After searching the walls, Cira found three random tunnels and sealed them off. At the very least it would slow future smugglers down. She tied the first one in his personal prison to the bottom of the skiff and floated away. It was nothing like her old one, but Cira was glad to have a new boat. Of course, getting it out of the mines would be the tricky part. She’d have to commandeer the right elevator.

Getting back to Nymphus wasn’t difficult though. The corridors were all wide enough and she only had to remove the wall at the final door, putting it back swiftly. The would-be smuggler boy had been fast asleep for whole trip back which took until the end of the day.

“It’s amazing how vast this island is. I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time underground.” Cira couldn’t help but marvel at the scale of this place.

Unfortunately, she hadn’t managed to drop the salt nymphs off in the nest. In fact, she’d only gained more. With no other choice, she trailed fog behind her, letting it immerse them within. Her flock was getting out of hand, but now it was just a mysterious cloud following them.

But as they approached the city from above, Cira had other things on her mind. Thousands of dead, unaccounted for. If everything was as it seemed, that meant Earth Vein was a blight on these skies. Not that they weren’t already, but genocide would force Cira’s hand, incurable plague or not. She kept her fingers crossed but couldn’t help the anger from bubbling up.

“What are you going to do, Cira?” Nanri looked a little worried for once but hadn’t put the brakes on this show yet.

“I haven’t decided yet, but I won’t let him feign ignorance. He will give me answers.” Cira’s voice was cold.

The city’s lights burned bright, but all the tallest peaks had dimmed down. A sign that it would soon turn to night in Nymphus. The tallest of those peaks belonged to the mayor and Cira steered the boat straight for it. She intended to have a little chat, up close and personal.

“Where would he be?” Cira asked.

“His office is at the top.” Nanri perked up whenever she was asked a question, “Right under the light!”

Cira put one foot up on the bow and leaned forward, peering through the golden spyglass which never left her person. For one, she was impressed by the quality of glass his windows were made of. Most in the city had no windows, just shutters. Through them she could see a very muddy mayor sitting at his desk across from two older men wearing dark business suits.

The mayor looked like he’d had a rough morning to say the least, but overall, the rest of the city seemed alright. Men with prima brooms brushed mud out of the street and it looked like the crowd in front of the city was gone. She had to hand it to him, it could have been a real disaster if the response was even a minute slower. But that didn’t mean she trusted him. Not after their conversation that morning.

“Now, sorcer- ah, Cira. Dammit, don’t you jump to conclusions too fast?” Lomp nervously asked. He was quiet most of the trip, just trying to find a place to cut in and calm her down. “The mayor’s a good man, I’ve known him a couple years. Not even one of the Earth Vein folk, his brother roped him into the job.”

“I’m not so sure.” Cira was adamant, “He just wanted to send them down to work. He struck me as just the type to be complicit in something like this.”

“That… Doesn’t really sound like Rudo. You probably misunderstood him just like in Deep Falls. Remember that? Maybe you should sleep on it—” He stopped himself just short, “I mean, you’re always travelling right? I know these people, that’s the whole reason Pappy sent me with you, for times like this! Exactly this!”

The sorcerer eyed him suspiciously as sweat poured down his face, “I don’t know why you haven’t said anything. I took your silence to mean we were on the same page. I wish I had had time to consider this over the last six hours…”

“You just looked, uh… very upset.” He timidly answered.

“Gah! Don’t look at me like that. What, am I going to turn you to dust if you object to my will?” She glared at him, “Jerk…”

Cira turned forward and sulked. The fires of justice had been doused by a brief glint of fear in the guard’s eyes. He may not know, but in Deep Falls it turned out the guy had it coming, and yeah, she did most of this to herself, but was it so unreasonable to think she was still just a regular girl, even if she could withstand a storm of fire and throw smugglers around with her mind? She could be, well, reasoned with.

Nanri quietly asked, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Whatever, Lomp! You’ve convinced me. I won’t rip his wall off…” She pouted.

The guard breathed a sigh of relief, “I’m, uh, sorry…”

“Tch.” She continued to pout, “Nanri, where’s the infirmary? There is one, right?”

With an irritatingly infectious smile, she replied, “Right over there! Looks busy.”

“Hmm…” Cira grumbled, “I’m taking us down. The living take priority after all.”

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

It wasn’t a long detour, and she brought the skiff down to the wide eyes of all the people filling the street. She hung over the side holding Aquon out as light began to converge. They pointed up and shouted in wonder, soon it had turned into a spectacle.

“Look, It’s her!”

“She’s returned!”

“See, I told you she’s real.”

“I can’t believe she came back for us!”

The attention didn’t make Cira feel any better, “Area Heal! Area Hydrate!” But it had to be done. Then the little boat ascended, steering back towards the mayor’s place. She was upset about her interaction with Lomp, but she really hadn’t been thinking straight. The whole situation had taken an unexpectedly personal turn.

As usual, Cira pushed it to the back of her mind. She had a long list of miracles to pull off on this island and it was no time to dwell on the past. They had arrived closer to the mayor’s doorstep. Of course, he was at the top, so she pulled the wheel back and rose, circling the building as they ascended. Finally, they reached a balcony on the backside of his office.

“Nanri, could you attach a chain to that banister? We’ll moor here.” Her fist still stung from her Sorcerer Punch as she’d been trying to save mana since the stampede, but she healed it now. Her mana was about full again anyway.

“Um, a chain?” Nanri was caught off guard, “I-I think so.”

She fiddled around with a few balls of titanium and ended up with clunky chain with loops the size of her fist. The witch slapped it over the stone banister which crumbled under the weight, “Whoops!” She snaked it around a few more columns at the base, eventually wrapping the chain around the boat. It leaned toward the balcony as the heavy weight settled.

Cira couldn’t hold in a chuckle watching her. It’s impossible to be upset with her around. Much better company than that oaf. She had completely forgotten her warning to herself and let her guard down completely. The bubbly witch made it easy.

Suddenly a door slammed open on the balcony, and Cira saw a very dirty and irate man, “What the hell— It-It’s you! What are you doing here?!”

Cira’s expression snapped back to the cold one from earlier, “I have come to have a word with you, Mr. Mayor.” She stepped out through the conveniently destroyed banister and onto the balcony.

“W-with me?! What about—er, perhaps we should head inside first!” His eye was twitching as he navigated the most harrowing interaction of his tenure in Nymphus. The witch looked livid, and she had snuck up from below to appear on his balcony on top of the tallest building without a word after floating around the city for half an hour in a blatant smuggler’s sloop, pulling a cloud that leaked nymphs.

Cira agreed, “Indeed, perhaps we should.” Nanri had dismounted to quickly follow and Lomp got out, intent to prevent something out of his control from happening.

The mayor led them in from the balcony and into his office, where two very confused men sat across from his desk.

“Who are—Nanri, who is this woman?!” One spoke.

“What do you mean? It’s the new witch… if you can call her that.” She giggled into her hand.

The second man got up from his seat, “Wha—new witch?! Who are you?!”

“I have come to speak with the mayor. You should leave.”

Lump nudged her and whispered, “Those guys are Earth Vein, shut up!”

“Us? Leave?” The first one laughed, “Surely, you jest. Now tell me, witch, what is your name and whose orders have brought you here? Do you realize how much money you’ve cost us with this mud?”

These bastards… The prima salt wouldn’t have even been here if not for the stampede, and they wanted to profit from it?

“You claim to be Earth Vein representatives, yet you neither recognize me nor know my purpose. Did you ever stop to think that is for good reason?” Because I’m not a witch and I don’t work for Earth Vein, “It’s best for everyone involved if you two step out.”

Cira’s voice finished dark and mysterious. The two men looked at each other stumped and almost spoke up until they looked at Nanri. She raised her brow and gestured to the door. Yes! She’s the best.

They shot Cira a glance that she didn’t mind receiving from Earth Vein, then hurriedly receded.

“Now then.” Cira waved her hand and the air quaked, sealing the room off for sound. Her tone would brook no lies, “Mr. Mayor, I would like you to tell me where you’ve been sending the plague victims.”

A look of shock donned on his face and his eyes shot open, “Are… are you serious?!”

“Do I not look like I am?” She glared.

“O-of course. We send them all five levels up. To the Uru plague ward.” He answered nervously.

“See?!” Lomp shouted, “I told you it was a misunderstanding… But since when did Uru have a plague ward?”

The jittering mayor looked between sorcerer, witch, and guard, before cracking under the pressure, “Since… since the plague hit. I wasn’t supposed to say anything…”

Hmm… He was either complicit or easily taken advantage of. Guess it was the latter. Still don’t like the guy.

“And nobody gets better… they just go there to die and get swept under the rug.” Lomp was pale.

Cira was having trouble deciding if this was any better than a culling. Even if it was incurable, they’re just putting them all in one place and letting them die in secret. Withholding it from the surface. Regardless, she found out what she wanted to find out. Cira felt sick.

“I see. It’s not as bad as I thought then, but it doesn’t sound great. I need to go look at this place, but I guess the mayor’s clear.”

“I’m… clear?” his voice trembled, “I-I’m just following orders, you know. They don’t tell me anything about what happens in Uru either. I’m not even allowed to visit.”

She thought he was walking a fine line between digging himself a hole and justifying his actions, but at this point she didn’t care about him anymore. He was probably just what Lomp said—some poor schmuck that got roped into Earth Vein’s chain of operations. One insignificant link of many.

Her fury had been quelled since there was no direct culling going on, but she couldn’t shake the unease she felt towards the whole situation. It was far too shady.

“Uru’s just a level below the lower pump chamber,” Lomp said, “You wanted to see that too, right? We can stop there on our way back up.”

“Right… I do need to go there.” Cira sighed.

The mayor was at a loss and chose not to say any more without first being addressed—he kept glancing nervously at the occasional nymph that would pop out of the cloud ominously floating outside his window.

Cira hoped Uru was a big enough place that the evacuees weren’t anywhere near the plague, but none of it boded well. The problems just kept compounding here and she hadn’t thought about the flood in what felt like days. Cira was starting to get stressed, finally coming around to the realization that she may have bit off more than she could chew.

Nanri came close and blinded her with a bright smile then gave her a little nudge, “Come on, Cira. It’s getting late, and we’ve had a long day. I know I’m tired. Maybe you should get some sleep and we’ll check on Uru first thing in the morning.”

“Yeah,” She returned a fraction of the smile, “Maybe that’s a good idea. I should sleep on it.”