by Andrew Rowe
I exhaled a breath. “Okay. So, the archduke is planning to…what, debut them both, and make a statement? That could cause absolute chaos.”
“Precisely. I believe he hopes to make allies with other nations here — because he might not be an Edrian archduke much longer.”
I exhaled a breath. “That’s…wow. Okay. There’s a lot to unpack there. There’s a Priest of Katashi here. What’s he thinking?”
“He’s probably hoping that the temple will support the fact that technically, cursed pairs do not have to be executed. There’s precedent for it.”
I snorted. “Not a good strategy, unless this particular priest is…”
“Famously liberal? I already checked into that. Akane Saito. She’s a reformer, at least later in life. Also, notably, an ancestor of Haruka Saito, who Keras encountered in that tournament in Edria. The archduke very likely contacted Akane with hopes that she’d make a public ruling of support. A direct and public statement that the cursed pair is ‘approved’ by Katashi might help prevent the emperor from, say, taking his title away due to heresy.”
I frowned, thinking back. “Wasn’t Akane Saito executed for heresy when she tried to make some kind of schism in the priesthood?”
“Not yet she wasn’t. But I suspect she’s already famous at this point. It’s possible that her eventual end was tied to this event.”
I exhaled a deep breath. “Okay. Does she currently have the authority to make a statement to authorize a cursed pair to…well, exist?”
Sera shook her head. “I don’t know yet. I didn’t catch her rank. She’s not the hierophant, certainly, so she could be overruled.”
I exhaled a breath. “Okay. So we should brace for both political and religious conflicts over all this. Lovely. Wait, so did you actually meet the daughters?”
Sera nodded. “Of course. While you freeze hearts, I warm them.”
“And what’s their own disposition?”
“An excellent question. Emma Verena is the very model of a modern seventeen-year-old. She’s excited about the party and her biggest worries were picking exactly the perfect dress and figuring out who to dance with. The answer is me, by the way. I will be dancing with her tonight.”
“You move quickly.” I gave her an appreciative nod.
“A noblewoman has to have aspirations, doesn’t she? And I would make an excellent archduchess.”
I rolled my eyes. “Unless you plan to add Chronomancer to your attunement list, I don’t think you’ll be making that title last very long. More importantly, there are no other siblings, then?”
“No. Just the two daughters. And the mother is dead, so don’t ask.”
“…And you think they’re going to let you marry Emma? What about keeping the house going?”
Sera snorted. “We can always adopt. Or have other spouses. Or maybe get ourselves a harem? I saw a couple of guys from Caelford that—”
“Question retracted.” I exhaled a breath. “What can you tell me about the other sister?”
“Ah.” Sera glanced from side-to-side, strangely nervous, before looking back to me. “She’s the more difficult of the two. Emery is the sickly one and undoubtedly the cursed of the pair.”
“Their parents named a cursed pair Emma and Emery? What kind of sadists are they?”
Sera snorted. “Don’t worry, they’ll be perfectly easy to tell apart. Emma is tanned and athletic, with frankly enviable musculature. Emery looks like she’s never seen a day in the sun.”
“You said Emery is sickly? How bad?”
“She has difficulty even walking on her own for significant distances. Fortunately, when she stumbled upstairs, Mara was there to catch her. She now appears to have acquired her own personal hero.”
I smiled at the thought. “Good. Is that why Mara missed the duel?”
“It is. When last I checked, Mara was regaling Emery with tales of high adventure.”
“That’s good…because I’ve noted some concerning patterns with this place, and I think my initial impressions on the scenario goal might have been off.”
“Oh?” Sera raised an eyebrow. “I was assuming we were supposed to make a good impression with the locals. The first trap would have been preparing only one gift, rather than two, if we assumed there was only one daughter. And beyond that, avoid being killed in the various intrigues in place.”
I hadn’t even considered the idea of multiple gifts yet — I’d been too distracted by something I thought was more pressing. “That all might be a part of it, but based on the books and the crafting rooms…I think we might have gotten the genre of this party wrong.”
“The genre? What do you mean?”
Now I was the one glancing to the side nervously. “The titles of the books and the materials in the crafting rooms have a common element: thieves and assassins. I don’t think we’re here to have fun banter and get you an archduchess title, Sera.”
She shrugged. “That’d be an added benefit, but please, continue with your dramatic reveal.”
“This,” I spun to make an encompassing gesture toward the party at a whole, “isn’t a political fantasy, a romance, or even a thriller. We’ve walked straight into the middle of a murder mystery.”
“But Corin, is it really a murder mystery if there hasn’t been a murder yet?” Just as she finished saying that, every light in the building died at once, plunging us into utter darkness. “Oh.” After a pause, Sera added, “So much for my archduchy.”
Chapter XIV – True or False
Distant screams interrupted my undoubtedly witty reply. I couldn’t tell where they originated from, but it wasn’t nearby. I also couldn’t tell if they were “ack, I’m being stabbed” screams or merely “the lights went out suddenly” screams. Those are surprisingly difficult to discern without seeing the source.
My sword sang out of my scabbard as I took a defensive stance. The aura along Selys-Lyann’s blade wasn’t much of a light source, but it was better than nothing.
Sera had a much better approach. “Vanniv, I summon you.”
The karvensi appeared immediately, scanning the area. “Sera! You lovely creature. Why is it so dark and quiet?”
“Party. Possible murder. Need fire,” she instructed him.
“Ah, one of those parties.” He lifted a hand, conjuring a ball of fire, then taking a closer look at the area. “Did…you just have me conjure fire in a library?”
“Priorities, Vanniv. Now, stay quiet a moment and guard us.”
With the light that Vanniv provided, I got a better look at the library itself. We weren’t the only ones present, and I saw a few other people pressing themselves into corners and taking defensive positions. Others looked less bothered, simply continuing to quietly chat. One white-haired guy just kept reading a book. He looked weirdly familiar, but not in a way I could place.
I didn’t see the librarian, but in honesty, I didn’t know what the librarian looked like. I’d kind of ignored Patrick’s whole exchange with them.
The most important part was that I didn’t see any immediate threats. “I think we should move. Do you know where the sisters are?”
“I know where they were before the duels. Upstairs.” Sera bit her lip, seeming to deliberate. “Follow me. Vanniv, prepare to intercept any attacks coming in my direction.”
“Of course, of course.” He grinned, waving amiably at some of the cowering partygoers with his free hand, then followed as Sera began to lead the way out of the library.
The party was, predictably, an absolute mess. More screams had followed the first, but I got the distinct impression at least some of them were just people jumping at movements. There couldn’t be that many assassins in one party.
…Could there?
I heard some shouted orders in Edrian, but I couldn’t understand them. My Edrian was rusty at best, and the voice itself was distant.
I cautiously scanned from left to right as Sera led us through the building. We past several groups that were clustered together in defe
nsive positions, often with weapons drawn. House guards had blocked the front door, and I could see some pushing through the house, but no one attempted to stop us.
Sera moved at a rapid pace, not quite running, but walking fast. She took us up a stairway, which made me nervous — she didn’t have Ceris drawn (presumably because it was too conspicuous), and if someone attacked, an unarmed fighter being in the front of the group was bad.
A pair of guards ran toward us down the stairs, but mercifully, they simply rushed past as we stepped out of their path.
I tensed, moving rapidly to catch up to her. “Sera, maybe I should—”
“We’re almost there, keep moving.” We reached a landing at the second floor and she stepped off the stairwell. There were three directions to go on this floor — the landing had paths to the left and right and there was a large set of double doors straight ahead. Sera moved to the left, moving with certainty toward a smaller door at the end of a hallway. The doorway was open wide — and by that, I mean that the door itself had been ripped out of the frame entirely, then tossed aside with casual ease.
Sera rushed toward the door.
“You’re gonna want to stop right there.”
The inside of the room was tough to see from my angle and in the relative dark, but the basic features were clear enough. It was a noblewoman’s bedroom, but in utter disarray. Objects were strewn over the floor, and toward the back, I could barely make out the forms of two figures. A frail young woman had her back pressed against the far wall, cowering.
“S’okay, Emery. Doesn’t matter how many of them there are. I’ll protect you.” Standing in front of the cowering woman in a defensive stance was a warrior with a bloodied lip and bleeding marks all across her arms. A blade of pure mana extended from her right hand as Sera continued to approach, then vanished the moment Vanniv got close enough to bring the fire and illuminate us.
“Sera. Vanniv.” Mara lowered her bleeding arms immediately. “And Corin, too. That’s better.”
The woman behind her let out an ‘eep’ and shrank back further as we continued walking toward them.
“Hey, hey. It’s okay.” Mara turned toward the woman behind her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You remember Sera, right? That’s just her summon and her brother.”
Emery Verena gave Mara an uncertain look. “I’m…if you’re sure.”
“It’s fine. I practically work for these two, but you can stay behind me if you’d like.”
Emery nodded rapidly.
Mara turned back toward us, resuming a more casual defensive posture in front of the terrified noble. “Sera, status?”
“Party is a mess. Lights out everywhere. Assassins came for her?”
“Yep. Two of them. Don’t think they expected me to be here. Had a bit of a scuffle. One vanished, the other jump belled out.”
I took a moment to process that. “Vanished? Like invisibility?”
She shook her head. “Don’t think so. I hit him real hard, then he poofed out. Think he was a shadow construct, simulacra, or something like it. Heard screams from other rooms, don’t think Emery was the only target.”
“My sister.” Emery’s eyes widened. “We have to…”
“I’ll go for her,” Sera offered. “Corin, can you get Mara healed?”
I winced. “I’ll throw a regen spell on her, but my manual healing skills are awful.”
“I’ll take whatever you’ve got.” Mara extended her arms. “Sigil is working, but it still hurts, you know?”
I walked closer, putting a hand on Mara’s. “Lesser Regeneration.” My hand flashed with green mana. “Emery, you hurt?”
She shook her head silently.
I turned to find Sera and Vanniv on their way out of the room. “We’re going. Corin, stay with Mara in case reinforcements show up. And in case she’s poisoned.”
I blinked. I hadn’t considered poison, and if I’m being honest, my regeneration spell probably made poison worse. “Uh, I don’t really have any way to good way to detect or treat poison.”
“Figure it out. I’m going now.” Sera left the room, Vanniv trailing behind her and carrying our only source of light.
I groaned. “Okay. Mara, do you feel poisoned?”
“Little lightheaded, but leaning ‘no’. Think you could guard the door a sec while I wrap my arms?”
“Yep.” I headed to stand near the doorway, Selys-Lyann in hand. While Mara worked on wrapping her injuries, I mentally searched through my options for poison diagnosis and treatment. There weren’t really any good generalized antidotes that handled all forms of poison, so I didn’t have any. Water magic was generally the most effective for that sort of thing, followed by light magic. I couldn’t use either, and neither could Mara.
Light magic is available at Citrine-level for my Arbiter attunement. I could…no. That’s too much of a gamble, even for me. I don’t understand it well enough yet.
I did have other useful things I could do, though.
With my other hand, I reached into my bag, flipped open the Jaden Box, and whispered. “Retrieve lantern.”
A lantern appeared. I set it down, then retrieved flint and steel from my pack to light it.
I took a few steps away from the doorway, setting Selys-Lyann down, then lit the lantern. I left the lantern in the center of the room, picked my sword up, and then walked back to the doorway to resume guarding. “Don’t think I have any good poison treatment options.”
“I’ll help.” Emery put her hands on Mara’s injured arms. A blue glow washed over the room, brighter than the lantern light. A moment later, Mara stepped forward to catch Emery as the frail woman slumped toward the floor.
“Emery! You didn’t have to do that. We don’t even know if I’m poisoned!”
“Need to…help you…somehow.” Emery’s voice was barely audible. “You…saved me.”
Then Emery fainted.
Mara grunted, lifting Emery and setting her on a nearby bed. Normally, carrying the frail woman wouldn’t have bothered Mara in the slightest, but Mara was still dealing with open arm wounds.
“She okay?” I asked, mentally calculating mana costs. A basic poison-curing water spell shouldn’t have been nearly expensive enough to cause someone to faint. Presumably, Emery had just cast something that was above her safe mana threshold…and probably from a heart mark, given that she’d fainted. That was bad.
Mara winced, lowering her head to Emery’s chest. “Heart is beating. She didn’t have to…ugh.”
“Switch places real quick. I’ll give her some mana, might help stabilize her.”
Mara moved to the doorway, then I moved to the bedside. A quick Detect Aura showed a heart mark, as I’d suspected. It was harder to recharge someone’s mana without direct contact, but given the location, I settled for putting a hand on her forehead and concentrating. A brief activation of my Arbiter attunement later, I’d transferred about ten mana into Emery.
Briefly, I missed my mana watch. If we had it, I could have tested her mana level, then better adjudicated how much mana to safely give her.
Maybe I should make another one. It wouldn’t be difficult, but…
Mara waved me over to the door. I took up my defensive position, then Mara swapped back to sitting by the bed.
“Foolish girl. Don’t you die on me.” She squeezed Emery’s hand.
Then, together, we waited in the lantern light.
***
I don’t know the technical term for a group of dozens of guards. I’m going to go with “swarm”, because that’s what it felt like when they arrived at the bedroom door a few tense minutes later. They escorted the absolute mammoth of a man that I’d earlier identified as Archduke Verena, his bright yellow aura flaring violently around him.
I stood calmly in the doorway as he shot forward. “Cadence. Stand down, now.”
After a tense moment while I debated if he could be an imposter, I lowered my sword. He raised a hand, and—
“It’s okay
, Father. He’s protecting me.” Emery’s voice was quiet, but audible. I hadn’t even realized she’d woken up.
His hand came down.
Was he about to take a cheap shot at me?
My eyes narrowed. He gave no confirmation of his prior intent, he simply gave me a nod and brushed past me. His expression noticeably softened when he saw his daughter unharmed.
“Your sister?” He asked.
“I don’t know. Cadence’s sister went to check. Please don’t attack her.”
The archduke spun toward his guards, snapping his fingers and making a waving gesture. A group of the guard broke off immediately, only a pair of them remaining behind with the archduke.
Archduke Verena spun toward me. “You will tell me what you know. Right now.”
“Someone attacked her,” I jerked a thumb at the archduke’s daughter, “but my friend fought the assailant off. My sister went to check on her sister after I arrived at your daughter’s request.”
“Is this true?” The archduke asked his daughter.
“Y—yes, father. Mara was very brave.” Emery cast another quick glance in Mara’s direction.
The archduke nodded. “You have my gratitude, young miss.”
Mara blushed brightly. “Just doin’ what’s right, m’lord archduke.”
That wasn’t quite the right form of address, but the archduke didn’t seem to mind. He was more focused on immediate matters. “You know nothing of the attackers?”
It was a pointed question, backed by a sudden and unnecessary flare of the archduke’s aura for effect.
Mara hesitated, so I answered. Fortunately, my answer was an honest one. “No. Not the slightest idea.”
“We shall see. You two, wait here and assist young Master Cadence and Miss…Mara, was it…with guarding the room. I will see to the rest of the household.” The archduke spun with a dramatic flourish of his cape and exited the room.
Then we waited. The guards were tense, but not strictly unfriendly. Emery kept quiet, remaining in her bed, looking understandably terrified.
After another couple minutes, the lights came back on. We didn’t relax. When Archduke Verena swept back into the room, trailing an Emery-lookalike close behind him, Emery showed uncharacteristic energy when she shot to her feet and rushed toward the girl that was undoubtedly her sister.
