by Skyler Grant
The room they found themselves in was almost familiar. A sitting room with comfortable furniture, and bottles of alcohol and glasses on the tables.
A wooden door was the only exit and it was engraved with runes. They swam before Alex's vision when he looked at them.
Magical Script
Translating
Tower of Kationa Vess
Makes yourself comfortable
Your arrival has been announced
Runes
Aal Den Vil Kar
Defensive Barrier
A defensive barrier spell is meant to protect a mage or their property without doing harm. It is capable of repelling considerable damage unless the counter runes are known.
Alex almost found it amusing that the biggest use he was getting out of an upgrade was one he hadn't actually bought himself. Magic translation was coming in incredibly handy. Mages seemed to make everything more difficult than it needed to be.
"This doesn't look like a lab," Ryn said.
Jess plopped down on a chaise and opened a bottle.
"No, it doesn't, this is her tower, but we're sealed away. Kationa must have changed things after she fled and redirected the spell here," Alex said, as he tried to open the door.
Blue light flared. It didn't harm him and the door wouldn’t budge. He was being kept out.
"We're secured behind magical wards. Are you finding any secret doors?" Alex asked Ryn, who was searching about.
"You're hopeful, and no," Ryn said. "Back to the keep then?"
It seemed best. Alex could try reaching back out to Malia and perhaps she'd have some way past the wards. The House of Towers must have some interest in one of its own having gone bad. The room was awfully small to be setting off an anti-magic bomb—if that would even dispel the door’s enchantment.
Alex tapped the stone in his hand three times and nothing happened. Another three presses, still nothing.
"The teleport isn't taking us back," Alex said.
"We're trapped? Smart, if that was Kationa's plan," Ryn said.
"We have bombs. We can try to blast our way out."
Ryn rolled her eyes. "Not everything calls for an explosion, Alex. Hand me one of the bombs. Do you know which runes are controlling the spell?"
Aal Den Vil Kar, Alex thought as he scanned the doorway. There were more runes than just those four. The others would be for the opening sequence but those four were clearly marked in his analysis sight.
"I know them," Alex said.
Ryn took out her dagger, carefully placing the tip in a seam of the clay pot before slamming her palm into the hilt. The pot cracked and a steam of grey metallic flakes spilled out.
"Don't blow us all up," Alex said.
"I know what I'm doing. Mages always think they're so smart with their magic, and you Glitch Hunters just want to stab or blow things up. You can do a lot with a gentler touch. Point out the runes," Ryn said.
Alex showed her.
Ryn took a bottle clear alcohol and took a sniff before pouring half onto the floor.
"Hey!" Jess said. “Don’t waste it.”
Ryn added in the metal flakes and swished them about, the fluid sparkling gray. Then going to the door and taking the bottle with her she dampened her finger, four times, one for each rune before tracing it.
Bolts of electricity followed in the wake of Ryn's finger, sparking violently and causing her to twitch several times.
"That looks like it hurts," Alex said.
"No pain, no gain," Ryn said, and handed him the bottle. "We probably want to hold onto that in case she has any other tricks."
Ryn tried the door. There was no blue flare of light this time although it rattled. Locked from the other side.
"Kationa is smarter than most mages. Give me a few minutes and I'll get us through this," Ryn said.
Alex tucked the bottle away in his pack and took a swig from Jess’s wine. Say what you would about Kationa, she had good taste in booze.
Ryn had a set of tools out and was in the process of removing the door handle.
"Do you actually need to eat or drink?" Alex asked Jess.
"Nah. Well I mean, not here. I do back home. The rules are different here with the whole immortality thing," Jess said.
"If the whole consuming strange and potentially lethal substances thing hadn't work, I was prepared to try to use your wishing powers to get better."
"I figured. I was ready to punch you in the throat if you tried. I've told you before, they're never a good idea," Jess said, unusually serious.
Ryn made a sound of satisfaction and the handle fell from the door. She pushed it open to reveal a hallway.
Jess rose to her feet and stretched. "Yeah, I know. Immortal leads the way and gets incinerated by magical traps. On it."
With Jess taking point they moved into the hallway. Kationa's tower was warmer than Renauld's, and the walls were filled with paintings of landscapes. Colored rugs decorated the floors. It was less fatal too, Jess made it to the next room without setting off a single trap.
It was a bedchamber, a large plush bed occupying the center. There were enough mirrors to seem excessive.
"Her room?" Jess asked.
"One way to find out," Ryn said, going to a wardrobe and opening it. There was an assortment of gowns that seemed Kationa's style, along with outfits considerably skimpier.
Jess squealed softly and started to go through the clothes as well.
"Kationa might be an evil mastermind, but she likes to put on a show," Ryn said.
It appeared that way. A further search of the room revealed only things such as collections of scented oils and toys that spoke a great deal of her bedtime hobbies, but didn't give any hint of evil plans.
"As fascinating as this all is I don't think any of this is relevant. Unless you're finding anything useful, Ryn?" Alex asked.
"Nothing here. Lots of people have secret compartments for their more exotic sexual appetites. I guess since nobody but her should be here they’re out in the open," Ryn said.
"This is exotic for humans? I had a trapeze in my room back home," Jess said.
"Moving on from that thought quickly before I dwell on things I really shouldn't, let’s keep going," Alex said.
Jess led the way once more and the next room they came to was a laboratory. It was smaller than the one back at the keep, and cleaner. It appeared Kationa did most of her work there.
"Split up and search," Alex said.
"Isn't it strange that we haven't found her yet?" Ryn asked.
Alex had been thinking the same. This was her space, and people didn't tend to abandon their spaces.
There were numerous bookshelves. One looked to mostly contain hand-made binders and Alex went to have a look. Records—ones that went beyond recent history, missing from the keep.
Alex pulled them aside and sat down to go through them properly. Of particular interest were the last days with Baron Marcus LaFele. If there had been some sort of conspiracy that Kationa had been involved in, and if she was working with Renauld on his research, those records should be here.
The records were almost mundane. Notes on the great trade houses of the city and the constant give and take to maintain balance between them.
There was talk of crime in the city and the effort to keep it under control, largely through the efforts of House Windicott which was putting a quasi-official stamp on the black market.
There were frequent mentions of Sabrina, including concern over the baron's daughter being often sickly, and pleasure over how bright and able she was at her studies.
There was nothing here, these records matched what Kationa had told him. In turbulent times she had done her best to urge the baron to keeping a stable hand on Falkirk and not get involved in any of the troubles of the neighboring kingdoms.
There was no reason to believe these notes false. Much like the items in the bedroom they were never meant to be seen by anyone.
Of course, just because Kation
a had been innocent in the past didn't mean she was innocent now. Her Lord had been murdered, people she had looked after had died—there were a lot of things that could have driven her to seek power no matter the cost.
A bookcase swung to the side after Ryn triggered a release.
"What is it with bookcases?" Alex asked.
"Smart people love to hide things behind them. Books hold secrets, so they put their secrets behind their books," Ryn said.
There wasn't much on the shelf apart from a small box Ryn was working to open.
"Does that hold true with other people?" Alex asked.
"Oh yeah. If they're really self-confident and full of themselves, they'll hide their things behind portraits of themselves. People that feel their spouses inspire them hide things behind paintings of them," Ryn said.
Ryn popped open the lid and revealed the contents. A rack of crystals glowing with power. Alex had seen their like before, Kationa used them to recharge her energy. There were also bars of metal, Vauxite as Alex recalled, taken from Renauld's tower.
This presented a problem. Alex was prepared to accept that Kationa might leave this tower behind, if nothing here was valuable to her. These crystals and the metal were precious and personal.
Something was wrong.
36
“Always make a member of the House of Carnage feel welcome and then make sure they leave your lands quickly.” Lessons for the Nobility
Alex needed someone he could talk things over with and Ryn and Jess were safe, trustworthy. Neither of them had been in Falkirk when he'd been given his quest and thus could be ruled out of being involved in it. Alex liked and trusted both Sabrina and Cassandra, but the same couldn't be said for either of them.
They returned to Kationa’s sitting room where they could at least have drinks while they talked.
"You're looking troubled by what we found," Ryn said, swigging from a bottle.
"I expected we were wandering into a fight and we didn't get one. I don't think she'd have left the crystals behind willingly," Alex said.
"People will risk their lives to go back for stuff a lot less useful. You see it all the time," Ryn said.
"I've been saying all along I liked her," Jess said, as she stretched out on a couch and let her outfit flicker between the various items she'd found in Kationa's closet.
Alex focused his attention on Ryn, it was less distracting.
"Which leads me to a problem. If she is the big bad villain we're looking for then everything is all neatly tied up and it’s just a matter of finding her and putting a sword in her. If she isn't, who is?" Alex asked.
"Your little map marked the keep. If it isn't Kationa then maybe it’s Sabrina?" Jess asked.
"Cassandra provided the map and that estimate. We can't take it for granted that it’s correct," Alex said.
"You keep thinking that it’s a person too. Are you sure of that?" Ryn asked.
Alex considered this. While it was possible for a vortex of energy to occur without any sort of human involvement, that just didn't fit the evidence. The Coldflames were intentional, an intelligent mind and a mage putting the spell together.
"I am, and they have to be a mage. Have you ever seen Cassandra do any magic?" Alex asked.
Ryn shook her head. "Never, and she is an expert with the sword. Mages usually don't practice swordplay because they don't need it. Of course, she has the money and the smarts, so she could have learned, and it isn't beyond her to keep a secret advantage in her back pocket."
"I haven't seen Sabrina do any magic," Alex said.
"What applies for Cass applies to her too, though. Resources and brains, and Sabrina had Kationa to teach her if she wanted," Ryn said.
Kationa had never said anything about teaching Sabrina. However, she might not have considered it relevant.
"The baroness would have had the easiest time making Kationa disappear," Alex said.
"You've seen how fast Cass can get thing done. Money opens doors and I'm sure she has agents in the keep," Ryn said.
"You're working awfully hard to make a case against her. I thought Cass was your friend?" Alex asked.
"Sabrina is your lover. It isn't stopping you," Jess said.
"If you're dealing with a secret mage it could be anyone. One of Cass's agents, one of the baroness's maids. They don't have to be one of the people in charge to be dangerous," Ryn said.
"Back home, if you're looking for who is scheming, you don't just look at who is capable but who has cause," Jess said.
"I have cause. Anyone who lost people to the Youlash king ten years ago has reason to want power and seek out vengeance," Ryn said.
Ryn was right. A significant portion of the city had motive. This wasn't helping, it was a wonderful idea to try to figure out from logic alone who was to blame, but the pieces weren't coming together.
"We need to find Kationa. A lot of our answers would be found right there," Alex said.
"She's a Glitch and you're a Glitch Hunter. Can't you do something?" Jess asked.
It was a fair question. Alex could hear dissonance, he was getting better at hearing at a distance and getting some sense of where an enemy might be, and his bracer opened up new possibilities for tracking it. Perhaps one day he'd be able to track something at range but he wasn't that good, not yet.
"If I got close, perhaps. We're not close, I don't hear any trace of her in this tower."
"Do you have any way of tracking who made the Coldflames?" Ryn asked.
That was an uncomfortable question for Alex. He remembered how good it had felt to shut down the flame. That flow of life-energy transformed into quintessence into his body and that sense of familiarity.
"Do Djinn suffer corruption?" Alex asked Jess.
Jess shook her head. "We're eternal and kind of immutable, which is why we're so loud to you. Our patterns are really strong and no matter what you throw at us you aren't going to change us. Not even corruption."
"I guess that isn't the same for us," Alex said.
"You are kind of like vampires. I mean not just the brooding sexiness, but your patterns are very similar. You're a little bit dead and you get your power from killing. When you're old and ancient your patterns are super-strong. When you're young and slurping away at everything around you, the patterns are weak," Jess said.
Alex made a note that he really shouldn't dismiss Jess like he did sometimes. She might be essentially a tourist on permanent vacation. That didn't mean she wasn't intelligent and well-informed in a way that few others were.
"Putting out the lighthouse Coldflame corrupted me. A little bit of our culprit seeped into me. It was familiar, I know the person behind events here, but it wasn't enough for me to recognize them," Alex said.
"So, if you put out the other Coldflames you might be able to say for sure?" Ryn said.
"I might."
"I can't wait to see what happens," Jess said.
"Ryn, I know you're going to want to watch my back, but I'm going to want you to watch Cass," Alex said.
Ryn looked at him over her bottle and said, "You wish, last time I let you out of my sight a drake ripped out your insides. This time we're sticking together and kicking ass."
"So you're going to ask me to watch Sabrina, but I'm tired of the keep," Jess said with unusual conviction.
"Fine," Alex said.
"This might all be moot, of course. We still don't have a way out of this damned tower. We might still be getting drunk and watching Jess try on Kationa's outfits while Falkirk burns," Ryn said.
"There was a communicator in the lab. I was thinking we'd call Malia and ask her for a ride," Alex said.
"I already tried them out. I looked good," Jess said, bounding to her feet and rushing from the room.
"Guess she's already bored here," Ryn said, getting to her feet as well. "We better follow her before she starts calling House of Towers members at random."
Jess was waiting for them when they got back to the lab, tapping a cryst
al as soon as they arrived.
There was an answer from Malia almost at once, the crystal glowing. "Kat, you're back. I was worried, that damned-fool Glitch Hunter you were working said you'd gone missing."
A great start to things.
"This is the fool Glitch Hunter. We came looking for Kationa in her tower and we’re trapped," Alex said.
"You're calling from her lab crystal? You got out of her arrival chamber somehow?" Malia asked.
"Clearly. Can you get us out?"
"I'm coming through," Malia said.
There was no fissure of light this time. It was a few minutes until Malia arrived on foot from the hallway. Instead of the fine gown she wore riding leathers.
"Trespassing in the tower of a House of Towers member is not appreciated. Glaive bracer, we're irritated," Malia said.
Alex's bracer flashed blue in acknowledgment.
"Official ire of my House aside did you find anything?" Malia asked.
Ryn jerked her head towards the hidden compartment behind the bookcase and Malia went to have a look.
"If she were running away, she wouldn't have left her charge crystals behind," Malia said.
"We figured. Do you have means to track her?" Alex asked.
"We do, and we’re trying, but we aren't having success. That means strong quintessence in her vicinity. I don't suppose you've slept with her?" Malia asked.
"Flirted once," Alex said.
"Not enough, it might have helped to amplify the signal."
"Noted, if we ever work together on a more than temporary basis. Thank you for the help with the Coldflame. I shut one down and we located the others," Alex said.
"Basic competence at your duties as a Glitch Hunter? You've managed to excel by impressively low expectations. Back to the arrival room, the rest of this tower is warded against teleportation," Malia said, turning towards the doorway.
"What is the Black Tower by the way? I know that the Grey Tower focuses on politics," Alex said, as they followed Malia.