Hope

They were not far away, less than five minutes of walking. Much less when they ran. A few minutes was still a long way to travel through after something happened. They had to go a good distance down the main street before leaving for one of the side ones. Desir’s spot was not in an abandoned crevice like the warehouse they had met for final planning, rather, it was in a decently populated area. They only used it because it was the middle of the night and would have plenty of time to vacate it before dawn.

They were not expecting to be found. Desir had assured them that it was unlikely and Irwyn thought the same thing. Neither he nor Elizabeth had noticed anything that could be tracking them magically and following them physically across the city would have been beyond difficult. Not to mention there shouldn't really be anyone who would pursue them. Arms dealers were generally not fond of being tracked for obvious reasons and even if someone would be waiting for this one, it had been less than two hours since their ambush.

When they neared their destination, Irwyn began to feel the flashes of magic. It was… honestly not all that powerful; hence why it took getting so close to even feel it over the ambiance. Half a street later, they heard the sound of a loud crash. Elizabeth gave Irwyn a glance, then chanted her Elvenkind spell; putting on her mask again as she did. Immediately afterward she broke into a sprint… about twice as fast as Irwyn thought he could run at his fastest… and not for long. Maybe getting a more physical spell should be his next focus. Though he did at least follow suit in also getting out his Mockingbird mask.

He still arrived only a few seconds after her given the short distance. And immediately realized that they were not dealing with organized crime. They were dealing with the armed forces. A dozen weak-ish mages in uniforms were standing in formation, bombarding Elizabeth’s shield of void magic, chanting their meager spells. There were no intentions in the mix so the risk of actually achieving something that way was non-existent, however, Elizabeth was not retaliating in any way. Irwyn could imagine why.

“It might be best if we just subdue them and run,” Irwyn suggested as he approached. The barrage continued without any effect.

“I could… order them to stand down,” she said, unsure.

“Probably not worth the questions it might raise,” Irwyn shrugged. “Not to mention they would have obvious doubts about obeying any orders a masked mage gave, even with an insignia. In fact, that might only make it worse since something like that could probably easily get escalated for people high up to look into. Really not worth the trouble.”

“You are right,” she sighed. “Can you… subdue them while I go check up on Desir?”

“Of course,” Irwyn nodded and stepped forward. It would not be hard to overwhelm and capture them. It would be more difficult to keep them contained. They were mages, after all, each and every one of them. Not to mention that maybe two-thirds were Void mages. Or rather, Darkness mages as what they flung was not really actual Void magic. That still made capturing them with Light problematic in principle. And he didn’t want to use flames because they would want to get away with them still in restraints. With distance his control would reduce; even if he made the solid flames heatless, they might turn maiming or even lethal when they began to disperse. And that was not the goal.

“I apologize for the unpleasantness,” Irwyn announced loudly as he stepped forward. And he had to be loud. Not because of the spells - Void, and thus Dark, magic was mostly quiet - but because they were chanting. All of the mages were reciting their spells. That did give him an idea. Almost a nostalgic one, really. “Perhaps forget this occurrence? I assure you I am not acting against the city’s order or interests.”

Predictably he got no response. He was not expecting any but there was no harm in being polite and honest when it cost him nothing. So next, he summoned his Disruptive light. It worked even better than he would have thought against weaker opponents. The squad of mages suddenly found themselves incapable of casting, any spells dispersing before they so much as left the surface of the caster's body. Irwyn did not wait to wonder about that and instead bound all of them with strings made of solid Light with the intention to endure, making sure to also gag them and cover their eyes and ears. Then he pulled on those constructs to gather them to the side, moving the anti-magical spell right next to them. Unless he was overlooking something it should hold as long as he remained close. Of course, the spells would only last as long as Irwyn actively maintained them, however, it would be enough for their group to make an exit.

Speaking of their group, Elizabeth and Desir were making their way over. Irwyn immediately noticed that Desir was covered in white and grey powder from head to toe. Then he realized only the two of them were approaching.

“Our friend?” Irwyn asked, frowning underneath his mask.

“They opened up by bringing the ceiling down on us,” Desir shook his head with a deep frown, dusting his clothes “I was too surprised to save the poor sod, damn it.”

“Debris crushed his cranium,” Elizabeth inclined her head, then looked at Desir. “I didn’t think you would care as much.”

“It’s not about someone dying,” Desir shook his head, visibly angry. “It’s about it happening while I am looking over them. I have a reputation to maintain. We keep up basic decency and spare others when we can because then we can expect them to do the same when our roles get reversed. Hence why I would really like to avoid earning a reputation as someone who lets people die in their captivity.”

“Calm down, Desir,” Irwyn put a hand on the blue-eyed man’s shoulder. “Nothing to do about it now.”

“Did you at least find out what we needed?” Elizabeth nodded.

“Yes,” Desir took a deep breath, sighed deeply, and mostly regained his calm. “Yes. He didn’t actually know who they were selling to, however, he knew where his client had a base of operations. The next deal was supposed to happen in two days… however, with the dealer dead we cannot fulfill their security precautions.”

“So, what do you suggest?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow.

“I say we go have a look right now before they realize anything is wrong,” Desir grinned slightly. “This is obviously going to be somewhat dangerous since we are not sure how much security they might have, however, I think it is worth a try. Especially if Crepuscule has the weight to have cavalry on standby”

“Abonisle does not employ horsemen,” Elizabeth said. Then when Irwyn and Desir stared at her she laughed. Irwyn also sighed and chuckled lightly.

“I am not opposed to it,” Irwyn then shrugged, looking at Elizabeth. His confidence mostly came from Dervish being around. The people behind the attack were clearly competent in magic; Irwyn still gave them no odds against the stoic mage, “But in the end, it is your call.”

“Fine, let’s do it,” she said after a second of thought. “I can arrange for competent reinforcements in case we need them.”

“All right, follow me, I think I know the way,” Desir nodded. “It is quite far but I have details to share. Including the address for our more official backup.”

“Irwyn,” Elizabeth got his attention when they were a good way into the trek. Desir had given them an overview of what he had learned; or at least the relevant bits. That had been done with for a while so Irwyn and Elizabeth followed a few steps behind him as they walked at a brisk pace.

“Something the matter?” Irwyn asked, turning to her as they continued to walk. They were… Irwyn was not sure where they actually were. Probably somewhere very approximately halfway towards the Spires, still at the ground city level. It was nonetheless hard to keep track.

“Just this,” Elizabeth waved her hand and in it appeared an ornamental tiepin. It was black and clearly carefully carved with what appeared to be a bird head of some kind. Artistically chiseled. It did not take two guesses to realize it was a mockingbird. “Let me put it on, see how it suits you.”

“It looks delightful,” Irwyn smiled under his mask. “Though I am unsure what brought this on.”

“I promised something to help better ward the mind and soul, didn’t I?” they slowed down as Elizabeth easily put it on him. Then gave it a look over. “I meant to give it to you earlier but didn’t get the opportunity before we were interrupted.”

“Thank you, I love it,” Irwyn couldn’t quite see it well just looking down… but he did have a spell for that. After a glance, he had to admit it went well with the mask. It was quite distinct but if he was ever staying low, he could still pin it under his clothes. Then he resisted a flinch as a whiff of stench from a nearby entrance to the sewers wafted over, attempting to ruin the moment. “Did you have this custom-made? It has been only two days since we talked about it.”

“It was no hassle,” she shrugged, mask hiding her face. “It also has the option of being empowered if you pour mana into it. The cost should be relatively negligible with your reserves.”

“I hate to interrupt,” Desir coughed from up ahead. “We will need to take an elevator not far from here.”

“Of course,” Irwyn nodded. They had slowed down for the exchange but Desir did not leave them behind. They were on one of the main streets at the moment, though not one of those that led all the way straight to the Spires. It still had elevators going up and down generously sprinkled around the sides. The one they got on was relatively small.

“Alright, we should be a bit quieter from now on, ideally just invisible,” Desir said as they got on; there was traffic even after midnight but no one else got on with them. It might have been the masks. “This is the Singing man’s territory so Mockingbird and I might not necessarily be welcome. If they get wind of us, people might also start to wonder why we have wandered here.”

“I can hide us in a veil,” Elizabeth offered.

“That would be ideal,” Desir immediately agreed. Irwyn had no complaints either, having seen her stealth prowess first-hand. “Did you… get in touch with help?”

“A group led by a Conception mage will be waiting a block away for a signal,” Elizabeth nodded. Which was in itself curious because Irwyn had never noticed her contacting anyone. Then again, he had not been looking for it particularly hard.

“Much obliged,” Desir grinned, then also put on his own mask again. "Best we still play it careful. Better to not be noticed at all. After me.”

Before the Elevator even reached the destination's city level - the tenth - Elizabeth had already cast her magic. It was powerful. Four intentions, which Irwyn could not quite identify even from within. Probably meant most of them were dedicated to stealth. They were enveloped in a black-tinted bubble. From inside it was mostly transparent but he imagined it made them quite hard to notice from the outside. Perhaps borderline impossible.

Desir then led them down a side street and gradually into more back alleys hidden by convoluted stairways and passages; forgotten and then repurposed by those valuing privacy. He paused a couple times at various intersections, however, navigated them confidently. It still took them a few minutes. But eventually, they arrived. Kind of.

“Right here,” Desir said as they found themselves on a metal bridge right beneath the level's ceiling. Probably some kind of service zone… Or maybe just meant to connect two remote areas more easily. It was hard to tell.

“Is it below us?” Irwyn guessed. Underneath them was a long drop and some buildings.

“The other way,” Desir shook his head. “It will be right above us. We just have to make a hole straight through the roof. Everyone neglects to put alarms underneath which makes it the stealthiest angle of approach.”

“The level floors are thick,” Irwyn pointed out. “We will have to get through a lot of concrete.”

“Which is exactly why they would not expect it,” Desir nodded. “And mundane materials are not enough to stop either of you.”

“The main floors are not made of just mundane concrete though,” Elizabeth shook her head, “There is a magically conductive mesh explicitly made fragile so as to notice any integrity damage or attempts to sink entire city sections. Breaching it unnoticed is by design extremely difficult. Our target might not have thought of it but the city's architects had.”

“Oh, I did not know that,” Desir paused. “Will it be a problem?”

“I suppose not…” Elizabeth sighed. “Give me a moment to make arrangements.”

“Take all the time you need,” Desir nodded.

“Done,” she said not ten seconds later. Irwyn wasn’t even surprised he had not heard her say a word. “The local maintenance team will be notified of limited intentional damage in this specific section and leave us be… for a few hours. But we will be well gone by then.”

“We should get to it then,” Irwyn nodded. They had a long way to burn.

Not actually that long, as it turned out. Burning several stories of concrete did sound intimidating at first, until Irwyn remembered it might as well have been ice for how easily it burned away. The fumes were a bigger issue than integrity. In the end, he went up while Elizabeth Voided all the molten sludge and vaporized concrete the excavation created. The thin metal mesh he had run into was more of a halfway mark than any issue since he knew that it wouldn’t trigger an alarm. In the end, it took just a few minutes before he was helping Desir and Elizabeth ascend on levitating platforms of respectively Solid Light and Solid Flame.

They ended up in what appeared to be a storage room of some kind; maybe a storage hall would be more accurate since it was quite sizeable. Dozens of crates were stacked on top of each other or across shelves. And in every single one of those Irwyn noticed almost formulaic enchantments. One usually identical to the next. Not great enchantments but many of them. Manufactured at scale.

“Well, this is certainly a lot of weapons,” Irwyn noted. “Now to figure out if we can find anything that went missing from the attacked facility.”

“I have a list, though it might not be the easiest thing to match text to enchantment,” Elizabeth said. “Then we will still need to compare the numbers.”

“I am horrible at identification like this,” Desir admitted. “I will go carefully scout the surroundings while you solve this.”

“I can provide a better veil than your own,” Elizabeth nodded and cast the spell over the blue-eyed man. He immediately vanished without a trace. Now that he was no longer included in the spell even Irwyn couldn’t tell where Desir was. “Don’t stray too far. Distance takes a toll on me.”

“Well,” Irwyn said after Desir left… probably, “we have a bunch of sorting to do.”

“Still no match,” Elizabeth shook her head. Irwyn was frowning too. After thirty minutes they found nothing that aligned. There were a few that were close. Same or similar enchantments, however, the army was organized and marked everything with serial numbers. There was certainly military equipment here that had been stolen or embezzled, sure, however, none of it was from the attacked facility as far as they could tell.

“This is not the only storing place,” Irwyn noted. “Everything here is at least a few months away from decaying due to Finity, at least as far as I can sense. They must keep those somewhere as well. Not to mention there might be other rooms identical to this one.”

“Maybe Desir will know more,” Elizabeth nodded. “He is just heading back.”

“Certainly took his time,” Irwyn nodded.

“Hopefully that means he had been thorough.”

That being said, Irwyn did not actually feel Desir returning. Not just because of Elizabeth’s spell. The walls here were extremely well insulated against magical senses. An obvious measure for an illegal stash of magical weapons but it played into their hands when it came to stealth. The only reason Elizabeth could tell was that she still maintained the spell hiding Desir.

“How is it looking?” Irwyn asked as soon as Desir got back and Elizabeth dismissed the veil.

“Good news and bad news,” Desir said. “We will have no trouble finding more rooms like this to investigate. Unfortunately, we will really have absolutely no trouble finding more for the next several hours.”

“How many are there?” Irwyn raised an eyebrow.

“I counted 27 which I checked were in fact stashes,” Desir said. “There could be even more since I didn’t go everywhere; at least most seem smaller than this. Judging by the layout I think we are hidden inside some larger building, maybe even a business. Big hollow spaces are probably regular rooms that might or might not somehow connect here. Also spotted not a single person around here.”

“That is a ridiculous amount of weaponry,” Irwyn commented. “We cannot realistically check all that."

“Scale of an army more so than just reselling or smuggling, but we had thought that might already be the case,” Elizabeth nodded. “This, at the very least, goes beyond any agreement the city might have with your Guild. More than enough to justify a full raid. The people in charge of the official investigation will be more than eager to categorize everything here and look for the needles in haystacks. If this place is genuinely connected to the attack we will know.”

“Does that mean our part is done?” Irwyn asked.

“Yes,” Elizabeth decided after a moment. “We will leave for now. The mages I called for backup will move to observe until a proper large-scale operation can gather. That will probably take… until dawn given the time of day - or rather night.”

“What do we do about the hole?” Desir pointed out. Irwyn glance at it. It was not huge… but they didn’t exactly have a concrete mixture on hand. And it was quite deep.

“Put a crate over it on our way out, I suppose?” Elizabeth suggested. “It only needs to not be noticed for a few hours.”

“It will stick out like an unpaid score,” Desir frowned. “But it’s probably the best we can do.”

And that was what they did in the end. Dragging a large crate over the opening was not difficult with magic to do the bulk of it. It would look out of place… but who would want to investigate that deeply in the middle of the night even if it was somehow noticed? There had been no active patrols there in the first place.

“Best we leave unnoticed,” Desir commented when they were back down on the bridge. Elizabeth applied another veil as they left. Irwyn had to wonder if it was starting to magically wind her. They moved for a few minutes before they reached the corner of a main street.

“Alright, this should be far enough,” Desir nodded. “Unless you need me for something, I will split and go lay low.”

“Before then,” Elizabeth spoke, another smaller pouch appearing in her hand. “I keep my promises.”

“True pleasure doing business for you Crepuscule,” Desir smiled as he took it. “Now then…”

“Oh, this isn’t ideal,” Elizabeth interrupted a moment later. “I was just notified that unknown mages are gathering at the building where we had found the weapons.”

“Could it be…” Irwyn frowned. “...You mentioned there might be someone capable of mind reading on that side. Maybe someone from the force gathering to strike?”

“Precautions are in place,” Elizabeth disagreed. “It might well be just a coincidence.”

Still, Irwyn was not taking any chances with that. He adjusted the tiepin just as Elizabeth had instructed him to earlier in the evening, pouring a stream of magic into it. For a split second, he was once again hit by a whiff of the sewer's rancid smell, making him frown. This time they were nowhere near a sewer entrance, several city levels above one in fact. It vaguely reminded him of what had happened in Ebon Respite before… Before what?

He was about to put it out of his mind when he frowned. That wasn’t right. Something was off. He fought against it, reconnecting that tread of thought. What had happened in Ebon Respite with a putrid smell? His mind tried to wander again but now that he was focused on it he did not let it.

“Oh, that is bad,” and the thought finished. He finally realized exactly what was wrong. “El… Crepuscule, we need to talk. Right now, privately,” he threw a glance at Desir, who nodded and stepped away. Elizabeth inclined her head but did not dally. Sound around them receded.

“What is it?”

“You said that necromancers were not behind the attack on Abonisle, do you remember your reasoning?” hopefully he was wrong.

“Because no Time mages of the powers necessary for it would associate with necromancers. Why?”

“How certain are you?” he urged on, his heartbeat accelerating.

“Completely,” she said, sounding confused at the line of questioning.

“Dervish, do you agree with that?” Irwyn asked the air. Elizabeth quieted down and there was a moment of awkward silence. “Yes, I know you are obviously following us around. Please, this is important.”

“Yes, I concur,” Dervish appeared next to him a second later, as stone-faced as ever. “What has you so nervous?”

“So, you are, completely certain that necromancers were not involved with the attack for similar reasons, yes?” Irwyn made doubly sure

“Yes, I am. I have just stated that,” Dervish nodded.

“Something this important and you are confident beyond a shadow of a doubt on conjecture?” Irwyn felt his hand shake slightly at the premonition of what that meant. Dervish’s expression scrunched into the slightest frown. The most expressive Irwyn had seen the man. “The smell in the severs… I remember it now. I think something was diverting me from making the association before. It’s the exact same stench I smelled in Ebon Respite before the undead rose. As it permeated the whole city and grew more intense just before it began.”

“How certain are you?” Dervish maintained the lightly frowning expression as he looked at Irwyn with unerring focus.

“As confident as I can be,” Irwyn gasped out. Dervish nodded at that. He took out a… white string. It was glowing. Yet Irwyn could not feel the slightest bit of magic from it. What he could feel was that incomprehensibility and slight sting of pain Elizabeth had warned him just a couple days prior meant magic beyond his ken; that which could be dangerous to even look at. The next moment, Dervish tied the string around his own neck with one dexterous motion, which made it immediately begin to sink into the man's flesh. There seemed to be no change for about a second until the artifact - or whatever it was - completely vanished beneath Dervish’s skin. Then his head snapped to Elizabeth.

“Declare a full emergency. NOW!” he raised his voice with urgency. Irwyn looked over and Elizabeth seemed… dazed. The words stirred her to action but she was ever so slightly sluggish. A signet ring appeared in her hand bearing the heraldry of House Blackburg, however, it was too late.

The exact same second the ring appeared Irwyn was slammed by a sudden surge of nausea. He had felt no magic strike him, perceived nothing of the sort, yet suddenly, he could not tell up from down, left from right. It was like the ground shook, the surrounding scenery teleported around and the roof above them flipped in place. The next moment it was over.

“What was that?” Irwyn swayed, unsteady on his feet after the experience almost overwhelmed his senses. Elizabeth seemed no better.

“That…” Dervish said grimly, pointing up. Way up. Irwyn could not see through buildings and concrete but he had a good guess about what was that high. “...was the Temporal Beacon being turned off.”

“Which means teleporting to and from Abonisle has just become practically impossible,” Elizabeth realized as she regained her footing.

And whoever had turned it off was most likely the same person strong enough to affect Dervish’s mind. They were also now with them in the city.