Chapter 21 - U Can’t Touch This

Taia turned to the remaining soldier.

“Look around. Let me know if you see anything unusual.”

The soldier saluted and began to check the area.

Taia walked towards the carriage.

I wonder what kind of attack this was? She mused.

The carriage was little more than a burnt frame. The frame sat collapsed on the ground, the wheels having fallen off once the axel had been too burnt to sustain the weight of the vehicle.

There was some kind of residue throughout the inside of the carriage. At a guess it seemed to be a mix of whatever was used to start the fire and ash from whatever materials were inside at the time, such as cushions and curtains.

Could that group really have killed Corwin?

The idea was almost too convenient for Taia. She herself hadn’t been sure her plan to do so would have worked. Given the short timeframe to plan her actions, and the limited resources available to her, the best she had come up with was a plan to trick the soldiers into helping her overwhelm the Demon King’s executioner with the element of surprise.

Even then, she figured the plan was at best 50/50 and had built in a contingency to blame the soldiers if Corwin survived.

The mage she had captured had been wreathed in red right before she had used her ability. Presumably he had fire magic.

But could it have done this?

She picked at the carcass of the carriage. The blackened wood crumbled in her hand.

He would have had to have been exceptionally strong in magic. And well trained enough to be able to try to use magic again so soon after when my soldiers and I arrived.

The mage had been fairly young. And clearly rash if he stayed behind when his companions fled. It didn’t seem likely that he was particularly experienced.

Taia turned her attention to the inside of the carriage. Soot and ash filled what remained of an interior. But what caught her attention more than anything was what wasn’t there.

“Hey, soldier!”

“Yes Mam!” The soldier was examining something on the ground in front of the carriage nearby and stood up at attention.

“Find any bodies?”

“Uh…no. I mean, no Mam!”

Does he really think I’ll be angry just because he hasn’t found anything? Then again, Xorn probably would be. He can be so grouchy.

“Uh, at-ease soldier. I just need you to tell me what you have found. Be honest.” She flashed him a smile that she hoped would put him at ease.

“Uh, yes, uh Mam. I haven’t found any bodies at all, despite the obvious attack. All I’ve found is some weird whitish paste mixed in with burnt pieces on the road in a few places.” He pointed to an area in front of the carriage. “This seems to be the biggest patch.”

“How odd. There doesn’t seem to have been a body in the carriage either.”

The soldier crouched down to look at the area in front of him more closely. He could smell an odd odour that seemed to slightly burn his sinuses. It was like a mixture of a chemical smell and the stench of burnt wood intermixed.

“Any idea what this kinda pasty stuff is Mam? I can’t figure out why it’s spread around the carriage.”

Taia turned to look where the soldier had pointed more closely. There were three areas with the white residue, but the pattern seemed erratic, rather than strategic. There was a small area just in front of the husk of the burnt carriage. Another larger one a little ways in front of the first. And a third off to the side of the carriage.

As Taia pondered the odd clues she noticed the soldier remove his glove and extend his left hand towards the white substance in front of him.

“Does anything seem odd about the substance soldier?”

She watched as he tentatively brushed his hand over the area, like how one might ruffle a patch of grass to feel the blades.

Suddenly the man snatched his hand back.

“Ahhhh!”

As she watched the hand blistered and seemed to burn, even without any obvious signs of fire. The hand turned immediately red and his flesh seemed to almost sizzle.

The soldier looked too stunned by the sudden pain to do anything so Taia stepped towards him. She didn’t have anything she thought could help him, but assumed that getting the substance off his hand would be a good first step.

She gripped his left wrist and pulled him towards the ground just off the road.

“This may sting a little.”

She thrust his hand into the softer grass and dirt on the side of the road and scrapped his hand back and forth in an effort to brush off whatever substance was there. The man grunted, but Taia was a little impressed that he didn’t scream.

She released his hand and took a look. Clearly something had burned him but it seemed like the worst had passed and the reaction, whatever it was, had mostly stopped. That didn’t do anything for the damage that had already been done.

She gripped the edge of her skirt and with a swift pull tore off a section at the bottom of her already shorter than necessary garment.

The guard couldn’t help but let his eyes wander. With her skirt torn shorter than the thigh-length stockings she wore, he could now see more of her exposed thighs and the garters holding up her legwear. The sight was far too distracting but he quickly looked away when he realized she could see where his eyes had strayed.

“It’s alright soldier. Go ahead and look. Distraction is a good way to deal with pain.”

She chuckled as she began to use the strip of cloth she had torn away to bandage his hand, wrapping it slowly around his wound.

“You’ll have to clean this properly to prevent infection when we return. You have a nasty burn soldier but you handled it well. Tell me, what’s your name?”

She knew talking to him would help put him at ease when the makeshift bandage was obviously causing pain as it wrapped around his hand.

“It’s, uh, Tarkin Mam.” His surprise that she wanted to know distracted him almost as much as her exposed legs.

“Well Tarkin, I’ll be sure to put in a good word with Xorn after we’re done.” She looked him in the eye, “But next time do keep your gloves on whenever you touch anything, will you?” She winked.

He nodded eagerly. “Yes Mam. Thank you Mam!” He smiled like a smitten teenager.

Xorn’s soldiers are always so easy to get on my side. He probably overtrains them and never lets them have any fun. Oh well, works to my advantage!

“Now, let’s finish up but do stick to visual inspections.” She gave him another smile as she returned to the wreckage. She was sure his eyes were locked on her backside given her shortened skirt but she knew allowing him to enjoy the view would only serve to help keep him under her thumb in the future.

She surveyed the area again.

So whatever that stuff on the ground is, it seemed to have burned his hand like an acid.

She looked at the locations again.

Just in front of the carriage. A little ways in front of that. And to the side…right near where the carriage door would have been.

“Interesting…”

She could hear the soldier coming up behind her, he probably realized he could only stare for so long before getting into trouble.

“Tell me Tarkin,” she made sure to keep using his name to build a rapport, “would you say this spot here is where the driver would be?”

He looked where she pointed. “Yes Mam, that does seem about right.”

“And this, would you agree is the area where the carriage’s horse might have been?”

He looked at the new area where the larger patch of white substance lay several feet in front of the first. “Now that you mention it, it does look about right Mam.”

“And here,” she pointed at the third patch, “should be about where the carriage door would let out, is it not?”

“Indeed Mam. What do you think that means?”

She put her hand to her chin as she thought. “I think it means we found our victims Tarkin. The driver. The passenger. And the horse.” She pointed to each area in turn. “But they don’t seem to have been burned. Judging by your hand, it almost seems like they’ve been…melted.”

The soldier quickly looked at his hand, afraid that maybe the reaction would begin again at the suggestion.

“I’ve…never heard of magic that can do that Mam.”

She considered his point. “Magic? No, I haven’t either. But tell me Tarkin, were you in the city when the rebel group attacked?”

“Yes, I was Mam. My platoon was held up by some overturned merchant carts but we arrived to help keep the fire from spreading.”

“And does anything smell familiar?”

“Smell Mam?” He sniffed the air. “Now that you mention it, it does smell similar to that day. But there’s something else in the air too I don’t recognize. Do you know what it is?”

“I do not.” Her voice was more tense as she responded, annoyed that she didn’t have all the answers.

“But I do intend to find out.”