Wings, Beasts and Claws: Violet Embers

Ch. 18 : Aftermath

I changed and ate in my room after a few hours of sleep, still feeling the sting of some cuts and the ache in my muscles when I moved. But I ignored it all, needing to get things organized and begin looking into the attack, as well as finish the work that was still piled up on my husband's desk.

Reaching the office I was met with a few Knights that had been with me during the attack as well as those who stayed behind to coordinate the security of the Palace. I sat and began listening to their reports, taking notes and questioning them further to get as much detail as I could out of them. And from what I had gathered I learned that there was more than one servant within the Palace that was acting strangely after I left. Some even seemed to question the heightened security that led towards the children and complained about being unable to do their jobs because of it. Their names, rank and years of employment within the Palace were gathered and I quickly dismissed those that had been tasked with the security of the Palace and my children.

Not long after they left, Ivy walked in with Drako and all the children followed closely behind them. They gathered around the toys and started playing while I softly continued speaking to the Knights about the attack itself. But as we recounted anything of importance, I noticed that one of the Knights had a wandering gaze that kept finding itself back to Ivy before swinging back to me. And Ivy, sitting beside my children as they played, had her back to us… yet her body would tense every time he would look at her.

I wondered why they were both acting like this and began to think that maybe this Knight might have done something to my Ivy to make her behave this way. So, to spare her the discomfort and give me a chance to investigate, I dismissed the remaining Knights and moved to sit back on my husband's desk.

“Ivy…” I called out, smiling at her when she turned and approached me. “What’s going on?” Her smile was stiff and she kept playing with the skirt of her dress, her warm brown eyes looking at everything in the room besides me. “Has that Knight done something to you?”

“No!” She snapped quickly, her eyes growing impossibly wide and her voice startling the children. “N-no, Your Majesty… he’s a good man.”

I continued to stare at her in silence, waiting for her to explain further. But her lips were clamped shut and her eyes were pleading as she looked at me. And after a long and tense silence, I sighed and nodded, taking her hands in mine and reminding her that she could come to me for anything before letting her return to the happy bouncing kids.

The rest of my day was spent out of the Palace with a pair of Knights escorting me throughout the Capital.

We took in witness reports and accounted for the damages to shops and homes. The snow helped wash away some of the blackened marks from the fires but nearly erased any tracks left by the Order. The people in the storage building were doing well and I made sure to have food and water brought to them so their families wouldn’t need to leave their side while they were treated. More people had gathered by the towers to help clean up the broken remnants of the worst buildings there. And a new security rotation was made for the Knights guarding the sole entrance into our city.

It was while I spoke to the Watchtower Guard that three families rushed to me with loud pleading voices, and the news of the missing finally reached me.

Four kids, with the oldest being 13 and the youngest 8, had gone missing from the Primary Academy that was in the furthest left edge of the city, right next to the end of the Fafner Palace grounds. They had all been students taking a voluntary winter course for extra credit and had been planning to meet with friends of family outside of their Academy gates when the attack started. And the two Academy guards that were stationed in the Gatehouse were found dead behind one of the dormitories.

Panic and anger flooded me and I quickly took in descriptions of the children and the names of those closest to them at the Academy before rushing over. And I was able to see the bodies of the dead guards being loaded onto a funeral carriage just as I got there and found the same Knight that had been eyeing Ivy talking to a few others by the gates.

“Your Majesty.” He greeted, looking relieved to see me. “The rest of the students have been reunited with their families and the scene of the ambush has been secured… though we haven't been able to find anything that could help us.”

I nodded, following him towards the Gatehouse.

There, I stood and listened to the testimony of the man that found the bodies as well as the scattered belongings of the students. But as he spoke I noticed a small thin streak of crimson staining the bottom corner of the building and inched my way towards it. The voices behind me stopped as I kneeled in the snow and leaned forward, bracing my hands in the cold crunching ice as I stared at the bright red line. My eyes widened when I realized that it was blood and I quickly removed the glove of my right hand and lightly traced it along the building.

I took in a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart, calling on the inner warmth that fueled my flames to pool around my exposed hand. Once my fingers were covered in small dancing purple flames, I reached out and touched the blood again, closing my eyes to focus on any remaining energy left within this faint streak.

Swirls of color started to form behind my closed eyes and after another long bout of silence those blurry figures took a more solid form. I then pulled back from the moving objects and focused on the start of the energy it held, trying to go as far back as I could.

I watched then, as the person that had bled jumped out and ambushed four small figures that were waiting in the snow. No sound could be heard as their little faces contorted in fear and another dark figure moved around in the periphery of the bleeder. Their head turned and a man in a mask was holding the other two small targets while three more dragged away two unconscious men in uniform. A carriage soon appeared and the captives were tossed inside, their bags popping open and their belongings flying out into the snow. Then the bleeder and the other man jumped in with the younger four and the carriage started moving, the eyes of the bleeder glancing down at a small knick in his palm that had happened before attacking the children.

The vision soon faded away as the blood grew distant from its owner and froze against the building.

This was one of the new things I had discovered I could do with my flames after I had married Dorian and started using my flames more and more. I had discovered that extreme emotions could leave a faint memory trace that my flames could pick up on if something was left behind. It could be anything from a piece of fabric worn by someone that was enraged, to a tear soaked handkerchief that was dropped by someone heartbroken. As long as it had been in contact with the person suffering through such powerful emotions, my flames could pick up on a small piece of that memory. And in the case of the kidnappers, the blood of one of them had been drenched in adrenaline and allowed me to see how many had been involved in the capture of the children and murder of the guards.

Sadly, I was only able to see the memory and feel the emotion that was present by the person that had left behind a trace. I couldn’t hear anything within the vision, or use any other senses to pick up any hints or clues that could help us. The only other good thing about this was that I could confirm the identity of the person that had left that blood streak if I ran into them. And that was only if I was very lucky and was using my flames around them to pick up on the similar energies from the vision.

“Sir Warrick, yes?” I asked, standing up and slipping my hand back into my glove.

“Yes, Your Majesty.” The Knight stepped forward as he spoke, stopping a foot away from me as he waited for my orders.

“You’re Commander Lovarne’s grandson.” I stated, nodding after he did. “I trust that you have been trained by your grandfather in how to conduct a proper investigation and the channels and tools necessary to find the culprit.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” He nodded and a flash of determination glimmered in his eyes that reminded me of his grandfather, making me smile. “Commander Lovarne had me learn under a comrade of his while I was still an Academy student.”

I nodded again, facing him squarely and seeing a familiar and fierce light glowing behind his deep brown eyes. It reminded me of the passionate look my brother would get when he would train or watch his men run drills and master new skills that he had taught them. The sight and memory made my chest tighten painfully and I had to blink hard a few times to stop my emotions from overflowing.

“Good, then I can trust that you will look into every facet of this crime and report your findings conclusively.” His eyes widened a fraction but he simply nodded, bowing for a second before turning his head back towards the Gatehouse.

I smiled as I climbed my horse again and knew that, like my brother and many other Knights as well, Sir Warrick was silently cheering and thanking his lucky stars for the opportunity I had just given him. Seeing as there weren't many Knights present with the knowledge to run a thorough investigation without needing me present allowed Sir Warrick a chance to prove himself and his skills.

Of course, I would much rather give him an opportunity to prove himself in another way that didn’t involve missing children.