Fated

Griff shook his head and started working on the door controls. ‘Love to cut out the deadweight, but I need her along. The fateweaver’s got a lock that works the same as the front door, and she,’ he nodded at Luna, ‘is the only one who can open it. Well, her and that cube.’

I looked down at Sonder, lying sprawled at Griff’s feet, and hoped desperately for him to get up, but as I looked into the future my heart sank. Sonder was out cold. There was nothing I could do to stop Griff from sealing the door behind him.

‘Oh, one more thing,’ Griff said. He snapped his fingers and I felt a surge of energy from down the hall behind me. ‘I just took down the wards. Have fun with Khazad.’ He took a step back towards Luna.

‘Griff,’ I said. I didn’t speak loudly, but there must have been something in the way I said it. Griff paused and looked at me.

Griff was next to Luna, within her danger zone, and I could see the silvery mist of her curse drifting through the bonds imprisoning her. The strands flowed lazily through the air, reaching Griff, soaking into him. ‘You are going to find,’ I said, my voice soft, ‘that Luna is very bad luck for people who try and hurt her.’

Griff looked back at me, and I had one second to remember him like that: stocky and strong, his iron-grey hair mussed slightly from the struggle. He gave me an amused smile. ‘I’ll take my chances.’ He put out one hand and a fist of brown energy smashed the control crystals. The ones on my side flickered and went dead, and with a rumbling sound the door rolled across. I had one glimpse of Luna’s eyes going wide in panic, then the door ground shut with a thud.

I was alone in the hall. And distantly, from behind me, I heard Khazad’s footsteps coming closer.

*    *    *

Back when I was a prisoner in Richard’s mansion, Tobruk would sometimes play cat and mouse. He’d set me loose to run the dungeon, give me a head start, then come after me. Some of my memories of that time are blurred, but that feeling I remember crystal clear. Pressed against a wall, my heart in my throat and my breath coming fast, straining my ears for the sound of footsteps, feeling only dread because hiding never worked, Tobruk always found me, the only question was when.

Standing in that hallway, I felt all the old terror rush into me. Khazad was coming and he was stronger and crueller than I was, and when he found me he was going to hurt me and he was going to kill me, and there was nothing I could do. I scrabbled in my pocket, pulled out the glass rod and channelled a thread of magic into it, speaking in a rush. ‘Starbreeze. Starbreeze, can you hear me? I need you. Please come. If you’ve ever listened to me, come now, please—’

I broke off as I felt something black and cold open up within me. Starbreeze would hear me, and she would answer … but too late, far too late. I turned, searching frantically for a way out, another exit. There wasn’t one. All that was left was to face Khazad. Me with my tricks and toys against the full power of a Dark mage. I stood helplessly in the empty hallway, listening to the footsteps draw closer, and I was nineteen years old again, cowering in the dark, paralysed with fear.

And then something spoke inside me, something older and steadier. You aren’t a child any more. You told Luna there’s always a way out. Time to prove it.

I took a deep breath, stood up straight and waited.

*    *    *

Khazad came around the corner like falling night. The Dark mage was a small man, but as he walked a cloak of shadow seemed to gather around him, turning him into something larger and more menacing. The lights dimmed slightly as he passed, and didn’t brighten. Black eyes met mine.

‘Hello, Khazad,’ I said. My voice shook the tiniest bit.

Khazad strode forward without answering. I watched him and wondered as I did how I could have ever thought he looked like a bird. He moved with a smooth, unhurried grace, not taking his eyes off me. I knew he was probing the area, scanning for traps, making sure I couldn’t trick him the same way again.

Khazad came to a stop twenty feet away, studying me. ‘Where are the rest?’ he said at last.

‘Griff took them,’ I said.

Khazad smiled. ‘So he did something right.’

We stood looking for a moment more. ‘I want to make a deal,’ I said.

Khazad kept smiling. ‘Really.’

I gestured down at the bracelet of black metal that Khazad was still wearing. ‘I can switch that off.’

Khazad raised his eyebrows. ‘Like you did with yours?’

‘I can disable the receptor. Stop Onyx from activating it.’

‘And?’

‘A truce,’ I said. ‘You don’t harm me, I don’t harm you.’

Khazad stood looking at me for a moment, his eyebrows still raised, then lifted his hands and sent a bolt of black lightning straight into my chest.

The pain was so intense I didn’t even feel it when I hit the ground. My lungs had frozen and I struggled to breathe. Flashing spots swum before my eyes.