Stealing from Wizards

The Whispering Seashell

Kuro waited nearly four full days with no sign of Phineas. Even though he hadn't been given a direct order, Kuro knew Phineas would be furious upon his master's return if Kuro wasn't there, waiting. However, with a dwindling supply of food and a complete lack of drink, Kuro was forced to leave.

Kuro was used to being hungry. There had been many times that he had gone without a meal for a day or two. However, he had standing orders to keep food enough in the house for Phineas, and there was the lingering matter of the drink he had failed to deliver.

Kuro locked the door, slipped silently down the stairs, skipping over the ones he knew to be creaky or particularly surly, and slid down into the shadows of the alley. He picked his way carefully over to one of his favourite sewers avoiding notice of the other citizens of Detritus. The sewer led to a tear in the veil which let out on a street outside a rather nice, and poorly guarded cafe in Montreal. As he hauled the sewer lid open, something caught his eye. There was a familiar snarling face staring at him from beneath a heap of clutter and refuse that had accumulated against a grimy old fishing hut not two yards from Kuro. Phineas looked furious.

Kuro fell to his knees and bowed his head in shame as he started to apologize for leaving the house. "I'm sorry master," he yelped. Kuro slapped a hand over his mouth and looked around fearful that he'd draw unwanted attention to Phineas. He continued quickly in a groveling whisper, "I didn't mean to leave the room, but we were out of food and I don't have your drink. I should have waited longer. I should have eaten less. I'll go back right away."

Phineas, did not respond.

"Master, please." His whole body suddered with the knowledge of his failures. "I promise I'll get you your drink."

Still no response.

Kuro looked again to the silent Phineas to see if the promise would be enough to appease his master, only to find that it wasn't his master at all.

It was indeed his master's face staring out at him from the garbage heap, but it was only his face. It was the front page of the Seelie Times and a photo of Phineas occupied most of it. He was shackled, and chained. Phineas looked angrier than Kuro had ever seen him. Even in a picture, that rage turned Kuro's legs to lead and sent tremors of terror through his body.

Kuro hid in a crevice between two buildings which leaned against each other for support like two drunks after a hard night out. Slowly, he began to read the article below the picture. "Phineas Hearn Captured at Last!" read the headline.

"Phineas Hearn, longtime fugitive alleged conspirator in the Coup d' Été, implicated in the kidnapping of the Heir to the Summer throne, and wanted in connection to the murder of Helena Morris and disappearance of Vincent Black, has been apprehended. The Royal Guard raided Hearn's residence late Tuesday evening and captured the wizard without incident.

"Phineas Hearn, formerly Professor Phineas Hearn, once lauded for his work with invasive magical species, was stripped of rank and title for conspiring against the Tirnanog throne and her peoples, and charged with treason against the Summer Court. Testimony from others close to Hearn indicated that he may have also been engaging in forbidden neuromancy and conducting illegal experiments.

"Hearn had escaped capture twice previously. He narrowly eluded the Guard when the Heir was first found to have been replaced by a changeling. He was also found six years later staying in a secret manor on an island off the west coast, where he again escaped from a coordinated raid by the Hounds, leaving two of the Nation's best dead.

"The Guard found the missing Helena Morris at that time, who testified that she had been kidnapped to care for a child that Hearn had been keeping. Morris was found murdered two months later. Hearn is the only suspect in the incident.