Chapter 54 Declan
The door clicked shut, and I looked around.
A tall woman with silky black hair trailing down to her waist stood glaring at a parchment in her hand. Despite the tinkling of the bells, she hadn’t seemed to notice me.
And then she looked up.
Our eyes met.
I had forgotten about my eyes and their swirling magic.
She knew me.
I saw it in her gaze, the recognition, the flash of anger and hatred.
Before I could think, a wall of air blasted me into the back of the heavy wooden door.
I lost my footing and landed on my rear.
Dazed, I looked up at the woman. Venom and hatred glared back.
Then she vanished, and the crinkled parchment she held drifted to the floor.
I climbed to my feet and stared at where the woman had stood a moment before. I threw up a shield of air in case she returned, then took a couple of tentative steps forward, scanning the area.
My head swam a moment before settling.
The door squealed as it flew open, and two uniformed Constables entered with swords drawn. “Are you alright, sir? We heard the crash and thought you might be in trouble.”
I released my shield and turned to the men. “I’m fine. The shop is empty. The woman got away.”
“How?” The men glanced at each other. “We have the place surrounded. There’s nowhere for her to go.”
“Officers, would you get the High Sheriff, please. We will explain everything once he arrives,” Atikus, stepping into the shop, answered before I could say a word.
I kneeled and retrieved the parchment Irina dropped as she vanished. I held it up and turned to say something, but Atikus silenced me with a mental note. “Not until we’re alone.”
The moment the door closed behind the Constables, I stepped forward and handed the flyer to Atikus. “I’m not sure if this is relevant to finding her, but she was reading this when I walked in. I caught her crumpling it up. She looked angry . . . well, angrier than her usual pissedoffness.”
“Pissedoffness?” Atikus harrumphed, then skimmed the flyer. “The Order again. Seems like they are in the middle of everything these days. When we see the Sheriff, I will ask him to assign some men to sniff around.”
He rolled up the flyer and shoved it into his robe. “Now, tell me what happened.”
I recounted the brief encounter with the woman I presumed was Irina.
When I described her hair and eyes, Atikus nodded.
“That’s her. She used her magic to change her appearance back to how she looked before. If I understand the mechanics, that is akin to Illusion, and not a true transformation. She should still be inhabiting Larinda’s body,
which means the physical limitations of an old woman still work to our advantage.”
“Maybe. She’s a magically enhanced old woman. She tossed me back like I was nothing.”
“Her magic is powerful, but she caught you by surprise. In a fight you knew was coming, I doubt she could do that without you having time to shield yourself.”
He smoothed his beard as he thought. “Using magic takes a physical and mental toll. That is its price. Larinda’s constitution is robust, but she is still ancient. Without the magic of Rea Utu to restore her health, her body will fail.”
“You’re already planning our confrontation, aren’t you?”
Atikus nodded. “We will need to get this right when the time comes. If we can keep her contained and throwing her magic around long enough, she will wear her body out. It should be like watching a flame flutter and go out. We should then be able to banish her without her power resisting us.”
“We just have to survive her attacks long enough while keeping her contained somehow. Sounds easy enough.” I tried not to roll my eyes again. And failed.
“This was never going to be easy, but that is the best idea I have at the moment. You are welcome to come up with a better plan.”
“Oh, no. I’m a Ranger, not a tactician. I’ll be the hammer; you be the brains.”
Atikus laughed. “Finally, you recognize my mental prowess and your . . . well . . . other abilities.”
“Thanks a lot, I think.” I smirked. “Let’s go see the Sheriff.”
We made it a dozen paces out of the candle shop before a uniformed officer approached with a message from Sheriff Cribbs asking us to join him at the Palace.
There were developments, and the Queen wanted us to be part of his briefing.
After a short walk, we passed through the golden doors of the audience chamber and were greeted by Jess, Keelan, Cribbs, and Marks, who were all seated around the Council table.
Heavily armed guards stood everywhere.
One towered quietly along the wall behind the throne, ten paces from the next.
Four additional guards stood near the Council table, two on either side of Jess’s chair.
Keelan noticed my eyes widen as I scanned the room.
“There was an incident here at the Palace. Security has increased,” he said without explanation. His eyes were hard, and his mouth was set in a grim line.
Jess stood and greeted us, then motioned to empty seats.
“Sheriff, we should hear from Declan and Atikus. You can brief everyone on the Oliver situation after,” Jess said.
Atikus took the lead, bringing everyone up to speed on our actions at the two candle shops. I remained silent until he cocked a bushy brow, his not-so-subtle indication for me to help to fill in details. As we concluded, Atikus withdrew the flyer from his robe and handed it to Cribbs.
“This is all we have to go on at the moment. We are not even sure it is connected to anything,” Atikus said.
Cribbs glanced at the parchment and handed it to Jess.
“These are all over town, Majesty. Nothing unusual there,” Marks said, leaning over the table before settling back into his seat.
Jess set the flyer down and turned to Cribbs. “If there is nothing else there, Sheriff, it is your turn.”
“We received a bird from the constabulary in Oliver. Unfortunately, the scrolls are tiny, so our information is limited. I’ll just read it to you.”
Another murder. Witness saw large brown bear maul victim. Witness watched bear don mask and change into man following killing. Man wore brown robes. – FL
Cribbs tossed the scroll onto the table. “Majesty, without speaking with my officer or the witness, I have no way of affirming the veracity of the claim. This could be a drunk who saw nothing, or something far more troublesome.”
“He’s right. The message doesn’t give us enough to go on,” Keelan said, clearly in his element discussing a criminal investigation.
“We have—” I started.
Keelan cut me off. “What we do have is a pattern. First, the Order shows up trying to strong-arm the Queen. Then murders begin, but only one in each city or town, each committed by an animal.
“Has anyone here ever heard of such a wave of murderous beasts within such a brief window?”
I watched as everyone considered his words.
“Then the Queen is attacked by a horse who shifted into a man after he was killed—a man wearing brown robes,” he continued. “Now, another animal attack, this time with a witness who saw the live assailant shift back into his human form and walk away from the scene—again, wearing brown robes.
“Your Majesty,” he said, turning to Jess. “We cannot act on supposition, but it should guide the next steps in our investigation.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “Go on. What are you proposing?”
He looked toward Cribbs. “I need to go back to Oliver to interview this witness and the officers, confirm whether or not the story is credible. While I’m there, Atikus and the Sheriff should continue working toward locating Irina.”
Jess leaned back and crossed her arms.
“It’s a three- or four-day ride. By the time you get there, do the interviews, and get back, who knows where Irina will be or what she’ll have been up to.” Cribbs mirrored his Queen, crossing his arms.
I leaned forward and cleared my throat. “I can help with that. Using my magic, I’ll take Keelan to Oliver, then bring him back. Your four days will be a blink if we Travel, and Atikus and I can coordinate using Telepathy. Now that we both have that ability, we can conduct a two-way conversation.”
“I like it,” Atikus said. “Jess—I mean, Your Majesty, do you think your Mages would be willing to help? I could use some extra minds thinking this through.”
“Chancellor, summon Mage Ernest to the Palace,” she said to Marks before turning back to me. “Ernest is sharp and a good man. You will like him. He can get whoever you need involved.” She leaned forward and placed her palms on the table as if to rise. “Are we agreed? Anything else?”
Everyone looked around at each other, but no one spoke.
“Fine.” She stood and turned, then looked back at me. “Ranger Rea, please keep Keelan out of trouble.”
I shot Keelan a startled glance.
Keelan returned a lopsided, boyish grin.
Jess rolled her eyes and strode out.
I gripped Keelan’s arm. “You may be a little dizzy when we get there. It’ll pass in ten or fifteen minutes. Now, picture the area just outside the inn’s front door in your mind—as detailed as you can.”
Keelan nodded and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he looked at me.
And then he threw up all over my trousers.
“Aw, really? You couldn’t hold on for just a minute?” I groaned. “Are those chunks of apple? Ugh.”
“Sorry, but if you’d just stand still—” And he threw up again.
I walked my pale brother to the front of the inn and sat him on the ground.
“As big as you are, I thought you might be able to handle that better. Just sit there until the nausea passes. I’m going to find somewhere to clean up.”
Keelan didn’t look up. He just raised a hand in acknowledgement and let his head loll forward. I disappeared into the inn, returning several minutes later with somewhat cleaner trousers and a serving boy named Liam in tow.
“Lieutenant?” Liam said from behind me. “Didn’t you just leave us?”
Liam kneeled down and helped Keelan drink some water from the mug he’d brought out.
“It’s a long story,” I said. “We need to see your Sheriff, or whatever you call the head Constable in the town.”
“That would be Chief Kerr. He’s a few streets over. When the Lieutenant is back on his feet, I’ll take you there. It’s right on my way to the market.”