Wanderer's Refuge

Chapter 6: Chasing steam

Tobias Walker was a young detective specializing in crimes involving sorcery something for which his own ability, "imbue body", which he'd honed through a whole youth of specialized training to be able to both take and give massive hits, serving as the "muscle" in any particularly dangerous assignments.

His senior was detective Jameson Williams, an awe-inspiring man, really. Such was his efficiency that he'd never had to interrogate someone for more than 5 minutes, the man was a bulldozer, dispassionately knocking over any resistance. Mr. Williams played chess with words, knowing what someone would do three exchanges ahead, getting them to an emotional and vulnerable state to finish them off with the use of "command mind".

Jameson's first suspended investigation was that of the "flying train", a stain on his reputation but a responsibility he took on with dignity. "It was my mistake," he had said, "I miscalculated the devil hand's behavior and the range of steel animation sorcery, but I'll clean up that mess as soon as we get a new lead."

A few days ago they'd tracked a burglar with the ability to walk through solid stone and swim through it like water to a seedy bar in a western town, unfortunately, even after a bullet to the thigh, the man had been able to escape through a wall and into an alleyway.

The detectives then traveled to a port town even farther west, where they waited near the boats for... something. Tobias hadn't been told yet.

"Shame about the stonewalker, right? Didn't think he had it in him to run with a wound like that." Walker said, making conversation on the pier.

"Oh, don't worry about that, I'm just testing out a theory, if I'm wrong, he'll just die from the infection in a few days, the man's face is known in half the country, really doubt he'll be able to enter any hospitals without us knowing. But if I'm right, and there's been someone illegally healing criminals and letting them back out into society, I'd bet after a scare like that our little burglar will want to skip town by sea. I'd quite like to have a chat with that lad about who and where this person could be," Answered the senior officer.

Sometimes Jameson's planning scared Tobias, his confidence in his deductions made it hard to gauge how much or how little he cared about the consequences of being wrong. Was he really entirely fine with a man slowly dying from an infection because of a theory he'd like to test? Even if it was a thief, that seemed like a rather callous way to see an avoidable death.

"Oh, see? Found him." Jameson pointed to a man in his thirties with a cloak and just the barest hint of a limp trying to sneak into a ship that was just about to raise anchor, walking casually towards the ship, all it took was tossing away his cigarette and raising his hand to signal to the sailors they should wait for a moment.

By the time the detectives came close to the ship, the stowaway had laid down on the ship's deck next to some crates, trying not to call attention. Jameson slowly raised his flintlock pistol and loudly cocked it, saying "would you please stand up sir?"

The cloak, looking more like a rug splayed out on the floor, slowly moved to show the man below it, terrified as he stood up.

"I believe we've met before, could I ask you a few questions?" said Jameson, without any effort to hide the satisfaction in his voice.

First comes the realization, then desperation as they realize there's nowhere to run, which leads to aggression, working with Jameson really made it seem like these things had a hard-set pattern. Before the man in his thirties could swing his fist he'd just turned to stone, Tobias was ready to catch it, pulling him off his feet, then throwing him to the ground and pinning him.

"Well done, Walker." Officer Williams patted him in the shoulder. "Now then, we both know you, sir, couldn't have made it this far with a bullet inside your leg," Jameson put the weight of his foot on top of the leg that had been shot and pointed to the wrappings around the man's thigh, "and what's this? Looks like somebody with access to at least some medical equipment treated you, would you like to share something about this person with us?"

"I ain't a snitch!" The captured burglar spat out, masking fear with anger, all par for the course.

Jameson leaned over, smiling knowingly, "'Imbue stone', was it? Could make it really hard to safely bring you to jail and hold you there, since at any time you might move through or break chains we put on you. You know, just that is enough grounds for me to make the executive decision to "neutralize" you before you can escape and cause more harm" he leisurely pointed his pistol to the man's face.

The bearded man reflexively looked away, sweating and dry swallowing, but still not saying anything.

"Tell me who they are and where they live," officer Williams now commanded, smile dropped for a cold and deadly stare.

Suddenly the burglar spoke in a clear and even tone, "her name is Alexandra Keys, she lives on a beach under a cliff south from here."

"Very good, was there anyone else with her? Any notable objects we could use to identify the place?"

"There were some kids helping her, one of them was in a wheelchair, they lived in a big train on the sand!"

"Bingo. Well sir, you've earned yourself a life in jail for some years, so behave well and you might keep it, Walker, I think we know where we should head next."

Jameson lit a cigar and smoked it with satisfaction at another job done, while Tobias pulled the man up, cuffed him and started moving him towards the local police station.

So, they'd found the people with the train, strangely enough, Tobias hadn't heard anyone refer to them as "kids" so far, but in retrospect it seemed undeniable, Lawrence seemed to be the oldest among them and he looked barely eighteen. Finding them was a good thing, right? They were dangerous threats to society and should be taken away, even if they were also three kids and a handsome, red headed young man with a silver tongue and pretty gray eyes... Wait, that part didn't matter.