~
The end of the Leshin occupation brought freedom to Vodotsk and the surrounding lands, but also threw them into chaos. No one knew who owned the lands that had long been held by the enemy. Records had been destroyed, family lines severed, and tenants displaced. In the decade-and-a-half that the city proper had been occupied, even the memories of the survivors faded.
At the moment, the lands were held in trust by the Vodotsk County Council but, in time, proper owners would be decided and the region would return to normalcy. The Council hoped that whoever controlled Vodotsk County would remain independent, while the Empire hoped they would pledge allegiance to House Lapidus and become Imperial vassals.
To further their cause, the Empire had established a branch of the Imperial Inspector’s Office in Vodotsk. The Inspector was supposed to keep the peace for the people of Vodotsk, though he often competed with the County Guard for that particular duty. He was also charged with enforcing Imperial laws, which still applied to citizens of the Empire living in the city and on any land owned by House Lapidus and its pledges.
The Imperial Inspector’s Office was the only place in the region that might have information on the ransacked border outpost where the Prophet’s Arm disappeared. Unfortunately for Sofya, she and the head officer weren’t on the best of terms after her last few cases.
Luka Artemovich Teteriv scowled at Sofya as he listened to her request, though he always seemed to be scowling. He was a stocky man, very clearly a soldier who had recently found himself in a much more sedentary position. His brown hair was neatly trimmed and he made no attempt to hide his receding hairline, as if he hoped age would merely add distinction to his features. He wore an Imperial officer’s coat of dark burgundy, the color of Emperor Lapidus’s newly-minted domestic security division. Sofya didn’t know how many of these coats Luka owned, but they were always cleaner and better kept than anything in her wardrobe.
“You want to know about the IKV?” Luka growled. “Why, so you can defect and throw the whole city into chaos?”
“Defect? Artemovich! Why would I ever do that? House Rykov is one of the Emperor’s most loyal–”
“You’re not exactly part of House Rykov anymore, are you?”
“Wow, that’s a low blow!” Sofya stood up dramatically, feigning offense. It was hardly the first time the Imperial Inspector had reminded her of her family situation. And it certainly wouldn’t be the last. “When have I ever been anything but a loyal citizen?”
Luka rolled his eyes. “I don’t know where to start. How about when we first met? I caught you stealing evidence from a crime scene.”
“I was not stealing that glove. I was borrowing it so I could collect evidence of my own. And you never would have caught that robber if I hadn’t been retained by the family to help you out.”
“You got lucky,” Luka grumbled. “You get lucky a lot. It’s the only reason you aren’t behind bars. Like you said, you’re an Imperial citizen. And unlike most of these people, I have full jurisdiction over you.”
“I like hearing that,” Sofya replied. “You know, ‘I have full jurisdiction over you.’ Could you try that again, just lower your voice a little more. I want you to sound more like–”
Luka slammed his hand on his desk. “Just be quiet, Rykov. And tell me why you need to know about the IKV.”
“All I’m asking for is public records about them and the Imperial checkpoint I told you about. If the records are public, I don’t need to tell you why I need them.”
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to give them to you. What are you going to do if I don’t? Write the Emperor?”
Sofya crossed her arms and smirked. “Maybe I will. You know that as a kid, I used to play at his house?”
“No, you don’t remind me of that every time I threaten to lock you up. And I still don’t think it means anything now. Fifteen years ago, you were friends with his children. So what? That was before you freed a bunch of Leshin and lost your name.”
While it pained her, Sofya had to admit that Luka was right. Maybe she could have pulled this card on an Imperial Inspector a year ago. But now she was no one. Trying to contact House Lapidus was just as likely to infuriate them as anything. She was a thorn in their side, a traitor who couldn’t be punished for political reasons. Any affection that the Emperor might have had for her when she was a child was long gone now.
“Fine,” Sofya said. “I’m trying to tie the IKV to an attack on the outpost in question. There were certain items being held by the guards there that I think were stolen in the attack. Someone wants to pay me to find those items and I want to get paid.”
“What kind of items are we talking about? If you tell me, I can be on the lookout at the usual fences.”
“Items of a… personal nature,” Sofya replied. She certainly wasn’t going to tell the Imperial Inspector that she was searching for a Leshin artifact. He distrusted her enough as it was.
“That’s not very specific.”
“I’m not supposed to talk about it, but rest assured that it is nothing you’d be able to find at the usual fences. Let’s just say there are certain secrets at play that would be personally devastating but completely meaningless to you or me.”
Luka smiled. “Illicit love letters, eh?” Sofya had no idea why that was his initial thought, but she wasn’t about to dispute it. “I suppose that’s the sort of thing you wouldn’t want getting out, especially into the hands of separatist scum like the IKV.”
“So, what happened to the outpost? Clearly there was a fight, and clearly the Empire didn’t even bother to clean it up. The place is tagged with IKV graffiti, so I figured they’re the ones who took it down. Were there any arrests?”
“The case is…” Luka sighed. “The case is still open in our file. It looks like the attack happened a few weeks before I arrived in Vodotsk. The office wasn’t up and running just yet, so the army itself investigated. And they had their arms full so they didn’t gather much evidence. It looks like I had one of my officers follow up a couple months later, but the trail went cold.”
Luka handed her a thin folder. Sofya opened it up and looked it over. There weren’t even pictocharms of the crime scene, just a written report from a trader who discovered the destroyed cabin the next day. The army hadn’t even sent soldiers to re-secure the outpost. It was nearly ending its usefulness, so it was decommissioned and the guards listed as combat fatalities.
“The army just…ignored it.”
“That means you’re probably right. It was the IKV. Back then, the army didn’t even want to acknowledge that they were a threat. The Empire made a conscious decision to portray their withdrawal as deference to the local government rather than admit that they took any losses from separatists.”
Sofya could hardly believe it. “But what about the dead guards? What about their families? Surely someone must have thought it was strange to lose four soldiers to the Leshin weeks after the war ended.”
“Do you remember what it was like during the hand-over?” Luka asked. Sofya didn’t. She spent the first month after the end of the war in a hut in the wilderness, recovering from her injuries and trying to learn to control her magic. “It was chaos. I’m sure they believed whatever the army told them.”
“And this is all the investigation that was done?”
“We had nothing to go on, Rykov. The attackers were long gone. They didn’t leave anything behind. By the time we got the case, the damned cabin had been vandalized so many times that–”
“I wasn’t blaming you,” Sofya interrupted. “Not this time, at least. You tried to re-open the case and it went nowhere, which is hardly surprising. But the army should have done more. Not only would it make my case easier, but these victims deserve some kind of justice.”
Luka scowled and grabbed the folder out of Sofya’s hand. “Don’t tell me you’re going to try and find them yourself. Even if you could, even if the trail didn’t go cold, tracking down a gang of murderers is way out
of your league.”
“Listen, Artemovich, I’ve got a job to do,” Sofya replied. “There’s something I need to find. If I can find these killers in the process, all the better. After all, I do like beating you at your own game.”
“I thought this was about justice, not some rivalry you think we have.”
Sofya laughed. “Can’t it be both?”
“Where will you even start? Three months ago there was no evidence and certainly no witnesses.”
“Don’t worry. When it comes to Vodotsk separatists, there’s only one place to go. And I hope that they’ll be much more willing to talk to me than the Empire.”