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Holding the reader between my teeth, I pulled my gloves on. Contact with people would only make my mood worse. Their emotions would overwhelm me in this state, and I’d soon have trouble telling my own feelings from theirs, which wouldn’t do anyone any good. The mission instructions on the reader would give me a way to convince the geas to let me get ready before I left.
The holo was just barely larger than one of my hands. It was black in color with a small screen that projected information about my missions. It had other purposes too, of course, but this was all I needed from it right now.
Activating the holo, I instantly saw that my mission instructions were presented in slide format.Of course.My steps slowed until I gave up walking and just leaned against the wall and watched it. The slides indicated that my starting point was a circle located in the ruins of Falo, near one of the northern inland seas. Durgion, a city near a lake in the Otero territory, was suffering from unnatural flooding, possibly from a curse or magical intervention by enemies of the Guild.
Okay, got it. I needed to check on this city and find the cause of the flooding and fix it. Hopefully, this would be an easy mission.
Travel from Falo would typically take several weeks for me if I wasn’t allowed to use a Circle to teleport. But because it was so far, I would get to use one, which meant the trip would only take a few days instead. It was a luxury not often given to someone in my position.
I visualized the supplies I needed, and why. The geas Silver placed on me was kind of funny. If I was given a mission, I was expected to go on it, and only do things that helped the mission from that point forward. I could technically do whatever I wanted, but I had to fight the geas every step of the way until the geas went from making me uncomfortable to putting me in absolute pain. So, for anything I did, like getting supplies for this mission, I had to consciously think about and truly believe that what I was doing would help me fulfill Silver’s order.
If only I could get laid that way…
So, once I had focused on the fact that I needed to get supplies for my mission, I set to work ordering everything from the halo. The hardy folk who lived Outside were starved for small luxuries such as batteries, sweets, medicines, and all kinds of functioning tech. Good-quality multi-tools were in high demand, too. Since I didn’t want to run my food down every night, having something other than paper money to trade with would be good. Therefore, my goal wasn’t just to get what I technically needed for the trip, but to also get things I could trade.
I leaned against the wall, messaging the order to the store master, flagging it as an urgent delivery. Adding on a LawBook, a book that could be used to record things from people to be taken back and given as official evidence, when needed. In my business, I’d found the need for a LawBook more than I ever imagined, so I wanted to make sure I had one for this trip too.
Marking the order as urgent made it so that the store master would have to drop everything else to fulfill it and leave it by the atrium for my easy pickup. I got to inconvenience him, a jerk who sorely deserved it, and it would save me time in going through the city to get it myself.
I lessened my pace to give time for the order to be filled. I took the thirty flights of stairs down, avoiding the people in the lower areas. While gloves and clothing moderated the emotions I read from people, they didn’t always stop me from picking them up. Other people’s emotions made facing my own harder. Getting past the Tree, the guardian of the portal exit, without a breakdown, would be challenging enough.
A satchel, sealed with the store master’s stamp which would thwart any thief, waited for me where the corridor widened into the great hall, half open to the sky. I stopped at the entrance, stuffing the satchel into my messenger bag. Beyond, the Tree’s branches blocked out the sun, leaving the open area in a perpetual green twilight.
The Tree. heart of this country, an entity whose power defined the borders and kept most of the Ridden out. Its judgment could be called on by the defendant for cases where execution was the punishment; the Tree communicated its decision to the Judges and they could suspend a sentence of death based on its decision.
And the person to be judged was secured to the tree for the duration of its examination of them.
Nausea curled in my gut at the scent of the leaves. In memory, Bark and thorns scraped against my naked skin. Being hung on the Tree was in my top three worst memories, along with the death of my parents.
The alien presence of the Tree saturated the air, thick and heavy when I stepped into the open area. Stumbling, I increased my pace. Memory chased me, in it my arms bound high, stabbing agony radiating through my shoulders and chest. The spirit within the damned Tree invading my mind and soul. It recoiled from the new-formed presence I’d only just sensed within me.
That day and night still gave me nightmares. I had hoped for death by the time the Tree decided on its judgment.
The geas nipped at me. Visible now, the iron-bound door to Outside, though still half obscured by low-hanging branches. There were other doors I’d heard, but I couldn’t perceive them.
I hurried to it, twisting and turning to avoid touching leaves. My mission brief would interface with the door, triggering the transport to the Circle in Falo, getting me away from this place. Leaves danced above me, rustles and flashes of sun suggesting laughter. Bastard. I loathed the Tree.
Touching the door, even gloved, activated it. Indigo light spun through the door frame, a chilly void waiting beyond. After the stomach-clenching transition, frigid prickles of sleet pelted down on my exposed head. Half blinded by the storm, I jogged to the minimal shelter of the barren-branched canopy that swayed in the wind.
ChapterThree
WALKER
Walker's footsteps echoed down the sleek, modern hallway. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling windows that offered a breathtaking view of the bustling city below. He pushed open the door to his office, the walls and carpet in earthy tones of orange and brown that reminded him of his long-lost home.
His office in the Judge’s Halls perfectly reflected his preferences. It wasn’t so large that he needed staff, or so small he felt cramped. It also lay ten floors away from Silver’s. Not to avoid Silver, but to avoid all the annoying hassles that fastened themselves to Silver, and that he was only too willing to share with other competent operatives.
Now that he had privacy, he settled behind the desk and exhaled, interlinking his fingers. The last investigation had been long and difficult, especially when he uncovered an embezzlement scheme stretching over ten years. The administrator had been innocent; his son was behind the crime, but the truth had nearly broken the old man. Walker should have a little time to forget about it, maybe even relax—
His comm pinged with Silver’s alarm and he eyed the tech like a snake.
You’ve been reassigned, details in message. That was Silver, to the point.
Walker skimmed the message.
Gazing at the wall and the painting of a desert landscape he’d hung on it, Walker mulled the information Silver had provided to start the investigation. First, the briefing on the suspect. Administrator Greene of the Otero territory, a well-known supporter of the current president, had been living well beyond his means for the past few years. Without apparently going into debt, either by loans or credit. Since money didn’t grow on trees, it had to be coming from somewhere. Even supposing they were using Greene’s wife’s wealth to maintain their current lifestyle, there was still a gap between money flowing in and money going out. The extra money had to come from somewhere. More often than not, the investigation’s usual answer showed that the Administrator in question was skimming the funds he was supposed to use to provide services to his territory. Generally, they would take the money earmarked for infrastructure projects or medical. For some reason, they all seemed to think that it was easier to hide.
Bribes were unlikely, since the territory didn’t have resources currently in demand. Otherwise, he’d be checking first for diverted tributes sent from the people living Outside.
