A Wish for Innocence

Fetch.

With a swish of his wings, Madeleine’s dragon pushed off her shoulder. The ghoul shrieked. Before it could move, Beau pinned it to the ground, and Madeleine exhaled as she pointed her revolver. The sound of the shot vibrated through the sewer. She holstered her weapon and whistled for Beau.

“Gods be damned, there are too many,” she said as he settled back on her shoulder. Beau ignored her, nibbling at her braid; his turquoise scales reflected the dim torchlight. Somewhere in the distance, water dripped.

“When do you think they had their last raid? One year ago? Pushing two?”

She scratched his wing, and he gave a soft, rumbling purr, wrapping his tail around her neck.

“No purring. You’re on the job.”

He snorted loudly but obeyed. The light of her torch illuminated the bleak stone walls around them, but didn’t penetrate the ominous and knee-high muck she was standing in. Madeleine bent down to inspect the ghoul. It was a full-grown male, about the size of a human child, and was missing several claws. It also displayed a beautiful set of rotten teeth and a thin belly.

“See that? Just like the others. They’re malnourished, feeding on waste and fighting between each other for scraps. Whatever is killing folks, it’s not the ghouls.”

The light flickered, and something drew her attention. There, immersed in the muck, were the remains of a bright blue jacket. She pulled at the material and noticed blood on the ripped-up garment. Beau buried his nose in it.

“Anything?”

He took another sniff, then pushed his head into her hair.

“Pox on it! Suppose the water didn’t help.” Madeleine rummaged further through the muck, yet the jacket was the only remnant. “All right. We’ve explored enough. Let’s take this back to Yvette.”

The dragon snorted in agreement. Madeleine tightened her braids, trying to recall what the City Watch had told her upon her arrival the previous day. Three months ago, the disappearance of a councillor and her husband had shocked the city of Odette, and, after a thorough investigation of her opponents had not borne any fruit except the unveiling of an affair, misappropriated city funds and a minor drug ring, the remains were found in the sewers during routine work. Relieved, the City Watch had blamed the ghouls, promising a raid once resources became available, and had called it a night. Unluckily, that night ended with more victims. Two professors vanished while stargazing in the botanical gardens, with their clothes found in the tunnels a few days later. There was no sewer entry close to the gardens. If the ghouls had dared to venture out that far, they wouldn’t have been organised or patient enough to drag the bodies back. The killings had continued, spaced out enough that the public didn’t outright panic, yet frequent enough that the Watch now found itself under immense pressure from the council.

“What we really need is a body, not just muddy scraps. You won’t be able to track anything with that. Don’t be offended. What do you want? Left here? Could swear it was right.”

Some of the tunnels had caved in; to fit through the opening, a human would have to crawl. She walked on, ignoring the distant shrieks from the junctions. Beau pricked his ears at the noise, but he remained on her shoulder. She smiled and rewarded him with a sausage. He was learning faster than any of her previous dragons, given that he was only in his first year of training.

After a while, voices replaced the shrieking. She blinked in the light of multiple torches. Most of the Watch were strangers to her, and she had no intention of changing that. What was the point of making acquaintances when her stays only lasted a few months? It was, however, quite useful to connect with fellow dragon trainers. She had done so with Anton, another recruit who had arrived with her and was currently stationed above, interviewing the residents of Odette while his dragon searched the city for unusual scents. At the thought of conducting interviews, Madeleine counted her lucky stars that she had been assigned to the sewers.

“Madeleine! Any luck?”

Yvette, the captain of the Watch, had the determination of a hunter and the demeanour of an old man who had long since outlived the need for careful words. Her black braids swung around her. She inspected the jacket, then shrugged.

“Another one bites the dust. Take it back to quarters. If Beau hasn’t sensed anything, I’ll mark the west corridors as a dead end. Everyone, listen up. I know it’s been a pain staking out this lovely setting all day, but at least you lot don’t have to write the report. Next, let’s start on the east corridors before we call it.”

They divided between the tunnels, and on Yvette’s signal, Madeleine followed her into a narrow passage. The air smelled considerably worse in this one. Beau flapped his wings excitedly.

“Once we’re above ground, I want you to join Anton and search for scents around the city.”

“Haven’t the Watch dragons already done so?”

“I wouldn’t have told you to do so if I hadn’t thought it through.”

“All right,” Madeleine said, pausing, then asking anyway because she was bored and couldn’t contain herself. “Have you considered the possibility that this might be a human killer?”

“What makes you think so?”

“There’s a pattern to the killings. Two to three people disappear in one night. The locations are spread across the city, the bodies are dragged back to the sewers, where the ghouls destroy the remains, and our dragons can’t trace any large creatures. It might be a beast of higher nature, but it could just as easily be a human with a few accomplices or a wheelbarrow.”

“I see you like your investigating,” Yvette smiled. “This is what we are currently looking into by interviewing the citizens. With that upcoming election –”

Beau growled.

It was a drawn-out noise. Multiple creatures. Madeleine dropped her torch, readied her revolver and pressed herself against the wall. As always, eliminating creatures at a distance was the highest priority. If anything came within three metres, a revolver wouldn’t be much use. Only Beau could help them at close range.

Yvette detached a bomb from her belt and threw it into the tunnel ahead. Light exploded, illuminating the empty passage ahead and the turn off into a smaller tunnel directly to their left. They had 60 seconds until the light would extinguish. Madeleine tried to pick up on any unusual noises, but she could only hear Beau’s growling and the dripping of water. Then, Beau snapped his jaws. Approaching beast. Yvette signalled to aim ahead while she covered the tunnel to their left.

45 seconds. A moment later, there was the sound of claws against stone. The first ghoul appeared in the light, shielding its eyes from it. Before the creature could get any closer, Madeleine pulled the trigger. One shot, and it fell.

30 seconds. More shrieking, she noted, surprised. Usually, the first shot would lead lower creatures to scram. Jean growled on her shoulder, and she gave a short whistle. Stay. Yvette fired at a creature sneaking up on them from the smaller tunnel. Another ghoul appeared in the light. Shot. A shriek, and a third ghoul took its place. Shot.

15 seconds. Madeleine was out. She shouted at Yvette, and the campaign leader covered for her. Forcing herself to remain calm, Madeleine hit the cylinder release latch, revolver up, smacked the ejector rod, revolver down, and inserted the speed loader. What was up with these ghouls? She took over again, executing two more while Yvette prepared another light bomb.

5 seconds. Yvette threw the pouch. It landed, but there was no explosion. Then, the light went out.

“Shit.”

The ghouls roared. Claws scraping on stone, they scramble towards them, no longer cautious about the light. Madeleine whistled sharply, and Beau pushed off her shoulder. The swishing of wings intermixed with ghoulish screams.

Another bomb exploded, illuminating the chaos. Beau had decimated most of the ghouls in the passage ahead, but the left tunnel was now filled with creatures crawling toward them. For each one she shot, she could hear more behind them.

“Trailblazer,” Yvette screamed over the shrieking. Madeleine whistled. Noise. Take cover. With a flash of turquoise scales, the dragon zoomed past her, trying to get as far away as possible. The bomb in Yvette’s hand was larger than the first one and was painted bright red. As Yvette threw it into the mass of bodies, Madeleine covered her ears. It exploded in a cloud of silvery dust, and a low-pitched sound reverberated through the tunnel. She could feel the vibration in her teeth. The ghouls screeched and scattered away as splinters bore into them.

Only a few made the unfortunate decision to break free from the herd mentality and ran in the opposite direction, towards Madeleine and Yvette. Yvette called out while dodging an attack. Before Madeleine could react, two ghouls lunged at her.

She whistled but heard no wings. At the last moment, she ducked under claws reaching for her, which still managed to scratch her cheek. She shot the first ghoul in the stomach. Her ears rang. Murky water splashed. The second ghoul screeched and covered her with spit. This time, her dodge wasn’t fast enough. She felt a searing pain in her forearm. A second later, Beau crashed into the beast, his jaws closing on its neck and submerging it into the muck. The ghoul struggled until Beau snapped its neck.

Yvette had relit her torch, but the dim light was an insult to the bomb. Madeleine checked the passage, glad to see that the remaining ghouls had disappeared. Her arm stung. The bright colour of the open wound contrasted against her brown skin. There was no blood yet, though she knew it would start any second. Dirt from the sewer had gotten into the wound. Beau landed on the floor and pushed his head into Madeleine’s leg.

“Is it only your arm and face?” Yvette asked, offering her a fresh cotton cloth and some bandages. “Good. I’d say let’s continue, but if you get an infection from that muck, there will be an hour’s worth of paperwork.”

“I can get Beau to clean it.”

She had done that plenty of times before. The antibacterial dragon spit worked wonders. In her profession, scars were at the very bottom of the priority list.

“No, we’re done here. This section needs a proper clear-out. I’ve been telling the council for months that we should allocate funds for a raid, but look at them, with their fancy conferences and new school openings.”

“Don’t forget about the drug ring.”

“How good of you to remind me. You’ve earned yourself quarter duty tomorrow.”

Madeleine grimaced.

“Should I get Beau to gather the others?”

“Yes, do. Then head back to quarters and have a medic look at this.”

“Beau can clean it.”

“Ignore my orders again, and I will have you on quarter duty for the rest of the mission.”

Madeleine suppressed a huff. She was too impatient for medics – and for a good reason. As expected, there were none available when she returned to the Watch quarters. They seemed to have a sixth sense for non-emergencies and collectively vanished into thin air. She sighed and ordered Beau to get something to eat in the dragonery. Lucky bastard. Then, she cleaned her wounds and applied a new cloth before taking a seat in front of the medic ward.

Her arm throbbed. She drummed her fingers on the chair and shifted in her seat. How she hated sitting around. Had the interviews revealed new information? Would the council soon approve more radical investigative methods? Yet, since she arrived, she had learned three things about Odette: The main trade was in the world-renowned coffee beans, wine and sheep’s wool, the merchant families involved were all on the council and were therefore only concerned about the security of trading said luxury items, and Lady Liana, a local philanthropist who owned the coffee plantations, as well as the local school, truly controlled the council’s actions and didn’t seem to care much about anything apart from the safety of the children. As the monster hadn’t attacked any children yet, the killings weren’t such a priority to her as opening her new school for children aged 5 and 8.

She killed some time by thinking about the murders. That occupied her until her stomach started to protest loudly. “Where’s my dinner?” she imagined it screaming. Yet, it was two in the morning, and no food would be served until breakfast – unless she wanted to steal some raw sheep flesh from Beau. Before Madeleine could think too much about that, she focused on the sharp pulsing in her arm.

After a while, her eyelids grew heavy. How long had she slept the night before? Had it been more than four hours? Madeleine doubted it. The first day of the mission always followed the same pattern. She had a feeling that assigning a mere 24 hours for travelling to a new location, collecting the safety gear, learning the local map and attending a team briefing was headquarters’ favourite pastime. Her thoughts wandered off until she could no longer make sense out of them.

“Are you waiting for something?”

She gave a jolt. Blinded by the lights, she squinted at a medic kneeling in front of her. Slowly, the world came into focus again. He wore the traditional green clothing and a warm smile that extended to his eyes.

“Me? No, I like sleeping in chairs.”

“I suppose you also like plastering yourself in bandages. May I have a look at that? Follow me, just in here. My name is Erle. What’s yours?”

Still a bit dazed, she answered his questions as she took a seat on the examination table. The room smelled strongly of disinfectant. She took a closer look at Erle, noticing that something was off.

“Where is your Watch amulet?”

“I’m part of the travelling party Yvette employed. Private, not a headquarters medic.”

“Do you charge? I am a recruit. I have no money.”

“This one’s on the house, then,” Erle laughed. “As I said, Yvette hired us. You were saying this happened in the sewers?” He sat down, rolled over on his chair, and, now at eye level, stared at her from underneath his round glasses. His eyes were deep brown. Madeleine curtly recalled the attack, removing the cloth from the gash.

Despite the gloves, his hands were warm as he examined her arm. She used the chance to take a closer look at him, trying to figure out why Yvette had hired a travelling party, which was surely triple the cost of Watch staff. He had a neat look about him, was clean-shaven, and his coat was buttoned up. There were shadows under his eyes. A fellow burner of the midnight oil, she noted. There was nothing extraordinary about him - no scars or blackened fingertips or medals suggesting special experience. He chewed on his lip as he examined the gash.

“I’m glad to see you’ve already washed it. You’ll need stitches. That cut on your face looks fine, though,” he said, touching her cheek, then turned to retrieve his equipment. “I’ll clean them again. When is your next shift?”

“In a few hours, but it’s only quarter duty,” she said, glancing around the room. It was oddly silent for a medic ward. “Where is everyone? Shouldn’t there be at least two medics on site at night?”

“There are, but people are panicking about these attacks. The Watch is taking us with them for all sorts of things now. Tonight, we dealt with odd bite marks and an escaped golem on a rampage. If you’re considering buying one, I beg you, don’t teach it how to open doors,” he said, pushing up his glasses. “I suppose the attacks are why you’re in town?”

“Dragon trainer.”

His face lit up.

“How many years? Hold still; I’m just washing this out.”

“It’s my tenth year, and the last mission before getting placed.”

“Any preferences for where you want to serve?”

“I’ve applied for the Capital Watch position, of course. Apart from that, I don’t really mind.”

She paused, wondering if he would answer her next question. “What will your party bring to the table that the City Watch can’t?”

“You ask the right questions. But it’s not that interesting. The Watch is already understaffed; you need all the help you can get. Besides, my two colleagues are mages. They will be performing the sewer raid in the coming days.”

“I can’t imagine the city council approving payment if they control funds so strictly. Has one of the councillors paid privately?”

“Unfortunately, I can’t talk about the details,” Erle said with a smile as he started to stitch up the wound. He was of the careful sort, gently working away. It was a welcome change from the usual treatment she received. Not that dragon trainers cared much about pain, as young dragons were prone to chewing and biting off everything they could get their teeth into.

“Are people gossiping about the attacker yet?”

“Odette’s a small city, gossip spreads like the flu. Last week, someone overheard the Watch talking about a Gorgon. This week, everyone’s burning incense and flooding the market with talismans and edible roots, and gods know what else people are willing to ingest. You know how it is. Were there any good leads in the sewers?”

“No, just a ton of ghouls. Never seen so many at once.”

“Ah, Yvette mentioned that this has been an ongoing issue for a few years now. I suppose the council has had other things on its mind. There we are. Look at that, I’d say that’s my best work today. Be careful while it heals. It could turn into a nasty infection, so make sure to change the bandages –” he stopped and looked at her. “Madeleine? You’ve got that dragon trainer look on your face.”

“I’m listening,” she said, her cheeks turning red. She had just fantasised about breakfast.

“I know you folks don’t take this seriously, so I’ll repeat it. Please change the bandages daily. Promise me?”

“Promise.”

“Then it’s your lucky night. I’ll let you go. Hopefully, we won’t meet again too soon,” he smiled at her.

Little did he know, a new goal was taking shape in her mind: She had to figure out why the travelling party was there.