Chapter 24: The Defensive Response

A Compromise and Tribute.

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Elad and Steward Halven left the hidden study and returned to the administrative hall. The guards who had escorted them earlier stood straighter now, their attention sharpened by the shift in the estate’s atmosphere. The clerk at the reception desk looked up, saw Halven’s expression, and lowered her gaze immediately. The house was no longer concealing a problem. It was bracing for one.

Halven spoke quietly. “We must act before he returns.”

Elad nodded. “We need Pruitt.”

Halven did not argue. He signaled to a guard. “Escort Investigator Elad to the constabulary. Return with him. No delays.”

The guard bowed and led Elad through the estate gates. The noble district remained orderly, but the air carried a tension that had not been present the day before. Elad walked with his usual steady pace, but his mind was already aligning the next steps.

Pruitt was outside the constabulary office, speaking with two patrol officers. He saw Elad approaching with a Valcorin guard and dismissed the officers with a brief gesture.

“Investigator,” Pruitt said. “You look like a man who has found something significant.”

“I have,” Elad replied. “We need to speak inside.”

Pruitt led them into a small briefing room. The guard remained at the door. Pruitt closed it and faced Elad with a steady, expectant posture.

“Tell me.”

Elad recounted the inspection. The hidden room. The ritual diagrams. The preserved components. The incomplete necromantic circle. The Valcorin signet. Leth’s confession. The missing seal. The final component S’Gumbbu demanded.

Pruitt listened without interruption. When Elad finished, the constable exhaled slowly.

“This is worse than I expected,” Pruitt said. “But not beyond our reach.”

Elad nodded. “We need to secure the estate. S’Gumbbu will return. He believes the final component is inside.”

Pruitt considered this. “He will not expect resistance. That is our advantage.”

Elad stepped closer to the table. “We need watchers at every entrance. We need patrols inside the estate. We need to isolate the administrative wing. And we need to protect Leth. S’Gumbbu will come for him.”

Pruitt nodded. “I can deploy plainclothes officers to the perimeter. I can assign two squads to the interior. They will move quietly. No one outside the chain of command will know why.”

“Good,” Elad said. “We also need to control the flow of information. If S’Gumbbu senses the house is preparing, he may strike early.”

Pruitt tapped the table with two fingers, thinking. “I will brief only the officers involved. No written orders. No posted schedules. Everything verbal.”

Elad approved with a small nod. “We must also consider how he enters. Leth said S’Gumbbu appears in places he should not be able to reach. That suggests illusion or concealed passageways.”

Pruitt frowned. “Illusion is difficult to counter.”

“Not if you know what to look for,” Elad said. “Illusion bends perception, not structure. It cannot change the weight of footsteps. It cannot silence the movement of air. It cannot erase the sound of a door that should not open.”

Pruitt nodded. “Then we listen. And we watch for what does not fit the pattern.”

Elad continued. “We must also prepare for the possibility of undead. S’Gumbbu may use them as intermediaries. They move without hesitation. They do not speak. They do not break rhythm.”

Pruitt’s expression tightened. “I will station two officers with experience in dealing with such threats. Quietly.”

Elad looked at him. “We need to move now.”

Pruitt stood. “Agreed.”

They left the briefing room and stepped into the main hall. Pruitt issued orders with calm precision, summoning officers by name, assigning positions, and instructing them to prepare for immediate deployment. No one asked questions. No one hesitated. The constabulary moved with the same disciplined efficiency as the city itself.

Within minutes, two squads were ready. Pruitt turned to Elad.

“Lead the way.”

Elad and the Valcorin guard returned to the estate with Pruitt and the officers following at a controlled distance. The noble district remained quiet, but the tension had deepened. The guards at the gate recognized the constabulary presence and stepped aside without question.

Inside, Halven waited in the administrative hall. His posture was rigid, but his voice remained steady.

“We are prepared to cooperate fully.”

Pruitt nodded. “We will secure the estate. You will maintain normal operations. No one outside your immediate staff must know what is happening.”

Halven agreed. “Leth is in a secure room. He will not be left alone.”

“Good,” Pruitt said. “He is the most likely target.”

Elad stepped forward. “We need to inspect the estate for concealed entry points. S’Gumbbu cannot appear without a path. Illusion can hide a door, but it cannot create one.”

Halven gestured to a senior guard. “Assist them. Grant access to every room.”

The inspection began.

Elad moved through the estate with methodical precision, noting the architecture, the spacing of doors, the alignment of corridors. Pruitt followed, assigning officers to positions as they advanced. The guards of House Valcorin watched with a mixture of tension and respect.

They found nothing unusual in the main halls. Nothing in the storage rooms. Nothing in the archives. But near the eastern wing, Elad stopped.

A corridor ended in a blank wall. The spacing was wrong. The air was cooler. The acoustics shifted subtly when he stepped closer.

“Here,” Elad said.

Pruitt approached. “What do you see.”

“Not what I see,” Elad said. “What I do not hear.”

He placed his hand against the wall. The surface was solid, but the faintest vibration traveled through it, as if a space existed behind it.

“Illusion,” Elad said. “A concealed door.”

Pruitt signaled to two officers. “Prepare to breach.”

Elad stepped back. “Carefully. Illusion can hide traps.”

Pruitt nodded. “On my mark.”

The officers positioned themselves. The guards tightened their formation. Halven watched with a grim expression.

Pruitt raised his hand.

“Mark.”

The officers struck the wall with controlled force. The illusion shattered like a thin layer of glass, revealing a narrow passage descending into darkness.

Elad exhaled once, steady and controlled.

“He is already inside.”

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Tip of the hat to Jimmy Doom for artistic integrity.

Tribute to “Make More Art” movement by Corey Sweet