Towards the centre of the castle, rising up above the lower halls and towers, was a square keep. It was darker than the construction around it, a dull matte black instead of the sandstone shades of the other buildings. The design felt different, too. It wasn’t exactly the architecture, it just didn’t quite fit with the castle around it. The rest of the shadow realm was a single unit but the keep jarred somehow, didn’t blend in.
I looked for magical signatures, and found them. Wards covered the castle—scratch that, they covered the whole shadow realm. They were so omnipresent that they were hard to see, huge background currents like a haze in the air. I couldn’t pick them all out but I could identify some. Most recognisable was the gate ward that Vari had warned me about. It didn’t look as though point-to-point transport within the shadow realm was impeded, but gating directly out was going to be impossible. There were also shroud effects, subtle and layered, though I wasn’t sure what they were meant to guard against. They weren’t blocking my divination, at least. Maybe they were designed to stop longer-range spells.
Two places stood out in my mage’s sight. The first was the platform back on the mainland, on the other side of the bridge. A space magic effect was bound around the standing stones, allowing passage in and out. The second was the dark stone keep. Wards were laced over it, tight and dangerous-looking. It was hard to be sure at this distance, but they seemed to have a different style than the universal effects over the shadow realm—they were more focused and aggressive.
I understood now what Vari had meant when he’d said that Anne had hidden here, back all those years ago. With its size and the shrouds, this place could hide an army. Anne had managed to stay concealed here once; maybe she’d managed it again.
Time to think. Anne had arrived here three days ago, almost certainly to the same platform which I’d just come down on. Where would she have gone?
She could have run directly away from the castle. Turning to look, I could see the narrow bridge running to the cliff face, and the platform at the top. Beyond was grass and light woodland, green and inviting. Or she could have done what I’d done: crossed the bridge and disappeared into the castle. Instinctively that felt like the worst direction, but if you want to lose pursuers, you go where they’re not expecting.
And then there was a third possibility—Anne’s pursuers might have caught her. In which case (assuming she was still alive) she’d be in whichever part of the castle they used as a prison. I had a nasty feeling it would be that keep.
Three possibilities, three directions, and I didn’t have time to search them all. Which to choose?
I spent a precious minute thinking. What swung my decision in the end was that shadow I’d seen in the courtyard. It hadn’t been on general guard duty or it wouldn’t have let me in, but its presence there made perfect sense if it was meant to stop Anne from getting out, which suggested that someone thought Anne was still inside. Until I found something better, I’d assume Anne was hiding somewhere in the castle.
The bad news was that anything that could hide her from her pursuers would also hide her from me. If I was hiding, and she was hiding, how was I going to find her?
Well, there are mundane ways to track people, but it’s complicated and quite frankly finding stuff the normal way takes too damn long. Divination it was.
I moved to the edge of the tower parapet. The breeze ruffled my hair, though it wasn’t as strong as the wind should be in a tower so high. I looked into the future to see what would happen if I stood there and screamed “ANNE!” at the top of my voice.
No response from Anne, which wasn’t surprising. No response from anyone else, which was more surprising—the wind and the sea must be making it hard to hear. I looked to see what would happen if I kept screaming. Nothing . . . nothing . . . ah. Futures of shadows closing in on my position . . . they could fly? Didn’t know that. And . . . a person? It looked like a girl . . . could it be Anne? It felt similar to her . . . maybe . . . at this distance I couldn’t be sure. I needed a closer look.
I gave the castle a last glance, fixing its layout in my mind, then went jogging down the stairs of the tower. When I reached the bottom, I picked a direction towards where I’d seen the figure in my vision and started working my way deeper into the castle. The layout of the place was winding and confusing—instead of straight corridors I had to take side routes to get anywhere. Luckily, finding paths is something my magic is very good at, and I made good time.
I stopped inside a huge, cathedral-like hall. Narrow windows cast slivers of light through the gloom, and rafters crisscrossed the roof above. The floor had a gaping chasm in the middle, but a railed walkway ran around the walls and a catwalk crossed the cathedral lengthways. Movement in the future caught my attention and I stopped to look. Movement, a presence . . . there was a girl heading this way, and it wasn’t Anne.
I had more than enough time to avoid her, but I needed information. There were doorways along the wall leading into side rooms. I checked to make sure I’d have a way out in case things went wrong, then slipped into one of the rooms and waited. Footsteps broke the silence, quiet but growing louder, until someone emerged at the cathedral’s north end.
I stayed out of sight behind the wall, watching her through the futures in which I leant out. She was slim, with short black hair and Southeast Asian features; her clothes were grey, and a pair of shortswords were sheathed at her belt. Assuming Sagash didn’t have more than one armed Korean girl hanging around his shadow realm (which didn’t seem too likely unless he had a very specific fetish), then this was the third apprentice Caldera had told us about, Yun Ji-yeong. Right now her arms were folded and she was standing at the cathedral’s north entrance. I wonder what you’re waiting for . . . oh. That. Sagash’s other two apprentices were on their way, and they were in a hurry.
Three Dark apprentices at once were more than I could handle. I did not want to be found here, but I did want to eavesdrop. I checked again to make sure I wouldn’t be spotted, then hunkered down and waited.
Darren and the other apprentice from the ball appeared at the south end of the cathedral two minutes later. They stopped as soon as they saw Ji-yeong; I couldn’t make out what they were saying, but their body language wasn’t friendly. After a pause they started across the central walkway.
“What are you doing?” Ji-yeong said as they approached.
Neither of the two boys answered. Ji-yeong stepped out onto the walkway, blocking their path. “Hey.”
“What?” Darren said. He was wearing the same clothes as when I’d knocked him out, and he was moving stiffly, obviously hurt. He didn’t look ready to quit, though.
“Where have you been?”
“Out.”
“Who were you fighting?”
“None of your business.”
Ji-yeong looked him up and down. “You lost, didn’t you?”
Darren’s eyes narrowed. The other boy—Sam Taylor, if Caldera’s info was right—put an arm across to hold Darren back. I couldn’t get a good look at him, but he looked smaller and slighter than Darren, and he had a faint Manchester accent. “We’re a bit busy. Can this wait?”
“Busy with what?”
Neither boy answered. “You said busy,” Ji-yeong said. Her speech was slightly accented, more formal than Sam’s or Darren’s. “Busy with what?”
“None of your fucking business,” Darren told her.
Ji-yeong looked at Sam, ignoring Darren. “You’re looking for something?”
Darren started to answer, and again Sam held him back. “Trying to get the fox,” Sam said. “It was in the castle again.”
“The fox?”
“Yeah.”