‘Hey,’ I said from behind him.
James spun. I let him get most of the way around before introducing my stick to his head. He hit the ground and I continued to apply the stick to various points on his body until he stopped trying to cast spells. By that point, the light from the water staff he had been using was gone, along with the staff itself (concentration-based spells and beatings don’t mix) so I took out my pocket torch and clicked it on, shining it downwards. ‘Ready to talk?’
‘Oh, fuck,’ James moaned. He was lying on the ground in a foetal position. ‘It hurts.’
‘Who sent you?’
‘I don’t know! I just—’
I struck down, deliberately making the blow slow enough to see coming. James caught a glimpse through the light and raised an arm to protect his head. The stick landed on his right hand with a snapping crack. James screamed.
‘Okay, James,’ I said once he’d quieted down enough to hear me. ‘This game is called “How many of your bones do I have to break before you answer my questions?” Right now the counter is on “one”. In another twenty seconds, I’ll be advancing it to “two”.’
‘All right! Jesus, it was Symmaris, okay? It was Symmaris!’
‘And what did Symmaris tell you to do?’
‘Just to … just to rough you up a bit, okay? Nothing serious, we weren’t going to hurt you or anything.’
‘Uh-huh. And what were you supposed to tell me afterwards?’
‘To stay away from Drakh.’
I paused. ‘What?’
‘From Drakh. For the job. You know?’
‘What job?’
‘I don’t fucking know. They—’
I lifted the stick.
‘No! Jesus, I’m telling you the truth, I swear! There was some thing, some, some job you were supposed to be doing, working with Drakh, I don’t know, something important, and Symmaris, she wanted to warn you to back off, right? That was all she told us. That was it!’
I stared down at James, searching through the futures. It sounded flimsy, but as I explored different interrogation options, I realised to my surprise that he was actually telling the truth. I shook my head. ‘You really came to the wrong neighbourhood.’
‘Look, please, just let me go. I didn’t know. I’ll tell Symmaris whatever you like, I swear—’
‘I don’t work for Drakh,’ I said.
James paused. ‘Huh?’
‘I don’t work for Richard Drakh,’ I said again. ‘Your boss got the wrong guy. If you’d done your homework and asked around instead of coming here, you and your boys could be back at home having a pint right now.’ I gestured back towards the two adepts. The one I’d hit with the stun focus was stirring and moaning. The other had rolled over on to his side and was throwing up. ‘Get your mates and gate. If you pull anything like this on me a second time, you won’t be around for a third. Understand?’
James nodded quickly. ‘Yeah. Okay.’
‘Get lost.’
James stumbled to his feet and hurried over to the two adepts. I watched patiently as he started opening a gate. ‘James?’ I said when he was a minute into the spell.
I saw the muscles in James’s back tense. The blue light around his hand flickered and he nearly dropped the spell. Slowly he turned, shoulders hunched, the whites of his eyes showing.
I flicked the beam of the torch down where the two adepts had fallen. ‘They dropped their clubs.’
James stared at me, then down at the shadowy outlines of the clubs where they lay on the ground.
‘Pick them up, please,’ I said. ‘I’m not cleaning up after you.’
Slowly James obeyed, holding the wooden cudgels awkwardly in his injured hand, then went back to opening the gate. By the time he was done both adepts were on their feet, one supporting the other. The three of them shot scared looks at me as they shuffled through the gate and out of sight. I watched it close behind them. The blue light faded and I was alone in the darkness.
‘Idiots,’ I said into the night. I checked to make sure no one else was coming, then walked to the edge of the ravine. Hermes blinked into position behind me, trotting at my heels. I pressed two fingers to one of the roots beneath the oak tree, waited for the signature of the open connection and spoke. ‘Arachne? It’s Alex. We need to talk.’
Usually Arachne’s lair is one of the few places I can relax. Its wards and defences are extensive, and I know that Arachne’s been steadily improving them over the last few years. It’s not just paranoia: magical creatures like Arachne have no protection under the Concord, and if any mages decide to pick a fight with her, no one on the Council is going to do anything about it. Arachne’s only defences are those she creates herself, and though she never talks about it, I know she takes it seriously. Sitting here in the cavern, I was almost certainly safer than I was in my own shop.
Except that for the first time in years, being here wasn’t making me feel safe. Sure, I could hide here – for a while. But not for ever.
‘That’s the story,’ I said. I was sitting on one of the sofas, next to some bolts of red and blue silk. Hermes had hopped up on to another sofa and was watching with ears pricked.
‘I see,’ Arachne said. Arachne is a spider the size of an SUV, black-haired with highlights of cobalt-blue; she’s probably my oldest friend and one of the very few people I really trust. She’d been working on a dress when I’d arrived, but as soon as I’d started to give her the news she’d put it down and moved in close. Now she was resting in such a position that her front legs were only a couple of feet away, near enough that I could smell the herbal scent of her body. She’d been listening for twenty minutes, speaking only to ask for clarification. ‘Do you know anything further about your three attackers?’
‘Honestly?’ I said. ‘Right now I don’t much care. They’re small fry. I’ve got bigger problems.’
‘Small problems that aren’t dealt with can become larger problems,’ Arachne said. ‘Besides, I suspect the two may be related.’
I shrugged.
‘It concerns me that they knew to stage an ambush here,’ Arachne said.
‘Yeah, they knew where to find me,’ I said. ‘But if I don’t deal with this Council proposal, then it won’t matter that they knew where to find me, because inside of a week I won’t be here, or anywhere else in the country, or maybe not even alive. I do not have much room to manoeuvre here!’
Arachne looked at me patiently. ‘There’s no need to be snappish.’
I sighed, passing a hand in front of my face. ‘I’m sorry. I’m just off-balance.’ I looked up at Arachne. ‘Any good ideas? Because I could really use some.’
‘Moving Variam and Anne to Landis’s sponsorship is an obvious decision,’ Arachne said. ‘Pushing Luna through her journeyman tests is more risky, but seems to be the best of the possible alternatives. Though you’ll need help from Chalice.’
‘We’re meeting her tomorrow morning. I still hadn’t completely made up my mind on whether to trust her.’ I shrugged again. ‘Guess now I’ve got no choice.’
‘But that still leaves the question of your sentence,’ Arachne said. She studied me, eight eyes unblinking. ‘You understand why this is happening.’
‘Yeah. It’s the bill coming due for pissing off Levistus.’
‘No,’ Arachne said. ‘Levistus is the short-term manifestation of a long-term problem. If it hadn’t been Levistus, it would have been someone else.’
‘What long-term problem?’
‘Your independence,’ Arachne said. ‘Over the past few years, you have been offered numerous chances to side with those more powerful than yourself. Levistus tried to recruit you, as did Morden. Richard offered you your old place at his side. Talisid wanted you to become his spy. You turned them all down. Instead you have opted to remain separate and apart, beholden to no one.’