Transference

Character(s): Talika, Jun, Seth, Talshez

Series: Magiology - A Game of Salt AU

Rating: PG

Summary: Jun still refuses to take the promotion to the Capital, but Talika's certain that won't last long.

Sequal to Talika Skies

Transference

Jun rested his head in his hand and stifled a yawn, trying to ignore the screaming and yelling in front of him.  

"Your honor," Zai whispered in his ear, voice tense, "The widow just threatened murder."

Jun's head snapped up and he slammed the wooden block on his desk several times. The room quieted and a guard forced the widow onto her knees.

"Please refrain from threats while in my court." Jun looked the widow in the eyes. "Your sentiments are understandable, but I would rather you do not lower yourself to his level." He turned to the criminal. "You are an incorrigible, repulsive man who takes pleasure in the pain of others. For your crimes, you are sentenced to death—"

A wooden plaque sailed by Jun's ear and buried itself in the criminal's eye, point first. Jun blinked repeatedly as his mind attempted to process what just happened.

"Huh, didn't think it would be sharp enough.”

Talika. Of course. It’s always Talika.

Jun sighed. "Talika." He put his head in his hands as guards escorted both criminal and plaintiff out.

"Jun-dear!" Talika sang. She swung down from atop the head of a stone dragon and landed next to him. "Fancy seeing you here. Oh, you can't possibly be that mad, he was going to die anyways. He didn't need that eye."

Jun stared; one eyebrow raised and his mouth slightly agape. "Talika, do leave before I throw you in prison again.”

She blinked. "Why—Jun!"

A pair of guards ran up to behind his desk and grabbed Talika's arms.

"Be sure she cannot escape so easily this time," Jun muttered and massaged his temples.

The guards dragged Talika away and Jun let out a small sigh of relief as her complaints faded into the red and gold hallway.

"Jun." Zai's voice interrupted his thoughts.

Jun looked up as a hawk landed on his desk, causing a small gust of wind with its wings that sent his papers flying. Zai hurried to catch the papers, stumbling over his robes in his haste.

Jun swiftly unclasped the golden scroll from the hawk's pouch and skimmed its contents. "They want to transfer Talshez here." He frowned. "I'll be back."

__________________________

He found Talika lounging on a redwood sofa with red and gold cushions and sipping from a cup of tea, much to his ire. "Explain this.” He dropped the golden scroll on her lap.

Talika blinked and picked up the top of the scroll with a hand and held it up. “This is a scroll. With your name on it. Ooo, I see my name too! Wait, I don't know those words.”

Jun felt his cheek twitch. “Are you illiterate?” he drawled.

“I can read some of it!” Talika scanned the scroll again, “Something about  Talshez.” She paused, squinted at the scroll, then shrugged and looked up. “Name sounds familiar.”

“He killed over seventeen women in a period of two years. I understand the Intelligence is still trying to locate all the bodies.”

Talika snapped her fingers, “I remember now. He was caught the same year I was initiated.”

“The Capital wants to transfer him here. Talika, I did not agree to this.”

“It makes sense.” Talika shrugged and sipped her tea. “Willinshire's prison is more heavily regulated. Smaller too. Which is interesting as you seem to have more scum here than the Capital. Guess it’s ‘cause you just execute everyone.” She grinned.

“I do not—” Jun sighed. “Nevermind. Why is the transfer is being authorized.”

“I’ve had no communication from my superiors for months, Jun-dear.” She ran a hand through her hair, “But if you want, I wouldn’t mind making a trip home. Hawk messages can only do so much.” She leaned forward and patted his cheek. “Just promise not to die on me, kay?”

Jun slapped Talika’s hand away and took a step back. “The scroll recalled you anyways.”

“It did?” She scanned the scroll again.

He sighed and rubbed his temples. “Yes. The intelligence wants you to help escort the prisoner. Now go, you have traumatized enough people during your stay.”

Talika grinned. “Aw, Jun-dear, don’t look so sad. I’ll be back before you know it.”

Jun glared.

__________________________

Talika left late that night with a small pack and kept to lesser known paths out of habit. Jun offered her an escort, but she could move faster by herself. Jun's men weren’t SID elite, after all.

She reached the gates of the Capital in a little under a week.

Talika headed straight for the palace, taking every shortcut she knew and brushing past a rickety orange cart that collapsed along the way. She climbed up a tree, leaped into the palace through a window, and rolled to break her fall.

A shrill scream, and something zoomed by her ear. Talika ducked. One hand reached towards her knife to throw at the—book? She blinked, looked around, and finally spotted a mop of blond on a scowling face. “Ooo, Sethy-prince! Forgot this was your room, dear.” She pocketed her hands, away from her weapons, and skipped over to Seth. “Think you can point me to Ezy?”

Seth sighed and started to sort through the papers on his desk. “Lady Ezabel is trying to bridge relations between the Ministers and the Council. You know how they get. How is the situation with Jun?"

"Terrible. Jun hate politics more than he hates the criminals he executes. He won’t accept the Council seat without more…creative persuasions.” Talika rolled her eyes. “Anyways, since I'm here, what do you know about Talshez’s transfer?"

He shrugged. “Not much, only that Lady Izabel and the Council ordered it, and that you’re to be part of the escort.”

“Jun’s pissed about it,” Talika stressed with an amused smile and a raised eyebrow.

Seth paused. “Would he be angry enough to accept the promotion and reverse the transfer?”

Talika blinked. “Sethy-prince, that’s very convoluted.”

He shrugged again, rummaging through a drawer. “Not my logic. Ah, here we go.” He pulled out a violet scroll out and handed it to Talika. “Intelligence orders regarding  Talshez’s transfer. He’s being shipped out tomorrow morning, don’t be late.”

Talika accepted the scroll with a nod. “One more question. Why was I recalled? You have enough good men for Talshez ’s transfer. You can’t need me just for this.”

Seth took a breath and chewed on his lower lip. “You’re SID, Talika. More than that, you’re Skiés. I know of only seven others with the title and they’re unreachable for a variety of reasons. At least one is serving as a spy overseas.  Talshez ’s transfer is likely Lady Izabel’s scheme, and having a Skiés as part of the transfer team was probably her way of pleasing the Council. Besides, the Ministers have men watching Jun as well. He’ll be safe for two weeks or so without you.”

“I know the Ministers are watching him.” Talika’s eyes narrowed. “I just don’t like it."

__________________________

A week after Talika left, Jun found a woman sitting in his office. She sat with legs crossed as she fingered a bright red pendent. She the orange-gold hair and light colored eyes of those Capital-born. Jun frowned, just add a burn scar to the woman's face and she would look too similar to Talika for his liking.

A nearby guard fidgeted. “Sorry, sir. She had the Ministers’ seal.”

His frown deepened. Jun entered his office, sliding the shoji door closed behind him, and made his way to the other side of his desk. The woman smiled sweetly at him and uncrossed her legs.

Jun hated her already.

“Your honor.” The woman nodded her head. “It is a pleasure to meet you. I am Leira, a representative of the Ministers—”

“I know who sent you,” Jun interrupted with a drawl and tried to look at uninterested as he could. Her accent grated his ears. Talika didn't have an accent. “Please deliver your message and leave.”

Leira smiled. “Very well. The Ministers are willing to reverse  Talshez’s transfer.”

Jun raised his eyebrows and straightened in his seat. “What do you want.”

“Your endorsement on whomever we choose as councilor.”

“You want a puppet in the Council.”

Leira’s smile twitched downwards for a fraction of a second. “We simply believe that you are better fit as Willinshire’s magistrate. It would be regretful to pull you away from the place you love.”

Jun stared at the woman for a moment. His endorsement would mean stepping away from the empty seat; however, it would probably be enough to push whoever the Ministers wanted into the position. If he could even be bothered to write one. “No.”

Leira’s smiled vanished. “No?”

“I have no intention of getting caught up in Capital politics. Nevertheless, should you reverse  Talshez’s transfer, I will write your endorsement, provided that you let me choose who gets to be the new councilor.”

Leira scowled. “Your honor, you can rest assured that the Ministers will choose—”

“No.” Jun leaned forward, not taking his eyes off Leira. “Do not patronize me. I may dislike Capital politics but I do know how it works. Either accept my terms or leave my office. Now.”

“So you want to be forced into the Council?” Leira leaned forward as well, her eyebrows drawn. “Lady Izabel wants you in that position, and she is not one to give up so easily.”

“Do the Ministers want their puppet more than they want me away from the Council?" Jun relaxed and gave a small smile. "I trust that your people aren’t so incompetent that you cannot handle Lady Izabel. She may be the Emperor’s niece, but she is still just one person.”

Leira narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists. Jun glanced out his window, absently noticing smoke in the vicinity of the southern forest. It seemed far enough away that it wouldn’t reach Willinshire’s gates before dying. Regardless, he should sound a fire warning just in case. 

Willinshire's southern buildings are old and still made of wood rather than stone. They were also close enough together that the fire would spread rapidly.

Finally, Leira sighed. “I will have to speak with my superiors.”

Jun shrugged. “Then borrow a hawk. Also, please stress to you superiors that I do not like being manipulated in such a manner. Have a good day, Lady Leira.”

Leira glared, and then stood and gave a slight bow, brushing aside the guard as he attempted to escort her out of the office.

Jun sighed and sunk into his chair the moment she was gone, one hand over his eyes. “I should have said yes.”

“Maybe.”

Jun lifted his hand and looked up slightly.

Zai gave a lazy salute and smiled. “Your honor, a hawk came.  Talshez should arrive at high sun.”

Jun sighed. “Prepare the guards. Make sure there’s an escort from the city gate to the prison.”

__________________________

“What is going on here?” Jun asked when he reached the city’s southern gates later in the evening. Talika was scowling and Zai looked troubled.

“Jun?” Talika immediately glared at Zai, who tried to hide behind the hand-lamp he was carrying. “Don’t tell me you called him here!”

Jun raised an eyebrow. “A pleasure to see you again, Talika. It is standard protocol for the magistrate to oversee a prison transfer. High sun past a while ago, and  Talshez isn't at the prison yet. I assumed there was some sort of trouble with the transfer, so I thought I would come personally.”

“Idiot,” Talika hissed.

Jun tilted his head and really looked at Talika. Her eyebrows were drawn, her eyes fixed somewhere into crowded Willinshire streets and her left hand hidden in her pocket. A good portion of her right sleeve was missing and blood dripped from the arm to the floor. He pursed his lips. “What happened.”

Talika waved towards the smoke he noticed earlier.

He raised an eyebrow. “Forest fires are common this time of year.”

She sighed heavily and ran a hand down her ponytail. " Talshez escaped."

A moment passed, and Jun wasn't sure he even breathed. Finally, he snapped his jaw shut and took a breath. "Explain."

Talika rolled her eyes and gestured violently at the smoke. "What do you think? I dragged a few injured here. The rest are either combing the forest or trying not to get burned to a crisp."

Jun pinched his nose and resisted the urge to bang his head against something hard. “Zai, set up a perimeter along the south gate. No one goes in or out until we catch the criminal. Talika, get yourself to a healer.”

Talika shrugged, her uninjured hand twirling her ponytail. “Just a flesh wound. I’ve fought with worse.”

Jun shook his head. “But you don’t have to. Get that arm looked at and then join the search.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Like hell.” She paused. “Actually, I’ll go. But you come with me.”

Jun raised an eyebrow but nodded. “Alright. I need to talk to the healers anyways.”

Talika smiled and motioned to him to lead the way. Jun sighed and started walking.

“How did he escape?” Jun asked a few minutes later.

“Bastard somehow got his hands on a flint rock. Hit it against his chains in the middle of some drybrush. Instant wildfire.” Talika scowled. “I’m going to skewer the fool who let that pass.”

Jun winced. At least the infirmary was in view now, as old and battered as it is. “Don’t. How did he get the flint?”

Talika shrugged. “Hell if I know. I checked him myself, bastard didn’t have anything but his clothes and chains this morning.”

Jun frowned and stopped in front of the infirmary's entrance. “Flint isn’t common around here.”

Talika's eyes narrowed and a hand gripped a dagger that was not visible a moment ago. “Jun, where’re my men staying?”

Jun blinked slowly and took a step back. “Probably the second floor. Why—Talika! Use the door!”

Talika ran towards the infirmary, jumped, grabbed hold of the ledge above the entrance of the building and without a glance behind her, swung into a second story window.

Jun groaned and pushed open the infirmary's double doors. The lobby was strangely dark and empty. There were usually lit lanterns after sunset. He frowned and walked towards one of the wall lamps.

A swish, and before he could react, a piercing pain exploded from his left arm. Pain from his leg, side, head. He must have hit something. A scream, and he focused on the scream rather than the pain until his throat hurt and something pulled on the collar of his shirt and a cold edge pressed against his throat. He froze.

“Hello, magistrate.” The voice was raspy and deep.

Jun forced himself to take a deep breath. “ Talshez.” There was something wet on his arm. Blood?

“I’m sure someone heard that—ah, there we go.”

A pair burst through the door. Guards, Jun assumed, but the cool metal at this throat and his throbbing head were somewhat distracting.

“Sir!” One of the pair shouted.

“Stay there!” The metal edge pressed against his throat. “Now, I’m a simple man. Just give me a horse, and don’t follow! And I’ll let your magistrate go. Hm?”

“No—” Jun hissed as the blade pressed deeper and he felt wetness trickle down his neck.

“You be quiet.” The criminal pulled Jun to his feet and started walking backwards.

“The infirmary’s connected to the city walls,” Jun said, trying to ignore the pain in his head and arm. “That’s how you got in, isn’t it? You’re former SID.”

“Oh?”

Jun tried to nod, but stopped and grunted in affirmation instead. “I studied your files. What you managed and how you moved. Talika’s the same. You were listed as military, but never placed on a squadron. Furthermore, there weren’t any information about you until your incarceration –ack.” The pressure on his neck increased.

“Stop talking, you pretty little bitch,” The criminal hissed.

Jun felt vaguely insulted, but with the throbbing in his head and the pain in his arm and he wasn't sure if it was an insult anymore.

“I didn’t exist to them.” The criminal was still talking? “No acknowledgement, no praise, nothing! All I did for those self-righteous, spoiled fools and not a hint of thanks.”

“Well, when you’re SID, you don't legally or officially exist,” Jun drawled. The coldness left his throat. His arm was suddenly twisted behind his back and pain pierced his head. That was probably a wall.

“Shut up!” The voice sounded higher than a few moments ago. A door slammed shut. Jun guessed they weren’t in the lobby anymore. Maybe one of the isolation rooms?

 “You know nothing! Nothing!” The voice grew louder as it continued. “You’re so happy here, aren’t you? Hidden away in your little corner of the world.”

 “I wouldn’t call us hidden,” Jun mumbled, trying hard to ignore the pain and articulate his words. “We’re on the map.”

He was jerked back by his scalp—hair—and he screamed in pain. He fell backwards, hitting his back on something cold and hard. The metal was against his neck again.

“You don’t want to make me angry, pretty boy.” The criminal was in front of him, speaking to him in that ugly voice. Jun wrinkled his nose. The criminal had very bad breath, like the monsters in old tales.

“You’re already angry,” Jun pointed out.

The monster growled. Pain exploded from under his ribs and Jun felt his breath leave his lungs.

Jun coughed and groaned in pain. “It might be in your best interest to not kill me,” he managed in a hoarse whisper. “If I die, you are as good as dead.”

“Shut up!” The voice was higher again.

More pain ran along the side of his head and Jun fell sideways. His throat hurt almost as much as his head now. He shut his eyes close so the room would stop blurring and spinning. The monster was still talking and talking and his head hurt and—

A creak. The voice stopped and Jun's eyes snapped open. Wood crash down from above and there was screaming and incoherent yelling and the sound of wood breaking and splintering.

A blur of orange and black rush towards the monster next to a slab of wood. The monster moved forward, orange and black shifted to the side and there was the sound of metal against metal. Jun blinked several times and his vision cleared enough for him to see the monster and the orange and black—Talika!—facing one another, knife in hand.

"You," the monster hissed.

Talika growled and blurred forward. The monster flinched back, but caught Talika's blade with his own.

 "I'll tear you limb from limb!" Talika screamed, her voice growing louder with each word. She dropped her knife and twisted suddenly. The monster fell forward. Talika swung a fist into his gut. The monster grunted and bent forward. Talika shifted to one side and elbowed the monster in back of the neck. The monster fell to the ground with a loud thud.

A second knife appeared in Talika's hand. "How dare you touch my charge," she hissed.

Another crack and a thud. Light flooded the room and Jun squinted to try and make out the shapes.

"Skiés!" The voice emanated from the hole-in-the-wall-that-was-not-there-before.

Talika growled and the second knife vanished. She struck the monster over the head again with her heel. "Handle this." She waved at the monster's body and walked over to Jun.

Jun turned slightly to look up at her.

Talika grinned. "Good to see you alive, Jun-dear."

He grunted and closed his eyes.

"Jun-dear? Oi, Jun! Don't sleep here, Jun—"

________________________

He woke up with a pounding headache and a screen of orange over his eyes. Jun scowled and flung the offending color out of his vision.

"Jun-dear!" Talika said a little too loudly.

He groaned and rubbed his temples. "What happened?" Jun tried to say, but it came out a more unintelligible than he would have liked.

Talika snickered and tickled his face with the end of her ponytail. "How adorable."

His face scrunched up as he slapped the dirty orange hair away again. "Stop that. What happened to that monster?"

Talika pouted and pulled her hair away. "Even monsters have names, Jun-dear."

"Why would I bother with his name? What happened to him."

"Dead," Talika said as she flung herself back into her chair. "Guess having part of the ceiling fall on him was too much."

Jun blinked slowly. "My memory is perhaps a little unclear, but I do not recall the ceiling falling on him."

Talika grinned and flipped her hair back. "You remembered wrong, Jun-dear."

A healer came in and examined his head. She gave him a cup of tea, a blue scroll, a few files and left. Jun immediately started to skim the files.

"You work too much." Talika jumped onto his bed and leaned over his shoulder.

Jun glared at her. "According to this, the criminal died suddenly in his cell."

Talika shrugged. "Massive internal bleeding?" she smiled and took a sip out of a cup.

"He died in his cell."

"From the internal bleeding caused by the ceiling falling on him."

"I remember you fighting him, Talika."

"The ceiling fell on him, he got out, and then we fought, Jun-dear."

Jun groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"You might want to read the scroll, Jun-dear."

He reluctantly unraveled the scroll and skimmed it. A name caught his eye halfway down. Jun frowned and reread the paragraph. "Damn it."

"Hm?" Talika leaned closer. "I know that name. Leira's one of the Ministers' little lackeys."

Jun scooted away and scowled. "They want her to be the new councilor and they want my endorsement."

Talika shrugged. "Say no. Besides, I wouldn't be surprised if the plant was sent by the Ministers."

Jun’s head snapped up. “What?”

"Oh, you know, the guard that slipped  Talshez the flint and helped him get away and all that."

He stared. "What."

"Jun-dear, you're repeating yourself. I took care of the situation. Without spilling any blood, might I add. Anyways, it'll be a pain if the Ministers keep trying this nonsense. Ezy can't keep me here as your bodyguard forever. She is only one person."

Jun frowned. "I should arrest you for murder. Furthermore, the Ministers have no reason to attempt homicide."

Talika shrugged. "Could just be politics. Besides, the punishment for treason is death, no?"

His cheek twitched. "Yes," Jun said through gritted teeth. He clutched the scroll tightly in a fist.

"You can make a trip to the Capital to sort this out," Talika suggested with a lazy wave of her hand.

Jun closed his eyes and sighed. "This does not mean I'm accepting the councilor position."

"Of course not, Jun-dear," Talika said with a smile that sang of insincerity. "Of course not."