Checkmate

Break

"Clan Leader will be with you shortly." 

The young female placed a mug of herb tea in front of me with a smile, bowed and left the room.

I picked up the mug, cradling it in my hands and walked over to the windows overlooking the Clanholding gardens. 

I'd been back from the Congress for just over a month now and it had been hectic, to say the least. I'd been plunged straight in, starting with a thorough debrief with the heads of Intelligence about the Congress and then an equally thorough briefing about the Rogues situation. I'd spent the past few weeks going back and forth between Pendragon and Clanholme as things had developed, and was now back in Clanholme  to brief the Intelligence heads. I had a clear idea of what was going on - and they weren't going to like it.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Lio." 

I turned from the window as the door opened and Clan Leader Craege entered, followed by Leda and the head of Intelligence. 

"My Lords." I bowed my head as I approached them, waiting until they were seated before sitting down opposite them, putting my mug down.

"Well?" The head of Intelligence, my boss, got straight to the point.

"Five more abduction-releases in the past week since the initial three that happened while I was at the Congress. All in Pendragon, all males and females of similar ages, but no other common features, varying in height, colouring, build, profession and residence areas. It's the same in every case. Disorientation, memory loss, no assault or other major injuries, just minor bruising, no drugs - or rather, none that we could discover." I summarised the facts succinctly. "Not until the last one."

"The last one?" Clan Leader asked, sharply. I nodded.

"We got lucky. The Healer got to him fairly quickly after his reappearance, she was able to detect the herb used. Soranth. It's an anaesthetic, occasionally used in surgeries, she says. It knocks you out, it scrambles short term memory, it's odourless after an hour or two and is undetectable in the system."

There was a silence.

"And she is reliable, this Healer?" My boss asked, more a statement than a question, but I answered anyway.

"Clan Leader has met her." I nodded at him. "She treated Clan's Son when he was injured by that bear in Pendragon. She's a skilled herbalist. If anyone would know, it's her." Clan Leader Craege inclined his head in acknowledgement and gestured for me to continue. 

"Go on."

"The abductions were carefully managed. They were missing for only a few hours, not long enough to rouse suspicion. The initial three were even written off as partying young Clan, as we know, until that Guard who'd worked on the initial Rogue investigation got involved. All the abductees were snatched when they were on their own, which means they were being watched. No evidence as to when and where they were taken, because their memories are so confused. In fact, if it weren't for the number of similar cases and the pattern, we wouldn't even be sure they were abducted at all."

My boss exhaled.

"So." He leaned back and looked at me.

"We don't have a lot to go on." I said carefully. "But two things seem clear. First, it is the Rogues."

"How can you be sure? You said yourself there's scant evidence." Leda asked, watching me closely.

"A few things. The careful lack of evidence being one." I said. "It's too deliberate. I found a few groves in the forest that seemed very deliberately undisturbed. As if something had happened, but it had been very carefully made to look normal. I think the forest is where they're bringing them - and the forest is where they stayed the last time. The drug being used. The methodology. Non-confrontational, nonviolent, targeted, seemingly random but not - and very little evidence. The pattern is the same as before. It's them."