Benedict Jacka - Cursed

“Which is?”

Belthas brought his hand from behind his back and tossed something to me, something small that glinted in the light. I caught it reflexively and looked down.

It was a small cylindrical rod, made of glass, the same one I’d brought to the lair tonight. It was the focus I used to call Starbreeze.

“He wants,” Belthas said, “a new elemental servant.”

I looked down at the rod, then up at Belthas.

“I’m sure there’s no need to spell it out for you,” Belthas said.

“You want Starbreeze.”

“Levistus does.”

“You want me to call her,” I said, my voice flat. “So you can catch her.”

“Yes.”

“For Levistus?” I said. “You do what he tells you?”

“Do pay attention, Verus,” Belthas said. “Levistus is acting as my patron in this matter. He’s been quite generous with his assistance. In return, when he asks a favour, he expects me to uphold my end of the bargain.”

“What are you going to do with Starbreeze if you get her?”

“That’s really none of your concern,” Belthas said. “Call the elemental here, and you and your apprentice will be free to go.”

I remembered Levistus’s servant, the air elemental Thirteen. She’d been like and yet unlike Starbreeze, with all Starbreeze’s power yet none of her freedom, enslaved completely to Levistus’s will. The only expression I’d ever seen on her face had been surprise, just once, at the moment of her death. If Belthas were able to capture Starbreeze, the same would happen to her.

“What did you do to Arachne?” I said.

“The spider?” Belthas glanced back at her. “Stable, for the moment.”

I looked across the room at Arachne. She hadn’t moved during the entire conversation, her eyes opaque and still, and I knew she was unconscious. Lying in the corner, with the guards watching over her, she somehow looked much smaller and more vulnerable. Most of the clothes around the room had been ripped or destroyed. The ones that had survived had been thrown carelessly in piles with none of the care that Arachne used.

A wave of fury rose up in me. Arachne had never done any harm to anybody. All she’d ever done had been to sit here and weave her clothes. Her lair had been a peaceful place, a place where things were created. Belthas and his men had smashed their way in here and destroyed it, and now they were trying to do the same to Starbreeze too.

“I hate to rush you,” Belthas said when I didn’t say anything, “but we have a schedule to keep.”

“I’ll make you a counteroffer,” I said. “Let Arachne go. Then destroy the notes and the focuses you got from Deleo, and make sure nobody ever gets hold of it. Do that and I’ll keep working for you. Otherwise, I promise I’ll see you dead.”

Several of the men laughed. “I’ll choose to attribute that remark to your stressful situation and not hold it against you,” Belthas said. “The elemental, Verus.”

I looked him in the eye. “Go fuck yourself.”

Belthas sighed. “Garrick, shoot the girl somewhere painful but nonfatal. No permanent damage from the first bullet, please.”

Garrick nodded and raised his weapon, sighting on Luna. Luna’s eyes went wide and she scrambled to her feet. “Wait!” I shouted.

“This isn’t a game, Verus.” Belthas said calmly. “Let me explain what will happen if you refuse. First, I’ll have your apprentice shot. It won’t kill her, at least not immediately. Then I will offer you another chance. If you still refuse, I will have her shot again. Then I will repeat the process. She will die very slowly and in great pain, and she will be crippled and insane long before her eventual death. At that point we will move on to you. Given your history, I doubt the same treatment will persuade you, but I’ll do it anyway, just to be thorough. And if at the end of that you still have chosen not to cooperate, I’ll have you killed. And then I’ll get hold of the elemental anyway. You will both have died for nothing.”

The dispassionate, matter-of-fact way Belthas spoke made my blood run cold. Looking into the future, I knew he wasn’t bluffing. I looked between the other people in the room. Martin’s smile had vanished and he was looking a little pale. Meredith was still turned away and Garrick was watching me steadily. I knew I didn’t have any allies here.

Belthas didn’t say anything more, simply watching with his pale eyes. I looked down at the focus, looking into the future. I could call Starbreeze, pretend to cooperate, order her to take us away …

It wouldn’t work. Not only wouldn’t it work, it was exactly what Belthas was expecting. Meredith would have told him how we’d escaped from Cinder. As soon as Starbreeze was inside, he would seal the exits with walls of ice.

The exits …

Without turning my head, I looked for a way out. The tunnel entrance leading back onto the Heath was under guard by two of Belthas’s men and was at the far end of the room; too far. The passage leading into the storerooms was closer but it was a dead end. Even if I could make it, it would only delay the inevitable.

That just left one way to run. The tunnel at the back of Arachne’s lair, leading down into the darkness, uncharted and deep. I didn’t know what was down there and I was willing to bet Belthas didn’t either. And it was only a few seconds away.

But even a few seconds was too long. I’d be cut down before I got halfway. “Luna,” I said.

Luna looked at me. I could tell she was afraid, trying not to show it. I didn’t meet her eyes. “Look away,” I told her.

“What?”

“Look away.”

“Why?”

“Because,” I said quietly, “I don’t want you to see this.”

I felt Luna stiffen. She opened her mouth, staring at me, about to speak, then closed it again. Slowly, she turned to face the wall. Belthas nodded.

I took the glass rod in my hand and stroked it with a finger. I’d had it for a long time. Starbreeze had attuned herself to it, touching it with her magic so that she could always hear my call. Hardly any elementals are willing to give a mage so much power over them. It was a symbol of how much she trusted me.

I wove magic through it, whispering, “Starbreeze, come.” Then I tossed it forward. The rod clinked on the stone midway between us, rolling to a stop. All of the men looked down at it.

Belthas raised his eyebrows. “Is that it?”

I closed my eyes.

Focus items are limited things. The glass rod was designed for one purpose only: to carry a message on the wind. But like all focus items, the energy transfer is inefficient. Some of the energy goes into carrying the message, some bleeds off harmlessly, and some-just a little-is left in the item. Each time I’d used it, the energy reserve had increased slightly. It’s a tiny amount, so small that you’d have trouble even noticing it, but I’d been using the focus to call Starbreeze for years. Like saving pennies, it adds up.

I can’t use offensive magic, not directly. But one thing I’m very good at is manipulating items and anything containing energy can, in theory, be persuaded to release it. It’s like throwing a match into a petrol tank. It might not be what it’s designed for but you can do it.

The little glass rod disintegrated with a crack of thunder and a brilliant flash, the energy tearing the focus apart in light and sound. Men cried out, and as they did I was already sprinting. “Luna! Run!”

I had one glimpse of the room, filled with chaos as the men fell back, blinded, aiming their weapons at unseen threats. I saw a shield of blue light go up around Belthas, saw Martin collide with a guard and fall. Luna had been turned away from the flash; it hadn’t blinded her but her reactions were slower. There were two guards between us and the tunnel. One was blinded; the other, quicker or luckier, was only dazzled and brought up his gun. I saw his intention to club me with the stock, ducked under the swing, put a web-hand strike into his throat that sent him to the ground choking, and ran on without breaking stride.