‘Your presence could have contributed to their preparations,’ Alma began.
‘Yes, I’m sure they had time to bury a demolition charge in solid concrete and set up a free-standing gate focus in the ten minutes I was in the building,’ I said. I was getting pissed off now. ‘Oh, and you might want to bear in mind that while I was there I also shut off the enchantment effect that they were using to manipulate the crowd. If I hadn’t, that Keeper team would have been rushed by a mob.’
‘You want credit for that?’ Sal Sarque said contemptuously. ‘You think those adepts of yours would have stood a chance against our forces?’
‘Have you seriously not figured out what was going on last night?’ I said. ‘Richard wanted you to mow down those adepts. The more you killed, the better! If it had turned out into a full-scale combat, you’d have killed hundreds, and you’d have turned every single adept in Britain against you. Why do you think Richard stuck around? He stayed because he was trying to bait you into orchestrating a civilian massacre right in the middle of London, and he came pretty close to succeeding.’
Sal Sarque stood up, his fists clenched. ‘We are not going to go soft on those Dark mages just because they use human shields!’
‘They don’t need to use human shields. From what I’ve seen, you seem more than happy to commit atrocities without any help on his part.’
‘All right!’ Druss raised his hands. ‘Let’s all calm down, shall we?’
Sal Sarque sat down, but from his expression I could see he was still furious. ‘What’s done is done,’ Druss said. ‘As far as Drakh goes, we might have lost face, but we’re not really any worse off than we were yesterday. He was out there then and he’s out there now.’
‘As far as Drakh goes?’ Sal Sarque said. ‘What about the other thing that happened last night?’
‘Sarque,’ Alma said warningly.
Sal Sarque opened his mouth, shot a glance down the table at me and the rest of the Junior Council and closed it again. There was a moment’s silence.
‘Is there something we should know?’ I asked. The pause was stretching out and no one else seemed keen to speak.
‘No,’ Sal Sarque said curtly.
‘Oh come on,’ Druss said wearily. ‘Not like we can exactly keep this one a secret.’
‘The information is still sensitive,’ Alma said.
‘I think it’s a matter of closing the stable door after the horse is gone,’ Bahamus said.
‘Long gone,’ Druss said, then turned to address me and the others. ‘There was a raid on our Southampton facility last night. Was timed to coincide with the Tiger’s Palace attack.’
The Southampton facility is one of the Council’s secondary storage depots. It’s not as well defended as the War Rooms or the Vault, but it still has some fairly important stuff. ‘So that there wouldn’t be a quick response force,’ I said.
Druss nodded. ‘Didn’t go as well for them as the raid on the Vault. They managed to break into the areas near the loading dock, but they couldn’t breach the bubble and they had to withdraw. Was bloody, though. They killed all the staff in the areas they got control of.’
‘Was it Onyx?’ I asked.
‘What makes you think that?’ Bahamus asked.
‘A violent operation with a high body count that isn’t all that successful at getting to the objective,’ I said. ‘Plus he’d have known when to time it.’
‘Well, you’re right,’ Druss said. ‘They used shrouds and shot out all the visible cameras, but they missed the hidden ones. We’ve got footage of Onyx from three angles, along with that fire mage he’s taken up with.’
‘This is a matter for the Senior Council,’ Levistus said.
‘I agree,’ Alma said with a nod. ‘We’ll determine how much to release later. Until then, all details are considered sealed to the Star Chamber until further notice.’
There was a rustle of movement as several people sat back. ‘Now,’ Alma said. ‘It’s clear that Drakh’s cabal had advance warning of our operation. The question is how.’
‘I’m afraid it’s as Verus said,’ Druss said. ‘With all the eyes we brought in on it, it could have been any of a hundred people or more.’
‘Regardless, we should conduct an investigation,’ Bahamus said.
Undaaris nodded. ‘I agree. This sort of a leak is concerning.’
‘You considered maybe the leak’s coming from that guy right there?’ Sal Sarque asked.
‘Oh, give it a rest, Sarque,’ Druss said wearily. ‘You hate Verus, we get it. Do it on your own time.’
‘I agree,’ Bahamus said with a frown. ‘This is growing unseemly. Regardless of your personal disagreements with Councillor Verus, it is clear from the reports of last night that without his actions, the outcome of the raid would have been considerably worse.’
‘Didn’t sound like it to me,’ Sal Sarque said, then as Druss started to respond, threw up his hands. ‘Fine! If that’s how you want to play it. How about the important question? What are we going to do now?’
There was a silence. I kept my mouth shut, and so did the rest of the Junior Council, but it didn’t seem as though any of the Senior Council seemed eager to talk either. Looking around, I realised why. The last plan had gone badly. No one wanted to be responsible for the next one.
Then Levistus spoke. ‘We need to make a public response.’
‘I agree,’ Alma said. ‘A swift one.’
‘Onyx,’ Bahamus said.
‘You really think he was the one behind this?’ Druss said.
‘Who cares?’ Sal Sarque said.
‘On this matter, Sal Sarque has the right of it,’ Bahamus said. ‘It doesn’t matter whether Onyx was the leak. What does matter is that he double-crossed us, and if every Dark mage in Britain doesn’t know that already, they soon will. He should be taught a lesson.’
‘No,’ Druss said.
Bahamus looked at Druss. ‘Excuse me?’
‘We’re not going off half-cocked after Onyx,’ Druss said. ‘Did you read the reports this morning? We had thirty-six Keepers at the Tiger’s Palace last night. Out of those, twenty-four were on the club floor and actively engaged against Drakh’s cabal. Yes, some of them were busy dealing with the adepts and the small fry, but for the most part, they were trading punches with Drakh and his crew.’
‘We’re aware,’ Alma said. ‘What’s your point?’
‘The point is that according to the Keepers on the scene, Drakh had maybe ten to twelve mages up on that balcony. Two to one in our favour. We had three Keepers seriously injured last night. You know how many Drakh lost?’
‘The reports didn’t say,’ Bahamus said.
‘Zero. Twice their numbers, and we took three casualties to their none.’ Druss looked at Sal Sarque. ‘Nimbus made a big noise about how those adepts shouldn’t have been allowed to escape, but it sounds to me like our boys were losing. If Drakh hadn’t pulled out, it would have been a total fucking disaster.’
‘How were that number of Dark mages able to defeat a full Keeper force?’ Alma asked.
‘Was it Drakh?’ Undaaris asked.
Druss shook his head. ‘From all accounts, Drakh just played to the crowd.’
‘Then how?’ Alma asked. ‘For two years we’ve been pouring resources into the Keepers as a whole and your Order of the Shield in particular. The idea was to be able to defeat Dark mages in open conflict, not hold them to a stalemate. And from what you’re saying, it sounds as though you barely managed even that.’