Fated

‘Yes. I mean … Um, well …’ Sonder cleared his throat, a little self-conscious. ‘Well, uh, the robes are in the Late Precursor style, and the design is very similar to the surviving pieces of post-war sculpture. The others think it’s just a statue but,’ Sonder pushed his glasses up, warming to his theme, ‘the very first thing I did was look through our records. Well, there wasn’t anything from the post-war period, but when I looked through our records of the Dark Wars I found it straightaway. His name was Abithriax, and he was a general in the Light armies.’ Sonder pointed to the wand clasped in the statue’s hand. ‘You see, the fateweavers weren’t just weapons, they were also symbols of rank. Now, according to the records, Abithriax was killed in the closing months of the Dark Wars, just a few years before this must have been built. So I don’t think this relic was just built to store the fateweaver, I think it was built as a tomb.’

I frowned. ‘A general’s tomb …’ I looked at the statue, proud and commanding. Somehow it felt right. ‘So you think they buried him with his weapon?’

Sonder nodded. ‘I think so. There aren’t any records I can find to confirm it though.’

‘No, I think you might be right.’ I stood thinking for a little while. ‘Sonder, can you do me a favour? Keep researching this. I’m not sure if it’ll help us get in, but it might be important once we do.’

‘Oh. Um, yes, okay.’ Sonder paused. ‘You think you’re going to get inside?’

‘Yup.’

‘How?’

‘No idea.’

Sonder paused. ‘Then why are you so sure?’

I smiled. ‘Because so many people are after me. Give me some space – this might take a while.’

Sonder stepped well back and watched as I stood in front of the statue and closed my eyes. I stood quietly for a minute to clear my mind, then began methodically to look into the future.

The statue was the focal point of the room. I looked into the futures of my interacting with it and found it very easy. Every future in which I did anything to the statue, or placed anything in its hands, led to exactly the same result: the huge lightning elemental appearing in the middle of the room and attacking us. I was slightly reassured to notice that in none of the probable futures did the elemental get me. I was also reassured to notice that the future Sonder did a pretty good job of making himself scarce, too. He was obviously faster than he looked.

I settled down to the job of scanning through the futures one by one, looking for the future in which I activated the statue without triggering the elemental. It was slow, labori ous work, and time dragged by as I stood there searching through the futures as they flickered and changed, looking for the one in which I did the right thing. I went through a thousand futures, two thousand, three thousand, trying every object, every action, every combination of spells. Nothing changed.

I was so absorbed that I actually jumped when my phone rang, snapping me out of my trance. I checked my watch to see that I’d been at it for two hours. Sonder was on the other side of the room, going through a stack of books. I shook myself awake and looked at my phone. The number was unknown. I picked up. ‘Talisid.’

‘Hello, Mr Verus,’ Talisid’s voice said. ‘I’m glad you made it home safely.’

‘I’d ask how you got my number, but I think I can guess.’

‘And I’d ask how you knew it was me, but I think I can guess that too. Have you given any thought to our offer?’

I glanced to check that Sonder wasn’t within hearing distance, did a brief scan for eavesdropping spells, then turned away and lowered my voice just to be on the safe side. ‘What exactly are you offering?’

‘Assistance. Starting from tomorrow, I’ll be present at the museum as official Council liaison. I’ll be able to help with any resources you require.’

‘And what would you want in exchange for this generosity?’

Talisid sighed. ‘Let’s stop fencing, Verus. We want to stop any ambitious individuals taking the fateweaver for themselves. If you can retrieve it and deliver it to the Council, that’s fine. If you can’t retrieve it, that’s fine too. Mostly, we’d like to resolve this with as few people killed as possible. Are you interested, or not?’

I was silent for a long time. ‘All right,’ I said. ‘I’m not promising anything, but I’ll meet you to talk things over. Six o’clock at Centre Point?’

‘That’ll be fine. See you then.’ Talisid hung up.

Talisid’s call had broken my concentration. I turned back to the statue and started to slip back into my trance, then shook my head and stopped. This wasn’t working. If there was any remotely possible way I could activate this thing, I would have found it by now. I hadn’t, and that meant that with what I had here, it wasn’t possible.

I looked at the statue. Abithriax’s stone eyes stared back at me. The longer I looked at him, the more expression I seemed to notice in his face. He did look like a general – confident, as if he already knew he was going to win. I wondered if he’d been wearing that same expression when he died.