Chereads / The Artificer and the Capricious Capital / Chapter 18 - Compelled to Accuse

Chapter 18 - Compelled to Accuse

It was important that they not leave any evidence behind, as the building would likely be immolated the moment the mages outside dropped the suppression spell they were maintaining. Paperwork and items that could hold value were packed away as quickly as possible. Secret stashes were discovered, a safe was cracked, and false books that hid secret codes were secured.

Silas managed to get a couple mages and some knights to Jered's apartment with another suppression field, where some evidence was also gathered. He was feeling rather optimistic when he finished talking to his men and redirected his attention to the duke and high mage.

It was only as he watched Archeus crouched in front of the magical symbol on the floor that he remembered that they were victims in this investigation and should probably not be inside. He was going to get a tongue lashing, he concluded from the mage's look of elated triumph.

"You aren't supposed to investigate this Archeus," he pointed out with resignation.

"Yes, I know, but without me everyone would probably be wondering for weeks what this little work by Jered was supposed to do!" Archeus dismissed his friend's dismay with the cheerful nature of someone who is their own boss.

"Sure, fine. It may have," the knight conceded. "What was he trying to do?"

"Brainwashing! It's a very sophisticated spell that seems to use some of the ideas behind the spell they use to suppress people's voices, feelings, and wills. Rather than suppress, this one was meant to change them. It doesn't indicate how he wanted to change Perrin though, so I expect that part was somatic."

"When we're out of suppression we should check to make sure it completely failed," Perrin sighed as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. His eyes were still very tired. "We will also need to look into the man's family, and who recommended him for the position. I doubt this endeavor was meant to fail."

"Yeah, kidnapping your boss is usually a bad career move unless you believe you can literally change his mind," Archeus nodded sagely. "I'm going to have to talk to the Council about this new magic and getting it banned."

"We also need to talk to Miss Kiava again about the case," Silas breathed out with some frustration at himself. "I didn't think about it, but she cast a Full Ward on the kids using a wand and it broke the spell keeping them quiet and compliant, is that normal?"

"No? It should have needed a conscious neutralization, unless she has that included in her Wards for some reason," Archeus agreed with Silas' reasoning.

"Right, we will all go back to headquarters, you two will be questioned about the evening happenings. We will all go home and tomorrow noon we will go with Theon to visit Miss Kiava to question her about the Wards as well as check on her and Kleid's health. Agreed?"

He received two confirmations and they set about putting his decisions into action.

Kiava was absolutely giddy as she sat cross-legged on the floor behind her workbench. Many of her fears and worries lay forgotten to the sands of time as she stared in delight at her first shipment from the Alchemist that Kleid had connected her with. The quality at the border was hit or miss and she had been forced to learn basic alchemy to make her own materials, but she was just not very good at it. Alchemy more than any other magic school relies heavily on formulaic magic, and her skills had always rested in linguistics.

These were high-quality goods, nothing even approaching middling quality. She picked up some of the stones she had been sent and giggled to herself as she imagined all the imbuements she could make with them. The bell at the door rang a cheerful melody that indicated whoever was entering posed no threat, so she left it to Kleid.

"Your Grace?" Kleid, who emerged from the back room a moment later, seemed surprised. "I was not expecting you, my lord."

Kiava became very still as she processed that the duke was in her shop. She wasn't ready to make his commission, and she hadn't contacted him. So, why would he be here?

"We've come to ask Miss Kiava some more questions about the Ward she cast." It was not the duke who responded but Sir Iaska. Kiava frowned and stood up from where she was sitting.

"Is something wrong? I submitted them to be studied…" she pointed out a little nervously.

"No, nothing like that. The mages that work for city security are currently tied up with other matters, I apologize for that delay in returning your imbuements to you," Silas reassured her with a charming smile.

"We want to ask specifically about the Ward you used to disrupt the control the traffickers had over their victims. For it to do that you must have warded specifically against that kind of magic," Archeus said, stepping further into the shop followed by Theon.

All four of them. The last time she had been graced by their presence was when she had been dying, so it hadn't really had the same impact. Was it possible for attractive people to become glowy, or was she having an entropy relapse?

"Uhh…." Her brain momentarily disconnected, but she remembered that they were asking her about her Ward, and that this was likely important if all of them came together. "Right, I have never personally encountered that kind of magic before, but the orphanage matron had given me a book similar to the one Lord Archeus loaned me. It teaches the three languages of compulsion. I don't have it with me, but I do have my notebook from my studies. I'll go grab it," she offered, taking the opportunity to leave the room and collect herself.

Unfortunately, she really didn't bring a lot of things from home and finding and retrieving the notebook took only a few moments. She thought about delaying her return, but decided that would be cowardly when the reason for her hesitancy was solely for looks, they had been nothing but kind to her.

The men had obviously been discussing something important while she was gone judging by the stormy look on Kleid's face, but she did not pry. "Here it is - you probably have access to better sources here, but this is what I based my Ward on."

"Can you make imbuements that modify people's minds?" the duke asked suddenly.

Kiava blinked. "I can't, no. As I said, the book was similar to the one Lord Archeus loaned me - it explained theory and defensive measures, but none of the offensive spells. The title is listed in the notebook - I'm sorry, but as with most theoretical books the title is a bit long-winded for perfect recall." She tilted her head thoughtfully. "That said, from what I remember the imbuement would have to be extremely personalized for a target - to cast it on a group would overwhelm one pretty quickly."

"So you think there had to be a mage nearby to maintain the mind control on the group you freed?" Silas pressed, looking at her closely.

"I don't know, probably not?" She shrugged and began to get annoyed. "I have read one book on the matter and I am not a mage. I add those defenses to my Full Wards as a matter of course because Matron was afraid we could be kidnapped."

"She really was worried about that," Kleid reminisced, his stormy look fading slightly. "Lots of kids used to go missing before Matron took over."

"She had given the same book to Jole and he made Single Wards for all the children he met for free," Kiava explained. "After that, trafficking at the border practically stopped."

"You have never actually encountered this kind of magic before?" Theon asked gently.

"No, I know how to recognize it but I'd never actually seen it before," Kiava nodded and rubbed her temples. "I was honestly horrified that the first place I ever witnessed it was the capital. How could such magic be out in broad daylight? It seems you all didn't even know it was a school, but then I didn't know about entropy so everyone has blind spots. Kleid, you should have known though."

"Matron never showed me that book, I was never very magically sensitive and I suspect she knew I wasn't keen on magework," Kleid defended with a look of genuine affront. "Besides, I wasn't on the trafficking case until the warehouse."

"What warehouse?" Kiava asked and Kleid looked at her with a guilty smile.

"Ah, I'll show you the papers later, sorry about that," Kleid said with a self conscious chuckle. "I was leaving you to study."

"Uh huh," Kiava agreed with a raised eyebrow, "I'd also be happy to go to the Artificer's office and show them how to make Wards specifically against compulsion."

"I would appreciate that, now that we have a defense against it we should do what we can for the safety of the citizens." Perrin looked relieved at the offer.

"Of course, if I'd known it was unique to border Wards I would have pointed it out sooner. That said, gentlemen, I admit I am less than thrilled with you all coming to my shop before we're open, without a word, to interrogate me." Her smile was wide but all she felt was pressured and angry. They didn't know her suspicion was sensible on the part of the knight and duke, but really this felt unfair. "Since I have arrived in this city that you are supposed to be keeping safe, my life has been threatened on several occasions and I can't help but be a bit resentful with your attitude towards me at something only moderately unusual."

"Really, of the people in this room, I think I have more room for suspicion than you - I am the civilian who was nearly murdered after being in this damn city for less than a week, after intervening to help one of you and a group of children despite the fact that you are the ones charged with the safety of the populace, not me. So, perhaps, in the future, think about regulating your tone and suspicions before entering MY SPACE." She slammed her hand on the counter and glared at them all. "I am going back upstairs, you may all see yourselves out."

"Good job, boss, now she's mad," Kleid sighed as the door slammed behind a furiously swaying gray braid. "I know you're kind of preset to be suspicious, but she has been regretting leaving the BORDER for here. You could have come at that much differently. Theon was the only one that read the room."

Archeus had been avidly reading the notebook Kiava provided, and hadn't been paying attention to the conversation until Kiava left the room. "I can use this to find more source materials, I think. I agree with Kleid, you were too hard on my savior."

"I'm going to have to press my luck, she still needs a check-up," Theon sighed, looking upstairs with a forlorn expression.

"It should probably wait," Kleid cautioned. "She doesn't get angry often but it takes her a while to cool down."

"You haven't seen her for a decade, Kleid," Perrin pointed out to his aide.

"If you didn't see Lord Arvenor for a decade would you suddenly not know him at all, your grace?" refuted the aide with an eye roll, because the answer was obvious.

The four of them had been close since they were very young. No matter how long they were separated they would always be close. The duke, for his part, looked properly chastised.

Silas looked anxious. "Does she really think we're bad at our jobs?"

"Probably not. She has been stressed since we were released and you guys coming at her like she is under suspicion after she hasn't even been healthy in town for a week likely set her over the edge of what she can reasonably tolerate," Kleid contemplated thoughtfully. "Really, you guys chose a bad time. She was just starting to feel better after I helped her get some things she could only dream about at the Border."

Everyone but Theon winced, because he was the only one that had come out of pure concern for Kiava. He hadn't known of his friends suspicions and if he had he would have pointed out that it was an idiotic. But he was often the odd man out when it came to investigations, unless one of them was injured or incapacitated in some other way, and it always ended with insane amounts of paperwork for the Temple. Kleid liked Theon the best of his boss' friends.

"You guys should probably go, as this is her shop and she asked you to," advised Kleid.

"I am still your boss, Kleid," Perrin pointed out.

"If you force me to make a choice between Kiava and you, my lord, you will find yourself wanting and you're already understaffed. Do give Jered a few lumps from me though, as a thank-you for his relaying my whereabouts for the mugging." He waved them out the door cheerfully, contemplating the idea of ordering Kiava some chocolate and wondering if she had tried it before.

Theon did a check-up on Kleid before leaving, declaring him healthy but assigning him another two days rest. Kleid took the opportunity to give his boss a smug look.