'Ink On His Hands' Part 4: The Priest

Torzek and Shael looked at each other with wide eyes, a beat passing in silence. The words bleeding ink from the page starred back at them: BLOODY HANDS PLACE SILVER EYES

"I'll go. Meet me there," Shael said. She was still for a moment before vanishing into thin air, a light ripple all that was left behind.

The priest started to run. No one would be working in the mortuary this late at night, but they needed to be sure. He couldn't risk any of his clergy being harmed.

Torzek ran as fast as he could, breath puffing, lungs on fire. It had been years since he'd run like this, years since he'd felt fear so palpable.

He reached the temple and rushed behind to the mortuary. The doors were wide open and he raced through.

Shael stood inside, her back turned to him.

"Anything?" He huffed out, doubling over, hands on his knees, to catch his breath.

"No one is here, but the doors were wide open when I arrived," she said as she moved to face him. "Nothing has been touched."

Torzek sighed in relief. "At least we're not too late."

"What do we do now, though? People rely on the priests and our work," said Shael.

He straightened up. "Maybe we can have some guards posted for a while. We can get new locks for the whole place as well."

She nodded, a pensive look on her face. "I'm going to go back and try to get the soul to pass on."

"Okay. be careful," Torzek said, "I'll go speak to the watch."

Shael disappeared again, and Torzek headed away to speak to the night watch guards.

As he moved down the alley from the mortuary, he could've sworn someone was watching him. The sound of paper rustling seemed to follow him.

~~~

The sun had broken over the horizon by the time Torzek was able to finally sit down on his bed and rest for a moment. After telling the guards what had happened, he explained to the priests, just arriving for the day, that they were all taking precautionary measures. No one was to be left alone and a guard should always be nearby.

A knock on his bedroom door startled him. "Come in," he called.

Ruven opened the door but didn't come inside. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanted to make sure everything was okay. You didn't look well during the meeting earlier."

Torzek smiled at the boy. "Thank you. I'll be fine. Long night."

"Does this have anything to do with those murders? A third one just came in about a half-hour ago."

"Yes, I believe the same person is behind all of it, and he's been sending me strange messages."

Ruven shuddered a little. "About that. I've noticed something weird about all three of those bodies. If I had to guess, I'd say they were beaten to death, bludgeoned by something heavy but not a normal shape. There's no sign of the victims having fought back, but it would've been a slow, violent, and painful death. It's bizarre."

Torzek closed his eyes, feeling for all the world like he was too far in over his head. "Thank you for letting me know."

"Of course."

"Be careful, we still haven't figured out a pattern, but I have reason to think he might come after someone here next."

"Thank you," Ruven said. A moment later, the door clicked closed, leaving Torzek alone.

~~~

"Torzek!" Shael's voice called from behind the door of his bedroom.

"Yes?"

The door swung open and Shael stepped into the room. Her eyes looked over at him, sitting on his bed, the three notes spread out before him. She took a seat on a small stool and faced him.

She was silent, so Torzek spoke instead, "There's something I haven't been able to figure out. The killer is using necromancy after murdering these men. But he's only animating them for a few seconds at most. I just can't figure out why. If it was just to scare us, you'd think the notes and drawings would be sufficient. I'm wondering if maybe he's just practicing, working up to something bigger."

"It's worse," Shael said and took a deep breath. "The soul wasn't gone when I went back to the ship. I was making my way toward it when-" she stuttered, and Torzek noticed her hands shaking in her lap.

He reached out and covered them with one of his own. "Take your time," he said quietly.

"Something took the soul. It was there one moment, gone the next. I asked a friend of mine and she confirmed his soul never passed on. Whatever is happening here, souls aren't making it to the afterlife when this killer is done with them."

Torzek caught on immediately. "You think it's intentional."

She nodded. "I do. I just don't know why he's doing it. He's dooming these souls, robbing them of an afterlife."

"Father?" A voice questioned.

Torzek was startled as Aira's head popped around the doorframe. "There you are."

She stepped into the room and leaned against the wall, head dipping in greeting to Shael.

She wasted no time. "We think we know what Launus was working on."

Torzek straightened up, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Shael do the same.

Aira continued, "We think he was running some kind of smuggling ring. We don't know yet what he was smuggling, but we're getting closer. Whatever it was, it's probably the reason he's dead."

The room was quiet for a moment before she spoke again, "What are those papers?"

Torzek grimaced and handed them over.

His daughter was silent while she looked at them, running her fingers over the words on the back of each. Her breath caught as she took in the latest note.

Aira thrust the picture out and pointed to the symbol on the crate Torzek and Shael had been hiding behind. "That's the symbol we found on Launus' paperwork."

Shael spoke up, "We did hear those men at the dock mention his name."

"Whoever the killer is, is it possible he's going after people involved in the smuggling?" Aira asked.

"It would make sense," Torzek added. "If nothing else, it connects the victims."

"Now, it's just a matter of figuring out who the necromancer is," Shael said. "Silver coins in the eyes are a Wirrow funeral rite. Maybe he's not from Aiova at all?"

Aira held up the notes. "That actually might help narrow it down. Do you mind if I take one of these back with me? There are a couple people who might be able to help."

Torzek noticed her hand reach up to fiddle with a small heart-shaped pendant she hadn't been wearing the last time he saw her. It was a bright red, inlaid with small gems that glittered in the candlelight. An actarile, a promise of marriage.

"Go ahead," Torzek said, looking away. "Any help at this point would be welcome."

Aira smiled and straightened up to leave. "I'll see you both later. Stay safe."

~~

"Everyone's gone for the night, and the place is locked up. We'll have someone come by every hour, but we don't expect any trouble," Cedric said. The guard had just finished a thorough sweep of the mortuary.

"Thank you," Torzek said.

The guard nodded and left the temple, stretching his arms on the way out.

Torzek sighed and ran a hand down his face. The day had been exhausting and his brain felt foggy with lassitude.

Nevertheless, he began to clean the temple, preparing it for tomorrow's services. The job of running Nillioth's temple never let up.

A loud crash startled him out of thought. He dropped the candle he'd been holding, the flame dying before it even hit the ground.

The sound had come from the back of the temple - the mortuary.

He rushed through the temple to the small door that would lead into the mortuary. He unlocked it and opened the door as quietly as possible.

He moved into the room and grabbed a fire poker from the dying embers of the fireplace. It wasn't much for a weapon, but he'd never been all that good at fighting anyway.

Torzek crossed from the back room into the next and stopped short at the sight of a hooded figure bent over another figure on the ground. A table had been overturned, likely the source of the noise.

The figure on the ground wasn't making a sound; even as the hooded figure lifted an object Torzek couldn't identify in the low light.

The object slammed down on the person again, shocking the priest from his place in the doorway.

He lunged toward the hooded figure, fire poker swinging. The hooded figure jumped away, narrowly missing the poker.

When Torzek stepped forward and swung again, he moved just a bit faster, predicting the man’s movement. This swing caught the man along the side of the head with the glowing end of the poker and made him start to sprint for the open door.

Torzek picked up a small knife from the overturned table and threw it as hard as possible. It caught the man in the back of the leg. The impact made the man stumble and grunt, but he continued to run.

For a moment, Torzek contemplated running after the man when a cough from behind him had him turn around.

The body on the floor was moving.

Torzek got closer and felt his heart drop as the bloodied face of Ruven blinked up at him.

"Thank you," Ruven whispered before his head fell back against the stone.

Torzek immediately checked for a pulse and sighed when he felt it flutter under his fingertips.

He stood and went to close the mortuary doors when he noticed dark spots on the smooth floor.

Blood from the killer. He moved his candle closer and had to swallow down the bile that rose in his throat. It was ink that had dripped from the man's wound.