A small crowd was gathered in front of the mayor’s house. Everyone seemed to be talking at once, but they all fell silent as they noticed Lloyd coming through the front door. Tarah jogged closer. “Is little Sally alright? The mayor’s daughter.”
“Yes, yes, she’s fine now. As long as she eats well today and goes to sleep early, she’ll be pretty much back to normal by morning.”
Tarah looked relieved at that, as did some in the group on the road. The stranger from before strode up to Lloyd and held out his hand. “Philip, I own the town’s apothecary. Thank you for what you did.”
Lloyd shook his hand and smirked as he remarked, “Another Philip? Seems like one would be enough.”
Philip was a bit taken aback, surprise written across his face, before he scowled and replied, “That damn kid! Obviously going around causing trouble again. Everyone gives ‘im so much slack since his parents died, but soon after the funeral that damn kid started going out of his way to be damn pain in the ass. Dammit!”
“Damn.” Lloyd smirked again. Then he added, a little more seriously, “Both his parents died? Doesn’t that seem a bit suspicious? Especially after what I’ve seen on my first day in town, and it’s not even over yet.”
Philip sighed and looked around; most of the onlookers were already making their way back to carry on with their own lives. “Don’t worry, nothing like this has ever happened around here before. Part of why so many came to see what was going on. This is exciting for ‘em. You’ll soon be so bored here you won’t be able to leave quick enough.”
Lloyd chuckled as Philip continued, “The deaths of the kid’s parents wasn’t odd either. At least, not in a foul play sort of way. The town’s herd was on the way back early. We had a pack of wolves moving through the area, and they started making moves on the herd all that morning. The last time they went for the herd, the herd was less than a mile away from town. Jon and Martha were on their way back from the blacksmith. When the damn fools saw the herd stampeding their way, they panicked and started running – straight over the new bridge.”
“Which is what the herd were making for?”
“Exactly. The farmers watching the herd that day were mostly at the back, both to drive the herd faster and to get between it and the wolves. They had no idea the Cook’s were in the path, not that they could have done anything anyway. Only found out when they crossed the bridge themselves and discovered what was left of ‘em. Phil Cook has been supported by everyone else ever since. A couple of the farmers from that day even help keep the Cook farm going for when he’s old enough to take over. But the kid has started trying his best to make the town peoples lives a living hell.”
Philip paused in thought for a moment and added. “He’s usually not that bad, but if people start getting comfortable around him, he pulls one of his big stunts, and they sometimes cause damage. No one has the heart to really punish him, but he can be unbearable sometimes.”
“My experience wasn’t that bad, mostly just an unusual amount of lip from someone so small and scrawny. Can’t help you there though, not unless you want his pants set on fire.”
“Ha ha! No! If I ever want that I’ll definitely want to do it myself! Anyway, just wanted to say thank you. That Sally is a sweet girl, and her parents would have been broken if she hadn’t made it.”
“Don’t worry about it; it’s literally my job. See you around.” Lloyd turned to find Douglas and Tarah waiting patiently at the side. “You two ready to go down to your pen?”
“Yes. Unless you want to wait until tomorrow?”
“Now is good. In fact, now is better. I need to clear my head and do something constructive. Like construction. Besides, I also need a few questions answered. Your mayor is going to have his mind elsewhere for a bit, and you two seem to know the ins and outs of this town quite well.”
'And my vacation never even got the chance to start,' Lloyd thought to himself.
“Is this about that poison and the magic you mentioned?” Douglas asked. Based on Tarah’s lack of reaction Lloyd noted that she had already been filled in. Lloyd just nodded as they started walking to the west end of the town.
“Are there any obvious suspects who would want to poison your mayor?”
“Poison Liam? But they poisoned his daughter? You think it was a warning?”
“No, I think young Sally was most likely a mistake. She probably ate or drank something meant for her father. He is the mayor after all, and in my experience the more powerful you are, the more enemies you seem to get. Who’s more powerful here than the mayor?”
“Freda, the inn keeper, no one would dare to piss her off. I have seen her mad,” Tarah laughed, “And obviously that drunk down by the mill, Charlie. There is something wrong with that guy, everyone keeps away from him. He is a real creep and seems a bit twisted to me.” Lloyd raised his brows to her in question, so Tarah quickly added, “But he keeps to himself, and hardly ever leaves his property, so he is left alone by the townsfolk. Only his nephew leaves that place, and he is a nice kid. Practically runs the mill now too. It is just that his illness makes people leave him alone too... Anyway, everyone likes the mayor - he only ever uses his authority to help the townsfolk.”
“Power doesn’t only create enemies through misuse, simply having it creates resentment or desire in some. I’m looking for anyone who might feel he makes life hard for them. Maybe a dispute was settled that wasn’t in their favor. Maybe a change is planned that inconveniences them. Even if whatever happened was the right call. People willing to go to lengths like this rarely care how just a decision is, only what it means for themselves.”
Tarah and Douglas walked in silence for a while, thinking through everyone they knew in the town. There wasn’t much to go on, the town had grown so much in recent years that everyone was better off. There were hardly any new people, so all the increased prosperity was to the benefit of the existing townsfolk.
“Also think about who in town has the resources or connections to do this. I can’t stress enough that this wasn’t some poison bought in a back street or from some shady merchant. Harrow’s Twitch is impossible to make without at least a century of experience and extensive training. There’s no way something like that should exist anywhere near here.”
Seeing the looks on their faces Lloyd laughed and added, “Arcanists are effectively immortal, we stop aging, so a century of experience is nothing. It just narrows the search down to arcanists only.”
Tarah asked, “But what about elves? We occasionally have some of them come through here. We have no arcanists outside of Lekton’s mages, but elves live for centuries too.”
“Actually, they can live for a few thousand years. But it doesn’t change anything, the poison requires magic to create it, so it still must have been done by an arcanist, even if it’s an elf. If there are no arcanists here, then it wasn’t made here. So it has to be someone who could afford it, find it, and fetch it.”
“Motive, ability, and opportunity. Considering what would be needed to do this, that would cover ability. Who would be able to get hold of the poison? Who would want the mayor dead covers motive. No one would do this for kicks. And who would be able to pull off poisoning the mayor. That covers opportunity. Think about it. And it doesn’t all have to be the same person, for example, someone with motive can pay someone with opportunity.”
The three continued in silence the rest of the way, not talking even when they arrived at the livestock pen. The smell was quite bad, which is likely why it was built so far west. To the east side of the pen, slightly closer to the town, Lloyd noticed a butcher. 'Close to the livestock but far enough away from townsfolk that there’s unlikely to be any hazards.' Even further west was what appeared to be a tannery, judging by the skins stretched out on racks.
'The town really is well planned. At least the new parts are. The noxious smell from the tannery is almost completely overwhelmed from the not QUITE so noxious smell of the livestock, and that’s worse than normal due to their drainage problem. If animals are slaughtered by the butcher, it’s even convenient for delivery of the hides. I just wish they had put as much effort into building the pen itself.'
“Why wasn’t the drainage done properly the first time? I mean, all the newer parts of town seem well thought out and planned effectively, and you guys have had some innovative ideas. But something simple like drainage wasn’t planned for?
Both Tarah and Douglas looked uncomfortable and shifted slightly before Douglas answered. “We can’t answer that. I’ve seen the plans and there were allowances for proper drainage. The people who built the pen also have experience with drainage. Most of them work on the farms, so they have their own irrigation and drainage to be maintained. It just wasn’t done here.”
“So they ignored the plans? How can that happen?”
Tarah kept her eyes on the ground as she hesitantly answered, “Because it kind of didn’t happen?" before hurrying to add, "I mean it did, clearly, but everyone involved swears it was worked on and accounted for. Some even swear to have checked it. It is just not there.”
“I find that hard to believe, how can everyone working on the pen all claim it was done? Surely someone has come forward with the truth. Look, it’s not something you can even lie about, it’s right here in your face.”
“True, but not a single person claims any different. Even some who were not involved can confirm seeing at least some of the drainage being dug. The parts that were dug in the beginning needed some large rocks removed, large enough that people had to break them into smaller rocks to move them. It made a lot of noise, which was heard by a lot of people."
“The noise went on throughout the construction?”
“No, only two days,” she answered sheepishly, “but while no one claims to have worked on the drainage themselves after that, they all swear they saw and heard others working on it. Every single one of them. People here do not just make stuff up.”
“Well, clearly something was up with these people this time. Doesn’t matter now though.”
With that, Lloyd channeled a drying spell, casting it across the entire pen. This time he added fire as well, not just drying out the quagmire but also roasting the larvae that were exposed as the water dried. And killing off any bacteria. Unfortunately, large amounts of excrement got roasted too.
Douglas and Tarah both started backing away as the smell hit them, but Lloyd just cast another spell to drive the smell up and away from the town.
A minute later the spell had done its job, far more effectively than natural fire and wind alone.
Using some air magic, Lloyd started cutting some grooves into the ground, and over the next several minutes a network of deep channels were formed across the entire pen. Lloyd felt they followed the land fairly well, and looked like they would channel water downhill and towards the river. The look on Douglas’s face seemed to imply it wasn’t as good a job as he thought, but that wasn’t his problem.
“Done. That’s about all I can do here, sorry.”
Tarah smiled warmly, “No, thank you. At worst it will fix everything until the next time we get rain, and might even be better after as well. At least until we get one of your earth affinity mage things.” Lloyd just laughed.
“Come, we’ll walk you back to the inn. There are some people that need to be told about the drying out of the pen, and they are nearby there anyway.”
They all turned and started back down the main road.
Not ten paces later a loud scream echoed across the river. Lloyd glanced at the others and turned to the nearby bridge just as Tarah grabbed his elbow. “Don’t worry, it is nothing, and there is nothing anyone can do anyway.”
“What? You can’t be serious?”
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
“That creep’s nephew I told you about earlier? The one that runs the mill and suffers from an illness? That’s him. And that’s from his illness. He has something wrong with his mind.”
“You mean he walks around screaming?”
“No, he passes out and screams while he is unconscious. Usually cries too. No one can wake him up, but when he wakes up by himself, he refuses to talk to anyone and disappears for a few days. Loses himself in his work.”
“Last time I was here, I helped the couple that own the mill put in the water wheel. What do they do to help their son?”
“A couple? You must mean the original owners. I never knew them, just that they were the kid’s parents. Died around eleven years ago. His father started drinking himself into a coma every night. One night while drunk he fell off the bridge and drowned, and the boy's mother got sick and died before any healers came through. The uncle had already moved here to look after her when she passed.” Tarah looked downcast.
“The kid’s uncle owns everything now," she continued. "He is a nasty piece of work but seems to treat the kid alright. Stays away from town so no one really cares that he is such an asshole.”
“No one knows what makes him scream like that?” Lloyd asked as they started walking again.
“He has made some friends in town; I know some say he claims to be cursed. If he gets lazy, he supposedly gets transported to some hellscape full of different dark beings. They hunt him and hurt him until he is transported back fully healed. It is all a lie; we have seen him lying passed out on the floor. Yaric certainly believes it though.”
“Yaric?”
“The kid’s name. His mother…” Tarah was interrupted as another blood curdling scream sounded out across the river. All three paused again, and this time even Tarah looked uncomfortable.
“I really feel for the kid, I do, but sometimes life…” She was cut off again as a scream of pure terror echoed from the mill, raising the hairs on Lloyd’s neck.
“Nope, not happening! Sorry, but I’m not walking away from this.” Lloyd started running towards the bridge.
“Wait! Nothing can be done! You will just piss off his uncle!” Like Lloyd cared.
Now fully augmented, Lloyd practically flew across the bridge. Racing to the other side, Lloyd turned for the mill, seeing the door wide open.
That wasn’t normal. No mill ever leaves doors or windows open. That’s how clouds of flour get kicked up, possibly causing explosions if anything ignites them.
A young boy writhing on the floor wasn’t normal either. The boy lifted his hips high, back arched like a bow, fists clenched tight. Tendons and muscles in his neck stood out as Yaric writhed in place, letting out another scream of terror. 'No, this isn’t normal... What in the abyss is wrong with this town?'
It was the pull of arcana that alerted Lloyd to the other man, presumably the boy's uncle, leaning against the wall just off to the side. It was subtle, he barely noticed it, but it was there. The uncle was an arcanist.
Lloyd almost tripped over himself as he got closer and felt the true level of arcana being channeled. 'This isn’t a subtle pull at all, he’s masking himself. Less than half the Council could mask that much arcana!'
Perhaps most disturbing was the malicious smirk on the mans face, glee was written all over it. He was clearly focusing hard on some spell, but was obviously enjoying himself too - while his nephew continued screaming on the floor just a few meters away.
Lloyd was right through the door before he recognized the flavor of arcana. 'No way this is unaspected, this is mind aspected! Mind Mage!' Mind Mages are notoriously tricky in a fight, far more than their level or title would normally suggest.
It was almost evening and the morning’s breeze had all but disappeared. Seeing no flour hanging in the air, Lloyd started casting a fire spell. The man reacted instantly, swiveling around and throwing up a pure arcana shield just in time to intercept the stream of fire. The stream diverted over the man’s shoulder, setting some of the wooden gears on fire.
His smirk never left his face as an air spell killed the flames behind him while simultaneously counter attacking. Lloyd felt something like a haze settle around his head, and he cancelled his follow up lighting spell just in time, as everything inverted and started to spin.
Knowing this asshole was messing with his mind already, he turned 180 degrees on his heel, threw up a shield behind himself and ran forward. After taking five large paces forward he turned 90 degrees to his right and ran another five paces, hoping that breaking his opponents line of sight would cause the spell to collapse. It didn’t.
Lloyd threw up a full bubble shield and waited, not moving an inch. The right moment came when he thought something might be hitting his shield, but wasn’t sure. 'You’re never not sure if something hits your shield!'
Lloyd built up as much arcana as he could without casting a spell, then released it all at once, straight through his head. Blasting aside foreign arcana wasn’t hard, and his senses immediately returned to normal.
The psychopath was just three meters away, directly in front of him, already throwing a shield up, stopping Lloyd’s lightning bolt dead. Unlike the lightning spell, which also protects the caster from the burst of light, the shield did no such thing.
The darkening evening flared up with the brilliant flash, while a deafening crack rang out, as a bolt of lightning as thick as Lloyd’s waist lashed out at the shield. The sick bastard turned his head, blinded, but immediately started using his soul to sense his surroundings, feeling out the arcana that made up everything in existence.
'This asshole has combat experience. But he’s also rusty.'
Noticing the shield was just an angled wall, simple and quick, Lloyd also happened to notice that the bottom was a couple of inches off the ground. A flick of his wrist and a blade of air flew along the ground, trimming the grass and slipping under the shield.
It was the psycho’s turn to stifle a scream as the air blade bit deeply into his ankles. Feet knocked slightly back, and legs locked in pain, the sadistic asshole started tilting forward and lost concentration on his shield.
Just in time for a much smaller but quicker lightning bolt to strike him square in the chest.
He was still twitching slightly as Lloyd reached him, grabbing his collar and lifting him up to punch him in the jaw. The asshole’s head snapped back; Lloyd may have augmented his strength just a little.
With his opponent now too dazed to fight back and not a threat for the moment, Lloyd dragged him back inside the mill, waving away both Douglas and Tarah. Both seemed rooted to the ground in shock or fear, but started walking backwards when he made a shooing motion.
'This bastard will recover soon.' Lloyd reached back and delivered a massive open hand slap against the man’s ear. 'Hehe, try casting a spell now, asshole.' The man was clearly even more disorientated than before, but the boy was still screaming. It was normally too dangerous to directly cut off a spell like this, but Lloyd was left with little choice. Placing a hand on each side of the man’s head, he started casting a lighting spell. He kept increasing the power as the man twitched, not stopping until he was clearly dead. Still the boy screamed…
Running over, Lloyd cradled the boy as gently as he could, picked him up, and started carrying towards the bridge as the boy kept screaming. Yaric had started calming down just as he reached the bridge - and a badly shaken Tarah and Douglas. “Watch over him,” he said, turning back to the mill. Lloyd searched the man's body, hoping for some indication of what he had done to the boy. There was no doubt that the uncle, 'Charlie' he remembered, was using magic to torture the boy, but Lloyd couldn’t figure out why it hadn’t stopped yet.
Checking the man’s sleeves, Lloyd froze in shock. He ripped the sleeve up all the way, exposing an intricate tattoo of a swan covering the whole forearm. He grabbed the other arm and ripped that sleeve off too. A rose. Lloyd swore internally. 'What happened to this being a boring town! It’s been two damn hours!'
Lloyd quickly cast a spell to tear the tattoos off both arms, cringing at the grizzly rolls of skin. Unable to stomach walking around with strips of human skin, Lloyd pulled an empty grain sack from across the room and shoved the skin inside, all without touching a thing. Then he tied off the bag, and holding it as far from his body as he could, strode straight toward Tarah and Douglas.
It appeared that Douglas had since thrown up. 'Good thing he didn’t see what I just had to do to the body.'
“Did you know he was an arcanist?!” They both shook their heads. “Did you?” he screamed. Shaking their heads more violently they backed away, keeping their distance as he strode forward.
“We had no idea, I swear!” Tarah was trembling as she held up her hands, as if to keep him at bay. 'Maybe the town really isn’t the problem?'
“Tarah, you said the kid’s dad drowned and his mom died of a sickness. Was it in that order?”
“Uh… no, no it was not. The mother was sick for a few months already, and the father had started drinking soon after she fell ill. But she finally passed almost a week before her husband had his accident,” Tarah’s voice shook as she replied.
“I can't believe he was still doing this!”
The kid was now calm and sleeping, so Lloyd gently picked him up and carried him over the bridge, making for the inn. Both Tarah and Douglas had parted before him and now followed at a distance.
Lloyd finally made it to the inn and walked swiftly up to the reception desk. Freda was still at the desk, even though sounds of talking and laughter were already coming from the dining room. “I need a second room.”
Freda looked at the boy uncomfortably, “Sir, I know you’re just tryin' to help, but that boy has problems with his head. He…”
“Stop! I’ve heard all that before. Another room. Now!”
Freda’s face turned red as she glared at Lloyd. “You think you can stomp in here and start orderin' me around? In my own inn? You have no idea what you’re talking about!” Freda had started marching around the counter when Lloyd let go of the kid with one hand, keeping his arm under the kid’s legs but holding the arm out straight, palm up, and summoned a fireball above his hand. Freda froze, her eyes wide.
“If one more person in this messed up town tells me I don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m going to start losing my temper! Another room! NOW!” Freda scrambled for a key and hurried up the stairs, obviously intent on opening the door for him. Lloyd didn’t object and simply followed her, barely noticing how the noise from those eating had died down, or the scrapes of chairs from people standing up.
As she opened the door upstairs Lloyd spotted Tarah peaking her head around the corner of the stairway. “I do not understand what has happened… I have no idea what is happening now. Can we go? Is there something we should be doing? Are we in trouble?” Tarah’s voice was still trembling, and tears spilled over as she spoke.
Lloyd exhaled loudly as his face softened. “No, none of you are in any trouble. There’s nothing to worry about, just wait downstairs. And I’m sorry. I wasn’t expecting any of this. Perhaps I haven’t handled things as well as I should have. Same to you, Freda. Just please, for now anyway, no more questions. And just do what you’re told... I mean asked. I’ll explain things to the relevant people as soon as I can.”
Lloyd stepped into the room. “And Freda, please arrange for a plate of food and some water to be brought up here for the kid. If you know someone he trusts who can also watch over him that would be a bonus.” Lloyd placed Yaric gently on the bed and straightened up. He wiped his hand across his face. "Argghh!" he screamed silently.
The boy was tall for his age, if a little thin. He was already as tall as Lloyd, maybe even a little taller. Uncut blonde hair was matted down like he had been spending hours laboring in the mill, with dark bags under his eyes and taut skin on his face hinting at exhaustion.
Lloyd quietly closed the door behind him and made his way downstairs. Douglas was waiting with Tarah, and both looked up as soon as he appeared. They still looked frightened, but neither were shaking anymore and there were no fresh tears. Just then Freda walked in from the dining room, a young woman following with a tray holding a bowl of stew, large piece of bread, a pitcher of water and a cup.
She had clearly received instructions on what was required, as the young woman didn’t even slow down, immediately walking past everyone and up the stairs. Freda looked expectantly at Lloyd.
“Douglas, I know the mayor’s just been through hell, but can you go fetch him please. This can’t wait. If it helps, he can come along with his family to book a room.” Douglas nodded and ran out the door.
Freda looked at him quizzically. “Book a room? At an inn almost a stone’s throw from their house?”
Lloyd spoke quietly as he replied, “Yes. Their daughter was deliberately poisoned. I’m sure I know who it was now, but something in the home could still be contaminated. It would be much safer for them to both stay and eat here until I can check everything. And young Sally will need lots of safe food and rest. This place is perfect for both.”
Freda seemed a bit shocked, but this time didn’t question him. They both walked over to the ring of chairs Douglas and Tarah had been sitting at and sat down. Tarah sat back in her seat, joining them. All Lloyd could do now was lean his head back and close his eyes, waiting for Liam to arrive. He got two minutes of peace before Liam hurried in, followed closely by Douglas. “You killed Yaric’s crazy uncle Charlie?” he blurted before he even got to the chairs, eyes wide.
Lloyd sighed again. He’d been doing that a lot the last couple of hours. 'And the day had started off so well too!'
“Alright, so a quick summary for everyone. That crazy uncle you are talking about isn’t Yaric’s uncle. I’m certain they're not related in any way, shape or form. His real name is Den Virgo, he’s a notorious Mind Mage who’s been wanted for over three centuries. He was also over 800 years old by the way.”
Everyone looked stunned as Lloyd continued, “I know without a doubt that he’s hidden many times by forcing people to pretend he’s a family member, then killing them and making it look like an accident once his fake identity had settled. Just as I’m certain also happened to Yaric’s family. I met them, they were a nice couple. Virgo deserved far worse than what he got.”
“A big part of Virgo’s notoriety is not just that he was a true psychopath, but also that he was an extremely talented Mind Mage. For those that don’t know, advanced mind magic is exceptionally rare, and for many arcanists, the most unsettling type of magic. They leave you unable to trust anything, not even what you see and hear. It's like you can never be clean again.”
He looked at each person in turn, deliberately making eye contact along the way. “Yaric has no mental illness. There is no curse. Curses like that don’t exist. Virgo has spent the last few years torturing Yaric.” Freda audibly gasped at that. “One of you mentioned that Yaric believed a curse came into effect whenever he got lazy, and after he went through an episode, he disappeared for days, working nonstop.” Both Freda and Liam had wide eyes at this point, realizing where he was going.
“Virgo was probably using his torture to force Yaric to work harder. Make him run everything and do all the work while Virgo himself put his feet up and drank himself into a stupor each day. I’m certain that in the very least it was Virgo that made the poison that almost killed your daughter, Liam, if not also the one who wanted to poison you in the first place. I have no idea why yet.”
“Now, I’m going to stop here. You have all been through a hell of a lot this afternoon. Far more than most people ever will. As for myself, I could have handled things better too. I’m far more tired than I thought, and my head clearly isn’t in the place it should be. So, I’m going to go get some food, probably have a second helping, have a bath,” he glanced meaningfully at Freda, “then get some sleep. After breakfast tomorrow I’ll let everyone know what is going to be happening going forward.”
Freda signaled someone at the counter, and they ran off to start getting a bath ready. “For now, just take it easy and don’t worry about what’s happened today. What's done is done, and there is nothing for any of you to do. The only possible danger left is poison somewhere in Liam’s house, so with Liam and his family staying here tonight, there is no more danger. Just cleanup.”
Lloyd stood up and stretched as he let out one last, long sigh. “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”
Of course, that’s when an exhausted looking Yaric stumbled down the stairs.
'Sigh…'