Corvina expected the site of the kidnapping to appear as messy and devastated as she now felt in her own heart, but that wasn’t the case. Other than a dropped tray of sandwiches and a single knocked-over end-table in the outer room, Corvina’s chambers looked about the same as when she had left Anne there.
Except, of course, Anne was gone.
“I was bringing the Saintess something to eat,” explained Helen, whose head-wound had been quickly bandaged by one of the Tulin’s servants. “When I entered, Sister Eva was already there, near the bed. She was standing over the Saintess, who was lying collapsed on the floor. That’s when I dropped my tray.”
Corvina glanced down at the scattered food near the doorway. Cucumber sandwiches. Corvina couldn’t remember whether Anne particularly liked or disliked cucumber sandwiches. In that moment, her lack of knowledge felt like a tragedy.
“I’ve been, um…” Helen looked down, sheepishly. “Learning some archery lately. And I knew that I’d left a bow in here earlier, on that table there, so I ran to grab it, but Eva reached her hand out towards me and some sort of shadow thing flew out at me and knocked me against the wall.”
Corvina glanced in that direction. Sure enough, a small practice bow was lying on the ground near the upturned side table.
“By the time I got back on my feet, Sister Eva and the Saintess were gone.” Helen had tears in her eyes. “My lady, I’m so sorry, I should have been able to protect her better.”
“It’s not your fault, Helen,” said Corvina, quietly. Then she placed a hand on her maid’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling me what happened. You should go get some rest now.”
“I’ve already sent for a physician to come and have a proper look at her,” said Ormen. He and his family were watching from the open doorway.
Corvina gave him a nod. “Thank you, Marquess.”
The Marquess chose to personally escort Helen away, to wait with her in a more comfortable location until the physician arrived. That was a remarkable kindness for a high-ranked noble to show to a mere servant. No wonder his people were so loyal to him.
Corvina stepped further into the room.
They had never quite gotten around to fully cleaning up after yesterday. The clothes Anne had been wearing the night before were still in a pile on the ground beside the bed, next to Corvina’s own discarded dress. Corvina stared at them.
She had to act quickly to rescue Anne. She should be coming up with a thousand different plans and contingencies right now. Her mind should be abuzz with possible solutions. But she just felt empty.
“I see,” said Justine. Corvina hadn’t noticed her approach, but she was standing only a few feet away, surveying the scene with a knowing look. “Some things are starting to make more sense.”
“Marchioness, I—“
Justine raised a hand to stop her speaking. “Please. I hold no title, as you well know. And you don’t need to worry. Things like that are important to the aristocracy because they see partnerships as transactional. Aristocratic marriages are all about alliances and inheritances, both of which are more-or-less meaningless to common people. I’ve known many people who have had a variety of partners throughout their lives without ever getting married. I suppose that’s part of why I don’t mind so much that Ormen and I can’t be married.” Justine shrugged. “Regardless, it’s not something I would hold against you.”
“Ah-ha!”
At some point while Justine was talking, her daughter Liza had also come into the room and started rummaging through the small pile of Anne’s clothes.
“What are you doing?” asked Corvina, alarmed.
Liza held up her hand in which she held a small lapel pin, the one Anne frequently wore.
“Earlier, you said Sister Eva showed up out of nowhere and interrupted you talking to the Saintess and they ended up getting in a big argument, right?”
“Yes…” said Corvina, still not following.
“Well, you two were in the library, which is kind of a hard room to find, and so I was wondering how she knew how to get there. And then today I wondered how she knew to come to your room to find the Saintess and also why she only showed up there after you’d left to have lunch with us? I thought maybe she had some special way of watching you, or at least watching the Saintess, and this,” she held up the lapel pin triumphantly. “Smells like alchemy. I don’t know the exact spell, but a lot of alchemy uses similar reagents, and this smells like that.”
“Well done!” Justine clapped her hands together and then patted her daughter on the head. “You’re so smart!”
The little girl beamed proudly, holding the lapel pin out to Corvina.
Corvina gingerly took it from her and turned it over in her hands. It just looked like an ordinary decorative pin to her. But when she brought it to her nose and sniffed it, she could sense a faint whiff of chemicals.
“So we know this Sister Eva was likely spying on the Saintess,” said Justine.
Corvina shuddered at the thought.
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“And she can travel long distances instantaneously, probably,” said Liza. “It’s theoretically possible to do that with alchemy, but it would require so many expensive materials, it’s practically impossible. But all the books say that that was most likely one of the main uses for True Magic, since mana is a weightless energy source. Whatever mana is.” Liza stomped her foot in frustration. “I’m still mad that lady wouldn’t tell me what mana is! She definitely knows!”
Justine sighed. “That means she could have taken the Saintess almost anywhere. If she traveled by magic, it will be impossible to track her down.”
“Are you certain that this pin was for surveillance?” Corvina asked. “It couldn’t have been some sort of protection spell? Or… something else?”
Liza shrugged. “I mean, it could be for anything, really. I was just guessing the best I could based on everything else.” She tilted her head to one side, thoughtfully. “I have some testing equipment in my room. I might be able to tell more if I can figure out what ingredients were used for the spell. If it is a tracking or surveillance spell, then it must be connected to a secondary object on the other end. If I can somehow reverse engineer the spell I could possibly even find a way to detect and track that secondary object on the other end.”
Corvina nodded. She didn’t mind delegating when she needed to. She gave the pin back to Liza. “If you could run these tests, that would be very helpful.”
Liza looked up at Justine, her eyes sparkling. “Ooh, is that okay, Mom? Can I go run some tests?”
“Of course you can, sweetie,” said Justine, with an encouraging smile. “I’m very proud of you.”
Liza ran off, and Justine turned back to Corvina, her expression turning more serious.
“Well, what do you want to do now?” asked Justine.
“I know it might not be the best move for the sake of the rebellion,” said Corvina. “But I’m going to do everything in my ability to rescue Anne. I have to.”
“I know that,” said Justine. “I mean, what’s the next step? We can’t be seen to take direct military action against the church, but short of that, my husband and I will do everything in our power to support you.”
“Thank you,” said Corvina. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Mentally, she imagined herself wrapping up the shock and the sorrow she was feeling and placing them carefully on a shelf where she could deal with them later. They weren’t helpful right now. This wasn’t a moment that called for emotion. It was a moment that called for swift action.
Corvina opened her eyes again.
“Have someone fetch your swiftest horse to meet me at the gate as soon as possible,” said Corvina, her tone certain and commanding. “I’m going to fetch us some allies.”
----------------------------------------
Anne’s head was killing her. She felt like she was drifting in and out of a dream, although it was less coherent than ever. The Original Saintess was screaming in her mind, sobbing, breaking things. Briefly, she was certain she was back in the stone-lined corridors of the church in Longren. Then, there was nothing but darkness.
Then Anne awoke with a start.
She was sitting at her desk, a halfway finished spreadsheet on the screen of the computer in front of her.
Anne glanced around. Instead of a fancy old-fashioned suit with a priest’s stole, she was wearing her usual modern gray pantsuit.
She felt the side of her head. Normal, rounded ears.
A copy of the book The Foundling’s Wings was sitting on her desk, just behind her keyboard.
Anne picked it up and stared at the cover. On it, a beautiful saintly woman with long, flowing hair looked away demurely as a dark-haired man in a military uniform offered her a bouquet of flowers. Meanwhile, a beautiful woman with purple hair watched from behind the two figures, a frown on her face.
And, something Anne had never noticed before. A red-haired cleric stood even further in the background. So small in the illustration, you could barely notice her, halfway concealed behind a tree.
“Lunch break is over!”
Her manager’s voice startled her, and she slammed the book back down.
“I need those files done today, before you clock out, no matter how long it takes,” said her manager, a severe-looking man in his mid-50s.
Anne nodded. “Got it. I’m working on those now, sir.” The sound of her own voice sounded strange and foreign to her.
Her manager walked away and she got to work on the spreadsheets, falling easily back into her old work habits.
Was it all just a dream? Anne wondered to herself. Maybe I should stop staying up so late reading, especially when I’m already working overtime anyway.
Anne yawned.
“Do you want to go back to this, then?” asked a familiar voice.
The original Saintess was looking down at her from over top of her cubicle.
Anne stared, her fingers still hovering over her keyboard.
“You hated your life here,” said the Saintess. Her expression was sad and wistful. “You hated being just another faceless office drone. So replaceable. So anonymous. No one that would even notice if you suddenly disappeared… You have no idea how incredibly jealous I am of that.”
“I’m sorry,” said Anne.
“You should be,” said the Saintess, a terrible anger overtaking the sadness in her eyes. “You’ve failed! You know, no matter what happens in the book, you can’t come back here, because you’re fucking dead here. Your body is in the ground somewhere rotting. And now you’re about to die in there, too. You’ve failed, damn you! And we’re all going to suffer for it!”
Anne gasped as she suddenly woke up.
She wasn’t in her office back in the ‘real’ world. She was in a dark, cluttered room. There were no windows, and there wasn’t enough light for her to see anything clearly.
Okay, Anne, she thought to herself. Let’s take stock.
I was about to eat lunch when Eva appeared out of nowhere and somehow knocked me out. She apparently kidnapped me after that, since I’m propped up against a wall with my arms and legs tied up. And I have no idea where I am.
That was about the extent of the information Anne currently had available to her.
Then several candles all around the room sprang to life at once. The room was cluttered with tables covered in books and sciencey (or alchemy-y?) looking beakers and test tubes and various other pieces of equipment. It was like some sort of magic laboratory.
In the center of the room, tables had clearly been pushed out the way to make room for a large chalk circle surrounded by strange-looking glyphs.
Eva walked into the center of the room, chalk in hand, and began making some small corrections, checking it against an ancient scroll on a nearby table.
Anne was watching this, debating whether or not she should pretend to still be unconscious, when she accidentally made eye contact with Eva.
Eva smiled and put her book down.
“I see you’re awake,” said Eva, approaching Anne. She leaned over, bringing their faces only inches apart. “It’s so fascinating how much you look like her. I keep berating myself, asking why I never noticed something was wrong, but there’s no doubt that this is her face…”
Eva brought one hand up to brush her fingers gently across Anne’s cheek. Then she grabbed Anne’s chin and kissed her, hard.
“What the hell!?” shouted Anne after Eva pulled away.
“I can’t corrupt her if she’s not here, can I?” said Eva, still smiling. “But she’ll be here again soon enough. Just be a good girl and sit there quietly until it’s time to play your role. It won’t be much longer now.”
The first time Anne died it had been so sudden there had been no time for her to be afraid.
But now, as she watched Eva busy herself about the lab making preparations, humming as she worked, Anne felt very afraid.