Cursed (35 page)

I looked back at Luna for a few seconds before speaking quietly. “I don’t think his life is yours to take.”

Luna held my gaze a moment longer, then stepped back around the corner. As I moved past, I felt the futures of her approaching Martin fade away. I headed for the stairs and Luna followed.

B
y the time we reached the ground floor, the fighting had died down. The manor was a wasteland of smoke and rubble, small fires burning amidst the smoke, but the stone and concrete had weathered the attacks and the structure was stable. I could sense two or three guards still around, but they were keeping their distance.

As we came up the steps, the radio in my pocket crackled. I pulled it out with my good arm. “Sonder.”

“Alex! Finally! Did you find Luna?”

I turned the radio’s volume up and tossed it to Luna. “It’s for you.”

Luna caught it awkwardly. “Hi, Sonder.”

I could hear the relief in Sonder’s voice. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. What’s happening?”

“It’s crazy out here,” Sonder sounded tense. “I saw the back door explode and Cinder fought his way in but—Alex, are you there? Cinder got driven out. He’s fighting on the west slope.”

I was analysing a route up to the second floor. “Fighting what?”

“A mantis golem. Belthas got a mantis golem!” I could hear distant sounds of battle over the radio. “It’s trying to kill Cinder, Cinder’s trying to melt it—”

“Who’s winning?”

There was a pause. “Neither, I think.”

I checked my watch. We had a little over ten minutes. “We can’t wait for Cinder,” I decided. “I’m going after Belthas. Luna, Sonder is up the mountainside from here. You can circle around and—”

“
Screw
that.” Luna’s eyes flashed. “I’m going with you.”

I looked back at her for a second, then smiled slightly. “Sonder,” I said loudly. “We’re going for Belthas’s sanctum on the second floor. If you can get a message to Cinder, tell him.”

Sonder sounded confused. “Wait—both of you?”

Luna switched the radio off and tossed it to me. We headed upstairs.

We passed several charred bodies on the way up. There were several guards still lurking, but they stayed out of our way. It looked like there’d been some fast natural selection amongst Belthas’s security force and the survivors had been the ones who’d figured out that attacking a mage was a very bad idea. As we climbed, burnt flesh, burnt wiring, and smoke mixed together to make a nauseating stench.

The top floor was luxurious but impersonal, like an expensive hotel. A thick carpet lined the central corridor and I could feel the presence of minor magical effects from behind the wooden doors. All was untouched; Cinder must not have gotten this far. I moved down the corridor, watching for an ambush, Luna a few steps behind.

The corridor ended in an anteroom. Two double doors were set into the far wall and I knew they led into Belthas’s sanctum. Curtains were drawn over the windows, a wardrobe stood to one side, and several tables held curios.
I stopped in the doorway and waited. The room was silent. There was no sound from outside; the floor had been soundproofed. Seconds ticked past.

“You might as well come out,” I said to the room.

Silence.

I lifted my gun, letting it make a quiet metallic noise. My left arm hurt a little but it was manageable. “How about I shoot those curtains?”

The curtains moved and Meredith stepped out.

For someone in the middle of a battle, Meredith looked far better than she ought to. Somehow she’d found the opportunity to change clothes and was wearing a black figure-hugging outfit that probably would have been distracting if I’d been in any mood to care. It was her eyes I was watching and I could tell from the look in them that she was afraid. She stood, on edge, trying to watch both me and the gun.

“I know why you’re here,” I said quietly. “Belthas put you out here to slow us down. You said yes because you thought you could stay out of sight till the fighting was over.” I nodded back down the corridor. “Run. Now. If you stay, Cinder’ll kill you. If you get in my way, I will.”

Meredith hesitated, and for a moment I saw the choices branching before her. Then, slowly, she came towards me, keeping her eyes on me. I let her go by. For a moment it looked as though she was about to say something, then she walked away.

Meredith passed Luna without a glance. As she did a tendril of Luna’s curse flicked out over Meredith, soaking into her to leave a faint silvery glow. Meredith walked back the way we came and vanished. I looked at Luna and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Luna said. She sounded a little annoyed. “It won’t kill her.” She paused. “Probably.”

I glanced down the corridor, then turned away. “What if she comes back?” Luna asked.

“She won’t.”

T
he double doors to Belthas’s sanctum swung open with a creak.

The room was big: the size of a small dance hall, wider than it was long, with a high ceiling. There were no windows but the roof seemed to be made of some one-way glass, giving a view of the dark sky. Tables and workbenches were scattered around the edge, filled with components and supplies, but aside from that the room was bare: If a fight started I wouldn’t have much cover. Another set of double doors in the back corner stood open, and through them I could see shelves.

In front of the doors, set into the floor at the end of the room, was the biggest ritual circle I’d ever seen. It was done in a triple ring design with the outermost ring cast in copper, the middle in silver, and the inner in gold, with runes and sigils inlaid between them. Three lecterns stood in the innermost ring in a triangle, and upon them were laid a wand, a book, and a knife.

Belthas stood at the centre. He’d changed into blue ceremonial robes of the kind used by the Council for formal occasions and he looked every inch the magus in his sanctum. “Verus,” Belthas said without looking up. He was tracing lines in the book with his right hand, while holding one of the iridescent purple rods in his left. “I hope you know I’ll be taking this damage out of your pay.”

“You can call this my two weeks’ notice,” I said. I had a clear line of sight. I looked into the future of my shooting at Belthas—

—and saw him deflect the bullets effortlessly with an ice shield. “I have to admit,” Belthas said, “you’ve caused me quite an extraordinary amount of trouble.”

“Funny. I was about to say the same thing.” I could feel the room thrumming with power; the ritual was nearly complete. As I concentrated, I saw that the focus was the rod in
Belthas’s hand. It shared a sympathetic link with its twin embedded in Arachne: Once Belthas finished, it would act as the conduit to drain her energy into him. I didn’t know what it would do to Belthas, but I knew what it would do to Arachne.

“I have to ask,” Belthas said. His tone was mildly curious. “Why
are
you so concerned about these creatures? If you’d just given me the elemental and the spider all this could have been resolved peacefully.”

“Belthas,” I said, “trust me. You wouldn’t understand.”

“They’re not mages. They’re not even human.”

“And I still like them more than you. Though that’s not saying much.”

Luna was hanging back in the corridor, waiting for my lead. I ran through different angles of attack and saw Belthas block them in every future I tried. Most of Belthas’s power was going into the ritual but he had more than enough left to protect himself.

But in that case, why wasn’t he attacking? I spread my arms. “What’s the matter? Don’t feel like taking a shot?”

Belthas sighed. “In case it’s escaped your attention, I’m somewhat busy. If this is the best you can do, I’d appreciate it if you would come back later.”

I took a couple of steps forward. The more I looked into the future, the more certain I was that Belthas couldn’t reach me. The ritual circle must be acting as a barrier. He couldn’t get offensive spells through it.

But if I walked into the circle … I winced at the image. Ow. I wouldn’t make it two steps. Ice magic does
really
nasty things to flesh.

“Alex,” Luna whispered from the doorway.

I knew she was about to suggest using her magic against him. “Wouldn’t work,” I whispered back.

“I could get closer—”

“From outside that circle’s shielding him,” I whispered. “And if you got inside he’d take you apart.”

“I must say, I’m a little disappointed,” Belthas said, ignoring our conversation. “The more … questionable aspects to your background are well known but most mages had been under the impression you were trying to put being a Dark mage behind you. Now you’re switching sides? Again?”

“Should have read those reports more carefully,” I said. I signalled Luna to stay put and began moving down the length of the room. I kept a wary eye on Belthas as I approached, my precognition alert for danger. “The reason I left was to get away from people like you.”

“Which is why you’re working for Cinder?” Belthas shook his head. “Honestly, Verus. You break into my home with a Dark cabal and still think you’re on the right side? Which one of us has caused more deaths lately?”

“That might be because you keep yourself an army of minions.”

“And who made the choice to kill them?” Belthas asked. He hadn’t looked up and was still tracing through the ritual in the book. “Those men had families, you know. I do so hate writing condolence letters.”

I felt a flare of anger and bit down an answer. I was less than thirty feet from Belthas, just seconds at a run. But then, past Belthas, I caught sight of something in the room beyond. It looked like a bed with someone on it. I moved along to get a better view. It
was
a bed … and lying on it was Rachel, wearing what looked like a hospital gown. Her eyes were closed and an IV drip hung from a stand. There was something else next to her. I took another step—

My precognition warned me just in time. I leapt backwards as golden energy slashed the air with a hiss, passing through the spot I’d been in a second ago. I tripped and fell, turned it into a backwards roll, and scrambled away as heavy footfalls sounded from the storeroom. “Oh, didn’t I mention?” Belthas said. “Your new friend Cinder drew away that mantis golem …”

And a hulking shape appeared in the doorway. “…But what made you think I only had one?” Belthas asked, just as the golem fired.

Mantis golems are the personal guards of the Council and only the most well-connected of Light mages have them. They look like seven-foot-tall humanoid praying mantises made of silver and gold, and they’re bloody lethal. This one was carrying two blades and an energy projector that spat a rapid-fire stream of bolts. I jumped back as the line of fire walked towards me, dodged
through
the shots in a move I’d never have dared to try if I’d stopped to think about it, kicked one of the benches over, and dropped behind it as the stream of bolts swept back over my head again.

The stream of fire cut off as the golem lost sight of its target, and the heavy footfalls began again as it started to walk around the circle towards me. I popped up and sighted on the thing—although mantis golems are damn near invulnerable to attack magic a lucky hit can damage their joints or sensors—but I only managed to get off one burst before another volley of fire forced me to duck down. This time the golem sent a second volley of fire through the bench where I’d been and I rolled right just in time. I was focusing all my attention on the immediate future, thinking only about surviving the next couple of seconds.

Which was why I didn’t realise Luna had stepped out of cover until I caught sight of her in my peripheral vision. She was standing in the open, staring at the golem and concentrating, and I could see a steady stream of silver mist flowing from her to sink into the metal monster. She was within the golem’s field of vision but it didn’t turn towards her, its simple programming not recognising her as a threat.

But Belthas did. He said something in another language and the golem stopped and turned towards Luna with a hiss of metal. I came up with a shout and fired, knowing the shots wouldn’t do any damage but hoping they’d get its attention.
The bullets glanced away and the golem locked onto its new target, oblivious.

The first volley would have killed Luna but for her curse. It’s so deadly one can easily forget that its original function was to serve as a protection, drawing luck away from everyone else to bring it to its subject. Normally Luna never trips or falls—the curse protects her from any accident, no matter how small—but as the golem fired she stumbled on the smooth floor and went sprawling, the spread of bolts hissing over her head. The second volley missed too, kicking up splinters as Luna rolled to the left and started to rise, but then the golem planted its feet squarely and I knew the third shot would hit.

It didn’t. The golem’s movements suddenly slowed, and it took a second, maybe two, to fire. When it did, the energy bolt drifted out of the barrel as if in slow motion, accelerating as it moved away. By the time it hit real speed Luna was on the other side of the room, and the energy did nothing but tear up the floor.