Meredith’s street in Buenos Aires felt weirdly quiet and calm. The gate stone came out into her back garden; night had fallen here as well, and the lights were on in her windows. I took out my phone and dialled her number.
No answer.
I frowned, took out the focus I’d picked up yesterday—a small rod of black metal—and channelled through it.
Magic sparked, and I heard a faint clatter from inside the house. A minute later, Meredith appeared at the back doorway, looking rattled. “You didn’t have to do that!”
“Yes, I did. Get moving, we’re on a schedule.”
Meredith approached the gate uncertainly. She’d changed her outfit, though it still didn’t look particularly practical. “Where is that?”
“British Isles.” I stepped through and beckoned.
Meredith hesitated. “I’m not sure . . .”
“You’ll be in and out in less than an hour.”
“You’re not going to ask for anything else?”
“Do this and I’ll be out of your life forever.” I smiled slightly. “Unless you’d rather I stuck around.”
Meredith didn’t look convinced, but she stepped through the gate. I let it close behind her and started up the rocks towards the ridgeline.
“I can’t see,” Meredith complained.
I sighed inwardly. This would have been so much easier if I could have brought Luna instead. I took Meredith’s hand and started leading her. “Follow in my footsteps,” I told her. “The ground’s solid, so just concentrate on keeping your balance.”
“What’s that noise from over that mountain?”
“That’s not a mountain. That’s a ridge.”
“You know what I mean. It sounds like a battle.”
“That’s because it is.”
“Alex!” Meredith tried to stop; I kept my grip on her hand and she was dragged along. “You didn’t say anything about a battle!”
“Yeah, well, they didn’t ask my permission. Relax, I’m not expecting you to win it.”
We reached the edge of the ridgeline and again Meredith tried to stop. The bulk of Sal Sarque’s fortress loomed before us, lit up by the flashes of spells and weapon fire. The machine gun fire was still going, but it seemed to be coming from the other side of the fortress. At least one thing was going our way.
“Wait, we’re going down there? We can’t—Alex! Stop!”
I was already picking us a path down the slope towards the walls. No immediate danger flashed up in the futures; it might be premature, but it looked as though we might be able to make it all the way there without running into anyone. Some possibilities of contact flickered and I adjusted our course to steer away. “Keep your voice down.”
“We’re going to be killed!”
“No, we’re not.”
“What happens if they see us?”
“They won’t.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I’m a diviner and that’s what I do.”
“I don’t like this. Please can we go back?”
I wondered if Richard had to deal with stuff like this from his followers. It was giving me a new appreciation for what he had to put up with.
The battle was still raging by the time we reached the walls. There’d been fighting on this side too, but it had apparently moved away, though not without casualties; we’d passed several bodies in the darkness. I was scanning through the futures, looking for ways to gain entry. The main gate was on the far side and moving around would take too long. Maybe another entrance . . . There. I changed direction and started walking.
Meredith tripped on the rocks and I held her as she caught her balance. “Where are we going?” she whispered. The looming shadow of the walls felt a lot more menacing up close.
“Back door,” I said quietly. I could feel the futures I needed; reaching out with the fateweaver, I picked the one I wanted and began feeding it. “We’re going to have to talk our way past a few people. Back me up.”
The futures settled, and I moved up against the wall and waited. I couldn’t make out the line of the door, but I knew where it was. Thirty seconds later it opened, light spilling from the crack. The muzzle of a handgun appeared, followed by a young man, peering out cautiously.
I snatched the gun out of the man’s hand, caught his arm as he tried to punch me, twisted it behind his back, and pushed through the doorway into the fortress before he’d finished his shout. The door led into a guardroom. Half a dozen men were scattered around, ranging in age from teenage years to thirties. They were armed but raggedly equipped; they had the look of Richard’s adepts, which was confirmed when fire lit up around the hands of one at the back and another created a force blade. The rest levelled guns.
“I’m here to see Richard Drakh,” I said. I pushed the guy I’d been holding away; he took a few steps, stumbling, then turned on me. “Where is he?”
“Whose side are you on?” the man with the force blade said. He was light-skinned, standing in a combat stance with his left hand holding a shield; the force blade was a long triangle, stretching from his right hand and narrowing to a point. He was staring at me suspiciously, but he wasn’t attacking yet.
“My side.” I ejected the round from the gun, took out the magazine, then tossed the weapon without looking at the man I’d taken it from. He caught it in surprise. The other adepts exchanged glances. “And I’m here to see Richard.”
Meredith was hanging behind me in the doorway. “I don’t know who you are,” the force adept began, “but—”
“Wait,” another adept said. “That’s Verus.”
“The one Deleo said—”
“Yeah, that one.”
I saw the force adept’s eyes shift. The futures of violence leapt closer and I knew I had seconds before they’d start shooting. I met his gaze and spoke clearly and calmly. “I have killed twenty-eight normals, adepts, and mages in the past two days. Come at me with that force blade, and you’ll make twenty-nine.”
The adept hesitated, his futures wavering between life and death. I pushed at them, but the fateweaver wasn’t mind control; it couldn’t override a direct choice.
Then a wave of emotion rippled through me, fear and horror and nameless dread. I pushed it off with an effort of will, but it had been aimed at the adepts, not at me. Several went pale and one dropped his gun with a clatter, backing up to the wall. The force adept flinched, taking a step back.
“Deleo gave you those orders for her own reasons,” I said. “You weren’t expected to survive them. I’ll ask again. Where’s Richard?”
“I don’t know.” Fear showed in the force adept’s eyes; his voice shook. “He was heading for the control room.”
“Good enough.” I beckoned to Meredith and walked through the room. No one stopped us. Only when we were through the far doorway and walking down the corridor on the other side did I breathe a little easier.
“Good job on that spell,” I told Meredith once we were out of earshot.
Meredith didn’t look happy at the praise. “Why do you want to find Drakh of all people?”
“Because he made me an offer. Now stay quiet while I focus.”
The fortress interior was stone and metal, brutally practical. The thick walls muffled sound, but even so I could hear gunfire. As the futures branched ahead, forking and dividing, I saw danger in every direction, but no sign of Richard.
But the only reason for Richard to be here was to come after Sal Sarque, and Sarque would be at the control room at the centre. “This way,” I said, heading for a set of stairs.
We climbed to the first floor. The corridor at the top had been fortified; a junction had been turned into something like a bunker, with blast shields and weapon racks. It hadn’t done the defenders any good. The remains of several constructs were scattered around, along with outlines of black dust.