Burned

15

I gated to the park in Camden Town, then pulled out my phone and started walking. I’d visited this place with Caldera enough times for her to know that it was one of my regular staging points, meaning that there was a good chance she’d be following me. I headed down the nearest street, looking through the futures.

Luna wasn’t going to answer her phone. I hadn’t really expected her to. More worrying was that Anne and Variam weren’t answering either. Odds were that at least one of them were in Keeper custody by now. That meant that the Keepers would have their phones, which meant that they could pull off the number of the one I was using now. How long before they traced it? Probably not long. Landis wasn’t going to answer if I called, but Lyle was.

I dialled Lyle’s number. It rang a few times and then there was the click as Lyle picked up. ‘Oh, hello, Alex. It’s you, isn’t it?’

‘Yes.’ I kept my voice as calm as I could. ‘It’s me.’

‘I’m afraid I haven’t heard back from Undaaris just yet.’

‘Don’t bother,’ I said. ‘I just got his answer.’

‘Everything work out okay?’

I was silent for a second. ‘You really don’t know, do you?’

‘Know what?’

‘I can’t believe I actually believed that this might work,’ I said. ‘I mean, how many times has this happened now? The Council always screws me. Every time I think that things might actually work out, something like this happens to make me realise just how dumb I was.’

‘I … don’t understand.’

‘You know the really hilarious part?’ I said. ‘We’re in exactly the same place we were back then. Twelve years and not a thing’s changed. Me standing out there, banging to be let in, and you on the inside.’ I laughed slightly. It sounded odd, unbalanced. ‘Right back where we started.’

‘Alex?’ Lyle sounded worried. ‘Is something—?’

‘Shut up!’ I snarled. ‘Just…’ I wanted to shout at Lyle, wanted to scream at him, but all of a sudden I couldn’t think of anything to say. What was the point? ‘Just…’ My energy drained away. ‘Forget it.’ I didn’t want to talk any more. ‘Fuck you, Lyle. You and the Council.’ I felt weary, and bitter, and very old. ‘I hope Morden and the rest of the Dark mages tear you apart. You deserve it.’

‘Alex—’

I hung up, pulled out the phone’s SIM card, and snapped it in half. Then I dropped the phone to the paving stones and stamped on it. I took my foot away to see that the screen was cracked. I stamped on it a second time, then again and again, slowly ramping up, putting more and more power into each kick, feeling the jolt of each impact go up into my leg. I realised I was snarling, my lips pulled back from my teeth as the phone broke under the rain of blows.

When I was done, the phone was a pile of shattered metal and plastic. As I looked up, I realised I had an audience. I’d been on a residential street, and several people had slowed to watch me. The nearest ones were a young couple, a man and a woman, and I turned my head to stare at them. I don’t know what I must have looked like, but they flinched and averted their eyes, the man moving hurriedly to lead the woman away. The ones watching from the other side of the street backed off too.

I scooped up the pieces of the phone, threw them into the nearest bin, then walked away.

I did what I could to shake pursuit. I was having a hard time thinking – too much had gone wrong too fast – and instead I lost myself in the work of making sure I wasn’t followed. I went through the underground and did some basic evasion routines, then used an anuller to foul up any tracking spells. Once that was done I gated to a staging point, then gated again to my safe house in Wales, then looked ahead to confirm that the next few hours were clear.

I’d picked up a clean prepaid phone, but I didn’t want to use it unless I had to. From now on I had to assume that any calls I made would be logged and traced. I could still look into the futures in which I called everyone without actually doing it, but a quick check confirmed that Anne and Variam’s numbers weren’t going to get any results. Luna’s was … specifically, it would be answered by some guy I didn’t recognise. It was a safe bet that he wasn’t someone I wanted to talk to, and the fact that he was holding Luna’s phone was bad news.

In fact, all the news was bad. I couldn’t contact Luna, Anne or Variam without risking making things worse. I could try to call Landis, but I already knew that he was doing what he could to help Anne and Variam. Having me call his mobile wouldn’t help.

I paced up and down the farmhouse kitchen, my feet tapping on the tiles. I wanted to run, to fight, but I didn’t know how. If I went charging in to help Anne or Luna or Vari, I’d just make things worse. I’d barely managed to escape myself; the last thing I was qualified to do was some sort of insane rescue …

I took a deep breath, grabbed a fistful of hair in one hand and squeezed, trying to let the pain focus me. Think. I have to think. What should I do?

Okay, Variam is probably all right. Or maybe more accurate to say that out of the four of us, he was currently in the least bad situation. If that transfer had gone through, then he should be under Landis’s sponsorship, free and clear. There was still the possibility of him having lost it and attacked some Keepers, but he had a couple of years as a Light apprentice going for him. Even if the worst had happened, with Landis batting for him, he should have a chance.

Luna was on a knife edge. She’d been in the middle of that test, in the heart of Canary Wharf, surrounded by Council mages. There was no way she could have escaped. The one slim hope that I was clinging to was that the Keepers had been too busy chasing me to go after Luna as well. Caldera hadn’t said that she was there for Luna, right? Maybe she hadn’t been on their list? But they’d gone after Anne …

Anne. Had Variam made it in time? I rummaged through my pockets and pulled out my gate stone to Anne’s flat, holding on to the little focus and concentrating. I couldn’t risk going there, but if I looked through the futures in which I did … Gate failure, gate failure. I took a breath and concentrated, forcing myself to stay calm. I’m too agitated. Once my heartbeat was steady, I tried again.

More failures. I searched through the futures, and … Wait. That can’t be right. In every possible future in which I tried that gate stone, the gate failed to open. That doesn’t make sense. Maybe there was a space mage there, projecting a gate ward? But even then, I should be able to sense something, unless—

Unless Anne’s flat had changed enough that the gate stone wasn’t keyed to it any more.

My heart sank. I didn’t want to believe it, but it was the most likely explanation. I felt so utterly helpless. I can see dangers ahead of me, but I’m damn near useless when it comes to stopping something in progress. If Anne’s flat was burning to the ground right now, there was nothing I could do to stop it. Or worse, if she and Luna were already—

No. Don’t think about that. I tried to think constructively. Assuming the worst hadn’t happened, and that Luna, Anne and Variam were still okay, what would they do? Variam would probably meet up with Landis. Luna’s first reaction would be to contact me. Anne … I didn’t know. Okay, so what would Luna do? First she’d try my phone, and when that didn’t work … then she’d probably look for me here. I’d made sure that she had a gate stone for the place.

Now I had a plan. I looked into the future again, and this time, instead of looking for danger, I looked for friendly arrivals. Almost immediately, I saw a future of an opening gate. It was close, less than ten minutes away … not guaranteed yet, but it was becoming more likely with each passing minute. I started pacing again, staring at the spot that the gate stone was keyed to, willing the time to pass more quickly.

Nine minutes and thirty seconds later, the air shimmered. An oval of green light, the colour of new leaves, appeared in mid-air at the spot keyed to the gate stone, becoming opaque. A foot came down on the tiles, then another, and Anne stepped out as the gate winked out, turning to face me.

The two of us looked at each other. Anne looked exhausted and battered. Her T-shirt was singed down one side, and her arm was reddened and burned. But she was alive, and she didn’t look seriously hurt. ‘Are you okay?’ I said.

In answer Anne took two steps forward and put her arms around me, resting her head on my shoulder. I hesitated, then awkwardly reached up to her, not sure what to do. Anne sighed and I could feel the tension gradually go out of her as we stood there.

‘So Vari warned you in time?’ I asked.

Anne nodded. She was sitting cross-legged on the bed with a blanket wrapped around her, a mug of tea clasped in her long fingers with a wisp of steam rising upwards. ‘But not in time to get out. By the time I tried to gate they were too close.’

‘So what did you do?’

‘I fought,’ Anne said. ‘I didn’t want to, but … I’ve had a long time to think about this, and I decided I wasn’t going to let myself be executed. Even if it meant fighting Keepers.’

‘How many of them were there?’

‘Keepers? Three or four, I think. The rest were auxiliaries.’

I looked at Anne with raised eyebrows. ‘You got away from three or four Keepers on your own?’

‘Vari showed up midway through,’ Anne said. ‘By then two of them were down, so they pulled back to try and deal with him. So I gated.’

‘What happened to Vari?’

Anne looked down at the blanket. ‘I don’t know,’ she said quietly. ‘I left him behind.’ There was a moment’s silence, then she looked up again. ‘After that, I was on my own.’ Anne looked up again. ‘I knew they’d be tracing me, and I didn’t have any way of getting in touch with you or Luna, so I came here hoping I’d find you.’

‘About that,’ I said. Like me, Anne can’t use gate magic; she has to rely on gate stones. ‘How did you get here?’

‘Luna gave me a copy of the gate stone to here last year. I kept it cached.’

‘That was good preparation.’

Anne gave me a half-smile. ‘You gave me the idea.’

There was a beep from the table. I looked over, then got up off the bed and walked over to pick up one of the two phones lying there. ‘Finally,’ I said.

‘Who is it?’

‘I’ve got an emergency line to Talisid. Looks like he’s ready to make the call.’

‘Is that safe?’

‘Not really.’

Anne was silent. I sat back down on the bed, sent a text and put it down on the bed between us. After a minute’s wait the phone rang. I answered and pressed the button to put it on speaker. ‘Talisid.’

‘Verus.’ Talisid’s voice was slightly distorted through the phone’s tiny speaker system. ‘Where are you?’

‘Somewhere safe.’

‘This line’s secure.’

‘Given what’s just happened, I hope you’ll understand if I’m not too keen on broadcasting my location,’ I said. ‘All right?’

‘All right,’ Talisid said. ‘Undaaris voted against you.’

It was what I’d expected to hear, but it was still a blow. Four against two. Even if we could get the seventh vote, it wouldn’t matter now. ‘I see.’ I kept my voice steady. ‘Why?’

‘I haven’t been able to confirm the details,’ Talisid said. ‘But one can put two and two together. Levistus’s faction has been pressuring Undaaris over the Birkstead appointment. I’ve just heard that Levistus has agreed to support Undaaris’s candidate.’

‘And in exchange, Undaaris gives Levistus his vote,’ I said. ‘Favour for favour.’

‘It seems that way.’ Talisid paused. ‘If I’d known—’

‘What’s happened to Variam and Luna?’

‘Variam is currently in custody,’ Talisid said. ‘No charges yet. I believe Landis is trying to get him released.’

‘And Luna?’ I could feel my stomach tightening up.

‘That’s the one piece of good news. The results haven’t been officially released as yet, but from what I’ve been able to learn, your apprentice passed. Luna Mancuso is officially recognised by the Light Council of Britain as their newest journeyman mage.’

I stared down at the phone for a second, then closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

‘Alex? Are you there?’

‘I’m here.’ The relief was so strong I felt dizzy. ‘Is she okay? She’s in custody too?’

‘She hasn’t been arrested. The Keepers are currently questioning her, presumably in hopes of her leading them to you, but she’s due to be released shortly.’

‘Wait.’ Now I was confused. I looked at Anne; she looked puzzled as well. ‘There wasn’t any order to arrest Luna?’

‘No,’ Talisid said. ‘The order only mentioned you. I’m sure it won’t surprise you to know that I’ve traced it back to Levistus.’

‘Not so much.’ That was no shock, at least. But in that case … ‘Wait. If the order was only for my arrest, why were there Keepers going after Anne?’

‘That I’m afraid I don’t know,’ Talisid said. ‘Landis’s request to move Variam and Anne to his sponsorship was approved in the case of Variam but rejected in the case of Anne. Immediately after that information was released, an order was issued to bring Anne Walker in for questioning.’

‘I don’t understand,’ I said. ‘Are you saying Levistus tried to get me and Anne arrested, but not Luna and Vari?’

‘Levistus was certainly the one behind the order for your arrest, but I haven’t heard anything linking him to the order for Anne’s.’

Anne and I looked at each other. I couldn’t figure out what was going on, and it didn’t seem as though Anne had any idea either. Still … I shook my head. Focus. ‘Okay. As I understand it, come tomorrow evening, my death sentence is going to be passed. And since Anne’s still my dependent, it’ll affect her too. Is there any way to stop that?’

‘With the arrest order out?’ Talisid said. ‘Short of direct intervention by the Senior Council, there’s no way to stop that sentence going through. You’re going to have to get out of the country. And if you’re in touch with Anne, I’d pass the same advice to her.’

I noted that Talisid didn’t ask where Anne was. He’d probably put two and two together. ‘Just good news all around, huh?’

‘I wish I had better news, but I don’t.’ Talisid paused. ‘I know it’s not worth very much to you right now, but I’m sorry. I didn’t want things to go this way.’

‘Any more good news?’

‘Not as yet. I’ll look into getting the sentence reversed, but it won’t be quick or easy. For now, just focus on staying alive. I’ll contact you when I know more.’

‘Great.’

‘Is there anything you need?’

‘A lot of things. I just don’t think you can give them.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ Talisid paused. ‘Good luck.’

If I had to talk much longer, I was going to snap. I reached down and pressed the button to end the call. The phone went dead.

Anne spoke into the silence. ‘We’re on our own, aren’t we?’

‘Yeah,’ I said. I got up and walked out.

‘Alex?’ Anne called after me. ‘Alex!’

The next twenty-four hours were preparation.

We stayed in Wales. I didn’t dare travel, and Anne didn’t argue. I spent my time looking ahead for another attack and getting ready for what we were going to do when it happened. Putting the last steps in place didn’t take all that long. I’d had a long time to get ready for this.

Internally, I spent the time on autopilot. I focused all my attention on keeping safe, not letting myself think any further. Anne tried to talk to me a few times; I shrugged her off. I knew she was hurting, but I was too overwhelmed to deal with her problems too. All I could do was shut that part of myself down while I tried to recover.

Nightfall found the two of us sitting in the kitchen. Through the windows, I could see the last traces of light fading from the western sky, and birdsong echoed through the country air. Outside, it was bitterly cold, but the kitchen stove was burning with enough fuel to keep the house warm. The woodpile was well stocked – Anne had gone out to fetch some more, even though we weren’t going to use it.

‘How long do we have?’ Anne asked.

I checked my phone to see that the clock read 5.25. Give or take a couple of hours, it was a week since Talisid’s first call. ‘Thirty-five minutes.’

‘How did they find us?’ Anne asked.

I shrugged.

‘I wish we could go to Arachne’s.’

‘They’d track us down sooner or later. And then Arachne would be on the hit list for sheltering us. I can’t do that to her.’

Anne sighed. ‘I know.’

Silence fell. Time ticked away. ‘If they know where we are, why are they waiting?’ Anne said at last. ‘Why haven’t they just blown up the house?’

‘Why bother?’ I said. ‘For the next—’ I checked. ‘—twenty-seven minutes, there aren’t any official charges against us. We’re just supposed to be brought in for questioning. Once it ticks over to six o’clock, they can kill us on sight.’

‘Do you think that’s what they’ll do?’

‘I’d give it about fifty per cent that we’ll be killed “resisting arrest” and fifty per cent that they’ll try and interrogate us first.’

‘I think if it’s a choice between those two,’ Anne said, ‘I’d rather they got it over with quickly.’

‘I know the feeling.’

More silence. ‘I wish we could have said goodbye,’ Anne said.

‘Yeah.’ There were a lot of people I wished I could have talked to. Luna, Variam, Landis. Arachne. Caldera, in a different way. Even my father, though I wouldn’t have enjoyed that conversation much. ‘Maybe we can do it later.’

‘Do you think Luna and Vari will be okay?’

‘Vari’s got Landis looking out for him,’ I said. ‘And I wrote out some sealed envelopes for Luna a while back. Open-in-the-event-of-my-death stuff. This wasn’t how I expected them to get used, but they’ve got bank account details and places she can go to call in favours. I think she’ll be all right.’

‘As long as no one decides to go after her as well.’

I sighed. ‘Yeah.’

I felt the futures shift and looked to see what had changed. It was more or less what I’d been expecting. ‘Well,’ I said. ‘Looks like it’s about that time.’

‘When are they going to come?’

‘Six o’clock on the dot,’ I said. ‘Bastards are punctual, I’ll give them that.’

Anne got to her feet, folding her coat over one arm. ‘Anyone we know?’

‘Doesn’t look like it. I’m not even sure they’re Keepers.’

‘That’s not a good sign, is it?’

‘No,’ I said. It implied that they didn’t want to have to deal with even a minimal amount of due process. I picked my backpack up from where it had been resting against the wall, then handed Anne a gate stone. ‘Want to do the honours?’

Anne took it, but didn’t use it straight away. ‘I remember the first time you brought me here,’ she said. ‘I didn’t think it was going to be the last part of Britain I saw.’

‘We’ll be back,’ I said. I wasn’t sure how true it was, but I tried to make myself sound confident. ‘Some day.’

Anne nodded. She held up the stone, a soft green light radiating from her hand as she began to channel. I switched off the light – no point in being untidy – but left the fire for the Keepers to deal with. Through the futures, I could sense the attacking force preparing their strike, but by the time it landed, we’d be gone.

The gate spell completed, and Anne and I stepped through and into a new chapter of our lives.

We came out into daylight. We were standing on a steep hillside, trees rising up all around us, the morning sun sending shafts of light through the leaves. The weather was cool but pleasant, just warming up from the long night, and through the trees we could see the bright blue of a beautiful lake, with white-capped mountains rising up over it. Laid out neatly on the shore below were the houses and buildings of a small town, and the air was fresh and clean. Above, puffy white clouds floated in a cerulean sky.

‘Well, that’s it,’ I said. ‘We’re officially outlaws.’

Anne was looking around, smiling. I wondered how the natural scenery appeared to her lifesight. ‘You didn’t tell me it was this beautiful.’

‘Enjoy it while you can.’ I held out my hand. ‘We’re only going to be here long enough to make sure we’re not being followed.’

Anne passed over the gate stone and I put it in my pocket. I’d find a place to stash it once we were a safe distance away. ‘Are we going to stay in the country?’ Anne asked.

I shrugged. ‘One place is pretty much as good as another, for now.’

‘Then let’s stay here.’

‘Eh,’ I said. ‘Why not?’

We started walking down the hillside towards the town below. Its name was Queenstown, and there was a hired car waiting there to take us wherever we needed to go. After that I had three or four alternate routes planned, depending on how things unfolded. ‘You know, it’s been ages since I’ve had a holiday,’ Anne said.

‘Always finding the bright side.’

‘Why did you pick New Zealand?’

‘Suggestion from an enemy.’ I looked at the blue lake and the forested hills beyond. Maradok had been right about one thing. It really was nice this time of year.

Over the next few days, we travelled slowly north-east along New Zealand’s South Island. We stayed in a different place each night, switching between hostels and hotels and private arrangements. It really was a holiday, or it would have been if we hadn’t been spending three-quarters of our time checking for pursuit or for traps. But the weather was beautiful, and so was the scenery, and if we had to throw a tail, this was a nice place to do it.

Levistus’s men caught up with us north of Christchurch. It wasn’t a bad ambush, and if we hadn’t been on guard, it might have worked. But it’s hard to ambush a diviner, and it’s hard to sneak up on a life mage who can spot you through a solid wall. Anne and I slipped away, leaving the men to pick through our empty rooms.

The Christchurch ambush made me decide that we were going to have to find somewhere farther afield. New Zealand is a separate magical nation to Britain, but its Council is on good terms with the British one. Instead of going to another English-speaking country, Anne and I moved to Japan, in the suburbs of Nagoya. The Light Council of Japan (or the nearest equivalent they have – they don’t use that name, but it fills the same niche) is famous for its lack of interest in cooperating with outsiders. Technically, as rogue mages, we were breaking their rules by settling down there without clearing it with the authorities, but the Japanese Council are fanatical about preserving their autonomy, and Levistus would have his work cut out for him getting them to authorise any kind of operation in their territory. We settled down in a quiet little apartment down a back street, hoping that Levistus would decide that going after us on another Council’s turf was more trouble than it was worth and give up.

He didn’t.

They didn’t try for an abduction this time. Instead, they just blew up the house. Anne and I watched the fire from a distance, the orange flames a bright glow in the night. ‘So now where?’ Anne asked.

I sighed. ‘Anywhere but here.’

More countries, more cities. The new year came and went, and days turned into weeks. The men chasing us didn’t manage to get so close again, but they didn’t stop either.

Time passed, and we became practised at spotting the signs of danger, developing a sixth sense for when it was time to move on. We saw towns and villages, empty countryside and cities packed with people, but we could never truly settle down. A couple of times we discussed fighting back, but there was little point. It was too much risk for too little gain; we might remove a few of our pursuers, but there would always be more. Sooner or later our pursuers would have to realise that what they were doing wasn’t working.

I hoped.

It was the last week of January.

I leaned back in my chair, interlacing my hands behind my head, and stared at my laptop screen. From the corner of the room the fan whirred, blowing air across the room in lazy arcs, struggling to lessen the heat. Bright sunlight filtered through lace curtains, the windows giving a view out on to the walls of our small compound. From outside the walls I could hear the noises of the city, yells and shouts and cars, but it was barely audible over the chugging roar of the generator. The power was out again, as happened about five times a day on average. You really don’t appreciate just how easy life is with a reliable power grid until you live in a city without one.

Outside, I heard the grating of the gate, and I knew Anne was back. I turned around and listened for the sound of the door opening. ‘Hey,’ Anne called out from the corridor.

‘Everything go okay?’ I called back.

I heard the sound of the fridge door. ‘Oh, it was fine,’ Anne called. ‘They still keep staring at me, though.’

‘What, did you think the novelty would have worn off?’

We were in Lagos, the Nigerian capital. The percentage of Europeans in Nigeria is basically zero, and with our light skin, both Anne and I stood out on the streets like a pair of flashing neon lights, to the point where we’d collect groups of kids following us around. It was a fairly terrible place to hide, but by this point we’d had so many better hiding places fail on us that I’d decided we might as well change things up. Besides, it cut both ways. From what I’d seen, the men working for Levistus didn’t fit in here any better than we did; if and when they came after us, they’d stand out too.

Anne came in. She was wearing a blue sundress that left her arms and shoulders bare; by Nigerian standards the past few days had been cold, which for someone used to the English climate meant ‘hot’ instead of ‘boiling’. ‘I think I’m getting better with the accent,’ she said. ‘I understand what they’re saying about half the time now. Do you like yams?’

‘Never tried them.’

‘Neither have I, but I think they’d be fun to cook.’

With a sigh, I hit the minimise button on the email in front of me, watching it shrink into the corner of the screen. It was two lines long, including the greeting, and had been two lines long for the past hour. It was supposed to be going to my father – sooner or later he was going to notice that I’d dropped out of contact – but I didn’t want to write it. Explaining what had happened would be a nightmare even if I could tell him the truth, which I couldn’t. ‘Have you found a way for us to talk to Luna and Vari?’ Anne asked.

‘Not safely,’ I said. ‘I’m pretty sure that all of our regular mail accounts will have been tapped by now. If Luna and Vari have set up any new ones, then they’ll probably be safe, but…’

‘… but they’re secret from us too,’ Anne finished. ‘And if they tell us what they are, then anyone who’s listening in will find out as well.’

‘I really should have set up some secure way of talking to Luna,’ I said. ‘A synchronous focus or something. I prepared for what’d happen if I was killed, but…’

‘How long do you think they’ll keep looking for us?’ Anne asked.

‘They might be winding down the search already. We never stuck around to confirm whether that guy in Argentina was working for Levistus or not.’

‘Do you really think he wasn’t?’

I grimaced. ‘No.’

‘But they’ll have to give up eventually, won’t they?’ Anne sat down on the bed, kicking off her shoes and curling her legs up underneath her. ‘It must be costing them something.’

‘More importantly, it’s not gaining them anything,’ I said. ‘The way I figured, if they kept on spending resources with nothing to show for it, then eventually they’d have to write the whole thing off. I just didn’t expect them to chase us this hard.’

‘Why do you think they’re doing it?’

‘Guess I pissed Levistus off more than I thought.’ I sighed. ‘It’s not like I didn’t have warning. Enough people told me that this was going to happen.’

‘We’re going to keep being on the run, then,’ Anne said. It was a statement, not a question.

I looked at Anne. ‘I’m sorry for getting you into this.’

‘You don’t have to be sorry for anything.’

‘But if it wasn’t for me—’

‘If it wasn’t for you, I’d already be dead. From the Council, or from Vitus, or from Sagash. Besides … even if they couldn’t tie me to you, I’m not sure it would have made a difference.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I’ve been thinking about that conversation we had with Talisid,’ Anne said. ‘I mean, the one you had. I don’t think it was Levistus who wanted me brought in.’

‘Talisid only said that he couldn’t find any evidence…’

‘Then why just go after me?’ Anne asked. ‘He could have blocked the sponsorship order for Vari too. Or sabotaged Luna’s test.’

I paused. Looked at that way, it was odd. Levistus hated me, no argument there. But while he’d made threats towards my allies, it had always been in the context of getting to me. I’d never had the impression that he cared about Anne, Luna or Variam directly. ‘You think someone else piggybacked on to what Levistus was doing already?’

Anne lifted her hands helplessly. ‘I’m out of my depth with this. I just don’t think it’s all your fault.’

‘I suppose that makes me feel a little better. Though I don’t know if it should.’

Anne smiled slightly, but it didn’t last. ‘What’s our endgame?’

It was a good question, and not one that Anne would have asked when I’d first known her. Luna isn’t the only one who’s changed over the past few years. ‘Levistus’s men can’t catch us, not the way they’ve been going,’ I said. ‘The only reason they were able to get close before was that we were tied down to one place. Sooner or later, they’re going to have to realise that.’

‘And then?’

‘And then Talisid or Landis or someone else we trust can go to the Council and negotiate,’ I said. ‘I hope.’

Anne looked dubious. ‘Won’t they just try to kill us some other way?’

‘Probably. If I were them, what I’d be doing right now would be trying to lull us into a false sense of security. Find us, wait a while, then get us while our guard’s down.’

‘So we don’t let our guard down.’

I nodded. ‘Because they’ll still be coming after us. I can’t believe they’ll keep chucking assassination attempts at us for ever.’

Anne sat quietly for a while. ‘And until then, we wait,’ she said.

‘We wait.’

We sat in the room, listening to the growl of the generator. The email waited on my computer, but I didn’t go to finish it. We had nothing but time.