by Voss Foster
Swift cleared his throat again. I swear, he was actually nervous sitting there in front of Queen Estil. I mean, I wasn't comfortable, but I also wasn't all fidgety. "Your highness, Dash just got back from speaking to someone in Tarwald about this."
"You were in my Kingdom. Was it pleasant?"
"What little I saw of it. It was more of an in-and-out trip."
"A trip to speak with whom, if I may ask?"
"Arengal. A researcher."
She nodded, her face going slightly flat and blank. "Arengal is brilliant. However, if you're speaking to him about this, then I fear it is something of a delicate matter."
I nodded. "You're familiar with his research?" She nodded back gravely, and I had to ask another obvious question. Obvious to me, anyway, from what Arengal had said. "Do you know what this treasure is?"
"That, I don't. Lost to history, and even to the house of Tarwald, Al-Sekar remains tight-lipped."
Swift cast bewildered glances back and forth between me and Estil. "Do you two mind not speaking in code?"
I sighed, but didn't respond right away. I mean, for once I got to be on the inside of one of these conversations. It was kind of nice. But mostly, this was a diplomacy matter. I'd tell Swift eventually, but at least for appearances, I had to pretend her majesty had some say in this. "Queen Estil? Do you want to go into it?"
She closed her eyes, then turned her attention back to Swift. "The shapeshifters. The tragedy that befell them, and my family's unfortunate part in that tragedy. It's come back to haunt us after so many centuries in hiding."
"What tragedy are we talking about?" asked Swift. "If there's information that can stop this from happening to any more—"
"The shapeshifters suffered at the hands of Al-Sekar, three thousand years ago. Suffered a blow to their people so mighty and unrelenting that there was no recovering. The great treasure was stolen from them as spoils of war. They were conscripted into the Sekari army, with the promise that their treasure would be returned to them. It never was. They were imprisoned, and never let loose in all this time. Now they appear to be loose and free and seeking revenge, at least some of them. And we…I need to speak out. It's too late, but I need to do it."
"Speak out about what?" Swift turned to me. "Do you know what's going on?"
"Kind of. The War of Unity was three thousand years ago. It brought the Kingdoms together the way they are now. But Al-Sekar was opposed to it. They wanted to stay with their own relations to the other Kingdoms. And Tarwald was one of their closest allies, so they fought alongside each other."
Estil nodded, almost composed again. She never did quite get back to being as regal as she'd been before. "My family has known about it the entire time. It's a secret passed from monarch to monarch, so that we never forget. But…cowardice is a poison upon us. Our cowardice. Our inability to ever come forward with the information we had at hand has caused this. And the only way to try and stem the flow of blood from this particular wound is to finally spill the truth." She nodded to herself, tucking some stray hair back behind her ear. Then she gave me the full attention of her royal gaze. "Is there anything else important that I should know that you learned from your time with Arengal today?"
I pulled out my notepad, wanting to be sure. "Nothing that I can remember. Al-Sekar took the treasure, wouldn’t give it back, shapeshifters joined the fight to get it back, and the deal wasn’t honored. The Sekari army bound their magic, then sealed them in their Kingdom."
"Wait," said Swift. "Al-Sekar sealed them in their own Kingdom?"
Estil nodded. "It is a cruel torture inflicted upon them, and upheld by the silence of far too many for far too long."
Swift rose and moved to the door. "Your highness, I need to ask you to wait here. We have more agents returning who might have more information to help you make the best decisions possible in this matter. I promise you it won't be long."
Obviously he wanted her out there instead of in the office. But she didn't move, crossing her legs primly and with purpose. "If there is something you wish to say to Agent Rourke…apologies, to Dash, then you can say it in front of me, Agent Swift."
He huffed, then shut the door again. "What's the magic this Arengal was talking about, the stuff that they used to keep the shapeshifters from fighting back?"
"No idea. Doesn’t seem like that's really his area of expertise. He's an anthropologist. But it's apparently never been replicated."
Swift came back around his desk and sat, massaging his chin. "If they're as dangerous as everyone seems to be saying they are, then we'll need some way to neutralize them as a threat if we're going to get anywhere."
"It's something that is very much lost to time, I'm afraid." Queen Estil shook her head. "The only people who might still have any clue about how to stop them would be the house of Al-Sekar. But even that would be doubtful, assuming they would ever consider sharing the information to begin with."
"But would they share it with you?" Swift leaned in, hands splayed flat on top of his desk. "Your son was nearly killed because of the shapeshifters. Are Tarwald and Al-Sekar stil friendly to each other?"
One dark green eyebrow arched up. "There is a certain amount of…yes, our houses interact with a fair amount of regularity. Losing the War of Unity didn't impact that relationship."
Swift clapped his hands and jumped back to his feet. "That is something we can work with." He was pacing, possessed and mad like I so rarely saw him. "Yes. All right. You said you'd be willing to help however you could, to stop this from happening again."
"Of course." She rose as well, towering over him. "I will be postponing my apology to the shapeshifters, unfortunately." There she was, finally regal once more. Commanding. Powerful. Standing pretty easily over seven feet tall certainly helped with that, but there was something more. She was…at peace. Instead of fretting about her son or trying to parse through information, she was right there on board with the plan.
Swift locked eyes with Estil across the desk. "As soon as we get the lay of the land, take your message to the house of Al-Sekar. Tell them what the shapeshifters did to your son."
"I will beg if it comes to it."
"We need to know the magic they used." Swift nodded to her. "And if you happen to get any other information out of them, I don't think anyone could complain."
"I'll need to stop by the hospital again, then I'll be off."
She rose and Swift opened the door. This time, she strode out. Swift followed, and I followed him into…whatever the hell we were going to do until Gutt and the others had returned.
Well, until wasn't an issue. Gutt appeared out of thin air just as we walked out, and Bancroft was already at his desk. Nobody else had their hand on their gun or anything like that. None of Gutt's signature glowing rings held at the ready. Guess I was the only one nervous about quiet rooms today.
Gutt didn't break stride once, walking straight up to Swift and actually managing to ignore Queen Estil. I guess when you were already almost seven feet tall, she maybe didn't seem quite as large and imposing. "The Sekari locked away the shapeshifters in their Kingdom. They're sealed."
"We're already up to speed on what happened with the War of Unity. The treasure, the shapeshifters, all of it. Fill us in where the holes are."
He shook his head. "Tarwald?"
Swift nodded. "Queen Estil is helping us."
Finally, I guess, her presence struck Gutt. He backed up a step and bowed slightly. "Your highness. N'Gutta of Droshheim."
She nodded. "Please. Any information you have."
He nodded back and gestured toward Bancroft. "Over here. So we're not doing this a bunch more times."
"Abigail?"
"I haven't seen or heard from her."
Which meant King, and all her rampant diplomatic skill, was still out in the Kingdoms, talking to someone who was potentially violent and potentially able to blow her up with their brain. So that was awesome and not a distraction at all.
Bancroft swive
led his chair around. "The scholars I spoke of were little help at all. The only thing came from that elven couple. It wasn't anything particularly mind blowing. Simply that the shapeshifters can be stopped, but the spell is lost to the annals of history."
"I have slightly more than that, but I'm not certain it's anything new to any of you." Gutt cracked his knuckles one by one as he spoke. "There's a good amount of conjecture when it comes to the shapeshifters, for obvious reasons. But there are rumors of where they can be found."
"You have rumors, I've got better." King barreled into the offices, the door banging shut behind her. She also didn't acknowledge Queen Estil any more than Gutt had. And she was in one piece, still. That was a nice sight to see, all things considered. "I have to hand it to the scholars in Nedelwald. They didn't want to offer up a damn bit of information on this. Thought it would reflect badly on their careers. But I eventually convinced them this was grave enough they needed to spill the beans."
"Well, I like beans. So spill them right back at me." Swift glanced to Queen Estil seated next to him. "To us."
King flicked her gaze to Queen Estil, just for a second, and that was all the acknowledgment there. "There's supposedly a natural crossing point somewhere in Al-Sekar. Not far from the palace."
Gutt and Queen Estil both raised their eyebrows at that, but Gutt spoke first. "A natural crossing between the Kingdoms is…exceedingly rare."
"That's what both of them kept telling me. Along with them not actually knowing where it was. But they had some reports from some soldiers." She cracked her neck side to side. "They weren't keen on telling me how old Nedelwald got soldiers to come clean about any of this, and I wasn't going to push the issue. We'll just assume it wasn't very nice."
Gutt still surreptitiously played around with his fingers, even though all of his knuckles would have been popped half a dozen times over by now. "That all lines up with what I managed to get from her Sekari connections."
"That's not where it ends." She pulled out her phone and flicked through a few screens. "The soldiers marched north from the palace. They left when the sun was high and didn't reach their destination until it was on the horizon line and many feared they would freeze to death when night fell in the desert."
Gutt nodded, clearly impressed. "Anything more than that?"
She flicked over to another page. "Yeah. Yeah, there's more than that. The shapeshifters were bound in 'a light so blue the sky paled by comparison.' Then they were led single file into the opening. Then three sorcerers from the royal lineage sealed them in. Unfortunately, there's no real information to be had on that front. No blood sacrifices or pyres burning in the middle of the desert. Hard to reverse engineer."
"But it's a hell of a lot more than we had before. It means we can try to find the opening." Swift jumped to his feet. "It's safe to assume the house of Al-Sekar won't be happy if they know we're doing this, which means it's got to be as secret as we can manage."
"I can be of assistance there." Queen Estil rose to her full height and nodded serenely. "When you are ready, let me know. We have practitioners working for the house of Tarwald who can create remote transport portals without detection. Good for escape, if things come to their worst point."
"Sounds like a plan to me." King pocketed her phone. "When are we going?
Swift sighed. "We have things to handle on our end, and Queen Estil is going to convince the king and queen of Al-Sekar to give up whatever magic they used to bind the shapeshifters back then."
"I would like to look into that as well." Bancroft's quiet voice cut through, tighter and higher than usual. "From this end, of course. Tracking down myths and magics and those sorts of things is why I'm here, after all. With Kimmy's help, I may be able to find some reference to a sealing or binding spell that fits the criteria. As a backup, if nothing else. Since I'm of little use otherwise."
Swift nodded. "Good. But right now, everyone is getting back to their positions. King, Gutt, and Dash in Vermont. I'll stay here and available until the royal family has left."
"There's no need to stay away from this case." Queen Estil very gently inclined her head toward him. "You hardly need to stay in this office at our beck and call. If something does happen where we need you, both myself and Jalima are more than capable of finding you and getting ourselves to you."
She probably didn't mean for that to come off quite as threatening and stalker-esque as it did. Or hell, maybe she did and it was just her way of trying to make sure Swift and the rest of us knew that they were serious business.
Swift nodded. "I appreciate that, but someone has to stay in charge here. And frankly, Agent King has just been taking it too easy."
"Oh absolutely." King snorted a modest little chuckle, then actually looked at Queen Estil and held her attention. "I'm the senior-most agent in the unit, and this is the thanks I get."
Estil leaned down to where she could look King dead in the eye. "How long?"
"Since the first week. Seattle was in bad shape."
Estil sighed. "Thank you. It makes me feel better to know that someone with your experience is working this case."
I don't know if it was wishful thinking, or just my imagination, or something else entirely, but I swear I actually saw King smile at Estil, and a little touch of blush rise into her cheeks. I was probably just seeing things, though, because that definitely wasn't a thing that would have happened.
King cleared her throat and backed off a step. "What do I need to do with this Chief Ballinger up in Vermont? How much does he get to know?"
Swift shrugged. "Detail light with the local PD on this unless we need to bring them in later. Use your judgment. I wouldn't be sending you if I didn't trust you."
King nodded, then Estil stepped away from the group. "I'll return here once I've finished in Al-Sekar. King Shivan has a particular soft spot for children. More than the average person has a soft spot for them, anyway."
Then she created a portal, stepped through, and was gone. I immediately turned my attention back to Swift. It wasn't crazy to assume there were things he didn't want shared with her, especially since her son had been one of the victims. Gutt and King were following suit.
Swift threw his arms out wide. "I'm pretty, it's true, but are you all going to stand around and stare at me, or are you going to get a move on?"
So no extra information. I got up and headed toward remote transport, but Casey ran in and cut me off. "Guys, that fire elemental kid, Selal. He's awake."
Holy shit. With everything going on…it wasn't that I forgot about him, but there was only so much room in me for so many kids in danger at one time. "When?'
"Just now. The hospital should be calling you any time now, Swift."
And just like that, there went his cell phone. He pulled it out of his pocket, rattling off orders as he went. "Dash, you good to take point on another hospitalized kid?"
He was right. It did seem to happen a lot, didn't it? "Seeing kids finally getting to recover from some of this shit is one of the perks of working this job." Not enough to offset seeing them lying dead on the ground, but a perk nonetheless.
"Good. Go. Then get back to Burlington PD. And then I want all of you to sleep, because every single one of you looks like shit." He flicked his thumb across his phone screen. "Agent Swift, OPA."
He walked off, and so did the rest of us. Gutt opened a portal and led me around to it. "You all there, Dash? You do look tired."
"And you are absolutely the vision of health, ready for your magazine shoot. We can all get a good night's sleep when this is done and over with." Which wasn't exactly true, but it did make the point it needed to make. "This goes where?"
"Hospital, outside the doors."
"Thanks, Gutt. Just as soon as I bother to try and learn magic, I owe you one." And I stepped through. Through the bright colors and back out into the Mundane.
Chapter Eleven
The alchemist on duty for Selal wasn't big on letting me through the door, even w
ith the ID and, I assumed, Swift calling them to warn them I was coming. But eventually I was stubborn enough to get past the ogre woman and into the room. His mother, Chetra was at his bedside.
I closed the door behind me, just so there wouldn't be any unnecessary interference. "Chetra. Selal. I heard you were finally awake."
Selal, lying in bed in a paper hospital gown, nodded slowly. "This morning. I was out for a few days, they said."
"Yeah. But you're back and you're okay now. I'm hoping you're up for a little talk? You're our best eye-witness to something like this."
His face pulled down, and Chetra's mouth tightened, but she at least said nothing. She let him make his decisions. Selal nodded. "It's still going on with other kids."
"It is. And we want to stop it, still. We've got some information, but hopefully you'll be okay giving us a little more?"
"Anything you think I can do."
I pulled over a chair from the corner, sat down, and pulled out the reliable old notepad. "All I really need right now is just to go back through what happened. Whatever you actually remember."
He nodded. "I was getting out of the shower. I don't where they came from, but all the sudden there was someone else in the bathroom with me." His skin wasn't super dark red to begin with, and maybe it was my imagination, but he seemed to pale as he spoke. "I was just screwing around, playing with my hair in the mirror. Maybe if I hadn't been messing around so much, it wouldn't have happened."
"Hey." Spiraling into a series of what ifs wasn't going to do him, Chetra, me, or the other kids a damn lick of good. "Listen, these people would have come and they would have done exactly the same thing no matter where you were. They're doing this all over. It doesn't matter where anyone is when it happens. Not to them."
After a few seconds, Selal nodded, closing his eyes. "The person wasn't a human. They weren't an elemental or anything like that. I don't know. Big and yellow and looked kind of sick." His eyes creaked back open. "I think they were a woman? I don't know. She grabbed me by the arm, and she was really strong. Her hands were huge. Then she pressed another hand into my stomach. I could feel it happening, just like training up magic, but I knew right away that she was undoing too many seals. I tried to get her to stop, but she didn't listen. And then she was gone, and I was just trying to keep control. I managed to get out the door and try to get help, but that was all I could manage. Then I just lost it, and the next thing I remember was waking up here this morning."
