Taken

chapter 10

I’m only a mediocre driver. I never learnt to do it until I was past twenty, and what with relying on Starbreeze and gate magic so much for travel I haven’t had much practice since then. Luckily my divination magic lets me cheat-when you know exactly what will and won’t make you crash it’s easy not to hit anything. It didn’t make the ride any smoother, though.

We followed Anne through the winding country lanes, rushing through the darkness. I didn’t turn on my lights, relying on my magic to keep to the lines of the road as well as to keep track of the smudge of light up ahead that was the Bentley. As we headed south, back roads turned into B-roads and then A-roads until we came out onto the great winding length of the M4.

Once we were on the motorway, tailing Anne’s car became easier. Despite the darkness of the winter evening it wasn’t late, and there were plenty of cars to give us cover. Under the harsh orange glow of the motorway lights I pulled in one car behind the Bentley and held distance. After only a few minutes a green sign flashed by that read Services 1 mile. The Bentley pulled into the left lane and began signalling, and I followed. A red-and-white Little Chef sign flashed by and was gone.

The services were contained in a single large building surrounded by banks of grass, a petrol station, and a huge car park. Light shone from the windows, the surrounding trees muting the glow and noise from the motorway. By the time I’d parked and turned off the engine, Anne had already left the Bentley and was walking towards the building. I scanned for danger, found nothing, and followed her, Variam trailing behind.

The inside of the building had the vaguely soulless feel that motorway service stations always seem to have. The floor was linoleum, the lights were too bright, and the shops sold snacks and drinks and travel gear at about three times their actual value. Everything smelt of plastic and disinfectant. “Where is she?” Variam asked.

I turned left into the cafeteria. It wasn’t packed but it wasn’t empty either, and there were just enough people to give us some cover. Mothers kept a watchful eye over children while truckers drank from mugs of tea. “Hey,” Variam said. “I said-”

“To your right,” I said, then blocked Variam as he turned to look. “Don’t stare. Buy something and sit down.”

Variam glowered but didn’t argue. He’d at least had the sense to wrap his sword up in his jacket. I bought something at the counter without paying attention to what it was and found a corner seat shielded by a big plastic children’s area. Only then did I look over.

Anne was sitting at a table on the far side of the cafeteria. The edge of the services was a huge plate-glass window looking out onto the car park, and Anne’s table was right next to it, bright against the darkness. Sitting opposite Anne was a man with grey-white hair wearing a thick coat with the collar turned up to shield his face. I couldn’t get a good look at him but he was talking to Anne.

“Who’s she talking to?” Variam said.

“Apparently his name’s Hobson.” I scanned through the futures but couldn’t see any danger. In every sequence of events the services was filled with nothing but the bustle of travellers.

“Why are you following Anne?” Variam said.

“I already told you.”

“What are you getting out of it?”

I didn’t bother answering. Anne and Hobson weren’t far away and I could have used my magic to eavesdrop if I focused on it, but I didn’t. Instead I kept my attention on a short-to-medium-range scan, watching for danger. If anything moved to threaten Anne I wanted to know about it.

We sat for a little while in silence. Around us, people came and went. “Why’d you help her?” Variam asked.

I didn’t take my eyes off Anne. “When?”

“Three nights ago. With those men.”

“What’s your problem with me, Variam?”

“You’re a mage.”

“So are you.”

Variam scowled. “You know what?” I said. “Fine. It’s not like they’re going to be finished any time soon. I’ll tell you why I helped Anne if you tell me how the two of you ended up with Jagadev.”

Variam was silent. “Fine,” he said at last. “Why’d you help her?”

“Because she needed it.”

Variam waited. “And?” he said when I didn’t go on.

“That’s it.”

“Bullshit-”

“What were you expecting me to say?” I said. “Mages can look after themselves; apprentices can’t.”

Variam looked at me narrowly. “I don’t believe you.”

At the other side of the cafeteria Anne was still talking to Hobson. She was sitting opposite him, leaning slightly forward with hands clasped, listening attentively. As I watched she took out a pad of paper and started writing, pausing every few seconds to glance up. Hobson seemed to be doing most of the talking, but his hand movements were jerky and at intervals he’d look back over his shoulder. Watching his body language I could tell he was nervous, afraid of something, but there was no danger. . yet. “Your turn,” I said to Variam. I didn’t take my attention off Anne and Hobson. “You and Anne used to be apprenticed to a Dark mage named Sagash, right?”

Variam stared at me. “Apprenticed?”

“Is that true?”

“Is that-?! I’d rip out my own liver before being apprentice to that bastard. You mages talk so much shit. If you knew-!”

“Knew what?”

“You know how we met Sagash?” Variam demanded. “He kidnapped Anne right out of school. Used gate magic to take her away to some huge freaky castle in the middle of nowhere. He wanted her as his apprentice and when she said no he tried to make her.”

I looked at Variam, keeping quiet. “There was someone who said he could help,” Variam said. “A ‘Light’ mage, or that was what he called himself, guy called Ebber. Know what that little weasel did? He went and talked things over with Sagash and decided it was all just fine. He said we were better off like that!” Variam stared past me. “She was in that place for months.”

“Did you break her out?” I asked.

“No,” Variam said reluctantly. He sounded as if he didn’t like to admit it. “She did. But I helped her get away. And we gave that bastard Sagash something to think about before we left.”

I looked over at Anne. She was writing on the pad, listening carefully to what Hobson said. “What did Ebber do?”

Variam gave a snort. “Oh, he was pissed. More upset about us running away than he was about Sagash kidnapping her. Would have taken us back if he could.”

“And that was when Jagadev came to you,” I said. “He offered you protection, told you that as long as you stayed with him mages like Sagash and Ebber wouldn’t bother you. And you convinced Anne.”

“Yeah, so?” Variam looked at me, challenging. “That’s how it works in your world, right? If you’re not with someone, some mage like you can just pick you off. Well, we’re with him.”

I met Variam’s gaze. He looked angry and I was pretty sure he wasn’t lying. He might be exaggerating. . but unfortunately nothing in his story was even the slightest bit hard to believe. Dark mages do press-gang apprentices. They won’t usually touch one under the protection of another mage, but a teenager new to their powers and alone and ignorant of the magical world is easy prey. And once you’re in, leaving is not an option.

Under Council law, a Light apprentice can’t be forced to take the oaths. But Dark mages have no such laws. And once a Dark mage has got their claws into someone, precious few Light mages are willing to take the risks involved in rescuing them. Much easier to turn a blind eye and smooth things over-it’s not worth risking the peace treaty for one apprentice, is it? And once you’ve gone that far, it’s really not that big an extra step to give the Dark mages a little bit of quiet assistance. After all, contacts on the other side are very useful and if you don’t help them get an apprentice back they’re just going to go to someone else. .

It’s easy to hate all Light mages for the actions of a few, and I’ve fallen into that trap myself in the past. But the world’s more complicated than that. “You know,” I said, “just because some mages act like that doesn’t mean they all do.”

“Right,” Variam said with a sneer. “All the others are bad but you’re the good guy.”

“Not exactly.”

Variam shook his head. “You don’t have a clue what it’s like. None of you do.”

“You might be surprised,” I said mildly.

“Bullshit. You get invitations to parties, you get guys like Talisid showing up to offer you jobs. You’re part of the club; you don’t know how hard it is for us.”

I started to answer, then paused. So you know it was Talisid who gave me the job? Interesting. “So why do you think I took the job?”

“You want the apprentices for yourselves, right? You don’t care what happens to them. You only help them if they’re yours.”

“You and Anne aren’t mine,” I said.

“So?”

“If I only care about apprentices who are mine, what am I doing here?”

“How should I know?”

“I’m just trying to make you see the logic here,” I said. “By your reasoning, if I treat you cruelly like Sagash, then that means I’m self-serving and don’t care about you. But if I’m nice and try to help you, then that means I must have some evil hidden purpose which also means I’m self-serving and don’t care about you. Is that about right?”

Variam just glowered. “Whatever.”

“They’re going,” I said, looking up.

Hobson had left the table and was hurrying away. I watched him curiously. Up until I’d arrived at the services I’d been more than half-expecting a trap, if for no other reason than that I remembered very clearly what had happened the last time Anne had been driven somewhere alone in that Bentley. But Hobson’s behaviour didn’t fit with that. Acting scared and nervous, okay-but he’d asked Anne to come to a public place, somewhere that would be crowded even at this late hour. That was the kind of thing you’d do if you were worried about a trap.

But if Hobson wasn’t involved himself, that meant. .

Anne had risen and was just leaving via the services’ front doors. “Come on,” I said to Variam, and walked quickly after her.

I was halfway there when I felt something shift in the futures ahead. I took one glance at them and broke into a run. The automatic doors slid open in front of me as I ran out into the night.

Anne was halfway across the car park, a slim shadow against the dark lines of cars, just about to turn down one of the rows. “Anne!” I shouted from behind her.

Anne stopped, turned. I kept running towards her. I couldn’t see her face, but I knew she was looking at me in surprise. “Alex?”

“Behind you!” I shouted.

Anne turned back just as the figure flicked into view behind her. Her eyes went wide and she jumped out of reach as the shape reached out, grasping.

A second later I slammed into it. The darkness hid the creature’s features; it had the silhouette of a human but was heavier. We both went down and hit the tarmac and I rolled away fast, staying out of reach.

A second figure stepped out of the darkness right next to Anne, reaching for her neck. I’d seen it coming and aimed a kick from the ground that took out its knee. The second one hit the ground next to the first and I scrambled to my feet, backing away with Anne. “Variam!” I shouted. “They’re constructs, destroy them!”

Both constructs were rising to their feet and in the futures ahead of us I could see the paths they would take, solid lines of light changing to match our actions but without choice or initiative of their own. One was still locked onto Anne; the other was heading for me. But it took them a few seconds to reach us and Variam got there first.

Mages of Variam’s type are called fire mages, but that’s not really what they do. Their real power is over heat: generating it, controlling it, moving it. It’s true that most fire mages do use fire in their spells, but that’s as much psychological as anything; fire is what they think of, so that’s what they create. Variam’s approach was a little different. Instead of creating bolts of fire or some kind of flamethrower, he just poured a ton of heat into the area right between the two constructs.

Fire magic’s not subtle and it’s not great at defence, but for sheer destructive power there’s not much that can beat it. There was a hissing sound and a thump of superheated air, a backwash of heat making me cover my eyes. When I opened them again the constructs were gone. A five-foot circle of tarmac where they’d been standing was steaming, and the corners of two car fenders that had been in the blast were glowing a faint yellow and starting to droop.

“Where’d they go?” Variam said in surprise.

“I don’t know.” I looked around. I could see figures in the darkness of the car park but they were too far away, and as I concentrated I saw that they had the branching futures of humans. “I-Anne, move!”

Anne started and tried to jump away, but this time she wasn’t quick enough. One of the constructs seized her from behind, and a second later the other did the same to me.

Constructs move, but they aren’t alive-they’re dead things animated by magic, created to fulfil a certain purpose. All constructs are built with a guidance program, and once a construct’s been given a command it’ll keep going until the task’s completed. They’re strong-stronger than any human-but that’s not what makes them so dangerous. A construct can’t feel pain or fear or boredom. They don’t get hurt, they don’t get tired, and most of all they don’t stop. If you get away from one, it’ll just keep coming. The only way to stop a construct is to completely destroy it, either by breaking the spell that animates it or by doing such massive damage to its body that it can’t physically hold together anymore.

But for all their power, constructs have limits. They can’t draw conclusions, they can’t take initiative, and they can’t use tactics or prediction or deception. You can’t program a construct to outsmart an opponent; you can only make it stronger or tougher or faster.

The construct that had grabbed me from behind was trying to break my neck, and if I’d given it even the smallest chance it would have succeeded. But it wasn’t the first time I’d had a construct try to kill me and I’ve learnt from painful experience what works and doesn’t. As the construct reached for my neck I twisted to one side, pulling it off balance and levering its hand away. Someone who knew how to fight would have recognised the move and countered it, but the construct didn’t understand the concept of leverage and just kept trying to pull me in and crush me. I went with the movement and turned it into a throw, slamming the construct to the tarmac. The twisting motion pulled the thing’s grip loose and I jumped back again out of range.

I felt a surge of magic and looked back at Variam and Anne. The other construct was gone and Variam was standing against Anne with his sword out, staring into the darkness. “Variam!” I snapped.

Variam looked at me, confused. “I don’t get it. I hit him but-”

The second construct pulled itself up and went for us again. Variam narrowed his eyes and stepped forward, orange-red light flickering about his upraised hand. A pulse of heat exploded with a hissing thump from the centre of the construct’s chest, hot enough to ignite the air in a flash.

An instant before the spell hit, the construct vanished and we were alone in the darkness. “What the hell?” Variam said. “I hit him!”

Anne was looking around, and as she did her eyes widened. “Vari, Alex! It’s over-!”

I threw one of my condensers to shatter against the tarmac and grabbed Variam and Anne. As the cloud of fog rushed out around us I dragged both of them to one side.

An instant later the two constructs reappeared in the fog cloud. I couldn’t see them but with my divination I knew where they were. Their futures were static lines of light-without any sign of where we were they were just going to stand there until-

“Let go!” Variam said angrily.

“Shh!”

The lines of light changed direction as both constructs moved, converging on the sound. Their heavy footfalls were audible and Variam tensed and shut up as I pulled him to one side. Anne stayed quiet, trusting me to lead her. The constructs reached the point where the noise had come from, only five feet away-and stopped.

I kept leading Variam and Anne away and this time Variam thankfully kept his mouth shut. The constructs didn’t move; without sensory input their simple programming couldn’t predict our movements. We came out of the fog cloud into the night, and now that Anne and Variam could see me I put a finger to my lips, ushering them towards the car.

“What’s-?” Variam said once we were fifty feet away.

“Gate magic,” I said, keeping my voice low. “Short-range teleport.” Looking back I could see the patch of mist, weirdly out of place in the car park. The constructs were still standing motionless inside it-then as I watched they vanished. “Crap.” I broke into a run. “Come on!”

We piled into the car. I started the engine and the gearshift dial rose up with a whirr. “Where are they?” Variam asked Anne.

“I don’t know! They’re not alive, I can’t-”

One of the constructs blinked into view just in front of the car. I’d had a second’s warning and as it appeared I stomped on the accelerator. With a roar the Jaguar leapt forward, ramming the construct with a hollow thump and sending it flying. I braked instantly, throwing Variam and Anne into the back of the seats, and pulled out into the car park. The second construct appeared an instant later, grabbing for the door, but I swung the car away and it caught only air. A green EXIT sign flashed up in the headlights and I turned towards it, accelerating and putting a row of cars between us and the constructs.

The exit road was dark and led around the side of the services, past the petrol station and back towards the M4. Anne reached to touch my shoulder from the backseat and a soft green glow sprang up as I felt the energy of a spell flow through me. The adrenaline racing through my body levelled off, and my fatigue vanished as my reflexes sharpened. Suddenly I could see the road more clearly and correcting the car seemed easier. “Thanks.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket one-handed and handed it over my shoulder to her. “Anne, find Sonder and call him. Variam, keep watch out the back. We haven’t lost those things.”

“They’ve got a car?” Variam asked. He was peering out the back window.

“They don’t need one-”

Variam said something in an angry voice. I didn’t know the language, but the meaning came across loud and clear and I glanced up at the mirror to see that two figures had appeared in the shadows behind, running after us. As I watched they vanished and reappeared closer, still running. “Hang on,” I said, and put my foot down. The Jaguar’s engine roared eagerly and carried us out onto the M4.

The motorway was flat and slightly curved, hills and trees visible to either side in the darkness. Lights shone down from above, casting everything in orange-yellow except for the pinpoint reflections of the cat’s-eyes marking the lanes. It was late but the M4 is the major artery linking England and Wales and all three lanes were dotted with cars. I pulled from the left lane into the centre and then into the right. A few seconds later I saw the constructs burst out onto the motorway behind us, running along the hard shoulder before teleporting a few hundred feet forward, still running.

“Hello?” Anne said from behind me. “Sonder? Alex, I’ve got him!”

“Hold it here!” I swerved between the cars. The Jaguar was doing more than eighty miles per hour but in the mirror I could see that the constructs were still closing on us. They’d sprint for a couple of seconds, then blink forward, hit the ground running, and keep going. For all our speed, they were catching up fast.

Anne scrambled over the gearshift into the passenger seat and held the phone to my ear. “Sonder,” I said, keeping one eye on the side mirror. “We’re being chased by two teleporting constructs trying to kill us. Need some suggestions.”

“Teleporting-Wait, you mean-?”

“Yes.”

“Are they-?”

“Just vanishing and reappearing.”

“Um.” I could imagine Sonder pushing his glasses up. “You know, I think-”

I leapfrogged an Escort that was blocking the fast lane, pulled the Jaguar around a station wagon ahead of us, and slid back in again, ignoring the angry blare of horns. “Fast would be good.”

“Screw this,” Variam said. “Open the roof!”

I hit a button on the dashboard and the sunroof whirred back, filling the car with a rush of cold air. Variam pulled himself up, standing on the backseat, and turned towards where the constructs were running. Fire magic surged and I felt the pulse of a heat burst behind and to my left.

“Um,” Sonder said over the phone. “Okay. Well, there was a fashion back in the early twentieth century for making constructs with an imbued spell. The idea was they’d be able to use their one spell in the same sort of way as an adept, but it eventually fell out of favour because-”

“Sonder. How do we kill them?”

Again I felt the pulse of Variam’s heat spells and again I heard him swear. I risked a quick glance away from the road to the left but I couldn’t see the constructs. We’d entered a band of heavier traffic that was forcing me to keep my speed down. “Well, theoretically-” Sonder began.

The two constructs blinked in on top of us, one after another. With my second’s warning I was able to swerve away from the first. It appeared to our left at road level and grabbed for the car but missed.

The second appeared an instant later while I was still recovering from the swerve. It landed on the Jaguar’s hood with a thump, blocking my view, and turned to face us.

Anne drew in her breath in a gasp. For the first time I got a clear look at the construct; it had the form of an adult man in cast-off clothing with a blank face and dead eyes. Ignoring Variam, it locked its eyes on Anne and raised a fist to punch through the windscreen.

I stomped on the brakes and the Jaguar slowed in a sudden screech of tyres. The construct clutched at the smooth hood, but there was nothing to grab and it went flying head over heels. It slammed into the motorway ahead of us, rolling over and over. From behind I heard another screech of brakes and I hit the accelerator again. The construct finished rolling, looked up to see the Jaguar about to run it down. . and vanished in a blink as we shot through the space he’d been in.

“Did you get him?” Variam called.

“No. Did you?”

“No! Every time I’m close they just-”

Horns were blaring from behind. I’d lost sight of the constructs but I could see a traffic jam in the mirrors; it looked like cars were slowing down to avoid something. Anne put the phone back to my ear and I heard Sonder’s voice. “-lex? Alex, are you there?”

“Sonder, we need some ideas,” I said. “Every time we’re about to hit these things they just gate out and I don’t know how long we can keep dodging them.”

“Um,” Sonder said. “Well, theoretically it should take a lot of energy to keep running that spell. They shouldn’t be as tough as normal constructs.”

“That’s great; how are we supposed to hit them?”

I caught a flash of movement in my right mirror. A figure was running along the right side of the motorway by the divider; as I watched it vanished and reappeared much closer. “Variam!” I called and pointed.

Variam pulled himself back up and I felt him aiming another fire spell. “Can you tell what their primary sensory input is?” Sonder asked.

“What?”

“Well, there has to be something that triggers their evasion routine. When they teleport away, is it based on visual data, auditory data, tactile-?”

“How in the name of all that is holy am I supposed to know that?”

“Um. . You could try attacking them with methods that can only be detected by one type of sense. Then based on which ones they dodge you could-”

“Are you serious?”

Bursts of heat erupted in the path of the construct chasing us but it blinked away, getting closer each time. As it pulled level with our car I cut left into the middle lane, using the stream of traffic as a shield. I had to slow down to do it and for an instant the construct was roughly level with us, its head turned to look into the car as it ran. Variam focused his energy for another spell, aiming to blanket its area, and Sonder started saying something else over the phone.

The construct teleported into the car.

There was a chorus of screams, one of which might have been mine. Variam’s spell went off, the car swerved, and there was one frantic moment in which the car was on course to smash right into the side of a container truck. I pulled it back as the construct’s long arms came reaching around the passenger seat, grasping for Anne’s throat. Anne ducked and the fingers latched onto her hair instead; she yelped as the construct started dragging her back.

Variam was still standing on the backseat, half out of the sunroof. He turned and stomped on the construct’s arms. The first kick made it bend at an impossible angle; the second broke its grip. I tried to turn to help and nearly crashed the car; I couldn’t fight and drive the Jaguar at the same time. As Variam kept kicking at the construct and it turned its attention to him I hit the speed control setting, grabbed Anne’s hand, and put it on the wheel. “You’re driving!” Anne’s eyes were wide, but she pulled herself up, trying to watch the road ahead and the construct behind at the same time.

The construct got a grip on Variam’s leg and broke it with a snap. Variam screamed as the construct started to pull him in. I twisted to reach over into the backseat and jammed both thumbs into the construct’s eyes, trying to gouge them out. The construct couldn’t feel pain, but it reacted to the loss of sight, letting go of Variam and grabbing me. Its grip was like steel and I was yanked over the gearshift. “Variam!” I shouted as the construct forced my hands away and its dead eyes turned to focus on me. One of its hands went for my throat and I tried desperately to force it away. “Use the sword!”

Variam was crumpled in the corner of the car, his leg bent at a horrible angle, but as the construct started to drag me in he fumbled out the flat-bladed sword and channelled his magic through it. The inside of the car flashed orange-yellow, and I felt a surge of heat as the blade lit up with fire and Variam drove it straight for the construct’s body.

The construct vanished as the tip touched it. I fell onto the blade, felt it scorch through my clothes and into my arm, and pulled back with a gasp of pain. An instant later the heat cut off and Variam fell back against the edge of the car. My left arm was burnt but I gritted my teeth and scrambled back into the driver’s seat, taking the wheel back from Anne. “Help Variam!”

Anne climbed back into the rear seat as I checked the futures. As I did my heart jumped-the other construct was about to do the exact same thing. In a few seconds it would appear ahead of us and in one more it would blink in right on top of Anne and Variam. I held my left hand back without taking my eyes off the road. “Sword!”

There was an instant’s pause, then I felt the handle land in my palm. The blade was heavy and awkward to lift with only one hand. I kept my feet on the pedals and my right hand on the wheel and as the construct came into view ahead of us, I thrust the sword into the space the construct was going to teleport into.

The construct blinked in and out-somewhere else. I felt the gate magic redirect and instead of dropping into the passenger seat and onto the waiting sword the construct appeared five feet up, right on the Jaguar’s roof. The rushing air snatched it instantly off its feet and it went flying over the sunroof to hit the motorway behind. In my mirror I caught a glimpse of it rolling over and over behind us, and then the Toyota that had been following us hit it square on with a soggy thud. The construct’s head snapped back and it vanished under the wheels and was gone. From behind came the screech of brakes.

“Variam!” I called. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” Variam said through gritted teeth. I could feel Anne’s healing magic working behind me but didn’t turn to look.

“Anne, where’s the phone?”

Anne sounded distracted. “I dropped it. Alex, I need to concentrate.”

I dropped the sword and bent down to grab the phone instead, driving blind for a second. “Sonder?” I said, straightening up.

“Alex!” Sonder sounded relieved. “You’re okay?”

“Not for long. These things are tearing us up.” Wind roared through the sunroof and I could see a traffic jam developing behind us. The constructs hadn’t reappeared but I knew they hadn’t given up and I didn’t think we’d survive another attack like the last one. “Ideas?”

“I don’t know! Um. . Have you managed to damage them?”

“Well, we hit them with a car a few times but it doesn’t seem to have slowed them down much.” A sign went by overhead indicating a turnoff, and I pulled into the left lane, driving right-handed.

“Okay, so they’re not programmed to avoid physical impact?”

“No, they-Wait. When I was about to run that one over a minute ago, it did avoid it.”

“So they do-Alex?”

I thought fast. I’d managed to hit one with the Jaguar back in the car park. But when one had gated onto the hood, it had gated away again when I tried to run it down afterwards. But then that last one hadn’t gated away before being run over by the Toyota behind me. .

Time. The one that had landed on the hood had had longer. “Sonder. How much energy would it take to do one of these teleports?”

“Um, a lot. That was why they stopped building-”

“Could it teleport and then teleport again half a second later?”

“Um. . I’m not sure. I don’t think so. The construct’s internal energy reserves should need at least a couple of seconds to recharge between-”

“Perfect.”

“What? Alex? Hello?”

I dropped the phone onto the seat and pulled the car into the turnoff. It was a motorway layover, just a small enclave on the side of the road with a public bathroom, surrounded by woods. Nobody else was there. I brought the Jaguar to a stop and the engine died away with a fading growl. Outside on the M4 the cars swept past with a rush of air, the swooshing sound muffled through the car. “Anne,” I said. “Can Variam walk?”

“I need more time.” Turning around, I saw that Anne was bent over Variam, green light glowing around her hands as she held his broken leg. She was concentrating and didn’t turn to look. “Give me a few minutes.”

“Can’t.” I got out and pulled the passenger door open. Variam looked up distractedly and I held out a hand. “Grab on,” I told him. “I’m carrying you.”

“Wait!” Anne said. “He’s-”

“We’ve got sixty seconds until those constructs catch up.”

Variam’s face was pale from shock but he gave me one look and nodded. I reached down and picked Variam up with a heave; his fingers tightened on my arms and I knew it must have hurt, but he didn’t make a sound. “Bring the sword,” I told Anne as I hurried into the woods.

There was a small clearing just twenty feet into the trees. Bits of garbage were scattered around from previous visitors, and the glow of the motorway lights was muted. I set Variam down against an ash tree. “Your weapon,” I told Variam. “Can you channel through it when you’re not touching it?”

“I-yeah. Why?”

“When I call, do it.” Anne made as if to go to Variam, but I turned and blocked her. “No.”

Anne looked at me in frustration. “At least let me-”

“If you want to help him, keep your distance,” I said quietly. “I need you to do something dangerous.”

“What?”

“Bait.” I looked steadily at her. “These things are after you. They only attack us when we get in their way, and their targeting resets every time they lose sight of us. I need you to stand next to me and not move until I tell you.”

Anne looked from me to Variam, and I felt the two of them share a glance. Then Variam gave a small nod. I took the sword from Anne and walked to the centre of the clearing. The sword was oddly shaped and didn’t look like any weapon I’d seen; the blade was wide and heavy, broadening slightly from the hilt to the tip before narrowing abruptly to a blunt point. I walked to the centre of the clearing and moved the sword from side to side, feeling the weight of the blade. “Designed for cutting, right?” I asked Variam absently.

“Yeah.” I could hear the tension in Variam’s voice.

Anne moved beside me. “Do you trust me?” I asked her quietly.

In the shadows it was hard to make out Anne’s expression, but I could sense she was watching me. “. . Yes.”

“Don’t move,” I said. “When I press down on your shoulder, get out of the way as fast as you can.”

Anne nodded. I took a stance in the middle of the clearing, most of my weight on my back leg with Variam’s sword held down by my side, and rested my left hand on Anne’s shoulder. She didn’t tremble but held still. Ten feet away against the tree Variam watched, tense. The only light in the woods was the orange-yellow glow of the motorway lights, broken up with the shadows of the trees. There was no sound but the steady swoosh of the cars. The air was cold and smelt of exhaust smoke and dried leaves.

I closed my eyes.

The flicker of gate magic came right when it was supposed to. I pushed on Anne’s shoulder but she was already moving, ducking down and away. As the construct blinked in, reaching out for where Anne had been a second ago, I called “Variam!” and thrust.

My plan back in the car had been to try to set up the constructs to teleport onto the sword. It hadn’t worked; the gate spell the constructs were using had a fail-safe preventing them from teleporting directly onto something. But after they teleported there was a brief window in which they couldn’t teleport again.

Variam channelled and the edges of the sword lit up with licks of orange flame just as I rammed the blade through the construct’s torso. It jerked and staggered but I was already turning and as the second construct blinked into view next to us I got it with a kick to the body that knocked it over. Turning back to the first construct I forced it back, pushing it with the blade. I could feel the heat radiating as Variam poured fire magic through the sword and into the construct. Its clothes were smouldering around the wound and as I watched they caught fire. The construct tried to teleport away but couldn’t and I kept pushing it back, feeling the sword go loose as the construct began to melt from the inside. The construct fell over backwards and I followed it down, took a two-handed grip on the sword, and dragged the blade out sideways. The construct kept trying to grab me, empty eyes locked onto mine, and I stabbed it again and again until heat melted its body and the scrubby grass and dirt it was lying on ignited.

I turned to see Variam with his hand raised towards Anne and the second construct gone. Anne was standing at the centre of the clearing again, looking around. “Get down!” I shouted and ran towards her, bringing the sword back for a swing.

Anne dropped instantly and the second construct blinked in behind her. I’d already started my slash and as I did I felt Variam’s fire magic flare to an inferno. The sword flashed white-hot, the heat scorching my arm and hand, and it cut through the construct’s neck like butter. The head and body ignited, falling in different directions, and the sword spun away and went into the earth with a hiss.

And suddenly the clearing was quiet. The light of Variam’s fire magic blinked out and the only light was the glowing remnants of the two constructs. I shook my burnt right hand and gave Variam a look. “Ow.”

“It’s dead, isn’t it?” Variam was still propped up against the tree and he looked very tired. “Anne, you okay?”

Anne nodded. “Let me have a look at you.”

“After we get out of here,” I said. “You can patch us up later.” I couldn’t hear any sirens yet, but after the mess we’d caused on the motorway I knew they wouldn’t be far away.

Neither Anne nor Variam argued. We limped back to the Jaguar, put Variam in, and drove away. As I did I realised my phone was ringing, and I took it out. “Hey, Luna,” I said wearily. The aftereffects of the fight were starting to kick in and it was suddenly hard to talk.

“Hey!” Luna sounded excited. “I’ve been trying to call you!”

“Sorry. Something came up.”

“I won the duel!”

“Good job.” A sign passed by overhead and I began signalling to take the turn that would lead us off the motorway, northwards back towards Fountain Reach. “Meet us outside the mansion in half an hour. We’ve got some news too.”