Yesterday, despite all Dereniik’s persuasive skills Viky had been convinced the scene of her attack was not worthy of investigation. Today there were dark smudges under her eyes, a slight edge to her voice and the nonchalant attitude had been replaced by a more thoughtful frame of mind. He'd seen it before. Given time to process events, emotions of anger, disbelief, and fear surfaced. These all needed to be worked through.
Servants’ tunnels connecting service facilities to the main broadways were numerous. The entries, hidden away behind plinths, enabled servants to work unobserved. People who spent each day at leisure didn’t want reminders of others drudgery.
The labyrinth of connecting passageways were circular unworked stone, a concave floor was not conducive for fast travel if you needed crutches to walk. Narrow and claustrophobic, there was only just enough room for a servant coming the other way to pass them.
Dereniik had avoided these tunnels since arriving back at the capital. If he was being honest, it wasn’t just the treacherous floor. The stump of his right arm started a psychosomatic itch. Traveling Phase cut tunnels had never been an issue before he was injured. God’s Light, his best friend had started training with a latent inherent Phasing talent last rotation and Dereniik had been at the vanguard, cheering on his progress, attending Val’s training sessions and offering support. Nevertheless, a cold sweat wormed up his back and broke out across Dereniik’s chest. He checked the ninepin securing his cowl, it’s comforting presents inexplicably heartening. Anyway, it was too late to turn back, he’d insisted on coming, and with Viky leading the way and Jeileen behind him, leaving was not an option.
The destination had once been a storeroom. Lifetimes ago, when the population of Chruciaal had been four or five times its current size and the enclaves beyond occupied.
“My Lord,” Jieleen asked. “Are you alright?”
“Yes, thank you. The floor is a bit difficult.” Dereniik said.
“Why don’t you just Drift, like you did yesterday?” Viky asked.
“Maybe I will one day, but at the moment up and down are the only two directions I can manage.”
“I heard the ancients could fly; I thought it could have been made up. But mum explained there was a kernel of truth in most stories.” Viky said.
“I have seen some men, older and more skilled, give the impression of flight, or at least gliding, but all talents have limitations.” Dereniik answered, he used to dream of flying, now just being able to walk would be enough.
“If a man with Manipulative Phasing had enough Strength they could throw a person, make it look like they were flying.” Jieleen suggested.
“Flying under those circumstances would be achievable, but landing after being thrown is the problematic part of the equation.”
Jieleen chuckled, Dereniik didn’t, he’d seen it done and the outcome hadn’t been pretty.
The large domed room itself was much as he expected. Close enough to frequently used tunnels for a decent colonization of luminescent bryophyte, providing light and keeping the air fresh.
Dereniik made a slow circuit. He noted the way the dust had scattered, how the floor had worn. Scattered trip wires, bells, a cork stopper, and strategically placed gravel in the tunnel near the entry. Viky had thought them necessary before her attack, so she was training with something dangerous. Had they been set to protect herself, others or both?
The floor was smooth, minor scuff marks, blue stains from a spilt produce, Phase Whip scouring, a few clog splinters and remnants of a small broken pottery container. What were the most recent additions. Viky had been training, it made sense that she would have cleared the floor of debris. Blood stains, a few drops from a fresh bleed and other spots, slightly lilac from the body fluid lost if injured while Invisible. To one side a row of empty cauldrons had been stacked.
“Jieleen there is something between that couple of cauldrons there, could you retrieve it for me please?” Dereniik asked.
Jieleen fished it out. “Looks like a bandana.”
“Thanks.” Dereniik held it to his nose. “Do you recognize this, my lady?”
“Not exactly, everything happened so fast, but it wasn’t there before I was attacked. Does it smell?”
“A little residual odour.” Dereniik passed the fabric to her.
“Yep, that’s it.”
Viky brushed the fabric across her face then held the object at arm’s length. Dereniik nodded, removed a sample bag from his satchel and Jieleen, after giving the item a sniff obliged by sealing it inside.
“What does that tell us?” Viky wanted to know.
“The fragments of broken pottery on the floor, are they new too?” Dereniik asked.
Viky nodded. “Yeah, but the scuff marks and Phase burns were here already.”
“Your assailant came prepared with the trichloromethane in a pottery container. They applied it to the cloth after setting off your tripwires. The stopper is by the tunnel entry. The fact you can still detect slight traces on the fabric indicates they weren't messing around. When you fought back, the pottery container smashed. They have picked up the larger fragments, but because you injured him, he didn't bother with the smaller fragments.”
“It wasn't their intention to just knock me out?”
“Little point in attempting to garrot you if they only wanted you unconscious.”
Dereniik watched Jieleen, he wasn't taking this information well. His fists balled as he unconsciously reached for the ether. Dereniik understood.
“My Lady, would you please stand approximately where you were, facing the direction you had been, when you were attacked.” Dereniik asked.
Shuffling back to where the tunnel entry met the room Dereniik counted heartbeats, attempting to retrace the movements of Viky’s assailant. Viky wasn’t quite facing the door; it was necessary for him to make a large ark to get behind her.
“Your assailant was standing here when they attacked?”
“Yes.”
“Viky, would you be comfortable for Jieleen to pretend to act out your assailants moves, and you show us what you did?”
“What’s the point of that? Not meaning any disrespect, but don’t you think going through it once was enough?” Jieleen protested.
Dereniik nodded. “You are right of course. Even the first time was once too many, but I am asking for a reason. I am trying to establish how long the person who attacked Viky was Invisible. It could help us. They possessed a high level of skill, able to walk, hold and manipulate objects. That indicates someone at least someone my age. We may be able to get an even better idea of their age if we can work out the amount of time they were Invisible.”
Also, the slight Phase burn score marks on the walls and ceiling indicated someone had trained with irregular abilities, Whip Phasing, from the spot where Viky now stood. Dereniik couldn’t tell how long ago the marks had been made. He contemplated the implications. It was a pity she didn’t trust him, but she didn’t trust easily, and if she had that sort of arsenal at her disposal why hadn’t she used it against her attacker? But of course, Whip was a mid-range weapon, the attacker must have got within her reach before being detected.
Dereniik watched as Jieleen slowly nodded. “Is it like me being able to hold Manipulation for a longer time the more I practice?”
“Yes, it’s similar with Invisibility.”
“I’m game.” Viky said. “You can give me pointers on what I could have done differently. In case I ever get attacked by an Invisible person again.”
“That’s not going to happen beloved, I’ll look after you.” Jieleen insisted.
Viky shrugged. “I know you may want to do that, but you can’t be with me every moment of every day, so what should I have done?”
Jieleen wasn’t the only one to feel uncomfortable with Viky’s declaration. But Dereniik could see her point. If she was attacked again how much assistance could he offer? Why shouldn’t she be able to protect herself if the need arose?
With much coaching and offers of encouragement Jieleen reenacted the attack. It took a few run-throughs, and the result was only an approximation, but the person possessed a degree of skill higher than Dereniik. He estimated they were aged between twenty and twenty-five.
“What do you think?” Viky asked, eyes bright and slightly out of breath.
“My Lady, I am impressed you are alive.” Dereniik was thoughtful. “You acted well, I don’t think I can fault you on your defence techniques. The only advice I can offer is you may have thrown dust from the floor over your assailant. It can give you the persons rough outline. But escaping was your best option. From the information you gave us you were dealing with someone in their middle rotations. You surprised them, they were not expecting you to fight back. A person of that age will often have other talents and delaying your escape would have only given them the opportunity to deploy them and overpower you.”
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“So, you’re sure, it couldn’t be someone my own age, or a little older?”
“I am sure, we are looking for a person who has been practicing with Invisibility for at least a couple of nines.” Dereniik wondered who the younger person Viky had suspected had been. Jeileen, visibly upset, took Viky’s hand and caressed it.
“The good news is in defending yourself you have bruised and bloodied your assailant. This lilac fluid is the result of bleeding while Invisible. They shimmered back into sight here, made some sort of makeshift bandage and were able to stop the bleeding enough to depart without leaving a trail of blood. Otherwise we could have followed it. Where do you think you hit them?” Dereniik asked.
“Well, I was aiming for the face, my blows could have gone anywhere. But when I headbutted them it would have connected somewhere around the face.”
“Then a split lip, black eye, or blood nose. With any luck you broke the nose but any of those injuries will attract attention. Chruciaal does not have a large enough population for those sorts of details to be easy concealed.”
“I’ll ask Flagsteen if he's had anybody at the Healing Hall with that sort of damage. When I find the bloke who attacked you, he's going to regret the day he was born.” Jieleen paced to the bloodied floor.
“You can certainly ask Flagsteen, but I doubt the assassin would draw attention to themselves by attending the Healing Hall. The high-level skill with Invisibility would make stealing medical supplies a viable option. Having already proven capable of stealing Body Chains a few bandages would be child’s play.”
“So, we're no further along in discovering who's done this?” Jieleen sighed.
“Viky, how often did you pass servants in the tunnels?”
“Not every day, maybe every couple of days.”
“So, there's a good chance a servant may have seen your attacker coming or going.” Dereniik said.
“Wouldn't they have just used Invisibility to travel the tunnels?” Viky said.
“Not unless they were ninety-nine rotations’ old, the tunnels are just too long. They may have shimmered in and out of sight several times, but anyone passing them would have noticed. An Invisible person still had a physical shape and takes up space. It's impressive they managed to stay Invisible while you fought them off. Invisibility is a stealth skill, it’s difficult for many to hold centres when engaged in strenuous activity.”
“So, we are looking for an injured, middle-aged Commander.” Jieleen said.
“And someone who has access to or has recently visited the Odontology wing of the Healing Hall.” Viky added.
“And who has contact or knowledge of at least some of your sisterhood.” Dereniik smiled. There were a few other things he had picked up but didn’t want to overwhelm the young people. The records had been delivered to his suite, and he was hoping that familiarizing himself with them would provide other clues.
***
Jess entered the room with a platter of Amaranthaan sweet treats and the space was filled with a scent as rich as any First City ferment blend. Isobeel followed and her perfume provided subtler background flavours hinting at vanilla and delicate florals. Together the warmth evoked memories from childhood, happy times of energetic games, cradle songs, mother's embrace, and steaming puddings. Viky was sure that the smell could change one’s mood, she certainly felt happier, more positive. It wasn’t that she needed visitors, it was just nice to have a change in atmosphere. Jieleen’s paranoid concern was wearing a little thin.
“Dear one, I have just been told of your attack. I am so, so sorry. Please believe me I would have never, never, if I had known.” Isobeel didn’t finish her inarticulate sentence. Collapsing on the couch next to Viky, she clutched Viky in a warm close embrace.
“I’ll go make refreshments,” Jieleen suggested.
Viky supressed a groan. Stormblast the man. It didn’t help that he withdrew every time one of her sisters showed up. Two of them was beyond his ability to handle without additional male support.
“Listen, he will be back soon and doesn’t know about your missing Body Chains and we want to keep it that way. He talks to all his team-mates, if it gets out there will be no end of trouble for your family.” Viky smiled and awkwardly patted Isobeel on the back.
“We understand you were attacked; did someone really threaten your life?” Jess asked.
“I can take care of myself.” Viky answered.
“No, Viky,” Isobeel sniffed valiantly. “Life is sacred, the Body Chains are important but not as valuable as you. Are you injured?”
Viky was touched. “I was, but I went to a quite little canteen I know, ran into Healer Flagsteen and Commander Dereniik. Flagsteen Healed me, so I’m fine now.”
“That’s good, all Healers have a duty to care for women, but I have talked to Flags in the library, he’s just a child but sweet and friendly. I’ve heard exceptionally skilled. Maddie said they have put Commander Dereniik on your case. Did you tell him about the Body Chains?” Jess asked.
“You know how Sheeli mentioned the Body Chains were a little damaged?” Viky glanced at Isobeel, hoping she wasn’t going to overreact. “Well, he was already investigating a strand of fibre from the Body Chains, knew all about them, and was working the case from a different angle. But I don’t think we have anything to worry about. He’s from Hunnaal, he understands the cultural significance and the humiliation to your family, all that sort of thing. He realized immediately how important it is to keep this under wraps.”
“From Hunnaal? Doesn’t look it. I would have said Chinquaar.” Isobeel sniffed.
“He’s supposed to be clever, and we had decided that we needed professional help, didn’t we Isobeel.” Jess said.
“Well, Jess decided. I just went along because I don’t want to be blood guilty if something happened to you. And I really don’t want anything bad happening to you. I think if you died, Jieleen would also die from grief. I mean losing two life partners in a row would be like something out of a tragedy, and that would upset the whole team.”
“It would upset me too.” Viky patted Isobeel’s hand, it seemed like the right thing to do. Did that mean Isobeel cared? Viky wasn’t sure and it possibly didn’t matter.
“Anyway, I have decided that I want to give you a manuscript. I know you haven’t completed your part of the arrangement, but you tried, and got framed and attacked for your efforts. Jess hasn’t put me up to this, I thought of it myself. Next time you visit me you must choose one for yourself, and I don’t mind if you take the biggest, that way I will never have to feel guilty about not reading all those words or glyphs.”
Isobeel would have said more but Jieleen entered with mugs. Sweet treats were distributed, and the conversation turned to how fresh the juice was and the merits of Amaranthaan pastries. Since Viky had two visitors Jieleen decided it was safe for him to visit the canteen and pick up more supplies. Once he had left Viky returned to the former conversation.
“Isobeel, that’s a generous offer, but it’s too much. I can’t accept. I don’t know if you understand how valuable manuscripts are.” Saying the words hurt, but it wasn’t in Viky’s nature to take advantage of people. Even if they were fools.
Jess grinned like she had just won a large bet; had she been hoping for the manuscripts herself?
“I don’t know if you understand how wealthy I am?” Isobeel selected another treat.
“I guess that isn’t important, or in this instance it’s not the point. I don’t know if I can explain but I want you to know I’m not going to give up looking for your body chains.”
“You’re not frightened?” Isobeel asked.
“No, not now. I’m angry, but I’m also not stupid. I know I need to be careful. Need to think things through cautiously. We have some leads, I have some ideas, so does Dereniik. We will find you chains Isobeel.”
“I do want my Body Chains back. You must have some awesome inherited talents to not be frightened.” Isobeel licked one delicate finger after the other.
Viky glanced at Jess and gave her a wink. “Yes, I do.”
***
Records from the Odontology wing of the Healing Hall were spread over every available surface in Dereniik’s reception room. With painstaking care, he sorted through the excessive data, acutely missing his ability to scribe.
Eliminating those too young or old to fit his profile had been the first step. In theory anyone could inherit, but some races were more inclined to produce people with Invisibility. The elite among the people of Elimelech had strong hereditary potential and the only known individuals manifesting the ability to identify colour while Invisible. The ability to see ‘True Lights’ was one Dereniik had long envied and a key motivation for his former extensive training schedule. When Invisible, a person with this talent could see the colours of a person’s inherited and fractal powers. But it was an exceedingly rare talent.
Permanent residents of the capital were called each rotation to present themselves at the Odontology wing for a checkup. Follow-up visits resulted for those with problems. Each city department was worked through in turn. This month it was the Continuum Council.
Dereniik’s former responsibilities with the Directives Council had led his team to pursue perpetrators of the law. Once apprehended, the Continuum Council was responsible for deciding the recompense or actions that needed to be taken so justice was served. Any person, in any divisions of government, could commit a crime. Dereniik had seen that firsthand. But Teams who became part of the Continuum Council earned blue Cognition fractals. There were exceptions, he and one other of his team mates had also been awarded a blue fractal. But he had never heard of a Continuum Council members awarded Lilac Invisibility ones.
Person inheriting power’s once the three rotations of intensive training Commanders received was over were not guaranteed instruction. The facts of the case indicated the perpetrator was fit and strong enough to think they could subdue Viky and still have many rotations of experience and training behind them. He set the Continuum Council files aside, concentrating on more likely suspects.
Several of the younger men serving at the Odontology wing delt exclusively with D’char servants. At first glance Dereniik was impressed that the Council cared enough about servants’ physical health and dental hygiene to include them. A more detailed reading caused Dereniik to change his mind. Treatments were more about giving the young Healers experience, than caring for the individuals’ teeth or welfare. With a heavy heart he set aside their records. As a group they were unlikely suspects for the crime the process used to create D’char negated any inherited fractal abilities.
There were still some 30 files. Dereniik sifted through all of them, and a couple of names stood out. A few more leads to follow.
He had been in communication with Kyd. No one had been observed using Invisibility in the vicinity of Viky’s enclave. But a child D’char was hanging around without an apparent job assignment. Uncommon, although not completely unheard of. About half of the great cities of the world permitted a woman who had produced her heir and two sons to keep the next two male children she bore as personal servants. Far from universally accepted many of the women in Chruciaal chose to follow this custom. Some women indulged these children. Not as expendable as regular D’char they escaped much of the menial or dangerous work, but we're not often granted education, a trade or employment outside the family.
It was irrational to think that Viky’s attacker had spent hands-breaths, unobserved, waiting to follow Viky. As a middle-aged person they would have a work assignment, possible family responsibilities or other obligations. They needed a certain amount of knowledge of both Viky’s movements and those of her sisterhood. A simple way to obtain that was via an unencumbered servant.
A servant who wouldn’t arouse suspicion following her into a service tunnel, and finding her precise location.
The timeline fit with known fact. Viky had been training for half a hands breath before her attacker struck. Plenty of time a watching servant to establish her location, report to their master, and for the attacker to then return.
What would the attacker have done to dispose of her body had the attempt been successful? There were vast multitudes of deserted caverns, storerooms, passageways, and multiple lower levels of the city only frequented by servants. Disposing of a body would not be difficult but Viky’s absence would have become apparent at the latest by nightfall; a search would have been made.
Dereniik glanced fondly at the script-work. So much easier to negotiate than physical activity and within easy access of a personal room. With reluctance, he shuffled to stand. Inquiries needed to be made and additional data collected.
The attacker had attempted to construct the narrative that Viky was a thief. How would that have played out if she had been killed and disappeared? Had they thought it through and supplied her with a supposed escape route?
With several additional lines of inquiry to follow Dereniik wrestled rising nausea and headed out.