'If you are who you say you are,' the sergeant said, 'then you've got nothing to hide, and if you aren't, then I'm not giving you a chance to charm us all with your stinking magic. Now make a show, and no tricks.'
Vambran sighed, equally angry at both the sergeant and Emriana, and considered what he might show them that wouldn't be construed as an attack or threat of any kind. Then, he got an idea. He only hoped Prandles would understand. Outwardly, he nodded.
'I use this little trick to rally troops on the battlefield, to signal for reinforcements to move out, or to indicate any of another few special instructions. It's just a simple magical flare, so don't get excited when it goes off, all right?'
The sergeant squinted at the lieutenant suspiciously but then nodded, indicating for Vambran to proceed.
Taking a deep, steadying breath, Vambran uttered a single magical syllable, and about twenty feet directly over his head a dazzling burst of bright white light went off, hanging there for several momenta, illuminating the entirety of the courtyard. All of the city watchmen murmured in mild surprise, and the sergeant cocked his head, then finally nodded in reluctant approval. But Vambran wasn't watching. He had taken the opportunity to get a good, long look at the two victims lying on the ground behind the row of soldiers.
The male of the two was turned face down and away from Vambran, and the mercenary couldn't get a clear view of the man's face. But the woman was on her back, her simple white dress stained with her own blood, her eyes staring sightlessly up into the night, as though she, too, were watching the flare overhead. On her forehead Vambran could see three fuzzy marks, apparently dots made with a bit of blue chalk, though they were not the neat, orderly marks he would have expected to see on someone vain enough to paint herself as reader, writer, and wizard. They seemed to have been applied hastily.
The flare fizzled out after a moment, returning the courtyard to relative darkness, and Vambran turned his attention back to the sergeant, cocking one eyebrow expectantly. He realized quickly that the soldier could not see his expression, though, because he had gazed into the light of the magical flare and was suffering an inability to see clearly in the darkness.
'Well?' Vambran demanded at last, tired of waiting for the foolish man to admit that the lieutenant was who he said he was and no threat to the city watch.
'All right,' the sergeant said at last, waving Vambran away. 'You've proved your point. You and your sister can go.' He motioned for his underlings to let the pair pass unhindered, then turned back to Vambran. 'But let this be a lesson to you, and don't go barging in where you aren't wanted or needed.'
Vambran sniffed in bemused disgust. The suggestion that he was doing anything other than what was noble and right appalled him. That just wasn't like the city watch at all, to go around insulting members of the merchant families, or of the mercenary companies, for that matter. There might be some resentment or even jealousy on the guards' parts, but rarely was there such a level of animosity and lack of respect.
At that moment, there was a commotion from the opposite end of the courtyard, where the alley emptied into it. A new group of city guards had arrived, a full squad of twelve, moving out into the open with the obvious self-confidence that Vambran was used to in Arrabar. From the first sergeant's expression, it was plain to Vambran that the man had neither expected nor welcomed the intrusion, but he was at a loss as to what to do about it for the moment. More damning evidence against him, as far as Vambran was concerned.
Briefly, the lieutenant considered just outright accusing the original soldiers as imposters to the newcomers, exposing them through their own ignorance of proper procedure and letting the new squad arrest them for impersonation of city officials and, more important, murder, but he doubted it would end as simply as that. More likely, the original group would put up a fight, and Vambran didn't want Emriana in the middle of a skirmish.
On impulse, Vambran decided to try something. Taking another drawn-out breath, he focused his attention on the sergeant in a new way, drawing on his spiritual connection with his faith and his deity to sense the man's emotions, his surface thoughts. He let the sensation wash over him, building in strength. At first, all the lieutenant could sense was the presence of thoughts tumbling around, but then he was able to focus specifically on what the man was thinking.
The sergeant was standing there looking back and forth between Vambran and the new arrivals, frowning more deeply by the moment. The new squad of watchmen drew close, and Vambran could see that they were led by a captain, a crisply dressed woman with very short dark hair and a perpetual smirk. She was eyeing the first group askance.
She finally barked, 'So? What's going on here?'
Vambran smiled calmly and replied, 'We were just waiting for you to arrive. The sergeant here was just about to tell me where I should report tomorrow. For the debriefing, of course,' he added, still grinning disarmingly.
All the while, he was still focusing on the male sergeant's mental emanations.
'The debriefing?' the man opposite Vambran asked, obviously confused.
The watch captain nodded and said to Vambran, 'Right. You need to be at the district headquarters first thing tomorrow, at seven bells. Do you know where that is?'
Vambran began to read nervousness in the fellow's mind. He pushed a little further.
'Yes, absolutely,' he answered agreeably. 'Seven bells. And you'll perform the divine ceremony then, too, right? To contact the spirit of the slain victims? Standard procedure whenever there's a death, right?'
The female captain nodded in agreement.
'Ask for me,' she said, 'Captain Leguay.'
Vambran nodded, but his attention was on watching the male and still focusing on the man's thoughts and emotions.
'Oh, uh, right,' the sergeant said, befuddled. Vambran was reading clear uncertainty and panic in his thoughts by then. 'You said you were with House Matrell?' the sergeant asked, and Vambran sensed desperation.
'Right' he answered, smiling even more. 'It's just around the next bend, in fact.'
'Well, uh, then be sure to report at seven bells, just like she said.'
The captain looked quizzically at her male counterpart and said, 'I don't recognize you. Are you stationed in this district?'
The male's eyes widened, and his fingers flexed, as though he wanted to go for his half-spear. Vambran sensed almost overwhelming panic, and he was afraid the man would lose his nerve and simply try to fight his way out of the situation, but instead, the greasy-haired fellow shook his head and said, 'No, we're from the other side of the city. We were, urn, working on a special assignment.'
The female cocked one eyebrow, then shrugged it off.
'Ah, well. Saves me from having to fill out the report,' she said. 'Let's get the bodies to the station house.'
The sergeant winced, then nodded and slunk off, just to get away from the woman's scrutiny. Vambran's smile grew even broader.
'That sounds fine,' he said, and he was smiling on the inside, too.
The sergeant was clearly scrambling to maintain his facade, struggling to appear legitimate, when all he wanted to do was get away from there. The lieutenant was picking up another line of thought, too. The sergeant was very worried about Vambran finding out about the others, and what sort of threat that would be to him. Who the others were, the lieutenant could not get enough of a read on to figure out, but the sergeant was obviously afraid of them and would do whatever it took to keep them placated. It was, of course, what the lieutenant had hoped to glean from the man, figuring that thugs wouldn't go to all the trouble to kill someone and make it look like a crime on their own. Someone else had to be behind the deaths, and he figured the best way to find out was to the let the men get away with it, then track them down later.
'Tomorrow, then,' the captain said, and Vambran sensed that it was time for him and his sister to leave.
'Of course,' Vambran said, 'We're on our way.' He turned on his heel and moved over to where Emriana was still scowling at the soldier who had accosted her in the first place. 'Come on, Em, let's get you home and into bed. I'm sure this is enough excitement for you for one night.'
'But my-!' the girl started to protest, but Vambran clamped a hand over her mouth as he spun her around to lead her down the alley.
