A New Assignment

1.1

Jasper sat with his head in his hands, staring distractedly at the carvings in the polished marble floor. They were swirly and hard to follow, except for the occasional symbol he recognised as a protective rune or a warding glyph. The floor of the hallway he was sitting in was crammed with tiny carvings, and he knew that the entire building was decorated the same way. This was the safest place in the universe, so long as you were on the High Keepers' good side.

He was waiting for a new assignment. He had failed the old one, and was expecting the new one to be even less glamorous. That is, if they didn't just fire him.

"Mister Devereaux?" It was the secretary who had met him at the gate and told him to wait here, a man in a cheap but well cared for business suit who had at least seven earrings and a green mohawk. "They'll see you now."

Jasper sighed and followed the secretary into the Keeper's meeting chamber. He'd been in there twice times before; each time after failing a duty to be assigned a new one. He was always slightly surprised at how normal the room looked. There were windows that looked out over a peaceful village beyond a lightly wooded hill. There was a huge varnished oak conference table and, with a few notable exceptions, most of the people sitting around it were middle aged men and women in business suits. There was a dark skinned woman wearing a hooded cloak over state of the art military body armour leaning against the wall in the corner and an olive skinned man in a pure white toga with rich purple borders sitting at the table. One of the chairs at the table appeared empty, but Jasper knew that every now and then a voice would issue forth from the empty seat.

"Mister Devereaux," said the woman at the head of the table. She looked like she was in her sixties and was wearing a severe pinstripe suit. Her curly greying hair was cut close to her head, and she had a scar running from her left temple to the corner of her mouth.

"Chairwoman Mubako," Jasper said, as politely as possible. He fought off the urge to bow, and simply stood awkwardly near the door. Mubako had been the Chairwoman for only around thirty years; the previous Chairperson was a great deal more formal and old fashioned.

"Please have a seat," she told him, more of a command than a polite invitation.

He shuffled forwards and sat at the chair at the foot of the table. The High Keepers watched him in silence for a while as Chairwoman Mubako opened a file in front of her and looked over it, and he sunk lower in the cushy leather chair.

"Jasper Devereaux. Your first assignment with the Keepers was as a guardian for a potential Chanter?"

"Yes." Jasper caught a look from her. "Yes ma'am," he amended.

"And how did that work out for you?"

Jasper frowned down at a knot in the wood of the table, and twisted his hands into a knot under the table. "Not well, ma'am. The child was killed by the Vrol on her thirteenth birthday."

The Chairwoman raised an eyebrow as if she didn't already know all the details intimately from his file. "The Vrol, hmm? He doesn't come to this plane very often. That must have been hard for you. Not many guardians survive the death of their charge.

He nodded miserably.

"And then you were reassigned to guard an object?"

"The Key of Ember."

"And how did that turn out for you?"

Jasper squirmed even lower in his seat, wishing he could be back in his cave. "It was stolen during the second great war. Uh, World War Two. Some people turned up who knew exactly how to, to drive me away."

"And then you ended up hiding in a cave in a forest for..." she glanced down at the file, "twenty three years before a member of the Keepers stumbled across you and advised you the war was over."

Jasper didn’t say anything. That wasn't what had really happened, but he had never corrected the Keeper's assumption.

Thankfully the Chairwoman didn't press him. "After the war a combined taskforce of Keepers and Loreists found the Thule Society facility and the Key of Ember was recovered. So in the end, no harm was done."

Jasper nodded again, but he couldn't bring himself to say anything. The Key had been placed in the charge of a dragon somewhere, and he had spent two decades hiding in a cave in France and licking his wounds, both physically and metaphorically. After the Keepers found out he was still alive they gave him a new assignment: guardian of the forest, generally considered an easy job. You kept an eye on trampers, made sure the local kids didn't set any fires, occasionally scared off poachers.

When a logging company had been awarded a contract to clear the forest in order for a new property development, there really hadn't been much he could do. He sabotaged a few machines, even blocked all of the roads in a couple of times, but that hadn't made much of an impact in the long run.

Eventually he was forced to admit defeat and flee before he was destroyed along with the beautiful forest he'd called home for the past fifty years.

The High Keepers knew all of this. It was in his employment history in his file.

The Chairwoman sighed. "Mister Devereaux, you have now failed spectacularly in all of the duties we have ever given you within this organisation. Generally animal spirits like yourself are more... reliable."

Jasper couldn't exactly disagree.

"However," the Chairwoman continued, "Your failures do seem to be at least somewhat attributable to bad luck. No one can predict the movements of the Vrol, and the Thule society was alarmingly efficient when it came to capturing or eliminating our kind. We even lost some of our dragons to them, and a lone fox spirit can hardly be expected to fare better than a dragon."

Jasper looked up, surprised. The previous Chairperson would never have shown even an ounce of leniency for failure.
 

"We are inclined to give you one last chance before terminating your employment with the Keepers," Mubako told him, "But not in the capacity of a guardian."

"I... I understand." He'd never succeeded as a guardian. But what else could they possibly intend for him? It was all he'd ever done.

"You will be assisting with a special assignment for now."

"Not working alone?" Jasper felt a glimmer of hope. Perhaps he was being assigned to one of the teams who handled larger issues. He would have support and backup.

"No, you will be partnered with another of our Keepers, who generally handles minor investigations. We believe your broad knowledge of this world and its mysteries may be of help. If so, you may be reassigned permanently to that role."

The same secretary from earlier stepped up beside Jasper and deposited a folder in front of him. "This is your new assignment," Mubako told him, "Read it thoroughly. You will be meeting your new partner in three days. The exact time and location are contained within. Please do not be late."

Jasper knew he was dismissed. He gathered up the folder and scurried out of the room. The secretary was already holding the door open for him.

"The new job is in America," the secretary murmured as they exited together, "You should stop by the exchange to get some Euros changed into dollars."

1.2

Jasper waited until he was safely out of the High Keepers Hall before he opened the folder, sitting under a tree in the parking lot.

Jasper Devereaux
Keeper ID # 20477-S-F.
D.O.B: 23/08/1563.
Previous role within the Keeper Organisation: Forest Guardian.
Current role within the Keeper Organisation: Investigations Assistant.

Role begins: 4pm February 12th 2015.

You will commence this role on February 12th 2017 at 4pm at the Godsford Keeper Outpost. You will be assisting Investigations Officer Gabriel Asch, Keeper ID#76388-E-A.

Annual Salary: 20,000 Euros paid in fortnightly installments. Please fill out form 86-B located at the back of this folder to nominate the bank account you wish your salary to be paid to.

Jasper stopped. Bank account? He would need to get one of those. During his time as a forest guardian his salary had come in the form of a monthly delivery of food and other supplies along with a grubby envelope containing a handful of battered notes.

He shook his head and flipped through the rest of the folder. A contract he had to sign and hand in at the Keeper Outpost. Tucked into a pocket at the back was a map of America with the town of Godsford clearly marked on it. He examined it for a few minutes, then sighed and stood up. It was going to take him two days to get to Godsford. He should go now so that he had time to familiarise himself with the town and find the Keeper Outpost.

He tucked the file into his backpack then started wandered across the carpark. When he reached the trees he jumped down the small slope. He changed in midair and landed with all four feet on the ground. He shook himself out, then started running. The faster he went the less corporeal he became, until he was nothing more than the ghostly outline gliding along the ground between the trees.

1.3

The one downside to travelling in his spirit form was that he could only travel quickly via the Veins, the natural streams of magic that threaded the earth's surface. This was less of a problem travelling between Keeper Outposts, as they were always built on or near a Vein for convenient travel between them by those with the ability to do so.

Godsford was in America. Jasper had never crossed the ocean on a Vein before, except of course the channel between England and the mainland, so he took his time and made sure not to fall out. He ended up being longer than he had expected getting to Godsford, arriving a mile or so outside the town at sunrise the same day he was supposed to meet Asch. He walked the mile into town in human form. It was a lot colder here than it had been in Italy, where the High Keeper Hall was currently situated, so he dug around in his backpack, pulling out a spare shirt and a hooded sweatshirt. He put them both on, but neither helped with the fact that he hadn't been wearing shoes when he left. He's have to get some. And maybe some socks.

The cold made the walk to town seem a lot longer, and he made a beeline for the first public house he saw; a small diner which was just opening. There were a few tired looking customers and an even more tired looking waitress serving them coffee. A bell over the door jangled as he opened it, making him jump. He caught the waitress hiding an amused smile.

She dropped the smile and looked concerned when she took a good look at him, however. "Are you alright, kid?" She asked, taking in his bare feet and worn jeans, as well as the woefully inadequate hoodie he was wearing.

"Er, I'm alright. Can I buy something to eat? And sit in the warm for a while?"

The waitress smiled again, friendly this time. "Of course you can. Why are you out in the cold? Did your car break down? Do you have somewhere to go?"

Jasper blinked in response to the question. "The Beekeeper Society building?" he said eventually. The Keepers had to put something on official documents when local governments wanted to know who owned the buildings, so they called themselves the Beekeeper Society and were left alone.

"Oh, that's on the far side of town. You should definitely warm up for a while before heading over. Grab a booth and decide what you want to eat, ok?"

Jasper nodded gratefully and sat in the booth nearest the heater, which was blasting warm air down from the ceiling. The waitress brought him a menu. He glanced at it for a moment, then looked back at the waitress. "What do you recommend?"

"This early in the morning? Coffee and blueberry pancakes."

"Can I have that please? And some water?" Jasper fished around in his pocket and produced a handful of dollar notes, which he had already managed to get crumpled and grubby; they had been crisp new notes when he had swapped them for his Euros at the exchange.

"You pay at the end of the meal, dear. It'll be six dollars."

"Oh, right, thank you. Sorry, I don't eat out much."

Jasper ended up ordering a second plate of pancakes, then a bacon and egg breakfast platter when he saw someone else eating one. By the time he'd finished eating it was mid-morning. The Outpost would be open by now, so he could go and drop off his contract.

Carla brought him a receipt for his meal; $22. He left a ten and a twenty on the table and asked her where the nearest store that sold clothes was. He really needed a jacket.

"Turn left when you head out the door and go three blocks, turn left again onto High Street, then keep going straight for about ten minutes. You can't miss it, it's a big department store."

1.4

Two hours later Jasper arrived at the Outpost wearing hiking boots, two pairs of socks, thermals, a woollen hat, and the world's puffiest jacket. He handed his contract in at the reception, then spent a while squinting at the receptionist, whose name badge read 'Jared’, while he double checked the paperwork. He had dark purple spiked hair and a lot of piercings. Aside from the differing hairstyle, he looked exactly identical to the secretary at the High Keepers Hall.

"...aren't you...?" he started, then stopped. "Have we met before?" he tried.

"I wouldn't think so, I've been stationed here for decades."

"Do you have a brother...?"

"Not that I'm aware of, why?"

"Oh... no reason."

The receptionist subtly rolled his eyes. "The contract is all in order," he said, slamming an 'APPROVED' stamp on the front then standing up and feeding it to a noisy machine in the corner. "What does your intro sheet say about where you're working?"

Jasper pulled the already battered paper from his pocket and read over it again. "Investigations assistant for Gabriel Asch?"

"Working with Gabs? Who'd you piss off?”

Jasper didn't know how to answer that, so he shrugged. The receptionist made a sympathetic face at him.

“She'll meet you upstairs in her office when she gets in. That's still a few hours away, but if she gets in early I'll let her know you're already here. In the meantime we need to get you an ID badge and stuff."

Jasper followed Jared into the office behind the reception. Jared handed him a copy of his contract. "Keep that. And this, and this... read them while you're waiting." Jared added a piece of paper headed 'Dress Code' and another labelled 'Health and Safety' to the stack Jasper was carrying. "Now smile."

"What?"Jasper looked up from the paper, confused, and was suddenly blinded by a flash of light. He blinked furiously while Jared chuckled to himself.

"Needed a photo for your ID badge." Jared was holding a tiny camera. He plugged it into a larger device with a cable and hit a few buttons. The device made an alarming clanking noise and then spat out a plastic card, which Jared passed to Jasper.

Jasper examined it suspiciously. It had his name, his Keeper ID number, and the Outpost he was assigned to on it, along with a photo of him looking very alarmed. "Wow, how did you develop that photo so quickly?"

"Ha! What? Everything's digital these days."

"Oh, I see," Jasper lied.

1.5

Gabriel's office wasn't much of an office. She had a couch in one corner which looked like it might fold out into a bed, a lot of bookcases, a desk covered in stacks of books and papers, none of which seemed that organised, a refrigerator with boxes stacked on it, and an overflowing rubbish bin. There was a suitcase stashed behind the desk, next to a locked cabinet. Jasper could see warding runes on it all the way from the far side of the room.

"You may as well grab a seat and wait. She won't mind if you read the books or eat something out of the fridge. Just don't touch the cabinet."

"Yeah, it looks like you could lose a hand trying to break into that thing..."

"Oh, good, you can see wards. That's gonna be very useful for you. So you know I'm not kidding around when I say don't touch it."

"Yessir."

"Right then, I'm off. So long for now." Jared waved and disappeared back down the stairs.

Jasper shrugged off his backpack. He considered reading something while he waited, but a yawn overtook him and instead he curled up on the couch and fell asleep.

---

He was awakened by the sound of the door opening.

A young woman flicked on the lights. "Jasper, I take it?"

He sat up on the couch and yawned again. He shook himself to wake himself up, then melted into a more human form so that he could reply. "Yes. Hello. Jasper Devereaux."

"I'm Gabriel Asch, as you probably assumed." Now that he could see colours he noticed that her hair was a brilliant shade of blue. Did every young person in the twenty first century dye their hair?

"Nice to meet you."

"Yeah, same to you." She moved some books off the desk chair so she could sit down, then leaned back to reach the fridge and pull out a drink in a can. "Do you want one?"

"Do you have water?"

"No, but I have a buttload of pepsi."

"Pepsi? Sure, I'll try one, thank you..."

She gave him a sideways look and tossed him a can. It took him a few moments to figure out how to open it, then he took a swig and immediately pulled a face. "Eugh, people drink this?"

"Seriously? Have you been living under a rock for the past two hundred years?"

Jasper blinked at her. "I was guarding a forest in France. And before that a city key, in Denmark.”

“Oh my god, you really were living under a rock. What else don’t you know? Do I need to teach you how to use a phone?”

Jasper looked offended. “I know what a telephone is. I saw one once just before the second great war broke out. You turn a little dial and it lets you speak to someone far away, like a sending spell.”

“Oh jeez. Oh my god. Oh dear lord. No. Look. This is a mobile phone.” She pulled a small black rectangle out of her pocket. “You can phone pretty much anyone in the world with these.”

“But where are the wires?”

“It actually just transmits a signal to a tower and then--You know what? Until I have time to explain, we’ll just say it’s magic, ok? I assume you don’t have one.”

Jasper shook his head.

“Well, you don’t really need one, I guess. You’ll be with me most the time. Do you have a place to stay?”

“There are rooms here, right?”

“Sure, but they’re tiny and they smell funny.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Suit yourself.” Gabriel shrugged. “So anyway, are you ready to get to work?”

“What, right away?”

“Well, do you have anything else you need to do?”

“Not really, I suppose.”

“Let's go then.”