by J. Stone
She nodded. “I suppose.”
“There’s got to be a way for you to figure it out. Some record kept that tells you what they accused him of.”
“I guess, but I can’t--” Wynonna stopped. She knew exactly where she could look for that information. “Spencer,” she said.
“Who’s that?”
“He works in the vespari tower. Keeps track of their history and information about monsters.”
“So, maybe he has something on your master?”
Wynonna smiled. “Maybe.” She stood up from the table of pastries and wine and moved toward her gun belt. “I’m going to go see him.”
“Good,” PJ replied, staying seated in his chair.
Wynonna slipped off the robe and started putting her normal clothes back on. “So, if you want to stay here, you’re welcome to it. They did say the room was mine for a week.”
PJ nodded. “Alright. Thanks.”
Strapping her gun belt over the top of her blue dress, she then plopped her hat on her head and situated her belongings. Grabbing one last tart from the tray, she leaned down and kissed PJ on his cheek.
“Thanks,” she told him. “I really appreciate it.”
He just nodded, while Wynonna took a bite out of the pastry and made her way to the door.
With the food still in her mouth, she mumbled, “See ou ater!”
***
Wynonna didn’t know what it would be like to go back to the Black Tea Tower now that they weren’t even considering her for a place in the vespari order. She didn’t much care though. The answers she needed were in there, and nothing was going to stop her from getting them. Besides, Spencer was on the first floor of the tower. It would be easy enough to avoid much attention down there. In her experience, most of the other vespari seemed to spend all their time on the upper levels. She wondered what they even did with their days. She’d hardly seen anyone else leaving to deal with the monsters they’d sworn to kill. Feeling her resentment grow, Wynonna pressed on and soon arrived at the tower’s steps.
Everything looked the same to her eyes, but it somehow seemed different. No longer did she see it as something to ascend to. They’d denied her, and that made this tower nothing more than a tall building with close-minded and shortsighted fools at the seat of power.
Ignoring everything else, Wynonna walked up those steps and pushed open the large door. On either side of her, the doors to the library and quartermaster remained shut, and the stairs ahead were unoccupied. No one would bother her as she sought out the answers she needed. Not up to seeing Autumn after all that had transpired with both the elders and now PJ, she moved to the library in search of Spencer.
Pushing the door open with a creak, Wynonna found the librarian seated at a table, looking over a book and holding a sandwich in one hand. He ignored the sound of her entrance entirely, as he took another bite of the sandwich and set it down on a plate beside the book. As he chomped on his meal, Wynonna approached him from behind. Still, he didn’t respond at all, even when she was standing directly behind him.
With his attention so devoted to this book in front of him, she decided to peak forward and look at what it was. Much to her surprise, Wynonna discovered that it was a tome talking about the writhing ancients. She must’ve made a sound to accompany her surprise, as Spencer finally noticed her and jerked around, while simultaneously covering the book’s pages with both arms.
“Oh, Wynonna,” he said with a tone of relief in his voice. “It’s just… Wait. What are you doing here? I thought you’d gone. I didn’t think I would see you again.”
Wynonna strolled around to the other side of the table and sat down there. After she’d situated herself, she replied, “I did leave, but… had to come back to deal with some loose ends.” She nodded toward the book. “What are you reading?”
Spencer didn’t move his hands. “Oh, this? It’s nothing special.”
“The writhing ancients aren’t special?” she asked, leaning back in the chair and folding her arms at her chest.
“Oh,” he replied, moving his hands out of the way. “You saw it.”
Wynonna nodded.
“Well, I wasn’t sure I should burden you with it during your confirmation, but since they denied you, I suppose it can’t hurt.”
She leaned forward. “What can’t hurt?”
“I think there’s something wrong in the vespari order. I think the cultists of the Dawning of Eternal Night have infiltrated our ranks.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Nothing concrete, but we’ve lost more vespari in the last few years than we have in decades. We’ve failed to bring in apprentices. There are more monsters than ever. Plus, they denied you. They wouldn’t even tell me why.”
“They said it was because of Cory.”
“Corrigan? Your master? What does he--?”
“Because of whatever crime he committed that got him banished to the desert.”
“What? That’s nonsense. They’ve never denied anyone for such a reason. What does he have to do with your skills?”
Wynonna shrugged. “I thought if I could clear his name, I might be able to change their mind. I was hoping you might know what he was accused of.”
“I don’t know,” Spencer told her, shaking his head. “That was before my time working for the order.”
“But someone had to have worked here before you, right?”
The librarian nodded. “Of course.”
“Then, Cory’s crime has to be written down here somewhere, yes?”
Spencer looked around hesitantly, finally shrugging. “I suppose, but I--”
“No excuses. I’m going to find out what Cory did.”
“I don’t understand though. How does this help? The elders have already made their ruling.”
“I don’t care about any of that,” Wynonna said, shaking her head. “If they change their mind, fine, but I came to Alexandria for Cory. The elders say he did something awful, and I know he didn’t. He wasn’t capable of it, so I’m going to find out what he did. I may not be able to carry on his name as a vespari, but I can at least clear it.”
Spencer frowned, hesitating.
“Look,” she continued. “I know that the vespari are corrupt. If you help me with this, I’ll help you expose them.”
“What do you know?”
“No,” Wynonna said. “I’ll tell you everything, but I need to know about Cory first.”
Spencer thought it over for a moment. “You really know something about the cultists?”
She nodded. “I do.”
“Alright,” the librarian told her, standing up from that table. “I’ll see what I can find, but once I do, you’re going to have to fill me in on what you know.”
Wynonna nodded, leaned forward, and grabbed the book he’d been reading, dragging it to her. “You got a deal.”
As Spencer started his search for details on Corrigan’s supposed crime, Wynonna turned her attention to the book about the writhing ancients. Beyond a little Corrigan had mentioned in his story about finding Levi’s killer and what he’d wrote in his journal, she didn’t know much. The story Rohan had told her brought a little more light to the cultists that worshipped them, but she still felt in the dark about the ancients themselves. With so much knowledge before her, however, it felt a waste to not learn what she could.
***
Wynonna started with the basics. She flipped the book back to the front in hopes of finding something that would explain what exactly a writhing ancient was. Unfortunately, what she found simply explained that no one quite knew what the creatures were or what motives they had in the world. Despite the dearth of knowledge on these ancients, there were still those who worshipped them.
The cultists of the Dawning of Eternal Night, she realized. People like the corrupt vespari elder, whoever he was. The text went on to describe deals that these individuals made with the ancients, which sometimes imbued these people with powers. This was what the cu
ltist in the elders’ chamber must have done or was still trying to do - some bargain, some bid for power. Wynonna found herself wondering what kind of deal this man had struck. Why would he wish to help a writhing ancient? What would an ancient want from him?
The book made no claims as to what motivated these mysterious creatures, however. It mentioned that these writhing ancients did not attempt to take mundane things from people. They did not wish to rule humanity or feed on it. What then did that leave? The book could not help her to answer such a question, it turned out, so she looked up, to see the librarian moving toward her.
“Here we go,” Spencer said.
“You find something?”
“Yes,” he told her, sitting down across from her with a loose collection of papers. “An abridged transcript taken of Corrigan’s trial.”
She leaned forward in her seat. “So, what does it say?”
The librarian skimmed down the page, his eyes zig zagging over the words. After a minute, he looked up at her. “He killed an elder.”
“What?”
Spencer nodded. “His own master, Kaelan Lockhart.” He took a sketch from the papers and slid it across the table to her.
Wynonna took the sketch of the man, staring into it, and leaned back in her chair. “Kaelan was an elder?”
“Briefly.”
She shook her head, tossing the paper back across the table. “Doesn’t matter. What proof did they have that Cory was the murderer?”
“Well, Kaelan was killed by a runed bullet, Corrigan and Kaelan had argued in the tower earlier that day, and Corrigan was seen entering Kaelan’s chamber the night he died.”
She shrugged. “That doesn’t seem like much.”
“No, you’re right,” Spencer replied with a nod. “There was no direct proof that he was the murderer. Just circumstantial evidence at best. That was why he was only banished rather than executed.”
“How generous of them,” she muttered, sinking deeper into her chair. “Not sure how I disprove any of that though.”
Spencer gave her a pitying glance but said nothing.
Sitting back up, Wynonna said, “So, maybe unrelated question. Kaelan was an elder, but how does one even become an elder?”
“Well, seniority plays a part. There is typically a discussion between existing elders regarding the candidates. Finally, there is a vote for any vespari who wishes to cast one. Oh, and an apprentice and a master cannot both be elders, not that that would be a problem currently.”
“What do you mean?”
Spencer shrugged one shoulder and tilted his head to the opposite side. “Well, Nicolae doesn’t have a living apprentice. He has, of course, taken some over the years, but they’ve all died on hunts. You’re all too aware of what happened to Ambrose’s apprentice, Rohan. And as for Albert, he does have an apprentice, but he’s much too young for any consideration. Doesn’t even have his tattoos yet.”
Wynonna thought for a moment. “Who were the elders when Cory was banished?”
The librarian squinted an eye and looked to the rafters as if searching for the answer there. “Well, Nicolae was already on it. Jacob Hildebrand, Ernest’s master, and then Kaelan.”
“But if Kaelan was dead, who became the third elder?”
“That would be Ambrose. Albert only took over later when Jacob died.”
“Then Ambrose came to power when Kaelan died? And Cory took the fall for it.”
“What? Are you suggesting Ambrose killed Kaelan to become an elder?”
Wynonna stared at him with a steady expression on her face.
“You really think Ambrose could’ve done that?” Spencer asked.
Wynonna took a deep breath. “I think it’s time to tell you what I know.” She leaned forward and spoke in a hushed tone. “First thing, when I went to find Rohan, he told me a story.”
“What? A story?”
“About the night he left the tower. About him shooting at the other vespari.”
Spencer now leaned forward on his elbows. “Yes? What did he tell you?”
Wynonna related the story to the librarian as Rohan had told it to her. She made certain to mention the elder’s narrow frame and the second man with grey, claw-like hands as she spoke. When she’d finished, Spencer sat there, just thinking for a moment.
Eventually, he found the words to reply. “If Rohan’s story is true, then it certainly validates my fears, but this is at a scale far larger than I ever imagined. Unfortunately, the tale only limits our possibilities to Ambrose and Albert.”
“But Ambrose came to power when another elder was murdered,” Wynonna said. “You don’t find that the least bit suspicious?”
“Suspicious maybe, but not incriminating.”
Wynonna knew he was right, as much as she’d decided that Ambrose was guilty. “Well,” she said, leaning to the side and digging out the sketch from her pocket. “There’s also this.”
She laid the sketch out on the table with her water-damaged face looking up at him.
“So, you found it?” Spencer asked, reaching for it. “Wait. Why do you have it at all?”
Licking her lips, she replied, “I found it when I went down to the sewers. It was in the nagas’ lair.”
“What? How did it get down there?”
Wynonna nodded to the sketch. “Flip it over.”
Spencer did as she said and read down through the note on the backside. “I don’t understand,” he eventually said, looking up from the paper. “Someone tried to kill you?”
She nodded. “I’d guess it’s the same one that Rohan saw with the cultist.”
“But this still doesn’t tell us who it is.”
“What about that name though? Does it mean anything to you?”
“Azus?” he asked, tapping his finger against the wood of the table. “Azus…”
When he didn’t explain, she asked, “So, does it mean something to you or not?”
“Maybe,” he replied, looking at her sideways. “I know I’ve heard it before, but I’m not sure….”
He stopped, and a hint of recognition flashed on his face.
“What?” she asked.
“It happened a long time ago. There were killings related to the Dawning of the Eternal Night. The one responsible was named Azus.”
“How long are we talking?”
Spencer shrugged. “At least forty years. Maybe more.”
“Well, what happened to this Azus?”
“He was killed. One of the vespari killed him.”
“Who?”
The librarian shook his head. “I don’t remember that, but this Azus can’t possibly be the same one. It must be a coincidence.”
“No such thing,” she replied. “It’s related. Azus’s killings, Kaelan’s murder, Cory’s banishment, Rohan’s story, and now my confirmation. It’s all related somehow. I just don’t know what that connection is.”
Spencer frowned. “If Rohan was still alive, we might be able to discuss this with him.”
“Oh, right. I guess I forgot to mention that.”
“What?”
“Rohan is still alive.”
“But, I thought--”
Wynonna nodded. “Yeah. I had to make the elders think I’d done it. After what he told me, I had to be careful. He gave me his gun and medallion to sell it, but he’s still around.”
“Can you get in touch with him?”
She nodded again. “We have a way. Done so once already.”
Spencer stood up walked over to a hook on the wall and grabbed his coat. “Then, let’s go.”
“Now?”
He slipped his arms through the coat’s sleeves. “We can’t just wait around if there is a cultist leading the vespari order. It’s our duty to act.”
“Alright,” she said, standing up. Starting toward the door, she stopped and asked, “I don’t suppose you have any blue paint, do you?”
***
Wynonna left a message to Rohan similar to the last one on the br
icks of Lover’s Alley and then waited with Spencer in Prosper Park. It was still early when they arrived there, so she didn’t expect him for a while yet. When the sun fell, however, she started to get more impatient and began fidgeting. She watched in every direction, but she saw nothing. Fearing something might’ve happened to him, she even started to pace back and forth as they waited.
“You said you’ve done this before?” Spencer asked her.
“Once,” she said, continuing her path.
“Did it take him this long to come then?”
Wynonna shook her head. “No, but it’s been a few days. Maybe he’s been lax about checking for messages.”
“Maybe,” Spencer muttered, clearly having something on his mind.
In her somewhat paranoid state, Wynonna caught this. “What is it?” she asked, walking to the bench and sitting down beside him, resuming her fidgeting with no more capacity for pacing.
“Well… no. It’s probably nothing.”
“Tell me,” she insisted.
“It’s just that… if one of the elders really is a cultist or even just working with them and Rohan saw them, they would want to be certain about his death, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose, but I told them he was dead.”
“But all you brought them was his gun and medallion. And, then they subsequently tried to have you killed by a pair of nagas. You don’t think it’s possible that they went looking for Rohan themselves?”
“You think he’s in danger?”
“I think we’re all in danger, but him most of all.”
Wynonna pushed her hands against the bench and stood once more. “Then, we have to find him. Make sure he’s okay.”
“How do you propose that? You said you don’t know where he’s staying.”
“I don’t know, but… there’s got to be something we can do.”
Spencer looked down to his lap, thinking. His head shot back up a moment later. “What about a lycanthrope?”
“What about them?” she asked.
“Have you ever killed one? Maybe you could track Rohan’s scent.”
“I have it my runes,” she said, avoiding answering the question directly. “But, you really think it’d be strong enough? It’s been days since he was here.”