Tane groaned, and exchanged a glance with Indree. “I think she’s joking.”
“She’d better be,” Indree said. “Now, for just a bit, can we all try to look vaguely professional?” Her eyes were on the figure waiting for them just ahead at the hospital’s main doors.
Lieutenant Thilde Berken, the woman the Kaiser had introduced them to the previous night, stood tall with her hands clasped behind her back, watching them approach. She wore her crimson uniform with a black beret over short blonde hair. “Good morning,” she said—in accented Audish, to Tane’s surprise. The better to keep an eye on us, I suppose. No secret conversations in front of her.
“Lieutenant Berken,” Indree greeted her. “Thank you for arranging this.”
“My orders are to facilitate your investigation however I can,” said Berken. Accent aside, her Audish seemed fairly fluent. “No thanks is necessary.”
“I hope we’re not stepping on your toes,” said Indree. “You were leading the investigation before we arrived, correct?”
Berken gave a crisp nod. “I was. But there is no… stepping on toes, as you say. My priority is finding the truth. If your expertise is what is required, I welcome it. Short of allowing you to use magic on Belgrian soil, I will help in whatever way I can.”
Kadka raised an eyebrow. “And if she does magic?” More confrontational than necessary, and she did nothing to hide the disapproving curl to her lip, revealing a sliver of sharp orcish teeth. She couldn’t use magic, but she loved it more than anyone Tane had ever met.
“I would be forced to intervene,” Berken said simply. “It isn’t personal. The Guard is sworn to prevent mages from becoming a danger to the citizenry and themselves.”
“How?” asked Tane. He knew he probably shouldn’t follow up, not with Kadka already on edge, but he was genuinely curious about their methods. He knew of the Belgrian Guard by reputation, a law enforcement organization similar to Audland’s constabulary, but trained to police the use of magic in whatever way was necessary. How far are they willing to go? “I’ll be the first to say it doesn’t always take magic to beat a mage, but you’re talking about an entire population of them. You’re not always going to be confronting them on your terms, and if they get a chance, a single spell can decide a fight.”
“True,” Berken agreed. “But we have training, and the tools of magic can be used against it.” She indicated a pair of cuffs hanging from her belt, steel inlaid with glyph-etched copper. “These will Astrally isolate whoever wears them.” Her hand went to another brass device beside the cuffs, with a single switch on the side. “And this does the same in a small area when I activate it.”
“A nullifier,” Indree said. “The constabulary has similar ones, but we don’t rely on them. Expensive, and it’s not hard to just step out of range, which isn’t very far. Not to mention the interference with every other artifact around them. You don’t have to worry about it here, but use one too close to the discs and a lot of people could get hurt. We’ve found it easier to adapt our own spells to the situation.”
Berken gave Indree an appraising look. “I have found the device… effective enough, when the situation calls for it.” She didn’t say it in any particularly threatening way, but the words felt ominous to Tane even so.
Apparently Indree felt the same, because for all her talk of professionalism and diplomacy, she was looking back at Berken with a glimmer of defiance. It can’t be easy for her to sit here and listen to this ‘mages are a public menace’ talk.
“We should get to work,” Tane said, breaking the silence and changing the subject all at once. “I’d like to hear what this Ungren has to say. And get out of the snow.” He shook some of the light powder out of his hair and tugged his scarf tighter about his neck by way of demonstration.
“Of course,” Berken said. “Right this way.” She turned and pushed open the door to lead them inside.
Tane caught Indree’s eye as they stepped through, and leaned in close. “I think you could take her,” he whispered, squeezing her hand in his.
She smiled and shook her head. “Don’t tempt me. But I appreciate the vote of confidence.”
Berken led them down stark white halls, passing doctors and nurses at work. Tane wondered idly what the survival rate was in a Belgrian hospital without mage-surgeons to take on the most serious cases. His hand went to his chest, where his shirt hid the scars of the rail accident that had nearly killed him in his youth. It was only due to medical magic that he was still alive.
Ungren’s room was upstairs, in longer-term care. It was quiet, not nearly as busy as the emergency floor below. A few nurses were working at a small station near the top of the stairs, and they offered directions after Berken signed the group in.
Berken gave them a brief summary of the situation as they walked. “His injuries are rather severe,” she said. “Various artifacts are still needed to keep his body functioning. I’m told he should be able to speak today, but that we should not be surprised if he loses consciousness. And needless to say, if there is a crisis, the room will have to be cleared for the doctors to work.”
“Understood,” Indree said. “His health comes first.”
The hall approaching the room was empty, save for a dark-haired man at the opposite end, just turning the corner. Ungren’s door was already sitting open. Berken entered first, motioning for them to follow.
They’d barely crossed the threshold before Tane realized something was wrong.
Ungren lay with his arms and legs strapped to the bed, but he was motionless even beyond the restriction of his limbs. His head lolled back limply on his pillow, and he didn’t look like he was breathing.
A half-second later, a brass artifact beside the bed emitted a piercing ring, and a magelight set into its surface started to flash.
A woman in hospital uniform rushed through the door. “Out of the way,” she commanded without raising her voice.
“Spellfire,” Tane swore. He didn’t know what the alarm meant, but it couldn’t be good. And that timing can’t be coincidence. That was when he remembered the man in the hall. What was he doing here? “Kadka, come on!” He turned, rushed by the startled nurse, and sprinted in the direction he’d seen the man turning.
Kadka ran with him. “Carver?” she said, looking for an explanation.
Tane spoke between breaths. “Man in hall,” he panted. “Might have… done this.”
Kadka nodded, leaned forward into a sprint, and left him behind.
Tane skidded around the corner after her. Another long hallway, and there near the end was a dark-haired man. He was wearing a hospital uniform.
The man heard the commotion behind him. Glanced over his shoulder. Saw them coming.
And ran.
Which didn’t necessarily mean anything—most people would run if they saw Kadka barrelling down on them. But it was far from a sign of innocence.
Tane pushed himself to keep up, running a few yards behind Kadka. The man threw himself through a door at the side of the hall and disappeared from sight.
Chasing Kadka through a few moments later, Tane found himself in a stairwell back down to the first floor. The uniformed man was already around the first landing. Kadka went down four or five steps at a time, and Tane followed as fast as he could.
They crashed through the door at the bottom into a busy hall. Several men and women in uniform were escorting a wheeled stretcher past the door, and had to veer wide around Tane and Kadka. Further down, doctors and nurses moved in and out of rooms freely. More than a few had dark hair.
“Did you get a look at his face?” Tane asked, breathing heavily.
Kadka shook her head. “Not good one.”
“Then all he has to do is walk out the door and we won’t be able to tell him apart from anyone else. We’re not going to find him now.” Tane swore under his breath and kicked the wall. A nearby nurse shot him a disapproving glare.
The door to the stairwell opened behind him and Tane whirled to see Indree,
Tinga, and Berken emerge.
“What in the Astra was that?” Indree asked, more than a little bit annoyed. Tane knew the look.
“Was a man,” Kadka said. “Carver thinks he does something to Ungren.”
“And you’re basing that on what exactly?” Indree cocked an eyebrow.
Tane spread his hands. “Doesn’t it seem unlikely that Ungren’s machine went off as soon as we showed up? What if someone saw us coming and decided they didn’t want him to talk? This man ran when we chased him.” He paused. “Ungren. What happened with him?”
“We followed you,” said Tinga with a shrug. “Had to let the doctors work anyway.”
“You’ll be allowed access when they’ve stabilized him,” Berken said. “Until then, we must wait.”
“Then I suppose we’re waiting,” Tane said, and turned back toward the stairwell. “Come on.”
There wasn’t anything to wait for. When they arrived back at Ungren’s room, he was being wheeled out, a blanket pulled up over his face.
Tane turned to the nearest nurse, a heavyset woman with brown hair who was straightening the room. “What happened?” he demanded.
“Mister Ungren passed away,” she said. “Several of the artifacts keeping him alive were deactivated.” She cocked her head at him, clearly suspicious. “You Audlanders were the last ones in his room. Did you touch anything?”
Lieutenant Berken stepped forward, and spoke in Belgrian for the benefit of the nurse. “They are with me. We had only just entered when it happened. They touched nothing.” It was strange, hearing her through the earpiece—clearly the same voice, but translated into perfect Audish without her distinct Belgrian accent.
The nurse relaxed visibly at the sight of an authority figure. “Very well.” She frowned. “But then… I suppose Mister Ungren must have dislodged them in his sleep.”
“We had to sign in,” said Tane. “Which means you have a record of people coming in and out, right? Can we see it?”
The woman glared at him. “I can’t just show anyone our records. Especially not an Audlander.”
Tane held up his hands, palms out. “Of course not, Nurse… I’m sorry, can I ask your name?”
“Nurse Vonst. Greta Vonst.”
“Greta, I promise you, we’re only here to help,” said Tane. “And if you can’t trust us, surely you can trust Lieutenant Berken here. She’ll vouch for us.” He’d seen the way she’d looked at the lieutenant; authority counted with this one.
Berken inclined her head, and spoke in Belgrian once more. “We will need to see those records.”
That seemed to be enough. “This way, then,” Vonst said, and beckoned for them to follow. She led them to the station where they’d signed in, and opened a large ledger behind the desk. “No visitors all day. The last person in the room was Doctor Stennig, checking his condition. That was…” She looked up from the book with some alarm. “Just before you arrived. But he wouldn’t have… as I said, the patient must have dislodged the artifacts. His sleep has been troubled since he arrived, enough that we had to strap him down.”
“I’m sure you’re right,” Indree said in the tone Tane had often heard her use to placate witnesses. “But we have to be thorough. You understand. Do you have this Doctor Stennig’s information? An address?”
Another inquiring look at Lieutenant Berken, and then the woman reluctantly nodded. “I can get it from our files. It will take a moment to find.”
“One more thing, first,” Tane said. “We know Mister Ungren told his story before he died. Did anyone in this hospital hear it that we could speak to?”
“Oh, he spoke to all of us at one point or another,” Vonst said. “When he was conscious.” She put a finger to her chin. “In his sleep, too, actually. He had nightmares about the silver eyed men, and sometimes he would cry out.”
“Can you remember what he told you?” Tane asked. “Anything would help.”
“He was always dreaming about the crash of the Gerthine,” said Vonst. “He was with the engineering crew. When the problem started, they were meant to try to fix it. But there were men outside the door who wouldn’t let them pass. His own fellow crewmen, he said. And their eyes glowed silver. He didn’t know why they would stop him—they were all men he knew. Sometimes in his sleep he would beg for them to let him by before the ship went down.”
So Endo had men on the crew. That was interesting. “Is there anything else you can remember?” Tane asked. “Names of these crewmen, maybe?”
She shook her head. “He never said their names, as far as I know. He was rarely lucid for very long.”
Of course. That would have been too easy. “Thank you, Greta. We can use this.”
“And if you think of anything else, please contact us at the Audish Embassy,” said Indree. “Give us a moment to talk, and we’ll be back for that address.”
The halls were still largely empty—it wasn’t hard to find a place out of earshot. As soon as they were alone, Tane turned to the others.
“Why would Belgrian crewmen have kept Ungren from the engine?” he said. “You don’t get on a project like the airship if your loyalty isn’t fairly certain. And silver eyes sounds like magic—anyone in the military here has to be non-magical.” He couldn’t say anything specific about Endo or the elixir—Berken couldn’t know about that yet. “It’s hard to imagine a loyal Belgrian siding with a mage who wants to rule the world, even if they want to scuttle the airship treaty.”
“Whatever their reason, they were hiding something,” said Indree. “Which implies intentional sabotage, not bad airship plans. They knew something in the engine room wasn’t right.”
Tane nodded. “I’d like to know exactly what. We need to visit the crash site and see if we can find any evidence.”
“And see this Doctor Stennig,” Kadka pointed out. “If he kills Ungren, he knows something.”
“We have the crash site under guard,” said Berken. “No one has access without official permission. It was expected that you would want to examine the wreckage—the arrangements have been made already. But it is perhaps an hour outside the city. It would be best to depart early, if you are to make it back before your audience with the Kaiser this evening.”
“Then we should go now,” said Indree. “The sooner the better.”
Berken shook her head. “Unfortunately, there is a complication. We cannot allow you to set foot within the perimeter we’ve created, Inspector Lovial. No active magic user can be allowed on site. The chance for tampering is too great.” She said it politely, but without a hint of apology.
Tane narrowed his eyes. “That’s ridiculous. Why in the Astra would Indree tamper with anything? She’s not—”
Indree put a hand on his shoulder. “It’s fine, Tane. You and Kadka can go to the site. Someone has to look into Doctor Stennig, like Kadka says. I’ll take care of that. And if you’ll be gone for a while, it gives me time to look into what the Guard’s investigation has already found.”
“I can assist you with that,” Berken said. “You’ll need me to get access to those materials. I will arrange an escort to the crash site for the others.”
That didn’t add up. Anyone could help Indree with some records—the Guard’s official liason should be the one coming to the crash site. And then it dawned on him. She’s supposed to be keeping an eye on the mage. We’re not the ones they’re scared of.
It took every ounce of will to stop himself from protesting further, but Tane knew Indree wouldn’t want him to. Diplomacy was the first priority. “Fine,” he said. And then, less grudgingly, “We’ll cover more ground that way.”
“What about me?” Tinga chimed in, practically vibrating from the effort of staying quiet until now. “I can help at the crash site. I don’t have magic.”
“You’re coming with me,” Indree said. “You’ll wait in the carriage while I talk to the doctor.”
Tane nodded in agreement. “We’re not dragging you across the Belgrian countryside to get i
n who knows what kind of trouble.”
Tinga crossed her arms, but didn’t argue. Much. “You’re the boss. Bosses. But I really could be useful, you know.”
Tane just shrugged. “Probably. But your parents were pretty clear—you’re not supposed to be involved.”
“You two need to get moving if you’re going to make it there and back,” Indree said. “We’ll meet up at the embassy later to get ready before we head to the palace.” She leaned in to kiss Tane goodbye, and when their lips parted, she said, “You’d better get back on time. I want to see you all dressed up.”
“I’ll try,” said Tane. “I’d hate to deprive you of that rare opportunity.” Hoping Indree would read his intent, he glanced at Lieutenant Berken, and then down to the various anti-magic artifacts hanging from her belt.
Tools for hunting mages.
Indree met his eyes, gave a slight nod. She knew exactly why Berken was going with her. Of course she did. And she won’t be happy if I refuse to leave. Her priority was the investigation, which meant someone had to go to the crash site, and it couldn’t be her. There was no point fighting it—he wouldn’t be much use to her if things went bad anyway.
So instead, Tane just gripped her tight, and whispered, “You’d better be there too.”
Chapter Seven
_____
WALKING THROUGH THE crash site, Tane wasn’t sure how anyone had survived. It looked like the ship had exploded in mid-air. The bulk of the hull sprawled at the center of the wreckage, mangled and broken, but smaller fragments of wood and brass and copper and steel jutted from the thick crust of snow as far as he could see in every direction. The remains of the envelope lay flaccid over twisted metal and icy ground, the discarded skin of some butchered leviathan of shimmering silver. The Gerthine had gone down in a lightly forested valley between two hills, but the force of the impact had split or destroyed enough of the trees to make a clearing all its own.
It was around that cleared space that the Belgrian Guard had set up their perimeter. After near an hour in the carriage, Tane and Kadka had arrived at a checkpoint around the outer edge, where they’d been made to sign in before continuing on. Even with the papers Berken had given them, they wouldn’t have made it through if the head of their escort hadn’t vouched for their identities. They still weren’t allowed to walk the site alone; several of the Guard followed them closely as they explored the wreckage.
The Spirit Siphon (Magebreakers Book 4) Page 5