Jess quickly noted Bleidd, lying on his back with Allie’s shirt a bloody lump against his side. Allie lay face down next to him, her back scraped and bleeding sluggishly. His heart in his throat he gently scooped her up, moving her away from the fallen elf, even as Brynneth knelt down to try to help him.
He carried her a short distance away, cradling her against his armor. Her face was white, however her breathing was steady and even. She was deeply unconscious but the only serious injury appeared to be a wound on her arm. He set her down and quickly bandaged the injury until Brynneth could attend to her, then picked her back up again loath to leave her on the cold ground. His whole body trembled slightly as he held her, thanking whatever God kept watching over her and saving her from the danger she threw herself headlong into.
Zarethyn appeared at his shoulder, sword drawn, the patrol officer just behind him. His brother took in the scene with a glance. “How is she?”
“She lives, but is unconscious. I believe she was shot as well, through the arm, but Brynneth would be the best judge of that. I have slowed the bleeding,” Jess said keeping his voice absolutely emotionless.
From several feet away Brynneth spoke up. “Bleidd will live, although I do not understand how he was not dead before we arrived. There is strange magic here, such as I have never seen. Somehow what should have been a mortal wound has been stabilized and partially healed. I have done more for him, but he should be taken to the clinic and monitored at the least to be certain he is truly stable.”
“Look at all the birds,” Mariniessa said quietly. Jess and the others looked up at her and she gestured with her chin. “I can see a dozen dead birds from where I am standing.”
Zarethyn glanced around the immediate area. “Natarien, Mariniessa, secure the scene and then circle outwards until you find where the shot originated from.”
As soon as the two moved to do as they had been told he knelt down by Bleidd, running his hands over the elf’s body searching for clues to the spell used. Brynneth came and crouched down next to Allie, unwrapping the bandage Jess had set in place.
The patrolman suddenly spoke up, his voice timid, “What’s going on here?”
It took Jess a moment to realize the man didn’t know what they had been saying because they had naturally spoken in their own language. Switching consciously to English he said, “Call detective Riordan and tell him that two people have been shot in the parking lot of Between the Worlds. One is an elf, and the Elven Guard are on the scene already.”
The cop bristled slightly at the blunt order, “Why detective Riordan?”
“He has been investigating the owner of this store being stalked and connected it to a previous murder case. He will want to know that she has been shot.”
The man’s eyes widened at that and he quickly got on his hand held radio. Jess didn’t particularly care, but if he had to deal with human police he preferred Riordan to a stranger. At least the detective knew how to act civilized, even in the midst of the current arguments over who should have control over the investigation.
Under Brynneth’s ministrations Allie stirred in his arms, her eyes flickering open. She looked dazed and very tired, but he felt immense relief to see her awake. “Jess?” she thought uncertainly to him and he rejoiced to hear her speak.
“Yes, my love, I am here. We are all here. You are safe,” he thought back soothingly.
She tensed in his arms, gasping, and Brynneth tried to calm her, “Allie, I am healing your arm, you need to stay still.”
In his mind she said, “Bleidd, is he?... Did he?... Is he okay?”
A small petty part of him was unhappy that she so quickly thought to ask about the other elf, but he replied as kindly as he could, “He is well my heart. Brynneth has helped him and we have called for an ambulance to take him to the clinic. They have some experience treating elves.”
“The clinic? Not the Outpost?” he could feel her confusion as she tried to work out the thought.
“No, we do not believe he would be happy to be taken there,” he thought back. And then he thought to himself And I would not want to have to see you coming to visit him there where you so rarely come and visit me.
After some hesitation he broached a subject that had worried him since they arrived, “Brynneth said that there is strange magic here, something he has never seen before. Do you know anything of this?”
She closed her eyes, curling in against him and earning a reproving look from Brynneth who had nearly finished healing her arm. “Allie?” Jess prompted her.
“I could not let him die,” she whispered in his mind.
“What did you do?” he asked, intrigued and concerned.
“Something terrible,” she whispered again. This close he could feel something of what she felt, and right now what he felt was shame and fear.
“Whatever it is my heart it will not change how I feel. It will not turn me from you,” he said reassuringly.
“I could not let him die Jess. Not for me, not like Syndra. I used another spell from the dark book, my grandmother’s grimoire. To heal him,” she said.
He wanted to ask what that meant but then he thought of the dead birds and the terrible nature of that book. It seemed obvious that at least part of what she’d done was connected to the birds dying. He felt some obligation to tell the others, and yet…would they understand her as he did? Or would they only judge the means she used? His expression hardened. No he would not tell the others. Let them wonder – he doubted they would think to suspect Allie had anything to do with the dead birds even if they did realize she must be the one who had healed Bleidd. More likely they would assume she had used some strange human spell to heal him, and that the birds were entirely separate.
“It is alright my love. You are safe now,” he thought back, resolved to protect her as far as he could.
“Jess,” she thought despondently. “I’m sorry to have dragged you into this.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” he thought to her. Brynneth finished his work and Jess shifted Allie up in his arms until her head rested on his chest just below his chin. He held her tightly, uncaring that he should be helping secure the scene. Let the Guard cast him out if they chose to.
Natarien emerged from the tall brush at the back of the lot, loping over to them quickly enough that Jess knew something had happened. Zarethyn spoke as soon as the younger Guard was close, “What have you found?”
“The shooter,” Natarien said, his eyes glinting in excitement, “dead.”
“Dead?” Zarethyn queried his head titling to one side in obvious interest.
“She is between two buildings across that lot. The ground is on a slight rise, giving her a good view of this area,” Natarien said.
“A strong tactical advantage,” Brynneth murmured.
“Indeed,” Natarien agreed before going on, “The rifle is there on the ground as is the woman; her hands smell of gunpowder. Her throat has been slit.”
Detective Riordan pulled up then with his partner. Both humans looked quite agitated as they took in the scene and Riordan began barking out orders to the other two. Riordan walked quickly over to Jess, peering intently at Allie. “How bad is she?”
“She will recover detective, she was only hit in the arm. The shooter, however is dead.” Jess said flatly.
Riordan looked pained, “You killed him?”
“Her,” Zarethyn, corrected. “No detective we found her dead after we arrived. The shooter’s body is between two abandoned buildings perhaps a quarter mile behind this parking lot. It appears that someone else got to her first and slit her throat.”
“What?” Smythe said frowning, already pulling out a small camera and starting to take pictures.
“She is human and we are holding the other scene for you, you can draw your own conclusions,” Zarethyn said. “We have done nothing to contaminate the scene, knowing you would feel it fell into your jurisdiction. However I might theorize that all of this is part of a larg
er web: the murders, the missing girl, the threats against Aliaine.”
Riordan looked suspicious, “It is our jurisdiction, this is our case. And if the shooter was part of some larger conspiracy then why kill her?”
“Perhaps she failed to do what she was tasked to do, or badly erred,” Brynneth guessed.
“Indeed,” Zarethyn agreed, “If she meant to hit Aliaine and shot Bleidd by accident, or perhaps if she was not supposed to hit anyone at all…”
“I thought two people were shot?” Smythe said, frowning.
“A single shot passed through Bleidd’s back and Aliaine’s arm,” Brynneth.
“That’s a damn good shot,” Smythe said, whistling.
“Or a very unlucky one, depending on what her intentions were when she pulled the trigger,” Zarethyn said.
“So what, she wasn’t alone when she shot and whoever she was with saw she’d screwed up and killed her as a punishment?” Riordan asked, shaking his head slightly. “You don’t think it’s just as likely she was jumped by someone else who may have been in the abandoned building?”
“I think it’s more likely that perhaps someone decided to cut their losses,” Zarethyn said, thoughtfully. “Either way, there is clearly more going on here than was apparent on the surface.”
Riordan shook his head more forcefully, “With all due respect captain, what I see here is the result of a stalker escalating to direct violence. I can’t explain how that stalker ended up dead, not yet, not without seeing the crime scene for myself, but I don’t see how any of this relates to anything else.”
“Aliaine is the key detective,” Zarethyn said calmly, “Always everything comes back to her. She discovered the murders, she found the missing girl, and now she has been attacked.”
“And again, while I appreciate all of that I don’t see any connection between those things. We have a copycat killer who put his own twist on things – even you can’t deny what he did was different from what was happening before. We have no evidence that he is part of any group or even knew the other killer. No social connections. No work connections. No sign they knew each other in any way. We know Ms. McCarthy has been stalked for a while and there’s evidence of it getting more violent as it went along. Honestly I’m not surprised that it ended with her being shot, I’m just relieved she wasn’t hurt badly and no one was killed.”
Zarethyn shook his head and Jess recognized the stubborn glint in his brother’s eye. He had already decided that Allie was correct in at least some of what she was saying, and having so decided he would not be dissuaded. “If that is so and the second killer had no connection to the first then how did he know exactly the ritual to perform?”
“I don’t know that he did,” Riordan said, just as stubbornly.
“I do detective,” Zarethyn snapped back. “The magic is the same. And it is imperative that they not be allowed to complete their work here, or both worlds will suffer for it.”
“They? Who’s they?”
“I do not know who they are, only that we are surely dealing with a group. And it will be infinitely harder to uncover their plots and defeat them because of that.”
“How can you be so sure it’s a group?” Riordan said, rubbing his forehead.
“Because only a coordinated group could accomplish so much even under our scrutiny and have so much success,” Zarethyn explained calmly.
Both men stared hard at each other. Finally Riordan said, “I just don’t think there’s enough evidence to support that, and I can’t go on feelings and theories. This is our case and as far as I’m concerned the copycat killer case is ours as well.”
“Even if it was Aliaine’s feelings and theories that have helped get all of us this far you will insist that there is no connection?” Zareythn asked, his voice icy.
For a moment Riordan wavered, before shaking his head. “Human courts don’t accept magical evidence except from certified experts. Ms. McCarthy isn’t one and the expert the police department uses says he isn’t familiar with this sort of energy. He’s not backing up what she’s saying.”
Zarethyn regarded the human with open disdain, “Then detective, I suggest you continue your investigation and we will proceed with our own.”
*****************************
Allie lay in Jess’s arms, listening to the conversation around her. She felt unbelievably tired. It had been a long time since she’d cast any major spells and she had forgotten what the after effects were like. This is why I don’t push myself to do spells at the limits of my abilities she thought to herself even when the spell itself is worth it the cost to me isn’t.
She felt things shifting and opened her eyes, realizing that Jess was standing up. Reflexively she threw her arms up around his neck, feeling a twinge of pain in her left arm. When she spoke she was surprised by how weak her voice sounded, “Where are we going?”
“Back to the Outpost,” Jess said, his voice gentle. Reassuring. She wanted nothing more than to relax and let him take control.
Turning outwards she saw the ambulance pulling in to pick up Bleidd. Brynneth was crouched down next to the dead wrens. The police were snapping pictures. She teared up at the chaos in a place that had always represented safety and security to her. She felt as if a part of her childhood had died today, far more then when she’d discovered her grandmother’s ties to the original murderous coven. She turned her face back into his chest.
“No,” she said, shaking her head, the movement rubbing her face against his armor.
“No?”
“No, not the Outpost. I want to go home,” she said.
“No Allie,” he said firmly, shaking his head.
“Yes,” she insisted, trying to struggle in his arms. That was a futile enterprise at best since he was stronger than she was even when she wasn’t too weak to hold her head up.
Zarethyn had walked over to see what the difficulty was and he reached out, resting his hand on her arm. It was a gesture of comfort but in her open empathic state she winced away from his emotions. It occurred to her suddenly that unless she could get a handle on her own abilities she was going to have some serious problems in elven society, where casual physical contact was an expected social norm. The Guard captain gave Jess an inquiring look.
“She is refusing to go to the Outpost,” Jess said, his voice and emotions making it plain he felt this was very foolish. Allie gritted her teeth at his tone, feeling like a child among adults.
Zarethyn looked at her, his eyes sharp. “Allie, we cannot allow you to stay here when your life is being so blatantly threatened. The only logical recourse is for you to go to the Outpost and seek sanctuary there.”
Allie knew that from his point of view – probably from everyone’s – this did indeed seem like the most logical thing to do. She was being directly attacked now and she needed to be kept somewhere safe. But everything in her screamed that it was the wrong thing to do.
“This is all synchronicity, right?” Allie said desperately. “I never used to really believe much in that but everything that’s happening, somehow it’s all connected and I’m connected to all of it. I don’t know why. But I know that this killer has to be stopped and I have to be here to do that. Here, not at the Outpost.”
“You would be safer at the Outpost,” Jess said, his voice flat and empty. She could feel his emotions like a whirlwind tugging at her, and more than anything she found herself wanting to give in and do what he was asking. But just as she knew that it was wrong to run away now, she knew that if she let him influence her into going against what she needed to do she would never return to her life. She would disappear into Fairy an inch at a time and more than her own life would end up being lost.
“I can’t stay at the Outpost forever, it’d be like prison. And even if I agreed to do that, what about the human killer here? Ten rituals have been done, three more and the cycle is complete and that cannot be allowed to happen.”
Zarethyn frowned, “No it cannot. Nor can we allow yo
u to be killed. As you have pointed out you are at the center of all of this. You are the only thing that has led us to success and to uncovering some of the truth here. If you are lost I fear all will be lost without you.”
Allie trembled at the mental image of herself being tucked away in the Outpost, brought out when they needed her, but otherwise kept safely locked away. Just like prison, except worse in a way because it would be done by people who justified it by saying she needed protection. “Please,” she said, trying not to sound like she was begging, “don’t do this. Everything that I’ve found so far has been accidental. I stumble across things, I don’t go seeking them out. Isn’t that synchronicity? I don’t even know the connections are there until I find one. How am I supposed to do anything else, find anything else, if you take me out of my life?”
That did give him pause. He contemplated the ambulance crew, loading Bleidd’s still unconscious body onto their stretcher. His eyes roamed the parking lot, over the different people trying to make sense of the chaos. And then back to her and his brother. Her nerves couldn’t take the delay, knowing that her future rested in whatever he was about to say, because the reality was she could do nothing about whatever he decided. If he said she was going to the Outpost that is what would happen, and there was nothing at all she could do about it, short of fleeing Ashwood and the immediate area of Queen Naesseryia’s realm entirely.
Finally, slowly, he spoke, “There may be some truth in what you say.”
Another agonizingly long contemplative silence, then, “I will not compel you to go where you do not wish to go. The offer remains open and at any time you may choose to seek sanctuary with us and you will have it.”
He locked eyes with Jess, who was furious, his anger radiating out like heat from a fire. Zarethyn’s voice when he spoke to his brother was calm, even though he was certainly aware of Jess’s reaction. “I will not compel Allie in anything, but if it suits her you may stay with her when you are not actively working. And of course I still expect her to help us in this investigation. I suspect we shall be in dire need of cultural translation assistance at every turn.”
Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 31