A Long Time from Home Ch. 29

"Yes," I said quietly, "but then, I would have done the calculations instead of dismissing it as speculation and falsifying reports. These people are nothing like any human that we have ever encountered before. Remember Paula Flavia Pulcher? The half-breed mage from the Alashiya mission?" He nodded and I continued. "She was another half breed with a Baylon training." A thought suddenly hit, making me blink a few times, as I realized who Chuzara reminded me off.

With a sigh, I breathed. "Shit and flames!"

"Yes?" said the Dominus Grande calmly.

"When I first saw Chuzara... the prisoner in Drusus... she reminded me of someone and it just occurred to me that she looks so much like Paula Flavia Pulcher, that they could be sisters... or at least closely related."

"Well, the Pulcher family can't be behind this. They're either dead or in prison."

"Yes, but we always assumed that there were other people besides the Pulchers behind the Disease and I think we might have stumbled upon their work."

"Well, that can easily be checked." said the Dominus Grande. "Starting with determining if the prisoner is related to Paula Pulcher."

"Only if we still have her." I said calmly. "And unless I miss my guess, we don't."

With perfect timing, an alarm-bell sounded and suddenly I had four aggressive looking women pointing swords at me.

I lifted my cup of tea in a toast towards them and drank. It was actually a good tea for once.

That caused the Dominus Grande to look even more irritated than before. "You seem awfully calm. Why is that?"

"We're in the well protected city of Gideon, in the equally well protected local chapter of the Ordo Praesidium and yet an alarm bell is ringing, indicating an attack in the area." I said taking another sip of the tea. "Unless I've grossly overslept, there was a change of the watch in Drusus not long ago, so they have most likely discovered that the prison has been attacked by three or four unknown persons and that the prisoner has escaped. Considering it was only discovered now, I'm guessing that none of the guards survived." I lowered the cup to the table. "And the only people, who could have stopped it from happening, got tangled up in politics instead of doing their flaming job."

The Dominus Grande opened his mouth, but then his eyes shifted as if he was listening to somebody and he closed it again.

I drank some more, waiting for the mental communication to stop as possibilities ran through my mind. With the attack being public known, they were limited to a few and all of them good for me.

Finally, he said, "I once heard Varro tell you that you're irritating good at this and he was right." He sighed. "The guards at the Drusus prison were killed to the last man and all the prisoners escaped by means unknown at this time."

"Shocking." I said sarcastically. "Am I still under arrest?"

He nodded. "Yes... Even if the Charge of Falsifying report is now dropped, you're still under arrest for Slandering and Misuse of Power."

"Ah. Well, that's okay. Then I have time to drink another cup before the next thing happens." I raised my hand to catch a waiter's attention and ordered another cup.

"When you're done showing off, would you please tell me what you think will happen." Said the Dominus Grande with a slight smile. "Or I will add Obstruction of justice to your charges."

"I don't know what will happen next, but I can guess."

"Please do."

"About now it's morning in Mordcha and with the apparent seriousness of my crimes, somebody will express deliver my report along with the charges to the Grand Master of Ordo Arbites. He will read it, consult Lex Imperialis and then laughingly dismiss the Slander charge from the mages, due to the fact, that I never stated it was a member of the Ordo Ars Magica that was in the thought-images."

I nodded a thanks to the server as a new cup of tea arrived, and then continued. "Then two things can happen: Either Securitas Interna will show up at the prison or they won't. If they do, they'll look back in time and discover that the perpetrators can't be detected my magic, which makes it an Inquisitor case, and the charge is null and void." I drank from the cup. "If they don't show up, somebody in the Ordo Praesidium is involved and is obstructing justice, because the law clearly states that Securitas Interna must be involved in any investigation of Misuse of Power, since that is our primary jurisdiction." Placing to cup on the table, I said, "Somebody is playing politics when they should be considering the fate of Baylon and I have a sneaking suspicion, that whoever is behind this is the cause of that."

The Dominus Grande was silent for a while and then, much to my surprise, I heard an unknown voice in my head. "< Inquisitor Captain Ivah Chila Emilian. This is Grand Master Vibius Nonius Orator of Ordo Arbites. I have read the case as well as your reports, listened to what have been said and I agree in your reasoning and conclusions, especially in the light of the disaster in Drusus. All charges are dismissed, and you are reinstated as a captain with full honours. All concerned parties have been informed. Grand Master Orator out >"

"< Excuse me, sir >" I said hurriedly before he could close the connection. "< I think you got the rank wrong. I'm a vice-captain and not a captain, sir >"

There was silence for a moment, then he said "< Not anymore, Captain Emilian... As I just said, all concerned parties have been informed. Grand Master Orator out >"

I blinked in surprise, looked at the Dominus Grande, who was smiling at me, and realized that I had managed to underestimate a Dominus Grande's ability to play politics, which made me feel rather stupid. "You are a cunning man, sir. Have he been listing in all the time?"

The smile grew a bit wider when he nodded. "Yes. I too know how to play politics when my people are harassed unfairly."

I laughed. "Very smart, sir. Now can I get this collar of?"

There was a 'click' the collar opened and fell off. I caught it and handed it to him. "Here you go, sir."

"Thanks... and you weren't calling me 'sir' a moment ago."

"Back then I was a prisoner, sir. Now I work for you again."

He laughed and shook his head. "Get a spare uniform from the store along with the captain emblems and then go find these people, Spectre. We need that mage found and the escaped prisoner arrested... along with whoever helped them."

I stood up, saluted him, and then looked at the guards. "You better come with me as witnesses that I have been cleared of all charges... and in case that we need to arrest someone, that doesn't like being arrested."

The sergeant glanced at the Dominus Grande, who nodded, before she smiled and said, "Of course, Captain."

"What's your name, Sergeant?"

"Octavia Varus, sir."

"All right, Sergeant Varus. Let's go."

-------------------------

Two glass later, I was standing in the dungeon of the Prison in Drusus again.

As I had expected, the door I had jammed with Ars Mentalis had been smashed to bits and the only thing that was left in the cell except the furniture, was the collar Chuzara had worn.

A Securitas Interna agent was shaking his head as he looked at me. "Captain. This is not good... In fact, it's catastrophic!"

"Show me."

He nodded and sent the vision of what had happened.

The door was closed and the guards outside looked like they were bored. Suddenly arrows came out of nowhere and hammered into one of the guards, while the other fell over like he had been hit with a sword, but neither the sword nor the attacker could be seen clearly. There was just a glimpse of a blurry shadow behind the guard the moment the sword connected and then it was gone. The guard hit the ground silently and there was a fatal wound in his back.

A few heartbeats later the door exploded inwards as if hit by an invisible ram, splintering it.

Inside the room, the collar that Chuzara had worn around her neck suddenly appeared on the table and after a while, the remains of the door moved a bit, as if someone invisible had passed it.

Then everything was silent again.

The world returned to normal, making me sigh. "You were right. This is not good, but it's what we have to work with."

"Yes, sir."

I nodded to him and thought about what I have seen. That they didn't show up on a vision, meant that they were undetectable. Several magical items, Ars Magica spells and Ars Mentalis could do that trick, but Chuzara had been undetectable as well, and she had been butt naked and couldn't use any Ars Mentalis with the collar on. That meant that her ability to be undetectable was a natural thing, just like mine.

That was an extremely rare ability to have and the odds of all of them having it, were so low that I couldn't even calculate it. That meant that they had been picked for that exact reason, again showing that a lot of thought had been put into this.

"Captain!" a voice called from outside the cell.

I walked into the hallway again. A Securitas Interna agent was standing outside the last cell.

"I have something to show you, sir." He said as he saw me.

"What is it?"

He opened a mind contact and I accepted.

First there was an empty courtyard, but suddenly a shimmering gate in reality appeared in the middle of it and when the shimmering cleared, I could see a dense forest on the other side of the gate.

The freed prisoners started to pour out of the prison building, walking across the courtyard towards the magical gate.

A good-looking middle-aged woman stopped in front of the gate, looking like she was mentally communicating with someone for a while, before she entered the magical gate, but there was a flicker, as if someone invisible walked through the gate after her.

A moment later, it disappeared.

I blinked, as the world returned to normal and then nodded to the agent. "Nice work, Agent. Please report this when you are done here, but not until a glass has passed. There are some people I need to talk with."

"Yes, sir."

I turned and looked at Sergeant Octavia, before looking at the agent again. "Oh, would you please show the sergeant the same? I need to contact some people and that will lessen the need for explanations."

"Yes, sir." He said again.

A commotion at the other end of the hall, made me look that way. It was the prison warden, and he was shouting at the Feminae Bellum.

"What do you mean that I can't go down there, Private? This is my flaming prison and I demand to know what is going on here."

He sounded sincerely angry and slightly confused, so I walked towards them.

"Warden." I greeted as I came closer.

Surprised, he looked my way and then nodded. "Inquisitor, can you tell me what is going on here? Because nobody wants to tell me anything."

"Prison break, sir." I explained shortly. "Warden, who is this?" I sent him a mental picture of the middle-aged women from the vision.

He only needed to think for a moment before saying. "Livia Pissarro. She's a merchant and was arrested for smuggling. Securitas Externa has already spoken to her, but it proved that she had a special permission to import the wares." He shrugged. "They left after that."

"Thank you." I said and looked in the direction of one of the guards. "Would you please escort the Warden? He can go anywhere and have answers to any question."

She nodded, and I looked at the warden again "One thing, sir. Do not talk with anybody about this yet."

He nodded shortly and they walked away, as I leaned against the wall, thinking again.

Livia Piso had known the mage, but if she had a special permission, why was she still here in the prison?

Somebody had messed up bad and chances were that it was Captain Piso from the Drusus chapter of Ordo Praesidium. Luckily, that wasn't my problem right now, as Securitas Interna would handle that.

Reaching out with my mind, I contacted the Ordo Praesidium in Gideon and to my surprise, it was Adept Marcius that had the duty again. "< Good morning, Adept Marcius >"

"< Good morning, Inquisitor Captain Spectre. How may I help you today? >"

"< The Mage we are looking for, is connected to a merchant named Livia Pissarro. I want her found and I want her family, employees and friends questioned to see if they know the name of our unknown mage. >"

"< I shall pass it on, sir, but I'm quite sure that it will take some time >"

"< No problem, Adept. Now for the other people we're looking for. Please add a note the report that they're all undetectable by Ars Mentalis and Ars Magica >"

There was a moment of silence, before Adept Marcius said, "< Please repeat that, sir >"

"< You heard correctly, Adept. They're all undetectable by Ars Mentalis and Ars Magica. Yes, I know that is highly unlikely, but it's the fact. What I don't know is the cause of this and it might simply be magical items. Just add it to the report. >"

"< As you order, sir >"

I looked around. Since the mage had gated people out, it was impossible to track those people using ordinary means, just as it was impossible to determine where the other side of the gate was, as there had been no distinct landmarks on the other side.

Unless... some of the prisoners had been wearing a collar and had been stupid enough not to show or say anything about it, because those collars could be tracked magically.

Getting hold of the Warden, I quickly explained to him what I was looking for and a glass later, I stood in a clearing of a rain forest, along with several others, and studied a scared young man. He had been stupid enough to put a bracelet, which worked in the same way as the collars, into a pocket, since it was made from gold.

'Avaritia facit bardos' (Baylon: 'Greed makes you stupid'), as the saying goes. Especially since theft was the reason that he had been in the Drusus prison in the first place. Some people never learn.

Leaving the young man to the Feminae Bellum, I followed his tracks back to where the Gate had emerged and found the rest of the tracks.

The young man had explained that he had hid, when the mage had opened a new portal and disappeared through it along with the freed prisoners, but that the four others had walked off as a group.

I smiled to myself, as I saw the deep footprints of a heavy man among the prints of three others, one of them a woman. These would not be hard to track.

After checking that I had everything I needed, I contacted the mage that had gated us out here. "< This is Spectre. Thank you for the Gate, Mage Gaius, but I will continue on foot. Please just gate the rest home again >"

"< No problem, Spectre, but according to my orders, I'll send reinforcements. Good hunting >"

Closing the connection, I studied the tracks. They weren't that far ahead.

----------------------

Tracking the group turned out to be so easy, that it made me suspicious, and I made sure to avoid every spot that looked like a good place for an ambush.

Still, it went reasonable fast, and I was stalking around a large bush, when I heard some voices speaking. It was two men and a woman debating something from the sound of it, but I wasn't close enough to hear the words.

I activated the chameleon power and blended in with the surroundings, making me practically invisible, before silently and slowly moving nearer the sounds, being careful not to disturb anything that could give away my presence.

A bit later, I was lying under a bush and was not only close enough to hear the words, but I could also see the trio.

They were sitting on some rocks, eating dinner, while they talked.

The woman was Chuzara and to the left of her sat a friendly looking guy. He had light hair, a goatee in the same colour and he was drinking from a wine skin. I recognized his face from the mental pictures I had been given. It was Kruse.

The last was a giant of a man with light brown hair and an impressive body. He was easily two heads taller than I was, and incredible wide. He was also wearing a full chain and carried two war hammers in the belt. It could only be Piler.

That left only one unaccounted for and I was pretty sure that the only reason they were sitting here, was that they were waiting for him and that enabled me to gather some information.

"... see you again." Said Piler as he took a bite of a chicken wing. "Though you don't really look worse for wear despite having been caught and imprisoned for two days."

Kruse nodded. "Yeah, I have been wondering about that too."

"Well... It was very strange." Said Chuzara and sipped some wine. "I was rather beaten up, when I was caught, but when I woke up, I was healed and there was a young Mentat there, who were washing the blood of me."

"Say what?" Exclaimed Piler.

She nodded. "As I said, it was strange, and it gets worse. Next day he gave me a massage and all the while he was friendly and polite."

"And he was a Mentat?" asked Kruse.

She nodded, which made him roll his eyes as he said, "Are they idiots? Ars Mentalis doesn't work on us!"

"Actually, it does." Said Chuzara slowly. "The Mentat used Ars Mentalis to lift me up at one point. It's only our minds that are somewhat protected and not our bodies. I thought that he would use Ars Mentalis for torture, but he never did." She shrugged.

"Good." Said Kruse. "We still have a job to do in the north."

I suddenly felt a familiar chill down my spine. Something was wrong.

In the clearing, Kruse was suddenly on his feet with two drawn swords. "Incoming!"

The two others jumped to their feet and at the same time five large creatures charged into the clearing. They were black, a head taller than me and had long white hair growing only from the back of their heads. A huge mouth filled with sharp teeth dominated the head and they had no eyes, nose, or ears. Their bodies were humanoid, but the arms ended in a hand with three long powerful claws.

On their forehead glowed the sign of Ordo Mechanicus (Baylon: Order of Mechanical Engineers), the Ordo responsible for the construction and maintenance of mechanical structures such as wind -- and watermills, cranes, and machines of war. This included all magically created artificial creatures and these were some the Ordo's creations.

I cursed silently. The creatures were Nequam: Artificial creatures created by an ancient and complex magical ritual to act as a kind of magical guard dogs. Nequam have only one purpose and that is to kill any humanoid they encounter.

From time to time, some Nequam managed to get away from their posts, so the Inquisitors had been taught about them in order to be able to neutralize them.

In case of Nequam, 'neutralize' means hacking it to bits or smashing their heads. They have no internal organs that can be targeted, but the nerve center that controlled the body was still located in the head. Unfortunately, it's just that: A nerve center and not a brain. They are almost mindless, so mind affecting Ars Mentalis and Ars Magica don't work on them.

The really bad thing about them showing up, was that their perceptive organs were based on heat and electricity, instead of sight, and that meant that they could easily see through my camouflage.

Two of the Nequam totally ignored the trio in the clearing and went straight for me, which limited my options to two: Fight or die, since outrunning a Nequam is close to impossible. They are extremely fast, and they do not get tired.

I jumped up and drew the Shadow Fang in the same movement, just in time to parry a clawed hand. Entering Mutatur Tempus Mente enabled me to dodge a bite attack, but the creature still took a piece of my jacket.

I parried another attack and slashed at the creature, but it dodged out of the way.

That's the reason I absolutely positively hate Nequam: With their skin being natural armor and no internal organs, they can take a lot of damage, and they are just as fast as I am. Even in the state of Mutatur Tempus Mente as I was now, they seemed to move at normal speed.