Table of Contents
ALSO BY JIM BUTCHER
THE DRESDEN FILES
STORM FRONT
FOOL MOON
GRAVE PERIL
SUMMER KNIGHT
DEATH MASKS
BLOOD RITES
DEAD BEAT
PROVEN GUILTY
WHITE KNIGHT
SMALL FAVOR
THE WARRIOR IN MEAN STREETS (WITH SIMON R. GREEN, KAT RICHARDSON, AND THOMAS E. SNIEGOSKI)
THE CODEX ALERA
FURIES OF CALDERON
ACADEMS FURY
CURSORS FURY
CAPTAINS FURY
PRINCEPS FURY
For Bob. Sleep well.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Anne Sowards, my marvelous editor, my agent, Jenn Jackson, and my poor deluded beta readers. Ive been facing the kinds of problems authors only dream about having, and you all have been a tremendous help to me. With luck, Ill figure out how best to repay you for the time and effort youve all given me.
And, always, for Shannon and JJ, who like me even when I vanish into my own head for days at a time.
Chapter One
The summer sun was busy broiling the asphalt from Chicagos streets, the agony in my head had kept me horizontal for half a day, and some idiot was pounding on my apartment door.
I answered it and Morgan, half his face covered in blood, gasped, The Wardens are coming. Hide me. Please.
His eyes rolled back into his skull and he collapsed.
Oh.
Super.
Up until that moment, Id been laboring under the misapprehension that the splitting pain in my skull would be the worst thing to happen to me today.
Hells frickin bells! I blurted at Morgans unconscious form. You have got to be kidding me! I was really, really tempted to slam the door and leave him lying there in a heap. He sure as hell deserved it.
I couldnt just stand there doing nothing, though.
You need to get your head examined, I muttered to myself. Then I deactivated my wardsthe magical security system Ive got laid over my apartmentgrabbed Morgan under the arms, and hauled him inside. He was a big man, over six feet, with plenty of muscleand he was completely limp. I had a hard time moving him, even though Im no junior petite myself.
I shut the door behind me and brought my wards back up. Then I waved a hand at my apartment in general, focused my will, and muttered, Flickum bicus. A dozen candles spaced around the room flickered to life as I pronounced the simple spell, and I knelt beside the unconscious Morgan, examining him for injuries.
He had half a dozen nasty cuts, oozing and ugly and probably painful, but not life-threatening. The flesh on his ribs, beneath his left arm, was blistered and burned, and his plain white shirt had been scorched away. He also had a deep wound in one leg that was clumsily wrapped in what looked like a kitchen apron. I didnt dare unwrap the thing. It could start the bleeding again, and my medical skills are nothing Id want to bet a life on.
Even Morgans life.
He needed a doctor.
Unfortunately, if the Wardens of the White Council were pursuing him, they probably knew he was wounded. They would, therefore, be watching hospitals. If I took him to one of the local emergency rooms, the Council would know about it within hours.
So I called a friend.
Waldo Butters studied Morgans injuries in silence for a few moments, while I hovered. He was a wiry little guy, and his black hair stood up helter-skelter, like the fur of a frightened cat. He wore green hospital scrubs and sneakers, and his hands were swift and nimble. He had dark and very intelligent eyes behind black wire-rimmed spectacles, and looked like he hadnt slept in two weeks.
Im not a doctor, Butters said.
Wed done this dance several times. You are the Mighty Butters, I said. You can do anything.
Im a medical examiner. I cut up corpses.
If it helps, think of this as a preventative autopsy.
Butters gave me an even look and said, Cant take him to the hospital, huh?
Yeah.
Butters shook his head. Isnt this the guy who tried to kill you that one Halloween?
And a few other times before that, I said.
He opened a medical kit and started rummaging through it. I was never really clear on why.
I shrugged. When I was a kid, I killed a man with magic. I was captured by the Wardens and tried by the White Council.
I guess you got off.
I shook my head. But they figured that since I was just trying to survive the guy killing me with magic, maybe I deserved a break. Suspended sentence, sort of. Morgan was my probation officer.
Probation? Butters asked.
If I screwed up again, he was supposed to chop my head off. He followed me around looking for a good excuse to do it.
Butters blinked up at me, surprised.
I spent the first several years of my adult life looking over my shoulder, worrying about this guy. Getting hounded and harassed by him. I had nightmares for a while, and he was in them. Truth be told, I still had nightmares occasionally, about being pursued by an implacable killer in a grey cloak, holding a wicked cold sword.
Butters began to wet the bandages over the leg wound. And youre helping him?
I shrugged. He thought I was a dangerous animal and needed to be put down. He really believed it, and acted accordingly.
Butters gave me a quick glance. And youre helping him?
He was wrong, I said. That doesnt make him a villain. It just makes him an asshole. It isnt reason enough to kill him.
Reconciled, eh?
Not especially.
Butters lifted his eyebrows. Then whyd he come to you for help?
Last place anyone would look for him be my guess.
Jesus Christ, Butters muttered. Hed gotten the improvised bandage off, and found a wound maybe three inches long, but deep, its edges puckered like a little mouth. Blood began drooling from it. Its like a knife wound, but bigger.
Thats probably because it was done with something like a knife, but bigger.
A sword? Butters said. Youve got to be kidding me.
The Councils old school, I said. Really, really, really old school.
Butters shook his head. Wash your hands the way I just did. Do it thoroughtakes two or three minutes. Then get a pair of gloves on and get back here. I need an extra pair of hands.
I swallowed. Uh. Butters, I dont know if Im the right guy to
Oh bite me, wizard boy, Butters said, his tone annoyed. You havent got a moral leg to stand on. If its okay that Im not a doctor, its okay that you arent a nurse. So wash your freaking hands and help me before we lose him.
I stared at Butters helplessly for a second. Then I got up and washed my freaking hands.
For the record, surgeries arent pretty. Theres a hideous sense of intimately inappropriate exposure to another human being, and it feels something like accidentally walking in on a naked parent. Only theres more gore. Bits are exposed that just shouldnt be out in the open, and theyre covered in blood. Its embarrassing, disgusting, and unsettling all at the same time.
There, Butters said, an infinity later. Okay, let go. Get your hands out of my way.
It cut the artery? I asked.
Oh, hell no, Butters said. Whoever stabbed him barely nicked it. Otherwise hed be dead.
But its fixed, right?
