Fated av-1

by Benedict Jacka

  Two mages, two elementals, two battles; as soon as Onyx or Thirteen won, we were finished. ‘Don’t choose,’ I said to Luna, raising my voice over the sounds of battle. ‘Leave it up to luck.’

  ‘I don’t-’ Luna began, then stopped. Her eyes went wide as she understood.

  From behind, I heard Starbreeze give a yelp of pain. ‘Alex! Hurts!’

  Luna took a deep breath, then pulled herself to her knees, gasping slightly as her right arm shifted. My hands itched to help her but I stood my ground. Carefully Luna drew out the crystal, closed her eyes as the sounds of battle raged all around us, then reached out blindly.

  The crystal slotted neatly into the leftmost holder.

  There was no fanfare this time. The crystal pulsed, and the force field over the fateweaver pulsed with it. Then the barrier was gone, and the fateweaver was clearly visible: a simple, unmarked wand of ivory. I snatched it up, and-

  — silence.

  I didn’t hesitate. As soon as I felt the momentary dizziness I stepped back, looking around. I could see my body crouched over the pedestal, Luna slumped beneath. ‘Abithriax!’

  ‘Well, well.’ I spun to see Abithriax walking towards me across the floor, picking his way through the battle in his red robes. Onyx and Rachel were duelling all around him, and a blast of force passed straight through Abithriax’s image without touching him. ‘Things have gotten lively.’

  ‘I need to use the fateweaver!’

  ‘Yes, you do,’ Abithriax said. ‘Listen carefully. To use the fateweaver, you and I must merge. I will open my mind to you; my knowledge and skill will be yours. The link requires your willing consent.’ Abithriax’s eyes held mine. ‘Hold back even a little, and it will fail.’

  Behind Abithriax, Onyx shattered Rachel’s shield into shards of sea-green light. I knew the kind of mind magic Abithriax was describing was dangerous. If I went along with this, I wasn’t sure who I’d be when I returned to my body. I looked down at Luna. She was crouched down on the dais, trying to hide from the battle raging around us. ‘Do it.’

  Something flickered in Abithriax’s eyes, then they were smooth again. He nodded and walked up to the dais. ‘Then hold out your hand.’

  I lifted my right arm. Abithriax reached out, then paused. ‘I suggest you brace yourself.’ He looked into my eyes. ‘This will feel … a little odd.’

  Abithriax grasped my hand, and everything went white.

  14

  When I came back to my body it was like waking up for the first time.

  Luna was saying something, but I barely noticed. I knew exactly what was happening without needing to look. I started walking down off the dais, twirling the fateweaver absent-mindedly in my right hand. ‘Starbreeze,’ I called. ‘Break off.’

  Starbreeze tore herself away from Thirteen. Her form was tattered, mist leaking from her wounds. She shot me one terrified look and fled. Thirteen didn’t pursue, instead turning back to me, her primary target. She’d shed the last of the glitterdust and as she moved she faded into invisibility again.

  Thirteen was the greater threat; I should eliminate her first. I turned my back on her and looked to the other side of the room. ‘Onyx!’

  Onyx had crippled Rachel, sending her limping into the darkness of the pillars; now he turned to me. ‘Rules changed, Chosen,’ I told him. I kept walking, placing myself between the two killers. ‘Surrender or die.’

  Onyx didn’t waste time answering. A whirlwind of razor-edged discs of force flashed towards me.

  I sidestepped and the attack hit Thirteen just as she swept in at me from behind. She flashed into visibility as the force blades chewed her to pieces. Her mouth opened in surprise, and she looked at me with wide eyes, and for a moment I thought she was going to speak. Then she was nothing but wisps of drifting air.

  I looked back to see Onyx staring at me in shock. That attack should have hit me; I knew it, and he knew it. ‘Last chance,’ I said.

  Onyx threw a lance of force at me, followed by a spinning sawblade that could have cut me in half. Next was a series of hammer blows, then a force wave, then he just blasted the entire area in a thirty-foot radius.

  He might as well have saved his strength.

  The power the fateweaver gave me was beautifully simple. My divination magic let me see what might happen; the fateweaver let me pick what would happen. Together, they were invincible. Fighting Onyx was like a chess match where I got to play both sides of the board. Each attack had a hole, a flaw; I lined up each flaw with my own movement so that it would miss. I didn’t even move fast enough to break a sweat.

  ‘What the fuck!’ Onyx screamed as I walked through the blast, bits of stone chipping and bouncing around me.

  I kept advancing, and Onyx backed away. ‘Your aim really is terrible, you know that?’

  Onyx threw an entire wall of force at me. He was panicking now, and that made it even easier; I found a flaw in the wall, enlarged it, and chose the future where the flaw was aligned with my course. I had to dip my head slightly as the wall ruffled my hair, then I straightened up and kept walking. ‘What the fuck!’ Onyx screamed again. ‘I hit you! I know I hit you!’

  I sprang at him.

  Onyx struck with everything he had, but my attack had been a feint and I slipped away as Onyx filled the air around him with missiles. Onyx’s strikes were frantic, uncontrolled, and it was easy to curve one of the bolts of force around to strike him in the back. The impact threw him from his feet, blood spattering the stone.

  Onyx struggled to rise, gasping, until the sound of my footsteps made him look up. I was walking towards him, and as I did I slid my knife from its sheath, letting its blade glint in the dusk. ‘Should have listened when you had the chance,’ I told Onyx, and I was smiling as I said it.

  Onyx looked up at me, and for the first time I saw fear in his eyes. I knew Onyx was no coward. He could face battle without flinching, but this was something beyond his understanding, and the magic that had been a sword and a shield since childhood had betrayed him. To Onyx it must have seemed as though his world had turned upside down. He made his decision and acted in the same instant, and his body vanished in a mote of darkness as he teleported away. All that was left were drops of blood on the stone.

  I came to halt with an annoyed tch. If I’d been paying more attention, I could have anticipated Onyx’s flight and prevented it. Still, not bad for a first try, I suppose.

  ‘Alex?’

  I looked around to see that Luna was the only one still moving. She was still kneeling, chained to the pedestal, staring at me with wide eyes. ‘He got away,’ I said, unable to keep the irritation out of my voice. ‘Stay there.’ I began a circuit of the room, checking for survivors.

  Griff, needless to say, was very dead. After being shredded, incinerated and disintegrated all at once, what was left of his body could fit in a pencil case. Anyone planning to give him a burial would need a mop and a vacuum cleaner. Thirteen was gone as well, though with her I wasn’t sure how permanent it would be. The trouble with incorporeal creatures is that it’s always so hard to tell if they’re really dead.

  The big surprise was that Cinder was still breathing. The back of his head was a mess, and he was carrying a few broken bones, but he was still alive, for the moment at least. I searched his body, then glanced up as I sensed movement.

  Rachel was standing a few pillars away. Her mask had been torn away in the battle, and for the second time that day she was Rachel rather than Deleo again. She didn’t move. ‘Rachel,’ I said with a smile, rising to my feet. I lifted the fateweaver and raised my eyebrows. ‘Want to try and take it?’

  Rachel didn’t answer and I walked towards her. ‘Don’t tell me you’re not thinking about it,’ I said. ‘You’re wondering if you can succeed where Onyx failed.’ I reached Rachel and began to walk slowly around her. ‘Do you think you can?’

  Rachel swivelled to stay facing me, limping slightly as she did. Her hair was disarrayed, matted in one place with blood,
but her eyes followed me unblinkingly. ‘Well?’ I said.

  Rachel shook her head slowly, not taking her eyes off me.

  ‘Why not?’ I leant in and suddenly I was right behind Rachel, whispering into her ear. I could smell her scent, blood and sweat and dust … and something else, as well, something that made my nerves quicken. ‘You like to kill by touch, don’t you? You’re close enough. Show me what you’ve learned.’

  Rachel shook her head again. ‘Why not?’ I said again, softly into her ear.

  Rachel was silent for a long moment. ‘You’d win,’ she said at last, her voice as soft as mine.

  ‘Yes,’ I said. ‘You were always good at knowing when you were outmatched, weren’t you? Not like Shireen.’

  Rachel held very still. I withdrew, pulling away from her. ‘Now,’ I said coldly. ‘Why should I let you live?’

  ‘We had a deal-’

  I laughed, then, my voice suddenly cruel, and Rachel stopped. ‘Did you think I was that stupid?’

  There was fear in Rachel’s eyes, but there was something else too: she was looking at me with respect for the first time, and I found I liked it. ‘Still,’ I said. ‘You might be some use. But payment is only put off. I’ll be calling on you. Understand?’

  Rachel nodded carefully. ‘I understand.’ She stepped away, backing towards Cinder.

  I lifted an eyebrow. ‘You want him as well?’

  ‘He’s all I have,’ Rachel said. She spoke simply, and I had the odd feeling that for once she was being honest.

  I shrugged. ‘He can share your obligation. Go.’

  Rachel nodded again, then opened a gateway and started to pull Cinder through it. Her movements as she pulled the big man were oddly tender. Then the gate closed behind them and I was walking back towards Luna.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Luna said as I reached the dais. She’d gotten to her feet, and was standing with her arm cradled awkwardly, staring at me. ‘How did you do that?’

  ‘Back off two steps,’ I said. Luna did, causing the chains to rattle and draw out. As the links stretched I identified the weakest points, created a pair of hairline flaws, then shattered them with two stamp kicks. I turned towards the wall. ‘This way.’

  ‘But-’ Luna said, then found she was talking to my retreating back. She hurried after me, the broken chains rattling. ‘Where’s Starbreeze?’

  ‘She’ll be fine.’ I stopped in front of a featureless section of wall, then spoke a command word. It darkened, then faded away, and I stepped inside. ‘Come on, unless you want to stay.’

  Luna started, then followed me in. I touched a control crystal on the wall and with a shudder the room sealed itself and began to move.

  ‘Alex?’ Luna asked. ‘What does that thing do?’

  I smiled. ‘Oh, Luna, I wish you could feel it. It’s like being able to see where you were blind. Watch.’ I stepped forward.

  Luna flinched. ‘Don’t!’

  I laughed. ‘Your curse? That can’t hurt me now.’ I could see the silvery mist drifting around me, never quite reaching. Occasionally a strand would touch me, but I simply grounded it in the floor, along with the remnants I’d picked up from earlier. It was just as well I’d found the fateweaver when I had; I’d gotten altogether too close to Luna over the past few days. I pointed at Luna’s broken arm, and as she flinched I translated her movement into resetting the bone, aligning the fragments into their proper place. Luna gave a yelp of pain, then stopped suddenly, staring down at her arm. ‘It doesn’t hurt.’

  ‘I did some encouraging of your body’s healing system. Once we find a healer I’ll have it fixed before you know it.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘And what do you say to having your curse lifted?’

  ‘ … What?’

  I laughed again. ‘Anything that’s possible, I can make real.’ The room came to a sudden halt and one side opened. ‘Our stop.’

  The journey out didn’t take long. Luna trailed along behind me, shell-shocked, as I strode along the corridors, eagerly laying plans for everything I was going to do once I got outside. Before anything else, I’d visit Morden. I was going to enjoy our next meeting, though I didn’t think he would. After that, I had a score or two to settle with Levistus. Then there were the others …

  I was so absorbed I hardly noticed once we reached the exit. ‘Hold up the cube,’ I told Luna.

  Luna hesitated, looked around. We were in a small, featureless room. ‘This isn’t the way we came in.’

  I felt a flash of annoyance that I had to explain things to her, then smoothed it over. ‘This is the back door. It’ll take us into the countryside.’

  Luna hesitated a moment longer, then obeyed, speaking the command words I ordered her to use. The cube lit up and a gateway opened in the wall, carrying with it a breeze that smelt of leaves and grass and cool night air. I stepped before the portal, next to Luna, and looked upwards. For a moment I could see nothing, then I started to make out pinpoints of white light. Gradually the stars took shape before me, and as my eyes adjusted I could see the shape of a hillside, trees silhouetted against the night sky. I stood there for a long moment, drinking in the starlight, basking in the rush of triumph. I’d done it. I’d won.

  ‘Let’s go, Luna,’ I said. ‘We’ve got a world waiting for us.’

  Then suddenly there was a whirlwind in front of me, pushing me away. I jumped back with a curse, bumping into Luna and making her cry out. The whirlwind solidified, taking the form of a waif-like girl with spiky hair. ‘Don’t!’ Starbreeze said urgently.

  ‘Starbreeze?’ I recovered my balance. ‘What the hell are you doing?’

  ‘Wrong! Don’t go!’

  ‘You’re in the way.’ I tried to walk forward and again found myself in the middle of a whirlwind of air, driving me back. I came to a stop and looked angrily at her. ‘Starbreeze!’

  Starbreeze didn’t move. ‘Can’t go!’

  Luna looked at me in puzzlement. ‘What’s going on?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ I said in exasperation. Starbreeze wasn’t intending any harm, else my precognition would have sensed her, but she wasn’t budging either. ‘You can’t go,’ Starbreeze insisted. ‘Wrong!’

  ‘Maybe it’s dangerous?’ Luna asked doubtfully.

  ‘Luna, there’s nothing out there within a hundred miles that’s a danger to me,’ I said impatiently. ‘Starbreeze, get out of the way!’

  Starbreeze shook her head again. ‘Wrong.’

  I took a threatening step forward. ‘You stupid little-’

  ‘Wait!’ Luna said urgently, looking between us. She was close enough to Starbreeze to be dangerous, but Starbreeze was focused so desperately on me she didn’t even notice. ‘What’s wrong?’ Luna asked Starbreeze. ‘Isn’t this the way out?’

  Starbreeze shook her head again. ‘Can’t go.’ She stared at me anxiously. ‘He’s wrong.’

  ‘This is the way out,’ I said. ‘Starbreeze, move or I’ll make you move.’

  ‘Wait,’ Luna said. ‘What does she mean?’

  ‘Who cares?’

  ‘Wrong,’ Starbreeze said again, insistent.

  ‘She keeps saying that …’

  ‘Who cares?’ I wanted to get out of this place, walk outside the boundaries of the tomb and taste the night air, wanted it so badly I could taste it. Starbreeze was stopping me, and that was making me angry.

  Luna hesitated. ‘Shouldn’t we listen to her?’

  ‘No!’ I said in frustration. ‘There’s nothing for us to go back for. We are done with this place!’

  As I spoke, Luna started. ‘Wait!’

  I was almost ready to kill Luna. ‘NOW what?’

  ‘There is someone we need to go back for. Sonder!’

  I stared at her for a second. ‘Who?’

  ‘Sonder! Alex, you saw him, Griff hurt him, don’t you remember? He must be back in those corridors.’

  ‘He’s probably dead.’

  Luna started as if I’d slapped her. ‘He’s not! He was breathing whe
n Griff took me away. He could still be alive!’

  I started to answer and suddenly came to a halt. Luna was right. When I’d last seen Sonder he’d been alive. Griff hadn’t killed the younger mage, he’d only stunned him. So why had I been so sure he was dead?

  Luna was looking at me as if waiting for something. ‘What?’ I said at last.

  ‘Aren’t you going to …?’ Luna said. When I didn’t respond she trailed off.

  ‘We’ll go back for him later.’ I didn’t want to think about Sonder. I just wanted to get out.

  ‘He might be dead by then!’

  ‘Plenty more where he came from.’

  Luna started again, her eyes going wide. ‘Why do we have to deal with this now?’ I said in irritation. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

  ‘I can’t believe you’re saying this! Alex, you were the one who told him to stay with us!’ Luna was staring at me in shock. ‘What about what you told me? You said that you shouldn’t let someone die if you could help it. I believed you.’

  ‘When did I …?’ I trailed off as I remembered telling Luna that. It had been after we’d helped Cinder and Rachel. Except I didn’t really believe it, it had just been something to say to-

  No, it hadn’t just been something to say. I had believed it. I did believe it. Luna was right. I couldn’t just leave Sonder back there; I needed to go back and help him.

  No, Sonder didn’t matter. What I needed was to get out.

  Wait, that was wrong. Leaving Sonder in the middle of that maze would be like killing him.

  But I didn’t care about that.

  Yes, I did.

  I made a noise and turned away, holding a hand to my forehead. I was getting a headache; it felt like there were two voices in my head at once. I paced back and forth between the walls of the tunnel. ‘I don’t know,’ I muttered. ‘Let’s just get out of here.’ I felt I’d be able to think clearly if I only got outside.

  ‘No,’ Starbreeze said urgently to Luna. ‘Wrong.’

  ‘Shut up,’ I snapped. Their voices were making the headache worse. ‘I don’t-’ I turned and saw that both Starbreeze and Luna were looking at me now, and both had the same strange look on their face. ‘What are you staring at?’