Later, I sit in the mostly-empty conference room with Sareas, the Captain, and inspector Malartis from Investigations.

It’s not exactly an interrogation, it’s a debriefing, but Sareas eyes are hard, and the Captain is asking a lot of questions.

I can’t blame them for being suspicious. How could we be so stupid? I can’t believe that Korentis showed me xir ID, with xir real name, and I thought that everything was in order.

I keep going through the memory, trying to follow my own thoughts, trying to understand how I could believe Korentis’ words.

The answer is magic, of course. Korentis didn’t need to convince me - xe used magic to make me believe what xe wanted me to believe. And the most horrible part is, I don’t even remember being forced, I don’t remember anything like a fight in my mind. For a few minutes, Korentis spoke, and xir words became true to me.

My hands begin trembling, and I clench my fists so hard my nails leave indentations in my palm. I feel like when a drunk cadet harassed me at one of the Academy’s parties, except this is ten times worse, because Korentis didn’t violate my body, xe violated my mind.

Lady of Pain, how can I know if I’m still affected by xir Lie? How could I ever trust my own thoughts again?

Silver. Silver is the only thing keeping us safe from magic, even in our own minds.

I want every Liar hanged. And Korentis first.

“Please clarify,” the inspector asks, sounding confused, after checking her notes, “what made you initially suspicious about the student?”

Fortunately, Aeniki prepared us for the question, while we were busy freaking out and pointlessly chasing mage Korentis.

“An undergrad student without Stemlink implants seemed the perfect profile for an infiltrator,” I say. “That wasn’t enough by itself, of course, but the student was obviously nervous. I decided to check xir ID, and I noticed xir accent was unusual for someone who grew up in Landfall. Again, that wasn’t proof of criminal behavior, but it made me question xem further.”

“You were suspicious, and yet you didn’t take additional precautions,” Sareas says, harsh. What’s worse, he’s right.

“We were careless, especially in not wearing helmets,” I say. “That said, I was ready to take out my sword to quickly overwhelm the mage in case xe used xir powers. I didn’t consider the possibility of a Liar’s Path attack. That was remiss of me.”

Sareas looks surprised. The captain shrugs.

“We all know you repeatedly suggested wearing full suits during guard duty, Private Cerical,” she says, in a long-suffering tone. Then, turning to Sareas: “While Private Cerical didn’t follow her own advice, she can hardly be blamed for it, since even her superiors went without helmets. And we’re not here to assign blame, Lieutenant. There will be a misconduct investigation if that becomes necessary, but we should focus on the magical crime, and its perpetrators.”

I almost snap back at her - we should discuss our failure, and all the failures that led to it! Investigations didn’t flag the student as suspicious, the Captain herself didn’t give the order to wear combat armor, and we aren’t training systematically against lies! And I was an idiot, I didn’t expect a Lie, even if the Path of Lies is the obvious choice for an infiltrator.

But the Captain is right about one thing - we should focus on the mages, and what we know about them. So I shut up, waiting for more questions.

“So, Korentis Lied to make you believe xe was a regular student?” Inspector Malartis asks.

“Not exactly,” I say. “Xe admitted being a mage, and even gave us xir real name. Xe claimed that mages had a right to enroll in the university.”

Sareas curses. “How could that Lie make sense?” He asks. “Aren’t believable lies supposed to work better?”

“I concur that’s a strange choice,” I say. “As far as I understand, simply claiming xir fake ID was valid would have been easier, and it would have worked just as well. I’m not sure why xe made a more complex lie. But it’s not the first time the subject uses very crude, unbelievable lies, backing them with a lot of magic.”

“What’s the measured theta level?” The Captain asks, looking at Malartis.

“It peaked at 1.7,” she answers. “Xe had good control, xe managed to keep theta activity very low, until it jumped at 1.5. Consistent with a young rogue mage of considerable talent, who received non-Council training.”

Almost second level. That makes Korentis twice as powerful as xe’d been when xe robbed the jewelry. I’m not sure what ‘power’ means when speaking of Liars, though.

“Didn’t Mage Jaeleri do anything?” The captain asks. Sareas snorts.

“He claims that he attempted a defensive spell as soon as he felt Korentis breach the Veil,” I say, “but wasn’t fast enough, and the Lie made him forget what he was doing. That isn’t surprising, given his previous performance.”

“Wait, Jaeleri isn’t your supporting mage, though,” the Captain says, frowning. “Why wasn’t Althea with you?”

Because not only Jaeleri is useless, he had whined and begged to stay away from the Black Door.

“Some of us - especially our drone specialist and Mage Jaeleri - were affected by the artifact called the Black Door,” I answer, more diplomatically. “So we swapped some members between teams Blue and Green.”

“You should have asked permission for that,” Sareas points out, cold.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“The Lieutenant is correct,” the Captain says, mildly reproachful, “while it’s a minor infraction, team composition isn’t for NCOs to decide. That said, we would surely have approved it - beside the reported issues with proximity to the Black Door, it makes sense to keep the more powerful mage near the more sensitive site.”

“About that,” the investigator asks, “any indication of what the mage wanted?”

I think back at what Korentis said to us, before the Lie. “Xe claimed to be there to take out a relic, with authorization,” I say. “Of course, we shouldn’t take that at face value. But all I know is that xe spent about five minutes inside the vault, and only carried a shoulder bag, so xe couldn’t take anything bulky. There are cameras and theta detectors in the Vaults, we should be able to get a recording since it’s a magical incident.”

Malartis grunts. “Xe didn’t lie on that,” she says, “xe actually had a valid authorization, which xe obtained from a professor, using very little or no magic. Xe took out of the Vault the minor relic xe had an authorization for. But xe left the relic, with its case, on a desk as xe left.”

I frown. “Xe left it? Are we sure it’s the same one xe took?”

The Captain nods. “The university is confident it’s the same, and it wasn’t altered. Apparently, it’s a spinning top which doesn’t do much. It probably wasn’t xir real target, but the recording shows xe didn’t take anything else.”

“A Lie-path mage can fake a camera recording,” I point out, “by making light illusions.”

Malartis makes a dismissive gesture. “There are sensitive theta detectors in the Vault. We’ll conduct a detailed forensic investigation, but I don’t expect much from it.”

“So, what did the mage achieve? Who does xe work for?” I press on. “And why leave the relic xe had taken? Even if it wasn’t xir real target, it would have put us on a false trail.”

“Those are interesting questions,” Sareas says, suddenly distracted, as he shows the Captain his tablets. “But maybe we’ll have a chance to ask them to Korentis xemself, soon. Are you in condition to conduct a raid, Blademaster?”

I take a moment to process his words. I expected a punishment, or at least an investigation, not an operation.

“Yes,” I say. I feel drained, but I know it’s only emotional exhaustion, I’m not so tired I can’t work. “We were only a few hours into our shift. I could don combat armor and be operative within ten minutes. What’s the target?”

“Finally, the university started to cooperate properly,” Malartis says. “So, they shared their data about Korentis’ fake identity. Our signal analyst cross-referenced it with various public feeds, and apparently she found at least one likely associate, less skilled with Lies. She just tracked her as she entered a flat in the University neighborhood, with an unknown young person who is probably another of Korentis’ fake identities.”

My heart races faster at the prospect of catching Korentis. “I’ll be ready in five minutes,” I say, unable to keep eagerness from seeping into my voice.

***

“I hate liars,” Sorivel says, seething with rage, as we don our armors. “I could tell that Korentis was lying! Not as easily as usual, but when xe started with the bullshit, I knew every word was false! And even so I believed xem. Doctor, preserve me, that makes no sense!”

I’m tired and sticky with sweat, I would really like a bath, but even more than that, I’d really like to drag Mage Korentis into a silver cell.

“Liars suck, there’s a reason the Council forbids their path,” Althea says. “But remember there was nothing you could have done. Korentis is a mentalist - a mind-manipulating Liar. Xe can make anyone believe anything, for a while.” Her mouth is set in a hard line. “The one who could have resisted is Jaeleri, but of course he failed.”

“Jaeleri’s useless, and he lied to us, too. Regular lied, not magical lied.” Sorivel answers. Then he punches the wall, hard. I stare in surprise - I’ve never seen him even remotely this angry. “And so did Malartis, may the Gunner nuke her from orbit! What the Abyss is wrong with this base? Is anyone telling us the truth?!”

“Wait, what?” I ask, “the Investigator lied?”

“And what about Jaeleri?” Althea adds. “I so want to get him removed for misconduct. Or hanged for treason.”

Sorivel opens and closes his fist, his knuckles are bruised. “The investigator told us Korentis didn’t do anything in the vault, except taking the relic,” he says “She lied. May the Navigator drag her soul to the Pit! What are we supposed to do if our own agency feeds us lies?”

“Sori, I know you’re good at telling when people lie,” Kaelich says, nervous, as xe struggles to wear xir chest armor - they still haven’t bothered to find xem armor of the right size. “But you’re also very stressed. Maybe you’re, uh, wrong?”

“You know I’m never wrong about lies!” Sorivel snaps back, sounding furious and hurt in equal measure.

“No offense, Sori,” Kaelich says, in a soothing tone, “but you look, like, angrier than that feral cat we fed at the Officers’ temple. We can’t start doubting our superiors based only on your hunches, even if…”

“Oh, cut the crap,” Althea snaps, rolling her eyes. “I’m out of patience with you all. It’s not hunches. Sorivel is - well, would have been - a Telepath. While he can’t use magic, he can still see the Else, and his path lets him know when people lie. It’s a common manifestation of the Path of Mind. And it’s very reliable, even if it has no value in court.”

A heavy silence falls.

I should have known this. It’s a classic example of secondary thaumological manifestations - powers that come from looking into the Else, even without summoning magic. Most paths have something like this, and a few Redeemed mages maintain them. One more thing I should have seen, and didn’t.

Was General Orner right, in the end? Maybe I’m simply not cut for Intelligence work. Maybe he was right in expelling me from the School.

“It’s not magic,” Sorivel grumbles, “it’s just… hunches. But yes. They’re hunches from the Else. Can we stop talking about it? What matters is that plenty of people are bullshitting us.”

I open my mouth to protest - he should have told us before, and I want to ask him how it works, why don’t we use this more - but his words settle in, and I shut up.. Stop speaking about it. I hate when people do stuff like that, but Sorivel is my friend, and I must respect his wishes.

“Cool!” Kaelich says. “You should have told us, but I guess it’s one of your religious nut things, and I respect your stupid beliefs. So, what did Jaeleri lie about?”

Sorivel takes a deep breath and closes his eyes. “He said he tried to defend himself and failed,” he says, his tone calm as usual now. “That wasn’t true.”

Althea snorts. “He’s probably so bad at magic, he didn’t even try.”

“Maybe,” Sorivel answers, sounding uncertain, “I have no way of telling what people lie about, so it may be just that. I’m more worried about Investigator Malartis anyway.”

“Malartis is so useless, in a way I’ll be pleasantly surprised if she’s a traitor, and not just incompetent,” I scoff. “So, everyone is lying about everything. What shall we do about it?”

“In the long run, we can’t keep going like this,” Kaelich says, unhappy, “we must expose Malartis in some way. Except we don’t trust the Captain, either, so who can we expose her to? Fuck, I should have taken that electrician job after high school. Anyway, right now we play along. But be extra-careful during this raid. For all we know, the Captain’s working with Korentis, and it’s a trap.”

***