Most of the items were of little repute—heaters, coolers, items that played gentle tunes or made soft light. I’d seen to it that each was artistic and well made, but they weren’t special. They all sold well, though, each bringing several times what they were worth. Of course, this was a time for nobles to show off, to give to something worthwhile while getting a pretty trinket they could talk about later.

  The last item, however, was something from my personal donation—one of my toy planes. The bidding started low, but soon exploded beyond reason. Several of the people here seemed determined to have it. Fifty gold coins, then a hundred, two. It kept climbing until even the auctioneer began to look nervous. However, one by one the bidders reached their limits. When only two remained, I could clearly see who they were.

  “Two-seventy-five,” a man said. He stood by the strange girl I’d been dancing with earlier.

  His opponent, whom I recognized as Mr. Ignus, shook his head, clearly displeased. Well, he would get over it. It wasn’t like he couldn’t request one of those from me. Not sure I’d have sold him one, but we could have at least had the discussion.

  As the night ended and the guests received their items, he approached me.

  “You, me, somewhere private, now.”

  “This way,” I led him to the second floor, abandoned for this event and used only for storage.

  “Do you not have any sense?” he asked as we reached an empty hallway.

  “What?” I asked. “I didn’t sell any guns or anything.” I’d considered it but pulled them out at the last minute, knowing someone might have issues.

  “That model you sold. What were you thinking? I’ll assume it works because I know you. Do you know how dangerous a working example of a flying machine would be? The tactical advantage alone is absolutely insane. Goodness, I knew you were working on the full-sized one, but not that you’d sell your work so easily.”

  As he was ranting, my ears picked up something else—a feminine voice, one that pinged in my memory, though I couldn’t place it and focus on him at the same time.

  “Come on, you asshole, just get in! Yes, yes, get your box, and that bitch … There you go, I’ll teach you a lesson you won’t forget.” It was faint, from a hallway or two over.

  “Hold it, wait,” I said to Ignus. “There’s something.”

  “Got you,” the voice said, and Ignus yelled, reaching toward his left ear.

  A BOOM shook the windows as the lawman reached up, pulling out an earpiece and tossing it away. I could briefly hear it screaming in a high-pitched tone.

  “Attack!” he yelled, and I turned, running toward where I’d heard the voice.

  It clicked as I rounded the corner and saw her there. The smallish goblin girl in her massive goggles stood by a window, something that looked like a detonator switch in her hand.

  “You,” I seethed, pulling out the gun I’d been keeping with me constantly.

  “Me? You? What are you doing here?” she asked, clearly surprised.

  Chapter 21

  ✶

  Trounced

  What are you doing here?” the goblin girl asked, goggles flashing in the low light.

  I didn’t bother trying to talk, instead drawing the pistol I’d taken to carrying on me at all times. I’d heard her words, I’d heard the explosion. Someone was almost certainly dead, and this wasn’t the time for talking.

  She was quick, too, her hand flashing upward a beat after my own. It wasn’t superhuman speed like I had, just good reactions. As my finger squeezed the trigger, a blue glow surrounded my weapon. I could see as the gun fell, almost in slow motion, but couldn’t do anything about it. Clearly she was up to something.

  The weapon exploded, some kind of blockage from her magic—small, exact, and incredibly fast. It looked almost like something out of an old cartoon, with the barrel bursting and curling away. As it did, a piece of shrapnel sliced across my bicep, another catching the edge of my cheek and leaving a deep score.

  “Now, now, I’ve seen that trick enough times,” she chided as I recoiled, the pain from the blast radiating across me. “You didn’t think it’d work again, did you?”

  “Honestly, I was kind of hoping,” I said as I threw the now broken weapon at her, at a loss for what else to do with it.

  “Come now, don’t you have something new?” she said, the shards of the gun stopping and hovering in place.

  “Still working on it,” I admitted as I charged and threw my hardest punch at her, only for it to be intercepted by one of her bubble shields.

  “Shame, you do have such interesting toys. However, I’m not here for you.”

  She’d seen my tricks, but I’d also seen hers, and when her goggles shifted I closed my eyes. The flash was visible even through my eyelids, but not nearly as disabling as it had been last time. Her follow-up with a force wave that sent me sprawling into a nearby wall didn’t miss though.

  “I’ll stop you,” I wheezed as I tried to catch my breath and rise.

  The rubble around me picked me up once more and slammed me back down.

  “Kindly stop. Big Sister likes you as much as she can like a human, and I think she’d be peeved if I have to kill you. Like I said, I’m not here for you.”

  “If you don’t mind my asking, who are you here for then?” came a familiar voice.

  Ignus had caught up and looked almost calm as he stood in the hallway, hands at his sides, eyes flicking between me and the girl.

  “The ones who’ve been killing my brothers and sisters. Who are you?” she asked him.

  “Ah, you may call me Ignus. I’ll admit, it is refreshing to speak with one of your kind. We’ve had such trouble—”

  “We?” she asked.

  “Ah, I represent the authorities of this city. I believe we might be able to solve all of this peacefully. Though my people have been looking for yours. To my knowledge none have managed direct contact so far.”

  He was so calm I wanted to smack him. I was lying here, out of breath and cut up, and he was having a polite conversation like they were meeting in a park or something. I wasn’t fool enough to interrupt while they spoke though. He seemed to be up to something.

  “Interesting, I’ll relay your intent upward,” Greta said, ears perking. “But for now I must go.”

  I didn’t need to guess at why either; I could hear it. There were other noises from down below. Commotion, a lot of it. Yelling, not screaming in fear, but something to be sure. Ignus didn’t try to do anything as the goblin girl retreated, bouncing down the hall at speed.

  “What was that?” I asked as I tried to rise from the rubble.

  “Building rapport,” he said. “You did indicate that not all of them were mad, didn’t you? And if I’m not much mistaken, that was one of the goblins you’ve interacted with before?”

  “It is,” I admitted. “She was there when—”

  “Yes, I know. Also, what was I supposed to do? She soundly defeated you, and I don’t have the capability to defeat her while she’s on her guard. Next time maybe don’t rush in.”

  “Next time I need to be better prepared,” I grumbled.

  “Agreed, and better trained.” As he spoke, I shot him a look that I hope communicated the fact that had my gun not been broken, it wouldn’t be the only thing I’d have shot at him.

  “Enough of that, we need to check on the others.”

  It took me a moment to check myself before we headed downstairs. I was weaponless, Ignus was powerless, and frankly, neither of us had come prepped for battle, but that didn’t mean we got to run away. No, regardless of the situation, we needed to move forward, to continue toward the danger, for that is the path both of us had chosen.

  The smell hit me like a hammer as we entered the main hall. Most of my people had run off, but not all of them. Simon, Priscilla, the priest from the Shield. They were here, as well as my and Rowena’s families. Most of them were sprawled on the ground, retching, pale, but seemingly unharmed. A few of the men were pulling themselves together but were clearly spattered with vomit.

  Only one person wasn’t—the proprietor, who lay still among the chaos. I recognized his suit. His head was gone, melted by the looks of it. There was no blood, but that didn’t detract from the fact that he was seriously dead.

  “But why?” I asked, confused at the one dead person in the room. As far as I knew he hadn’t even been a threat.

  “We need to find out,” Ignus muttered.

  Priscilla rose on shaky legs, stumbling as she tried to help the others up. By the time I made it over to her it was clear that both she and the other priest were in a minor panic.

  “Death priest?” she asked the elder caster.

  “He didn’t kill us, but we need to report this and now,” the man said with a shake of his head.

  “Are you okay?” I asked when I reached them.

  “No, no, we’re not,” Priscilla said. “That was clearly an unauthorized use of offensive priestly magic. I’d heard that perhaps there was someone, but that wasn’t even a human, was it?”

  “Probably not,” I admitted.

  “People need to know, the right people, right now.” That was all she had to say before seeing to the others.

  Chapter 22

  ✶

  Investigators

  Ilearned a few things over the next several hours.

  Firstly, though according to history books, the various Orders had declined in power a bit from their peak, it didn’t mean they were weak. Two priests letting it slip that there was a death priest on the loose meant that there was now a lot of scrutiny. I wasn’t sure what that would mean, but both Priscilla and her companion wanted a full breakdown from me on what I knew.

  Secondly, it looked like Ignus and his people might have downplayed the danger to these same Orders. Perhaps someone somewhere knew exactly what was going on, but it appeared the local leadership was now fully up in arms about the appearance of a rogue, non-human priest. The fact that he seemed so willing to kill and disable alarmed them as well.

  “So that’s your story, young man?” asked the priest, who’d come to see me whilst we were still cleaning everything up. His name was Father Leerson, and his eyes were sharply focused on me.

  “Yes, sir,” I answered. He looked less like a priest and more like an inquisitor.

  “You knew about these creatures, about their leader?” he asked, accusingly.

  “I did, and I reported that information to the proper authorities.” I was a bit irritated at his tone.

  “So you did, so you did,” he said with a small placating gesture. “It really should have been reported to us though … I don’t suppose you know why it wasn’t?”

  “You would have to ask the duke and his men,” I responded.

  “And I shall. We were told of certain deaths, certain … incidents, but not of all the details, clearly.”

  “I was there for what happened with the archmage. You don’t need to hide it from me,” I told him bluntly.

  “Interesting.”

  “As was one of these creatures, the one who I suspect was responsible for the bomb.” I could lie to him, or hide it, but I really had no need to at this point. More secrecy would probably just piss these people off, and I knew well enough from my studies what an angry biomancer could do, for that is what the priests were, regardless of what they claimed.

  “Very interesting.” He thought for a few moments. “And, if I might ask, what is your opinion of this father, the one we suspect of this incident.”

  “He’s insane,” I told him bluntly. “Dangerously, vigorously insane. Some of the others of his kind may not be though.”

  “Oh? What makes you say that?”

  “I’ve talked to them, and the one I fought could easily have slain me, but she didn’t.”

  “A quirk of their psychology, perhaps?”

  “No, they seem like us. I’ve spoken to a few of them; some at least seem reasonable. Even if I’m not seeing all of the pieces, there’s something more going on.”

  “On that I can certainly agree.”

  “What will you do if you find them?” I asked him, curious as to how they would handle the situation.

  “Well, the leader here may or may not be a death priest. If he is, he must be killed; but, if he isn’t, and is possible to reason with, we may try to communicate.” At my raised eyebrow he went on. “The Orders aren’t opposed to other races by any dogma. In fact, we welcome elves without any issue at all. Few join, but that’s neither here nor there.”

  It was so weird to me how some, but not all, of the sayings in English translated over. Evidence of others like me was my guess.

  “I’ve a question, if you don’t mind,” I said.

  “Certainly, though I cannot promise an answer.”

  “What exactly is a death priest? I’ve heard the term a few times now, but I’m unfamiliar with it.”

  “Ah, not something one runs into unless they study our particular history and arts, I suppose. Very well then, a death priest is a priest, but one who has gone completely mad. Normally this manifests in killing everything around them, hence the name. They are formidable opponents, as one might suspect, and luckily, quite rare. Something about our magic seems to engender a certain desire to do right.”

  “I see, then you should know that Father thinks he’s doing right,” I told him.

  “How so?” he asked.

  “I spoke to him, briefly. I believe he’s trying to improve people, though he doesn’t seem to care how many he must kill for those improvements to come to fruition.”

  “That is concerning, and dangerous. Not what I feared, but in some ways …”

  “Yes,” I said, nodding.

  “Don’t suppose you might shed some light on why they were here tonight, or killing these people?”

  “I’ve already told you that I don’t know that,” I said, a bit frustrated at that repeated question. He’d asked about five times, all in different ways.

  At this point, Ignus decided to enter the small side room we’d taken up. He looked none too pleased.

  “This young man has been aiding me in my work, and he is well outside your authority,” he said, sounding quite peeved.

  “With the facts we’ve seen, I care to disagree.”

  “Disagree all you like, but it remains so. My people are taking up the investigation, as we have been for some time.”

  “This matter concerns a rogue priest, and it’s clearly our jurisdiction,” Father Leerson said with a frown.

  “A non-human invader is mine.”

  “Not when they’re using priest magic.”

  “Ladies, you’re both pretty,” I interjected, “but perhaps it would be better if you worked together?”

  They both looked at me slightly aghast. It seemed that one hadn’t made the rounds yet. I wanted them working together. Perhaps the priestly faction had fallen out of favor, but they still had people, and power. Those Orders of theirs were international and might well be able to get information we couldn’t here. Similarly, Ignus and his people knew this city better than anyone.

  “We’re not giving up an ongoing investigation to an outside entity,” the lawman huffed.

  “Nor are we giving up what is clearly our area of expertise.”

  “Both of you want answers. Perhaps you should allow the other to help. Ignus here knows more about what’s going on than any of us.” The man in question looked peeved I’d brought that up. “And I’m sure that the number of priests the good Father here could bring in would certainly be of help examining the bodies.” The priest looked irritated that I was implying he aid Ignus.

  “And when it comes to dealing justice?” Father Leerson asked.

  “I think everyone agrees at least that their leader needs to die. Start there.” That at least got me a pair of guffaws. There was hope for them yet.

  Chapter 23

  ✶

  Targets and Advancements

  Ignus may have come to get me, but he was now distracted. This was a good opportunity to make my escape, so I left the two investigators to their deepening discussion and slipped out. I was heading back into the building proper to see who was where and how they were. Several people I recognized were sitting in the main hall—primarily, both sets of my grandparents; Rowena; and Lucas, whom I’d only seen at the beginning of the night; along with Simon and Priscilla.

  “Thank goodness you’re all right,” my paternal grandmother said.

  “Of course he is dear,” her husband said, reassuringly. “He was with a priest.”

  Before the others could get going I decided to speak up.

  “Yes, I’m fine, perfectly fine. What’s the damage though? I felt that explosion, so don’t bother telling me everyone is unharmed.”

  “One of the carts blew up,” Lucas said. “Looks like it was only the one, though, and thankfully nobody but the driver and passengers were near it. That bastard goblin also only killed the proprietor.”

  “Any clue on why he did that?” I asked, looking at each of them. There were sighs. I was guessing everyone else had asked that too.

  “No, but it was targeted,” Simon answered.

  “You’re sure?”

  “Very, he went straight for the man. We were just in the way. If he’d wanted to kill us, he probably could have, since none of us were prepared for the fight.”

  “Yes, I’m going to need to make some preparations, I think,” I said. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to spend too much time around me, with this now happening.”

  “I’m sorry, my friend, but I’m afraid you’re correct,” Simon replied, and both Lucas and I were taken aback. Even his girlfriend looked shocked. Sure, I’d offered the warning, but I’d not expected him to heed it.

  “Simon!” Priscilla said.

  “No, this danger is real, and I have people to look after. I have siblings, family, other friends, and you. If this problem were within my abilities, it would be one thing, but it isn’t. I’ll not be getting involved in this any further.”