Cursed

chapter 11

By the time we reached the ground floor, the fighting had died down. The manor was a wasteland of smoke and rubble, small fires burning amidst the smoke, but the stone and concrete had weathered the attacks and the structure was stable. I could sense two or three guards still around, but they were keeping their distance.

As we came up the steps, the radio in my pocket crackled. I pulled it out with my good arm. “Sonder.”

“Alex! Finally! Did you find Luna?”

I turned the radio’s volume up and tossed it to Luna. “It’s for you.”

Luna caught it awkwardly. “Hi, Sonder.”

I could hear the relief in Sonder’s voice. “You’re okay?”

“I’m fine. What’s happening?”

“It’s crazy out here,” Sonder sounded tense. “I saw the back door explode and Cinder fought his way in but-Alex, are you there? Cinder got driven out. He’s fighting on the west slope.”

I was analysing a route up to the second floor. “Fighting what?”

“A mantis golem. Belthas got a mantis golem!” I could hear distant sounds of battle over the radio. “It’s trying to kill Cinder, Cinder’s trying to melt it-”

“Who’s winning?”

There was a pause. “Neither, I think.”

I checked my watch. We had a little over ten minutes. “We can’t wait for Cinder,” I decided. “I’m going after Belthas. Luna, Sonder is up the mountainside from here. You can circle around and-”

“Screw that.” Luna’s eyes flashed. “I’m going with you.”

I looked back at her for a second, then smiled slightly. “Sonder,” I said loudly. “We’re going for Belthas’s sanctum on the second floor. If you can get a message to Cinder, tell him.”

Sonder sounded confused. “Wait-both of you?”

Luna switched the radio off and tossed it to me. We headed upstairs.

We passed several charred bodies on the way up. There were several guards still lurking, but they stayed out of our way. It looked like there’d been some fast natural selection amongst Belthas’s security force and the survivors had been the ones who’d figured out that attacking a mage was a very bad idea. As we climbed, burnt flesh, burnt wiring, and smoke mixed together to make a nauseating stench.

The top floor was luxurious but impersonal, like an expensive hotel. A thick carpet lined the central corridor and I could feel the presence of minor magical effects from behind the wooden doors. All was untouched; Cinder must not have gotten this far. I moved down the corridor, watching for an ambush, Luna a few steps behind.

The corridor ended in an anteroom. Two double doors were set into the far wall and I knew they led into Belthas’s sanctum. Curtains were drawn over the windows, a wardrobe stood to one side, and several tables held curios. I stopped in the doorway and waited. The room was silent. There was no sound from outside; the floor had been soundproofed. Seconds ticked past.

“You might as well come out,” I said to the room.

Silence.

I lifted my gun, letting it make a quiet metallic noise. My left arm hurt a little but it was manageable. “How about I shoot those curtains?”

The curtains moved and Meredith stepped out.

For someone in the middle of a battle, Meredith looked far better than she ought to. Somehow she’d found the opportunity to change clothes and was wearing a black figure-hugging outfit that probably would have been distracting if I’d been in any mood to care. It was her eyes I was watching and I could tell from the look in them that she was afraid. She stood, on edge, trying to watch both me and the gun.

“I know why you’re here,” I said quietly. “Belthas put you out here to slow us down. You said yes because you thought you could stay out of sight till the fighting was over.” I nodded back down the corridor. “Run. Now. If you stay, Cinder’ll kill you. If you get in my way, I will.”

Meredith hesitated, and for a moment I saw the choices branching before her. Then, slowly, she came towards me, keeping her eyes on me. I let her go by. For a moment it looked as though she was about to say something, then she walked away.

Meredith passed Luna without a glance. As she did a tendril of Luna’s curse flicked out over Meredith, soaking into her to leave a faint silvery glow. Meredith walked back the way we came and vanished. I looked at Luna and raised an eyebrow.

“What?” Luna said. She sounded a little annoyed. “It won’t kill her.” She paused. “Probably.”

I glanced down the corridor, then turned away. “What if she comes back?” Luna asked.

“She won’t.”

The double doors to Belthas’s sanctum swung open with a creak.

The room was big: the size of a small dance hall, wider than it was long, with a high ceiling. There were no windows but the roof seemed to be made of some one-way glass, giving a view of the dark sky. Tables and workbenches were scattered around the edge, filled with components and supplies, but aside from that the room was bare: If a fight started I wouldn’t have much cover. Another set of double doors in the back corner stood open, and through them I could see shelves.

In front of the doors, set into the floor at the end of the room, was the biggest ritual circle I’d ever seen. It was done in a triple ring design with the outermost ring cast in copper, the middle in silver, and the inner in gold, with runes and sigils inlaid between them. Three lecterns stood in the innermost ring in a triangle, and upon them were laid a wand, a book, and a knife.

Belthas stood at the centre. He’d changed into blue ceremonial robes of the kind used by the Council for formal occasions and he looked every inch the magus in his sanctum. “Verus,” Belthas said without looking up. He was tracing lines in the book with his right hand, while holding one of the iridescent purple rods in his left. “I hope you know I’ll be taking this damage out of your pay.”

“You can call this my two weeks’ notice,” I said. I had a clear line of sight. I looked into the future of my shooting at Belthas-

— and saw him deflect the bullets effortlessly with an ice shield. “I have to admit,” Belthas said, “you’ve caused me quite an extraordinary amount of trouble.”

“Funny. I was about to say the same thing.” I could feel the room thrumming with power; the ritual was nearly complete. As I concentrated, I saw that the focus was the rod in Belthas’s hand. It shared a sympathetic link with its twin embedded in Arachne: Once Belthas finished, it would act as the conduit to drain her energy into him. I didn’t know what it would do to Belthas, but I knew what it would do to Arachne.

“I have to ask,” Belthas said. His tone was mildly curious. “Why are you so concerned about these creatures? If you’d just given me the elemental and the spider all this could have been resolved peacefully.”

“Belthas,” I said, “trust me. You wouldn’t understand.”

“They’re not mages. They’re not even human.”

“And I still like them more than you. Though that’s not saying much.”

Luna was hanging back in the corridor, waiting for my lead. I ran through different angles of attack and saw Belthas block them in every future I tried. Most of Belthas’s power was going into the ritual but he had more than enough left to protect himself.

But in that case, why wasn’t he attacking? I spread my arms. “What’s the matter? Don’t feel like taking a shot?”

Belthas sighed. “In case it’s escaped your attention, I’m somewhat busy. If this is the best you can do, I’d appreciate it if you would come back later.”

I took a couple of steps forward. The more I looked into the future, the more certain I was that Belthas couldn’t reach me. The ritual circle must be acting as a barrier. He couldn’t get offensive spells through it.

But if I walked into the circle … I winced at the image. Ow. I wouldn’t make it two steps. Ice magic does really nasty things to flesh.

“Alex,” Luna whispered from the doorway.

I knew she was about to suggest using her magic against him. “Wouldn’t work,” I whispered back.

“I could get closer-”

“From outside that circle’s shielding him,” I whispered. “And if you got inside he’d take you apart.”

“I must say, I’m a little disappointed,” Belthas said, ignoring our conversation. “The more … questionable aspects to your background are well known but most mages had been under the impression you were trying to put being a Dark mage behind you. Now you’re switching sides? Again?”

“Should have read those reports more carefully,” I said. I signalled Luna to stay put and began moving down the length of the room. I kept a wary eye on Belthas as I approached, my precognition alert for danger. “The reason I left was to get away from people like you.”

“Which is why you’re working for Cinder?” Belthas shook his head. “Honestly, Verus. You break into my home with a Dark cabal and still think you’re on the right side? Which one of us has caused more deaths lately?”

“That might be because you keep yourself an army of minions.”

“And who made the choice to kill them?” Belthas asked. He hadn’t looked up and was still tracing through the ritual in the book. “Those men had families, you know. I do so hate writing condolence letters.”

I felt a flare of anger and bit down an answer. I was less than thirty feet from Belthas, just seconds at a run. But then, past Belthas, I caught sight of something in the room beyond. It looked like a bed with someone on it. I moved along to get a better view. It was a bed … and lying on it was Rachel, wearing what looked like a hospital gown. Her eyes were closed and an IV drip hung from a stand. There was something else next to her. I took another step-

My precognition warned me just in time. I leapt backwards as golden energy slashed the air with a hiss, passing through the spot I’d been in a second ago. I tripped and fell, turned it into a backwards roll, and scrambled away as heavy footfalls sounded from the storeroom. “Oh, didn’t I mention?” Belthas said. “Your new friend Cinder drew away that mantis golem …”

And a hulking shape appeared in the doorway. “…But what made you think I only had one?” Belthas asked, just as the golem fired.

Mantis golems are the personal guards of the Council and only the most well-connected of Light mages have them. They look like seven-foot-tall humanoid praying mantises made of silver and gold, and they’re bloody lethal. This one was carrying two blades and an energy projector that spat a rapid-fire stream of bolts. I jumped back as the line of fire walked towards me, dodged through the shots in a move I’d never have dared to try if I’d stopped to think about it, kicked one of the benches over, and dropped behind it as the stream of bolts swept back over my head again.

The stream of fire cut off as the golem lost sight of its target, and the heavy footfalls began again as it started to walk around the circle towards me. I popped up and sighted on the thing-although mantis golems are damn near invulnerable to attack magic a lucky hit can damage their joints or sensors-but I only managed to get off one burst before another volley of fire forced me to duck down. This time the golem sent a second volley of fire through the bench where I’d been and I rolled right just in time. I was focusing all my attention on the immediate future, thinking only about surviving the next couple of seconds.

Which was why I didn’t realise Luna had stepped out of cover until I caught sight of her in my peripheral vision. She was standing in the open, staring at the golem and concentrating, and I could see a steady stream of silver mist flowing from her to sink into the metal monster. She was within the golem’s field of vision but it didn’t turn towards her, its simple programming not recognising her as a threat.

But Belthas did. He said something in another language and the golem stopped and turned towards Luna with a hiss of metal. I came up with a shout and fired, knowing the shots wouldn’t do any damage but hoping they’d get its attention. The bullets glanced away and the golem locked onto its new target, oblivious.

The first volley would have killed Luna but for her curse. It’s so deadly one can easily forget that its original function was to serve as a protection, drawing luck away from everyone else to bring it to its subject. Normally Luna never trips or falls-the curse protects her from any accident, no matter how small-but as the golem fired she stumbled on the smooth floor and went sprawling, the spread of bolts hissing over her head. The second volley missed too, kicking up splinters as Luna rolled to the left and started to rise, but then the golem planted its feet squarely and I knew the third shot would hit.

It didn’t. The golem’s movements suddenly slowed, and it took a second, maybe two, to fire. When it did, the energy bolt drifted out of the barrel as if in slow motion, accelerating as it moved away. By the time it hit real speed Luna was on the other side of the room, and the energy did nothing but tear up the floor.

I looked right and saw Sonder in the doorway, his eyes narrowed, concentrating on the golem. As my mage’s sight adapted I saw the spell he was holding-it was a slow time field, warping space around the golem so that to us the construct was only a fraction as fast as it should have been. The golem tracked Luna, the barrel of its projector moving as if underwater, but between the delay and Luna’s curse there was no way it could hit her now. Stray shots exploded bottles and items on the benches until Luna vanished from sight. Before it could adjust its aim I sighted on the projector, searched through the futures until I found a weak spot, then fired, emptying my magazine. The bullets slowed as they approached the golem until I could almost see them, the impacts sparking along the projector’s barrel in slow motion until a lucky hit sent flashes of energy crackling back into the hilt as the weapon short-circuited. The golem started to advance towards Luna, its movements ponderous and slow.

I ran to where Sonder was standing. “Hey,” he said through gritted teeth, his eyes locked on the golem. “Need some help?”

I ejected the empty magazine and snapped in a new one. “Good timing.” I could see sweat beading on Sonder’s forehead; slowing time is not kid stuff. Luna and the golem were playing tag on the other side of the room, Luna still pouring her curse into the golem for all it was worth. With its ranged weapon destroyed and its movement slowed, the golem couldn’t catch her … for now.

“Can’t hold this … long,” Sonder said. His knuckles were white where he was gripping the door frame.

“You won’t have to.” I snatched a glance back at Belthas, still standing in the circle. The ambient energy had built higher and I knew we had only minutes before he finished. I looked into the future to see how long-

— and my heart lifted. “Sonder,” I said. “Thirty more seconds.”

“’Kay,” Sonder managed. He was starting to tremble and I knew how much strain he was under. But whether through how difficult it was to counter or just its sheer power, Luna’s curse was working better, and I could see the telltale silver glow building up around the golden construct. I waited, counting off the seconds, then shouted out. “Luna, this way! Run!”

Luna gave me one startled glance, then sprinted. The golem turned to follow. Trying to close with Luna, it had come nearly against the wall.

The side of the room blew in with a crack of thunder. The concussion sent me and Sonder staggering and with a groaning, snapping sound, the entire corner of the room fell in, the walls and roof coming down in a roar. The mantis golem disappeared under tons of concrete, the silver and gold of its body buried in rubble. A cloud of choking dust covered the room and a cold breeze swept through, carrying with it the scent of scorched earth. I looked up to see that an entire corner of the sanctum was gone, open to the dark sky.

Cinder landed on the pile of rubble with a crunch. He looked left to see Luna, who was crouching between the debris with wide eyes, all of the falling stone having somehow missed her, and his gaze swept the room before locking onto Belthas. Cinder’s hands came up and orange-red fire licked around them, darkening and brightening at the same time until it hurt to look at. The smell of brimstone filled the air.

Belthas looked up just in time to see what was coming, and for an instant his face registered absolute disgust. “Shit.”

The fire blast was hot enough to melt metal. If I hadn’t closed my eyes it would have blinded me, and it was so bright that even through my eyelids I saw it as a white-hot beam. The circle resisted it for maybe a hundredth of a second before collapsing, and as it did I felt the snap as the ritual broke, the accumulated energy scattering away. A triangulated ice shield flicked up around Belthas just before the beam struck, vaporising the shield in an explosion of steam.

The echoes died away, leaving only the drip of water and the hiss of something evaporating. The sanctum was filled with mist. As it cleared, I made out the forms of Cinder, standing on the rubble, eyes narrowed as he searched for Belthas, with Luna a little way behind. Sonder came to his feet, coughing. “Did he get him?”

Ice slashed out of the mist, three separate strikes of frozen air mixed with razor-edged shards. Cinder’s fire shield exploded them into steam but another volley hit a second later, sending him stumbling back as Belthas strode out of the mist. A nimbus of icy blue light glowed around him, the energy forming crystalline shapes, and his eyes glowed azure. There were scorch marks across his robes but he didn’t look injured. “Cinder.” His voice was cold and tightly controlled. “Verus. Congratulations. You have finally made me angry.”

“Sonder!” I shouted.

Sonder turned in surprise and I shoved him in the chest, sending him sprawling just as ice shards cut the air where we’d been standing. It missed me by a foot, but the cold was intense enough to leave frost on my coat and freeze the blood on my arm. I dived back just in time to avoid a second strike and scrambled for cover.

As I saw Belthas, though, I felt a chill. Belthas had nearly killed me and Sonder without even paying attention. He was facing Cinder, sending lightning-quick slashes of ice and crystalline blades at him from different directions, sparing only an occasional flick of a hand to send an attack my way. Cinder fought back with walls and columns of fire, burning away Belthas’s attacks in flashes of energy, only barely holding his own as the walls and benches ignited and shattered around them.

I caught sight of Luna, hiding behind a chunk of rubble. “Get out of here!”

Luna hesitated.

I snarled and raised my voice over the sounds of battle. “Goddamn it, I gave you an order, apprentice! This is way out of your league, now run!”

Luna stared wide-eyed for a second, then jumped up and ran, just as a strike from Belthas shattered her hiding place. I didn’t have time to make sure she got out. I sprinted down the length of the room, making myself as hard a target as possible.

Blades of ice gouged chunks from the walls and searing fire burnt the stone black. The air was filled with mist and smoke one minute, burnt to nothingness the next. I sent three-round bursts at Belthas whenever I could get a shot but they glanced harmlessly from his shields. I knew now why Belthas hadn’t been scared of Cinder and Deleo. He was holding me off while driving Cinder back and I didn’t think he was even going all-out. Cinder had stopped attacking; he was backing away down towards the circle, a silent snarl on his face, all his energies going into the shield of flame around him that was keeping Belthas’s strikes from tearing him apart. And then, all of a sudden, the sounds of battle stopped.

I peered out cautiously from a pile of debris that had been a workbench. Cinder was standing in Belthas’s circle, the lecterns melted and broken at his feet. I didn’t dare stick my head out to get a look at Belthas but I knew he was a little way back.

“You were a fool to come here.” Belthas didn’t sound out of breath. “You and Deleo couldn’t defeat me together. What did you expect to do alone?”

Cinder didn’t answer. Flame smouldered around his hands. “I can kill you through that circle,” Belthas said calmly. “It’ll just take longer.” I heard the crunch of rubble as he moved around closer to me. “But I think I’d rather finish this quickly.”

Belthas drew level with the doors to the storeroom and I saw what he was going to do. Rachel was still lying unconscious on the bed, visible through the dust and smoke. Belthas lifted a hand towards her and blue light gathered around him.

Cinder got between Belthas and Rachel just as Belthas fired. The ice snuffed out Cinder’s shield with a crack and he went spinning to the floor.

But to break Cinder’s shield Belthas had needed to draw on his full power, and just for an instant, he wasn’t focused on me. I came around the bench at a dead run, my left hand holding the gun, my right reaching into my pocket. Belthas spun, a shield coming up.

A gun’s no use against a battle-mage who knows it’s there-but it can make a good distraction. The shield was between Belthas and my left side, and as I hit the ice, feeling the deadly cold freeze my body, my right hand came out of my pocket holding the dragon’s fang. As Belthas lifted his hand for the spell that would kill me, I spun off the shield and as my fingertips brushed Belthas I shouted the command word.

It was nothing like the gate spells that mages use. A normal gate opens up a similarity between two points in space, forming a portal you can step through. It takes time. This didn’t. One minute we were in the shattered remnants of Belthas’s sanctum, dust and smoke filling the air, the next we were in an vast cavern.

And there was silence.

Belthas’s shield and the dragon’s fang had disappeared. I stood toe to toe with Belthas, my fingers still resting against his arm. For an instant we stared into each other’s eyes.

Then Belthas hit me with an ice hammer the size of a door.

I twisted to soften the impact but there was no way to dodge this one. If the blow had hit me square on it would have broken my ribs. Instead it only smashed the breath from my lungs, lifted me off my feet, and slammed me down on the rock ten feet away.

Belthas walked forward as I struggled to breathe, stopping with his hand aimed towards me. I looked up to see a deadly blue-white glow hovering on his palm. His voice could have been pleasant, if you didn’t meet his eyes. “Explain. Quickly.”

I couldn’t speak. I fought for breath, trying to make my lungs work. “Verus,” Belthas said when I didn’t answer. “I have had a long and frustrating day.” He sounded calm but I could hear the tightly controlled anger beneath the surface. “Thanks to you, I am going to have to rebuild my plans from the ground up. Now on top of that, you appear to have transported me from my sanctum. So if you do not explain exactly where we are and how you broke through my gate ward, I am going to kill you.”

I looked up at Belthas and started to laugh. I couldn’t help it. I knew Belthas wasn’t kidding, that I was literally seconds away from death. But somehow it was so funny I couldn’t stop.

Belthas just waited and I could feel cold hatred radiating from him. He wasn’t planning to let me live no matter what I told him. I tried to speak, but between laughing and the pain in my ribs, I couldn’t manage it. Only after a few deep breaths was I able to get the words out. “No one … ever believes me.”

The glow around Belthas’s hand brightened and he sighted on my head. “Last chance.”

“Doesn’t matter … how many times.” I stopped laughing and met Belthas’s eyes. “Look behind you.”

I’m pretty good at telling when someone’s lying to me. I guess Belthas was the same. Something in my face must have told him I wasn’t bluffing.

He turned around.

The dragon was staring down at Belthas. It made me think of a mountain looking down on an insect.

I’ll give Belthas credit: He didn’t freeze. I saw the blood drain from his face but his reaction was instant. His hands came up to cast a spell.

The dragon flicked Belthas with one claw.

Human bodies are tough. But they’ve got their limits. When a body is struck by something the size of a city block moving at the speed of a freight train, the results are … hard to convey. Broken, torn, or even shattered doesn’t describe it. The best word I can come up with is shred-ded.

Drops of blood splashed my face. The dragon and I watched as the bits scattered over a square mile of cavern. It took about ten seconds for the pieces to finish hitting the ground. Then the dragon turned its massive head, looking down at me with diamond eyes.

“Um,” I said once I’d caught my breath. “Any chance I could have another one of those things?”