The small dragon squawked volubly. Kaylin slid her hand over her ear in a vain attempt to preserve some of her hearing. I get it, she told the annoyedand annoyingfamiliar.
The hair on her neck had started to stand on end. Her arms, however, didnt hurtor rather, didnt hurt more, given Teelas light. Teela.
You see something.
Not yet. But somethings off here.
How off?
Bellusdeo should probably go back upstairs.
The gold Dragon had no intention of going back up the stairs, and the smoke she exhaled clearly indicated that she was offended at the suggestion. Gavin looked as if he was about to order her off the premises. She was, however, a Dragonand even those who served at the Emperors pleasure understood the role of the Dragon Court. In theory, Gavin had the legal right to ask Bellusdeo to vacatebut theory was a very, very poor shield against Dragon rage.
Kaylin was only slightly surprised when Teelas light hit the top of a second set of descending stairs. These were stone, but as the light illuminated them more fully, they appeared to be carved entirely out of a single piece of rock. These stairs were here when you came to investigate?
Yes.
Did the person who reported finding the bodies mention anything unusual about the stairs themselves?
Yes. According to the interview conducted with the parents of the deceased, these stairs are new.
How new?
The basement is used for cold storage. The stairs were notagain, according to the parentspresent three days ago.
Have you asked the daughter?
No.
Did anyone?
No. The daughter was not present for the interviews.
Where is she now?
As I said, at church.
Kaylin cursed. Which church, Gavin?
Gavin had no answer to offer.
Why is it relevant? Bellusdeo asked. You are not particularly religious yourself.
On occasion, new religions present themselves to people. Some of them start on Elani.
You suspect fraud.
Fraud is one thing, Kaylin replied. Her skin began to feel raw whenever she walked or moved her arms. I dont care what people do to comfort themselves. I dont care if people who claim to speak with the dead offerand make money fromcomfort to the bereaved. I dont even care if people pay through the nose for that comfort. Yes, I used to despise it. I like to think Ive gotten a bit smarter.
Liar.
Its not the fakes Im concerned about. Not all religions worship distant gods. Some have magic as their focal point.
Lianne, Gavin said.
On it, the private replied, heading instantly back up the stairs.
* * *
The stairs looked the same with the familiars intervention and without: cold, hard and distinctly uninviting. Teela headed down the stairs first; Tain was two steps behind her. Kaylin followed; she wanted Severn to keep Bellusdeo out of what appeared to be a new subbasement. Naturally, he wouldnt do it.
Kaylin couldnt. Bellusdeo was older and more powerful than Kaylin, and vastly more knowledgeable. Kaylin was not a capable judge of the Dragons actual abilitiesshe was just the person who was going down, and hard, if anything happened to Bellusdeo. She tried not to resent the worry, and failedbut managed to keep it to herself.
The small dragon warbled very quietly.
Teela?
Hug the wall. This is not a small staircase. It widens at the bottom.
* * *
There were walls on either side of the stairs, of the same rough stone construction as the steps themselves. There were no torch-rings or lamp-hooks on the descent; there was nothing on the walls at all. Kaylin stopped when Teela did, the halt staggering back up the stairs.
The walls, kitling?
Nothing up here.
Come to where I am.
Kaylin headed around Tain and came to stand beside Teela. She didnt lift the familiars wing; she didnt need to. There was magic here, a sigil splashed and stretched across the left wall. Kaylin frowned.
You can see it.
Yes, but...
But?
Its the wrong color. Most of the sigils Ive seen are shades of blue or gray.
This one?
Its purple. Purple and black.
Is it active?
Noits definitely the remnants of a previously cast spell. Or spells. She frowned again. Id say this is the work of more than one person; there are at least two marks here.
Do you recognize either of them?
The problem with magical detectionor at least the chief problem, as far as Kaylin was concernedwas the lack of permanent visual Records. Perception was never consistent, and while a mage could reliably state where hed seen the trace or sigil of the caster beforeif he had come across it in any other investigationthe mages description would offer no useful information to any other mage. Only if the investigators were forced to use memory crystals could the images be retained. Memory crystals, however, were very difficult to make and exceedingly expensive. They made portable mirrors seem cheap and readily available in comparison.
Therefore, what Kaylin saw could not be recorded in any reliable way. What shed seen over the almost eight years shed spent with the Hawks could not be recalled and compared to the sigils before her now. Although this was also true for Teela, Teela was Barrani: she remembered everything with absolute clarity.
Im surprised the mages didnt stay, Teela saidin the wrong tone of voice. Gavin, you have a mirror?
Not with me, no.
Here. She retrieved her own mirror and tossed itaccuratelyup the stairs; Gavin caught it in his fingertips. Mirror Marcus the names of the attending mages. Mirror the Imperial Order. Bellusdeo, its time for you to leave.
The ensuing silence was chilly.
Go directly to Sanabalis. No, forget that. Go directly to the Arkon. Tell him exactly what youve seen so far. Tain and Severn will accompany you.
Severns expression didnt change at all. Tains did; he had become, in the few minutes since theyd descended these stairs, very starkly blue-eyed and grim. He didnt argue with Teelas command. Everyone presentexcept possibly Lianneknew that to the Emperor, any harm that came to Bellusdeo would be paid for by the Hawks she was currently observing.
Or by one particular Hawk.
To Kaylins surprise, Bellusdeo almost instantly agreed. Will you mirror the Arkon directly with any other relevant information? she asked Teela.
The portable mirror is keyed directly to the Halls. Without tampering, its not capable of accessing other mirrors, but Ill ask for an immediate relay.
Keep an eye on Kaylin.
I will.
Kaylin, Kaylin interjected, annoyed, is a Hawk, in good standing.
Bellusdeo shruggeda fief shrug. Shed definitely picked that up from Kaylin or Severn. She then retreated.
How far do the stairs go? Kaylin asked Gavin.
At least as far again as youve walked so far.
And the stairs werent here three days ago.
Teela grimaced. Why is nothing ever simple when youre involved?
And the stairs werent here three days ago.
Teela grimaced. Why is nothing ever simple when youre involved?
Hey, Im not here for every case that seems to start normal and then goes sideways. Youve probably been involved in way more weirdness than I have.
Teela stared, pointedly, at Kaylins glowing arms. And forehead. Kaylin decided to quit while she was only slightly behind.
* * *
By the time they reached level ground again, Kaylin was grateful that Bellusdeo had marked the change in Teelas tone and had decided to take it seriously. I see six, she told the Barrani Hawk. Six distinct and separate magical sigils. Not three.
Are they all the same color?
In theory, yes.
Ill go with the practicalyou were never very good with theory, anyway.
You know how I said the top three were purple?
Top three being the ones you saw first?
Kaylin nodded. I think I was wrong. Theyre purple now. But I think, if Id been here during or immediately after the spell was triggered, they would have been the blue Im used to seeing. Does that match what youre seeing at all? Teela had never fully explained the paradigm through which she detected magic.
Im uncertain. When you say you think they would have been blue, are you detecting a change?
...Yes. No.
Which is it?
Kaylin pointed up the stairs. The ones toward that end are much redder. Theyre distinctly aftereffect, at least to my eyes. I dont think theyre indicators of active contingency spells, but the last one is Dragon-eye red.
The one before it?
Red as well, at least compared to the first sigil.
Theyre distinct marks?
There are more than six marks, Kaylin replied, frowning as she stared up and down the wall. But there are six distinct sigils.
You believe the casters repeated spells?
Youre seeing a pattern, too?
A possible pattern.
Gavin took this moment to clear his throat. Loudly. Mages did not often discuss their evaluations while making them, though they might compare notes after the fact. Kaylin thought that was garbage. Discussing her observations allowed her to focus on what she was seeing in a slightly different way. But then again, she wasnt an Imperial mage.
She went back to the first sigil and carefully made her way down the steps again. Im going to need to sketch these, she murmured.
Im not certain it will be helpful, Teela replied. Kaylin was not a very good artist.
* * *
The sigils did repeat. They did not repeat in an immediately obvious sequence. I dont think the mages involved were working in concert.
Because of the different saturation of red?
Partially, yes. But theres also some overlap. If the placement of the sigils are any indication, these stairs probably appeared when the last of them was laid down. Teela
On it, the Hawk replied. If youre about to say these marks werent placed on these walls. Teela frowned and gestured. She didnt add to the pattern in any way; the detection spells of the mages were cast upon their own eyes.
I think youre onto something, Teela finally said. If we imagine that the spells were cast when the casters were standing on level ground with lowvery lowceilings, they would not overlap in the way they appear to overlap now.
The red worries me.
It worries me, as well. I dont see red, she clarified. But I see some indication of...contamination.
Is it possible that six different people were trying to cast the same spell at different times?
Its possible, yes. Which introduces a host of other questions, none of which are comforting.
No. Kaylin glanced at the small dragon, who lifted a wing in silence, staring at the walls as if he could see, more clearly, what was written there. Wing view is the same. Theres no new information. Kaylin exhaled. Shall we go view the bodies?
* * *
The bodies were in the room the stairs led into. It was not a small room, and given the depth to which the stairs descended, Kaylin wasnt surprised to find that there was standing room here. The ceilings were tall and appeared to be made of the same rock as the stairs and the floor. There was no way this room and the second set of stairs had been carved in just three days. Not without a lot of magic. And noise, for that matter.
Kaylin had not asked the familiar to lower his wing, and he hadnt folded it across his back on his own, so she assumed he intended for her to see something. She entered the room, wonderingnot for the first timehow he actually saw the world. Did he see what his wing exposed? Did he see more? Was everything just a jumble of possibilities and probabilities, without concrete reality to hold it in place?
Gavin, Kaylin said, lifting a hand and immediately regretting it as cloth chafed her already-sensitive skin, where exactly did you say the bodies were?
Teela turned to look at her in open disbelief. Gavin was probably drilling the side of her face as well, given Teelas expression.
Tell the familiar to lower his wing, Teela told her.
The familiar in question squawked.
Im sorry, Teela replied, with zero actual regret in her voice, but we need Kaylin to see whats actually here. You can play the part of slightly detached mask again afterward.
The small dragon lowered his wing.
* * *
The moment it was gone, the bodies appeared. Nothing else looked different to Kaylinthe room was still far too large and the ceiling too high. The bodies, however, were a significant addition. There were, as Gavin had said, three. They were, on first glance, all male and approximately Kaylins age.
They were also lying in a kind of sleeping repose and had been arranged in a neat row, their feet even with one another. They wore nondescript clothing of the type that a carpenter or gardener would wear. They did not appear to have expired of specific injuries; there was no visible blood.
Have the bodies been moved at all? Teela asked.
Gavin replied in a tight voice, I have been at this job for longer than most of the Barrani. Beyond what was required to ascertain that they were not alive, they have not been touched.
Teela nodded thoughtfully. If shed noticed Gavin was offendedand since she was Barrani, there was a chance she hadntshe clearly didnt care. So we have neatly lined up bodies of slightly different sizesall apparently mortalthat Kaylin cant see when shes looking through her familiars wing. This is not looking promising.
Should we send the bodies to Red? Gavin asked.
I think, Kaylin replied, before Teela could, that we should bring Red to the bodies. Im not liking the idea of bodies that cant be seen
By you.
being deposited in the morgue. The protections we have in the Halls are for the regular magical criminality, and this clearly isnt it.
Gavin hesitated for a fraction of a second, as if taking any advice from someone so junior and from such questionable roots was against his every fiber. He was, however, practical, and his nature forced an end to that hesitation. Ill mirror it in. Head to the Halls and make sure the Hawklord sits on the Imperial Orderwell want those reports as soon as possible. He glanced at the bodies. His parents arent going to be happy.