The Burning Man

1

Black feathers gleamed across a vast arc around the hotel as if darkness was welling up out of the ground and across the pristine snow. Shavi watched the Morvren as he dabbed at the still-bleeding thorn marks on his temples.

‘The birds are responding to Church’s thoughts,’ he mused. ‘Almost an extension of his personality.’

‘He’s a bloody idiot.’ Tom rapped on the glass to try to scare the ravens away. Beady black eyes stared back at him unflinchingly. ‘He has a job to do and he’s mooning over some woman.’

‘We are all addicted to being in love. It is the human condition.’

‘I wouldn’t know about that, would I?’ Tom said sarcastically. ‘Ever since those so-called gods cut me up and put me back together, I’ve not been much of anything.’

Hunter came over, swigging from a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. ‘He’ll be all right. He’s a tough bloke.’

‘Why did she do it? It is not like Ruth,’ Shavi asked.

‘Something between the two of them,’ Hunter replied. ‘Don’t ask me — I don’t do all that relationship shit. But you’re right — it’s not like her, given the little I know of her, which leaves me thinking she’s still alive. Can you see anything?’ he said to Tom.

Concern briefly softened Tom’s harsh expression. ‘Nothing of her.’

‘But you are starting to see snatches of the future now?’ Shavi asked.

‘I’ve had a few flashes in the last half hour. As events happen, more and more falls into place. The future is becoming solid.’

‘And not good, by the look on your face,’ Hunter noted. ‘What happened here to make a bad outcome more likely?’ He brushed the question off instantly. ‘No point thinking about what might be. We need to find our target. Are you ready to locate him?’

‘I am ready to try,’ Shavi replied.

‘Not going to lose any more body parts, are you?’

Shavi smiled tightly. ‘I have the upper hand now.’