A Murder in Alvedara - Chapter 25 - A Close Call

[Kane]

A Murder in Alvedara – Chapter 25 – A Close Call

Where the morning had dragged, the afternoon flew by. Messengers streamed in from the bridge district with reports of wagons searched or turned away. The Vashar’s put their own men on the street looking for their son and trying to get word on just who had seen him last. I had no proof that he was the victim. But both the Vashars and I knew it was a race against time.

Just before dusk, one of Sergeant Bashar’s best sources, Salah, a street runner came in with interesting news. Salah had been outside the Grand Temple when over a dozen storm crows, heavily armed soldier legates, left the temple grounds headed for the bridge district. They’d tried to keep to the shadows and soon split into groups of three or four taking different routes, trying to avoid being seen. The Grand Legate was moving; but was it on his own information or was he just following my lead? In the end it probably wouldn’t matter and I might need those legates to contain the killer.

With almost all my men in the bridge district, it seemed pointless to remain in my office. I left Yolan in charge and left with Sergeant Bashar for the waterfront. Once I arrived, I planned to take over an empty building and run my patrol network from there. As the Sergeant and I neared the district, I noticed that there was no one on the street. Doors and windows were closed and barred. The only people I saw, besides my own men were a handful of private guards and mercenaries who huddled near fires with their backs to a wall. No sign yet of the storm crows, although I was sure they were in the district somewhere.

While the lack of foot traffic helped, my task was enormous.  The bridge district is one of the largest in the city, with miles of docks, and dozens of roads and alleys leading to other areas of the city. I didn’t have the manpower to watch every entrance.  I had to pick key areas and hope my few roving patrols could cover the rest. In the dark, the killer could still fairly easily slip through my net if he was careful.

Hours slipped by as I waited for something, anything, to happen. I kept worrying that I had gambled everything on a hunch and if I was wrong, the killer had free reign over the rest of the city. My doubts festered and grew as the night stretched on. My tension and fears were relieved just before the first hour of the new day when a runner reported that a boat had been found along the docks that hadn’t been there hours ago. I was sure it was his.

Taking every man available I went to see if we could pick up his trail. As we moved, more of my patrols joined us. Just before I reached the dock, another runner came saying there was sounds of fighting to the north. Without waiting I ran north trusting Sergeant Bashar and the others would follow. It took just minutes for me to find the first body; a storm crow with his head nearly ripped off. I found two more just feet away. I spread my men out and started to search the buildings around me. In the second building we searched, we found the Vashar boy, with his chest cut open.

The body was still warm. He’d been sacrificed less than an hour ago. The legates died minutes ago. I was furious.  We were so close and just missed the killer. I sent men to the north and east trying to find any evidence of his passage. I knew we’d find nothing. We had our chance and lost.