Industry & Intrigue (28 page)

She looked over at the building opposite.
Selim was in position, observing. She nodded her head at him,
signaling for him to go ahead with the plan. He put his hands
together and cast his spell, aiming at the clashing mob in the
street. There was a flash of intense white light and Brenna was
blinded for a few seconds.

Watch officers swarmed
into the street and
upon seeing the fight between the Kartecs and the Varonites, they
waded in to break it up. It didn’t last long; the watch was far
more skilled at fighting than a rabble of religious
fanatics.

They soon had
mo
st of them
in chains, while the few pragmatic ones managed to escape. Brenna
checked to see if the cleric was still alive and then ran towards
the church. She shouted at the few unoccupied watch officers to
follow her. She ran up the steps and slammed open the
doors.

There was no one
inside, but Selim’s
undercover man had told them where the tarcaine was stashed. She
saw the door at the back of the church on the right. It was locked,
so she lifted her leg and kicked it open. It was as she had been
told, a storeroom with several barrels.

She grabbed
at the top of one and lifted
it. Empty. The remaining two were also empty. On the last one she
saw a trace of powder at the bottom. Bending in, she scooped it
into her hand and sniffed. The residue of raw tarcaine was
unmistakable.

“
Creator be fucking
damned
!” she
shouted and kicked one the empty barrels in anger, knocking it
over.

One of the watch officers who
had joi
ned
her started to say, “Uh…sergeant, you should watch what you say in
here, after all we’re in a-,”

“
Fuck the Creator and fuck
Varos! I don’t give a damn about them
. We were meant to be getting our hands on
Barus Asulius and a hundred kilos of tarcaine. Instead we have a
bunch of religious fuckwits who will spend an hour or two in the
cells before they get bailed out.”

She knocked the officer aside
a
nd stormed
out of the storeroom. Back outside, Snar was helping round up the
Kartecs and keep them in line. None of them were interested in
creating trouble lest they incur the wrath of the agorid. Brenna
walked over to one of the team leaders.

“
Did
you get all of them?” she
asked.

“
Most
,” he replied “A few made a break for
it as soon as they saw us, but the rest were too busy trying to
bash each other’s heads in.”

“
I want all of them searched
thoroughly,” she said, but she wasn’t hopeful. She went over to the
cleric who had recovered and was back on his feet. The watch medic
was bandaging his head wound. “Cleric Gall, did you have any new
members in your congregation this morning?” she asked.

“
I have a large flock,
they bring family
and friends. There were first time faces. Normally it’s only one or
two but now that you mention it, there were more than usual today,”
said the cleric. Brenna then described both Barus Asulius and the
Inissa Renoch to the cleric. “I’ve never seen an Estaran at my
church but the woman sounds like Inissa. She’s a member of the High
Cleric’s church.”

“
Thank you
,” said Brenna and she turned
away. She closed her eyes, trying to cool her frustration. That
settled it, Mikono had known they were coming. She hadn’t moved the
goods during the night or Selim and Snar would have seen
it.

Devious
thought Brenna.
Masquerading her
people as Varonites and then arranging a conflict with the Kartecs
to distract us.

She would be certain
t
hat
everyone they had arrested was interrogated thoroughly. But she
doubted they would have anything useful. Barus and Inissa were
Mikono’s main operatives. Catching someone lower than them on the
food chain wouldn’t get them the kitsune.

Once back at the station, she
watched the chaos as the horde of Kartecs and Varonites were
brought in and put in the cells, waiting to be questioned one at a
time.
“Not
exactly what I was expecting you to be bringing in sergeant,” said
Niko.

“
I know captain, but it’s all we
have. Mikono saw us coming, somehow.” She was still angry at being
tricked by the kitsune.

“
So now what do you plan
to do?” he asked.

“
Inissa Renoch. We take her, get
her to flip. Barus runs in the
shadows, he’s too hard to catch. But
Inissa appears to be Mikono’s more public lieutenant.”

“
Well we have to do something
soon. This war between the Stoneskins and Mikono’s people isn’t
letting up. I received a fresh report while you were out leading
the raid. A shootout in south Delkirk, five gang members and two
bystanders dead. We only have a single suspect in custody; one of
the Stoneskin orcs. He’s not saying a word.”

“
Fuck,” said Brenna. It was
turning into a full-fledged gang war.

“
I don’t want this to get any
worse than it already is,” said Niko. “Do whatever it is you must
to catch Mikono and stop this. I’ll put Selim on Lorek.”

***

Isaac shook his in head in
disbelief as he looked at the empty barrels in his church’s
storeroom.
The idea that one of his own members could peddle
disgusting drugs through his church; he felt violated. The watch
officers were long gone and he had cleaned the front area of the
church. He slowly shut the door to the room and locked it. The lock
was unbroken, and yet he was the only one with the key. Somehow the
perpetrators had picked the lock; or even worse, they had a
copy.

He walked to the altar
a
t front of
the main room and sat on his knees in prayer. “Varos, please give
me the guidance I need. My own flock have turned to sin and
betrayed not only my trust, but the sanctity of this place which
bears your name. Where did I go wrong? Did I lead them astray
somehow? Or is this punishment for a sin I have committed? Please
show me my shape and tell me what I must do?”

A few moments later there came
the sound of someone entering the church. He whipped his head
around to see Inissa Renoch walking down the aisle towards
him.
She had
a hell of a nerve coming here after this morning. When the watch
officer inquired about her, everything had made sense.

“
Cleric Gall
,” she said, “I see you are
praying in the aftermath of this outrage.” He stood up and looked
at her coldly. “Not pleased to see me cleric?” she said in a
mocking fashion.

“
I thought your job was to
protect our churc
h from incidents such as this,” said Isaac. She was playing
with him. “The watch had to intervene and arrest everyone.
Fortunately they did not disrupt Varos’s holy shape.”

“
I am sorry
cleric
, I
was busy with another matter. As soon as I heard about the incident
I made my way here.”

He didn’t believe a single
w
ord that
came out of her mouth. “I see,” he replied and paced towards his
office slowly. “Why don’t we step into my office and discuss how to
resolve the situation?”

“
After you
cleric
,” she
said. He opened the door, stepped in then turned to let her inside.
Suddenly she was right next to him and he felt a burning stab of
pain in his mid-section. He gasped and Inissa pulled the knife out
of his stomach, letting him drop to the floor. He looked up at her
as she cleaned the blade with one of his ceremonial towels. He
watched the red of his blood slowly stain the towel.

“
I
am sorry I had to do this cleric. We
started off so well together. I feel we could have had a good
working and religious relationship. But Mikono does not like loose
ends and after today, you happen to be one.”

He raised his
hand and pointed at
her, “You…you brought tarcaine into my church and…”

Inissa shrugged.
“
It was
convenient.”

Isaac clutched at his wound, he
felt his blood pouring out.
His vision was starting to get dark. “And the…high
cleric, does…he…know?”

“
Of course,” said Inissa, as she
slipped her knife back into her belt holder. “He allows us the use
of his churches and we compensate him for it.”

That
was an even worse betrayal, the high
cleric himself. “You violate your shape…the spirit of Varos…for
mere riches?”

Isaac was struggling to keep
his eyes open now.
She stood there, as if waiting for him to die. “Looks like
you’ll finally get to show Varos your shape earlier than you
thought cleric so it’s not all bad is it? Say hello to Varos and
the Creator for me.”

The last thing he saw before his eyes
closed was Inissa throwing the bloody towel on his
altar.

Chapter 25

“
All stand for Magister
Straiton
,”
said the hearing facilitator. Everyone in the room rose to their
feet. Zuri was at a table near the front, opposite the magister’s
desk. To her left was Headmaster Rai Chek. He was currently acting
as the warden of Warded Spirals until a new archmage was selected.
On her right was Yadra Torres. The necromancer had given her
testimony first as the senior mage; now it was Zuri’s
turn.

The magister slowly made his
way to his
desk and sat down. He had aged heavily since the last time
Zuri had attended a hearing. What little hair he had left had
whitened and his movements were much slower. As he put his hands on
the desk, she noticed that his right one was frozen in a clawed
position, stricken with a nerve condition.

“
Be seated
,” he said in a hoarse voice.
“Now I believe we are due to hear testimony from Mastermage Zuri
Abeliah, are we not?”

“
Yes sir,” said the facilitator.
“Mastermage Abeliah, could you please relate to the magister and
the rest of the hearing committee, the events leading up to the
confrontation at the Blue Tower.”

She nodded and began with her
testimony
.
“It began with the suicide of Kyle Dunn.”

S
he proceeded to give all the details, her
discovery of his diary, the encounter with Paragon Sidonius and her
fight with the archmage. After finishing she took a long sip of
water.

Magister
Straiton said, “We thank you
for the testimony you have provided at this hearing Mastermage
Abeliah. The committee and myself will withdraw to a closed room
and make our final judgments.” The magister and the committee then
proceeded to exit to the closed room on the left.

Zuri to
ok another sip of water. “That’s it
then, nothing left but to wait. Any idea as to what they’ll
decide?” she asked Yadra.

“
They’ll
do something about mental
magic. Everyone know it had potential for addictiveness, but
nothing on the scale that Feyton used it. I know Paragon Phillips
won’t be happy whatever they decide.”

Charl
es Phillips was the paragon of mental
magic and was a heavy advocate of it being allowed more mainstream
use. He argued that its addictiveness was only a problem if an
unskilled mage used it.

“
I’d be more concerned about
Arnette Essex
,” said Rai Chek. “She wants the Scepters to have a more
direct hand in Warded Spirals and she has influence with several
members of the committee.” He flexed the red scales of his arm, a
sign of his concern.

“
Given what’s happened, would
that be so bad?” asked Zuri.

“
Yo
u are joking aren’t you?” asked Rai,
incredulity in his voice. “The military mages in control of the
school? Before you know it Warded Spirals would be nothing more
than a combat training facility, subject to the needs of the
military.”

Zuri held back the angry remark
she had on her tongu
e and said, “I only meant that the school could use
discipline in light of Feyton’s corruption.” She wanted to know
that someone like Feyton could never become archmage
again.

“
In my experience
mastermage,
too much discipline all too often gives way to dictatorial
rule” countered Rai.

“
Try telling that to the two
paragons, four mastermages and five students who have been in comas
since Feyton’s death,” said Zuri. Rai blinked his large green eyes.
He wasn’t used to one of his teachers addressing him in this
manner.

The mages she mentioned had all fallen
into comas at the exact moment Feyton died. It was a symptom of
their mental tampering by the archmage and demonstrated how
wide-spread his control and abuse had been.

Roughly half an
hou
r later
the committee emerged from the closed room and re-took their places
at the front. Once they were seated, Straiton addressed the
room.

“
After careful deliberation, the
committee of this hearing has decided that
, in lieu of the abuse of power and
authority carried out by Archmage William Feyton, there is a
required need for Warded Spirals to have greater scrutiny when
selecting candidates for promotion at all levels. The regular
process will remain in place, but all positions will subject to
approval by a team of high-level mages from the Hydrus Scepters.”
Arnette Essex, deputy chief of the Scepters and one of the
committee members, smiled at this statement.