The Woodward Academy, Year 6

Chapter 4: September

"Hey, Tracy," David said, entering the dean's office.

"Well, hello, David. My, the new uniforms do look nice. Your design?"

"With input from the dean, Seth, and Tanya."

"Tanya?"

"My second in command."

"Oh, I see. Well, they look great. How can I help you?"

"As usual, I was summoned," he said with a grin.

Tracy smiled back at him. "Okay, go on in. She's with a student, but I imagine that's what you were called about."

David shrugged and grunted, then walked over to the door and knocked. He entered once he was acknowledged, and stepped over to the dean's desk.

"You wanted to see me, Madame Dean?"

"Yes. I have someone I'd like you to meet."

At this point, the other student turned to face David. David took a quick glance, which turned into a longer look of disbelief.

"Lydia? What are you doing here?"

"Hi, David," she said, a bit shyly.

"You two know each other?" Dean Lengel asked in surprise.

David explained, "Lydia... um... she knows about you, right?" he asked Lydia.

"Of course. I had to tell her to get into the school."

"Okay." Turning back to the dean, he continued, "Lydia was a member of the vampire family I visited while I was working on creating my potions for mastery."

"Oh, I see. So, you're aware already of why I called you in here, then."

"Well, let me take a stab at it. We're trying to keep Lydia's nature a secret, and you want me to look out for her, to make sure we can avoid problems like we had with me... and Bob... and... how many others?"

Dean Lengel chuckled. "Yes, I know. We keep trying this, and it almost never works. But at least she can get settled into the school before the trouble starts."

"Right. Um... what about her feeder?" he asked. To Lydia, he said, "I assume you brought one with you..."

"I did," she said. "He's living down in Gorumshead."

"Okay." Turning back to the dean, he asked, "Has she been through orientation?"

"Did you see her?" Dean Lengel asked.

David chuckled. "No. But there were some six hundred students, so I figured I'd ask."

Dean Lengel nodded. "She felt it best not to attend. If you don't mind, I'd like you to give her the grand tour."

"Still trying to keep me as Information Officer, huh? I do have other duties now, you know," he said, grinning at her to show he was teasing.

"It's registration day. How much trouble could there be yet?"

"Oh, we've had a few incidents. Nothing the team can't deal with. And I know that you're aware that I've already completed my own registration..."

"Well... I did ask them..."

"Uh-huh," David replied. "Okay, I'll show her the ropes. Is she staying in Griffin Dorm?"

"Yes. Room B13."

David nodded. "By your leave, ma'am," David said, then turned to Lydia. "Come on, I'll show you the campus. If you're nice, I'll even buy you lunch."

"Lunch is free," Lydia objected.

"Okay, fine. You can buy me lunch," David said. Lydia giggled.

As they were exiting the office, Dean Lengel called out, "David?"

Lydia walked out to Tracy's desk while David turned back to the dean.

"As a member of the staff, you don't need to knock to enter my office. You can just come in."

David shook his head. "Thank you, Emile, but no. Even if you weren't my boss, I was raised to always knock on a closed door before entering."

Dean Lengel shook her head at him. "Okay, but don't feel the need to wait for a reply, at least. Just knock and come in."

"Okay. I'll try to remember. Keep in mind, I've been knocking and waiting for five years now."

"You'll adjust. You always do."

David would have blushed at that comment, but he just grinned in embarrassment, and then left the office.

As David led Lydia out of Beckett Hall, he asked, "How are you going to protect yourself from the sun?"

Lydia reached under her cloak, which she had chosen instead of a full coat, and pulled out a hat. The hat had a wide brim, and hanging down from it was a fine mesh. The hat was Woodward blue, but the mesh was white.

"This has been magically enchanted to keep out the sun," she said. "I'll have to wear it at all times when I'm outside before sunset."

David nodded. "The school approved this? Hats are against the dress code..."

Lydia replied, "I know. Yes, they approved it as 'necessary for good health'. In other words, if I don't have it, I'll spend all my time in the infirmary," she said with a smile.

David grunted. "I did that, anyway. At least Annie is nice."

"Annie?"

"Sorry, Healer Hall, the lady who runs the infirmary here. I saw enough of her that we're on a first-name basis."

"As a staff member, aren't you on a first-name basis with everyone?"

David paused. "I hadn't thought of that. But, no. I would still refer to most of my professors as 'Professor'. There are only a few who have explicitly asked me to use their first name. Anyway, let's begin the tour. Obviously you've seen Beckett Hall. We'll just walk around this level until we've seen everything."

"Sounds good to me," she said.

As they walked, and David stopped and talked about each building, he finally asked, "So... why did you choose to come to Woodward? This is a long way from home..."

"I'm not overly fond of my home anymore, so that's not really a problem. After I graduate, I plan on finding a new family to live with. Or perhaps starting my own."

"Okay... but why Woodward?"

"Well, Woodward has a reputation for being open to non-humans in general, and us less-loved non-humans in particular. And, since you had been in the middle of an apprenticeship, I knew that I might be able to find someone to apprentice me in potions. The families don't mind paying you, you understand, but it'd be really good if we had at least one potion maker within the families, so we didn't have to rely on others so much."

David nodded. "Have you shown an aptitude for potions?"

"I haven't tried any yet. But I watched you work while you were with us, and it looked like something I could do."

"Okay. I don't know if Sa... erm, if Prof. Stott is looking for a new apprentice, but perhaps one of the other Potions teachers is."

"Is that one of the professors that's asked you to use their first name?" Lydia asked astutely.

"Demanded it, really," David said with a grin.

"Oh," she said.

With that, the two of them continued to walk and view the campus.

...The first four robbers had been subdued, but now David was faced with the last two. Garibaldi was lying on the ground, injured but not dead. David held his sword in his hand, waiting to see what the robbers would do. One of them turned to finish off Garibaldi.

As the robber raised his wand to begin the hex, David lunged. He swung with all of his might, and the head of the robber slid cleanly off his neck, tumbled down his body, and rolled onto the ground. As the body crumpled, David turned to see the head, which was now looking up at him.

Instead of seeing the robber's face, however, David saw Prof. Hellerhan staring up at him. David lurched in surprise, and stepped back. He kicked something with his foot, and he turned to see the head of yet another member of the old Board of Discipline, also staring blankly up at him.

David turned away from that, only to find another member's head, floating in front of him, eyes cloudy white, mouth hanging open. David spun, to see the fourth and fifth members in exactly the same condition. In a raspy, high-pitched, far-away voice, they asked in unison, "What have you done?"

David lurched awake. He sat up and looked around the room, not actually seeing anything. Suddenly he felt a hand on his arm and he turned in panic, to see Olissa looking at him in concern.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Nice to see you, too," she said warmly, and with a smile.

David turned away from her, to climb out of bed. He went into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. He avoided looking in the mirror. He didn't want to see what his eyes looked like just then. Finished, he went back into the bedroom.

"How'd you get in here, anyway?"

"You gave me and Flo access, remember?" she said, sitting up.

David grunted. He had enchanted his door to allow both Olissa and Flo to come and go as they pleased. He had not included Gwen in that group, but then, he didn't expect her to want to come into his dorm room - more of an apartment - in the middle of the night.

"So why are you here? Usually you ask to sleep over."

"Are you upset that I'm here?" she asked in concern.

David sighed. "Now is really not the time to play word games with me, Olissa."

"Was it the dream again?" she asked.

"What dream?" he snapped.

"Your nightmare. About the robbery."

"How do you know about that?" he demanded. He hadn't told anyone. Except...

"Jailla told Bispy. Bispy told me."

"Jailla's going to get a stern talking-to in the morning," David growled. He sat down on the bed. Olissa maneuvered herself to sit next to him.

"So was it?" she persisted.

"Yeah," he replied. He wasn't really mad at her, or even upset that she was there, but anytime after that dream, he felt completely out of sorts.

"You want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

"It might help..."

"I can't see how."

"What happens in the dream?" she asked.

David sighed. "The robbery. Only this time, they've actually hurt Joe. And when the guy goes to finish him off, instead of just nicking him with the tip of my sword, I lop his entire head off."

"Well, that's just the dream trying to make things worse than they really were," Olissa offered.

"Yeah, but after that, it gets really weird."

"Oh?"

"The guy's head falls on the ground, and it rolls around to look up at me, but it's not the guy anymore. It's Prof. Hellerhan."

"From the Board of Discipline?"

"That's the asshole."

"Well, that's... uh..." Olissa said, uncertain.

"And then I step back from that head, and I kick another head, which is another member of the Board. And then suddenly, the heads are floating around me, all members of the Board from last year. And they scream at me."

"What do they say?" she asked.

"'What have you done?'" he replied, then shivered.

Olissa nodded. For a long moment, they sat in silence. "I think I get it," Olissa said.

"Really? 'Cause I don't."

"Last year, the Board was giving you all sorts of grief whenever you had to take violent action. Your brain is just using them to torment you over the death of that guy. You were protecting your friend, David. You did the right thing."

David shook his head in annoyance. People had been telling him that since the incident. He knew it, intellectually. Emotionally, he was having difficulty. Besides...

"That can't be all of it," he said.

"Why not?"

"Because it doesn't feel like a complete answer. Why have them show up as dead? There's got to be a reason they've been put in that place."

"Well, last year, didn't you want them gone more than once?" she asked softly.

David grunted in grim amusement. "But I never wished them dead."

"Are you sure? Not even after the battle?"

David was about to respond, but stopped himself.

"I don't know," he admitted.

Olissa nodded. "Perhaps you haven't forgiven them for letting people die, any more than you've forgiven yourself."

"For what?" he asked.

"Killing that robber."

"Why would I need to forgive myself for that?" he asked crossly. "He got what he deserved."

"Yes, he did. He was trying to kill someone else, and you stopped him. But you know that you're not the judge, jury, or executioner, and you feel like you stepped too far. But you weren't meaning to kill him, David. It was, basically, an accident. Isn't that what the board of inquiry said?"

"People talk too goddamned much," David grumbled. She had to have gotten that information from Joe.

"I'm your friend, and I'm worried about you. Why are you keeping this inside?" she asked.

"Because it's my problem," he said.

"Do you ever let me deal with my problems without trying to help?" Olissa asked, not unkindly.

David bobbed his head back and forth, and then finally said, "No. But-"

"No 'but," she said, in a differen tone. "You don't let me struggle alone because you care about me. I'm not going to let you struggle alone, either, because I care about you. It's not fair for you to try to work through these things by yourself. It's not fair to us, and it's not fair to you."

"Us?"

"Your friends," she said after a long pause.

"Oh."

"C'mon. Let's go back to bed. You'll feel better about it in the morning."

"I highly doubt that," he said.

Olissa frowned, but pulled him back under the covers and cuddled closely with him. They kissed for a very long moment, and then they settled together and fell asleep. This was a bit unusual for David; once he was awake, he had a tendency to stay that way. He had been overly stressed of late, however, and his body decided it needed a bit more recovery time. He didn't worry about why as he slipped gently back into slumber.

"And respect... and down," Prof. Teller said. David bowed to JoAnne and then relaxed, his sword hanging down by his side, his buckler resting against his leg.

"Well, that was a nice, solid warm-up to get us started for a new year, now wasn't it?" Prof. Teller asked. Without bothering to wait for an answer, he said, "Not that I expected any less from the two of you. I hope you understand, JoAnne, why this training cannot be a formal class. With David unable to guarantee his participation, it simply wouldn't be fair to either of you. Unfortunately, it does mean that you are not receiving credit for this training."

"What kind of credit would we actually receive, anyway?" David asked.

Prof. Teller replied, "Well, with the school, of course. You'd have it on your record that you took an Advanced Sword and Staff class."

"Instead, I can say that I trained directly with a Sword and Staff master. How is this not a better recommendation?" JoAnne asked.

Prof. Teller grinned. "Thank you for the compliment. And I would happily write any letters of recommendation that either of you needed. Still, I feel bad that no official recognition can go to the work you're putting in. The two of you were the only ones from last year who both continued on, and that I would have invited to the Advanced class. Once again, I'm not having an Advanced class."

"Sorry about that, Professor," David said.

"Not your fault, David. Well, actually..." Prof. Teller said, then grinned. "But not something you should worry about. You certainly have a full work load as it is. How are you adapting to your new responsibilities?"

"Let's just say I need the stress release this training provides, and leave it at that," David said.

Prof. Teller chuckled. "Quite. Okay, what I want you to do for next time, is to go and have your swords, daggers, and staffs enmagicked. In order to learn some of the more powerful advanced techniques, we will need to employ magic through our weapons. Plus, let's face it: It's faster to aim your sword and chant a spell than to have to pull your wand."

"Amen to that," David said, realizing that, had he had this ability during the robbery, the robber would not be dead now.

"So. That may take a while, given there are two of you, with at least three objects each. Let me know when both of you have done that, and we'll schedule our next training session. Okay?"

"Yes, sir," they both replied.

"Good! Now, you both did well today. Keep up the good work." He shook both of their hands, and then he left them.

JoAnne relaxed visibly after Prof. Teller had left. She then rubbed her neck. "Damn, I forgot how hard this is."

David grinned. "You want me to rub your neck for you?"

"Would you? I turned wrong during sparring, and my neck's feeling it."

David massaged her neck, and he asked, "You doing anything now? Like a class, I mean?"

"No. I'm fully DS this year, without combat class."

"I really am sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. You're doing what you're supposed to be doing."

David grunted. "Sometimes I wonder." After a pause, during which he continued to work on her neck, he said, "Anyway, why I was asking. Since you don't have anything, you want to go down to town and get Mr. Wormwood started on our weapons?"

"Sure. I don't want to have any more downtime than necessary."

"I'm gonna feel funny, walking around without a weapon," David admitted.

"You carry yours?"

"I'm a security officer," he said simply.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I guess you would want to have it at all times."

"Speaking of that, I'm kind of surprised that Dean Lengel didn't tap you for this year's DIRT."

"She tried," JoAnne admitted.

"Still don't want to get into it, huh?" he asked, but gently.

"Actually, I wanted to try out for the Leadership League, and I know the two jobs are incompatible, so..."

"Wow. Did you get in?"

"Yeah. I was kind of hoping you'd try out, until I heard what you were already doing."

David nodded. The Leadership League was misnamed, as they weren't really leaders. Each magical academy had a Leadership League: ten upper-level students whose job it was to secure the Melancon Trophy.

The trophy, in itself, was a meaningless hunk of metal and stone. What it represented, however, was very big. Possession of the Melancon Trophy by any school indicated that it was the premiere school of wizardry in the land. For the last twenty years, Woodward Academy had held the trophy. Over the summer, it had been captured. Its protection had been the sole responsibility of the League. School security was forbidden from taking part in its protection, or its recapture. The League at Woodward was, David had heard, training hard to prepare for an assault on Madchen Hall, the school which had stolen the trophy... and Prof. Fibblebitz's new home. David knew that Madchen Hall must have worked liked crazy to raise a team good enough to go up against Woodward. They wanted to develop a name for themselves, and there was only one target for doing that: Woodward Academy.

David shook his head at JoAnne. "Not my kind of thing, anyway."

"Really? I would have thought your loyalty to Woodward would have compelled you to join."

"Woodward Academy is as good a school now as it was the day before the trophy was stolen. It'll be just as good tomorrow, or ten years from now. I understand the point of the League, but it's not the kind of thing I'd spend my time on."

"You think I'm wasting my time?" JoAnne asked.

"Not if it's important to you. I don't think there's anything wrong with the League. It just wasn't a priority for me."

"Oh. Okay."

"Anyway, let's get showered, and we'll meet up outside, okay?"

"Sure. Give me... a half hour?"

"Fine."

Once David and JoAnne had finished with Mr. Wormwood, it was late enough that David invited JoAnne to have dinner at the Slyther Inn with him.

"What can I get you folks?" the waitress asked in a friendly tone.

They both ordered, and then she went away to get their food. David sighed.

"It just doesn't seem like the same place since Bonnie left," he admitted.

"Where'd she go?"

"She's working as a scribe in Bolmont now."

"Oh. Well, I'm sure the new woman is just as good."

"Oh, no doubt. She's just... not Bonnie."

JoAnne smirked, but said nothing more.

As they ate, the two talked about school, and JoAnne's family, along with other minor things. Carefully avoided was the topic of the battle the previous school year.

Finally, near the end of dinner, David asked, "Hey, there's a concert here in town next week. Would you like to go with me?"

"Sure," she said without much thought. "What day?"

"Next Friday. The concert starts at seven. Would you want to eat first?"

"Yeah, probably a good idea."

"So... meet at 5:30, have dinner... well, I'll let you pick the place for dinner. Wherever you'd like."

"Okay, sounds good. What kind of concert is it?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure. The flyer said they were using magical instruments. Since I've only seen one of those, I don't really know what it'll sound like."

"Oh. Well, that'll be interesting, then."

David smiled, and then they went on to talk about other things.

David was studying a book on advanced aquamandy when his mirror buzzed. He picked it up, wondering who the hell was calling him at this hour of the night.

"Hello?" he said, then saw the image. "Hey, Joe. What's wrong?"

"Hey, David. Sorry to wake you. There's been a rape there in Gorumshead."

"You didn't wake me. Who was the victim?"

"A woman who was walking home from the Slyther Inn earlier this evening. I've sent Vivian up there to join you. On rape cases, we like to try to put a female officer in front of the victim, so you may have to take a back seat on the questioning, but the investigation is still yours to run."

"Understood. How long before Vivian gets here?"

"She left about a half hour ago."

David nodded. "Okay. I'll meet her down at the inn, just to save some time."

"You can't start questioning anyone..." Joe reminded him.

"I know, but I can wait there for her, instead of having her come here on campus to get me when she arrives. It's just faster, and I think in this case, faster is probably better."

"True enough. Okay. Run with it."

"I'll keep you informed."

David fogged off with Joe, contacted Vivian to let her know where he'd be, then he grabbed his coat and headed out. While he was on his way, he mirrored Tanya, to let her know that he would be off duty. She reminded him that, as it was Saturday night, he was off duty anyway. He shook his head about that as he made his way down on the rock lift.

I'm just not used to this whole thing of having time off.

By the time Vivian arrived at the Slyther Inn, David had already consumed a full mug of pumpkin ale, a non-alcoholic seasonal drink that took a bit of getting used to, but was rather tasty. He waved her over when he saw her come in the door.

"You ready?" she asked, her tone serious and businesslike.

David set some granas on the bar to pay his tab, then turned to her. "Let's go."

Once they were outside, he asked, "Do we know anything more than that she was raped?"

"Nope."

After a few more steps, David asked, "Is there something wrong? You don't seem yourself this evening."

"Rape. It's one of my... pet peeves, shall we say? I was almost raped when I was younger. It's not a fun experience."

"I'm sorry," David said, meaning it. Vivian smiled slightly at him in gratitude, before turning back and leading him off toward the home of the victim.

When they arrived, it was clear that the woman was distraught. There were tears streaming down her face, and it was almost impossible to understand her through her crying. She led them into the house, and they sat on the couch while she sat in a chair across from them.

"What can you tell us?" Vivian asked softly.

The woman tried to talk, but she simply couldn't get any words out. Vivian looked at David, unclear of how to proceed. David looked around at the home; the woman had no pictures of friends or family showing. He wondered if she was all alone. Taking a guess, he moved over toward her and knelt beside her chair. He very gently took her hand and squeezed it.

"It's okay. We have all night. Let it out, if you need to. We'll wait."

The woman looked at him with gratitude, and held onto his hand tightly as she wept. She cried for several minutes, during which time David looked between her and Vivian, who sat there, unsure of exactly what to do.

Finally, the woman's sobs turned to sniffles. David handed her a tissue, and then he moved to sit on the coffee table, but off to one side, both so that he was not crowding the woman, and so that Vivian could see past him to the victim.

When it looked as if the woman was ready to talk, Vivian asked again, "What can you tell us?"

The woman said, "Not much, really. I was walking home, alone, from the Slyther Inn. I'd been there for most of the evening, just watching the people go in and out. That's something I do, it just passes the time." She looked to David, who nodded, to indicate that he understood.

"When I left, nothing seemed different from the usual. But about halfway home, this guy grabs me and drags me into the bushes, and..."

The woman was very clearly on the brittle edge of losing it once again, and so David reached out and took her hand once more, squeezing.

"We don't need the gory details," David told her. She looked at him very gratefully for that. "We only need to know two things, as far as the... um... 'actions' of the event."

"Okay..." she said, waiting for him to continue.

"Did he penetrate you?" David asked as neutrally as he could. He was trying to take the emotion out of it, so that the woman could hold herself together.

"Yes. In... both."

David nodded. "And... excuse me, the law requires me to ask this. Did you tell him to stop at any point?"

"Yes, of course I did! Repeatedly!" she said, indignant. David squeezed her hand.

"I'm sorry. I know that sounds like a very mean question, but it changes which kind of crime he's charged with if you clearly told him to stop. That's why I needed to know."

The woman nodded at that explanation.

"Did you get a good look at the man?" Vivian asked.

The woman continued to look at David as she answered the question. "No. I got no look at him at all. In fact, I couldn't even tell you with certainty that it was a human. It could have been one of the other humanoid races."

"He was that close, and you didn't see anything?" Vivian asked. David shot her a look.

"It was dark out. I didn't have a firefly with me. There were no houses with lights on nearby. All I had was my wand, using a lux charm, and he knocked that out of my hand at the very beginning. So, no, I didn't see anything. How much can you see in the dark?"

David squeezed her hand. She refocused on him. "Did you notice anything about him? A smell, the tone of his voice, the size of... anything..."

She was as embarrassed by his question as he was. "He wasn't unusually big or small... down there... no. He was a big man, heavy, I mean. He seemed strong, but then, I'm not really one to judge that kind of thing, I can barely open a pickle jar." David nodded with a slight grin. She said, "He smelled like alcohol, as if he'd been drinking heavily. He kept his voice in a raspy whisper, so I couldn't tell what he sounded like. Other than that... I don't know."

David squeezed her hand one more time. "That's good enough for now. We may come back later to talk further. If you remember any more details, mirror one of us."

"I will, thank you."

David let go of the woman's hand, and then, after some paperwork necessities, they took their leave.

Once outside, David said, "I thought you were supposed to take the lead during questioning."

Vivian frowned. "Yeah, well, the agency's policy failed to take into account that I've never been any good at dealing with these issues. Having been there, I know how I dealt with it, but I wasn't actually raped, and I just sank deeper into my studies at the time, shutting off social contacts and letting things scab over, emotionally.

"And did that work?"

"No."

"I'm sorry," David told her, touching her arm gently. She gave him a slight, brief smile, but it was clear that there was still pain there. David said, "I'm also sorry for her, and us."

"Why us?" Vivian asked.

"Where the hell are we supposed to go from here? We have, literally, no evidence at all. She showered, so we have no forensic evidence to collect. She was walking down a deserted street in the dark. No one was close enough - or interested enough - to come to the aid of a screaming woman. In either case, we have no witnesses. We've got zilch."

"Maybe someone saw a guy follow her out of the inn."

"Maybe. And that's pretty much our only shot at it. If there's nothing there, then what the hell do we do with this case? Tell her, 'Eh, sorry. You didn't provide us with enough information to catch anyone. Next time, make sure to get his name.'"

"Welcome to the wonderful world of investigations," Vivian said sourly.

"Not much wonderful about this," David muttered.

"Come on. Let's go back to the inn and talk to some people."

"Okay."

David was thoroughly upset. Their talks with people at the Slyther Inn had not, in fact, turned up anything of use. No one had seen or heard anything out of the ordinary. It was as if the man had appeared out of nowhere, done what he'd done, and then gone away. A canvas of the neighborhood where the attack had taken place was likewise unproductive.

David had asked Joe for advice when he'd called to fill him in on the case, but Joe hadn't had anything useful to say, either. He had suggested talking to the woman again, which David had done the following morning, but she hadn't been able to remember any additional details.

And, David thought to himself, even if she could remember what he looked like, given that this is Dugerra, what's to say that the guy wasn't simply using a glamour to hide his appearance, anyway? This is nuts! How are we supposed to figure this shit out?

David's mood was obvious to Tanya when she'd seen him in the office on Monday, and she had kept clear, knowing that whatever it was, she didn't want to get in the way of it until she knew her boss better. On Tuesday, the mood seemed worse, but she was forced to interrupt his day, which did not make her happy. She knocked on his office door.

"Come in," the voice said curtly. She opened the door.

"David?" she asked, to get him to look up from his paperwork.

David sighed, but he was polite in his response. "What is it?"

"There are some people here to see you. Students, I mean."

David cocked an eyebrow, but closed the folder in front of him and leaned back. He closed his eyes for a moment, but that just let him see the poor woman's crying face once more. He quickly opened his eyes again. "Okay. Show them in."

Four people entered his office. He only knew one of them.

"Hey, JoAnne. What's up?" he asked.

She introduced her companions as other members of the Leadership League. "The League asked us to come talk to you."

"About?"

"We need your help to recover the Melancon Trophy."

"You know I can't do that," David told her.

"Doesn't the school's reputation mean anything to you?" one of the guys asked.

"The school's reputation has been minimally harmed by the loss of the trophy," David replied. "We are still the best damned academy of magic in the worlds. But even if I had the time and the desire to help out, you should know that I can't."

"Why not?" JoAnne asked.

"Look where you're standing!" David told her, motioning to his office. "I'm a member of school security. We are expressly forbidden from participating in the League's activities. I can't help you guard it, I can't help you capture it."

"But you're also a student of the school..." one of the others objected.

"Yes, but the rules don't make any allowance for that. The rule concerning school security has no wiggle room at all. I can't help you. And, even if we found a loophole where I could help, what would it say to the other schools that the only way for us to get the trophy back was to act like lawyers?"

JoAnne frowned at that. "Okay."

"So that's it, then?" one of the other guys asked. "You're just going to let us lose the trophy."

"I didn't let you lose the trophy. The members of the last League lost the trophy. I wasn't even here when it was taken this summer. What I'm telling you is that I cannot help you recover the trophy."

The three guys with JoAnne grumbled and left. JoAnne started to, but stopped at the door. "David?" she asked quietly.

David looked up at her.

"You're not mad at me, are you? They insisted I lead the group to ask you, since we know each other. I told them what you'd told me ahead of time, but... they figured they could change your mind."

"No, I'm not mad at you. I'm just having a bad week. I'll see you on Friday. Did you pick a place for us to eat yet?"

"Yeah. I think you'll like it. It's a small place, I doubt you've been there yet."

"If it's not the Slyther Inn or the Mystic Wolf, then no, I'm sure I haven't," he said with a grin.

JoAnne chuckled. "Nope, neither of those. Anyway, I need to get going. Sorry we wasted your time."

"Not your fault. Good luck getting the trophy back."

"Thanks."

With that, JoAnne left, and David returned to his folder and his grumbling.

For the next few days, David and Vivian had canvassed the entire section of Gorumshead where the crime happened, but no one had any information to offer. It was really starting to piss David off. What was he supposed to tell this woman if she asked how the investigation was going?

David's mood was suffering, and it was clear to those who knew him. Jailla was the first to say anything, though.

"You're taking this too personally," he said.

David jolted. Jailla hadn't spoken to him all day. David had been so intent on his work that he really hadn't noticed, until now.

"What?" he asked, not really remembering what Jailla had said.

"The case. You're taking it too personally."

"Of course it's personal. It's my case. I'm supposed to solve it."

"Some things aren't solvable," Jailla said.

"I don't believe that," David snapped.

"Then why aren't you still dating Anne?" Jailla asked pointedly.

"That was her choice!"

"But a problem for you. And apparently one that you cannot solve. Thus, not all problems are solvable."

"What's your point?"

"It's not your fault if you can't find the rapist. You have done everything you can think of to do. You have done everything anyone else has been able to think of to do. You have made every attempt at solving the crime. Some things are simply not solvable," he repeated.

"I'm a cop. I can't accept that."

"Why?"

"Because I know that the information is out there. Somebody knows something."

"Yes. There is one person who knows exactly who did it. But that one person, even if you've met him, isn't likely to tell you."

"All the magic at my disposal, and I can't find one fucking rapist. What the hell good is it?"

"You've been rather happy with it up to now," Jailla reminded him. "You knew there were limits to your abilities coming into this job."

"I didn't expect to not be able to do anything to help someone!" David replied heatedly. Jailla ruffled his feathers, but didn't take the shouting personally.

"Then your expectations were out of line," Jailla said calmly. "You have told me many times about what police are like in Earth. You knew that there would be times when things would not go your way. This is one of those times."

David glared at Jailla for a long moment. Finally, he grabbed his coat and headed for the door to his dorm room.

"Where are you going?" Jailla asked.

"Out," David replied curtly. There wasn't time for further discussion, as the door closed shortly after that.

Jailla sat, staring at the door. He wondered, briefly, if he should follow David. He had the ability to get out the door: David had enchanted it to allow him passage at the same time he'd let Olissa and Flo through. But, after only a brief consideration, he realized there was no point. He had already said what needed saying. David would simply have to work the rest out for himself. Instead, he returned to eating his millet.

David was no happier with his situation, but his mood had at least improved. Flo had visited the previous night and helped him relieve some tension. He knew that he had to come to terms with the idea that he wasn't going to find the rapist, but that was a very hard pill for him to swallow.

At the moment, however, he was staring at two first-year students who had decided to practice their levitation on their roommate. DIRT had brought them in after catching them in the act.

"So what did you bring them here for?" David asked. "This is a matter for the dean, unless you've already given them detention."

"We figured it was worth more than two days' detention, since their roommate is in the infirmary," the DIRT captain said. "But it's after hours. Dean Lengel is not in her office."

"Right," David said, nodding. "Under these circumstances, they'll spend the night in the detention house. Keep them separated, so they can't talk to each other. Then you can come back and fill out lots of paperwork," David said with a grin.

The DIRT captain groaned. "Yes, sir."

"Trust me, it could be worse. Last year, I-" at that point, David was interrupted by his mirror buzzing. "Just a sec," he told the captain, and then pulled out his mirror. "Yes?" he said.

Joe was on the other end of the line. "David. We have a report of a missing child up in the forest north of you. Go, take the report, and see if you can find the kid."

"Don't I have to wait for you to show up?" he asked.

"Not in this case. This isn't an investigation, this is more of a rescue, and time is essential. They are waiting for you in the centaur village. When you arrive, take charge of the situation, find out what happened, and then organize a search of the area. We'll be along as soon as we can."

David nodded. "Understood. I'm on my way."

David put down his mirror and looked up at the DIRT captain. "Anyway, go put them in detention. I'll have the paperwork for you on Seth's desk. It's not much, really. Obviously, I won't be here when you get back."

"Do you need help with the search?" the captain asked. The other DIRT members nodded, backing up their captain.

"I don't know yet. I'll call you if I need you. Thanks for offering."

David rose as DIRT took the offenders away. He grabbed his coat and headed out. He notified Tanya of the issue, asked her to come in and get the paperwork ready for DIRT, and then he focused forward on the task at hand.

It didn't take David long to get to the centaur village in his glidecar. He was considering finding a way to glamour the thing to look more official when he was using it this way, but hadn't come up with a good charm yet. He could see a crowd of people and centaurs gathered around a large table, clearly set up for the situation.

David stepped up to the table. Others backed away, seeing his uniform.

"Where are the parents?" David asked politely. One man directed him over to one side, where a stricken man was trying to comfort a crying woman. He went that way.

"Sir, ma'am," David said. "My name is David. Your son is missing? For how long?"

"We're not sure," the man said. His wife was incapable of speaking. "We noticed he was gone about two hours ago, but we were doing other things, and he might have been gone for as long as five hours now."

"Was there a fight?" David asked.

"Yes. He's been harping on me to get him a pet griffin. I finally told him that there was no way he was going to get one. He called me all sorts of names, and I yelled at him to go to his room until he could learn some manners."

David nodded. It was a typical reason for a child to run away from home.

"How old is the boy?"

"Eleven."

"Does he know any magic?"

"You know it's illegal for him to use magic," the father snapped.

"Not in an emergency, it's not. Does he know any?"

"No, not that would help him. He knows some... little tricks. Illusions, mostly."

David nodded. "Did anyone see him leave your house?"

"No."

"What makes you think he's in these woods, then?"

"He likes to play in them," the father said. "The centaurs have seen him many times wandering around in there."

David nodded. "We'll do our best to find him."

"Thank you," the father said.

David stepped back over to the table. "Who's been organizing the search so far?"

The lack of any real response told David volumes. "Okay, then... where have we already searched?"

"No organized searching has been done yet," one of the humans said. "We were waiting for... well, you, I guess."

"You said no organized searching."

"A few of us have wandered into the woods, calling the boy's name."

"What is his name?" David asked, embarrassed that he hadn't asked that of the parents.

"Ptolemy," the man said.

"Christ," David said quietly. "I'd run away just for being named Ptolemy." The men around him chuckled. Movement to his right caught his attention. "Good evening, Dubnin," David said in some surprise.

"I thought that was you," Dubnin said. "Although I must say, it isn't much of a good evening."

"Too true. Have the centaurs seen the boy today?"

"No."

"Okay... who's your leader?"

"They've put me in charge of helping."

David nodded. "Okay, does everyone know what the boy looks like? Except me, that is. I have no clue."

The other man handed over the picture of the boy that the parents had given them a little while ago. "It's been passed around," the man told him.

David studied it. The boy was an almost nondescript blond pre-teen. There was nothing memorable in the picture at all.

David handed the picture back, and then he looked down at the map. He said, "The boy's had five hours to travel. In the woods, an eleven-year-old... figure a mile every hour. That's five miles of forest to search. Seventy-five square miles or so of forest... Ouch."

"That's not feasible with the resources we have," Dubnin said quietly.

"I know. So we do two things. First, we focus our search on his more likely paths. Second, we call in more resources."

"Who do we get?" the man across from him asked.

David pulled out his mirror and called Tanya.

"What is it, David?" she asked, stifling a yawn.

"Sorry to wake you. I need you to wake up the security team, and notify DIRT. I want you to bring everyone except the on-duty security force to the centaur village. We have a missing eleven-year-old boy, and he's probably lost in the woods."

Tanya immediately perked up. "Okay. We'll be on our way there in fifteen minutes."

"Good enough," he said, and fogged off with her. "While we wait for them to arrive, we'll work out a search plan," David told the others. "This is going to be tough work in the dark. Where can we get some fireflies to help us? I'd ask the ones at the school, but they don't like leaving the mountain."

"We can borrow those used here in the village. Most homes have a few."

"Okay, good. Dubnin, if you could ask your people to go collect their fireflies and bring them out here..."

"I will."

As Dubnin headed off, David looked back down at the map. Catching their attention, he motioned the parents over.

"How well does your son know this forest?" he asked them.

"He plays in there a lot, but... I don't think he ever goes very deeply in," the father said.

"The lake," the woman said, sobbing. "He's drowned in the lake, I know it."

"Would that be the ceremonial lake that the centaurs use?" David asked. The father nodded. "Does he like to go there?"

"We've caught him there many times when he's run off."

"He runs away a lot?"

"Not really runs away. He just likes to wander off and explore."

"How good is his sense of direction?"

"Lousy," the father said with a frown.

David grunted. That meant the child was almost certainly lost and unable to get back home, even if he was trying to.

David looked up and saw only one of the centaurs nearby.

"Excuse me, I don't know your name."

"Jelbok, sir," the man said. Clearly he was a younger centaur from his tone of voice. It was hard for David to tell, as Dubnin didn't look any older than this centaur did.

"What kind of dangers are in this forest?"

"The usual wild animals. There is nothing especially dangerous. The waterfall at the lake could be a danger if he tried to climb out on the ledge. It is very slippery."

David nodded. "Thank you."

"Surely."

"Okay, so at least we're not having to worry about tangle trees or something nasty like that."

"As if wild animals aren't bad enough," the father said.

David grunted. Looking back down at the map, and then up at the men he had handy, he said, "Okay, I want to divide into teams of five people each. I want one human in every group."

"Why, may I ask?" Dubnin queried.

"Communication," David said. "Centaurs don't use mirrors, right?"

"Correct," Dubnin said, a bit relieved, as he had thought David was disparaging his people.

"We need to keep in touch at all times. The humans can use their mirrors to keep us apprised of what's going on. I also want one centaur in each group... who wouldn't mind bearing the child out on their back. Chances are that the boy will be exhausted after five hours of wandering around, and we'll want to get him out of there as quickly as possible. I know that not all centaurs are willing to bear riders, so please make sure there's at least one of you in the group who is."

"For this, I think any of us would make an exception," Dubnin said.

David nodded, then carried on. "Okay, how many teams does that give us?" After a quick count of the people gathered, he came up with six teams. "With the people coming from the Academy, that gives us a total of nine teams. These lines on this map, are these trails through the forest?"

"Yes," Dubnin confirmed.

"On the assumption that he would have stayed at least close to the trails, we will use those as our starting points."

"But," the father objected, "if he was on a trail, why wouldn't he just follow it back?"

"He could have gotten turned around. He might think he is following it back, when he's actually walking farther and farther away. Okay," he said, raising his voice so everyone could hear him. "Let's form up the teams. Don't take too long to figure this out, folks. The longer we're standing here, the longer he's lost out there."

While David was waiting for the people to show, he contacted Jailla.

"I need you here. We're looking for a lost boy. You can cover ground much faster than we can."

"I'll be there as soon as possible," Jailla said. David fogged off, then he just leaned against the table, looking off into the distance. He was trying to consider what else he could do, but at this point, there really was nothing.

By the time the teams had formed up, the people from the academy were arriving. David did a quick count. "This is a bit more than I was expecting," David said to Tanya.

"Word got around. Do you object?"

"Hell, no. Okay, everyone. I need six centaurs who are willing to carry the boy to switch out with our teams here." Turning back to the students from the academy, he said, "Split into groups of four. You six," he said, picking security team members, "will join the teams these centaurs came from. The centaurs are here in case the boy needs to be carried out of the woods. The boy has been gone for up to five hours. There's a picture of what he looks like circulating. In a minute, I'll give you a path to follow. His name is Ptolemy: use it often. Call out to him. He may be injured, and unable to come to you, but still able to hear and respond. Or, he may be walking in the wrong direction, and hearing your calls will help him out. In any case, he's a little boy, it's cold out here, and we need to find him. Everybody with me?"

There was a general rumble of support.

"Okay, then. One by one, teams, come get an assignment."

David was in the middle of assigning search areas when Joe and Vivian showed up with the rest of the Rimohrs from the office.

"What have we got, David?" Joe asked.

"Eleven-year-old boy, probably ran away due to an argument. He's been gone for up to six hours, now. I have twelve teams out looking for him, in groups of five. Some of them left as long ago as twenty minutes. The last is leaving now. Head down this path," he said to the team, indicating which path on the map. "When you get to this branch, take the path on the right."

The team members nodded and then headed out. David turned to see Agent Wilson among the rest.

"Sir, I guess this is your show now..."

Wilson shook his head negatively. "You started it. You finish it. What do you want us to do?"

"The mother is concerned that the boy has drowned in the ceremonial lake about a mile from here back toward the school. If you guys could go check that out..."

"If she's worried about drowning, why didn't you send someone immediately?" Joe asked.

David dropped his voice so that there was no chance the mother would hear him. "Because, frankly, if he's there, he was dead long before we were called in. But it's possible he's just sitting there, looking at the lake or whatever, so we do need to check it out. But I don't expect you to find anything."

"Makes sense," Wilson said. "I'll take a group to the lake. I'll leave you Joe and Vivian to help out here."

"Thanks, boss," David said.

"C'mon, guys," Wilson said, and the Rimohrs headed out.

David introduced Joe and Vivian to Dubnin, who was staying with David to keep track of things.

"Any suggestions?" David asked Joe.

"Have we called in any reinforcements?"

"We have the centaurs, several neighbors of the family, the DIRT and the security team from the academy, and the officers from HQ. I can't think of who else to call in. I could call in my peg riders, but it's dark, and they wouldn't be able to see anything."

Just then, Jailla swooped down and landed on David's shoulder, startling the others.

"Oh, yeah, and one more asset. Jailla, I'll let you decide what path to take. We need to find this boy. If you can get any of the other forest birds on your side, that would be great, too. I don't know if that's actually possible..."

"In a limited fashion," Jailla confirmed.

"Okay. Do what you can. If you find anything, let me know."

"Of course."

With that, Jailla winged off into the woods.

"Aren't you worried about him, out there by himself?" Vivian asked.

"Yes, but we need his help. It's a big forest. I'm not sure how much, but I know he can communicate with normal birds. If we can get the forest animals looking for him, too, then this probably won't take long."

"Can he really do that?" Joe asked.

"He said to a limited extent. I don't know how much. But I'll play every card in the deck if I have to."

Joe nodded in complete agreement.

It had been seven hours, with no luck. Jailla had returned, too tired to continue the search. He was napping on the map table at the moment, surrounded by the remnants of the lagoonberries one of the remaining centaurs had given him.

The search teams had reported in regularly, but they had no news. They had neither seen nor heard the boy, despite repeated calling. David was grumbling now; he wasn't sure what else to try.

With one last call on the mirror, he slumped. "We have a problem," he said quietly to Joe and Vivian.

"What is it?" Vivian asked.

"The search teams have reached the edges of the forest. That's a good twelve miles out for most of them. The boy couldn't have walked that far in this amount of time."

"So he wasn't in there to begin with," Joe said, frowning.

"Not necessarily. The paths leave a lot of forest uncovered. We assumed he'd use them as a convenience. Maybe he didn't want to be found, or maybe he got lured off by something he saw. In any case, just because we haven't found him, doesn't mean he's not there."

"So what do you want to do?" Agent Wilson said, hearing the last of the conversation. He and the other Rimohrs had searched areas around the lake, and other small areas not associated with the forest. They were the least suspicious-looking, so wouldn't be hassled by people unaware of the missing boy.

David looked down at the map, shaking his head. After a moment, the head shaking slowed, until it stopped, and David was staring down at the map.

Suddenly, David picked up his mirror and dialed.

"Olissa Volaire, urgent." he said. Using the urgent call would make sure that her mirror woke her from sleep if it was anywhere near her.

"What are you-" Agent Wilson started to ask, but Joe raised his hand to interrupt his boss. He could see the look of an idea on David's face, and didn't want to sidetrack him just now.

"David?" Olissa asked, groggy, but starting to wake up. She knew there had to be a problem; it was the first time anyone had ever used the urgent alarm on her mirror.

"Sorry to wake you up. I need you to bring me Bispy. I'm down in the centaur village. I need his unique skills."

Olissa knew that full explanations could wait. "We'll be there as fast as I can walk," she said.

"My glidecar will be waiting for you at the bottom of the mountain," David said.

"Okay."

David fogged off with her, then walked over to his glidecar. He pulled out the small booklet that had come with the car, which he kept in a compartment in the console. He then used the charms that would activate the car's memory mode. Since the last place he'd been was Woodward Academy, the car would go back there.

Once the car was sent off, David turned back to the others.

"Who's Bispy?" Agent Wilson asked. The others also didn't know who David had asked Olissa to bring.

For the first time in hours, David grinned. "You'll see."

It didn't take long for David's glidecar to return to the village. David walked over as Olissa opened the door. David could see that Bispy looked a bit sleepy.

"Sorry to wake you both," David said, keeping his voice down. "We have a missing child. We've already walked the length of the forest trying to find him. Bispy, you're a tracker. Think you can find him for me?"

Bispy snorted in derision at the notion that there was any question of his ability. "For the right price," he said, as David had expected.

"Of course. I wouldn't dream of thinking you'd do it out of the goodness of your heart," he said, in a tone that clearly showed he was teasing Bispy. The last thing he wanted to do was make him angry.

"I will need something to scent off of, or the last place where only he was standing."

David nodded. "Come on."

Up until now, Bisperion had been hidden in the glidecar. The others had not interrupted while David had negotiated Bispy's services. Now, for the first time, the others saw what Bispy was.

"A dragon?" Agent Wilson asked. "Are you crazy?"

"We need a tracker," David said calmly. "Since no one around here owns a hound dog, Bispy is our best option. He's found people for me before. There will be a price to pay, but I'll cover that if the department has a problem with it."

"What does he want?" Joe asked curiously.

"About two hundred granas' worth of steak, pork chops, sausage and other goodies. There's a place in Earth I order from whenever I have to 'pay' him."

Joe chuckled about that, and Vivian grinned.

"This is not a good idea," Agent Wilson said.

David looked at him. "Why not? More importantly, have you got a better idea?"

After a long pause, Agent Wilson just walked away.

"I guess he doesn't like dragons," David said.

"Most people don't," Vivian said. "Too many stories of dragons misusing their powerful nature."

"Uh-huh," David said. "And I wouldn't know anything about that," he said sarcastically, referring to himself. Vivian blushed.

Walking over to the parents, David said, "I need something of your son's. Something that will have his scent on it. The stronger the scent, the better."

"I'll go get something," the husband said. The wife stayed put, still too distraught to be much use.

"Ma'am?" David asked, getting her attention. "It is true that we haven't found your son by walking along the paths. We are not giving up. I've brought in a tracker, which is what we need the scent-object for."

"A tracker?" she asked.

David pointed to Bispy, who was curled up, resting, while he waited for the scent-object to be brought back.

"He's a dragon," she said.

"Yes. But a friend."

"Why would he care about finding my son?"

"He doesn't. I'm paying him," David admitted. "But he knows he doesn't get paid unless he finds your son, so he is highly motivated."

"Can he find Ptolemy?"

"He's found people before," David confirmed.

"I don't care if you have to use a vampire, really. I just want my son back."

David interpreted this to mean that she hated vampires even more than dragons. He nodded, patted her gently on the shoulder, and then headed back to the table. Olissa was drinking hot chocolate - the centaurs didn't drink coffee - trying to stay awake and looking down at the map.

"Sorry to interrupt your sleep," he told her quietly.

"It's okay. How long have you been out here?"

"Eight hours or so."

"Think we can find him?" she asked.

"I'm pretty sure Bispy can find him, but I have a much less pleasant concern on my mind."

"What's that?"

"That boy's been out there for between ten and thirteen hours now. Sure, we will find him. Will he be alive when we do?"

Olissa frowned.

The father returned shortly, holding a sheet. "Mary'd already washed clothes today, but his sheets should still have his scent on them, right?"

"I would think so," David said. "Bispy!" he called out, to let the dragon know it was time to go to work. The father looked a bit nervous as Bispy approached, but he held out the sheet for the dragon to smell. Bispy winced after a single sniff.

"What's the matter?" David asked.

"The smell is overpowering," Bispy told him. "Now, I will need to try to find his scent in this area."

"We'll wait here. Once you find his trail, just let us know, okay?"

Bispy merely nodded and moved off toward the treeline.

"What's he going to do?" the father asked.

"He's trying to find your son's trail. Once he does, we'll go in and get him out."

"So he's not going in by himself, then," the father wanted to be clear on this point.

David sighed. "No, sir."

"Okay, then." The father walked back over to his wife.

"Even in the middle of a crisis, when being helped out, people just can't get over their prejudices. Think it would freak him out completely if I went over and told him I was a demighost?"

Joe chuckled. "Probably."

David shook his head in annoyance.

It didn't take too long for Bispy to find the boy's scent. David turned to the others.

"Olissa, you should stay here." Olissa nodded, understanding that she would slow them down.

"Dubnin... I'll need a centaur."

"I will go myself," Dubnin said.

"I want to go with you," the boy's father said.

"Sir, this is not the-"

"I'm not letting some dragon poke around at my son without me being there to protect him!"

David growled, "That dragon is here to help you out. A little fucking gratitude would be in order!"

The man stepped back, startled by David's anger.

"Now, we will go in, and we will bring your son back to you. You will merely be in our way. Boss, who do you want to go with me, just in case?"

"You pick. It's your show," Agent Wilson said supportively.

David looked back and forth, then said, "Vivian, you look like you're in better shape than Joe is."

"Ouch," Joe said.

"Well, stop eating so many donuts," David told him with a malicious grin.

"Double-ouch!" Joe said with a chuckle.

"Okay, are we ready?" David asked. Dubnin and Vivian both nodded. "Let's go, then."

The three of them walked over to where Bispy was, and David just motioned the dragon forward. Bispy immediately headed into the trees, his nose aimed toward the ground, but not in the manner of a dog, rather simply angled in that direction.

The three walked behind Bispy, not really saying anything to each other. After a while, David had a question.

"Bispy... do you have any notion from his scent trail how far away he is?"

"The scent is several hours old, and there aren't any strong spots. This means he was traveling in a constant fashion. Other than that, no, I don't know where he is. Only that he traveled past here."

"Okay," David said. He related this information to the others, and then they lapsed back into silence.

It took an hour of walking along a path before Bispy turned off into the rough brush. Their travel slowed greatly at that point.

"The boy was following something," Bispy said.

"What?" David asked.

"An animal of some kind. The scent is unfamiliar to me."

It took another half hour, but finally, they saw him.

"Ptolemy?" David called. The boy had fallen down an embankment, and his foot was caught under a rock.

"Mm-hmm," the boy said quietly. David sensed not pain, but fear.

Just then, Bispy's head snapped around. David caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned his head fractionally to see the shape sliding through the darkness, moving away from them in silence. That anything that big could move through such thick forest without making a noise...

"I see it," he told Bispy, who kept his eyes focused on it.

After the shadow had faded into the night, David made his way carefully down the embankment until he had reached the boy. Ptolemy's foot was wedged under a large rock, which the boy had no hope of moving.

"Well, how'd you do this?" David asked him lightly.

"I fell down the hill," he said, very quietly. "When I stopped rolling, I was here. I can't get it out."

"We've been looking for you all night," David told him.

"I know. I heard you," the boy whispered.

"Why didn't you call out?" David asked.

"I didn't want the monsters to get me," he replied seriously.

"What monsters?" David asked.

"I don't know what they are, but I've seen their shadows. They've been moving around me all night. I think they're waiting for me to fall asleep, so they can eat me."

David nodded. He knew the boy wasn't just making stories up; David had seen something at the top of the hill, and Ptolemy's description fit exactly what he'd seen.

"How many of the monsters did you see?"

"Only one at a time, but they would make noises back and forth, so there had to be... at least four, I think."

David nodded. "What did they sound like?" he asked.

"They kind of... barked. I mean, not really like a dog, but it was that kind of noise."

David nodded again. "Okay, so, what say we get you out from under this rock? Did you try digging out underneath your foot?"

"Yeah, but it's just more rock. It's too hard to dig out."

"Well, then I guess we do it the other way," David said.

"What's the other way?" Ptolemy asked.

"We just cut off your foot," David said with a grin. "They can grow it back in the infirmary. Might take a few months..."

David saw first the look of panic on Ptolemy's face, then the realization that David was pulling his leg, so to speak. "Aw, c'mon, you're not gonna do that."

David chuckled. "No. I'm just going to lift the rock. As soon as I do, pull your foot out."

Ptolemy nodded. David cast a levitation charm, and the rock nudged ever so slightly upward. It was a very large rock, and the charm David had chosen almost wasn't up to the task. Ptolemy was, however, able to pull his foot free. As soon as he did, David set the rock back down.

"Can you walk?" David asked. Ptolemy tried to stand up, but he couldn't put any weight on his leg. He screamed in pain briefly, and collapsed. "I'll take that as a no," David told him. "On the bright side, this means you get to ride a centaur tonight."

"Really?" Ptolemy asked.

"Really. My friend Dubnin has agreed to carry you out of here. You should thank him; Centaurs don't like carrying riders."

"Oh. I didn't know that."

David lifted the boy and carried him up the hill. It was a bit of a struggle, but they made it. David and Dubnin worked together to get Ptolemy situated properly on Dubnin's back.

"You should hang on," Dubnin told him. "I will go slowly, but it will be a bumpy ride."

"'Kay," the boy said, and grabbed Dubnin around the chest.

As they were on their way back, David looked to see that Ptolemy had actually fallen asleep holding onto Dubnin. This gave David a chance to talk more freely.

"Dubnin," David started, "would you happen to know if there are any other races living nearby? Other than centaurs and humans, I mean."

"I would most certainly know if there were," Dubnin confirmed, "and there are not. Why do you ask?"

"It's nothing. Just checking out a hunch."

"I see," Dubnin said, though he didn't.

The reunion back at the village was emotional. The parents were hugging their son and thanking everyone in sight.

"What happened to him?" the father asked, while Mary was hugging her son to pieces.

"He fell down an embankment and caught his foot under a rock. You'll want to have a healer look at it."

"Why didn't he use his mirror to call us?" the father asked in frustration. David handed him the mirror, which was in shards. "Oh." For a long moment, there was an uncomfortable pause. "Listen," the father said, "I'm sorry about what I said about your dragon..."

"He's not my dragon. He's just a friend of mine. Not all dragons are trouble for humans. Not all humans are trouble for dragons. Not everyone of any group is the same. I mean, really, look at me. I'm a demighost, and I haven't killed anyone all night."

David watched for, and received, the look of utter shock on the man's face. He smiled, nodded, and walked away.

"Thank you, Bispy. Your payment will be ordered in the morning."

"It had better be," Bispy told him.

"I'll take you two home in just a minute," David told Olissa, who nodded and yawned.

David turned back to Joe, Vivian and Agent Wilson, and motioned them off to one side.

"First off, is there anything else I need to do here?" David asked.

"Nope. No crime was committed or anything. We were just here to rescue the kid. He's rescued, so we can go home," Agent Wilson told him.

"Okay. One more thing. Vivian, did you see it, in the woods?"

"I'm not sure what I saw," she told him. "I saw something, though."

David nodded.

"What are you talking about?" Joe asked.

David said, "Boss, I think you need to contact... someone. I'm not sure who to tell."

"Tell what?" Agent Wilson asked. "What did you see in there?"

"Werewolves."

"...I mean, really, the music as a whole was a mess," JoAnne said. "They were so intent on showcasing the magical nature of their instruments that they forgot to actually make music."

David nodded to her as they approached the door to her dorm room. "Yeah, it was bad. I'm sorry it wasn't better."

JoAnne looked at him funny. "It wasn't your fault. You had no way to know they were going to suck. Anyway, you want to come in?"

"Sure," David said. JoAnne led him in, and continued over toward the couch.

"Close the door for me, would you?" she said.

David turned to close the door, and when he turned around, JoAnne was right in front of him. She pressed him against the door and locked her lips to his, kissing him passionately. Her tongue was quickly demanding entrance into his mouth. He granted it, and their tongues were soon dancing feverishly together.

David pushed off from the door, but did not break his kiss with JoAnne. The two of them wobbled their way over to the couch before they separated.

JoAnne took hold of David's pants and undid them, shoving them roughly off his hips. She was more careful with his underwear, but just as quick. Now he was standing before her, naked from the waist down.

"Sit," she told him. David did so, and she moved with him, kneeling in front of him.

David didn't need to ask what she had in mind, as her fingers were already wrapping gently around his cock. She stroked him a few times, bringing him the rest of the way to hardness, and then she plunged her mouth down onto his staff, her head bobbing rapidly as she took more and more of him in. She finally got more than half his dick in her mouth, then she started to suck as she moved on him, doing her best to pull the cum from his balls.

David sat, his eyes closed, his fists clenched, fighting off his climax. He didn't want to come too quickly; it felt much too good. It was a losing battle, however, as her lips and tongue worked him over, driving him toward his peak. Finally, with a loud grunt, he came, blasting his cum into her mouth.

JoAnne kept up her sucking, swallowing every drop of his jism, until his spasms stopped and he relaxed back into the couch. She kept him in her mouth for a while, licking off the remnants of his cum, before she finally let his pole slip from between her lips.

JoAnne rose from her spot, thinking to crawl into David's lap, but he was having none of that. He took hold of her arms, then pulled and pushed her until she was lying on the couch with him kneeling above her. He undid her pants, and began to drag them off her hips. She lifted up to help him, and he took her panties off with her pants, so that she, too, was nude below the waist.

David gently pried JoAnne's legs apart, and then he bent forward, his tongue swiping strongly along the entire length of her slit. JoAnne moaned in pleasure, loving the feel of his tongue against her. He kept up his ministrations for a while, before he finally moved his mouth up to her clit, flicking his tongue rapidly across the little nubbin.

JoAnne cried out loudly in joy at the feelings washing over her. Her body was tingling with the sensations, and her hips were rocking against David's face. He began to suck on her clit as he slid his finger deep into her cunt, beginning to slide it rapidly in and out. She immediately rose to a new level of passion, her body shuddering as it approached orgasm.

It was only a few more seconds before JoAnne screamed out and her hips bucked against David. His hand was flooded with her juices, and he had to stop licking her clit because she was moving too much.

David took his finger out of her pussy, and then he pulled off his shirt. He took a moment to extricate himself from his pants, and also pulled hers all the way off. Finally, as she was still mostly out of it, he unbuttoned her blouse and began to caress the skin of her stomach.

JoAnne mewed at the feel of his touch, once she was aware of it. She took hold of his arms and used them to pull herself to a sitting position. Once upright, she shucked her blouse, and also rid herself of her bra.

David took in the view of JoAnne's very nice tits, and then he cupped each one in his hand, squeezing them firmly.

JoAnne moaned. "Yeah, that's it. No need to be gentle. I want you to manhandle me!"

David gave her tits a last, firm squeeze before he pushed her back down onto her back.

"Well, I'm a man," he said, and then placed the head of his dick at her pussy. "And this is my handle!" With that, he shoved into her in one quick thrust.

JoAnne screamed in pleasure at being filled up so rapidly. He didn't give her any time to recover, but instead started slamming into her at full speed, rocking her deep into the couch cushions. She was loving it, and she encouraged him to go deeper, to thrust harder.

It didn't take too much of that before JoAnne was once again wailing in ecstasy, her body wracked with the throes of orgasm. David slowed down, to let her recover, but he didn't take his dick out of her cunt.

JoAnne, after she had mostly got her breath back, said, "You better not be done with me yet!"

To answer her, David slammed his dick fully into her again, and she screamed in a small aftershock.

"Let's change positions," David said.

"Anything you want," she told him.

David got up off her, and then he looked around. He pulled her up, and took her over to the table, pushing her down over it, so that her tits were mashed into the table top. He put his dick at her entrance again, and pushed in. Once he was halfway in, he thrust the rest of the way so strongly that the table slid.

"Oh, god, yes, fuck me hard!" JoAnne screamed. David obliged, slamming into her just as hard as he could. JoAnne was crying out with each plunge, and growling encouragements with every breath. Once again, she slid over the edge into ecstasy, her body shuddering beneath him.

David let her up as her orgasm began to subside, but she turned to him, then pushed him down into the kitchen chair. She immediately dropped into his lap, grinding her pussy against his crotch to keep him fully aroused.

"I love your dick," she told him, then kissed him hotly. She lifted her hips up, and reached down to take his cock in hand. She positioned it at her entrance, and then sank down onto him. For a while, she merely ground her hips against him, making small motions on his cock that kept them both highly excited.

Finally, she couldn't wait any longer, and she started to move up and down on him, using her legs to lift, and letting gravity slam her back down onto him. David began to rock his hips, pushing deeper into her. The two grew more frenzied as they fucked, until they got a little too exuberant, and the chair broke. They dropped to the floor as the chair collapsed beneath them, and the impact drove David's cock deeper into JoAnne's pussy than he'd been yet.

JoAnne screamed out, "Oh, FUCK YES!" and her body shuddered as a small orgasm gripped her. Once she came down, she looked at him lustfully.

"Think we can do that again? I've got three more chairs..."

David grinned. "I think the school would object." He grabbed her and rolled to the side, onto the floor, putting her beneath him. He began to thrust down into her hard and fast, and she enjoyed the reaming he was giving her. After a while, though, she wanted to be on top. She grabbed him, and then forced him to roll. The two were right next to the coffee table, however, and so that got dumped over on its side.

JoAnne didn't take the time to notice. Instead, she started rocking her hips hard, taking David's prick into her cunt as fast as she could. David groped her tits as she rode him, and the two of them grunted and groaned in their pleasure. She could feel David approaching his orgasm, and she knew she was right on the edge of her own. She used her pussy muscles to squeeze his rod, giving him even more pleasure while she slid on and off him.

David grunted loudly in warning, then he came, blasting his cum deep into her pussy. JoAnne immediately let go, her climax washing over her in a flood. Her body jerked and she cried out in grunts and broken cries as the joy and pleasure took over her senses.

It took a long time before either of them came down from their high. David was first, and he gently pulled JoAnne down against him, holding her tenderly, his cock still nestled inside her hot, wet pussy, though he was beginning to soften.

After a minute, JoAnne finally became coherent again. She smiled down at David, and kissed him.

"That was awesome," she told him with a grin.

"Sorry about the chair," he said.

"I'm not! Shit, that was one of the best parts!"

The two cuddled for a little while, then JoAnne rose to go to the restroom. While she was gone, David cleaned himself up and got dressed. JoAnne returned to the room, still nude.

"You don't mind if I don't get dressed, do you?" she asked. "After a really good session like that one, I don't want clothes against my skin."

"I'm not about to object," David told her. She smiled at him.

"You realize, don't you, that it would never work between the two of us, trying to date, I mean," she said after a long moment of companionable silence.

"What do you mean?" David asked.

"Look at our lives. You're a Rimohr, a security officer, a guild leader, and taking directed study in two different classes. I'm in the Leadership League, taking DS in three classes, and doing my scouting work... when, exactly, would we have time to date seriously?"

David frowned. "Then why did you bother to accept my invitation in the first place?"

"Well... honestly, I didn't think about it when you asked. I like you, so when you asked me to go out with you, I just naturally said yes. But I've been thinking about it since. Neither of us is in a place where we have the time for a relationship."

"So why didn't you call off the date?" he asked.

"You want the God's-honest truth?"

"Sure."

"I wanted to get laid. And... well, I wanted to know what it was like with you. I mean... three professors can't be wrong..."

David would have blushed at that, if he could. "It's actually four," he admitted, not giving out the fourth name. "So, you don't want to pursue anything further, then?"

"I don't think it'd be fair to you. Or to me, really. Something would have to suffer for us to make it work... and that's not worth it. On the other hand, if you want to get freaky again, feel free to give me a call."

David smirked. She came over to him and put her arms around his waist. "Are you mad?"

David sighed. "No. I kind of see your point. I'd be willing to try, though."

She shook her head. "I know you would. And I know you'd do your damnedest to put me ahead of everything else. And that would screw up all the other stuff you've got going on that needs your attention. I'm not willing to be the cause of that."

David nodded. "Okay."

She leaned up, and he gave her the requested kiss. When they separated, she said, "I'm sorry. I guess I was selfish to want this night with you, when I knew it wouldn't go anywhere."

David shrugged. "Don't worry about it. It's not like we've been dating for six months, and then you make this decision. And," he said, finally grinning, "it was a lot of fun."

JoAnne blushed and giggled. "Yeah, it was."

The two kissed for a short while more, but then they separated. David wished her a good night, then he showed himself out, since she was still naked.

Walking back to his own room, he sighed. Another opportunity lost.

"Are we all ready to do this?" David asked the assembled group. There were murmurs of readiness. Looking down, he asked, "Cupcake, you all set, girl?"

Cupcake whinnied excitedly.

"All right, then. Let's do it. Up we go!"

With that, Cupcake leapt strongly. A lot of the other pegs would take a running start before lifting off, but Cupcake loved to jump right to the flying part, quite literally. She ascended in a lazy spiral, waiting for everyone to catch up. She knew that she was the lead peg, and she kept her eyes on her flock. Once everyone was with her, she turned for Mt. Woodward. They had gathered at the guild hall to prepare for today's demonstration, so that they could make a suitably impressive entrance at their appointed time.

The Peg Riders arrived at the school right on time, and first did a slow flyby, keeping in formation. There were eleven of them, with David at the lead. With their slow, high pass complete, David circled them around to seaward, and brought the formation into a dive. Their speed increased incredibly, until the pegs were flying at least fifty or sixty miles an hour. At thirty feet, they pulled level. The pegs stretched their wings out to full extension, and then they glided over the crowd below, all of whom looked up in awe as the beautiful creatures passed overhead, silent but for the slight swish of air caused by their passing.

Once they were past the mountain again, David brought them into a climb, then motioned for the group to split. Each side of the formation split off, to form two groups of five. David and Cupcake continued to soar higher, until they were a thousand feet above the mountain's top. Cupcake circled slowly while David kept an eye on the performance below.

One group of pegs was now flying in a circle, which grew tighter and tighter until they were nearly touching wings in the center of their circle. They kept this up for a long moment before finally shooting apart, each peg going straight from their position, to make a starburst effect.

The other pegs were weaving amongst each other, trading places as the formation flew line-abreast over the school.

After a few more maneuvers, the two show teams formed up together, and created a giant circle, with a large empty spot in the middle. It was now David's turn.

Or, more precisely, it was Cupcake's turn.

"Are you sure you want to do this, girl?" David asked in concern.

Cupcake whinnied in assurance, with the hint of annoyance that he would ask.

"Okay, okay, I just had to check. Whenever you're ready."

With that, Cupcake folded her wings, brought her front legs up against her chest, stretched out her back legs, and dove steeply toward the ground. She was aiming for the center of the circle formed by the other pegs, who were keeping the position of that circle dead steady.

David and Cupcake plunged right through the middle of the circle. David could feel the wind from beating wings as they did, and hear the heavy breathing of all ten other pegs. Now, however, his concern was the ground, which was less than two hundred feet below them, and coming up fast.

At what David thought was the last possible second, Cupcake stretched out her wings and pulled up hard. Her body soared upward, her wings now beating full strength. In a second, they were vertical, and then they were upside-down. Her momentum carried her over for an almost perfect loop, but just past the top of the loop, she rolled so that David was upright, and she pulled out of the dive.

David had heard the gasps, and now he heard the shouts of applause from below. He knew the praise was not his to be had.

"Damned nice, Cupcake," he told her.

She whinnied in joy at his praise, and in exhilaration at the successful completion of the move. She soared upward again, taking David back to his thousand-foot aerie, to watch the other two groups, which had once again split apart, to perform maneuvers independently.

The one team continued to fly patterns in the air, while the other team performed gymnastic-type stunts on their pegs' backs. One girl, a second-class, was doing a one-handed stand on her peg's back. David knew her to actually be an equestrienne from Earth, and she loved riding her peg and doing stunts.

David had his own stunt to perform. It was so dangerous that he wouldn't let anyone else even attempt it.

"You ready for trick number two?" he asked Cupcake.

She nickered in response, a little less comfortable with this maneuver.

David planted his hands on Cupcake's shoulders, and pushed himself into a handstand. He couldn't do this for very long, but its main purpose was to get the crowd's attention for what came next.

David put his feet down as gently as he could on Cupcake's back, steadying himself as she flew with as little bumping as she was capable of. He then readied himself for what was an insane act.

"Okay, girl. Now."

With that, Cupcake pitched up hard. David was thrown backward, off her, and began to fall. He spread his body out as much as he could, to slow his descent. The rest was mostly up to Cupcake, and he was trusting her to save his crazy ass before he made impact. He was wearing the outfit that he'd gotten from the Temple of the Air in Mirelia, which slowed his fall even more, but hitting the ground would still hurt like hell.

Why the hell did I want to do this? he asked himself as he watched the ground rushing up at him.

Meanwhile, Cupcake had immediately maneuvered into a dive. Instead of passively diving like before, she used her wings to propel her toward the ground. She needed to get beneath David quickly.

It didn't take Cupcake long to get below her rider, but that was only half the problem. If she merely stopped her descent, he would slam into her at a hundred miles an hour. Instead, she slowed her fall gradually, allowing him to get closer and closer to her. She took a quick look over her shoulder, to make sure he was directly above her, and then she slowed further. They had only a couple seconds to safely finish this maneuver before she would have to pull out to save herself.

At seemingly the last possible moment, she felt David's hands clutch at her mane. He pulled himself as gently as possible into position, and once she was sure of where he was, she beat her wings hard. David thumped down onto her back, and she fought her way into level flight only a hundred feet above the ground. She continued a descent at this point, until she was only twenty feet up, and then swooped over the crowd, who were in an awed hush at what the two had just done.

Cupcake pulled up, and then the entire team reformed. Instead of one giant vee, this time they were flying in what David called a double-chevron formation, with Cupcake ahead by herself, then the two five-person teams flying one behind the other. They flew, in unison, down to the ground, and touched down, but they didn't stop. They ran at full speed, their wings outstretched, for a hundred yards, before each lifted off again. They flew low over the crowd in a wide circle, before coming over their designated landing field once more.

Starting at the back, each of the pegs reared up, using their wings as air brakes to slow them instantly. With that, they touched down and came to a complete stop. This progressed forward quickly, until David was the only one in the air.

Cupcake, being the show-off that she was, did not do the same maneuver as everyone else. Instead, she reared up and flapped her wings hard, performing a back-flip in place, with David holding on tight. Once finished, she touched down gently, with David patting her firmly and affectionately on the neck.

"Nice one, girl," he told her.

Cupcake whinnied in appreciation.

David circled his hand over his head, in the signal that told the Peg Riders to form up. The pegs settled into two columns of five.

David conjured the guild's flag from his Conjuring Room, and held it high as Cupcake led the herd across the field back toward the school's paddock. Not all of these pegs were part of the school's herd, but they would all be welcomed as visitors. The gate stood open to allow them in. David and Cupcake broke off at the entrance to the paddock, to allow the other ten to enter. David watched the assembled crowd as the riders dismounted their pegs.

"Well, that was a sordid display," someone said.

David looked down, to see a woman frowning up at him.

"Excuse me?" he asked, unsure of what she was talking about.

"How can you demean such beautiful animals that way? Forcing them to prance about in the sky."

David shook his head in annoyance. "It seems like every year, there is someone like you around. This is not a horse. It is a pegasus. Calling it an 'animal' is, frankly, rather rude, unless you also call dragons and people animals. We didn't force them to do anything at all. Tell me, how, exactly, am I supposed to force Cupcake to do anything, when I don't have so much as a saddle or reins to control her?" Cupcake would accept a saddle, for longer trips, but she much preferred when David would go bareback.

"I'm sure you have magical ways," the woman sneered.

"Lady, you have no understanding. Cupcake is not my property. She is my friend. She does what she does because she wants to. Hell, half the maneuvers you just saw were suggested by the pegs themselves!"

"And how did they do that? Is one of them Mr. Ed?"

"Anyone who actually cares about them can communicate with a pegasus. Perhaps you should give it a try before you go mouthing off about things you have no knowledge of. The Peg Riders form a bond with their pegs," he said. He was explaining not to the woman, but to the rest of the crowd that was listening in with possibly more useful interest.

"You see these as animals, as nothing more than horses with wings, who can't consent to what they're being forced into. You are the one doing injustice to these creatures. I do not ride pegs. I ride one peg, Cupcake, and she would be very upset if I chose to ride someone else in anything less than an emergency. I am her rider. She is my peg. We form a team, not a master/slave relationship. If Cupcake was in any way unhappy with our relationship, she could simply have not caught me in that dive, and flown away. She didn't. Why? Because I'm her rider, and she doesn't want to see me hurt.

"That loop we just did? That was her idea. She wanted to do it. It scared the shit out of me, quite frankly. But I trusted her to know what she was doing. And she did it beautifully, I thought... and I think you should apologize to her for taking away her achievement by suggesting I was the one in control!"

The rest of the crowd chuckled while the woman looked embarrassed and slinked away into the crowd.

"You said she would be upset if you rode another pegasus... is that really true?"

David related to them what happened when he first borrowed Cupcake from the school's herd, the summer of his potions creation trip. "When the bond has been formed... it's like a marriage, of sorts. Your peg will expect you to be faithful to them. And they will be faithful to you. The only way anyone else can ride Cupcake is if I ask her to bear them. She would throw off anyone else who tried."

"But what if you needed a ride, and Cupcake wasn't around?" someone asked.

"I'd love to say what she doesn't know won't hurt me, but she would know, just as soon as she saw me again. If it was urgent, then I would do it. If I was merely looking to prevent myself from walking, she would be very unhappy. There are ways to develop a long-distance communication with your peg, so that, if you need them to come get you, they will. It's one of the requirements of becoming a first-class Peg Rider.

"So you can call her like a taxi service?" someone asked.

David winced. "I don't like such comparisons, because it makes her sound too much like my servant... but yes, she will come get me if I ask."

"Well, isn't she your servant? I mean, she does what you ask her to..."

"So did your mother, most of the time. Did that make her your servant? Your peg is your partner. Partners help each other. Yes, Cupcake will provide me with a ride whenever I need one. And I will provide her with food, shelter, and affection whenever she needs that. The affection is more important than you may think it is: if you aren't a true friend to your peg, you will never bond completely. I have more responsibilities to her than she has to me. But ultimately, we work together."

There were quite a few more questions, which David stayed and answered. While he was talking with the crowd, he let Cupcake into the paddock, so she could cool down by walking around. He would groom and feed her just as soon as the questions were over.

Then they could go for a real flight together.

David was working on some paperwork in his Academy office when Seth stuck his head in.

"David?" Seth asked.

David looked up. "Yeah?"

"The patrol called in. They need your assistance, over by the gymnasium."

"Saved from the paperwork again," David said with a grin. He got up, grabbed his cap, and headed out the door. He didn't know what the patrol might need that he could provide, but he'd find out when he got there, he was sure.

It didn't take him long to get to Firebird Stadium, as it was close to Fensterman Hall, where the security office was located. When he got there, he found his patrol holding two separate groups of people.

"Jerry, what have we got?" David asked.

"I'm not sure how to handle this one, sir. This group of four decided to beat up on these two."

David shrugged. "So what's the trouble?"

"They claim that these two were about to beat up on him," Jerry said, indicating the remaining person. "They say they were just protecting the victim."

"Ah, shit," David muttered. "I don't need vigilantes on my watch."

"Hey, look," one of the four said, "We're not gonna let what happened last year happen again."

"And where the hell were you last year?" David asked crossly.

"We made a mistake last year. We're fixing it this year."

"By making another mistake," David responded immediately.

"What? We're doing exactly what you did last year."

"Oh, really? Funny, I don't remember Dean Lengel telling me about new members of the Discipline Response Team."

"C'mon, David. Last year, you did what you wanted, and you busted some heads. That's all we're doing."

"If you really think I 'did what I wanted' last year, you don't know anything about me at all. If I'd actually done what I wanted to do, that fight would never have happened, because The Clan would not have been healthy enough to show up. I had plenty of rules I had to obey. And so do you." Turning to Jerry, he said, "These four go to the dean."

"You're punishing us? What about them?" Another of the four asked.

"I'll deal with them, too. See, it's my job. You're just playing a game, and it had better end here." David motioned to one of the other patrol members, and he led the four off toward Beckett Hall.

David turned to the remaining three, and motioned the supposed victim over to him. He walked him a ways away from the other two, so that no intimidation could happen.

"So, were they about to beat you up?"

The student, who was a first year, shrugged. "They were messing with me because of my voice," he said. The boy had a squeaky voice that cracked when he spoke. "I don't know how far they were going to go. They were definitely being unpleasant. I'm not sorry they got whooped."

David nodded, then motioned the boy back to the rest of the group. "We'll have to take these two to the dean, as well."

"What for?" one of the two demanded.

"Hazing is not permitted on this campus," David said simply.

"We weren't hazing him. We were just having some fun."

"At his expense, by making fun of him. That's hazing. Perhaps you need to read your student handbook again. Let's go."

The two grumbled as the group walked off toward Beckett Hall.

David was once again trying to do paperwork when his mirror buzzed. He picked it up, to see Joe on the other side.

"Hey, Joe. What do we have this time?"

"A dead body," he said with a straight face.

"Oh? Where?"

"Winding River. It's a ways from here, but we're still the closest office."

"Do we know anything at this point?"

"Just that it's a female."

David frowned, but didn't say anything more about it. Instead, he said, "Okay, how are we getting there?"

"Your glidecar will be fastest. Why don't you come down and get me, and we'll go over."

"On my way. Be there in about a half-hour."

David fogged off with Joe, and then took his paperwork out to Seth.

"Finish this up for me, would you?" he asked. "I have to go on a Rimohr run."

"You do have to learn to do this stuff yourself, you know," Seth chided. "I'm only going to be here until Yuletide. What are you going to do after that?"

David paused for a moment, looking contemplative. Finally, he said, "Hire a better-looking office manager with big boobs?"

Seth burst out laughing, and waved David off. David stopped in Tanya's office to let her know what was going on.

"I heard that remark, you know," she said.

"Oh?"

"How come the office manager can't be some hunk with blue eyes and muscles?" she asked with a grin.

David smirked. "Because I'm the one doing the hiring," he shot back.

"Uh-huh," she said. "What's up?"

"I have to go do my other job today, so you're in charge."

"Anything going on?" she asked, now completely serious.

"No, it's quiet. Keep an eye out, though. That vigilante group from the other night worries me."

"How so?"

"If there's one, there could be more. Lots of them saw what happened last year, and are going to want to redeem themselves for sitting by and watching it happen all year long."

Tanya nodded. "If we encounter another one?"

"They're breaking the rules. Treat them that way."

"But if they're helping out..."

"They're not, trust me."

"Okay, Chief." It was the only title he'd let her use on him, and she felt much better addressing him formally while on duty.

Just as he was turning to leave, he turned back. "I assume," he said seriously, "you realize I was kidding, about the office manager." Seth, he knew, understood because he'd spent two years working with David. Tanya had not, and he was concerned she thought he was serious.

"Oh, I know. Don't worry, Chief, I'm not going to charge you with sexual harassment. Hell, I'm bisexual, anyway, so I wouldn't mind if you hired a big-boobed female!"

David's eyes went a little wide at the easy admission, but chuckled at her comment. "A little more than I needed to know, but I'm glad you're okay with the humor. I'll see you... could be tomorrow before I come back to the office. Depends on how long this takes."

"Right. Good luck."

"Thanks."

The trip to Winding River was uneventful. Not having anything case-related to discuss, David and Joe talked about office gossip and personal items on their trip, which took about an hour, after David picked Joe up in Bolmont. They pulled into the area that the person who had reported the body had directed them to, to find a group of people milling about.

"Your show," Joe reminded David.

David grunted and stepped out of the car. One of the people in the group came over to them.

"Officers? I'm the one who reported it. I'm Larry Oket."

"David Stroud. That's Agent Garibaldi. How did you discover the body?"

"Yard work. I own this land, and I was cutting back the brush, since it's gotten so high."

"It's still high. How did you see her in all of this?"

"The spell I use won't work if there is anything in its way. It would normally cut the brush off at about a hand's height above the ground. When it flared, instead of cutting the brush, I knew there was something in here, and so I went looking. Figured it was a rabbit hiding, or maybe a fox. I never figured on a dead body."

"How much has the area around her been disturbed?"

"Well, I walked in, of course. And my wife. After that, our neighbor, Pete, took a look. Beyond that, we've kept people away. She's naked, and we felt it was disrespectful for people to be gawking at her."

David nodded. "Okay, thank you. Can you give Agent Garibaldi your contact information, in case we should need to get a hold of you again?" To Joe, he said, "I'm going to go look."

David walked into the grass, following the path that the others had obviously trampled down. He saw little point in destroying any further evidence that might be available.

The woman lay spread-eagle on the ground. There were small bruises all along her arms and legs. There was a dark line across her throat, what David knew was called a ligature mark.

Joe came up behind him. "What you got? Oh, lord," he said upon seeing the body. He turned his head and coughed.

"This making you sick?" David asked seriously.

"I'll never get used to this part of the business," Joe said. "You seem to have adjusted quickly, though."

"I didn't kill this one," David said sourly.

"I don't see any wounds," Joe said.

"She was strangled to death. See the mark on her throat?"

"Oh, yeah. I hadn't looked quite that close yet."

David grunted. He knelt down and, without touching the body, moved his head to look between her legs.

"What the hell are you doing?" Joe asked.

"I'm pretty sure she's been raped," David said. "Lots of deep red bruising here. And if she had time to bruise like that, then this bastard took his time with her."

"What do you mean?"

"If I punch you hard on the arm, how long do you think it'll take for you to get a black-and-blue mark?"

"I dunno... the next day, for sure."

"Right. You don't get the really ugly bruise for a while. I'm not sure just how long, but I know it's not instantaneous. She has bruises ranging from barely noticeable redness, like here on her wrist, to even a couple of purplish marks on her legs. She wasn't just picked up, raped, and dumped. She was picked up, held, probably raped repeatedly, and killed when this asshole was done with her."

"Fuck," Joe opined.

"Yeah." After backing away from the body and taking a deep breath, David asked, "Do we have any way to identify her? I don't remember anyone doing anything like taking my fingerprints or such when I came to Dugerra... although my picture's on my license, so I guess we could use that... except her face is pretty beat up, so it's going to be hard to match."

"Each wizard's magical signature is held on file. Yours was taken while you were incarcerated, but you didn't notice because we don't have to touch you to do it."

"How do we check it?"

Joe pulled out his wand and cast the spell to collect her particular pattern, which would linger in her body until it began to seriously decompose.

When Joe finished casting the spell, the body was suffused with a yellow light, which quickly turned red, and then burst, clearing itself off the body.

"Okay... that's a problem. You try it." Joe taught him the spell, and David cast it over the body, with the same results.

"What's it mean?" David asked.

"This woman's not a wizard," Joe replied. "She's from Earth."

"Fuck."