Chapter Twelve: Fugitives
Late one Sunday evening in June, 2000, a group of frustrated and weary knights walk enter the Bureau through a door between the real world and the Faerie World.
Aside from the standard guards, Autumn Yeiotana stands there, and with a quick glance across them she surveys the situation. Even without her telepathy, Autumn could have told from Michael’s expression that something is wrong. The blonde paladin is torn up because he has just learned from the party that his girlfriend and fellow knight, Keira McCormick, was killed on a mission earlier in the day.
Autumn walks up and supports him, saying quietly to the group that she’ll handle Michael. They need to report to the Chief. As Autumn leads Michael off to console him on his loss, the party walks quietly to where the Chief is waiting. They can all sense that Something Bad is about to happen.
They find the Chief amidst a group of desk workers and techies, all gathered in a room filled with computer terminals, plastic racks of divination scrolls, and various screens and scanners. The Chief looks grave and tells them to make themselves comfortable; they’ll be here for a while. Everyone leans against unused wallspace, except for Madeline and Finagle, who sit down wearily in the only available chairs.
The Chief hands out to them printed sheets of the details they know so far. Even though he knows Michael is in a horrible position, he still hopes Michael will be able to make it, because they might need him to crack this case. Still, Autumn said she wanted to talk to him, so he trusted her.
The facts are thus. The killer of the first two Dragons—Flarinaman, who had been in Savannah to visit Dornankanir, and Giriuko, a Hong-Kong corporate president—was Jericho Wright. Airline records confirm he was in both cities on the appropriate day. Jericho’s wife and two children turned up as dead ends; they believed he was just on a business trip. They have been told that Jericho Wright died in a mugging in Savannah.
Unfortunately, there are two problems. First of all, someone else killed another Dragon—Dornankanir, from Savannah—after the presumed killer died. Second of all, according to magical scans, Jericho Wright has no traces of spirit energy that should remain if he had bonded with a ghost. Since he’s obviously not a wizard, and obviously a human, they can’t explain how he was able to wield the magic he used on the party, not to mention on the Dragons he killed.
One Knight has gone missing—half-Elf telepath Dalavar Keneil—though it is possible he was killed by Gremlins that somehow escaped the Bureau. Another Knight has been killed—quarter-Elf Keira McCormick—and judging by her reaction right before her murder, she knew her killer. Dalavar is their key suspect for the murder of Keira, and a manhunt is out for him even now.
The only leads they’ve had so far about who the killer is have died. One—a Siren—killed herself after claiming that the killer is dead. The other—Gina Perez, bonded with the spirit of Margaret Thomas—was murdered by someone with a Bureau-style arcane sword, but she managed to scrawl out “Legion” before dying. Whether Legion is a name or a title or if it simply means that there were several attackers is unknown.
Cai mentions that he thinks his short term memory has been tampered with, since he can vaguely recall seeing someone running away from Keira’s murder scene, but trying to place the killer’s face just causes him headaches. The Chief considers this and starts to call for J’Qwuan to help dredge Cai’s mind. Cai, nervous that the Illithid might actually have been responsible for wiping his memory, asks to have at least two telepaths present. The Chief grudgingly agrees and calls Autumn in also.
In the few minutes it takes the two telepaths to arrive, the group discusses their thoughts. There is no consensus as to whether Legion is supposed to be a demon possessing people, or a telepath controlling people, or an organization of people working together to kill different natural magis. Everyone has been so busy thinking about the dead Dragons that only Tagin reminds them that the killer apparently wanted to murder the Siren also, but wasn’t able to because they were in a public place. It looks like the killer(s) have something in particular against Dragons, but is/are also eager to kill other magi. Keira and Dalavar were both partially magi.
As far as they can tell, that’s been the only connection in the murders, though it is possible that the killer is just traveling randomly, killing any magi he or she comes across along the way. Giriuko, Dornankanir, and Flarinaman were fairly high profile for Dragons, so it would make sense for ‘Legion’ to go after them first, since they would be easiest to find. Depressedly, they have to guess that the other magi were just collateral damage, and that the main goals were the Dragons.
The Illithid and the Elf telepaths arrive. Autumn glances at the Chief, then at Cai, as if questioning the Chief’s decision on something. The Chief shakes his head.
The group wonders if Autumn and the Chief are reacting poorly to Cai because of what his brother Iscalio did earlier, but before any of us can ask about Iscalio, the Chief speaks up. He explains to Autumn that they need to check Cai’s mind for traces of a memory wipe, but he himself is interrupted by one of the techies who walks forward urgently. The Chief turns to him, eager for news.
The technician says they’ve finished scanning through the surveillance tapes from the convention center where Dornankanir was murdered just hours ago. They only found one person who stands out and looks out of place. The techie hands over a printed black and white image from the surveillance camera in the kitchen. The Chief looks at it in confusion, then hands it to the party, asking if any of them recognize him.
[Copy and paste this link in a separate browser; you cannot just click straight through because geocities won’t let you:
http://www.geocities.com/rangerwickett/SK_Images/Brian2-no.JPG]
The paper is passed around until Tagin and Finagle see it, and both gasp in surprise. Finagle breaths out in dismay.
“Brian, no.”
Guards are sent to bring in Brian Greenman, Finagle’s next door neighbor and recent teammate with Tagin on his mission in Hong Kong. When he shows up, apparently he knows the jig is up. He’s already blubbering, his clothes and hair a mess. Before they can even ask any questions, he shouts, “They said they’d wipe my mind if I didn’t do it!”
The Chief stares at him coldly. “Who?”
“ . . . I don’t know.”
“Who!”
J’Qwuan speaks into their minds, casually stating, He doesn’t know.
“Stay out of this!” the Chief snaps at his head telepath.
Glancing around in panic, Brian suddenly stops. He shudders for a moment, and then his eyes roll back in his head and he falls dead to the floor. Autumn gasps and runs off, saying she’ll get help. Finagle almost begins to cry at the sight of his friend lying dead on the floor. The whole room stands still in shock at the sudden death, with no sign as to what happened.
J’Qwuan’s telepathic voice says that he sensed a powerful force just now, and that only powerful magic or a powerful telepath could just kill someone so suddenly. The Illithid kneels next to the body, running a hand over Brian’s face to close his eyes.
The Chief turns to the room and furiously shouts for them to alert the facility. “I want to know that my agency isn’t going insane!”
The Illithid’s white eyes emotionlessly regard the gathered knights, and his thoughts reach them all with a trace of worry.
I can give you every assurance that it is.
Without another word, the Mind Flayer stands and leaves the room.
Jenny tries to see if she could possibly heal Brian, but he is already long gone. The Chief orders the Knights out of the room, and as they leave the Chief surpervises the techies as they begin to scan Brian’s still warm corpse. A soft alert sounds through the whole facility, accompanied by a woman’s voice stating that everyone should be wary for magical forces. When the party asks what they should do, the Chief glowers and tells them to just leave. They have caused too much trouble already.
Finagle begins to cry, and Jenny tries to comfort him, leading him out of the room while glaring at the Chief as they leave. Once outside the room, they look at each other, unsure what to do, until Jenny decides to go talk to Michael. He seems to be the only one left who has been exposed to “Legion” and is still alive. Only a few days earlier, Michael had insulted Dornankanir in Draconic. Michael, however, doesn’t even know the language, and doesn’t remember the encounter.
Before they can get to Michael, however, a scream pierces their minds, Autumn’s voice crying out for help. The knights run to help, following the scream as it continues and intensifies as they grow nearer.
They come quickly to Autumn’s office. Cai kicks the door in, revealing Autumn and J’Qwuan staring at each other, sweat streaking their faces in a fierce battle of wills. J’Qwuan is slowly inching closer, his four gray-green tentacles reaching for the Elvish woman’s vulnerable face.
Cai considers for a moment, but Finagle rushes past him into the room, firing his tranq rifle at the Illithid. He shouts desperately, tears still streaming down his cheeks. “I’ll save you, Autumn!”
A telekinetic shield deflects the dart, but then the two telepaths slump away from each other at the same time. Cai yanks Finagle back, and the tall knight covers the room with his shotgun. Finagle struggles, pointing at J’Qwuan and shouting that the Illithid killed Brian. Cai shakes his head, confused, and he tells them all to wait.
The two telepaths stand in unison, their motions nearly exact mirrors. Both draw pistols from their clothing, and hold them warily toward the party. Autumn’s voice speaks at the same time that J’Qwuan’s mental voice seeps into their minds.
“How do you know which one of us won? How do you even know which one is the real threat? Who won, do you think? Plan to kill us both and hurt an innocent?”
The office is large, so Tagin and Jenny squeeze in, but Madeline and Finagle are stuck outside. Tagin decides to play it safe, and he fires a shot into the ceiling, hoping that the classic “drop ceiling on them” move will break the telepath’s concentration. Unfortunately, the building is mostly plastic and metal, so the shot just disappears harmlessly. However, at the shot, both telepaths cringe identically.
Cai drops his shotgun and draws his katana, while Jenny lunges in and stabs J’Qwuan in the thigh. She notices that only J’Qwuan seems to feel the pain, not Autumn. She is about to shout that Autumn’s in control, when a blast of mental energy stuns her, and she falls to the ground mutely.
Madeline fires her last pair of
magic missiles, hitting both telepaths, which doesn’t help determine who’s who. Finagle again opts to shoot his dart gun rather than cast a spell, and again the dart is telekinetically deflected. He curses, screaming wildly. From down the hallways, they can hear others shouting in confusion or curiosity.
Cai starts to swing at J’Qwuan, but to his anger he feels his limbs begin to move without his control. Tagin fires a shot at Autumn, but the bullet is deflected mere inches from her face. Cai moves to attack Tagin, but Tagin ducks and disappears from Cai’s sight, leaping around him and close to Autumn, whom he stabs with his switchblade. Autumn falls away, but before Tagin can pin the woman the room falls into pitch blackness, and a blast of pain rocks through them all. For a moment, all is silent, and then the air fills with the sound of Cai’s katana humming through the air, followed by the distinct noise of a fleshy body being cut open.
The darkness fades away, and Finagle recovers just enough to recognize Autumn as she shoves him to the floor and rushes past him into the hallway. He falls back and in shock watches her run off.
Back in the room, Jenny and Tagin overcome the mental blast and see Cai leaning into J’Qwuan, his sword dug deep into the Illithid’s gut. Dark fluids course over his hands and onto the floor. Cai staggers away, and J’Qwuan slumps to the ground, a wheeze escaping his mouth. The Mind Flayer has been cut nearly in two, far too wounded for Jenny’s healing to save, but he still has the strength to send his thoughts to them.
He is at first angered that he is about to die, but he grows suddenly somber when a voice announces over the Bureau intercom that a fight has occurred in the office of Autumn Yeiotana, and that telepath J’Qwuan has been murdered. All able-bodied knights are to apprehend the killers and bring them to the Chief.
As Illithid blood floods the floor, J’Qwuan begins to shudder, near death. He tells them to run. He suspected Autumn, and when he confronted her, she proved far more powerful than he had knew, and she must be manipulating the Chief. They have to run if they want to survive.
J’Qwuan, with the last of his energy, dominates the nearest knight with a key and sends the party his way. The Illithid collapses into his own blood. Though it takes some prodding to get Jenny to flee the scene of the murder, they run and meet the knight, who blankly hands Tagin a key. The party slips into an elevator just as two more knights round the corner, chasing after them.
The alert repeats, giving physical descriptions of the party. As they exit the elevator near the room that holds the gates to the real world, Cai has to blast the guards in their legs with his shotgun so they can get access to the gates. Tagin pushes the key into the doorway, and it activates in a brilliant wash of light. With no time to think, they all leap through, leaving the Bureau behind.
