Page 33

CHAPTER 33

I had no idea where to go. Deciding that heading toward Master Adolphus’s house wasn’t an option, I turned uphill, past the university, and found a small café on a side street where patrons were all older norms. I got a pastry and a cup of coffee, then found a table near the back where I couldn’t be seen from outside.

Then I pulled out my phone and hit the speed dial for the Master.

“Kaitlyn?” he answered.

“Yes.”

“Are you all right?”

“Yes, but I’ve got a problem. Master Otto and Nikolas Müller tried to arrest me. They said I’m a collaborator with the supernaturals and a danger to the citizens of Zürich.”

I started to tell him what happened, but he interrupted me.

“Müller’s faction tried to take over the Guild Council, but it didn’t go as smoothly as his coup against the Kanton Council. I just got off the phone with Luka, and there is active fighting going on in the Guild Hall. He said the apprentice area was blown up. Where are you?”

“That was me.” I told him where I was. “Master, Master Noah is dead. Someone murdered him, and Otto is trying to pin it on me.”

There was a moment of silence from the other end of the line. “That’s not good,” he said. “Now, this is what I want you to do. Stay away from the house. I spoke with Noah earlier today, and he thinks Müller wants you as a hostage to keep me out of the fight.”

I chuckled. “That didn’t work out very well for him. I don’t know if he and Otto were shielded, but anyone who wasn’t is probably dead.”

He gave me directions to a house further up the hill.

“Jonas is a friend,” he said. “He’ll drive you to Master Mikhail. Stay there until either Luka or I come for you. No one else, understand?”

After he hung up, I finished my pastry and coffee, then shielded and glamored myself, and headed toward the address he gave me. At one point, I sheltered on a rooftop while a small group of Enforcers battled a larger group of Knights in the street below me. The Enforcers gave a good account of themselves but were eventually overwhelmed. The survivors were disarmed and led away.

My destination proved to be a townhouse with a neat garden in front. I knocked on the door, wearing a glamor mimicking Dierdre. A man answered the door.

“Kaitlyn?”

“Yes. Jonas?”

He ushered me inside, and I dropped the glamor.

We looked each other up and down. Jonas was the sort of man I wouldn’t give a second look if I saw him on the street. A head shorter than I was, a little overweight, and appearing to be in his fifties, with receding brown hair, he radiated magic, and his aura showed him to be a strong hydromancer with an affinity for air. Very strong, and laced with lightning.

“Is it Master Jonas?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. We must hurry. I don’t know how long before Müller’s people come to arrest me.”

I recast the Dierdre glamor, and he took me out the back door. There, he opened the trunk of the car, and I crawled in. He closed the trunk, and then the car engine started.

We drove for about forty-five minutes, then the car stopped, and the engine turned off. The trunk opened, and Master Mikhail looked down on me.

“That is a pretty glamor,” he said with a smile. “But you’re safe now, so you can drop it.”

I did and crawled out.

“Are you hungry?” he asked. “We have dinner ready.”

Master Mikhail’s wife Dominica served us a wonderful dinner of lasagna and steamed artichokes. Her aura showed her to be a hydromancer, with a second affinity for air. I gauged that she was at least a hundred years younger than her husband. A small, dark, cheerful woman who made me feel completely at ease.

“So, what happened?” I asked after everyone had been served.

“Müller and his faction inside the Guild decided to take over,” Master Jonas said. “The Guild Council resisted. Müller may be charismatic and have some magic, but he and his Church allies discovered that master mages are not easily intimidated.”

He took a bite of lasagna and a sip of wine, then continued.

“However, we have mostly conceded the buildings to him. They are of little importance, except for show. As far as I know, all of the Council is alive and free—all but Master Noah.”

“That’s who I was looking for when Master Otto lured me into his office and tried to imprison me,” I said. “Master Noah is dead.”

“Yes, and Adolphus told me that Otto tried to charge you with his murder,” Master Mikhail said.

“He said they were charging me with the murder of the Knights who died when they assaulted Hans, Jodi, and me.”

Master Jonas shook his head. “The arrest warrant they’ve posted on you is for the murder of Master Noah. He was killed in his chambers shortly before someone blew up that wing of the building.”

“Yes, I found him, and then Otto found me.” I drew out the athame Master Mikhail had made for me. “A blade like this one was left at the scene. But as you can see, I still have mine.”

Mikhail reached out and touched the blade. “Yes, that is the one I made for you. With the null-magic spell incorporated in the forging.”

“So, are we just going to stay here and wait for the fighting in Zürich to end? I hope you have a lot of food stored.”

Dominica laughed. “There’s a small stream running through our property. And my garden will feed us quite well. We can trade with the neighbors for what I don’t grow.”

“And no one is going to assault us here,” Mikhail said. I believed him. I had seen what a master geomancer could do in Queen City. When the ground you walk on turns into your enemy, you don’t have a lot of bandwidth left for fighting a human foe.