Druss’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘She killed Sarque during your attack!’
‘And this month, she was involved in the death of a second Senior Councillor,’ Richard said. He raised his eyebrows. ‘Two months, two empty seats. It seems to me that she’s become your problem already. Although on the positive side, if she keeps whittling down the Senior Council at her current rate, it might not be long before your and Alma’s votes are enough for a majority.’
Druss slammed his fist on the table with a bang. ‘You think this is funny?’ He leant forward, glaring at Richard. ‘You started this, Drakh! You and your insane war!’
‘Who was it who had Anne captured and tortured, Druss?’ Richard asked calmly. ‘Who sentenced her to death and attempted to have her assassinated? Not me. If you believe she has any reason to think kindly of the Council, I assure you, you are very much mistaken.’
‘Why don’t we let them handle it?’ Vihaela said lazily. ‘They’ll figure it out soon enough.’
Alma spoke over her, her voice rising. ‘You have the nerve to come here and attempt to lay this at our feet—’
‘Enough!’ I shouted.
I hadn’t really expected it to work. But for some reason, Richard, Vihaela, Alma and Druss all stopped and looked at me. It caught me off guard but I plunged forward. ‘Everyone here shares some blame for this,’ I said, my voice hard. ‘In fact, by my count, the only ones in this room who haven’t contributed one way or another to Anne’s current situation are Tenebrous and those four mantis golems.’
‘I didn’t—’ Sonder began.
‘You provided the evidence that got her arrested. Now, we can sit around this table arguing over whose fault this is, or we can decide what to do.’
There was a moment of silence. I forced myself to stay still. ‘All right, Verus,’ Druss said. He leant back in his chair. ‘What’s your call?’
All of a sudden everyone was looking at me. Why are they acting like I’m in charge? ‘We are here because of Mage Drakh,’ I said. ‘He has claimed that the marid, acting through Anne, is in the process of taking actions that will have catastrophic consequences. He has also claimed that a truce between him and the Council is the best way to prevent those consequences.’ I looked at Richard. ‘I would like to hear him justify these claims.’
First Druss, then Alma turned with me to look at Richard. One by one, the rest of the Council group followed their lead. Vihaela just looked bored.
‘A reasonable request,’ Richard said. He raised his eyebrows toward Alma and Druss. ‘If you have no further objection?’
Druss snorted but didn’t reply. ‘Then let us hear it,’ Alma said.
‘The jinn possessing Anne Walker is the marid sultan from the Jinn Wars,’ Richard said. ‘Now that it has been freed, it intends to continue that war. To fight a war, it needs an army. It intends to acquire one.’
‘How?’ Druss asked.
‘I assume you are familiar with the consequences of Suleiman’s binding ritual?’
Alma gave a curt nod. ‘Which consequences?’ I said.
‘The ritual bound a jinn to an item, and in doing so permanently destroyed its ability to manifest,’ Richard said. ‘If the item was subsequently destroyed, the jinn was banished. A banished jinn could be resummoned by a free jinn of higher rank, and as such the mages binding jinn were careful to safeguard the items. But that was close to a thousand years ago, and while the binding items are resilient, they are not invulnerable. Enough have been destroyed that, by now, banished jinn greatly outnumber bound ones.’
‘So a banished jinn can be resummoned by another of higher rank?’ I asked. ‘Isn’t the one possessing Anne the highest-ranked?’
‘The resummoning process is slow and is subject to limitations,’ Richard said. ‘At present, the marid sultan has only been able to resummon a small number of ifrit. If left to its own devices, this will shortly change.’
‘Get to the point, Drakh,’ Alma said.
‘The point,’ Richard said, ‘is that the marid intends to use its new base in Sagash’s shadow realm to conduct a ritual. This ritual will grant the marid’s host – that is to say, Anne Walker – the ability to summon greater jinn quickly and efficiently. This process requires only another human, and a banished jinn of lesser rank than the sultan. And, as Verus has noted, that is a great many jinn.’
‘How many?’ I asked.
‘At the very minimum, more than all Light and Dark mages in Britain put together.’
There was silence.
‘Oh,’ Richard added. ‘And as I understand, the marid has already demonstrated an ability to use this summoning ability upon hostile mages. It seems unlikely that any of you would be more successful at resisting the possession than Mages Caldera and Barrayar.’
The reason that Anne – that the marid – had been able to do that to Caldera was because of me. I pushed that thought aside. ‘How fast can it summon a jinn to possess a target?’
‘At the moment? Hours or days. If it completes its ritual? Minutes or seconds.’
More silence. In the quiet, an image played in my mind of Anne’s group of jinn-possessed humans spreading like a virus, their numbers increasing with each mage they defeated. Sagash’s shadow realm had been heavily fortified and defended, and Anne had conquered it in a matter of hours. That had been with three jinn. What could she do with a hundred?
Alma spoke up. ‘A pretty story, Drakh. But why should we believe it?’
Richard sighed. ‘Alma, please stop wasting time. You and Druss have already contacted your diviners to ask that exact question. If they had not confirmed what I just told you, you would not be here.’
I looked at Alma and Druss. ‘Is it true?’
‘We have . . .’ Alma said, choosing her words carefully, ‘not received any information that directly contradicts Drakh’s story.’
‘Ugh,’ Vihaela said loudly, and thumped her head back against the cushions of the chair. ‘I told you this was a waste of time.’
I ignored her. ‘I didn’t ask if you could disprove it,’ I said to Alma. ‘I asked if it were true.’
Druss gave Alma a look.
‘Medium-term divinations . . .’ Alma said reluctantly, ‘have produced . . . irregularities. Within a certain time band, a majority of projected futures contain widespread attacks on magic-using power centres across the country. These attacks ramp up in a manner which is consistent with, though not proof of, an escalating threat.’
‘How large a majority?’
‘In the absence of intervention, greater than ninety per cent.’
‘And this time band would be . . . ?’
Druss answered. ‘Seventy-two to ninety-six hours from this morning.’
I sat back in my chair.
There was a long silence.
‘Well,’ I said at last. ‘It sounds as though we do have a problem.’
‘A problem, yes,’ Alma said. ‘The cause of that problem is another question.’
Richard raised his eyebrows at her.
‘We did our homework, Drakh,’ Druss said. ‘Swarm of greater jinn. You’re telling the truth about that part.’
‘And what part do you have doubts about?’
‘How it happens,’ Alma said. ‘We have not sat idle during this war, Drakh. We know precisely what kind of man you are. And summoning a vast number of greater jinn to possess your enemies is exactly in line with your methods.’
‘If that is the case,’ Richard said calmly, ‘why would I be approaching you now?’
‘You fucked up?’ Druss said.
‘To lure us into a trap?’ Alma said.