A Little Tepic Logic never hurts

Cyan is Trapped

It was dark in Cyan’s hospital room when Tepic entered, but that was to be expected at 3am in the morning. He had to get in to the hospital by climbing up a drain and slipping in through a window, as the lift still wasn’t working for him, and for this errand it was probably best if he didn’t worry the medical staff.

His friend lay small and still under the covers, and Tepic examined him carefully until he spotted the slight glow of what looked like a silver thread. Reaching forward, he took it in the circle of his thumb and first finger, breathed deeply in, then, as he let the breath out, he …. stepped.

The ground was dry and dusty under foot and there was nothing to see in any direction, except for the thread heading off into the distance. Still holding carefully, Tepic followed it until he reached what looked like a swirling green glass dome, through which the thread passed. Pushing on it gently, he found it to be very solid, much like one he had encountered some time ago on a similar adventure.

He sighed, knowing he could not go any further without an invitation. He tapped on the glass, and heard a echo of his tap reverberate inside the dome – there was no way anyone inside could have missed that! He waited… and waited…. but no one came to the other side. Eventually, he realised Cyan was not going to let him in, so he wouldn’t be able to bring him back.

Turning with care not to let the thread go, he retrace his steps until he was standing by Cyan’s bed again. He knew this was going to take something drastic to resolve, so slipped out the window and down the drain, heading back to his hideout to think.

When is a killing not a killing?

Tepic was sitting at the dock table in the Urchin Smuggling Centre, making some notes in the big ledger when Billy and Charlie ran in panting and wheezing. They were both desperate to tell Tepic the news, but it was Charlie who caught his breath first, blurting out “Beryl made Kasa kill Cyan!”.

“Cyan’s dead?”

“Yes!”

“Are you sure, did yer see him?”

“Errrr…….” the two boys looked at each other, then back at Tepic, “we didn’t see him, but everyone is saying it, so it must be true…..”

“Come on, let’s check.” Tepic said, standing and gathering his friends in his arms to visit the hospital.

Sitting down in the urchin living quarters, drinking a nice warm soup after their trip, the three friends contemplated the situation. It turned out that Cyan was not only still alive, he was awake though not well. From the confused staff it did seem that Kasa was the one who had poisoned Cyan, but had also helped save him, and it did seem Beryl had a hand in the whole thing. It was quite obvious that no one really knew what had happened.

A smile slowly grew on Tepic’s face, his spoon dropping into his half finished soup as he started to laugh. The others looked at him in astonishment.

 “Cor! That’s clever that is, but trust Beryl ter do it in such a complicated an daft way!”

“What is, Tepic?” Billy asked, confused.

“Well, yer knows how Cyan sent ‘imself off cus he messed around with magic in this city, so it were bound not ter work an ended up stuck in ‘is head with her?”

“Errrr….. yes, you told us that…” the boys exchanged a look that showed how much they had believed that story.

“i reckons Beryl worked out how ter send her packin an let Cyan get free. Yer see, if Cyan died, well, she would have ter sling her hook or pop her own clogs. But yer knows them docs up the hospital, they wouldn’t spring fer that idea!”

“But if Cyan were dead, he’d be… dead?”

“Yep! He were in the hospital though, weren’t he, so they could do their stuff an bring ‘im back, makes sense, that do!”

His companions looked at him as if they were considering taking him down to the asylum.

“Course, Beryl couldn’t do nuffin herself, cus Mr Wright and the others were all keepin an eye on her already, so, she goes of ter see Kasa the night before, an either gets her in on the scheme or does what she did ter Cyan’s uncle ter make him drink all that stuff in the Bucket….” he expanded, “wonder how she does that, it’s a bit of a puzzler..”

His friends repeated his words under their breaths, trying to work out who did what and when to whom, failing spectacularly.

“So Kasa goes in an slips Cyan the poison, not knowin she’s doin it, then when Cyan pops ‘is clogs, they all rallies round an brings ‘im back, includin Kasa, but she scarpered so Cyan can wake up! It’s brilliant!”

“It is?”

“Yep! Cept fer Kasa rememberin Beryl visitin, an Kasa bein fingered fer the crime, it were amazin! Beryl has some fantastic ideas, shame she’s so daft at puttin em in ter use.”

“You sayin Beryl got Cyan to wake up?” Charlie tentatively asked. “By gettin Kas ter off ’em?

“Course! She is a hero, yer know, an that’s the sort of stuff heroes do, savin people an such.” Tepic said, face lit up with admiration for his friend Beryl and his own cleverness in working it out.

“Right! We’d best get out there and let people know the truth!” he declared. “OK, Tepic, we’s with you,” his friends agreed, “but before we goes….. could you please explain all that again?”