Fated av-1

by Benedict Jacka

  A trace of anger was showing on Cinder’s face. ‘I think maybe you don’t know who I am.’

  I slung the pack over my shoulder, and turned to face Cinder. I’d learnt to hide my fear while still young, and it served me well now. Instead of slowing me down the fear sharpened me, focusing my senses. I could feel the slight tension in Cinder’s body as he squinted at me, angry and puzzled. Turning my back on him had been an insult, and now he was focused on me, trying to decide if I was powerful or just stupid. Behind, I could sense Luna pressed flat against the beech tree, a mouse menaced by a hawk. ‘I don’t much care,’ I said. ‘You’re here because you want something. Get to the point.’

  Cinder looked at me through narrowed eyes, his anger simmering before coming under control. ‘You met Lyle,’ he said at last.

  ‘And?’

  ‘He try to hire you?’ Cinder’s tone made it clear that he already knew the answer.

  ‘What if he did?’

  ‘You helping him?’

  I hesitated. Looking into the future wasn’t helping now — too many branches. I didn’t want to answer, but if I didn’t, Cinder would assume the answer was yes. That could be bad. ‘I don’t work for Lyle,’ I said finally.

  Cinder grunted and suddenly looked less threatening. ‘Smart.’ He paused. ‘We pay better.’

  It took me a second to take that in. When I did, I blinked. ‘You’re offering me a job?’

  ‘Need a seer. Could get others. Better we get you.’

  ‘What’s in it for me?’

  ‘Same as the rest. Share of the value.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Huh?’

  ‘What’s the value? How are you going to share it?’

  Cinder smirked. ‘You’re the seer. Find out.’

  ‘Funny.’

  Cinder’s smirk faded. He looked steadily at me. ‘Wasn’t joking.’

  If I agreed, Cinder would expect me to go with him, and if I stalled, he’d take it as weakness. ‘No thanks. I don’t work on credit.’

  ‘There’ll be a share.’

  ‘You think there’ll be a share.’ I shook my head. ‘Come back when you’ve got something more solid.’

  Cinder’s face darkened, and I felt the futures shift. Suddenly, the possibilities were looking a lot worse. ‘That your last word?’

  I kept my voice very calm. ‘Don’t try and threaten me, Cinder.’

  Cinder looked me up and down, slowly and deliberately. He wasn’t calling his magic up but I could sense he was ready to. ‘Seems to me,’ he said, ‘I could take you any time I want.’

  ‘You could try,’ I said lightly. Inside, I was panicking. I had no weapons, the cube was in the backpack over my shoulder, and Luna was hiding not fifteen feet away. If a fight started, it would be a disaster. I could see the futures forking ahead of me, depending on whether Cinder decided I was bluffing or not.

  For a moment Cinder hesitated, then he grinned again and the futures shifted decisively. ‘I reckon you got nothing.’

  Shit, shit, shit. Every future I could see now led to an all-out battle. I searched through them frantically, trying not to let it show in my voice. ‘Bad idea.’

  ‘Oh yeah?’ He spread his arms invitingly. ‘Take your best shot.’

  Twenty seconds. Suddenly I found a cluster of futures free and clear of danger. I scanned them desperately. What was the difference, what did I have to do? Ten seconds. The air started to darken around Cinder, the sunlight going from yellow to blood-red.

  A name. I rehearsed it, spoke. ‘Morden.’

  Cinder stopped dead. His magic faded away and the evening sunlight flooded back. ‘What?’

  I stood there, not answering. ‘You working for him?’ Cinder asked at last.

  I raised my eyebrows. ‘What do you think?’

  Cinder hesitated, and the seconds stretched out. It looked almost as if he were afraid. ‘Why didn’t you-?’

  ‘You didn’t ask.’

  Cinder’s expression firmed up again. ‘You tell the old man we meant it. He’s not our master.’ Cinder was still trying to sound threatening, but he wasn’t going to attack, not any more. ‘He’s smart, he’ll stay out of this. You too.’

  ‘What am I? Your postman? Tell him yourself.’

  Cinder stared at me, then took a step back, disappearing into the trees. I felt a surge of magic and he was gone.

  I stayed standing for another ten seconds, scanning the future to see if Cinder would be back. Once I was absolutely, positively sure he wouldn’t be, the strength went out of my legs and I flopped to the ground. My heart was hammering. ‘Jesus,’ I muttered.

  ‘Alex?’ Luna finally said from behind the tree.

  ‘He’s gone,’ I managed. I tried to get up and found I couldn’t. My hands were shaking. All I could do was sit there as Luna emerged, looking around at the normal, everyday shapes around her. The birds that had fallen silent at Cinder’s approach had started to sing again, and there was no sign he’d ever come. Luna knelt down, closer than normal. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I’m fine.’ I brushed my hair back, then gripped it to stop my hands shaking.

  Luna made as if to reach out to me, then checked herself and pulled back, drawing away to a safe distance. There was concern in her blue eyes, though, and strangely that made me feel better. ‘What happened?’

  I took a deep breath, remembering that Luna couldn’t look into the future. I’d seen all the ways the meeting could end with the grass burnt black with flame, but Luna had heard only voices. ‘That was your first Dark mage.’

  ‘They’re dangerous?’

  ‘Understatement of the year.’ My breathing was steadying down. I pulled myself to my feet and patted the backpack to make sure the cube was still there. ‘I don’t understand,’ Luna said. ‘Who’s Morden?’

  ‘Southbound terminus on the Northern line.’

  Luna looked at me blankly.

  I sighed. ‘No clue. All I know is that it was the only thing that would have got Cinder off my back.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Because it made Cinder think I’m working for this Morden guy, and he didn’t want to pick that big a fight. But now Cinder’s going to go hunt up some people to ask, and once he finds out it was a bluff, he’ll be back. I just bought myself a whole lot of trouble.’

  ‘You were bluffing?’

  I started for the edge of the park. ‘Let’s get out of here before he figures that out.’

  My flat is just above the shop, up on the first floor. It’s got what passes for my kitchen as well as a sofa, a table and a couple of chairs for my rare-to-nonexistent visitors. There are three watercolours on the walls, inherited from the previous owner, and the windows look out over a low roof onto a view of the London skyline. The sun was dipping low in the sky, and the lights had started to come on across the city, outlining the buildings in yellow and orange. Across the canal and visible over the bridges are blocks of flats, their sides turned towards me, and I like sometimes in the evenings to lie on the sofa and watch the shifting patterns of the lights in the windows, wondering what they mean.

  Luna was curled up on one corner of the sofa, while I was sprawled in my favourite chair. ‘So,’ I said, setting my glass down with a sigh. ‘Now you know one of the reasons I don’t hang around with other mages.’

  Luna gave me a questioning look and I shook my head, more to reassure myself than her. ‘Well, it’s done and we got away safely. Could have been a lot worse. You were a good girl to run and hide when I told you.’

  ‘Don’t call me a good girl. You’re not that much older.’

  ‘Don’t argue. Be a good girl.’

  Luna gave me one of her rare smiles. It faded quickly though. ‘Alex … You were scary. Your voice was so cold. I thought you were going to …’

  ‘Going to what?’

  Luna was silent. ‘You were really bluffing?’

  ‘He was looking for weakness.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t
know him?’

  ‘I know people like him.’ I fell silent, lost in old memories.

  ‘He talked like he knew you,’ Luna said after a pause.

  I didn’t answer.

  ‘How do you know people like him?’ When I still didn’t answer, Luna went on. ‘Is it about what you did before you got this shop?’

  ‘Luna …’ There was a warning note in my voice.

  Luna fell silent. When I looked up, though, she met my eyes, not backing down. ‘You’re better off staying away from this,’ I said at last. ‘Just knowing about these people can get you in trouble.’

  Luna tilted her head. ‘I thought you said I was already in trouble?’

  I hesitated. Mages have a policy of not discussing their business with outsiders. The Council wouldn’t be happy if they found I was telling this to Luna. On the other hand, the Council doesn’t like me anyway.

  And besides, I’ve never really bought into the idea of keeping people ignorant for their own good. What you know can hurt you, but what you don’t know can hurt you a lot worse. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘What do you know about Dark mages?’

  Luna curled her legs under her on the sofa. Her white fingers were clasped around a mug of tea, a faint wisp of steam drifting upwards. ‘I thought they were mages who went bad.’

  ‘No.’ I tried to figure out how to explain it. ‘Well … maybe. Dark mages follow a philosophy called the True Way. The True Way says that good and bad as we see it are conventions. Our ideas about good and evil come from customs and religions designed to benefit the people in power. Dark mages think that obeying them makes you a sheep. Like when you asked for that cube from that man today? A Dark mage would say you should have just taken it.’

  ‘You mean stealing it?’

  ‘A Dark mage would tell you that you only feel stealing is wrong because your parents brought you up that way. Right and wrong are just conventions, like which side of the road you drive on.’

  Luna thought about it for a few seconds, then shook her head. ‘But he’d have called the police.’

  I nodded. ‘That’s the bit they think matters. What stops people breaking the law is the threat of punishment, and the threat only means anything if there’s the power to enforce it. To a Dark mage, power is reality. The more power you have, the more you can shape the reality around you. Strength, cunning, influence, whatever, but the one thing they don’t tolerate is weakness. Dark mages believe weakness is a sin, something shameful. If you’re not strong enough to take what you want, it’s your fault.’

  Luna frowned. ‘Oh.’

  ‘Do you understand?’

  ‘I suppose.’ Luna thought for a second. ‘I’ve heard people say stuff like that. I suppose they’ve got a point.’

  I shook my head. ‘It’s not about having a point. Dark mages don’t say these things. They live them.’

  Luna looked at me, and I knew she didn’t understand. ‘That man, Cinder,’ I said. ‘What do you think he would have done if he’d found you?’

  Luna looked suddenly uneasy. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Whatever he wanted,’ I said. ‘He might have ignored you. He might have laughed and walked off. He might have raped you and left you bleeding on the ground. He might have taken you back to his mansion as a slave. And he wouldn’t think twice about doing any of those things.’

  Luna stared. ‘And something else,’ I went on. ‘No other Dark mage would think twice about him doing any of those things either. If you can’t stop him, it’s your fault. Understand now?’

  Luna’s eyes were wide, and I could tell I’d finally gotten through. ‘You know these people?’

  ‘Yes.’ Luna began to say something else but I shook my head. ‘Don’t ask me about it. Not now.’

  Luna fell silent. The pause dragged out and became uncomfortable. ‘I should go home,’ Luna said at last. I nodded and rose.

  I walked Luna out. She kept at arm’s length just like always, but there was a distance that hadn’t been there before. Over the past months, Luna had started to open up to me a little. Now all of a sudden she was drawing back.

  Once she was gone, I locked the door with a sigh. I’d been trying to scare her, and I had. I didn’t like showing Luna that side of me but I knew the safest thing would be for her to stay away for a few days, at least until this business with Cinder was settled. But I had the feeling that it would be a lot longer than a few days before Luna called me again for advice.

  Somehow that depressed me. I shook it off. No one likes guys who get sentimental.

  I took the red crystal cube and put it somewhere very hard to find. Then I headed for my room. I’d been planning to make inquiries about the cube but Cinder’s reaction had changed all that. If just the sight of it was enough to make him try to kill me, I didn’t want to spread it around that I had it. Instead I’d keep it secret until the fuss had died down, and in the meantime I’d arrange for it to be thoroughly investigated by an expert in magical items … namely, me.

  But first I needed to find out more about this Precursor relic that Lyle and Cinder were so interested in. And this time, I wasn’t going out empty-handed.

  Being a diviner is all about being prepared; that was why I’d been so scared when Cinder had caught me napping. Diviners can’t do the flashy things that elemental mages can. We can’t fly or throw fire or disintegrate things. We aren’t any tougher or stronger than other men, and our magic gives us no power over the physical world. But what we do have is knowledge, and applied in the right way that can be some pretty impressive leverage.

  I set about making sure I’d have something to apply that leverage to. I dressed in a warm shirt and jeans, then put on a pair of black running shoes before turning to the items scattered around my desk. My first choice was a crystal sphere the size of a marble with a fingernail’s worth of mist swirling inside — I dropped it into my right-hand coat pocket, checked to see that I could reach it quickly, then did the same with a small glass rod in the matching pocket on my left. Next was a packet of trail dust — my last one; I’d have to get some more. A tapering crystal wand about eight inches long clipped into my coat, then I filled the rest of my pockets with a general selection of odds and ends: a jar of healing salve, a handful of tiny pieces of silver jewellery and two vials containing a pale blue liquid.

  Next I went on to my mundane items. Most mages aren’t fond of technology but I prefer to take every advantage I can get. A small, powerful torch went on my belt along with a few tools and a slender-bladed knife held securely in its sheath. I reached for the drawer which held my gun, paused, then decided to leave it behind. It would probably be more trouble than it was worth.

  Finally, I went to my wardrobe and took out my mist cloak. It’s not the most powerful item I own, but it’s the one I most trust. To casual eyes it looks like a length of some kind of grey-black cloth, thin and light and soft to the touch. If you keep looking, the colours seem to shift and flow at the edge of your vision, subtly enough that you might think you’d imagined it. Mist cloaks are woven from moonbeams and the webs of snowspiders, and they’re rare and little known items. They’re imbued items, not simple focuses, and as I put it on the colours rippled quickly before going still. I patted it affectionately, then turned to look at myself in the mirror.

  I saw a tall figure, angular lines blurred by the shadows of the mist cloak. From beneath the hood a pale, quizzical face looked back at me, guarded and watchful, spiky black hair framing a pair of dark eyes. I studied myself for a moment, then turned to the door.

  Time to get to work.

  The sun had long set by the time I stepped off the ladder onto the roof of my flat. A few muted stars shone down from above, their faint glow almost drowned out by the yellow blaze of the London lights. Rooftops, chimneys and TV aerials were all around me, shadowed in the darkness, and from below came the sounds of the city. The air carried the scent of car exhausts and old brickwork.

  Mages like to think their magic sets them above eve
ryone else, and I guess in some ways that’s true. But when you get right down to it, mages are still people and, just like other people, they gossip. Lyle might think his Precursor relic was a secret, but I was willing to bet it wasn’t anywhere near as secret as he thought it was. And if the news was out, I knew someone who’d have heard all about it.

  The roof of my flat’s maybe twenty feet square, peeling white paint bordered by a small parapet with a dusty chimney sticking up to one side. If you’re a good climber you can cross to other houses, and often I do. I stood in the centre, took the glass rod from my pocket and wove a tiny thread of magic through it, whispering as I did. ‘Starbreeze. Dancer of the air, friend to the clouds, you who know the secrets of the mountain peaks and all between earth and sky. I am Alexander Verus and I call to you. Come to me, lady of the wind.’ A faint breeze sprung up, as the whispering wind swept my words away and into the north. I repeated it again for south, west and east, then looked into the future.

  The good news was that Starbreeze would be here soon. The bad news was that the assassin stalking me would be here sooner.

  It’s nearly impossible to surprise an alert diviner. It’s how we survive in a world of things bigger and nastier than we are. I’d detected the man hunting me even before I’d stepped outside my door. The only question was what to do about it.

  I don’t usually let people pick fights with me. It’s not hard to give someone the slip when you can see the future, and the kind of people who like picking fights tend to have lots of other enemies. It’s easier just to keep your head down and wait for someone else to deal with them. In this case, though, if I shook this mage off, the first thing he’d do would be to try and break into my shop, and that would risk him finding the cube. I was better off dealing with him directly.

  Of course, that didn’t mean I was going to fight fair. I hopped down to the roof of the house next to me and kept going until I reached the roof of a small block of flats to my south, five buildings down. The building had been renovated ten years back, and the roof now held a couple of ventilators, but it still had the old chimney stacks near the edge. The combination of old and new made the roof cluttered, giving plenty of cover. I checked the roof to make sure the layout was as I remembered, then leant against one of the ventilators, closed my eyes, and waited.