It had come as a shock to many when news of Gallagher’s death broke. Euan had read around the circumstances of the death and concluded that they were extremely suspicious, though he hadn’t needed to. An exploding car could hardly be called usual, even if said car remains were found at the bottom of a steep cliff. Nevertheless, he had found himself invited to the funeral and the will hearing afterwards with other members of Gallagher’s family. He had been labelled as a co-worker, to his knowledge, but he knew just how much more he was. Euan owed Gallagher for his interest in the supernatural, he owed him it because of that night three years ago and he owed it to him for every subsequent investigation that took place. The sorrow he felt at the news of Gallagher’s demise was indescribable.
He walked through the reception and met many other funeral goers in the shelter. Much like everybody else in the room he had adhered to the requested dress code of formal dress, with the colour black noted as a preference. This too extended to the umbrella’s that they had with them, though that was for later and if the weather hadn’t held up. When the body was going to be put into the ground. His eyes scanned the foyer, to see if he could pick out any familiar faces amongst the crowd. Gallagher’s family he already knew, as well as some of the other contractors that he preferred, but there were one or two that stood out as having followed the dress code a little too perfectly. Some had long dark trench coats and others merely wore dark grey shirts under their black suits. All of them sported some variation of hat and sunglasses. None of them intermingled with the other guests and mostly stuck to the edges of the foyer in their own isolated groups. Occasionally eyeing crowd but talking amongst themselves for the majority of the time. There was one in particular that caught his attention though.
At the furthest edge of the room there was a woman in a long, hooded coat and wearing sunglasses. Such a familiar figure that Euan could have recognised her anywhere. He walked towards her corner of the room, which was even more out the way then the other strange men and stood beside her. Though it had been a few years since their initial meeting, they had met a couple of times afterwards, never trading more than a sentence which was what he assumed had happened with Gallagher. If she was at the funeral though, he may have been mistaken.
“I thought you handled situations so something like this may never happen.”
“Pardon?”
“When we first met, you said that you would handle those men by the barrow. It seems that you may have failed.”
“Yes… It was an oversight on my part. I had thought that I had grown enough to not have friends die like this… I was complacent. If you are concerned about your own safety however, this was not an outcome of that meeting.”
“No, it has been too much time between then and now, but it was the outcome of another.” Liselotte sighed and finally turned her face to Euan. He could see the runes that were still on her cheekbones, the glasses did not do a good job of hiding them. Though with the distance she was keeping, he supposed that she didn’t have to. He noted that now he was closer, it was clearer the umbrella had a pattern printed on it, but as it was closed he didn’t know what the pattern looked like.
“You are more at risk talking to me here then you ever were on those missions.” She jerked her head towards some of the groups of men that were now looking over to him. He shifted slightly, becoming a little unsettled.
“Are these men apart of the same organisation? And what are they doing here?”
“They’re actually from a variety of organisations. I can recognise a few from previous dealings, but for others I would have to guess. As for why they’re here… I’d guess that they each have their own purposes, mostly to keep an eye on the crowd to see who may be classed as an ally of Gallagher and if they may or may not be a threat. However, I can think of a few alternative motives.”
“Ah. I suppose it’s not a good idea for me to be talking to you then. That still doesn’t explain why you’re here. Were you invited as one of his friends? To inherit his notes on the supernatural?”
“No. I believe you’re slated to get those notes. My reason for being here may match a few others. Essentially to make sure that nothing… unusual happens.”
“Unusual?”
“Yes. Like the man crawling out of his coffin during the service.”
“Ha. Very funny.”
“I am not joking.” Euan peeked around at her face and noted the flatness of it, plain to see even with her sunglasses covering a large portion of it.
“So you’re actually being serious?” He tried extremely hard to keep the hint of incredulity out of his voice.
“Deadly. While the man who did it could hardly be classified as a human, it caused so much of a stir that when major figures in the field die, every organisation now sends people to check that they go into the ground and stay there.”
“One man broke out of a coffin during a funeral and suddenly everyone is paranoid?” Liselotte turned to Euan entirely.
“How many funerals have you been to where the corpse rises out of the coffin and starts egging the guests?”
“He did what?”
“He egged the guests. More specifically, his business competitors whom he invited and promised a portion of his company to in his will if they arrived. Sat them all on the front row. Possibly cursed them as well, seeing as they all died soon after.” Euan blinked a couple of times before getting his thoughts back on the right track.
“That still doesn’t explain why there are people attending Gallagher’s funeral.”
“Ah. Right. I believe it’s because this was a murder, much like what people tried to do with Kheka. If he rises then the various organisations can work to their own goals, whether they be to protect him or to finish the job.”
“What would you say that the chances of him not being dead would be?”
“Again, the man who did it originally was hardly human and he is one of the biggest figures in the field. When I finally got to talk to him about it he said that he was testing his cult members to see whether they were loyal or not. So unless Gallagher had set up significant protections, made a cult and stopped being human in the five months since I had last met him, then the chances are zero.”
“He had a cult.”
“Still does.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“And a portion of his pretending to be dead plan was to see whether or not they cared about him enough?”
“In his defence, I believe it was a requirement that they cared about him for the plan to work.”
“Wow.”
“That’s people’s general reaction to Kheka. It ended up working out for him in the end though, some used his absence to crawl out of the woodwork and when he resurfaced, they couldn’t run back into hiding in time. In fact, that’s why I believe he did it on purpose.”
“Arranged his own assassination, funeral and resurrection?”
“Indeed.”
“…I’m not quite sure if I want to shake his hand or never meet him.”
“The latter would be best for you. In any case, you should go and talk to Harriet about the will and what he left you. You’ve met her before haven’t you?” Euan nodded, “good, she should be over by the buffet.” Euan nodded in thanks and made to leave.
“Shall I see you again?”
“No.”
“I see… Then may I ask you one last question to help me on my research?” When Liselotte nodded he continued, “how one may become more knowledgeable in the field?”
“Hm. The best way is to know someone who would be willing to pass on the information.”
“And you don’t trust me enough to pass on anything?”
“Not that. The type of knowledge I possess is what lies beyond the veil, what makes its home in the cauldron of creation. You cannot use it to its full effectiveness, in no small part to your previous dabbling in another branch and also in the amount of humanity you have to sacrifice to get there.”
“You know about my experiments?”
“I can sense it on you, as other things can as well. There are not many constants among the beings that reside in a higher plane, but jealousy is ripe. You would be better off continuing down the path have already taken, and if you wish to become truly proficient, there are some neutral beings who like to trade information. But again, in my sincerest opinion, it would serve you better to find an expert to teach you.”
“Would the fae trade information?”
“No. The fae are hardly around these days and are something that I would hardly class as neutral. You would be lucky to summon one never mind one that would be willing to make a deal. In fact, I would advise against summoning one. They get tetchy easily.”
“You sound like you know from experience.” Liselotte glared at him, and Euan nodded in return, deciding that it would be a good time to take his leave.
“Goodbye and thank you for your assistance.” She nodded in return and left the man to find Harriet. Indeed he found her by the buffet table, she was currently organising the plates and scowled when someone took a napkin from the edge, tugging it roughly so almost the whole pile was scattered along the floor. She looked up when he approached.
“Mr. Aboret! How may I help you?”
“I think for today it would be better for me to help you.”
“Oh don’t get started on that. I’ve heard it enough from all of the other mourners.”
“My apologies then. I was told to come and talk to you about something Mr. Gallagher left me? Notes, I’ve been told.”
“Oh. That.”
“Yes. I take it that there was something for me then?”
“There was, but Father asked me to give it to you separate to the will reading, as soon as possible, as privately as possible.”
“Oh? Did he give any particular reason?”
“Security. I’ve got it in my car so it should only take a few minutes after they’ve buried the body. Now excuse me, I need to make sure that the venue stays clean and the priest is comfortable. It would be a bad time to have to pay the security deposit over the booking costs.” She walked off to the side and left Euan by the buffet table.
The rest of the funeral service proceeded as it had started, with little incident. The priest who was in grey robes with a decorative white flower sewn on his black sash said a few words of peaceful passing and death, and then the tearful speeches came. Euan would’ve found it easier to focus on the service itself if he hadn’t spied the various figures patrolling around the edge of the central crowd. Dark clad and sunglasses on. He didn’t know when, but Liselotte left some time after they started piling the dirt into Gallagher’s grave and the rest of the figures around the edge filtered out too. After the burial he found Harriet in a small crowd of mourners and they left quietly together. They walked together in silence, however he found that silence suffocating, so he figured that he should break it.
“I hadn’t realised that you brought in a Priest of Morsemt.”
“My father was a big Furdanist, so I thought it would be best to bring in one for the service, even if the rest of the service didn’t traditionally follow their ritual.”
“I’m sure he would have appreciated it anyhow.” They arrived at the car and she unlocked the back.
“Here you go.” She handed him a sizable book with plenty of pages sticking out of it and a worn old leather cover.
“Thank you.” Euan made to take the book, but her grip was held fast on it.
“My father was an academic man, Mr. Aboret, and I have come to take it that you are one too. So imagine my surprise when I look through this book and find it filled with mentions of magic.”
“We are both fans of ancient culture and so I had expected him to leave me something like it.” Harriet pulled the book back and started to flick through it.
“This has no consistent mentions of culture, though. It jumps straight from something as defining as the Unantus Conquest to someone I’ve never even heard of called the Keeper.”
“The Unantus Conquest is in there?” Euan couldn’t quite keep the surprise out of his voice, and it seemed that it also caught Harriet’s attention.
“Yes? Were you not expecting a book on ‘ancient culture’ to also cover ancient history?” There was no excuse that he could think of which would adequately appease Harriet. She continued on with what she was saying however, sparing him the pain. “I shall say that the mentions of said conquest are extremely weird however. It focuses on the length of the campaign, almost five decades, and the constant level of efficiency no matter how many generals, soldiers, or leaders died, without taking into account any other environmental factors. There are many rambling notes and speculation that don’t make much sense and that isn’t even touching an extremely long-winded section speculating of the nature of the Madness of Unantus.”
“Maybe the author wanted to unbiasedly document the history and draw his own conclusions from what he was given. And I would say that the Madness was the most definitive cause of the downfall of the empire. With no apparent source, nothing could be noted except speculation. You can’t leave it out, and you can’t put it in without a few notes. In fact, it would be disappointing if that wasn’t in there.” A beat passed. “Did anything else stand out to you?” Harriet eyed him suspiciously before smiling slightly.
“I would have thought that you leave those sorts of questions to other academics.”
“I run a small motor business. I’m not what you would call an academic.”
“Oh! So your interest is… merely interest?” Euan nodded. “My apologies for assuming then. You just went on so many expeditions with my father… well, no matter. There was also quite a large section on the fae which surprised me less considering Aria’s main religion.” And suddenly she had his attention.
“How did that catch your interest then?”
“A lot of the section centred specifically on a book called ‘The Wanderer’s Flame,’ which I believe is supposed to be introduced into Aria’s school curriculum soon? In any case, it’s not the usual story academics look at for things like this.”
“Isn’t that intriguing... Well as you can see it is a perfectly normal book on culture, so if could just take it for some light reading.” Harriet snickered a little bit and shut the book.
“This book is everything except light reading. It seems like I have to accept your claim for now, have fun reading it.” As Euan finally took the book Harriet spoke again. “I enjoyed this conversation. We should have another one sometime.”
“I would prefer to meet under happier circumstances, however. I fear the sombre atmosphere has dampened my mood a tad.”
“I would be concerned if it hadn’t.” Harriet sighed and leaned on the boot of her car. “I thought that I would be able to handle today, to make everything run smoothly but…” She pulled out a tissue to quickly dry a fresh tear. “You know, I didn’t just get that priest because I thought that it would honour his memory. Gallagher asked me to get him specifically, as if he knew that he was going to die soon. I remember that there was one day with him that I recall so vividly, partially because it was a week before he died and partially because it was just so… memorable. I had just come back from my job at the library and decided to go and visit him… and when I got there he was just sitting and staring at the mirror. Pale as a sheet. I asked him whether he was okay and he sort of laughed it off, saying that he thought he saw a ghost. I had laughed with him of course, what else could I do? Then he started talking about changing his will and his ideal funeral and I got scared. I asked him what sort of ghost he saw to worry him so much and he told me… it was his.”