Chapter 131 - Bloodstain

This was the most challenging chapter in a while! Lots of plot stuff, and I didn't like my original outline for it, so had to make some tweaks. Hope you enjoy!

They were being watched when they arrived at the temple district, and not just by the many disgruntled clergy members and temple guards that didn’t want wizards poking around their holy land. It was the man carrying the black staff that Hump’s eye was drawn to once more. He was talking with a woman while Sir Roderick stood nearby.

“I take it from the displeased stare that he’s Abraxus,” Hump said. The man wasn’t even trying to hide it, watching them like a hawk.

“Yes, that’s him,” Vivienne said. “And I suggest you refer to him as Inquisitor when he inevitably speaks with you. The man’s not pleasant, even from a distance. Be on your guard, and be respectful. Remember he’s here to do a job.”

“I’m always respectful,” Hump said. She glared at him and Hump rolled his eyes. “Today, I’ll be extra respectful.”

“Are you expecting trouble?” Marcela asked.

“Not really,” Vivienne said. “Inquisitor Abraxus and I were both students of Elenvine Academy. We didn’t get on.”

“Well, if there’s any problems today be sure to let me know. While I do not fully understand my mother’s reasoning, you are representing my family today. I’m here to help.”

She led the way ahead, unperturbed by the many suspicious looks that came their way. This was her city, and she was Chosen. Few would dare to question her here of all places.

Sir Roderick guided them to one of the nearby houses. The white stone building was smaller compared to some of the mansions of the Upper City, but a fine place nonetheless, like everything else on the plateau.

“I suggest you brace yourself, Marcela,” Roderick said. “It’s… the scene is awful.”

Marcela gave him a reassuring smile. “I will be fine, thank you.”

He nodded, and unlocked the door, allowing them to enter.

The inside told a different story. There was blood everywhere. Hump’s stomach churned at the metallic stench to the air, sending his heart racing. He told himself he’d seen worse in Lakewood, that he was past being disturbed by this, but it didn’t make it any better. There was no getting used to another person’s suffering.

Lamps formed of essence stones illuminated the entry hall in vivid detail. The killers had made no attempt to conceal the scene, committing the ritual right there in the centre of the room, where a massive pool of dried blood stained the ground. The body had been removed, but there was no mistaking where it had been, and the horror that had taken place here. A circle of runes was drawn in blood around the stain, easily as complex as the one they had found in the cave near Lakewood. These people knew what they were doing.

“Emirai’s mercy,” Marcela whispered. Her face had gone pale, and she looked unsteady on her feet.

“If you need to step out…” Roderick started.

She shook her head. “No. No, I need to be here.”

“Very well.” He turned to address the rest of them, the softness of his face gone stern. “Understand that all of you are here against my recommendation, but Countess Daston has commanded it so. You will take nothing. Move nothing. And I expect this to be over swiftly.”

“Thank you, Sir Roderick,” Abraxus said. “I know this is a difficult time for your temple, and the last thing you want is a bunch of wizards prying about the scene. I only hope that we might offer insight that may assist you.”

“Let us hope,” Roderick said. “Though I suspect you will find nothing we did not. With or without your help, we will bring the culprits to justice.”

“Indeed, I’m sure you will.” He and the woman accompanying them broke off from the group and went to inspect the formation.

“Hump, would you note down the formation?” Vivienne asked.

He nodded. “I’ll get to work on it.”

“Celaine, it was your eyes I was after,” Vivienne said. “See if you can catch anything that others might have missed.”

“What type of things are you interested in?” she asked.

“Anything that doesn’t belong.”

“What will you do?” Hump asked.

“One of the reasons Justine asked us to come is because Graham and I have been working to create a method to identify warlocks without a long and gruelling interrogation,” Vivienne said.

Graham took out an artifact from a bag and held it out. “I’ll use this to take note of essence signatures, which can be traced back to a person. We’re looking for discrepancies between warlocks and ordinary practitioners usually only clear after a long and drawn-out magical ritual. It’s inefficient, and with hundreds of potential warlocks in the city, it’s all but impossible to check everyone.”

“As sad as it is, a scene like this is very useful for our records,” Vivienne said.

Hump stared at the device, suddenly very nervous about being so near to it.

Vivienne seemed to notice as she added, “We are still a way off any real success though. Get to work on the formation, Hump. I’m going to look around.” She turned to Marcela. “Is there anything you need, Marcela?”

“What?” the woman turned to her. “Oh, no. Please, go ahead with your work. I’ll be here if you need anything. My apologies for not being more help… I’m just a little caught off guard by all this.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Hump said. “It happens to almost everyone.”

“You’ve been in this situation often?” she asked.

Hump shrugged. “Often enough. My master was an adventurer, so it wasn’t uncommon for us to come across the scenes of deaths. It’s hard to avoid, really.”

“I see. How awful.”

Hump took out his spellbook and flicked through the pages until he found one blank, then starting to pretend to draw inside. In truth, he was taking it in by sight and willing the book to record it, preferably without a display of essence.

He was ready to close it at the first glimpse of shining light, but this time, the ink formed slowly, indiscernible from normal ink. Once again, he felt as if the book understood the need of the situation from his thoughts or will. He followed along carefully, doing his best to act like he was focused on his drawing. Nearby, he noticed Graham take out an artifact that he held near the formation, then moved around it in a circle. Occasionally he’d stop and scribble in his notebook, his eyes alight with intrigue.

Celaine joined him again and shrugged. “Not much. No strange marks, or bloody footprints, or broken windows. There’s some food in the kitchen, so it looks like they might have been here some time. And I found a few pieces of shattered glass in the corner of one wall. Other than that, it’s like whoever did this just vanished.”

“They likely cleaned the other runes with magic,” Vivienne said, returning as well. “Where was the glass?”

“At the bottom of the staircase,” Celaine said. She took a handkerchief from her pocket. “I collected it, just in case.”

“Well done.” Vivienne nodded. “It’s unlikely, but we might be able to identify some alchemical trace on it. That is, if it’s not just a broken glass the original owners missed.” She turned to Hump. “Did you notice the umHusimilarities the formation shares with the Binding of Thirteen. I recognise three of the runes, all of which work to drain and absorb essence.”

Hump followed where she was pointing. He’d missed it because they were hidden in a more complex segment of runes, but she was right. There were many more runes and channels, but in terms of layout it was highly similar to Kassius’ formation.

“There’s also thirteen segments,” Hump said.

“Another reference to the fallen god,” Vivienne said.

Hump frowned. “Could it be the group Prince Kassius spoke of?”

“It’s possible. Sheercliff is within the Malar Dukedom. One son has already consorted with these warlocks, so they likely have deep roots here.”

“But this is so obvious,” Hump said. “What could they achieve by pissing off the Pantheon?”

“Who knows?” Vivienne said quietly. “The Pantheon has been hunting them down all month. Perhaps this is their retaliation. Or perhaps they are simply trying to sow further discord amongst the leading factions of Sheercliff.”

“What purpose would that serve?” Celaine asked.

“Gods know,” Vivienne said. “Or perhaps even they do not. It could just be a cult looking to gain power.”

“Or it could be an orchestrated attack by one the disgruntled lords and ladies in Sheercliff,” Hump said. “Countess Dastin did say they weren’t too happy with her.”

“I’ll speak with her about the possibility,” Vivienne said. “Other than that, there’s nothing I’ve seen that wouldn’t be obvious to the Pantheon’s investigators.”

“Do you think he’ll find anything they missed?” Hump asked. He was muttering the words of a spell under his breath, essence building.

“He’s very good,” she said. “Abraxus is able to associate the residual essence of a spell with the person that cast it, following it almost like a scent. It’s an extremely complicated spell, requiring masterful control over both one’s internal and external essence. He’s not an inquisitor you want to cross.”

Essence surged, and his eyes came alight with a yellow glow. He turned his gaze over the room, and when they fell on Hump, it made him nervous, though they quickly moved on.

After a minute or so, Sir Roderick called out. “Is this not enough? My best Chosen have scoured this scene. What do you expect to find?”

Abraxus let the spell fade with a long sigh. “Nothing of much use, unfortunately. There was more than one caster, but their power is contained to this room. What I can tell you is that it means they were powerful. This was no amateur group of warlocks.”

“How powerful?” Roderick asked.

“To conceal so much essence in the middle of the temple district, and to evade my Truesight… One must have been Rank 5 at minimum. And I would be shocked if the others were far behind.”

“Six others,” Graham said, lowering his artifact.

“Excuse me?” Abraxus asked.

“There’s six casters,” he said. “At least, there are six different essence signatures left on this formation. My artifact is designed to detect the varying wave lengths.”

“You’re telling me six warlocks were in our temple district,” Roderick snapped. “That’s impossible. We would have known.”

“I cannot say that they were warlocks,” Graham said. “Only that there were six people partaking in this ritual.”

Roderick frowned at him. “You are Sir Isaac’s student, are you not?”

Graham nodded. “I was fortunate enough to be under his tutelage, yes. Though it has been a while.”

“I see.” He sighed. “You are certain of this.”

“Yes, my lord. The only uncertainty is whether the sixth signature is that of the priestess’ or another caster. It’s not uncommon for rituals like this to completely use up the essence of the… well, sacrifice.”

“I don’t believe she was a sacrifice,” Vivienne interrupted. “While I’m not familiar with this formation, I have seen some of these runes before in another used to trap and absorb a soul. Rather than a sacrificial ritual, I suspect they came here to feast on the power of a priestess of the light.”

The man stood there, knuckles white as he gripped his staff, his face red with rage.

“Who would dare do this?” Marcela said. “To provoke the wrath of the gods is insanity.”

“It is my wrath they should fear first,” Roderick snarled. “We shall tear a path through every practitioner in the Lower City if necessary. Every warlock must be found and destroyed.”

“Motivation matters,” Abraxus said. “If we know what they want, we can predict what they might do next.”

“We’ll know when we find them,” Roderick said. He gestured to the door with his staff. “Enough of this. Thank you for the information you have provided my temple, but we shall handle this ourselves.”

“Forgive my forwardness, but might I have a word alone with you,” Abraxus said.

Roderick glared at him, almost as if he might deny the request, before relenting. “Very well. The rest of you, leave here.”

It had been less than an hour, but nobody was willing to push the enraged Chosen any further. While Countess Daston had commanded his cooperation, the man was still a sixth circle Chosen. When he wanted them out, none here could argue. Well, other than Marcela, but she seemed as eager as anyone to be out.

They gathered out on the street, Marcela taking in the fresh air. “I hope you got all you needed.”

“I believe it was beneficial, yes.” Graham gave her a comforting smile. “That poor woman though. Never have I seen so much blood.”

“What do you suppose Abraxus wanted?” Celaine asked Vivienne.

“Perhaps there was more to his findings than he wanted the rest of us to know,” she said.

“Like what?” Hump asked.

She frowned at him. “What makes you think I would know that?” Then she paused, straightening as the woman that had been with Abraxus approached.

She smiled at Vivienne. “It’s so good to see you again, Vivi. It has been too long.”

“And you, Eliana. You look well.”

“As well as one can be in such dark times. And who might your companions be.”

Vivienne introduced them both, and she greeted them pleasantly before turning her attention back.

“I’m so sorry to hear about Seth.”

“Thank you,” Vivienne said. “Really though, it’s been so long since we parted ways. I’m alright.”

“I’m glad to hear that. What of his apprentice? We’ve searched our records, but it seemed Seth didn’t register him officially. We can’t even find a name.”

“He did not do this,” Vivienne said. “Of that I am certain.”

“But Vivi—”

The doors slammed open and Abraxus stormed out. “Eliana, we’re leaving.”

Her face twitched, and she looked apologetically at Vivienne. “We must talk more. I’m staying at The Three Crowns by the Wizard’s Society. You must send me a letter so we can arrange to speak more.”

“I’ll do that,” Vivienne said, as Eliana broke off after the wizard.

Hump watched her go, connecting the obvious link. “So that must be ‘L’.”

“Yes.”

“And from the sounds of it, they’re both looking for me.”

“It would seem that way.”

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Celaine asked. “I thought the point was not to hide who Hump is.”

“There’s a time and a place,” Vivienne said. “It certainly isn’t under Abraxus’ nose.”

Hump nodded quickly. “I’d like to remain as far away from his nose as possible.”