Footsteps thundered on the wooden corridor jolting Linh Tang awake. Someone banged on her door and a muffled voice yelled her name.
"What in the…" She shot out of bed and fumbled for her wrap in the dimness. No natural light seeped in through the window yet, but underneath her door the light from a lantern glowed.
The banging resumed, this time with even more force.
"I'm coming, I'm coming," she called out. She threw on the wrap and flung the door open.
Tama Lao, first son of Chief Siha and his youngest sister Farka, both stood at the threshold, their faces grim. Tama held a lantern in his hand.
"Thank the goddesses, you're awake," Farka said, with relief. She too had thrown a wrap over her night clothes. It looked like she had been woke up and dragged out of bed.
"What's going on?" Linh asked squinting against the lantern's glare.
"Something's happened out on the beach," Farka said in a rush. "The scout's found something. They're not sure what it is."
Tama's usual jovial face was clouded and stern. There was no twinkle in his dark eyes and half of the long hair that he kept tied back strangled about his face as if he had rushed like the wind.
"Tama?"
"Come quick," he said. Already he was turning away, retracing his steps in a hurry.
An emergency. That had to be it. LInh grabbed her liniment satchel and she and Farka ran to keep up with his long strides.
"What's really happened?" She gasped trying to catch her breath, as she her tied long hair in a loose bun and cinched her wrap close.
"They found….a corpse on the beach."
"But….this isn't Maitsaro business."
She almost stopped in her tracks but Farka pulled her along. "Yes, it is. They still need you."
At Linh's probing, Farka couldn't say more. She hadn't been there; she only heard the commotion and went out to find out the cause.
Tama himself wouldn't say anything else but just hurried her towards the entrance. Linh tightened her hold on her satchel and held her tongue.
Maitsaro dealt with mortals and their exchanges with the eldritch world. There was nothing Maitsaro could do for the dead. Except maybe to ensure that their essence was properly released so their souls could rejoin the Circle. But you didn't really need a Maitsaro for that.
They crossed the quiet dimly lit courtyard. Tama's boots clomped on the clay pavement and crunched on the graveled walk. Farka always ready, had slipped on her stout boots underneath her night clothes. The youngest child of Chief Siha was the fiercest tom boy Linh had ever met.
Pebbles poked through the thin soles of Linh's slippers. But she didn't complain. It was the least of her worries right now. Tama had said there was a corpse. It was possible the victim had drowned. Some poor fisher folk perhaps.
Nothing stirred out in the night. Out through the wooden gates, a couple men on horseback waited with Tama's mount. Spittle flecked the horses' mouths and their nostrils flared and quivered. They'd already ridden somewhere with their riders. Unlike her, they were alert and ready as if they'd been awake all night.
"I'll let Father know what's happened," Farka said. "Get the Maitsaro there, quickly," she urged her brother.
Tama mounted first then helped Linh scramble up behind him. She almost fell off when he immediately set off at gallop.
Heart in her mouth she held clutched Tama's waist in a tight grasp. Yes, they were in a hurry but was all that really necessary?
She asked, "Did you notify the authorities?"
"They're already there. We're just waiting for you." He said and urged his horse to speed up.
What they hoped she could do for the dead, she didn't know. It was a short ride but it seemed forever to Linh who was unaccustomed to horseback riding.
When they arrived, she thankfully slid off to land on shaky legs on the soft sand.
They had ridden towards the beach. The tide had risen and the water lapped further up on the beach than was usual.
Torchlight illuminated an area close to the water's edge where a group had gathered about.
She frowned. If they had to pull the victim higher up to avoid the rising water then that meant the victim was not where it was found.
"They better not have touched anything," Linh said. She pushed forward through the group till she stood in the illuminated space. It was as Tama had said. A man laid out on his back. A very dead one.
"Don't touch anything," she ordered, her voice ringing clear and strong. "Let the authorities deal with it."
"We have," a deep authoritative voice said. "Who might you be?"
In her haste, she hadn't taken note of the group of people gathered about. She had assumed there were all from Tama's clan. But the owner of the voice was not Hivean.
A man detached himself from the group and drew nearer. Her gaze traveled up and further up. She gaped. He had to be the tallest man she had ever seen, even taller and broader than Tama, and Tama was tall for a Hivean.
He wore dark robes, fighting robes and the blades of his weapons strapped on his back scintillated from the torches' glow.
A battle scar sliced across the right side of his face, from the upper edge of his left eye down the side of his nose and all the way across his right cheek towards his jawline. This man was not one of any of the local authorities.
Dangling from his neck was a heavy medallion with three golden bands that intertwined. An Imperial. She swallowed hard, her stomach a hard mass of rocks. Not just an Imperial either. This one had attained the status of Maigida, as seen from the three golden bands. It was a rare feat.
But he appeared far too young to hold the position. His face, though scarred, was free of the wrinkles of age and the spotting from the sun. He stood in an upright commanding stance and looked to be about Tama's age or a little older.
Whatever, he was still an Imperial.
Had they come to enforce the Imperial edict concerning her marriage contract? Her chest constricted. No, it didn't make any sense for them to be here in the dead of the night just for that.
Beside him, two others dressed in similar garb stood close. They were both young, in dark robes and not much older than herself. A male and female. Both wore silver medallions with two bands.
More Imperials. His subordinates no doubt.
"This is the Maitsaro, Maigida Xun." Tama said with a respectful bow.
She bowed with her arms held over face. She was right. This was a Maigida. Her curiosity surged.
The corpse must be more than it seemed to be if three Imperials, one of them a Maigida was here.
"You? The Maitsaro?" Disbelief and doubt crept into the Maigida's tone. He looked her up and down and raised his brows at Tama.
"Am I missing something or is this a joke?"
Linh stiffened her back. She should have been used to the reactions of unbelief by others upon knowing who she really was but it still rankled all the same.
Tama bowed again. "It's the truth sir. This is Maitsaro Linh Tang."
"The Maitsaro had a daughter, Maigida." The Imperial female confirmed. Her features were thin, and sharp as if her face was made of up of pure angles. Her hair glowing white in the torchlight was tied up in a tight bun. On her cheek the blue mark of her power trailed down.
Linh bristled but said nothing. The female had said 'had.' Her father had been missing for over a year and everyone already presumed he was dead. There was nothing she could about it, except continue the search for him on her own.
The other male scratched his cheek. "But I thought she would be much older somehow."
His short-cropped hair was laid out like spikes and his wide mouth twitched as he looked at Linh. On his neck the dark green mark of his power unfurled.
"Isn't the Maitsaro's daughter older?" He hesitated. "Beg pardon, Miss, you just look so young."
Linh's face flamed. It didn't help that she wasn't dressed properly and still in her sleepwear. She shifted her weight, suddenly cognizant of the fact that the hasty bun she had tied had now loosened and her hair was strewn down her back, windblown and unkempt. She probably looked like someone's lost child.
"I am of age," she said through gritted teeth. She pushed her anger down and withdrew her Maitsaro medallion for them to see. She bowed again. "How may I be of use?"
The Maigida examined the medallion, gave her a keen glance and pointed not at the corpse but at someone else lying on the ground in the shadows.
Beside the prone figure Tama now stood with two of his men. She rushed over and knelt next to the figure. It was a youth and one she recognized.
"Diwa?" she asked, her alarm mounting. Diwa was Tama's oldest sister's son.
"He was one of the sentries who discovered the body," Tama muttered, clenching his fists. "I should never have let him go on patrol with the others. I should have known he was too young."
Someone brought more torches for her to see better. Diwa's eyes had rolled back into his head and she could only see the whites of his eyes. His breathing was shallow, and he wheezed as if his lungs fought its own internal battle.
She hurried to the corpse to examine it and ignored the Imperials. The corpse was that of a middle-aged, neatly bearded man, dressed sensibly but not as a fisher folk. He was not from the area. Perhaps he was a traveler coming from the sea and met his death.
She examined him from head to toe. There were no signs that he had been bludgeoned, mauled, bitten, or stabbed. Perhaps he had drowned then. She sat on her heels and mused.
"When was he found?" she asked.
"This afternoon," someone said in response.
Afternoon. But this man had died some days before. The way his body appeared said as much. She took a pair of flat blade from her satchel and cut away the clothing on the corpse's chest. There would be more evidence on the upper torso. She stripped the cloth away and as she thought, the chest was severely discolored.
Someone came up next to her. "When do you estimate that he died?"
"At least three or four days ago," she replied without thinking, then recoiled.
Maigida Xun had asked the question and like an idiot she had just given him the answer without thinking. She edged away from him.
"How do you know that?" he asked watching her closely.
Now she'd done it. She should have just kept her mouth shut around the Imperials but it was too late now.
"Speak freely," Maigida Xun said when she hesitated. If that was meant to make her feel more at ease it did the exact opposite. But the Imperial had asked. And she must obey.
She took a deep breath then elaborated. "You can tell by the corpse' discoloration on the surface veins."
She pointed towards the mottled coloring on the limbs and the huge purplish-green patches on the chest.
"These are from decomposition that occurs within three to four days. However, there's something unusual."
She dropped her voice. "There's no bloating anywhere on the body, no buildup of gases that indicate his internal organs disintegrated. And there should be fluid seeping from the eyes, nose and mouth. However, as you can see, there's no fluid seeping from any of its orifices."
Leaning forward she sniffed hard. "Not even a strong, unpleasant smell that should be emanating from a rotting body." She stared at the corpse.
"He looks as if he's just laying there for a quick nap and someone thought it would be humorous to paint on him."
Something else didn't make sense. There was the fact that they didn't know for sure what killed him in the first place. The body would need a more thorough investigation for them to conclude that drowning was the cause of death. But that was neither here nor there.
Her observation completed she came to herself and bowed to the Maigida. "That's all I've observed."
What he was thinking, she didn't know for his face showed nothing of what he thought. But he gave a nod.
"But the young boy, Diwa they called him," the Imperial with the spiky hair joined in the conversation. "What does he have to do with the corpse?"
It was the next question on her mind and she returned to Diwa and examined his extremities especially his hands.
A strange red laceration extended from one palm to his wrist. She traced the wound with a finger and a red angry glow pulsated then stopped. Her breath caught.
"Did Diwa touch the corpse?" she asked searching the faces of the grim-faced men about her. "Did he?"
"He did miss," one of the warriors spoke up. "He said the tide was coming in so he pulled the body up before the tide could take it away."
If she was right—no she couldn't be right. She hurried to the corpse and held her palm over its mouth. At first there was nothing. But after a few seconds, a faint red haze slowly rose then dissipated.
Lead settled into the pit of her stomach. There it was. Solid, unadulterated proof. There was only one thing to do now if Diwa must be saved.
"Stupid, so stupid," she muttered under her breath.
"What?" Tama asked. He had moved to her side as did the Imperials. "What did you find?"
She gestured toward the dead bearded man. "That's not a corpse," she said.