Cursed av-2

by Benedict Jacka

  I took out my phone and dialled Talisid’s number. In case you’re wondering why I was climbing onto the roof to make a phone call, it’s because I didn’t want to be overheard.

  It’s a perfectly reasonable thing to do. Stop looking at me like that.

  Talisid answered when I’d expected. “Morning, Verus.”

  “How did things go on Friday?”

  “Routine. As far as the Council’s concerned, the matter’s closed.”

  “Did you figure out what killed the barghest?”

  “No need. Now that it’s dead, no one has any reason to spend the time.”

  “Is the body in storage?”

  “Destroyed.”

  “Oh.”

  “Did you want it examined?”

  “I’d been hoping it would be.” I couldn’t honestly say it was unexpected but it was a bit disappointing all the same.

  “I could always give you the autopsy report.”

  “…Wait, what?”

  I heard Talisid chuckle. “Glad to see you’re not entirely immune to being surprised.”

  “I thought you just said there wasn’t any need?”

  “There wasn’t. I had the corpse analysed anyway.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you were curious.”

  “And you thought you’d satisfy my curiosity?”

  “No, I decided if you were curious, it was probably worth looking into. Consider it a compliment.”

  I snorted. “All right, Sun Tzu. What did you find?”

  There was the rustle of paper in the background. “Physically, the barghest was completely undamaged apart from minor bruises and lacerations. As far as nonmagical analysis can show, the creature was in perfect health.”

  “Apart from being dead?”

  “Apart from being dead. Magical scans also negative. Fatal life or death magic usually leaves distinctive evidence in the cellular structure, and the same goes for mind and charm magic in the brain. There was no evidence that living family magic had caused the creature’s death.”

  I frowned. “So that means … what? It wasn’t killed by injury or by magic?”

  “Not quite. There was no spell residue but there was something missing. The creature’s natural residual aura was only a fraction as strong as it should have been. Something drained the energy right out of the thing. The examiner thinks that was the cause of death, and I agree. Barghests are magical creatures. Take away their magic, no more barghest.”

  “Huh.” I stood thinking. “That’s not a normal way to kill something, is it?”

  “It’s not. What’s your interest in this?”

  “Favour for a friend. Do you want me to copy you in if I find anything?”

  “Please. Was there anything else?”

  “Yeah. Know anything about a woman called Mere-dith?”

  “Meredith … Dark, petite, late twenties to early thirties? Could cause a traffic accident walking down the street?”

  “That’s the one.”

  “Unaligned mage. Affiliated with several different Council mages over the years, but she’s always stayed independent. Probably got a few connections in the Dark camp as well, though nothing’s been proven. She dabbled in politics for a while and used to be a regular on the social circuit, but she got too close to that business with Dagon last year and had her fingers burnt rather badly. Haven’t seen her at the balls since then.”

  I paced slowly up and down. “What type of mage?”

  “Enchantress. Not too powerful but very skilled. Could twist men around her little finger.”

  I stopped moving.

  “Verus? You there?”

  I was silent for a few seconds. “Yeah,” I said at last.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “No,” I said. “No problem. Any connections?”

  “No master, no apprentices. Her name’s been linked with plenty of other mages, but the relationships never seem to last. They’re usually active in Council politics and always men. You can guess what the rumour mill has to say about that, but the truth is no one knows very much about her.”

  I stood quietly on the roof. “Thanks for the help,” I said eventually.

  “No problem. I take it you weren’t asking from academic interest.”

  “No.”

  Talisid sounded amused. “Well, consider yourself forewarned. You’ll have to tell me how it goes.”

  “Assuming I’m around to tell you. I’ll be in touch about the barghest.”

  “Good to hear. Until then.” Talisid hung up.

  I lowered the phone and stared down at it. The cool wind blew over me, ruffling my hair and chilling my bare arms, and I shivered.

  Enchantresses use charm magic, also known as emotion magic. Men who can use it are called enchanters, but they’re rarer and it’s always seen as one of the stereotypically female branches. They can’t affect thoughts and concepts in the way a mind mage can, but they’re masters of feeling and emotion. In terms of raw power they’re on the low end of the magical scale but they have one distinctive ability: their magic is incredibly hard to detect. It’s almost impossible to tell when an enchantress is using her magic and when she’s not. The whole distinction between magical and normal is much more fuzzy for enchantresses than it is for other mages; magic for them is as natural as talking and just as easy, and they’re sometimes not aware they’re using it at all.

  Mages tend to be wary of enchantresses, almost as much as they are of diviners. Our emotions are one of the most basic parts of what we are. The idea that someone can make you like or love or hate, and that there’s no way to know when they’re doing it … well, most people find it dis-turbing.

  Including me. As soon as Talisid had said the word enchantress, I’d had a jolt. Right now I was running back through my memories from last night. Had I been under Meredith’s spell? Was that why I’d let her in and helped her so readily? I’d hardly even asked her any questions. A subtle urge to trust, to protect …

  Or maybe it was what I would have done anyway. This is why charm magic’s such a headache. It could have been magic. Or it could have been because Meredith had needed my help and asked me for it, or because if I hadn’t acted she would have been killed right there on my shop floor, or because she was really hot and I’m single.

  I shook my head and started climbing back down to the balcony. It was time to ask Meredith some questions.

  The smell of frying bacon greeted me as I walked into the living room. The table was set, and Meredith was working at the kitchen unit. She looked different in the morning sunlight, but just as lovely. She turned at the sound of the opening door. “Oh, you’re up! I’ll be done in just a minute.”

  “Okay,” I said, but didn’t sit down. Instead I walked over to see bacon sizzling in the frying pan, along with some mushrooms.

  “Was it okay to use your kitchen?” Meredith asked. “I didn’t want to wake you.”

  “No, that’s fine. Uh … where did you find all this?” My kitchen isn’t exactly what you’d call well stocked.

  “Oh, I went out and got a couple of things. You don’t mind? I made some for you too.”

  “Thanks.” My breakfast usually doesn’t get any more advanced than cereal. This smelt really good.

  “Great!” Meredith took out a couple of mugs. “Tea or coffee? I didn’t know which you prefer so I made both.”

  “Tea would be great.” I’m used to being alone in the mornings. Looking around at the warm kitchen and the smell of cooking food, it occurred to me that this was really nice. Much better than eating on my own and-

  Suddenly I shook my head. What was I doing? I’d come in resolved to get some answers out of Meredith yet as soon as she’d started talking to me I’d forgotten all about it. “Look,” I said. “Don’t take this the wrong way. But I think it’s about time you explained what’s going on.”

  Meredith was turned away from me so that I couldn’t see her face. She didn’t react visibly. “What do you
mean?”

  “I think you’ve got a pretty good idea.”

  Meredith paused a second, then turned and looked at me with those big dark eyes. “What do you want to know?”

  “Let’s start with the basics. Who sent that thing after you and why were you coming to my shop last night?”

  Meredith hesitated. “It’s … Do you mind if we sit down?”

  I sat. Meredith moved things from the counter to the table. I waited, knowing she was going to speak eventually. “I don’t know their names,” she said at last.

  “How did you meet them?”

  “I didn’t! I’ve never met them.”

  “All right,” I said. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? How did you get involved in this?”

  Meredith leant against the counter, her hands wrapped around her arms. She was staring off into the corner and seemed to have forgotten about both me and the food. “It was …” She hesitated. “It was Belthas.”

  “Who’s Belthas?”

  “A Light mage. With the Council.”

  I didn’t recognise the name, but that wasn’t surprising. I know the names of the Junior and Senior Council and a few of the heavy hitters but I’m not well connected enough to know everyone the way Talisid does. “Same cabal?”

  Meredith shook her head. “No. He came to me and wanted my help with something. We’re not partners or anything … Oh, you know.”

  I nodded. A lot of business amongst mages gets done in these kinds of loose arrangements. Sometimes they last, sometimes they go their separate ways once the job’s done, and occasionally they fall apart right in the middle of what they’re supposed to be doing (doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s usually spectacular). Once you start to pick up a reputation, it’s pretty common for mages to approach you with offers like this. Sometimes it’s genuine and sometimes it’s a con, and it can be tricky to tell which is which. “What did he want?”

  Meredith hesitated again. “I’m not sure-”

  “Come on, Meredith,” I said. “You want my help, this is part of the deal.”

  Meredith looked at me for a second, then turned back to the stove. She switched off the heating ring and the kettle and started putting out the food. I waited, knowing she was making up her mind about what to say.

  “Belthas told me about a group of Dark mages,” Meredith said without looking up. “They were supposed to have gotten their hands on some sort of ritual, something powerful. He wanted to stop them.”

  “What kind of ritual?”

  “I don’t know. He just told me that he wanted me to find out where they were.” Meredith set the plates down on the table with a clink. “I found they were in London and where they were going to be. Belthas and his men went to meet with them to make a deal. Something went wrong. There was a fight. After that, the Dark mages started hunting me. They knew I’d been talking to Belthas.”

  “Why did you come here?”

  “I was scared,” Meredith said quietly. “The other people at the meeting got hurt really badly. Belthas wasn’t answering and … and I came to you. You’ve done this sort of stuff before, haven’t you? With that thing that happened at the British Museum?”

  I picked up my knife and fork and took a bite, chewed, and swallowed. “Don’t believe everything you hear.”

  “But everyone says-”

  I cut across without raising my voice. “And if it were true, it would be covered by Council secrecy and I wouldn’t be allowed to talk about it.”

  “So … you did do all that?”

  I looked at Meredith silently. After a few seconds she dropped her eyes.

  “Meredith, don’t get the wrong idea,” I said. “I’m a diviner. I find things out. I don’t get into fights if I can help it. If you want a bodyguard, you’re in the wrong place.”

  Meredith looked down at the floor. “I haven’t anywhere else to go,” she said. “There isn’t anyone who’ll help me, not without …” She trailed off, staring at the wooden floor, looking very small and vulnerable.

  I suddenly felt a wave of sympathy for Meredith, wanted to help and protect her. I fought it off; I didn’t trust my feelings at the moment. “So you want my help,” I said.

  Meredith nodded, without raising her eyes.

  Damn it. The sensible thing would be to tell Meredith that I was sorry but it wasn’t my problem and turn her out. I didn’t want to get into a fight with a bunch of Dark mages and I didn’t know how much I could trust Meredith or what her real intentions were. I still had the feeling she wasn’t telling me everything.

  But I was pretty sure she was telling the truth about being scared. That construct had been no joke. If I hadn’t been there it would have killed her. And when it came right down to it, I hate turning someone away who’s come to me for help. It’s not that I’m especially selfless or anything, but I know what it’s like to be alone and hunted and afraid. I’ve seen the expression on people’s faces as they decide not to get involved, the look in their eyes as they shut you out, and I hate it. Maybe when it comes down to it, that’s all that matters.

  “All right,” I said. Meredith’s eyes lit up in relief and I raised a hand in warning. “Two conditions. I’m not fighting your battles for you. I’ll do what I can but I’m going to avoid trouble as much as possible. Second, you tell me everything. If I find out you’re keeping anything back, you’re out. Understand?”

  Meredith nodded instantly. “Yes. Thank you. If there’s anything I can do-”

  Her eyes were really distracting. “You can owe me a favour. I think the first thing is to talk with Belthas. I’d like to know what got these Dark mages so upset.”

  “I can try and get through by phone. He’s got a business address in the City.”

  I nodded. “Get in touch and set up a meeting as soon as you can.” I glanced at my watch; it was almost ten o’clock. “Right now I’ve got somewhere to be.”

  Meredith wasn’t completely happy about being separated from me, but once I’d promised she wouldn’t be in danger for a few hours she reluctantly agreed to wait. Settling her down and explaining what she should do took longer than I’d expected and by the time I’d finished I didn’t have time to make it to the Heath on foot.

  I went back up to my roof. Camden had woken up and the air was filled with noise and the rumble of traffic. This time I hopped across to the roof next to mine and kept walking until I was amidst the chimney stacks and ventilators of the block of flats a few buildings down. I use this roof when I don’t want anyone watching or when I’m feeling especially paranoid, both of which happen more often than they probably ought to. I took out a small glass rod from my pocket-a focus-and wove a thread of magic through it, whispering. “Starbreeze. Traveller, watcher, listener, queen of cloud and sky. I call-”

  Something flipped my hair into my eyes and I cut off, turning around with a sigh. “Heard it before, huh?”

  Starbreeze is invisible to sight and to most other senses too. It’s not that she conceals herself, it’s just that she’s made of air, and she looks exactly like what air looks like. To my mage’s sight, though, she looks like a woman drawn in blurry lines of blue-white, ever-shifting. She changes her looks daily but there’s something in her face that’s always the same, something ageless. Starbreeze is an elemental, and she’s immortal and eternal, fast as the wind and as powerful as the sun.

  She’s also got the memory of a goldfish. It’s like her mind’s got a storage limit, and for every new thing that comes in, one old thing goes out. Sometimes I think her immortality and her ditziness are connected: she can never age because she can never change. But she’s saved my life at least once and I care about her a lot, though I’d never tell her so.

  Today Starbreeze looked like a woman in a flowing dress with long hair falling to her ankles. She whipped around me in a tight corkscrew. “Where’ve you been?”

  “I’ve been dealing with monsters and assassins and trying to persuade someone not to … You know what, if I e
xplained it you’d forget halfway through.”

  “Forget what?” Starbreeze said brightly.

  “Never mind. Can you take me to Arachne’s lair?”

  Starbreeze came to an abrupt halt, upside down with her head eye level with me, her hair hanging down to the floor. “Present first.”

  “Here you go.” I took a small silver piece of jewellery out of my pocket, a stylised dolphin designed as a brooch. I keep a stack of them in a drawer. “I just-”

  “Ooh!” Starbreeze snatched the dolphin out of my hands and whirled up into the air, tossing the brooch around in delight. “Starbreeze!” I yelled.

  Starbreeze halted, looking down at me from twenty feet up. “Hmm?”

  “Can you take me to Arachne’s lair?”

  Starbreeze’s face cleared. “Oh right.” Before I could blink she’d darted down, turned my body into air, and whisked me up into the sky.

  I love flying with Starbreeze. When I was younger I used to wish I could fly but being carried by an air elemental is better. Starbreeze transforms the bodies of whoever she’s carrying into air, then mixes them with her own form, carrying them along with her. It means you can go as fast as she can, and Starbreeze is fast.

  The city shrank underneath me as Starbreeze rocketed upwards, the buildings and roads becoming a winding grid. London looks sprawled and confusing from above, the twisting, irregular roads making it hard to pick out where you are. I could see the winding shape of the Thames to the south, and the green spaces of Regent’s Park and the Heath ahead and to the left. Starbreeze could have gotten me to Arachne’s lair in ten seconds flat but she was obviously enjoying herself far too much to hurry. She kept climbing until we were on the level of the clouds then started soaring between them, twining her way between the fluffy masses like they were some kind of gigantic obstacle course. Looking down at London spread out below me, I could see the shadows of the clouds dotted across the city, the sun and darkness alternating almost like a chessboard. I was supposed to be at Arachne’s lair, but really, I didn’t mind that much. I relaxed, letting the scenery scroll beneath me.