Shadows in the Smoke - 13 - Promises Made

"The Kingdom of Itria, as it was before the foundation of the People's Republic, had strict laws against the practice of necromancy or summoning. Some foolish individuals questioned why, given the freedom that the People benefit from, those 'reactionary' laws were not also repealed so that these powerful branches of magic could be applied for the good of the People. Fortunately, the Central Committee was wiser than that and indulging in those forbidden arts remains a capital offence in the Republic. Few things unite us with our Imperial neighbours to the south, but a lack of desire to see humanity fall to hordes of Weiryin or slathering undead must be among the most prominent."

The Struggle for Freedom by Bjarne Midthun

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Ester opened her eyes slowly and then screwed them shut again in an attempt at blocking out the light. It felt like a blacksmith was hammering at the back of her head and her stomach was twisting around itself.

What had happened? Where had she been? She sat up and and immediately regretted it as the world swam around her.

Her stomach churned and the world seemed to be swaying. There'd been a tavern.

She shook her head to clear it and groaned at the way it made everything worse.

The tavern? How much of that mead had she drunk?

Arcanists. Sonja and the two officers from the 'police'. It started coming back to her in a flood. They'd been so nice and welcoming. Then there'd been funny and confusing stories. Then more, sweet mead. Her stomach threatened to empty itself at the thought.

Ester grimaced and had to resist the urge to curl up into a ball. Not just from the way her body was protesting its mistreatment.

How could she have embarrassed herself so much?! A lot of it was a blur, but she didn't like what she could remember. Far too much mead. A crowd of tavern patrons cheering as she and Captain Gondahl competed to see who could make the prettiest pattern with a deck of playing cards in the air without speaking any words of power. Then there was the singing. If moving wasn't so uncomfortable, she'd put her head in her hands. Great Spirits, her first mission away from Vass Karan and she'd behaved like some bawdy tavern wench!

Ester wasn't sure how long it took her to force herself out of bed, but eventually her bladder forced the matter. Then it was just a matter of slowly getting dressed and trying to make herself look presentable.

She thought she was most of the way there when the inevitable, brusque knock came at her door. She couldn't quite keep her groan entirely to herself.

"Come in."

The door swung open and Citizen Ina bustled in, a look of disapproval already forming on her face.

"Ah, Mage Mazar. I see you are awake. That is good. We need to get you moving or you will be late."

"Late?" Ester blinked dumbly at her.

"Yes, late. Arcanist Rosholt told me about your appointment. You wouldn't want to keep the good citizens of the Police waiting, would you?"

"The Police?" Ester resisted the urge to groan again. Why would she be late to see them? She'd spent the whole night with them, drinking far too much.

"Yes, the Police. Are you ready?" Citizen Ina gave Ester the kind of look you gave to a particularly slow child and started busying herself around the room, surely making more noisy than was necessary as she did it.

Ester would have liked nothing more than to tell Citizen Ina to just leave her alone, but the woman was determined to get her moving.

Eventually she surrendered in the face of the Republican woman's unsubtle pressure and got up to follow her out.

What had happened though? Ester racked her brain. She could remember the embarrassing parts, unfortunately, but there must have been something agreed if she now had an appointment with the police.

Eventually, as she half-walked, half-staggered, through the palace's corridors, vague memories started welling up. Everything was a bit foggy, but amidst the drunken declarations of friendship, there'd been more. She winced, half at the memory and half at the way her head was pounding.

Had she really stood up and boasted about how good she was at 'forensics' before offering to show them how the Empire did it, in the spirit of friendship of course? Promises and boasts had been exchanged and now here she was.

Ester ruthlessly forced her stomach back into compliance. Great Spirits! She was never going to get drunk again!

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The Nilrava police headquarters was an imposing building. In contrast to the brickwork that dominated much of the city, it was made of pale stone blocks, towering above Ester as Citizen Ina led her through the thick stone columns framing its front.

Inside Citizen Ina headed straight past rows of people waiting on wooden benches to a desk with a bored looking woman sat behind it. Some people cast irritated looks at them, before quickly looking away, but she gave them no mind. Ester trailed behind her, trying to look around without making her head feel even worse.

"Yes?" The woman behind the desk sounded as uninterested as she looked.

Citizen Ina presented her with some paper from a satchel. "Citizen Ina Nylund, bringing Ester Mazar to the Magical Directorate, she's expected."

Ester tried not to be too obvious as she craned her neck to see what was written on the paper. Before she could make it out, the woman behind the desk's eyes widened slightly and she sat up straighter.

"Of course, Citizen and ah… mistress? You will be escorted up immediately." She shot to her feet and urgently gestured until a small man with eyeglasses hurried over. "Please take these guests straight to the Magical Directorate and ask for Lieutenant Enberg."

"Of course, Citizen," he gave her a small bow and turned to Citizen Ina and Ester, "if you would follow me, Citizens?"

They were quickly ushered through a series of drab corridors and up several flights of stairs to an imposing looking wooden door.

Their guide knocked on it politely and paused for a few seconds. When no response came he gave them an apologetic shrug and banged on it more forcefully.

A few moments later Lieutenant Enberg opened the door, looking somewhat frazzled as acrid green smoke slid out of the room from behind her. Her blonde hair was in disarray and soot streaked the lines on her face.

"Oh, Ester, you're here already?" She gathered herself. "Welcome, welcome, I'm delighted to have you here. Excited, even." Despite her frazzled state, she looked annoyingly fresh. There was no sign at all that she'd been drinking late into the night.

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"It is nice to see you too, Lieutenant." Ester leant to the side to look into the smoking room. "Are you well?"

The Arcanist blinked and then looked behind her. "Oh yes, very well thank you. I was just experimenting with a new formula for a tincture. Nothing to worry about. Do come in." She nodded to Ina. "Citizen."

"Arcanist." Ester's assistant gave a shallow bow. "I shall return to collect Mage Mazar in due course."

"Come along, Mage Mazar," Lieutenant Enbery smirked slightly at the title. "Let's get to work."

It was about the same size as Ester's den under the Watch headquarters. However, where her room was dark and stuffy, this one had large windows looking out onto the square outside.

Tables ran along the walls with shelving above them and a chaotic medley of devices, boxes and Spirits only knew what else spread across them. On a table by the window a tray was still leaking smoke.

Lieutenant Enberg's eyes landed on it and she frowned. "Diwaien." Runes flared around the tray as the smoke was drawn out to join the thick, outside air of Nilrava.

"What were you trying to make?"

"Oh nothing of any real significance, I was just trying to come up with something that would compel truth from anyone who took it. A bit of a failure this time. I suspect, even if it worked, it would probably poison them, but I'll get it sooner or later."

"Oh, well have you tr…" Ester stopped herself from talking. She wasn't meant to be telling the Republicans how she or the Empire would do things. "…what have you struggled with Lieutenant?"

"Please, like I said last night, call me Lena. Do you have a tincture that does that already then?"

Ester felt her face heating. What was it Mages had called Arcanists before the Republic? Cousin? Would that offend her? "Of course Lena, there is no need for excessive formality between us."

She yanked her mind back on track. She didn't want to give away any secrets, but truth Schemas couldn't be that much of one. Plus she wasn't actually sure how to make one, even if she did have a few ideas.

"Oh I was just thinking of Schemas have you considered using one instead?"

Lena pulled a cloth over the tray as she spoke. "Perhaps, but they'd be ever so expensive. I'm trying to find a cheaper method. There are always traitors, counter-revolutionaries or other enemies of the People and if there was an easy way to identify them the Republic would be a safer place for everyone."

"I do not know of any cheap method of forcing someone to tell the truth I am afraid, although I can see the utility."

That, at least, was the truth, although Ester did wonder if certain other tinctures might have a side-effect of encouraging truthfulness. She wasn't going to mention that, she needed remember that however affable Lena seemed, she still worked for the Republic. Would she be counted as an enemy of the people or a counter-revolutionary? What even was a counter-revolutionary?

"Ah well." Lena didn't seem at all put out by Ester's response. "Now, what I wanted to talk about with you was something far more interesting and much more in line with your expertise in forensics." Ester resisted the urge to wince. What exactly had she boasted last night? "Do you remember what I was saying about the poisons?"

"Yes I think so…" She couldn't remember a word of it, but she had no intention of admitting that to Lena.

"Excellent. Well, I've been working on trying to identify where they came from. You know how it is, splitting out the ingredients and so on." As she spoke she led Ester over to one of the desks where a bright-green paste had been smeared across a wooden board edged in gold with runes carved into it.

Ester's eyes widened slightly at the sight, jealousy flaring up in her. That was much nicer than anything she had to use at the Watch. How was that fair? Lena wasn't even the senior Arcanist here.

"Now this paste was found in the possessions of a traitor. Ébair." Lena waved a hand over the board and the runes on it flared to life. "He'd been linked to at least one murder before he was caught and we are worried that this may be an attempt to bring the war through to Nilrava."

"The war?" Ester took a small step back, instantly on guard. Surely Lena wasn't talking about the war with the Empire, was she? Was this some kind of trap to get her away from the rest of the Empire's delegation? "What do you mean the war?"

Lena paused before turning to look at her, a slight frown marring her face. "You know, the war. With the Lands of the Dead? The fight for the Republic and humanity's survival? The war that's bleeding us of our best and brightest day by day!" Her voice rose slightly in either astonishment or frustration.

"I'm sorry." Ester found herself slipping back into the speech patterns of her childhood as embarrassment flooded through her. "I had no idea. I meant no offence."

Lena's frown deepened. "They didn't tell you? Of course they didn't tell you. I don't wish to speak ill of your Empire," her tone said the opposite, "but perhaps they might benefit from a little more openness. If we were not locked into a war for our very survival, do you even think we would speak to recidivist reactionaries like the Empire? Especially after everything it's done!"

Ester took another step back in the face of the older Arcanist's anger. "I'm sorry," she repeated. "I didn't mean to offend you, I just didn't know." What had been going on? Was this war as bad as Lena seemed to be suggesting? Surely the Empire knew about it, but then why hadn't it been mentioned? Velxe hadn't said anything, but surely some people must have been aware.

Lena's face softened slightly. "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to be rude, it's not your fault. It's just… frustrating, thinking about the way the Republic's fighting for its life, fighting to keep the world safe from the scourge of the Liche Kings." Her mouth twisted downwards at the title. "Anyway, I don't want to talk about it. Ask your 'lords' if you want to know more. Let's get back to business."

Ester just stopped herself from protesting. She wanted to know more, but given Lena's reaction, she wasn't going to push the point. "Of course, tell me about the poison."

"Yes." Lena gave herself a shake and then turned back to her desk, the anger fading from her tone. "Now, the interesting thing about this isn't that it's toxic. You can pretty much guess that just by looking at it." She gestured at the bright-green smear. "However, it has more interesting characteristics. Not least that, when you add it to a liquid, it blends straight in with it as if it was never there."

Ester moved beside her and peered down at the strange substance. "So, if you know it is a poison and you found it on this person, then why are you so worried about it?"

"A good question! There are a few reasons. Firstly, it might help us to work out who he was working for. Is it counter-revolutionary activity, a simple criminal act or worst of all, treason on behalf of the Liche Kings? There was only so much we could get out of him during interrogation." Ester couldn't help but wonder what kind of horrific torture techniques Republicans would employ. "Secondly, we can find ways to detect the poison better and thirdly we might be able to come up with some kind of counter."

Ester slowly nodded. "That makes sense." It still felt a little odd though. "Although assassination seems to be more political than criminal. Do the police here deal with everything of that kind?" It seemed like a much wider scope than the Watch's. It made sense that they wouldn't have the nobleborn doing their own investigations, the Republic had put paid to that, but did they not have an equivalent to the Inquisition to hunt for acts of treason?

"Well the police have the full remit to investigate everything in the Republic." Something flickered across Lena's face as she said that, although Ester wasn't sure what. "Anyway, what I'm trying to do is to break this down to work out what reagents and other ingredients have gone into it."

"I see." That didn't seem to be enough, so Ester forced a smile. "I assume the board is an analytical Schema? How much have you managed to get out of it?"

"Not as much as I'd like," Lena admitted with a grimace. "Let me show you. Ébair."

Magic flashed into light on the board, runes spiraling up and over it. Coloured strands wove their way out of the smear of poison, runes flickering through them.

Ester leant in, biting her bottom lip, to get a better view. Some of it was unfamiliar, but not all. "There's copper powder in there. Also blackmyrtle. I'm not familiar with your analysis Schema though."

"Just wait." Lena held up a hand. "I don't disagree, but watch a little longer and then tell me what you think."

"Alright." Ester resisted the urge to snap at her for cutting her off like that. She'd just been getting into it!

For a couple of seconds nothing happened, the runes continued to spiral around each other in the same pattern. Then something changed.

It was small at first. Ester wasn't sure she'd even have noticed if she hadn't been watching so closely. The bottom of the streams of colour started to darken. Bright blues, golds and reds darkening into greens and blacks. The distortion crept its way upwards, spreading through the array. As it reached runes, they flickered and changed shape, some breaking into twisted facsimiles of true runes, others into runes she didn't recognise.

Some of them though… Ester didn't want to recognise them, but she'd always had a good memory for magic. She was sure she'd seen them before, down in the Marcni Vaults.

With a shudder she stepped back from the desk, shaking her head and trying to avoid the memories of that horrific place. The fight for her life, the Mehrzad, the feel of a corpse grabbing her arm. No!

"Are you well Ester? Is everything alright?"

She realised she was breathing faster and forced herself to slow down. "Sorry, it just… it reminded me of something unpleasant."

"Mmmm you know what's in this too then." Lena's cheerfulness was nowhere to be seen. "Now you see why I'm so keen to break it down properly and why I think it might be from the Lands of the Dead."

"Absolutely." Ester took a deep breath. "Let me see what I can do to help."

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