Derek Landy – Last Stand of Dead Men (страница 23)
He ran back to Weeper’s corner, pressed the communication sigil on the desk. “Lock the Sanctuary down,” he snarled. “We have an escaped prisoner.”
The conference room was humming with activity by the time Ghastly reached it. Huge screens had been set up, showing CCTV footage of the corridor leading to the cellblock. Mages chattered on phones and hurried in and out of the doors, and Ravel stood in the middle of it all with a frown etched on his brow.
He turned to Ghastly. “Anything?”
Ghastly shook his head. “I sent the Cleavers into the lower levels, but I doubt Sult would have headed down there. He’ll want to get out of Roarhaven as soon as possible. If he’s in the area, we’ll find him. Any luck with the cameras?”
Ravel swivelled his head, like he was catching the question and passing it on to the mage at the huge screens.
“We’re watching the footage now,” said Susurrus. “So far, we’ve seen no movement at … wait a second …”
The screen flickered, flickered again, went fuzzy, and then the picture was replaced by static.
“Mr Susurrus,” said Ravel, “what happened to our picture?”
“I don’t know, sir,” said Susurrus, furiously tapping the keyboard. “It looks like someone jammed the signal.”
“Those cameras are protected, are they not?” Ravel asked, his hands curled into fists. “When we installed them, I was told they were unjammable, was I not? So will someone please tell me how this happened?”
The chatter in the conference room died for a moment while sorcerers looked away and looked at their feet and looked at each other, no one daring to posit an answer. After a moment, the silence went away, and once more the room was plunged into a chattering mess of barked orders and ringing phones.
Ravel looked over at Ghastly, gave him an exasperated shrug, and Ghastly turned as Doctor Synecdoche approached.
“Staven Weeper has just regained consciousness,” she said. “He claims to have no memory of anything unusual. One moment he was doing his duty with his customary alertness, his words, and the next he’s waking up with Doctor Nye staring down at him.”
“You believe him?”
“We’ve found traces of a toxin in his blood. We should be able to identify it within minutes.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” Ghastly said, nodding for the next sorcerer to approach.
“We’ve set up a perimeter around Roarhaven,” said Petrichor, a fresh-faced mage of ninety-three. “We’ve also been viewing any outside CCTV footage that might yield results. So far, nothing. We don’t even know how he got out without being seen.”
“There are dozens of secret tunnels beneath this place that we don’t know about,” Ghastly said.
“Um,” said Susurrus.
Ghastly looked round. “What is it?”
Susurrus frowned. “The Sanctuary Global Link, sir.”
Ravel came forward. “What about it, for God’s sake?”
“Uh … it just activated.”
Ravel glared down at him. “Do you really think we’re in the mood to watch Supreme Council propaganda right now?”
“Well, that’s just it, Grand Mage. They didn’t activate the link. We did.”
The screen pulsed, showing Bernard Sult on his knees. His mouth was gagged and his hands were cuffed behind his back.
Ravel’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell is going on?”
“Elder Bespoke,” Doctor Synecdoche said, hurrying back to Ghastly’s side. “We’ve identified the toxin in Weeper’s blood. It’s venom, sir.”
“What?”
“Spider venom.”
The doors opened behind him and Madame Mist glided in, in perfect synchronicity with Syc and Portia’s arrival onscreen.
Ravel looked at Mist. “What are they doing?”
“I have nothing to do with this,” Mist said, after a moment. “Whatever their plan is, it is theirs alone.”
Ravel turned to Susurrus. “Trace the signal. Find out where they are.”
Syc kept one hand on Sult’s shoulder, keeping him on his knees, while Portia turned to the camera. “The actions of the Supreme Council have led to this. Their repeated breaches of the accepted Rules of Law and Sanctuary Conduct have resulted in the death of an Irish sorcerer while in their custody. This cannot go unpunished.”
Syc took hold of Sult’s hair and pulled his head back. Sult’s eyes were wide and wet with fear. In Syc’s other hand, he held a knife.
“They can’t,” Synecdoche whispered.
Ghastly seized Mist’s arm. “Tell them to stop. Make them stop!”
With a rare show of anger, Mist pulled free. “I don’t know where they are, Elder Bespoke. I assure you, they do
“Well, do they have
“I have been trying, sir,” Tipstaff said from another desk. “Their phones are turned off, and hidden from all scans.”
“You,” Mist said, looking at Susurrus, “disable the link.”
“I can’t,” Susurrus said. “Not from here.”
“So every Sanctuary around the world is watching this?”
“I—I’m sorry, but yes.”
Back onscreen, Portia was talking again. “No doubt our own Sanctuary will publicly condemn us for what we are about to do, even though they will understand why it is necessary. For too long, Grand Mage Ravel has entertained the Supreme Council’s excessive demands. For too long, he has indulged their whims and forgiven their sins. This latest sin cannot be forgiven. And so we offer a life for a life.”
“Don’t do it,” said Ravel, but the words had barely left his mouth when Syc drew the knife across Bernard Sult’s throat.
Ghastly stiffened and there was no sound in the room except for the sound of Sult dying onscreen.
“Let it be known,” said Portia, “that if one of ours is harmed, one of yours will die.”
The screen went blank.
“Turn it off,” said Ravel, his voice low, his jaw clenched. “Tipstaff. Activate the shield.”
“The shield is up, sir.”
“Out. Everyone out.” The room emptied quickly, until there were only the Elders left. “We’ll go to war over this,” he said. “This is everything they needed. This is the excuse they were looking for. A public execution of one of their people. Any sympathy we may have had,
“So I had thought,” said Mist. “Obviously, I was wrong. You are suspicious of me?”
“You could say that.”
Mist’s veil made it impossible to read her face. “That is unfortunate. Please allow me to repeat myself – I had nothing to do with this. They acted without my knowledge and certainly without my permission. I cannot, and I will not, be held responsible for their actions.”
“They’re Children of the Spider,” said Ghastly. “Just like you.”
“And that makes me culpable? Preposterous. Are you to be held responsible every time an Elemental commits a crime?”
“Children of the Spider are an especially tight-knit bunch.”
“We are no closer than family,” said Mist, “and yet siblings are not held accountable for each other, are they? I had no idea Portia and Syc were going to do what they did, and unless you have evidence beyond mere suspicion, we should be concentrating on bringing them to justice and dealing with the ramifications of this terrible act.”
She moved for the door, but Ghastly blocked her way. “You can’t just walk out of here.”
“On the contrary,” she said, “I can and I am about to. Administrator Tipstaff may not be able to track them, but someone has to, and by the looks of things the rest of you are too busy blaming me to do anything constructive. So if you will excuse me.”
She stepped round Ghastly and walked on, and he just stood there.