Elemental Disturbance

by Voss Foster

  He stepped through. And okay, Gutt was scared. Honestly, after hearing that, description he gave, I wasn't exactly calm and groovy with everything that was going on. But he wasn't a frozen mess, babbling about shapeshifters. He was at least acting like a proper OPA agent, and a proper seven foot blue troll, again. Which at this point was all I could reasonably expect.

  We had to track down some legendary, formerly believed to be fictional preets and stop them from trafficking elemental children as weapons for reasons we didn't actually understand. A year ago, that would have sounded like sheer insanity.

  But now that I worked OPA? It was just Thursday. Or Friday. I'd have to check my calendar when I passed through the portal.

  Chapter Ten

  It was a somber meeting back in the OPA offices. I guess it was never exactly good news when Swift called all of us away from what we were doing and shut the door to keep information inside.

  Between Gutt, Bancroft, and me, we got everyone filled in on the shapeshifter situation, which also wasn't really helping the mood. Having to rattle it all off, and well away from the influence of Fazil's smoke and magic, it sounded bad. Because it was bad.

  Swift shook his head. "If I can offer a touch of good news, Svenson is at least backing off a bit. Or so he claims."

  He looked pointedly at me and I nodded. "I haven't gotten a call or a text or an email from him."

  Swift continued. "That means we have a little more freedom to handle what needs handling. Lorath, the plant elemental boy we managed to save, was not some far-flung prince. He's third in line for the throne."

  "Wonderful." King tossed back half a bottle of water in one gulp. I guess that was better than even more coffee. "So they'll be planting themselves firmly inside our collective asses until we can figure this thing out."

  "Absolutely," said Swift. "And it's going to be a miserable time for everyone involved, but at least they'll be more willing to cooperate and give us information if they have any. They're currently at the University Medical Center with their son. Chances are good they'll be here to talk to us inside twenty-four hours." He pointed to King. "You and I are swapping out from here on in, Abigail. I want you in Burlington on the ground. I'll handle the diplomacy."

  "You are a wise motherfucker, Swift."

  He turned his attention back to me. "Now, if Svenson touches base with you, you keep being honest. If it comes down to it, tell him exactly how dangerous and delicate this whole thing is."

  "Scare the shit out of Eric Svenson? It would be my pleasure."

  "I figured." Swift sighed. "Casey, Lorath is still doing well?"

  "When I left him, he just needed basic treatment. He's in the children's ward, not ICU. Fluids, monitoring his progress, checking him for damage once he's rehydrated, that sort of thing."

  "That means we don't have very long before one of the queens of Tarwald arrives."

  "Okay, I don't want to stick my foot in my mouth when they show up." Which knowing myself as well as I did, that was a real possibility. "Queens of Tarwald. Are we talking a harem situation, or a matriarchy, or lesbians?"

  "Lesbians." Gutt sighed. "Their children are all adopted from bad situations. They've had to fight to get them recognized by the people and the other royal families, which means they will be more fiercely protective than the average parent."

  Swift nodded. "Now, you two got some names from Fazil. And Bancroft, you were talking to colleagues out and about. What can we get on these shapeshifters?"

  Bancroft cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "My contacts had some information, but as they're all working here in the Mundane, much of it is theoretical. A lot of lore and a lot of hearsay. But the last sighting that most everyone seems to agree on for an honest to God shapeshifter is about fifteen-hundred years ago, at the market in Nedelwald. Everyone swears up and down there was a giant rampaging through, and the next minute they were nowhere to be seen. The officials all said it was an earthquake that caused the damage, and of course very few people are alive that have first-hand memory of the event to dispute that claim now. But there are a sparse few records, and whispered legends passed down here and there, claiming all the same thing: a disappearing giant. And the only way that makes sense is with powerful illusory warding, or with a shapeshifter."

  Gutt seemed much calmer—or at least much more resigned to this as the new reality—than he had in Nedelwald, or in the hotel room. "We don't really know what we'll be getting from Fazil's contacts about these shapeshifters. It could be eyewitness sightings, it could be conspiracy theorists, and it could be the damn shapeshifters themselves. We'll have to go check them out to see what's going on."

  "Then do that." Swift nodded and cracked his neck side to side. "We're going to be stretched thinner than I like on this one. Thinner than any of us like. We should just be dealing with scholarly types, but there are no guarantees. Stay on your toes and make sure you get out alive. How many points of contact are we dealing with?"

  I counted through the sheaves of parchment. "Seven."

  "Okay. Gutt, you can go on your own. King, Bancroft, and Dash, you'll all need a preet agent to accompany you so you can get back and forth." He leveled his gaze on Gutt. "I want you in Al-Sekar, whoever's there."

  "There are actually two, Swift." He nodded. "I can take both of them if you like."

  "It makes the most sense. We don't want any unnecessary humans walking around Al-Sekar. You'll be safest." Then Swift moved on to me. "There was also a contact inside Tarwald, right?"

  I thumbed through the papers to make sure. "There is. A demon."

  "Royal family of Tarwald is well loved. You saved an heir to the throne, so you'll have some extra chips to play from the get-go. Use them." Swift sighed. "And Abigail…you're a good agent, but I want you somewhere the tensions aren't so high."

  "Sounds perfect to me. I don't need the heartburn that comes with stress."

  Gutt took the parchment from me and shuffled through them. "There are two Nedelwald scholars working out of the grand archives. They've always been very cooperative with us in the past."

  "All right. King there. Bancroft can hit up another confirmed scholarly sort, and then I'll be sending preet agents for anyone else who's left over." Gutt handed him the parchment slips that weren't spoken for and Swift nodded, rising from his chair. "I don’t know what kind of mess we're walking into or how big it is, but this is a mess. There's some kind of something secret going on with Al-Sekar, and Tarwald might be involved too, for all we know. We're going into a wild goose chase for something everyone was pretty sure didn't exist until yesterday. There's no handbook for this, so just make the FBI look good, make the OPA look good, and don't get yourselves killed unless it furthers the first two points. All clear? Any more information?"

  As a surprise, Kimmy's hand shot up. Which was bad. Kimmy had access to all the information. Her news wouldn't be good. "I finished my cross-reference on Al-Sekar. Aside from Lorath, every last one of these kids has ties to Al-Sekar. Their families came from Al-Sekar somewhere inside three generations."

  No one said anything for a long moment as her words hung heavy in the air. There was some connection to Al-Sekar, all right. Confirmed. Someone was killing and kidnapping Sekari children. And if Gutt and I were right, Queen Levat knew something about it and wasn't willing to talk.

  "Okay, change of plans," said Swift. "Gutt. I don't want you out there alone. We don't know if the Sekari are just being victimized, or if they're behind something, so I want you going with some backup. You know who's who around here as well as anyone. Unless they're doing something absolutely vital, take who you need." Swift's voice tightened, grew higher and more ragged around the edges as he continued. "Kimmy, sift through the connections you found and see where they overlap."

  "The program's already running, Swift. I know what I'm doing."

  "Good. Then in the meantime you can get looking for Tarwald, and cross-checking all of Bancroft's and Fazil's contacts through all the same p
arameters you've used for everyone else, then get me that list. If there's any overlap anywhere in this whole fucking web, I want it on my desk."

  "Sounds like fun." She rolled her eyes. "I almost miss the Jörmungandr case. At least it wasn't so fucking boring."

  She got up and headed out, and I guess that was our "Meeting's Over" bell. We all rose, but Swift still had one more thing to toss out. "When you all are done, I want you back in Burlington. Abigail, you've got the lead until the House of Tarwald is back in order and back at peace with itself."

  "Yippee-skippee." She got up, offering one more nod to Swift on her way trundling out the door.

  As for me…I was on a direct course for Tarwald.

  Once more, stepping through a portal into the Kingdoms, I didn't know at all what to expect, besides neons and oversaturation. Tarwald was something completely and utterly different.

  "I haven't been back here in a long time." Balaz, my new dwarven companion, whistled impressively as we stepped onto the wooden street. "I remembered the trees and the complete lack of sky, did not really remember how humid this sumbitch was."

  Yeah, humid was right. This was a swamp. The wooden road we walked on wasn't carved and polished tiles or slats or anything like that. At first glance, at least, it looked like thousands of mangrove roots all somehow trained out of their natural shape and into a twisting, mostly even cable of sturdy wood. Though, since this was a kingdom ruled by plant elementals, the answer was probably a lot more magical, and hence a lot simpler, than that.

  I followed slowly behind Balaz. He was a sturdy little man, about as broadly built as I was, but only a bit over three feet tall. Short even for a dwarf. He wore a similar cut of jacket to Gutt's. Apparently with all the government jobs in and around DC, there was one thriving little tailor who specialized in that sort of business attire for preets. He also carried nothing but a baton. No sidearm. But I guess if I had magic, I wouldn't be so attached to having the Glock on me at all times, either.

  "This sector of Tarwald is normally just for vacationers." He led me around a corner. "A regular resident is either very well off and respected, or works directly in the neighborhood."

  "Not exactly the sort of place I'd expect to find some sort of scholarly demon. Also, people really vacation here?"

  "Oh, absolutely. Tarwald is the Kingdom of Eternal Daylight." Balaz gestured to the sky. Or the lack thereof. "The canopy is so thick that no natural sunlight makes it through to ground level. So they worked some tricky enchantments across the whole kingdom to keep it constantly lit up like midmorning. Plus the food is excellent around here, and some interesting cultural landmarks. War memorials, that sort of thing."

  "War memorials?" Fazil had mentioned elemental children being used like this during wartime in the Kingdoms. "Don't suppose you could tell me more about the wars?"

  Balaz shook his head, going around yet another corner. "I came for the food, the atmosphere, and the brothels. The brothel game around here is also strong. Probably doesn't hurt the vacationer trend. Plenty of unbetrothed folks meet up here and end up falling in love, but plenty of them stay oblivious of each other and do the local economy some serious good while they have their fun." He stopped dead in front of a massive tree. 'This is the place."

  It took me a bewildered minute to actually tell what was going on. Honestly, I thought maybe Balaz was taking the opportunity to fuck with me. After all, this was a tree. But then I noticed the lights hanging from the gnarled branches, and the staircase hidden off around the side. Looking up, there was definitely a double door in this tree. It was just, oh, ten feet in the air.

  "Hope you don't mind me staying down here." Before I even answered, Balaz was raising the earth at the foot of the tree into a golden-brown throne and lowering himself into it. "Not much for brainiac types." He swirled his stubby fingers through the air and opened a portal. "That'll get you to the door."

  I stepped through, flashing past dull, non-glowing colors as I walked through the Mundane, then landed back on the balcony in front of the door in the tree. It was carved straight into the tree with the seams barely visible, if I squinted. Masterful craftsmanship, or just some very nifty magic. Either way, it certainly spoke to a certain grandeur. Not like Al-Sekar. Something a touch more subdued.

  I rapped on the door, then moved aside and made myself as small as I could. So of course they swung inward, making me just look kind of like an idiot when my demon contact stepped out. He was impossibly thin, to the point of looking almost unhealthy. The green of his skin was by far the brightest thing I could see, like a perfectly shiny Granny smith apple, but lined with swirling silver markings. I thought they were tattoos at first, but as I watched the light play over them, I realized it was actual silver wire embedded in his flesh. He had enormous dark eyes, like a deer, and his horns…well, where Zar's horns were slicked back almost like hair, his stood tall and proud, inlaid with the same silver that covered his body. It added a good foot of height to him, the tips just barely scratching the top of the door frame as he came out.

  Okay, I admit it: he was intimidating. Even if he looked like a strong wind might topple him, those horns and the sharp claws tipping his fingers looked a lot more like weapons than Zar's ever did. And while I hadn't had the pleasure of being gored by a demon horn myself, I'd tended to people who were during a string of murders in South Texas. Not cute wounds, that's for damn sure.

  I composed myself hopefully quickly. "Arengal?"

  He nodded slowly. "I wasn't expecting company. You're human. This must be important."

  I pulled out my ID and displayed it for him. "Agent Dashiel Rourke, Office of Preternatural Affairs. You can call me Dash."

  Arengal nodded. "Law enforcement in the Mundane."

  "Yes. We handle cases that deal with the people of the Hidden Kingdoms. I got your information from Fazil of Nedelwald."

  "Oh, Fazil. Well, you can certainly come in. Fazil is a long-time compatriot of mine." He stepped aside and gestured me through.

  Arengal's home was a lot like how I imagined Bancroft's place: full of books and otherwise sort of sparse. Nothing really dirty or out of place, but he'd gone with a minimum of decoration and a maximum of storage. Orbs of light bobbed along the ceiling, just like in Fazil's shop. The furniture was all attached to the floor or the walls, and all of it was made of the same branches and roots and vines as everything else.

  "Please sit and tell me what this business is that's brought you all the way into Tarwald." I took a chair, and he sat on the sofa opposite me, stretching out across the whole thing and curling his toes as he spoke. "I certainly hope you don't think I'm involved with anything unsavory. That would require leaving the house, and that is…it's not on my list of favorite things."

  I nodded and pulled out my notepad and pen. Trusty old notepad and pen, already scribbled through with information about this case and ready to receive more. "It's nothing like that. This is more of a…delicate research question. Fazil thought you would be someone who might be able to help."

  His toes stopped curling. "I see. What sort of case would bring you to an old hermetic scholar like me for research?"

  "There are elemental children being kidnapped, then unsealed."

  His jaw tightened, the silver wire flexing and gleaming. His dark eyes took on fire. Like, probably not actual fire, but it sure as hell looked like someone had struck candles to life behind his eyes. Just for a second before he calmed again. "That is a crime against nature. But why me? I am no elemental, you may have deduced, and I'm certainly not particularly gifted at any branch of magic that doesn't directly intersect with my studies."

  Well, I guess that was the time for it. Just lay it all out on the table and hope that he didn't have some irrational reaction like Gutt had. "We have a potential link to what's been happening, but it's not anything we're able to come up with information on." I was trying to ingratiate myself as much as I could. And technically, I was the one who saved Lorath from that house. In a round
about way. Sort of. I carried him out, at any rate. "If I can trust you not to spread word, since you say you don't really leave the house…one of the elementals was Lorath of Tarwald."

  He blinked a few times and finally sat up. "Prince Lorath? I had no idea."

  I nodded. "I got him out of the house, he's fine." That was the best mention I could possibly try to slip in, and I just had to hope it would temper any potentially negative reaction. "But one of the attackers was there. We think so, anyway. The people behind this. We're having difficulty tracking down any information on them. Not an elemental or an elf or really anything any of us are familiar with."

  He nodded and jumped up, sprightly and not at all as off-balance as he looked. "Then you have, in fact, come to the correct place, Dash." He gestured to the bookshelf along the far wall, packed to the brim with tomes and scrolls and even a tablet or two. "Lost civilizations and obscure, little-known cultures are my area of study."

  Well he certainly sounded like the kind of person I could try to turn to for this kind of information. I guess I just sort of had to launch into it headfirst and hope that it went well. "Well, I don't have much information at all to help out with, unfortunately. But according to Fazil, we're looking for shapeshifters."

  Arengal's eyes widened, jaw fell slightly slack and open to reveal fangs. "Shapeshifters?"

  "I know it's a little bit insane, outside the norm, all of that. But shapeshifters are really the best lead we have to go on at the moment." I nodded and clicked my pen to show I was ready. Hopefully. It was entirely possible pen clicking would just annoy him and convince him to eat me. Could a Glock stop a demon? Probably one of his build and stature.

  Arengal blinked a few times, then sighed. A huffy sigh, but it wasn't a rampant attack against my person, so not a worst-case scenario kind of thing. "Shapeshifters. Forgive me, it's just not anything I was expecting to hear. Most people think they're simply…myth. Legend. Fabrications from the time before the Kingdoms were so connected." He looked me up and down as though this was the first time he was actually seeing me. "I suppose you are human, though. Our myths wouldn't mean much of anything to you." His lips slowly curled into a tight smile, eyes sparking to life. "Yes, an open mind. Perfect. Yes."