The shadow moved, and Lennar reacted faster than Eva could draw breath. Without hesitation, he turned the Ventus staff in his hand, holding it horizontally at what lurked in the darkness – his thumb on the mechanism that triggered the pressure surge. He stood still, alert, waiting. Then a small grain fox leapt out of the darkness, hissing, its paws sooty and its fur dishevelled. It slid across the floor, darted past them and disappeared again between the rows of shelves. ‘Phew,’ Eva breathed a sigh of relief, leaning forward and resting her hands on her thighs. ‘It must have sought shelter here during the attack.’
But Lennar did not lower his staff. His eyes continued to search the shadows meticulously. ‘That wasn’t all,’ he muttered, and then suddenly raised his voice: ‘Come out!’ As soon as he had spoken, a strained, human gasp sounded. A figure emerged from the darkness and stepped into the beam of light from the lamp. An elderly man in a singed uniform, his cap and shoulders covered in ash. He raised both hands, trembling. ‘Please don’t hurt me!’ ‘That depends entirely on your answer,’ said Lennar. His weapon remained mercilessly pointed at the stranger’s chest, but he took a step back to make room for the Grand Master.
Eva walked towards the man and fixed him with a sharp gaze. ‘Who are you?’ she asked, trying to make out more details of his clothing in the dim light. He wore epaulettes, but in these lighting conditions she couldn’t even tell for sure what colour his uniform was. ‘Kardo… Kardo Elsen. Harbour master,’ stammered her counterpart. ‘Or rather, former harbour master,’ Lennar grumbled. ‘There’s not much left that could be called a harbour. Do you have proof of your identity? Otherwise, anyone could claim to be you.’ ‘Look!’ the man exclaimed eagerly, coming closer but retreating from the relentless staff. ‘Here, my duty badge. Please.’ Eva studied the document held out to her and nodded when she recognised its authenticity. Elsen looked first at her, then at Lennar. ‘The mistress is gracious!’ he exclaimed with relief. “You are from the Order!” “Yes, we are,” Eva replied. “Please excuse us for confronting you in this manner, but unfortunately we couldn’t be sure that you weren’t a pirate in disguise trying to lure us into an ambush. Please tell us what happened here.‘ The man nodded. ’I will, but shall we step outside? I’ve been hiding here far too long and can no longer stand the smell of paper.“
The air outside the door was hardly any better, but the harbour master breathed it in as if it were a fresh sea breeze. ‘They came from the west at dawn,’ he began his report. His voice trembled. ‘The pirates. They burned everything they could. But…’ He looked around frantically, as if someone might be listening. ‘But not to loot.’ Lennar’s eyebrow rose slightly. ‘Excuse me?’ ‘They were looking for something.’ Kardo wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘They ransacked the warehouses, our port authority, you can see the state of this place. They spent a particularly long time in the guild’s storage hall.’ Eva and Lennar exchanged glances. ‘And what were they looking for?’ Eva asked. Kardo shook his head desperately. „I don’t know. But it wasn’t anything you could eat or sell. Just documents, files, boxes full of… paperwork.” Lennar tapped a stone lightly with his ventus staff. “Paperwork, I see.” Then he looked at Eva, his voice serious. “If the pirates are looking for something, we won’t get rid of them anytime soon. At least not until they find it.”
‘Sharp as a knife, Sjöberg,’ Eva acknowledged his remark. Despite all the sarcasm, she knew he was right. ‘And the young woman?’ she asked, and when the harbour master looked at her questioningly, she added, ‘A bit taller than me, slim, long brown hair, flying a glider?’ Kardo nodded quickly. ‘She crashed above the harbour district.’ ‘I know that,’ Eva interrupted him, and a hint of impatience crept into her voice that she couldn’t quite suppress. ‘Do you know what happened to her?’ ‘She’s alive. I know that. I was standing at the window in the office when she came down. A group of pirates were on her tail and overpowered her before she could free herself from her broken plane. I saw them take her away.” He wiped his face frantically. “They must have thought she was important. I didn’t hear what they said, but I saw them arguing heatedly among themselves. Then I had to leave.” Eva felt a pang of pain. “Which direction did they take her?” “I don’t know.” Lennar tensed his jaw muscles and tapped him gently on the chest with his staff. “The harbour road inland, perhaps? Try harder!” “I don’t know!” Kardo threw his arms up helplessly. “I had to get myself to safety!” Then he froze.
A deep, vibrating rumble sounded. Lennar spun around and was in a defensive position within a heartbeat: feet wide apart, ventus staff at the ready. A movement straight out of the textbook. ‘Good Lady, have mercy, they’re back,’ whispered the harbour master. He clung to the wall of the house and suddenly looked a hundred years older. At first, they saw nothing in the emptiness beyond the quay wall, only smoke, thick ash haze and the pale light of the sky. Then the fog shifted, came alive, like something pushing up from below to the surface. A dark shadow emerged from the smoke, like a black wall.
Then the ship glided out.