Anxiety

'The book took me straight to this page,' he said thoughtfully. 'It's about how the magical properties of the Field of Ash and Bone. Apparently it can be used for occult purposes, though I suppose they don't publicise that much.'

'Occult purposes?' Bardock asked, raising an eyebrow. 'You mean, magic?' The King shrugged.

'Something like that, anyway,' he said blandly. 'There's a thing on this page- I'm not sure what it is, a prophecy, or a spell, or something… It says the field can be used to bring the dead back to life…' The four of them moved foreword slightly. Auba felt a mixture of wonder and fear. Bring the dead back to life? That would be so good, and yet so wrong.

'But it can't bring the dead back to life. It's confusing. It creates a new life from the body of a dead person, but that life isn't the same as the original. There's a spell here- you take the heart of a dead Saiyan and the blood of a living Saiyan, and bury them in the field by the light of the moon, and in the morning a new Saiyan is born.' This information was greeted by silence. Tuss glanced over at Auba with an expression of mingled disgust and puzzlement.

'This new life,' Tommo said. 'Are they a real person? Or are they a zombie or something?'

'It says here,' King Vegeta said, squinting down at the book. 'Well, this is a really old copy and the dialect's hard to translate- but it says that the spell can only be performed once, once in the history of the world. That if someone is foolish enough to try it, they will create a Saiyan man like any other except in one respect- he will have no soul.'

'So what are you saying?' Bardock asked. 'You think someone tried to restore a dead person back to life and now there's a soulless fighter wandering around…'

'Baby,' King Vegeta said. 'It would be a soulless baby. But of course, the person who walked across the Field may not have done that at all. Maybe they were drunk, or doing it for a dare- it could have happened. Actually, the chances that someone did make a soulless baby are pretty slim. They'd have had to have read it this book for a start, and I have the only copy.'

'Not necessarily,' Bardock said. King Vegeta looked at him, one eyebrow raised. 'They could have put it together by guesswork.'

'Yes,' King Vegeta said irritably. 'But who would have been so utterly stupid- or insane- as to try and- wait a minute, didn't you say Paragus had a baby?' There was a silence and everyone turned to Bardock.

'I was talking to him yesterday. He had a really small baby boy with him. He said it was his son, but I asked him a few questions and he backed down and said he found the kid.'

'And his wife died a few weeks ago, didn't she?' the King said. 'Cochise?'

'Paragus was supposed to have gone mad with grief,' Tommo volunteered.

'He always was a bit of a nut,' Bardock said with a slight sneer. 'He used to be Turles' friend, didn't he?'

'Turles lived above his inn in Pistopon for a while,' the King said. 'But that's not what's important here. We need to figure out if Paragus really would do a thing like this. I mean, according to this he'd have had use part of his wife's flesh. He'd have had to dig her up. Would he really have gone that far?'

Auba was beginning to feel slightly out of depth in this discussion. She and Tuss would probably be asked to leave soon, she thought. They'd fulfilled their part in this. Perhaps they should just quietly leave now. She tapped Tuss on the elbow. But then the King turned and looked at her again.

'Do you know Paragus?' he said. Auba paused. She knew a Paragus. But he was such an unlikely candidate for such a grotesque act that she hadn't even considered it was him they were talking about. Even though he had a dead wife. Called Cochise…

'Do you mean Paragus Chandon, sir? The one who owns the inn in Pistopon? Is that who you've been talking about?'

'Yeah, he's got hair shaped like horns,'

'Yes, I know him, Auba said, taking a step back in shock. 'I buried his wife. We're friends now, he visits me sometimes. He couldn't have done these things… Wait- did you say he was friends with Turles?'

'Yes, they were childhood friends,' King Vegeta said dismissively. 'So you don't think he would have done this? No interest in the occult?'

'Actually,' Auba said with great reluctance. 'The last time I saw him he borrowed a book off me. An occult book?'

'Which one?' King Vegeta said.

'The Dark Goddess,' Cochise said dismally. 'He didn't tell me why he wanted it. I asked him, but he was very vague.'

'It's an uncommon book,' King Vegeta mused. 'But Jinjur read it and she said it was a load of sensationalism…'

'It's not,' Bardock said. 'I learned a lot from that book. You just have to sift through and find the stuff that's true.'

'Do you think Paragus would have been able to do that, though?' said King Vegeta. 'To figure out a ritual this obscure.'

'He's a pretty smart guy. Desperate, too.'

'But was he desperate enough to rip his wife's heart out of her grave? What do you think, Auba?'

'I don't know, sir,' Auba said. 'He did miss his wife very much. He kept saying really worrying things like he thought his life would be meaningless now. But he was a nice man, very quiet. I just can't imagine him messing around with the Field of Ash and Bone. He was afraid to even look at it.' The King of the Saiyans watched her, maddeningly cool, and finally stood up, closing the book.

'It looks pretty bad. We should call this Paragus in for questioning. Maybe you two Starservants should go now.' It was the signal Auba had been waiting for. She stood up and walked to the door, Tuss blinked as if waking from a daze and hurried after her.

'I'll take you out,' Tommo said, following them. They left the room and entered the maze of rooms and corridors again.

'This is messed up,' she said lowly. 'So you know this guy, Auba?' The Starservant nodded.

'I haven't spoken to him for years myself. I can't really see him getting tangled up in something like this. Then again, they say it's always the quiet ones…'

'Was he really involved with Turles, Lady Tommo?' Tuss asked.

'Yes, they were childhood friends and Turles lived in Paragus' inn for about a year before he staged his little rebellion,' Tommo said. Auba wondered how she managed not to hear about this before.

'But he can't have supported the rebellion,' Tuss said worriedly.

'No one supported the Turles rebellion,' Tommo said with a slight smirk. 'That's why it didn't work.' She led them through the endless corridors and down winding staircases until Auba's legs ached. They had been on the move since this morning. She couldn't travel back to the Tersee District today. They'd have to find an inn. Tommo led them through the crowded hall, down through the garden and past the surly guards. When they were back on the street Tommo handed them a small leather bag of coins.

'Here,' she said. 'Get yourself a place to stay.'

'We can't,' said Auba, realising for the first time she hadn't brought any money.

'You're Starservants, aren't you?' asked Tommo. 'You live on public money. It won't hurt you to take a bit more. Just watch out for those occult innkeepers.' The three of them managed a laugh, and the two Starservants headed down one of the bright streets of Perelandra.

'What was all that about?' Auba said, shaking her head.

'This is going to be something big,' Tuss said. 'Something big and nasty.'