“Yes,” Rahbi said. “But she’s not good enough yet, is she?”
Koda remained silent, but I could tell she enjoyed the idea of learning how to bypass security at a higher level.
“Please extend my thanks to Honor, again.”
“Did you get everything you needed?” Rahbi asked, unlocking the door and standing in the doorway. “He seemed pleased about your gift.”
“How do you know?”
“You’re still breathing, aren’t you?”
“Oh, good point.”
“No one…I mean no one, has broken one of his rules like you have and lived to talk about it, Grey,” she said. “Don’t fuck this up…again.”
“No intention of doing so, but I’m curious,” I said, “aren’t Ronin and Honor friends?”
“Depends on the context,” Rahbi said, looking outside. “If you mean as two mages, then yes, Honor and Ronin are friends. If it has to do with Honor as an Archivist and the Central Archive, nothing and no one comes before the Archive.”
“Ronin is dealing with the Magekiller.”
“No, he isn’t,” Rahbi answered, her voice hard. “Division 13 is sanctioning his activities, despite his ‘official’ leave of absence. He still works for them, no matter how hard he pretends he doesn’t.”
“He’s the reason I’m here,” I said. “He provided the book for Honor.”
“When you faced the creature earlier this evening,” she started, “why didn’t he step in to assist?”
“Good question,” I said, understanding the implication of the surveillance. “If you had people there, why didn’t you?”
“Because our people were there to finish you.”
“What stopped you?”
“Let’s just say not everyone hates Night Wardens.”
“Honor didn’t want D13 in here,” I said, looking around.
“Unlike a certain dark mage, D13 is not a necessary evil. It’s an organization that has repeatedly operated outside any established law and overstepped its bounds.”
“Who watches the watchers?”
“Exactly,” Rahbi answered. “In any case, they have their own concerns now, dealing with Tigris.”
“Tigris? Like the river?”
“And so much more,” she said, walking us to the Beast. “I think you need to be focused on the task at hand…hmm? Something about a Tenebrous? Dying mages?”
“Good point,” I said, looking around. “Where’s her ride?”
“We had the Shroud delivered to The Dive,” Rahbi answered with a smile. “I didn’t know how long you would be. Even camouflaged, it was going to be seen this close to the Central Archive.”
“Cecil would be pissed if someone stole that bike.”
“Indeed.” Koda entered the passenger side in a silent funk. Rahbi stood outside my door as I settled in behind the wheel. “A word.”
“Shoot.”
“I hope I never have to.”
“Me either,” I answered. “I’d hate to make you miss.”
She nodded and then raised a hand, made a fist and signaled to the left.
“Snipers?”
“Remember the Warden adage,” she said. “Trust no one. I can guarantee you that whatever Ronin’s involvement, it’s not to help those dying mages. Tread carefully with him.”
“Understood,” I said, starting the Beast. “If he reaches out—”
“He won’t,” Rahbi said. “Somehow getting you and Honor together was—”
I sensed it a few seconds before it happened. I opened the door, grabbed Rahbi, and crushed the accelerator. The force of the explosion rocked the Beast from behind and nearly flipped us over. I was grateful the car had a fat ass loaded with armor plating. We skidded to a stop a few seconds later. A second explosion rocked the upper level of the Central Archive.
“Honor,” Rahbi managed to say before jumping out of the Beast and running back to the now smoking Central Archive building.
“Holy hell,” Koda said, snapping out of her funk. “Was that meant for us?”
I parked the Beast and ran back after Rahbi, with Koda on my heels.
“Eyes and ears open,” I said, as we arrived at the edge of the Beast-sized crater we had left seconds earlier. “If Honor is dead, we’ll be following him soon enough.”
NINETEEN
We reached the top level of the Central Archive and headed for Honor’s office. Even with the urgency of the moment, Rahbi had stopped in front of the office door and was methodically disabling the runes around the frame.
“Is that bad?” I asked. “I’ve never seen him lock that door while he’s in the building.”
“A little busy right now, Grey,” Rahbi said under her breath as beads of sweat formed on her brow. “If I get these wrong, those two explosions won’t even register compared to what would happen.”
I looked around the smoking Central Archive. Most of the damage was contained to this floor, and specifically to this area of the floor. I drew Fatebringer just in case any Archivist thought this would be a good chance to get rid of a dark mage.
“How much of a hate mountain am I looking at right now?”
“Excuse me?” Rahbi said, still focusing on the door runes. “What are you talking about?”
“C’mon, Rahbi,” I said, letting my senses expand, “dark mage gets a temporary suspension on a KOS, visits Honor, and then a few minutes after the dark mage leaves, the Central Archive explodes?”
“Shit, that does look bad,” Koda added. “It was a setup.”
“No shit. Now the dark mage and his apprentice, who tried to breach Central Archive’s security, I might add—”
“Sorry?” Koda said, looking away. “I still don’t know how they saw me.”
“Looks like they tried to take out a threat on their lives,” I continued, ignoring her apology. “Like I said, how much hate is coming my way?”
“The Light Council already thinks you’re way past being retired,” Rahbi said, working the last of the runes. “It all depends on how much damage was done.”
I shook my head. “Not for them it won’t.”
She unlocked the final rune and opened the door. It was a surreal image. The center of the office looked like it had been used for artillery practice. Parts of the floor were scorched or missing. Now I understood why Honor kept his office so spartan. All of the shelves holding books glowed with a bright orange light. Not one book in them was damaged.
In the center of the destruction, under a pulsing, violet semi-circle of power, lay an unconscious Honor. In his hand, he held the tattered remains of Ziller’s book. He looked banged up. Parts of his shirt and jeans were smoldering, and he had gotten himself one killer of a tan. The first-degree burns he was showing meant he deflected most of the explosion. He was alive, but he would need medical attention.
“That was the book I gave him.”
“Grey,” Rahbi said, her soft voice a scythe cutting through the commotion starting outside, “tell me you didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I would never do anything to deliberately hurt Honor, or the Archive.”
“That book incriminates you”—she glanced at Koda—“and her failed security breach incriminates her. They’ll come for both of you.”
“Shit,” I said, feeling the start of a massive headache forming behind my eyes. “We didn’t do this, but you’d better believe I’m going find out who did.”
“I believe you,” she said, staring at me hard. “But you’d better leave. This looks exactly like what it’s supposed to look like.”
“It’s a setup.”
“Not to the Light Council,” she said. “To them, it will look like you lost your mind—what little you have left, attacked Honor and the Archive in some vendetta scenario.”
“Someone benefits from having him out of play,” I said, remembering the blast under the Beast. “It was supposed to be both of us. Someone miscalculated.”
She nodded. “The sphere around him is a
personal failsafe. I won’t be able to disable it for at least an hour.”
“What about his condition? He needs medical attention. Those burns look serious.”
“I’m a trained medic. Every Archive has one. I can keep him stable until the sphere dissipates. You two need to get scarce, now. The Light Council will be on the scene within the hour.”
“I’ll find out who did this,” I said, heading for the door. I looked at Koda and motioned with my head for her to get moving. “This won’t go unanswered. Not on my watch.”
“You’d better find them before I do,” Rahbi said, moving closer to the violet sphere. “You may want to ask Ronin some questions. Starting with, why the book he gave you exploded?”
We moved quickly out of Dragonflies before the Light Council arrived with thoughts of having lethal conversations and erasing dark mages and their apprentices.
TWENTY
We jumped into the Beast and sped off.
“You really think that Ronin guy did this?” Koda asked.
I had too many thoughts racing in my head to straighten them out. I needed a near-lethal dose of Deathwish if I was going to make sense of this. The throbbing had reached samba level and was edging into a drum and bass beat, with my head as the drum.
“I need coffee,” I said with a groan, pinching the bridge of my nose. “Just enough to deal with the drumline from hell in my skull.”
“You just had coffee,” Koda said. “Isn’t that what you were drinking back there?”
“No one makes coffee like Cole,” I answered. “Besides, we need to get your bike.”
“Right,” she said, and I could sense her shutting down. Better to rip this one off like a bandage.
“What happened?” I asked. “I thought you were invisible, being a cipher and all?”
“I don’t know. One moment I’m bypassing the door runes, the next I’m looking up into that lady’s face.”
“That lady…is Rahbi,” I said. “Consider yourself lucky to be in one piece. If there is anyone worthy of respect and lots of space, it’s her.”
“Can you take her?”
“Where to? Lunch? Dinner?”
“You know what I mean,” Koda said. “Can you beat her?”
“Every person you meet is a not a potential enemy.”
“Hasn’t been my experience,” she said. “Treat everyone like an enemy, then you won’t be disappointed when they stab you in the back.”
“That’s a shitty outlook on life and people.”
“Says Mr. ‘Trust-no-one.’ Sure, I’ll get right on the Grey Stryder system of ‘How to Make Friends in Ten Lethal Steps.’”
“I didn’t say you needed to make friends—”
“Step One,” she continued. I braced myself to let the rant run its course. “Find a friend with a large home or business and proceed to destroy it. Preferably in an explosive and spectacular way. Show them you really care by blasting it to bits.”
“That’s not what happened here,” I said, “and you know it. I think you have me confused with another mage that roams this city.”
“Step Two…oh, wait, no other steps needed,” Koda said, holding up two fingers. “After step one, everyone is out to erase your ass. Good job.”
“Listen, you don’t get to be an old, beat-up, cynical warden until you fulfill the first two,” I said. “Old and beat-up, not young and entitled.”
“Entitled?” she shot back. “Do you even know how Hades trains his assassins?”
“No,” I said. “I just know about the ones who botch jobs or fail the training. None of them are around to piss and moan about their life. Seems like Hades has a killer retirement plan.”
Silence and a nod.
“Thought so,” I said. “Stop your bitching and put that brain of yours to work. We have a world of pain headed our way. What have you learned?”
“You are really cranky without coffee, wow.”
“I meant regarding our current situation, smart-ass,” I snapped, swerving around traffic, “not my general demeanor. Now, break it down.”
“Fine. Someone is flooding the streets with a new strain of Redrum.”
“Redrum X. Finding that supplier is our priority, why?”
“Because whoever it is, they’re targeting the homeless population.”
“Yes, and what else?”
“Whatever is out there is using the rummers to attack or hunt down mages,” she answered. “Even though the reason is unclear.”
“The reason is clearer now.”
“It is?” she asked. “You mean you know why rummers are being made?”
“No, that’s why I was pursuing the Haran lead Aria gave me.”
“Have you located him?”
“No. Not yet, but I have a lead on where to find him.”
“Let me guess,” she said. “Some deep underground lair full of insane ex-Wordweavers, ready to shred us.”
“No. I have to check with the Exiles. Which can be just as bad as a lair of deranged Wordweavers.”
“Aria said he was an Exile who left them several years ago.”
“That was the lead I was tracking when Street called.”
“Why are mages being hunted?”
“They aren’t being hunted,” I said. “The creature that’s out there killing them, is called a Tenebrous.”
“Darkness?” Koda asked. “Kind of fits.”
“According to Ronin, it goes by ‘Mr. Dark.’ Tried to scare me shitless before it attacked me,” I said. “It uses fear and then tries to take over the body. It’s targeting mages for power.”
“Mr. Dark…did you come up with this name?”
“No, I call it Fluffy.” I couldn’t help the smile. “Pisses it right off.”
“I think I prefer Fluffy to the cliché….really.”
“That’s what Ronin called it,” I said. “I wonder how long he’s been tracking it. That body Street found wasn’t the first.”
“I doubt it’ll be the last,” she said. “And it didn’t scare you because…?”
“I don’t scare that easily, but more importantly, I’m occupied.”
“What?” she asked. “You’re busy?”
“I’m bonded to the sword,” I said. “I have enough darkness inside me for a several mages.”
“And then some,” Koda said. “Fluffy probably looked in you and said: Damn, that’s dark. No room for me.”
“Also because I was strong enough to resist the initial attack,” I said, shaking my head. “It’s looking for power in a weak mind. The mage’s body has to be strong enough to withstand being taken over. This isn’t some low-level creature.”
“But the mind has to be weak?”
“Something like that,” I answered. “I wouldn’t say weak, more like malleable.”
“I wonder if the bond to my fans makes me immune?”
“I’d rather not have to find out,” I said. “Call Cole and tell him I need about a gallon of Deathwish.”
“Don’t you think you drink too much—?”
“If that sentence is going to end with ‘coffee,’ I recommend you stop now,” I said with a growl. “Coffee is good for your health.”
“My health? Since when?”
“Since my drinking it squashes my headaches, allowing me to stay stable, therefore not lashing out in anger, and erasing those near and dear to me. See how that works? Good for your health.”
She connected a call to The Dive, while I reached out to Aria.
“Aria,” I said, as my comm made the call.
She picked up after the third ring.
“Hello, Grey,” she said. “Was that you at the Archives?”
“I was there,” I said. “But it wasn’t me.”
“You’d better get here as soon as possible.”
The urgency in her voice was unfamiliar. Aria didn’t spook easily. If something had her worried, that meant I needed to be petrified.
But, like I told Koda, I didn’t scare easily.
“I’m heading to The Dive, and then I’m on my way.”
“That would be unwise,” Aria answered. “Your bar is being watched by the Light Council.”
“When you say watched, do you mean—?”
“Currently, a group of mages and shifters are tasked with eliminating you or your apprentice, the moment either of you approach the property.”
I glanced at Koda and shook my head. She ended her call as I raced across town. We were headed to the Cloisters.
“They’d better not touch Cole, Frank, or The Dive.”
“I informed them that moving on anyone outside of the kill order would be most unwise,” she said. “They agreed to leave the bar and your associates alone. You and your apprentice are another matter entirely.”
“So straight-up elimination?” I asked. “What? No conversation? No, ‘Hey, why did you blow up the Archive’? Just shoot first?”
“The Light Council is not the Dark Council, Grey,” she said. “The mages will hate you on principle for going dark.”
“Hypocrites,” I said. “Like they haven’t thought of casting a dark spell.”
“Thinking is not doing,” she answered with a sigh. “The shifters still remember the Wardens from the Purge. It wasn’t a good time.”
“And the Archivists?”
“Did you blow up the Archive?” Aria asked, her voice betraying no emotion. “They, although they rarely leave their archives, are considering forming a task force just for you.”
“Now I feel special. They’re willing to leave their dank and dusty libraries just to come and hunt me?”
“Archivists are accomplished mages, some of them much stronger than you.”
“And now they want to come out and play?”
“I have to say, you bring out a special kind of rage in people. And you didn’t answer my question.”
If she was asking, this situation had just gone from bad to apocalyptic.
“How bad is it?”
“The Light Council asked us to intervene on their behalf.”
“What did you say?”
“I told them I needed to speak to you first.”
I let the words hang for a few seconds. This was making ‘apocalyptic’ look like a vacation destination.
Shadowstrut Page 8
