‘Then why did he . . . ?’ Luna asked.

  ‘Hand them over?’ I said. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Landis and Rain are planning the assault on the keep,’ Luna said. ‘They want to know if that weapon’s going to work.’

  ‘Oh, it’ll work,’ I said. ‘Channel a thread of magic and say the command word, and it’ll project its effect over a narrow cone to a thirty-foot range. But as to whether it’ll stop an ifrit . . . well, it’s not like we’ve got one to test it.’

  Ji-yeong appeared in the courtyard below. She exchanged some words with the disposal team, then began picking her way over towards the mausoleum.

  ‘The security guys are talking like you practically won the battle on your own,’ Luna said. ‘I wasn’t expecting you to be celebrating, but I didn’t think you’d be . . .’

  ‘Doesn’t feel like much of a win.’

  From fifty feet below, Ji-yeong glanced up at the two of us, then walked across towards where Vihaela had fallen. ‘I mean, we did just beat Richard’s entire force,’ Luna said. ‘Yes, people died, but it sounds as though if you hadn’t been there we would have lost a lot more. Even Keepers that I thought hated you were admitting it. I know you had to kill that adept, but I’m really glad you convinced the rest to surrender.’

  In the courtyard below, Ji-yeong reached Vihaela’s body and stopped. ‘It’s not about the adept,’ I said.

  ‘Then what is it?’

  ‘I killed Ilmarin,’ I said. It was hard to say it, but Luna was maybe the only one left in the shadow realm that I could talk to. ‘Got him killed, I mean, but it comes to the same thing.’

  ‘Ilmarin’s dead?’

  I pointed. ‘Over there, on that rooftop. Last seconds of the battle with Vihaela. I saw her getting away, and Ilmarin was the only one in position to stop her. I knew if he did, there was maybe a seventy, eighty per cent chance she’d kill him. I ordered him to do it anyway.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘Because if I hadn’t, we’d have lost her,’ I said with a sigh. ‘She was just too good. If I’d played it safe, Vihaela would have made it into the mausoleum, and once she was out of sight she’d have used her mist cloak and we wouldn’t have been able to track her. Probably. But the truth is, that’s just a guess. Maybe once she was inside she wouldn’t have been able to find a way out, and we’d have been able to trap her. Maybe she’d have decided to do what Richard did and just break off and disappear. I wasn’t willing to take the chance and so I rolled the dice and they came up wrong, and Ilmarin’s dead.’ I looked at Luna. ‘Do you think I was right?’

  ‘. . . I don’t know.’

  We sat in silence for a little while. ‘Ilmarin was one of the witnesses from my apprenticeship ceremony,’ Luna said eventually.

  ‘He was, wasn’t he?’ I said. It had been six years ago. ‘You know, when I found out about Nimbus’s plan this morning, I was furious. I was so outraged that he was going to sacrifice those men to buy time. But I just did pretty much the same thing. I knew what was going to happen when I gave Ilmarin that order, and I still did it. He was one of the only Keepers from the Order of the Star who always treated us decently, and now he’s dead because of my decision.’

  Below us, Ji-yeong was still looking down at Vihaela’s body. ‘I’m still thinking about that ceremony,’ Luna said. ‘You remember who was there?’ She began ticking people off on her fingers. ‘Talisid swore me in; Anne was my second; Ilmarin was the other witness; Sonder was there too; and we all went to Arachne’s afterwards. Now Sonder’s dead, Ilmarin’s dead, Arachne’s gone, Talisid tried to kill you last week, and Anne . . .’ Luna tailed off, a sad look on her face. ‘We’ve lost so much.’

  The simple way that she said it hurt. I wished I could tell her that the worst was over.

  I looked away from Luna, down at the courtyard. ‘You were right,’ I said. ‘I’m not cold enough to keep doing this.’

  Luna reached out, her curse pulling back, and put her hand on my shoulder. She left it there a few seconds before taking it away again, letting her curse flow back out to her fingers. We sat together in silence for another minute or so.

  At last, Luna got to her feet. ‘I’ll tell them you’ll be there soon,’ she said, then hesitated. ‘Alex? About whether you were right . . . I still don’t know. But for what it’s worth . . . these decisions, about who lives and who dies? I’m glad you’re the one making them, and not Nimbus or Talisid. And not me.’

  Luna walked away. The disposal team at the far end of the courtyard was bagging up the body of the soldier Vihaela had decapitated. As for Ji-yeong, she hadn’t moved.

  I picked up the ring and lattice, then pushed off the roof and let myself float down to the courtyard below.

  I landed a little way from Ji-yeong. She glanced over, then went back to staring down at Vihaela’s body. I walked to her side.

  ‘Did you know her?’ I asked when the Korean girl stayed quiet.

  Ji-yeong shook her head.

  ‘But?’

  ‘I knew about her,’ Ji-yeong said. ‘She was a legend. When we’d talk about the most powerful death mages and life mages, we’d argue about numbers two and three, but never about number one.’

  ‘Did you want to be like her?’

  Ji-yeong hesitated. ‘I don’t think so?’ she said at last. ‘But she was the strongest.’

  ‘True,’ I said. ‘She might have been the best battle mage I’ve ever known.’ I nodded down at the body. ‘You’ll end up like that some day.’

  Ji-yeong looked up, startled.

  ‘The only way to be as strong as her, and as feared as her, is to walk the same path she did,’ I told Ji-yeong. ‘That’s where it ends. Anything else you need here?’

  ‘. . . No.’

  I nodded and turned away. Ji-yeong took a last look down at Vihaela, then as I kept walking she abandoned the body and followed me.

  17

  After the battle came clean-up. Soldiers cleared away the bodies while medics and members of the healer corps tended to the wounded. Richard’s surviving adepts were searched and disarmed, then put under guard.

  ‘That’s the plan,’ I said. ‘Thoughts?’

  Landis, Rain and I were back at the projection table with half a dozen of the more senior Keepers. The rest were out supervising the clean-up work and standing guard; a few of Richard’s mages were still at large, not to mention the jinn. The projection table was showing a close-up of the keep at the centre of the castle. Four white diamonds within the corners marked the ward anchor points we’d failed to destroy this morning.

  ‘Well, Compass, it’s your call,’ Landis said. ‘How close do you need to be to those wards?’

  ‘Two hundred feet would be nice,’ Compass said. ‘I can manage three, but the closer the better.’

  Rain glanced down at the projection. ‘So . . . ?’

  ‘Here,’ I said, pointing to an L-shaped building off the keep’s south-east corner. ‘Two hundred and twenty feet at the closest point. If we can’t make it that far, second best building is the one to the south-west.’

  ‘South approach, then,’ Landis said.

  I nodded. ‘Start from the courtyard, sweep north. I don’t see much point trying anything fancy. We need to secure the area and that means eliminating everything in our path.’

  ‘What are we looking at?’ Rain asked.

  ‘Jann and shaitan,’ I said. ‘They’ve got a skirmish line out to here, and once we hit it they’ll reinforce fast. Main problem is going to be the three ifrit. Sagash, Caldera and Aether.’ I touched my finger to a tall, ornate building to the south of the keep. It was huge, more than half the height of the keep itself, and loomed over the southern section of the castle. ‘If I had to guess, they’ll occupy the cathedral. It’s got an elevated view over the whole southern approach.’

  Landis nodded. ‘We’ll have to take it. Barrayar’s ifrit?’

  ‘Hasn’t been re-summoned, at least not yet.’

  ‘And the marids?’ Rain asked.

  It was the big question. ‘I don’t think they’re leaving the keep.’

  ‘Heard that before,’ Tobias observed.

  ‘I know,’ I said with a nod. ‘And I know last time they caught us by surprise when they did. But so far – so far – I can’t see any futures in which Variam or Anne’s marids go outside the keep walls. I think the sultan prefers to use lesser jinn whenever it can. As far as it’s concerned, jann, shaitan, even ifrits are all expendable. It loses any, it can just re-summon them. Losing Anne or Variam is another story. I have the feeling it won’t deploy them unless it feels under threat.’

  ‘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.

  But most of my attention was on the battle ahead. Aether and Sagash were raining down attacks from above; the shields of the Council mages were holding, but they’d be vulnerable once they tried to ascend. I selected strands of fate, reinforced them, sent images through the dreamstone. Flying mages from the eastern wing took to the sky, engaging Aether from the air. The fire on the advancing mages fell off, and I pushed the eastern and southern forces up while Sagash was busy with the ones to the west.

  My magesight picked up mobility spells, force and fire and air. Mages scaled the walls of the cathedral, jumped up to the windows and doors. Sagash countered with that jinn magic I’d seen in the tombs: the black sun. Through my divination I saw which mages were at risk, and sent urgent messages through the dreamstone to duck back. Black beams carved through wood and stone, but no one was killed. Below, Caldera was about to join the battle, and I detached two mages to block her.

  More mages were reaching the cathedral, and the battle was intensifying. I sped up, following the route from the south that Sagash and Aether were now too busy to watch.

  By the time I reached the cathedral, the battle was raging at full force. The cathedral was a single huge building with elevated entrances to the north and south. I walked up to the southern entrance, Luna and Ji-yeong still following, and stopped just to one side of the double doors. The roar and crack of battle magic echoed from within, and I looked into the futures for a clear view.

  The interior of the cathedral was a vast, empty space. The lower floor was broken with a giant rift running through the centre, and the upper floor consisted of a railed walkway with a catwalk spanning the cathedral from north to south. Lines of windows opened out to east and west, and the mages of the attack force had used them to force their way through; broken glass was scattered on the walkway.

  Sagash was at the north end, almost hidden behind his shield. Above his head hovered a black sun that drank in light. Beams of death speared from it, cutting through anything in their path, while magic attacks of every kind poured in through the broken windows, ice and fire and force all slamming into Sagash’s shield as though drawn by a magnet. The noise was incredible, a continuous thundering roar.