Murder, Magic, and Moggies

by Pearl Goodfellow

  “No, that’s not it,” David said, shaking his head. “I kept thinking you were involved in Millicent Pond’s death—“

  “Shocking.” Portia's beady eyes hardened.

  “But I kept going back and forth on who you were working for. It was like I was a kid playing with a light switch, flipping it off and on.”

  I went back to our last conversation. My eyes widened as I realized something. “Every time I used…Governor Shields’ first name was when that change of mind happened.”

  “Which is why I employed Psyche’s Purge,” Portia said, holding up the tube. “You were exhibiting all the signs of mind control programming that went completely and utterly awry.”

  “Convenient that you’d be the one to save me at the last minute,” David said, some of his strength and suspicion returning. “My memory’s still a little fuzzy, but I do remember knocking and knocking without so much as ‘get lost.' from you. You have to admit, that's pretty unusual behavior for you. What were you waiting for?”

  Portia harrumphed at this accusation. “Not that I have to explain myself to you, Chief Trew. But, if you must know, I was in a section of the manor where knocking alone wouldn’t have been enough to alert me to your presence. Perhaps you should be thankful that Hattie also used her voice or you could be much worse than dead now.”

  “But isn’t that a little careless, Ms. Fearwyn?” I cut in, hoping to steer this conversation in a useful direction. “Company a lot less friendly than us could have taken advantage of—“

  Portia gave a strangled groan and lifted her hand. “In your own way, Hattie, you can be every bit as dense as him." She flicked her head to CPI Trew. "If I show the both of you where I was, will you let the matter drop?”

  “I'll think about it,” David said.

  Portia then gestured at us to follow her. A minute later, we were in front of a familiar set of steel doors, down in the old witch's basement. I remembered these doors from the time we found Portia tied up down here in the Amber Crystal investigation. I also knew, from previous experience, that this was as far as we were going to get.

  David tapped the doors. “So these are soundproofed to the point where you can’t hear a knock at the front door, but you CAN hear someone’s cries for help?”

  Portia folded her arms and glowered at him. “You still have yet to tell me what I am supposed to have done this time, CPI Trew.”

  “We have an eyewitness who saw you in the vicinity of Millicent’s murder scene.”

  “We think someone might have seen you there,” I added, ignoring David’s angry glance at me. “The Rock Grumlin gave a general description that—“

  Portia sneered. “A Rock Grumlin? Those dumb midgets who are the backbone of Cathedral’s second major industry after tourism, and who are used as slaves by Cathedral's own administration?”

  “Well…like I said, it’s unclear. But—“

  “But the way he talked about this person,” David stepped in, getting a little closer to Portia than seemed safe. “Tall hair, never a kind word for them, frowning all the time…you sound a lot like the woman they called the Hydra.”

  Portia then did something that left me in utter shock. She burst out laughing. When I say “laugh," I mean that she all but guffawed in that reedy voice of hers. The high notes of that laughter echoed across the manor’s empty rooms like the world’s meanest poltergeist getting the better of a hated victim. David took a step back. He wasn’t sure how to react to this any more than I was.

  A whooshing sound interrupted our little gathering. And, from the steel doors stepped someone I hadn’t expected to see. Even though I’d saved his life not so long ago, we’d never actually met face to face. But I’d seen enough pictures of his salt-and-pepper hair, his hawkish face and perpetually bemused expression to recognize Aurel Nugget when I saw him. Portia’s laughter subsided as she spotted her guest shutting the steel doors behind him, from a glowing console on the wall.

  “And to think that people consider the lead into gold process a minor miracle,” Aurel said in a rich baritone, noting Portia's laughing. “Are your new guests traveling comedians by chance, Portia?”

  A derisive smile strayed onto Portia’s lips. “Any comedy that Chief Para Inspector Trew imparts, Aurel, is strictly by accident.”

  “Ahh, so sorry to not recognize you at first glance, sir,” Aurel said, offering his hand to David.

  While they shook, the alchemist's eyes fell upon me. “And that would make you, unless I am grievously mistaken, Ms. Hattie Jenkins of the Angel Apothecary, correct?”

  I felt a little flustered. “I’m surprised that you even know about me.”

  “On the contrary, dear lady,” Aurel said, giving my hand a courtly kiss. “I made a point of knowing who it was that saved me from my own foolish mistakes. Someone who has saved my life, no less."

  That part was sadly no exaggeration. During a recent outbreak of Strands abuse, Aurel had used himself as a guinea pig to find a cure. It didn’t go so well. The only reason he was even standing in front of me now was because I’d hit upon the cure in the course of solving the murder I was investigating with David at the time.

  Portia rolled her eyes at Aurel’s schmoozing skills. “Do we have anything that needs to be discussed at this time?” Her question was clipped.

  “There are a few minor details that can keep for another day,” Aurel said with a shrug. “And I am quite certain that these fine young people are here on urgent business to have come this far and at this hour. So may I bid you good night?”

  I swear that I saw Portia suppress another chuckle as she nodded. Aurel gave the both of us a small bow and showed himself out.

  “So what was one of the Coven Isles’ most respected alchemists doing here?” David asked.

  “Actually,” I chimed in. “I’m more interested in knowing what David said that was so funny in the first place.”

  Portia looked back and forth between us as if deciding if I deserved an answer. “Let me put it like this: why would an underground race like the Grumlins have a Mainland word for a freshwater aquatic creature?"

  “They do live next to a waterfall,” David said.

  “Yes, but would they necessarily call it a ‘waterfall’ or the place where the water empties into a ‘pond’? Of course not. They’d use a more descriptive term that would be in line with their cultural roots.”

  “Like when Dilwyn was talking about how the woman’s lips ‘turning down’ was their way of saying she was frowning all the time,” I deduced.

  “Dilwyn Werelamb was the interlocutor of your conversation with this witness?” Portia asked, her face now somewhere between amazement and disgust.

  “It’s not like we had any better option,” David said in a defensive tone. “I wasted most of a day being told that Millicent was the only candidate for such an endeavor. We were lucky enough as it was, to get Dilwyn.”

  As the Grumlins would have put it, Portia’s lips turned down. “Well…I must admit to being mildly impressed that he knew how to talk to them at all. Their sign language has as many nuances and ambiguities as American English on the Mainland. I suppose it's only natural that he would get one or two words wrong.”

  “But the Grumlin was clear on this 'Hydra' person going through the portal in their sacred homestead.”

  Portia’s face turned serious again. “What portal?”

  Before David could waste more time with arguments or claims of police business, I gave her a complete rundown on what we had seen and every detail the Grumlin had told us. When I was done, Portia nodded. “A sacred stone? Did Dilwyn get that right? It sounds as though that unfortunate midget miner managed to stumble upon the Faid Coch.”

  I was about to open my mouth to ask what that was but Portia cut me off with, “Before you ask, the name translates as the ‘Prophet Stone’, which is a rather bland way to describe the calcified heart of the mother of all dragons.”

  “And she was…?” David asked.

&nbs
p; “However old I may look, even I wasn’t around for the time of Tiamat. The legends have it that this was from a period when 'the skies above were not yet named, nor earth below pronounced by name.’ When she was finally slain, they say Tiamat's heart turned into a vast black diamond at the heart of the Glimmer Mountains. In fact, Burning Peak was named in homage to her.”

  “But, how do you go from a mummified dragon heart to a scary-looking magical portal that leads to parts unknown?”

  Portia shrugged. “Again, you assume that I have those kind of answers at my fingertips. But, assuming Werelamb didn’t botch the translation job as badly as I know he already has, the parts that portal leads to are anything but unknown. There is only one place it could be." Portia paused and let her silence speak the gravity of her next words. "Mag Mell.”

  I knew it. All this fairy mischief. It wasn’t good.

  “Home of the Unseelie Court?” David asked.

  “And the Seelie court. It’s a blanket term for the birthplace and homeland of the Fae. No Rock Grumlin would have any fond memories of it.”

  “Why is that?” I asked.

  “Because they were once slaves in Mag Mell. However much that shrieking harridan, Pond, talked about them being mistreated here, I can assure you that their former Fae masters treated them a thousand times more cruelly. While I am unclear on the details, they eventually managed to win their freedom from their Fae abusers. They've been firmly ensconced under the mountains of Cathedral ever since.”

  Portia tapped her chin with a bony finger, deep in thought. "Mind you, this was millennia ago now. I'm sure the midgets struggle with their own histories. Such is Fae magic in helping them forget as much as possible. Still, they'd remember an awful lot, I'm sure."

  “But, the Grumlin we talked to DID mention recent mistreatment. At the hands of humans, though.”

  Portia shrugged. “Humans, Fae. The Grumlins were made for mistreatment.”

  David tapped his leg as he thought this over. “But because they had started off as Fae, they’d still know about the various Fae races and use the right name for the right race, true?”

  Portia’s eyes lit up with understanding. “Your Grumlin wasn’t saying ‘Hydra’. He was saying ‘Huldra’.”

  “What’s a Huldra?” I asked.

  When Portia told us, a good many of the scattered details suddenly made a lot more sense. “And this Huldra…it would be capable of mind-control tricks? Of the kind you just rescued David from?”

  “Without a doubt,” Portia confirmed. “But it really should have been more discreet with its trigger word. Using a person’s first name, even a fairly uncommon one, is a landmine waiting to be stepped upon.”

  David looked a little concerned. “Will saying it now—“

  “Psyche’s Purge is extremely thorough,” Portia assured him. “Your mind is free of that programming unless you are foolish enough to allow yourself to be put under the influence a second time. The odds on that last are fairly even.”

  David scowled, but I piped up. “Let’s run by the shop on our way back. I’ve got some calcium supplements that might help out with the medicine the doctor gave you.”

  “Yes, if you two are done, I would rather be left alone for a little while,” Portia said, walking back towards the intriguing steel doors. “But, one suggestion, Chief Trew. Tell your superiors on Talisman about that gate you discovered. It needs to be dealt with.”

  “Why would they even care?” David asked.

  Portia’s only answer was shutting the steel doors behind her. Leaving us alone in the dank basement.

  “And there goes another woman who keeps bringing us together,” I said with a wry tone.

  “Too bad SHE’S still alive,” David grumbled as we walked out the front door.

  Chapter 17

  David wasn’t the only one who needed an herbal treatment from the Angel. The night air on the flight home made me shiver uncontrollably. I needed some of Grandma Chimera’s warm tea to get the chill out of my bones.

  Just the same, I did my best to ignore my problems in favor of keeping an eye on my friend. Strictly for medical reasons, you understand. I swear, really. And, sure, looking at him warmed me in a select few spots on my body. Probably places my herbal infusions couldn't reach, to be honest.

  But the Chief had also just experienced a really rough day. It couldn't be a pleasant feeling, to know someone had control of your mind and body. My heart swelled at the thought of everything he'd just been through.

  I saw a figure standing in front of the shop’s door as I flew over. She looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t make out much detail from my altitude. I got David’s attention and gestured down to my mystery visitor. He nodded, and we both set our brooms down in the back. So much for that change of clothes and bath I had planned.

  The first thing I heard as soon as we came through the back door was knocking at the front one. Carbon was groaning from his usual sleeping spot by the burning fireplace.

  “Could you…tell whoever’s making that racket to…to knock it off?” my pyromaniac cat slurred out. “I’m a kitty in recovery here.”

  A quick glance through the front door showed it was Ravena. She looked anxiously down both ends of the street. Looking for what or whom, I had no idea. David was right by my side when I opened the door.

  “Dr. Valley, what brings you out here this late?” I asked in a neutral tone. Well, as neutral as wet clothes, a long day and a head spinning full of conjectures would allow.

  “I know this is well past shop hours, and I am dreadfully sorry,” Ravena said. “But I have some test results that I need to share right away.”

  “And why are you here as opposed to the station?” David asked with reproach.

  Ravena frowned. “When the desk sergeant told me that you weren’t in, they suggested I come here.”

  The look on David’s face told me that he and the sergeant were going to have a conversation later. A talk that the latter was not going to enjoy.

  “Well, since you’re here, why don’t you come in?” I asked, stepping aside.

  After I locked the shop door behind us, I suggested that we all have a pot of tea. Ravena seemed to adore that idea while David reminded me about those supplements that I’d mentioned at Portia’s. I pulled out some powdered calcium from one of the labeled drawers. "I'll stir this into your tea. It should help."

  I felt his forehead. Still a little warm, but his eyes looked a lot clearer. I put the kettle on and turned back to Ravena.“So, these results?”

  Ravena nodded and pulled out a sheaf of notes from her inside coat pocket. “As you both know, my background is more in physics than chemistry. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that I decided to delve down into the molecular level of Chief Trew’s samples to see what I could find out.”

  “And when you did…?” David asked, looking at the papers nervously. I couldn’t blame him. We tended to let Maude interpret technical details on our cases for a reason.

  “I found that your cells had been thoroughly saturated with an excess of tachyons,” Ravena said, handing David the papers. “Without boring you terribly, the bottom line is that this many tachyons in the human body is very destructive to the organism's health in both the short and long term.”

  I have no idea what this woman is talking about.

  "What are tachyons and how did they get into David's body?" I reached for the mugs.

  "Please, if you'll just let me tell you about their destructive behavior first?" Ravena raised her eyebrows in question. I nodded silently.

  “In addition to cell degradation that accompanies any excess radiation, the tachyons disrupt mental processes…memory, clear thought, reasoning skills. But even worse is how conducive they make the body towards electrical currents, by way of supercharging the body’s nervous system. A simple static shock could do serious harm while something as extreme as a full-fledged lightning strike would be guaranteed to be doubly fatal.”

  “Wh
at could cause something like this?” David asked, backing up my need for clear answers. The kettle whistled a high-pitched 'ready' signal.

  “Any number of things and none of them that 'everyday,'” Ravena acknowledged. “But one thing that came to mind was Black Diamond in its purest, most unprocessed form. I'm not sure if you're aware, but BD’s, in order for them to be safe for commercial sales, need to be refined quite significantly before they go to market. The excess tachyon energy in the BD has to be removed.”

  While I poured out the tea, I could see the gears turning in David’s head. “And these tachyons could also cause seizures in the right amounts?”

  I handed Ravena her cup as she said, “I’d have to look again, but I believe that was one of the possible side effects, yes.”

  Thinking back to Maude’s out-of-control electrical experiment, I asked, “If someone was killed by electrocution, no matter its source, if they had tachyons in their system, would they still be present in the body after ... um, death.”

  If Ravena knew I was talking about her beloved Millicent, she made no sign. She remained professional in her discipline.

  “In high enough amounts, almost certainly,” Ravena affirmed as she sipped her raspberry leaf tea. “Natural particle decay would have to set in before they were completely gone, which would take some time.”

  I hated myself a little for what I was about to say next. But it needed to be said. “Would a Taser be powerful enough to ignite the tachyons in the diamond? I mean, would it have the same effect as, say, a stronger bolt of lightning?”

  I saw Ravena flinch just a little bit. “Yes…I would say that’s possible. It would depend on how high the setting on the Taser was, of course, but, yes, theoretically, a taser could do as much damage to—“

  “What about the amount of black diamond involved?” David asked, half of his tea already gone. “Would it require a significant amount of this stone to ensure that the electricity was fatal?”

  Ravena’s discomfort was evident this time. She nearly dropped the tea as she sat it on the table. “I-I would have no idea. Millicent was certainly around enough black diamond that day to—“