It didn’t work. ‘Got incoming,’ I said. ‘I’ll stall them as long as I can.’
The futures branched, possibilities spreading out. I pushed them down the path which seemed the least violent, and pointed towards the west wall. ‘Hundred and ten feet that way. They’re trying for a closer look.’
‘Tobias,’ Landis ordered. ‘Shroud.’
Tobias stepped forward, pulling something from his pocket. Blue light glowed, illuminating the brim of his hat from below, and I felt a fuzzy hard-to-see shell of magic envelop the building’s western end.
Magic flickered from the west. We couldn’t see it through the walls, but I knew that someone had just appeared. ‘It’s her,’ Slate said sharply.
‘Nice and quiet, boys,’ Landis said calmly. ‘Let her think there’s nothing to see.’
Thirty seconds ticked by. Sixty. The soldiers at the windows scanned the courtyard through their gunsights. I could feel the futures shifting. No one said a word.
The futures tipped. ‘She’s moving,’ I said. I pointed to the courtyard between us and the keep. ‘Popping up there.’
‘She’s going to see it,’ Rain said.
‘Hoarfrost, Slate,’ Landis ordered. ‘Don’t let her get a clear look.’
Hoarfrost and Slate moved to the windows. ‘Ten seconds,’ I said.
‘On Verus’s mark.’
I watched the futures shifting. ‘Seven,’ I said. ‘Six— four. Three. Two. One—’
The stone of the courtyard rippled, and Caldera rose from its surface.
Ice and death struck like vipers. Caldera flinched under the attack and sank back into the stone, but for a moment our eyes met through the window, and I saw her gaze flick from me to Compass.
It was only an instant, then Caldera was gone, leaving nothing but a circle of frost on the flagstones. But it was Caldera, one of the best investigators on the Order of the Star, who’d been passed over for promotion so many times but who’d always refused to quit. Last year, when I’d tried to cover up what Anne had done, she’d been the one to figure it out. So many times, back when we’d worked together, I’d seen her piece things together from just a couple of clues.
The futures shifted decisively, and in the distance, at the edge of my hearing, I heard an echoing whine like a hunting call. ‘Incoming!’ I snapped.
‘Positions,’ Landis ordered.
A wind rose in the distance, carrying the sound of movement. Jinn were converging on our position. ‘Jinn,’ Thunder called in over the comm. ‘North, west and north-east.’
‘Contact west,’ a soldier called. ‘Shit, there’s a lot of them!’
‘All units, fire at will,’ Landis ordered. ‘Do not let them reach this building.’
Gunfire opened up. Some of the mages moved to the windows, scanning for targets. A rifle stuttered as Nowy engaged a target; others fired a second later. The smell of gun smoke filled the air.
‘Verus,’ Landis said.
‘Watching,’ I said briefly. It was Caldera I was waiting for.
More and more soldiers opened fire. The air was heating up, becoming smoky and acrid. Hoarfrost and Tobias added their magic from the windows, icebolts and hydro-blasts. Shouts and warnings sounded over the comm. The chaos was making divination harder, bringing my view of the futures down to seconds at most.
If I were Caldera, this would be when I’d strike. I narrowed my focus, concentrating on the immediate futures around where Compass was standing. I closed my ears to the shouts and gunfire, closed my eyes to the flashing spells and the rush of movement. I focused my senses on the ground beneath my feet and what would be coming up from it. The battle around didn’t matter. There was only me, Compass and Caldera.
Nothing.
Nothing . . .
There.
Caldera was underneath, rising fast. I threw my energy into the fateweaver. She was too close to push away – all I could do was affect who she’d home in on. I made a snap decision, pushed the futures down that path, threw warnings into the minds of the mages closest to me and then I was out of time.
Caldera breached the surface like a shark lunging from the ocean. But she came up under my feet, not Compass’s, and as I jumped away her clutching hand missed my ankle. The focus was on my left hand; I twisted in mid-air, aiming the gold and silver lattice like a knuckleduster, and triggered it.
Energy surged out, engulfing Caldera as she finished rising from the stone. She staggered; the spell she’d been about to launch at Compass collapsed and Caldera fell to her knees.
‘Freeze!’ Slate shouted. Ji-yeong halted, her sword raised above Caldera’s head. Compass didn’t move, all her attention on her spell.
Rain came striding forward. ‘Verus. Is she—?’
‘Jinn’s lost control,’ I called over the gunfire. I was watching the futures very closely. ‘For now.’
Rain knelt down in front of Caldera and put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Caldera,’ he said in his deep voice. ‘Wake up.’
Caldera raised her head. Her eyes were muddy and confused, but they were human again. ‘. . . Rain?’
‘You’ve been controlled by an ifrit jinn,’ Rain said. A burst of gunfire stammered from the window nearest to him, but he didn’t take his eyes off Caldera. ‘Hold still.’
‘Rain . . .’ Caldera said. ‘What did I . . . ?’
The futures shifted; looking ahead, I felt a chill. The jinn was rebuilding its connection to Caldera, and it was doing it fast. Very fast. It’s coming back, I sent through the dreamstone to Rain.
‘We’re going to get you out of here,’ Rain told Caldera.
The building shuddered as a lightning bolt struck the roof. Fear flickered in Caldera’s eyes. ‘It’s coming.’
‘Fight it,’ Rain said urgently. ‘You can do this.’
The futures were coming closer and closer. None of them were good. Rain, I sent. It’s not going to work.
Emotions flashed back through the link at me; anger, frustration. Caldera drew a ragged breath, fixed her gaze on Rain. ‘Get away,’ she said hoarsely.
Rain didn’t take his hand off Caldera. ‘Fight it.’
Rain!
‘Shut up!’ Rain snapped.
Caldera’s eyes flicked from Rain to me. Fury flashed, replaced in an instant by that deadly blank stare.
‘Caldera, you—’ Rain began.
Caldera’s fist swung in a short, deadly arc. There was the crack of breaking bone and I caught a glimpse of Rain flying through the air, his head twisted at an impossible angle.
Caldera surged to her feet, turning towards Compass, but I was faster. The sovnya rammed through Caldera’s chest, pinning her in place.
Caldera swayed back but held her ground. The sovnya flared, trying to incinerate Caldera from the inside, but as the flesh around the blade blackened it turned to sand. Caldera – the thing inside her – fixed its gaze upon me. It reached forward, took hold of the shaft of the sovnya and pulled itself forward, impaling itself to get closer to me.
I pulled my hands back, gripping the sovnya by its end. A paralysis spell from Slate slammed into Caldera, along with an ice blast from Hoarfrost. Caldera kept going, pulling herself further along the shaft.
One more pull and she’d be in reach. Caldera was pushing me towards Compass and she was staggeringly strong; it was all I could do to hold her back. Ji-yeong’s sword clanged off Caldera’s side. ‘Landis!’ I yelled.
‘The focus,’ Landis called. Fire was dancing at his hands, but we were too close for him to loose his spell.
My muscles were screaming at me; only the strength of my right arm was letting me hold my ground. The lattice was still on my left hand but both of my hands were locked in a death grip on the sovnya’s haft and if I let go Caldera would be free. Caldera pulled herself along the shaft one last time and now I could smell the scent from her body, scorched sand and flesh. Blank, empty eyes stared into mine as she reached for me.