"I had nothing to do with it," I said, still staring at the lupine corpse. "I never even found the key to the damned library."
"Neither did Lucien," said Malnemar, "But he did find the chalice. And now he has found the riches of Thess as well." he smiled, as though he was offering to buy me a sandwich.
It was a good job I had been sitting down, for the sight of the murder and my sudden, horrible realisation of what was in the ink-wells brought back terrible memories and my head began to sway. But fainting was not an option - if I left myself vulnerable, I might join the Angel in death.
"I've been wanting to eliminate that little prick for some time now, but the main difficulty was finding someone to pin the blame on," he continued, "And who better to blame for this murder than Johan Cross? I've already messaged the town guards, and they should be coming to arrest you soon."
"But he is here in your study! How can you possibly tell them that he died in the library? And how do you propose to blame me?"
"Obviously I'll warp the body to the place where it was found. As you have probably guessed, the other acolytes have denounced you. Since you have left your book entirely blank aside from your name, you alone have no record of where you were and what you were doing during the game! So my story will be easy to verify.
"Of course, the real proof is here." he added, and he was still smiling.
He picked up a small tape recorder, based on the UHER design but made indigenously within Furrae. As he hit play, I heard myself say "I'll kill the little bastard. Hah! Now I've got you," followed by a whimper and Lucien's death cry as he was murdered.
"You spliced that together," I said.
"Of course, but it's a second-generation copy. They won't see the joins."
"You've lost the plot! How are you going to explain that you just so happened to record the murder?"
"It was in a drawer, a two-hour tape. What I've played you is just the best bit. I've spent the last half-hour constructing the rest of the tape to make it sound convincing. Copied at seven times speed as I'm sure you'll appreciate. And now, I must go. Ki'pri, take Lucien and myself to the library."
A small Warp-Aci appeared and Malnemar hefted the murdered Angel upon his back before they were teleported out.
Malnemar hadn't forgotten that I too was very capable with teleportation, and so he had placed some kind of suppressor field upon the room. It seemed that only a Warp-Aci would be able to operate here, and since I didn't have one, I was stuck.
The door was firmly locked, and the lock had a ward upon it to prevent me from picking it telekinetically. I realised that I still had a few keys from the forbidden drawer in my shirt pocket - if it hadn't been for Malnemar's insistence that I wear it to conceal the lack of tattoos, he would probably have been able to relieve me of them.
Unfortunately, none of the keys worked. Looking for inspiration or something that Malnemar had overlooked, I rifled through the office. Since arresting me naked was probably not part of the plan, I figured there would probably be some clothing around as well. In a chest I found a set of white acolyte garbs and put them on.
And then I had an idea.
It depended on the kind of ward spell he had used, but it might just work. Placing one of the keys into the lock - actually the key to the bureau - I concentrated for a few moments and the latch clicked open.
The ward he had used was only protecting the lock itself - otherwise it would probably prevent the lock from opening when the key was inserted too. So I had placed a key within the lock and used my powers to morph the shape of the key inside it.
I opened the door slowly and quietly, but to my relief the acolytes were gone. Indeed, I began to wonder where they could be. And what was Malnemar up to?
I couldn't find out whether he was still in the library, because I had no idea where it was. On a hunch, I looked out of the window, but the view was obscured by the trees in the garden. Entering the next room I had a much better vantage point and I immediately spotted him outside, talking to the guards who had presumably just arrived. They were dressed in the livery of the city and their leader was a tall, brown wolf Being.
As I watched, Malnemar and the guards vanished, taken somewhere by his Warp Aci. I panicked and threw myself to the ground, but he didn't reappear. No, he'll take them to the library first, I thought.
I hid under the boardroom table, and a few minutes later he appeared with two of the guards. He tried to unlock the door, but since I had already done this his actions had locked it again and he promptly ran face-first into it.
Puzzled, he tried again and this time unlocked it once more. There was a cry of dismay as they entered and suddenly realised that I was gone.
Before they could start a more thorough search, I made a magical pass and vanished in a flash of darkness, fortunately muted by the shadows beneath the table.
I could simply have teleported back to SAIA, but there was Petter to take care of. I wasn't sure that he would live long, as he would probably turn violent when he realised that Malnemar had framed his son for a murder - and Mal was a formidable opponent.
And then there was something else. Something about the stare in Lucien's eyes, not just terror, but a deadness to them, as though his soul had been eaten.
Involuntarily, I crossed myself - a throwback to my days in the Church of Christ the Human - if that poor cub had been soul-eaten, it was total murder and Malnemar would pay for it with his soul. No, stop thinking like that. I prayed that it was either just terror, or that his soul had simply been trapped and not actually devoured.
"He is the door, and the key to the door.
When He embraces Himself the way is clear!
As once it was, soon shall it be again!"
The litany came back to me as I pondered Malnemar's motives. It sounded like he was intending to summon something, but what?
I wandered down the corridor, when a voice called out from behind. I whirled around to see three guards.
"Mr. Cross, you are under arrest for the murder of Lucien Small," said the officer. "Fetch the lieutenant," he added to one of his men.
"I had nothing to do with it," I said. "It was Malnemar. Did you hear that little forgery of his or something?"
"We heard you kill him," replied the officer. It seemed they didn't know much about tape editing, although I suppose it was a relatively new technology. Well, for them, at least.
"Don't be ridiculous," I said. "He edited that together. The murder took place less than two hours ago, and besides, why is the host of a party going to take the time to sit down and listen to a boring, two-hour long tape of silence punctuated by random sounds, when he should be entertaining his guests or searching for the missing one? Now stop this nonsense and help me catch the real killer."
"That may be," he said. "And if you are innocent of this particular crime - which I doubt given your history - then taking you into custody will clear your name should the 'real' killer strike again." he laughed.
"Have you gone mad?" I screamed. "Are you honestly going to wait for him to kill again? Well, if he's playing the game I think he's playing, the next victim will be my father - and I will not allow you to jeopardise his life, and quite possibly his soul, with this bullshit of yours! So if you want to bring me in, well you'll have to catch me first."
He drew a small crossbow. It wouldn't have much power behind it, but that didn't really matter as it had been designed to fire enchanted tranquiliser darts.
"Don't even think about summoning a Warp-Aci," he said. But I was already making the gestures behind my back.
"Those are for girls," I said, and vanished.
Summoning. He's going to perform this weird ritual somewhere. But where? Out in the woods? No, someone might spot them. Somewhere in the house, then? Probably. Yes, down in the vaults, tombs or a wine cellar or something.
I tried each in turn, and of course it turned out they were in the last place on my list. The door was locked of course, but I had the key and opened it swiftly, quietly creeping down the steps.
In the cellar, the guests were gathered. They were wearing the white shirts again, and gyrating as Malnemar stood before a stone altar. Upon it was the chalice.
"The soul of an Angel for our Father," he cried, and I suddenly realised what he was up to. Lucien's soul was inside the chalice.
"No!" I screamed and with a burst of pure will, the chalice flew from the altar. It should have soared into my open hand, but I missed and it fell to the floor. Malnemar ran towards me, his wings fanned out and his face a mixture of fury, hate and desperation, but at least he wasn't smiling anymore.
He had got everything in place to eat the Angel's soul. All this 'Thess' business was bunk - he was simply trying to increase his own powers and the religion made an excellent cover.
He probably wanted to feed off the emotions of his followers during the ceremony while he 'sacrificed' Lucien, which would explain why he had saved the soul until now rather than absorbing it immediately.
He scrabbled for the chalice and I kicked him, but he pulled me down and we fought, biting, punching, kicking. As we did so, the chalice rolled across the floor until it was snatched up by one of the disciples.
"Give me that!", yelled Mal, as he tried to curl his wing-tentacles around me, but to little effect, as I had hardened my skin and my own tentacles were around him too. We were pretty much at a deadlock - it all depended on how his followers would react.
"No." Petter clutched the chalice tightly. "This whole ceremony is a charade. There is no Thess - He is just you. You're trying to become a tri-wing, and I will not let you do that through soul-murder."
Way to go, Dad! I thought. Warped minds think alike, as they say.
'Cubi are prone to bursts of emotion, and Mal was positively incandescent. I could feel doubts creeping into some of his followers.
"Blasphemer!" he screamed. "The heretic must die, my children. Thess commands the death of all defilers!"
His command had come quickly, with no hesitation. The way Petter had figured it out by himself had vindicated my suspicions - Mal would obviously want to purge his cult of any Creatures who knew enough magic to see that his miracles were a fraud, but at the same time, devouring the souls of other Creatures would give him a far bigger boost than a Being would.
Indeed, that was probably why he'd originally killed Lucien, because the young wolf had recognised one of the spells Mal had used in his rituals.
The followers dithered, horrified by the sudden change in attitude of the leader they had admired. Mal had definitely pushed them too far this time, as they had never been asked to commit murder before, and it was far too soon for such a major leap of faith. In addition, their foe was an incubus who could easily kill them instead. Or worse.
"Why did you recruit Petter in the first place?" I asked. We were still entangled, but I was hoping it would distract him and give me an advantage.
Apparently he thought so too, but he replied anyway, most likely in hopes of distracting me.
"He seemed sympathetic to my researches. I was hoping to share my power with him, but it seems he is still too hamstrung by the Being outlook to eat his inferiors. Well, he can age and die for his precious moral attitude, while the rest of us embrace the future! Assuming my followers don't kill him first."
"There must be another way," I said. "Immortality should not have to come at the price of other people's lives and souls."
"You? A bleeding-heart Being sympathiser? You've gone soft, old man! I certainly expected more from Johan Cross!" he laughed.
Some of his more willing followers moved hesitantly towards Petter, clutching chairs and other impromptu weapons. Petter snarled and brought out his tentacles, but he was constrained by space and the fact that he could not let go of the precious chalice.
"Stop pissing about and KILL HIM!" roared Malnemar, apparently forgetting that his followers didn't have tentacles.
The moment he said this, a sudden silence fell, broken only by the sound of wood as the followers dropped their weapons. Mal and I both turned to see what the followers were gaping at. It was a newcomer, the lieutenant of the guards I had seen through the window. Only he wasn't a Being anymore.
The wolf stood there upon the steps into the cellar, looking down upon the melee with his hands upon his hips and his wings and headwings fluffed out in an expression of sheer fury.
"You are under arrest," he snarled. "All of you."