Dr. Shreburn

Ashtin was frightened by the sudden turn of events, but he managed to keep his wits about him and attempted to flee. Spellbreakers could only suppress magic at short range. If he could get far enough away, he could disguise himself, hide, and build up enough magic to teleport to the local mages’ guild.

“Ashtin, wait,” the woman called after him, but he didn’t slow down. That she knew his name made her no less of a threat. Swearing under her breath, the woman cast the staff aside to chase after him.

The staff clattered to the ground, its magic also having been rendered useless. As soon as the woman ran far enough toward Ashtin, the effect wore off, and the staff rose into the air. Instead of chasing after Ashtin, however, it emitted a high-pitched siren and fired a bright clump of magical energy into the air. This magical flare soared high above the city and then changed its trajectory, drawing the logo of the Council of Humankind, an infinity symbol enclosed in a circle.

Ashtin couldn’t suppress his curiosity and glanced over his shoulder at the commotion. When he saw the council’s logo and the trail leading back to his staff, he stumbled in surprise. One of the spells he encoded into the staff must have been this emergency call for help, but he had allowed his magic to guide him when engraving it. Magic was a force of nature. How could it possibly know what the council’s logo looked like?

He managed to keep himself from falling, but the blunder allowed the spellbreaker to get close enough to grab his robes. As she tackled him to the ground, a shot rang out, sailing over them. Neither Ashtin nor the woman knew if it would have actually hit either of them, but they were both grateful it missed.

“Hold your fire,” the spellbreaker shouted. “I have him.”

“And what good does that do us?” a guard officer asked, stepping close to the two of them. “Let him up so I can take another shot.”

Before the spellbreaker could move, however, a car pulled up next to them, and four gynoids carrying rifles emerged from it. One gynoid pointed her gun directly at the officer who had made the threat, while the rest covered the other officers and the two men who had tried to assault Ashtin.

“The council is taking command of this situation,” one of the gynoids shouted. “Guards, set up a perimeter. Confirm the identities of anyone in uniform. There may be spies among you.”

“We don’t take orders from you,” the closest officer pointed out.

“Do you really want to argue about jurisdiction right now? We’re exposed out here, and you know I’m right. We’re taking custody of the mage. With the threat contained, what have you been trained to do?”

“Seal off the area and investigate as quickly as possible,” the officer admitted, sheathing his pistol. The other officers on the scene, eager to leave, set about their tasks.

“Thank you,” Ashtin said, as the gynoids helped him and the spellbreaker to their feet. “I didn’t mean to get you involved. The staff acted on its own.”

One of the gynoids wiped some dirt off his robes. “We can discuss that later. Now that you have made contact with Dr. Shreburn, you have more pressing duties.” She glanced from Ashtin to the spellbreaker.

“Dr. Shreburn?” Ashtin gasped. “My apologies. I didn’t realize you were a spellbreaker, or that you were with the guard.”

“I left the guard a long time ago,” Dr. Shreburn corrected him.

“Of course. Of course. Pleasure to meet you. When I was studying magic theory, her books were the only ones that made any sense.” This was an exaggeration, but it was a good cover story.

Dr. Shreburn shook his hand. “Shucks. Always nice to meet a fan.”

For the first time, Ashtin took a moment to closely examine her. She was muscular and exuded a vibrant energy. Her short, wavy brown hair had an unnatural green sheen, the result of a magical experiment gone wrong.

She looked to be in her thirties, but Ashtin knew that couldn’t be true. She had earned her PhD long before he had taken those magical theory classes. By the time he first cracked one of her books, she was already well renowned in the field. If she was in her fifties, she disguised it well. It seemed more likely that she had been in the guard for a few years in her late teens and early twenties, earned her PhD in her late twenties, and was now in her mid-forties.

“Perhaps you should finish this conversation in a safer location,” a gynoid cut in.

“Good idea,” Dr. Shreburn agreed, keeping her attention on Ashtin. “My lab isn’t far from here. Are you up for a walk?”

“Lead the way.” Ashtin summoned his staff to his hand. Although it usually stuck close to him, it had kept its distance from Dr. Shreburn, hovering in the street near the gynoids. Once Ashtin held out his hand, it sped to him, taking the long way around the car in order to avoid the doctor. He kept a hold on it for the first few blocks, but once they were past the guard-controlled area, he released it, allowing it to float at his side.

“That’s quite the ingenious invention,” Dr. Shreburn complimented him. “How did you instruct it to call for help without using magic?”

“I didn’t. It acted on its own.”

“That’s… interesting.”

“You can say what you really feel. I find it disturbing too.”

“Ashtin, the council has never allowed a mage to explore their own magic like this. Those who do so anyway eventually drive themselves mad, often destroying themselves. Wherever delving too deeply into magic leads, it’s dangerous. It’s only natural that there would be disturbing aspects, but that doesn’t make it uninteresting.”

“I can’t tell you why the council approved my request, but I should warn you, they told me they trusted me not to become too obsessed. Whatever it is about magic that drives mages mad, you may not be immune.”

A dismissive scoff escaped Dr. Shreburn’s lips. “That’s probably why they asked a spellbreaker to take a look. My anti-magic particles should prevent anything from getting out of control, but I appreciate the warning.”

⁂

“Forgive me for saying so, doctor, but this doesn’t look like much of a laboratory.”

With mats on the floor, and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling, the ground-floor office looked more like a dojo. It was not what Ashtin expected to find housed in a highly advanced research center.

“My equipment’s in the back room. I converted the front into a space where I could give community self-defense courses.”

“You teach guard tactics?”

“Some, but I’m not teaching people how to make arrests. I’m teaching them how to get themselves to safety.”

Ashtin couldn’t contain his excitement. “Do you do spears? I always wanted to learn hand-to-hand combat, but everyone told me it’s a waste of time.”

“They’re right. Physical combat always comes with the risk of injury or worse. You demonstrated great skill today using your magic to defend yourself, and even better judgment in running when I got close. Your time is better spent improving your magic.”

“That’s true, but at the same time, it’s not correct. I’m too reliant on magic. I know it’s what makes me valuable to society, but… I don’t want to think that’s all that makes me valuable. Without magic, I’m sure I’d somehow…”

Dr. Shreburn held up a hand in front of Ashtin’s face.“OK, stop. This sounds like something you should work out in counseling.”

“You’re right, but I can’t. I don’t want to disappoint the council.”

“Are you really a historian mage?” Dr. Shreburn lowered her hand, revealing to Ashtin a skeptical expression on her face. “I thought they trusted the council implicitly.”

“I do, but I also love them. Haven’t you ever held back something from someone you love because you don’t want to hurt them?”

“They’ll be the first to tell you that they’re incapable of being hurt.”

“Hurt is maybe the wrong word, but I’ve disappointed them in the past, and I don’t want to do it again.”

“Well, you know them better than I do. Let’s have a look at that staff, shall we?”

“You’re actually going to look at it?” Dr. Shreburn was his contact in Settlement 266. Her examination of the staff was just a pretext to allow Ashtin to visit the city.

“If you don’t mind.”

Surely, it couldn’t hurt, Ashtin thought. After causing such a commotion, it would be a while before he could move freely throughout the city anyway. He was about to hand the staff over to Dr. Shreburn when there was a sharp knock on the door.

“Flay, it’s me. Open up.” A man’s voice came from the other side of the door.

An amused smile spread across Dr. Shreburn’s face. “General. What brings you here?”

She opened the door to reveal an older man in a highly-decorated City Guard uniform. From his mostly-gray hair and sagging skin, Ashtin estimated he was in his late fifties or early sixties, but there was no frailty about him. He had a look on his face as if he were daring the whole world to challenge him, and though not much taller than Ashtin, his muscles filled out his uniform well.

“May I come in?” the general asked.

“Only if you have a warrant,” Dr. Shreburn answered.

“Then I suppose I’ll just have to shout my apology to the mage from the hallway.”

“You, apologize?” Dr. Shreburn scoffed.

“General,” Ashtin cut in, feeling a bit awkward at this exchange, “I am at your disposal, but no apologies are necessary. Rather, I should be the one apologizing to you.”

Dr. Shreburn shot Ashtin an annoyed look but stepped back to allow him to approach the doorway. Ashtin held out his hand and the general briefly shook it.

“I’m Wincent Winmore. You can save the jokes, I’ve heard them all before. I’ll be brief, Mr. Blackford. I came to apologize for the way my officers treated you. Everyone’s on edge because of the current situation, but that’s no excuse for their lack of discipline. That said—and it pains me to admit this— the city is no longer safe. I’d advise you to finish your business quickly and leave.”

The wry smile returned to Dr. Shreburn’s face.“Now that’s a problem. I just promised Ashtin here that he could take part in my self-defense classes. He’ll be here every day.”

“And tell me, Flay, why does a mage need self-defense classes?”

Hoping to convey a sense of shame, Ashtin forced his cat ears to lie flat. “My magic isn’t very strong. I can’t rely on it to protect myself.”

“You wouldn’t have been at risk had you not entered this city. If you agree to leave, you won’t need self-defense classes.”

“That’s not true. I’m less likely to be attacked in other settlements, for now, but that doesn’t mean I’m completely safe.”

“No one is ever completely safe,” General Winmore said, “but you are a historian, yes? Has there ever been a safer time and place than this planet, right now? With the temporary exception of this city.”

“I take your meaning,” Ashtin said, frowning. The general should not have known he was a historian mage, or, more importantly, what a historian mage knows about history. “There are certainly diminishing returns to efforts spent on self-defense, but I feel this is something I need to do for my own safety.”

“Perhaps we can compromise,” the general suggested. “Can you teleport directly here, and then leave immediately afterword?”

“No can do,” Dr. Shreburn answered for Ashtin. “I was hoping to get to know Ashtin better, and if things go well, maybe he’ll end up staying the night.”

General Winmore’s eyes went wide. “You’re old enough to be his mother!”

“So? You were old enough to be my father.”

“I was not—” General Winmore took a deep breath to calm himself. “And we both agreed it was a mistake.”

“Did we? From what I hear, you’re getting fresh with another new recruit.”

Ashtin lowered his staff between them. “OK, stop. As entertaining as this melodrama is, we are all busy people. General, I’m afraid my business will keep me in the city for the foreseeable future, but thank you for the warning. I’ll take precautions so that I won’t draw attention to myself again.”

General Winmore was skeptical that Ashtin could pull something like that off. With cat ears on his head, and a magical staff following him around, he’d stick out wherever he went. However, his primary goal was to secure Ashtin’s assistance, so he decided to play along. “Mr. Blackford, you’re aware of the crisis this settlement currently faces, correct? The guard has been working around the clock to get a handle on it, but every time we make a breakthrough, we suffer a setback. The men and women I most trust to investigate—who I know are not involved—betray us. They allow witnesses to mysteriously disappear. They commit random acts of violence, but then they come back the next day as if nothing has happened.”

“You suspect magic is at play.”

“I wish I had a better theory, but the council keeps offering weak explanations. Most recently, one of my captains assaulted a store clerk, though they claim to have no memory of doing so. The council told me they found psychotropic drugs in his system, but they refuse to explain how he was drugged, only to say magic wasn’t involved, and they have refused to let us interview any mages.”

“They watch mages very closely. From their perspective, they know what their mages are capable of, and can prove to themselves that no mage under their watch is responsible, but the City Guard does not share that perspective. It is understandable that some might believe the council is behind this.”

“Not just some. I don’t know a single guard who doesn’t suspect the council. Keeping discipline has been a full-time effort. It’s a miracle none of my soldiers have attacked a counselor.”

Ashtin couldn’t help but chuckle. “The council outnumbers the guard two-to-one. Gynoids don’t need to eat or sleep, and they don’t often miss their shots. Attacking the council would be suicide.”

“They all know that, which is why they’ve behaved themselves, but they all fear that they will be the next to fall victim to whatever magic is plaguing the guard, or that the council will condemn and destroy this settlement. When one may die either way, revenge becomes more tempting. Or, perhaps, they might take a shot at a random mage. I trained these soldiers personally. We’re all very skilled at combating mages.”

“Is that a threat?”

“Merely a warning. My guards aren’t like the toy soldiers from your settlement. If you let them surprise you, you won’t live to regret it.”

By the time Ashtin noticed the general’s hand going for his pistol, he barely had time to cast a shield between them. He could only manage a tall, flat shield that floated in the air in front of him, but that’s exactly what General Winmore expected. With a speed and litheness that belied his age, he stepped to the side and hooked his arm around the shield, pressing the muzzle up against Ashint’s temple. Then, just as quickly, he withdrew and holstered the gun.

“Don’t underestimate my people. There are plenty that are quicker on the draw than I, and with some mysterious force corrupting them, nobody is safe.”

Waving his hand, Ashtin dismissed the shield. “I appreciate the warning, though I could have done without the demonstration. At the next opportunity, I will speak with the council. I cannot promise you any results, but I will do my best to communicate to them the importance of regaining the guards’ trust.”

“If I may, the council is holding one of the men that attacked you, and my people have the other. Although we allow them to observe our interrogations, they refuse to reciprocate, but I suspect they would not refuse me if I were accompanied by a historian mage. It might be a good first step toward reestablishing trust.”

“You may be right.” Ashtin put his hand to his chin. The council would likely want him to interview their prisoner, but if he took the general, he’d have no excuse to bring Dr. Shreburn along. Then again, her only role was to provide him with a cover story. She didn’t strictly need to be present. “I’ll see what I can do, but the council might not want me there either, so securing access may take some time. May I assume that Dr. Shreburn has your contact information?”

“You may. And on that note, would you mind if I had a word with her in private?”

“Of course.” Nodding to the general, Ashtin walked to the back room in the laboratory and shut the door behind him. The general ought to be satisfied that Ashtin couldn’t overhear them, but his cat ears could pick up their muffled conversation.

“What’s going on here?” the general asked Dr. Shreburn. “Did the council put you up to this?”

“It’s the other way around. He’s assisting me with some research. You have no idea how many gynoid arms I had to twist to get this kind of access, and I’ll be damned if I’m going to let you ruin it.”

“Maybe you should relocate somewhere safer then. If the council is willing to loan you a historian mage, surely they’d let you leave the city. Other important people have already gotten out.”

“And what do you think will happen to those ‘important people’ if the random acts of violence spread to their new homes? They’ll be suspected of causing it. I’m not leaving until this is cleared up.”

General Winmore let out a defeated sigh. “You’re impossible. What happened to you? You used to be willing to do whatever it took, but now you’re staggering blindly into danger.”

“I left the guard because I couldn’t stand to think like that anymore. I can’t see enemies everywhere like you do.”

“No, you left because you felt bad about putting that thing out of its misery.”

“He was a human, not a thing.”

“Barely,” the general scoffed. “Sorry, I didn’t come here to have this argument again. I still care about you. I’m worried about you.”

“I don’t want any kindness from you. Go waste it on your new recruit.”

“Fine, but don’t tell me I didn’t warn you about hanging around that cat-eared freak.” With that, he turned his back on the doctor and stomped away.

A moment later, Dr. Shreburn opened the door to the back room, a sheepish expression on her face. “I’m sorry you had to see us like that.”

“Don’t be,” Ashtin reassured her. “It was very enlightening.”

“There’s something that’s bothering me about his story. If the council is so insistent with the guard that magic is not to blame, why did they send you here to determine if the cause is magical?”

“Perhaps they’re playing a counterintelligence game within the guard. We may be a part of that very game. Tell me, how likely is it, if magic were involved, that we would be able to trace it to its caster?”

“Very unlikely. Spells do leave microscopic evidence of their existence, but it degrades over time. In a laboratory setting, I was able to correlate this evidence to its caster, but only because I’d had ample time to study the casters beforehand. But the council assured me you have unique talents. That’s why I took the assignment.”

“I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. I do have unique talents,” Ashtin said, pointing to his cat ears, “but I’m no better at detecting magic than any other mage. We may have to rethink our approach.”

“This isn’t what I signed up for,” Dr. Shreburn shook her head.

“If you want out, I’ll inform the council,” Ashtin said. “I’ll argue on your behalf, but make the decision now. Once you’re in, you’re in.”

“This is too important. I’m in, as long as… As long as the council isn’t behind this crisis.”

“Of course they’re not!” Ashtin shouted so loudly that he surprised even himself. “Why would they spend centuries traveling between stars and laboring to make this world suitable for life, just to risk the breakdown of the entire planet through random acts of violence? What could they possibly gain from that?”