Risen

16

By the time I reached the front lines, the battle was all but over. Richard’s remaining forces had been driven back to a long, low structure up against the northern wall that might once have been a set of kitchens. Rain and Landis’s forces were surrounding it to the east, south and south-west; to the north was the castle wall and the sea. There was nowhere left to run. The fighting had fallen silent as both sides hunkered down and checked their weapons, ready for the final push.

Landis and I walked up to Rain, who was talking to Slate and Trask. We were barely a hundred feet from Richard’s position. ‘Numbers?’ Landis asked Rain.

‘Slate counts eighty-five hostiles remaining,’ Rain said, nodding to the death mage.

‘Might be eighty-three by now,’ Slate said. He ignored me, talking directly to Landis. ‘They got a lot of wounded.’

‘Verus?’ Landis asked.

I studied the futures, looking for any sign of Richard’s tampering. Nothing jumped out at me. ‘They haven’t got many mages left,’ I said. ‘But they’re dug in for a fight and those buildings have basements.’ I glanced at Landis. ‘Best way to attack something like that?’

‘A dug-in force with no hope of escape?’ Landis said. ‘I’m afraid if they really are that determined to fight to the death, then our best option is to simply level the place.’

Landis was talking about an artillery bombardment. I’d seen it a few times during the war. Any defenders at the windows would be killed or driven back, then water and earth and force mages would demolish the building, bringing it down on the heads of everyone inside. It was a last-resort option used when the Council didn’t consider anyone or anything in the area worth retrieving.

Rain and Landis were looking at me. If I gave the order, this would end the battle. We’d take very few casualties, possibly none at all. As for Richard’s force, virtually all of them would die. They and everything they carried would either be crushed under tons of falling rubble, or entombed in the basements until their air ran out. The few remaining mages might escape, but the adepts wouldn’t.

I spoke over my shoulder to the mages behind me. ‘Compass.’

‘What’s up, chief?’

‘White flag please.’

A tiny portal appeared at Compass’s hand; she reached into it and pulled out a piece of folded cloth. Space mages can create a pocket dimension that works as personal storage; some use it to pile up all kinds of junk, but Compass seemed to pack with an eye to the battlefield. I opened up the flag and began tying it to the sovnya, just below the blade.

‘Do bear in mind that the men and women in that building have just taken rather heavy losses,’ Landis said. ‘They may not be in the most reasonable frame of mind.’

I shook out the flag, checking that the ties would hold. ‘Get your men in position,’ I told Rain and Landis. ‘If one or two take shots at me, ignore it. If they all do, launch the bombardment.’

‘Understood.’

A good couple of dozen mages and soldiers stood watching, waiting to see what I’d do. I took a breath, then walked up to the corner and stuck the sovnya out in plain view.

Silence. The white flag stirred in the breeze. I’d expected a shout or a bullet, but there was nothing. I waited thirty seconds; then, when there was still no reaction, I walked around the corner.

The building where Richard’s adepts had gathered for their final stand was two stories high, with the north wall of the castle overshadowing it from behind. Square windows lined the ground floor, dark and threatening. My eyes spotted shapes at a couple of those windows; my divination told me of a dozen more. I shouldered the sovnya, letting the white flag hang down over my head, and marched forward.

My footsteps echoed from the buildings as I advanced. All my instincts were telling me to run: there were a lot of weapons being readied at those windows, and I was the only target. I knew that the buildings behind me and to my left and right were filled with soldiers and mages, all poised to attack, but it would only take one adept with an itchy trigger finger to set everything off. He’d die moments later, but that wouldn’t be much consolation to me.

I came to a stop in the middle of the courtyard. I could feel hundreds of eyes on me from all around. I planted the butt of the sovnya on the stone and took a deep breath. ‘I am Mage Verus of the Junior Council, commander of the Light task force,’ I shouted. ‘Who speaks for you?’

Silence. The futures swung crazily. The fateweaver would be little use here: too many independent decisions. I waited, holding still.

Then the futures settled. Up ahead, there was the rattle of bolts being drawn, then a door opened in the kitchen wall and Richard Drakh stepped out into the sun.

Richard didn’t look like someone who’d lost. His clothes were neat and he carried no weapons or armour . . . at least none visible to normal eyes. My magesight told a different story. His clothes were a suit of reactive armour similar to mine, though less bulky and maybe a little weaker, and half a dozen kinds of magic radiated from the matte-black pouches hanging from his belt. But it was his manner that was most out of place. He walked towards me as though taking an afternoon stroll.

Richard came to a stop fifteen feet away. ‘Alex,’ he said with a nod.

‘Richard,’ I said flatly. There were spells twined around him. Space magic, force magic, some universal effect I couldn’t identify. None were standard protections.

‘Commander of the Light task force, is it? You’ve done well for yourself.’

Richard was just barely out of range for a lunge. The sovnya tugged, sensing the thing inside him. It wanted to kill him. So did I. ‘Like master, like apprentice, I suppose,’ I told him. ‘Are you willing to surrender?’

‘Should I be?’

I knew that every marksman and mage on the buildings behind me had their sights trained on Richard. Richard Drakh had been at the top of the Council’s most-wanted list for years, and the Keeper or soldier who killed him could name their own reward. If Alma and Druss were here right now, they’d give the order to fire, and to hell with the flag of truce. They wanted Richard dead more than anyone.

But Richard had to know that too. There was no fear in his brown eyes as he looked calmly towards me, and that scared me. All of a sudden, none of the men backing me up seemed to matter. It was just the two of us, like it had always been, and like always, I knew deep down in my bones that I was outmatched.

‘Over fifty per cent of your adepts are dead or wounded,’ I told Richard loudly. I kept my voice hard, not showing any fear. ‘Vihaela has been killed, and the rest of the mages of your cabal have fallen or fled. You are surrounded by a superior force that outmatches you in every way.’ I looked past Richard to where the people behind him were listening. ‘You gathered these adepts to your banner claiming that you were creating a mutual defence association. You promised them power and independence. What you’ve led them to is death. If you want to prove you really do have their best interests at heart, this is your last chance. Order them to lay down their weapons.’

‘I’m afraid that what you want will take more than speeches and threats,’ Richard said. ‘We all know how the Council treats its prisoners.’

Richard was too calm. What was he planning? ‘I can’t promise amnesty,’ I said. ‘But I can promise your forces that if they surrender, they’ll leave this shadow realm alive. If they don’t, they’ll be killed to a man.’

‘And you want to spare them?’ Richard said with a faint smile. ‘Be honest, Alex. That isn’t why you’re standing there right now. You aren’t here to save my adepts, and you’re not here to protect those Council soldiers either.’

I could feel eyes on me from all around. I kept my face expressionless. ‘Choose, Richard,’ I said. ‘Life, or death.’

Richard nodded, then pulled back the flap on one of his pouches.

I tensed, ready to strike. But instead of attacking, Richard reached slowly into the pouch and pulled out a pair of items, his movements steady and unthreatening. He held them out in one hand. ‘I believe,’ he said, ‘that what you truly want is this.’

In the palm of Richard’s hand were two items: an ancient, ornate ring, and a lattice of gold and silvery metal, curved so as to fit around the fingers like a knuckleduster. It was the first time I’d laid eyes on either, but I knew what they were. The Council’s weapon, and Suleiman’s Ring.

‘Hear me!’ Richard shouted suddenly. His voice rolled around the courtyard, strong and commanding. ‘The Council care nothing for your lives! They are here to kill me, but more than that, they are here to seize the marid and return it to their control! And these items are the means by which they plan to do it. Bear witness, and know that I shall return!’

The echoes of Richard’s voice died away. Richard looked me in the eye; his mouth quirked and he spoke again, this time so quietly that I could barely hear. ‘And you, Alex, are here only for your lover. For her, you would sacrifice every other living being in this shadow realm. How long will they follow you once they learn that?’

I stood quite still, muscles tensed. The sovnya sang to me, pure in its urge to kill. I could reach him with a step and a lunge.

But in the second it would take me to cross that distance, Richard would have time to activate those spells. I wasn’t afraid for myself, but my plans for saving Anne hinged around that ring and that weapon. If either were destroyed . . .

Slowly, Richard bent down and laid the ring and the gold lattice upon the stone. Then he straightened up again. He watched me as if waiting for something.

‘Step away,’ I told Richard.

Richard took two steps back.

The futures were steady, calm. My divination was telling me that Richard would let me pick up those items. I didn’t trust it. When he made his move, I’d have only my reflexes.

I walked forward.

Richard stood still, watching. The world seemed to hold its breath.

I was within range for a strike. The sovnya trembled, pulling at me. With an effort of will, I silenced it. Holding the polearm in my left hand, I crouched, reaching down with my right. I didn’t take my eyes off Richard.

Richard looked down at me, waiting.

My hand touched the ring.

The spells around Richard activated. Space magic twisted and he vanished in a bang of imploding air.

Startled shouts and cries echoed around the courtyard. Two shots rang out; a bullet whined past my ear. ‘HOLD!’ I roared at the top of my voice, then spoke into the communicator. ‘Landis! Compass!’

‘Teleport effect!’ Compass called over the comm. ‘He managed to bypass the interdiction field. We don’t know how!’

I was standing alone in front of Richard’s army. A mutter of voices sounded from ahead, angry faces appearing at the windows, the noise swelling.

The futures were only seconds away from violence. If the shooting started again, it wouldn’t stop. ‘Drakh has left you!’ I shouted at the adepts. ‘So let’s try this again! I offer terms of surrender. Who speaks for you?’

Silence. I held my breath. If they chose to fight now . . .

‘I do,’ a voice called from the door Richard had used.

A figure walked out. It was a young man, no older than twenty-five, with a thin beard. He wore patched-together armour and carried no weapons; his hair was dishevelled and blood was on his forehead. He walked forward, eyes boring into mine.

I took one look into the futures and saw what was going to happen. I slipped Richard’s items into my pocket and grasped the sovnya two-handed.

The adept stopped in front of me. He had a look I’d seen before, the blank expression of one who’d watched everything they believed in fall apart. ‘Who’s in command of your forces?’ I asked.

The adept didn’t take his eyes off me. ‘Drakh.’

‘Who’s your second in command?’

‘He was at the front headquarters. You hit him with lightning.’

‘Third in command?’

‘She was at headquarters too.’ The adept’s eyes stared into mine. ‘Trying to get the wounded away.’

Dammit. ‘Fourth?’

The adept’s lips curled in a snarl. ‘That would be me!’ At the last word, glowing daggers appeared in the adept’s hands and he lunged.

I was already twisting aside, bringing around the sovnya. The blade gashed his arm as his rush carried him past. He spun to attack again, and I skewered him through the chest.

The adept jerked. He tried to move forward, but the six-foot polearm held us apart; the blade had gone through his ribcage. I gave the sovnya a twist and yanked it out; the adept stumbled, went down to one knee, then slowly collapsed.

All of a sudden, my fear was gone, replaced by rage. I wasn’t afraid that the adepts would fire. I was sick of everything, sick of killing people and sick of this stupid pointless war, and I turned back to the kitchens and shouted at the top of my voice. ‘I DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS SHIT!’ I kept yelling, all of my anger and frustration boiling over. ‘Every one of the Council soldiers behind me would like nothing more than to just pull the trigger on you all and go home! I come out under a flag of truce to talk and you do this?’ I pointed the sovnya down at the adept’s body; the white flag flapped, stained with his blood. ‘You are not heroes! You were not brought out here to fight for freedom, or justice! You were brought here as cannon fodder for a war you don’t understand! If you die here, you will not be remembered as martyrs for a noble cause! You’ll be remembered as a bunch of idiots too stupid to figure out that they’d already lost!’

The courtyard was tense, silent. I glared from window to window, daring anyone to challenge me. ‘What do you want?’ a small voice called.

‘I want you to surrender!’ I called back. ‘Those still able to walk will come out one at a time, lay their weapons down at my feet, and go past to the men waiting behind. We’ll fetch the wounded later. Co-operate, and you will not be harmed! But if you choose to fight, then the mages behind me will tear that building down right on top of you and I swear to God that once they start they will not stop until every last man, woman and child among you is dead!’

There was dead silence.

A figure appeared at the door. It was an adept, a big, burly guy holding an assault rifle. He walked forward, stopped in front of me, looked into my eyes. Then he laid the rifle down on the stones with a clatter. I turned my head to watch as he walked past the way I’d come.

A second adept appeared, then a third. Through the futures, I could see that they would keep coming. The last faint possibilities of violence flickered, then died away.

I stood there in the courtyard, the sovnya planted in front of me, watching the adepts pass one by one, the pile of weapons at my feet growing steadily larger. The white flag, spattered with red, hung from the sovnya’s blade. Behind me, I could hear Landis and Rain giving orders to organise the prisoners. Only once the adepts at the very end of the line had left the building, limping and staggering, did I give orders for the soldiers to move in.

Luna found me half an hour later.

I was sitting on the roof of the mausoleum, my legs hanging off the edge, looking down into the courtyard below. At the far end, two Council auxiliaries and a mage were talking. Ilmarin’s body had been retrieved from the east roof, but the rest of the corpses, including Vihaela’s, were still there.

Luna walked across the roof and sat down next to me with a sigh. ‘I wondered where you’d gone.’

‘You get through okay?’

‘Barely saw any fighting,’ Luna said. ‘After we got separated, I didn’t have a clue what was going on. Then Ji-yeong got roped in as a medic, and I figured I’d be more use watching her back than trying to catch up with you.’

I nodded.

‘I got there for the tail-end of your speech,’ Luna said. ‘Pretty impressive.’

‘I suppose.’

‘Did Richard really just give you those things?’

I reached into my pocket and took out the ring and the lattice, setting them down on the roof. Luna tilted her head, focusing on them.

‘They’re the real thing,’ I said. I’d already had the chance to study them. The lattice, the Council’s weapon, had been the easier of the two; all I’d needed to figure out was the command word. The ring was another story. Heavy and ancient, made from solid gold, it wasn’t something I knew how to use. But it had bound the marid once, and it might be able to do so again.

‘Then why did he . . . ?’ Luna asked.

‘Hand them over?’ I said. ‘I don’t know.’

‘Landis and Rain are planning the assault on the keep,’ Luna said. ‘They want to know if that weapon’s going to work.’

‘Oh, it’ll work,’ I said. ‘Channel a thread of magic and say the command word, and it’ll project its effect over a narrow cone to a thirty-foot range. But as to whether it’ll stop an ifrit . . . well, it’s not like we’ve got one to test it.’

Ji-yeong appeared in the courtyard below. She exchanged some words with the disposal team, then began picking her way over towards the mausoleum.

‘The security guys are talking like you practically won the battle on your own,’ Luna said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to be celebrating, but I didn’t think you’d be . . .’

‘Doesn’t feel like much of a win.’

From fifty feet below, Ji-yeong glanced up at the two of us, then walked across towards where Vihaela had fallen. ‘I mean, we did just beat Richard’s entire force,’ Luna said. ‘Yes, people died, but it sounds as though if you hadn’t been there we would have lost a lot more. Even Keepers that I thought hated you were admitting it. I know you had to kill that adept, but I’m really glad you convinced the rest to surrender.’

In the courtyard below, Ji-yeong reached Vihaela’s body and stopped. ‘It’s not about the adept,’ I said.

‘Then what is it?’

‘I killed Ilmarin,’ I said. It was hard to say it, but Luna was maybe the only one left in the shadow realm that I could talk to. ‘Got him killed, I mean, but it comes to the same thing.’

‘Ilmarin’s dead?’

I pointed. ‘Over there, on that rooftop. Last seconds of the battle with Vihaela. I saw her getting away, and Ilmarin was the only one in position to stop her. I knew if he did, there was maybe a seventy, eighty per cent chance she’d kill him. I ordered him to do it anyway.’

‘Why?’

‘Because if I hadn’t, we’d have lost her,’ I said with a sigh. ‘She was just too good. If I’d played it safe, Vihaela would have made it into the mausoleum, and once she was out of sight she’d have used her mist cloak and we wouldn’t have been able to track her. Probably. But the truth is, that’s just a guess. Maybe once she was inside she wouldn’t have been able to find a way out, and we’d have been able to trap her. Maybe she’d have decided to do what Richard did and just break off and disappear. I wasn’t willing to take the chance and so I rolled the dice and they came up wrong, and Ilmarin’s dead.’ I looked at Luna. ‘Do you think I was right?’

‘. . . I don’t know.’

We sat in silence for a little while. ‘Ilmarin was one of the witnesses from my apprenticeship ceremony,’ Luna said eventually.

‘He was, wasn’t he?’ I said. It had been six years ago. ‘You know, when I found out about Nimbus’s plan this morning, I was furious. I was so outraged that he was going to sacrifice those men to buy time. But I just did pretty much the same thing. I knew what was going to happen when I gave Ilmarin that order, and I still did it. He was one of the only Keepers from the Order of the Star who always treated us decently, and now he’s dead because of my decision.’

Below us, Ji-yeong was still looking down at Vihaela’s body. ‘I’m still thinking about that ceremony,’ Luna said. ‘You remember who was there?’ She began ticking people off on her fingers. ‘Talisid swore me in; Anne was my second; Ilmarin was the other witness; Sonder was there too; and we all went to Arachne’s afterwards. Now Sonder’s dead, Ilmarin’s dead, Arachne’s gone, Talisid tried to kill you last week, and Anne . . .’ Luna tailed off, a sad look on her face. ‘We’ve lost so much.’

The simple way that she said it hurt. I wished I could tell her that the worst was over.

I looked away from Luna, down at the courtyard. ‘You were right,’ I said. ‘I’m not cold enough to keep doing this.’

Luna reached out, her curse pulling back, and put her hand on my shoulder. She left it there a few seconds before taking it away again, letting her curse flow back out to her fingers. We sat together in silence for another minute or so.

At last, Luna got to her feet. ‘I’ll tell them you’ll be there soon,’ she said, then hesitated. ‘Alex? About whether you were right . . . I still don’t know. But for what it’s worth . . . these decisions, about who lives and who dies? I’m glad you’re the one making them, and not Nimbus or Talisid. And not me.’

Luna walked away. The disposal team at the far end of the courtyard was bagging up the body of the soldier Vihaela had decapitated. As for Ji-yeong, she hadn’t moved.

I picked up the ring and lattice, then pushed off the roof and let myself float down to the courtyard below.

I landed a little way from Ji-yeong. She glanced over, then went back to staring down at Vihaela’s body. I walked to her side.

‘Did you know her?’ I asked when the Korean girl stayed quiet.

Ji-yeong shook her head.

‘But?’

‘I knew about her,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘She was a legend. When we’d talk about the most powerful death mages and life mages, we’d argue about numbers two and three, but never about number one.’

‘Did you want to be like her?’

Ji-yeong hesitated. ‘I don’t think so?’ she said at last. ‘But she was the strongest.’

‘True,’ I said. ‘She might have been the best battle mage I’ve ever known.’ I nodded down at the body. ‘You’ll end up like that some day.’

Ji-yeong looked up, startled.

‘The only way to be as strong as her, and as feared as her, is to walk the same path she did,’ I told Ji-yeong. ‘That’s where it ends. Anything else you need here?’

‘. . . No.’

I nodded and turned away. Ji-yeong took a last look down at Vihaela, then as I kept walking she abandoned the body and followed me.