Necropolis (Royal Sorceress Book 3) (44 page)

She lay back on the straw, thinking hard. If there was an opportunity to escape, or to kill herself, she would have to take it. There had been at least three Charmers working for the Russians. One of them
might
be able to reprogram her to do as the Tsar wanted, no matter how strongly she was opposed to his desires. And then she would no longer be herself.

But there seemed no way out of the cell.

She struggled to draw on just one spark of magic, just enough to kill the Leech by moving cells in his brain. But nothing worked. She was trapped.

***

Olivia found herself struggling to maintain mental contact with her undead as they approached the source of the Tsar’s waves of power. The sheer level of power he was tossing around so casually was terrifying, even to a born Necromancer. Olivia had the uneasy suspicion that she would have fallen under his sway if she’d been there in person, despite not being one of the undead. As it was, she had to struggle to keep her undead under her control.

The other undead ignored them as they walked into the complex. Olivia looked around, through the eyes of her puppets, and saw no trace of anyone living. A handful of the undead wore monkish robes, like Gregory and his servants, but none of them were alive. The Tsar seemed to be surrounding himself with more and more slaves, all undead. If there was anyone living left in the complex, she couldn’t see them.

Deeper underground, she found a set of cells. She felt her head spinning as she peered into them, one by one, only to discover that most of the cells were empty. Her undead puppet staggered under the growing waves of power, but somehow kept moving. The fifth cell was occupied, she discovered; three undead stood on guard, while Gwen sat in a cell, handcuffed to a man.

Olivia frowned, wondering why Gwen hadn’t broken free. Cuffing her to someone would hardly deprive her of her powers. But she understood, a moment later; the Russian cuffed to her had to be another magician, a Leech. She couldn’t help wondering what would happen if a Leech was allowed to step too close to one of the undead. Would a Leech drain away the magic holding the undead together? Or would the undead simply rip off his head or bite him, starting the transformation into yet another undead?

She thought hard, trying to decide how best to proceed. It would be easy to deal with the undead guards; as always, they seemed to have problems even
seeing
her undead puppet. But the Leech might be a far more dangerous prospect. She considered several options, then decided to deal with the undead first. If nothing else, Gwen would have a chance to break free. Bracing herself, she lashed out at the first undead, sending its head flying from its shoulders to crash against the far wall. The other undead appeared to be surprised – from their point of view, the attack seemed to have come out of nowhere – but the Leech let out a cry of shock.

Olivia took out the second undead, then the third. And then she felt the Tsar’s mental influence growing stronger and stronger ... hastily, she dropped out of the undead puppet before he could overwhelm her completely. She’d done the best she could, she knew. She just hoped Gwen could take advantage of it.

***

Gwen saw the fourth undead enter the prison cell, but thought little of it. The Tsar would be trying to intimidate her with the sheer scale of his power and control before his Charmers started to work. If she was halfway to being convinced that resistance was futile, she knew, it would be much easier to bring her completely over to his side. And then the undead creature’s hand lashed out and beheaded one of its fellows.

Olivia
, she thought, as the Leech started to his feet, dragging Gwen along with him. The thought made her smile, giving her renewed energy.
She’s alive
!

The Leech stared in disbelief as the undead kept slaughtering its fellows. Gwen saw her chance and took it, throwing herself at his back. They crashed forward, his head cracking into one of the bars with a sickening thud. Gwen felt her magic flaring through her body once again as the Leech shuddered, clearly badly stunned rather than dead. The remaining undead advanced towards her; Gwen summoned fire, blasted both of them to ash, then sliced through the Leech’s hand and the chains around her ankles. There would be time to unpick the cuffs later.

A terrible moaning echoed through the complex as she broke out of the cell and rushed for the door. Four undead were already running towards her; oddly, they were holding weapons in their hands. Gwen blasted all four of them, then almost collapsed as everything caught up with her at once. Whispering – terrible whispering – echoed through her mind, reminding her that the Tsar was somewhere within the complex. But she didn’t have the energy to go after him, not now. All she could do was try to make her escape.

Another swarm of undead greeted her as she reached the stairwell and threw herself up it, their arms reaching for her with deadly intent. Gwen knocked them down, feeling her head starting to pound again, then ran past them and out of the building. Whatever happened, she told herself, she would die free.

Behind her, the Tsar’s whispering grew louder, echoing through her mind.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

I
t took Olivia several moments to gather herself after escaping the Tsar’s increasingly harsh mental commands. The certain knowledge that he’d almost taken
her
as well as her undead had shocked her to the bone. And yet, she knew she couldn’t just lie there and wait to see what happened. She had to try to muster help for Gwen before it was too late.

She snapped open her eyes and stared across the airstrip. One airship was already being loaded with passengers – foreign diplomats and Russian aristocrats – while the other was being prepared for flight. Hundreds of soldiers stood around the airstrip, several carrying makeshift swords, while others were assembling barricades around the complex. Olivia had few illusions as to their effectiveness. If the Tsar chose to throw thousands of his undead at the barricades, they would collapse into rubble within seconds.

“Olivia?” Raechel asked. “Are you all right?”

“Gwen isn’t,” Olivia said. She stumbled to her feet, looking for Sir Sidney. “Where’s Sidney?”

“At the edge of the airstrip,” Simone said. She sounded concerned; her powers, Olivia realised, would let her hear the whispering through Olivia. “What’s happening?”

Olivia ignored her as she walked frantically towards Sir Sidney. He was definitely coming apart at the seams, she realised, but there was nothing they could do about it. The only solution she could think of was to allow him to bite someone and that would just give him a taste for it. When she reached him, she saw that someone had tried to feed him bread, cheese and dried meat. It was clear that he hadn’t been able to eat any of it.

Which isn’t surprising
, she thought, morbidly.
He doesn’t have a real digestive system any more
.

Sir Sidney looked up at her, his face slack. His voice, when he spoke, was raspy, as if he had forgotten how to speak for the second time. “What ... has ... happened?”

“The Tsar took Gwen prisoner,” Olivia said. She had no idea why the Tsar hadn’t simply slit Gwen’s throat, but she was glad of the oversight. “I helped her, I think, but we need to get after her. The Tsar won’t want her to escape.”

Sir Sidney looked down at the ground. “I can hear him,” he said. “And I can hear the whispering.”

“It’s getting louder,” Olivia agreed. “We have to help Gwen.”

“The soldiers will be useless,” Sir Sidney said. “In the streets, they will be overwhelmed and destroyed.”

“I know,” Olivia said. The Russian troops might have surrounded the city, but Moscow was a huge place. It would take more troops than they had to keep the undead confined indefinitely – or to destroy Moscow, burning it to the ground. She had no illusions about what would happen when the Tsar tried to break out of the city. “Just you and I.”

Sir Sidney looked back at her. “I don’t think I’m
me
any longer,” he said. “My thoughts keep fading in and out of existence.”

Olivia shuddered, remembering one of the most terrifying men she’d ever met, long before she’d known Jack or Gwen. He’d had no conscience; indeed, he’d had no emotions at all, as far as anyone knew. The streets had whispered that he killed, tortured and raped, yet felt nothing, not even sadistic pleasure in his acts. Some of the nastiest gang lords had used him as an enforcer, paying him hundreds of pounds to send a very clear message to their debtors of what would happen if they failed to pay. He had never failed to get results.

And what would happen, she asked herself, if Sir Sidney went the same way?

“Then we can fight now,” she said, flatly. If nothing else, going into the city would keep Sir Sidney away from the living. “And we really have to go after Gwen.”

Sir Sidney nodded, then rose to his feet. “See if Simone can call Gwen,” he ordered, as he started to walk towards the city. “And then run after me.”

He paused. “And get some food too,” he added. “Gwen will need to eat if she’s been kept prisoner.”

***

Gwen burst out into the bright sunlight and swore as she saw hordes of undead turning to face her, the Tsar’s thoughts yammering them into action. Blood trickled from her nose as she hesitated, gathering herself, then clawed for as much height as she could muster. The undead seethed below her, their hands reaching up into the air, as she tried to fly towards the airstrip in the distance. But the pain in her head was making it far harder to fly levelly.

Gwen
, a thought said, exploding into her mind. The impact almost made her fall out of the sky.
Where are you
?

She had to think hard to focus her mind enough to reply.
On my way to the airstrip
, she thought, knowing that Simone would pick up on her growing pain and desperation.
But I don’t know if I can make it
.

There was a sudden stab of pain from her nose, followed by a gout of blood that splashed down towards the ground. Gwen felt herself lose her grip on the air, falling down, then somehow she managed to pull her magic back together long enough to get aloft. She honestly had no idea what to do next. It was unlikely that anyone could help her in time, nor could she make it out of the city before she fell out of the air. She really needed a rest and something to eat, but she knew it was unlikely she would get either.

Olivia and Sir Sidney are on their way
, Simone sent.
Can you find a place to hole up until they arrive
?

Gwen gritted her teeth. The pain in her head was making it harder to think clearly, but she still found it hard to imagine that Sir Sidney and Olivia could make a difference. But maybe they could control enough of the undead to give the Tsar a fight. She felt herself falling again and desperately fought to hold herself in the air. Below her, the undead were climbing on rooftops and leaping up towards her, as if they thought they could grab her and pull her out of the air. If she fell much lower, she realised, they might be right.

She sensed the sudden surge in power moments before the cathedral exploded behind her, sending pieces of debris flying through the air. Gwen turned, despite the effort, and saw a wave of power shimmering through the air, as a thousand Movers were working together. But, instead of Movers, she saw the Tsar striding out of the remains of his base of operations, followed by a horde of undead. His gaze was firmly fixed on her.

Is he a Mover too now
, she wondered,
or am I seeing things
?

It was impossible to be sure, she realised, as she turned away and forced herself to keep going, despite the commands pounding their way into the ether. If Olivia’s blood could be used to make a new Necromancer, why couldn’t a Mover’s blood help make a new Mover? Or could the Tsar have finally mastered the art of using the magic that had belonged to an undead when it had been alive? Or was there a Mover or two following the Tsar and she simply couldn’t see them? She had no way to know.

The Tsar’s commands grew stronger and stronger as he walked after her, hammering them into her head. She gritted her teeth, even though her weak Necromancy gave her some protection; if she fell asleep or even fell into his hands, she might well be broken completely. And to think that Olivia was walking into the madness ... she tried to call Simone, to tell her that Olivia should stay well away from the city, but there was no response. She was too badly battered to tell if her powers were actually working. It was quite possible, she knew, that she was too tired to send any message to the Talker.

And then she felt the other commands, slashing into her brain. They felt ...
better
than the Tsar’s commands, even if they weren’t specifically directed at her. Down below, hundreds of undead looked confused, then started attacking their fellows. The sudden surge in commands, oddly, brought her some relief from the Tsar’s endless shouting. She looked down and saw Sir Sidney, walking right down the middle of the street. And Olivia was sitting on his shoulders ...

Gwen stared. The undead seemed to be completely confused, once again, as the two controllers fought it out for dominance. A line of undead surrounded Sir Sidney, acting as bodyguards; beyond them, the undead struggled with one another, tearing each other apart. The Tsar seemed to be pouring undead into the struggle, with little regard for numbers, as he advanced slowly towards Sir Sidney, as if he was attempting to overwhelm him by sheer force. And he was probably more powerful, Gwen realised, as she dropped down and landed behind Sir Sidney. It was clear, up close, that Sir Sidney was decomposing faster than the Tsar.

Olivia scrambled off Sir Sidney’s back and ran over to Gwen, thrusting a bag into her hand. Gwen opened it and sighed in relief when she realised it contained a large number of cheese sandwiches and even a handful of apples. She practically swallowed the first sandwich whole, despite the odd taste of the cheese, then consumed the next few almost as quickly, using the food to recoup her power. The trickle of blood from her nose faded along with the pounding headache, although that refused to clear completely. She was still hearing the Tsar’s commands in her head.