'Oh, shut up, Tomb.'
Tomb gaped at her as she rose unhurriedly to her feet and smiled defiantly at Hawk and Fisher. Something in the room's atmosphere changed in that moment, and they could all feel it. Without drawing a weapon or moving a muscle, Rowan had suddenly become dangerous.
'That suppressor stone of yours won't stop me, Captain Fisher. It'll protect you and Hawk from my magic, but it's not powerful enough to prevent me leaving any time I choose. I should have killed you both when you first came here. But I made the mistake of going by appearances instead of reputation. I really didn't think you had the brains to work out what was going on. By the time I realized you'd earned your reputation, it was too late to attack you directly. That would have been too obvious. Even Tomb might have noticed something. I tried using the Dark Men against you, but I couldn't match your training as fighters.'
'Rowan, what are you saying?' Tomb's face was pale and slack with shock. He made vague, fluttering movements with his hands, and there was desperation in his voice. 'You mustn't listen to her, Captain Hawk. She's not well, she doesn't know what she's saying…'
'Yes I do,' said Rowan, almost cheerfully. 'I'm guilty, Tomb. Guilty as charged, guilty as hell. I killed Bode, and the four Beings, and I'll kill a damn sight more before I'm done. There are no Gods on the Street of Gods, and I'll make them pay for pretending otherwise. I needed them. I needed them to be real, and they let me down. I'll see them all dead and rotting for that.' She smiled at Hawk and Fisher, and it was not a pleasant smile. 'You want to arrest this body? Fine. Take it. I have plenty more, and this one's almost through. I would have had to abandon it soon anyway; you just made the decision a little easier.'
'I'm afraid not,' said Hawk. 'I thought you might try and leave your body for one of your Dark Men homunculi, so I had a word with Buchan earlier. He has the Exorcist Stone, Rowan. Until we decide otherwise, no magic will work in your vicinity. You're stuck in your own body. And you'll stay there until your trial.'
'What are you talking about?' said Tomb. 'Nothing's happened to the magic here. I'd know.' He gestured quickly with his left hand, and a lamp on the wall lit itself. Hawk looked at the bright flame, and his heart sank.
He and Fisher looked at each other. 'That shouldn't be possible,' said Hawk 'Isobel, go and find Buchan. Make sure he's got the Stone.'
'That won't be necessary,' said a slow, harsh voice from the doorway. Everyone except Rowan looked round in time to see the Dark Man throw Buchan's bloodied form into the drawing room. He hit the floor hard, and lay still. The Dark Man strode into the drawing room, the Exorcist Stone clutched firmly in one large bony hand. Two more Dark Men followed him into the room. They all wore the same shapeless furs, they were all heavily muscled, and they all had the same cold smile. Rowan's smile.
'I've learned a lot since I first started working with Bode,' said Rowan calmly. 'In the beginning, it was all I could do to handle one body at a time. But the more I practiced, the easier it got. Now there's no limit to how many homunculi I can control at one time.'
Tomb had knelt beside Buchan, and was checking his injuries with gentle hands. 'Cracked ribs, broken right arm, cracked skull; probably concussion as well. How could you do this, Rowan? He was your friend.'
'He would have used the Stone on me,' said Rowan. 'Luckily, for a famed duelist he was surprisingly easy to sneak up on from behind.'
'We have to get him a doctor, Rowan. I can't heal serious injuries like these. He needs a specialist.'
Rowan looked at Buchan unemotionally. 'He would have used the Stone on me.' She turned and looked at Hawk and Fisher again. 'Keep your hands away from your weapons. I had a feeling you were getting too close to the truth. I had planned to have the Dark Men ambush you as you left here, but this has worked out just as well. Now I have all my enemies in one place.'
'Where did you get all the Dark Men from?' said Fisher, playing for time and mentally measuring the distance between her and the mystic.
Rowan smiled. 'I inherited them from Bode. He really was very talented. After I've had a chance to acquire his notes and study them, I'm sure I'll be able to create even more. I should even be able to produce copies of my original body, without the original's defects. There's a lot to be said for the Dark Men, but I always feel so much more comfortable in my own body.'
'Buchan needs a a doctor!' said Tomb. 'He could die!'
'He never liked me,' said Rowan. 'He never even looked at me.'
Tomb got slowly to his feet. 'So. It is all true. Everything they said. And you're going to kill everyone who knows your secret.'
'That's right. Tomb.'
'What about me?'
'What about you?'
They looked at each other, and neither of them would drop their eyes. Hawk drew his axe, aimed, and threw it in one rapid movement while Rowan was distracted. The heavy blade flashed through the air and buried itself between the eyes of the Dark Man holding the Exorcist Stone. Rowan screamed in pain and rage as the homunculus crumpled to the floor. The Stone rolled away from his limp fingers. One of the other Dark Men started toward it, but Fisher moved quickly forward to block his way. She grinned nastily at him, sword at the ready before her. Rowan's mouth set itself in a thin, flat line, and the two Dark Men advanced, one on Hawk and one on Fisher.
Hawk threw himself at the fallen homunculus, put a foot on the head to steady it, and jerked his axe free. He spun round just in time to parry a sword blow from the approaching Dark Man. Sparks flew as steel rang on steel again and again. Hawk was forced back, step by step, from the sheer force of the attack. The Dark Man pressed forward untiringly, and Hawk's arm began to ache from the effort of parrying the blows. The axe was never intended as a defensive weapon. At any other time, he might have been able to turn aside the attack and launch one of his own, but he'd gone too long without rest or sleep and it was starting to catch up with him. His back slammed up against a wall, bringing him to a sudden halt. Finding extra strength from somewhere, he brought his axe across in a short vicious arc that had the Dark Man jumping backwards to avoid it, but he couldn't find the speed to follow it up. He moved away from the wall, and the Dark Man was on him again. Hawk caught a glimpse of the Exorcist Stone lying on the floor, but it was a long way away, and besides, he didn't even know how to activate it. He swung his axe double-handed, and tried to make himself some room to move in.
Fisher attacked her Dark Man head on, and the two of them stamped and lunged, their swords clashing and flying apart almost too quickly for the eye to follow. Rowan obviously didn't know much about swordsmanship, but with the Dark Man's strength and reflexes she didn't have to. All she had to do was keep up her attack and wait for Fisher's strength to run out. They both knew it wouldn't take long. Fisher was already exhausted from the long day, and the Dark Man was fresh and tireless. Fisher held her ground, as much out of pride as anything, but she was beginning to have a bad feeling about this fight.
Tomb faced Rowan squarely. Her face was blank and empty, but her muscles occasionally jumped and twitched in sympathy with the Dark Men.
'Rowan, you've got to stop this. Get out of here while you can.'
'Not now. Tomb. I'm busy.'
'Hawk and Fisher are Guards, experienced fighters. They'll win, in the end. And as long as they've got the suppressor stone, your magic can't hurt them.'
'There are ways round the suppressor stones. I have more magic than you think.'
'I won't let you hurt them. Rowan.'
Life came suddenly to Rowan's eyes, and she fixed him with an unwavering stare. 'Don't interfere, Tomb. It wouldn't be healthy.'
'Your magic's no match for mine, and you know it. There's still time to stop this nonsense, Rowan. We could leave here now, together, and use the Dark Men and our magic to cover our trail. We could leave Haven, start again somewhere else. No one could ever have to know about all this.'
'Yes,' said Rowan slowly. 'I could do that.' She stepped toward him, took hold of his chin, and pulled his face close to hers. 'You'd give up everything, to be with me?'
'Of course,' said Tomb. 'I love you, Rowan.'
'I know.'
She thrust her dagger into Tomb's gut, twisted it once, and them jerked it sharply upwards. Tomb's hands clutched at her shoulders, closed tight, and then released her as he fell clumsily to the floor. His eyes were still open, staring reproachfully at the ceiling. Rowan turned her back on him and slipped the dagger back into its
