Fading Suns: A New World

by David Silver


90 - Chasing Vapors

Spike ran the belt across his midsection even as he ascended into the air. The two swords bumped and jostled for position. Hanging low, he felt certain that walking would have been awkward, but he had wings, so that would be what he'd do for the moment.

The sight of the Everfree Forest in the distance came into view as he crested the wall. Landing on the edge of it, he looked around sharply, but there was no pony, or other creature, in immediate sight. Spike dropped down to his knees and began to look around slowly until... There. "Found the line," he shouted out as he began to follow it as best he could, which was faster than before. The color of the wall did less to conceal the line, and there was no bulging artwork on that top of the wall.

But the line stopped, right there in the middle of the wall. "This is where they started..." He crossed his arms, considering going back to report to Laud, but had he actually found anything? Laud had put faith in him. He had bequeathed his blade, and he understood enough to know that was more than a little deal.

He rested a hand on its hilt, taking a slow breath. It was symbolic, sure, but it was a hell of a statement. He was invested with the full authority of a knight for that instant. He was Laud's blade, to strike true at enemy's of his--their people. He was hoping, no, relying on Spike to find answers. With clenched teeth he looked up ahead and squinted into the distance. "I have to find them..." One, more than one? He couldn't know yet.

Spike turned in place, looking to where the explosion had taken place. "If they fled away..." He stepped backwards even as he turned to face the right direction, his long borrowed sword scraping the ground as he imagined it would. He looked down over the opposite side of the wall, holding a hand up to his brows to improve his vision even just a little, but there were bushes and grass and little else immediately obvious.

"Gotta get closer." He threw himself off the edge and flew straight down, catching himself at the last moment to land lightly. "We should keep these clear." He drew Laud's blade, its alien weight pulling at him, but it wasn't as heavy as he had feared. He knew how to use a sword, Laud and Bon Bon had been working to make sure of that.

With a clean swipe, he hacked away the lighter underbrush, working his way forward. "Hope he doesn't mind..." Horticulture is not what a knight's blade was made for, but if it helped find the criminals involved... Digging into the thick vegetation that had decided the wall was a fine supporting structure, his foot bumped into something. He turned in place, reaching with his free hand and drawing a plunger from the coverage.

It was the sort of thing one would expect to rest on top of a box that would set off explosives. "Now we're talking..." But where was the box? He set the plunger carefully back down where he could find it easily again and dropped to all fours, rooting around for the other portion.

He found bits of wood and metal, splintered and broken, piece by piece. It wasn't a box, or at least it wasn't one anymore. He gathered all he could together with a frown. Perhaps... Yeah. He pulled out a cloth and wrapped it all up to carry it back up over the wall.


Laud rested against the same wall. He could have left, looked for something else, anything else, but he just couldn't draw himself to leave Spike without at least the support of his presence, for what little that mattered. He would be alright, he kept reminding himself. They had trained him as a warrior, and he'd been one before they started, if an unrefined one. He was a dragon, he had abilities.

He was fine. And yet, he stood there, waiting for Spike's return. "Is this what having a squire is like?" He could see why not every knight chose to walk that path, of taking a younger under their wing. "Is having a page better or worse?" Spike was too old and experienced to put in that role.

Time had passed, and still not a word. He could have run into trouble, hostile combatants... The sword he was given was too large, and his training blade was made of wood. Neither were ideal for proper battle. He thumped the wall with a balled fist, pushing away to his feet. "You had best return, Squire."

The sound of wings. Spike flew over the side of the wall and was coming down towards him with a resolved face. Laud quickly scanned over him, spotting no injuries but a few tiny scratches and debris. "Have you been digging through brambles?"

"Sure was." Spike landed just in front of Laud and set down a red cloth that he undid quickly. "Pretty sure this is the trigger."

There was a plunger and many other small bits and pieces that had failed to stay together. "Was it thrown off the wall?" he breathed out, falling to a knee to better view the remains of the device. "Tell me, is this something a pony could have?"

"This? Yeah, sure." He lifted his shoulders softly. "They do have explosions. Oh, here." He undid the belt that held the sword in place. "I... used it once."

Laud looked up sharply to meet his gaze. "Was someone up there?!"

"No! No... I just had to fight my way into the bushes to get all this." He was blushing deeply as he surrendered the sheathed blade back to Laud. "Just, you know, thought it would be right to tell you."

"I thank you for that." He had it back around his own midsection quickly. "Not the most noble use of a blade, but what is a blade but a tool? We'll have whatever scrapes it gained cleaned from it, later. For now, I need this examined." He gathered up the edges of the cloth, allowing him to stand up and take the package with him. "Fortunately, we've already paid for the next part."

Together, they strode back into the marketplace. It seemed business had picked up right where it had left off. Several of the booths had been taken down, but one remained and he was heading for it directly.

"Excuse me." A pony had blocked his way, smiling lightly. "Yer the one in charge around here, right?" A mare, with bright orange mane and yellow fur was looking up at him. "Where's the produce?"

Laud drew a soft breath, trying to avoid being irate at the innocent question. "I am in charge of what ships land and leave, not the content and placement of the stalls here. You should ask... her." He pointed to a merchant that looked the least busy in the immediate area. "Good day."

He moved around her, leaving Spike to nod at her. "Don't worry about him, Carrot Top. He's doing something important right now." He tipped the hat he wasn't wearing. "And I have to keep up with him. Have fun!" And he flew past.

A hand was reaching for the cord that attached the booth to the ship and Laud grabbed it at the wrist. "Hold there."

The technician jumped in surprise. "Bloody hells! Sir, you can warn a man before you go grabbing at him."

"My apologies." He drew his hand back, breathing hard as he righted himself fully. "But I wanted to catch you before you tore this booth down. We have one last scan for it."

"Yeah? We got everyone in the area." He gestured to where great collections of papers rested, waiting to be reviewed. "Names and species recorded."

Spike poked the bag Laud was still holding. "We need to scan this for any hints of who was touching it."

Laud nodded firmly. "Human hair, pony fur, anything at all."

The technician whistled softly. "Already found something? Great, put it in there. I want to know who blew up my poker partner." He gestured at the booth as a whole. "I assume it's inside that bag, not the bag itself, right?"

"Correct." Laud set it down in the center of the booth and unfolded the cloth. "There will be some contamination from Spike, he's the one that found it."

"Pity." The technician began hammering at the keyboard, awakening the sleeping booth. "Let's see what we can find..."

Paper began to emerge from the booth, reaching down to the ground and folding over itself, holes lining either side of the paper as it went back and forth. "Mmm..." The technician said little but little thoughtful noises, but soon the paper slowed, and the light faded. "We got all we're getting at a glance. The parts are crude. I'd guess local make, or jury rigged, one or the other."

Laud nodded softly. "We can't rule out either option. It would be too easy for an off-world agent to attempt to make something that has the basic appearance of being locally made. Anything else? A hint at least to their species?"

"There is a trace amount of keratin." He hiked a thumb at the papers. "But since that covers hair, fur, horns and claws, good luck drawing a conclusion from that. You want more, I suggest you find it and have it much more thoroughly scanned than what I can do. I can only tell you what is in there, material-wise."

Spike raised a lone claw. "Can you tell us where that, uh, kerawhatever is?"

The technician hammered at a few buttons, the lines returning before most of them faded, leaving a few lines criss-crossing over the mess. "That's where it's getting the strongest readings."

Starlight appeared with a pop. "That line was not a joke. Why all the serious looks?"

Spike grabbed for her, though she ducked back easily. "Starlight, can you lend us a hoof, or a horn in this case?"

Starlight hiked a brow at that. "Pardon me?"

Spike pointed into the booth. "See where the glowing lines are? There's some hair, or bit of claw, or something. Get it out without letting it touch anything else."

Starlight leaned off to the side. "I had meant to just shop, but Laud's looking more serious than usual." With a glowing horn, she reached into the debris and began to float up bits and pieces, tiny shreds of nothing. "Is... this what you want?"

Spike scrambled closer, peering. "I don't see any hair there."

"Grabbing something so small from far away isn't easy, Spike." She trotted closer, setting what she had found aside to try again, sifting about. "What about... this?" She pulled free a lone bolt.

Laud chuckled softly. "That is clearly metal, not bone or hair."

"True..." She set it with the first batch and took a slow breath. "Hair, hair, or a claw, I can do this..." She put a hoof to her chest and extended it as she let out her breath as she had seen Twilight do once or twice. "I'm on the case."

Laud did not speak, watching as the magic picked and sifted slowly. A lone hair lifted into view as Starlight began to clop her forehooves. "There we go, almost lost in the thread of the bag."

He put a hand down on her shoulder. "You have served well today. Get that in something secure and the investigation can continue." He turned to Spike. "No sign of the perpetrators themselves, I assume?"

"They were long gone when I got there. I think they dropped that off the side of the wall. Couldn't say if that was on purpose or not." He hiked a thumb at the wall. "But it smacked right into the branches and weeds and made a mess."

Starlight dropped the hair into a little plastic bag. "So now's the part where you tell me what I'm looking at? What's going on?"