They found Mirela's corpse in a neighbouring alleyway. The Carcani deathsquad had brought a wagon with them and she lay slumped over on the driver's stool, eyes staring into nothingness.

A harnessed mule stood in front of the wagon without a care in the world, chewing on something. Oak doubted the dumb animal had even noticed that Mirela had died.

Apparently, the plan had been to kill the three of them and cart the corpses out of town, to be buried in the plains where no one would ever find them. The idea of an unmarked grave had outraged Sadia, but Oak couldn't bother to work up the anger. For a dead man, one grave was as good as any other.

"Is she…?" Yan asked, but his expression betrayed what he already knew. He looked sad and resigned. "Is she dead?"

"Yeah," Oak replied.

Yan did not wail or cry. He just let out a long sigh. "Might be for the best. She…she won't have to witness what comes next."

"Yeah."

"Wait. How did you kill Mirela?" Sadia asked, glancing between Oak and the midwife's corpse. "I know you didn't have time to dive into the Dream."

"I have a trick up my sleeve."

"A wraith. He has a wraith." Ur-Namma fingered the blade of his long dagger, eyes peeled for trouble. "We should get a move on. I propose we appropriate this wagon for our purposes.

Sadia looked even more confused than before. "A wraith. Yes, of course."

Oak had to hide his grin. The little spellsinger had no idea what they were talking about. "I concur. Up you get, Yan. You are going in the wagon."

After Oak had herded Yan into the wagon and dumped Mirela's corpse next to him on the rough wooden floor, Ur-Namma took up the reins and hopped to the driver's stool. The elf drove the mule around the block and back to the alley where the men led by Yan had commenced their ambush. Oak loaded up those five corpses as well. The Ensi would most likely want to see them with his own eyes.

When Oak finished stacking the corpses, he hopped onto the wagon and took a seat opposite Yan. Sadia preferred to walk by the wagon. She made it clear she would rather not suffer the stench of dead men.

Can't blame her. They ain't rotting yet, but there is a definite odor of shit in the air.

Yan leaned awkwardly against the side of the wagon. Oak had tied the man's hands behind his back to discourage any tomfoolery, but it looked like such a measure might have been unnecessary. There was no defiance left in the man. Just grim resignation.

"It's instructive, isn't it? You all figured you had made a mistake. Overlooked some detail that we could trace back to you," Oak murmured. He nudged Mirela's body with his boot. "It is often not the first mistake that pulls down the entire house of cards. It's how you respond. How you try to make up for it."

"Hang on a bloody moment!" Yan stared at Oak, mouth agape. "Are you telling me it was all an act? You had no leads?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Bloody hell." Yan slumped, shaking his head. "All this, for no bloody reason."

"Don't beat yourself up about it. Makes no difference in the end."

"It is a hard thing, accepting the world that is instead of clamoring for a world that could have been," Yan replied, staring at everything and nothing. "You can save the lecture for someone else. I doubt I will live to see dawn."

"I reckon you are right."

Ur-Namma drove the wagon onwards along the empty streets of Kesh, towards the market square and the Ensi's manor. The town was fast asleep. Sadia's dragging steps and the rhythmic thumping of the mules' hooves were the only sounds piercing the drowsy silence.

They passed under a hanging oil lamp, still holding a small flame despite the late hour. In the fire's warm glow, the corpses stacked on top of each other on the wagon-bed floor looked even more macabre than usual. By their faces, one could have thought they were sleeping, but the bloody wounds on their bodies told a different story.

Well, if you didn't count the fellow Sadia had fried with her lightning. Or Afrim. Even a blind man could not have thought Afrim was sleeping. The man had not been much of a looker in life and getting his jaw broken and teeth smashed out of his mouth had not helped matters.

Yan turned his gaze away from the dead, face ashen with grief.

"Why?" Oak asked. He wanted to know, for the sake of curiosity alone. Everyone, him included, had thought the Kashari were the likely culprits. "Why did your clan do it?"

"For stupid reasons. We make our living from trade and fishing, but we are firmly in third place. The Kashari and the Ferhati have larger merchant fleets and they haul more cargo." Yan shrugged. "Endrit, my grandfather, saw an opportunity to turn our competitors' feud bloody. He thought that if they started killing each other, we could swoop in and snatch up some of their contracts."

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Huh. Seems like an enormous risk to take for not too big a gain."

"I already said it was stupid."

Ur-Namma took a right turn, guiding the mule and the wagon down a road lined with large houses and well-kept gardens. Their brief journey from the docks was coming to a close.

"The Ferhati will want their pound of flesh." Yan bit his lip and his mustache trembled. He had a strange look on his face that Oak could not place. "I have plenty of nieces and nephews. Do you think they will let the children live?"

"I don't know. Not my decision to make."

***

Bang, bang, bang.

Oak waited a moment before slamming his fist against the Ensi's door once more.

Bang, bang, bang.

Yan shuffled his feet next to Oak on the steps of the manor, clearly uncomfortable with the racket. If Oak had grown up in Kesh, he might have felt a similar apprehension about banging on the door of the most influential man in town at night, but he had not grown up in Kesh. He respected Halit, and they needed the man's help, but Oak was not about to let etiquette get in the way of necessity.

"For Heaven's sake, stop beating the door! I am coming!"

A sleepy manservant dressed in a nightshirt and pajamas opened the door a tad, blinking owlishly up at Oak. It was the same older man with some gray around his temples that had opened the door for them when they first came to visit the venerable Halit Dushaj.

"What is the matter?"

Eduard. I think Halit called him Eduard.

"We have made some considerable strides in our investigation," Oak said. "The Ensi needs to be briefed. Now."

"Can it not wait until morning?" Eduard rubbed his eyes and yawned. "It's the middle of the night, good sir."

"No, it cannot wait." Oak pulled the door open, revealing Yan's bruised face to the manservant who gawked at the purple bruising with his mouth open. "Go wake up Halit, please."

"Yes. That might be for the best." The old-timer sighed and rubbed the bridge of his pointy nose. "Do you have other…em…prisoners with you, or is Yan the only one?"

"There are six others on the wagon-bed, but they are not among the living anymore."

"I…see." Eduard pulled on his shirt collar and swallowed. "Very well. Get inside, all four of you. You can wait for the Ensi in his study."

***

Halit Dushaj did not look pleased. Despite the late hour, the man's appearance was as polished as it had been when Oak and Ur-Namma had first laid eyes on him. I suspect sorcery is involved somehow. Not even a single hair on the man's head was out of place.

The Ensi of Kesh sat down behind his massive writing desk, pulled the cuffs of his sleeves up to his wrists, and steepled his long fingers. "I believe I told you this had to be done cleanly. Would anyone care to explain why I have a wagon with six corpses in it on my doorstep?"

"For what it's worth, we did not attack them. They set out to kill us and bury our corpses on the plains outside of town," Ur-Namma replied from his armchair. Oak had commanded the other sinfully soft chair for himself, while Sadia had to be content with a regular chair Halit's manservant had carried to the study.

Yan had to stand on his own two legs. Apparently, Halit's hospitality had its limits.

"We have finished our investigation. Clan Carcani is responsible for the attack on the nursery and the death of those two infants. I believe much frustration could be avoided if our friend Yan here told you what he already told us. Better to hear it straight from the horse's mouth."

"Talk, boy," Halit said. His pale green eyes flashed with anger. "I wish to hear this sorry tale from beginning to end before I make my conclusions."

Yan spoke haltingly at first, but as the tale progressed, he gained confidence. Soon the man was singing like a little bird. Oak added details here and there to give Halit an accurate picture of the past day's events and their methods.

A foundation of petty greed and the ambition of Endrit Carcani. The attack on the nursery. Yan with a hammer in hand, bashing the ward anchor to pieces while Mirela guided the poltergeist into position. An unforgivable act. The panic when Ur-Namma claimed he had secured a lead with his 'Elven mysticism'. The failed ambush and six corpses.

When Yan finished his tale, and Oak had no further details to add, Halit pressed his fingers against his temples and let out a deep sigh. The Ensi looked like he had aged ten years during Yan's tragic tale of greed, murder and stupidity.

"Damn it all. Well, I guess I have to commend your efficiency," Halit said. "You fulfilled your part of our deal in the course of a single day. I suspect it will take longer for me to do the same, since there are no caravans on the horizon."

Halit glanced at Yan and the Carcani man looked away in shame. "I never would have guessed it was them. Good work."

"You are not alone. I was pretty sure the Kashari were behind the whole thing up until we started interrogating Yan here," Oak replied. "In hindsight, we should have considered the idea that someone in the nursery staff might have a hand in the plot."

"I will send word to the Ferhati and the Kashari manors. We need to have a meeting at once and decide what to do. I would appreciate it if you attended the gathering. You can wait here and look after our prisoner while I make the arrangements," Halit said and stood up to leave. He was halfway out of the door of his study when he stopped in his tracks and turned around, locking eyes with Sadia. "How silly of me, I almost forgot."

Sadia had been silent thus far. She had retreated to the corner of the room and seemed quite flustered by the Ensi's attention. Halit smiled at her and bowed. "Greetings to you, fellow practitioner. That enchantment you have on your bracelet is beyond fascinating. I would be willing to show you how to conceal its magical signature and let you copy one of my own spells for later study if you tell me how you managed to fit such an impressive piece of magic inside a mere bracelet."

"I–I am sure we can come to an agreement," Sadia squeaked.

"Magnificent." Halit beamed and clapped his hands together. "Now, I must–"

"Sorry to interrupt, but does anyone else smell smoke?" Ur-Namma sniffed the air. A frown creased his wrinkled forehead.

Oak jumped up from his chair and raced to open the shutters. He stuck his head out of the window and stared. The refugee camps on the outskirts of town were aflame. Screams pierced the night air and the cloudy sky above reflected the angry, red glow of burning tents. Dark pillars of smoke reached towards the Heavens.

"Um. Hey, Halit. You are not going to like this."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.