Page 105 of Prince of the Undying

“Take it,” he said. “And think about my offer. I will not linger in Vienna much longer.”

I needed to know where he was taking Wendel. “Where will you go?”

“Tomorrow, I will return to Constantinople, and I will see if you are ready.”

I swallowed down the sour taste rising in my throat. Tomorrow? Time was running out. I could lose Wendel forever.

The Grandmaster paused, his hand on the doorknob. “One more thing.”

“What?”

“Be careful, Ardis. Fate does not favor those who reject their destiny.”

35

Evening fell in Vienna. The dying sun slid down the sky. Walking through the streets alone filled me with a vague paranoia. Wind tossed my hair into my eyes, and I tugged my borrowed coat tighter around myself.

Dusk softened the hard angles of the Hall of the Archmages. I leaned against the doors and slipped into the cool silence. My footsteps echoed through the halls. Each step reminded me I was alone.

What was Wendel enduring without me?

When I rapped on the door to Konstantin’s office, he answered it at once, blinking like someone who had spent too much time in the dark. His curly hair had been mussed to a spectacular degree, and a pair of aviator goggles were pushed up over his head.

He smiled. “You got your sword.”

“I did,” I said flatly.

His smile faded. “Is something the matter?”

“I’m a little tired.”

I didn’t know Konstantin well enough to tell him the whole story about my father.

He cocked his head. “Better come inside. I have something to tell you.”

When I sat on the couch, he shut the door behind me.

“Wendel is still in Vienna.” His voice was hushed in the shadowy stillness of the office. “I don’t know where, not the precise location, but I know how to find him.”

“How?”

He brightened. “The Eisenkriegers.”

“The Eisenkriegers in Project Lazarus?”

He dragged a chair closer to me and sat. “The technomancy involved in the Eisenkriegers’ control systems was inspired by Wendel’s necromancy. Specifically, his ability to control the dead remotely.”

“Wendel told me. Called it really clever magic.”

“It’s brilliant! Though we have a lot of work ahead of us. We’re still getting problems with interference. The technomancy is, at best, only a crude approximation of Wendel’s magic.”

Frowning, I cocked my head. “In what way?”

“A necromancer can control an army of the dead as a legion, or command each man independently. We still don’t have the level of precision required to pilot more than one Eisenkrieger. Commands sent to one interfere with the others.”

“I don’t see how this helps us find Wendel.”

“Ardis, we can use the interference. Each of the Eisenkriegers responds to Wendel’s necromancy. We can rewire the control systems to find him.”

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