All the same, I hesitated. These two had been alive when I’d checked five minutes ago. Someone had been here between now and then-
The policeman. The one who’d been alone. I turned and walked out, brushing past Sonder. “Move.”
“Wait, what-”
“We’re leaving.” I hurried downstairs, searching through the futures for signs of movement. There were people about in the flats, and I altered our course to make sure we wouldn’t meet them. I did not want any witnesses placing us at the scene when this got reported to the police.
Once we’d made it back down to the entry area I breathed a little easier. I looked into the future for any sign of the policeman, searching for what we would find if we opened the door. Nothing but falling rain. “Alex?” Sonder asked. “What’s going on?”
I turned to Sonder, about to ask him to help me find where the man had gone. Then suddenly I stopped as I realised what I was doing. Whoever or whatever this guy was, he’d just ripped apart two trained gunmen. Did I really want to chase after him?
A door opened in the stairwell above and that decided me. “Come on,” I said, opening the door into the cold drizzle. “I’ll explain once we’re out of here.”
* * *
“
Did you manage to identify the man?” Talisid asked.
It was two hours later, and Talisid and I were sitting in a French restaurant in Holborn. The tables were widely spaced and Talisid had chosen one at the back where pillars made us hard to see from the street. The room had a high ceiling and was light and airy. The lunchtime crowd wasn’t too heavy, and the buzz of conversation around us was low.
“No,” I said.
“Didn’t you say Sonder was with you?” Talisid said.
“And I could have asked him to look back to see what happened and maybe follow the guy. Yeah, I know. I didn’t.”
A waiter appeared next to us. “May I take your order, sirs?”
“Moules a la mariniere followed by poulet a la moutard et au miel.” Talisid handed him the menu. “And a glass of the house red, please.”
I pointed at Talisid. “What he said.”
The waiter bowed and vanished as quietly as he had come. “I assume you had a reason,” Talisid said once the waiter was out of earshot.
“Three reasons. First, it was too dangerous. Sonder needs time to scan a location and every second we stayed made it more likely we’d be reported at the scene. And if we did manage to find where that guy had gone and chase him, there’s a good chance he would have tried to kill us. Second, it wouldn’t have told us anything useful. I already know what happened. That guy came to the flat and killed everyone inside.”
“And the third?”
“The third is they aren’t the guys we’re looking for,” I said. “Those three men and the guy who hired them aren’t the ones who’ve been disappearing those apprentices.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Sonder was able to trace them.”
Talisid thought for a second, then nodded. “No shroud.”
“No shroud. And something else-that attack on Anne was messy. It would have left her body, bloodstains, witnesses, you name it. The disappearances you set me to investigate are the exact opposite. Neat and clean, no sign of a struggle.” I shook my head. “Completely different MO.”
“So where does that leave us?”
“Not very far,” I said. “We still haven’t found any trace of whoever’s snatching these apprentices, but I wasn’t expecting to get quick results anyway. They haven’t lasted this long by being careless. I’m hoping we’ll find out more in Fountain Reach.”
“You think it’s there?”
“I think an awful lot of people seem to want me to think it’s there. If nothing else it’s the biggest gathering of apprentices in the British Isles. Seems like a good place to keep an eye on.”
Talisid nodded and handed me a sealed envelope. “Registration papers. Luna’s been entered as a competitor.”
“Thanks.” I tucked the envelope away just as the food arrived.
Lunch occupied us both for a while. It was good. I tend to be pretty casual with the food I eat and it’s rare for me to go out somewhere nice like this. “I had someone take a look at those halls of residence,” Talisid said eventually. “There were security cameras but unfortunately they didn’t show anything. The relevant sections of recording on all the cameras were blank.”
I looked up at that. “Huh.”
“It was a good idea,” Talisid said. “Pity it didn’t come to anything.”
“Yes it did. It tells us a lot.”
“How do you mean?”
“If those security cameras were wiped, that means there was something on them they didn’t want us to see,” I said. “If they’d just gated into their room or something they wouldn’t have needed to mess with the recordings.” An image was starting to form in my mind: a shadowy figure walking in the front door, heading up to the room, knocking. .
“A mage, then?” Talisid said, breaking into my thoughts.
“I’m thinking that way,” I said. “And something else. I saw Morden last night at Tiger’s Palace and he told me Dark apprentices have been disappearing too.”
Talisid frowned. “Really?”
“Do you know if it’s true?”
“I’d heard some rumours, but I hadn’t known how accurate they were. Unfortunately the Dark mages don’t have a centralised organisation as we do. There’s no one representative we could approach to ask questions.”
“Who’s the closest?”
Talisid raised his eyebrows. “Probably Morden.”
“Do you think he’s really trying to stop these attacks? To boost his reputation amongst Dark mages?”
Talisid thought for a second, fork in hand. “It matches his past goals,” he said at last. “But I’m not sure it’s the whole story.”
“What else, then?”
“Well, I was surprised at Morden being at the Tiger’s Palace.” Talisid finished his meal and set down his cutlery with a clink, interlacing his fingers. “Morden and Jagadev are. . rivals, of sorts. The people you go to see if you want something that Light mages can’t do or won’t. They’ve been competing for years and I’ve always been under the impression there’s bad feeling between them.”
“So what?” I said. “You think the other reason Morden’s doing this is because he thinks it’ll hurt Jagadev?”
“That would be my guess.” The waiter approached, about to ask if we’d like any dessert, but Talisid waved him off.
I thought about it for a second then shook my head in frustration. “But both Jagadev and Morden were pointing me towards Fountain Reach. If they want opposite things, how come they’re sending me to the same place?”
“Good question,” Talisid said. “Any idea where to start?”
I tapped a finger on the tablecloth, staring off into the distance with a frown. “I’m going to stick around Anne and Variam,” I said at last. “I don’t know what’s going on with those two but I’ve got the feeling they’re tied into this somehow. Especially Anne. If someone takes another shot at her I’m going to be around for it.”
Talisid nodded and motioned the waiter over, taking out his wallet. “Good luck.”
* * *
I spent a few hours settling affairs in London. First I packed. My flat has a huge selection of equipment, tools, focuses, one-shots, gear, weapons, and miscellaneous stuff I’ve picked up over the years, most of which I never use. It looks like junk, and to be fair it usually is, but it’s worth keeping around for when I need something obscure, fast. That wouldn’t be an option in Fountain Reach-I’d have what I brought with me and nothing more. In the end I left the specialist stuff behind and took a selection of the general-purpose items I use the most-condensers, forcewalls, and a couple of weapons. I hesitated over my mist cloak. I don’t like to carry it unless I really need it-a lot of its effectiveness comes from the fact that most people don’t know that I have it or what it can do-but in the end it was just too useful to leave at home.