Cursed

“It was the one sticking point in our arrangement. But we had only managed to acquire part of the ritual, and I knew that without Cinder and Deleo I would have no more success than they had had with that barghest. I needed one of them alive to interrogate and I was certain you were our best chance.” Belthas smiled again. “You played your role admirably.”

I was silent.

“Levistus, unfortunately, did not share my faith in your reliability,” Belthas continued. “Enough so that when he discovered your involvement, he ordered your immediate removal.” Belthas glanced sideways at Garrick. “Via someone whom I had been under the impression was working for me.”

Garrick shrugged. “I was.”

“I don’t believe your contract mentioned anything about freelancing.”

“Didn’t say I wouldn’t, either.”

Belthas sighed. “Yes, well. Smoothing that over took quite some work. Levistus assigned a second agent to the same task but fortunately you proved capable of dealing with that matter on your own. At least that unpleasantness at the factory had the advantage of persuading Levistus to reconsider. After some persuasion, he reluctantly agreed to a compromise.”

I stood still. “A compromise.”

“More a matter of reparation, really. You caused him a certain amount of loss in your last encounter.”

“If he wants the fateweaver, he can get it himself.”

“Interesting you should mention that,” Belthas said. “It was my first assumption too. But it seems that retrieving the fateweaver isn’t a priority for Levistus at the moment. Oh, he’d like it some day, but it’s not his primary concern. His grudge against you concerns the loss of his agents.”

I hadn’t been the only one Levistus had sent to get the fateweaver. There had been two others: an earth mage called Griff and a bound elemental named Thirteen. Both had done their best to get rid of me and I hadn’t cooperated. “You know,” I said, “technically, I didn’t kill either of them.”

“Ah?” Belthas said politely. “Well, you could raise that point with Levistus if you feel it would help.”

I was silent.

“I’m not explaining all this to you because I like the sound of my own voice, Verus. I’m doing it as a sign of good faith. You asked me a moment ago to show my gratitude. I did. I convinced Levistus to stop the attempts on your life, and believe me when I say it took quite some persuasion. What eventually changed his mind was realising that you still had something he wanted.”

“Which is?”

Belthas brought his hand from behind his back and tossed something to me, something small that glinted in the light. I caught it reflexively and looked down.

It was a small cylindrical rod, made of glass, the same one I’d brought to the lair tonight. It was the focus I used to call Starbreeze.

“He wants,” Belthas said, “a new elemental servant.”

I looked down at the rod, then up at Belthas.

“I’m sure there’s no need to spell it out for you,” Belthas said.

“You want Starbreeze.”

“Levistus does.”

“You want me to call her,” I said, my voice flat. “So you can catch her.”

“Yes.”

“For Levistus?” I said. “You do what he tells you?”

“Do pay attention, Verus,” Belthas said. “Levistus is acting as my patron in this matter. He’s been quite generous with his assistance. In return, when he asks a favour, he expects me to uphold my end of the bargain.”

“What are you going to do with Starbreeze if you get her?”

“That’s really none of your concern,” Belthas said. “Call the elemental here, and you and your apprentice will be free to go.”

I remembered Levistus’s servant, the air elemental Thirteen. She’d been like and yet unlike Starbreeze, with all Starbreeze’s power yet none of her freedom, enslaved completely to Levistus’s will. The only expression I’d ever seen on her face had been surprise, just once, at the moment of her death. If Belthas were able to capture Starbreeze, the same would happen to her.

“What did you do to Arachne?” I said.

“The spider?” Belthas glanced back at her. “Stable, for the moment.”

I looked across the room at Arachne. She hadn’t moved during the entire conversation, her eyes opaque and still, and I knew she was unconscious. Lying in the corner, with the guards watching over her, she somehow looked much smaller and more vulnerable. Most of the clothes around the room had been ripped or destroyed. The ones that had survived had been thrown carelessly in piles with none of the care that Arachne used.

A wave of fury rose up in me. Arachne had never done any harm to anybody. All she’d ever done had been to sit here and weave her clothes. Her lair had been a peaceful place, a place where things were created. Belthas and his men had smashed their way in here and destroyed it, and now they were trying to do the same to Starbreeze too.

“I hate to rush you,” Belthas said when I didn’t say anything, “but we have a schedule to keep.”