'How did you get in here?' he said. He had a large brown flask cradled in one arm. 'Have you been sent to help me in my quest?'
Aubrey could sense Caroline easing along the wall to his left, while George and von Stralick moved to his right. He nodded, and smiled. He spread his hands and did his best to appear harmless. 'And what quest would that be?'
Farentino glared, his prominent eyebrows thrusting forward. 'To save the world, of course.'
Keep him talking, Aubrey told himself. Keep his attention. The others were inching themselves into the room, trying to appear as if they were studying the ceiling. 'Saving the world? And how are you doing that?'
'By saving every single soul from corruption,' Farentino said. He shook his head, jerkily, as if bothered by an invisible bee. 'No, it's not the world I'm saving. That's not right. Much more important, the souls are.'
Aubrey couldn't help but agree about the importance of souls. 'That's right then. We're here to help you.'
'I was told I'd have help. He promised. It's been difficult, all alone.'
Aubrey took a step. 'I'm sure it has.'
Farentino blinked, as if seeing Aubrey for the first time. 'You look like me.'
'Ah. Yes. That is –'
The Soul Stealer's head whipped from side to side. He gaped at George and von Stralick, who'd made their way halfway along the wall. 'Stop, you two. And you.' He stabbed a finger at Caroline, who'd made similar progress.
'It's all right,' Aubrey said. 'We want to help.'
'You're here to stop me,' Farentino said, with something like wonder. He looked at the bottle cradled in the crook of his arm. 'I can't allow that.'
With a grunt, Farentino heaved the flask. As it tumbled to the floor, he muttered a series of quick syllables. When it smashed, a wall of green smoke sprang up, filling the whole room with a dense cloud.
Aubrey started forward, as did George. Von Stralick went for the window and flung it open. 'He's vanished!' George cried.
Caroline reached the stage. She batted away the curling billows of smoke. 'He's gone. But not vanished.'
Aubrey joined her. When she held apart the folds of the backdrop, he saw a door, ajar. 'He went through here,' she said.
Aubrey rushed through the door and found he was in a dim store room. Through the feeble light from a single window, he saw that the room was full of wooden filing cabinets, many with drawers standing open listlessly, documents spilling to the floor. Rolled-up maps or charts stood in one corner, festooned with spiders' webs. The place smelled of dust, mould and neglect.
'The window,' George said over Aubrey's shoulder.
Footprints in the dust showed Farentino's passage through the maze of cabinets. Aubrey hurried to the window. A clattering from above made him look up.
'Fire escape,' he shouted. 'He's heading for the roof.' Aubrey leapt out of the window. He started up the stairs just as Farentino disappeared onto the roof, three storeys further up.
Aubrey surged up the fire escape, full of energy. At each landing, where the stairs switched back the other way, he saw that George, Caroline and von Stralick were close behind.
He reached the roof and heaved himself over the low parapet. Twenty yards away, standing right on the edge of the building, Farentino was wild-eyed with dismay.
'Stop!' Aubrey called, but Farentino shook his head. Before Aubrey could move, the Soul Stealer barked a spell, a torrent of syllables that were bitter and flat, hurtful to the ear. Frantically, he reached up, as if he were seizing a dangling rope. Then, with a jerk of his shoulders, he pulled.
Aubrey stared. Overhead, the sky was a mass of low cloud. As Farentino pulled, a dark-grey mass detached itself. It drifted lower, then part of its substance began to stretch. Quickly, it became a tendril, extending toward Farentino's desperate movements, a rope of cloud stuff.
Aubrey sprinted toward the Soul Stealer, but it was too late. The cloud rope reached Farentino's outstretched, imploring hand. He grabbed hold, then seized more cloud stuff with his other hand. With a wordless cry, he swung off the roof, kicking and spinning.
Aubrey reached the parapet. He heard voices and footsteps behind him, but he had eyes only for Farentino. The Soul Stealer swung like a pendulum, dangling under the cloud that sagged with his weight, even as it drifted toward the river. Back and forth he went, his initial clumsiness sending him spinning through each arc.
'Extraordinary,' von Stralick said, panting. He leaned against the stone.
'I think he's in trouble,' Aubrey said softly.
Farentino's swinging motion had diminished. He bobbed underneath the cloud as it wafted away from them. It was almost halfway across the river, but it was thinning and losing its volume with each second.
Aubrey gripped the parapet so hard it hurt. Farentino was panicking. His legs were jerking as if he were trying to drag himself up the cloud rope. He was at least a hundred feet above the river and Aubrey tensed with each shudder of the cloud.
I'm cheering for him, Aubrey thought. He didn't know if it was the simple audacity of the magic Farentino had wrought with the cloud, or plain soft-heartedness, but Aubrey didn't want the man to plunge to his death.
When the cloud rope snapped, it was all Aubrey could do not to look away.
Farentino fell without a sound. He crossed his arms over his chest, dropping feet first to the unnatural embrace of the gelid river below.
He struck with a horrible, wet sound and disappeared immediately, the river rolling slowly inwards to cover the hole he made. Soon, the surface was whole again, with no sign of Farentino's demise.
'He is ended,' von Stralick said. 'I'm glad.'
Aubrey couldn't bring himself to feel any satisfaction. 'Let's see what he left in his studio.'
ANOTHER DOOR OPENED OFF THE STUDIO, A FEW YARDS away from the one hidden behind the drapery. Standing in front of it, Aubrey realised he was still wearing the appearance of Farentino. He shivered, and quickly cast the reversal spell.
'Another store room?' George suggested.
'We shall find out,' von Stralick said.
Aubrey detected an undertone of magic coming from behind the door. It was harsh, grating magic, familiar and unsettling; it set Aubrey's teeth on edge. 'Stop. Let me go first.'
No-one argued.
It was a long, narrow room, dimly lit from a few narrow windows. It took Aubrey's eyes a moment to adjust, but what he finally saw made him feel sick.
Ceiling to floor racks lined both sides of the room. They were full of people.
'Good Lord,' George breathed as he stared over Aubrey's shoulder. 'There must be dozens here.'
'Are they still alive?' von Stralick asked.
'Yes,' Aubrey said through a constricted throat. 'He's managed to find a way to make them immobile.'
Numb, Aubrey moved through the narrow space between the racks. Men, women, children. Old and young. All in their best clothes, some richer, some poorer. Farentino had been even-handed in his harvesting of victims. Barely breathing, they were caught in a hell of a madman's devising. Aubrey had to reach out and steady himself against one of the racks, so appalled was he by the enormity of Farentino's deed.