Barrayar reached across under his arm, touched the death mage’s stomach and fired a narrow lance of force right through him.
The man’s eyes went wide in pain and he staggered back, collapsing. The blade through Barrayar’s chest fizzled and disappeared. Barrayar straightened up; blue light glowed around his wound and when it was gone the skin beneath his ripped clothes was unbroken and whole.
‘Oh, come on!’ Ji-yeong said in frustration. She’d stepped in next to me. ‘They can both do that?’
‘Different mechanism,’ I said absently. ‘Water magic.’ My thoughts were whirling. This must be why Anne had chosen these two for her defence team: the ones that were hardest to kill, slowest to get past. A shadow dropped down towards Ji-yeong and I cut it in two; she jumped aside as the flaming halves fell where she’d been standing. I could sense the lines of fate that marked Barrayar’s future. It wasn’t quite the same as my divination, though the divination helped. It was an awareness of the battle, a sense of its flow. I tried to use the fateweaver, guide the futures into the right channels—
The futures wavered and broke. Too many people, too many conflicting decisions. The Keepers were keeping Barrayar and Caldera busy, but they weren’t killing them. We needed to break them before reinforcements arrived.
I opened my senses, looking for some weakness. My divination couldn’t see far enough – too chaotic. But I could sense the lines of fate where Barrayar’s future ended. I couldn’t guide them in, not myself, but . . .
I reached out through the dreamstone. Landis, Luna. I think I can see how to kill Barrayar. I’ll need your help.
Well, he certainly doesn’t seem inclined to do it himself. Despite being engaged with Barrayar, Landis sounded detached and calm. What did you have in mind?
Luna, channel your curse into him, I ordered. Landis, cover.
Landis didn’t argue. He gave quick commands over his focus and the mages shifted formation. Luna had worked her way around the right side, near the wall; now she stepped up and levelled her whip, a line of silvery mist springing out from her to Barrayar.
Barrayar turned to focus on Luna, his hand coming up. Luna flinched but stood her ground. Beams of force flashed out, powerful enough to punch right through Luna’s armour and her body as well, but Tobias had moved next to her, his water shield expanding to cover them both. Blue light flared and the force attacks glanced away.
Luna kept her whip aimed at Barrayar, a steady stream of mist pouring into him. Shouts and gunfire echoed from all around, and from behind I could hear the boom of other mages fighting Caldera, but I couldn’t spare any attention. All of my focus was on that future I’d sensed through the fateweaver, drawing steadily closer. Landis, when I give the word, hit him with an incinerate spell, I said. Full power.
That type of spell—
—is bad against shields, I know. Trust me.
The silver mist around Barrayar was a bright glow, beautiful and deadly. Barrayar’s eyes were locked on Luna and he was still launching a steady stream of attacks but Tobias was blocking every one, glancing between Luna and Barrayar as he and Luna backed slowly away. Luna kept her wand aimed at Barrayar, her face set. Barrayar was advancing, shrugging off attacks from Landis and two other mages. It wouldn’t be long before he had them pinned against the wall.
I felt the futures shift. Luna’s curse had reached critical mass and it was looking for a way to discharge. Possibilities flickered: the ceiling collapsing, shadows mistaking Barrayar for a target, attacks aimed at Caldera striking him instead, ricocheting bullets . . .
Now, I told Landis, and pushed with the fateweaver. One future out of the dozens grew stronger. Luna’s curse latched onto it and the other futures winked out.
Landis struck. The world seemed to darken for a second before a roaring blast of flame exploded all around Barrayar, and just as it did, the mist of Luna’s curse flared and Barrayar’s shield collapsed. It was so fast that I didn’t see why. One second Barrayar was striding forward, aiming another force lance; the next his shield was gone and the air around him was incandescent fire.
Barrayar never had a chance to scream. His body flared, clothes and skin and flesh igniting in a single flame. A wave of heat washed over me, carrying the scent of ash and burnt flesh.
It was over in an instant. The charred remains of Barrayar finished the step he’d been taking and collapsed into a pile of scorched carbon. Only a few half-melted bones were left. For a moment, I saw something at the edge of my vision, a black winged shadow expanding outwards, then it was gone and somehow the atmosphere in the tombs felt less oppressive, the daylight from the windows a little brighter.
‘Regenerate that,’ I said to Barrayar’s remains. Then I turned to Caldera.
Caldera was looking at the charred bones. As every other Keeper in the room turned towards her, she sank into the flagstones beneath her, disappearing from view.
‘Stone glide,’ Landis said curtly over the comm. ‘We have an earth ifrit loose. All units report if you see it.’
I swore. Master earth mages can merge with earth and stone, passing through it like water and making them virtually impossible to catch or stop. Caldera had never been able to do it before, but apparently that was yet another ability the ifrit had given her. ‘Ji-yeong,’ I said, and pointed across at the other side of the room. There was a raised platform level with the second ring of sarcophagi, and mounted on it was what looked like a control interface. ‘Shut it down.’
Ji-yeong took off at a sprint, dodging around those shadows in her way. Landis issued orders: long-range fire lanced out from the Keepers, striking down the shadows on the stairs and far platform.
And as it did, I felt what I’d been waiting for and dreading. A flicker of space magic directly above.
‘Enemy gate!’ Compass called out over the comm. ‘You have enemies gating in directly above the tombs.’
Back! I sent to Ji-yeong. Ji-yeong had made it halfway up the stairs and was only seconds away from the platform. She slowed, hesitating.
Black light flashed. With a rumble, stone blocks fell from the ceiling, smashing down around the spot Ji-yeong had been aiming for. A column of sunlight came down through the hole in the roof, flickering for a second as it was blocked by a body.
Sagash glided down to land on the far platform.
It had been a long time since I’d seen the Dark master mage, and he hadn’t got any better looking. Yellowed skin was stretched tight over tendons and bones, and the lips were pulled back from his mouth to show his teeth in a fixed, unchanging grin. Pinpoints of yellow light glowed from his eyes as he stared down at Ji-yeong.
Ji-yeong took a step back, staring up at her ex-master with wide eyes. ‘Um,’ she began.
Sagash raised a hand.
Black death flashed out, and Landis’s magic darted to meet it. Orange-red fire met Sagash’s deathbolt and the two spells annihilated each other in a flash and a clap of thunder. Ji-yeong went tumbling down the steps and scrambled away out of range.
‘Ah, Sagash!’ Landis called out cheerfully. He’d marched forward and was standing at the front of the Keepers in the middle of the room. ‘Where were we?’
Sagash turned to fix Landis with an unblinking stare. A few shadows flapped in, but as Sagash gazed down they swerved away, pulling back to the sarcophagi. Around us, the gunfire died as the Council soldiers dropped back into a guard position, watching the shadows warily.