“Please don’t,” I said. What Landis had just said was probably going to stick in my memory for years. It’s bad enough when the people you kill are faceless strangers. Knowing their names makes it so much worse.
“And then of course there’s Caldera, who you know very well. We actually roomed together for a little while; I don’t know if she ever told you. I’d been a journeyman for a good few years but they passed that law requiring members of the Order of the Shield to meet the same qualifications as the Order of the Star, so she and I ended up in the same class. She was always rather disappointed that I didn’t have what she considered a proper appreciation for high-quality beverages, but she did her best to educate me all the same, and I was introduced to quite a few fascinating drinking establishments as a result.” Landis paused. “I advised her to accompany Talisid’s force. She refused. She was quite certain you’d find some way to evade them, and she wanted to be ready when you did. She always did have excellent instincts for fieldwork, but they didn’t bring her much happiness.”
I was silent.
“You aren’t the only person who’s had to make hard choices, Verus,” Landis said. “I’ve been a Keeper for quite some time, and I’ve made a great many decisions that have led directly or indirectly to people’s deaths. Believe me, I am fully aware of their consequences.”
We walked for another minute or so without speaking. “All right,” I said. “Assuming I accept everything you’re telling me, I don’t think you came here just to thank me for taking care of your business. What is it you want?”
Landis nodded. “I want you to stop assassinating Council members.”
“You’re not the only one.”
“By burning away the dead wood, the forest fire allows new growth,” Landis said. “However, at a certain point, that fire must stop. I have now specified the point at which it must stop.”
I looked sidelong at Landis. His manner was pleasant and there was no threat in his words, but I knew that if I replied with or what? I wouldn’t like the answer.
“It’s all very well to say ‘stop,’” I said. “But as you may or may not be aware, the entire reason I’m fighting this private war is that the Council refuses to call it quits.”
“I may be able to exercise some small influence in that regard. At the very least, I suspect when you next call, they’ll be more inclined to take you seriously.”
“Yes, because I just killed one of them. Backing down now is the absolute worst thing I can do. What I’ve done is bad enough, that would make it be all for nothing!”
“All you have to do is make the same request as before. Who knows? Maybe this time they’ll listen.”
I thought for a second. My instincts were telling me to say no. I finally had the Council on the ropes and I didn’t want to back off.
But making an enemy of Landis was a bad idea. He was Variam’s master, and his word carried a lot of weight in the Order of the Shield. If he was telling the truth, then he was the only reason I didn’t have a whole extra Keeper Order to deal with.
And then there was the personal side. Landis had done me some very big favours over the years. He had taken a chance on Variam when nobody else would, and he’d backed me up in some scary fights. I owed him a lot.
“All right,” I said. “Because it’s you, I’ll try it. But I can’t promise it’ll work.”
“Good show!” Landis said cheerfully. He clapped me on my shoulder hard enough to rock me sideways. “I won’t keep you any longer, then. Do feel free to contact the Council at your earliest convenience.”
—
I escorted Landis out of the Hollow. The portal closed behind him and I was left alone.
With Landis gone, I felt at a loss. I thought about getting in touch with November or Variam and catching up on the news, but it felt like the wrong thing to do. Council communications would be in chaos right now, and I really couldn’t see any point in eavesdropping. I probably knew more about what was going to happen next than they did.
In the end, I couldn’t come up with anything better than my original plan. I left formal meeting requests with the Council via two different sources. Usually I’d have just called Talisid, but either he was still stuck in that deep shadow realm or he wasn’t answering his phone.
I heard back from the Council within the hour. Apparently I finally had their attention. As afternoon came, I prepared for what I hoped would be the last time I’d ever have to speak to them.
chapter 13
I stepped out of my cottage to find Karyos and Luna waiting in the clearing. “Heard from Vari?” I asked Luna.
“Yeah, he’s on standby. Again.” Luna shook her head. “I can’t believe Levistus is finally dead.”
I shut the door behind me. “Wanted to settle the score yourself?”
“No, I got over that way of thinking a long time ago. You really think you can pull this off?”
“One way or another. You good to stay here for a few hours?”
Luna frowned. “Be nice if you’d tell me why.”
I sighed. “I wish I knew.”
“You could always try, I don’t know, divining the future.”
“Don’t be snarky,” I told her. “I’ve tried. No matter how I conduct this audience with the Council, I can’t see any direct threat.”
“So what are you afraid of?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “That’s the problem. The futures look . . . volatile. I can’t see any threat right now, but that could change. And the sort of interview I’m about to have, with lots of unpredictability and decision points, is exactly the kind of thing that’s virtually impossible to see past.”
“But why do you want me here and not in my shop?” Luna asked. “If the Keepers are watching, it’s going to look suspicious as hell.”
“I know, but if anything happens, the Hollow’s a lot better protected. Please, Luna, just do this as a favour. It’ll put my mind at rest.”
Luna shrugged. “Well, I suppose I didn’t have anything really important to do. I’ll stay here till you get back.”
“Thanks.”
“Why did you also warn me?” Karyos asked. “You believe the Council will connect us?”
“Honestly, no,” I said. “It’s much simpler than that. I’ve lost too many people I care about by now, and you’re two of the only ones left. I’d have asked Vari to stay here as well if I thought he’d do it.”
“Yeah, fat chance,” Luna said. “Shouldn’t you be going?”
“Yes,” I said. But I still hesitated. “Hermes is here, right?”
Luna rolled her eyes. “Will you stop fussing? Look, we put up the gate wards on this place together. If the Council or someone else decides to break in, we are going to have more than enough time to do something about it. Now how about you start worrying about the problem you actually have?”
I wanted to say that Levistus’s shadow realm had had gate wards, too, and that hadn’t stopped me. But I knew that Luna’s response would be to ask whether there was anyone else running around with a fateweaver, and I’d have to answer no. There was still Richard to worry about, but if Richard had wanted to go after Luna, he’d had more than enough chances already and he hadn’t seemed to—
“Alex,” Luna said. “You’re going to be late.”
“All right. I’ll come back as soon as I have news.”
—
I gated to the spot I’d picked out for my audience with the Council. It was a clearing in a forestry area in Wales, in a dip between two hills. I’d picked out a selection of spots like this before my first time contacting the Council, and this was number three of ten. The others had been mostly in North and South America, but Wales felt appropriate. A lot of things had started here; this was a good place for them to end.