“Can you talk to her? Maybe find out what happened to the girls?” Kass asked, holding the injured animal out to me.

“I wish I could, but I can’t,” I replied as I carefully checked Cracker’s wounds. She was very badly injured, but as far as I could tell, not fatally so.

Kass looked at me suspiciously for a moment. “Can’t beastmasters talk to animals?” she asked.

“No… what gave you that idea?” I said, as I finished binding Cracker’s wounds.

“You have discussions with George all the time,” she replied.

“I wouldn’t exactly call those discussions,” I said, “They’re very one-sided. Beastmasters are masters of training, and can take multiple creatures into combat, but at the end of the day we just react to the creature’s personality. It’s pretty much just a less specialised version of the houndmaster class. The only way I know to talk directly to an animal is either have them as a bound pet, or familiar, use the ‘Speak to Animal’ spell, or somehow read the creature’s mind,” I explained.

Kass stared down at the wounded gull, lips pursed. “What should we do?” she asked quietly. “We could ask around, see if anyone saw anything, but I have a feeling that Crackers here knows exactly what happened.”

“We could also split up,” I suggested hesitantly.

“Not going to happen. Two people went missing, I’m not going to make it three,” Kass hissed. She glanced at the surrounding area for a moment, eyeing up a couple of people loitering around the area. “I’ll leave a couple elementals to snoop around instead. They can’t question people, and they’re not quite as intelligent, but at least the worst thing that could happen to them is they get dispelled,” she finished, before passing Crackers to me.

“How is that any different from getting killed?” I asked, as she started summoning a trio of small elementals.

“Summoned Elementals aren’t ‘alive’,” Kass clarified. “They’re magical constructs, more like golems. They can only perform the tasks I assign them, and they’ll dissolve if they ever run out of magic.” Once she was done the miniature elementals immediately shot off in different directions, causing multiple people to cry out in surprise as they shot past. “If they find anything while exploring, they’ll immediately come find me,” she said.

“Even back at the dungeon?” I asked, as the pair of us turned back towards where we left the carriage.

“They’re tethered to me. I can’t read their thoughts from a distance, but they’ll always know where I am, and I’ll know when one gets dispelled,” she explained. “Either they come back, or I’ll have an idea where to look if we need to come back.”

I nodded, cradling Crackers just a little bit closer until we hit the edge of the shipping district, and left the crowded streets behind. As we walked alongside the Deep Water District, I checked on the status of my tiny passenger. The gull was surprisingly quiet, nestling its head against my chest, so I gently petted the bird, while we made our way to the carriage.

As we approached, I noticed the vehicle was slightly more… translucent than before. I turned to Kass, eyes questioning.

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“You didn’t think the staff carriages were normal, did you? There’s one spectral one, and one vampiric. Both are capable of limited flight,” she glanced over at me. “I’m surprised you didn’t notice when we got out.”

“I was concerned about you, and your people, at the time,” I muttered in return.

I waited until Kass entered the carriage, passing Crackers to her, before joining her inside. I knocked on the roof before shouting, “Back to the Manor, please!” and within seconds we were off again. This time I was actually paying enough attention to notice the carriage taking off, and start flying a couple of stories off the street, rather than dealing with all the ground-bound traffic. I spent most of the trip paying attention to Crackers, who only let out the occasional caw, but never seemed to complain. I made a note to give the bird a treat when this entire thing was over.

Once we arrived, the two of us quickly ferried the injured bird back to the atrium. Most people had cleared out, returning to their regular routine, but Calliope was still there, pacing. “You’re back already? How did it go? Wait… is that Crackers?” she asked rapidly, before noticing the injured gull. She leaned in close, hovering over Kass’s arms to get a better look. “What happened to her?”

“We don’t know,” I admitted. “We found her in an alley close to where the girls were last seen. We’re hoping she can help us find them, but she needs help first… would you mind?”

Calliope nodded, and placed a hand just above Cracker’s head. After a few seconds the two of them were enveloped in an aquamarine light, and a moment later the gull’s wounds were healed. It pressed its head against Calliope’s hand and started cooing. “Awww… you’re welcome, girl,” Calliope said quietly.

“Do you understand Crackers?” Kass asked, as the bird stood up, and flew down to the ground in front of us.

“Not really, sorry. Sirens can empathize with others extremely well, but we can only really talk to our bonded animals,” Calliope confessed. “The only ones that I can think of that may be able to talk to animals are the dryads, and…”

A brilliant azure rift formed right in the middle of the atrium, and a second later George floated out followed closely by Lanivia. “Talia, you must keep your pet under control! I don’t know how he found his way into my lair, but the Infinite Stacks are no place for panicked arachnid.”

George flailed about, trying to get free of the magic holding him aloft until he saw me, at which time he calmed down and made a ‘Humf’ noise.

Even though Lanivia was only slightly annoyed, I still flinched. “I’m sorry about that, Boss. I know I should be keeping an eye on him, but we had an emergency this morning and Kass and I had to rush out to handle it.”

“What emergency?” Lanivia asked with a raised eyebrow. “I wasn’t informed of any problems.”

I felt an intense pressure as soon as Lanivia’s full focus was on me, and it took all my willpower to stop myself from hiding behind Kass. “Two of my employees didn’t report in, so we went to see if there were any issues,” Kass reported, to my immense relief. “Unfortunately we were only able to find Crackers, one of their familiars, and we were trying to figure out how to ask her what happened.”

“Really… That is concerning,” the lich said, stepping over to our little party. She crouched down next to Crackers and waved her hand. “Now, little one, please let me know what you know.”

The bird just cocked its head slightly, but it was apparent that Lanivia was conversing with it by the look on her face, which was slowly growing darker. “They dare?! In my city?” Lanivia snarled. Normally Lanivia kept herself under control, so you could barely tell how strong she was, unless she wanted. Right now, she was leaking so much power that it caused everyone to step back. “You’re certain of the location?” The bird ruffled its feathers and cawed .

Lanivia stood up, and brushed off her dress. Her face was impassive, but the power continued to roll off of her. “Apparently, some people believe that I am a toothless lion, and they can mess with my people. They would be wrong,” her fake face faded, revealing the mythril-etched skull underneath. “Follow me,” she said as she raised a hand, ripping open a portal to another location. “We have work to do.”