Remnants

by Honor Raconteur

  Maksohm dictated that we start with recent events and go back, no more than six months, giving us a rough timeline to work in. Bannen took Z’gher, I took Perrone, Maksohm: Turransky, Chi: Sira, and Vee: Gargan. We figured we might as well take our native countries, as we’d be more aware of what passed for strange in those parts. Well, Maksohm wasn’t technically from Turransky, he was from Sira, but someone had to take it, and he’d volunteered.

  I went through the first two weeks of reports, not finding anything worth remarking on. Well, except one. “Someone tried to load a shark into a baby carriage and steal it in Corcoran.”

  A sea of blank faces stared back at me.

  “Whhhhy?” Bannen inquired in bafflement. “And how in thunderation did he manage to wrestle a shark into a baby carriage to begin with?”

  “The agent who wrote the report had the same questions. Apparently, the thief was ‘concerned for its welfare’ and the shark cooperated,” I related dryly. The tone of the report indicated the agent hadn’t bought either line. “It took a mage to get the shark out of said carriage and safely back in the ocean, though.”

  “This search is dangerous,” Vee muttered, half-rhetorically. “It’s either mind numbingly boring or you run into interesting stories like that one. You can’t help but get sidetracked reading it.”

  “Do try to stay focused,” Maksohm requested right before snorting, angling his report so he could read it. “A bear apparently broke into a distillery and started drinking the bottled stock. It took two agents a full day to get him back out again, as he was so drunk they couldn’t get a good grip on him and drag him free. That must have been a sight.”

  Chi poked our team leader in the shoulder, leaning over the table to do it. “Do as I say, not as I do, hmmm?”

  Caught, Maksohm offered a shrug and wry smile. “What, skimming is fine.”

  Amused, I went back to reading the stack I’d pulled. The catalogue system here could only give me so much information on the individual cards, so I’d pulled anything that looked remotely strange and/or dangerous. Most of the reports filed here seemed to fall in the ‘routine’ category, thankfully, making it somewhat easier to parse through.

  A happy chortle brought my head up again. Chi did a chair dance, arms up and butt wiggling, eyes alight as he requested of his wife, “Can we go to Njorage?”

  We all looked at him incredulously. Chi. Wanted to go to Njorage. Did I accidentally slip into a dream-reality without realizing?

  Vee stared at him with concern, face screwed up in confusion. “Why would you want to go to Njorage?”

  “Someone stole the monkeys,” he explained happily. Double-checking the report in his hands, he clarified, “At least a lot of them; they listed which inns were hit, so I know which ones are safe to visit.”

  That sounded as strange as someone stealing a shark. No, worse; monkeys were difficult to catch and mean enough to bite. “Chi, when was this?”

  “About four months ago.” When Maksohm shot him an exasperated look, Chi defended, “What? You said to search within the last six months, I’m just working my way forward instead of backward.”

  “They must have done it right after we passed through,” Vee mentioned idly. “Strange. How many monkeys are they estimating were taken?”

  “About three hundred. It occurred over a three night span, all in a row.” Chi’s eyes skimmed the report, offering other facts. “No one saw the thieves, and there was apparently portal…” he trailed off, attention sharpening. “Three distinct portal remains lingered in different locations, next to the inns where the monkeys were taken. The agent investigating reports that by the time he found the portal locations, only the longitude line was left, and he guessed the thieves took the monkeys further south along the Perrone or Siran seaboard.”

  “Mark that one,” Maksohm commanded. “That sounds suspiciously like our group.”

  “But monkeys?” Bannen set his report down on the table, baffled. “Why would they steal monkeys? That isn’t anything like taking Toh’sellor. Is this just a professional thieves group that will take any job?”

  “We can’t rule that possibility out,” Maksohm observed, but his tone expressed doubt and his shoulders lifted in a shrug as he said it. “Still, a full team of mage-thieves? Skilled enough to take Toh’sellor? Most mages don’t need to resort to a criminal lifestyle to make a good living; it’s not worth the danger. Not for ones skilled enough to pull this off. This whole setup is strange.”

  I agreed with him. Half-trained mages, or the ones who couldn’t manage to pass the Tests, those were the ones that turned to crime. Very, very few good mages turned to thievery, and they went for the high-ticket items. Monkeys did not make that list.

  “But after this, we can go to Njorage?” Chi went back to his original question with a pout half-formed. “I like the open-air baths.”

  “We’ll go,” Vee promised him affectionately.

  Pleased, he beamed at her and blew her a kiss. “I knew I married you for a reason.”

  Shaking my head at them, I went back to reading.

  The hours dragged on. Even the comfortable padding of the chair became less so after a while, the hard wood spindles of the back digging into my spine. I shifted positions several times but couldn’t find a good angle. Standing, I leaned against the side of the table and read that way for a while, getting circulation back into my legs.

  Bannen migrated to the floor, lying flat with a report over his head. Chi lay on his stomach next to him, propped up on elbows as he flicked through the pages. Only Vee and Maksohm stayed at the table, Maksohm sitting properly, Vee sprawled out along three chairs.

  Glancing at the front of the room, I spied the large clock hanging against the wall and blinked in surprise. We were well past lunch time, heading toward evening. “Dah’lil. It’s two.”

  It took a moment for that to register, then his head came up and around so he could look at the clock. “So it is. We’ve really been here six hours?”

  Bannen grunted on the floor, “Time flies when you’re having fun. Or not-fun. Illustrious leader, can we go find lunch?”

  “I’m all for that.” Maksohm put the report down, rubbing at the inside corners of his eyes with a weary sigh. “My eyes can’t take much more of this anyway. Let’s head for the wharf, I want something fried.”

  That sounded good to me. They did amazing fried fish in this city. I turned and immediately started tidying things, placing the pulled reports in the bins nearby for the archivists to return. I’d already been lectured once about not putting anything back myself. That was apparently their job. Chi’s report on the monkeys we checked out—the only report we kept with us—with the hope we’d find something more tomorrow. The theft of the monkeys had no clear culprit, not even any suspects, so aside from the incident report it didn’t really give us any further information. More’s the pity.

  After a full day of reading, I felt stiff and stretched a little as I waited on the others. We’d been quiet and focused researching today, but I knew our two troublemakers well enough that seeing them repeat this behavior tomorrow? Not happening.

  I had a feeling research would fall to me, Maksohm, and Vee.

  I woke up out of a sound sleep to a half-strangled scream in Rena’s throat. Swearing, I flipped over immediately and shook her awake. “Rena. Rena. Wake up.”

  She startled awake, eyes flaring wide, still caught between the waking world and the nightmare that plagued her. Her eyes were blind, hands grasping at air as if fighting something off, head twitching in response to something I couldn’t see. I knew the instant she’d oriented herself, as she latched onto me like an octopus, arms and legs twining around my body. I held her firmly in return, smoothing sweat soaked strands of soft brown hair away from her face. I’d had a feeling Rena wouldn’t handle this well—Toh’sellor being loose once again. Everyone hated the situation, that was a given.

  But Rena still woke up out of a so
und sleep, terrified she’d lost me in that last battle, even six months later. The nightmares had starred less frequently over the last month, and I’d just started to hope that her mind had worked itself through this particular fear when this happened.

  Sarding imbecilic thieves. I’d murder them when I got my hands on them, assuming Toh’sellor didn’t do the job for me.

  Gradually her shaking eased, her breathing settled, and she didn’t feel like she’d fly apart any second. The bond was unhappy that she was unhappy, twitching and grumbling like an old man with kids on his lawn. Which was entirely unhelpful, and I mentally told it so. I wished I knew some way to reassure her that it would be alright, but the words felt like a lie even in my head. I didn’t believe we’d face a fully powered Toh’sellor again—we’d be able to find it before it got to that point—but battling it again wouldn’t be easy.

  Going into battle was not the hardest thing to do. That first time, one could only mentally anticipate the fear, the nerves, the injuries that might be obtained during the battle. The bone-shaking terror that came from having your life on the line, of having friends and loved ones sharing that danger, of seeing them fall in front of your eyes. It took experience to understand fully what battles were made of. It was going again for the second time, knowing full well what you’d face; that was where men’s hearts failed them. I’d seen more than one man’s nerve break when called to fight again. Rena didn’t even have the option of ducking out. She was the only one who could defeat Toh’sellor, as Mary literally did not have the strength to tackle it.

  I said the only thing to my wife that I knew I could promise her. “I will not leave you. You won’t have to face it alone.”

  She let out a gusty sigh against my chest. “I know.”

  The way she said that, as if I’d said something nonsensical, made me smile. I suppose I am a very guaranteed thing.

  “Bannen,” she whispered, hand stroking up my side, her head tilting up so that her mouth grazed mine. “Distract me?”

  I rolled to put her under me, shifting so that I could take her mouth in a deep kiss. She responded passionately, her hands coming up to twine themselves in my braids as I did my level best to turn my beloved’s brain off.

  The next morning I went down to breakfast a little bleary-eyed. I’d stayed up half the night ‘distracting’ my wife, and while neither of us had complaints about that, it did leave me a little short on sleep. I found Maksohm already at the table, a newspaper in his hands and a cup of coffee half-consumed at his elbow. Every hair was in place, but he wore only the uniform’s pants and shirt, no jacket. He gave the impression of being a trifle sleep deprived himself.

  Glancing up, Maksohm caught sight of me descending the stairs and offered, “Good morning?”

  “I’ve had better,” I sighed, coming around the table to sit across from him.

  He lowered the paper and gave me a knowing, sympathetic look. “Rena?”

  “The nightmares are picking up again.” I propped both elbows on the table so I could bury my head in my hands. “Sard it.”

  “What nightmares?” Maksohm prodded in concern. “I knew she sometimes had bad dreams about what happened, about almost losing you, but I didn’t know they were a regular occurrence.”

  “Three, four times a week she has them. Sometimes they’re not as intense, but it’s always the same theme of me going down and her powerless to help me.” There were days I seriously wished that Rena wasn’t a Void Mage. If she had any healing ability whatsoever, I think the dreams wouldn’t plague her as intensely. It was partially the reason I’d encouraged her to ask for a dedicated team. Having at least one other mage on hand that could heal me if or when I got injured would ease her fears.

  Maksohm gave a troubled hum. “I didn’t realize they were that bad. What can we do?”

  “I keep asking that question,” I admitted morosely, finally lifting my head to look at him, feeling at least ten years older, and not in a pleasant sense. “I’m not sure if there’s anything we can do. Facing that thing again terrifies her, more than the first time, as this time she knows exactly what she’s up against. She herself barely survived it.”

  Wincing, Maksohm admitted, “I still have nightmares about what she did. On a magical scale, it was akin to watching a supernova. I do not want her doing that again.”

  “Me and you both.” I’d been half out of it, not able to see magically what she was doing and it had still scared the light right out of me.

  Pondering the question for a moment, Maksohm took a sip of his cooling coffee. “We’re truly reaching a dead end in our research. I’m not sure if there’s much else we can gain from it. Some of the reports are so poorly written that I’m not sure if our culprits were involved or not.”

  “Yeah, I noticed.” I hadn’t wanted to point it out, though. Mostly because no one else had any other ideas of possible leads.

  “Perhaps another tack is in order,” Maksohm decided, worried expression easing into one of determination. “They’re still debating the location for storing Toh’sellor, as well as designing the structure to house it. I personally feel that Rena needs to be part of any architectural decisions.”

  “That is the best suggestion I’ve heard all week,” I told him honestly. “Why wasn’t she pulled in before?”

  “She wasn’t MISD before. No one had the power to demand anything of her. Shall I have a word with the director and recommend she go sit with the committee?”

  Rena might hate me for this later, she didn’t like speaking in front of large groups, but I felt like this would be a good distraction for her. Besides, it was just smart to have her design the building Toh’sellor would be held in. We had to have a safe place to secure it. This whole fiasco had hammered that point in very well. “Please.”

  Nodding, Maksohm stood and wandered off, looking for a good place to make the call.

  Breakfast started to arrive in the forms of platters with breads, fruits, and one of sliced ham and cheese. I put together several small sandwiches, filled the rest of my plate with fruit, and dug in. Food helped revive me some and by the time Vee came down, I felt fairly certain I could manage today.

  The part giantess seemed fatigued as well, judging by the panda eyes she sported. She sank into the chair hard enough it creaked alarmingly, grabbed the coffee pot, and poured herself a cup before drinking it black. Then she refilled the cup.

  “One of those nights, huh,” I offered sympathetically.

  “You too,” she observed, rubbing at her eyes with the pads of her fingers. “Rena?”

  “Nightmares.”

  Vee breathed a tired curse. “I was afraid of that. I thought I heard a scream last night, but wasn’t sure. I’m worried about her. Having to face Toh’sellor again must be eating at her.”

  I nodded dark confirmation and reached for the coffee pot. Vee waved me off and filled up my cup for me. As she poured, she said softly, “Bannen. Chi and I have talked about this. We won’t let anything happen to you. We can’t. Aside from the fact that you’re a dear friend to us, we know that if we lose you, we’ll quickly lose Rena as well. The world cannot afford that.”

  “Vee,” I responded carefully, choosing my words, “Rena knows that you two will do everything in your power to protect both of us. Just as she knows that I will safeguard myself as stringently as I protect her. Her conscious mind understands it fine. It’s her subconscious that preys on her.”

  She stared into her dark coffee, expression suggesting her mind had taken her to a place of unpleasant memories. Taking a sip, she said nothing, obviously building up to something. I ate and waited her out, sensing that what she said next would not be said lightly. Finally, she replaced the cup and heaved out a heavy breath. “Chi almost died protecting me once.”

  Of all the things I’d suspected she’d say, that hadn’t been it. I put my breakfast down, absolutely sure I did not want anything in my mouth while I heard this story. I’d likely
choke on it. “What happened?”

  “Something similar to what happened with Toh’sellor, actually. We were surrounded on all sides, outnumbered, Seton had a crack in him that ran his full length. I didn’t dare use him for fear he’d snap completely. I was magically drained, we’d been fighting so long, and I’d resorted to fists. Chi was out of arrows, using his sword. We were in a desperate situation and I saw no way out of it. Our enemies knew it and they rushed in. I fought off the first two that reached me, but couldn’t react to the third. Chi ignored the ones rushing for him to tackle that third and got a sword in his gut for it.”

  I winced. Was that where that scar had come from? The few times I’d seen Chi without a shirt on, he had a six-inch scar right along his belly button.

  Her eyes blind to our surroundings, Vee continued in a near toneless voice: “I went into a rage when he went down. I don’t normally use giant’s magic, it doesn’t work as well for me, but I used it then. I called on the earth to help me, and it threw our attackers off, half-buried some of them. It spooked them enough that they gathered up their wounded and fled, afraid I’d bring the mountain down on them. What little magic power I had left, I poured it into Chi’s wound, closing it up before he could bleed out on me. Then I was done. I had no energy left, no magic, my familiar wounded and at my side. We were stranded on the top of a mountain with no help in sight and night falling. I was up there for fourteen sodding hours with him. Chi was in a half-delirious state as fever set in, before I recovered enough to carry him down.”

  My imagination painted the scene of night on a mountain, no help in sight as the cold air settled, the night sounds starting, and no visibility in the pitch darkness. In that state, Vee would have been almost completely helpless. Vee and I had been friends long enough to know that she handled the feeling of ‘helpless’ about as well as Rena. In other words, not at all. “You got him down in time.”