Veiled (29 page)

I calculated quickly. The thing was faster than me; if I kept going, it'd run me down. Maybe I could take it out and lose the men . . . but the light beams of more torches were appearing below . . .

No other choice. Silently, I drew out my dispel focus. I'd only have one shot at this.

The construct was still closing in. It had slowed down, and as it reached a distance of thirty feet from the bush it stopped.
Shit.
My dispel focus was a touch-range weapon. I held still.

The men were climbing the hillside, closing in on my position. The wolf construct was holding still. Three of them caught up, then five, then six. More were coming. “. . . in there?” I heard one say.

“Can't see shit . . .”

“. . . a mage, right?”

They began to spread out, circling. They were wary, but that wouldn't last long. My only cover was the leafy bush, and as soon as they circled far enough around they'd have a clear line of sight to me. I looked into the future, and—

—
there.
I pulled off my cloak, stuffing it into my pack.
One of the men saw the movement and shouted something, the beam of his torch darting out towards me.

Pale brown light split the air, forming a vertical disc, lighting up the startled faces of the men. The light solidified, forming a gate, and Caldera stepped through, coming down onto the grass. She dismissed the gate behind her, called up an orb of light in her hand, and looked at the men surrounding her. “Hey there,” she said. “Seen a diviner around?”

I grinned and took a step forward. Caldera turned instantly, shining the light on me. “Caldera, I have never been so happy to see you in all my life.”

“I'll take that as a compliment.” Caldera jerked her thumb at the ring of men surrounding us. “Who are the goons?”

“That's him!” one of the men shouted. “Get him!” He charged Caldera from behind, and as she began to turn he stabbed his shock stick into her side. Blue-white light crackled as the energy discharged into her body.

Caldera finished turning and stared at the man. He looked down at the stick, then up at Caldera. Caldera picked him up, lifted him over her head, and threw him. Not a martial arts throw, more the kind of thing a football player does with a throw-in. She got the same sort of distance too. The man went flying away into the darkness with a long trailing yell that was cut off a couple of seconds later by a
thud
.

The other men stared down at the flight path their companion had just described, then turned back to Caldera. “Anyone else?” Caldera asked.

There was a rustling, shuffling sound as all of them took a step back. The construct held its ground, staring at us, until one of the men called something and it retreated as well.

Caldera turned and walked to me. “You were supposed to be intel support,” she said. “How do you keep getting into this shit?”

I sighed. “Would you believe I was just following orders?”

More people were gathering downslope. Another one of the wolf constructs had emerged from the trees, and I could hear shouts and see arms pointing in our direction. Caldera still had her light spell active, clearly illuminating us in the
darkness. “I hate to be a downer,” I said, “but I think they're coming back for another round.”

“That's okay,” Caldera said. “I brought some friends.” She took out her communicator and spoke into it. “Beacon's lit. Gate when ready.”

“Got it,” a familiar voice said from the disc. “Sixty seconds.”

The men started advancing again up the hill. They moved slowly at first, but we were illuminated by Caldera's light and they could see that they outnumbered us ten to one. There were three of the wolf constructs now, padding heavily through the grass, black eyes locked onto us. The men still didn't have guns out, only the shock sticks, but there were an awful lot of them. They closed to sixty feet, then forty. Someone shouted, “Go!” and the wolf constructs arrowed in, the men following behind. I took a step back, bracing myself . . .

And then a gate opened beside us, this one flame-red, lighting up the night. Figures came stepping through: Landis, wreathed in flame; Variam, his face bright and eager; Luna, her wand in her right hand, whip coiled and ready. The men hesitated, shouting. The constructs didn't. The first construct came face to face with Landis and was just starting its leap when a fireblast exploded it in midair, the wave of heat so intense that I felt it twenty feet away. Red-hot pieces of construct went rolling across the hillside, sending smoke rising up from the grass. “Verus!” Landis said cheerfully. Two more men had been behind the construct and were wavering; he gestured and a spell detonated with an explosive
whump
, sending them both sprawling. They scrambled to their feet and ran. “Saved a few more for us this time, excellent work. Any friendlies?”

Caldera was fighting to the left; to the right, Variam and Luna were taking on one of the constructs. Vari was holding it at bay with a wall of fire while Luna struck with her whip, the silver mist of her curse lashing eagerly into the construct's body. I was in a tiny oasis of calm at the centre of the circle, everything happening at once. “Just Haken, he's
at the house—uh, there are two more mages at least, Vihaela and Cerulean. Cerulean is working for White Rose, he's somewhere around invisible—to your left!”

Landis gestured and one of the White Rose men who'd been in the middle of drawing a gun suddenly screamed and dropped it. The gun hit the grass with a hiss, glowing with heat. “Cerulean, eh?” Landis said. “Never did trust the bugger. Be a good chap and spot for me, will you?”

I looked through the futures, saw gunfire. “Group at the bottom of the hill, your one o'clock. They're aiming for Vari.”

Landis lifted a hand and a glowing ball of dark red energy formed above one finger. He frowned down at the people below who were sighting on Variam. “Should have taken the hint, boys.” The glowing spark flew downhill, disappearing into the night.

Fire bloomed, followed by a clap of thunder. For an instant everyone on the hillside was illuminated in fiery red, then a wave of hot air rolled over, making me stagger. The three men who'd been about to open fire were gone. In their place was a circle of scorched and glowing earth, shapeless masses burning at the centre.

The men still standing broke and ran. To the right, the construct Vari and Luna had been fighting tried to leap; Luna sent a pulse of some kind through her whip, flashing into the doglike body. The construct staggered and collapsed, its animating spell misfiring as Luna's curse set it against itself. Vari burned away its head with an incineration spell. “Boss!” he called at Landis. “They're running!”

“Let them go,” Landis said. “This was just the small fry. Verus?”

“They're gone,” I said, scanning the futures. “Can't sense any mages or adepts. They must be back at the estate.”

“Yeah, and now they know we're here,” Caldera said, walking up, glancing down at the last scattered men fleeing into the trees. Behind her, the third construct was broken on the grass. I hadn't even noticed her take it down. “Get behind me. The guys coming in aren't going to be so happy to see you.”

“What do you—?” I saw what was going to happen. “Jesus. When you said you were bringing company, you weren't kidding, were you?”

“What, you thought I was going to come charging in on my own? That hero shit is for rookies.” Caldera glanced sideways. “Landis . . . ?”

Landis made a reassuring gesture. “I'm here in a purely supporting role, my dear. You're the senior.”

“Thanks.” Caldera turned back towards the slope. “Here?”

“Here,” I said. “Five seconds.”

Caldera nodded.

Another gate opened up on the hillside, followed by another. Council security men came through, two by two, guns levelled. Torches shone on our faces, and I squinted against the glare. “I'm Keeper Caldera,” Caldera said, arms folded. “These guys are with me. Point those things somewhere else.”

The Council security glanced at each other, then lowered their guns. “Clear!” one of them called back through the gate.

The next one through was Slate. “You'd better have—” he started to say to Caldera, then he saw me and his face darkened. “You!”

“Okay, look,” I said. “I can explain.”

“You can do it in a cell. You, you.” He gestured to the security men. “Arrest him.”

“Belay that order,” Caldera said.

“Do it!”

“If you touch him,” Caldera told the two security men calmly, “then I will shove whichever body part you use to do it up your own arse.”

The two security men looked at Caldera, looked at Slate, and clearly and visibly decided not to get involved. “Caldera,” Slate snarled. “What the
fuck
?”

“Verus is my second,” Caldera said. “Not yours.”

People were still coming through the gate. There were a good fifteen security men with us now, but most had taken one glance at what was going on and hurried past to set up a perimeter. No Council auxiliary wants to get in the middle of a mage fight. “This is my case,” Slate said.

“No, the raid in Bank was your case. You don't have seniority here.”

Slate glanced at Landis, who made a very small gesture to indicate that he wasn't involved. “Look, maybe I can—” I began.

“Shut up,” Caldera and Slate told me at exactly the same time.

I blinked, and did. “Cerulean fingered him for Haken being MIA,” Slate said.

“Yeah, well, some new stuff's come to light,” Caldera said. She jerked her head back towards the distant building. “Like the fact that Haken's in there. You want to argue jurisdiction, or you want to get him out before Vihaela gets to work on him?”

Slate gave Caldera a hard look. His eyes flicked to me and back to Caldera, and I felt the futures settle. “He doesn't leave my sight,” Slate said. “And I've got tactical command, not you. Got it?”

Caldera nodded. “Fine.”

Trask had appeared behind Slate, who turned to him. “Get on the com to Rain,” Slate said. “Tell him we want more backup, as much as he can scare up.” Slate raised his voice, addressing the crowd. “All right, ladies! Lock and load, we've got work to do!”

“Thanks,” I told Caldera quietly.

“Don't thank me yet,” Caldera said, her voice dry. “Slate would have had you safe at HQ. Now you're going to be leading the charge.”

“You going to tell them about Cerulean?”

“You do not want to make it your word against a Keeper's.” Caldera looked around then headed towards Slate, giving me a last comment over her shoulder. “Don't screw this up.”

All around us, men were organising, sorting into teams. “That was fun,” Luna said, walking over from where she'd been talking to Variam. Her eyes were bright and there was a spring in her step. “Thought you'd forgotten about us.”

“Just keep your head down and stick with Vari and Landis,” I said. “You're still not supposed to be here. And be—”

“Be careful, I know,” Luna said, rolling her eyes. “Look who's talking.”

“That pulse trick you used against that construct,” I said curiously. I'd never seen Luna use that move before. “Where did that come from?”

“Oh.” Luna shrugged. “Chalice showed me. Worked pretty well, right?”

I looked at Luna. “Yeah, it did.”

“Hey!” Slate shouted. “Verus! I said where I can see you!”

I sighed and gave Luna a nod. “Stay safe.” I walked to join Slate's group.

Slate was with Trask and Caldera, and he was giving orders to a group of Council security. “. . . through the gap,” he was saying. “Once we've made the breach, I want two men on point. Stay in cover range for when things go wrong.” He beckoned to me and started walking. “Let's go, fortune-teller. You're finding us a way in.”

“It's Verus, not ‘fortune-teller.' You're not waiting for backup?”

“
If
you and Caldera are right,” Slate gave a sharp glance, “then we don't have time. And to make sure, you're going at the front.”

I sighed. “Fine. Then stay quiet and let me work.” I searched through the futures, picking out points of entry. White Rose's base loomed up in the futures and the present, growing closer each second.

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K
eepers can move fast when they want to. It took the whole assault force less than five minutes to make it across the grounds and to the White Rose estate. To no one's surprise, by the time we got there, the defending forces were alerted and ready for us.

When you're doing recon, five minutes isn't much time. With half an hour, I could probably have found a way to get in safely. With an hour, I might have slipped in a couple of other people too. Getting the whole assault force in subtly
and cleanly was not going to happen, no matter how long I had.

Fortunately, “subtle” wasn't on Slate's priority list. The front doors of the White Rose estate were bound in metal, reinforced and warded. But the reinforcement didn't extend to the entire building, and my divination found the weak points in the walls. The elemental mages did the rest.

At which point things got busy.

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“P
ull back!” Slate shouted into his communicator. “Stay in cover!”

I was lying flat behind a low rise in the ground. I could just make out the edges of the right wing of the White Rose estate, but not the central block, which was just as well because that was where the fire was coming from. A low-pitched, hollow
duh-duh-duh
sound echoed from the roof, repeated and overlapping, mixing with the distant sounds of bullets sinking into earth. The man who'd been hit in the first volley had stopped screaming: treated or dead, I couldn't tell which. Slate shoved the disc away and glared at me. “Why didn't you tell us about this?”