Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (28 page)

The two of us stared at each other. “I did a lot of things I shouldn’t have while I was here,” I said at last. “A lot of them I don’t like to think about. But you know what?” I held Tobruk’s gaze, dropping my mask, letting him see that I was telling the truth. “Killing you was the only thing I ever did from that time that I don’t regret at all.”

Tobruk glared at me a second longer, then snorted and dropped back into the chair. “Yeah, whatever.”

I turned to leave.

“Oh, Alex?”

I paused for a moment, then looked back.

“Richard’s going to find you,” Tobruk said. He was smiling again. “When he wakes up he’s going to go looking for you. Then he’s going to find you and then he’s going to hurt you and then you’re going to die. And when you do, I’ll be waiting for you. Make sure you stay alive till then, Alex. I’ll be really disappointed if you let any of those guys kill you instead. I want to see your face when you meet him.” He gave a mocking wave. “Be seeing you.” He turned towards Shireen.

I didn’t wait to see what he was going to do with her. I stepped through the door, pushing it open. There was a moment of blinding, unbearable light, then—

M
y eyes snapped open into darkness. It was warm, and I was back on the bed in the room in Morden’s mansion. I looked quickly through the futures just to make sure that I was really back, then I got up. The lights in the room had gone out, and the fire was cold. Outside, starlight glinted off the leaves. I stood by the window for a while, looking out into the night, before returning to bed.

A
lot of people think of captivity as something glamorous, but the truth is, being a prisoner is mostly just boring. No matter how sadistic the guy in control of you, he can’t focus on you twenty-four hours a day. He’s got other things to do, and while he’s busy, you’re going to be sitting alone. After a few weeks, it can get to the point where you almost welcome a visit, just for a little human interaction. When I’d been Richard’s prisoner I’d passed the time by practising divination; I couldn’t reach outside the walls, but I got to know every square inch of that room. I learnt some weird skills that way. Even now I can pick up anything from a pencil to a tennis ball and hit a target first time, every time, looking into the future to see exactly how I need to make the throw. If I ever give up being a diviner, I can always make a living playing darts.

So the following day as Morden’s “guest” was just like old times. The door to my room wasn’t locked but I didn’t go wandering; I didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. Instead I sat in the chair with a book, and anyone watching would have seen me barely move all day except to turn a page.

But just because I wasn’t moving didn’t mean I wasn’t busy. Within two hours of sitting in that chair I knew the entire layout of Morden’s mansion, everything from the basement to the attic. My future selves roamed through the mansion, wandering, exploring, trying things, and everything they learnt, I learnt: everything from how the food was prepared in the kitchen to what would happen if you pulled the levers on the first floor. By noon I’d discovered four routes by which I could escape the mansion (with varying probabilities of success once I got outside), five places in which I could hide with little chance of detection (in the short term, anyway), two ways in which I could set off a small civil war between the mansion’s various inhabitants (for the record, in all the futures I saw, Morden’s side won), one way to destroy the mansion completely along with most of the people inside it (including me, unfortunately), a way to cause the mansion and most of the surrounding countryside to be overrun with intelligent giant badgers (don’t ask), and one half of a process for creating crystals capable of absorbing cold- and ice-based magic (which would be very useful if I had a spare couple of weeks and if I were worried about being attacked by an ice mage, neither of which was true).

That’s the thing about being a diviner. You learn a vast amount of information, of which ninety-five percent is completely useless.

Anyway, it was the people I was interested in. It didn’t take me long to confirm that Cinder and Khazad were here with Rachel, confined in the west wing. Lisa was there too, recovered enough to be able to move around. In a few of the futures, I tried to talk to Lisa; she avoided me or fled. Morden’s message about disloyalty had sunk in. It left a bitter taste in my mouth. It’s one thing to know why most slaves of Dark mages stay that way; it’s another to watch it happen.

But despite everything, I was as focused as I’d ever been. For years I’d been trying to forget my time as Richard’s apprentice, locking it up and burying it deep in my memory. The journey through Elsewhere had shattered that, bringing it all back—but now that I’d faced it, I found to my surprise
that the fear had been worse than the reality. It had hurt, yes, but it had been like cleaning out an old wound, and as I looked back I realised that it didn’t scare me the way it once had. I’d gotten stronger since then.

Onyx came into my room in the late afternoon. His cold eyes rested on me as he dropped something onto the table with a
clack
. “Put it on.”

The item on the table was a bracelet, made of some kind of black metal. I took a second to look at the consequences of saying no, then picked the thing up and locked it around my right wrist. The metal had an ugly, unpleasant feel to it, but it vanished as soon as it snapped shut.

Onyx waited a second, then flicked a finger. The bracelet flared with black energy, and a bolt of terrible agony shot up my arm, locking my muscles, like an electrical shock but worse. I lost my breath in a gasp and went down to one knee with a
thud
. My heart raced, and I took several deep breaths before looking up shakily at Onyx, steadying myself with one hand on the floor.

“Higher levels cripple or kill,” Onyx said. “Want to see?”

I took a breath. “No, thanks,” I said, my voice hoarse.

“We leave in two hours,” Onyx said. He turned and left.

I waited for his footsteps to fade away, then dropped the act, returned to the chair, and started work on the bracelet. It was the same design Richard had used, which made things simple. Once I was finished, I settled down to wait.

The sun was dipping towards the horizon when Onyx returned. He jerked his head in a command to follow, and I obeyed.

The morning room was wide, with one whole wall made entirely out of French windows that looked out onto the flowers of the garden. The light of the setting sun streamed in, mixing with the reflection off the leaves to light the wooden floor in yellow and gold. A table stood in the middle of the room, covered with maps. Morden was behind it, and standing in front, in a sullen group, were Cinder, Rachel, and Khazad. Cinder and Khazad glowered at me; Deleo/Rachel didn’t. Lisa and Morden’s other slave girl
(whose name I’d learnt was Selene) stood at opposite ends of the room, their eyes cast down submissively. Onyx walked to Morden’s side and gestured for me to stand with the others. I took up a position next to the table, a carefully judged distance away from Rachel.

“Tonight at sunset, the five of you will enter the relic and recover the fateweaver,” Morden said without preamble once we were around the table. Now that the pecking order had been established, he didn’t waste time on pleasantries. “Onyx will be in command; you will obey him absolutely. Any disagreements are to be put aside as long as you work for me.” He looked between us. “Do you have any objections? Cinder? Deleo, Verus? Khazad?”

Onyx’s eyes glinted as he watched us. I shook my head slightly and saw the others do the same. Rachel was holding quite still and I noticed that she was wearing a black metal bracelet similar to mine, as were Cinder and Khazad. It was the first time I’d seen the two of them since we were captured, and both looked battered and sullen. Cinder seemed subdued and didn’t react, but as Khazad caught me looking at them he shot me a hate-filled glance. I turned back to Morden, thinking as I did that it couldn’t happen to a nicer pair of guys.

“We expect moderate resistance at the museum,” Morden was saying. “Avoid unnecessary casualties, but entering is your priority. Once you’ve reached the statue, Verus”—he nodded to me—“will open it. Show them the key, please.”

Everyone’s eyes were on me as I slowly reached into my pocket and produced the crystal cube. It sat quietly in the palm of my hand, the sparks glinting in its depths. Cinder’s eyes were hungry, as were Khazad’s. Rachel’s were calculating. “The rest of you will set up a perimeter until the door is open,” Morden continued. “Should Verus fail, Onyx will employ a contingency plan.”

I didn’t like the sound of that at all.

“Once you are inside,” Morden said, “you will be in unknown territory. The relic interior has been sealed for at
least two thousand years. However, given that the guardian elemental still functions, I doubt the traps will have stopped working.”

“Traps?” Khazad said sharply.

“Of course.” Morden raised an eyebrow. “I assumed you knew.”

Cinder and Khazad looked at him, and then, as one, they turned to stare at Rachel. Rachel looked between them. “What?” she demanded.

“You didn’t say anything about traps,” Khazad said.

“I’m sure she had her reasons,” Morden said smoothly. “The fateweaver is located at the relic’s centre. Once Onyx has taken possession of it, you are free to return or to stay and loot the place as you wish.” Morden smiled. “I’ll quite understand if you need some time alone. As long as you accomplish your objective, the decision of what to do afterwards is entirely up to you.” Morden looked around. “Are there any questions?”

Khazad had been staring at Rachel; now he dragged his eyes away to look at Morden. “When do we get paid?”

“Once Onyx and the fateweaver are in this room.” Morden looked around. “Anything else?”

“One thing,” I said, and felt everyone’s eyes turn to me. “There were quite a few guards at the museum.”

Cinder snorted with laughter, and Khazad looked at me through narrowed eyes. “What’s the matter, Verus?” Khazad’s voice was ugly. “Afraid of a fight?”

I didn’t look at him. “I’ll have trouble opening the relic if I’m dead,” I said mildly to Morden.

“Onyx will explain your method of approach once you arrive.”

It wasn’t what I’d wanted to hear, but I nodded. Morden looked around. “Anything else?”

No one spoke.

“Excellent.” Morden smiled. “Don’t look so gloomy, you four. By tomorrow, you’ll be free, rich, and in my favour. All you have to do is bring me the fateweaver.”

M
y shoes swished through the wet grass as we walked out into the garden. The setting sun lit up the landscape around, showing hills and distant forests. Clouds hung overhead, glowing gold in the sunset. Morden’s mansion had a powerful shroud effect, but I was pretty sure we were somewhere in Wales.

As we walked I moved to block Rachel slightly, so that the two of us fell behind. She gave me a cool look, but allowed it. “Nice jewellery,” I said under my breath once we were far enough behind Cinder and Khazad. “Onyx give you a demonstration?”

“I’m not afraid of Onyx,” Rachel said, turning away. She was wearing a blue coat that looked like it might have belonged to Lisa. “What do you want?”

Up ahead, Onyx was giving sharp orders to Khazad and Cinder, who listened sullenly. “Did you notice something strange about that briefing?”

“Like?”

“Morden wants to use the fateweaver to become the representative of the Dark mages on the Council,” I said, keeping my voice low. “For that to work, he can’t leave any proof that he was behind the raid.”

“So?”

“Morden said we could go free or keep working for him. Either way, we might talk. The guards at the museum might recognise us. We’d be a link that could be traced.” I looked sideways at Rachel. “That would be a problem for him, don’t you think?”

Rachel started to answer, then stopped. “Yes,” she said at last, her voice colourless. “It would.”

I fell silent, letting Rachel work the rest of it out for herself. I knew it wouldn’t take her long, and I wasn’t surprised when she spoke a moment later. “Are you still any good with locks?”