The Grouse was certainly more upmarket than what Yaric was used to. Dark wood panels lined the sitting room at the entrance, with multiple fireplaces and many comfortable-looking leather chairs. Large braziers added to the sunlight streaming in from the high-set windows. The whole place looked like it would be particularly cozy in winter.
Most places had a tavern at the entrance, with rooms further back, but this place reversed the trend. The small tavern was entered via the sitting room, apparently primarily intended for guests.
Yaric had a jolt of surprise when he realized that Freda had a similar layout back in Clery.
Lloyd booked them both in using the thick, leather-bound tome he was handed, making sure that they had adjacent rooms. They listened to the usual information of what time the kitchen opened, what items were prohibited, and the like, then made their way upstairs to put down their bags.
“Leave your bow behind,” Lloyd said from the open door of his room. “We don’t want to scare away our prey.”
It only took a minute to put his things away. Unlike his previous experiences, Yaric hadn’t arrived after a long time traveling on the road. There was no need to change, nor any need to clean up, he could simply drop his bags, put away his bow, and remove his cloak. Travel by transporter made a world of difference.
Lloyd was waiting for him in the corridor, so they went down together and settled themselves at their own table. The place was small but cozy, with flags from other regions and nations hanging from the walls. The meals were particularly good, but also fixed, so neither needed to place an order, even for a late lunch.
“Okay, let’s go over the plan for today,” Lloyd said, unfolding the map of the city. It was large enough to take up three-quarters of the table. He reached into his robe and pulled out a small book, which he dropped unceremoniously onto the map.
Two mugs of ale were placed for them on the open space at the edge of the table.
“I’ve already been through the missing people reports, and I’ve highlighted those that seem most suspicious. The first thing we’re going to do is mark the areas where we suspect they disappeared. Assuming a kidnapping of course.”
“Where we suspect they disappeared?” Yaric asked, raising his eyebrows.
“Of course. No one saw a kidnapping. All we have is where they were last seen. Using the where as well as when they were last seen, along with where they lived and worked, we can try to work out where they were likely headed. That would give us a route between two points.”
“That doesn’t sound like much. And it’s a lot of guesses.”
“What did you think this would entail? Finding a riddle written in blood and working out the exact spot? You understand that we don’t even know if there are any kidnappings, right?”
“Yes, you mentioned it a few times.”
“No one had any concerns about kidnappings, this all started when a certain young woman disappeared. She had wanted children for years, even her neighbors knew, and she had finally given birth to a healthy baby boy. Three months later she went out at night to fetch water, and she never came back. No body, no witnesses. And she didn’t take anything with her other than a bucket.
“One of the more attentive guards happened to look into the disappearance, and he noticed several others that also seemed unlikely. Sometimes people just run away, and for a variety of reasons, but other people have just as many reasons to stay no matter what happens. There were a significant number of missing people reports regarding people who didn’t fit the usual profile, people that you wouldn’t expect to just get up and disappear. There aren’t enough of them to explain the increased number of total reports, but if we assume that people without strong ties to the city would also be among the victims, then we have a strong correlation. Not causation, but enough to raise suspicions.”
“When did the increase start?” Yaric asked, taking a sip of his drink.
“If these reports are accurate, there was a rather sudden increase around four years ago.”
Yaric choked on his drink and turned to the side, coughing.
“It’s only a few percent given the size of the city, but that’s still significant. And we can narrow it down to half a dozen districts. Almost all of the increases have come from there. That isn’t suspicious in and of itself, as I’m sure you can understand that you would expect to see that in a normal situation anyway. Poorer communities tend to have a higher number of runaways, so when times are tough, they tend to have the biggest increases in disappearances. But times aren’t tough. And guess where these districts lie?”
“In rich areas,” Yaric wheezed.
“I wouldn’t call them rich, but they’re certainly not poor. And some unusual disappearances have occurred in poorer districts that neighbor them as well. The other side of the city has seen no changes.”
“So it has to be kidnappings, right?”
“No,” Lloyd sighed. “We could just as well find some loan shark or gang operating in the area, anything that would give people cause to run away and disappear. It’s probably more likely with some of these missing people, but it doesn’t make sense for people like the mother. Besides, when people go missing everyone’s first thought tends to be kidnapping. This gets complicated when you remember that the usual disappearances wouldn’t stop either, so the evidence is muddled.”
“Then what do we do?”
“As I said, we use my list of the more suspicious disappearances, mark their last seen location and places like their home, then see if we can find any overlaps. The areas with most of the increases are large, but there are enough suspicious disappearances that there have to be overlaps even if there weren’t any kidnappings.
“Once we have that, we hit the streets. We look for the homeless, or kids that look like they spend a lot of time on the streets in those areas, and we try to work out which of those might know something. Speaking to enough of them should net us something.”
“Like?”
“Depends on who we’re talking about,” Lloyd shrugged. “Most people never think of the homeless, they’re just part of the background. Others realize they’re invisible and almost everywhere, then assume they’re the ultimate source of information. The truth tends to lie in the middle.
“If we find kids who spend a lot of time playing on the street, they’re likely to know if there are new neighbors, changes in the amount of traffic, the kinds of things that would affect them. Those who get by through theft, they’re more likely to know about local businesses, hidden routes, or places to fence goods. Also the location and movements of competition. Pickpockets will notice the people, though they’re only likely to notice people they would consider good marks. The others will blend in as part of the crowd. Both of the last two groups are likely to have a good idea of guard patrol routes, areas with less security, empty plots, that sort of thing.
“And all of them are only likely to know things about their own neighborhood. It would be very unusual for someone to know much about the other side of the city. We have to be careful about who we talk to and what exactly we ask, particularly since many of the people we talk to would probably say anything they think we want to hear if it means they get something.”
Their food arrived just then, so they moved over to the clear end of the table and began to eat. Yaric only got halfway through his meal when Lloyd stood and moved back to the map. Lloyd’s lunch was only partly eaten as well, so Yaric moved to join him.
“First, find this place on the map,” Lloyd said, pointing to the name of a tavern in his notes. It took a few minutes, but Yaric was disappointed when Lloyd found it first.
“Now we mark it with the name and approximate time he was last seen. There. And I see we have both his place of work and his residence. You look for this address, I’ll look for his workplace.”
This time Yaric was pleased to note that he found his location faster. Still, Lloyd wasn’t far behind, and he quickly pointed to the time and day.
“He was last seen in the evening, and it was the weekend. Where would he most likely be going from here?” Lloyd asked.
“Home,” Yaric replied.
“So now we look for the most likely routes between those points. It’s unlikely that he would be taken from a public place like the tavern, so he was probably taken between there and his next destination. If he was kidnapped,” Lloyd hurriedly added.
There were two obvious routes to his house, so Lloyd insisted they mark both routes.
“Now we do this man. He was also last seen in the evening, but it was a weekday. And look at his occupation.”
“Shipping and transport. Here in this city?” Yaric asked.
“Of course, all the goods you see in every store have to get there, don’t they? Even a business like this will need flour, ale, and beer. Probably much more than that. How do you think all these stores get the food everyone eats each day?”
“But I haven’t seen any wagons or anything,” Yaric protested.
Lloyd stared impassively in response. They sat in silence for a few seconds before Yaric suddenly sat up straighter. “They move everything after dark!”
“Exactly. So in this case, this young man is most likely heading to work at this time. And he was last seen having a meal, which also makes sense. This time we need to mark his route to work.”
Only one route made sense, and looking at the location of the place he ate, along with the places that surrounded it, Yaric thought that he most likely chose where to eat based on his route to work.
“Huh,” Lloyd hummed, looking at the map after Yaric had pointed it out. He sat and traced the route from his residence as well, only to find that the best route did indeed pass by the place where he’d eaten.
“Good point. That makes me think he might actually have run into trouble. Well spotted.”
They kept at it, pausing every now and then to move back to their plates and keep eating. More than one included people who were last seen outside the districts that had the spikes in missing people, but they lived or worked there, or vice versa. Two had no connection at all, but the districts lay between where they had last been seen and where they lived and worked.
Four different roads and sections with significant overlap, and those overlapping parts all neared each other at some point along their length.
“Damn… something actually is up,” Lloyd mused.
“You really didn’t believe they were kidnappings, did you?”
“I’m still not certain. Straight up murder isn’t out of the question, especially if they were robbed. But statistically, it was more likely that most of these people were running away. It’s far more likely than some murderer who leaves no bodies or a kidnapper who takes victims somewhere without ever being discovered. Sprinkle in a few random crimes against people who we know wouldn’t run, and you have all the appearances of a serial kidnapper. But this… the patterns are just too consistent.”
“So why on these roads then? And why only on these sections of those roads?”
“It’s too early for that. Here,” Lloyd said, sliding the appeal over.
It was unlike any appeal Yaric had ever seen. The thick binder was filled with reports and notes, enough that he would take hours to read them all.
“I’ve marked those that I thought were suspicious. Go through the rest of them and see if you can spot any of the more that have something to do with these districts. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on each, but you should start recognizing the names of places. There have to be people without strong ties that also disappeared from around here. See if you can narrow those stretches of road further.”
“Where are you going?” Yaric asked.
“To wash up. Unlike you, I was up all night working on this, and I’m not waiting any longer.”
Lloyd left Yaric to it. Twenty minutes of searching only turned up two more names, but one of them did cut a section of road even shorter. Tellingly, it was at the far end from where the roads drew close. Yaric was certain there were more, but it was hard to match places on a map of the entire city, and many people had obviously been reported missing elsewhere. It would have helped a lot if the reports all included the location where the person was reported missing.
Lloyd joined him soon after, and he seemed happy with the progress.
“That’s good. I only have so many because I just looked at the information on the people, to see if they fit the profile of people who were unlikely to disappear. The fact that almost all of them come from these districts is just coincidence. Well, certainly not coincidence, but due to whatever happened to them occurring in these places. If there had been nothing nefarious going on like I thought, they would have been spread all over.”
Yaric took the rolled-up map from Lloyd, while Lloyd tucked his notebook away, then they headed out. It was already getting later than they would have liked, but there genuinely did seem to be something happening to people in this area, so neither were willing to waste the rest of the day.
“What about those people with Healer Stamp?” Yaric asked. The sun had moved past its zenith, but it was still high, illuminating the significantly increased traffic. Yaric had to elbow his way through the crowds at times if he wanted to keep up with Lloyd.
“What about them?” Lloyd asked, not sounding particularly interested.
“What if it was a Mind Mage? He could be behind the kidnappings. If he’s experimenting on people, then Healer Stamp might have the victims that were found. Or the ones who survived.”
“None of those people went missing. They were all found already in that state, usually collapsed in the street. Arch Wizard Phelps said nothing of people going missing first, and that would certainly be mentioned. Besides, Healer Stamp tested them. No Mage or Wizard touched them. None! And why leave them where they would be found if the supposed Mind Mage could make all the others disappear?”
“But what if he missed something, what if he couldn’t detect a really advanced spell, or –.”
“No,” Lloyd said cutting him off. “It doesn’t work that way. For example, I looked into an issue with cattle pens in your hometown right after I first found you. Even though the triggers were weeks old, low power, and had been cast over by my own spells, I still managed to detect them. The barest shred of a spell.
“You heard the Healer. This Banishment thing can only be done by Mind Mages, and even then, most can’t do it. This part you probably don’t know, but one of the reasons they are often looked at negatively is they can’t use a Tech Duinn, at least not to practice mind related spells. The Tech Duinn cannot simulate a sentient mind, so they practice everything but their primary focus. That is why they are always Mind Mages, and you’ll never hear of a Mind Wizard.
“The upside to that is that they can safely practice almost any mind spell without the Tech Duinn. They just need volunteers, and those aren’t hard to find. Other arcanists work hard to accrue enough time to keep progressing, but Mind Mages never have that issue. Nothing slows them down, so Mage for Mage they tend to be stronger.
“Now think about what Healer Stamp said about how only stronger Mind Mages have any chance of being able to Banish someone. Imagine how much power they need. I’ve never heard of this before today, which makes me think it’s exceptionally rare, far rarer than Mind Mages themselves. The only thing that would make sense to me is that you need exceptional power to Banish someone; Healer Stamp even gave me the impression that this was a brute-force attack. There is simply no way Healer Stamp could miss the signs of that much power being used, particularly when we can detect the faintest traces. We know beyond doubt that no arcanist was involved.”
“But it makes perfect sense for it to be a Mind Mage,” Yaric protested. “That could be why there were no witnesses! They had their memories wiped. And where were these patients found? Do the areas match? Could they –.”
“Yaric!” Lloyd said sharply, stopping in place and turning to face him. He was frowning sternly. “Come here.”
Lloyd placed a hand on Yaric’s shoulder and led him to the side of the road.
“I understand how your history with Mind Mages might make you feel, but they are not inherently bad. I thought you understood this. There is no reason at all to suspect any Mind Mage, no more than any other arcanist you meet.”
“I know there are good Mind Mages as well,” Yaric retorted, feeling self-conscious with the crowds of people walking past.
“No Yaric, it's not that some are good people, virtually all are. Mind Mages are no more likely to become criminals than any other arcanist.”
“But everyone always warns about them. What about Den Virgo? And you said a Mind Mage was the head of that huge crime ring we discovered.”
“Yes, they are people like any other, and you can point to two who went bad. And I never said a Mind Mage was the head, just that one was involved. If you think back, I also told you that many other arcanists were involved. In fact, you were directly involved in exposing the first of them.
“Look, you need to understand that they are naturally in a position that makes people defensive. We draw power from the fifth dimension, as you know. No one fully understands that connection, and no one ever can when we consider how it involves an entire dimension we could never properly comprehend. That also means that no one can ever block your connection either. So long as you live, you will always be able to channel arcana. Now, how do you think we would disable an arcanist if we can never truly be disarmed?”
“Kill them?” Yaric asked.
“That’s not exactly disabling, is it? No, we addle the mind. You know how hard it is to cast a spell while sparring. Imagine if you were so drugged you didn’t know where you were. How would you cast a spell then? Mind Mages don’t need to drug you, they inherently target our weakest point. Fire and ice and lightning and such are dangerous, and we all use it, but mind magic targets our biggest vulnerabilities. And it doesn’t just injure us, it can truly disarm us. Mind Mages are the ideal anti-arcanists. They also make fantastic assassins, which only makes things worse.
“Then there is the inherent unease with having our minds messed with. Injuries are one thing, but what about when you can’t trust what you see, or your own memories? Maybe you’re already injured and bleeding out, but you have no idea. What happens if your friends are the ones affected, and how could you know? Will they turn on you?
“It’s easy to look at them like some kind of villain, but they are arcanists just like you and me. You do realize that I know many spells that use mind magic? And you will learn quite a few as well, just as you are learning spells from other affinities. If we suddenly discovered you were a Mind Mage, would you immediately turn evil?”
“No,” Yaric mumbled. Yaric felt like he was being scolded, and it wasn’t something he was used to. Worse, intellectually he fully understood what Lloyd was saying, even if it felt hard to admit. He knew he was judging an entire group based on two members. And he only had real experience with one of them.
“You have more reason to have an issue with Mind Mages than most,” Lloyd continued, though his voice was far gentler. “I fully understand. But it wasn’t a Mind Mage who did those things to you and your family, it was Den Virgo. The man. Just make sure you don’t pass those feelings on to other Mind Mages you meet, because you will meet others. And most, if not all, will be great people who don’t deserve it. And I can guarantee that they’ve all faced unfair and unfounded suspicion before. Do you understand why now?”
“Yes,” Yaric replied softly. “So people also resent them for not needing to use the Tech Duinn?” he asked, trying to show he understood.
“Partly,” Lloyd said, looking away thoughtfully. “I’m sure some do, anyway. The reason I brought that up was it also makes them different. Everyone either uses it, or they drastically slow down their progression to advance without the Tech Duinn to cover them. Everyone except Mind Mages. It makes people unintentionally view them as different from other arcanists, on top of all the other issues they face.”
“But how do they get volunteers to practice on? You mentioned it was easy.”
“Like I said, Mind Mages are the greatest threat to any arcanist, even themselves. Our best defense is practice. Nothing prepares you better than experiencing the effects and trying to resist them. I have a couple of friends who are Mind Mages, and they used to practice on me quite often.”
“Used to?”
“I grew too powerful for them,” Lloyd said, smirking slightly.
“Was Virgo powerful enough?” Yaric asked next.
“To practice with?”
“No, powerful enough to Banish someone? You said only the strongest could do it.”
Lloyd looked up with a thoughtful expression. “Actually, yes, he was amongst the most powerful in the Kingdom, and that was before his activities were exposed. He’d have been even more powerful by the time I caught up with him. If anyone in the Kingdom could do it, he could.”
“But didn’t you kill him quickly? I thought the fight only lasted seconds.”
“Well, first of all, fights sometimes are over in seconds. We just need to find a weak point early on. But you’re right, he fell far more easily than expected. It didn’t matter how powerful he was, he’d let his skills atrophy. Even then, I’ve always wondered about something I heard the day after, something I never thought to check at the time, and by the next day it was too late. I know he drank a lot, but what are the chances that he was drunk at the time?”
“When you fought him? He was drunk most of the day.”
“I suspected as much. Virgo hadn’t been in a proper fight for centuries, and the one time he was, he was possibly also drunk. How well do you think you could cast a spell after too much to drink?” Lloyd asked.
Yaric looked around at the pedestrians passing them by. They were still standing at the side of the road, though Yaric was relieved that Lloyd had moved on from his earlier rebuke. “Probably not at all… so you only beat him because he was drunk and out of practice?”
“Hehe, no!” Lloyd smirked. “I’d have beaten him either way. Virgo always ran at the mere rumor of my presence,” Lloyd proclaimed, pulling Yaric back onto the road.
They continued down the street with Lloyd explaining many of the methods he could have used to defeat Virgo. It sounded like a lot of boasting, but Yaric was also aware of how others seemed to treat him. And the number of precast spells he explained he kept active at all times was impressive, not to mention that fully half of them were specifically to defend against mind magic. And for good reason.
“Here, this is our next stop,” Lloyd said, nudging Yaric toward a large bakery.
“Food, now? We’ve just eaten!’
The place was busy, but the queue moved fast enough that they only waited for a few minutes. Rows of buns and rolls lined the walls behind the counters, and several loaves were strategically placed to ensure the smell of fresh bread filled the store.
“How many sweet rolls do you have?” Lloyd asked cheerfully.
The man behind the counter smiled widely. “As many as you can handle!”
Lloyd nudged Yaric again, this time placing coins in his hand. “There’s a linen store just across the street, run there quickly and buy us two pillowcases.”
Yaric ran off immediately, eager to both get a few minutes away and to show his usefulness. He heard Lloyd start speaking to the assistant again just as he ran out the door. “You can start pulling some down, we’re going to be filling those pillowcases.”
Two piles of rolls sat on the counter when Yaric returned, two pillowcases in hand. Lloyd pulled the paper they rested on to the edge of the counter and gleefully started pushing them off and into the first pillowcase. The second pile soon followed.
The money Lloyd had given Yaric had been far more than what the pillowcases cost, but Lloyd brushed his hand away when he tried to return the coins.
“Keep it,” he insisted, pulling out his own pouch and making the payment.
Yaric hesitated, but he didn’t know what to say, so he put the coins away inside an inner pocket, separate from his pouch.
Lloyd then thrust the pillowcases toward Yaric and rushed out, striding quickly and purposefully toward the areas they had highlighted.
“What are all these rolls for?” Yaric asked curiously, walking quickly to keep up. Thankfully Lloyd was noticeably shorter than he was.
“Payment for services I hope will soon be rendered,” Lloyd said happily.
“We’re feeding the homeless people? Why not just give them money?”
“A lot of reasons. Many of the people we’ll talk to beg to survive, or even steal. The best locations for each are often controlled by locals who demand a cut of whatever they take. Any money we give them will have to be shared as well, while they can eat the food immediately.
“On that note, money is only good for eating once you’ve bought food. The homeless can get robbed as well, and this way they don’t need to risk losing their money, they can just eat.
“Some of the people we’ll find also like to escape their lives when they can. They’ll go hungry in exchange for drugs that let them pass the time without worries.”
“Isn’t that their choice?” Yaric asked, sounding slightly annoyed.
Lloyd just laughed. “Sometimes I forget how independent people who grow up in the outer reaches are. It’s not a hard line, mind you, nor is it a rule. But people in major towns and cities grow up with things like zoning restrictions, licenses, guilds, and the like. We’re used to having restrictions placed on us by others, usually with the stated reason of being for our own good. Most people who grow up like you did tend to put more emphasis on independence, no matter how negatively your choices might affect you.”
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“You’re saying that like it’s a bad thing,” Yaric complained.
“Oh, no! Not at all. There’s no right or wrong here, just personal ideals and perceptions. It’s interesting. And being aware of things like this can also help you approach people or problems in a manner that gets you what you want.”
“Hmmm… Lina isn’t like that, and neither is Sven. She grew up in the city and she’s the most independent person I know. Sven grew up on an estate and he sticks to the rules as much as Lina breaks them.”
“Sven might have grown up on an estate, but he was raised to inherit the family title. Rules and responsibility were drilled into him from the moment he could speak. Lina…” Lloyd paused for a moment and started watching the road in front of his feet.
“Lina was let down by every authority, every single time she needed them. Rules and restrictions were for people like her and her family, and not for the people who preyed on them. Her problems with authority don’t surprise me at all.”
Both were quiet after that, feeling somber with the reminder of what Li Na had gone through. Still, they spent more time talking and had discussions on more topics than Yaric had ever had with Lloyd before, and he couldn’t help enjoying himself at least partially. Even with the earlier rebuke and reminder of Li Na’s experiences.
Now they just had to solve the issue with the disappearances.
The sun was noticeably lower when they arrived, and many of the stores they passed were already closing. Traffic had surged considerably, but very few people were carrying purchases, with more than one looking visibly tired. The streets were thronging with people evidently on their way home from work.
All the streets except those they were looking for. Stores lined the streets, but most were specialty stores like antique shops or tobacconists. Many were already closed, and the only people visible were those still locking up.
There wasn’t a single child in sight, nor anyone loitering around corners or in front of stores. The place looked deserted.
“Let’s move to where the roads almost intersect,” Lloyd suggested. “That area is residential; we should have more luck.”
“Should we speak to the people here?” Yaric asked.
“Possibly. They’re not likely to be able to see anything not directly opposite their stores, and they aren’t open at night when most of the disappearances happen, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have noticed something. I’m just not going to bother them now when they’ve just finished work. Let’s leave them to go home and we can visit some of these places tomorrow,” Lloyd proposed.
“Sounds better,” Yaric agreed.
They did have much better luck in the residential area. Kids were running up and down the street everywhere they looked, chasing each other, hiding, or simply standing around and talking. There was even a game of highball on the far side. So many children were running around that Yaric realized this must be some sort of meeting place for kids from other streets as well.
Lloyd snatched one of the pillowcases from Yaric and approached the nearest group. Yaric just groaned. His plan had made sense if the children were homeless, but these kids had parents who weren’t likely to be amused. He hesitated, not wanting to get involved, but he couldn’t hang back all day.
“Also don’t know, mister,” one of the younger kids was saying when Yaric approached. Lloyd gave each of them a bun.
“Good evening. Would any of you be able to tell us if you’ve seen something unusual on the streets down there?” Lloyd asked, looking at a group of ten-year-olds. Every time he asked, he got different reactions, ranging from kids who screamed and ran away giggling to kids who shrugged and had no idea, as well as some older kids who reacted with questions like ‘What’s it to you?’ or ‘Why should I care?’, before turning back to their friends.
It wasn’t until they got halfway down the road that they heard something that may be useful.
“Oh, you also huh? There’s nothing there,” one of the boys replied. He was maybe fifteen years old and already munching on a bun.
“Us as well?” Lloyd asked, prompting him to continue.
“The rich guy asked the same question. Okay, he asked a different question, but it was the same answer?”
“What do you mean? What did he ask?”
“He asked if there was any place near here that I would go late at night, if I wanted to be alone. Somewhere with very few people, somewhere peaceful.”
Lloyd took the map from Yaric and unfurled it. “Are these the places you suggested?” he asked.
The boy stared at the map and started humming while looking up and down, so Yaric leaned forward and pointed at their current location. “We’re here.”
“I know… I told him about these two places,” he said, pointing to the nearest two sections. “Didn’t tell him about the other two though,” the kid added, noticing the identically circled roads nearby.
“What did this man look like?” Lloyd asked.
“Rich. He had lots of gold on him, and he paid with silver too. Not food,” the boy added, looking at Lloyd expectantly.
Lloyd ignored him. “Why did you suggest these roads?”
“They’re quiet like he wanted. Almost no one goes there after dark. And the lights don’t work there, so no one can see you.”
“Don’t you get guard patrols there?”
“Why would guards go there? It’s empty at night.”
“Thank you,” Lloyd said, standing up straighter.
“Me too!” a little girl shouted, running forward.
“And what did you do too?” Lloyd asked, leaning back down again. The light was beginning to fade, and Yaric noticed two different adults walking toward them.
“I also got asked about quiet places.”
“And what did you say?” Lloyd asked, gasping dramatically.
“I’m in bed at night, so I don’t need quiet places.”
“That’s good,” Lloyd replied, nodding sagely. “Was this man also rich?”
“No! Maybe… he was big and round!”
“No he wasn’t,” the first boy started arguing. “He was tall and thin. Very thin, like he was sick.”
“Nuh-uh!”
The two children started arguing, but a third came forward to cut them off.
“I got paid silver to help someone find where they can go for peaceful walks at night, sir.”
This time it was one of the oldest teenagers. He seemed a bit nervous though, so both Yaric and Lloyd tried to wait patiently for him to continue in his own time. Just when it looked like he was about to continue, the first parent got close enough to start calling them.
“Show them,” Lloyd said, nudging Yaric.
Yaric had no idea what Lloyd was talking about. “Show them what?”
“What we are.”
It took a moment, but Yaric let out a loud moan when he worked out what Lloyd meant. Too embarrassed to look anyone in the eye, Yaric stared at his feet and raised his hand, palm up.
“Whoa!”
“So cool!”
“They’re wizards!”
Yaric only held the flame above his hand for a few seconds, but the excited ripple amongst the kids was soon followed by pounding feet. Both adults hesitated for a moment, including the one who was now only five meters away, but Lloyd spoke up loudly just as they started walking forward again.
“We’re investigating someone who may be wandering around in this area, so if anyone has seen anything unusual, we would appreciate it if you could let us know.”
Lloyd turned back to the teenager, waiting expectantly.
“Ummm… he just asked where he could get peace and quiet at night. I saw him ask James the same thing, and he got paid, so I told him I know places as well.”
“Did you tell him about any of these places?” Lloyd asked, holding out the map.
“All four, sir.”
By now both parents had arrived, and they approached Lloyd together. “What is this person doing that wizards are investigating?” the first one asked. “And why are you asking children? Are children in danger?”
“Not that we know of,” Lloyd replied. “This person we’re looking for is dangerous though. I’d suggest you keep your children away from these roads. The same thing goes for yourselves, since he seems to target adults.”
“If anyone can help these wizards, tell them now,” the second adult called out, looking around from child to child.
Lloyd ignored them and turned back to the teenager. “Did he look tall and thin, or very overweight?”
“Neither. He was kind of tall, and very well dressed, but he didn’t stand out much. I thought he was some rich guy who wanted to get away from things.”
Several more kids stepped forward at the urging of the adults, all telling similar stories. One unfortunate child was the son of one of those adults, and it was very clear that he was in deep trouble after explaining how he had taken the stranger to show him the quietest places. Yaric felt bad for him, but he also realized that he could have easily ended up as one of the names on the list.
The biggest problem was that while the stories were almost identical, there wasn’t a single description that matched. Every single suspect was rich and well dressed, but they all appeared to be different people. Still, asking exactly the same question to several different children made it very obvious that these weren’t coincidences. Particularly when the same teenager added another piece of information they hadn’t heard.
“He wasn’t the first person to ask, just so you know. I got paid to help with the same thing a few years ago. Different man, but he also wanted to know about quiet places. They both said cities change over time and children are always the first to realize when somewhere new is now quiet and hidden away.”
The evening ended with a flurry of questions from concerned parents, with more and more showing up throughout the discussion, causing the same questions to be brought up over and over. Lloyd headed most of them off by pointing out that it was an ongoing investigation, and that as long as people stayed inside at night, there shouldn’t be any problems between now and their solving of the appeal. None of the precautions he was suggesting was anything they shouldn't be doing anyway.
Yaric felt that their being arcanists also carried a lot of weight, as he noticed how frustrated many people seemed to be, but they were visibly holding themselves back.
“That could have gone better,” Yaric said, walking beside Lloyd as they made their way back. He never wanted to do that again. “We should have just knocked on doors and asked the parents if we could talk to their kids. And told them why.”
“Nonsense. Do you think we would have found out everything we did if the kids were talking to us in front of their parents? And did you see the commotion we caused? We have some invisible group hiding in the shadows, we need to flush them out.”
“Still better than approaching random kids with pastries, I think you’ve been at the Academy too long. And you think that little show will make these people do something?”
“I think it’s unlikely, but worth a shot. We’ll try a much better strategy tomorrow night, one that will allow us to track people. This one allowed us to gather information at the same time though. We know the people involved appear to be wealthy, and they are using locals to keep up to date on the best places to target.”
“How can we track -.”
Yaric was cut off when Lloyd snatched the last remaining pillowcase and quickly moved to an alley beside them. The pillowcase was only half full.
“Hey, kids! Do you want some food?” Lloyd asked, fishing one of the buns out. Several street kids walked cautiously out of the alley with expressions ranging from nervous to defiant.
“What’s the catch?” one of them asked.
“We just want some answers.”
Lloyd described the roads they had circled, and then went on to explain that they were looking for information on anything suspicious nearby, or anything that stood out as unusual.
The kids seemed spooked.
“Look, can we just have the food? We haven’t eaten.”
“Certainly,” Lloyd said, handing over the whole pillowcase. The kids huddled around and started tearing into the food. “Now what can you tell me?”
“We don’t want to get involved with that, mister,” one of the kids replied hesitantly.
“Yeah, he’s creepy.”
“Who’s creepy?” Yaric asked, hoping they would be more comfortable talking to someone closer to their own age.
“The man who hangs around there. We don’t want to make him mad.”
“No one will be mad, we…”
Yaric trailed off when the kids started running back into the alley one by one, taking the pillowcase with them.
“Leave them,” Lloyd said, pulling Yaric away and back onto the road. They walked in silence while Lloyd stared thoughtfully into the distance.
‘So there’s someone who scares them walking around,’ Yaric thought to himself, wondering how they could catch him. He knew from his classes that simply finding any of these people would be utterly meaningless. Catching someone walking around at night was not evidence of kidnapping or murder. And kidnapping would be particularly hard to prove if they didn’t find the victims or some item they undeniably had in their possession at the time of their disappearances. Yaric still didn’t know how they could go about it.
“They really hadn’t eaten,” Lloyd mused quietly.
“Huh?”
“Those kids… the way they tore into those rolls, it was like they hadn’t eaten all day.” Lloyd raised his hand into the air. “And it’s starting to get cooler,” he added, looking back over his shoulder. “Why are they staying in that alley?”
“Where else would they stay?” Yaric asked.
“Ah, you haven’t learned about it yet. Civil authorities are required to ensure all children have food and shelter until the age of majority. If those kids had access to food, why are they so hungry?”
Lloyd seemed distant during the long walk back, but Yaric had a lot on his mind as well. This investigation wasn’t like any he had taken part in before. There was no clear answer, no simple question to the right person that would point him to exactly where he needed to go. And the evidence they would need seemed impossible to get short of finding the victims locked up somewhere. He felt completely inadequate.
‘What if we find the people involved but can’t prove anything?’
Dinner at The Grouse was a quiet affair. Neither said much while they ate, both of them too deep in contemplation to notice how quiet the other was. Yaric was brought out of his thoughts when Lloyd ordered two whiskeys for the sitting room and got up, motioning for Yaric to follow.
They settled into deep armchairs and made themselves comfortable before Lloyd began going over everything they’d learned. There were heavy overlaps in the routes they thought the victims had mostly likely taken, which seemed to be confirmed by the questions Lloyd had asked. Strange people had been actively looking into quiet places, using the same methods they had, and the answers they had been given matched the overlaps they had previously discovered. Not to mention the reasons for the answers, with each road being empty, dark, and with no patrols. They were also conveniently close to one another. And children living on the streets nearby seemed terrified of a creepy man who roamed those streets.
Something was certainly going on.
“Tomorrow I want to talk with the guard captain and see what he knows about the area. Maybe there are meant to be patrols, maybe they’ve had other issues there before. Anything he knows could be helpful. Then we’re going to patrol that area ourselves, once the sun sets.”
“I was thinking,” Yaric said, looking hesitant. “Finding these people won’t help if we don’t have proof. Maybe you should hang back tonight, and I can go ahead, like bait. If someone tries something with me, we’ll be able to investigate deeper, search property, look into friends and businesses, that kind of thing.”
Lloyd laughed. “Don’t worry about things like searching property. We have enough leeway based on suspicion given the circumstances. No, what we will be doing is patrolling in full view with visible weapons, while I use a spell that will let me monitor the area. I’ll pick up anyone nearby, and I’ll know exactly how they react. We can decide if they need further investigation from there.”
“Will that work?”
“If you were one of those kids and you saw people with a sword and bow, what would you do?” Lloyd asked.
“Run or hide.”
“And if you were looking for someone to jump, and we turned up in your hunting ground?”
Yaric thought for a second before answering. “I’d want to watch, to see what we were doing. If we’re just passing through or if we look like we suspect something.”
“Exactly! I can think of a few other reactions too, depending on the personality, but the people we are looking for are unlikely to act like regular people passing through.”
Both took a sip of the whiskey that had just been placed beside them, with Lloyd sighing in satisfaction and Yaric flinching slightly. Whiskey wasn’t his favorite.
The sitting room was empty and silent, with nothing but the occasional creek from above them or the leather of their chairs, but this time it was a far more comfortable silence. They each sipped their whiskey with differing expressions on their faces, relaxing after a long day.
“Come on,” Lloyd said, putting his empty tumbler down. “We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow."
Yaric washed up and climbed into the bed in his room upstairs, exhausted. He’d gone from classes in the morning to spending the afternoon running after kidnappers in a city on the far side of the Kingdom. The urgency of the situation left him feeling ragged, but they’d also made a lot of ground. And he’d never had the chance to work on something like this with Lloyd before, either. Yaric’s last thoughts were of catching those responsible, and how might even find the victims being held somewhere, alive and well.
----------------------------------------
Raymond and George were sitting at a table with Lloyd when Yaric came down for breakfast. All three had evidently just arrived based on the full cups of coffee beside them, though they already had extensive notes and Lloyd’s map spread out before them. Yaric greeted everyone and took his seat, grateful to see his own cup of coffee being set down almost as soon as he sat.
“We were just comparing notes,” Lloyd said.
“Our investigation uncovered the same districts that yours did,” George informed him.
“Oh, you also identified these streets?” Yaric asked, excited to be receiving additional confirmation.
“No… we were just pointing out that the overlapping areas aren’t conclusive. Someone could be stalking the entire street, and the routes just happened to overlap in a narrow section. Or they could be targeting a single block,” George replied.
“We know,” Yaric explained, “it just helps narrow it down to the most critical areas. We’re planning to patrol the whole section tonight.”
“Speaking of,” Lloyd said, interjecting before anyone could take the conversation further. “I wanted to invite you two to patrol with us. Splitting the area between two of us will make the spell easier to manage, and four of us with weapons will be more intimidating than two.”
Lloyd took a few minutes to explain the purpose of the patrol, and Yaric was surprised to see the other High Wizard and his Apprentice both readily agree.
“Good,” Lloyd concluded. “I’ll be carrying my sword, and Yaric will have his quiver and bow on the patrol.”
“I have my sword with me,” Raymond said.
George, however, looked quite dejected. “I only have my wand.”
Lloyd smiled encouragingly, “I’m sure you’ll work something out.”
They continued comparing notes and discovered that Raymond and George had, in fact, found something new. They’d spent most of the previous day going through decades of records, and they’d found a similar pattern of disappearances that continued over a period of seven years… with the first of those years occurring almost a century ago.
“I’m not sure what to make of that,” Lloyd mused.
“My Apprentice had the idea that it may be some kind of family thing, like a tradition. Something passed down over the generations,” Raymond explained.
Yaric wasn’t so sure. “But it would have to skip at least one generation. Not many unconnected have one hundred years between generations, outside of elves that is.”
“It’s still a possibility,” George insisted. “And right now we don’t have much else to go on. It never hurts to investigate every angle.”
“I think you’re right,” Yaric replied, trying to be diplomatic.
They didn’t have much else to share beyond the extra details on Lloyd’s map. Once everything was organized they settled down to eat, then said their goodbyes and parted ways, with Lloyd and Yaric heading back to the guard captain.
It was a very long day, with everything taking far longer and being far more complicated than Yaric had expected. Some questions required records to be brought up, which always took some time, while other questions were best answered by lower-rank guards who were directly involved. Guards who patrolled the districts in question were summoned to the office, which again meant hours of waiting around.
They quickly established that there were patrols in the area, but those particular streets were only checked once, around midnight. Other streets, even those parallel, saw constant patrols. Their routes were partially based on experience, and none of the roads in question had seen so much as a break-in for over a decade. Areas with more frequent crime saw more frequent patrols.
“Do you suggest we increase our patrol frequency in this area?” a guard asked, though surprisingly not the captain.”
“No, not for now. You’re more likely to force the people we are looking for to move to another area, and then we’d just have to start again,” Lloyd replied cautiously. “We will keep you informed though.”
Most of the day was spent sitting down. Sometimes they read through old reports, and sometimes they spoke with local officials, but the majority of the day was spent waiting for said reports or officials to arrive. Yet Yaric felt exhausted. He’d have much rather spent the day interviewing the shop owners or searching for hiding places along the road.
“I think that’s enough,” Lloyd said, placing his hand on Yaric’s shoulder. “We should try to get some sleep before we head out tonight. It could be a long one.”
Yaric did manage to close his eyes for a few hours, but sleep was never a real possibility. There was just too much on his mind.
Finally, the time came, and Yaric put on his boots, slung his quiver over his shoulder, settled it on his hip, and picked up his bow. He looked around, trying to see if he’d forgotten anything. The only additional item he could perhaps take would be his cloak, which would provide additional protection, but it would also hide his quiver, so Yaric chose to leave it behind.
He was the first one downstairs this time, though he didn’t have to wait long. George joined him soon after, a sword he’d borrowed from the city guard sheathed at his hip. Lloyd came down before George had even sat down, followed shortly by Raymond.
The High Wizard also had a sword, but the handle and hilt looked like they belonged on a short sword, only the blade length was much too long. Not as much as a longsword, but somewhere in between.
Seeing Yaric’s frequent glances, Raymond smiled and unsheathed the blade, handing it over to Yaric for a closer look.
“This was made for me by an Arch Wizard, one of the greatest crafters in the Kingdom. It’s not just runed, it’s fully awakened, so it functions exactly like my staff. A useful backup, and an unexpected trick when in a fight.”
Raymond seemed very proud of his blade, and Yaric could see why. The silvers and greys of the metal almost seemed to shift and intertwine as he looked at it.
“It’s beautiful.”
Yaric reluctantly handed the sword back, knowing that they didn’t have much time, and together the four of them set out for their patrol area. Nothing of consequence happened on their journey, but Lloyd did pull the two students aside when they arrived.
“Before we start, I need you two to understand something. The spell we’re about to perform is very taxing. We’re going to be inundated with information on everything around us, and sifting through everything is going to be a significant strain. We need you two to keep quiet. Even if you see something, I can guarantee that we will have seen anything long before you do, and if we haven’t pointed it out, that means we don’t want it pointed out. Understand?”
Both Novice and Apprentice nodded in acknowledgment. Lloyd and Raymond moved into the center of the road, with Yaric and George right behind them. They paused to cast their spells, then began to walk forward, taking their time as they got used to the deluge of information their spells provided.
Nothing happened while they patrolled the first road, not even when they entered the dark section where the mage lights were broken.
The second road went without incident, as did the third. Yaric tensed up when they started on the fourth, knowing it was the last road left. He felt certain that they were going to come across the group, hopefully ending the kidnappings once and for all.
Nothing happened there either.
Lloyd and Raymond decided that they would continue patrolling the roads in random order, so they went back to the second road and started again. Then the first, then the fourth, and finally the third road.
Still nothing happened.
Each road took around fifteen minutes to traverse. All through the night they saw only two people, both stumbling home after a late night in a pub, and one single midnight patrol, just as expected. The moon was high in the sky when they started patrolling the second street for the eighth time that night, this time from the bottom close to where the lights were out.
It didn’t matter so much at the moment, as the moon was only a few days from full, and it bathed the entire area in its soft, silver glow. Yaric shifted his bow in his hand, trying to get comfortable after hours of walking and carrying it up and down the roads. It was difficult to stay focused when nothing happened.
Thud.
George collapsed, his body entirely limp and his head striking the ground with a wince-inducing thud. Raymond had fallen forward as well, lying on his stomach but managing to catch himself with his elbows and forearms holding him up. Even Lloyd was down, shaking his head as he leaned forward on his hands and knees.
Yaric dropped beside him, grabbing Lloyd’s shoulders and leaning down to try and see his face. Heavy drops of dark liquid were dripping from Lloyd’s nose to splash on the road below.
‘Blood!’
Flashes of dim light were pulsing in a staccato rhythm around Lloyd’s head, though not around the others. Yaric noticed that Raymond was now on the floor as well, unmoving except for shallow breaths. Struggling not to panic, Yaric had just opened his mouth to ask what was happening when a firm, cultured voice spoke from just up the road, each word enunciated precisely with a clipped accent.
“So you are the troublemakers interfering with my kids?”
Yaric looked up. A tall, well-built man was walking out from a side road, calm and confident despite being outnumbered four to one. However, he did somehow have Lloyd on his hands and knees, which seemed simply impossible.
With a surge of energy, Yaric leaped to his feet, his free hand already raised while he began creating the spell form for his favorite fireball.
The man flinched back instantly; his confident demeanor was entirely gone. “What are you?” he hissed.
“Stay back,” Yaric ordered. “Lower your hood, and stop whatever this is!”
The man wore thick, heavily embroidered clothes, which covered almost his entire body. The form-fitting jacket had a built-in hood, which was worn up, hiding the man’s face in deep shadow. Yaric wouldn’t be able to identify him later if he couldn’t get him to lower the hood.
With slow, hesitant movement, the dark figure reached up, grasped the edges of the hood, and pulled it back.
He had heavily styled, pitch-black hair. A perfectly manicured beard framed high cheekbones and a chiseled jaw. But he was also pale in an unsettling way, his skin pearl white and almost translucent in the moonlight. It was stretched disturbingly taught across his face as well. And his eyes, his eyes were red and bloodshot, which shouldn’t have been remarkable at all, except they were standing in the dark under a full moon that had washed all color away, leaving them in a monochrome world. Nothing around them had color, yet his eyes almost glowed red.
And Yaric knew why.
It was a Draugr.
Extremely strong and very quick, Draugr were especially famed for their durability, but even more than that, their skill and power with mind magic. They were almost entirely incapable of any other kind of spell, but few could match and none surpassed them when it came to the mind.
At that moment Yaric knew he wasn’t an arcanist on a job, nor was he a victim of the kidnapper… he was prey, nothing more. The instinctual fear welled up from deep inside, and the Draugr noticed.
He glanced at Lloyd, still on his hands and knees, still surrounded by a halo of dimly strobing light. “Pathetic,” he hissed. The Draugr swiped his hand and Lloyd crashed to the ground.
Desperate, Yaric began building his spell again, intent on buying them as much time as he could.
“Arghhh!” Lloyd gargled, distracting Yaric. He glanced down under his raised arm and saw Lloyd gesturing frantically with his eyes. His pupils were constantly dilating and restricting in the moonlight, but it was still clear that he was trying to stop Yaric from casting a spell.
Unsure and totally out of his depth, Yaric slowly began to lower his arm, glancing between Lloyd and the Draugr as he did. His arm was almost fully lowered when he realized that Lloyd was now staring intently at his hip.
‘My bow? The special arrows!’
“The persistent one is right, you cannot harm me, but you might annoy me,” the Draugr warned, his confidence back and in full force.
Yaric reached across to his quiver and felt for one of the special arrows without taking his eyes off the Draugr for an instant. The Draugr, for his part, seemed amused with Yaric's antics, and he only raised an eyebrow when Yaric drew an arrow and nocked it. He felt the connection the moment he pinched the arrow behind the fletching, just like every other item he had ever needed to charge. Yaric began channeling arcana like his life depended on it. Because more than just his life probably did.
“You think an arrow could harm me?” the Draugr scoffed. He glanced derisively down at the bow one final time, then took a few confident steps forward.
“Now you are going to answer my questions, or your end will be more painful than you can possibly imagine.”
Arcana was still flowing into the arrow, and Yaric had no idea how long it would take, so he swallowed his fear and tried to buy some time.
“What questions?”
“I already told you!” he snarled. “What creature are you? I’ve been around for thousands of years, yet I’ve never come across your like before. What do you call yourself?”
“I call myself Yaric.”
“That sounds like a name… I want to know what you are!”
“I’m a student, sponsored by High Wizard Lloyd Chen,” the Draugr blanched at the name, “Novice at Lekton Academy.”
He looked around, his eyes roving from Yaric to each of the three arcanists on the ground.
“Lies!” he hissed, raising a clenched fist. Each of the three prone men groaned in pain.
“Stop! Tell me what you want!”
“You are immune to my magic… you are impenetrable, yet you are not even there. I can’t touch you, pierce you, or even detect you. Do not pretend you are some student at a school for arcanists. Now, what, are, you?!” The Draugr looked enraged, and his confidence seemed to once again be slipping.
Laughter echoed down the street behind him, and a couple began slinking across the road.
“Ignore the cattle, they will not see or hear anything,” the Draugr rasped. His voice alternated between calm and cultured in one moment, and the monster he was in the next.
Yaric glanced down again, and Lloyd nodded almost imperceptibly.
The arrow was still taking everything Yaric channeled, so he slowly walked forward, moving to put himself between the Draugr and the fallen arcanists behind him.
“If I were to tell the children you were a Draugr, and they didn’t know what that was, would it help them? Simply telling you what I am won’t mean anything to you unless you know more,” Yaric said, desperately trying to get his faltering voice under control.
This time the Draugr actually seemed to mull over his words before replying. “Enlighten me,” he sneered mockingly, tipping his head and sweeping an arm out in a sarcastic half-bow.
“I’m from a small village called Clery, a trading hub,” Yaric began.
“I consider myself well-read, and I know of only one such place, near the northern border of this Kingdom,” the Draugr stated, his voice calm once again.
“It is the same.”
“And they let your kind live amongst them?” the Draugr asked, looking very curious. Yaric briefly wondered if there was something else going on, as the Draugr now seemed to be having a casual conversation. There was definitely something wrong with it, or perhaps the species.
“My kind is the only kind that lives there.”
That seemed to truly shock the Draugr.
“No humans? No elves or dwarves?” the Draugr asked, sounding taken aback.
“There were only two humans who truly mattered… Kate and Oskar Miller. They ran the flour mill.”
“You better be getting to the point, creature,” the Draugr warned, his voice a menacing hiss once more. "I do not see how this helps me to understand what you are."
“It’s simple, I’m…” Yaric paused, his arrow now full. He couldn't tell how much time had passed, but it had to be over a full minute. Possibly closer to two. Either way, he’d filled the arrow with an insane amount of power, and now he just needed his shot. Yaric drew the bow into a half draw and raised it slightly, earning another derisive snort from the creature in front of him.
“I am Yaric Miller, Novice at Lekton Academy,” Yaric began, his voice firm and calm, though rising with every word. The Draugr had gone from interested to angry, and his rage seemed to only deepen as Yaric continued. “I was sponsored by High Wizard Lloyd Chen. I am the son of Kate and Oskar Miller, residents –.”
“LIES!” the Draugr screamed, and the arcanists behind Yaric groaned in pain once again. “Do not think you can deceive me! I do not know what you are, but you are certainly not the child of a human! Do not think you can make up stories of a fake bitch and bastard and -!”
“Fuck you!”
Yaric raised his bow as he spoke, drawing and aiming in a single smooth motion, his new augmentation spell fully in effect to maximize the power of his draw. He loosed his arrow the instant the bow stopped rising, all fear having fled just a moment before.
With no idea what the arrow did, Yaric didn’t have any particular expectations outside of the obvious. The satisfying thwack of the arrow embedding deeply in his target, the kickback of his bow in hand, the faint hum of his bowstring. None of that happened.
Yaric released his arrow, and a sun flashed into existance, banishing the night and drowning everything in blinding, searing light. The barest fraction of a second later Yaric felt himself get pummeled by an overwhelming force, like being backhanded by a behemoth. An earsplitting explosion rocked the world. Yaric dimly noted that he seemed to be floating in intense white light, his mind struggling to hold on to conciousness as his broken body drifted through the air.
Something hard struck the back of his head, and everything went dark.
----------------------------------------
“Yaric! Yaric!”
Someone was slapping his face, but also shouting from far away.
“My healing skills aren’t that bad,” a familiar voice complained. “Yaric!”
“Urgh…”
“Ha! Told you… he’s awake. But he’ll still need a proper healer.”
Yaric tried to lift his head and immediately felt like he was going to throw up. Lying back with his eyes closed was all he could do for the time being.
“What happened?” he croaked.
“You hit the Draugr like you were supposed to. You did it with a fully charged arrow, which is a bit questionable, but you still killed it!”
“He did no such thing,” Raymond's voice replied. “I saw you thrust your sword into its brain from under the jaw.”
“Just ensuring it was dead,” Lloyd replied dismissively.
“It was twitching!”
“Death throes,” Lloyd countered.
“You even wreathed your sword in lightning!”
“That would explain the twitching, wouldn’t it?”
“You cannot possibly believe th-.”
“Look, Raymond, I get it,” Lloyd said, cutting the other High Wizard off. “I’m embarrassed too. We both got incapacitated by our target. Your Apprentice as well, and you’re supposed to be keeping him safe. Then we got saved by a mere Novice… the Novice of a High Wizard who has already saved your life once before.”
Yaric could hear Raymond spluttering from where he lay on the cold floor.
“I did not say we don’t owe him, just that he didn’t single-handedly take care of that Draugr!”
“Did you see the size of the hole in its chest?” Lloyd asked incredulously.
Yaric realized that Lloyd was enjoying himself.
“Come on, I have to get my student to a healer, and you do too. Yaric needs to be carried though, and your student can walk, so you two take the Draugr. You’re going to have to put its arms over your shoulders as if it were just injured though,” Lloyd added.
“What?”
“Well you don’t want people thinking you’re carrying a dead body, do you?”
Lloyd pulled Yaric up gingerly and helped him to his feet. Yaric still had to keep his eyes closed, but they managed to slowly start making their way down the road, ignoring the still arguing High Wizard behind them.
They didn’t get far, as a full squad of guards soon came running down the road, followed closely by a second. Their reaction to the explosion included bringing stretchers for the injured, so Yaric was quickly lowered into one and carried off, with Lloyd keeping pace beside him.
“You did exceptionally well today,” Lloyd said, though his voice was also laced with concern. Lloyd seemed far more worried than he let on. “None of us would have survived without you. You even managed to kill a Draugr! And all those people that would have been victims after today? You can…”
Darkness claimed Yaric for the second time that night.