Risen

17

After the battle came clean-up. Soldiers cleared away the bodies while medics and members of the healer corps tended to the wounded. Richard’s surviving adepts were searched and disarmed, then put under guard.

‘That’s the plan,’ I said. ‘Thoughts?’

Landis, Rain and I were back at the projection table with half a dozen of the more senior Keepers. The rest were out supervising the clean-up work and standing guard; a few of Richard’s mages were still at large, not to mention the jinn. The projection table was showing a close-up of the keep at the centre of the castle. Four white diamonds within the corners marked the ward anchor points we’d failed to destroy this morning.

‘Well, Compass, it’s your call,’ Landis said. ‘How close do you need to be to those wards?’

‘Two hundred feet would be nice,’ Compass said. ‘I can manage three, but the closer the better.’

Rain glanced down at the projection. ‘So . . . ?’

‘Here,’ I said, pointing to an L-shaped building off the keep’s south-east corner. ‘Two hundred and twenty feet at the closest point. If we can’t make it that far, second best building is the one to the south-west.’

‘South approach, then,’ Landis said.

I nodded. ‘Start from the courtyard, sweep north. I don’t see much point trying anything fancy. We need to secure the area and that means eliminating everything in our path.’

‘What are we looking at?’ Rain asked.

‘Jann and shaitan,’ I said. ‘They’ve got a skirmish line out to here, and once we hit it they’ll reinforce fast. Main problem is going to be the three ifrit. Sagash, Caldera and Aether.’ I touched my finger to a tall, ornate building to the south of the keep. It was huge, more than half the height of the keep itself, and loomed over the southern section of the castle. ‘If I had to guess, they’ll occupy the cathedral. It’s got an elevated view over the whole southern approach.’

Landis nodded. ‘We’ll have to take it. Barrayar’s ifrit?’

‘Hasn’t been re-summoned, at least not yet.’

‘And the marids?’ Rain asked.

It was the big question. ‘I don’t think they’re leaving the keep.’

‘Heard that before,’ Tobias observed.

‘I know,’ I said with a nod. ‘And I know last time they caught us by surprise when they did. But so far – so far – I can’t see any futures in which Variam or Anne’s marids go outside the keep walls. I think the sultan prefers to use lesser jinn whenever it can. As far as it’s concerned, jann, shaitan, even ifrits are all expendable. It loses any, it can just re-summon them. Losing Anne or Variam is another story. I have the feeling it won’t deploy them unless it feels under threat.’

‘You sure you can get through the local wards?’ Rain asked Compass.

‘With enough time,’ Compass said. ‘But it’s not going to be fast and I am going to be really vulnerable while I’m doing it. You guys better make sure I don’t go the same way as Lumen!’

‘Yeah, I think we’ve all learned our lesson from that,’ I said. ‘We’ll be right next to you. Any of the jinn want to reach you, they’ll have to go through us.’

‘Which leaves one rather pressing question,’ Landis said. ‘At the risk of counting our chickens, what exactly will the consequences be should we succeed?’

I looked at Compass.

‘Not great,’ Compass said. ‘When I talked to Sonder this morning, his theory was the isolation effect was trying to pull this shadow realm apart and it was only the wards that were holding it together. I did a few spatial scans over the past hour and I’m pretty sure he was right. As soon as we blow one of those anchor points, the whole ward net collapses, and once that happens we need to evacuate really fast because the shadow realm’s going to go with it.’

‘What about the marid?’ Slate said. With Ilmarin’s death, he’d taken over as Rain’s second. ‘We just going to leave it?’

‘I’m afraid we don’t have much choice, dear boy,’ Landis said. ‘Once the wards go down, we’ll be able to gate again, but the marid will too, at which point it’ll have mobility advantage and no ritual to tie it down. There’ll really be no practical way to force an engagement.’

‘I’ve got some ideas as far as that goes,’ I said. ‘I doubt the marid will run from me if I’m alone. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Any more suggestions for the attack?’

We discussed it for another fifteen minutes, then dispersed to make final preparations. I went looking for Ji-yeong and Luna.

I found them both in the barracks. Ji-yeong had been pressed into service as a medic again – normally a Dark mage wouldn’t be trusted with something like that, but either Landis’s influence was making the Council forces a bit more easy-going, or they were just desperate enough not to care. I filled them in on the plan. As I expected, Luna quickly homed in on the last part.

‘You’re going to face Anne and Vari?’ Luna said. ‘Alone?’

‘Should be okay with one or two more.’

‘That sounds like a really bad idea,’ Ji-yeong said with a frown. ‘We saw what those marids can do and you want to duel them?’

‘I don’t want to duel anyone,’ I said. ‘But if we send in an overwhelming force then Anne will just gate out. It’s like playing poker. If she knows she can’t beat us, she’ll fold. Only way she stays in is if she thinks she can handle whatever we throw at her. Also . . . that marid told me to find it. I think it wants to tell me something.’

‘Tell you what?’ Luna said. ‘“You’re a human, I hate you, now die”?’

‘I’m hoping for a slightly longer conversation.’

‘Okay, look,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘Taking the castle back is one thing. But I think a marid is out of my league.’

‘What about Vari?’ Luna asked.

‘He’ll be between us and Anne,’ I said. The thought no longer brought fear. I would do what I must. ‘We’ll handle him first.’

The Council troops formed up. There was little discussion this time. Once everyone had their assignments, they dispersed, checked their weapons and prepared to move.

The fight with Richard’s adepts had changed the Council forces. There was a sense of purpose, a confidence, that hadn’t been there before. And beyond that was something harder to place, a kind of cohesion; they acted less like a collection of individuals and more like a single entity. Maybe it was the fateweaver; maybe it was the high from the victory; maybe it was as simple as finally having some trust in their leadership. Whatever it was, it was making a difference.

We gated to the castle’s south and advanced on the keep. Immediately, we encountered jann. They were scattered and solitary, and they didn’t even slow us down, but they’d been put there to raise the alarm, and they did. By the time we made it halfway, Anne’s main force was waiting for us.

The jinn numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands. They seemed immune to pain, and fought to the death. But the claws of a jann were no match for the assault rifles of the Council soldiers, which could shoot them down at a hundred feet. Nor were the abilities of a shaitan any match for the magic of a battle mage. The jinn hurled themselves at the Council lines, trying to break through and turn the battle into a mêlée, where their numbers and resilience would give them the advantage. But with the fateweaver and my divination I could see each attack before it was made, and by the time the jinn came charging towards our lines I had soldiers and mages ready for them. Machine guns scythed across lines of jann; battle magic froze and burned them in their tracks. One by one the attacks were shattered, and after each was broken the Council forces would re-form and march forward over the bodies of their enemies.

Only when we reached the cathedral did I see what I’d been waiting for. ‘All troops, hold,’ I said over the communication link. ‘Ifrit mages occupying the cathedral. Stay out of line of sight of the roof and upper windows.’

‘Who are we looking at?’ Landis asked.

I concentrated. Future versions of myself leapt forward over the rooftops to come soaring down onto the cathedral’s roof and through its windows. I studied the variety of attacks that hit them, then returned to the present. ‘Aether on the roof, Sagash on the upper level, Caldera on the ground floor.’

Landis and Rain issued orders, reorganising the troops. While they did, I considered the problem. Out of the three ifrit, Aether and Caldera were the most mobile – Aether could fly, Caldera could sink into stone. Sagash was more powerful in direct combat, but he had no easy escapes. Conclusion: kill Sagash first.

With the decision made, a plan fell into place, details springing to mind as though I’d done this a hundred times before. ‘All troops, surround the cathedral on its east, west and south faces,’ I ordered. ‘Soldiers and auxiliaries maintain a perimeter and target enemy jinn. Mages will advance; be ready to shield against lightning and death magic attacks from above. Once you’ve reached the cathedral, ascend to the upper level and enter on my mark. Do not enter via the ground floor: you’ll be at risk from the stone gliding ifrit. Primary target is Sagash. Confirm.’

Terse acknowledgements came in. Through the dreamstone, I felt the troops under my command moving to encircle the cathedral on three sides. The castle was eerily silent. Occasionally the quiet would be broken by a burst of gunfire, signalling that a Council team had run into an uncooperative jann.

The Council forces were nearly in position. I turned back to Luna and Ji-yeong. They’d stayed with me, acting as point defence so that I could focus on the larger battle. I made a quick beckoning gesture to the two of them, then spoke into the focus. ‘Go.’

I strode forward, Luna and Ji-yeong at my back. Up ahead, the shape of the keep loomed over the castle buildings. Lightning flashed, first once then again and again, and the hollow boom of battle magic echoed off the walls. We entered a wide courtyard with stairs leading upwards that I remembered from my first visit. There were burn marks on the stone, cartridge casings scattered behind firing positions. A soldier was propped up against a pedestal, his breath coming in short gasps; his ribs had been opened by a jann’s claws and an adept with the shoulder patch of the Council healer corps was working on him. Another soldier stepped aside to let us pass.

But most of my attention was on the battle ahead. Aether and Sagash were raining down attacks from above; the shields of the Council mages were holding, but they’d be vulnerable once they tried to ascend. I selected strands of fate, reinforced them, sent images through the dreamstone. Flying mages from the eastern wing took to the sky, engaging Aether from the air. The fire on the advancing mages fell off, and I pushed the eastern and southern forces up while Sagash was busy with the ones to the west.

My magesight picked up mobility spells, force and fire and air. Mages scaled the walls of the cathedral, jumped up to the windows and doors. Sagash countered with that jinn magic I’d seen in the tombs: the black sun. Through my divination I saw which mages were at risk, and sent urgent messages through the dreamstone to duck back. Black beams carved through wood and stone, but no one was killed. Below, Caldera was about to join the battle, and I detached two mages to block her.

More mages were reaching the cathedral, and the battle was intensifying. I sped up, following the route from the south that Sagash and Aether were now too busy to watch.

By the time I reached the cathedral, the battle was raging at full force. The cathedral was a single huge building with elevated entrances to the north and south. I walked up to the southern entrance, Luna and Ji-yeong still following, and stopped just to one side of the double doors. The roar and crack of battle magic echoed from within, and I looked into the futures for a clear view.

The interior of the cathedral was a vast, empty space. The lower floor was broken with a giant rift running through the centre, and the upper floor consisted of a railed walkway with a catwalk spanning the cathedral from north to south. Lines of windows opened out to east and west, and the mages of the attack force had used them to force their way through; broken glass was scattered on the walkway.

Sagash was at the north end, almost hidden behind his shield. Above his head hovered a black sun that drank in light. Beams of death speared from it, cutting through anything in their path, while magic attacks of every kind poured in through the broken windows, ice and fire and force all slamming into Sagash’s shield as though drawn by a magnet. The noise was incredible, a continuous thundering roar.

My plan had been to use the distraction of the fighting to get close to Sagash, then disable him using the Council’s weapon. Looking at where the Dark mage had made his stand, I realised it would never work. To reach Sagash I’d have to cross nearly a hundred feet of open catwalk; he’d tear me to pieces before I got half that far.

We’d have to do this the old-fashioned way.

Quickly I issued orders. Caldera was still fighting below and Aether above; I assigned three mages to contain each of them while the rest converged on Sagash. Sagash hammered at the mages at the windows with deathbolts and beams from the black sun, and I let the mages give ground, sending impulses through the dreamstone for them to back into cover when threatened. Only when everyone was in position did I begin.

From my position, it felt like a game of chess. Hoarfrost and Tobias struck at Sagash from the west, then as he turned to answer I had Slate and Trask attack from the east. Slate’s death magic disrupted Sagash’s shield and as Sagash took a moment to repair it I directed Landis and another Keeper to strike at the black sun. The magical construct dissolved under a counter-spell; Sagash tried to re-form it, and as he did Hoarfrost hit him again.

It was like a pack of wolves bringing down a bear. With the ifrit’s power, Sagash was stronger than any of the Keepers, maybe stronger than any three of them put together. But I didn’t give him the chance to use it; every time he tried to focus on a single target I’d have a mage hit him from the other side, knocking him off-balance and forcing him to split his attention. From Sagash’s position, it probably felt as though he was holding his ground. He reacted to the flow of battle, attacking targets and countering their strikes, fighting with all of his power, each move natural and logical and taking him step by step towards his death.

I felt the exact moment at which Sagash lost. The currents of fate tipped and began to flow, first slowly then faster and faster. To an observer, it wouldn’t have looked like anything. A novice chess player doesn’t notice when he makes the move that loses him the game. He keeps playing and trading pieces, and only at the end, when it’s far too late, does he come to understand that he’s lost, not now but many moves ago.

Strikes of fire and ice slammed into Sagash’s shield, staggering him. Sagash tried to recover, hurled a counterattack at Hoarfrost, but a force blast from Aegis hit him in the back, throwing his spell off target. Sagash tried to re-summon the black sun; counter-magic from Landis and Tobias flashed out, disrupting the effect and causing the sun to collapse in on itself. More spells hit Sagash and now the Dark mage wasn’t attacking at all; it was all he could do to block the incoming fire. Sagash’s shield flickered, struggling to hold under the rain of attacks.

A lightning bolt from Thunder slammed into Sagash. His shield took it, channelling the electricity away down into the catwalk, but a firebolt hit a second later that weakened his defences. An ice strike from Hoarfrost pierced the damaged shield, freezing Sagash’s flesh. Sagash tried to recast his shield, but I’d already chosen the future I needed and a spell from Landis exploded around Sagash, the fire magic overloading the shield entirely.

Another lightning bolt hit, and this time there was nothing to stop it. Sagash’s body jerked as electricity coursed through it, and a force blade struck him from behind, severing his arm and shoulder, the limb spinning towards the floor far below.

Somehow Sagash got his shield back up. I didn’t know how he was able to stand, much less fight. His lips were still pulled back in that unnatural grin, and with his remaining arm he blocked a water blast from Tobias. I could sense death energy flowing through him, the tendons and muscles of his withered body still obeying his iron will. Once again, he tried to re-summon that black sun.

I pulled in the last strands of fate, and made an end of it.

Battle magic came in from all around, every spell timed to strike at the same instant. Ice, air, force, lightning and fire broke Sagash’s shield and met at a single point.

There was a thunderous crash and Sagash disappeared in a ball of multicoloured energy. The cathedral trembled; hot air rushed through the open doors with a roar, followed by silence.

I stepped out into the doorway. Where Sagash had stood, the walkway, railings and stone had been eradicated in a twenty-foot radius. The catwalk ended halfway across the room. Beyond, the cathedral’s northern walls were melted in a spherical pattern, still glowing with latent heat. If there were any pieces left of Sagash’s body, I couldn’t see them.

I scanned the futures. Caldera had sunk into the stone, and Aether was falling back towards the keep. The remaining jinn were in retreat. ‘All units, enemy forces are withdrawing. Advance on the primary objective and secure it before they have a chance to regroup.’

I started walking around the walkway. Around me, I could sense the Council forces advancing, sweeping north towards the looming shadow of the keep. Behind me, dimly, I was aware of Ji-yeong lingering, one hand on the walkway railing, looking out at the wreckage where her old master had made his stand.

The Council forces kept going. I directed them, ordering them to quickly burn through any pockets of resistance, using the fateweaver to push through favourable outcomes. Inwardly, I was tense; this was where we were most vulnerable. If Anne decided to come out and fight . . .

But she didn’t. The jinn continued to fall back in disarray until they reached the keep. They fled inside, disappearing into its shadow.

‘This is Sergeant Little,’ Little said over the comm. ‘Reached the primary objective. Building is secure.’

‘Slate, Hoarfrost, reinforce Little’s team,’ I ordered. ‘Hold that building.’

‘This is Thunder and Aegis. The lightning ifrit has withdrawn to the keep.’

‘Understood, monitor its position but do not approach. This applies to all units. Do not enter weapons range of the keep. Take and reinforce the target building but go no further.’

The sounds of battle were dying away. Every now and again a burst of gunfire would echo through the castle, but each time, the interval between shots would be longer. A lull settled in the battle, both sides catching their breath.

I strode across courtyards and down alleys, heading north. Luna hurried at my back, and Council security advanced with me, covering windows and doorways down the sights of their rifles. Over the walls and roofs ahead I caught glimpses of the keep, a huge, foreboding presence. We’d come far, but as long as Anne held that keep, the castle was still hers.

A soldier opened a door for us to stride through. A corridor and another doorway led us into an L-shaped room with open windows along both sides of the L that looked out onto an open courtyard. At the other side of the courtyard was the huge dark-stone shadow of the keep. More than a dozen people were there already, with more arriving all the time.

‘Sir,’ Little said with a nod. He was standing next to the door, his weapon pointed at the floor. ‘Should we set up on the roof?’

‘No,’ I said. ‘There’s a fixed emplacement on that south-east tower. You try to put heavy weapons up there, they’ll have a clear field of fire right down onto your heads.’

‘Snipe the emplacement?’ Hoarfrost said. ‘Could take out the tower . . .’

‘It’s reinforced,’ another mage said.

‘No, we stick to the plan,’ I said. ‘Compass?’

Compass was lying flat on the stone, head tilted to one side, sighting up through the window towards the keep. ‘Sec,’ she called, her voice slightly muffled.

I walked to Compass and knelt by her side, balancing the sovnya with its butt against the flagstones. I lowered my head and looked up, following Compass’s line of sight.

The corner of the keep was a rounded tower, made of dark grey stone. It looked forbidding even to normal sight. To magesight, it was more so. Protective wards ran through the stone, reinforcing it against both physical and magical attack, and tied into it was a gate ward designed to harden the area within against any kind of spatial disruption. The lines of power flowing through the wards were thick and powerful; if they had flaws, I couldn’t see them.

Footsteps sounded behind us. ‘Well?’ Landis asked.

Compass sighed and scrambled to her feet, brushing dust off her hands and clothes. ‘It’s going to be tight.’

‘Verus?’

‘I can feel the anchor point,’ I said, standing. ‘It’s less than thirty feet beyond the wall.’ Behind the walls of the keep, halfway to the top within the south-east tower, was a concentration of power where the lines of the wards converged. That was one of the four anchor points that we’d seen on Sonder’s map this morning. That anchor point was supporting the wards protecting the castle, the wards stopping us from leaving the shadow realm, the marid’s ritual, and, ultimately, the shadow realm itself. Knock it out, and all the dominos would fall.

‘Well, Compass, it’s all on your shoulders,’ Landis said. ‘Gate or assault?’

Compass hesitated for a long moment. The futures hovered, then shifted decisively. ‘Gate.’

Soldiers took up positions by the windows; others were sent out to make room. Mages gathered: Landis, Rain, Tobias, Slate, Hoarfrost, Aegis. All would be protecting Compass.

‘Up a bit,’ Compass told Rain. ‘Left . . . There.’

A beam of blue light stabbed from Rain’s hand at a forty-five-degree angle, disintegrating a neat twelve-inch tunnel through the ceiling. Rain held it a second longer, then cut it off precisely as it went through the wall above. Compass sighted through the hole, and nodded.

‘Jinn have been cleared out,’ Slate said. ‘Think that lightning kid’s in the keep, but hard to tell through the wards.’

‘Caldera?’ Rain asked.

‘Can’t see her.’

Compass looked tense and focused. ‘Don’t talk to me once I start.’

‘Understood,’ I said. ‘Package?’

A portal appeared at Compass’s feet; she reached in and heaved out a hiking backpack. It was the size of her torso and she struggled to lift it; I grabbed it with my right arm before she could drop it, then hefted it one-handed and walked towards the others. ‘Ozols,’ I called.

‘Yes, yes,’ Ozols said cheerfully. He walked forward and took the backpack, shifting under its weight.

‘Try not to bloody well kill everyone, all right?’ Little told him from a safe distance.

‘Is fine! No worry!’

Ozols carried the backpack over to the far wall, set it down with a grunt, and pulled it open. Several mages stepped away. Landis wandered right up and peered over Ozols’s shoulder.

‘Ji-yeong, you’re on point defence,’ I told her. ‘Cover us and Compass.’

Compass looked at Luna. ‘Mage . . . Vesta, right? How long do those blessings last?’

‘The more danger you’re in, the faster it burns off,’ Luna said.

‘Then save it for the gate,’ Compass told her. ‘If I mess up suppressing the ward, we just have to start over. If I mess up the gate, it’ll be a lot worse.’

‘All right,’ I said, looking around. ‘Everyone ready?’

No one objected. Even Slate gave a terse nod. The only one who didn’t respond was Ozols, still busy with the contents of the backpack.

I drew in a breath, let it out, then spoke over the comm. ‘Begin.’

Compass raised a hand towards the keep and began her spell.

Just as locks caused the invention of lockpicks, gate wards caused the invention of spells to pierce gate wards. And just like a lock, any gate ward can be broken with enough time and effort. Right now, Compass was probing the lines of power in that ward system, figuring out how to suppress them for just long enough.

But beating a ward system that’s defended is a different story. Compass was using as little power as she could, but the more progress she made, the harder it would be to hide what she was doing. If she was discovered – when she was discovered – our enemies could try to repair the ward network and fix the hole in their defences faster than she could bore it. Or they could just attack this building and kill her. Given the way this day had been going, I was betting they’d go for the second option.

‘No movement,’ Slate said, his voice tense.

‘Verus will give us warning,’ Landis said calmly. ‘Keep it quiet, boys.’

Thanks for the vote of confidence. In truth, giving warning was about all I could do. The lines of space magic that Compass was tracing were too complex for me to follow – bypassing gate wards like that is a specialised skill, and I didn’t understand it well enough to use the fateweaver to help.

Minutes ticked by. I felt the lines of magic in Compass’s spell shift, then shift again. A soldier coughed, then fell silent. The sun was still high in the sky, and the room was hot. I saw a bead of sweat trickling down Compass’s forehead.

There was a shift in the futures. It was small, but I’d been watching for it. ‘Movement,’ I said.

‘When?’ Landis asked.

‘Wait.’ I pushed with the fateweaver. A branch of futures was opening up, danger and violence and death. I tried to suppress it and guide us down a different path.

It didn’t work. ‘Got incoming,’ I said. ‘I’ll stall them as long as I can.’

The futures branched, possibilities spreading out. I pushed them down the path which seemed the least violent, and pointed towards the west wall. ‘Hundred and ten feet that way. They’re trying for a closer look.’

‘Tobias,’ Landis ordered. ‘Shroud.’

Tobias stepped forward, pulling something from his pocket. Blue light glowed, illuminating the brim of his hat from below, and I felt a fuzzy hard-to-see shell of magic envelop the building’s western end.

Magic flickered from the west. We couldn’t see it through the walls, but I knew that someone had just appeared. ‘It’s her,’ Slate said sharply.

‘Nice and quiet, boys,’ Landis said calmly. ‘Let her think there’s nothing to see.’

Thirty seconds ticked by. Sixty. The soldiers at the windows scanned the courtyard through their gunsights. I could feel the futures shifting. No one said a word.

The futures tipped. ‘She’s moving,’ I said. I pointed to the courtyard between us and the keep. ‘Popping up there.’

‘She’s going to see it,’ Rain said.

‘Hoarfrost, Slate,’ Landis ordered. ‘Don’t let her get a clear look.’

Hoarfrost and Slate moved to the windows. ‘Ten seconds,’ I said.

‘On Verus’s mark.’

I watched the futures shifting. ‘Seven,’ I said. ‘Six— four. Three. Two. One—’

The stone of the courtyard rippled, and Caldera rose from its surface.

Ice and death struck like vipers. Caldera flinched under the attack and sank back into the stone, but for a moment our eyes met through the window, and I saw her gaze flick from me to Compass.

It was only an instant, then Caldera was gone, leaving nothing but a circle of frost on the flagstones. But it was Caldera, one of the best investigators on the Order of the Star, who’d been passed over for promotion so many times but who’d always refused to quit. Last year, when I’d tried to cover up what Anne had done, she’d been the one to figure it out. So many times, back when we’d worked together, I’d seen her piece things together from just a couple of clues.

The futures shifted decisively, and in the distance, at the edge of my hearing, I heard an echoing whine like a hunting call. ‘Incoming!’ I snapped.

‘Positions,’ Landis ordered.

A wind rose in the distance, carrying the sound of movement. Jinn were converging on our position. ‘Jinn,’ Thunder called in over the comm. ‘North, west and north-east.’

‘Contact west,’ a soldier called. ‘Shit, there’s a lot of them!’

‘All units, fire at will,’ Landis ordered. ‘Do not let them reach this building.’

Gunfire opened up. Some of the mages moved to the windows, scanning for targets. A rifle stuttered as Nowy engaged a target; others fired a second later. The smell of gun smoke filled the air.

‘Verus,’ Landis said.

‘Watching,’ I said briefly. It was Caldera I was waiting for.

More and more soldiers opened fire. The air was heating up, becoming smoky and acrid. Hoarfrost and Tobias added their magic from the windows, icebolts and hydro-blasts. Shouts and warnings sounded over the comm. The chaos was making divination harder, bringing my view of the futures down to seconds at most.

If I were Caldera, this would be when I’d strike. I narrowed my focus, concentrating on the immediate futures around where Compass was standing. I closed my ears to the shouts and gunfire, closed my eyes to the flashing spells and the rush of movement. I focused my senses on the ground beneath my feet and what would be coming up from it. The battle around didn’t matter. There was only me, Compass and Caldera.

Nothing.

Nothing . . .

There.

Caldera was underneath, rising fast. I threw my energy into the fateweaver. She was too close to push away – all I could do was affect who she’d home in on. I made a snap decision, pushed the futures down that path, threw warnings into the minds of the mages closest to me and then I was out of time.

Caldera breached the surface like a shark lunging from the ocean. But she came up under my feet, not Compass’s, and as I jumped away her clutching hand missed my ankle. The focus was on my left hand; I twisted in mid-air, aiming the gold and silver lattice like a knuckleduster, and triggered it.

Energy surged out, engulfing Caldera as she finished rising from the stone. She staggered; the spell she’d been about to launch at Compass collapsed and Caldera fell to her knees.

‘Freeze!’ Slate shouted. Ji-yeong halted, her sword raised above Caldera’s head. Compass didn’t move, all her attention on her spell.

Rain came striding forward. ‘Verus. Is she—?’

‘Jinn’s lost control,’ I called over the gunfire. I was watching the futures very closely. ‘For now.’

Rain knelt down in front of Caldera and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Caldera,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘Wake up.’

Caldera raised her head. Her eyes were muddy and confused, but they were human again. ‘. . . Rain?’

‘You’ve been controlled by an ifrit jinn,’ Rain said. A burst of gunfire stammered from the window nearest to him, but he didn’t take his eyes off Caldera. ‘Hold still.’

‘Rain . . .’ Caldera said. ‘What did I . . . ?’

The futures shifted; looking ahead, I felt a chill. The jinn was rebuilding its connection to Caldera, and it was doing it fast. Very fast. It’s coming back, I sent through the dreamstone to Rain.

‘We’re going to get you out of here,’ Rain told Caldera.

The building shuddered as a lightning bolt struck the roof. Fear flickered in Caldera’s eyes. ‘It’s coming.’

‘Fight it,’ Rain said urgently. ‘You can do this.’

The futures were coming closer and closer. None of them were good. Rain, I sent. It’s not going to work.

Emotions flashed back through the link at me; anger, frustration. Caldera drew a ragged breath, fixed her gaze on Rain. ‘Get away,’ she said hoarsely.

Rain didn’t take his hand off Caldera. ‘Fight it.’

Rain!

‘Shut up!’ Rain snapped.

Caldera’s eyes flicked from Rain to me. Fury flashed, replaced in an instant by that deadly blank stare.

‘Caldera, you—’ Rain began.

Caldera’s fist swung in a short, deadly arc. There was the crack of breaking bone and I caught a glimpse of Rain flying through the air, his head twisted at an impossible angle.

Caldera surged to her feet, turning towards Compass, but I was faster. The sovnya rammed through Caldera’s chest, pinning her in place.

Caldera swayed back but held her ground. The sovnya flared, trying to incinerate Caldera from the inside, but as the flesh around the blade blackened it turned to sand. Caldera – the thing inside her – fixed its gaze upon me. It reached forward, took hold of the shaft of the sovnya and pulled itself forward, impaling itself to get closer to me.

I pulled my hands back, gripping the sovnya by its end. A paralysis spell from Slate slammed into Caldera, along with an ice blast from Hoarfrost. Caldera kept going, pulling herself further along the shaft.

One more pull and she’d be in reach. Caldera was pushing me towards Compass and she was staggeringly strong; it was all I could do to hold her back. Ji-yeong’s sword clanged off Caldera’s side. ‘Landis!’ I yelled.

‘The focus,’ Landis called. Fire was dancing at his hands, but we were too close for him to loose his spell.

My muscles were screaming at me; only the strength of my right arm was letting me hold my ground. The lattice was still on my left hand but both of my hands were locked in a death grip on the sovnya’s haft and if I let go Caldera would be free. Caldera pulled herself along the shaft one last time and now I could smell the scent from her body, scorched sand and flesh. Blank, empty eyes stared into mine as she reached for me.

A blue ray flashed across my vision and disintegrated Caldera’s head.

Caldera wavered. Her arm was still raised, but her head and neck were gone, a neat spherical pattern carved out of shoulders and collarbone. Staring down into her body, I could see white bone and spine, red blood replaced with flowing sand. The sand pooled, began to pour upwards as if to try to re-form, but the ifrit had expended too much power. The sand darkened, slowed, stopped. Caldera’s body fell with a crash, yanking the sovnya out of my hand. Something seemed to move at the edge of my vision, a shadow expanding down into the earth, then all was still.

The futures were quiet. I looked towards where the ray had come from.

Rain was lying against the wall, one arm still raised. His finger pointed towards where Caldera had fallen.

Slate hurried to Rain and I turned back to Compass. Somehow, in all the time that Caldera had attacked, fought and died, Compass hadn’t stopped working on her spell. ‘Aether falling back to the keep,’ Thunder reported over the comm.

‘They’re running!’ a soldier called.

‘Vesta,’ Compass said tightly. ‘Now.’

Luna stepped up, touching Compass’s back. The grey mist around her shimmered, turning to gold as she directed the full power of her curse into Compass. The futures seemed to clear, random possibilities flaking away, leaving only one glowing path with slight variations.

I was looking down at what was left of Caldera’s body. It was dissolving into sand and for a moment it was as though I saw a patchwork of my memories of her. Our first meeting in the shop. Drinking in the pub, working in the office. Caldera standing between me and a pack of enemies. Caldera facing me on the roof of Canary Wharf, chasing me into traffic, shunning me in the halls. Caldera in the basement of Levistus’s mansion, bloodied but coming for me one last time.

A flash of pain went through my mind and I forced the memories away. ‘Ozols, set for six seconds,’ I said. ‘Activate on my mark.’

Ozols nodded and hefted the backpack. ‘Twenty seconds,’ Compass said, her voice tense. I could feel the gate taking form.

‘Aether is next to the node,’ I told Landis. ‘Need cover.’

‘Hoarfrost,’ Landis ordered. ‘Aegis.’

The mages lined up behind Compass. The futures wavered one last time, then set, and the golden mist around Compass ebbed. Luna stepped quickly away as a portal formed in the air.

The portal was a circle instead of the standard oval, six feet in diameter. It appeared in front of Compass, revealing a room tiled in dark stone. In the centre of the room was a vertical spike of black metal that radiated power.

But it was hard to see the spike through all the jinn. The room was packed with them, and Aether was hovering over their heads. They’d felt the gate coming, and as it opened death and lightning exploded out through the portal.

A triple shield flashed up from Landis, Aegis and Hoarfrost, fire-force-ice, concentric layers stopping the attacks cold. ‘Mark!’ I told Ozols.

Ozols twisted something inside the backpack.

I grabbed the backpack by one strap, my artificial arm taking the weight, and darted forward. I curved around Compass and the mages, spinning like a hammer thrower, then swung back in and flung the backpack through the gate.

Aether threw up a shield of air. The backpack thumped into it, bounced off a jann’s head, landed flat on the floor.

Aether looked down at the backpack, then up at me.

Behind me, Compass cut the spell. The portal vanished, and Aether, the jann, the metal spike and the room vanished with it. I looked up through the hole that Compass had been using to sight with.

Back when we’d been laying plans for this assault, I’d looked through the contents of Compass’s spatial storage. And just as I’d thought, she packed with an eye to the battlefield. She’d been Landis’s gate expert and space mage for some time, and she’d learned to bring the kinds of things he asked for. Which, apparently, mostly consisted of tea, good food and high explosives.

As it turns out, a hiking backpack can fit a lot of high explosives.

There was a massive hollow whump, as though someone had dropped a sandbag the size of a building.

Halfway up the tower, a section of the keep bulged and cracked. Dust and smoke burst outward in a cloud, and stones came plummeting out of the sky to slam into the courtyard. With a groaning noise, the upper part of the tower slumped, stones cascading down until the collapse stopped.

But for all the destruction, it was dwarfed by what I could see in my magesight. The node that had acted as the anchor point for the keep’s wards was gone. Not damaged, gone. The complex net of wards around the keep was shrinking, collapsing in on itself, the lines of power tearing. It was like watching a massive tower with one of its legs cut away; the remaining nodes held out a few seconds longer, then the second collapsed as well, followed by numbers three and four.

A thunderclap shook the air. Magical energy surged, flashing outward, all the spells unravelling at once. The shields in our room flared, reacting to the discharge. All around us, I felt the ward network dissipate. I could use the dreamstone to enter Elsewhere again, and the Council forces could gate home.

The sultan’s ritual had failed. The battle was over.