We hurried over to Temples Rest, evening was nearing and sun was dipping below the spires as we arrived. The site of the Temple of Melan was still cordoned off and guarded by auxiliaries but after some bluffing by Alex we were let into the site. The front of the temple had completely collapsed and scaffolding and temporary supports had been erected to stop the whole building collapsing. Rubble was scattered across the small square, although some was being piled up - perhaps for reuse but more likely destined to become hardcore. I tried to remember where Fig had been chatting to his squad sergeant, unsurprisingly the cordon they had been standing around had been obliterated in the blast.
“What do you think?” I asked the others, “were they about here?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Dene said. Alex kind of shrugged, clearly they weren’t going to be too much help with this. I tried to visualise the scene from my memory until I was as confident as I could be that I was in the right spot. The thing with skills was the first time you used them you didn’t really know what would activate them and what effect they would have. For all I knew tracking might give me an enhanced sense of smell and I’d use that to track my target; although I hoped not (I’ve mentioned before that boys don’t smell that great). There were some skills like Fig’s where you could use ritualised movements to activate them at will but mainly they activated when you were already doing the activity you wanted the skill to enhance, which was the main difference between skills and magic. So my best bet was to start looking for a sign of Fig.
I started by looking at the ground, obviously there weren’t any footprints or anything like that but I thought maybe I could find some discarded object or scrap of fabric but it was futile, anything there might have been had been blown away by the blast. So I started looking around for anything that might still be standing from the other afternoon, again there was precious little - some of the columns had largely survived intact, others were completely smashed, none of them however looked remotely useful in helping us find Fig’s trail.
I was about to tell Alex and Dene it was pointless, and my tracking skill wasn’t going to be of any help whatsoever but then I saw in the corner of the square a barrel. Fig had been ordered to fetch a water barrel, perhaps this was it. I went over and examined it and sure enough it was full of water, which was probably why it was still here rather than blown across the square. It was heavy, really heavy, to heavy to lift, Fig must have had to have rolled it back and then levered it upright when he arrived. The barrel was of typical construction, with two iron bands holding the wood together tightly. It would have rolled on those iron bands.
Suddenly I felt a tugging sensation on my eyeballs, like they were being drawn to something without the intervention of my brain.
Find Check [Barrel Tracks]: Success = >=30 = Wisdom + Skill Bonus [Tracking] = 29 + 4 = 33.
Find Check [Barrel Tracks]: Successful
I let my eyes be drawn to a small alley leading off from the square where some dirt had accumulated around a blocked storm drain. Clearly visible were a pair or parallel indentations that matched the distance between the bands on the barrel. There was still no telling if this was definitely the barrel of water that Fig had fetched but this was clearly the best we had to go on. I signalled for the other two boys to join me.
“I think this might be the way Fig came with the barrel,” I said.
“So he did fetch it and come back,” Alex said, “that doesn’t help us Neesh, in fact it just confirms he was here and could have potentially carried out the attack.”
“Yeah I guess, but the barrel is the only thing I examined that could possibly be related to Fig and hasn’t been blown away, and my tracking sense activated to help me spot these, that’s gotta mean something,” I said.
“Possibly, let's all have a look around,” Alex said.
The alley, well it was just an alley, a rare space in Temples Rest but essentially just a gap between buildings, gutters emptied onto it and rubbish and dirt had accumulated, spreading from the corners, with tiny valleys where rivlets of drain water had cut through it. Almost simultaneously we all spotted footprints which looked like they came from standard militia boots.
“They must be Fig’s,” Dene said, none of us could remember what size feet he had but they seemed about right.
“But they don’t make any sense, there’s one set coming back to the square, all quite deep, which is consistent with him coming back here,” I said, “but there are two sets going away from the square and they’re on totally different sides of the alley.”
“It’s obvious,” Alex said, “he went, he came back and he went again.”
“But why would he head back this way?”
“Well worst case scenario, he was trying to get away after causing the explosion, but perhaps he spotted something on one of his trips he wanted to check out.”
“Well there’s only one thing to do then,” Dene said, “we follow the alley and see if we can work out what caught his interest.”
“Alright,” I said, and we dashed through the alley. It was a single passage and although we turned a few corners there was only one way Fig could have gone, unless he went up, which with Fig was always a possibility but we knew he found flying exhausting and I doubted he would have wanted to fly up to the rooftops unless his life depended on it. Eventually the alley joined another small square, there was a public water pump at one side of it, which is where Fig must have gone to fill up the barrel. He probably hadn’t come back there but as it was a place we knew he would have been it seemed a good place to start.
I went over and examined the pump, it was a fairly standard water pump of iron painted black, rust showing where the paint was chipped, a few drops of water were falling from its spout into the grate below, presumably back into whatever reservoir it drew from. I looked the whole area over thoroughly but nothing was triggering my tracking sense. It was probably too well used for any trace of Fig to remain and most likely anything that had been there he left when fetching water.
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I told the other two that there was nothing and suggested we spread out across the square, focusing on the buildings around its edges where some sign was most likely preserved. I would have to check the whole square eventually, seeing if anything triggered my skill but it couldn’t hurt if the boys looked as well. I went over to the northside of the square and began searching.
Like everywhere here the square hosted about seven different temples or churches. Unlike a lot of the other squares though the design of these buildings all complimented each other. They were all built of sandstone blocks, glowing an orange gold in the last of the day’s sunlight, broad flat faced columns framed wide arches holding polished brass gates revealing glimpses of the interiors of white marble and gold. It dawned on me that these temples must all be dedicated to gods in the same pantheon, although I didn’t know which.
Shaking my head to stop myself getting distracted I resumed to the task at hand, I focused on cracks between paving stones, the small channels running underneath steps and the grates and debris by storm drains. There was nothing I could see and no sense of my skill flagging anything. I continued to search the otherside of the square along with the boys but none of us were having any luck. After half an hour, I slumped down on a bench underneath a tree, enjoying the last rays of warmth poking through a gap in the rooflines, the sun swollen and reddening as it neared the horizon, scrunched my eyes shut and threw my head back in frustration. Hours of searching and there was nothing, some scout I was.
I opened my eyes and suddenly my tracking skill flared, I felt my eyes being drawn to the tree above my head and there, there was a glint of something in the leaves. I blinked a few times and focused my vision and there above me was a bird's nest, and in it was an item of jewellery.
Skill [Tracking] is now Level 2.
“Alex! Dene!” I shouted, “come here.”
“What is it?” Dene said, hurrying over to me.
“Up in that bird's nest,” I said, “there’s something in it that activated my tracking skill.”
“Right,” Alex said, “hold on.”
And with no other warning he lifted me up, as if I weighed nothing to him, and put me on his shoulders. I think I probably let out a little yelp, and I felt my flush grow bright red in embarrassment. Dene burst out laughing.
“You sounded like a little girl,” he said, tears of mirth in his eyes.
“Shove it,” I said back to him, with my manliest voice, “you’d be surprised too if some big oaf just lifted you into the air.”
“Just get on with it,” Alex said, “you’re heavier than you look, and your scabbard is digging into my shoulder.”
I reached up and carefully tugged the shining bit of metal out of the bird's nest, careful not to disturb the three tiny blue eggs that lay within it.
“Got it,” I said, “now put me down.”
Alex quickly obliged and I held the item I now saw was a necklace out for everyone to look at. It was a simple thing - a leather cord with a small medallion made up of a silver outer ring, with an intricate lattice work of silver thread weaved inside it, the lattice work seemed to form a spiral into the medallion’s centre.
“What is it?” I said, I had no idea why this had triggered my tracking skill. I’d never seen Fig with it on but then again it would have been concealed by his uniform.
“It’s a pixie spirit charm,” Dene said, “Pixie’s believe they let their souls commune with the spirits assigned to guard their souls during life and death. They’re very important to them, a Pix who had lost theirs would seek to replace it as soon as possible, if they died and weren’t wearing one there would be no one to protect their souls whilst they wait to be reincarnated.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Alex said.
“Identify skill,” Dene said grinning.
“Stop bickering,” I said, “it must be Fig’s and if what Dene said is true, it probably explains why he rushed off again as soon as he delivered the water. If he lost it he’d try as soon as he could to replace it. We know he came back this way - maybe he was searching for it? But we know he didn’t find it so what would he have done next.”
“Easy,” Dene said, “gone to buy a new one, they’re not expensive and there are loads of Pixies all over the city who would sell these from stalls or their shops - especially here.”
“Right so what are we waiting for,” I said, “we just have to find any nearby shops that look like they might sell one and ask them if they saw Fig. He lives here so he must have known where would sell them.”
“Ok, but how do we know what shops sell these things,” Alex said. That brought me up short.
“I guess we just have to ask in all the ones we see,” Dene said, “and don’t forget the street hawkers.”
Fortunately there were only three streets leading off the square, so we each took one, agreeing to meet back here in an hour.
I went west and kept my eyes peeled for any shops amongst the churches and temples, honestly it was sometimes hard to tell what might not be a temple but presumably not every building could be a temple - everyone needed to buy things after all, even priests. I hadn’t been walking far when I saw a street hawker with a small canopied push cart festooned with cheap looking jewellery, chains and curios. The vendor was a Pix, so I thought this was a good bet.
“Hi,” I said, “do you sell pixie spirit charms?”
“Lots,” he said with a smile, pulling out a small box from within his cart, which he opened to reveal a messy jumble of dozens of medallions - none of them exactly the same but all formed of a solid outer ring and some type of weaving inner design. “Part pixie?” he asked me looking me up and down.
“Oh no sorry,” I said, “I’m human, but my friend is a Pixie and I wondered if you had seen him, we’re trying to find out what happened to him. He would have been looking to buy a spirit charm, dressed in militia uniform, his name’s Fig and he’s got mossy green hair, golden eyes and skin like a hazelnut.”
“Around the time of the explosion?” the hawker said.
“Yeah probably just before or just after?” I said, it sounded like Fig had been here.
“Yeah I remember him. It was just after it all went to hell. I was just packing up to hightail it out of the mess here when he came running up all upset, saying he’d lost his spirit charm but he didn’t have any money on him. To be honest, I wanted to get out of here and I felt sorry for the kid so I just gave him a cheap one.”
“And it was definitely after the explosion?” I asked.
“Yeah, hardly likely to forget that am I?” he said.
I saw it all now, Fig had rushed to the nearest hawker he knew to get his spirit charm and then when his panic subsided I bet he headed back to the square to check we were ok, just in time to be arrested as a suspect.
“No,” I smiled, this man could clear Fig’s name, “would you mind helping him out again. They think he caused the explosion but if he was here he couldn’t have caused the explosion. Would you mind coming with us to the second’s headquarters.”
“Kid in trouble,” the man said, “alright I guess, he seemed like a good kid, was very polite even though he was upset, and as I say I liked him. I’ve got trade to do though lad, how about this. I usually pack up around ten, I’ll lock up my cart and meet you there at ten thirty.”
“That would be great,” I said, hoping he’d keep his word, “thank you so much.”
“It’s alright,” the man said, “anyway off you go, you’re putting off the punters.”
“Sure,” I said, and headed back to the square to wait on the others and share my news.