Chapter Seven
“I have done everything she asks. What more does she want from me?”
Vara paused, her fist hovering over the Master’s door. She had meant to knock, but the muffled sound of the Master’s voice stopped her. He sounded like he was in the middle of an important conversation and Vara didn’t want to butt in, especially when he sounded so annoyed. If she interrupted him when he needed to take his annoyance out on someone, she’d be eating lead.
“It is nearly time.”
As soon as Vara heard the stranger’s voice, her mind froze over. Some instinctual terror took over her. Something so raw and powerful that it clamped down on her like a crocodile on a wildebeest. She couldn’t breathe as that innate dread took her underwater, drowning her.
The voice sounded again, dragging Vara back to the surface. Shivers swept down her spine as that high, shrill voice hissed, “The seeds have been sown, and now she waits. It will be soon.”
Vara frowned. There was something familiar about that person, something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Hadn’t she…
Rain. It poured from the black sky. Night. She was standing with someone. A wrinkled hand on her shoulder. They were both dry; they were under some shelter. The air was so alive it was almost crackling. She could taste the fear: a bitter tang on her tongue. They were both afraid. Because something … something stood there… Something soaked from the rain…
Vara gripped her forehead as a blinding pain struck her. Oh God, she couldn’t remember. She didn’t want to remember. The more she tried, the more her head hurt. It wasn’t like it was a happy memory, anyway. Dark nights and cloaked figures standing in the rain didn’t normally entail the cheeriest of things.
Ow. Stop thinking about it, she thought, concentrating on her breathing as the pain struck again.
She’d missed what the Master and the high-voiced person had been talking about while she’d been having her trip down Memory Lane, but as she tried to ease the pain in her head she let their voices wash over her again. The Master’s voice was hard and clipped as he spoke to the stranger.
“I want to see her-”
“She cannot be summoned.”
“No. No, not her. I want to see-”
“She will not allow it. You have not done all she asks.”
The Master’s voice shook with rage as he replied, “My life has been devoted to doing as she asks. The Legion grows as she has demanded, the chess board set as she has demanded, and a party is to be sent out for the Stones as she has demanded. Do not tell me I have not done all she commands. What more is there?”
“The chess board has been set, yet the game must also be played. You are aware of this. Do not question her again.”
“I-”
“No more. It is nearly time.”
There was a flash. The red light that shot out from the gap under the door blinded Vara. Perhaps that was a good thing; because when the Master ripped open the door, Vara couldn’t quite see the murderous fury twisting his facial features.
She blinked up at him and blurted out the first thing that entered her mind, “It’s nearly time for what?”
Stupid, stupid, she thought. Never question the Master, especially when he looked like he could happily tear her apart with just his teeth. Also admitting she’d been eavesdropping, too…
Vara gasped as the Master grabbed her arm and yanked her forwards, pulling her into his room. Before he slammed the door shut, he peered out into the corridor, checking that no one else was there. It gave Vara enough time to prepare for the fist he swung at her.
His knuckles crashed into the side of her face; the sheer force of the impact sending her staggering backwards until she hit the back of the sofa. She tasted a sharp, salty tang on her tongue: she’d bitten the inside of her cheek, hard. When she put a trembling hand to her mouth, she pulled it away to see the tips of her fingers coated in blood.
The Master marched towards her, his eyes bright with anger. When his nose was practically touching hers, he snarled, “Don’t you dare listen in on my private conversations again. Do you understand?”
“Y-yes, Master.”
“You knock to announce your presence. Or, better yet, leave and come back another time. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Master.”
He stared down at her for the longest moments, breathing heavily. Eventually the red blotches on his face began to fade as he calmed himself down ever so slightly. Vara felt her cheek tingling painfully, but she didn’t dare reach up to touch it. This staring test was assessing her strength, and she’d be damned if the master thought she wasn’t only a sneak, but a weakling too.
Finally he moved past her, heading to his desk. Probably to reassure the stranger that Vara had learnt her lesson. Except when Vara turned around she only saw the Master. There was no one else in the room.
“What did you hear?” the Master asked gruffly, sitting behind his desk.
‘Nothing’ seemed the safest answer, but the Master had a knack of knowing when members of the Black Dragons were lying. Vara didn’t want to try his patience any more, so she replied carefully, “Nothing that made much sense.”
He didn’t reply for a moment, just busied himself shuffling pieces of paper about. Vara was just about to ask to be dismissed when he said, “Was there something you wished to tell me?”
“I…” Her mind went blank, but then she remembered the call from Emily Green. “There’s a complication…”
The Master sighed. “Go on.”
“After I woke up I got a call from a girl called Emily Green. It was on Kieran’s phone-”
“Why were you in possession of Kieran’s phone?”
“He gave it to a prostitute before he left; she gave it to me this morning. Anyway, she rung and I think… Well, she knew about Sven and Rick.”
The Master suddenly became very still. His hand hovered over a sheet of paper before he said slowly, “Go on…”
“I think Kieran’s been meeting her. She seemed upset for him. I don’t think she… I don’t think she knows about what he’s done.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” he sighed, relaxing again. “This girl knows too much for my liking, Vara. Bring her in. I would like to speak to her. I trust you have already asked Kerr to find her address?”
“Yes, Master.”
“Ah, good girl.” He paused. “She truly knows nothing of what Kieran has done?”
“I, er, don’t think so…”
“Perhaps it would work in our favour if we were not to tell her what he has done; only that he is missing. Maybe she could even help persuade him to come back with us. The life of someone dear to you creates the perfect leverage…”
“Master?” she prompted when he trailed off.
He looked up at her. “Tell her Kieran disappeared while on a mission and we may need her help to bring him back. You may explain our purpose if she asks as I am confident she will soon outlive her usefulness.” He opened a draw and paused, flicking an amused look at her when she hesitated. “You may go.”
“Thank you, Master.”
She turned to leave, but stopped as the Master said to her, “Oh, and Vara? Do not repeat a word of what you have heard to anyone else, and do avoid being so foolish in the future.”
She swallowed. “Yes Master.”
As she left the room, she couldn’t shut away her feelings of unease. The Master had been talking to someone, someone with more authority than him, but when Vara entered the room, only she and the Master were in there. Other than the door, there weren’t any other exits. Unless you counted the window, which had a three storey drop into a clump of rosebushes. Not really a dignified exit. So where had the stranger gone? And how?
A bigger question popped up in her mind: What was it nearly time for?
