The Paladin Short Stories

The Nightingale Chapter 2

It wasn't a long drive back to the station, but by the time that they got there, the news had already reached the rest of them. Stopping for coffee did end up being a good idea, and with a rush of caffeine, sugar, and whatever it was that those fae sprinkled in the coffee started to hit him, he felt more relaxed.

"I'm just saying," Wolmark continued saying, and Vinders realized that he hadn't been paying attention to the dwarf. "Nobody in this generation has really ever seen a Paladin in the light of day. Sure, you hear talk about them appearing in the dark of night to steal babies and s**t, but we don't actually know what one looks like. So how the hell would we know if the guy that comes up and flashes his badge at us is actually a Paladin?"

Vinders shrugged, taking another sip from his coffee. "The crown has put their stakes behind those badges. Even coming up with an approximation is illegal. He would have to be a Paladin, or a suicidal pretender."

"That's my point, see? It's been so long since the Mist, and nobody's actually seen one since then. How would we be able to tell if the crown were lying or not?"

Wolmark made a good point, but Vinders still wasn't convinced. He had imagined meeting a Paladin in the past, and that was almost exactly the way that he had pictured them, at least in a tame setting.

"With that said," Wolmark continued as they pulled up into the station and started climbing up to the third floor where their desks were stationed," I don't think I'd have the gurramond to call him on it, though."

"No, I don't think I'm going to question his credentials either."

"Which is pretty brilliant. Not a lot of people are going to question a man that's got one of those badges. The captain would, though. It would be a part of his job, right?"

They both hoped that they weren't going to have to deal with an impostor for what was already a complicated case.

Even so, as they entered the bullpen of the station, they could see Jormund already present, inside the captain's office, talking to him.

The captain didn't look pleased to see the Paladin but was doing his best to hide that fact.

"We didn't look that uncomfortable when we were talking to him, did we?" Wolmark asked, hopping up into his elevated desk chair and quickly lowering it to a more manageable size.

"Probably," Vinders admitted, finding his own seat. There was a pile of papers already waiting for them, as someone had pulled the trigger on getting as much data on the situation as they could as quickly as possible. It wasn't something that any of them liked to think about, but the fact of the matter was that there would be a lot of attention directed at the case.

Vinders could only imagine what the questions would be if anyone got wind of the Paladin working with them.

His head popped up from his desk as the captain opened the door to his office, looking around the bullpen and his eyes settling on the two detectives.

"Wolmark, Vinders, could you come into my office, please?"

There was no question whether that was an order or not. The captain was a polite man, but not the type that would wait around for them if they dawdled.

Wolmark huffed, tugging gently at his beard as he climbed down from his chair and both detectives walked over to the office, waiting for the captain to close the door behind them. There was no psychic connection involved, but both knew that they weren't going to say a damn word unless asked for it.

And if there was something to be said, it would probably be along the lines of 'Yes Sir'.

The large half-orc, a veteran of the Mist War and one of the few still alive that had been in the war, and Vinders had never seen the half-orc this uncomfortable. If he didn't know better, he'd say that the captain was a little scared of the man in front of him.

Jormund looked as mild and calm as he had at the crime scene, his eyes a little red and irritated and the man ran his fingers over them as the silence in the office.

"Well, I guess the two of you have already met Mr. Jormund," the half-orc muttered, speaking with a bit of a slur from around the tusks coming up from the bottom of his jaw. "The Order has kindly offered his services in settling the case and finding our k********g victim, in hopes of putting this all to rest as quickly as possible. Any questions?"

"What are we going to do about the press?" Wolmark asked immediately, crossing his thick arms in front of his barrel-like chest. "You'll have to know that they'll be on this like stink on cheese, and if we let them, they'll keep our perps appraised of our progress on the case."

"They'll want to know that a Paladin is on the case with us," Vinders pointed out, trying not to look directly at the man that he knew was watching him like a hawk.

"Jormund, would you care to..."

The Paladin nodded. "I will be operating purely in an assisting capacity. I won't be taking any of the credit for the eventual rescue of the victim. The crown and my order aren't particularly happy with their members being caught in front of cameras, after all, so it would be best for all involved not to disclose my participation in this case, if it's all the same to you."

"I usually don't have a mind to give the media hounds any more meat on their bones," Wolmark cut in. "But there will be questions about this one working with us. They'll have cameras on us the whole time we're working. They'll want to know."

"I've already considered that," Jormund answered, crossing his arms in front of his chest. "A security consultant would usually be called in for cases like this. I'll be that consultant that you called in. My order will have already pushed a good amount of data onto the local servers that would support that statement if someone were to be a little more thorough than would generally be expected."

"Would any of them be able to find out that you're a Paladin?" Vinders questioned.

He shook his head. "Not unless they have connections well into the Palace, and even then. I haven't been there for years."

"Well," Wolmark grunted, running his fingers through his well-groomed beard. "Do you have any ideas of where we should begin? I'm sure our empaths have been through the location already."

"They have," Vinders interjected. "I have their reports on my desk, if you want to read them."

"I doubt that I'll learn anything new. Your empaths probably found the same thing that we did. An unnatural feeling, the smell of ozone, the way that our victim was killed and the other was dragged out of the car before she even saw that she was being attacked."

Vinders looked over to his partner, resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "So, one of those cases, then?"

"Are you an empath then?" the captain asked. "I've heard what Paladins were called upon to do when they were in the mists."

Jormund shook his head. "No, I've not the gift. Only a little more attuned to what is happening around me than most, and when we discovered that there was a mechagolem involved, that did simplify things a bit. Which simplifies our own job quite a bit. There aren't a lot of technomancers in Renfold, fewer still that have the skill and resources available to construct a mechagolem. With that in mind, we should be able to track those down and have a chat with them about it?"

Vinders blinked a few times. "So you just happen to know how many technomancers there are in the city, then?"

The captain cleared his throat, running his fingers lightly over his tusks. "I think what Detective Vinders means to say is that the police force has an entire section dedicated to shutting down your average shop that pops up claiming to have an established technomancer in who can fix people's phones and the like. We need to shut them down, but another one pops up every day. These guys are a well-known plague in the area."

"The Order keeps track of those technomancers that have the skills in the area," Jormund pointed out. "And the list is handed over to the captains of the police force of Renfold along with the rest of those people that need to be kept under watch for the safety of the realm."

The captain nodded slowly. "I'll be providing you with the list shortly."

"Wait," Wolmark interrupted. "If we have a list of those that are actually gifted, why the hell do we need to investigate each one of these posers?"

"Because there's always the possibility that someone new will pop up," Jormund explained. "And if they do, we want to be kept appraised. Most technomancers coming into the city from outside are carefully restricted, but you never know when one might slip through our nets. Having the help the police force in that is most invaluable. Even if those that are keeping a low profile will not advertise their work, they will still need to work, and those that peddle that work will be willing to tell us who they get their work from, when they have proper work to display."

The captain shifted his feet, making sure to look away from the Paladin. It was odd that Vinders felt the same way, and even Wolmark looked distinctly unsettled. None of them wanted to be in this room, and it wasn't because of the room itself. Vinders didn't want to say that the man was who he said he was, but there was definitely something about him.

Everything looked distinctly normal, but there were the small details. The kinds of things which normally wouldn't bother anyone. The way his mouth smiled but none of the rest of his face did. The way his eyes moved. There was something wrong with him, but Vinders just couldn't place it.

And damned if he was going to ask the man what was wrong outright.

Jormund looked around, making Vinders’ spine chill just from watching that impossibly smooth movement. "Well then, gentlebeings, shall we get started on this tonight, or in the morning?"

Morning. Vinders had almost forgotten that it was past ten in the evening. The coffee wasn't going to do anything in a couple of hours. He'd been working on getting his sleep schedule right and a friend had gotten him in contact with a rune crafter who could do the trick. It had been an expensive operation, but Vinders had been sleeping like a babe ever since.

The captain shrugged his shoulders. "We won't be able to get anything done at this time of night anyway. Might as well get some sleep and run it on a clean slate when everyone's bright-eyed and bushy-tailed."

Vinders coughed.

"What?"

"We're not supposed to use that term anymore. We had a whole seminar about it, remember?"

"Nobody's going to tell the reps from this room."

Jormund used his shoulders to push himself up from the wall that he was leaning on. "Very well then. I'll see you all in the morning, when you're all... wait, was bright-eyed or bushy-tailed the term that you're not supposed to use?"

"Bushy-tailed," Vinders explained, still keeping his eyes on the corner of the room that Jormund wasn't. "Elves don't mind when we call them bright-eyed. Most of them anyway. It's apparently a compliment. Saying that they're spiritually in tune with the... whatever, I can't pronounce any of their names. It's only when you reference their pointy ears that they start huffing."

"Well, when everyone's bushy-tailed then. Good evening."

When the door closed again behind him, all three visibly relaxed, although from the window, Vinders could see that the rest of the folk in the bull pen were watching Jormund like he was an apparition as well. They didn't know who he was, of course, but there was still something about him that unsettled them all.

The captain's shoulders drooped down, and he took in a deep breath. "I know the guy's here to help us, but I rather wish he wasn't."

Wolmark nodded. "Same here, boss. Still, having a paladin on our side can't hurt. Right?"

The dwarf's question hung heavily in the air, and for the life of him, Vinders couldn't think of a right answer.

"Best to just get us a good night's sleep," Vinders grumbled, rubbing his eyes. "We'll see if we can't stand him better in the morning."