Chapter 9

“THIS IS A WASTE OF time, Trick.”

Satrine waited at the gates of the Callwood Estate in East Maradaine, while Kellman was still getting out of the wagon. Kellman was dragging his heels even more today than most days, which was saying something. “You have a few too many beers last night with that clerk from the Protector’s Office?”

“Nothing like that,” he said, a slight blush creeping to his cheeks. “Just . . . we got a few cases on our desk, so why are you fired up on this one?”

“Instinct,” she said.

“That’s some Minox sewage,” he said. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” She rang the gate bell. “But you’ve got to admit, this smells hinky. Break in at a rich manor house, and they call in the Constabulary because they want the thief found and caught, but no one is talking about what was taken? Doesn’t that stoke a little fire in you?”

“It’s odd, yeah,” Kellman said.

“So, we’ll do a show about checking out the scene. Looking for boot prints, all that.”

A servant was coming up the lane to open the gate. “Call in Leppin and his crew?”

“That might be more show than we need. We won’t crack this with boot prints.”

“What’s the plan?”

“Follow along,” she said quickly as the servant reached them.

The servant—a young woman in a housemaid uniform—opened the gate. “Terribly sorry for making you wait,” she said, in an accent that sounded back country, from a village outside Solindell in the northern part of the Sharain. “You’ve come back here to investigate the robbery?”

Satrine matched the accent. “Right on that, miss. Hoped to save everyone here some trouble, we were, but I’m fearful we’re going to have to turn this place right upside down.” She walked down the lane to the house, patting the girl on the arm. “I know it’s frightful business, and I’m proper sorry about the upset it’ll all be.”

“If that’s what needs be,” the girl said, her darting eyes betraying her confidence. “I’m sure his lordship will be very grateful for your service.”

“It’s what we do,” Kellman said, raising an eyebrow at Satrine.

“The real shame of it is, we’ve got so little right now,” Satrine said. “But you know how these things go.”

“I have no idea how these things go,” the maid said.

“Oh, of course,” Satrine said. “Because you’re a good and decent girl, aren’t ya? I bet everyone in here loves you, and you are so fond of each of them.”

“We—” Her voice faltered a bit. “We are proud to serve the Callwood family as best we can. Everyone here.”

“And Lord Callwood loves all of you as well, I’m certain. I know how a noble soul like him knows his duty is to look out for the people below him.”

“It’ll kill him to have to fire someone,” Kellman said.

“Fire, what?” the maid asked.

“I mean, we have to do this formal-like,” Satrine said. “Sit with his lordship, and then interview each person on the staff with him. Get down to the bottom of things.”

“Each person?” the maid asked. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, and I know how frightful this sounds, but we’re going to need to get to the bottom of things, and that means . . .” She paused for dramatic effect, giving a glance to Kellman. “He’s going to ask some indelicate questions, miss. That’s just the nature of it. We’re going to have to figure where everyone was at each hour of the night in question. Where they were, who they were with, what they might have heard. Secrets will come out, and his lordship will have to take steps.”

“Secrets?” the maid asked. They were now at the back door to the kitchen. “I mean, these are goodly people who work here. None of them—” Her voice cracked for a moment. “None of them deserve to have their personal matters turned upside down.”

“I agree with you,” Satrine said. “I mean, I would hate if someone lost their position over some . . . personal matter that isn’t related to this investigation. But of course, as these things go, that’s sure to happen.”

The young woman’s face flushed, and her hand reached out to Satrine’s arm, quivering ever so slightly. “Perhaps—” she said, and then started again with her voice a bit more under control. “Perhaps you could have a discreet word with Mister Jescint in the stables before you begin all that. That might . . . it might . . . illuminate your investigation.”

“Perhaps we should,” Satrine said. She pointed behind the house. “Are the stables over there?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the maid said. “Shall I let the head of staff know you are here?”

“Please,” Satrine said. “But we’ll have that discreet word first.”

“Very good,” the maid said, and went inside.

Kellman let out a low whistle. “You are an evil woman. How did you know she knew something?”

“I really didn’t,” Satrine said. “But everyone has secrets they don’t want getting out, and everyone is afraid to lose their job. A little pressure, and some time is saved.” She led the way to the stables.

“So, is Jescint our thief?” he asked.

“Doubt it,” Satrine said. “If anything, he was either bribed or blackmailed to facilitate something for the real thieves.”

“Like leave a back gate unlocked for them?” Kellman asked. He clucked his tongue uncomfortably. “Yeah, that tracks.”

“Let’s find out,” she said, raising her hand to knock on the stable door.

“One thing,” Kellman said before she knocked. “Let’s give him a chance to be clean with us, and if he does, otherwise leave him be. He’s the small fish.”

“Why, Kellman,” she said gently. “You’re kinder than you let on.”

“He’s a working guy, like us,” Kellman said quietly. “Let’s give him a chance.”

“Sure,” she said. “Let’s see where this takes us.”

Minox was definitely out of his element, and far from his comfort. He stood outside the Blue Hand Chapterhouse—abandoned, by all outside appearances—ready to commit what was definitively an act of trespass, in the company of a young woman—a stranger—with an army blade on her hip.

And yet he felt calm and certainty. This was what was necessary.

Miss Nell also seemed calm about what they were about to do. Her sober demeanor had briefly dissolved when he rode her on the back of his pedalcycle—her whoops and shouts a combination of fear and excitement—but now that she was back on her feet and the pedalcycle secured out of sight, she was once again tranquil.

“What we are about to do is in violation of the law, Miss Nell,” he told her. “I want you to understand that.”

“Everything about these Blue Hand bastards is a violation,” she said. “Vee said they were gone, but—”

“They seem to be,” he said. He pointed to the steps of the stoop, the handle of the door. “The level of dust and debris indicates that, if nothing else, no one has come or gone in months. At least using the front entrance. Hardly definitive, but notable.”

“So do we kick the door open?” she asked.

“It would have a certain degree of satisfaction,” he said. “But I insist on some measure of legal appropriateness, despite everything we are doing.” He climbed the steps and knocked loudly. “Hello, is anyone about?”

She followed him up to the door. “Isn’t that going to give us away?”

“If one of them is in residence, I’d prefer a frontal confrontation over being taken by surprise, where they might have advantage over us.”

She shrugged, and pounded on the door herself. “Hello, I’ve got a complaint to lodge with you kidnapping, creepy, rabbit-wearing bastards!”

“Rabbit wearing?”

“It’s a long story,” she said.

“I’m satisfied we’ve fulfilled the requirements of decency, if not law,” Minox said. “Now, let’s see if I can manage some subtlety.”

He channeled just a hint of magic, a bare fraction of the torrent that flowed through his hand, and with it reached into the latch of the door and twisted it. The door slowly creaked open.

“Nice,” Miss Nell said. “I thought you were Uncircled.”

“No formal training,” he said, stepping across the threshold. “But my current situation demands I learn control over every aspect of my power.”

“Because of your hand?” she asked.

A flash of anger coursed through him, but he tamped it down. It was not reasonable to be angry at this young woman for her deduction. “How did you know?”

“Vee—Veranix. He told me that it’s changed somehow. He could connect to it like he can the rope he carries. And you could connect to the rope.”

“There is some—resonance there, yes.” The antechamber of the house had a level of dust that indicated no regular occupation for several months. A glance about the sitting room revealed the same. And the scent pervading the place was inhuman.

“So did your hand become napranium?” she asked.

“Become what?” That was a term he was wholly unfamiliar with. “I suggest we focus our search of the house on finding a basement.”

“Why a basement?”

“I have specific suspicions of how the kidnappers are operating—specifically using underground tunnels—so the basement is a logical point of examination.”

She glanced about. “Most houses like this, the way down is from the kitchen, which is usually back that way. Do you know what napranium is?” She took the lead walking down one hallway.

“It is not a term I have come across before.”

“All right, first of all, Veranix should do better by you, given what you’ve done to help him. Get you some Magic Theory books. When we’re done with whatever this is, I’ll see what I can do about that.”

Minox stopped mid-step. “You would do that?”

“I mean, I’ve done some reading. A lot goes over my head, like about how gemstones—especially cut ones—can divert and alter the flow of numina—”

“Numina?”

“The—” She turned and looked at him. “The energy of magic. Did you not—sorry. Rude of me. We’re definitely going to get you some books, Inspector.”

“Thank you, Miss Nell.”

“Napranium is a metal. It’s what the rope is made of. Or, more correctly, very thin fibers of it have been woven into the rope. And the cloak he wears.” She entered the kitchen, which stank of filth and decay. Clearly, when the Blue Hand had left the house for the last time, no one had taken the care to wash dishes or put things away. Plates and bowls covered in mold, and no aspect of the original food was remotely recognizable.

“It’s a metal with magical properties?” he asked.

“Not exactly, but it . . . as I understand, it draws numina to itself, focusing it, and accepts it more readily. That’s why Veranix can control the rope so easily. With a normal rope, it would be much harder.”

“Intriguing,” Minox said. Not wanting to linger in the fetid kitchen, he went to the door that should lead to the basement. It was notable because it was reinforced with iron, and a large bolt-latch held it shut. “That is troubling, to say the least.”

“I wonder what they wanted to keep down there,” she said. “Saints knew they were up to some strange business.”

“As many people in this city are,” he said. He drew up his crossbow. “I once encountered a bear someone was keeping in a dug-out pit in a back room.”

“You think there’s a bear down there?” she asked, her voice cracking.

“I think you should draw that sword and be prepared for any eventuality,” he said. He lifted the heavy metal bar of the latch and slid it open with a hard clanging sound that echoed through the house. Cautiously he opened the door, revealing a wooden staircase that descended into darkness.

“Do you have a lantern?” she asked.

He held up his left hand and made it glow, while training his crossbow down the steps. He went down slowly, with her right behind, until he reached the landing.

The room was chaotic madness. Slateboards with scrawls and writings that made Evoy’s ravings seem sane. Shelves filled with jars of chemicals of every color, and more jars with bizarre objects suspended in liquid. Another shelf covered with a heavy tarp. Several tables with copper shackles on them, and other devices of metal and gear work that made Minox’s blood run cold.

“By every blessed saint,” Miss Nell said in a hoarse whisper. She walked over to the shelves, peering at the jars. “Are these dead animals? Is this a rat or a toad?”

Minox went to examine what she was looking at. In all honesty, the dead creature floating in the jar could be either one, or neither, or both at the same time.

“Some wicked business has been done here, that is certain,” he said.

“Magical experiments?” she offered. “They were the ones who had commissioned the rope and the cloak in the first place, and it was for some ceremony to create a creature of pure magic.”

That was interesting. “How so?”

“I don’t know, exactly, but—that was the bit with Lord Sirath wearing the dead rabbit on his head. Veranix stopped it and . . . well, they’re all gone now.”

“All except for Ithaniel Senek,” Minox said. On one of the tables he found a stack of journals, all of them with “I. Senek” emblazoned in gold lettering on the spine. Opening the top book, he found pages filled with notes and sketches and symbols.

“Who is he?” Miss Nell asked.

“He is why we came,” Minox said. He thumbed through the notebook, and on immediate inspection, most of what was written was beyond his understanding. “My partner rescued a group of kidnapped children who were to be delivered to him. You said you’ve read some Magic Theory, yes?”

“I’ve gleaned a little,” she said, looking over his shoulder. She stopped him from turning a page, mouthing out the complicated words on the page. “But this is nothing I’m familiar with.”

“Do you know anyone who would be able to make sense of this?”

“Professor Alimen?” she offered. Minox remembered that man screaming at him on campus last month.

“Not my preference.”

“Delmin, maybe,” she said. “I know a couple others who could really break it down, but they’re no longer in Maradaine.” She turned a few more pages, revealing anatomical sketches, drawings of human bodies with lines, circles, and equations highlighting specific points. Each drawing was more and more grotesque.

Minox glanced around the room in disgust. “Everything in here is evidence of some sinister action. I hadn’t thought this through. I . . .” He paced about, emotions churning in his gut. “I am a fool, clearly, thinking I had the tools, the knowledge, to investigate this on my own, outside the bounds of the law.”

“Inspector!” she said sharply. He turned to her, and she gestured to his hand.

It was glowing bright blue. He hadn’t been paying attention to his magic, letting it churn and embroil in him, bleeding out his hand.

“Sorry,” he said.

“No, don’t apologize,” she said. She pointed over to the tarp-covered shelves. There was a similar blue glow coming from underneath the tarp, and a scratchy, rattling sound came from underneath.

“That is decidedly unsettling,” Minox said, approaching the shelf. Miss Nell raised the sword as he pulled down the tarp.

Cages—five of them—occupied by monstrous creatures that were neither cat nor rabbit. All of them glowing blue. All of them were shuddering, like they were having some sort of seizure.

“Blessed Saints!” Miss Nell exclaimed. “What . . . what are they?”

“I’m not sure,” he said, noticing that his hand was glowing stronger, despite his attempts to pull in the magic flowing into it. “I think I’m affecting them. Or they’re affecting me.”

All five started smashing their heads against their cages. Minox jumped back, away from the shelf.

“Should we do something?” Miss Nell asked, daring to move closer. “They’re suffering.”

“They could be dangerous,” Minox said. “Or even diseased.”

She glanced at the tarp. “The dust on that, it’s covered the shelf for weeks. How are they even alive?”

“A disturbing mystery,” Minox said as the smashing of the cages grew louder. The doors of the cages were about to snap. “Miss Nell, move away.”

She stepped away, but only to grab a leather glove off one of the tables and put it on.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Something foolish,” she said.

One of the creatures broke out of its cage and leaped to the floor. She snatched it out of the air with her gloved hand. It shrieked and squealed, and attempted to bite her hand with its wild, misshapen teeth. Its blue glow grew more intense.

“What are you hoping to accomplish?” he asked.

She held it up, far enough from her face that its paws couldn’t reach her. “I’ve seen a lot of animals, and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

He moved a bit closer, cautiously, and looked back to the dead creatures in the jar. The beast, whatever it was, seemed decidedly unnatural. Its left legs did not match its right. One ear was definitely lapin, while the other was feline. “It’s like two different animals were shoved into each other.”

“Maybe that’s exactly what it is,” she offered.

“Dark, twisted magic,” Minox said. “I wonder if we can safely bring this creature, and some of this other material, to the examinarian at my stationhouse.”

“I thought this couldn’t be used as evidence,” she said. “We’re outside the law.”

“We are, but Mister Leppin is the sort who would allow his curiosity to trump the statute. He might have insights we—”

The other cages all broke open, and the creatures bounded to the floor. Minox braced himself for an attack, but none came. Instead, all of the beasts scrambled to the same spot on the floor, and worked furiously at clawing and scratching the boards there.

“That’s very curious,” Miss Nell said. Belting the sword, she glanced around until she spotted a broom. “Get ready to check it out.”

With the one creature still in her gloved hand, she pounced at the others, broom at the ready, and swept them from the spot on the floor. She kept them away from the spot with well-placed bats, and Minox moved in quickly to the area of the floor that had their interest. A quick inspection revealed what was interesting about it: a trapdoor, almost imperceptible. Minox opened it up, revealing a dark stairwell going deep into a stone corridor.

The four creatures hurled themselves down the steps into the darkness, their blue glow fading out of sight.

“Well, that’s quite disturbing,” Miss Nell said.

“I concur,” Minox said, getting to his feet. She still had the one creature in her hand, struggling and squirming to get out of her grasp. “But I feel we would be remiss in not pursuing this new lead.”

“You mean—go down there?”

“I do,” he said. “Those creatures may have been . . . activated by my magic, but they’re definitely drawn to something specific. And as much as it terrifies me—” And fear was clawing at his heart at the idea of what he was about to propose. “Whatever Mister Senek and the Blue Hand were involved in, how it connects to abducted children and—”

Children. He looked at the tables.

“Saints above and sinners below,” he said in a horrified whisper.

“What?” she asked.

“The tables. Their size. Where the shackles are placed.”

Perfect for a small child.

Her face went pale, and then she looked at the creature in her hand. “Do you . . . do you think he started with animals and then . . .”

Anger had flooded over the fear. This monster was taking children to perform unspeakable horrors upon them.

He knocked over one table, and then another, and then tore open drawer after drawer on the shelf.

“What are you doing?” Miss Nell asked.

He found what he needed. “Looking for this,” he said, taking out a long piece of cord. He tied it around the neck of the strange creature and held onto the other end. “Let it go.”

She did so, and it surged forward to the stairs leading down, straining at the cord.

“All right,” he said. “I’m going to see where it wants to go. I welcome your company, but I understand if you are not inclined.”

“Blazes to that,” she said. “I’ve got your back.”

“Appreciated,” he said, wrapping the cord around his left hand, which was still glowing blue. He attempted to mute the magic flowing through it, but that was to no avail.

“Inspector,” she said cautiously. “Does your hand normally do that?”

“It will illuminate with magic at times,” he said. “Though usually only from my intention or negligence. I am troubled that I am unable to dampen it.”

“I’m more troubled, given where we are, that you have a blue hand,” she said.

So obvious he hadn’t even thought of it. “Of course. Something in here is affecting me, like the creatures were. Perhaps it is connected to the larger ethos of this particular Circle.”

“Perhaps you should explain what happened to your hand,” she said. “It’ll be a good distraction as we follow a twisted rabbit-cat down a dark underground cavern.”

“Very well,” he said as he let the creature lead them down. “It started with a murder case four months ago . . .”

Jerinne found the tunnel that Maresh called “the underbridge” far more disturbing than any of the narrow passages they crawled through to get here. This was a marvel of engineering, hidden under the city. The idea that something like this would have been built and then nearly forgotten boggled her mind.

But it was also disturbing because it was almost a straight mile, with no side passages, with the roar of the Maradaine River overhead.

“This has stood for centuries?” she asked.

“It would seem,” Dayne answered. He glanced at the roof. “But something about that sound makes you think it’ll collapse any moment, right?”

“Right,” she said. “I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Nothing to worry about.”

“Absolutely secure.”

“My heart isn’t slamming a Yoleanne beat right now.”

“I’m completely calm.”

“Both of you, hush,” Hemmit said. “Have you seen those two . . . people at all?”

“No sign,” Dayne said. “Of them or anyone else.”

“Though this tunnel, it’s definitely in use,” Lin said. She waved her hands, and the light she emanated shifted from white to purple, and the floor lit up as well: footprints, wagon wheels, animal tracks. “Used a lot.”

Jerinne couldn’t help but notice the size of some of those footprints. “Look how huge those are. They make your feet look tiny.”

“I’m more noticing how small all of those are,” Dayne said. He pointed to a whole set of them. “Possibly a dozen children driven through here. So we’re on the right track.”

That, at least, was heartening. Coming down here wasn’t some wild horse chase.

“Do you hear something up ahead?” Lin asked.

Jerinne turned her head to listen. “I’m just hearing the rush of the river. But . . . is it getting louder?”

“I think so,” Dayne said. “What does that mean?”

The answer revealed itself in a few hundred feet. The passage opened up again, and Lin increased her brightness. The chamber was bisected by a raging river that came out of one cavern and poured into another. A narrow bridge of wood and rope spanned the river to the other side of the chamber, where there were dark tunnels leading off in several directions.

“A rutting underground river?” Maresh exclaimed. “How?”

“There are so many ‘how’ and ‘why’ questions at this point,” Hemmit said. “But it’s clear we need to cross and then figure out which direction to go.”

Jerinne went to the bridge and tested her weight on the board. “Seems all right, but I don’t think we should all cross at once.”

“Wise,” Maresh said.

“I’ll bring up the rear,” Dayne said. “If it’s going to break on any of us, it’ll be me.”

Jerinne nodded, and took his meaning. She started across, feeling the sway and creak of each step. It held, but she definitely found her nerve being tested as she went on, especially with the roar and crash of the rapid water below her. She reached the other side and let out her breath. “Good,” she said. “Come on.”

Maresh called something to her, but she couldn’t hear him over the rush of the river. She just waved for him to come, and he started crossing. As he made it to her side, Lin started her traverse. Dayne paced about anxiously as they went about it. She knew he was uncomfortable down here, and she hoped they would find what they were looking for and get out of this bizarre underground network beneath the city. Where even were they at this point? Somewhere near Keller Cove? Or Inemar?

Lin finished crossing, and Hemmit started when Dayne looked over to Jerinne and shouted something. She couldn’t hear, but his face told her everything. She spun about, shield and sword out.

At least a dozen people, all in dark robes, carrying blades and cudgels. Jerinne stepped forward to put herself in front of Maresh and Lin. Hold these people off. Give Dayne a chance to cross. Protect the others.

Four of them came pounding on Jerinne. She blocked with her shield, parried with her blade, dodged and ducked, but while she was able to avoid getting hit, she couldn’t press them away, couldn’t get a shot back at any of them. Holding them off was all she could manage.

“Dayne!” she called out. She risked a glance across the river.

Dayne wasn’t waiting, charging out onto the bridge while Hemmit was still part of the way across. Jerinne couldn’t keep her focus on that; she had to keep fighting off these robed people.

A thunderous crack filled the chamber with a blinding flash, and several of the figures stumbled away from Lin. Lin swooned, and while Maresh caught her before she hit the ground, the robed figures grabbed the two of them.

“No!” Jerinne shouted, slashing out with her blade. She caught the robe of one of the men, tearing it off.

He wasn’t a man.

She didn’t know what he was.

His head was tilted to one side, and his face looked like it had poured off onto one shoulder; like his flesh had been a candle, half melted down. And his skin—purplish-brown, covered in boils.

Jerinne screamed and smashed him in his misshapen face with her shield. She had to get to Lin and Maresh, who were being dragged away. Maresh struggled vainly; Lin looked like she had no fight in her. Jerinne had to get to them, had to save them. She took the blows coming from the beasts, hitting back hard and fierce.

“Dayne, I need you!” she called.

“I’m—” Dayne shouted. One of the robed horrors charged onto the bridge into Hemmit, and the two of them fell back onto Dayne. One of the ropes holding up the bridge snapped, and the whole structure flipped. In a moment, Hemmit, Dayne, and the robed figure tumbled into the rushing water. A moment later they were swept out of sight.

“Dayne!” Jerinne shouted.

Three of those beasts grabbed her, but she was not about to let them get hold of her. Savagely, without grace or form, she spun on them and slashed with her sword. They pummeled at her, but she didn’t care. Days and days of training with Vien and Amaya, pushing her body to its limit, had made pain a familiar companion. She pushed through it, ignored it. She didn’t care about the fist crossing into her jaw, and she returned the blow twice as hard. She couldn’t do any less. She had to stop these monsters, put them down.

She hammered one with her shield while driving her sword into the gut of another. She pulled out the blade and cracked it against his skull. Then again. One more grabbed her arm and she paid that back by snapping it clean with a blow from the shield. Then a kick to the knee, dropping him. Then another to the skull. And another.

And—

That was it, he wasn’t moving.

None of them were.

It was just her, with four of those beasts dead at her feet.

Just her.

Everyone else was gone. Hemmit and Dayne swept off in the river, and Maresh and Lin dragged away by these horrors.

She closed her eyes briefly and offered prayers to Saint Julian and Saint Benton, to watch over Dayne and Hemmit. She had to trust they’d be well, that she couldn’t do anything for them.

Lin and Maresh needed rescuing. That was her duty, and she would not fail it.

Not again.