by D. H. Aire
Shaking his head, Master Stenh commented, “But there are no such weapons known.”
“Well,” George muttered, slowly drawing a strangely discolored blade from concealment within the folds of his cloak, “that does not mean such weapons do not exist. Weapons, like this one, could be designed for special purposes.”
“But why?” asked the Empress as the door opened with Ofran’s return, but he was not alone.
“I tried to stop them, Majesty!” Stenh protested as he was forced aside by the guards.
Grendel glared at George and ordered the Captain of the Guard, “Seize him!”
“What do you think you are doing here?!” exclaimed the Empress, staring angrily at her Captain of the Guard as he marched up to George, Bane Sword leveled.
“I came here to help you!” Grendel sighed, “I greatly feared what that man might have done to you.”
“Whatever are you talking about, Grendel?” she rasped as Se’and drew her daggers, her skirt dropping away from her dress.
The Guardsmen, swords drawn, took a collective step back, with a worried glance at the seated human mage, who simply laid his glowing staff across his lap, “At least wait for proper orders, gentlemen.”
The Captain looked decidedly uncomfortable.
“This farce must end,” Grendel said. “This human’s true plan revealed at last!”
“Is that so?” George asked, smiling. “I can’t wait to hear this one.”
Face reddening, Grendel grinned, “Think your hand in the foul murder of your rival would go unnoticed? Dare I guess he has already proven his investigative powers as he proved himself before the Mage Guild? Majesty, be not deceived. He knows firsthand how the evil deed was done. The wards do not react to his human tricks –– which aided his murder of poor Lord Senason.”
The Empress sighed wearily, “Bah!”
Eyes widening, Grendel averred, “Why, I, myself, along with others of my party, saw him enter the very passage moments before Senason.”
Balfour and George glanced at each other, hearing the ring of truth in Grendel’s accusation. “Then you’ve been sorely tricked!” the Empress said. “The human mage could not have committed this crime.” Grendel steeled himself, shaking his head to protest further. “He has been with me for the past hour.” The Empress glared at her Guard Captain. “Now, you had best seek out the imposter immediately and know that the human mage will be in charge of the investigation into Lord Senason’s death!”
Swallowing hard, the Guard Captain bowed low and quickly ushered his men from the chamber, while Grendel stammered, “But… but he couldn’t have been...”
The Empress was not finished, however. She rose and marched over to the quickly rising George. “I did not mean to sound so harsh. Forgive me my temper this night, Lord Mage. Would you lead the investigation? There are few unbiased that I can call upon.”
George replied, “As you command, Majesty.”
She said in a grateful whisper, “Thank you,” before turning and striding from the chamber, Master Stenh hurrying to her side.
In passing, Stenh actually smiled at the stricken look on Grendel’s face, “Better luck next time.”
Master Ofran whispered to Balfour as Grendel hastily departed, “You were right, lad... I found the traces in the spilt blood.”
“So,” Se’and mused, “what does that tell us about the weapon— other than Je’orj may have been targeted for the accusation of the murder by ‘human means?’”
The door opened. The guard sergeant half entered.
“Milord, I understand you are to head the Empress’s investigation.” At George’s nod of affirmation, the Sergeant stated, “We’ve found another body. Murdered, seemingly the same way as Lord Senason.”
Part Eight:
Investigating Mage
1
The Guards held back a throng of curious guests congregating at the appearance of torch bearing guardsmen coming through a concealed panel at the opposite end of the hall from the tapestried passageway.
Rumors abounded. Lord Senason murdered by the human candidate. Lord Senason alive, but gravely injured. Servants of the Dark One had infiltrated the Ball and were plotting the Empress’s death –– foiled only by Senason himself... Ultimately, no one wanted to leave, which had they tried; they would have learned they could not. The Palace was now sealed.
Political alliances, the balance of power and future profit, however, were dependent upon events taking place before them. Thus, when the ranking member of the newly appeared Imperial Guards shouted, “We’ve a dead man here!” the crowd stood poised, trying to glean every clue.
When the human mage was put in charge of the scene, a certain number of rumors seemed totally ridiculous –– much to the Archmage Kolter of Hayden’s rue.
“Grendel,” he muttered at the elfblood’s gloomy return. “Don’t tell me you’ve made a mess of events, yet again?”
Grendel sighed, “Good, then I won’t tell you.” Instead, he joined the crowds and watched the human mage raise his staff, which abruptly blazed with a fierce white light as he moved to enter the revealed passage.
Se’and knelt beside her Lord, barelegged; disdaining having to retrieve the skirt she had dropped to have her daggers ready at hand. “This is the herald that gave you the dirty look, Je’orj.”
Frowning, George nodded as he examined the body. Carefully touching the cloth at the rent where the blade had driven through the herald’s flesh. With a nod, he rose and confronted the steps that led downward under the ballroom floor.
Balfour and Ofran examined the body, then explored the blood staining the herald’s jerkin. “The faintest of traces of magery, but its there,” averred Master Ofran.
“The trace is much stronger here on the floor, though, I can’t imagine why,” Balfour replied.
Without turning, George asked, “Does the trace match the pattern in Senason’s blood?”
Balfour closed his eyes and concentrated, before finally acknowledging, “I think so.” Looking up toward Je’orj, he asked, “Staff, what do you think?”
Ofran looked at his nephew oddly at the request, seemingly made to the very ether, then noted the man’s staff appear to shimmer slightly, casting shadows along the secret passage walls.
:Hmm, based on your observed memories, they match perfectly.:
Before Ofran could openly question, George turned, “Nothing further to be learned here, unless either of you have found anything else of note?”
The two healers shook their heads.
“Then let’s talk to the witnesses.”
“Witnesses?” Se’and repeated, mystified.
George grinned humorlessly, “Well, if Grendel and a number of others saw me enter that passage in front of Senason, what might others have seen?”
Me’oh made a slow circuit of the hall, looking for Aaprin, growing more concerned as the Imperial Guards quietly began preventing any guests from exiting.
Herald Varian noted her look of distress and quietly approached. “Lady, may I be of assistance?”
Warily, Me’oh smiled, “Oh, I am just looking for the apprentice lad in my charge. He said he was not feeling well and has yet to return.”
“Yes, I remember him. Hmm,” the herald muttered as he tried to stand a bit taller and see over the crowd. “How about I try looking for him in this direction?” he pointed, “while you try that way.”
Me’oh smiled with evident relief at his offer of help, “Thank you, good herald.”
Varian wanly grinned and replied, “On an evening such as this it is best that no one wander off alone.”
They split up. Me’oh was beginning to really worry about the lad. Now, where could he have gotten off to?
“Majesty?” her maid implored.
The Empress would have none of it and shouted for Herald Lowell. “Find him! I want those folio maps of the palace brought to me at once! I’ll not rest until I know about that secret passage.”
The maid q
uickly hewed and sped through the hastily opened chamber door, brushing past an elder elvin mage, who the ill at ease guards flatly refused to let pass. “Majesty, may I offer my assistance?” he cried in frustration.
The Empress turned, frowning, “Oh, let him in... But be advised, Archmage, my patience is sorely thin.”
“Ah, Your Grace, many thanks,” Kolter of Heydan smiled marching to her side. “Sad business this night, but you’ve mages aplenty to offer you aid.”
The Empress met the provincial archmage’s gaze, her visage, grim.
“Majesty, uh, do you think it wise to have the human mage investigating this business?” He raised his hand to forestall any objection, “The evidence against the human is damning enough, though his innocence seems proclaimed to all by the fact he was with you at the crucial time. Yet, is he not a mage? Could his alibi not be more perfect?”
She merely stared. Nodding wistfully, he mused, “Could not his presence be explained by means of an arcane illusion?”
“If an illusion was used, its intent was certainly to implicate Lord Je’orj… who is the only one I trust with this matter.”
Lowell arrived heavily burdened under the mass of tens of folios.
“Leave me,” the Empress practically screamed.
The archmage frowned as she muttered a spell. Mage winds fluttered his robes and shoved him backward. Kolter bid a hasty retreat as Lowell glared after the elf before setting his burdens down on the table in front of the Empress.
Glancing down at the folios, she began searching out the index symbols, then railed at her herald, “Now, tell me the names of everyone who has had access to these maps!”
The Imperial Guards, at George’s urging, began questioning people about whether they saw anyone speaking with the herald, or anyone entering the passage ahead of Lord Senason.
The guard sergeant was asking questions as Master Stenh returned with the Empress’s Herald. “But you are certain it was Lord Je’orj here that you saw?”
“Yes, I am. His hands were shaking as he took food there at the buffet,” Meltran pointed. “That’s what first drew my attention, you see. It was, well, out of character. I even wondered if he were ill,” Meltran stated unequivocally, shrugging, careful not to glance back toward Grendel and his other cronies. “And there are plenty of others besides me, who saw him as well.”
The sergeant nodded, “So I’ve heard... The investigation will ignore nothing. That, I promise you.”
“Best not, Sergeant,” Meltran warned.
Master Stenh came forward, “Be careful not to threaten a member of the Empress’s Guard, Meltran. Empresses have been known to take a dim view of such things.”
Meltran swallowed back a possible retort, “If that is all, Sergeant?”
“For now, Master. But there may be further questions later— possibly in far less pleasant surroundings.” Meltran looked askance and beat a hasty retreat.
The sergeant glanced at Master Stenh. “This is likely to be a rather long night, sir.”
“With that sort it always is...”
Herald Varian had looked for the lad diligently, when he heard a casual remark about him. “I tell you,” muttered Tristan y Tane, “I, myself, saw the lad, Aaprin Summerfelt, come out of that passage minutes before that servant’s outcry.”
“You don’t think the lad could have had anything to do with it?” mused the noble beside him.
“He’s apprenticed to that human mage, isn’t he? And, do you see the lad anywhere around here? No, damn suspicious, I tell you.”
Varian chose at that moment to give up the search, concern for the missing lad dramatically taking on urgency. Nonchalantly crossing the hall, he noted that the Empress’s herald, Lowell, had just entered and walked directly toward the human mage and his party at the center of the investigation.
Me’oh reached the area just ahead of Varian and quickly took the elfblooded healer, Balfour, aside. “Missing?!” he muttered too loudly to her words.
Master Stenh was saying, “Lord Je’orj, I’ve just been apprised of something concerning the lad, Aaprin,” even as Varian reached Lowell, who quickly turned to listen to the mage’s report, momentarily forgetting the Empress’s business which brought him here. “There have been a number of statements,” Stenh more softly announced as the others gathered close, “concerning the fact that Aaprin appears to have entered the passage where Senason was found just moments before he did.”
Se’and noted Me’oh’s sudden intake of breath. “Sister, where’s the lad?”
Clearly ill at ease, she replied, “I wish I knew. Herald Varian here has been graciously helping me look for him... Last I saw of him, he told me he was not feeling well. I’m worried, Se’and, I’ve not seen him since.”
George stepped aside and shut his eyes, concentrating.
The staff flared. “Scanning,” he mumbled seemingly to himself, his voice taking on an odd lilting quality.
:Increasing radius... Expanding.:
The staff grew quiescent as George opened his eyes and met Me’oh’s worried gaze. “The lad’s nowhere nearby. I suggest both you and Balfour leave at once. Perhaps, he simply went home,” glancing silently at Balfour, meaningfully.
Balfour took Me’oh’s hand, then glanced at Se’and, who had gone quite still. “I’m sure he’s fine.”
The sergeant appointed an escort and out they went, a great many curious gazes following in their wake. George urged the others to continue the interview process even as Lowell reluctantly stated, “Lord Je’orj, Master Ofran, the Empress would like to see you both, as soon as you can be spared here.”
Ofran looked to George, who nodded, “In that case, I believe now is as good a time as any. Sergeant, continue the interviews. We should be back shortly.”
The sergeant glanced at the milling members of the Court. “It will likely not he easy keeping them here much longer.”
Se’and chuckled dryly, “Simply remind them they’ve no choice.”
At her lord’s rueful nod, she took position at his side, several Imperial Guards falling in step behind them.
“So tell me what you’ve learned,” the Empress demanded.
George took a seat across the table from her, which she had liberally spread with maps. “Thus far, the data indicates that a herald, the individual recently found murdered, spoke to Lord Senason. He likely directed him to an assignation in the passage where he was found. Two individuals were seen entering the passage before he got there. One was seen leaving minutes before the body was discovered; of the man that appeared to be me, there is no sign whatsoever.”
“Who was the other one?”
“My apprentice, Aaprin.”
“Your apprentice?”
“He’s missing, Majesty,” Master Ofran offered, noting the uncomfortable look that passed between Je’orj and Se’and. “Missing,” echoed the Empress, thinking of Kolter’s accusation of illusion. “Do you think he is key to discovering what happened?”
George admitted with a shrug, “It is possible, Majesty.”
Nodding, her hand beginning to shake, she continued doggedly, “What of the man in the passage? Was it the herald under illusion somehow?”
George shook his head, “I sincerely doubt it. The time it takes to cross the secret passage would have made it nearly impossible for him to send Senason, then arrive ahead of him. No, I think the true murderer killed him on his way out. Also, the murder weapon seems to possess a magery which Master Ofran can independently verify. We are conducting interviews which are providing some very interesting results.”
The Empress rose and paced the room, “Can you do no better?”
“Perhaps, you could scry the culprit?” suggested Lowell.
George shook his head, “Master Stenh mentioned to me earlier that the wards prevent—”
“The entire Tier is warded,” the Empress rasped. “Use whatever means you have to, but find Senason’s killer.”
Nodding, George rose, “If
that will be all, I would like to get back to the interviews. They may still yield vital clues as to who might have spoken to the dead herald.”
The Empress merely looked at him dejectedly even as the door opened. An out of breath guard hastily announced, “Elvin mages from Lord Senason’s House have arrived, Majesty. They have come for their lord’s body.”
Painfully, the Empress nodded, eyes filling with tears. “Elves always know.” She turned to Se’and then, “Would you stand at my side? I don’t know how I shall bear it.” Without a word Se’and moved to her side. “Await my return,” the suddenly too young looking Empress implored. “Perhaps, Lord Je’orj, those maps will tell you more than they, apparently, can tell me in this state.” The Empress and Se’and exited through a side door and stood upon a balcony overlooking the hall.
Regis, the elvin archmage, walked foremost before the elves marching amid a protective cordon of Imperial Guards. They marched unerringly to the hidden passage, a group of twenty in all. Their voices singing mournfully in High Elvin, the elegy’s words meaning long forgotten in this land. Yet, the haunting and beautiful words carried to every heart in the hall.
There were Faeryn mages among the elves of Senason’s extended clan, the Empress realized as tears threatened to overwhelm her as her guests stared at the procession.
“You must not let them see you cry,” Se’and whispered.
The Empress’s head canted forward. She could not bear it.
“Stand up as straight and proudly as you can,” Se’and urged, taking her arm and ungently twisting it behind her back.
Abruptly straightening, the Empress stared ahead of her. The pain helped. The tapestry was held wide. The bier bearing Senason’s body was brought forth on the shoulders of six elves. The procession for the elvin lord crossed the floor back to the main exit.
She stared at his too lovely and forever youthful face, imaging his smile, their last kiss. He, who should have been her Highmage and husband, was carried out in death before her. Elvin voices continued to use their song to breach the heavens, offering Senason’s soul everlasting succor.