Alex Verus Novels, Books 1-4 (9780698175952) (30 page)

We weren’t alone. A dozen people were scattered around the court: mages and guards. All had turned to stare at us, and as we came to our feet a mage threw out his arm. He was at the centre of a cluster of three. “Hold it! Who are you?”

At least, that was what he would have said if he’d had the chance.

It was quite terrifying, what Onyx did to those men. Normal people, when they’re dropped into a hostile situation, take an instant to orient themselves. Onyx didn’t. In the time the leader took to open his mouth, Onyx slammed a bolt of force into the mage on the left, spun and did the same thing to the one on the right, then sent a blast straight at the face of the one at the centre, who was just in the middle of getting out the word
who
. If the mage hadn’t jerked back, it would have broken his neck; as it was, it took him off his feet. A heartbeat later Cinder and Khazad joined in, engaging the ones remaining.

While everyone else was fighting, I was running, sprinting up the curving stairs. Behind me I heard the roar of spells as the battle kicked off. It took me five seconds to reach the top landing, and for that instant I was completely exposed to the people below. But everyone was too busy to pay attention to me, and I made it to the top in one piece.

I was getting pretty familiar with the British Museum by now, and as I ran I could pick out the sounds behind me: the roar of Cinder’s fire magic, the flat slam of Onyx’s force spells, the chatter of the automatic weapons of the guards. An instant later there was an explosion and the chatter cut off abruptly. I knew that Onyx’s side was winning, and that I wouldn’t have much time before they caught me up. I reached the staircase leading to the statue room. There were no guards and I raced up the stairs, calling out the password and passing through the barrier without a ripple. As soon as I was through I dived and rolled.

A hammer of earth magic whistled above me, passing through the space where my head would have been if I hadn’t taken the tumble. I came up from my roll and threw
my hand towards the man standing by the entrance. “Griff, you idiot, it’s me! Seal the stairs!”

Griff had just started a backswing with a maul of grey-brown energy; he checked, halting his swing. “Verus?” He stared. “How did you get in? The guards—”

“They’re getting their asses kicked, and so will we if you
don’t seal the stairs
!”

“There’s a barrier—”

“Which you just saw me walk through!”

“I’d have to collapse the—”

“Then
do it
!” I was getting desperate; I knew Onyx and Khazad were less than twenty seconds away. “We’re out of time!”

Griff hesitated for a heartbeat, then turned and made a fist. There was a rumble followed by a roar, and the floor shook as a section of the roof of the British Museum caved in, turning the stairwell behind the barrier into a shaft full of rubble. The barrier shivered slightly, but held. Dust flaked from the roof as I picked myself up. I couldn’t hear anything from the floor below. We were sealed off—for the moment.

“Alex!”

I looked around and there was Luna, standing alone in the corner of the room, her eyes shining. I felt something in my chest loosen as I saw her. “You’re okay?”

“
I’m
okay?” Luna’s voice wavered. “What about
you
?”

I grinned. “Let’s catch up later.” I pulled the cube from my pocket and threw it to her; Luna caught it in reflex. Someone else peeked out their head from behind the statue; it was Sonder, his eyes suddenly alight with interest. “
Oh!
A crystal key! It must have microfissures that match the pattern of the light beams. Um, Mr. Verus, where did you—?”

“Sonder, this isn’t really the time,” I said as I got to my feet. “And I told you to call me Alex. Luna? Do it.”

Luna shook her head with a smile as if at some joke, and slotted the cube into the statue’s hand. It fit perfectly.

For a moment there was silence, then a gentle white light sprang up around the statue’s hand. Needle-thin beams of
light sprang out from the fingers, reaching into the cube, and as they did, the cube responded. It glowed red and more beams of light appeared, starting in the cube’s centre and stretching out. The two sets of beams moved, playing up, down, left, and right as if searching for something.

“Sonder?” I asked after a few seconds. “What are we seeing?”

“It’s…” Sonder stared at the cube, utterly fascinated. The red-and-white light sparkled and reflected off his glasses. “Of course!
That’s
why we could never get it to work!”

“What is?”

“The crystal’s responding to the interrogation. Look!” Sonder pointed eagerly. One of the needlelike beams from the cube had intersected with one from the statue, and the two had merged and gone still. “They’re matching!” Sonder said. “
That’s
the locking mechanism—”

“It’d better open fast,” Griff said sharply, cutting Sonder off. We turned to see that Griff had one hand pressed flat against the wall next to the barrier, and his eyes were narrowed. “You were right. Someone out there wants in.”

Now that we were looking, I could feel it: the distant
crunch, crunch, crunch
of force effects carving through rubble, the vibrations growing steadily stronger. “That would be Onyx,” I said with a nasty sinking feeling.

“How long is he going to be?” Griff demanded of me.

“If you strengthen that barrier…about eighty seconds.”

“How long till the door opens?”

“About seventy.”

Griff and Luna looked at each other, then Griff turned to the wall, his hand glowing with a pale brown light. There was a faint rumble as the stone reshaped itself, the rubble on the other side shifting and fusing into a dense blockade. Luna stood as close as she could to me, while Sonder waited on the other side.

One minute passed like an hour.

The booming sounds from behind us were clearly audible now, and they were causing the room to shake. Almost
all of the lights from the cube and statue had intersected; only three had yet to fuse. I spoke quietly to Luna. “When the door opens, grab that cube and stick close to me. Take the right exit.”

Luna nodded. “Um,” Sonder said hesitantly from the other side. “What should I do?”

“I’d follow Luna,” I said. “Unless you want to meet Onyx.”

Sonder swallowed. “I think I’ll stay with you if that’s okay.”

Another pair of light beams intersected, followed by another. “Five seconds,” I said loudly. The booms from behind were like thunder now, and the floor was shaking with each one.

The last pair of beams matched. A pale light filled the room, and the statue seemed to fade, becoming something else. For one moment it was as though two things were stacked in the same location: the statue, glowing palely, and an arched doorway, leading into a wide chamber. “Go!” I shouted, and ran. For an instant I was running
through
the statue, and there was a brief dizzying feeling as my eyes tried to process two sets of visual data at once, then I was through into an entrance hall with a domed roof, lit by dim flickering lights. Behind me Luna snatched the cube from the statue’s hand and ran after me, Sonder at her heels.

From behind I heard a thunderous crash and the crack of flying stone, followed an instant later by the boom of Griff’s earth magic. Suddenly the battle was in the statue room, and everything was chaos and darkness and fire. The gate was closing, fading, but too slowly, and I knew we had only seconds before the battle spilled through. I made it into the right-hand tunnel, hit something to my left, and a heavy door slammed behind us, cutting off sound and leaving us in pitch-darkness.

I
t was pitch-black.

“Luna?” I said.

“Over here.”

“You okay?”

“I’m fine, don’t come too close!”

“Er, hi.”

“What’s that?”

“What’s what?”

“Who’s there?”

“Luna.”

“Not you!”

“Sonder. Er, I mean David. I met you at—”

“I
know
who you are, Sonder.”

“You made it through?”

“Well, Mr. Verus, I mean Alex, said to follow you, and—”

“Has anyone got a light?”

Silence.

“Anyone?”

Silence.

“Luna?”

“I brought the stuff you asked for.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes, but it’s sealed. If I touch it…”

“Okay, okay. Sonder?”

“Yes?”

“You’re a mage, right?”

“Well, yes.”

“Great, cast a light spell.”

“…”

“What’s wrong?”

“Um, well—”

“Please don’t tell me you can’t make one either.”

“Well, I’ve never really gotten the hang of it. And there’s usually someone else around who can, so…”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding.”

There was a fumbling sound, and then there was a click and a cone of light broke the darkness, causing me to flinch. As my eyes adjusted I saw Sonder holding a torch, looking apologetic. “But I did bring one of these. Is that okay?”

As Sonder flashed the light around I saw Luna, pale but unhurt, pressed up against the wall. We were in a circular room with a doorway leading out into a corridor. I couldn’t see any trace of the doorway we’d entered from, and I couldn’t feel any vibration through the floor. Either the walls were really thick or we’d been transported. Either way, a quick look at the future confirmed that no one was going to be following for a while.

“Where are we?” Luna asked

“Sonder?” I said.

“This is amazing,” Sonder said. He was looking around in fascination. “We’re actually inside a bubble! All of this must have been built during the Dark Wars. I’ve never seen an installation as well preserved—”

Luna and I looked at him, and Sonder suddenly looked flustered. “Well, I mean— We’re inside the bubble. It should be safe. I mean, it’s lasted this long.”

“Can anyone else get in?” I asked.

“Oh, no. Not once the gate’s closed.”

“I think it was closing at the end,” Luna said. She was still holding the red crystal cube, looking down at it. “When I took it away, I wanted it to. And it did.”

I glanced at Luna curiously. Absorbed with the cube, she didn’t seem to notice. “Um…” Sonder said. “Did anyone else get inside?”

“Let’s hope not. Luna? Luna!”

“Hm?” Luna shook herself. “Oh. Right.” She stood and walked to the middle of the room. With my mage’s sight I could see the silvery mist coating her and the pack, odd tendrils drifting towards me and Sonder but not quite able to reach. Luna took off her backpack, put it upside down on the ground, then lifted it quickly off, stepping away. A handful of items spilled out. “This was everything I could find.”

“Shine the light,” I told Sonder, who obeyed. The first thing I picked up from the pile was my mist cloak, and I felt my heart lighten as I saw it. It’s funny how attached you can get to an item, but then imbued items are practically living things. In any case, it’s saved my life more times than I can count, and as I swung it over my shoulders and fastened it around my neck, I felt better immediately.

“Is it all there?” Luna asked.

I nodded as I went through the pile. I’d asked Luna to go to my shop using the hidden key, and bring everything I’d need. “Good job. How did it go with Talisid?”

“He asked if I was your apprentice.”

“What did you tell him?”

“What do you think?”

I laughed, found my own torch, and switched it on. “Sonder? Go into the corridor about fifteen feet down and have a look on the right wall. There’s a control set that’ll turn on the lights for this area.”

Sonder hesitated. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

“As long as you don’t go any farther.”

“I’m not actually sure how the spells in this site work…”

“Yes, you are. If you study it for a couple of minutes, you’ll figure it out.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“It might be dangerous…”

“It won’t be.”

“How do you know?”

“Because that’s what I do. Look, Sonder, I’ve never studied places like this, and neither has Luna, but you have. The reason I’m asking you to do it is because you’re the best one for the job. There’ll be places farther on where it
is
dangerous for you to touch anything, but when we run into those I’ll warn you. Okay?”

“Oh.” Sonder hesitated, then nodded. “Okay.” He got up and stepped out into the corridor. I looked back to see that Luna was smiling. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh, I was telling him about you. While we were waiting in the statue room.”

I gave Luna a suspicious look. “What did you say?”

Luna looked back at me innocently. I shook my head, then became serious. “How did everything go?”

Luna glanced after where Sonder had gone, then sighed and leant back against the wall. “It wasn’t so bad. They didn’t ask many questions. Most of them just ignored me.”

“How was Talisid?”

Luna thought for a second. “I think he might have guessed. None of the others did. The only other one who talked to me was Sonder. You know, he seemed a bit…”

I laughed. “Not all mages are the experienced type.” I’d almost finished with the contents of the backpack. She’d done a good job; I had everything that was likely to help. One item remained: a blue disc with serrated edges. I could feel that it was some sort of focus, with a fair charge of energy inside it. “What’s that?”

“Talisid said it was a communicator,” Luna said. “He said it was synchronous?”

I’d picked the disc up and was studying it. “Huh. I didn’t know they’d managed to get these working.”

“Will it work from in here?”

I nodded. “He must have been expecting something like
this. Even for a Council rep, this wouldn’t come cheap.” I looked at Luna. “Ready?”

Luna nodded and I pressed several of the edges in sequence. They began to flash blue. I set the thing down and waited.

The lights changed from blue to green and a ghostly holographic figure appeared, standing on the disc, twelve inches tall. It was Talisid. “Verus!” His voice was muffled but clear. “Where are you?”

“Where do you think?”

“You’re inside?”