Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (133 page)

I scowled.

“Your life is changing, Alex,” Arachne said. “I know you've always preferred to rely on evasion but things are different now. More and more you're going to find yourself facing dangers that you can't run from or hide from.” She tapped the jacket again. “You're going to have to take risks. This will help you survive them.”

Dubiously I lifted the material a few inches, feeling its texture. “Well, it's light enough,” I admitted. “Is this going to do anything against a battle-mage?”

“A direct hit?” Arachne said. “No. But against area-of-effect spells or glancing blows it'll keep you alive against something that would kill an unarmoured human.”

“Bullets?”

“Lower-powered ones should be manageable. For higher-power shots it depends on the angle of impact. The mesh will try to reshape itself to curve projectiles but there's only so much it can do.”

“This is an imbued item, isn't it?” I asked. Now that I was close I could sense the presence from the suit. It felt incomplete, as if it wasn't fully grown yet, but there was definitely something there.

“Yes, and on that subject, do make sure not to wear this at the same time as your mist cloak,” Arachne said. “They both have a protective purpose, but they do so in very different ways and the variation in mindset will cause problems. Also, I don't know if you've noticed, but imbued items can be . . . possessive about their bearers.”

“It's okay,” I said, suppressing a shiver. “I'm not going to be using my mist cloak for a while.” I could still remember the weird stretched feeling, and it frightened me. The scariest part was that I hadn't even really noticed what was happening. If Arachne hadn't made me take it off, I didn't know where I would have ended up, and I absolutely did not want to look into the future to find out. “Thanks for doing this for me.”

“Don't you remember what I told you last year?” Spiders can't really smile, but I had the feeling that was what Arachne was doing. “After what happened with Belthas? You have my help whenever you want it, Alex.” She tilted her head. “You don't ask for enough, you know.”

“Old habits,” I said, and yawned. “You know, I'm feeling better. I think I'll go to bed.”

“Good night.”

chapter
13

W
hen I woke the next morning I felt alert and refreshed. Although a few parts of me ached, none of it was enough to slow me down, and I knew I was in good shape. I was as ready as I was going to be. It took me a minute to remember what I needed to be ready for, and once I did that killed my enthusiasm. I lay on the rocky floor with my eyes open, staring up at the ceiling.

There's something weird about waking up the day of a battle. I knew that as soon as I left Arachne's cave, I was going to walk into a confrontation that would end in blood. Death and violence were in my future . . . but as long as I stayed in bed or mooched around the tunnels, I'd be perfectly safe. I've run into this situation a few times as a diviner, and it's always a bizarre feeling, violence and chaos alongside comfortable routine. It's like having someone tell you that as soon as you step out of your front door he's going to shoot you, but he's not in any rush and he'd be happy to give you time to finish your breakfast and would it be more convenient if he came back tomorrow?

I couldn't sense Arachne's presence, and searching through the short-term futures I couldn't find her in the tunnels. I found a different presence, though, something close, and I raised my head to see the armour Arachne had been making for me. It was finished, and it hung from the wall, waiting. I rose and walked to the suit, studying it.

When a mage takes up an imbued item for the first time, it's a big thing. It's not exactly an introduction, or an offer of partnership, or a challenge, although it's got something in common with all of those. What it's most like is a mutual test. The mage gets a sense of the item's purpose, as well as its power and its sentience. In turn, the item sees the mage for who he truly is, maybe more clearly than any human could. If the item likes what it sees, it accepts you as its bearer, at least on a provisional basis. If it's unimpressed, it'll stay inert. If it
really
doesn't like you . . . well, the less said about that the better.

I reached out and placed a hand on the black mesh of the chest armour, and as I did I felt the item's presence strengthen. I could feel it, and I knew it could feel me, too. It was different from my mist cloak; the cloak was subtle, difficult to detect even if you were looking for it. This was forceful and active, and I could feel it probing at my mind. In reflex I shoved it back; I've had a few too many bad experiences with mental control over the last year or two. The presence receded but didn't go away. There was a pause, as though both of us were waiting for the other to make the next move.

“I'm about to go into battle,” I said to the suit. “I don't know how it'll end, but I know how it'll begin. I'm going to be outnumbered and probably outmatched as well.” I looked at the suit. “I don't have any right to demand anything from you, but I'm asking for your help. If you decide to go with me it'll be dangerous. Not just now, but in the future. Even if I survive this battle there'll be others, and the odds aren't likely to get better. I'm never really going to be safe . . . but it's
because
I'm never going to be safe that I need the kind of defence you can give. I don't know if there's anything I could offer in return that you'd care about, but if there is, I will. Will you protect me?”

The suit rested silently on the wall, watching me.

* * *

V
ariam was sitting on one of the sofas in the central chamber. He looked up and did a double take. “What are you getting ready for, a war?”

“Something like that,” I said. The armour was lighter than I'd expected but it still felt strange. I'm not used to wearing anything with any real weight to it—most of my clothes are light and designed to let me move quickly—and in the new outfit my movements felt awkward. With each step I took, though, it got easier. I could feel the armour adapting itself to my movements, adjusting to my steps. Most of all, I could feel the item's presence, like a passenger at the back of my mind. It takes time for an imbued item to decide whether to accept a bearer: throughout the battle to come, the suit would be watching me.

“I've never seen you carry a sword.”

“I don't usually carry weapons, full stop.”

Variam looked at me curiously. “Why not?”

“Attitude, mostly,” I said. “If you carry a weapon it means that at some level you're planning to use it. Leaving them behind reminds you that you're supposed to be running first and fighting afterwards.”

Variam pointed at the sword at my belt. “So what's with that?”

“Because right now I'm through with running,” I said. I nodded towards the entrance. “Ready?”

Variam rose and we began walking up the tunnel towards the surface. “Luna and Anne were asking about you,” Variam said.

“Are they okay?”

“It's whether
you're
okay that they're worried about.”

I sighed. “Yeah. I guess I haven't been doing that good a job of taking care of myself lately, have I?”

We left Arachne's cave and sealed it behind us. It was midmorning and the sunlight was filtering down through a bank of grey-white cloud. The air was humid and a little oppressive but I could still hear the chatter and calls of people around us. “We clear?” Variam asked.

I scanned ahead. The futures of the nearby people on the park weren't intersecting ours, at least not yet. “Clear.”

Variam got to work on his gate. It was messy and although he tried to hide it I could tell that having an audience was making him nervous. I waited patiently; nothing's more annoying than having someone distracting you when you're doing a difficult spell. On the third try the orange flame solidified into an oval of light and an image of trees and grass appeared through it. I stepped through quickly and Variam followed, letting it vanish behind him.

Richard's mansion looked the same as it had when I'd arrived here three days ago. In fact it looked
exactly
the same, which was wrong; there should have been a big hole in the wall where Caldera had done her improvised building works. Looking down the grassy slope, I saw that the wall was smooth and unbroken again. Somebody fixed it, and I was pretty sure I knew who: Deleo. Although we could see down through the trees to the mansion, we were under tree cover and the branches would hide us from any viewers. Variam had chosen his spot well. “Well, we're here,” Variam said, walking out behind me. “You going to tell me what the plan is?”

I told him.

“That's it?” Variam asked.

“Pretty much.”

“That's . . .” Variam was silent for a moment.

“What?”

“I don't know. Efficient. Cold.”

“It's what I do, Vari,” I said. “I can't take things on head-to-head the way you can. I have to stack the odds in my favour first.”

“I know what you're trying to do,” Variam said, and he was watching me. “You want to set this up so none of this is our fault, don't you?”

“Have you ever killed anyone?”

Variam looked away. “I don't think so,” he said after a pause.

“Heat of battle is one thing. Premeditated is worse.”

“We'd fight for you. Me and Anne and Luna.”

“I know. And that's why I can't let you do it. This is my responsibility and I'm the one who should pay for it.”

Variam didn't answer. We stood under the trees, looking down over the grass towards the mansion. Birds were singing in the warm summer day, though the air was still muggy and close. “So what do we do now?” Variam said at last. “Wait for them to show up to kill us?”

“Me, not us. But yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

“Are they on their way?”

“Not yet,” I said. I hadn't stopped scanning the futures and I couldn't see the Nightstalkers coming yet. “They're probably having breakfast.”

Variam gave me a look. “Having breakfast.”

“I can't make them go any faster,” I pointed out. “Right now Lee isn't looking for me or he'd spot me. As soon as he does, the next thing he'll do is check the direction and see that it's pointing straight to this mansion. They've been here before so their gater will know the location. They'll assemble and gear up, and as soon as they're ready they'll gate in.” I shrugged. “Figure ten to forty minutes, depending how good their prep time is.”

“This is so weird,” Variam said, shaking his head. “We're just sitting here waiting for them to notice?”

“Welcome to being a diviner,” I said. “It's a lot more passive than what you're used to.” I cocked my head. “Ah.”

“Ah?” Variam said. “Ah, what?”

“Looks like Lee just spotted me. They're coming.” The futures were shifting now, narrowing fast. Decisions make a distinctive pattern in divination magic; if someone genuinely hasn't made up their mind about what they're going to do, it's obvious. This was nothing like that. Will and the Nightstalkers must have already worked out a plan for this situation, and they were acting on it. “Looks like twenty-five minutes,” I said. “Figure twenty to be safe.” I leant against an ash tree. “You going to meet that Keeper?”

Variam gave me a disbelieving look. “Is this really the time?”

“Can't go inside yet,” I said. “So?”

Variam looked down at the grass. “I don't know. Maybe.”

“I think you should,” I said.

“What about Anne?”

“You can't protect her forever, Vari.”

“That's not what I'm worried about,” Variam muttered.

I frowned. “What?”

“Never mind,” Variam said. “I still don't like the Keepers.”

“You're not going to get any argument from me. But look at it this way. If decent people never join the Keepers, they're never going to get any better, are they?”

“So what, I'm supposed to reform them?”

I grinned. “Maybe not. But . . . there's a practical side to it, too. You've been worried about the Council causing trouble for you or Anne some day, right? Well, think about it. If you want to protect yourself from the Council, having a position in the Keepers would be a pretty good way to do it.”

Variam started to answer and then stopped. It was obvious that he hadn't thought of that. “You think that'd work?”

“It's worth a try.” I took another glance into the futures and straightened. “Time to go.”

“I'm staying,” Variam said.

“Vari—”

“You don't want us killing anyone because of you,” Variam said. “I get it. But you're still going to need a way out. So just in case things
don't
go so smooth, I'll be waiting out here. Okay?”

I looked back at Variam, then gave him a nod. “I'll see you soon.”

* * *

A
s I walked down the hillside towards Richard's mansion, I put Variam out of my mind. The timing of this was going to be tricky; too late and the Nightstalkers would overwhelm me, too early and I wouldn't have them as a buffer. The futures were narrowing quickly, and I knew Will and the Nightstalkers would make their gate in minutes. The alarm ward on the front door waited quietly, at rest. I opened the front door, feeling the faint tingle as the ward triggered, and walked in.

As soon as I was inside I broke into a run. I'd already checked that the nocturne trap hadn't been reset but I checked again as I ran down the corridor, just to be safe. It was gone, and I ran down the dark stairs, my diviner's senses guiding me. The chapel was cold and pitch-black, and my footsteps echoed on the stone. I made what few preparations I had time for, then stood in the archway and waited.

As I stood in the darkness I checked my weapons. My 1911 rested in its holster, its weight an unfamiliar presence at my hip. I didn't honestly expect it to do me any good, but with any luck the Nightstalkers wouldn't know that. My combat knife sat next to it and my one-shots were distributed in pockets around the belt. I'd already laid out one of my forcewalls at the chapel exit at my feet, the gold discs placed so their wall would block the path between the chapel and the deeper basements. It was the same exit that Shireen had been trying to reach when Rachel had killed her.

On my left side was the weapon I'd brought in anticipation of Will. I'd deliberated a long time deciding what to use. Will's speed made most ranged weapons useless; he was practically fast enough to dodge bullets and by the time I'd fired enough rounds to have any chance of a hit he'd have closed the range and gutted me. From my experience in the casino I knew Will liked to get up close, where he could use his gun and shortsword to deadly effect. The best counter to that would have been the battle-magic of an elemental mage—something powerful enough to blast a whole room, force him to hold range or be burnt to death. But I didn't have that kind of power, and the one-shots I'd brought wouldn't do more than slow him down. I'd toyed with the idea of some kind of staff or spear, something to hold him at arm's length, but the tunnels below Richard's mansion were too cramped for such a long weapon and I had the feeling Will was quick enough to just grab the haft and stab me.

In the end I'd settled on a jian: a Chinese one-handed sword, a little over two feet long. It had enough reach to give an advantage over Will's shortsword but not so much that he could easily get inside my swing, and it was light enough to be useful at close quarters. I didn't want to fight Will hand-to-hand if I could avoid it, but if there was one thing I'd learnt about him over the past few days it was that he was really hard to shake off. I wasn't going to be caught unprepared this time.

And beneath the weapons was Arachne's armour, its weight a constant reminder of why I was here. I could feel its presence, ready and eager. From above a distant sound echoed through the mansion and I knew the Nightstalkers had arrived. I folded my arms and waited.