Chapter 174 – Assassination

Mirian and Selesia found themselves eating a late dinner at one of the ‘bars’ near the University Hospital where Jherica had been taken. Mirian was still a bit disturbed about how prevalent alcohol was in Vadriach. However, it allowed them to have a quick meal at one of the small tables on the street, so it made for a good lookout post.

“It’s kinda fun. It’s like we’re in a spy novel,” Selesia said. “Have you read any of those?”

Mirian smiled. They’d had a conversation like this before. Several, in fact. “They used to be my favorite.”

“Oh, neat! Wait, used to?”

“I don’t really read for pleasure any—hold that thought. Stay here and act normal. If anyone asks, I’m in the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”

A sleek looking spell carriage had just passed by, heading towards the hospital. The driver had a soul-disguise on. Mirian abandoned her food and walked down the street, casually, like she was just another of the pedestrians. She watched as five people, all wearing Akanan-style dark suits, piled out of the carriage. One took a position near the back while the others went in. Mirian could see the wand holster next to the pistol holster. If they were trying to be subtle about being agents, they were doing a terrible job.

Mirian went around to an alley and summoned her hidden remote spy spell. When she’d checked the wards around the hospital, there didn’t seem to be anything detecting the spell. She moved the invisible observer up to the third floor window, staying in the shadows while she waited.

It didn’t take long. Four dark-suited men walked into the room along with a priest. Mirian put more mana into the sound amplification glyphs.

“…very obviously a curse, though not one I’ve ever seen. We suspected a necromancer immediately,” she caught the priest saying. “The damage to the kidneys and liver has been healed, and we’ve been hydrating him. Without the ability to wake him up though, his life is still on a timer.”

“Very good,” one of the men said. “We’ll handle it from here.”

The priest raised an eyebrow. “Is RID trained in the healing arts now? I thought this was investigative.”

“It is investigative. We’re going to check the body. As you said, we won’t find anything. Then we file a report. Routine procedure, but necessary.” The man gave the priest a smile that didn’t touch his eyes. “You know how bureaucracies are.”

“Then there’s no problem with me staying to observe the patient,” the priest said.

“There are,” another agent replied. “Investigative techniques are considered secret. We have a letter of investigation from a judge,” he said, pulling out a scroll.

The priest broke it open, then scoffed. “This is absurd. Judicial overreach doesn’t even begin to—”

“Take it up with the judge. We’ll be out shortly. Please don’t turn a routine procedure into something more than it needs to be,” another agent said, stepping closer to the priest.

He looked at the four men, face turning grim. “Disgusting,” he said, turning on his heel.

The first agent followed the holy man to the door, then locked it when he was out. He cast a quick anti-eavesdropping ward on the door. He didn’t bother with the windows. One of them just glanced out and didn’t see anything. Sloppy, Mirian thought.

“Euric?” one of the men asked.

“We can be quick. It’s one of ours,” one of the agents said. Euric, apparently. He was tall and broad-shouldered, but thinner than the others. Apparently, he was also the curse expert.

“So who authorized it?”

“Endless night is earmarked for assassinations only. That’s not our department, and none of you have clearance.”

“‘Endless night’? Who the hell names these things? That’s the kind of name my teenage son would come up with for a spell.”

“Five fucking hells,” another agent said. “Then we need to start an internal investigation.”

Euric bent over Jherica’s body, squinting at him. His hand was pressed up against his chest, no doubt making sure his focus had good contact with his skin. “There will be. A quiet one.”

“Quiet? This isn’t some dune-fucker from Persama. This is an Akanan citizen.”

Mirian’s lip curled in disgust at the slur. She kept listening.

The short agent scratched his nose. “You know as well as I do there’s a lot of reasons for a secret judicial order. It’ll go through the process.”

“This man doesn’t have time for the process.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Euric said. “He’s dead.”

“You’re not going to break the curse?”

“I can’t. No one can. This one isn’t a normal lethargy curse or daze curse. If I picked it apart, the distortions to his soul would cause lethal brain damage. That’s why it’s earmarked for assassinations. As far as we’re concerned, this investigation is over. He’ll expire within the week. Let’s get out of here before that priest kicks up a fuss. He seems like the type to do that, and I don’t want to deal with it.”

“Yeah, tell me about it,” the short one said. The group headed for the door.

Mirian cut the observation spell and walked around the block the long way, then rejoined Selesia who was impatiently tapping the side of her drink. “Mirian! You took so long. I was worried.”

She’d been gone a few minutes at most. “Sorry.”

“Well? Your food got a bit cold.”

Mirian used a raw spell to start reheating her plate. She spoke in Friian, just in case. “They can cast them, but they can’t break them, apparently. Either that, or the agent was lying. Or, if there’s a way to break the curse, it’s been kept hidden from him.” That was about as much as she was willing to share with Selesia. She could break the curse, but she didn’t know what it would do to him in the long term. Possibly, he would have brain damage that persisted through the loops. Better to wait, and do it right.

***

They spent a few more days in Vadriach. Mostly, Mirian scouted out the Republic Intelligence Division headquarters there and got to know the areas around the Senate building. It was the nexus of political power in the country, so it seemed like a good idea to at least understand it.

Then, they headed north to Mercanton.

Akanan trains were far more packed than Baracueli ones. Mirian and Selesia found themselves standing, which felt wrong to her. On the plus side, they had modern spell engines that could really move. It only took a few hours to reach Mercanton.

It was hard for Mirian to put into words how big Mercanton was. The city seemed to sprawl out endlessly, with houses and factories covering all the hills. In history class, she’d learned that Akana Praediar’s coasts had once been covered in ancient forests. It seemed hard to believe. There was no trace of any greenery.

Along the river were the towers. Vadriach’s towers were built as tributes to the classic styles of architecture. Mercanton’s towers were just designed to be large and tall. Cities like Palendurio and Alkazaria were settled things; a few houses or public buildings might go up from time to time, but the populations were relatively steady. Mercanton had cranes everywhere, and it seemed on every block someone was building something. Mirian had grown somewhat used to the crowds of the large cities in Baracuel, but Mercanton’s crowds and chaos were on another level.

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“I hate this city,” she muttered to Selesia in Friian.