Chapter 140

An eerie sense of déjà vu drifted over the hallway like a fog as Tobias sat on a bench like a statue, with Eastmund and Caedmon each resting against the wall on either side of it.

Only his right leg showed movement, bouncing up and down. His heel rose, only to fall, as Riley sat centered before him, her ears down with worry.

"Don't be nervous," she said, her own instincts being flared by what \ her subconscious insisted was a danger signal from a trusted one.

Tobias blinked and stared at her dumbly, breaking his thousand-yard stare to regard her as if she had just arrived. "Huh? Me? I'm not nervous; I'm focused."

Riley grunted in disapproval. "Uh-huh, you can't lie to me."

Tobias chuckled, his smile breaking like the sun through the clouds, long enough to give her a pat before the sound of footfalls on the stairs drew each of their attention.

"Well, this is the thanks I get. I train you, send you off proper, and you drag me into a mess," came a familiar voice.

"Cid!" Riley squeaked as Tobias shot up and darted over to greet him.

They each clasped arms regarding the other with wide smiles.

Riley pushed between the two to headbutt his knees, her nearest

approximation to a handshake. "They called you in?"

"Aye, that they did, lass, and a good thing too. I'm tired of collecting dust in this museum," he said with familiar acerbicness.

"Fellows, this is my training officer, Cid. Cid, this is Eastmund, Sycamore, and Caedmon, Fir," Tobias gestured to each.

"So that's the rest of the team, huh? Well, off ya pop, let's not keep the three waiting," Cid ordered congenially, taking command.

"We haven't been summoned yet," Tobias cautioned.

"Why do you think I'm here? Come on, boy," without reservation, he strode to the door, knocked twice, and opened it.

Riley looked up at Tobias and cocked her head, before all fell in behind the old instructor, coming to the now familiar rough-hewn table with the three ancient generals sitting behind it.

Riley wondered if they left to sleep or were, like their table, part of the furniture here.

"Rangers Cid, Tobias, Riley, Eastmund, and Caedmon, reporting as ordered, Sir!" Cid formed up at attention, as the rest all fell into a line beside him.

"Very good, now, do you so swear, by your magic and spirit, that the report you are each about to give is true to the best of your knowledge? We will need each of your oaths." Kivara demanded.

"I do," echoed from all, as Riley and Tobias saw the familiar prompt again flare to life.

"At ease then, we're going to talk a bit." Kivara took up a small brass handbell off the table, its handle worn smooth and its bell tarnished with age, having none of the golden luster that suggested it had ever been polished, and rang it three times.

A bronze torc'd servant entered from a side door and bowed.

"Fetch chairs for all, including the companion," she ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am," the servant disappeared, behind the door, and returned setting out chairs, with others that joined him as if by magic.

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"At ease, each of you take a seat. You, Athelred, are dismissed. Secure these chambers, see we are not disturbed by anyone until you are summoned," she ordered, as the sound of locks turning in the door echoed off the cavernous room.

Riley saw as much as felt a sparkly field of magic snap into place around them as all noise from outside fell silent.

"We are secure. Nothing being said will leave this room, understood?"

Hilvar, the bearded man on the left, asked.

"Understood," each agreed.

Sylvanus smiled. "So let's get down to it then. You returned to investigate the murders, and potentially members of the Royalty, what did you two find?" Eastmund and Caedmon each stiffened, listening with respectful silence.

"We pursued the murders primarily, finding that we were on two cases, not one. There were subtle differences in the method. We did consider the possibility that they may be separate in their entirety but there was too much circumstantial evidence tying them together.

Our investigation concluded with us stumbling through a portal skip in the sewer, engaging Hedwig, and eliminating that threat which led us to the Dracovani kingdom," Tobias summarized, calling for the bloody copper torc from their inventory.

Leaning, he set it on the table as each of the generals looked at it with concern.

"And Chadrick's involvement?" Hilvar asked.

Riley perked up, "There's conclusive evidence to see that he's involved, but there's been no opportunity to get close. At multiple points during our investigation, we encountered faeblinded humans under infernal control, all with seeming ties to the extinct fae kingdom.

Mavora herself has shown up at multiple points. The level of interference was bad enough that we had to take an outside assignment because of a bounty placed on our heads. Things were getting too hot to stay in the city. It would be more fantastical at this point to assume they aren't involved, but I'm not sure if Chadrick is a willing participant."

"You mean to say that he may have been bound by his familiar?" Kivara asked.

"Well, yes, it's been a familiar song throughout this case. One killed Caedmon's training officer and commander. Hedwig was twisted and bound by an infernal to act as a smoke screen for whatever they were up to. The one X factor is the dwarven kingdom," Riley replied.

"Only a handful of victims had been found. There's a lot of ocean out there, and we did take down that psychic mimic. That's also where we last saw hint of Mavora," Eastmund reported.

"A psychic mimic? Those are legends from the fae wars," Sylvanus paled.

"Far more than legend," Tobias replied, chilling the room.

"Can... Can I speak freely?" Riley asked, begging for permission.

Each of the Generals looked at each other while Tobias stiffened and braced.

"Go ahead," Kivara asked.

"Chadrick's a sniveling prick, self-centered and selfish to the core, but this is above his pay grade. I really wanted it to be him. It feels good to punch a bully, but my money is on Mavora at this point or whoever they're all serving. He's likely just another diversion," Riley sighed, sacrificing her pet theory upon the altar of logic.

Tobias turned pale as Eastmund coughed, and Sylvanus suppressed a laugh.

"There is the matter of his unscheduled trip to the Dracovani Kingdom," Hilvar mentioned offhandedly.

"Aye, he diverted the dragon, claiming a diplomatic emergency," Sylvanus added.

"We saw him exit," Tobias said.

"Aye, we did," Caedmon affirmed.

"So we have a legitimate threat to the kingdom and proof of a wider conspiracy spreading through the ranks of the second tier," Kivara sighed.

"It's worse than that," Sylvanus paled, "it means we have another leak, another compromised Ranger. Your movements were limited to us and our agents."

"It couldn't have been one in the embassy?" Eastmund asked.

"No," Kivara replied as an icy chill fell over the room.

"Which explains the secrecy, the oath, the closed sessions," Riley surmised.

"And why we've been moving posts for months, but whatever agenda this cabal has, it's staying out of our sightlines," Sylvanus looked even older in that moment.

"The question is, what do we do about it? Assassinating Chadrick doesn't seem like it would solve this problem. This is systemic rot that could take down the kingdom. It goes beyond one man," Hilvar wondered.

"You can't just go off and eliminate a member of the royal house!" Caedmon objected, sitting forward in his chair.

"We're Rangers, son. We do what we have to do to ensure the kingdom and the royal line survive. Roses have to be pruned to thrive. It's been done before," Sylvanus sighed.

"Everyone settle and leave the ghosts to the past where they belong," Kivara demanded.

"Did you manage to find the temple we found in the sewer?" Riley asked.

"No, but that is not to cast doubt on your journey. It's just more proof that it was a trap laid for you or a door someone has closed deliberately upon its discovery," Hilvar replied.

"They do seem to want Riley for reasons we don't know. Wigstan tried to negotiate my handing her over," Tobias reported.

Riley felt a pang of fear race through her as her ears went flat.

"The question is why. Do they want her because she's our only countermeasure, or is it something more? " Sylvanus wondered.

"I wish I knew," Riley replied as the three muttered worriedly amongst themselves.