'Ink On His Hands' Part 3: The Guard

A banging on the temple door awoke Torzek from a fitful sleep. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. In the three days since he'd investigated the body of Launus Oudant, his nightmares had gotten worse. That was, of course, once he finally fell asleep. The killer had been in the temple, in his room. It made a ball of icy dread sit in his stomach.

"Torzek?" Shael's voice called from the hallway. "You're going to want to see this."

The urgency in her voice had him throwing on his vestments, their black color making it more difficult to do in the dark.

Shael stood in the entrance to the temple with the door swung wide open. Firelight from a wall sconce fluttered wildly at the night breeze coming in from the open door.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Someone was pounding on the door," she said. "They left this." She handed Torzek a scrap of parchment with the words 'FOLLOW ME TO THE DOCKS'. written on it.

He immediately recognized the handwriting. His feet were moving before he could even think about it, heading out into the night.

"You can't seriously think of going after them?" Shael sounded incredulous.

Torzek stopped, turning to look at Shael. "Someone is murdering people by horrifying means and sending me messages. I'm not going to just sit here and ignore it."

Shael was silent for a moment. Finally, "I'm coming too."

Torzek turned around as Shael disappeared from sight. The temple door closed.

"I'll be right behind you," she said.

"Thank you," Torzek said as he started to jog towards Heartfaire's docks. Aiova did a lot of trading with other Kingdoms, the most common being Krogia and Wirrowwir. The three Kingdoms, along with the Province of Keskela, all had ports in the Kensingsay Bay which facilitated a substantial amount of trade.

"The docks are huge," Shael whispered as they reached the end of the road that led to the docks. "What are we even looking for?"

Torzek didn't say anything for a moment, his eyes scanning the docks. Even in the middle of the night, the place was bustling with activity as ships were loaded and unloaded.

"I'm not really sure," he whispered back.

Yelling from further down the rows of docks alerted the pair and Torzek motioned from Shael to follow him. He kept to the shadows cast by the buildings which lined the pier. The last thing he needed was to be noticed. Shael being able to hide from mortals when she wanted was a distinct advantage he was almost jealous of.

They moved closer to the yelling to see a group of men unloading a few large crates from a massive trade ship.

The wooden dock was illuminated only by the flicking torchlight. Torzek used that to his advantage as he slipped from the building's shadow to hide behind a large crate the workers had already unloaded.

The shouting had quieted a bit, and Torzek strained to make out what was being said.

"Where is he?" a sailor yelled. His accent, thick and choppy, suggested he was from Wirrowwir, most likely the Northern edge.

A man who had been inspecting one of the other crates ran his hands through his hair and said, "I don't know! He said he was going to meet me here an hour ago." Even in the dim light Torzek recognized the tell-tale embroidery of a five-pointed pink flower on the man’s gambeson. It betrayed his employment as a city guard, specifically of the docks.

"It doesn't matter," a third man said, "We can take care of the product ourselves." The man was well-dressed and obviously rich, with large, gaudy jewelry all over his body, all painted garish colors. A merchant, and a successful one at that.

The sailor growled. "Do you know what it takes to get this?"

"We'll still pay you. It doesn't matter if Eldon isn't here," the merchant replied.

"Don't even get me started on you," the guard said, turning on the well-dressed man, "Where's Launus? Couldn't be bothered to come himself?"

"Launus is dead. You deal with me now." The man's tone was steady as if Launus' body hadn't been impaled and left in front of the merchant's guild only days ago.

The sailor grumbled but proceeded to continue unloading the cargo. "This is such a load of shit.

"Torzek," Shael whispered, "Look at the ship."

The priest followed her instruction and raised his eyes from the men who now continued to unload in silence. For a moment, he didn't see anything. Then, his eyes caught the slight movement of a dark shape in the crow's nest.

The thud of a rock hitting the ship's deck alerted the men on the dock and they all stopped working to look upwards.

"What the-" the guard started before falling silent as the dark shape moved again.

A beat passed, and then there was scratching as something fell over the side of the crow's nest.

It was a body. It stopped short with a snap and hung limp, swaying just a little.

Torzek could hear Shael's sharp intake of breath. "There's no soul; it's just a body."

The men on the dock started to panic; footsteps on the plank reverberated in Torzek's ears. He couldn't tear his eyes from the body. The dark shape in the crow's nest was gone.

The guard yelled, "That's Eldon!"

A red wisp floated through the air toward the body and Torzek braced himself for what was becoming a disturbing pattern.

He felt Shael's hand clutch his shoulder and he could hear her shaky breathing.

The red soul disappeared into the body and it started to shake. The man's legs kicked in thin air, looking for purchase. The rope jolted violently for a few moments before suddenly the body stilled. Torzek watched as the red wisp left the body to perch, unmoving, in the crow's nest.

Torzek felt cold as he watched the wisp. It had passed on before someone had called it back.

The men had reached the crow's nest. Just as they did, the rope snapped. The body dropped to the floor of the ship with a loud thud.

"Is this what the killer wanted us to see?" Torzek said quietly.

"I guess. We need to leave before they start looking around," Shael said.

"And we need to alert the watch."

Torzek crawled away from the crate, trying to stay out of sight. The moment he was safe in the shadows of the buildings on the dock, he broke into a run.

In the dark, Torzek didn't even see the man before he ran into him. He went sprawling to the sandy ground.

His head hit the ground and he groaned for a moment before sitting up, wincing.

The man he had just run into was gone.

"Are you alright?" Shael asked as she helped him up.

Torzek nodded. "I'm fine. Thank you."

They started to walk again when Torzek stopped, his eyes focusing on a piece of parchment on the ground.

He picked it up, fear curling through his stomach.

Ink versions of Torzek and Shael were crouching behind the crate, a symbol that had been on the container, plain to see just above their heads. Beyond them were the workers standing, backs to the picture, staring at the dead man swinging from the crow's nest.

"Shael?" Torzek asked, hearing her suck in a frightened breath.

"He knew I was there with you. He was right behind us. He could see me."

"I thought you told me once some mortals could see through your magic?" Torzek said

"They can. But it's rare, and they still shouldn't be able to see me that well, more like a shimmer. But, that's me."

Torzek felt cold as he flipped the parchment over. His hand immediately flew to his pocket where the key to the mortuary was; it was gone. The words inked onto the paper dripped, staining the sand. 

BLOODY HANDS PLACE SILVER EYES