Deputy Paladin Connor Kenton Junior arrived at the Time-Mill-Tell motel as the late afternoon sun approached the horizon. The door had several head-sized holes in it and a spray of wood chips littered the ground beneath his feet. This was unusual to say the least. He pushed his way inside and surveyed his surroundings. Connor was pretty sure the motel lobby was a little messier than before. To be honest, it had been a genuine disaster the last time he saw it, but he was fairly confident the holes in the door were new. He didn’t see Tallis either, but now that he looked around, he was pretty sure that shotgun on the floor hadn’t been there earlier either.
The light coming from the office caught his eye as he picked his way through the debris and over to the door. Inside he found Annie hunched over and reaching underneath the mattress.
He called over to her, "Annie?"
”We’re fucked.” Annie said as she wiggled her upper body underneath Tulvir’s bed.
”We are?” Connor asked, noting the slew of opened and upturned drawers throughout Tulvir’s old office.
”The grey mage is a whole-ass magician.” Annie crawled out from under the bed and opened a dresser drawer.
”What? Why is that different?”
Annie had made it to the of the dresser by now, “It’s the difference between a regular mage and a professional one.”
"What's the difference?"
"There's an enormous gap in both skill and experience between the two. Like a home cook versus a master chef."
Connor was getting the distinct impression that the Stranger had lost her mind, “Annie, what happened?” he gestured vaguely back towards the lobby.
”Tallis tried to shoot me— actually, she did shoot me. Ergo: we’re fucked.” Annie had returned to the desk drawers and was working her way down, occasionally punching the padded chair at random.
“What do you mean Tallis shot you? Why? Are you okay? Is she okay?”
”I mean that Tallis shot me, it was because she was brainwashed, yes I’m okay, Tallis is doing less okay.”
Connor turned and sprinted back out to the lobby, “Tallis?” He shouted.
“She’s fine!” Annie’s called from the office, “Tulvir slept in here?”
Connor spotted the girl curled up behind the bar and she did not look fine. He raced to Tallis’ side and called on the power of his Icon. A figure’s silhouette appear behind him in an outline of golden light and Tallis felt a wave of relief like cool water wash over her. She sighed and wiped at her eyes.
“Tallis? Are you ok?” Connor physically could not furrow his eyebrows any more than he already had, and yet it was not enough to display the level of concern the Paladin was feeling at that moment. He guided his magic into his hand and offered it to Tallis, "Are you hurt? I can patch you up!"
"I'm okay Connor, just a little bruising from hitting the ground." Tallis tried to smile but her lip quivered slightly.
"Still, it will help you feel a bit better. Then you can tell me what happened if you're up for it." Connor returned her smile.
Tallis took his hand and felt that wave of cool water wash over her again. The magic slowed her frantic thoughts and calmed her fried nerves enough that she could think clearly. The aches in her body fell away and she felt rested for the first time in days.
"How are you feeling?" Connor asked.
Tallis let out a very long sigh and glanced past Connor down the hall, "Better. Thank you."
"Aha!"
Connor turned his head towards Annie's triumphant shout from the office. She ran out holding a thin leather bound book above her head and waving it in the air.
"I found it!" Annie flipped the book open and began speeding through the pages.
"Found what?" There was too much happening for the Paladin to keep up.
"Tulvir's journal!" Annie glanced at him, "Well, it's more of a sleep log but still!"
Connor stood up, "That's the man's private thoughts, you shouldn't be reading it."
"Relax, Deputy. I'm not trolling for gossip over a dead man. Hah!" she darted over to Connor and held the book open in front of his face, "This is what I was looking for! Filch mentioned a golden Laceri helping the Sheriff smuggle the batteries and this is proof it was him!"
An ache Connor had thought he'd cast aside bloomed in his chest, "What? Tulvir helped Jed?"
Annie raised a finger, "Not intentionally! He was under a spell, just like Tallis and Mitch. I went back over Mitch's records and noticed Tulvir had multiple appointments for persistent exhaustion. Mitch suggested he keep a sleep log to try and narrow down what the issue might be, and the days he was experiencing exhaustion match the days Mitch's clinic received large sums of money for 'services rendered'."
"Back up. Tallis, Tulvir, and Mitch were all under some sort of spell?" Connor's head was spinning.
"Yes! Mind control magic! Hence why Not-Jed is a magician and not a mage!" Annie gestured wildly.
Connor gently grabbed her shoulders, "Annie, please slow down! You're not making much sense."
Annie froze and looked at his hands on her shoulders, "Let. Me. Go." her voice was like ice.
Connor quickly removed his hands and stepped back in surprise, "Sorry! Sorry, I just need you to slow down a bit for me. Please?"
"Fine." She stepped away from him and let out a breath, "Okay. Do I need to start over?"
"Just... Explain to me what a magician is, please."
"Ugh, they really don't teach you Paladins anything huh? Fine, so a magician is someone who has mastered at least one form of magic in the form of creating an Arcanum and binding it to a tool. You with me so far?"
Connor nodded.
"Good, an Arcanum is a special form of magic that channels the Blank, that's the source of the veil. Magic using the Veil is restricted by reality, there's only so much you can do when you can't violate the laws of physics and stuff. But if you use the Blank for magic, then there's basically no restrictions. A mage who can channel the blank can do almost anything they can imagine."
"Why doesn't everybody do that?" he asked.
"Because it is very very difficult to access the Blank without ripping a hole in the Veil. Think of it like this, the Veil is a layer of skin while the Blank is the blood beneath it. You can get a scrape or two and not draw blood, but you need specific methods to get to the blood without tearing the skin."
"So how do you know this spell is an Arcanum? You said yourself you saw grey threads scattered around."
Annie smiled, "Good question! It's because mental spells are impossible if you're using the Veil. The mage would have to clearly picture how the mind control works, not just the end result. There's too many variables in the human mind for any of the calculations required to cast a spell like that to work consistently. So it has to be using the Blank to avoid those restrictions. Make sense?"
Connor nodded, but he felt like he'd been surprise enrolled in a math class.
"Great. So now that I know it's an Arcanum, it's pretty obvious the grey threads work more like scaffolding for the spell, instead of being the actual structure."
"What does the book have to do with it?"
"It verifies Filch's claim to have seen him with Jed during their hand offs. If the mage used mental magic on more than one person, it would have to be an Arcanum. Otherwise they'd need to custom build a spell and be very familiar with who they're casting it on."
"Is that why we're fucked?"
"Yep."
Connor sighed, "Please tell me you're just being dramatic."
Annie shrugged.
"That is not comforting." he said.
"No point in sugar coating it," Annie tossed him the book, "Here, it’s better if you hang onto this.”
Connor caught the flying journal half open, catching a glimpse of Tulvir’s neat handwriting on the page. He snapped it closed quickly and placed it on the counter. There were feelings in there that he would rather address later.
”Alright, so the killer’s a magician. Where do we go from here?” he asked.
“Well, I have an idea. But I’m going to need help to pull it off.” Annie looked at the Paladin with a wry grin, “Want to do some real magic?”
“What? I do real magic! I just did real magic!” he huffed.
Annie snorted and tried to cover it with a cough, “Not quite. Your Icon does the magic, you basically just tell it what to do and when to do it. It’s close to weaving spells, don’t get me wrong, but you’re very limited on what you can do with it.”
Connor’s face reddened, “How do you know?” He caught a glimpse of something dark cross Annie’s face, then it was gone.
“I just do,” she unconsciously stroked the tattoos on her hands, “Can you just trust me on this? I haven’t let you down so far.”
Connor could tell he’d crossed some invisible line and eased back, “What exactly do you need me to do?”
“Come with me, I’ll explain in a second.” Annie turned back to the hallway and headed for her room. Connor glanced nervously at Tallis, who smiled and made a shooing motion, then followed after her.
She was digging through her bag by the time he got there. Her room looked almost as bad as the office, with various clothes, books, alchemy tools, and unmentionables scattered all over the place as if thrown around by a whirlwind.
”So, I need you to do a pretty basic spell for me,” she said without looking up, “It’s not really even a spell, so it shouldn’t be too tough for you.”
That didn’t sound too bad, “Alright,” he said, “What is it?”
She pulled out a small dagger and gestured with it, “I’m going to need you to trace some echoes in the Veil for me. It’ll help us find Not-Jed. He’s definitely onto us considering he tried to get Tallis to shoot me, so it’s going to be tough to find him. Here.” She handed it to him.
The dagger was unlike anything Connor had ever seen. It possessed a long thin blade with a small hole by the tip and an ornate crossguard in the form of a blooming metal flower. Its petals were tinged with a red inlay that matched the twisting red leather of its grip and its pommel ended in a nasty looking point that reminded him of a thorn.
“What is this?” he asked.
”It’s a needle, you’ll need it to weave the spell.” Annie looked at his face and then the dagger, “Sorry, I know it’s a bit much but it’s what I have on hand. Come on.” She waved a hand at him and moved out to the hallway.
Connor looked at the dagger again and then the doorway. This dagger meant something to her, and Connor felt like every new thing he learned about Annie was getting stranger than the last. He had to wonder what other secrets she kept buried, and how painful it would be for her to share them. He gripped the dagger tightly and followed after Annie.
