The Faculty of Summoning studies the various rituals used to call angels and demons from their native plane to our own. A powerful tool, providing them with laborers and specialists to fulfill the cities need. The paradox is their constant shortage of experienced mages, as most are killed by their own subject of study.

  - Tzu Ye, High court Historian of Ao Guan

  The hallways of the Faculty of Summoning were almost as loud as the city streets. Chittering, iron scrapping replaced from passing imps replaced the clattering sound of wheels on cobblestones. Most of the imps flew overhead or scampered along the orange tiled walls. Occasionally a team of them would run by, carrying large panels of marble, engraved with circles and runes, mandibles clicking in exertion. Prepared summoning circles, used as gates to call the creatures through. Komena admitted the slab sounded easier than drawing it out each time, especially when you weren’t the one moving it.

  Kave glared at them all, kicking out at any that didn’t keep their distance, while Struth gaped.

  “I didn’t expect the faculty to be so cavalier about their business.” Struth said.

  “Like my uncle used to say, familiarity breeds contempt. Besides, someone needs to do the leg work around here. Might as well be them. Most faculties just use the students more inclined to brown nosing. Here and the Necromancers have other methods.” Komena answered. Struth spat on the floor and grumbled something.

  Other people occasionally passed them by. There wasn’t any greeting or attempt to stop them. The other mage would just continue down the hall or enter one of the rooms to join their colleagues. The din of the hallway was too loud to eavesdrop in on anyone through the thick walls. The trio kept walking, winding towards the heart of the building. They arrived in minutes.

  At the center of the faculty was the Dean of Summoning’s office, marked by a large door of undecorated stone, polished to a shine. It radiated status through its sheer mass, being built like someone expected to hold off a full siege from their office.

  As they approached, something peeled itself off the ceiling and landed in their way. It had the body of a gigantic gecko but with a sculpted human torso coming out between shoulders instead of a normal lizard’s head. The arms each ended in a large mantis claw, sharpened, and serrated like a sawblade. At the top of the torso was a fly’s head, the only emotion shown was the twitching of antenna. The demon was made from polished brass, letting it blend into the wall’s orange and brown walls and reflecting the trio in the many mirrors of its compound eyes.

  “Strange meat. Unknown meat. Why does the meat seek the mistress?” It hissed.

  “The Deans hired us for an investigation. The Dean of Summoning has essential information, and we need to ask her some questions.” Komena said. The demon padded forward and lowered itself to look in her eyes, it’s claws lightly clicking on the floor.

  “Little investigator. No power. No reason for me not to wet my blades in her innards.” It said. Komena swallowed, suddenly aware of very fluid coursing through her body and very thankful that her reflection in the things eyes was still impassive. The reflections of Struth and Kave were a little more affected. Both looked like they were about to jump the demon. Kave practically had his hackles raised.

  “No power except what your mistress has granted me, for her own purposes. Are you going to gamble on her wanting me dead more than she wants that murder solved?” Komena said.

  “Weak meat. Replaceable meat. If the mistress wants this murder solved, she can find meat smart enough not to bait me to butchery.” The demon said, claws rubbing together.

  Suddenly, its head rotated a sharp ninety degrees, and it froze in place. It was so motionless that it looked like a cast metal statue. Komena almost thought it was dead, but demons didn’t die like real creatures. At best it would fade away, back to whatever hell these things came from. She waited a tense moment, before the demon focused back onto her.

  “Fortunate meat. Astute meat. Seems your life is worth the work of finding a replacement.” It said, turning and crawling back up the wall. In a few steps it had returned to the ceiling, where it flattened itself back up against the stone. It almost seemed to mesh into wall, out of sight from anyone walking the halls. With the way cleared, the trio found the door unlocked.

  “I’ll stay out here and keep anyone from interrupting.” Kave said, stepping to the side of the door.

  “The bug seems to have that under control. I’d rather see what you can notice in there” Komena said. Kave looked at away, the hem of robe shifting as he awkwardly shifted around. Struth cleared his throat.

  “Miss Siri, Kave has always been at odds with the more prestigious members of the University. They tend to be uncharitable to him. The Dean will probably be more helpful without him there to distract her. Besides, the demon doesn’t have our best interests at heart.” He said. Kave nodded, almost frantically.

  “Fine, I’ll trust your insight into her character. Let’s go see what we can get from her.”

  Struth went to open the door, like a gentleman. It was heavy enough to be a struggle for him, but he eventually opened it enough for the two of them to slip by. Kave dragged it close behind them, leaving the boy alone in the hall.

  The inside of office was austere. It was dominated by a large desk on the right side of the room, covered in organized stacks of paper and rows of quills. Floating over one side of the desk was an orb of ink, a little bigger than a man’s fist. The left side had summoning circle inscribed into the floor, taking up most of the space in that side. The circle was inscribed with runes around the outer edge, intended to keep anything summoned into the circle inside and under control. Between the two, on the far wall, was a large window that could be thrown wide open to let the breeze in. Komena didn’t even need to look to know that it was enchanted to both be undetectable and to make anyone who managed to open it suffer. The only sign that the room was lived in at all was the woman herself behind the desk, dipping a quill into the floating ink and scribbling out paperwork.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  The Dean of Summoning had the same bored expression she had worn when Komena was hired. Now that she was closer, Komena was struck by how small the Dean was. She was short and slender, though her expression and eyes were hard and cold as she wrote.

  “The up jumped inspector has come to see me.” She said, still focused on her writing. “Honestly, I’m quite impressed by your work so far.”

  Komena raised an eyebrow. That wasn’t what she had hoped to hear. “You flatter me. All I’ve been able to do so far is follow dead end leads. I expected you to say you were disappointed with my lack of results.”

  The Dean kept writing. “That’s ridiculous. You were exceeding the standards I had expected of you up until you came into this room. Are you disappointed when a pet doesn’t piss on your rug? Now, why are you interrupting me with your yipping?”

  “We know that your faculty is doing an investigation into the murder of an apothecary.” Komena said, internally beating down a swell of indignation. Struth was grimacing behind her, failing at the same task. “I’ve already taken a look around there, but we need to make sure that you didn’t find any evidence and have it removed.”

  The Dean dipped her pen into the orb of ink. “No.”

  “No, you haven’t found anything, or no, you won’t tell us.” Struth asked, too quick to be silenced, too reasonable to ignore.

  “Either. Muarim was a dead end, just as useless has The Dean of Evocation was. But even if I had found a signed confession, I wouldn’t be telling you about it.”

  “Dean, you are honor bound to assist in this matter.” Struth said stepping forward to stand next to Komena. She almost took the opportunity to elbow him in the ribs. She was curious about Muarim, not suicidal.

  “I didn’t allow you in so that you could speak, diplomat.” The dean said, looking up and jabbing the air with her quill hard enough hit Struth with a drop of ink. “You and your little experiment have even less right to be involved than she does. The only benefit to your presence will be those of your failure.” She turned to Komena.

  “I will make this clear to you. Never come back to me. I didn’t want random civilians involved from the beginning, but I see no need to provide a push or one way or the other. Your inevitable failure will simply prove me right. I’m surprised you noticed me working behind the scenes, but it likely won’t be the only time. I have my own theories about what killed my colleague and my own theses to prove.”

  Komena sighed and shook her head. “I can’t say I’m surprised. I knew this was a long shot from the start. I’ll leave you be, if only in the interest of not of having you sic your guard dog on me.” She said, turning to the door and dragging Struth along by the shoulder. His snarl was cut off when she tightened her grip, driving her thumb under his collarbone. He didn’t so much as wince, but he followed her silently. He pushed against the door, slowly opening it again. Kave turned to look back at them from the hall as Komena began to step out.

  “It’s a shame really. Your knowledge would have been ever so useful to the case. Considering that the culprit obviously is using a demon to commit the murders.” She said over her shoulder as she crossed the threshold. The lizard mantis, responding to some unseen command, threw itself from the ceiling, turning to land in front of her, barring the exit with its claws.

  Behind the creature, Kave had begun casting. Muttering spells and pulsing with energy, fire dancing at his fingers and the air simmering from the heat. Struth cracked his neck and braced himself. Komena braced herself to run, firmly out of her weight class. Before she needed to, a sharp tapping noise broke the tension.

  “I realize that you’re baiting me, but I’ll humor you. How is it obvious that a demon is being used for this?” The Dean said, having gone back to her paperwork. The scratching of her pen was offset by the dry rasp of the mantis’s blades being rubbed together. Kave had sunk into a low stance and his eyes were still focused on the obstacle in front of him, but he wasn’t preparing whatever he had been ready to cast anymore.

  Komena walked back into the room, stopping just shy of the desk.

  “The wards of her office were damaged, but nothing else. It was subtle, but nothing you wouldn’t have noticed if you looked. Plus, Struth’s boy is a shark when it comes to demons. He knows when they’ve been about. He was able to sniff out your little helper’s at Muarim’s and he’s been on edge ever since we stepped in here. Just like was where your colleague had been torn apart. Maybe it’s not something some of the others would detect. Too blinded by the expectation of someone charging in and fighting mage to mage. But you’ll never convince me or them you didn’t know what did it. No one wouldn’t check if their own methods had been used.” Komena said

  The Dean had stopped writing, having shook the pen dry and put it down with the rest of her quills. She had reined her grimace back in, returning to her normal icy stoicism and had put the full brunt of her attention onto Komena. “What do you hope to gain from this performance?”

  “I don’t want to gain anything. We want the same thing. I want to solve this case as quickly as possible, then crawl under a rock until you all forget about me. Your refusal to help me do that does nothing but keep me in your life, which neither of us want. As it is now, the best I can do is honestly present the evidence, and make you the prime suspect, which, again, neither of us wants.” Komena said, shivering. Accusing a dean was the worst version of everything she feared about this case.

  “Is this the point where you actually make a demand or are going to keep trying to make an impression on me?” The Dean stayed standing, but her voice had returned to her original, cold tone.

  “No, I just needed to know about what you had found at Muarim’s. I apologize for taking up so much of your time with this. We’ll be going now.” Komena said, giving a passable bow and walking back to door. Struth had stayed inside the room and had watched their exchange, his face lit by a small, relieved grin. Kave had calmed down completely and was still eying the mantis Demon, which had also stood down, though it stayed in the hall. “The last little chore we need to do is arrange a meeting with Selim Lahazred.”

  Komena heard a series of quick, metallic tinging noises behind her. In the reflection of the demon’s eyes, she saw an imp crawl out of hiding behind her, open the window and throw itself out into the city.

  “I won’t be so crass as to name a price for this favor.” The Dean of Summoning said as she sat back down. “Your meeting will be arranged by and for the time you arrive.”

  “What cost? We simply won’t be able to exchange pleasantries with your honored peers until you summon me for a review of some kind.” Komena said, leaving as the demon crawled back up the wall, though it kept a bulbous, multifaceted eye point at both her and Kave.

  “That will be tomorrow then, considering the pace you’ve been working.” The Dean said, not raising her voice, forcing Komena to focus on listenting. “I’m certain the dissection of your findings will be quite interesting.”