do not reach me first. Because if they take possession of me and order me to use my powers to hunt you down and kill you, I am very much afraid I will have no choice but to obey.’
Abithriax and I had taken two turnings and we were almost back at the room we’d started from. The two of us stood looking at each other. ‘Then I guess I’d better get moving,’ I said at last.
‘Of course,’ Abithriax said with a nod. ‘Tell that scholarly-looking apprentice with you to try a command word in the right corner. I’m not sure of the password but I’m sure you can deduce it.’
‘Right. See you later.’
‘Hopefully so.’ Abithriax smiled slightly. ‘For what it’s worth, I hope you succeed.’ His image seemed to dissolve into mist and he was gone.
I walked back into the room. Luna and Sonder were still there, throwing glances at my body. Somehow I knew how to break the connection. I walked into my body, layering my mental self over my physical one, placing my hand over where my real hand grasped the crystal. There was a moment of dizziness, then—
‘—be in trouble.’ Sonder’s voice.
‘He said not to do anything.’ It was Luna’s voice; to most people she would have sounded calm, but I could hear the trace of anxiety. ‘We could— Alex!’
I turned around –
‘I’m okay,’ I said. ‘Sonder? Take a look at the right corner. While you’re doing that, I’ve got something to tell you both.’
As Sonder worked, I relayed what I’d learned. I briefly considered keeping it a secret between me and Luna, but there wasn’t any good excuse to send Sonder out of earshot and anyway, I wanted his input. ‘That’s incredible,’ Sonder said once I’d finished. ‘I mean, just the idea of surviving that long … The Dark Wars were almost two thousand years ago! The things he’d be able to tell us!’
‘Sonder,’ I said. ‘Priorities. Survive first, research afterwards. Does what he said match with what you know?’
Sonder thought for a minute. ‘We’ve never been able to recover a fateweaver before. It was just assumed they were all destroyed, but if they were unstable, that would explain it. And there’s always been a mystery about Abithriax’s death. Some writers did argue for the betrayal theory, but there’s never been any proof. The Old Council fell into infighting after the Dark Wars and most of the records were destroyed.’
‘Do you trust him?’ Luna asked.
I hesitated. ‘I’m not sure,’ I said at last. ‘I had the feeling he was keeping something back. But I’m pretty sure he was telling the truth about what he’d do if Onyx found him first.’
‘So what should we do?’ Luna said.
Sonder had stopped and both he and Luna were looking at me, waiting for my decision. ‘We go for the fateweaver,’ I said. ‘If we can take it for ourselves, we’ve got a chance. But I don’t want either of you involved in the fighting. Onyx and the rest are going to be after me, not you. Don’t do anything to draw their attention.’
I made my voice sound confident and both of them nodded, Sonder quickly, Luna a little more reluctantly. The two of them turned back to what they were doing and I bit my lip, wishing I was as sure as I was pretending to be.
The truth was that none of our options were good. I knew that trying to beat Onyx and the others to the fateweaver was likely to end in a fight, and I also knew that if it came to a battle our little group was almost certain to lose. It was tempting to run and hide. If we weren’t going for the fateweaver, Levistus and Morden’s agents would be too busy fighting each other to worry about us.
Except that if we did that, whoever won the battle would be free to hunt us down afterwards, with all the power of the Precursor artifact at their disposal. Whether we lived or died would be up to them. My instinct told me our best chance was to act. But it’s one thing to risk your own life and another to risk someone else’s. I looked at Luna withdrawn into the corner, and Sonder examining the wall, and felt suddenly afraid. For all my brave words, I didn’t know if I’d be able to protect either of them.
Then I shook it off and focused, going back to watching Sonder and sifting through the futures. After a moment I knew Abithriax’s advice had been good. ‘There,’ I told Sonder. ‘Try some command words.’
‘Uh … which ones?’
‘Every one you can think of.’
Sonder looked back at the wall and hesitated. ‘This feels silly.’
I sighed inwardly. For all Sonder’s knowledge, it was painfully obvious how inexperienced he was. Once you’ve been around the block a few times you stop caring about looking silly, especially when you’re dealing with magical traps. Better to be laughed at than dead, and he wouldn’t have been laughed at. ‘Just give it a go.’
Sonder started reciting in the old tongue. He spoke like a scholar, each word carefully pronounced. ‘Stop,’ I said after a moment. ‘Say that last one again and put your hand on the wall, fingers spread. Up a bit,’ I said as Sonder obeyed. ‘Left a bit. Hold that. Now say that word again.’
Reluctantly, Sonder did as I said. ‘
Right in front of Sonder, a section of wall seven feet high and three feet wide glowed for an instant and simply vanished. Sonder started and jumped back. Beyond was a short corridor, bending left. ‘Now I see,’ I said. ‘The whole room is a trap. The only safe way is to go around.’
‘Is it safe?’ Luna asked.
‘Yes. It’s—’ I stopped.
‘What’s wrong?’
I stared for a moment before answering. ‘It’s not empty.’
