Thereafter Chapter 18: Unusual Suspects
The Exalted Heroes investigate an important theft; Michael visits a curious suspect.
“What we need to do is to determine whether this boondogle is a theft or a kidnapping,” Lex said as they marched across the impromptu stage they had created for themselves. It wasn’t much of a stage as much as it was three meter by one meter cleared area of Exalted Room floor just opposite the couch, the whole scene was framed by a corkboard Lex had conjured up for the occasion.
“What if it’s a hootenanny?” Alicia asked. She, Felipe and Michael had found themselves herded back onto the coach after the brief and panicked briefing by a highly distraught Eltern.
“If it’s a hootenanny it’s in god’s hands,” Lex said in a mock distraught voice.
“Ok,” Felipe said, folding his arms across his chest in the kind of passive-aggressive gesture he seldom indulged in. “I’ll bite. Why is it important that we find out if it’s a theft or a kidnapping.”
“Good question, Espino…”
“Espino, that’s formal...”
“We need to determine what purpose the Sword Of Lakes was stolen for. Let’s start there actually.” Lex continued undaunted, opening their palm, from, ostensibly from between their fingers, they pulled a polaroid picture of the Sword of Lakes. “The Sword of Lakes. What do we know?”
“It’s Thereafter’s only steady supply of freshwater.” Michael said. “That makes it important. Valuable.”
“Good, Mikey, that’s correct.”
“Wait, how comes he gets a diminutive and I get last named?”
“Your last name is easier to pronounce Espino, now shush.” Lex affixed the polaroid to the top of the cork board.
“So what you’re asking, really, is if someone wanted access to that water, or wanted to be the only one to have access to it?” Michael surmised.
“Hey, is it just me, or does that sword look like the one in…” Alicia peered at the photo.
“Yes yes yes, Ms Thorn, the polaroid picture spell is colored by my perception and memories, we all know which magical sword we’re talking about.”
“Alright, gamer” Alicia didn’t quite laugh, but there was a playful lilt to it that made Lex blush all the same.
“Anyway,” Lex cleared their throat. “The question is, as Michael said, whether this is to be considered a material or a political maneuver.”
“How do you figure?” Alicia asked.
“Well, if the goal of the theft is depraving Thereafter of water, the clock is ticking. From last I hear, they stock about a day and a half of water as a buffer. Considering the theft was discovered at the sword was to be retrieved to re-fill, we can assume we’re down to, or if we’re unlucky, down past the buffer mark.”
“Things are going to get dry in Thereafter,” Felipe quipped.
“Eventually, but not right away. Water rationing can prolong our stock somewhat”
“Yeah that won’t be popular,” Alicia shook her head.
“Not popular at all, and it introduces another problem. If this is a power grab, water rationing would be just what the thief counts on happening. After letting people parch for a day or two, coming in with fresh water to all who bend the knee or whatever, will be a very persuasive argument.”
“That’s assuming that whoever stole it has some kind of claim to power, and manpower to back it up. The Council may not have an army yet, but they’re not to be trifled with.” Alicia said. Michael knew she spoke from experience about Lia, and the little he had seen of Eltern made Michael pretty sure he was no slouch either.
“Right. In this scenario there’s two possibilities. Either someone with some real power to their name is angling to unseat the council or…” Lex looked around, as if looking for something in specific, before speaking “this is an internal kind of power play.”
“Ah, yes, because of the vault thing?”
“Exactly Espino.” Lex produced another polaroid, this time of the wall that Eltern had opened to reveal the vault. It was almost obstructed by translucent blue and purple patterns and sigils. Was this how Lex saw magic? “As far as we know, only four people in this here city can open this here vault.” The vault picture went below the sword picture on the corkboard.
“Right. The Council and Quartermaster Keegan.” Michael went through his memory with a fine-tooth comb to recall if there was more to that, but he came up empty.
“Exactly, these four sketchy characters to be exact,” Lex said as they went about the business of producing four polaroid photos and tacking them to the board with thumbtacks that Michael could SWEAR appeared out of thin air.
Looking at the photos Lex had produced, there was a bit of a trend that could be discerned. Eltern looked older and frailer than Michael had seen him, Lia sneered at the camera, Leowin was, Michael suspected, elaborate flesh puppetry by a caravan of stoats in a robe, and Keegan wore an ill-fitting police uniform. Michael took it all in as Lex fussed with attaching the thumbtacks with red string.
“I’ve always wanted to do this,” Lex confessed.
“Ok, so let’s say the easy part right away. It would be weird if it was Eltern.” Michael said.
“What, because he’s so trustworthy?” Felipe asked.
“Not what I said. It’s just that he broke the news to us and, from what I recall, discovered the theft.”
“It could be he’s a better actor than either of us assumed,” Alicia said.
“It could be,” Lex nodded in agreement. “Let’s check that the sword actually is gone before we leave today. Just in case.”
“That’s… not what I meant.”
“Ok, next up. Lia,” Lex pointed with a thumb at the polaroid.
“No way.” Alicia said, there was an eagerness to her defense that caught Michael off guard “Lia’s a bit rough around the edges, but she’s very big on the sharing. It’s a cultural thing.”
“Could very well be,” Lex said. “But I assume Steppeworld folk are also capable of lies?”
“They are, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.”
“Right,” Lex conceded. “I don’t like the smell of this either. If Lia wanted to be Queen Shit of Fuck Mountain I’m pretty sure she and her church could make it happen, sword of lakes or no.”
“It’s not a church, but you are probably right.”
“Yeah I don’t think it’s Square And Grumpy either,” Felipe said, gaining an elbow to the side from Alicia for his efforts.
“Then there’s Leowin,” Lex said. “I’ll be honest I don’t know what to think about this guy. If I had to say anything definitive he seems mostly harmless, but possibly insane and/or a genius.”
“Seeming harmless isn’t being harmless,” Alicia opined.
“That’s true, but I don’t know, he doesn’t give off bad vibes. His vibes are weird, but benign.”
“I’ll be honest I haven’t spoken to him much,” Michael said. “He always seems busy with this or that… I don’t think we can rule him out.”
“Fair enough. No matter how space-y he seems, he is clearly a very powerful wizard, since he’s the reason there even is a Thereafter in the first place.”
“Guy like that could surely find a use for a magic sword. It seemed a bit Arthurian to me anyway,” Alicia said, frowning slightly as she synthesized the idea.
“Wow, nerd alert,” Felipe jeered.
“Oh shut up.”
“Then there’s the also-ran,” Michael said as his eyes fell on the photo of quartermaster Keegan. “The one that just doesn’t quite belong.”
“Yeah, as much as I’m wary of prejudice,” Lex said, “It’s hard not to see him as an easy suspect. It doesn’t help that I don’t like his ass.”
“He did seem rather professional, though,” Alicia said. “And if he comes from a military background he’s not a stranger to there always being someone of higher rank than you.”
“That is true,” Lex said with a barely suppressed groan. “He’s a boot-licker to boot. What a jerk.”
“Or he’s doing his bit to keep things running, that’s not a crime is it?” if Michael didn’t know Felipe better, he might even think this argument came from a place of conviction and not playing the devil’s advocate.
“Ugh, I don’t like talking about how this guy may not be the worst. I will concede it is possible, but go no further.” As to illustrate their point, Lex drew a mustache on the photo of Keegan with a felt tip pen they pulled from behind their ear. Michael was sure it hadn’t been there before.
“So,” Michael said. “What do we do now?”
“Well, we’ve considered the suspects,” Lex said, tapping the cap of the felt tip pen at their chin thoughtfully. “As the pure power of reason within us have failed to extract truth, we must, unfortunately, look for evidence.”
“Right,” Alicia said. “We should talk to the suspects, maybe take a look at the crime scene. Dibs on Eltern.”
“Lia!” Felipe said quickly.
“I’ll go looking for Keegan then,” Lex said “I do have some questions for the man.”
Michael blinked, had everybody but him been ready for this.
“I suppose,” He said, “I’ll go talk to Leowin then?”
“Sounds good,” Alicia nodded. “I’ll go ask Eltern to show me the armory. What do y’all say we meet back up here afterward and compare notes?”
“Yeah that sounds good,” Michael said
“Works for me,” Lex agreed.
“Let’s go get some bad guys,” Felipe said with a wink. It was, it seemed, all a big game to him. Michael wished he could see it the same way. He was no detective. He didn’t have any authority here. If it turned out it truly was one of the Council who had stolen the sword, what kind of right or power would the Exalted invoke to punish them? Would they expose the crime to the public? Would that mean protests? Riots? Was there even an end goal to all of this? Michael didn’t know, but he figured they’d hoe that road as they went.
It had taken the better part of the afternoon searching, finding bundled notes in odd places and, at one point, taking directions from a squirrel, but eventually Michael found what he was looking for. As he opened the heavy oak door, he was met with a strange humidity that crackles with energy. For better or worse, Michael thought, he had tracked down the office, or workspace, or quarters or whatever they were, of Leowin of Merlinus.
“Hark, who goes there? Ah, Exalted Sørstrand, come in, come in.” Leowin’s voice was a creaky baritone as he had expected, but there was some sort of strength in it, or at least the ghost of strength. Then there was the fact that Michael had no idea how Leowin knew his last name. He even pronounced it properly.
Michael entered the room, feeling like there should, by rights, be dry ice fog roiling out of the door, perhaps it could be colored some exotic color somehow, but no. The air was notably denser in the room, but that was about it. The source, of the density, Malcom realized, was probably the huge cauldron which Leowin hunched over, his gawky long limbs making him fold himself awkwardly to properly peer into the boiling contents of the pot. He was, Michael couldn’t help but notice, facing away from the door, so how Merlinus had clocked him was beyond Michael’s ken.
“Pardon my rudeness, we are entering the final phase of this particular boil, and it is vital I stay on top of things, as it were.” Leowin said, again without taking his attention away from the boiling liquid which he stirred with a large, gnarled stirring stick. “No room for error in this concoction, no room at all.” Leowin stretched out a long, spindly arm to snatch something off a shelf. Was it the skull of some small rodent, or had Michael’s eyes betrayed him for the sake of the drama of it all? Regardless, once Leowin tossed the reagent into the thick grey goo, the color turned from bone grey to a very toxic-seeming green. “The foretellings of omens, prognosticating, divination, it’s all becoming very untidy in the wake of The Cataclysm, and so we sayers of sooth must make do with what there is for us to make with.
“I can imagine,” Michael said. It felt a little bit like he was attempting to placate the old man, but given how little he knew about magic, it was just about all he could think of saying. “Lex tells me magic’s been acting weird in general here in Thereafter?”
“Lex? Oh, Lex! Little Lexica, the spirited child.”
Michael had no idea Lex’ name was short for Lexica, but he severely doubted it.
“They’re in their thirties, sir,”
“Ah, what salad days those days of youth. No matter, no matter. They have the inquisitive nature of the non-stodgy, and what a sense of justice my word.” Leowin’s stirring turned more vigorous as he spoke, as if stirred on by some energy hitherto hidden. “Understand this is all to speak for the content of their character, it is an excellent, if not at times risky, basis for an understanding of magic. It’s very pliable, the stuff, easily shaped by ones preconceptions, it’s why I just can’t magic up a book no matter what I do. I grew up in the days of vellum, can you believe it boy? Vellum!?” Leowin chuckled to himself, it was one of those sounds that either betrayed good humor or a severe fracture in sanity. “That kind of thing stays with you. Limits you in a sense. If you’re any kind of wizard at all you get an apprentice as quick as you can and hope they can rattle the cobwebs out of your brain before it’s too late. Ah, but these things are complicated, and there’s any number of reasons why you wouldn’t want strapping young men living under your roof and…” Leowin shook his head. “Pardon me young man, I appear to have let the fumes carry me away again. What do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”
Michael cleared his throat. He had been entirely unable to get a word in edgewise for the duration of Leowin’s ramble, but it had also been captivating to listen to. Regardless of how scatter-brained as Leowin was, there was no doubt to Michael he was dealing with a wizard of some consequence.
“I came to talk to you about the Sword Of Lakes.”
“Ah yes, Evil’s Bane. It didn’t come from Merlinus you know. The realm had a name for itself to be replete with magical swords, granted, but I believe it’s from elsewhere. Perhaps it is the last remnant of its realm, like me, ah Birds Of A Feather and all that.”
“Do you mean you have it?” Michael’s voice was measured, and right on the brink of being too intense.
“Far from it. I did find it on one of my scavenges to the void. It was early on, and I was working on an incantation that required morning dew. Not the easiest thing to get a hold of given everything as you can probably imagine. Good thing I found it, too, we’d all be dead by thirst long ago if it weren’t for that sword. And to think it was originally made to take lives. Evil lives perhaps, but lives all the same.”
“Do you have, uh, any idea who might’ve taken it?”
“None as of yet young man,” Leowin said as he added more roots and obscure reagents from his messy shelves into his boiling brew. He hadn’t looked away the whole time he was talking.
“I’m hoping this brew will open up some doors, but it’s not its primary function, no point to that as messed up as the weave of fate is these days, I told you about the weave of fate did I not?”
“You did mention it…”
“It’s all tangled up, yes. The Cataclysm really did a number on it. Not as much of a number as it did to Merlinus and the others, of course, and that’s just the ones we’ve discovered.”
“I suppose there’s no directory.”
“A directory, now that would be a mercy. No. I personally suspect there are large dark numbers here. Worlds so entirely atomized we haven’t been able to detect traces of them. The world of Evil’s Bane is perhaps such a world, although I will concede I have not gone around asking every single thereafterian where would I have the time. There’s brews to take care of, don’t you know?”
“What is it you’re brewing anyway?” Michael peeked into the cauldron, though he knew not why, as the roiling soup told him nothing of value.
“A very complicated concoction. I’m attempting to create life, and not just any life either.”
“That does sound challenging. What kind of life?”
“Some very fundamental organisms these. Lichen. Hardy bastards, thought I might try to create some soil like we did back in the old days. Of course, a sacrifice would do wonders, but I suppose there is a volatility to that, and not to speak of the ethics of it all. No, the sacrifices went the way of the big rocks and that’s probably for the best I say… now where did I put my, oh yes, there.”
Michael cleared his throat,
“We’re looking into the Sword of Lakes theft, as I said,”
“Yes you mentioned that.”
“Do you think there’s any other way the thief might have accessed the sword? Other than the door I mean.”
“No chance whatsoever. It’s more of Elterns style of magic than mine, that sealing spell, but it is damn near flawless, I’ll have to give him that. You could break through it, but it’d be noisy and probably take a few days, and it’d be pretty obvious you did to anyone with a third eye in their skull.”
“I see… I won’t bother you any further, then,” Michael said. He was about to leave, but a creaking sound made him start. When he looked back on Leowin, the ancient wizard had turned his head to look at him. The unusual angle of his neck made Michael think of owls, and the deep jet-black eyes, not black as in missing but black as if the iris had expanded to cover the entire sclera, certainly did not help the impression.
“Exalted Michael,” Leowin spoke, it didn’t feel like the voice was entirely his. For a brief second of panicked dream logic, Michael felt like the bubbling cauldron, somehow, spoke through Leowin. “The path ahead of you leads through tribulation. Will you brave the darkness on the way to a new tomorrow?”
Before Michael could even consider whether this was the kind of potentially magical voice one answered or not, Leowin blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, his eyes was the way more natural-feeling green on white sclera. The moment, whatever it had been, was over.
“Uhm…”
“Oh I say. That omen had some juice in it still,” Leowin said as he shook his head, as of ridding himself of leaves in his hair and not prognostications of ill fortune. “Don’t worry about it too much, most of those lead nowhere exciting, especially nowadays. Good luck on finding the Sword of Lakes.” With that, Leowin turned back to his concoction, seemingly unbothered. Michael wished he could say the same for himself, but as he closed the door to the cauldron room, he did so with shaking hands.
Author’s note: Leowin has long been one of those characters that I’ve kicked myself for not finding more screen time for in the past. Eltern has that whole Zordon business going for him, Lia’s around (although I will volunteer that Lia fans will eat well once we get to book two,) but Leowin’s just kind of flitting around the periphery. For better or worse we’ve gotten a better look at him today. Hope you enjoyed it!
-VSD-