“What about McClatchy?” Liam snorted and tossed his antlers. “He did not seem quite so hardy as a phoenix.”
“Yes, but whoever it was failed to hit him.”
Galen cleared his throat. “Speaking of McClatchy, I find it odd that we are mentioning him in the same sentence with the fallen Quondam. I’m afraid that my faculties fail me when it comes to a thread between the two. Perhaps your singular talents can come up with one?”
I peeled off the gloves and ran a sweaty hand through my hair. “The only connection I can see between them...is me.”
My friends each gave me an astonished look.
“Because of me, McClatchy’s encountered Destry, Liam, and Galen,” I explained. “That meeting, where the pooka cast his mind-altering spell, is what put Bob right in someone’s crosshairs yesterday morning. He was leaving the station in the company of reporters and his rival for the position of police chief. Had he been just another upper-management bureaucrat, he’d never have been on those steps.”
“And what of the Quondam Seraphine? To my knowledge you have never come across her in any way.”
“No, but she knows of me. Or to be precise, someone wanted us to think so.” I went over to my case, bagged up the used gloves, and began stowing my sample bags as I went on. “Albess Thea warned me before I left that the Seraphine’s summons could be a forgery. That the material used, sartuul, is so rare and sacred that they would not have used it in such a manner.”
Galen nodded. “Given what I have read about it at the guild, that does seem to be a plausible supposition. Sartuul was used for spellwork inscription, not pronouncements or summons.”
“Yet what purpose would such a forgery serve?” Liam asked.
“It would impress someone like King Fitzwilliam. Someone who knows of sartuul’s value, but not its purpose. That in turn would guarantee Dayna’s arrival here.”
“Say that we follow thy logic,” Shaw rumbled ominously. “Then we must keep our guard up around these Seraphine.”
“Not a bad idea,” I agreed. “Galen, I think you’d better lower our thought-shielding spell.”
He snapped his fingers. “I have done so.”
I moved carefully around Pirr’s remains so as not to scuff them. Reaching the entryway, I waved to Korr. The Seraphine male stood on the opposite end of the dormant caldera with Jett, helping to preen his mate’s flame-feathers. The raptor crossed the caldera in a couple of heavy wingbeats and settled close by, turning his flame back down to its minimum.
“Have you determined where the Quondam has been?” he asked, a trifle too eagerly.
“Ah, no,” I replied carefully. “But I’ve taken some samples that should help tell me that. It should be a couple of days at most, I think.”
“A couple of days.” I couldn’t quite read the phoenix’s expression, but I don’t think he was pleased.
“Yes, at least that long. Given how you folks live for hundreds, or thousands of years, I suppose that won’t make much difference either way.”
Korr paused for a moment and then tossed his head. “Doubtless.”
“I called you over to ask a couple more questions,” I went on. “I need you to tell me more about the Quondam around the time that you woke.”
The phoenix cocked its head at me and fanned out its head plumes. “Why?”
“Because it’s part of my investigation.”
“How will this help determine where the Quondam had gone?” Korr demanded.
I gritted my teeth. The Seraphine were, in their own bizarre way, the most difficult creatures I’d had to deal with since my arrival in this world. And Korr was jabbing my own personal hot-button right now by getting in the way of my ability to do my job.
“Because, if I’m going to figure out anything useful, I need all the facts,” I said, slowing my speech to make sure I was understood. “So. Tell me what happened when you first became ‘Active’.”
“There is not much to tell. I awoke and became Active on the caldera floor outside, because the Quondam had assigned me to be the first to awake when conditions were correct. When the temperature and air smelled right, when there was sustenance available.”
Interesting, I noted to myself. Extended dormancy followed by a revival pattern during the right conditions was something certain animals did in my world too. The phoenix communicated like fireflies, but their life cycle resembled that of African lungfish.
“Okay,” I said. “Tell me about the conversation you had with the Quondam after you awoke.”
“There was none. When I awoke, my first instinct was to look for my mate, Jett. But just as I returned her to Active state, I scented spilled charcoal. I entered the space behind you and found the Quondam had been, as you put it, ‘murdered’.”
My brows knit together. “Didn’t you say that you were told to summon me? How could Pirr tell you, if she was already dead?”
“She wrote a message on the far wall of the cavern with her instructions. The summons itself had been written and packaged on the floor next to it,” Korr said in a distinctly dry tone. “I’m sure that even sparks have knowledge of how useful writing is.”
“She wrote...” I sputtered angrily. “Don’t you think you could have mentioned that to me?”
The phoenix didn’t so much as flinch. “I mentioned what I thought was sufficient for you to complete your task. But read the message yourself if you wish.”
“I think I will,” I said tightly, and I left Korr where he stood. As soon as I rejoined my friends, I gestured irritably to Galen. He took my hint and murmured the words to raise his shield again. “Come on, guys. It turns out there is something else to look at. A message left by the Quondam on the back wall.”
The cavern curved around gently to the left, terminating in a smooth basalt wall. Scratched into the rock face were a set of symbols that glimmered with the light of a guttering fire’s coals. All at once it became clear where the jack-o'-lantern light we’d seen back at Pirr’s body had come from.
“It makes sense,” Liam observed. “Only a Seraphine could write a note in fire.”
“Galen,” I said. He nodded and trotted over to the wall, studying the writing intently.
“I will need to refresh the message’s substance,” Galen announced. “Stand back and do not be alarmed.”
The wizard made a few passes in the air over the message with his hands. He spoke a few words, and the fire that made up the symbols blazed anew with a WHUMP. Galen scratched his chin as he went back over the Seraphine writing.
I looked around him and tried to see if I recognized anything. A couple of symbols looked like they might be in the Codex I had at home, but nothing jumped out at me. Finally, Galen stepped back, a cautious smile on his face.
“I think I have it,” he announced. “And it seems Korr either did not tell us everything, or he is ashamed at what is revealed here.”
“Let’s hear it,” I said.
“According to Pirr, their ‘last alliance’ ended in disaster. Not only did she order the Seraphine to go Inert because they were running out of combustibles, but she decided to awake before her chosen pair to see if the world was ‘ready’ for them.”
“Could the ‘Last Alliance’ be a reference to the Old War?” I asked urgently.
“It’s possible, but there’s no mention of the time she refers to. It could be an alliance with another group of Seraphine, for all we know. I wish we could have revived Pirr and asked her.”
“So do I. I’m not sure I want to ask Korr anything until I get a reading on the sartuul sample I took. Or on the samples I took from Pirr’s body.”
“Agreed. In any case, allow me to continue,” Galen said, and his hand followed the line of lettering as he spoke. “Pirr became Active, and...the best I can translate here is that she ‘traveled afar’. She claimed to have found a ‘heart’. A ‘heart’ that does something...something that either reads as ‘power’ or ‘sustenance’ that would restore the realm of the Seraphine.
”
Shaw tapped his exposed talons on the stone floor. “A ‘heart’? Couldst this refer to one of the jewels that Korr was prattling on about? ‘Twould explain why he is so keen on finding out where his Quondam hath visited.”
“No doubt,” Galen said. “The last line of symbols tells the ‘First Pair’ – likely Korr and Jett – to take her summons to the kingdom to the west, whence came the ‘Scriveners’. There they are to return with the Quondam’s chosen ‘Quester’ to answer the question that weighs upon them most heavily.”
“And what question would concern them more than survival?” I asked, rhetorically.
“Ah, but here is where it gets interesting.” Galen pointed to the last line of symbols that he’d just read. “Notice any difference between the top line and this one?”
I squinted. “They look the same to me. Wait...they’re the same...only smaller.”
“Substantially smaller. In fact, they’re the same size as the symbols on Dayna’s summons. I know, because I traced several of the symbols out so that I could look them up later.” The centaur stomped one of his rear hooves for emphasis. “If that summons was forged, then the same forger also wrote the last part of this message.”
“Again, playing into our suspicions,” Liam observed. “That someone specifically wants Dayna on this mystery.”
“I don’t like this, guys,” I said, with a nice dollop of understatement. “Come on, let’s get out of here. Let’s keep our speculations private for now. Even if Korr doesn’t know about this forgery, I don’t know how he’ll react.”
“Personally, I don’t think he’ll care one way or another,” Galen remarked. “He has shown remarkably little concern about the fate of his leader.”
The wizard snapped his fingers, taking down his spell again as we emerged from the cavern. Korr and Jett sat patiently off to one side, looking at us with more than mild curiosity. He inclined his head to me as I approached.
“I must apologize, Quester,” Korr said awkwardly. “My mate has reminded me that we must seem as strange to you as you do to us. If I did not give you the pieces you needed to solve our most pressing puzzle, it was not out of spite, but ignorance.”
I wasn’t expecting this, but it was a pleasant surprise. “I accept your apology, Korr. I wish I had better news, but the message only refers to Pirr having ‘traveled afar’. I’ll still need the laboratories in my world to make any headway in this matter.”
“Then we shall wait,” he said wearily. “Know only that I speak of urgency because I want to revive my people. Once, we were plentiful. Now, they lie Inert under skeins of molten rock.”
“Did the mountain bury them?” Galen asked.
“No, they make their skeins themselves. When we prepare for a long Inert period, we fuse the rock around us to protect our form in a little stone pocket or blister.”
That stopped me. Pocket or blister?
I looked around and up along the slopes of the Vale of the Seraphine. Within my sight lay the dozens and dozens of black slag heaps we’d crossed over and around to come down to the caldera.
I lost count as the heaps stretched on and on, away into the blackness that surrounded us.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Southern California holds the dubious distinction of having some of the worst traffic in the United States. Out of pure ennui, during one especially bad commute, I calculated that my car moved at a screamin’ fast eleven miles per hour for the entire time spent on the 101 and 110. To avoid this horrible fate, I tended to skip the morning yoga class and hit the freeway early.
It didn’t help.
I got through the first three-quarters of my journey just fine. But when it came time to make my way through the city’s overstuffed streets, things jammed to a near halt. Traffic was still being diverted from between Second and Third. Additionally, there was a triple layer of security that some well-meaning bureaucrat had set up for me to get through.
I groaned and resigned myself to the inevitable. I was lucky to have remembered to stash my work jacket and firearm in the trunk. Of course, I’d been cleared to wear my shoulder holster at work, but the traffic screeners wouldn’t know that. If I showed up at their traffic stop while carrying, then they’d likely have waved me out of line and made me wait even longer while they confirmed my credentials with the higher-ups.
At least I wasn’t driving the OME van today. The vehicle was great for work, but it was a squeaky, bouncy ride at the best of times. My car’s air conditioning could actually keep the interior cool, and the seat was better than the one I had at Fitzwilliam’s court.
I grimaced a little as I thought of leaving my friends back in Andeluvia. We’d spent the rest of the afternoon inside with Pirr’s remains as well as the areas just outside the cavern. The rest of our findings were inconclusive, but didn’t do much to improve my mood. And everywhere we went, we practically stumbled over the skeins of Inert phoenix.
“How far do you think they go?” I asked Galen, as we stood at the far edge of the dormant caldera. We watched the burble and pop of a hot sulfur spring across the length of the narrow valley. “The little stone cocoons, I mean.”
“They extend too far for my taste,” he confided, after confirming that Jett and Korr were elsewhere and out of range to hear. And, hopefully, too far to sense thoughts. “Let us see what our griffin friend has to say.”
Shaw came in to land with a flurry of wingbeats. I had to shield my face and eyes from the dark volcanic dust that he kicked up. Once he’d touched down, the drake folded up his wings and then nodded at the snow-capped peaks that marked the rough boundaries of the Vale.
“Seraphine like their warmth, even whilst in their skeins,” he announced. “I saw no trace of the fiery creatures anywhere close to where the snow hangs thick. Nor did I espy anything else out of the ordinary.”
With a clacking of cloven hooves on gravel, Liam bounded over to join us. “I completed my sweep for magical traces around the Vale. There’s been an enormous amount of magic cast all over the place. I need more time to separate the different spoors to see if there are traces of magic from anything besides the Seraphine.”
“Thy findings are not heartening,” Shaw groused.
“I agree,” I said, with a heavy sigh. “And I don’t like leaving any investigation in mid-stream, but my time’s about up. I can’t rejoin you here until tomorrow evening.”
“There is no need to fear,” Galen assured me. “Since combat is not in the offing, I shall expend magic to bring us back to Fitzwilliam’s palace. We shall only return on the following morning.”
“That is most welcome, Wizard,” Shaw said, as he cast a baleful eye over our surroundings. “There is precious little for even a fayleene to nibble at in this demesne.”
“Liam should have enough time to puzzle and separate out the magic spoors,” Galen added. “And I for one would like to find out more about the Seraphine’s history. Perhaps even find out where they got their supply of sartuul.”
I grabbed at my silver neck chain and separated out the two medallions so I could grasp the right one. “Just watch your backs, guys. Okay?”
Liam let out a little deer snort. “That won’t be hard. The Seraphine cast a lot of light.”
I only hoped that it would be as simple as the Fayleene Protector said.
It was past nine o’clock by the time I finally got to park my car. I quickly gathered up the attaché case I’d placed my samples in and stood in yet another line to get through the OME’s security checkpoint in the lobby. Once I’d gotten my metallic cargo through the special evidence scanner, I made my way down to the labs.
Lee Myun-Hee was at her counter-desk setup again, plugging away at her keyboard. Her hair, which was the same black shade as mine, had been tied back into a bun. Unfortunately, the stray hairs that stuck out at odd angles only made the hairstyle reinforce how harassed she looked.
“Unless you have something relating to the Cielo case,” she said without looking u
p, “You’ll have to fill out a form and wait.”
I blinked. “The Cielo case?”
Myun-Hee looked up at me with a frown. “Where have you been? They ID’ed the body yesterday. Enforcer with the Gallito gang named Jorge Cielo.”
“I’ve been out of town,” I demurred. “And I won’t put any more work on your desk, Lee. I promise.”
“Good.” She immediately went back to her typing.
“Um...actually, I came down to see if Shelly Richardson was back.”
“If she was, I’d be back at my desk, not manning the counter.”
“Yeah, I should have figured.”
“Look, we all miss her,” Myun-Hee said. “I heard from our admin that she was supposed to get back today, but not until mid-morning at least.”
I nodded and showed myself out. Naomi was the lab’s department admin, so I made a mental note to give her a call if I didn’t hear from Shelly. Like Myun-Hee, I suspected that she was just as overworked at this time, so I’d wait until shortly after lunch to do so.
I paused as I reached one of the building’s intersecting hallways. The friendly brown-on-white signs pointed the way towards the Ballistics Lab on the left or the Chem Lab to the right. The bullets I’d retrieved from the body of the Quondam Seraphine felt heavy inside my attaché case.
My time was at a premium today. If I went down to Ballistics, I might be able to make out the unique ‘fingerprint’ of the gun that had fired the bullets. But even the two bullets that hadn’t been melted into shapeless blobs were badly scorched and deformed by impact. And on top of that, I didn’t have a gun to match the slugs to.
So, I turned right and went down to the Chem Lab. The aqua blue tiles and orange plastic chairs were bright enough for a particularly lowbrow daycare center. I ignored the décor’s attempt to cheer me up and grabbed one of the few unoccupied workstations.
I began my setup by pulling on a set of pale green gloves, face mask, and scrubs. Then I slid a protective visor over my eyes as I took out my sample bags. I began my examination proper by using a soil coring tool to nab a thimble’s worth of the ash from Pirr’s body. I followed that up by taking a dollop of the strange orange shavings for a second sample. Each sample went into a clear Lucite sample tray and was then fed into the mass spectrometer. With luck, that machine would tell me what the stuff was made of.
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