It was only for a moment, then we were standing on stone. We were in the Elsewhere-reflection of Sagash’s duelling arena, the walls shadowed and grim, holding the echo of all those that had died there. Anne’s body was lying at my feet, still unconscious. Of Anne’s light and dark halves, there was no sign.
There was no more time. My armour and Anne’s dress had given us some protection, but the wisps of light rising from Anne’s skin were dangerously bright and I was starting to get the airy, too-light feeling that I recognised as a warning of approaching death. I shouldered the sovnya, lifted Anne, and channelled through the dreamstone, feeling for the thin patch where I’d brought Elsewhere together with the castle. A portal opened and I jumped back into the shadow realm.
20
Sight and sound crashed into me as I came back down in the shadow realm, weight and light and feeling. I was standing in Sagash’s duelling ring with Anne in my arms and I looked down at her, my heart in my throat. I didn’t know how much damage I’d done to her mind, but her chest rose and fell and that meant she was still alive, at least for now. Luna and the others might already be gone; I had to get Anne out of here before—
A terrible pain stabbed through my chest.
I gasped, falling to one knee. For a moment I thought I’d been shot, and I scanned the room, searching for enemies. Nothing. Then why—
Oh.
Klara’s words from a week and a half ago echoed through my head: ‘. . . your right lung will be transmuted, followed by your heart. This will cause them both to shut down . . .’
The pain was like nothing I’d ever felt. No, once before – that time in the deep shadow realm, when something that looked like Anne had stopped my heart. It was like a muscle cramp through my lungs, one that didn’t stop but got worse and worse. My vision was greying out with the pain and I was feeling light-headed; I was getting a tiny trickle of air, but it wasn’t enough.
I kept trying to breathe but it wasn’t working, and deep down, I knew it wasn’t going to. Klara had warned me this would happen, warned that if I kept using the fateweaver it’d kill me. I hadn’t listened, and now I was paying the price.
I couldn’t see any more. I’d dropped Anne and the sovnya; dimly I was aware that I was lying on my side. The pain in my chest was burning agony, and I found myself wishing it would be over soon. Diviners get to experience a lot of ways to die and suffocation is one of the bad ones, but at least it’s quick. A little more and it would be over.
Over . . .
Faces swam up through my memories. My mother, her eyes dark and intense, fingers gripping my arm as she told me you come back. Luna, making me promise to fight to the end.
Something rose up inside me with a snarl. No.
I reached inside myself, to the fateweaver. It was killing me, but it was still mine. I found the future I needed and forced it through, willing my lungs to expand.
Air flooded into my chest with a gasp. It burned, but it was life, and I pulled it in and out as I forced my own lungs to breathe. My muscles did half the work, the fateweaver the other. Air kept cycling through my body, and as I opened my eyes the ceiling above me swam back into view.
Up. Get up. Painfully I rolled over, getting onto hands and knees. Anne was next to me, lying on her back on the stone.
And next to Anne was Hermes. The blink fox yipped at me.
I’m okay, I told Hermes through the dreamstone. I couldn’t manage speaking yet. I controlled my breaths, getting them to a steady rhythm until I had enough oxygen again. It was a bizarre, unpleasant feeling, like giving CPR to your own chest. Pain flared in my body with each breath, but compared with a moment ago, it was nothing.
Hermes yipped again. I’m coming, I thought, and reached for the sovnya.
Hermes shrank down, his tail curling between his legs.
It’s all right, I told him. I won’t let it . . . hurt . . . you . . .
I trailed off. Hermes wasn’t looking at the sovnya. He was looking behind me, up towards the door.
‘Hello, Alex,’ a voice said.
It was a very familiar voice.
Hermes blinked away, air rushing in to fill the space as he vanished. I took a deep, mechanical breath, pulling air into my lungs and pushing it out. Then using the sovnya, I hauled myself up.
Richard was standing on the gallery, just inside the door by which I’d entered.
A tremor ran through the shadow realm. I felt the stones shift under my feet; trails of dust came trickling from the ceiling. ‘Well,’ Richard said. He began walking, circling the gallery. He reached the stairs and descended, shoes ringing on the metal steps. ‘It seems I missed quite a show.’
My eyes tracked Richard all the way down.
Richard stepped off the stairs onto my level and I took a step sideways to place myself between him and Anne. ‘I see you put my ring to good use,’ Richard said with a nod towards Anne.
‘I was wondering why you gave it up so easily.’
Richard came to a stop, watching me pleasantly from just outside the duelling ring. He seemed in no hurry.
‘Why did you let me have the Council’s weapon too?’ I asked when Richard didn’t speak. ‘Just feeling generous?’
‘You seemed to need it more than I did,’ Richard said with a shrug. ‘No need to be greedy.’
‘You never did value possessions for their own sake.’
Richard inclined his head. There was a pause.
‘Did you plan this from the beginning?’ I asked.
‘Plan all this from the beginning?’ Richard said, raising his eyebrows. ‘Alex, I’m flattered you believe I possess that level of foresight, but you and Anne between you have managed to create such utter chaos that my long-term plans were wrecked weeks ago. You personally have forced me to abandon my entire course of action and start from scratch no less than twice in the past twenty-four hours. I don’t know who could have possibly anticipated all of the absurd things you’ve ended up doing. I certainly didn’t.’
Another tremor went through the keep, accompanied by another trickle of dust. The battle with the marid had fried my comm focus and I couldn’t sense the Council forces anywhere. Richard and I were alone. ‘Glad I’m making a difference.’
‘Oh, trust me, no one is going to question that. I don’t know whether to put it down to desperation or sheer stupidity, but dealing with the two of you has been like trying to steer a wild elephant. When Anne was possessed by the sultan, I really thought things might settle down, but you’ve been quite determined to take up the slack. Take that assault on my forces. You have no idea how much work it took me to persuade Nimbus that a head-on confrontation between my adepts and his Keepers would be too costly. And then just when I’ve almost found a way to resolve things neatly, what do you do? You assassinate him and send the Keepers in anyway.’ Richard gave an exasperated sigh. ‘I suppose I only have myself to blame. I did ask you to protect the girl. I just didn’t expect you to take it quite so seriously.’
‘And let me guess,’ I said. ‘This is where you take Anne and that marid and start the whole thing all over again.’
‘I’ll admit, it’s tempting,’ Richard said. ‘To bring Anne to account for her various betrayals, if nothing else. But no. Anne may be powerful and she may be an ideal jinn host, but if I’d known from the beginning just how much sheer aggravation she would cause, I would have shot her myself. Between her conscious self stubbornly refusing to co-operate, and her shadow self wreaking mayhem, she is the most irritating girl I have ever had to deal with. Honestly, I have no idea how you put up with her. I’d have thought you could do better.’