‘What Caldera is trying to say,’ Barrayar said, ‘is that we are all there is. If anyone is going to prevent Morden’s escape, it will be us.’ He turned back towards the airlock. ‘Let’s see how this unfolds.’
Solace’s voice rose. ‘They’re coming!’
There was a creaking sound as the wheel on the airlock door spun. I knew from my last visit that that door was supposed to be impossible to open except from the guard post we were standing at right now; apparently it wasn’t that impossible. The wheel came to rest with a click and the door swung smoothly open.
Shadow creatures flowed out, filling the corridor. There were at least a dozen, but it was the figure following them that my eyes fixed on. A black shadow, opaque but recognisably feminine, slim and deadly-looking. The face was a black mask, but I could just make out the gleam of two reddish eyes. ‘Oh look,’ Anne called out. ‘Welcoming committee.’
Now that I knew what I was looking at, I wondered how I’d ever mistaken the shape for Vihaela. It was the same height, yes, the same rough proportions, but the movements were Anne’s. Even the voice was recognisable – it was deeper, distorted by the shadow, but the accent, the manner of speaking, was the same. Surely Caldera and the others would see it. They’d never paid Anne much attention, but now that I knew what to look for, it was so obvious—
‘Mage Vihaela,’ Caldera said coldly. ‘You’re under arrest. Stand down.’
‘Are you really expecting that to work?’ Anne moved out of the way. ‘Oh, and by the way, I’ve brought an old friend.’
Morden straightened as he stepped out into the corridor and swept his eyes over us with a smile. ‘Barrayar,’ he said. He was dressed in his full regalia, complete with his chain of office. ‘And Verus and Solace. Quite the convention.’
‘Morden,’ Barrayar said coolly. ‘You’re looking well, all things considered. I hope you aren’t expecting to breeze out of here.’
‘Actually, I am.’ Morden began to stroll down the corridor, Anne at his side. The shadow creatures slunk out of the way. ‘Please don’t make too much of a fuss. I’d prefer to do this the easy way.’
‘You wish,’ Caldera said.
‘Come on, Caldera,’ Anne said. The shadows hid her face, but I could imagine her smile. ‘Didn’t we do this once already?’
Caldera made as if to answer, then hesitated. ‘Caldera, Barrayar,’ I said quietly. ‘I don’t think we’re winning this one.’
Caldera didn’t turn around. ‘Shut up.’
‘No, I’m serious,’ I said in a low voice. I was pretty sure that either Morden or Anne could take on all four of us at once. Both of them together wasn’t even worth considering, not to mention the shadow things, which were crowding the corridor behind Morden and Anne, watching us with hungry eyes. ‘We really don’t want to—’
‘Shut up!’ Caldera’s voice rose to a snarl. ‘Okay, Vihaela. You want to take on the Council, you’re going to have to start by going through me.’
Anne tilted her head. ‘Okay.’
With Caldera blocking my vision I couldn’t see what happened, but it was over so fast that I’m not sure I would have caught it anyway. Caldera started to cast a spell, Anne moved, there was a flash of magic – life mixed with something else – and Caldera gave a grunt and rocked back slightly as if she’d taken a punch. Then she hit the floor like a ton of bricks. I stared down at her, then up at Anne, still standing next to Morden. She’d barely moved. Darkness twined around her right hand as she tilted her head at me, and somehow I knew she was still smiling.
‘Do we have another volunteer?’ Morden asked.
Barrayar let out a slow, measured breath. ‘Solace, Verus,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Back up, please.’ He reached down to grab one of Caldera’s arms and moved to the side. Caldera must have been twice Barrayar’s weight and more, but he dragged her to the wall without apparent effort. I followed his example.
‘You’re just going to let them go?’ Solace demanded.
‘I’m not letting them do anything,’ Barrayar said in irritation. ‘They’ve won this round.’ He looked at Morden and Anne. ‘Whether they’ll make it out of San Vittore alive is another matter.’
‘We’ll take our chances,’ Morden said. ‘I’m glad you’ve decided to be sensible about this.’ He walked past us, Anne at his side. As he did, he glanced at me. ‘Here you go, Verus.’ He tossed his chain of office in my direction.
I caught it left-handed. My right hand was still holding the guard’s handgun, which so far was doing me about as much good as it had him. ‘What are you expecting me to do with this?’ I asked. ‘Hold onto it until you get back?’
‘No, I rather think my time on the Council has come to an end,’ Morden said. ‘Feel free to return it to the rest of the Council. Or don’t.’
Morden and Anne walked away down the corridor. The shadow creatures didn’t. They formed a semicircle in the guard post, pinning us against the wall. ‘Um, Morden?’ I said, raising my voice. The Dark mage and Anne were almost around the corner. ‘I think you’re missing your entourage.’
Morden gave a brief glance back at us. ‘Oh,’ he said. ‘They’re not mine.’ He gave me a wave. ‘Goodbye, Verus. Nice of you to visit.’ He and Anne turned the corner and were gone.
Barrayar, Solace and I were left alone, standing over Caldera’s unconscious body, facing a small army of shadow monsters. I tried to count them and stopped at twenty. They stared at us with blank white eyes. They weren’t making any move to follow Morden and Anne. In fact, I had the feeling that they were just waiting for them to get out of earshot. ‘This,’ I said to no one in particular, ‘has been a really shitty day.’
‘Thank you for the commentary,’ Barrayar said. I had to give the little bastard credit: his voice was as cool as ever. ‘I don’t suppose that given your position under Morden, you’ve learned any way to deal with these creatures?’
‘Barrayar, I hate to break this to you,’ I said. ‘But you know how you and Levistus have been telling everyone that I’m a traitor and a Dark mage, and that I’m working with Morden and know all his plans? It’s not actually true.’
‘So you have no idea what these things are.’
‘Not a clue.’
‘Well,’ Barrayar said. ‘That would seem unfortunate for both of us.’
‘They’re getting closer!’ Solace said from behind us. She’d somehow managed to position herself between us and the wall.
She wasn’t wrong. As I looked around, I realised that the shadow things were inching towards us. If I looked straight at them they’d pause, but each time I did, the ones on the other side of the semicircle would creep forward a fraction. ‘Thank you, Solace,’ Barrayar said. ‘I noticed.’
‘Well?’ Solace said. ‘What are you going to do about them?’
‘Solace,’ I said without taking my eyes off the creatures surrounding us. ‘I have to say, out of all the Light mages I’ve met in my life, I think you might be the most irritating.’
‘So how many of these things can you take on at once?’ Barrayar said conversationally. ‘Because I suspect we have maybe sixty seconds before they force the issue.’
‘Well, I can probably take two, and you can take four, and maybe the last fourteen will spontaneously unsummon themselves.’
‘Is that likely to happen?’
‘No.’
The semicircle had contracted to half its size. ‘Screw this,’ I announced suddenly. ‘Don’t take this personally, but if I’m going to die in here, I’m not doing it with you and Solace for company.’
‘Is there some other company you’d prefer?’
‘I’m going to go after those two and chase them down,’ I said. ‘They’re getting further and further away while these things waste our time. You can follow me or stand your ground, I don’t much care which.’