by Steve McHugh
I dropped from the tree, air magic slowing my fall, and walked over to everyone.
“How did Mona and Varol move after the initial attack?” I asked.
Sky got to her feet and moved Remy around to face the tree, his arms wide, trying to protect Mona as she moved away.
I watched Diana scramble as Sky had informed her, and lay still when the arrow hit her in the base of her spine.
Sky turned Remy toward Diana, and then instructed him to collapse. Two arrows hit him in the side, one in the ribs, one in the neck. They’d been meant for his torso.
All four victims were no longer a threat, with Kozma probably already dead, and Victoria either running for help, or fleeing out of fear. No matter how tough you are, the need to stay alive can override an awful lot of needs to help your friends.
Mona continued to crawl along the ground until her throat was cut. Varol was on his knees, his throat cut last, after Kozma.
“Varol was forced to watch,” I said.
“Varol was the target,” Sky said. “I hadn’t realized how much of their memories were still jumbled up until I started doing this.”
“Forced to watch Mona and Kozma die,” Tommy said. “But why? Because he knew Kozma? That seems excessive.”
“Victoria was hit by accident,” I said.
“Still think she’s innocent?” Remy asked, brushing off the snow from his armor.
“The jury has gone back out on that one,” I said. “Sky’s right though, Varol was the target. He was killed last; he was kneeling as Mona was murdered.”
“His memory is clearer,” Sky said. “No faces of the killers, they wore balaclavas, or masks. Something like that. He watched Mona die. He watched Kozma die. He was forced to linger on both of them, shouted at.”
“We just don’t know why,” Diana said.
“Or who did it,” Remy said. “Or who hired them. Or how that guy’s head exploded like a water balloon.”
“You ever considered motivational speaking?” Tommy asked him.
“I’m only saying we don’t know a lot,” Remy said.
“Victoria is our next stop,” Sky said. “Something is off here.”
I walked to where Mona’s body had been found. “Tommy, there’s a guardian who lets people out of this realm, yes?” I looked over at him for an answer.
“You know there is,” Tommy said. “I have two people going to talk to both of them. One man, one woman, they work in shifts. I’m on it, trust me.”
“You’re thinking they let the killer in?” Diana asked.
I nodded. “Either they have another of those bloody irritating tablet things that took us to Nidavellir, or they came through the main realm gate. Or there’s another gate, and they’ve figured out a way to use it.”
Guardians were linked to a realm gate, and until we’d discovered the lost Norse dwarves, they’d been the only people capable of operating a realm gate. They were essentially immortal when around the gate, but the farther they moved from it, the less powerful they became. If there was a second realm gate, and it had been activated, they’d hopefully know.
“I’m going to return to the village and get Sorcery,” I said. “And then I’m going to check out this forest.”
“Alone?” Diana asked. “Yeah, I don’t see that happening. I’ll join you.”
“We can’t say for a hundred percent certain that Victoria was accidentally hit,” Sky said. “I’m going off the memories of three dead people, and it wasn’t a fun experience. I’ve probably said it before, but murdered spirits are notoriously unreliable.”
“I know, but we don’t have a lot to go on,” I said. “We need information.”
We were walking back to the village when Matthew appeared in the trail ahead. “You’ve been hard to find,” he said. “We have a problem.”
“Oh good, another one,” Remy said.
“What’s happened?” Tommy asked.
“It’s Viktor,” Matthew said. “He’s been murdered.”
“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Remy muttered to himself.
Chapter Seven
To say that Viktor had been murdered was doing the word murdered an injustice. He’d been nailed to the side of the barn with two-foot-long silver daggers through his wrists, his feet had been cut off, and another dagger had been rammed up under his chin into his brain. There was a large pool of blood under him, and from the looks of the arterial spray on the wall where he’d been nailed, Viktor had been alive when his feet were removed.
“That’s a lot of effort to kill one person,” Tommy whispered as we stood in front of Viktor’s corpse while Gordon instructed half a dozen realm staff to safely lower the body to the ground.
“They crucified him, cut off his feet, and then stabbed him under the chin,” I said. “What’s the point? And why cut his feet off? Why crucify him? The effort alone would be huge.”
I looked around the area, which was beginning to get a larger and larger crowd that were being held back closer to the castle by a combination of Tommy’s people and the realm staff. It was getting late and most of the stable-hands had been cleaning out the stalls or seeing to the animals. Viktor had been killed in a spot some distance from the main stable.
“How did no one hear him scream?” I asked.
“Hello,” Tommy shouted, getting everyone in the nearby area to turn around and look at him. He waved and turned back to the grizzly scene. “I think people would hear screaming. No one is so mentally strong that they can withstand being crucified, having their feet removed, and from the looks of him, having the shit kicked out of them first.”
“Who found the body?” I asked.
“Stable-hand,” Gordon said. “Poor kid is only nineteen. No one should ever see shit like this, but at nineteen, it’s unthinkable.”
I spotted the stable-hand in question, Sky crouched before him at the far end of the stables. She’d given him a large mug, probably coffee with lots of sugar. The kid looked like he might vomit at any moment, but to his credit he was answering questions.
“How did no one hear?” I asked.
“He was drugged,” Gordon said. “I can smell it. Same stuff in Victoria.”
“Manticore venom,” Tommy said.
“An insurance policy,” I said with a sigh. “We’re pretty sure that Varol was the target in the forest.”
“Don’t know him,” Gordon said, washing his bloody hands in a nearby bucket of water, which quickly turned red. “He worked for Vlad the Impaler a few centuries ago. And that was one person the world could have done without. I’m all for laying waste to your enemies, but I’m not sure that murdering your own people just to show your enemies how crazy you are, is a long-term strategy.”
“It worked,” Tommy said.
“For a while,” Gordon said. “And now he’ll forever be known as a monster. Or hero. It really depends on who you ask.”
“Okay, moving on,” I said. “We need this entire place in lockdown. No one comes, no one goes.”
“Already given the order,” Tommy said. “That was before this was done though, so I’ll see how it’s going. The realm has its own guard, but by their own admission, they’re completely out of their depth.”
I watched Viktor’s body—now draped in a black cloth—wheeled away on a gurney. The large pool of blood under where he’d been found would remain until it could be cleaned. It was starting to freeze, the cold already making a hard job even more difficult.
“Where’s his wife?” I asked.
Matthew and Sky had joined us, and all four of them turned to me.
“Melody,” I said. “Where’s Melody?”
“You think Melody did this?” Gordon asked.
“I think the first person you look at in a murder when you have no suspects, is their spouse.”
“She’s up in her room,” Matthew said. “Or should be. They were all told to stay inside.”
“She’s my destination then,” I said.
“I’ve already sent some
of my people to see her,” Tommy told me. “I haven’t heard back, but there should be guards outside. Room 419.”
“You still seeing the guardian?” I asked him.
Tommy nodded. “I’ve got people searching the victims’ rooms, including Victoria’s. Hopefully, we turn something up.”
“I’ll go with him,” Matthew said.
“Oh, before I forget,” Gordon said. “Sorry, it’s been a bit hectic. I know what killed that assassin. There were trace amounts of explosives in his remains. He’d been wearing an earbud for communications.”
“An explosive earbud?” I asked.
“There wouldn’t need to be a lot,” Sky said. “And if you put runes on the earbud, you could increase the power of the explosion.”
“Any chance you found runes?” Tommy asked.
“I found pieces of transparent plastic,” Gordon said. “Any runes would have been destroyed though.”
“At least we know they’re using a comms system to communicate,” I said. “Although, that in and of itself is weird. Technology doesn’t travel through realms well.”
“A rune-based comms system?” Sky suggested. “I’ve used one before, but not in something that small.”
“And just to compound the misery,” Gordon said. “I tested the other victims for the same agent in Victoria and Viktor. None of the three had any paralyzing agent in their bodies. There would still be traces considering they died so quickly after being stabbed. You’d expect to find something. The manticore venom was only used on those two.”
I filed the information away for later use. “Let’s go see Melody,” I said.
Sky accompanied me into the castle, and through the empty hallways as we took the stairs to the fourth floor, where we found half a dozen of Tommy’s people. Two were walking down the hallway, while another two stood either side of the stairs at the far end, and two more were stationed outside a room about halfway down the hall.
I turned to the large windows beside me, looked over the courtyard below. The forest spread out in the distance, and I was pretty sure I could make out where the first three murders had taken place.
“You okay?” Sky asked, touching my arm to bring my attention back to her.
I nodded. “Something feels all wrong about this.”
“About what? The murders?”
“Viktor’s murder,” I said. “The three killings earlier were professional, quick, clean. Varol might have been the victim, but the deaths were done without fanfare, without the need to grandstand. Viktor was tortured, the position of his body was designed to be a public humiliation.”
“Maybe the killers were hired to do two different types of murder,” Sky said.
“That’s possible,” I told her. “I’ve seen professional killers do such things before, but he was beaten, drugged, crucified, his feet cut off, then murdered. That’s a different set of skills to being an assassin.”
“I need to tell you something,” she said. “I tried to reach out to Viktor’s spirit. I got nothing but a swirl of darkness. Whatever they did to him, his spirit is a mess.”
I sighed. “I did wonder. I wasn’t going to ask you to look into another spirit after the mess of the last few.”
“I did it on the sly,” Sky said with a smile. “I’d rather not try again until we know what was actually done to his spirit.”
“We’re not exactly inundated with clues, are we?”
“Let’s go ask Melody,” Sky said, setting off down the hallway.
I jogged to catch up, and we stopped outside room 419, where the two guards—one male and one female—nodded to us and pushed open the door, letting us inside.
“Nice,” Sky said as we stepped into what was a suite. A large living area directly in front, with a door on the left that sat ajar and showed a bathroom beyond; a closed door on the right that I assumed was the bedroom.
The room was furnished with a comfortable looking leather sofa, several dark wooden units, and a small library next to a drinks’ cabinet. There were two glass doors directly opposite the entrance, and a balcony beyond.
“Melody,” Sky shouted. “We need to talk.”
The door to the bedroom opened and a young woman—or at least someone who looked like a young woman—stepped out. She had long blonde hair that flowed over her shoulders, and wore a black t-shirt, and dark blue jeans. Her feet were bare, and she padded over to the nearby bar, grabbed a tumbler, a bottle of rum, and poured herself a generous portion.
“To Viktor,” she said, her accent putting her from Germany, or maybe Austria. She knocked back the drink, poured another. “The fucking cunt.”
“This is going to go brilliantly,” Sky whispered.
“Melody,” I said. “I assume you know about your husband.”
“Yes, good,” Melody said. “I hope it fucking well hurt.”
“Not a fan?” Sky asked.
“Viktor was controlling, mean, unpleasant, a bully, a thug, violent, and a whole lot more. I was a prisoner in my own goddamned home, brought out to look pretty and show the world his prize.” Melody poured a third drink. “Whatever they did to him, he deserved it.”
“Do you know what they did to him?” I asked.
Melody shook her head. “He’s dead, that’s all I care about.”
Sky told her exactly what had been done to Viktor and Melody laughed. “They cut off his feet?” Was all she could say.
“Is that symbolic in some way?” I asked.
“He had it done to a few werewolves who crossed him,” Melody said. “Take a foot, use silver to do it. Foot might grow back in a few decades, but the memory of what had been done would last a lifetime.”
“Anyone here today have that done?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Melody said, downing her fourth shot. “Probably. He pissed off everyone he ever met. You spoken to Lex? She hated him too.”
“Yeah, I get that,” I said. “Victoria hate him too?”
Melody stared at me for a moment. “Everyone hated him.”
“What about the three murders in the forest?” I asked. “Did everyone hate Varol and Mona too? What about Kozma?”
“Kozma was nice,” Melody said. “I didn’t know Mona, although I heard she was sweet. Varol was… Varol was very good, if you know what I mean. I’m sadder about his death than Viktor’s.”
“You and he had a relationship?” Sky asked.
“We did,” she said. “A long time ago, before I met Viktor.”
“I assume Viktor wasn’t happy about it,” I said.
“No, he was not,” Melody said. “In fact, he hated it. He had to do business with Varol’s pride, and to say that he was unhappy about it was an understatement. The idea of another man taking what was his, even if it was well before we’d even met, was a betrayal.”
“I’m sorry for what you went through,” Sky said.
“Viktor was a pig,” Melody said. “But now I’m free, and I won’t be staying around that pride of his. Lex has offered to take me into hers, and I will accept that offer.” Melody smiled for the first time.
“Where is Viktor’s pride right now,” I asked. “I haven’t seen any of the members.”
“They weren’t allowed entry,” Melody said. “Too many of them would immediately start a fight or they would do something stupid. His pride is full of those who have been kicked out of other prides for their behavior. They’re criminals, thugs, and bullies. Just like him.”
I looked out of the nearby window at the mountains in the distance, the forest that surrounded it. I wondered if the assassins were out there right now, waiting for further prey.
“Could Viktor have had the three of them murdered?” I asked, turning back to Melody.
“He’d have wanted to be involved,” she said. “He’d have wanted to see Varol for himself. See the pain in his eyes.”
“What if someone let him see it?” I asked. “A telepath?”
Melody thought for a second. “He might have, yes,” she
said. “But he was too busy fighting with the other guests to really pay attention to it.”
“The whole time?” I asked.
“No, after his brother burst in, he sat there quiet as a mouse.”
“The brother the one with the big beard?” I asked.
“That’s him,” Melody said. “Father of the groom. His name is Sven Rohmer. He’s German, like me and Viktor.”
“And what’s he like?” I asked.
“Sven is a good man,” Melody said. “Doesn’t have a pride, but everyone knows not to pick a fight with him. He loves Logan and Beth a great deal. I think he only invited Viktor because he wanted to help me get some time away from his sycophants.”
“You and Sven ever had a relationship?” Sky asked.
Melody laughed. “No, not ever. He hated Viktor though. They were brothers, but Viktor was always jealous, always angry. If Viktor had those people killed, I’m surprised he didn’t have Sven and Lex killed too.”
“Has anyone seen Sven?” I asked.
“I’ll go check,” Sky told me, and left the room in a hurry.
“You’re Nate Garrett, aren’t you?” Melody asked when we were alone. “Tommy’s friend.”
I nodded.
“What would you do to me if I had killed my abusive husband?”
I stared at her for several seconds. “I don’t know. I think we’d have to figure out how much of your story was true then go from there. I’m not saying I don’t believe you, but there’s a difference between believing you, and letting you go for your husband’s murder.”
“And if he’d attacked me and I’d killed him in self-defense?”
I shrugged. “He was nailed to a wall. That’s going beyond self-defense.”
“How many people have you killed, Nate?”
“A lot,” I told her. “And if I’d murdered someone and nailed them to a wall, I’d expect a few people to want to know why. Look, Viktor was an arsehole, I get it, I don’t much care that he’s dead. I don’t much care that he was tortured, but I do care about three people murdered in a forest for no goddamned reason. If Viktor did it, I guess this whole thing is all wrapped up, but I need to find out why. Because, and please don’t take offence, I don’t think it was about you.”
