‘This is my stop,’ I told Ji-yeong. ‘Coming?’
‘Do I have a choice?’
‘Sure,’ I said. ‘You can try to fight your way back to the bridge and gate out while they’re busy. You know the castle; you might manage it. Or you could join up with Anne. She’s recruiting at the moment.’
‘What happens if I do that?’
‘You get possessed by a jinn for two or three days.’
‘Just two or three days?’
‘Yes.’
Ji-yeong started to answer, then paused. ‘What happens after two or three days?’
‘An army of mages invade this shadow realm and kill you.’
‘Okay, that last bit?’ Ji-yeong said. ‘I think you should have told me that part first.’
BY BENEDICT JACKA
Alex Verus novels
Fated
Cursed
Taken
Chosen
Hidden
Veiled
Burned
Bound
Marked
Fallen
Forged
Risen
ORBIT
First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Orbit
Copyright © 2021 by Benedict Jacka
Excerpt from Ink & Sigil by Kevin Hearne
Copyright © 2020 by Kevin Hearne
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
All characters and events in this publication, other than those clearly in the public domain, are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-356-51118-4
Orbit
An imprint of
Little, Brown Book Group
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
An Hachette UK Company
www.hachette.co.uk
www.orbitbooks.net
Risen
For my parents
1
The castle was falling.
Walls and battlements of yellow stone stretched into the distance, fading into the haze of the noonday sun. I was on top of the tallest tower on the eastern wing, and from my vantage point I could see the battle raging. Two black armies fought in the haze, clashing on high walkways and in the courtyards below. They blended in a sea of violence, tiny figures striking each other down, the bodies tumbling into space to wisp away into nothingness.
The attacking army was made up out of jann, slender humanoids that seemed to have been sculpted from living darkness. They moved with a darting grace, murderous and quick. The defenders were shadow constructs, smoky bodies with glowing white eyes. They were slower and clumsier than the jann, but they didn’t die – when their bodies were destroyed they would simply re-form at their place of creation. A steady stream of them were flying from the tombs, flapping through the sky with heavy wingbeats to rejoin the combat.
But the jann and the shadows were only pawns: it was the mages who would decide the battle. Few in number, they were hidden behind rooftops and ramparts, but their power made them simple to track. Here a swarm of jann vanished into a building, but never came out. Farther south, a flock of shadows descended into a courtyard; light flickered briefly off the walls, and a few minutes later a new cloud of black specks emerged from the distant tombs.
The castle belonged to a Dark mage called Sagash. Or had belonged; I’d been watching for twenty minutes and it was clear Sagash’s forces were losing. The cathedral overlooking the southern quadrant had held out for a long time, lightning striking down any jann that came close, but ten minutes ago there’d been a flurry of battle magic and the lightning had stopped. The last time I’d been in this castle I’d fought one of Sagash’s apprentices, a lightning mage called Sam. I had the feeling it was him I’d sensed in that cathedral. I also had the feeling I knew who’d silenced him.
As I watched, I noticed an offshoot of the battle moving in my direction, shadows fighting a running skirmish against a pursuing force of jann. Both sides were taking losses, but the jann were receiving reinforcements and the shadows weren’t. From the shadows’ movements they seemed to be protecting something, but I couldn’t see what.
I scanned through the futures, searching for information. In one possibility ninety seconds away, I caught a glimpse of a figure on a rooftop, fighting alone against a swarm of jann. I couldn’t get a look at their face, but I could make a good guess at who it was.
I considered a moment, then stepped off the tower, letting myself fall.
By the time I arrived, the shadows had all been destroyed, the last two dissolving into smoke as I stepped out onto the yellow stone. The battle had gained height and we were on a flat rooftop, iron spike railings and low parapets guarding against a sheer drop on three out of the four sides. Huge buildings to the north and south were separated by yawning gaps, the walls dropping away down and down to courtyards far below. Wind rushed across the roof in a low, steady roar, whipping at my hair and clothes.
There were three jann standing over the remains of the shadows, and as I arrived on the rooftop they turned and loped toward me, claws outstretched. I left all three burning on the stone. At the end of the rooftop, a flight of stairs descended out of sight; the bulk of the jann were clustered around it, their attention focused on something below. A small square-topped tower rose twenty feet above roof level, and I jumped up onto it.
From my new vantage point I could see that the flight of stairs descended to what might once have been a bridge but which now ended in a ten-foot stone platform. Beyond was a jagged break and a sheer drop. Standing on the square was a young Korean woman, dressed in blue and grey. She carried a short-sword and a small shield, and was crouched in a fighting stance, facing the stairs. It was probably the same sword she’d tried to stab me with on my last visit.
The stairs were packed with jann, crowded tightly all the way up to the top. They were focused on the woman, but weren’t attacking. Instead they clustered just out of range of her sword, their stance low and predatory, wolves facing a cornered deer.
The jann and the woman were focused on each other. They were over a hundred feet away; between the distance and the roaring wind, neither had yet noticed me. I reached out through my dreamstone, finding the woman’s mind and touching it delicately. Yun Ji-yeong, wasn’t it? I said through the link.
I saw Ji-yeong start. Her mouth moved.
Talk through your thoughts, I told her. I’m on the towertop at your two o’clock.
Ji-yeong turned her head and saw me, then something made her jerk back toward the jann. Who are you? she demanded. Her thoughts were rough and scratchy, but clear.
My name’s Alex Verus. We met four years ago.
Verus? Ji-yeong sounded startled. You were with— The mood of her thoughts changed. Ah, shibal.