Our founders crippled us. We are players on known stages now. Performing the same tricks for the same audiences on different days, forever and ever and evermore. We used to sing in the shadows and that space between knowing and unknowing let us make more than art.

  -Orrvice Solva, Sabbelah Illusionists, overheard drunk.

  They were led to room by a fairly young teacher, their robe less splendid than their peers and the records they needed clenched in their hands. The room was a little cramped for the three of them but was otherwise perfect. The whole space was lit brightly by a small illusory sun and built around a sturdy reading table. A few minutes after they had gotten settled, the teacher brought in a platter of food and a pot of tea. Their lack of authority extended to an inability to get out of waiter duty.

  “Is there anything else I can get you two?” The teacher said. Kave rolled his eyes at the sloppy serving job but didn’t make a request.

  “Actually yes, you could put some faces to names for us. The Accuser, who was he? The loud, fat one?” Komena asked.

  “Yes, it’s his role to present parliament’s concerns regarding the Speaker’s actions. Including his treatment of you. He also took the lead in arranging this platter for you” The guide said as he set it down. It was an elaborate set up, with dried fruits, cured meats, a hummus made from sand grain and fresh flatbread. As an either an apology or a bribe, it made a very good impression.

  “Alright, and the Tourist, who’s that? One of the ones who stayed invisible?” Kave asked.

  “They were before my time. It’s a position where one is supposed to go around the parts of the city academics don’t normally bother. Their supposed to write new pieces and ensure our current ones are in ‘touch with the masses’. They took the first boat away they could once the other continents were found.”

  “Wait, there’s an archmage that’s just running around. That could have snuck back into city or implemented a conspiracy an ocean away?” Komena asked.

  “No, he’s dead for certain. We haven’t heard from him in something like two decades. He’s been picked clean on some savannah. The only reason I know about him is that they pass the story around like folklore.”

  Komena relaxed. Dead or alive, if he wasn’t checking in with the faculty, he wouldn’t have heard about whatever the Dean’s project had been. Unless he had put spies in place before he had left, with some secret way to contact him. She chose to disregard world spanning conspiracy theories, if only for her own sanity.

  “Is there anything else?” The teacher asked.

  “No that’s it. Thank you, you’ve saved us some time” she answered. The teacher sketched a sloppy bow and left.

  “They could stand to take some pride in his work. Lazy work on small things reflects poorly on his actual research.” Kave said as he poured two cups of tea. It’s steam had spicy, cinnamon-like smell.

  “Your just full of old wiseman advice, aren’t you Kave?” Komena asked as she dunked some bread in the hummus. “Why didn’t you ever do that?”

  “Excuse me?” he said, head snapping towards her. He kept the pot steady though.

  “Not take pride in your work. Obviously not that. I meant why are you still here. Why didn’t you get on the first ship away you could?”

  Kave shrugged. “Struth was here.”

  “Right, but so is everyone else. All the people you hate. Just here in this city. Why not leave?”

  Kave had pulled a piece of bread out from the pile and was using it as a plate for as much meat and fruit as he could. He stopped when he had covered it all in as stable an arrangement he could manage, stopping just short of using a spell to balance more on.

  “When I was on the streets, the urchins I used to run with would go to the docks when big shipments came in.” He said before popping fig and some meat, chicken by the look of it, into his mouth.

  Komena nodded. She’d solved a few cases that started this way. A few of the more industrious scamps would manage to make off with a crate, leave enough evidence that it was obvious what had happened, she’d do the fifteen minutes of leg work she needed to confirm, and then she’d tell the client that the food was already eaten. They’d hire more guards or something, and she’d get paid all the same. Kave swallowed.

  “So, we would go down to see what falls off and to see if we can help that process. Back then, to us, it was amazing. Every time we saw them, even as it became routine. The idea of places wealthy enough to just send those ships over, stuffed with food to just sell. It means a lot when you’re hungry.”

  He kept eating by the mouthful as he spoke. He was more focused on refueling than he was on the story.

  “Do you know what the sailors would do when they saw us? Every time, we’d hope they’d look the other way or pass some spare rations. Instead, a few would take some ropes, big heavy thing, soaked in salt water, and swing them at us. Because sailors, regardless of home port, kick street urchins who try to take things from their boats. So no, I never seriously thought about getting on a boat and going elsewhere.” He said.

  “OK then, but aren’t your kind respected in Corlin? Why haven’t you gone back to your homeland? Be more than a curiosity?” Komena asked. She knew that she had misspoke when Kave ‘s attention flickered away from eating and onto her fully for a breath.

  “Do you know what they call the Ironheart’s in Corlin?” He asked, going back to his food. “War hounds. They’ve been called that since the vampires were overthrown. Does that sound like respect to you?”

  Komena shook her head. It wasn’t an insult, but you could say it like one.

  “Struth told me that with pride. He took it like a trophy. Couldn’t see that he was just as much a piece of equipment as I am.” Kave said, holding his next morsel but not eating. “So, if you think Corlin is my home because of something Struth said, about how I would be respected, understand exactly what he meant by that.”

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Kave took the bite he had put together to punctuate that thought but swallowed quicker than he usually did.

  “Here, I’m an experiment. There, I’m a sword. I don’t care enough about the difference between the two to leave. If I’m going to be used and broken, I’d rather do it at home.”

  Komena turned back to the notes the teacher had brought them. They were concise, well written and exhaustively thorough. Whatever system they had worked out here, its core seemed to be a vicious system of spying on and foiling one another’s plots as they voted on how the Faculty of Illusion would vote on the Dean’s own council.

  She took a few bites as she worked, but most of the food went to Kave, who ate voraciously in the silence. He picked up a scroll once he had finished. He got halfway through before he stopped, falling into something between dozing and meditation.

  Komena let him rest. The boy was using more power than in a day than others did in a week, then she ever had. Even if he wasn’t completely tapped out, he had earned a chance to rest.

  He had at least left the tea mostly untouched.

  Close to two hours later, Kave snapped back into consciousness. The scroll in his lap fell to the ground and rolled under a cushion in his panicked fumbling. It only lasted an instant before he fully came back to his senses, grabbing the scroll.

  “How long was I out?” He asked, a light flush on his face.

  “Just long enough. I was about to wake you.” She answered, stretching out on her set of pillows. “We just need to finish the one you have.”

  Kave nodded and started looking for his place. “Is there anything I should looking for?”

  “You should know what would be suspicious in this case. Undocumented major summoning’s, grudges against the evocation faculty, secret projects, passionate trysts with mysterious strangers.” Komena said as she rolled around. Kave nodded and started to read. It took twenty minutes before he started to roll the scroll back up.

  “Anything of interest?” Komena asked as she began pulling herself up from the cushions.

  “Yes and no. A lot of exactly what you described, but it’s all countered in some way. Someone does something, so their rival sabotages, which prompts some third part to get involved, which drags in their rivals and then it spins on from there.” He said.

  “I thought so. The rest of them are all like that too.” Komena said, pointing at the pile she’d built from the other scrolls. “There is some fish wife tier gossip in these, though. Apparently, the Accuser is going into debt from medical bills, while the Speaker’s been experimenting with mixing hallucinogens with his performances. So, either this faculty is too disorganized and backstabbing to have done it, or they’re such masters of deception that they’re put us on the wrong track entirely.”

  “Is that likely? These are illusionists, deception is what they do.” Kave asked.

  “That’s an excellent point. But I have solid evidence against it.” She said, finally on her feet. She went over and opened the door. Waiting outside was the Dean of Illusion.

  “If you’ve finished, I’m here to escort you two out. It would best to be seen together, so the others know we’ve spoken.” He said. His eyes moved between Komena and Kave, appearing to scan the room, making sure one hadn’t slipped out or snuck something away. “Unless you need more time or answers, of course.”

  “We did have a question with one of the records we were hoping you could clear up. Would you mind taking a look?” Komena asked.

  The dean nodded and stepped inside, his hair bobbing with the motion. His gaudy leather shoes clicked off the tiles he walked past her. The door slid closed behind him, its own weight pulling it back into position.

  “Show me which record your talking about. I should be able to clarify.” He said he walked by Komena. With his back turned, there was no way he could see her fist racing towards him. Still, he turned with an unnaturally quick reaction, almost managing to jerk out of the way. Instead of hitting him between the shoulders, she was able to correct and strike at his arm as it went by. To get that much speed, she’d needed to keep her arm loose and stay light on her feet. She knew it was more of play hit than an actual blow, but she wasn’t surprised when her first through his arm like it was sea foam.

  Kave did react. From his perspective, it looked like Komena had jabbed a dean’s arm off. To his credit, his reaction was to lunge for the Dean to finish the job. Whatever he had intended from there didn’t matter, as he simply passed through and slammed into a wall. The Dean was now a bust hovering over a set of legs.

  “This was uncalled for, inspector.” The floating head said. It looked indignant and its missing body only added to the effect.

  “Apologies, professors, but I needed to make a demonstration. Kave, behold the Dean of Illusions” Komena said, before grandly motioning to the talking display.

  “I knew something was going on when he wasn’t one of the ones who was speaking at, parliament you called it? Then I wondered who these people would trust to represent them. The amount of power that someone who could make decisions on city policy with the other Deans, would have in their system and things started to fall into place.”

  “You can’t make illusions that detailed, especially not for as long as they’d need to. The strain is too intense. Otherwise, I would have just made my horns invisible.” Kave said.

  “Right, but you’re one person. These are the premier illusionists of the world, working in concert. The details are divided up between them. A department for the figure, a team for the sound of his shoes as he walks. A committee for what he says.”

  No response from the Dean to that. The method didn’t matter in the end.

  “The point is that if we’re going to worry about some secret Illusionist power play, then we’re already looking at it.” Komena said. “This is the peak of what the Illusion faculty can do. Their ultimate shield. I’m sure if something were to happen to make him lose credibly or if a fight were to break out, they have an illusion prepared of him miscasting some great spell and blowing away as ash on the wind. This must be the best they can do in order to risk it, because they know that if the other Deans would take this whole situation as an insult.”

  “This is the best illusion in the world then.” Kave said, standing up and moving closer to it, trying to inspect it. Instead, the illusion floated away from him, not even bothering to move its feet as it went.

  “Exactly and it still can’t touch anything. It can’t cast spells or fight or burn down mansions; and if a group this large wanted to kill a dean, they have better means than using a spell that draws attention to their biggest secret.” Komena said.

  “So, the faculty isn’t involved, and there’s no chance of a rogue individual having taken things into their own hands.” Kave finished. The Dean’s floating head cleared its non-existent throat, the motion made more ridiculous as it held its missing hand up to its mouth. It seemed that whoever oversaw the motions was unsure of which parts were missing. Or maybe needed to perform a pre-planned motion to trigger the noise. It wouldn’t matter either way soon. The illusion was restoring itself, growing back the lost details centimeter by centimeter.

  “Then we are happy to have assisted you.” The dean’s head said. “However, that leaves the question of how you’ll prove our innocence to the other faculties.”

  “That’s not our job.” Komena said with a shrug.

  “Elaborate, inspector. We had expectations for you in exchange for cooperation.” The dean said. The head didn’t fly up to her face or grow to tower over her. Its tone was a more effective threat.

  “Would you let us present any of this evidence if it was our sole job to prove your innocence?” Komena asked. The illusion didn’t have an answer, but she barely gave it time to. “Of course not. It might exonerate you, but it also makes it clear that no one truly is in charge. You’d be showing your bellies and inviting their hooks. Pulling in more attention, not just on your fake Dean, but on all of you. The only chance you have is us finding the culprit.”

  “We will not stand for insults, inspector. Official business or not.” The illusion said. It almost finished repairing itself. It had finished the palms of its hands and was working down the fingers, along with an equivalent bet of thigh. “Do not forget your position in relation to ours. This will come to a head, and you will be no safer than we are when it does.” Komena barked out a laugh.

  “Oh, don’t worry, this is all a hypothetical. Kave and I will find the real culprit before the others even imagine what the situation here is.” Komena said as she opened the door leading out of their room into the Illusionist’s carefully hidden halls. “After all, it’s almost certain they don’t have the advantage of your team effort. And we were able to see through that.”