by Sam Ryan
“Wait?” Tara frowned, glancing around in disbelief. She propped her elbow on the table and pointed at Madilyn. “You’re a knight?”
“That’s right.” Madilyn nodded, crossing her arms her smug smile never fading.
Tara gave Sophia a questioning glance. Sophia nodded, signaling that it was true.
“So does that make you her squire or something?” Tara asked, pointing at Max.
“Airship pilot,” Max said. “Who currently doesn’t have an airship,” she added, a little embittered.
“Wow.” Tara leaned back in her chair, letting out a long breath, genu-inely impressed. “I guess times really do change. Eventually anyway. Well, I guess there was that kingdom that was ruled by women, but they didn’t exactly last long.” Tara absently stared up at the ceiling, scratching at her cheek.
“Why don’t we get to the matter that brought us all here,” Madilyn suggested.
“Food?” Max suggested.
“Have you learned anything about who might have killed your sister?” Madilyn asked, ignoring Max’s comment.
“Sister?” Tara quirked a smile.
“Yes.” Madilyn nodded. “Sophia said that you were foster sisters.” She looked over at Sophia her look asking if she was wrong.
“I guess you could say that.” Tara nodded. “But one does not normally sleep with their sisters now do they?” Tara placed a hand on Sophia’s knee and leaned in. Max’s eyes seemed to grow wide at the implication, her mouth hanging open.
“You are being very cute,” Sophia said, glaring at Tara, neither moving away nor moving towards her. “But can we be serious here?”
“I am being serious.” Tara grinned. She held it for a moment longer before drawing back and properly sitting in her chair once more, clasping her hands in front of her. “To answer the lady knight’s question. No, I have not learned anything. I have only been in Noxiss for a few days myself. I am trying to find an angle in getting my hands on the investigation reports. Trevelians love their filing systems, so there is bound to be something somewhere.”
Sophia frowned, giving Tara an inquisitive look. That was a lie and Sophia knew it. Tara had come to check out Stella’s room. Did that mean that she had found something and did not want Madilyn and Max to know? She would be sure to ask her about it later.
Tara did not seem to notice Sophia’s look, her attention focused on Madilyn.
“Sounds like a good place to start.” Madilyn nodded. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her brass pocket watch, checking the time. “It is getting late though and I think we are all in need of a good night’s rest after the voyage here.”
“And some food,” Max added. Her voice becoming more forceful. “Am I really the only one whose hungry?”
Sophia raised her hand giving it a slight wave, showing that she was hungry as well.
Clasping the watch closed, Madilyn shoved it back into her pocket. “What do you say to picking this up in the morning?”
“Sure.” Tara shrugged, not seeming to care one way or another. “Not like I am going to sneak on out of here and leave you two behind.”
***
“We’re sneaking out of here and leaving your two friends behind,” Tara stated, closing the door to their room behind her.
“No we’re not,” Sophia said flatly, standing next to the bed undoing the laces on her corset. She was too tired to put any more effort than the bare minimum into her protest.
They had found a restaurant and ate a large supper. After that, they had come back to the Cat and the Shovel to turn in for the rest of the night. Max and Madilyn in one room, Sophia and Tara in the other. Madilyn had not seemed happy with the arrangements but had agreed after Tara seductively offered to let Madilyn stay with her instead.
“Sophia, what are you even doing with those two?” Tara asked, pointing back at the door.
“How about you?’ Sophia turned to face Tara, her corset only half unlaced. “What was with you down there?”
“Whatever do you mean?” Tara played innocent, turning her body slightly away and raising her chin in the air.
“You were trying to make Madilyn jealous. Why?”
Tara turned her head slightly, her eyes narrow. “So you noticed that. Good for you.”
“You’re wasting your time anyway,” Sophia stated. “She doesn’t even like women in that way.”
“Neither did any of us, as I recall,” Tara pointed out. “But given enough time, people will always come around. And judging from her reaction, she has come quite far already. Even if she herself won’t admit it.”
Sophia frowned, staring at Tara not sure what she was implying.
“I thought you knew,” Tara said, genuinely shocked by Sophia’s reaction. “I figured that was why you were so insistent on bringing them along. But this isn’t time for that.” She brushed her comment away, taking a deep breath to refocus herself. “We are investigating someone who has killed an Immortal. They are just going to get themselves killed. All for your silly little game of romance. You need to start taking this seriously.”
“Hey!” Sophia snapped, turning to glare at Tara and jabbing an angry finger at her face. “Don’t you ever accuse me of something like that ever again. Even in jest.” Tara seemed surprised by her sudden outburst and took a step back her eyes wide. “Stella was like our sister. I may have lost people I that I’ve loved but her death is harder than any of those combined. So don’t you dare accuse me of not taking this seriously.”
Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I’m sorry,” she said in a soft voice. “I guess this is hard for the both of us. But like you said, Stella was family so it should be handled by family. We shouldn’t be dragging others into this.”
“I thought you didn’t sleep with family members?” Sophia teased, the anger seeping out of her.
“A very close family.” Tara shrugged with a slight chuckle. “Besides, you know that out of all the others, I have only ever been with you.”
“Eh?” Sophia dragged out the word as she looked at her out of the corner of her eye.
“What?” Tara shrugged, trying to hold a chuckle.
“I know you have at least slept with Jezebel,” Sophia stated. “She prac-tically yelled ‘first’ afterwards.”
“Jezebel was not my first,” Tara scoffed. “Nor I hers for that matter.”
“I think she was more referring to the fact that she was the first one of us to sleep with you,” Sophia stated.
“Ah,” Tara said with a quick nod in agreement.
“And I don’t know about the others, but I wouldn’t put it past you to have conquered all those particular mountains,” Sophia continued.
“You really think I’ve slept with Allora?” Tara snorted.
“You know.” Sophia placed her hands on her hips as she thought it over. “In some ways I would say that it was impossible. On the other hand, I think that makes it all the more likely. I have found that the more tightly wound people tend to have the most startling sex lives.”
“The real reason Elena has stuck around her for so long,” Tara sug-gesting with a knowing wag of her eyebrows.
“Maybe,” Sophia said, sharing a shrug and a look with Tara. “So why don’t you tell me what you really found out about Stella.”
Tara’s face soured a little as she put on a pouty face, disappointed that their time to shoot the breeze was over. “I managed to sneak into Stella’s room in the capital building.” As she spoke she spun the satchel over her shoulder around in front of her, opening the flap and rummaging inside. “And when I say sneak I mean security is going to be a lot higher after they find the bodies.”
Sophia let out a sigh. The likelihood of that being a joke was just as high as it being the total truth. With a triumphal cry, Tara pulled out a worn leather journal from her satchel. It was held closed by a simple lock that looked to have been pried open.
“I managed to find this tucked in an air vent in Stella’
s room,” Tara said, handing Sophia the book. “Everything else looked to have been thrown out and changed but guess they missed this.”
Sophia took the book, spinning it around in her hand then opened it up, flipping through the pages. “Oh joy, it’s written in Arcana,” Sophia groaned.
“And two other languages.” Tara nodded. “Luckily, my travels have kept me in good practice so it didn’t take long for me to read the good bits.”
“Any clues?” Sophia asked, skimming the pages searching for words that might pop out to her. She had not written or read in Ancient Arcana in centuries and she was more than a little out of practice. The two other languages looked to predate even that. How paranoid was Stella being? Did she know that someone was after her? If so, why had she not reached out to any of them?
“Not much.” Tara shook her head. “It really looks to be a kind of infor-mal diary. Like a way for her to keep track of certain events for later reference. She does make mention to a Legendary Relic a few times near the end. It would seem that Trevelia is secretly hiding the fact that they are under a bit of a coal shortage. So Stella thought to use the Relics as an alternate power source and had people digging in the old ruins hoping to find one.”
“Would explain how they would know where to look.” Sophia nodded. That was one mystery solved at least. Sophia had thought before it a tremendous stroke of luck for the Trevelians to not only to find a Legendary Relic, but also know what it was. And then after all of that to somehow figure out how to use it. But if Stella had been the one guiding them than she would have known all those things.
“No mention if she found one or not,” Tara commented, tapping her finger on the page that Sophia had it open to. “It ends abruptly over a year prior to her death and she is talking about magnets and something about water?” Tara shrugged not really understanding what any of it meant.
“Looks like she is talking about a way to create artificial Magelight,” Sophia stated, her eyes darting back and forth as she skimmed over the page. “I think she is talking about how to use water instead of coal.” Sophia strai-ned her neck as she translated the words in her head. “I’m not sure how that works but yes magnets are somehow involved. And damming up rivers.”
Sophia closed the book with a deep sigh. She used her free hand to rub her head, another headache starting set in from the strain of trying to read three dead languages.
“She does say that she thinks the most promising spot was in the ruins of Albion,” Tara said.
“Albion.” Sophia gave a nostalgic sigh. “Capital of the Arcana Empire. How long has it been since we were last there?”
“Eight hundred and some odd years,” Tara said. “I did find records of Stella traveling there a few months before her murder. I thought we could go there and follow her trail and try to piece together what happened right before her death.”
“Were you ever able to find out how she was killed?” Sophia asked, handing the journal back to Tara who took it and placed it back in her bag. “Officially, at least?”
Tara shook her head. “Apparently she was found one morning in her room dead at her desk. There was no sign of struggle. So either she knew her attacker or they completely got the jump on her.”
“Neither of those possibilities sound very appealing,” Sophia murmured, touching her chin in thought. “There is another possibility.”
“What’s that?” Tara cocked an eyebrow.
“It was slow acting,” Sophia said. “She might have been dosed with an Immortal killing poison and it took some time before actually killing her.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” Tara nodded chewing on her fingernail. “Meaning we should watch what we eat and drink from now on. If someone is out to get us and we don’t know who it is, then they could strike at any time.”
“Now that’s a new concept.” Sophia sighed, rubbing her head. “I’ve never had to worry about poisons once in my life.”
“I’ve never had to worry about dying in general,” Tara snorted. “So we going to head to Albion then? Or do you have another idea.”
“I don’t have any ideas,” Sophia admitted, shaking her head. “That’s the problem. This is all so new to me, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Then to the Ruins of Albion we go,” Tara said, pumping a fist into the air. “Was that a yes or a no on having a ship of your own?”
“No.” Sophia shook her head. “We had to abandoned it at the dock.”
“Well, I got here by booking passage on an airship,” Tara said. “We could do that again, though I am not sure how easy it would be to hire a pilot to take us there. The site is under military control, as far as I know.”
“What’s the nearest city?” Sophia asked.
Tara closed one eye, gawking up at the sky as she looked at the map in her mind. She twirled her finger in the air as if she was running it along the surface of something. When a person travels as much as Tara, they learn how to keep track of places in their heads. Sophia reckoned that there was not a corner of the known world that Tara had not been to at least once. And she had a knack for keeping track of things in her mind.
“Glanum,” Tara said, dropping her hand and looking at Sophia. “I’m sure we could get an airship to take us there if that’s what you’re thinking.”
Sophia winced at the idea. “I would rather not,” she said. “And not only because I am not very partial to flying. They are already looking for us and know we are looking into the Legendary Relics. I would think an airship to be the first place they would look.”
“So we hoof it?” Tara asked.
Sophia winced at that idea as well. She was not really in the mood to walk for however many days or weeks it would take to get there. “How about we take a train?” Sophia suggested. “We can still hide in the crowd and it will be far faster than going on horse.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Tara nodded. “And the other two? We really going to bring them along?” The look she gave Sophia was one of utter discontent.
“If we don’t then they’ll just follow us anyway,” Sophia stated. “Madilyn is far too stubborn to just let me disappear into the night. And then they could possibly get in our way down the line at the most incon-venient time.”
“Alright, I’ll grant you that much.” Tara nodded, though she still did not seem to like the idea of them tagging along. “And you really intend on keeping secret the fact that Stella was working for Trevelia?”
“No.” Sophia shook her head, coming to a horrible realization. “They will find out soon enough anyway, so it is better to hear it now. I’ll tell them before we depart in the morning. Hey, maybe you will get lucky and they will stab me and leave me for dead and then you don’t have to worry about them anymore.”
“Then I would have you all to myself.” Tara nodded, liking the idea. “Speaking of having you all to myself.” A smile started to creep across her face as she looked Sophia over. “Since we’re here. In this room. Until morning. With nothing to do.”
“Fine.” Sophia rolled her eyes not needing her to say anymore to know what she was wanting. Not that she truly minded but she had to sound a little reluctant. It made it less fun otherwise.
Turning away she started undoing her corset once again. Tara reached out from behind her and grabbed her wrist stopping her hands. Sophia turned her head to look back at Tara, intending to ask her what she was doing. She was met by Tara’s warms lips pressing into hers.
Sophia closed her eyes, letting herself melt into Tara’s embrace. Tara reached behind Sophia’s head, pulling out the clip that held her hair into a bun and let it fall down her back. Running her fingers through her soft hair she moved her hand down Sophia’s back and wrapped it around in front, her palm resting on her stomach. Her hand working its way down between Sophia’s legs.
“How long has it been?” Tara whispered, nipping Sophia’s earlobe.
“With you or in general?” Sophia asked, her breathings starting to become heavy as she felt t
he hand start to rub between her legs.
“In general.” Tara said, pressing her chest tight against Sophia’s back. Tara glided the tip of her nose down Sophia’s cheek and pushed the collar of her shirt of out of the way so she could kiss the soft skin at the nape of neck.
“I’ve lost count of the years,” Sophia stated.
“Then you are long overdue,” Tara whispered, her hot breath blowing on Sophia’s sensitive skin.
Sophia turned around so she was facing Tara. Wrapping her arms around her hips, Sophia pulled her closer as she leaned in and gave Tara another deep kiss. Their tongues dancing around inside each other’s mouths. Not breaking their kiss, Tara pushed Sophia back, slowly guiding her onto the bed.
CHAPTER 6
Max shifted uncomfortably in in the passenger cart of the train. She watched Madilyn and Sophia stare across at each other from their seats. The atmosphere in the train cart was tenuous, the only sound coming from the chugging of the train as it raced along the tracks. Their cabin was nice though. It would seem that Sophia had spared no expense when purchasing their tickets. Max had never actually ridden on a train before and to do so in such a luxurious cart was a real treat.
Sophia had just finished explaining to them Stella’s apparent affiliation with Trevelia’s government. Tara had chimed in every once in a while for clarification, but for the most part she had left it to Sophia.
All of it was a shock to Max. She had known that Sophia and even Tara were hiding something but it seemed to be far bigger than she had initially thought. Sophia vehemently denied any involvement with Trevelia and claimed to have not even known about her sister’s involvement until after meeting Tara in New Dentin. Her words seemed sincere and Tara backed up everything she said. For what that was worth.
Madilyn, to Max’s surprise, had not said a word the entire time. Instead she sat quietly, her legs crossed and her hands clasped on her knee as she carefully listened. She did not seem mad or even that surprised by what she heard. Instead, the cogs in her mind seemed to spin as she took in the infor-mation, resting her chin on her thumb, thinking it over.