‘That,’ Landis said, ‘is the force that will be guarding the accumulator while it charges.’
I frowned. ‘No mages?’
‘No,’ Landis said, his voice clipped. ‘I need to brief them. If you’ll excuse me.’ He brushed past.
I watched him go, still frowning. That wasn’t very many men for such an important job. I recognised several of the men and many were veterans, but even so . . .
Actually, I recognised a lot of the men. Sergeant Little, who I’d met in that bubble realm in Syria. Nowy and Peterson and Lisowski from my old team that I’d led in the early months of the war. Two others that I recognised. In fact, I recognised the whole group. I’d seen them recently. Desert sands . . . where had it been?
Hyperborea. It was the same team that had been sent with Avenor and Saffron into Hyperborea. Saffron had ordered them to arrest me, and they’d refused to fire.
I remembered what Sonder had said at the briefing. They were setting up a focus that would transport energy from the accumulator through a gateway. While the enemies homed in on the accumulator, Sonder and Lumen would be watching through a video link from far away.
I stood dead still for five seconds, then whirled and headed after Nimbus.
I slammed the door to the ready room open with a crash.
Nimbus started. He was alone in the room but for Sonder and Lumen, and looked like he’d been giving orders. ‘Verus? What do you think you’re—?’
I slammed the door behind me and stalked towards Nimbus. His eyes went wide and he took a step back, magic coming up around his hands. ‘You’re leaving twenty-three men to guard the windmill?’ I asked.
‘Your point?’ Nimbus snapped.
‘I ran into one of those ifrit hosts last night,’ I said tightly. ‘I had Luna and Ji-yeong with me. Three experienced combat mages, and all of us together could barely scrape a draw. And according to Sonder, that one was the runt of the litter. Twenty-three Council security is not even close to enough to hold the windmill against something like that.’
Nimbus raised his eyebrows at me. ‘You’re accompanying Captain Landis, I understand? Then the solution seems simple. Make sure the marid has no spare forces to send.’
‘Don’t give me that crap! If that accumulator fires, the marid loses, and if I can figure that out, it can too. It’ll make damn sure it gets someone here, even if it has to lose half its ifrit in the process. Why would it care? All it’ll be losing is host bodies. It can just get more.’
Nimbus turned. ‘Mage Sonder, Mage Verus appears upset. I suggest you escort him from the premises.’
Sonder hesitated.
‘You aren’t expecting to hold the windmill or the accumulator,’ I told Nimbus flatly. ‘That’s why you’re setting up the video link. Those men are a screen. The idea is that by dying, they’ll buy enough time and give enough warning that when those jinn smash down the door to the windmill, Lumen can fire her shot.’ I looked at Sonder and Lumen. ‘Tell me I’m wrong.’
Neither Sonder nor Lumen met my eyes.
‘Verus, I really don’t have time for this,’ Nimbus said. Unlike the others, he wasn’t looking away; he looked irritated. ‘Given your recent activities, you clearly have no compunction about sacrificing men.’
‘If all you want is a sacrificial force, you don’t need to assign men at all. You could use traps, or automated defences—’
‘Which would not slow an attacker for long enough,’ Nimbus interrupted. ‘Human defenders raise the possibility that any of them could be a mage. This requires the jinn to neutralise each in turn before moving forward.’
‘Then,’ I said quietly, ‘maybe you could explain why every single one of those “human defenders” is from the same squad that disobeyed orders to arrest me last week in Hyperborea.’
Sonder and Lumen both looked at Nimbus. Apparently this was news to them as well.
‘Sacrificing troops is standard Council doctrine,’ I said. ‘But this? This is over the line even for you.’
‘Why?’ Nimbus sounded impatient. ‘Council security are used as a screening force. You know that; they know that. They know the risks when they take the money.’
‘And you’ve told them that, have you?’
‘If the accumulator fires, the marid loses,’ Nimbus said. ‘Your words, not mine. The chance of winning this war is well worth twenty-three casualties.’
‘Then if it’s that important, fortify this place properly. Mages, more men—’
‘Who would then be at risk,’ Nimbus said. ‘Ideally Captain Landis will be able to pin down all of the ifrit with his own attack, but the marid will do all it can to redeploy them here, and yes, it is possible that it will succeed, in which case a significant number of those defending the accumulator will die. With that in mind, any forces stationed here must be considered expendable.’
‘And those twenty-three are the most expendable?’
‘Mages are a limited resource,’ Nimbus said. ‘Normals are not. Particularly unreliable ones.’
‘You don’t need—’
‘I’m sorry, Verus,’ Nimbus interrupted. ‘Were you reassigned to the Keepers when I didn’t notice? Were you promoted from journeyman to lieutenant to captain, and then to director? Did you spend twenty years working for the Light Council until you were recognised and promoted for your efforts?’
I looked at Nimbus through narrowed eyes.
‘No,’ Nimbus said with a curl of his lip. ‘You never rose beyond journeyman Keeper, and that only because a Dark mage was able to force you in through a loophole. And now you think that because your friends on the Council have managed to cover up your crimes, you can waltz back in. Well, Verus, you have no friends here. You’re a jumped-up Dark mage who reached your position through nepotism and corruption. Nothing more.’
‘Talisid gave you orders to listen to me,’ I said. But it was a weak reply and I knew it.
‘Which I have done,’ Nimbus said pleasantly. ‘If you have objections to how your advice has been received, you are of course free to tell Talisid your reservations.’
I was silent.
‘I’m glad we understand each other.’ Nimbus began to walk past me, then paused. ‘Oh, and Verus? This is the second time in two days you’ve spoken to me with this level of disrespect.’ His voice hardened. ‘I am Director of Operations of the Order of the Star and if you do it a third time I will have you thrown into a cell. Do I make myself clear?’ Without waiting for an answer, he strode out.
Lumen and Sonder hesitated, looking at me, but the futures in which they spoke flickered and died. They followed Nimbus out and I was left alone.
Fifteen minutes to go.
The barracks had been abandoned, the contents packed away into spatial storage. Landis was delivering a last briefing to his assault force, gathered on the grass before the windmill. Luna and Ji-yeong were there, but I was keeping my distance.
The accumulator had been set up in the windmill, along with a big flat-screen monitor providing a video link to Sonder and Lumen. Deployed around the windmill were the men being left to guard it. Light machine gun emplacements had been set up on the towers overlooking the area, and on top of the windmill itself. I could see their barrels pointing up to the clouded sky. They’d do nothing to stop an ifrit.
I hadn’t even tried talking to Talisid. I knew what he’d say: Nimbus was in command, casualties an inevitable part of the operation, very regrettable, et cetera. And if I kept pushing, he’d raise an eyebrow and make some comment along the lines of how my hands weren’t exactly clean either.