has no idea what it was.”

I closed my eyes again. “Perfect,” I said once I’d gotten myself under control. “Anything else while you’re at it?”

“You know what it was?”

“It’s called Thirteen. She works for Levistus. I don’t suppose you can give us any sort of help?”

“If the portal’s still open—”

Luna spoke up. “It’s not.”

Talisid looked at her, then back at me. “We might be able to jury-rig the thing with some kind of worldgate. If we can follow the trace—”

“Can you get that done in four hours or less?” I said.

Talisid was silent. I sighed. “I’ll take that as a no. Anything else?”

“I’m sorry,” Talisid said. “I wish I had some better news.”

“I wish you did too.”

“I’ll call you as soon as we learn anything.”

“Please don’t. The last thing we need is our phone going off when we’re trying to avoid attention. We’ll call you.”

Talisid nodded. “Good luck.” The communicator winked off.

I didn’t move. “What did you mean about the invisible thing?” Luna asked after a moment.

“Some sort of modified air elemental Levistus uses. I’m just wondering if that’s all he’s got.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Council guards shouldn’t have done that badly,” I said. “They were outclassed, but not
that
outclassed. And the way they were deployed, with no one between the Great Court and the statue…I think someone was trying to make sure the attack got through.”

Luna frowned. “You mean Levistus? Why would he want to do that?”

I remembered Levistus’ words from the ball, delivered with just a trace of a smile:
“I have many agents, Mr. Verus. Rest assured, they will be there, making sure everything goes according to plan.”

My heart sank. “Oh, crap.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Luna, was there anyone who stayed near the statue all the time you were there? As in, never going away for long?”

Luna looked puzzled. “I suppose.”

“Who?”

“Sonder and Griff.”

“No one else?”

“I don’t think so. Why?”

“Because the only reason Levistus would want Morden’s attack to go through would be so he could get his own people inside as well.”

Luna looked at me for a few seconds, then her face changed. “Sonder?”

I didn’t say anything. Luna looked out into the corridor after Sonder, then turned back with an uneasy look on her face. “Wait. No. Griff was the one who was supposed to be in charge of security, right? Isn’t it more likely to be him?”

“Who says it’s only one of them?”

Luna started to answer then stopped.

“I don’t like the idea either,” I said quietly. “But I don’t think Levistus would rely on just Thirteen. He’s got agents and he’ll have used them. You’re right, Griff sounds more likely, but he’s not here and Sonder is. Until we get out of here, watch your back.”

We sat quietly for a moment, thinking. The torches cast Luna’s face in shadow, making it hard to know what she was thinking. “We don’t have many friends here, do we?” Luna said at last.

“What about Starbreeze?”

“I called her. She came the first time, but when she saw me she ran away again. I called her again when I heard you coming but…”

I’d been searching through the futures and as I did I felt my spirit lift. I smiled. “Huh.”

“She’s here?”

“She’s here. Looks like we’ve got one friend after all.”

All of a sudden the lights came on. Luna and I stood up, blinking, and from out in the corridor I heard Sonder call excitedly, “I did it!”

The room we were standing in was off-white, with a high ceiling. The edges of the walls and floor were rounded slightly so as to show no corners, making the room oddly featureless, and circular patches on the ceiling shed a bright light. I could sense that the lights were magical, which confirmed that this place was very, very old. Like I said, creating permanent magical items is a real hassle. It’s far less effort to use modern technology, which means the only places that use permanent effects like this are ones that were created
before
modern technology. Luna and I walked to the exit to see a curving corridor. Up ahead, we could just see that it opened into a T junction. “Good job,” I told Sonder as we approached.

“I thought that would work,” Sonder said. He looked pleased with himself. Next to him was the control panel he’d used to activate the lights. I touched my hand to the panel
and focused, working out what Sonder had done. Meanwhile, Luna was looking around curiously. “What
is
this place?”

“It was sealed up just after the end of the Dark Wars,” Sonder said. “But there’s nothing saying why. I’m starting to think the records about this place were deliberately erased. All I could find was something about the ‘resting place of Abithriax.’ ”

“You said this was his tomb,” Luna said.

Sonder hesitated. “Yes, but I’m starting to think I might have been wrong. I’ve been doing some reading, and it turns out the Precursors didn’t actually build tombs. Not like this.”

“But if this was his resting place…”

“I know, but it still doesn’t make sense. If you look at the studies that have been done of Precursor religion, the design—”

“Sorry, Sonder, wait a second. Um, Alex?”

I was busy with the control panel. Like most Precursor designs, it was sparse; a few spheres that looked like glass, and some rods set into the wall. They were controlled with fine magical impulses. With my divination magic I could see how to make them do what I wanted, but I had no idea how they worked. Still, that was enough to—

“Alex!”

“Hm?” I said absently.

“What’s that on your arm?”

I glanced down to see that the bracelet on my right wrist was crackling and spitting feebly. Black energy leaked from it, making my arm tingle. “Oh,” I said. “Looks like Onyx decided to kill me.”

Luna and Sonder stared. “They’re called death bracelets,” I said. “Dark mages use them to keep prisoners in line.”

The bracelet was still crackling. “Um.” Sonder said. “Shouldn’t you…?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I dialled down the power by a factor of a hundred or so. Onyx must have fired it at maximum, otherwise you wouldn’t even see it.”

“What does maximum do?”

“Kills an adult human in ten to twenty seconds, depending how strong their heart is. Anyway, we’d better get moving. Don’t touch anything without checking with me first, don’t go anywhere I haven’t gone already, and if I tell you to do something, do it
fast
. Okay?”

Luna nodded, Sonder a little slower. Both were still staring at the bracelet. As they watched, it fizzled and fell silent. We headed to the T junction and stopped while I stood between the two paths.

“What’s he doing?” I head Sonder whisper after a minute.

“He’s looking ahead to see what’ll happen if we go down each corridor,” Luna said quietly.

I smiled to myself and pointed. “Left.”

I
t was an hour later and the three of us were clustered in a small room. In a small alcove, set into the wall, was a single recessed crystal sphere. Before us was a closed door.

Sonder was examining the sphere while I leant against the wall next to him. Luna stood back, well out of range. “Sonder, we’re on a clock here,” I said at last.

“Sorry.” Sonder stepped back. “Well, it’s definitely a focus for some kind of mind effect—”

“I know.”

“—and I think it might be telepathy based. Anyway, it’s for communication.”

“You said you could get the door open?” Luna asked.

“Probably, but there’s a trap, And after what happened last time, I don’t want to take the chance if we can avoid it.”

Sonder flinched slightly at that. The previous room had held an electrical trap that would have turned anyone who came close enough into a lightning rod. “So that leaves this thing?” Luna asked.

“That leaves this thing.” I stared at the crystal sphere, frowning. “It’ll help us get past. I just don’t know how.”

“What’ll happen if we touch it?” Sonder asked.

“Nothing.”

Sonder and Luna looked at each other. “If I touch it, I’ll do nothing,” I said. “I’ll stand still with my hand on this thing for maybe ten minutes, and I won’t move or say a word, no matter what you do. And I don’t know why.”

“That would make sense if it’s a telepathy focus,” Sonder volunteered.

I didn’t answer. The truth was that not knowing what would happen if I touched this thing made me uneasy. Normally I always know what’ll happen. You don’t realise how accustomed you get to something until it’s suddenly taken away from you.

When I didn’t move, Sonder shifted. “I could try it…”

“No,” I said, and stepped forward. “You two watch my back. I don’t think I’ll be able to sense anything else while I’m using this. If you hear trouble coming, pull me off it. Kick me if you have to.”

They nodded. “Be careful,” Luna said.

I turned to the sphere, took a deep breath, the placed my hand upon it. There was a moment of disorientation as the world seemed to flicker, then it was gone. I let my fingers rest on the sphere. Nothing happened.

I tried a command word.
“Annath.”

Nothing.

“Open. Transmit.
Sagashiette
.”

Still nothing.

I sighed and turned away. “Well, that was underwhelming.”

Luna and Sonder looked past me. “Nothing,” I said. “Weird. I’m pretty sure it should have…”

I trailed off. Sonder hadn’t moved. Luna glanced aside anxiously, then went back to looking over my shoulder, her eyes passing over me. “Hey,” I said. “You guys okay?”

No reaction. “What are you—?” I began, turning round, and stopped dead. What Luna and Sonder were staring at was me. My body was standing right in front of me, my right hand clasped on the sphere. I looked down at my hand just to convince myself it was still there, looked up, and stared. “What the
hell
?”

I reached forward hesitantly. My hand passed through my body as though it were light, and I jumped. This was
really
weird.

I turned back to see Sonder’s lips moving. He was saying something to Luna, and now Luna turned aside slightly to reply, her eyes still fixed on my body, but I couldn’t hear their words. In fact, now that I stopped to listen, I couldn’t hear anything at all. It was dead silent.

“Good evening. Might I be of assistance?”

I only barely managed to keep myself from jumping as the voice spoke from behind me. Standing in the doorway was an old man. He had a flowing beard and long hair, both snow white, with thin streaks of red running through them. His clothes were red as well: robes, gathered at the waist, of several shades from bloodred to crimson.

For a moment I couldn’t remember where I’d seen him before, and then suddenly it clicked. I’d seen his face, but it had been stone, not flesh. “Abithriax,” I said.