Witch Clan: Warriors! by John Stormm (good book club books txt) 📕

their bosses and celebrities would be coming out. From this distance, no one would likely notice a haunted knife making its way down the wall and across the lawn.

Over the edge and into the night, Little Fox made his way to his clothing unseen. Dressing and wearing his new knife in a more proper fashion, he raised the hood of his cloak against the chill and made his way across the city to the apartments. A limo was parked at the curb and a couple Yellow Jackets sat on the hood in an animated discussion. They hadn’t noticed him approaching the house through all the shadows generated by the trees and street lights. Finding a stone, he slung it hard at a metal sign on the other side, prompting the Jackets to go investigate while he walked quietly up to the front door and knocked. Before anyone could notice and think to ask him his business, Johnny answered the door and let him inside.

“How’d it go?” Johnny asked after the door was closed behind him.

“No more worries of the former nature,” he replied. “Though I have some newer concerns we may need to discuss later.”

Emma was bringing in a tray of hot tea and looked up at him frowning. Pulling Dodger into his room, they switched clothes and sent the lad out the front door with a box of Emma’s homemade cinnamon rolls under his arm. The Yellow Jackets at the curb only gave the cloaked boy a casual glance and went back to their conversation. It was too late in the evening to go out for a walk and discuss his findings and would be very suspicious after the exceptionally long ceremony tonight. A bit of a warming brew, a light snack and a full night’s sleep would have to do the trick. Besides, he couldn’t be sure that anyone was in any immediate danger.
The Scene Of A Crime

“How, by the gods did this happen?” Rumsdon roared at the Captain of the Watch.

Dawn was barely breaking when he was awakened by the call that someone had broken into the Capitol building. He really needed that sleep after getting run through the proverbial wringer at that Solstice dance. He was irritated that he and Dauntless never got the chance to complete their conjuration to discredit the Atlantean Matriarch. The news just kept getting worse instead of better as he had hoped. With any luck, he could work off his frustration in taking apart any suspects in this crime. Slowly and painfully.

“As far as we can tell, sir,” the captain replied coolly, “both guards were killed instantly. Though it will be hard to determine how with an autopsy as both of them had swallowed their beans. It’ll be a long time before any parts of them are visible again. However it was done, it was executed quietly as the guards just outside the doors heard nothing at all from within at any time during the watch. One was found near the restroom and the other had eaten a portion of a sandwich. They were killed simultaneously by an unknown number of assailants or one of them would have cried out. They may have rifted into the room as no activity of any sort was reported in any of the halls or by the posted guards. There are two swords missing from the racks, which seem to be the means by which the doors were jimmied open. An artifact, a primitive hunting knife called, Stone Cutter is missing from a case and the Orb was stolen from the Rift Wand and the haft cut to pieces. A small section of glass was removed from the window, by which means it appears they made their escape. No ropes or ladders outside, so they probably flew from the ledge. No witnesses from the street saw anything unusual from this section of the building, but then, they never noticed the window being cut out from within either. It appears they were after the knife and took the Orb from the wand as an after thought. Destroying the haft like that, appears to done out of sheer spitefulness. They probably didn’t even know what it could do and just wanted the Orb.”

“Do we have any suspects as to whom might have cause to do this?” Rumsdon asked, pulling himself together with a deep breath.

“I’d say it was the Forest Devils,” the captain replied. “The Atlantean men were capable of this kind of killing, but they were accounted for by our own people all night long. They were nowhere near here at any time and they couldn’t have rifted in, assuming they knew how because this appears to have happened while they were all occupied with yourself and the Vizier in the Solstice ceremony. The knife that was taken was not even one of the better crafted artifacts from those taken from the Devil rangers but was individual enough to suggest that it could have been done by maybe a vengeful relative of the ranger who had originally worn it and retrieved as some act of closure. The Rift Wand being sliced up like that was probably just a little spite thrown in for good measure. We have no idea where they came in from or where they went from here. I wouldn’t begin to know who I should round up for questioning.”

“The Atlanteans are mixed up in this somehow,” Dauntless chimed in, looking about at the damage done.

“How so?” Rumsdon argued irritably. “I would remind you that we were in their very thrall on the far end of this complex whilst this was being propagated. They didn’t even have a moment where they could even think about doing something else other than dance us half to death.”

“I hate to admit it,” Dauntless acceded, “but, true enough. We couldn’t even finish the summoning of --”

“Don’t even breathe that name, you fool!” Rumsdon snapped at him. “We’ve completely every requirement for the conjuration except speaking its name. If you want to face it without any protective sigils, you can wait until I’m out of here before you commit suicide.”

“S-sorry,” Dauntless said, wiping at his paled brow. “That was too close. It just seems all too convenient that so much has been befuddled by happenstance. Did we get anywhere on acquiring one or two of those nuke things?”

“We got real close,” Rumsdon sat back heavily on a stool next to the bench. “I sent a full team of five and only one came back. All he got for our trouble was that wooden club on the bench here and a broken collarbone. The other four had the nukes in their hands but were nabbed or killed by the local militia there in Abred.”

“Do you think we can try again?” Dauntless asked, hopefully. “Maybe with a larger contingent of Shadows. We know where they are now. What’s to stop us from taking them by sheer force?”

“Three little words, my friend,” Rumsdon growled, nodding back at the mess on the bench again, “No-Rift-Wand. We’d have to find a naturally occurring rift somewhere on this planet that connects with Abred and if they aren’t hard enough to come by, we have no clue where in Logres that might be and where in Abred it might deposit our troops. We have been to the home of the ultimate weapons in the multiverse and all we have to show for it is a wooden club.”

“That’s exactly what I mean,” Dauntless exploded, “Operation Cosmic Storm comes so close to fruition and then it all starts falling apart to a series of happy accidents while someone takes on our highest security just to steal a cheap knife. Doesn’t that sound just a little too convenient to you?”

“He’s right, you know,” Mordred said, sweeping into the room, his dark cloak swirling majestically. “Think about how the Atlanteans got here, in the middle of my speech and then the other attacks out of nowhere and men are killed in such an efficient style. They may not have done this themselves, but you can bet they are somehow a part of it.” The Grand Wizard continued his browsing of the crime scene while he voiced his suspicions to the stunned trio.

“Doesn’t the knife taken from this case strike anyone as odd?” Mordred asked aloud.

“Yes, Your Excellency,” the captain replied. “It was nearly worthless compared to all the other treasures in this room.”

“Perhaps not so much as you might think,” Mordred said, examining the pieces on the bench and tossing them each a chunk of the former wand. “Perhaps the knife was named Stone Cutter because of its affinity for cutting through stone. Please don’t strain yourselves trying to figure that all out. I’m sure you all had a very rough night and your minds are not rested properly. I slept a bit on the flight home. What you don’t see here, is that these swords from the rack in the other room were used to pry the doors and then the display case. Then the knife in the display case was used to destroy the Rift Wand, steal the Orb from it and cut a way out of the room without having to pass the other guards. They might not have been seen as they too were likely using black beans or possibly another means of becoming invisible. They probably couldn’t bring tools or weapons in because they were as naked as the guards they killed in the other room, but for an Atlantean fighter, this would be child’s play. Those guards wouldn’t have survived even if they could see their attackers.”

“Shouldn’t we be arresting the Atlanteans for questioning?” Rumsdon asked.