D’Arcy stood over Franco, her blade pointed at his neck. Franco lay on the ground looking up at her with a wry smile before bursting into full-blown laughter.
“You are doing this for your father? How hilarious… you and he are the same… no loyalty to anything but yourselves.” His laughter died down as his defiant look returned, glaring at her. “At least make it quick, wench.”
“That’s about enough of this, Green.” Captain Glass said, his voice even and calm. He had been so quiet that D’Arcy had nearly forgotten he was there. She turned her attention to him to see his own blade pointed at her. The implication was clear, if she moved on Franco she would follow just as quickly. Now that she could be seen and even interact with the world physically she was not sure what might happen if he managed to strike her down.
“Fine.” D’arcy took a step back, letting her sword drop. “Explain yourself then. You betrayed my father but claimed he had no honor… why?”
Franco got to his feet, dusting off the dirt from the ground. “Your father was working with us… war was inevitable but with his help, we could put ourselves in the best position possible.”
“We put him on the escort mission for Ambassador Barrone, He was a dead man already he just didn’t know it. The movements behind the scenes showed him to be the victim of any of a dozen schemes to end his life so we took the chance to take control of what story would be told.” Glass put his blade down on the table between them. “Your father accepted a huge payout to act as executioner.”
The young woman’s face drained of all color at his words. “No… that can’t be true.”
“It is, I would have done it myself but I was called away,” Franco stated, a smile forming on his lips as he watched her world shatter. “He claimed he needed the money for his child but I have a feeling he was in it for himself the whole time.”
“But… if he was working with you then why have him executed? If he was on your side then you still betrayed him when you walked him to the gallows!”
“I could see how you might think that,” Captain Glass met her eyes in a glare. “But the generous payment we had given him was not enough.”
“Greedy bastard kept asking for more and more money in order to keep quiet on the whole affair. I am guessing you didn’t see much of what was paid to him.”
D’Arcy remembered her childhood. Growing up in a rundown shack, sleeping on a threadbare mattress of straw, and dressing in clothes little better than rags that always made the bright, shiny armor of her father all the more impressive. He would show up from time to time with some trinket or toy from his travels, nothing ever too fancy but in her eyes they were everything. Was everything she believed in her life… even after her life was over… a lie?
“I don’t believe you. My father was a good man… maybe he wasn’t perfect but who is?” She took a step back as if hoping somehow to distance herself from the words they were telling her.
“That’s the good thing about the truth, cadet. It doesn’t change depending on what you believe.” Glass rolled up the map on the table he had been reading, everything about him showing just how unconcerned he was about the whole situation. “We can’t let anyone know we are orchestrating things.”
She felt a sharp pain in her side as Franco drove his sword into her side. Pain was a concept she had forgotten in her centuries of being dead but she was reintroduced intensely. Stars exploded behind her eyes as she pushed away from her former brother-in-arms, gasping as the steel slid free of her body.
“For what it’s worth, I am sorry it came to this.” Franco smiled, a look that belied his true feelings on the matter. D’Arcy tried to take another step away but her legs wouldn’t support her weight. She crashed to the ground, her hand pressing into the wound on her side. She tried desperately to stem the blood flow as she crawled back towards the door.
“Just let the darkness come, cadet… your sacrifice will help ensure this kingdom’s prosperity for years to come.”
“Yes, just die already!” Franco kicked her in the side, rolling her over to the stairs they had climbed up to get here. She reached out desperately for anything to stop her but gravity was not on her side that day. Her body fell end over end down the stairs, each hit against the stone steps sending another shock of pain through her body. When the blackness took over her vision it was almost a blessing to be free of the agony at last.
* * *
Fyre and Akuji emerged from the labyrinth to find a small courtyard in the center. A pear tree grew out of a small patch of ground with a pool of crystal clear water at its foot. The cat from the entrance was there as well… its bulk looking almost silly in the small area as it sat there cleaning itself.
“Two of you… excellent. Much better than most who come here.”
“Where’s D’Arcy?” Akuji asked, unable to keep her voice even. “What did you do to her?”
“Relax, devil-girl… she will be fine. She’s just a little… late.” The cat chuckled softly at its joke, purring and laughing simultaneously in a strange mix of sounds.
“That’s not going to work for us, kitty.” Fyre stepped forward, flames engulfing both of her hands as she gathered her power.
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“While your concern is very touching, it’s not needed.” D’arcy’s voice came echoing down the stone hall as her spectral form came into view. She moved slowly, deliberately as if she was still in pain as she joined them in the small chamber. “Seems what they say is true… cats really are jerks.”
“See? Nothing to worry about… the poor dead girl is still dead. No need for hostilities.” The cat continues nonchalantly licking its paws. “So you have all seen what the Archives has to show you… may your new wisdom serve you well.”
“Was… any of that even real? What I saw… what Franco told me.”
“Yes… it was real and also happened before. Your encounter with your colleagues is how they knew to leave a confession with your body the next day. Unwittingly you were the one that outed yourself… fate can be cruel like that.”
“All that is well and good but none of this is what we came here for,” Fyre yelled in exasperation, the flames vanishing from around her.
“Correct… but you were never here about the right thing to begin with. The First Spell is already in play and will come into your group’s possession without any interference from me.” The cat’s smug look was infuriating.
“So then what was all this song and dance about?” Akuji stalked her way up to the cat, annoyance plain on her face.
“Eterna spoke briefly about something coming after… worse. But how can anything be worse than rewriting reality?” Fyre looked at the floor, unsure how much of what she had experienced she should share.
“On a grand scale, nothing… but often even a small wound can do surprising damage depending on who wields the blade. The world need not be in danger when the stakes are one’s heart… or soul.”
“Then tell us how we can stop what is coming afterward!” D’Arcy cried out. “There has to be more to this trip than the awful things we saw here.”
“I would more than love to tell you the path through the future without any stress or danger, but certain things must happen in order for the future we hope to come about.” The cat rose to its feet, tail swaying back and forth like a cobra. “What I can tell you is that the strife to come stems mostly from families. Not just one family… but many. The pasts of your friends will return to haunt them and change them in ways unimaginable.”
“Families? Who’s family?” Akuji reviewed in her mind what she knew about the other students in her class. Only then did she realize that she didn’t even know about the families of at best half of the other students. The reporter in her recoiled at her lack of knowing the dirt on her friends.
“That is unclear right now since much depends on how everything plays out in the next two weeks. Some or all of them will descend upon this school with a variety of purposes both benevolent and nefarious.” The cat plopped down in front of the girls with a penetrating gaze. “Being aware might make all the difference in outcomes.”
“So you can’t help us in any significant way. Typical riddle bull…” Akuiji walked past the cat, brushing by the creature in a huff. “We’ve wasted enough time here, how do we get out? And don’t even think about saying we have to go back through that maze again.”
“It’s a labyrinth, little devil… and no.” A door slid open behind the cat as it spoke. “This will take you back to the surface once more. I do wish the lot of you the best of luck in what is to come. I know you will all do just fine.”
“Yeah… thanks… I am sure your faith will make all the difference in place of any actual help.” She went through the door, climbing the stairs back out of the archives. Her two friends followed quickly behind, emerging back out into the night air of the cemetery. They walked their way back toward the dorms in silence. Each was lost in thought of what they had been shown.
* * *
Sally Mae waited at the gate to Spiritwood University as she looked at her watch for the fourth time in just as many minutes. She had told her brother to come to the school as fast as he could but she had already been waiting longer than she had wanted to. After another ten minutes, she saw him running in her direction. Dressed in his typical jeans and a sleepless t-shirt, he threaded through the crowd towards her.
“About time, Trip. I need your nose.” Her brother, Trip, was a werewolf just like her but even though he only had experienced the change a few times he had already shown a remarkable ability in sniffing and tracking various trails. If she were going to track down their missing Laverne she was going to need his help.
“Okay, sis… what do you need found?” He was your typical corn-fed blonde hair blue eyes muscle head but he was still her little brother and she loved him with all her heart.
“A girl’s gone missing. I need your help tracking down where she gon’ missing to.” Sally Mae reached out and tussled his hair teasingly. “If you do a good job maybe there is even a treat in it for you.”
Trip laughed as she messed up his hair, taking a moment to straighten it once more. “I know you would be lost without me. So how do you get me into the school? Aren’t there rules against stuff like that now?”
“Oh it should be easy enough… we just aren’t going to tell anyone we are up to. The gates should stay open for long enough that no one will be paying attention to when people come and go.” With a smirk, she turned and headed back into the campus at a jog. “Just move fast and act like you belong here!”
He shook his head as she ran off ahead of him, running to keep up as she led him towards the dark gothic-looking dormitories just east of the entrance. Followed her through the buildings until she stopped before a particular one.
“This is her dorm… best as we can tell is she was last seen here a few days ago.”
“That’s all you are giving to me? Must be a hundred different girls that have passed by here in the days since your target was last here.” Trip sniffed the air experimentally as he sought out any scents that might be interesting.
“No… next to no belongings left from when she was here, all we have to go on is that she is a flesh golem. There is a chance her scent might be a mix of many of them.” Sally Mae sniffed the air too, dropping down onto all fours to to get a better scent from the ground.
“Fun. At least you didn’t call me for anything simple.” He searched around, following different scent trails as he sorted through the different scent markers that were near the entrance. Every once in a while a girl coming back or leaving from the dorm would pass by, giving them strange looks at what they might be doing. “Drawing a lot of attention here too.”
“I think I might have something…” Sally Mae said near the corner of the dorm by an alley heading north. Trip ran over to her side sniffing around her as he tried to catch the scent of what she had found. With a grunt, he nodded his head as he found the heady mix of five or six distinct scents wrapped together as they headed northward.
“Got it… planning on telling me why you got involved in a missing girl case or are we just going to just pretend this is normal?” Trip grinned at his sister as they both moved after the trail they had found.
The two werewolves followed the trail north, moving between the far east inspired buildings and the football field. It trailed further through the elf sector and through the guest cabins all the way to the foothills of the mountains that surrounded the school on three sides. The trail continued west before turning north leading right into the mountains themselves.
“Did you know there was anything up here?” Trip asked as he looked up the trail tucked away in the brush.
“No… there isn’t supposed to be anything in the mountains… even some of the aerial students have looked around before without finding anything.”
“Well… it looks like there is something there after all. Let’s go find your girl.”