38 - A Magical Thief
“There were always brave people who stood against the Dark Power.
Even during the Thaumocracy, the Silver Blade Society met in secret, carrying out assassinations to curb the worst excesses of the nobility.
After that, the Men in Silver kept watch for centuries, preventing a return to the dark days of magical rule.
ThauCon is the last in this long, honorable line. We’re much stronger than our predecessors, but so are our enemies.
We must never forget our history. We must remember that humans triumphed on mages, time after time. But we must also remember the terrible price of those victories.”
* Speech from Silver Marshal Vorishai, ThauCon commander in chief
I’m sipping cocoa and reading an account of the Zelenian Revolts when I get the call I’d been waiting for.
URGENT MESSAGE - AENIKI: My alarms at the SilverEye tower triggered. Two people entered the building, I have a 94% match for the Kalestran boy and the photographer girl. Korentis isn’t with them.
TEAM MESSAGE, KAELICH: Buuuut I just downloaded a new sim. Never mind. Everyone get ready. Wait, everyone get ready, but without making it obvious, until we get the official dispatch order.
We planned for this, of course - once we find our mages, we must get the information to the officers, without admitting we got it by tons of unlawful hacking.
TEAM MESSAGE, AENIKI: I’m submitting the video, I’ll make it look like a concerned citizen report sent to us by a security guard. I’ll make up some reason for being suspicious, people send us bullshit all the time anyway.
CERICAL, TO TEAM: I’ll pretend I’ve stumbled upon it while scanning reports and noticed the two mages.
TEAM MESSAGE, KAELICH: That would be super suspicious from anyone else, but you actually legit watch reports in your spare time. You’re scary.
Quickly - I hate the thought of how much time we waste to protect our secrecy - I log in to the citizen report section. Investigations should watch them all, but they’re so bad, I’ve been double-checking them for a while.
The video is from a fixed security camera, placed in front of some fancy steel-and-glass building. Aeniki highlighted the suspects - two young people walking into the building like so many others around them.
They’re quite different from Korentis’ companions, the way we saw them previously. I could pass them on a street and suspect nothing. But once you know the trick, it’s obvious. A tall woman with a cold, serious expression, and a broad-shouldered young man. They’re both pale, even by Vorokan standards, and their features are unfamiliar, but the way they move, their body language…I’ve watched every second of footage we have from their previous identities, and I’m sure Ainiki’s right.
Where’s Korentis? I bet xe’ll be infiltrating the labs, with xir friends as backup. But I can’t tell that to Captain Meirres - how can I draw her attention on the labs?
CERICAL, TO TEAM: They’re definitely our subjects. I will make the call and hope the officers listen to us. Which lieutenant is on duty right now?
I’m quite confident I know the answer - I memorized the shifts. But I’d rather be wrong.
KAELICH, TO TEAM: Sareas. Are you going to warn him?
CERICAL, TO TEAM: Officially, the procedure only requires me to contact a superior officer. I could contact the Captain directly.
KAELICH, TO TEAM: Yeah, except unofficially, you might as well spit him in the face at breakfast.
We’ve discussed this already. Kaelich doesn’t like ignoring ThauCon unwritten rules - xe’s more worried about going over Sareas’ head than about the illegal hacking we’ve done.
I could insist, and xe’d probably go my way. But while I’m willing to circumvent our hostile, suspicious LT, I’ve no justification to override my own corporal.
CERICAL: Your call, ser. Just be quick.
There’s a moment of silence. Kaelich is all too happy to let us decide for xem - xe’s no born leader. I’m starting to think I’ll have to nudge xem, when xe answers.
KAELICH: Contact the captain. That will save us time, which is the important part. But even if the operation goes great, we’ll pay for this.
CERICAL: We can deal with Sareas’ ego later. I’m calling the captain. If she’s a traitor, we’ll know soon. Oh, and someone go get Althea. She didn’t get any of this.
***
“Captain speaking,” the Captain says through my earpiece, as our chopper takes flight. “We’ve found subjects beta and gamma. They’re apparently having dinner at a restaurant on floor sixty-five. There’s no indication of criminal activity on their side.”
“Any sign of Mage Korentis?” Kaelich asks, unusually businesslike.
“Subject alpha hasn’t been spotted,” the Captain answers, “but as a liar, xe’d have the best disguise. CivInt is looking at security footage, while trying to identify potential reasons they’re in the building. They might simply want a dinner out, but it might also be a criminal operation of some kind.”
Lady of Pains, please drag Malartis’ soul in your domain of tears, for a bare minimum of twenty thousand years. Either she hasn’t realized there’s a relic research facility in the same building, or she’s helping Korentis rob it.
CERICAL, TO AENIKI: can you drop some hint so the Captain finds out about the lab? We must warn them as soon as possible.
AENIKI: busy now. There were outbound communications.
Right, her priority - as we agreed - is to find the mole. But this is so annoying.
“Even if we don’t know their motives,” the Captain continues, “assume they’re prepared for fighting or fleeing, and assume that Alpha is in the building. So, helmets on at all times, and don’t trust what you see.
“Our priority is to capture or neutralize targets beta and gamma. Deployment plan: team green will reach the building by tube and secure all exits. Team Blue will take a chopper to the roof, raid the restaurant and apprehend beta and gamma. While two teams should be sufficient, I’m calling teams Yellow, Orange, Red and Gold to immediate readiness. I’m also pre-alerting the police in case we need to lock down the tower itself. They can’t help much in finding Alpha, though, given the nature of xir powers.”
Yeah, at least she’s not that stupid - having the police around would be as good as handing Korentis a bunch of handguns.
“Is blocking the exits useful?” Sorivel asks, grim as usual. “Are we sure they can’t leave by magical means? The building is very large, we can’t patrol the whole exterior, and they could Else-walk through a wal, or levitate down from a terracel.”
“Korentis and the Kelestran boy aren’t folders,” Althea answers. “If they could Else-walk, they’d have done that in our previous encounters. The tower is way too tall to levitate down, and they aren’t strong enough for true flight. Even I can’t fly for more than a couple of seconds, and I’m a Juggler.”
“Green leader here,” Gehat says on comms - her team was on duty, so they deployed first. “We’ve set up a checkpoint at the third floor’s lobby. If we stop the elevators, we’ll control the only way out from the upper floors.”
“ID check anyone who leaves the building, but don’t stop them yet,” the Captain says, sounding unconvinced. “But be ready to stop everyone if I order a lockdown. And be careful, mages could try to slip past the checkpoint.”
So many points of failure. We haven’t found Korentis, and I’m sure xe’s there. Camera coverage in the building isn’t great - Vorokan firms love their stupid privacy way too much. Team Green is unreliable. Will they actually fight if they spot Korentis trying to sneak out? Jaeleri is worthless, and while green’s blademaster is good, they’re cowards counting out to the end of their term.
“Mission control here,” Aeniki says, faking a groggy voice. “I’ve noticed something. There’s a low level of theta activity from floor seventy. I checked and it’s whitelisted. It turns out there’s a SilverEye laboratory there, keeping some relics, too. It might be connected.”
“That… good work, Specialist Corporal,” the Captain says, and she sounds honestly surprised. “I’ll have CivInt confirm and warn the laboratory. No change of plan yet, but we’ll keep watch on the lab, and after beta and gamma are secured, we’ll inspect it.”
Fuck. Wrong, wrong, wrong. Whatever the mages are planning exactly, their target is SilverEye. Korentis might be there right now. But this assessment is based on knowing something the captain doesn’t, so I can only hope Aeniki will find some proof of xir presence.
Our chopper is almost at the destination, though - the sleek glass tower is right in front of us. It has a landing pad on the roof, crowded with rich people’s helicopters and drones, but there’s a landing spot large enough for our quad-copter. We won’t have to waste time rappelling down, at least.
“Mission control here,” Aeniki says, “targets beta and gamma suddenly look tense. I guess they heard the chopper. They’re not running yet, though.”
Beta and gamma - the mind-mage and the Kalestran, who’s probably a ruin-mage.
In a raid, the aim is to catch mages unaware or with minimal warning. We have the perfect tools and training to attack and quickly subdue a mage, if they don’t see us coming.
Reaching our targets before they spot us is crucial. When the target mage spots us first - as Korentis has shown - our position gets considerably worse.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
That’s why we deploy by tube when possible – our chopper makes way too much noise for stealth. But it’s hard to beat the speed of the quad-copter, and the targets were near the roof, too.
“Mission control here,” Aeniki says, “targets beta and gamma acting nervous, but they’re still sitting at their tables. We warned the restaurant, they’ll start to evacuate. I just received a report of suspicious activity at floor seventy - the relic labs. Target alpha could be there.”
“The lab is above the restaurant,” Kaelich says, as we land, horrifically slow. “Captain, requesting confirmation of priorities. Should we secure the lab first, or continue to the restaurant?”
A moment of pause.
“Restaurant first,” the captain answers. “The lab takes up the whole floor, and target alpha’s presence is just a suspicion. Priority to the targets at floor sixty-five. We’ll contact the lab and order a lockdown, their security should be able to deal with a single mage. Blue leader, you have field command.”
As she finishes, we land on the tower’s top with a jolt, and the rotors start shutting down.
“Beta and gamma are just standing there,” Althea says, while the hatch opens with a hiss. “and they know we’re coming. It’s a distraction, or a bait.”
No answer from the captain. Why? Is she just trying to play it safe, going for the targets we can see, or does she want Korentis to succeed?
Much as I hate the idea that we might be following the orders of a traitor, there’s nothing to do about it now. The best we can do is capture Daravoi and the mind-mage quickly.
“We have our orders,” Kaelich says. “Sori, set up here on the roof, try to get visuals and fire lines on targets beta and gamma. Althea, Ceri, we go. Let’s take the stairs, it’s just seven floors and mages can do nasty stuff to elevators.”
I nod, unlock my seatbelt and follow Kaelich across the landing pad, flinching at the cold as soon as we leave the chopper’s cabin.
We push away, not entirely politely, a bunch of rich Karesians standing in our way. The fuckers are arguing with the exasperated security guards who are preventing them from leaving with their own helicopters. The roof is getting crowded – people must know something is wrong, if they’re trying to leave.
“Corporal,” Althea says, “I ask for permission to use any magic I see fit during the operation, without further requests.”
“Granted,” Kaelich says, “keep an eye open in the Else. Or…whatever you open in the Else.”
Althea nods. Small cubes of emerald light form in midair, and coalesce into her armor. The result is blocky, but not as much as it was the first times she used it - instead of green glass boxes, it looks like green glass boxes which have been squashed against a human’s body. Her eyes glow fiercely, green light pooling in her irises.
The sight of her ready to fight, the knowledge that she will protect us with her magic, reassures me as much as the silver in my armor. I used to fear magic, or at least find it disquieting. It took me so little - some training, a pretty girl - to get comfortable with it. To find it beautiful, even. Is this a weakness for a ThauCon Agent?
“Blue Drone here,” Sorivel says, as we get inside the building. “I have Justice and Curiosity hovering above the restaurant’s terrace, and I sent Truth crawling through the air conditioning system, ETA three minutes. I have visual contact on targets beta and gamma. The terrace is fully covered by a glass roof, no clean line of fire. Heavenly Navigator, guide us, there are a lot of civilians there.”
The stairs descending to the top floor are crowded with people. As we push past them, they don’t flinch or freeze the way crowds often do with us, they’re probably too rich to worry about lowly ThauCon agents trying to save their asses from magical criminals. But still they stare, especially at Althea. Some with curiosity, some with naked hostility.
“Excuse me, officer,” says a man in his forties, a child clinging to his tunic, “could you escort us to our helicopter? I have a very important business meeting at eight, and my child is scared. This can’t be deferred.”
He makes it sound like he’s been very generous by enduring the situation so far, but his patience is getting strained, and we should stop be a nuisance. I so want to arrest him.
“Sorry, our mission has a higher priority,” Kaelich says, firm, but the man doesn’t move. He’s blocking the access to the stairways - I check both him and the daughter, but he’s too tall and she’s much too small for either to be Korentis.
“Move, or I’ll move you,” Althea growls, “we’re…”
She stops, frowning, the green glass of her armor rippling like water – like Else-glass when we strike it with silver weapons.
“Are you ok?” I ask.
“I…” She says, sounding confused. “Something happened. Something strange.”
“Something’s happening in the Else,” Sorivel says, his tone carefully neutral. “Something… I don’t know. I’m not a mage. But something important… changed.”
Of course, our theta detectors didn’t pick up a single blip - why do we even carry those things?
“Green mage here,” Jaeleri says, mumbling the words as if he couldn’t be bothered to move his lips. “Some strange magic went off, from very deep beneath. And the Else is getting stormy, even more than it was already. Staying here is dangerous.”
Kaelich has managed to push away the outraged businessman, almost politely, and xe’s leading the way down the stairs, but xe stops. Xe conspicuously taps xir helmet - shutting xir mic.
“Althea, how bad is this?” Xe asks. “We can deal with the mages. Probably. But if we’re going to face demons, or the Black Liar back from death, I’d like to know.”
“I don’t know,” Althea answers, unusually unsure. She looks around, her eyes full of green sparks. “The Else has been a mess lately. Now it looks… worse. But something important just happened, and it can’t be a coincidence our targets are here. I think we really, really need to catch them and ask some questions.”
Kaelich nods, tapping xir mic again.
“Blue leader here. I’m proceeding with the plan. Team Green, do you have all exits covered?”
We keep walking down the stairs. We stop a moment in front of floor seventy, the relic lab - Kaelich looks at the door, but then shakes xir head, and keeps walking. We have our orders, after all. Five more floors to the restaurant.
“Green leader here. We’re in position,” Gehat says, obviously unhappy.
“Green mage here,” Jaeleri says, “think about this for a fucking moment before you smash the door and shoot. Beta and Gamma are just standing there. They want you to go for them. Someone did something weird in the Else, and that was probably the Liar, so xe’s not far. But you won’t find xem unless you basically trip on xem, because xe’s good with Lies. So, you’re going toward mages who’re expecting you, and they have a hidden accomplice. This is dangerous.”
He’s not entirely wrong, of course. But if we stopped doing raids because mages are dangerous, we might as well give up and shut down the Agency.
“We’re aware of the risks, green mage,” Kaelich says, “either help us or sh… or let us focus. Blue leader, over.”
“Green leader here,” Gehat says, “Jaeleri has a point. Since he’s our best Sight-Mage, I’m sending him up with you. He can reach you quickly via elevator.”
“What the Abyss?” Jaeleri asks in response.
“You’re our best chance to find Korentis, so go help Team Blue,” Gehat answers, annoyed. “Down here we only have to check everyone who leaves, and we can do that without you. Just leave a couple more tripwire wards along the way.”
“I… copy, I guess,” Jaeleri says, his voice dripping hatred.
“Blue leader, I acknowledge,” Kaelich says, almost equally unhappy, “Green Mage, meet us at the lobby of floor sixty-five.”
Althea mumbles a curse. Sending a Sight-mage here makes sense on paper, of course, but we all know the truth - Jaeleri is useless and Gehat wants to get rid of him.
“Blue support here,” Sorivel says, “subjects beta and gamma stood up. They’re walking to the terrace’s edge.”
“We’re sure they can’t jump from the terrace and levitate down?” Kaelich asks.
“They can’t,” Althea confirms, “if they were powerful enough to do that, we’d have worse problems, honestly, because they’d be level four at least.”
“Mission control here,” Aeniki steps in. “I hack… I obtained access to SilverEye security. I confirm subject alpha was inside very recently, but I can’t locate xem now. Current alias is named Kilistek. Brown skin, brown hair, usual slight build. Carries a large bag. Xe was in the SilverEye labs four minutes ago, it’s unclear whether xe’s still in - I have only partial vision. CivInt is contacting the labs.”
Xe took the relic. We knew it, and we still failed to stop xem, because between Malarti and the Captain, there are at least one traitor and one idiot.
“Keep looking for xem,” Kaelich says, “but we have to deal with beta and gamma first. Let’s get ready while Jaeleri comes.”
No, this is wrong. Korentis carries a bag. Xe took something from the lab - the very thing xe was looking for at the university. The Key - or at least, the relic that might be the Key.
I’m absolutely sure we should focus on xem, the other two are probably just here to distract us - Jaeleri was not wrong in that. But we’re already on floor sixty-five, in front of the massive wooden double-door of a fancy restaurant called the cloud garden, and I know the time for planning is over. We must secure the two mages quickly, and hope we’ll still be in time to get Korentis.
Through the doors, I get a glimpse of a large room filled with plants and low, wooden tables. I can’t see the terrace from here, and there are a lot of civilians inside the restaurant.
I hate civilians. They spend their time aiding and abetting, or worse, getting in the line of fire.
“Subjects still inside,” Sorivel says. “Wait, they’re…”
Red symbols flash in my visor.
THETA SIGNAL DETECTED - LEVEL 2.5 - MIND PATH
A wave of screams comes from the restaurant, sudden and full of terror. Then the noise of people scrambling to get on their feet, kicking away chairs and stools, running.
There should be arrows in my visor pinpointing the source, but that doesn’t happen - mind magic is hard to triangulate.
“The mind mage did something,” Sorivel says, “people in the restaurant are running away, but no one seems hurt. Both targets have summoned magical defenses!”
“Terror spell,” Althea says, raising one hand up, glowing green. “We must go in and stop them!”
“Wait,” Kaelich commands, “let people run out. If we rush in now, they’ll trample us. Be ready to go on my signal. Can you break the terror spell?”
“Trying,” Althea says. She sketches a glyph in green light, but before she can finish, it shatters into small cubic pieces. “Fuck, I’m no good at this.”
As she says that, people push the restaurant’s door wide open. Some run straight for the stairs, some look at us, eyes wide with fear, some simply scream and fall to their knees. I’m forced to step back to avoid the mass of people. I hate crowds, and there’s no hope of moving against the flow anyway.
“Everyone calm down!” Kaelich yells, putting xir loudspeaker on. “ThauCon here! Leave in a line! We’re here to deal with the situation!”
Some of the people closest to the door keep running to the stairs, some trip in confusion and fall, some scream louder as they see Althea - but some, at least, manage to stop, and take a deep breath.
“Don’t push!” Kaelich commands. “Leave orderly and all will be fine. We’re here to protect you!”
I thought Kaelich wasn’t cut for giving orders, but xe sounds convincing enough that even I relax a fraction. Althea draws a glyph again, and this time it seems to do something - where its light touches people, they casts a golden shadow, which breaks into dust and disappears, as if something was being pushed out of them.
Between xir orders and her magic, they have some effect – people are moving with a semblance of order, a few even help others to go back up.
We need order. If they run chaotically, they’ll clog the door and we’ll never get in. Also, they’ll trample each other to death, and uh, that’s bad.
“They’re here!” Someone screams, from the inside, terror in their voice. “Claws like glass! They’re so close! They’ll kill us all!”
A new wave of panicked people runs into the lobby, stumbling into those already there. An old man falls to the ground, and we have to step back again. Althea raises her arm, her glyph-etched cube shining brighter, but then it sputters and breaks.
Kaelich keeps shouting orders, and xe rushes to help the old man on the floor. But the pressure from behind pushes people against xem, and I’m starting to think this is more than an annoyance – our armor won’t protect us from suffocating in a stampede, and even the stairs too are getting congested with people trying to reach the roof.
Behind us, the elevator doors open with a chime. Jaeleri comes out, looking like an especially despondent bundle of red rags.
“The fuck is happening?” He asks. From his shrill tone, either he’s affected by the terror spell, or he’s panicking anyway.
“Sorivel,” Kaelich commands, as xe frantically keeps people from crushing a terrified teenager. “Shoot the mind-mage, now! This is getting bad!”
Despite xir efforts, more people are down on the floor, screaming or crying, and they’re shoved away by those trying to reach the exit. Against my every instinct, I move to help, but I’m not nearly as big as Kaelich, and a burly man pushes me back as he scrambles toward the stairs. Althea flicks her wrists, and green light yanks away an elderly man through the restaurants’ doors before he’s squashed.
“I copy,” Sorivel says. As he does, two red silhouettes appear in our visors - the two mages, marked by Sorivel’s drones and Aeiniki’s cameras. They’re so frustratingly close.
The sound of gunfire cuts through the noise, followed by shattered glass, and more screams.
Something changes, though - people seem to calm. The theta signal alarm in my visor stops. Did he get her?
For a moment, the crowd falters – people stop pushing and thrashing, looking at each other as if they couldn’t understand what’s happening.
“Target beta hit,” Sorivel says, “her magical defense stopped the bullet. She dropped the terror spell, though.”
Without the terror spell, people manage to leave in a semblance of order – some are still pushing, but with some help from Kaelich, the door unclogs, and the crowd trickles downstairs.
“Let’s go in before they start running again,” Kaelich says, taking the safety off xir rifle. “Team blue, go, go, go!”