In the Dark of the Night

In the Light of the Day 6

The rest of the night was occupied with tedious activity. After carefully scouring the outpost for any more hidden intruders, Del and Sparrow, now dressed, were dispatched to alert the city guard of the break-in and death. They also informed the security company Lewis had worked for, and requested emergency replacements, though the night attendant there told them they'd have to wait until morning. Eis'Libe stayed with Mapstone to make sure no one could again be ambushed alone. Some tired-looking guardsmen came to collect information of the crime; the Rangers, by prior agreement, told them what they knew except for their own investigation and the blood trail they'd followed. As for the missing brooch, they said only that it was an antique piece of jewelry, thus classifying the incident as a burglary gone wrong. Later, an undertaker arrived to take away Lewis's body, and the Rangers were allowed to clean up the scene, though the wooden floor was left stained with blood. Del found a rug in the storage room to cover it after it dried. Finally, once the sun was up and activity could be heard in the streets outside, the replacement security guards arrived. Mapstone had authorized four guards per shift to protect the outpost until the situation was resolved: one for each entrance and a fourth for backup and coordination. Huis did not appear, on bereavement leave according to the replacements. With that, the Rangers were finally able to collapse into their beds and get some rest.

A little after noon, the trio were awake, and headed downstairs to discuss strategy with Mapstone.

"Do you think we can trust...?" Sparrow asked quietly, indicating the new security guard with an exaggerated glance.

"Yes, I think we can," replied Mapstone. "Even if I don't know them individually, I've used this company for years, and they pride themselves on their confidentiality. That said, they're not mercenaries; they won't actively help us do anything illegal. They just won't talk about it if we do."

"Fair enough," said Del. "What I still dinnae get is why the Duke or whoever would care about the brooch now when they threw it away a year ago."

"Perhaps they weren't aware of its power," Eis'Libe suggested. "Changing a person's species is possible through conventional magic — some druids can even turn into animals — but it's strictly a temporary state, so much so that if someone's identity is in question due to magic, it's considered sufficient to simply keep them under observation for a few hours."

"What about me, then?" Sparrow asked. "I've been like this for months."

"I have no answer to that," Eis'Libe replied. "To be quite honest, I wasn't sure I believed your story before, though if what you said about your 'double' last night is true, that would seem to confirm it."

"What!? After all this time, you still don't believe me?"

"Don't get me wrong; I believe that you believe it. It would simply be foolish of me to believe every outlandish story I hear with no evidence. But it doesn't matter — whether or not I believe your story doesn't change who you are now."

"...thank you?" said Sparrow.

"In any case, an artifact that could change one's very nature permanently and undetectably would be priceless, especially for anyone engaged in illegal activities. Whether it actually can do that or not is irrelevant, so long as the thieves thought it could."

"While that's true enough," Mapstone interjected, "I still suspect they only took it to deny us our evidence. The King's courts supersede all lower courts, but without physical evidence, it'll be our word against the Duke or his agent's, who'll presumably deny everything, truthfully or not. That tells us that whoever's behind all this is more concerned about royal interference than ours."

"So, what's our next move?" Del asked. " The castle's a big place, is it nae? Where do we even start?"

"The most likely place would be the castle's jail; it's small and not used for much since the city jail was built, but they do sometimes keep 'special' prisoners there."