War mage crystals of mem.., p.35
War Mage (Crystals of Memory Book 4), page 35
He figured his portion was finished for the moment, and readied himself to attend to whoever was speaking. Instead, he was tugged, by the arm, backwards several steps. He made a fist with his right hand, and was getting ready to make someone explode, when he looked over to see that it was Prince Robarts.
“Sorry there, Anders. I was trying to get your attention, not pull you over half the room. Would you be free to see to some small efforts? Baroness Dilling’s young daughter has fallen ill. A fever and aching middle? It’s likely nothing, but mothers will dote on their only children.”
Finding his balance again, releasing his fist instantly, Anders looked around. There was no child in the room, as far as he could see.
“Could you have me directed to her? The child, that is.”
The man simply turned and walked away. Assuming that it was either him being taken in the correct direction, or the man seeking someone to do that task for him, he followed along, waving to the others there.
“Sorry, a small matter arose. Forgive me my early retreat.”
Several people there muttered, which mainly seemed to be suggestions that they’d meet again, perhaps soon. He had to quicken his pace to keep up with the Prince however, who, even if his words had been calm on the matter, seemed a good bit more concerned in his actions.
Once in the hallway, the man nearly ran, he walked so quickly.
“The child is burning up. It doesn’t seem to be the red fever, but poison is feared. I didn’t want to announce it to the room, but Baron Billings is suffering the same affliction, and a servant who attended them is in the same state.”
A few frantic minutes later, Anders was lead through a sturdy door, in the visiting nobles’ wing. It was a place that he’d been to before, the hall at least, but only a few times. Prince Robarts didn’t knock or call out first. Inside the room, groaning in pure agony, were the little girl and her father.
Anders moved to the child first. She was smaller after all, and that could mean the poison would act on her faster. He dropped into a trance, closed his eyes and touched her head. That was warm, so he dealt with that first.
“Li homa indict swerla ina einest ere ot ere, fen ot...”
The little girl snapped her eyes open, and took a large shuddering breath.
“It doesn’t hurt?”
Anders nodded, and moved, quickly, to the man, in the next bed. He wasn’t an old fellow or anything, being about twice Anders own age.
Then he started the real work. He found the poison, inside of each of them, and then, very carefully, called it out through their skin, leaving everything else inside of them. It had to be caught in a drinking glass, and took some moments, but showed two thimbles full of inky black, nearly purple, substance.
“We need Master Seness, to see if he can identify this substance. I need to be led to the servant who’s also ill.”
That took yelling, which Prince Robarts did himself.
It got results, Anders had to admit. He was found by Alice Cook, who scurried down the hallway, her skirt raised gently, to prevent tripping.
“There’s need?” She was a bit out of breath, and looked slightly frantic, but Anders didn’t make the Prince speak.
“There’s an ill servant? Poisoned, it seems. I need to see him as quickly as possible.”
The girl turned then.
“It’s Len, the new footman. This way, Anders.”
Unlike the Prince, she actually ran. It was close enough that Len probably lived due to that fact. Still, he produced as much of the inky black substance pulled from him as the other two had combined. Unlike the others, even after all the spells were used, Len didn’t instantly rouse. He did, after some minutes, open his eyes, however. There was no speech, but he managed to move his lips.
Anders didn’t lean in to hear, simply focusing, clearing his mind, then, when nothing else was intruding, he touched the man’s thoughts.
What he was trying to say was very clear. Fading though, even as Anders watched it happen. As if the spark of sensibility had left him, in that very moment. Not his life, but the actions of his inner self were wearing so quickly that Anders doubted he could have saved the man, even if he knew how. After a moment, still breathing, the man rested on his bed, unmoving, with no real thought left, at all.
“The wine. It was a soft red, served with the meal. Len had the last third of the bottle, with his own late meal, so as to not waste it.”
Anders, who had been standing by the bed, turned to look at Alice and found that Prince Robarts was there as well. He’d missed that part of things, the other man following them.
He spoke to both of the others, as if he hadn’t been taken unaware in his trance state.
“We need to find the bottle that the new wine was in. Then, if we can, should work out who had control over that particular bottle, if we can. We need Master Tolan for this. Fenris Demo Gull and Princess Mathia as well.”
The various names probably didn’t make sense to anyone else, but Prince Robarts simply yelled again, trusting in him, for some strange reason.
“Master Tolan, Fenris Gull, Princess Mathia, attend to the kitchens!”
That was called out, voices raising over the entire castle, seeking to lure those specific people.
He turned, and looked at the red-haired woman behind him.
“Alice, have you been learning magic?”
She looked scared suddenly. Probably because he sounded almost mean and abrupt.
“Yes, but I didn’t...”
He held up his hand to get her to be silent. Which worked, surprisingly.
“You kept with it, with Princess Lissa?”
“Right. Even when the coin stopped. It’s clearly too good of a gift to reject. Why?”
“Because, I want you to take two guards and go protect Baron Billings and his family. They probably won’t be attacked, but be on the lookout for anything that might be amiss. Watch the mother, but don’t let on that you’re observing her.” His only reason there was that the woman hadn’t been poisoned.
Due, most likely, to having had real wine with her meal, not the new wine, which was practically juice. Still, if the woman wanted her family dead, that would be as good a way to remove them as anything else. Slip a bit of something dire into a drink she didn’t normally have, and people would run all over the castle, seeking the culprit, while she mourned for her lost family.
Anders didn’t wait, simply checking on that, without permission or concern for such. When he opened his eyes, he looked at the Heir.
“The Baroness had nothing to do with this. That should be checked again, by Master Tolan but I’m confident in that finding.”
The man nodded, and moved into the hallway, dragging Anders by the arm, if gently. He waved to the hall guards, of which there were two.
“We need two guards on Baron Billings and his family. Alice will act as your magical support for that. No one gets in to see them. No one, unless myself, the King or Master Brolly here are personally in attendance.”
The men both stood straight, their tidy gray outfits seeming official, even if he’d seen them his entire life.
“Understood. We’ll get that going and pass the information.”
Both men looked at Alice, as if it were a bit odd for a serving girl, or more correctly a kitchen helper and cook, to be seeing to that sort of duty. Anders didn’t bother explaining, simply moving off to the kitchen.
Once there, Anders raised his left hand, focusing on the bottle that might have a hint of poison still on it. Only to find himself pointing to the scullery, where, next to the deep washing sink, with two young men working hard at cleaning things, he located the brown glass object he needed. Just about to be scrubbed.
“Hold! Don’t get that wet, Tolly! It has poison in it.”
The boy froze in place, looking worried.
“Anders? I didn’t do nothing!”
He grinned at the younger boy, who was a few years younger than himself.
“I know. We just need to use that bottle, without it being washed, to find out who did. Thank you, Tolly. Let me take that...” He simply grabbed the thing, the bad part of it still in the liquid, a last swallow at the very bottom, with bits of granules mixed throughout. New wine did that, so he doubted it was a sign of anything useful.
Still, he had that in hand, with Prince Robarts next to him, when the others they’d called for arrived. Princess Mathia got there last, hampered no doubt by her skirt.
“Get into robes, like mine. The ones with trousers. They’re easier to run in. Baron Billings and his daughter, as well as Footman Len were poisoned. We need to find out who did it, as soon as possible.”
Master Tolan took the bottle, his eyes closed, without any more being explained.
Then the older man nodded, his eyes haunted.
“Clever... We’re in for a bit of a hunt, it would seem.”
Then, maddeningly, he didn’t add anything else.
Chapter twenty-four
Master Tolan touched Anders on the arm, smiled a bit grimly and shook his head.
“No, Anders, let these others handle this.” The man was in a trance, but still walking down the hallway of the castle, his pace sedate, but marching in a specific direction.
The boy inside felt a shock at the words. To him is seemed an indication that the Master thought that he wasn’t up to the task of the moment. Probably due to his age. The others were older, since Princess Mathia was fifteen, or possibly sixteen now and Fenris Gull was well over thirty, but he’d proven himself, both on the battlefield and in other investigations, in the past.
Farad had at least, which meant to the boy that he was at least as good of a person to put in charge of this investigation as anyone else.
The old man in his head actually chuckled at the slightly disgruntled thought, almost instantly. To him it made perfect sense. Master Tolan was throwing the others into a real fire, to test their training and will to see the task through. It wasn’t a comment on him at all. Far from it, in fact. If the other man hadn’t trusted in his skills, he would have pushed for Anders to be the one doing the work, so he could prove himself.
Blinking at that realization, Anders took a breath.
“We have Master Seness looking at the compound. There’s more of it in this bottle. I already checked and Baroness Billings is clear of this crime. My work should be double checked. You two are in charge of this investigation, unless the King tells us otherwise.” He moved up, walking faster, and held the bottle with the remnants of the new wine and whatever the poison was out for Gull to take. The man did it, seeming slightly baffled for a moment, as if unsure that he, a simple guard was the right man for the job. Or to be working with a Princess.
Mathia, for her part, simply took a shuddering breath, then gave a firm nod.
“We should take the bottle to Master Seness, then, in case that has value. Then... We could start checking everyone for intent? That will take a long time. Can we use the bottle to find who touched it?”
She looked back, at Master Tolan, who was after all, a very famous wizard.
The man gave a somber nod.
“It will be a delicate task. You will need to go into a very deep trance, and have guidance to go over the faint traces there.” He didn’t suggest who should do which portion of things, stopping at that point. Leaving the task to the others.
Anders didn’t add anything either. The point of being in command was to be the one making the choices.
They kept walking, heading toward Prince Robarts’ office space, as Gull spoke, his voice calm.
“I’ll do that part. I think I can do that kind of deep trance. If not, then we grab up Master Tolan and have him do it for us? Brolly can do that too, I think. His mind is deep and vast that way. Half of what I know about trances are because I was reading his mind when he did it, carrying me along with him. I thought I was going to stop breathing, the first few times that happened.”
The Princess frowned then, and glared at the man. It was a pretty look for her, instead of an ugly thing, like most people had.
“You’ve read his mind that often? Why?”
There was a shrug, the man sounding a bit further away, fighting for focus already, even as they moved.
“Orders. I was set to do that as a lesson. Now... make certain that the questions hit the right note, please, Princess?” It was part order, part plea, as if he didn’t know if the young woman was up to the task of the moment.
Which was a real enough concern, truly.
There were guards on the door of Robarts’ office, the men seeming slightly confused at who was there. Princess Mathia gave a single, rather polite, nod.
“Would you announce us, please?” Her voice was soft, and almost gentle. Clearly attempting not to shock Gull out of what he was attempting.
One of the men tapped at the door, which wasn’t a loud or shocking thing, getting a voice from inside to call out. It was deep and male sounding, but not Prince Robarts or the King at all.
“Enter!”
The guard tucked his head in.
“Princess Mathia, Master Tolan, Sir Brolly and Fenris Gull are here and asked to be announced?”
“Send them in, please.”
That was done by the two men, both holding spears that were slightly taller than they were, out of the way. Just enough for each person to pass. There was a nod, for Anders, since he recognized both men, they tried to do that with Gull, but were ignored, since he wasn’t truly aware of what was going on fully, any longer. He moved into the room though, with Master Tolan putting a hand on his shoulder to guide him.
Inside the space showed that Prince Robarts was indeed there, behind his desk, working over some papers. Also in the room was General Nesmith and a pale fellow with a long gray beard, dressed in courtly raiment, with a keen look to his eyes. Count Legis. Anders didn’t know the man, but had seen him around, from time to time.
The General waved for them to speak, his hand moving quickly, as if annoyed. There was no bow, and the men didn’t rise, which indicated something rather serious. After all, a Princess of the realm had walked into the room.
Giving them a polite look, which seemed forced, the General looked at all of them, finally focusing on Anders, for some reason.
“How may we serve today, Brolly?”
That he was the one picked to answer made a certain amount of sense. After all, if he insulted Anders by being rude or abrupt, he could probably get away with it. Doing that with a Princess would be harder to manage. Gull was another good choice, but he was standing strangely and Master Tolan was clearly doing the same at the moment.
“Gull is going to find who touched the bottle that had the poisoned new wine in it. Princess Mathia will be guiding him. We should have them sit. Is there paper? I can take notes.”
The men, all three of them, moved then. Count Legis moved to grab both clean papers, ink and a lap board, indicating that Anders sit, setting the items up for him with quick, efficient movements. The General got Gull into a chair as well, with Master Tolan being settled across the room.
Mathia stayed standing, watching Gull closely. Testing his mind with her own, it was clear. After some moments, she spoke, her voice gentle.
“Go to the hallway of finding. Focus only on the bottle in your hand.”
Gull gave off a sense of movement, without doing more than breathing in a very slow fashion.
“Now, run backward in time, connect backwards, to who held the bottle last, before you touched it. Who was that?”
“Farad Ibn Istel and Anders Brolly.”
The girl made a face.
“Focus on that first one. Where is he now?” It made sense to ask about, but was a mistake. At least if you knew that he, Anders, was also that man.
Gull spoke anyway.
“Inside Brolly. They are one, but also not.”
Anders nodded.
“Correct. It’s a known thing. Ask if I, either portion of myself, placed the poison in the bottle?”
The girl gave him a look that seemed concerned, but she asked the question anyway.
“Did Anders Brolly place the poison in the bottle?”
“No.”
“Did Farad... Ibn Istel do it?”
“No.”
She rallied then and gave Anders a hard look for a second.
“Move back again, who touched the bottle before that?”
There was a pause, and a slow exhalation.
“A wash boy, in the kitchens... Tollis Thrand?”
Anders nodded, but didn’t speak, though it was clear that Princess Mathia saw the movement.
“Did this person put the poison in the bottle?”
“No.”
They worked back then, with the room servant, Footman Len, having been the one to touch it before that. The Baron, his daughter and his wife never came into contact with the bottle at all. Len was cleared as well, naturally. Not that placing the poison and then drinking it himself wouldn’t have been a brilliant deception, otherwise. Not as much of it as Len had done, but enough to make him merely ill would tend to show he wasn’t guilty, even if he was.
It simply wasn’t the case.
Before that, things became truly murky. There was an obvious hole, between the wine steward having held the bottle, and someone else touching it. A blank that Gull noticed, but couldn’t see through. As hard as the man worked, that didn’t clear at all. Mathia became frustrated, but hid it.
“We seem to be blocked. How do we get around this?”
She looked at Master Tolan, but Anders was the one to tap his lips, thinking.
“Back away from the problem? Whoever touched the bottle and placed the poison is hidden. Did anyone see them? Hiding from a wizard doesn’t normally allow for true invisibility.” It could, after a fashion. At least he could do that, but Anders hadn’t bothered to teach that trick to anyone else yet. He should, soon, so the skill wouldn’t be lost to time, but it hadn’t come up at all.
It took a while, seeking for someone who was close to the blank spot, but finally, by reading the minds of others, one of the guards did notice something strange, corresponding to the hidden person, as they moved down the hallway. Hugging the wall.
