by Guy Antibes
“We recharge the floats,” the man said, pulling a knife. “And we take care of snoopers like you.” He put the knife up to her face.
Lorna couldn’t think of anything else, so she splashed the solvent in his eyes and face. He let go as she ran to the door. One of the other men moved faster. She fought him, screaming as loud as she could.
“Don’t waste your time. The only others in the factory are up front in the offices. There’s no way they’ll hear you.” She still had the jug of solvent in her bucket. It swayed beneath her arm while she struggled. She grabbed the jug and began to douse her attackers until the jug was empty. She threw it at the closest man and he collapsed with a bleeding head. The other two men backed her up against a wall, with their knives out.
“I know what we do with sneaks where I’m from, we cut off their hands.” He gave Lorna an evil grin and grabbed her left hand and his knife descended.
She screamed as he sawed at her hand. She froze powerless to stop him, overcome by the pain and horror of him removing her hand. She grabbed a rag as she dropped the bucket and threw it up at the gaslight. It came down burning. She frantically waved it in front of the men. The solvent she had splashed on them flashed up, turning them into torches. Lorna looked at the stump of her left arm and screamed, seeing her life’s blood stream out. Her last thought was of Panix as she slid to the floor.
~~~
Chapter 32
Panix, Moshin and Sovad walked into the kitchen.
“How did it go?” Harlan said as he read a metalworking book.
“A long list of the KII’s failures and we have to find out why.” Panix felt disheartened. He hadn’t intended the team to do this kind of work. “Tellus volunteered to stay and copy down the list. Plus we’re to extract all of Sovad’s memories.”
Sovad groaned as he looked at the picked apart chicken. “You’re a greedy one.”
“Oh, you were so late I forgot. Lorna came by before some kind of late shift. She was a bit concerned about some men at the factory. She said she wanted to be looked in on from time to time, so I gave her one of our coins that make a messaging pipe.”
“How long has it been?” Moshin asked.
“I checked in on her a few minutes ago before I got hungry again.”
Panix looked at Moshin. “She could be in real danger. Where is its mate?”
Harlan pulled it out of his pocket and laid the coin on the table. Panix screwed his eyes shut and the volume went up. They stood in shock as they heard the men walk into the room.
They grabbed the coin as soon as they heard the first magician ask her what she was doing. They ran to the stables and were out on the road leading into Mella.
By the time they arrived at the factory, the team knew what to expect in the final inspection room. Panix pounded on the door to be let in.
“We need to see the woman polisher… Prisla’s her name,” Panix said, using Lorna’s fake name. “This is an emergency.”
“There’s only her and the three floater magicians back there. I think she was working in the testing room.”
Panix pushed his way through the man and ran down the hallways, out into the factory yard and plunged into the testing room. In the bright light, the bodies of two burning men flickered with ghastly light, another magician lay comatose on the floor and Lorna sat against the wall surrounded by a pool of blood.
He froze at the sight, shocked at all the blood. She couldn’t be dead, he thought. Panix centered himself and realized there was only one thing he could do for Lorna. Healing was out of the question, but Tellus wasn’t here and only he could do anything for Lorna. He never tried to heal another person since he nearly killed Merra so long ago and he couldn’t bring himself to try it now. But heat, he did know. Closing his hand around the bleeding stump, he used his power to cauterize the flesh. The heat burnt into his own skin, but he didn’t care. He pulled his hand away and felt for a pulse. It was weak but her heart still beat out a faint rhythm.
“Paper, pen and ink!” He yelled as he clutched Lorna to him. “What messaging coins do we have? I have one that goes to my sister, Corlee.” None of the others had one.
“Then we’ll send a message to Corlee.” Moshin said. “You dictate and I’ll write.”
“Someone has cut off Lorna’s hand. She’s half-dead from loss of blood. We are taking her to KII headquarters and transporting her to the Academy.” Panix dug Corlee’s messaging coin out of his pocket and laid it in Lorna’s blood. Moshin folded the paper and put it on the coin. It vanished as Panix said the little spell. “Check the others.”
“Two are dead. Burned to a crisp. The other is unconscious with a nasty blow to the head. You’ve got to admire the girl for giving more than she got, even so,” Sovad said. He gave the most worried look Panix had ever seen.
“We know who sabotaged the engines, but who put them up to it?” Moshin said, looking at the comatose man. He checked his condition. “I think we might have a tenant for those little rooms that look like holding cells underneath our headquarters.”
They grabbed a cart. Panix turned it into a floater and they put the comatose magician in the bottom and Lorna on top. They ran to KII headquarters and to the transporter room. There was always a magician on duty but the current one had recently transported an agent and there was no other ready.
Corlee appeared in their midst before they could prepare Lorna for transport. She looked at Lorna, still in Panix’s arms.
“Give her to me. I know what to do. A woman lies at the Academy’s infirmary, brain dead after a riding accident. We can use her blood to replace all that Lorna has lost. Where is her hand?”
“All of the flesh is burned,” Moshin said.
“We can’t deal with that. I’m so sorry Panix. Let’s just hope we can save her life. Jin transported me here. Who can transport me back?”
Panix felt the pain of uselessness. “I never learned. I wouldn’t know the first thing about it.”
“I’ll do it,” Tellus said, entering the room. “Someone hold me up. I always passed out when I tried it in school. The focus is the Academy?”
Corlee nodded and held her arms. “Lift her to me. I have others waiting back at the infirmary.”
Panix lifted Lorna who seemed light as a feather. He gingerly set her in Corlee’s arms and watched them vanish.
Moshin stood behind Tellus, holding out his arms.
Corlee vanished with Lorna as Tellus collapsed into Moshin.
Panix felt himself drift into a deep well of grief. He had to center himself. “We have our own patient to take with us tonight.”
The others took their captive with them to the mansion. Panix wandered aimlessly on the streets of Mella, fretting about Lorna, wondering if they could have resorted to some other way to find the magicians. How could he have been so stupid? On his journey, tiny tremors shook windows along the way as he punished himself for Lorna’s grave injury. He let Lorna down and he continued to let his father down.
~
“They never came back to report. I went over to the factory, but the place was crawling with constables. Two bodies on floaters were led out and put on a wagon and left. I talked to the factory’s guard. He said something about two bodies being burned beyond recognition along with blood all over the place.” Aston looked at Kevox’s darkening face. He’d never seen anyone look so menacing when angry.
“So that makes four, your three magicians and the woman and only two bodies,” Kevox said. Aston could see the wheels turning in Kevox’s head as the Murgontian tried to make sense of it all. “We have to locate the woman and the other magician or all is lost.”
“I’ll be at our meeting place at noon and at midnight until the third magician shows up,” Aston said. “He doesn’t know you.”
“And I’ll kill you if he ever finds out, Gavid.”
Chills went down Aston’s spine. “He won’t. I’ll have to tell Mother, though.”
“Then I’ll kill both of you. Don’t b
other with the meeting place. You know how to contact me when you have information.” Kevox opened his door and looked away from Aston. “Leave.”
~
The four men looked down at the comatose magician.
“Now what?” Harlan said.
“There are other ways to find out,” Sovad said. “These magicians weren’t Murgontian agents. Their magic is too strong. That means they certainly were recruited and we are likely dealing with a cell headed up by a Murgontian.”
“I’ll go back to the factory and see if anyone has been asking a lot of questions,” Moshin said. “Since all three of the magicians are missing. Whoever is leading this is going to have to find out what happened.”
Panix followed Moshin up to the main floor. “We need to find out,” he said to Moshin, clapping him on the shoulder as the older man left.
He sat down and pulled out his Corlee messaging coin. Panix held it in his hand, and looked at Lorna’s dried blood flaking off. He walked into the kitchen and washed it. She’ll be back, he said to himself. He couldn’t bear to lose another one. He kept it in his hand as a link to Lorna. He didn’t realize how he felt about her until he knelt at her side clutching her arm. With her gone, he felt hollow inside. Hollow and worried about her, but if anyone could save Lorna, Corlee could.
If Lorna prickled about her lack of magic, what would the loss of a hand do to her disposition? He’d have to help her through that. She still could contribute to the team. He wanted her there with them—with him.
~
“Nice looking guy, but going to seed a little early, you know the type,” the guard said. “Brown hair, brown eyes. He was dressed like he was somebody. I thought he looked a little out of place. The factory isn’t in the best part of town, if you know what I mean.”
“How tall was he?” Moshin said as he looked across the counter at the guard. Everything had quieted down now that the bodies had been taken away.
“I don’t know. Shorter than me and taller than you. He definitely pumped me for information. He did have a nice float coach though—a bit old, but a beautiful thing. Yellow with blue stripes, I think. Two seater.”
Moshin remembered something about a racy yellow float coach. It was someone’s he’d seen at the Academy. He connected the memory to Panix. Old age, he smiled and knew it would come to him soon enough.
There was nothing else the guard could remember.
~
Lorna woke up in a strange place. Her hand itched. Her hand, she thought. She tried to raise it up, but something restrained her arm. The fight came back to her. The gaslights, the solvent, the knife, and the awful pain and the terror she felt as she saw her hand removed by the magician. She didn’t know if remembering the pain was worse than recalling the sight.
A woman came to her bed. “Just lie back. You’ve had a hard time. We nearly lost you.”
“My hand.”
“I’ll go get Corlee. She’ll explain. Don’t get agitated, just rest.”
A few minutes later, a woman with dark hair and gray eyes looked down at her. She seemed so familiar.
“Lorna? My name is Corlee. I’m glad to see you’ve awakened ahead of schedule. Do you feel any pain?”
“I itch where my hand used to be.”
“Used to be? Why don’t we take a look at it?” The woman bent over and released the restraints. She took the wrapped arm and removed the padding and bandages revealing a hand on the end of Lorna’s left arm.
“But I saw the man…” she couldn’t finish the thought.
“Yes you did. And that hand was burned so badly we weren’t able to use it. This is someone else’s hand.”
Lorna let out a wail. Was she mad? Was she dead and this was some sort of afterlife? “Where am I?”
“You are at the Morven Academy of Magic. I am Corlee, Panix Gavid’s sister.”
Lorna felt very confused. She put her hand to her head and pulled it away. “My hair is gone!”
“We used it to knit the bones in your arm with your new hand. One of our students, a young woman of great promise, died in a riding accident. She suffered an awful head wound and her body had just about shut down. We found she was an orphan and before she finally passed on, we used her blood and her hand to keep you alive.”
“You killed her?” Lorna began to struggle in the bed. Corlee had to sit by her side and hold her still.
“No, she was only hours from certain death. We used her life’s blood. It would have been drained out for burial anyway and it saved your life. I must admit even I was a little squeamish when we replaced your hand.” Corlee gave Lorna a faint smile as she lifted Lorna’s arm up, now that she’d stopped her struggling. “It’s not something we generally do.”
Lorna felt the need to get herself centered. She reached within to look for her light and a tiny image of Panix’s face showed up. It startled her, but she continued use his image to center herself and found the calm she needed. Opening her eyes, it startled her to see how much Corlee looked like her brother.
“Who taught you that, Panix?” Corlee said.
Lorna nodded. “He did and I only wish I didn’t have to use it so often.” She looked at her arm. “It looks about like my old hand,” Lorna gave a frightened smile to Corlee. “What’s the puckering around the wrist?”
“That is where we attached it. The puckering is what was left from the cauterization Panix did to save your life. You wouldn’t have made it if he hadn’t stopped the bleeding.”
“Why isn’t there more of a scar?” Lorna asked, her head spinning. This was all coming too fast and she felt like she was spitting out fragments of her thoughts.
“Magic. A lot of magic. You wore out two of my fellow healers and me. I gave birth a month ago and still don’t have my normal reserves.” Corlee smiled and held Lorna’s new hand in hers.
“How long have I been here?” Lorna glanced out the window looking out over Morven Plain.
“I brought you here two days ago.”
“Two days. I need to get back to my team. When can I leave?” she felt her agitation return and looked at Corlee.
“Tomorrow? Is that soon enough? We can arrange a teleport. You will be weak for some time, though, weeks.” Corlee said.
Lorna took a deep breath. “I can handle that.”
Corlee began to rise, but Lorna grasped her hand more tightly. “Would you mind staying? I’d like to talk about your brother.”
~~~
Chapter 33
Panix looked through the window of the carriage house behind his stepmother’s house. Inside sat the same yellow float coach he remembered from the day he was married. The guard from the factory stood beside him.
“Is that it?”
“Can’t be but one or two of those,” the guard said. “Sure is a magnificent thing.”
Panix thrust some currency into the guard’s hand. “Moshin, stay out of sight with him.”
Panix walked around to the front of the road, followed by the two other men, and paused to open the gate to the front of the house.
“Stay out of sight, but get a good look at the man.”
He knocked on the front door.
“Is Aston in?” Panix said to a woman dressed as a servant.
“He is, sir. Who may I say is calling?”
“Panix, his brother.”
A few minutes later, Aston Gavid came to the door. “Panix, what are you doing here?” The greeting came out flat with a hint of antagonism.
“Is that any way to greet your only step-brother? After all, it’s been nearly six years.” Panix moved back to give the guard a view.
“I couldn’t care less if I didn’t see you for a dozen more. I’d appreciate it if you would leave. I’m much too busy to entertain you at present.”
“At least shake my hand, Aston.” Panix put out his hand so Aston would have to step out on the porch, which he did.
“Goodbye Aston. Goodbye Mother!” Panix waved to his stepmother and smiled as she peeked aro
und a wall further in the house. He turned around and walked away to the sound of the door slamming.
“That’s him. I talked to him about the deaths.”
Panix sat in the coach, as darkness filled him and the vehicle vibrated. Aston and Polla, traitors to Korvanna. He knew his mother as a pushy, unpleasant woman, but both of them involved in this? He felt nothing but anger and despair.
~
A letter from his sister and Lorna greeted Panix when he returned to the mansion.
“Great news. The new hand took. There have been no complications from the transfusion. Lorna can be here tomorrow.” The elation he felt surprised him. “Lorna sends her thanks for saving her life,” Panix said to the group. “Now for the bad news. Aston Gavid and my mother are the traitors. From what Sovad tells us about the Assassination Guild, a Murgontian agent is very likely controlling them. He’s the one we need to find. Any suggestions on how we do that?”
“Can we use magic to get them to tell us the truth?” Harlan said.
“No. Magic doesn’t have much affect on people’s thoughts. We can tell if they are telling the truth, but we can’t make them talk,” Moshin said.
“Can we set them up? Trick them somehow so they will go to their contact?” Panix said. “Sovad, you’ve been silent. You must have an idea or two.”
“I’d like to speak to you in private, Panix. There might be a way, but there’s something you need to know first. Let’s go outside.”
“What’s this all about, Sovad?” Panix asked as soon as they walked into the crisp air. The sun shone through bare branches drawing thick lines on their faces.
“I have a confession to make.”
“I’m sure you have lots of confessions to make,” Panix said with a half smile.
“No. Since Lorna’s near-death, I’ve been thinking about you and me and the team and everything. You see six or so years ago, I met your mother here in Korvanna. You know that. Back then, I was Horvo Tasler. Murgontia assigned me here to stir things up.
