Death's Handmaiden

by Niall Teasdale

  ‘He’s on form today,’ Nava commented. She had come to the conclusion that he was actually being more obnoxious than usual. That was not an easy feat but he seemed to be pulling it off.

  ‘He’s been like that all morning,’ Mitsuko said. She was looking annoyed. She and Melissa had to get to a lunch meeting of the student council. The presence of someone slowing the queue down in front of her was not making things easier. ‘Maybe I’ll just grab some sandwiches and eat them in the council room.’

  ‘We could do that,’ Melissa agreed. She was looking a little crestfallen, however; if they ate in the council room, she would miss out on friendly conversation in the refectory.

  ‘I could shoot him in the head?’ Nava suggested. ‘That might speed up the line.’

  ‘First,’ Mitsuko said, ‘I would remind you that we can never tell when you’re being facetious. Second, I think that destroying half the refectory would slow the line instead.’

  ‘You may have a point. Besides, I’m not sure losing his head would stop him. He’d just run around causing trouble. Like a chicken. Or a cock–’ Nava cut herself off because Siegmar’s voice was not continuing its rant about lousy food.

  ‘Siegmar? Are you okay, man?’ The voice came from one of the cronies and Nava narrowed in on it. Siegmar was standing there, more or less. He was swaying, his tray held precariously in one hand while the other one was pressed to his chest.

  ‘Put a call in to the SSF,’ Nava said as she set her own tray down and started through the crowd. She was no more than two metres away when Siegmar collapsed, tray and dishes clattering to the ground and food splattering across the tiles. There were exclamations, some of them expletives, but no one had actually moved to check on their fallen friend until Nava got there. She pressed fingers against his throat, but she could see his chest moving. He was alive, but he was not moving. Nava had reached the limits of her ability to handle basic medical aid, so she called on an expert. ‘Mel? You know first aid, right?’

  ‘Hey!’ One of the cronies had woken up. ‘What are you doing to him?’

  Nava looked up at the man, giving him one of her blank stares, but it was Mitsuko who spoke. ‘Don’t be foolish, Moritz Evered. She’s checking his pulse, as you’d have done if you hadn’t been paralysed from shock.’ Mitsuko raised her voice a little as Melissa appeared, dropping to one knee beside Siegmar. ‘Stand back, please. We’ll have this situation sorted out as soon as possible and we can continue with lunch.’

  Melissa had finished – with a little help from Nava since Siegmar was a big man – pushing her patient into a recovery position. ‘He’s unconscious, but I can’t see any sign of injury.’ She looked up at Moritz Evered, another bulky-looking young man though nothing like the size of Siegmar. ‘What happened? Before he fell over, I mean. You asked if he was alright, didn’t you?’

  ‘Why should I answer questions from a support–’

  ‘Idiot!’ Mitsuko snapped. ‘Someone with Melissa Connelly’s knowledge and background is exactly who you want at a time like this. How do you expect to get through a battle alive if you don’t even know what support magicians are for? Answer her.’

  ‘Yes, President,’ Moritz mumbled. ‘He just stopped talking. In the middle of a word, he just stopped. He looked sick. White. Kind of nauseous. Then he fell over.’

  Nava raised a hand and focused. ‘There’s no spell affecting him.’

  ‘Then we’ll have him taken over to the medical office and they can deal with him,’ Mitsuko said. She sighed. ‘I’m not going to get any lunch at all, am I?’

  ‘Come on, Chess. We’ll get Suki and Mel some sandwiches. That counter’s not closed at the moment.’

  Mitsuko gave Nava a look of gratitude. ‘You’re a lifesaver, Nava.’

  Nava set off for the vegetarian counter. ‘Not usually, no.’

  235/3/29.

  ‘I said no one would listen, and now we have our first victim.’ Luca Newton’s gaze swept around the room. Most of the people looking back appeared confused. ‘Yesterday, one of the combat students collapsed due to overuse of Crystal Mana. That person is in isolation, undergoing withdrawal. They will miss at least two weeks of school. Luckily, they are in the early stages of dependency and they may entirely recover. It’s also possible that they end up unable to use sorcery at all once they’re off the drug.’

  Luca was not saying who had fallen foul of the drug, but Nava knew. So, she figured, did Melissa and Rochester. They had been there when Siegmar Tate had collapsed. Nava had looked up the various indications of Crystal Mana use. One of them was sudden exhaustion once its effects wore off. Generally, a single dose was not a problem, but people who could afford to rarely stopped at one dose. They would chain them, delaying the loss of effects and the drain on their system. But it could result in an even worse hit when they eventually stopped. And, sometimes, the hit was really bad anyway. It seemed likely that Siegmar had been taking Crystal Mana all morning and had not remembered to take one at lunchtime. As a result, his system had crashed hard.

  When Nava had gone to Mitsuko’s apartment the night before, she had learned that ‘tests were still being carried out.’ Courtney was handling the case and was, apparently, not saying much. That was irritating Mitsuko, but then Courtney was not exactly in Mitsuko’s best books anyway. When Courtney had arrived in the refectory, a couple of subordinates with a stretcher behind her, the first thing she had done was to ask Nava how she was involved. Mitsuko had been… somewhat vitriolic in reply. Nava had not had to say a word.

  ‘I hope,’ Luca continued, ‘that this is the last time I am required to make an announcement regarding Crystal Mana.’

  Nava’s eyes caught Luca’s as the teacher made her statement. Luca moved quickly on to someone else, but a recognition had passed between them in that instant. They both knew that, no matter how much Luca hoped for it, this would not be the last announcement she had to make.

  ~~~

  The atmosphere in the student council room was… tense. There were various items on the agenda for the meeting, but they all knew it would be the last one which would be the most important and the most divisive. It was.

  ‘I’d prefer to keep details on this case as quiet as possible,’ Courtney stated flatly.

  Mitsuko’s reply came in her reasonable voice. It was almost impossible to tell how irritated she was. ‘I think you can keep the council apprised of the situation, Captain.’ Okay, so she was referring to Courtney by her SSF rank, so maybe it was a little more obvious once you thought about it. Melissa had been around Mitsuko long enough now that she was shrinking in her seat. ‘This situation is extremely serious. I can’t believe that Siegmar Tate is the only student hooked on that atrocious substance.’

  ‘No one’s given out the name of–’

  ‘I know you’re not that much of a fool, Courtney, so please don’t act like you are.’

  ‘But–’

  ‘Siegmar collapsed in full sight of most of the first years yesterday. He was not in class today. Those paying attention will have noticed that he suddenly became significantly more talented recently. The purpose of Crystal Mana is to temporarily increase talent in sorcery. If the entire school doesn’t yet know that he was using, they will by this time tomorrow. Now, what’s the current situation? What have you managed to find out?’

  Courtney sighed. Looking down at the table with a furrowed brow, she began. ‘Siegmar Tate is saying nothing. He refuses to acknowledge even taking the drug. Idiot. The tests indicate that he was using for around two days. If he hadn’t suffered a bad crash after missing a dose, I doubt we’d have known what he was doing until it was far too late.’

  ‘If he’s saying nothing,’ Leland Harlow said, ‘I assume there’s no way of knowing why he started.’

  ‘Not for sure, but we can make some assumptions, given the timing. On Saturday afternoon, he suffered a humiliating defeat in a MagiTag game. He’s expressed a desire to go forward to the war games in the summer and it’s
likely that this defeat pushed him to try to increase his power and talent.’

  ‘Ah, yes. I heard about that from Naomi Himura.’ Leland looked amused. Courtney did not.

  ‘Nava Ward thrashed a group of club members in a game of Fox and Hounds which Siegmar organised. Siegmar accused her of cheating–’

  ‘And Naomi shot him down,’ Leland said before Mitsuko could respond. ‘According to Naomi, Siegmar barely got away with his club membership intact. Whatever Siegmar wanted, he wouldn’t have been selected for the war games. Frankly, this business with the drug just confirms Naomi’s belief that Siegmar was willing to do more or less anything to win.’

  ‘Siegmar hasn’t been told that, has he? His defeat by Nava Ward–’

  ‘Captain,’ Mitsuko said, ‘what is this vendetta you seem to have against Nava Ward?’

  ‘I don’t have…’ Courtney trailed off under Mitsuko’s gaze.

  ‘Is it because she refused a position on the SSF? Is it because she’s support stream and capable of taking down more or less anyone on the combat stream?’

  ‘No!’ After the sharp rebuttal, Courtney dropped back into her seat, shoulder’s slouched. She still looked annoyed though. ‘It’s not a vendetta. She just seems to be there whenever anything bad happens. She admits that she’s basically a walking murder case waiting to happen. That’s the reason she gave for refusing the SSF position.’

  ‘That’s just stupid.’ Pretty much everyone turned at the sound of Melissa’s voice. Generally, they heard it answering questions about scheduling and agendas and such. She hardly ever spoke up during meetings. It was like having an animated calendar application in the secretary’s chair. ‘Nava just wants to learn. So long as no one tries to kill her, she won’t hurt them. Siegmar Tate called her a cheat, in front of witnesses. If he’d said that to any of you, you’d have been in a duelling arena before sunset. She only killed Devin Girard because he tried to kill her.’ Melissa leaned forward to look down the table at Courtney. ‘I’m shy, I faint at the sight of blood, and I’m a bit of a coward. I was Nava’s second in that duel and I saw what she did to Devin. Do you really think I’d still be friends with her if I thought she was dangerous?’ She sat back in her seat, shrinking again. Her cheeks were flaming red. ‘Get to know her before you throw around allegations like that,’ she added in a mumble.

  Silence.

  ‘We searched Siegmar’s apartment,’ Courtney said after what seemed like a couple of decades. ‘He hid his stash under his mattress.’ There were a couple of snorts of derision at that. ‘One worrying thing: Crystal Mana is expensive. The street price is around two hundred and fifty dollars per dose. We found what was left of three thirty-dose packs. That should have cost him almost three months of his allowance and his finances are not looking that depleted.’

  ‘You’re suggesting someone is supplying Crystal Mana in the school for cheap?’ Darius Miller said.

  ‘We found a large cash transfer made via an anonymising escrow system, but that was for eighteen hundred dollars. That was set up on Sunday night. I can’t prove that was for the Crystal Mana, but it’s the only thing that comes close and it would mean someone was selling the stuff for less than a tenth of its street price.’

  ‘Why would anyone do that?!’

  ‘I have no idea. When I find out who’s doing it, I’ll be sure to ask.’

  235/3/31.

  The MagiTag Club was indoors today, principally because the spring weather had decided to dump a considerable amount of water on the campus. It was something of a pain getting to the practical building where the combat simulators were housed, but even people with effectively zero talent for sorcery could manage an Umbrella cantrip. Courtney and Kyle were – mostly anyway – dry when they walked into the operations room to check on things.

  Naomi Himura spotted them immediately and walked to the door to meet them. And he clearly suspected an ulterior motive. ‘What brings the captain of the SSF and one of her trusted officers to my humble club, Courtney?’

  ‘And a warm hello to you too, Naomi,’ Courtney replied.

  ‘Huh. Welcome to the MagiTag Club. You too, Kyle.’

  ‘Thanks,’ Kyle said. ‘I haven’t been for a couple of years.’

  Naomi nodded. ‘I know. The same is true of your boss. But this isn’t a nostalgic visit, is it? This is about Siegmar Tate.’

  ‘Yes and no,’ Courtney replied. ‘All the evidence we have says that he started using after your last meeting, so you wouldn’t have seen any signs of it.’

  ‘I’ve seen no signs of sudden improvements in any of the members.’ Naomi paused briefly. ‘But that means nothing. People who use Crystal Mana are generally in it for the long haul. Sustained use is not a guarantee of increased power, but most people will see some improvement. Using it to enhance control is something that’s usually kept for when it’s needed.’

  ‘You… have a point. It’s possible that Siegmar got his drugs from someone outside the club but checking things out here is really the only lead we have currently. I’d like to interview some of your members. Especially the ones closest to Siegmar.’

  Naomi gave a slight sigh. ‘It’s not like I can stop you. Thank you for asking.’

  Courtney gave a crooked sort of smile. ‘I may have the powers of a cop while on campus, Naomi, but even the ASF’s policing officers are polite until they lock on the cuffs.’

  235/3/32.

  There was still cloud in the sky, but the rain had let up during the night. Nava did not consider it perfect weather for flying, but it was good enough. Hovering above the field where the club did its practice, she waited for Melissa to return to the sky and watched a group of six flyers conduct what seemed like a series of aerobatic manoeuvres below her. Somehow, she doubted that they were just flying for the fun of it. There was too much stopping and restarting the same sequence.

  ‘Welcome back,’ Nava said as Melissa rose up to meet her. ‘What are that lot up to?’

  Melissa looked in the direction Nava was pointing. ‘Oh, that’s the novice freestyle aerobatics team. Or, that’s the group who want to be the team.’

  ‘You don’t want to do something like that?’

  Melissa giggled. ‘Me? Can you imagine me entering a competition like that? I’d freeze and fall out of the air ten seconds in. That’s assuming I could get myself together enough to take off. I also don’t think I’m quite good enough, though…’

  ‘Though?’

  ‘Well, two of them were really struggling before the holiday. There’s a big competition coming up the week of the next break and, frankly, I didn’t think they were going to be ready. They’ve come on leaps and bounds in the last couple of… Nava? Why are you looking like that?’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Well… Okay, so your expression hasn’t actually changed, but it’s like you’re putting out negative energy all of a sudden.’

  ‘Sudden improvement in talent,’ Nava said, her tone flat.

  ‘Yeah, like I said. The holiday must’ve really done them some– Oh! No! You can’t think–’

  ‘I think you can point out which of them has shown this sudden improvement and we’ll keep an eye on them. It’s late. They won’t take more of it today. Next Sunday, we’re going to see what happens.’

  235/3/33.

  Courtney put her thumb to the sensor pad on her ketcom and then waved the device over a lock. Presented with an override code which SSF officers had available for just this kind of purpose, the lock instructed the door beside it to open and Courtney stepped into one of the many capsule apartments on campus.

  This particular one belonged to Brynn Hermanson Bishop, a third year on the support stream. No one had seen her the day before and she had not turned up for lessons today. Her homeroom teacher had reported her missing at the end of the day after receiving no notification that she was ill. Courtney could have done without having to deal with a missing student just now, but it was part of the SSF’s job to handle cases like this
along with the school’s medical practitioners. Generally, the medical practitioners involved were psychologists, but Courtney had brought Tanzi Royce Sonkei, one of the school’s nurses, along this time, just in case.

  The smell which assaulted Courtney’s nose as the door opened told her that Tanzi was going to be useful for exactly one thing: officially determining that death had taken place. ‘Shit,’ Courtney said under her breath. Louder, she said, ‘I believe we have an unattended death. Everyone wait a second before we go in.’ She activated the recording function on her ketcom and then took one step into the apartment, scanning her device around to take in the scene.

  Brynn Hermanson was lying on the floor beside her dining table. She looked like she had just dropped there. Possibly, she had fallen off the bench seat. The smell of decomposing meat in the air – which the air-conditioning system was desperately trying to remove from the sound of the fans – suggested that checking for signs of life was largely academic, but there was little visible indication of decay. The capsule apartments were basically hermetically sealed once the door was shut. Insects – what few of them there were on Shinden – rarely got to a corpse in a building like this, so it was all down to the microbes already in Brynn’s body to get decomposition going.

  Courtney had dealt with death on more than one occasion at the school. Mostly, however, those deaths were in an arena and the body was gone before it could think about decaying. She had attended only a couple of unattended deaths and they were all bad. Every last one of them had been ugly and most had been unnecessary. From the relaxed look of the body, Courtney immediately estimated time of death as more than thirty-six hours ago. She had died on Saturday night, alone.

  ‘Tanzi Royce,’ Courtney said. ‘I’d appreciate it if you could confirm that she’s dead for the record. Uh, could I borrow a pair of those gloves too?’

  Tanzi was pulling on a pair of thin latex gloves. She held out the box for Courtney. The box had come from a little cart Tanzi had brought along with her, though most of what was in the cart was designed for helping living people and it was going to be mostly useless. ‘I could do that from here,’ the nurse said, ‘but I suppose we have to be official about it.’