Wrath of the Fury Blade

by Geoff Habiger

  Reva sighed but had to agree with her mother. She and Cas had been ideal partners and Reva had been heartbroken when Cas told her that she had requested a transfer to Narris. Reva understood the importance of supporting family, but it had felt like a betrayal of their friendship. It had taken Reva days, and some firm prodding from Cas herself, to get over it and wish her the best.

  “Well, I just started working with Seeker Carya today. It took me and Cas a while to get used to each other, remember?” After the outburst at New Port she was trying to avoid making comparisons of Ansee to Cas. Seeker Carya had been right to call her on it. She had to keep an open mind. Transfers happened and you had to be able to work with anybody to get the job done. Reva walked around the room, lighting candles and a pair of oil lamps.

  Aeollas made a dismissive gesture. “You and Cas were meant to be partners. You were a perfect match. Nobody can replace her.”

  Reva knew her mother was biased and would be critical of Ansee. Cas had been like a second daughter to her. She had spent much of her free time with Reva and her family, taking most of her evening meals with them. That had been a huge solace in the weeks after her father had been killed. Aeollas had been just as disappointed as Reva had been when Cas told her she was transferring, maybe even more so. Reva hoped the night wouldn’t come down to Mother constantly comparing Ansee to Cas.

  Aeollas looked around at the set table and sighed, “Cas was never late for dinner.”

  And it begins, thought Reva.

  There was a knock on the shop door, saving Reva from saying something to her mother. “See? He’s right on time.”

  Reva headed downstairs to answer the door while Aeollas moved the salad to the table and poured some wine.

  Reva came bounding up the stairs less than a minute later and ran to her room.

  “Reva! Where are your manners? What’s going on?”

  “Not now, Mother!”

  Aeollas set the bottle of wine down on the table. She expected somebody to come up the stairs and she waited to greet them, to show this new Seeker that not everybody in the family had the manners of a halpbloed.

  After a minute Aeollas called to Reva. “You didn’t make him wait in the shop, did you?”

  “No, Mother,” Reva said, emerging from her room. She’d hastily put on breeches, puttee, and boots. She had her leather vest on and was holding her bracers and sword belt. She walked to the table and set down the bracers and sword and worked to secure the leather armor.

  “What’s this?” Aeollas asked, though she knew exactly what it was. She’d seen her husband—and Reva, too—do it often enough.

  “There’s been another murder,” Reva said, finishing with the armor and grabbing the sword belt.

  “But it’s your day off!”

  “Tell me something I don’t know.”

  “Aren’t there other inspectors? Why must you be the one they always call on?”

  “You know why, Mother,” Reva said, a little harsher than she meant to. “The same reason Dad was always called. Because I’m good at what I do.”

  Reva finished with the belt, grabbed the bracers, and ran downstairs. Aeollas followed. “I know, dear,” she said. “It’s just I worry about you, especially after your father—”

  A Constable stood inside the shop, looking at the ceramic cups on one of the displays. He gave a polite nod to Aeollas when he saw her coming down the stairs.

  Reva stopped and turned to her mother. “Stop worrying, Mother,” she said. “I’ll be fine.” She turned to the Constable and said, “Let’s go.”

  Just at that moment a new voice tentatively called from the open shop door. “Hello? The door was—”

  Ansee stopped and looked around, curious as to why there was a Constable here. He held a bottle of wine that he’d picked up for dinner.

  “Told you he was late,” Aeollas whispered to Reva.

  Reva scowled at her and walked up to Ansee and grabbed the wine. “Thanks,” she said, setting it on a display shelf. “Ansee Carya, my mother, Aeollas. Mother, Ansee.” She gestured to each of them in the perfunctory introduction. She then grabbed Ansee by the arm. “Come on, there’s been another murder.”

  “Pleasure to meet you, ma’am,” Ansee called as Reva led him out the door.

  The Constable nodded to Aeollas and then shut the door behind him.

  Aeollas stared at the closed door for a few moments. Shaking her head slowly she then grabbed the wine and headed upstairs.

  Nine

  Reva and Ansee approached Lythra Square from the south, coming up West Wood Walk. From half a block away the street was packed with people standing about, trying to get a look at the square.

  “Move your arses!” bellowed the Constable escorting them. “Make a path for the Constables!”

  The crowd parted some and the three of them managed to thread their way through the crowd to the end of the street where the square started. Half a dozen Constables from Betula Division stood in a loose line at the end of the street, keeping the crowd out of the Square. Most people seemed to be curious about what was going on, though Reva did overhear one elf complaining that he couldn’t get through the Square.

  The Constables in the line saluted as Reva and Ansee passed through. They hurried across the Square toward the east side of the obelisk where a small cluster of Constables milled around what appeared to be a wrecked litter. Off to the right, by the path leading into Nuphar Wood, a group of people sat on benches, watched by a pair of Constables.

  Reva stopped about four paces from the wreckage to look at the scene. She fought back the bile rising in her throat. She could see a lot of blood coating the cobblestones.

  “Reis naeht,” Senior Constable Willem Ghrellstone nodded a greeting.

  “Is it a good night?” Reva asked.

  The Senior Constable just tilted his head and shrugged.

  “How did you get here so quickly, Willem?” asked Reva. “I thought you lived along the South Bank.”

  “I do, ma’am. I was taking my children for a walk in the woods to catch fireflies when a Birch came running by from the direction of the Square.” He used the slang term for one of the Betula Division patrol elves. “I stopped him to find out what was going on. As soon as he told me, I immediately took charge, and secured the Square and sent a runner for you.”

  “Where are your children?”

  “Over there,” Willem pointed to the west side of the Square. Reva saw two young children, a boy and a girl, sitting at the outside table of a cacao house, each with mugs in front of them.

  “Your daughter is about to turn eleven, isn’t she?” Reva’s voice was inquisitive. She liked to know about her Constables and their families.

  “Yep, still a young lass. I gave them both some spiced cacao and told them to stay away from this mess. It’s not something young eyes should see.”

  Reva and Ansee both nodded agreement. It’s not something I ever wanted my eyes to see either, thought Reva.

  “And what exactly is this mess?” Reva turned back to the scene of destruction before them.

  “We’re not completely sure yet,” Willem said. “I’ve focused on securing the scene and the witnesses,” he pointed toward the people sitting on the benches. “What I can tell you is that we have a litter that was attacked while it crossed the Square. There are a total of five bodies, all cut with a bladed weapon. One has his legs cut off, another—the passenger—was almost cut in half. When I heard that, I knew that this was more than just a bloody robbery gone bad and I sent for you.”

  “How did something like this happen out in the open, in front of so many people?” asked Ansee.

  “Good question, Seeker,” replied Willem. “Our initial interviews suggest that magic was used to hide the attack, but what spell it was, we don’t know yet. That’s your job.” Ansee bristled a bit at that, before
realizing that the Senior Constable was just making a joke.

  “Thanks, Willem,” Reva said. “Seeker Carya and I are going to inspect the scene. I’m sure the Alkies are on their way, so make sure that they can get through the crowd. We’ll talk to the witnesses in a bit, but get some of your elves to start taking their statements.”

  “Do we know who the passenger was?” asked Ansee.

  “I’ve not gotten close enough to see if she’s wearing any signets or other identification,” replied the Senior Constable. “I didn’t want to disturb anything. I sent a Birch to run and fetch the owner of the litter company. He should be able to identify the litter and his employees and tell us who they were carrying.”

  The wreck of the litter was both confusing and horrifying to look at. Blood was pooled along the cobblestones and had splattered across a wide area and on the litter itself. Reva pulled out her notebook and made a note to ask the Alchemists about the blood patterns. They claimed that they could know how an attacker moved, and the sequence of events, from how blood moved and how it flew about a crime scene.

  She walked around the front of the litter and toward the back in a large circle, taking in everything. Two litter bearers were near the front, one atop the other, and with the wrecked litter atop them. A third litter bearer was several hands away from the litter, laying on his right side. She noted that he appeared to be holding a piece of wood—a club maybe?—in his right hand. From here she could see that the wood was neatly severed a hand above his grip, as if a carpenter had sawed it off. The rest of the makeshift club had fallen few hands away from him.

  She continued around the back of the litter, making note of the fourth bearer, who was slumped against the back of the litter with a neat gash in his head right between the eyes. Reva finished her circuit and came to the last body. It was an overweight woman with silver-white hair and with pale skin in the fading sunlight. She lay on her back, her feet twisted and entangled in the litter’s yellow curtains.

  Reva stepped closer. She could clearly see that the woman had been killed in an attempt to cut her in half. The body was split from the head down to the stomach, where the cut ended. Blood was pooled under the body but Reva figured that they’d find that the cobblestones underneath had been cut as well.

  The woman’s face was distorted by the wound, making a visual identification almost impossible. Reva spotted a pin on the collar of her blouse, along with two halves of a gold necklace on either side of her neck. The two rings on her left hand—a gold band with an emerald setting, and a gold signet ring—were covered in blood. Reva leaned closer but still couldn’t make out the seal on the signet ring. She didn’t want to disturb the body until Thea’s team had a chance to make their notes and drawings.

  Reva stood up and looked around. It was clearly the work of the same person that had killed the First Magistrate. The cuts, at least the one in the woman, made that obvious. What was the connection, though? And why attack here in such a public space? Why kill the litter bearers? If the woman was the target, and Reva was pretty sure that she was, why not just follow the litter to her destination and kill her there?

  Reva sighed. Too many damn questions and not enough answers.

  † † †

  Ansee cast his spell to see magical auras and began to follow Inspector Lunaria around the wrecked litter. The first thing he saw was a blue glow that surrounded the litter, circling it. A transformation spell had been cast in a broad area, with the litter almost dead center. The aura was strongest on the ground, but Ansee could also see faint plays of blue light in the air, indicating that the spell had affected the air as well. Looking up and around he could just make out the blue glow, which made a dome over the scene.

  He frowned as he pulled out a clear quartz crystal. Placing it on the ground at the spot where he detected the brightest blue aura—generally considered to be the spell’s focal point—he invoked his spell to mimic the aura and the crystal took on a slight blue glow. Ansee picked up the crystal and opened a small, white cloth bag. A piece of parchment was sewn on the bag and taking out a charcoal-tipped stylus Ansee wrote the date, location, approximate time, and type of aura. He closed the bag, tying it shut. Not all Seekers went to this much effort when collecting their auras and had resulted in some magistrates deciding that the magical evidence wasn’t sufficient enough to bring a conviction. So Ansee had taken the initiative to document his findings in further detail. He’d had these bags specially made, at his own expense, to make the collection of evidence easier. He’d been berated by other Seekers for this, but he hadn’t had a case dismissed because he’d botched the taking of magical evidence.

  He moved on, glancing at the bodies. He could see bright red auras around the wounds. Glancing at the litter, he saw faint green auras along its left side, which currently faced the sky.

  Ansee pulled out another quartz crystal and proceeded to collect the magical evidence for the green aura. Once collected and placed in a new bag, he turned to the body of the litter bearer farthest from the litter. There was a large, irregularly-shaped blob of green a few hands from the litter, then some smaller, more definitive shapes—footprints. Ansee looked from the litter to the ground, then at the body of the litter bearer.

  The end of the wooden club glowed a bright red and Ansee saw that a deep wound to the litter bearer’s stomach had the same glow. He reached out to move the body, to get a better look at the wound, and to collect the red aura. As his hand touched the body, a painful hiss escaped from the lips of the dead man who’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused, his face a deathly pale color.

  “Rhea…” The voice was thin and raspy.

  † † †

  Reva stood looking at the wreck of the litter, trying to piece the events together. The attacker had taken out the front two litter bearers first. The way the litter had fallen and the position of the two bodies strongly suggested that. The order of the next three deaths was still unclear, but she guessed that the woman was the final victim. Since she appeared to be the target of the killer’s rage, it made sense that he’d want to savor her death. In addition, the makeshift club held by one of the litter bearers suggested that at least one of them tried to defend their passenger. A foolish and futile gesture, but it implied that the killer took out the litter bearers first and then focused on the woman.

  Reva noticed Ansee jump up from the other side of the wreck and run over to a Betula Division healer who was standing around doing nothing, since everybody was dead. She saw Ansee gesturing toward the litter.

  What the hell is that about? thought Reva. She started moving around to see what was going on.

  The healer said something and Reva caught, “Just a damn halpbloed.”

  Reva saw Ansee go red in the face. Oh shit.

  Ansee lashed out, throwing a punch with his right hand at the healer. The blow landed on the healer’s jaw, catching him completely unaware. He fell to the ground with a loud clatter that drew the attention of everybody in the Square.

  The healer wiped some blood from a split lip and yelled, “You’ll pay for that, you damn halpbloed lover!”

  Ansee was trying to speak, when the healer leapt up and caught Ansee around his legs, causing him to fall. His head hit the cobblestones with a dull THUNK. The two started rolling on the ground, trying to hit and kick each other as Constables came running.

  “Damnit,” Reva said as she rushed forward.

  Senior Constable Ghrellstone was faster and reached the two combatants first. He grabbed Seeker Carya and pulled him away, landing a blow to the healer to keep him at bay. Other Constables from both divisions appeared—Betula Constables pulled the healer up and Acer Constables stood protectively around Seeker Carya—and everybody glared at each other.

  “What in the bloody hells is going on here?” demanded Reva. “This is a murder investigation, not some pub brawl between witless adventurers.”

  Sh
e turned to Ansee, who was gingerly touching the back of his head. His hand came back bloody. “What is this about, Seeker Carya?”

  “He just bloody hit me!” yelled the healer.

  Reva turned and glared at him. “Constable, if you don’t shut up I will shut you up myself.” He stopped talking but glared daggers at Ansee.

  “That litter bearer is not dead,” Ansee pointed at the one who’d tried to defend the victim. “I asked the Constable to tend to his wounds and he refused.”

  “Why did you refuse a superior’s orders?” Reva asked the healer.

  “What order? He told me to heal a damn halpbloed. I ain’t doing that!”

  Reva quickly grasped the situation. Damn bigots, she thought. They had a right to their opinions, she supposed, but not when it interfered with her investigation. If they had a chance to save a witness they had to take action.

  She pointed at the healer. “I expect you to carry out any orders my team give you, your personal beliefs be damned. You will heal that person,” she pointed at the wounded litter bearer, “or I will have you kicked off the force and brought up on charges of interfering with a murder investigation.” She hadn’t raised her voice, but spoke calmly, and was all the more threatening because of it.

  “Senior Constable,” she called, still glaring at the healer.

  “Yes, ma’am,” said Senior Constable Ghrellstone.

  “Make sure our fellow Constable here attends to the victim.”

  Willem saluted and with a push moved the healer away toward the litter bearer.

  “And,” Reva called. “He’d better survive or I’ll think you were still trying to interfere with my investigation. Now everybody else can get back to work.”

  The small gathering of Constables broke up. Reva watched to make sure that the healer was doing his job properly. When she saw the glow of his healing spell she nodded and turned to Ansee.

  “Seeker Carya, please tell me what you’ve found so far.” She grabbed Ansee by the shoulder and walked him a few paces away.