Page 63 of Storms & Sacrifice
“No, not exactly.” Ragnar deflates a little. “Iknowit sounds crazy, but so many things make sense. All of Thog’s motivations, the lack of evidence, the way these people are able to act right under our noses without us evernoticing.”
“Let me make sure I am understanding this, Ragnar.” Khazak leans back against the kitchen counter. “You believe that Councilman Murbank, Deputy Captain Keenguard, Advocate Redwish, as well as any number of rangers and officers have all been conspiring together to attack the citytonight?”
“Iknowwhat it sounds like Khazak, but please, I need you to trust me on this,” Ragnar pleads with his friend and captain. “Why did Keenguard already have those files, and why didn’t she give us the rest? Why is it that any evidence we find always leads directly to a dead end? How were these people able to set off multiple bombsinside the citytonight without asingleeyewitness? The only thing that makes sense is that they already have people on our side doing their dirty work. Hell, they probably waited to attack this week specifically because they knew you’d be all the way out in the forest on patrol.” Ragnar pauses, looking afraid that we both think he’s nuts. “I know it seems crazy, but you have tobelieve—”
“It is not that I do not believe you,” Khazak cuts Ragnar off, sounding tired. “It is that I do notwantto. Since we learned these people were moving in and out of the city, I have struggled to think of an explanation that is not ‘there are traitors among you.’ The fact that they are able to traverse the forest without setting off any alarms... The only way they could do that would be if they were wearing one of our badges.”
“What this about badges?” I look over inconfusion.
“Our badges, the ones sewn into our uniforms.” Ragnar points to the emblem on the front of his uniform, the Atasi equivalent of the letter “V” surrounded by trees. “They have an enchantment that hides the wearer from the alarm spells in the forest, so that our patrol groups aren’t constantly settingthem off.”
“Anytime a citizen leaves the city, whether to go hunting or for travel, they receive a similar badge at one the gates,” Khazak continues the explanation. “The gatekeepers log each time a badge is given out and returned, but none of the logs have matched up with the time tables we have for our crimes. I find it highly unlikely that a number of our officers would have suddenly misplaced theirs, so either someone is lying to us, or they are able to move between the city and forest some other way entirely. Ifnot both.”
“Shit, maybe the first robbery wasn’t even a real robbery.” Talking about alarms and people potentially lying makes me think back to some of the other weird things we’ve encountered. “Remember how the mages couldn’t find traces of magic on the storage unit? Not even from the alarms that should have gone off? Murbank owns the whole place. What if they never set the alarms to begin with? How do we know they ever even stored the items there at all? They could have just taken them straight from the boat to wherever they’re hiding everything now.”
“Murbank, Keenguard, Redwish, and who knows who else? They’re all working together to make...something happen.” Ragnar’s sentence started strong, at least. “We just need to figureout what.”
“I have a feeling we may not learn that until we can determine what exactly was taken from the vault under the Hall of Honor,” Khazak says with a sigh. “That was clearly their main target tonight. The rest were just distractions to keep us and the rest of the force busy.”
“And to tie up any of their loose ends.” I actually feel pretty bad for Thog if Ragnar’s right. “Murbank is the most powerful person connected to all this. I mean, he’s one of the most powerful people in the city. Not to sound too cynical, but he’s a politician, right? Is he up for re-election or something sometime soon?”
“His term on the Tribal Council ends at the end of this year, but he’s not eligible for re-election.” Ragnar shakes his head at me. “No one is. Councilmembers can only serve a single term.”
“Shit.” Khazak’s curse gets both of our attention. “I have heard rumors, barely even rumblings really, that certain members of the Tribal Council have been floating the idea of amending the law to allow former councilmembers to serve again. But again, only rumors.”
“Thathasto be his plan.” That’s damn good motivation if I’ve ever heard it. “Attack the city, send everyone into a state of fear, then pass a law and run for re-election on a platform of public safety or something.I dunno.”
“Hmm.” Khazak considers my theory.Whatever. I thought it sounded good.“Have you talked to anyone else about this yet, Deputy?”
“No, I came straight here after getting the files.” Ragnar shakes his head. “I don’t know who else to trust with any of this. The only reason I think I was even able to get them without someone noticing was because of how crazy tonight was.”
“Good. I want to keep this between the three of us for now.” Khazak nods to himself, arms crossed over his chest as he thinks. “Until we can determine what exactly their plan is, I am not sure who we may be able to confide any of this information with.”
“So, what’s the plan then, Sir?” I can tell he’s working onsomething.
“We need to determine what exactly they were after in that vault, but that may take the curators a few days at least.” He frowns before looking at the papers in his hand. “However, in the interim, we may be able to use these files to speak withMurbank.”
“You think that’s smart?” Ragnar asks, not doubting but just wanting to be sure.
“We will need to be very careful not to let on what we suspect, but we may be able to get more information out of him or at least catch a misstep in his explanation.” Khazak puts the papers down on the counter. “Remember, none of us can speak about this toanyone, not even Nylan, not yet. I do not even want us discussing this at the station or anywhere else. The only place we talk about thisis here.”
“Understood. I haven’t said a thing to Ny yet. He thinks I’m still working.” Ragnar nods, already planning to keep this from his avakesh. “I actually need to get back home. He’s probably waiting for me,worried.”
“I will speak with the curators tomorrow and determine when to best confront Murbank.” Khazak sighs to himself. “It is a bit strange to think that the three of us may be the only people in the city standing between it and a massive conspiracy.”
It is weird, but I have faith that our little team can stop it.
Chapter 13
After we manage to grab maybe a couple hours of sleep in the early hours of the morning, Khazak and I are both back at the station the day following the bombing. The rest of our (or at least Khazak’s) patrol week in the forest has been cancelled, another ranger taking our place. There’s just too much to do, and so much of it requires the captain’s oversight. There are six different sites to investigate, cleanup crews to organize, victim’s families tocontact...
I don’t envy the people responsible for the last thing. I think not being able to speak their language is what saved me from having to do any of it, but it’s also the reason I can’t really do any of the other things Khazak needs. Instead, most of my day is spent acting as a courier, delivering papers and packages between the station, the bombing sites, and tribal hall. It’s a lot of walking, but I don’t mind. In the month and a half I’ve been here, I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of how to get around the cityon my own.
By the end of the day, I’ve worked up a pretty good appetite. Which is a good thing because after work, we head home for a quick shower before we are off again to Khazak’s parents for an impromptu dinner. From the way Khazak told me about it, plus his own reactions, it seems like the explosions have really shaken everyone. Myself included—I wouldn’t mind some comfort foodright now.
The mood when we get to the house is definitely more somber than the times I’ve been here before. His family is already pretty physically affectionate, but that’s been cranked up even more tonight: so many long hugs, so many whispered words of reassurance that I don’t understand. Even Ursza and Ignatz are nice to me, actually speaking to me without rolling their eyes or making fun of me for once. It’s weird.
Eventually, things start to feel a littletooweird, and I ask to excuse myself to the bathroom but actually go to Khazak’s old bedroom. I just need a minute to myself. I hate to admit it, but all of this has me missing my own family. I almost wish I could see them, but even if that were possible, there’s too much other shit we’d have to talk about. I’d like to see my friends, and I hope I will now that I’ll be in the city on Astraday, but I still don’t know how they’re doing right now. The labor camp easily could have been one of the bombing targets.
