‘You sure you can get through the local wards?’ Rain asked Compass.
‘With enough time,’ Compass said. ‘But it’s not going to be fast and I am going to be really vulnerable while I’m doing it. You guys better make sure I don’t go the same way as Lumen!’
‘Yeah, I think we’ve all learned our lesson from that,’ I said. ‘We’ll be right next to you. Any of the jinn want to reach you, they’ll have to go through us.’
‘Which leaves one rather pressing question,’ Landis said. ‘At the risk of counting our chickens, what exactly will the consequences be should we succeed?’
I looked at Compass.
‘Not great,’ Compass said. ‘When I talked to Sonder this morning, his theory was the isolation effect was trying to pull this shadow realm apart and it was only the wards that were holding it together. I did a few spatial scans over the past hour and I’m pretty sure he was right. As soon as we blow one of those anchor points, the whole ward net collapses, and once that happens we need to evacuate really fast because the shadow realm’s going to go with it.’
‘What about the marid?’ Slate said. With Ilmarin’s death, he’d taken over as Rain’s second. ‘We just going to leave it?’
‘I’m afraid we don’t have much choice, dear boy,’ Landis said. ‘Once the wards go down, we’ll be able to gate again, but the marid will too, at which point it’ll have mobility advantage and no ritual to tie it down. There’ll really be no practical way to force an engagement.’
‘I’ve got some ideas as far as that goes,’ I said. ‘I doubt the marid will run from me if I’m alone. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Any more suggestions for the attack?’
We discussed it for another fifteen minutes, then dispersed to make final preparations. I went looking for Ji-yeong and Luna.
I found them both in the barracks. Ji-yeong had been pressed into service as a medic again – normally a Dark mage wouldn’t be trusted with something like that, but either Landis’s influence was making the Council forces a bit more easy-going, or they were just desperate enough not to care. I filled them in on the plan. As I expected, Luna quickly homed in on the last part.
‘You’re going to face Anne and Vari?’ Luna said. ‘Alone?’
‘Should be okay with one or two more.’
‘That sounds like a really bad idea,’ Ji-yeong said with a frown. ‘We saw what those marids can do and you want to duel them?’
‘I don’t want to duel anyone,’ I said. ‘But if we send in an overwhelming force then Anne will just gate out. It’s like playing poker. If she knows she can’t beat us, she’ll fold. Only way she stays in is if she thinks she can handle whatever we throw at her. Also . . . that marid told me to find it. I think it wants to tell me something.’
‘Tell you what?’ Luna said. ‘“You’re a human, I hate you, now die”?’
‘I’m hoping for a slightly longer conversation.’
‘Okay, look,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘Taking the castle back is one thing. But I think a marid is out of my league.’
‘What about Vari?’ Luna asked.
‘He’ll be between us and Anne,’ I said. The thought no longer brought fear. I would do what I must. ‘We’ll handle him first.’
The Council troops formed up. There was little discussion this time. Once everyone had their assignments, they dispersed, checked their weapons and prepared to move.
The fight with Richard’s adepts had changed the Council forces. There was a sense of purpose, a confidence, that hadn’t been there before. And beyond that was something harder to place, a kind of cohesion; they acted less like a collection of individuals and more like a single entity. Maybe it was the fateweaver; maybe it was the high from the victory; maybe it was as simple as finally having some trust in their leadership. Whatever it was, it was making a difference.
We gated to the castle’s south and advanced on the keep. Immediately, we encountered jann. They were scattered and solitary, and they didn’t even slow us down, but they’d been put there to raise the alarm, and they did. By the time we made it halfway, Anne’s main force was waiting for us.
The jinn numbered in the hundreds, if not thousands. They seemed immune to pain, and fought to the death. But the claws of a jann were no match for the assault rifles of the Council soldiers, which could shoot them down at a hundred feet. Nor were the abilities of a shaitan any match for the magic of a battle mage. The jinn hurled themselves at the Council lines, trying to break through and turn the battle into a mêlée, where their numbers and resilience would give them the advantage. But with the fateweaver and my divination I could see each attack before it was made, and by the time the jinn came charging towards our lines I had soldiers and mages ready for them. Machine guns scythed across lines of jann; battle magic froze and burned them in their tracks. One by one the attacks were shattered, and after each was broken the Council forces would re-form and march forward over the bodies of their enemies.
Only when we reached the cathedral did I see what I’d been waiting for. ‘All troops, hold,’ I said over the communication link. ‘Ifrit mages occupying the cathedral. Stay out of line of sight of the roof and upper windows.’
‘Who are we looking at?’ Landis asked.
I concentrated. Future versions of myself leapt forward over the rooftops to come soaring down onto the cathedral’s roof and through its windows. I studied the variety of attacks that hit them, then returned to the present. ‘Aether on the roof, Sagash on the upper level, Caldera on the ground floor.’
Landis and Rain issued orders, reorganising the troops. While they did, I considered the problem. Out of the three ifrit, Aether and Caldera were the most mobile – Aether could fly, Caldera could sink into stone. Sagash was more powerful in direct combat, but he had no easy escapes. Conclusion: kill Sagash first.
With the decision made, a plan fell into place, details springing to mind as though I’d done this a hundred times before. ‘All troops, surround the cathedral on its east, west and south faces,’ I ordered. ‘Soldiers and auxiliaries maintain a perimeter and target enemy jinn. Mages will advance; be ready to shield against lightning and death magic attacks from above. Once you’ve reached the cathedral, ascend to the upper level and enter on my mark. Do not enter via the ground floor: you’ll be at risk from the stone gliding ifrit. Primary target is Sagash. Confirm.’
Terse acknowledgements came in. Through the dreamstone, I felt the troops under my command moving to encircle the cathedral on three sides. The castle was eerily silent. Occasionally the quiet would be broken by a burst of gunfire, signalling that a Council team had run into an uncooperative jann.
The Council forces were nearly in position. I turned back to Luna and Ji-yeong. They’d stayed with me, acting as point defence so that I could focus on the larger battle. I made a quick beckoning gesture to the two of them, then spoke into the focus. ‘Go.’
I strode forward, Luna and Ji-yeong at my back. Up ahead, the shape of the keep loomed over the castle buildings. Lightning flashed, first once then again and again, and the hollow boom of battle magic echoed off the walls. We entered a wide courtyard with stairs leading upwards that I remembered from my first visit. There were burn marks on the stone, cartridge casings scattered behind firing positions. A soldier was propped up against a pedestal, his breath coming in short gasps; his ribs had been opened by a jann’s claws and an adept with the shoulder patch of the Council healer corps was working on him. Another soldier stepped aside to let us pass.