Industry & Intrigue (18 page)

He had
fled the city during the Second
Battle of Senaea and retreated to the republican capital of
Haltoria. After the war he fell out of favor during General Marcus
Praellis’ rise to power as president and was named in one of the
president’s purges. His horrible experiments came to light and he
was declared a war criminal by the new government.

Brenna had never seen
a picture of the
man personally. He had not been seen for a decade and many assumed
that he had been killed. She looked at Reese, the boy certainly
looked Estaran, but his Alkon sounded native.

As if reading her mind Reese
said
, “I
grew up in Alkos but I read much about the war. One detailed report
on Calidius’ experiments discussed subjects who were found with
plant material grafted to them. None of them survived, but this
looks like a far more advanced form of the experiment.”

The girl
next to him gave a gasp and ran
over to one of the downed creatures. She bent down and cradled its
head and sobbed in anguish. Someone the girl had been close with.
Brenna felt her face fill with red hot fury.

She pulled the circus master to
his feet and looked him in the eyes
. “Is he right? Are you Acteon Calidius?”
she asked.

The man
smirked
.
“Why do you care? So you can bring in the Ravager and be a big hero
for capturing a war criminal? Yes, he’s correct.” The man snarled,
“They praised me when they needed me. Said my work was helping the
war effort and then when it was convenient they tossed me to the
wolves to secure their peace. All I did was for my nation, but it
wasn’t good enough. They demanded that I suffer and die for what I
had done. And what had I done other than dedicate myself to serving
Estara?”

“
Shut up
,” said Brenna. “I don’t want to hear
your justifications. I’ve heard stories about your Terminus Unit
experiments. People like you make me sick, treating sentient beings
like laboratory animals.” He was about to say something else, but
she stopped him. “Don’t. I don’t want to hear another twisted word
from your mouth.”

Tanaka walked over to Brenna
and extended his hand
. “You and your partner fought honorably alongside
me and you have an even greater honor of bringing such a criminal
to justice. I shall take my leave.”

“
Wait
,” said Brenna. “How did Mikono
manage to get a Red Knight to provide protection for her drug
smuggling. The Knights aren’t in a habit of working for
criminals?”

Tanaka’s head tilted slightly, “This is
true, normally I would never, nor allow our members to work such a
contract but, I…had a personal debt to fulfill. Part of the
condition was that I did not ask questions about the contents or
destination, only that I provide protection.”

“
I see
,” replied Brenna. “You can go. Thank
you for your aid.” He clasped his hands and threaded his thin
fingers together and shook it once, the Minakayan gesture of
farewell.

“
I certainly hope this amount of
fighting is not typical in your cases sergeant,” said
Snar.

“
Why
Officer Snar? Are you worried? Your
life in Alkon hasn’t dampened your agorid martial
prowess.”

“
I am not concerned about
myself. But you rely on your firearm a great deal and while I can
see the use in those weapons, in spite of not being able to handle
them myself.” Brenna chuckled at the idea of Snar trying to hold a
gun in his massive hands. His fingers would not be able to fit in
the trigger guard. “They are limited by the requirement of
reloading.”

“
So
what do you suggest?” she
asked.

“
I would be more than happy to
help improve your hand to hand
skills with sparring practice.”

She nodded.
“If I can find the time,” she
said and turned back to Calidius. She grabbed him told him to
move.

He took a few steps when
suddenly
the
grieving girl flung herself at him shouting, “You son of a bitch!
You took her away!” She clawed at his face.

Brenna pulled her off before
she could claw the man’s eyes out.
Once the girl was clear from Calidius,
Reese pulled her away, while she gave out heaving sobs. Brenna
pulled the man back to his feet, the girl had left several deep
scratches along his face. It was far less than he
deserved.

“
I think it’s best if you head
back home now,” said Brenna to the three youths and Reese nodded.
“Thank you for your help.”

“
Wait before you go, I need your
names,” said Snar. Brenna looked at him. “For the report,” he
explained. “I imagine the one for tonight will require a great deal
of detail, before I complete it.” When Snar was done getting their
details, the two boys led the grieving girl away from the area
leaving the two of them with the war criminal.

***

On
the train back to the city, Reese sat
opposite Cassandra, Michael beside him in the aisle. He kept his
eyes focused on the darkened countryside out the window. None of
them had said anything since leaving. It had been a traumatic night
and Reese didn’t want to upset Cassandra further.

He
needed to use the washroom. He stood
up and walked towards the back of the carriage. There weren’t many
people on the train at this hour and most of them appeared to be
sleeping or resting in their seats.

He stepped up to the door and
put hi
s hand
on the handle, when a feminine voice behind him quietly said, “Stop
right there.” He was about to turn around but then the voice said,
“Don’t turn around or I’ll blast you with a lightning bolt.” The
voice spoke in hushed anger.

Mage
thought Reese.
Or at least someone who wants
me to think they’re a mage
, but he wasn’t willing to risk his life to test
that theory.

“
What do you want?” he
asked.

“
I want to know where you live
and where you keep your collection of books.”
Only Michael and Cassandra had
known about his collection, how did they find out about
it?

“
How do you know about
that?”

A hand touched him on the shoulder and he
felt a burning sensation, he grunted with the effort of trying to
maintain silence through the pain. Whoever it was, had not been
bluffing about hitting him with a spell. They had powerful magic at
their command.

“
The only words I want to hear
are you
the
location of your university apartment and where you keep your
books.”

Reese clenched his teeth and spoke.
“Penford Block, apartment 4B. The books are on a shelf on the left
as you go in the door.”

“
G
ood, continue into the washroom without
turning around and shut the door behind you. I would hate to have
to kill you and leave a body on the train for everyone to discover.
But make no mistake, I will if you make it necessary.”

Reese did as he was instructed
and entered
the washroom. He put his hands on the sink, and tried to
stop them from trembling.
What in the hells had that been about?

He splashed water over his
face
. He
wasn’t certain he even wanted to know right now. After the circus
and now this, it was all he could do to keep his thoughts
straight.

Should he tell anyone else
about it? Uni
versity security, his friends, the watch? He had no doubt
that by the time he returned to his apartment, his books would be
gone. He hadn’t revealed his most prized possession, his father’s
diary. He kept that hidden away elsewhere. He should try to find
out who exactly had ambushed him first and then contact the
watch.

He didn’t have many details. She had no
doubt been a mage and her voice had an accent to it, a trace of
Zefey or Talfey, which meant there was a good chance that she was
an elf. She had threatened him with lightning and burned him with
her hands, she was skilled in energy magic.

It was a slim
chance
, but
he could find something in the records of Warded Spirals. If she
had studied magic anywhere in Alkos, then the Magical Center would
have her record. There was the small matter of gaining access to
them, which as a student he would not be able to do. Then he
remembered Mastermage Zuri Abeliah.

She had aske
d a favor of them, but Reese
thought she had merely been trying to distract them from her own
actions. She hadn’t come to see them since and neither he nor
Michael had discussed it since then. Seeing if she would help him
was better than nothing.

He
didn’t say anything to either of his
friends about the mysterious encounter and he sat back down.
Cassandra already had enough on her mind after losing someone she
loved. He could only imagine what she was going through. Michael
would become too curious and then who knows where he would end up
dragging them.

Reese mulled over his choices
for the remainder of the train ride and was only snapped out
by the whistle of
the train. They were arriving at Rainac Station. The three of them
walked in silence back to the university and said their goodnights
when they arrived at the accommodation blocks.

“
If you need anything, don’t
hesitate to ask,” said Reese, hugging Cassandra. She was no longer
crying, but her eyes were still moist and looked like she could
start again at the slightest moment. She nodded dumbly and walked
off towards her block.

Reese made his way
through the lighted
walkways and climbed the stairs. He checked down the corridor, but
saw no one there. He continued on and reached his door. It was
still locked. He unlocked it and walked in, he switched on the
lamp. The room looked undisturbed and he checked the bookcase.
Still perfectly tidy, except for two missing books; they had been
after something specific.

He walked over to the cupboard
and opened the doors. He bent down and moved the jacket
on the floor and
lifted up the loose board. His father’s notebook was still in its
place and he sighed with relief.

He picked up the well-worn book
and clutched it in his ha
nds, resting his head against the wooden door. He
still didn’t know what he should do? He could let it go, but if
they decided that they needed something more, then they could
return.

No, it would be better to get more
information before taking action. He put the book back under the
floorboard, but he knew would have to find a safer place to keep
it. The missing books were related to his father’s field of study
and if they discovered that he had this, they would be coming after
it as well. He needed to talk to Mastermage Abeliah, she could help
him protect his apartment.

Chapter 17

A week had passed since Zuri
had
uncovered the revelations of Kyle Dunn’s suicide. Brenna
had been true to her word and Zuri had a few days of investigating
before the Imperial Branch detectives appeared at her office. They
had told her that the investigation was closed and the medical
examiner had confirmed it was suicide by tarcaine.

Then the older detective had leveled with
her. The Dunn family had not wanted an investigation. They were too
concerned about their public image and feared knowledge of this
getting out would become a scandal. They were satisfied with the
tarcaine dealer being imprisoned and wanted to move on.

After the detectives
left Zuri had
vented her anger over Kyle’s selfish parents on her paperwork. She
spilled her documents all over the floor and shouted out the name
of the Lord of Heavens, Strathis, the skylord god. She cleaned
herself and her office up and was filled with renewed resolve to
find Kyle’s abuser.

And now she was
going to get
answers in the Center, no matter what. She entered the Circular
Tower, as a mastermage she had free access. She cast a spell and
slipped into the shadows, now unseen from common eyes. Anyone
scanning magically could find her if they were trying, but she
doubted anyone would. No one was foolish enough to sneak about the
Circular Tower in a shadow-hide spell, so no one would be checking
for it.

She was
breaking half a dozen rules and
regulations of Warded Spirals, but she didn’t care. She owed it to
Kyle and to any other children who had been taken advantage of. As
the issue lingered on her mind, she came to the conclusion that
whoever was behind this, Kyle was not the only victim.

The level of mental manipulation that
carried out in direct violation of magical laws could only have
been attained with extensive practice. Additionally, she doubted
that a mage would carry out abuse of students at the Center unless
they had perfected how to cover their tracks.

This had angered
further, which she
hadn’t thought possible. Strathis knows how many students had been
abused and didn’t remember. They would have been memory wiped or,
even worse, were still under the thrall of their monstrous abuser.
There was a reason for strict laws around mental magic. It could be
addictive if over-used and if the abuser could wipe memories, it
was not much of a jump for them to reach the truly corrupt level of
using magic to dominate someone’s mind.