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k_a_webbPart 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 4, continued
“We’ll pass this information onto the town guards,” Peric said, looking at Lucille, “so if you wanted to get back to whatever it was you planned on doing in Sheepshank then feel free.”
Lucille nodded, although it was possible even with his empathy damped down for Peric to feel how conflicted she was. “Will you let me know if the Bureau’s book is found?” she asked, sounding unsure.
“I promise if we find anything out about the record book then we’ll tell you as soon as possible.” Peric patted her hand gently. “I know how important it is and…” He shrugged. “If we are right then this could be about more than Sheepshank.”
Lucille’s eyes met Peric’s. “If you need any more help…”
“Aren’t Council Moonjumpers meant to keep their distance?” Peric asked, smiling to show that he wasn’t being serious.
Smiling back, Lucille ran a hand through her hair. “I like you too much for that, Peric.” She looked at Bertram. “As well as Bertram and Aulus, so if you do need me then I’ll be around for a while. I haven’t decided where I’m staying yet, but I’m likely to spend a lot of time around the market.”
Nodding, Peric looked at Bertram. “I suggest you check out the Darkest Moon,” Bertram said, after a moment. “It’s run by my aunt and if you drop my name then she’ll probably be a little more friendly than any other guest house owner.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Moonjumper. If you’re really going to be spending more time on Quiar then it’s important to make some good connections and…” Bertram glanced at Peric, smiling, before turning back to Lucille. “We’re probably the best you could have made.”
“I think you’re right.” Lucille’s eyes met Peric’s again. “Well, if you need me I’ll be at the Darkest Moon.”
Peric watched as Lucille left Bertram’s office, knowing that if it was any other Council Moonjumper he would have followed her to make certain that she wasn’t taking anything. It was strange to think how easy it was to trust some people. He turned his attention to Bertram, who looked slightly smitten with their new friend, which was unusual. Out of the two of them he was normally more careful about strangers, because he didn’t have Peric’s empathy, and they’d set up a series of gestures for Peric to use around new people, but with Lucille Bertram had jumped into a situation without thinking about it before. Their eyes met and the two of them shared a moment of understanding.
“I had to, Peric. We both know that if a Council Moonjumper was injured here there would be huge problems and I guess we got lucky that Lucille is such a lovely person.”
“I do understand. If I had some useful power I probably would have jumped in too, but the majority of Council Moonjumpers aren’t good people.” Peric had believed that Lucille would thank them for their help and then walk off, because of the first rule, but she’d surprised him first by offering to help and secondly by being so kind to Aulus. “Now, though, we do have a very important contact who actually seems to like us.”
“Did you pick up any dishonesty?”
“No,” Peric replied, shaking his head. “She’s just the total opposite of what I was expecting.”
“Hopefully she’ll keep her word if we do need her help.”
“I’m certain she will.”
As Bertram began putting away the files Peric had taken out of the cabinet the mouse began writing down everything he needed to tell the town guards. He wasn’t certain they would even pay any attention to him, no matter how much deference they had shown to him before, but at the very least he needed to try, especially as it could lead to the end of the counterfeits. Although… he shook his head, sighing. It seemed like there was more to the whole thing and all he could do was hope he was wrong about that. Bertram was finished long before Peric was, but the raven didn’t distract him in any way, appearing to return to his normal daily tasks.
“I’m ready,” Peric said quietly, not wanting to make Bertram jump if he was doing something important.
“Let’s go then.” Bertram stood, ran his beak over his wings once, and stepped across the room to where Peric was. “The sooner we get this sorted the sooner life will go back to normal.”
There was nothing Peric could say to that so he stayed silent as they left the town hall once again, walking towards the office of the town guards, doing his best not to think. Once they were there he stepped straight into the quiet office, where three cornsnakes were stood at one end talking about something and the cornsnake who had been the first on the scene when Lucille had been attacked was sitting at the desk closest to the door. It looked surprised, but politely nodded to Peric.
“What can I do for you, sir?” it asked.
“I have some information for whoever is in charge of the theft case.”
“That would be me. We got your list of missing files and I’ve sent a couple of guards out to ask questions of anyone who might have witnessed the theft, but I doubt we’ll see any results. Files are easy to destroy.”
“I know.” Peric passed the piece of paper he’d been carrying to the cornsnake. “When we returned to the office I checked our copies of the missing files, hoping to find a common link, and all of the cases involved at least one person from an avian neighbourhood.”
The cornsnake appeared to read the paper before looking at Peric. “Are you certain? Sir?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It seems likely that the theft was probably conducted by someone being used as a pawn, but that’s where we’ll find whoever it is who’s in control.”
“Okay…” The cornsnake stood. “Someone get me a map of Sheepshank and some pins. If we go into another room then we should be able to place all of these of the map and see if there’s some sort of centre point.”
Peric followed the cornsnake, grateful that he was being listened to. “If we find a centre point?”
“We might have found the person who either stole the files or arranged for the files to be stolen.”
“It’s possible,” Bertram said, from his position behind Peric, “that the person who stole the files might be the one who’s caused the flood of counterfeits in Sheepshank.”
“If we catch whoever’s doing that I will be grateful for the rest of my days.” The cornsnake sighed. “We’ve been trying to trace magical signatures and getting nowhere, because it appears the makers are capable of wiping their signatures. A couple of snakes have tried to infiltrate the group but haven’t had any luck. It’s different to before. The new counterfeits seem more dangerous than the old ones and not just because there’s more of them.”
The office Peric found himself in was smaller than the one they’d just left, with a large table in the middle, and it appeared whoever had got the map had known which office they were going to use because it was on the table. Slithering around the table, the snake put the paper down next to the map, picked up the pins, and, glancing back at the paper a couple of times, stuck a number of pins into the map.
“There doesn’t seem to be a centre point,” the snake said thoughtfully, “but they do all seem to be in the same general area in that neighbourhood.” He tapped the table with a finger. “Maybe if we had a couple more pins we might be able to be more certain of where we need to be. As it is…”
Peric felt his heart sink. He kept his mouth shut, waiting for the cornsnake to finish, but he felt certain the snake was going to say there wasn’t enough evidence.
“I think I have an idea of which step to take next…”
“Sir…” a voice said from the door, making Peric jump.
“What is it?”
“I couldn’t help over hearing what you’ve been talking about and I thought I could be of help. There have been a couple of strange occurrences that have been reported, but they weren’t crimes, so we filed them away just in case they might become useful.”
“You’re right,” the cornsnake said. “Do you have the reports?”
“Of course, sir. The moment I realised what was happening I got them.”
“Bring them here then.”
The second cornsnake crossed the room, holding what looked to be three different reports, that were all turned into pins that were added to the map. “Do you think we should check it out?” he asked, looking at his superior.
“I do.” The first cornsnake looked at Peric. “I’m pretty certain where we need to be going now, because those reports have given me a likely centre point, so what I’m going to do is check it out. There are no guarantees, but with your information and the reports we have here it appears that there’s only one possible place the files could have ended up.”
Mirrored from K. A. Jones Writing.