Against Time
--
The sun rose under a darkened sky the following morning as Talos, Casiama, and Sigismund entered the Imperial capital. The human metropolis was vast, ten times larger than the next largest cities, but they had already decided where they would check first for their killer.
Making their way past the guards at Savio's Gate at the south edge of the city had been the most nerve-wracking part of their journey for Talos. Elves weren't allowed inside the ring walls of Imperia, or anywhere within the vast Empire, for that matter. Thankfully, Casiama was not required to remove her hood, nor did the guards give the trio a second glance as they waived them through.
Talos and Sigismund had visited Imperia many times in the past, yet getting used to the stimulations of the city's sights, sounds, and smells was simply impossible if you did not live there. With three-hundred-thousand official inhabitants, and many more undocumented visitors, the city was positively teeming with life between every neatly-packed cobblestone street.
And it smelled. Casiama was appauled by the stink, and even more horrified that no one seemed to care about it whatsoever. The capital had no advanced sewage system; instead, refuse of all kinds was merely tossed into one of the many lazy streams flowing through the capital, and clean water was only obtainable via specified wells. The men of the party were used to such a notion; Casiama was not. She found another reason to hate the idea of human dominance, them having replaced the ancient elven paradise of Tor Remilla with such a monstrosity of excess.
They made their way to the Imperial Hospital first, thinking it the most obvious location that would be aware of Rayya's deeds.
Sigismund opened the front door to the to allow his companions inside. They wandered briefly, Talos looking over the best doctors and nurses humanity had to offer. Their eyes were sullen. Helpless. He was surprised to catch sight of one he recognized.
"Silvia!" he called, the red-haired woman turning instinctively to face the sound of her name. She looked as if she were falling into her own personal pit of despair a moment before, Talos having unintentionally saving her once again.
"Talos?"
"Hey, Sil," Talos started, lifting her from the abyss with a simple greeting. "Silvia, Sigismund, Casiama," he nodded to each soul present. They nodded back curtly, hard looks on all faces.
"Silvia is a, uh, healer, right? We worked together briefly during the Tardian Interregnum," Talos explained to his two companions, the mixed thoughts of old bloodshed and forgotten sensual lust flowing back to Silvia.
"Abjurative and Restorative sorceress," Silvia replied flatly, correcting her love interest of long ago.
"Right, right. Abjuration. Sil, We're on the hunt for someone. Someone bad. Have there been any uptick in suicides within the city recently?"
Silvia nodded, a tear trickling down her cheek as she led them into the patients' quarters.
-
Talos knelt at the side of a man's lifeless form in the patient's quarters, body blue and cold with blood soaked through the corpse's shirt. A knife wound was painfully visible on his chest, self-inflicted per Silvia's story. Casiama stood silently in the corner of the room, a hand over her mouth. Sigismund, for once in his life, too looked sad and placed a hand on Casiama's shoulder in solidarity.
"I tried to save him, Talos," Silvia cried, shaking her head. "I was too late... he was all the way across the city! Who does such a thing? Who..." her voice trailed off, whimperingly.
Talos stood up and trudged towards Silvia with a heart full of guilt. "It's not your fault, Sil. Never think that you can change the unchangable. How many of these were suicides?" Talos asked, gesturing around the room, his quiet voice barely holding up in defiance to his feelings.
Silvia pointed to a woman lying over on a nearby bench. Then a man across the room. And another still.
"Talos, what's going on?" Silvia asked breathlessly as two more people entered the room, a man and a woman.
"Reb!" the man shouted, running over to one of the female victims across the room. His hand grasped the cold, blue one of the corpse before him, shaking her as if she were only resting in a deep slumber.
"Markus, she's..." the woman next to him started to say before tears consumed her voice.
"Damnit Reb!" the man repeated brittly.
"Markus... Vex? What in the god's names are you two doing here?" Talos whispered in confusion, the two familiar souls from a previous life turning towards him.
"Talos..." the woman known as Vex replied, struggling to figure out why the man of her past was here now. The man beside her rose, wiping a tear from his eye.
"Cap'n," Markus said, recognizing Talos immediately. "I think I need a drink."
"We all do. We all do," Talos repeated dejectedly, speaking for all in the room still breathing.
-
The party, now six strong with Silvia, Vex, and Markus, sat around a large table at the poetry hall-turned-murder scene of the
Spellsong
. Talos had wanted to see the latest crime scene in person but found the venture nearly useless when he'd arrived.
Useless, except for the drink.
He explained the situation as he knew it to all present, hoping that Silvia and Vex would have ideas in tracking Rayya down. But he simply didn't have enough information, and no evidence that would hold up in a court. The suicide of Rayya's father, the Marquis of Skymarch, was the only event that had triggered this guilty train of thought.
So the conversation turned to more trivial matters. Markus, somewhat jealously, asked Vex how she knew Talos. He received a less-than-ideal response from the sorceress.
"Has the whole Empire fucked you by now?" Markus asked her in light jest, receiving a punch on the shoulder from her as he finished his question.
"It was a one time thing," Vex sneered, remembering her long night with Talos back in Catriona all those years ago. "Besides, I still haven't slept with
you
yet."
Talos was staring towards the center of the table as they spoke, not particularly listening. He remembered of the amber-colored stone in Torvald's possession, realizing he finally had a proper source to ask of it's properties; the sorceress across the table, Vex, was a world-class magical infuser. If anyone would know of a 'casting stone', it would be her.
"Vex, do you have any idea what a casting stone is?" Talos asked, only getting a shrug in quiet response. He decided to elaborate, finding the ask important.
"A mage had asked my friend to find one in some ruins up in Isbrygga. It's this fruit-sized, amber looking dull stone. She had told him it was of no use to anyone but her," Talos explained, his sight not leaving the table. He didn't feel the need to bring their spirits down with the discovery of his friend's corpse a month later. "I, uh, don't particularly believe that last part, by the way," he added for no particular reason.
"A
far
caster stone, perhaps. Sorceresses of ancient times used them to communicate over long distances," Vex started, squinting into the distance as if recalling a memory long forgotten. "They're incredibly rare, though, and I don't believe any are still around. They worked in pairs, or sets of three usually. A sorceress with one stone could speak with a holder of another stone, provided they both accepted the connection."
Talos pondered, wondering why Rayya would need a stone to do that when she already had the capability of reaching out to him over thousands of miles. Maybe she needed to talk to somebody else.
Silvia raised a finger. "I read somewhere that one could theoretically re-route a farcaster's communication frequency. All they'd need to do is to infuse it with an item of strong sentimental value to someone you're trying to reach," Silvia added. "Of course, that method is only helpful for enchantresses like your Rayya, since anyone without empathic skill would be unable to communicate without a matching stone."
Talos' eyes lit up in sudden realization.
"That's it, Sil! Rayya must have lost her ability to talk to me telepathically, which is why she hasn't reached out. She's traveling westward, going to..."
Evorus? Catriona? Any other of the dozen towns he'd passed through with Rayya five years ago?
Did any items of sentimental value even exist, that weren't on him or in Casiama's plane?
Talos stood up and stepped away from the table, Casiama and Sigismund immediately following his lead.
"I don't know where she's going. But probably Catriona, if I had to guess. Searching for something sentimental."
Markus spoke next. "Cap'n, you mean to tell me you think your daughter is wandering through the Empire, suicidin' people with her mind just so she can
talk
to you?" Talos nodded at him as Markus rose from the table.
"I'm not sure why she's killing. But... yeah. I have a feeling."
"What are you going to do when you find her?" Markus continued.
Talos looked up with dread for a brief moment; he'd thought of the very same question for weeks now and still wasn't yet entirely sure, truthfully. He gave an answer that sounded confident enough nevertheless.
"I have to stop her. I have to end this."
"Well ya ain't gonna do it without me. She has hell to pay for what she did to Reb," Markus replied, a thumb pointed at his chest.
"I'll help as well, Talos," Silvia added, she too getting on her feet. She'd felt powerless to stop the sudden massacre until just then, and was enthusiastic to finally see a light at the end of the mineshaft.
"Me too," Vex said, rising.
Talos looked over the haphazard collection of sad but vengeful souls before him, nodding in silent thanks for their support. How fortunate was he to be surrounded by such kind-hearted, familiar people. He had an action plan ready in seconds.
"Alright," Talos explained quickly, "Sigi, you and Silvia scan districts two through six here in town. Vex, Markus, seven through eleven. Cass and I will check the district twelve slums and the western gates. Meet at western gates as soon as you find anything, or at sun fall if you don't. Or back here if the gates aren't a good idea." No need to check sector one, the Imperial palace. The different areas of the city were well-known to its inhabitants, so he did not need to explain the intricacies of his asks to the group.
Talos produced his drawing of Rayya's face and laid it on the table, the eyes of the group memorizing the picture.
"Remember, she's dangerous. Protect each other and watch one another for signs of enchantment," he added, pulling the picture back. His eyes flashed over everyone else's at the table. "Anything I'm missing?" Vex nodded, fishing a couple small red stones from her pouch.
"Yeah. Everyone take one of these. I call 'em Thunder Beads. If you find her, throw it hard at the ground. It will make a noise so loud you'll swear everyone west of the Dracorange heard it. With any luck, it should break any enchantment and let the others know you've found her."
Talos nodded, picking up two beads from the table and handing one to Casiama before running out the side door of the
Spellsong
