Patrol 2: Lost & Found

Chapter 4

"Vania! Vania, wake up!"

Vania groaned as her head began throbbing; Eddin leaned anxiously over her and the cobbles of the street dug mercilessly into her back and hidden wings.

"Vania. Can you hear me?"

Vania forced her eyes open again; Eddin still leaned in close over her; "Yes. Eddin, please. Quieter. Whatever that was, it was immense. What happened with Sylvern?" She pushed herself up, Eddin quickly backing away to give her space.

"He...disappeared. I think. I was busy trying to catch you. What happened?"

"Something. With a lot of magical energy. It felt... like a strange power. His felt that way, too... Very... foreign. I'm sure everyone with a magical sensitivity felt it. What was it?"

"I don't know." Eddin eyed her as she pushed herself up to her knees, then to her feet, legs shaking. "Are you sure you're okay to...?"

"If that had to do with Lineia, we need to hurry. Help me get on the damn horse." She grasped the saddle horn with one hand, mentally cursing her shaking fingers.

"I doubt you're well enough to ride." Eddin placed a hand on her shoulder. "You should go back inside. Just tell me where this place is."

She shook her head, then instantly regretted it as the pain flared; "No. I need to see this through. Just help me get up."

Eddin sighed, muttering, "Bergin warned me about this, too." He grabbed her and hauled her away from the horse.

Vania's head swam. She felt herself lifted. When her head cleared enough, she realized she hadn't been carried inside the office, but placed astride the bay. Eddin hauled himself up behind her, strong arms holding her upright as he reached around her for the reins.

"I know you won't listen to reason, so I can't try to leave you behind. But, you definitely can't ride right now—you can hardly walk. Tell me where we're going." Eddin flicked one wrist, sending the reins snapping against the bay's neck. The horse broke into a trot.

Vania grimaced against the jarring pace, her head throbbing in sync with the horse's hooves on the cobblestones; she let herself lean forward and mumbled the address of the hairdresser's shop. The ride to the port was a blur of pain.

Acrid smoke filled her nostrils, causing her to open her eyes. The horse stood stock-still as it and Eddin gazed at the wreckage. Vania grimaced and blinked several times, taking in the tumbled stones and smoldering timbers. Several enforcers and townsfolk were in a line, passing buckets of water to douse the last of the blaze. The nearby buildings were scorched, but luckily nothing else had caught fire. A figure was hunched in the wreckage, head bowed; a strange-toned keening emitted from the figure. A prone body lay a few paces away.

"No," Vania whispered. Eddin slid off the horse behind her, then reached up and gently pulled her down.

Keeping a firm grip on her forearm, Eddin walked with Vania into the ruins of the hairdresser's shop. Dark smudges amidst the rubble looked like either paint or blood. A magic circle, marred by blood and entrails, surrounded the body. The kailen woman lay within her shop, broken, joints at impossible angles, huge gashes torn from her abdomen and back, revealing ribs and what few innards remained in her and not splayed out on the ground. Not far from her body, a large pool of blood glistened in the dying embers of the burning timbers.

If that's Shehn'nah, then whose blood is all that? I don't see any other bodies. But... that's a lot of blood. Too much. There must be another body. Somewhere.

Eddin stopped them beside the hunched figure, the keening sound continuing seemingly even without pauses for breath. In Sylvern's white hands was a strip of blood-soaked purple fabric. From the only place where there wasn't blood, Vania saw a few golden stars wink in the light of the embers.

"Lineia," Vania whispered. She was wearing a purple dress with little golden stars and silver streaks. It was her favorite, Sylvern reminded her in her memory. She moved, pulling her arm out of her partner's grip. She made it two steps before her legs buckled and she landed heavily on the ground beside the stricken domlian. "Sylvern... I—"

"...when I find you, I'm going to kill you. By this act you have signed away your life," Sylvern was muttering. The keening stopped and Sylvern raised his head and glanced back to Eddin, then to Vania beside him, his eyes dull and his face exhausted. "Thank you both for your efforts. As you can see, the one who took my wife has murdered her and another, as well. I can only hope my son does not share this fate."

"I... I'm so sorry," Vania whispered. "We... should have moved faster. Maybe we could've—"

"No," Sylvern interrupted. "You could not have stopped this. I... should have worked harder to keep her safe. This is always the danger, when we travel here..." He looked out over the pool of blood.

"What strange arcane, twisted ritual happened here?" Eddin asked as he strode over to look at the hairdresser's body. He looked around, eyes scanning each stone and timber of the rubble.

Sylvern gently set aside the drenched fabric, white hands bloody from the contact, and stood. He joined Eddin over by the corpse.

"Sir, we will hunt this killer down," Eddin vowed. "I don't know what she looks like or what she was attempting here, but we will find her and bring her to justice."

"Save your breath," Sylvern told him quietly. His silver eyes turned cold and hard; "If you send your people after her, you will only waste their lives; she has stolen Lineia's powers. And when I find her, she will die."

"Please, let us handle this," Eddin replied. "We can't have you murdering people in the streets, no matter how justified."

Sylvern locked eyes with Eddin; "You have not the means to bring her to... justice; I do." As he turned he gestured to the body, "Your time would be better spent burying this poor woman. She was an unnecessary casualty in the... ascension—placed as a buffer to ensure the magical energy rushing from my dying wife did not kill the murderer and power thief."

Vania managed to get to her feet as Sylvern walked by; "Wait. Please. I know you're hurting, but if she stole your wife's powers, you will need help. You said your wife was almost your equal; now this mysterious Caylis has her power, added to her own—she might be more powerful than you now."

"She didn't get all Lineia's power—too much of it battered that poor woman to death first. She got her ascension as she wanted, but she's not as powerful as she thinks she is, and that will be her downfall."

"And what about your son?"

Sylvern paused; "I did not sense his... death as I did Lineia's, though it could be her soul's cries drowned out his. Or, he may be alive. If he is alive, I will find him, and pity the fool who I find keeping him captive." He glanced once at Vania. "You called the murderer... Caylis?" After she nodded he turned and walked away. "See to your city and your people, and pay no mind to this. This is one hunt I do alone."

Far overhead, dark clouds gathered and thunder rumbled. Vania blinked as the crowd of enforcers and townsfolk gasped; Sylvern had disappeared.