I looked sideways at Anne, but she didn’t meet my gaze. She was staring through the window, and that bothered me too. Anne and I have been through a lot, and I’d become used to her intuitively reading my moods. Now all of a sudden we felt disconnected, as though she’d signed off. It felt ominous, as though I was on my own. I wanted to boost our chances, but I couldn’t see any course of action that wouldn’t make things worse.
I sensed Vihaela coming back a long time before she returned; she still wasn’t coming to kill us, but she was bringing company. The futures were spidered, shifting; it seemed events were altering her plans. For a moment, it looked as though she’d be here in five minutes; then there was a shift and it was fifteen, then ten, then all of a sudden she was making the gate right now and I turned my head towards the door as I felt the portal opening in the next room.
Vihaela came striding in, and her manner had changed. She looked keyed up and alert, and there was a blackened patch on her clothes that I didn’t think had been there before. Behind her was Archon, dressed in his signature head-to-toe armour and full-face helmet. My divination had seen him coming, so I wasn’t surprised, but the sight of him made me realise just how many people Richard was committing to this.
“We’re on,” Vihaela said to Rachel. She didn’t speak to Archon, but something about their stance suggested they were familiar with each other. “Get moving.”
Rachel pointed at Archon. “What’s he doing here?”
“Gating you to the control room,” Vihaela said. “Do as he says.”
“I’m not taking orders from him.”
“Do not even think about giving me shit on this one, Deleo.” Vihaela’s voice was hard and she stared at Rachel with a raptor’s gaze. “You do as I say or I’ll burst every blood vessel in your lungs and leave you to drown in your own blood. Pick one. Now.”
Rachel glared hate at Vihaela, and just for an instant I saw a flash of deadly violence, then it was gone. “Fine,” Rachel said, biting off the word.
Vihaela was already turning to Anne. “Come with me.”
“Where—?” Anne started to ask.
Vihaela’s eyes narrowed. It was a very slight movement but it was enough to make Anne stop. Vihaela jerked her head and Anne began to follow.
A spike of dread went through me. “Wait.”
“Verus, this is a very bad time to get in my way,” Vihaela said. “So I will only say this once. If you try to argue or spin me some line about taking you instead, then I will hurt you.”
That had been exactly the approach I’d been about to try. Vihaela and Anne started towards the door and without thinking, I took a step forward, opening my mouth—
“Alex,” Anne said to me without turning. Her voice was soft but clear. “Don’t.”
I hesitated, then Anne and Vihaela disappeared and the moment was gone. I was left alone with Archon and Rachel.
“I wouldn’t worry,” Archon said. “You’ll see her soon enough.”
I shot the Dark mage a look, but Rachel was already turning on Archon. “You think we’re just going to do whatever you say?”
“It would be advisable,” Archon said. I felt him starting to cast one of those strange gates that wasn’t a gate.
“And what if I don’t?”
“Follow, or don’t,” Archon said. “The choice is yours.” He glanced at me. “Oh, and once you step through, duck.”
“Step through to where?” I asked. On the other side of the portal-to-be I could sense battle and danger, but I couldn’t recognise the destination.
“I’m not going anywhere without—” Rachel began.
“Time,” Archon said, and a black gate flickered and formed in the air in front of him, revealing a tiled hallway. He stepped through without waiting.
I hesitated for an instant, but wherever Archon was going, our mission was there and so was Anne. I stepped through.
chapter 16
My feet came down onto smooth concrete. I was in a corridor with recessed doorways, and I could hear shouting. Footsteps sounded behind me and I turned.
Two men rounded the corner. They were carrying guns, and I reached instinctively for my holster, then hesitated as my brain registered what they were wearing. Those were Council security uniforms—
The man at the front saw me and his gun came up. I dived into one of the doorways, bullets whining past. The concrete recesses were thick, like a bunker, and the door was steel.
I looked back just in time to see Rachel step through, the gate fading out of existence behind her. Gunfire barked and there was a flare of blue-green light, bullets splashing off her shield. With an irritated glance, Rachel sent two sea-green rays flashing down the corridor, quick and precise.
There was a brief, agonised scream, and the gunfire stopped.
I poked my head out of the doorway. Where the men had been were two small, scattered piles of dust. A lone submachine gun lay on the floor next to them. “This is your idea of a staging point?” Rachel said to Archon.
Archon was standing in the middle of the corridor; somehow all the fire had missed him. “This way,” he said, and turned down the corridor.
I gave a last glance back at the remains of the Council security men and hurried after Archon. Now that I had the time to listen, I could hear shouting and gunfire from all around us. The rattle of submachine guns mixed with the whoompf of fire spells, and I could sense more combat magic. We’d come right into the middle of a battle. “Where are—?” I began.
Archon didn’t break stride. “Eyes right, Verus.”
I looked right and started. We were passing a corridor and two constructs were charging down it straight towards us, grey-black pantherlike forms with glowing blue eyes. Wisps of mist trailed from their claws as they covered the ground in great bounding leaps, closing the distance shockingly fast. Sixty feet, forty feet, twenty— “Deleo!” I shouted, and jumped out of the way.
Rachel turned and her eyes narrowed, sea-green light glowing as she began to bring her hand up, but as Archon walked past, he tossed something small and round from one hand. It hit the floor just inside the corridor and there was a flash of magic and a shimmer as a transparent barrier formed, blocking the entrance. The constructs—icecats—crashed into the barrier a half second later. The impact would have broken any living creature’s neck, but they just rebounded and threw themselves at it again. Rachel frowned, the disintegrate spell hovering at her hand.
I stared at the icecats clawing at the other side of the barrier. Their eyes burned with a cold fire, and I could almost imagine that I could feel the chill in the air. The barrier was force magic, and now that I looked at it, it felt similar to the ones I used . . . very similar. I turned to Archon to see that he hadn’t stopped walking. In fact, he was disappearing around a corner as I watched.
“Arsehole,” Rachel muttered, and followed.
I hurried after her, and as I did I scanned the futures in which I went left and right, trying to figure out where the hell the Dark mages had brought me. This had to be a Council installation, but where? It couldn’t be the War Rooms—the floors were concrete, the doors looked like the kind you’d find in an industrial facility, and most of all, there wasn’t enough security. If this had been the Council headquarters, every square inch should have been crammed with Keepers and constructs, but from what I could see, the defending humans seemed to be mostly if not entirely ordinary humans, and they were losing. Where’s Anne?