Patrol 3: Darkness & Light

Chapter 16

Pacing, Vania said, "Let's go over what we know again."

"Bergin was fine when we left him last night," Eddin replied. "He went into his house. He intended to check his wards before heading to bed."

"He had his guards, and Taric, plus you sent others...?"

"Yes," Eddin nodded. "I sent five shadowlings." Eddin swallowed. "They were dead when I arrived at the house several hours later. Somehow, they were killed without my sensing it."

"The guards?" Vania asked, still pacing, hands behind her back wringing each other.

"Gone."

Jezora snorted. "They probably fled at the first sign of trouble. I warned him many times that bought loyalty can also be bought traitor."

"Taric?" Vania continued the list.

"Also gone," Eddin said quietly. He sounded pained. "I... still can't sense him."

"State of the house?"

"Messy. Clearly, Bergin didn't go without a fight."

"Of course not!" Jezora said. "You think he'd just waltz off with shady characters?"

"Which means, whatever happened before, he was awake when they came for him." Vania bit her lip. She couldn't look at Eddin when she asked, "Was there any... blood... or signs of injury?"

"No."

"And your animals couldn't track him."

"They followed his scent to the gate. Then it disappeared."

"They probably put him on a horse or threw him into a carriage," Jezora reasoned.

"I... cannot find him, either," T'kanna announced as she entered the room. "Someone is masking his essence."

"Oh. It's you," Jezora replied. "Why are you here? We have a house full of Bergin's things to extract his essence from and a room of trained Enforcer wizards."

"Bergin Nahlstrom is my apprentice," T'kanna replied.

"It's traditional for a wizard to have a token with their apprentice's essence," Eddin quickly stepped in. "Using that instead of collecting and extracting essence from objects saves our wizards time and energy, which they can put to better use in seeking him."

"Then hand over the token to the Enforcers. There's no reason for her to be involved," Jezora replied, jabbing an accusatory finger at the a'marlon woman.

"Look. We all want to find Bergin quickly, all right?" Eddin said. "Let's focus our energy on finding him, not fighting ourselves."

"What is masking his essence, T'kanna?" Vania asked. "Could you tell?"

"Some sort of spell. It... felt like walking off a cliff."

"What the hell does that mean?" Jezora asked crossly.

T'kanna made a face, then quickly took a deep breath, letting it out slowly before she calmly replied, "Normally, if someone masks their presence or essence, a seeking spell feels blocked. A feeling similar to reaching out your hand to grab something but hitting a wall. But this spell... it's different. I reach out to find him and I find... nothing."

"Oh, gods, he's not dead, is he?" Jezora asked, going pale.

"Well, there are no absolutes but... no." T'kanna shook her head. "I do not believe so. If he were gone, his essence would fade from this," she opened her hand to reveal a small blue crystal, glowing faintly. "But, his essence remains. So, though I cannot find where he is, he must still be alive." She closed her fingers over the crystal once more, hand dropping to her side as she whispered, "He must be."