Goblin Precinct (Dragon Precinct) (5 page)

“Interesting. That means you must have been born in Sorlin.”

“Yes, what of it?” Danthres asked defensively.

“In that case, you must be quite displeased.”

Now Danthres rose from her chair. “What, precisely, do I have to be displeased about? I have nothing against Sorlin, it is one of the few places where those of my kind can—”

“It
was
.” Fanthral’s interruption was in an uncharacteristically quiet tone. “The council disbanded about two months ago.”

Danthres’s face fell. “That’s not possible.”

Torin also got up. “How do you know this?”

Through clenched teeth, Danthres said, “He can’t
possibly
know this. All proper elves stay away from Sorlin. It’s an abomination. If you don’t ask me, ask
any elf
!” She now walked up to Fanthral, jabbing a finger into his chest. “I will not listen to you tell falsehoods about my home.”

“They’re not falsehoods, Lieutenant.” Fanthral, Torin noted, was now referring to her respectfully by rank rather than by the “halfbreed” term of derision. “I was in Sorlin before I came here. You see, lothSerra isn’t the only former elf lord I’ve been chasing. He is, in fact, the last of three. The gem led me to the first two in Sorlin, but by the time I arrived, they had both died of natural causes.”

Torin snorted. “I can’t imagine former elven nobility would be welcome in Sorlin.”

“Then you’d be wrong,” Danthres snapped. “The council’s policy is to allow anybody to come live there if they so desired, as long as they were not disruptive. If the elves he was chasing went there, they would be granted safe entry and be permitted to stay as long as they wished.”

That surprised Torin—but then, Danthres hadn’t been very forthcoming with details about her childhood in that southern land, and Torin had never met anyone else from there in his wanderings.

Were Fanthral not present, Torin would have asked her what exactly she did to get herself kicked out of there, if they were so accommodating to all and sundry.

Then again, if anybody could be disruptive, it was Danthres . . .

“What happened?” Danthres asked.

Fanthral frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

“You said you were in Sorlin two months ago when the council disbanded. I ask you again: What
happened
?”

“I was not told the specifics,” Fanthral finally said. “However, their population has been falling below subsistence levels of late, plus the past few years have been bad for crops.”

Torin nodded. He knew that the southern lands had had less than the usual amount of rainfall these past few years, and that had had a deleterious effect on their crop yields.

“Many have returned to the elven lands since the Elf Queen’s fall,” Fanthral continued, “others have travelled elsewhere. The stigma of being a free thinker has lessened all across Flingaria, and the need for a refuge has similarly decreased. So many departed that they felt they were no longer viable as a community.”

Danthres held up a hand. “Wait, some went back to live among the elves? Sorlin was formed by people who were exiled—”

“By the Elf Queen,” Fanthral said insistently. “Her policies are no longer in place, and the Consortium has officially welcomed all full-blooded elves and their families to come home.”

That elicited a snort from Danthres. “Of course, only the purebreds may come home.”

However, Torin noted the entire phrase. “You said ‘and their families.’”

“Yes.” Fanthral now looked distinctively uncomfortable. “Those who mated with outsiders were permitted to come home as well—along with any offspring they might have produced.”

“How generous,” Danthres said tartly.

“It
was
generous, halfbreed.” Fanthral’s brief bout with politeness had apparently ended. “To allow such filth to pollute our homeland—”

“I take it, General,” Torin said quickly, “that you were against this edict?”

“Of course I was!” Fanthral spoke as if any other answer was absurd—which, to a full-blooded elf of noble birth, it was.

Before Danthres could respond tartly to that—Torin knew that look on her face, and things would come to blows after a couple more exchanges—Jonas mercifully came back into the squadroom.

“Lieutenants, Abrik and Bonce are back with a dead body. They’re waiting by the staircase.”

“Good.” Torin immediately headed toward the exit.

Fanthral moved to do likewise, but Danthres blocked his way. “This conversation will be continued at a later date.”

“There is nothing more to say, Lieutenant. Your home is no more. If it means so much to you, why did you leave?” Then he gave that mirthless smile again, which Torin was already learning to despise. “But, as you say, we will continue this conversation later.”

Danthres scowled at Fanthral before they all went out into the hallway and toward the back, to the narrow, winding staircase that took one to Boneen’s lair in the basement. Abrik and Bonce were standing at the top of the stairs, the former holding the corpse by the ankles, the latter from under the shoulders.

“We ain’t actually, y’know, goin’ down there, like?” Abrik asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Torin replied with a smile. “Don’t worry, Boneen isn’t there.”

Bonce shuddered. “That’s what worries me. If he
is
down there, I know what’s gonna happen: he bitches at me for invading his space and makes me leave as fast as possible. I don’t
mind
that. I’m
used
to that.”

Fanthral regarded Torin. “A disagreeable sort, this Boneen?”

“On a good day, he’s disagreeable. Regardless, we’ll be fine. Come.”

Danthres had grabbed a couple of torches and handed one to Torin, who led the way down. His partner waited until Fanthral and the two guards went ahead before bringing up the rear. This way they would have maximum light.

Torin also knew that she let him go first so
he
would have to deal with the gryphon.

The group went down the winding staircase, Torin pulling his cloak of office around himself as it grew colder.

“Your mage doesn’t light the staircase?” Fanthral asked testily.

Torin shrugged. “He generally only enters via a Teleport Spell, and he does not encourage others to enter at all.”

At the bottom, Torin was greeted by the massive wooden door. There was no other access to the landing save for the staircase behind him. The door’s ornate knocker matched that of the gryphon image etched on the chest of Torin’s leather armor.

The moment his boots hit the floor of the landing, the gryphon’s beak started to move, and a squeaky voice came from it.

“What do you want?”

Fanthral jumped behind Torin, which gave him a certain amused satisfaction. “We need to deposit a body in Boneen’s laboratory.”

“Who are you?”

“Lieutenant Torin ban Wyvald, with Lieutenant Danthres Tresyllione and Guards Abrik and Bonce.”

“What case?”

“The death of Elthor lothSerra.”

A lengthy pause followed.

Torin looked back at Fanthral. “Sergeant Jonas should have already filed the initial paperwork for the case with Ep. If so, the gryphon will let us in.”

“Ep?” Fanthral asked.

“The imp that manages our files.”

A click then sounded form the door, with the squeaky voice saying, “You may bring the body inside. The sprite will give you instructions. If you touch anything that you are not specifically instructed by the sprite to touch, be aware that neither I nor my caster will be responsible for the consequences.”

The gryphon beak stopped moving, and Torin pushed the large door inward.

Entering behind him, Fanthral said, “I see what you mean by disagreeable.”

“You have no idea.” Torin put out his torch, as the windowless room was lit by what he assumed to be a magickal source. Several tables held bodies that were glowing with the blue tinge of a Preservation Spell, and there were shelves covered with parchments and various other objects, including a large number of jars labeled in a language Torin couldn’t read, but knew to be the written language created by the Brotherhood of Wizards. Only mages could read the words in that script.

Abrik and Bonce brought the body in, with Danthres coming up behind them. “Lord and Lady, I hate coming down here. The smell alone . . .”

Fanthral’s nose was wrinkling, and Torin found himself grateful that he didn’t have the sensitive nose of an elf—or a half-elf. “Is that—goblin dung?”

“We’ve never had the courage to ask,” Torin said. “However—”

Before he could complete his thought, there was a brief flash of light, and then a small, green, winged female creature appeared. She had abnormally wide eyes for her size, no obvious nose, and a tiny mouth. She flew around the room with a tiny buzzing noise, finally alighting on one of the empty tables.

“Body place will you table on this.”

Abrik and Bonce looked at each other, shrugged, and then placed the body on the table. The sprite lifted off just before they did so.

Then the sprite flew around the body seven times. When she was done, Elthor had the same blue tinge as the other corpses in the room. Another flash of light, and the sprite was gone.

“That,” Danthres said, “will keep the body preserved until Boneen deigns to once again grace us with his presence.”

“Very well.” Fanthral nodded and clapped his hands. “Now, from what Osric told me, your procedure is to examine the place where the crime occurred, yes?”

“No,” Danthres snapped.

Torin winced. “Well, yes, actually, that is
technically
our procedure, but without our M.E., there is little that can be done—”

“Are you saying that you can do nothing without the help of this mage?” Fanthral asked archly.

Regarding the elf coolly, Torin said, “If you would let me finish, sir—there is little that can be done so many days after the event.”

Danthres added, “Haven’s Way is a well-trodden thoroughfare. If we can arrive at the scene at a time close to when it happened, then there might be evidence that can aid us in catching the perpetrator. But outdoor scenes are impossible under the best of circumstances, and these are far from that. Boneen’s peel-back is truly all that will be of use to us at this late date.”

Again, Fanthral folded his arms. “Captain Osric told me that you two were his best investigators. He went on at some length on the subject. Indeed, he informed me that it was the two of you who caught the man who killed Olthar lothSirhans. He informed me of this when he assigned me to you. That means that you will do as I say—as a courtesy to a visiting dignitary.”

Danthres rolled her eyes. “‘Dignitary’? That’s what you call yourself?”

“It’s what the Consortium calls me, and what Lord Albin and Lady Meerka call me. If you have an issue with my instructions—”

Torin deliberately stepped between Danthres and Fanthral. Across the room, Abrik and Bonce were exchanging nervous glances, looking like they wanted to be anywhere but here.

“There is,” Torin said, “no need to bring the Lord and Lady into this. If you wish us to investigate Haven’s Way, then, by all means, we shall investigate it.”

“Excellent. Let us proceed.”

With that, Fanthral stormed out of Boneen’s lair. Torin heard his boots clomping on the winding stairs going back up.

Bonce and Abrik hurried after the elf, seeing his exit as the excuse they needed to get the hell out.

Danthres just looked at Torin, who pointed an accusatory finger at his partner. “Do
not
look upon me as if this is
my
fault, Danthres. You’ve annoyed far too many members of the court as it is. Sooner or later, you’re going to annoy the wrong one—or worse, the Lord and Lady themselves.”

“Oh, I know this isn’t
your
fault, Torin.” She smiled. “Nice rant, though.”

“Thank you,” Torin said dryly.

“No, I blame my father’s people for producing such a perfect ass as Fanthral. Come, let us waste our time on Haven’s Way and get that much further from finding the truth.”

“What’s to find?” Torin left Boneen’s lair, waiting for Danthres to come out behind him so he could close the door. Upon doing so, the lock made a clicking sound. “LothSerra died of an overdose of Bliss. The rest of this is wishful thinking on Fanthral’s part. We simply require Boneen to return to verify this fact, and we can send the general on his merry way.”

Danthres gave Torin a smile. “All right, I know why
I
dislike the shitbrain so much—what do
you
have against him?”

As they ambled up the winding staircase, Torin provided Danthres with a brief précis of his encounters with then-General Fanthral during the war.