Battle Ground (The Dresden Files #17) - Jim Butcher Page 0,1

too big, too violent. The mortal world isn’t going to be able to ignore it this time. No matter what happens tonight, the world. Changes. Period.”

She considered that seriously for a moment. Then she said, “The world’s always changing, Harry. The only question is how.”

“Maybe,” I said. “But I can’t see how this one is going to be for the better. Mortals versus the supernatural world gets bad, Murph. Ugly. For all of us.” I shook my head. “And that’s going to happen now. I don’t know when. But no matter what happens, it’s coming. Now it’s coming.”

She leaned against me silently and said, “What do we do?”

“Hell if I know. The best we can.”

She nodded. Then she looked at me and said, seriously, “Then get your head right. Leave that war for tomorrow. We’ve got plenty on our plate tonight.”

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, exhaled, and walled away a small ocean of fear that had begun roiling in my mind. By my own words, that worry was coming, no matter what I did. And I would face it when it arrived. Compartmentalize and conquer.

Because for tonight, there was only one thing that needed to be on anyone’s mind.

“Defend Chicago,” I growled.

“Damned right,” Murphy said. “So how do we do that?”

I shook my head. “Way I figure it, Ethniu is our main worry.”

“Why?” Murphy asked openly. “She’s a big gun, but she’s still just one person. She can only be in one place at a time.”

“Because she’s got the Eye of Balor,” I said.

“Of who?”

“King of the original Fomorians,” I said. “Archnemesis of the Tuatha, who I gather were some kind of proto-Sidhe. Ruled Ireland in prehistory. There was a prophecy that he would be killed by his grandson, so he locked his only child up in a tower for a few thousand years.”

“Ethniu,” Murphy guessed.

“Got it in one.”

“Thousands of years as a prisoner. She’s probably stable and well-adjusted,” Murphy said. “So did he loan her the Eye or what?”

“Kind of. He died hideously, after some good-looking Tuatha snuck in and knocked Ethniu up. The child born of it eventually killed Balor. Maybe the kid gave the Eye to his mom as a Christmas present. I don’t know.”

She eyed me. “What do you know about it?”

I shook my head. “Mostly mortal folklore, which is sort of like trying to understand history through a game of telephone. But the Eye . . . it’s a weapon that is beyond what the world has seen in millennia. Anyplace we gather to fight the Fomor’s troops, we’re just bunching ourselves up for the Eye to wipe us out by the boatload. And from what I heard, we’ve got very few ways to actually hurt Ethniu. But if we stand by and do nothing, she’ll literally level the city with the damned thing.”

“So how do we win?” Murphy said.

“Hell if I know,” I said. “The Senior Council will have been gathering information this whole time. It’s possible they’ll have come up with options.”

“That’s why you went out to the island,” Murphy said. “You think you can lock her up out there.”

“I think if I tried to walk up and bind her, she’d rip my brain apart from the inside out,” I said. I had to force myself not to rest my hand on the knife I was now wearing at my hip. In fact, it would be best if I didn’t think about it at all. Too many things in this world are way too good at catching glimpses of your thoughts. “Maybe she can be worn down. I might have a chance then.”

“Maybe,” Murphy noted. “Might. I’m hearing a lot of waffle words.”

“Yeah, that’s because I’m speaking optimistically,” I said, glowering.

“Let’s call that one Plan B, then.”

“Plan Z,” I said. “This isn’t like our usual mess. I’m still a heavy hitter in those. In the league these people are operating in, I’m a middleweight at best. I . . .” I shook my head. “I’m hoping someone has a better idea of what to do than me.” I felt myself growing instinctively tenser and cut the throttle by half. “Okay. I think we’re getting close. If there’s going to be trouble, it will be between us and shore. Better let them know.”

She bumped her head against my arm, leaned for a moment, and then pushed away. “I’ll tell them.”

She limped out carefully to go belowdecks again, and I began to cut the throttle a bit more, peering out into the