Mission Debrief
Expenses: 94 Lyra
Addendum:
Continuing from previous reporting.
The Cardinal didn’t talk like a Cardinal. Now, it was a matter of getting as much out of him as possible. At least, to understand his nature. His ruse to pull us in possibly would have worked if we hadn’t already understood the magical influences around him. Bjorn refused to back down, and that revealed just enough doubt to warrant further investigation. We also knew very little about Aaron Paul’s role.
The door was shut and we positioned the Cardinal in his office away from his desk while we looked for clues. Bjorn pressed him into his chair and then moved to an adjoining room to take a look around. Blanka closed her eyes and breathed deeply. Her eyes opened, unfocused and glazed over. She took in the room around her.
“There’s something missing. One major illusion is no longer here.” She said, pointing absently to a corner of the room, “Someone else was likely in the room with us earlier.”
I saw the Cardinal roll his eyes and a look of disgust remained.
“He’s the one you want. That man, Aaron Paul. The church hired him to help with our accounting. He found some discrepancies.”
He paused, then continued.
“I’ll admit it. I had borrowed from the church. I tried to get out from under it, but he held it over me. If I could have just gotten a loan from someone. I could have fixed everything.”
I kept him talking, holding my gun on the man, while waiting for Blanka and Bjorn to report in. Blanka pulled things from the desk drawers and from around the office and laid them on the table surface.
“How did Aaron get hired by the church?” I asked.
“He made a large donation. That got him an audience. Once he was in, he offered to keep the church’s books for a minor fee. Someone else hired him and gave him access to the details. I didn’t know until it was too late.”
While I still didn’t trust him, the story was convincing. His emotion around it was palpable. He pointed out an account ledger that Blanka found and had tossed on the table.
I shrugged.
“I wouldn’t know the first place to look in there.”
“Nope. Not my thing,” Blanka said.
Bjorn came back into the room, tossing a book on the table, and immediately resumed his stance with the Vindicator leveled at the man’s head.
“Studying up?”
The Cardinal visibly broke into a sweat. After a moment, all pretense immediately dropped. The man’s stolid face was now all venom and bared teeth. He knew he’d been discovered.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Summary? It’s a book on how ta be a Cardinal. It’s well used, too. Notes and everything.”
Bjorn said it as he stared at the Imposter, shotgun at the ready.
“Where is da real Cardinal?” Bjorn asked with mock politeness.
He didn’t respond.
“Then, what are ya?” Bjorn prodded him.
“I can’t tell you. I have to show you,” The Imposter’s voice hissed, his menace completely unmasked.
“Oh, you can tell us,” Bjorn said, giving the table a little tap with the barrel of the shotgun.
“No, I’m kept from revealing myself. I have been cursed. Remove my necklace and I will then be able to show you my true self.”
Cornel slumped suddenly, leaning forward on the table, acting strangely.
“I don’t feel good, boss.”
He looked up at me and then flopped to the floor.
I narrowed my eyes at the Cardinal and moved to check on Cornel, the quick movements reminded me that I was far from healthy. I winced as I knelt by Cornel’s side. He was alive, still breathing. Something had come over him, though, and I couldn’t tell if he was in danger.
“What did you do to him?” I shouted.
“Remove my necklace and I will show you who I am,” the Imposter insisted.
Blanka quickly spoke.
“I can do it.”
She focused on the Cardinal. It was the first time I recognized how I know when Blanka is using magic. A little warning will be helpful in the future.
The necklace began to rise from his shoulders. When he realized that no one was in contact with the necklace he became extremely agitated. As it rose past his ears, he bolted from his chair, instantly changing his shape into a horrifying creature. It looked like a regular person had been flipped inside out--organs, lungs, musculature all sitting on the outside of his form. I gasped at the sight of it, but then it immediately shifted to mimic Bjorn.
“Doppleganger!” Bjorn roared, then touched off multiple shots from his shotgun. Wood splintered around with one round making contact and splashing the wall with blood and flesh.
There was some solace with knowing It still could bleed. I bolted to the door, making sure he couldn’t open it and get away. I shot the latch, in an attempt to make it more difficult for him to escape.
Blanka jumped up on the table and held her hands out toward the Imposter and lightning danced between the two of them. It dodged briefly until Blanka corrected and lightning danced over the Doppleganger. Bjorn appeared to have had enough, he tossed the shotgun down and I saw up close and personal as he swelled into his clothes, fur sprouting from the tears that had already happened. His hands expanded and large tine-like claws protruded painfully from the tips of his fingers. His head grew around his eyes, and a toothy muzzle pressed out from his face. He cornered the creature and began to slash into him. The creature had a hooklike claw that scored chunks out of Bjorn’s bear flesh. I backed away carefully and trained my gun on the creature. It was bleeding heavily within moments. It regained it’s true form, a disgusting inverted corpse, and it’s organs all visibly working as it fought to survive.
Bjorn bit down. Sending the creature to the floor. Then, I realized what I had seen at a distance from the courtyard earlier. The heart, on the outside of the rib cage, was readily accessible. The bear took the heart in its jaws and ripped it from the body, all while roaring loudly.
Cornel’s eyes snapped open at the roar. He looked terrified.
There was a quiet moment as the bear swung his head around, then slowly the rage slipped from him and Bjorn reappeared from under the fur. In the silence, there was the drip of viscera and heavy breathing. Slowly, another song joined: Sirens.
Recognition rippled through the group. I shouted out orders.
“Grab what we can. Check his desk again, anything that he would have owned would be critical to understand what happened here. Blanka, can you make us disappear again?”
“For a while, but…”
“We need it. And we need it now.”
She nodded to the request.
“I wish we had a camera,” Bjorn mused as he collected items from the room, “We need ta show others these horrors we encounter.”
“Oh, one of these?” Blanka responded.
She pulled out a small case from the satchel she was carrying. There was a tapered accordion with a small embedded lense that extended on a rail. I had seen something like that before. It was similar to the one I saw in the Journalist’s pocket just days earlier. She extracted a glass bulb and threaded it into a little reflective cup. She held it up toward the creature’s body and there was a blinding burst of light along with an audible pop.
“There. Got it.” she said with a smile.
I leaned down and collected Cornel, he was awake and aware but unable to lift himself. I looped his arm over my shoulders and took him by the waist. He was able to weakly navigate with his legs.
Blanka put her camera away and then did her clap, holding her arms above her head.
Bjorn played with the door until it opened. Then we shuffled out of the office, leaving the disturbing looking body in open display on the floor. Something bad went down here tonight, and the only thing that remains was this, as long as the Gypsies had removed the bodies.
We shuffled down the stairs, a group of people gathered at the landing. We navigated through the loose crowd, but they clearly were unsettled by the footfalls coming from something invisible around them. We moved out the side door and proceeded to make our way back to the car.
The bodies were gone, including that of the lost Gypsy. Still, there was blood everywhere. Lights from the police cars were reflecting high on the walls of the church, now. We moved toward a foot bridge which looped around and down to the car.
“We’re going to have a car with everyone invisible inside of it?” Blanka asked.
“If you can only do that once, just hold it,” I responded, “Hold on until we get back to our rooms.”
Blanka sighed. She looked uncomfortable. She was starting to break a sweat from holding her hands above her head.
We moved around the dark streets on our way to the hotel. Bjorn made excellent time. We quickly unloaded and moved through the door, surprisingly, no one was watching as the doors swung open and closed on their own.
We moved to the adjoining hotel rooms. Blanka dropped her spell, sweat clearly standing out on her forehead. She looked exasperated at me as the others moved to the rooms. She opened her mouth, in what I recognized as an attempt to complain, but I spoke first.
“You did good. No. You did great.” I shook my head as I spoke, “You saved my life. Cornel can also thank you for the same. You went above and beyond every step of the way. Thank you.”
She furrowed her brow, almost saying something. She had a far-away look in her eyes, perhaps not knowing how to respond or not feeling like she could accept it. Her shoulders slumped a little and she walked away.
“I’m taking a shower.” She said with a wave without looking back.
Bjorn dropped Cornel into the bed, and he immediately began to snore. I looked him over again, he was stable with fresh bandages covering his wounds. I wasn’t sure what that creature had slipped him, but it seemed to take him out of action only for that moment.
I spoke with Bjorn.
“We need to find more about Aaron. After word spreads around tonight, he’ll disappear forever. He’s part of this, I just don’t understand how. Maybe there was some truth to what our Skeller friend said?”
Bjorn gave a satisfied, but subtle, grin when I used his word.
“So, what are ya sayin’?”
“It’s going to be an early morning.”
Bjorn sighed.
“What time for my wake up call?”
He said it more like an exasperated statement. I looked at my watch. It was just past midnight.
“How does seven sound? I need to make some calls and do a little more research before I really know what to do next.”
I sorted through the pile of things we pulled from the Cardinal’s office. I spread them out on the bed and looked for anything that might give us a lead. It was an odd assortment of books, trinkets, weapons.
“The knife? I’m taking it. It looked ceremonial.”
Blanka was bundled in a towel with another towel wrapped up in her hair. She was still steaming from the shower.
“You and knives,” I chuckled, “Why did you take it again?”
“Oh, there’s something to it. I definitely want to study it more.”
“Sure, sure,” I said, “And the necklace? What was that all about?”
“I don’t know, but I’m not going to touch it. He wanted us to touch it and was very angry when we didn’t. I take that as a sign it wouldn’t be good for us.”
“Was this all of the books from the room? That’s the ledger, correct?”
“The accounting ledger, yes. But there is more in there, a whole section of inserted papers that seemed like a journal.”
I brightened at that and grabbed it.
“I take it you need the room?” I asked.
“No, I can change in the bathroom, but I’m going to bed. You need to clear all this off.”
“Of course, m’lady. I’ll get right on that.” I smiled.
She sighed and turned around with a bundle of night clothes in her arms. I busied myself with clearing the bed. I called the front desk and set up my wake up call before I got to work. I took the ledger with the journal and sat at the table with the lamp on, reviewing the details.
Simply, Aaron Paul had shown up uninvited by our friend. He saw the discrepancies in the books, and, in turn, held it over him. They were partners in crime, but Aaron’s emergence put the Cardinal at considerable risk. The Imposter had many, many complaints, yet he could never seem to get enough leverage on Aaron to trace him down. Even the bodyguards seemed to be helping Aaron, which infuriated the creature. It was clear that he had hired Leon Webber because of his emphasis on brutality. Leon had made sure that everyone he brought on board was as brutal and dangerous as they could be.
Well, Bjorn ate Leon’s heart. Highly appropriate for what he did to Cornel alone, much less the many others who had crossed his path.
I rubbed at the top of my head. The swelling was enormous and it was tender to the touch. I swear the bodyguard had cracked my skull with that hit. I moved my head down to my chest and gently tapped each bandaged wound. At least I had stopped bleeding. Just earlier, I had been at death’s door with one foot through. I couldn’t imagine what would have happened if Blanka hadn’t acted as quickly as she did.
His reason to incite against the Kalderari was because they figured out that he was a Charlatan, as Vadim said. And he wanted to push them out of the picture so he could run the town himself.
All of this was set up over the course of six months. It was impressive, and terrifying.
Another interesting thing, the Imposter alluded to the ability to read people’s thoughts and emotions very well. He used it to give people exactly what they needed. He could never read Aaron’s mind, though. This infuriated him. Aaron met directly with the Imposter in very strict circumstances and for limited periods of time. It was likely that Aaron had a time limited ward in place that protected him from the creature.
Because of his precautions, the Imposter could never track where Aaron lived. Every time he sent someone to track where Aaron lived, the trail would go cold. Bodyguards were likely being manipulated by Aaron, so he would always slip through his fingers. All of this added up to the understanding that it was going to be very difficult to find this person of interest in just a single morning.
Blanka had slipped into bed and fallen asleep without a word while I was busy. She was lightly snoring, already in a deep sleep. It had been a long day and tomorrow could prove to be the same if we didn’t do this just right.
I needed just a little more information before I could bed down for the night. Another trip to the hotel lobby and I cordoned myself off in the phone booth, papers in hand, a small notebook, and a freshly cut pencil.
Surprisingly, after a brief conversation with the staff monitoring the phone, SAC Bess picked up the phone. You, yourself; even with it being well into the morning hours. It says a lot. I appreciate your attention in these matters. This is when I spoke to you about Aaron Paul. You provided the most recent address you had and gave me details on his comings and goings. I explained our situation, briefly. Leaving out many of the details, but all of that would come in time.
Once I exited the phonebooth, I told the desk the time of my wake up call and they looked somewhat bemusedly at the noisily clicking mechanical clock on the wall. It was only a couple of hours away.
Upon returning to the room, I grabbed a blanket from the closet, clicked off the reading lights, and bundled up on the couch.
Morning came quickly, the phone rang loudly and I bolted upright, feeling my head had only just hit the pillow. There was grumbling coming from the bed as Blanka stirred. I moved to the bathroom and splashed some hot water on my face. I belted on my Toro and performed a quick maintenance check. I listened at the door to the adjoining room, I could hear that Bjorn was awake and hustling.
We met downstairs with the sun just barely rising through the valley.
I explained to Bjorn that I had gotten an address for Aaron. We moved to the car and Bjorn speedily cut through the city streets to a bungalow closer to the edge of town.
Bjorn made no assumptions.
“We go in. Hard and fast. Maybe catch him with his pants down.”
True to his word, upon arriving we jumped from the Taxi. Bjorn pounded through the front door while I slipped through the back. There was a gruff exchange and some silverware slipped from a stunned person’s hands. Bjorn stomped up the stairs and I waited with my Toro drawn, watching for anyone planning to bolt. I could hear Bjorn exchanging words with a female voice upstairs. Shortly after, he pounded down and pushed through the front door.
I slipped out the back and jogged over to the car as he took his seat.
“She’s renting from Aaron Paul. She mails her payments here.”
Bjorn held out a piece of paper. I looked it over and recognized that the Post Office box was merely a stone’s throw from the hotel entrance. I looked at him and he nodded. He rammed the stick into reverse and sent rocks flying forward as he peeled out of the driveway.
The sky was a quiet pink when we returned to the hotel. Foot traffic was extremely sparse with a few of the fishing boats pulling out into the water. A quick reconnaissance of the area showed that the doors were locked and the Post Office wasn’t to open until some time later, closer to 0900. Bjorn offered to stay and I walked back to the hotel.
I checked in on the rest of the team. Blanka had her head sandwiched between two pillows. Cornel was wide awake, but unmoving on the bed. He had a deeply pained expression on his face.
“Are you going to be able to move? We might have a bead on Aaron.”
He sat completely still and his expression didn’t change, but his eyes rolled toward me.
“I am very sorry,” I said, “I truly am. We’re just so close to wrapping this up.”
“I’ll be ready, boss.”
He rolled to his side with a grunt and began busying himself with getting ready.
I went through the door to the other hotel room and tugged on Blanka’s foot through the blanket.
“We need to be ready to move.”
This elicited a groan from Blanka.
“We think Aaron’s going to be at the post office off of the docks. If we don’t get him now, we may never get to him again.”
She removed the top pillow. It didn’t appear she had slept all that well.
“I need time. An hour and I should be ready.”
I ticked it off in my head. That was just before the Post Office opened.
“That’s fine. I’ll leave you to it.”
She sat up and the tangle of red hair danced around her as she started her routine.
I had an hour, and with Bjorn’s close watch and everyone roused, I felt the need for a hearty breakfast. I had been running too fast and needed a moment. It’s what you do when you’re healing, after all. I had been wincing and favoring with every movement. Last night seemed very, very long ago. Yet, I was well aware of all of its implications and consequences with each painful breath.
While I waited for the meal to be served, I reviewed the newspapers. There was no word of the goings on up at the church. Anything like that would have to be spread by word of mouth after the fact.
After a thick-sliced ham, soft-boiled egg, with a warmed croissant, I felt more myself. I washed down the ensemble with a double espresso that kicked like a mule. I had them fill a second mug with coffee from the counter and teetered outside to where Bjorn was waiting in the car. It was almost as if he could smell the eddies of ham still wafting off of me. He gave me the stink eye and I countered with the mug of coffee.
“I hope de others are getting on well,” Bjorn said, “Are they all eating breakfast, too?”
“No. Just me.” I smiled, “At least I brought you a coffee.”
“If it makes ya feel better.”
“Oh, it does.” I said, letting myself into the passenger seat, “Anything yet?”
Bjorn shook his head.
“There has been no word of what happened up at the church in the papers. We might still have the element of surprise.”
“Sure, sure. You seemed ta handle the element of surprise well last night.”
I sighed.
“I panicked and then acted hastily.”
“You’re lucky ta be alive.”
“Believe me, I know.”
The movement on the street was starting to pick up. I glanced at my watch: 0840.
“I’ll hurry and get the others. They should be ready by now.”
Bjorn nodded. I exited the vehicle and glanced back and saw him exit. He took position at an angle to the backside of the building. We were going to need eyes in place at the front, immediately. Plus, I had an idea that I wanted to run past Blanka before we set the trap.
I jogged across the parking lot and moved up to our rooms. The door was open between them. Blanka was ready, reading and reviewing from a well worn book. Cornel was looking lean and mean, but only when he stood still. When he walked, he winced with each step.
I probably looked much the same, but the rush of the situation had pushed the pain far into the background.
“We need to go. Now.”
Blanka flopped her softbound book closed and Cornel moved in from the adjoining room with a grimace.
I spoke with Blanka on the way to the Post Office.
“Is it possible to put an invisible mark on a letter? Something that you could sense or follow?”
Her face went through a mix of expressions.
“Like a sigil? A magic mark?”
“Yes. Exactly that. Something you could track if he were to pull it from his post office box.”
“I can do that,” she said, nodding.
“We can send a message and track it.”
“That could work.” She said, her eyebrows raised briefly as she followed the thought through.
Cornel brought up the rear. I flagged him to a far angle on the Post Office. I saw Bjorn near the back. A little girl was reading a book out loud to him and he looked a tad pale with the exchange. The woman left with some urgency, drawing the smiling girl away from him. He quietly took a nip from his flask.
I turned to Blanka.
“If you want to stay inside the Post Office, we’ll keep an eye on the front and back doors. When he walks out with the letter, give us a sign and we’ll take him in.”
She smiled slyly and nodded.
The sign flipped in the window and she flipped her red hair as she entered.
I saw her through the window, pulling a paper from the book she carried with her and she set to work. I moved to an angle opposite Cornel’s position at the Post Office.
Now we wait.
The ferry moved into the docks. A bell rang as it slid into place and the gangway was pulled. As the ferry disgorged its passengers, I felt uneasy. I had eyes on Cornel and Bjorn, but I couldn’t see Blanka. People were moving to the ticket stand, purchasing tickets as the ferry’s conductor called out the times.
I saw Cornel shift, his head bobbed back and forth and he moved to the door of the Post Office. His eyes were wide as he turned my direction.
“She’s not there!”
Panic.
I flagged Bjorn and moved toward him.
“Blanka isn’t in the Post Office. Did you see her leave?”
He shook his hulking head, concern shrouding his face.
I cursed and locked eyes with Cornel then gestured to him to keep an eye out further down the boardwalk.
The ferry had filled the docks with commuters. The conductor gave a five minute warning.
I ran into the Post Office, a handful of people milled around the entrance. I started asking around.
“Red headed girl. About this tall. Might have been with a man?”
A few of them shook their heads but a younger couple said they saw her and she moved out the front.
That put us right into line of sight of our position. How could she have slipped by? I was frantic. I saw the ferry ticket booth and my skin crawled. I looked over and saw Bjorn looking at the ferry which was just about to depart. I moved up to the booth.
“Did a red headed girl buy a ticket? She might have been with a man?”
The young woman shrugged, but the man who stood behind her nodded affirmatively. His look was unmistakable. It was a good thing that Blanka was attractive because she had made quite the impression.
I shoved money under the window and the woman let out an annoyed squawk.
“Two tickets,” I said.
Then, remembering my manners.
“Please.”
I waved off the change as she was counting and bolted toward the ferry. I handed a ticket to Bjorn and we boarded. I turned and caught sight of Cornel whose shoulders slumped as the gangplank was removed. I shrugged and motioned to keep an eye out still. This was a risky move, but this would have been a perfect mode of escape. But only if we hadn’t considered the ferry.
Bjorn and I separated, but kept eyes on each other as we moved through. His stature was unmistakable, so it was easy to keep him in my periphery.
As I glanced through the passengers, I played out Aaron’s description in my head: smallish, round spectacles, dark hair, dark eyes, distinguished. The throngs of people on board the ferry made this a difficult scene to process. And I shook my head as I thought of the many guises that Blanka could shift into.
How had she fallen under his spell? Was he really this powerful? I chased the thoughts away with a renewed focus on duty.
Benches, looking for a man and a woman together. My eyes felt slippery, like they were missing something every time I moved by. I moved to the upper deck and met up with Bjorn, tracing my eyes along people leaning along the railings.
“We have to figure this out before the next stop. They’re here. I swear I can feel it.”
Bjorn nodded. He also seemed to be struggling with focus.
“I swear I saw dem, too.” He pawed at his beard as he spoke.
“I don’t know what I’ve seen and what I haven’t.”
We kept walking, always staying on the move. I saw a man and a woman and approached to engage in conversation, but then felt it wasn’t right. I was getting turned around and the frustration was building. Each time it was someone new. I thought I remembered a couple at the back of the boat, but then remembered it wrong when I came up to the scene.
I pressed on, meeting Bjorn back on the top deck again. We sat next to each other wordlessly, combing the patrons. I was getting a headache from gritting my teeth.
I looked down onto the ferry deck as something caught my eye. I pointed out a figure to Bjorn. The bespeckled man with a dark hat pulled out a silver harmonica and started to play. The crowd started to move subtly at first, but then there was head bobbing and foot stopping at the cheerful diddy. I smiled at Bjorn, my head bobbing.
“We should relax.” I said through a grin, “How about I buy you a drink. There’s a covered bar on the back of the ferry.”
Bjorn nodded at the suggestion, his face still stony, but a slight smile tugged at his eyes.
“If yer buyin’ I won’t turn it down.”
We moved into the covered area near the rear of the ferry. I handed the bartender the Lyra for a couple of bottles of beer. The tune was distant now, but I still felt good, at ease. I could see the other shore coming closer. We’d be landing soon.
Mid-sip I realized that the shore was coming and we still hadn’t found Blanka. I slammed the bottle on the counter and it began to foam over. The bartender cursed, acting quickly to resolve the foaming mess.
“Bjorn. Are you with me?”
He blinked at me, and seemed surprised to find a beer in his hand. He quickly downed it and put it on the counter. The melody had slipped away and the haze pulled back from my eyes.
I twirled my finger in the air and we both set off to find our prey again with a renewed ferocity. If we kept the pressure on, he was bound to slip up sometime, but time was very short. We separated, moving all along the lower decks and back up top. The ferry settled against the threshold and the gangplank was extended. The five minute bell had rung as soon as we made landfall, this stop was shorter than the one at Neuchatel. People began to exit at a commuter’s pace.
Damnit!
As I looked toward the shore, it appeared that a redhead had already exited and was walking away from us. Her face was obscured and there was no way to be absolutely sure.
“You see her, too, right?”
“Yes, I do. Is it her?”
“I haven’t seen a redhead on this boat for the entire trip. I just wanted to make sure you could see her.”
“You get her. I’ll stay here.”
I nodded at Bjorn’s suggestion and moved down to the main deck and bolted across the gangplank as they were getting ready to retrieve it.
It was Blanka.
“Oh, Bani! It’s good to see you!” Her eyes were misty, their usual clarity was clouded over.
I gave her a hug and she chuckled a little against my chest.
I looked back to the ferry and saw Bjorn’s imposing figure on the top deck. I held my hand with a thumbs up. I could sense more than see his nod in response.
“Blanka. I thought we lost you.”
“Silly. Lost?” A leering grin creeping across her face.
I put both hands on either side of her face and looked her in the eye.
“Blanka! Wake up!” I shouted.
Her head lolled for a moment, and she began to shake. Her eyes closed tightly and her shoulders hunched as she fought off Aaron’s influence. It was like watching someone swim to the surface of a lake. As she emerged, she gulped at the air for a moment. The polished venir she wore was cracked and a rawness came through: fury, sadness, defeat. She shivered for a moment and her eyes welled briefly, but a tear didn’t fall.
“You’re safe now. We’ve got you.”
I pulled her into an embrace while I watched the ferry move away, starting its trek to the next destination. I silently wished Bjorn good luck.
Blanka was quiet. I took her hand and we moved toward the line of cabs that sat just off of the dock. There was a deep thrumming sound and I looked up at the ferry, quickly enough to see a patch of water rise up briefly next to the boat.
“That can’t be good. We need to get to the next destination. We’ll corner Aaron there.”
I hired a cab and we started down the road to the next destination. I saw that the Ferry had stopped, the wakes had drifted away while no new ones formed. I could see someone splashing quickly through the water, then noticed a smaller, sleeker figure in front of…
The bear.
“Stop the cab! Here, pull over here.”
After a quick trashing of water, the bear caught up to the man and there was a torrent of bubbles and a rising red stain that began to spread on the surface of the water.
“Wait here.”
I tossed a handful of Lyra toward the man as we exited the vehicle. As soon as the door shut, he goosed the engine and took off.
I made an obscene gesture at the man cabbie as the dust cloud closed in.
Blanka looked to make a comment, but held her tongue.
“We need to get to the shoreline.”
Where the blood had spread, no more bubbles rose. I was concerned because it had nearly been two minutes since I’d seen movement. The Ferry started to chug along, but there were people lining the rails looking down into the water nearly two hundred meters from the side of the boat. They likely couldn’t see what I was seeing.
A form surfaced with a pronounced snout. The creature thrashing in the water slowly smoothed out and the now human form of Bjorn emerged on the rocky shore. It was quiet except for the fast, deep breaths of Bjorn and the chugging of the ferry’s engines.
“You got him?”
“No more Aaron Paul. No more of dat slippery, mind-altering bastard.”
He huffed with that sentiment. Blanka and I crouched near him, she put a hand to his shoulder as he caught his breath, but didn’t say a word.
“You wouldn’t have, say, gotten a wallet or any identification off of him, would you?” I asked.
Bjorn gave me a scornful look. This was when I realized that the blood that lined his teeth wasn’t his own. I kept my mouth shut.
I moved back up to the road to see if I could flag down a ride and avoid the two kilometer walk back to where we came from. Blanka and Bjorn had a quiet conversation. I could tell she was thanking him.
We were already back to the docks when a siren buzzed past us. The scene was starting to unfold and we had caused enough trouble in Neuchatel that it needed a rest from us. We hired a cab who looked incredulous as we explained that we needed to get to the other side of the lake. He pointed to where the ferry docked, but flashing a bundle of Lyra made him shrug and nod as we piled into the vehicle. Blanka sat in front and Bjorn and I were in back.
It took some time for Cornel to make his way back to the hotel. He was bleary eyed and sore. The last couple days had nearly killed him and he was far from on the mend. I recognized that ache in him because I felt it myself. The adrenaline I had been riding on since we had arrived had been ebbing away, revealing the layers of trauma it had been keeping at bay.
Report Conclusion:
We had accomplished the mission. Revealed the charlatan doppelganger, dragged his mind-bending puppetmaster to the bottom of the lake, while also discovering the true nature of the Kalderari and making a tentative alliance.
I don’t necessarily feel resolved. Much of this was sloppy and some of my decisions put us at great risk. We survived by the skin of our teeth. But we did survive. This was only possible through every member’s contribution. I am honored to be serving with them. Not since the war, actually, even during the war, I never felt this level of camaraderie with my fellows. I am privileged that they look to me as a leader.
Bjorn begs to be on the front line. And I’ll let him. His fierceness drives us forward. I’ve never met a more capable man to have with me.
Blanka sharpens her focus under pressure. Her friendships come first and those who threaten them should brace for her wrath.
Cornel is still finding his place. This mission was not as forgiving for his more subtle arts. He was dealt a difficult hand and will likely need some time to recover.
As for me? Keep me busy. I don’t want to sit still long enough that I start thinking too much.
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