Patrol 3: Darkness & Light

Chapter 20

Vania scowled and thrust a note into Eddin's hands as she joined him in the interrogation room at the Merchant District Station. "This was slipped under my door this morning."

"Why's Nanda thanking you?" Eddin asked. He put the note onto the table, beside the piles of files from the day before.

"That damn brewery was obviously a rival. When our coworkers went to the brewery last night and investigated it for theft, they found evidence of charilil processing and distribution. They arrested the owners immediately, so she lost a competitor. That was probably never a place that had anything to do with the Dark Eaters—she wanted us checking there, figuring we'd eventually see evidence of their drug dealing." She sat down, slamming down her notebook onto the table. "That bitch used us."

Eddin studied Vania's scowling face for a moment before noting, "You never did tell me what happened in your meeting with her."

"Nothing important," Vania muttered. "We traded words."

"What'd you have to do to get Taric?"

"She gave him to me as an advance gift for taking out the Dark Eaters."

"So, she knows we're looking into them?"

"Yes." Vania sighed. "She also all but admitted she or someone in her gang was behind the Averton Park murders. She's also not responsible for the poisoned parchment that made Prant sick."

"I got that much from Quinsenniel."

"You actually spoke with him?"

Eddin shrugged. "I listened to him. He had a lot of things to say. Nothing very useful. I doubt most of it was even the truth. I think he was just... testing me, somehow."

"Why? What does he want?"

"Nothing. He sees you and me as mirrors of Nanda and him. So he wanted to talk to the person he regarded as his mirror."

Vania scoffed. "That's ridiculous. We're nothing like them."

"I think... he was feeling me out." Eddin looked at his hands, resting on the tabletop. "He told me he has the powers of an animal wrangler, too, but he had no one to train him in their use."

"So, he essentially is looking to be your apprentice?"

"Perhaps. If anything of what he said is to be believed."

"You wouldn't actually teach him, would you?"

Before Eddin could reply, the door banged open and Bergin and Jezora walked in.

Vania jumped to her feet. "Bergin!"

He held up a hand, stopping her from speaking further. "I'm fine. They didn't hurt me. They just wanted to ensure I couldn't help you."

"But—but the way you screamed," Vania said quietly. "They hurt you immensely."

"Yeah, the spell with the brand hurt like hell," Bergin agreed. "But the pain didn't last." He sat down at the table. "Jezora said you dreamed about it."

Vania nodded.

"He insisted on coming straight here after he awoke," Jezora said. "Refuses to let what happened stop anything."

"Okay. Well, did you recognize any of your abductors?" Eddin asked. "Where did they take you? Did they tell you anything?"

Vania sighed. "Just tell us what happened."

"I can't talk about it," Bergin replied, lips closing in a tight, thin line.

"Okay. I get it—the experience was awful," Eddin said. "And you'd rather not relive it. Tell us whatever you know about the Dark Eaters from your previous research."