Ortemyre kicked at the sand halfway up the hill while he took in the details of the scene. This was not much of a threat as magical disruptions went. He had seen mages do much worse, and this display seemed worth little of his time. Ortemyre turned and faced where the spell had come from. Still, this mage had sent ruin to a good portion of the intersection below. A merchant’s wagon and a nobleman’s carriage had been struck, one of which was possibly the target of the attack. Both had caused a great amount of stir in their respective circles and the crown responded in kind with a public announcement that the culprit would be found. Ortemyre watched Jasper parading around the broken street, making a grand display of his hunt, basking in the attention that many of the Clippers received. They were loved for their killing. Ortemyre shook his head and continued up the incline to where the spell had likely begun.
Ortemyre’s vision showed the faint glow of the residual mana where the spell had run wild. The mage had put little to no control on the rune when they set it loose. He tracked it back up the hill turning with it at the top to a narrow pass between two buildings. Ortemyre could see a few remaining lines still drawn in the sand, glowing in his sight. He shook his head. All of this trouble from lines in the sand.
“Oi Orty, you got sometin’ for meh?”
Ortemyre didn’t bother looking at Jasper, only pointing at the lines before walking off. Jasper knew that Ortemyre didn’t want to be associated with the Clippers and loved to heckle him about it. Ortemyre rounded the block, arriving back down at the crossing that had been struck. He looked at the buildings, where the wagons had been, and where the rush of water had come from.
While the water had been destructive, it hadn’t been shaped or propelled as an attack. A mage aiming to hit the wagons could have done much more damage from a variety of spots closer to the crossing itself. The delay of the hill only to slap them with water didn’t make sense from an attacker’s perspective. An angry mage would have been shoving mana into something beside the wagons if they wanted to see them harmed. Ortemyre dismissed the bloated claims of the wagon owners and their self-important cries of being the intended victims.
The shops were all local businesses, clothing, and goods with little magic. Mages would not stand to gain anything by causing damage to these groups. There was nothing in the drying mud to support that this was a rogue mage terrorist trying to start a problem. This was more likely a novice, likely some kid who had no idea what they were doing. Ortemyre went to step off the wooden walkway but thought twice at the slick mud. He scanned across the street. Novice or not they had hit this entire space with the effects of a spell. He sighed. They were capable. That was enough to get them killed. He looked up the road to where Jasper was mounting up on his horse and waving to a few passing girls. That gleaming smile would follow through this hunt from mud to blood without fault. It made Ortemyre sick.
Ortemyre walked on towards The Shelf to give himself time to think. There were several of his professional peers roaming, and Ortemyre wanted away from them. He had a small list of things that he was supposed to do, but he could ignore it for another day. He was in no mood to intimidate minor mages for their paperwork.
He turned into the alley that led back to the tavern which he had come to enjoy. He paused in the small space that widened before the entrance. He glared at the door. The Barkeeper flaunted his magic more blatantly than most of the mages who were paid to do so. He had managed licenses for every bit of his work so far, but for all that he presented properly, there was much more that remained hidden. The methodically intricate work of the tavern was on an entirely different scale from the road rune, but there was that small voice in his head that whispered suspicion.
Ortemyre decided he was too hungry to bother wasting time to once again question the man who would serve his meal. He shook his head and opened the door.