Maksohm spelled the portal into being, which threw me back in time for a moment. Funny, I’d never stepped through a portal while knowing my destination and with the confidence I’d get there. The first two portals had summoned me to Rena. The third had landed us in Turransky. This might be the first portal that I had faith in.
I stepped through first, then Rena, with Maksohm close on our heels. I barely got my bearings—somewhere north of Kapanka—when another agent stepped up to greet us. In two minutes flat, we were portaled again, this time to the main street of Ehl, near the mountain pass where the barrier used to sit. It actually impressed me that the second agent had managed to send us that distance, as that’s not a short way, and doing it with multiple people had to strain her. She must be very good, or she’d exhausted herself for the day. Likely both. I barely had time to ponder it as I heard Chi holler, “There you are! About sarding time!”
Turning, I spotted him. Well, I spotted Vee first, standing in the doorway of the MISD satellite office, Chi right at her side. Standing at just over seven feet tall, Vee was always the first one I spied in the crowd. Seton, her sentient staff-familiar, lay at an angle in her arms, propped up against one shoulder. She had her dark brown hair in a workman like plait over the other shoulder, golden brown eyes narrowed, jaw flexing in an angry way. Her husband didn’t look any happier. Standing only to her collarbone, Chi had both of his very muscular arms crossed over his chest, his blond hair sticking up at odd angles like he’d been running his hands through it. Both of them were in uniform, though, so they’d obviously taken a minute to dive into it. Making a beeline for them, I demanded, “What did you discover?”
“Dastards have it alright,” Chi growled, anger flushed in his cheeks, blue eyes snapping fire. “It’s long gone. Vee says they got it out by portal, which our famous mage says is very bad.”
From inside the office, I heard Trammel half-yell, “My precise words, Agent Franklocke, were that I couldn’t predict precisely how it would effect Toh’sellor to be portaled out, but it would very likely be detrimental.”
“Like I said, much bad,” Chi repeated, shaking his head. “Rena, my lovely, we’ll take you out there with the hopes you can see more than anyone else has managed. Magus Trammel could only get a vague direction.”
“Southeastish,” Vee confirmed with an unhappy shrug. “He got a partial longitude line, and the south part is a guess judging from the other number he saw.”
“I’ll take a look,” Rena promised. “Do we have any of the MISD vehicles still out here?”
“Only one, and it’s meant for a large group, so it’s not going to have much speed to it,” Vee informed us, splaying her hands out to either side. “It won’t be any faster than a horse, but it can carry all of us, certainly.”
Maksohm made a snap decision. “We’ll take it. Magus Trammel, if you can accompany us? I’d like to debrief you as we ride.”
Trammel finally stepped out of the office, coming through sideways to slip past Vee. “Of course.”
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Maksohm urged us.
The vehicle actually sat just behind the office in a lean-to garage. Vee slithered in, got it started up, and pulled out, idling while we all climbed on. Then she put her foot down and got it going as fast as she could, which wasn’t very fast. A galloping horse could have easily kept pace with us. I appreciated the speed only because I knew that unlike a galloping horse, the mechanical car would be able to sustain that pace all the way there and back.
Maksohm sat next to Trammel, Rena on the mage’s other side, both of them pumping the man for more detailed information. Trouble was, he didn’t have much more to offer that we didn’t already know. He’d spent three hours studying Toh’sellor the previous day, leaving at mid-afternoon. He’d returned mid-morning to run a small experiment, only to find it missing. He’d immediately called Salvatore to report it, then returned to the office, only to have Vee and Chi show up ten minutes later.
When they started talking numbers again, I gave up and leaned over the back to catch Chi’s attention. “Chinny, break this down for me. What are we looking at?”
He twisted in his chair too, leaning both forearms on the spine of the vehicle so we could comfortably talk to each other. “Portal magic, at its strongest, can carry about eight people at a time. That’s with no additional weight and going short distances. From what Trammel said, Toh’sellor wouldn’t count as ‘weight’ per se because it’s all magic and chaos and whatever. So we’re looking at a five-man team, max, that popped in next to our baddy, cracked Maksohm’s toughest shield like a walnut, snagged baddy, and portaled out with it.”
“Five men that cracked one of Maksohm’s barriers?” I asked doubtfully. I’m not a magician, but I’d seen mages try to get past Maksohm’s barriers. They tended to go squish. And I wasn’t talking about the barrier.
“Might have taken them several hours,” Chi allowed, tugging at his chin. He hadn’t shaved that morning—the light stubble on his chin made that clear. “But there wasn’t anyone to notice all the way out yonder. They literally had all night to work.”
I shuddered, an icy spear racing up and down my spine. The idea of spending the night out in that wasteland right next to Toh’sellor would give anyone the willies. “But either way, they did it.”
“They did it, although we don’t know yet what it cost them. Something insane, anyway.” Chi’s tone and expression didn’t contain any trace of doubt. Getting through Maksohm’s barrier alone would have cost them. Having Toh’sellor loose and in their vicinity, even for a few seconds, would have been a hundred times worse. “Trammel didn’t see any trace of a body, though.”
I shook my head, grimly certain on this point. “They would have taken any bodies with them. Bodies mean clues. If they’re smart enough, trained enough, to be able to get to Toh’sellor, they’re not going to make that sort of rank amateur mistake.”
Chi snorted in black humor. “I personally feel like stealing something you can’t control is a rank amateur mistake.”
“Hey man, I’m right there with you. And what kind of fopdoodle would want to steal it in the first place?”
“World domination?” Chi offered artlessly.
“You’d end up destroying whatever you released it on,” I pointed out dryly.
“You wouldn’t need to,” he countered with a grimace. “Just the threat of releasing it would make most countries accede to any demands.”
I really hated that idea. Mostly because I could see it happening. “But if they tried to threaten anyone with it, they’d be forced to show it, right? And if they show it, Rena can deal with it.”
Chi got that look in his eye that indicated I wouldn’t like what he said next. “Let’s just say that I’m glad Rena’s joined the MISD and we’re her permanent team.”
It took a split second for his true meaning to register. I saw red when it did, my hands curling into fists so tight that my nails bit into my palms. “You think they’d assassinate her? Chi, I don’t like that idea.”
“Do you see me jumping up and down for joy?”
I swore viciously, thumping a palm at my chest, trying to settle the familiar bond down. It cramped and twitched like a live eel pinned to a fisherman’s market tray. “For the time being, she doesn’t move on her own.”
“You’re explaining that to her,” Chi informed me, lifting both hands in a warding gesture. “You have ways of staying on her good side that the rest of us don’t dare tap into.”
Fortunately. Being both husband and familiar did come in very handy sometimes. “She’ll see the sense of it; it’ll just grate on her. She’s gotten rather independent in some ways the past few months.”
We fell silent for several minutes, digesting all of this. I didn’t like any of it. I especially didn’t like the foreboding feeling churning in my gut. I couldn’t think of a single good reason why someone would steal Toh’sellor. Unfortunately, a lot of bad reasons
sprang to mind, most involving lots of property damage, blood, death, and general mayhem. I hated general mayhem on sheer principal. If there was mayhem to be had, I wanted to be in the center of it, and it had better be fun.
Because Vee possessed a lead foot, we arrived far sooner than expected at the spot Toh’sellor had dominated for centuries. There was a light dusting of snow on the ground this time, turning everything white, sound echoing louder because of it. I would have thought that the snow would improve the look of the place, but it didn’t really make much of an impact. Or that could have been my general attitude impressing itself on my surroundings. In the monotone wasteland, Toh’sellor’s absence was glaringly obvious. I stood there and looked pretty while my wife intently examined the area, quickly located the spot where the portal once stood, then stared at it with narrowed eyes for a long while. If not for her breathing, she could have been mistaken as a statue.
After fifteen minutes of this, I got worried she’d zoned out on me and put an arm around her shoulder, gently drawing her out of her own head. “Honey? Sweetcakes, you still with us?”
She blinked several times and took in a deep breath, letting it out again slowly. “Still with you. Sorry, I kept staring at the location hoping it would make more sense. Or that I could somehow force it to make sense. I believe that the portal destination originated and ended at the same location.”
That sounded good? “So you know where that is.”
“No idea,” she denied grumpily, an unhappy downturn to her mouth.
I found that declaration as welcome as emergency field surgery without morphine, and tourniquets made from wire clothes hangers. “No idea at all?”
“Somewhere along the east side of Sira,” she stated confidently, only to qualify with a grimace, “I think. Magus Trammel’s guess of it being toward the south of the continent looks plausible, but it could be southern Perrone as well. We basically have half a longitude line and the start of a latitude line in the coordinates. It gives us a general field to work from.”
“Right now, I’ll take it,” Maksohm declared. “Rena, is there absolutely anything else that you can tell us?”
“The portal spell is very disintegrated; I’d say that it was last used about midnight.”
Trammel nodded jerkily, mouth in a flat line. “I concur. The rate of its disintegration coincides with that. What I saw here several hours ago matches with my observations now. At that time, I could see the afterimages of five distinct magical signatures along with Toh’sellor’s energy.”
“I can’t see any of that at all,” Vee denied with a shake of her head.
Rena’s mouth curled in a humorless smile. “I can. Five culprits, but only four returned alive.”
My heart went still when her words registered. “One of them died during all of this.”
Chi blew out a breath, misting in the cold air. “We figured that was likely. Anything else, Rena?”
“I can’t say this with absolute certainty, but I think I’ve seen this before. This pattern, this…” she waved a hand to indicate the portal in general. “You heard about the kidnapped familiars?” When she got nods from everyone, she continued, “Nora called me in to see if I could examine one of the portals used by the kidnappers. It had a signature much like this one. What I can make out of it, at least. I can’t positively say that it’s the same mage behind it, but….”
“But it’s likely,” I finished unhappily. “Baby, you’re telling me the same group stealing familiars took off with Toh’sellor? What possible reason would you steal both things?”
“Nothing good,” Vee growled. “We can only speculate at this point, though; we don’t have enough facts to work from. Rena, tell me that’s all of the bad news.”
“I really wish I could. I can’t make anything else out from the portal, but I can see it distinctly on the ground just there.” She turned to point at the spot Toh’sellor once sat. “Toh’sellor gathered up about a cup and a half of material and energy before they got it contained again.”
We all paled. We all knew what it meant. The only way Toh’sellor stayed safely contained in a barrier was if nothing remained inside with it. Absolutely nothing but the monster itself. If it gathered any material at all, anything of real substance, then it started forming minions to batter at the barrier. The only person who could destroy matter down to nothingness was the woman standing at my side. A regular mage couldn’t do it.
Those fools had caged Toh’sellor with the materials it needed to fight back with.
And they had no way of stopping it.
It took multiple portals for us all to meet at Foxboro. Maksohm, Bannen, and I portaled directly to Headquarters. Vee and Chi went back to Gargan briefly to pack first. Bannen volunteered to repack our luggage so that we shared one big suitcase with the essentials while I reported our findings to Director Salvatore.
He stared at me over folded hands, elbows on his desk, without making a single peep through the whole verbal report. Only after I wound down did he finally lower his hands. “Agent Hach, give me worst case scenario.”
Blowing out a breath, I glanced at Maksohm, who stood solid and grim at my side. “Dah’lil thinks the barrier they put up around Toh’sellor is strong enough to contain it for at least a week or so. At that point, they’ll be in the same situation we were in six months ago, constantly pitting barrier magic against Toh’sellor. Worst case scenario? They’ve restarted the game in a city somewhere, and Toh’sellor will burst through their warding like paper.”
“On the one hand,” Maksohm stated in dark humor, “it’ll quickly tell us the location. I’d rather not find out that way, though.”
“None of us do,” Salvatore grunted. “I’d also rather not just sit here and wait for disaster to strike. Agent Hach, is there any way to track Toh’sellor?”
I shook my head regretfully. “Its energy is so chaotic, so unpredictable, any locating spells would be thrown off. I can’t think of a single seeking spell that would work, either, as they all are based on the same principles. I’m afraid we’re down to beating the pavement.”
“For the entire eastern seaboard on three different continents?” Salvatore developed a tic at his temple. “We don’t have enough people for that. Would anyone with normal sight know what they’re looking at?”
Maksohm deadpanned, “When they’re right on top of it.”
Which made them minion fodder. “I’d really rather we not send anyone outside of the MISD searching for this thing, sir.”
Growling, Salvatore didn’t say anything, but his expression indicated he agreed.
We stood in silence for a moment before Maksohm offered slowly, “Perhaps we’re approaching this wrong. If we don’t know who, or why, maybe how is the best question.”
The man successfully lost me. “Come again?”
“This quick in and out method with a five man team,” he continued, gaining momentum as his mind cottoned onto the idea. “That had to be practiced. Wouldn’t you practice it against other targets before tackling Toh’sellor?”
He had a good point. “So you think that’s what they were doing with the familiars? Stealing them for practice?”
“I really hope that’s the only reason, as bad as that sounds. Otherwise they’ve got something even more nefarious in mind. In fact, I’d practice even before tackling familiars, because they’re under even more direct supervision than Toh’sellor itself. Nora suspected something hinky was going on because someone stole several magical artifacts too. It could well be the same group. I think this warrants some research. If we can find other instances when they’ve struck, then we can figure out who, and at least be one step further ahead than what we are now.” Maksohm looked to the boss for his opinion.
Salvatore’s eyes became narrow slits as he thought it through. “I think you might run into reports of other groups doing similar things, but it’s definitely worth investigating. And until someone shows their hand, you’ll b
e sitting around anyway. Alright, take your team down to Archives and see what you can turn up. But Maksohm?”
“Sir?”
“When Bannen and Chi start bouncing off the walls, find a way to divert them. I don’t want a repeat of last time.”
Last time? Did I dare ask? I mean, this was Chi we were talking about.
“Yes, sir,” Maksohm assured him with something like anticipated resignation. With a salute, he dismissed us both and led the way out of the office.
When we’d safely gained the hallway, I quirked an eyebrow at him. “Last time?”
Maksohm rolled his eyes expressively. “Paper balls. Shooting contest. Don’t ask. Do you know where Archives is?”
“Yes. Do you want to start in on this tonight?”
“No, it’s already late. I vote we get dinner and tackle it in the morning. Get the boys, please, let’s go find dinner.”
“Alright.” As he walked off in the direction of the west corner of the massive building, he muttered something like, “Hopefully we get action before they lose patience.”
I personally wouldn’t take that bet.
Archives did not reside in the dusty, musty, corner room that most people associated with the word. It in fact sat central to most of the offices, a large room that went up two stories with a row of open doors along the bottom floor and a very modern library catalogue system. Most of the reports were handwritten—only some typed—in a simple binder with the date, location, and a brief description of the event as a title on the front page.
I couldn’t fault the organization, or the surprisingly comfortable padded chairs around the multiple tables, as someone had put effort into making the Archives as welcoming and easy to use as possible. But we still had reports from three continents to comb through. Finding that mythical needle in a haystack would be easier.
Remnants Page 5