White Flower, Black Feather

Interlude 8 – Consequences

Four other knights were in the same room as Charles and the corpses of the assassin and their lord. Both naked bodies were on different stone tables, there was a small table between them, and a big furnace was prepared to burn the bodies, it was making the stone room painfully hot

Charles was looking at the ground near the door, more uncomfortable due to the occasional stares of the others, than from the heat, but…

‘I failed everyone… and spouted that nonsense…’ he had lied to everyone… that was the thing that was bothering him the most ‘But the alternative…’ the only thing he had been truthful, was about the power of the snake that killed a boar… without mentioning the Title that he got by training the snake

He had lied to protect the honor of the house Justice… probably the only person in the whole city that would have done that, instead of admitting that his lord was making a deal with… them…

Loud steps came from the hallway outside the room and soon the door opened to let a tall man in green robes inside the room, the markings on his sleeves said that the man was a master alchemist, he also was carrying a big leather bag

“Elder Grim, thanks for coming” one of the knights, the oldest one, spoke to the man and offered to take the bag

“It’s my duty…” the tall man stopped the knight with a gesture and moved to the small table placing the bag on it, and inhaled deeply. Something that everyone else was trying to avoid “I know this smell…” he glared at the body of the assassin, making the knights on the room shudder… except for one…

Charles was less affected than the others… the encounter in the forest had affected him deeply, and he was just staring at Grim, awaiting his judgment

Grim turned and looked at Charles in the eyes, the out of shape man managed to keep his stare without looking away

“Your statement was that this man stabbed at lord Justice, on his missing limb, and that a combination of a snake and a boar, are the reason the bodies look like this… correct?” Charles could feel a pressure coming from the man

“T-that is what I said…” he managed to speak, just because the clash with the snake had a similar intensity to what he was feeling from Grim

‘Have I gone insane…?’ that wasn't the first time he had asked himself that, on the few hours that had passed since the death of his lord…

Grim nodded and pulled out a blunt dagger out of his bag

“The easiest way to confirm the identity of the assassin…” he moved to the side where the body had the tattoo and two knights followed him “Is to touch this drawing with the pommel of one of their daggers…” he did so, and the drawing in the arm opened its mouth and a tongued surrounded the toad “Not all of them have this kind of daggers…”

The two knights flinched and took a step back, surprised at the tattoo changing in front of them

“He is one of them…” the voice of the alchemist turned steely… Grim moved to the bag again, placing the dagger in it, and now taking out a smaller sharp knife, a vial and a wooden cup, before moving to the other corpse “Please raise the torso…”

The other two knights were the ones that did that, and Grim did a small cut on the back, letting the thick, foul smelling blood, slowly drip into the cup. Grim looked surprised and the other two knights gagged, barely managing to keep decorum

“You can lower it… the blood is…” Grim moved near the fire and opened the vial, pouring the contents on the cup

He stared at it for a few moments, before glaring at it as the blood started to bubble, and threw it to the fire, making the fire inside of the furnace, glow green for a few seconds

“Lord Justice… was poisoned by him… by them…” he also threw the bloody knife inside the fire and turned around. The knights took a step back seeing the anger on his face “I must apologize, but the body must be burned now. This…” he pointed to the assassin, holding his tongue for a moment before continuing “Used an extremely pure version of the poison they use…”

“But…!” Charles couldn’t stop himself and nearly spoke the truth, leaving his mouth moving like a fish out of the water

The oldest of the other knights placed a hand on his shoulder before speaking

“Charles… I know how loyal you are… but with the killer actually being one of them…” he looked at the alchemist “We don’t have time for a ceremony, correct?”

“It’s better to prevent… this poison and Grudge go hand in hand…” he looked angry and tense, before getting out a couple of green vials from the bag “Pour one of this on both tables once they are free, will make the cleaning safer…”

The knight that took the vials nodded energetically

“Thanks for your time Elder Grim…!”

The tall man just nodded and took the bag before walking away… there was an awkward silence once the man was gone…

“Sorry for doubting you Charles…” the oldest one was the first to apologize, and was echoed by the others “I… I just…” he looked away “I would have tried to die instead of…”

“I tried…” Charles said, legs trembling and tears appearing on his eyes “Believe me… I tried…!” he started to tremble and the knight softly gripped his shoulder

“Rest… we’ll take care of this…”

The bodyguard nodded, cleaning his eyes and leaving the room

“He… really believes… that our lord was a good person… doesn’t he?” one of the other three spoke

“Yes… must have been because all the tales of the… Sword of Justice…” the knights looked at each other “Now there is only one baby that can use it… Is any of you going to remain with lady Arrow…?”

All of them shuddered, but remained quiet

“Lets finish this… I need a stiff drink…” the older knight sighed, knowing that he couldn’t remain under her either…

-----

Soon Charles found Lady Arrow on the vestibule of her flamboyant house, she was followed by her personal maid and a couple of young bodyguards, she was prepared to go out and quickly he went to one knee on the carpet…

“L-lady Arrow… I…” out of breath because he was running…

“Ah… the one that brought the corpses back…” she looked bored at his presence “What now…?”

“E-elder Grim… confirmed my words…” he was looking at the floor, trying to regain his breath

The yellow dressed widow didn’t showed any outward emotion, even if the two bodyguards looked astonished, but just like them, she was just as confused…

The maid didn’t showed any emotion on her face…

‘He was saying the truth…?!’ no one had believed Charles since most nobles and those that worked under them learned to figure out lies… ‘HOW?!’ and she was particularly skilled at that…

“I see… I’ll speak with the others later…” she gestured for him to get away

“Please my lady…! Let me protect…! The last heirs of the house Justice…!” he managed to breath out

“Like you protected their father…?” her words weren’t venomous even if her face was. She was secretly amused by how his face twisted in pain

Charles took a deep breath and managed to squeak out

“I will get better!” he started “I’ll be the best knight of both houses! I swear to all the gods-!”

Ding

A sharp pain struck the mind of the knight, making him scream and fall to the ground

Both bodyguards moved to help him, while both women were emotionless, but the Lady was enjoying his pain deeply…

After a few moments Charles recovered enough to sit, and saw the notification

“Ah…” before he clutched his chest as a cold fear spread in it “I… whisper…”

Again, only the women didn’t showed surprise at his words

“Then, if it’s real, I’ll consider it…” she pointed to the bodyguards “You, take him to the temples, and you confirm what Grim said…” she turned around and started to climb the stairs “Not in the mood for a walk anymore…”

-----

Later that night, and deep under the city, a dark ritual was taking shape

Twenty men and women clad in black, were watching their leader chanting in front of a stone altar holding his blunt dagger. The tip of it was aiming at a screaming child that was tied to the stone by dark tendrils of energy coming out of it

Another terrified child was being held nearby by a skeleton

The room was too dark for them to see, but the adults in the room didn’t needed light to see what was happening

The only other noise in the room was one of those adults crying, while saying the word ‘Skin’ over and over

With his chant complete, Elder Grim stabbed the child that started to scream even louder as Grim pulled out the weapon. It now was covered by the same kind of energy of the restrains and looked like a sword now

Grim held it with the tip of the blade aiming up and moved to the first of the other adults in the room. The restrained child now was nothing more than a rotting, shuddering skeleton

“Did you sabotaged the plan to obtain Maxwell’s favor, that we made?” he asked the blond Ken

“No” the angry looking aide answered plainly, not bothering to hide his emotions “I also don’t know where he got the poison…”

The tall man moved to the next person and Ken sat on a stone seat waiting for the interrogation to be over

“Did you sabotaged the plan to obtain Maxwell’s favor, that has been in motion for months now…?” the man that he asked yawned before speaking

“Before today I didn’t knew there was a plan involving that waste of space…” he yawned again and Grim asked another question to him

“Have you given a sample of our poison to anyone?”

The man stretched and groaned before speaking again

“It has been two winters since I even used it…” he frowned has the energy making the blade wavered, before he snapped his fingers and continued “Sorry! Three winters…” he yawned again and the blade stopped wavering “I just remembered on who I used my last batch”

Grim looked at the still blade and moved to next person, doing those two questions for everyone in the room…

“Skin… skin…”

“Did you sabotaged the plan to obtain Maxwell’s favor, that has been in motion for months now…?”

“His skin was supposed to be mine!!!” the dark blade wavered at the of answer the man covered with skins…

“Answer the question…”

The eyes under the many layers of skin, recovered some sanity and spoke again

“No… I wanted his skin…” the wavering stopped “And the poison… ruins the Skin…” he sobbed “Skin…”

Besides that incident, the answers of everyone in the room was the same. After being done with the adults Grim moved to the last child

“Answer my question with a lie… or I’ll break your legs…” the child whimpered “What color is the night sky…?”

“W-white-?!”

The energy jumped at the child, that screamed for a few seconds in pain as it burned its flesh away before disappearing. Leaving behind another skeleton

Grim roared in anger, but after a few moments he released the bound Undead

“You three get inside the Spawner below…” he sat on the altar facing the others, once the skeletons moved away “How did that pawn got its hands on our poison…?”

His question was unanswered

“Everyone with access to our supply is here… no one else, can get it…” a woman with a bow on her back spoke next “He was really telling the truth?”

“I did the test myself… his blood reacted exactly… like any other blood tainted by our poison…” Grim took a deep breath “He was hiding something… but it should be the fact that Justice was meeting our pawn…”

“But why would that idiot kill him…?” the woman spoke again “Did Justice realized that we planned to kill him after telling Maxwell…?”

An older woman laughed at what she said

“That coward didn’t even tried to learn how to use a weapon as a child… ‘If I don’t have the affinity, why waste my time…?’ Ha!” she laughed “And I instructed the pawn to only say ‘No’ if he mentioned the temples…” her face went sour

Grim looked at her, waiting for her to continue

“I have no idea why would he kill Justice… I saw nothing on him that hinted at a betrayal either…”

“The bodyguard was supposed to die, right?” the man to her side asked “Could it be that they pretended to be fighting, to make him get closer and then kill him?” the woman sighed

“That still doesn’t explains the poison” and calmly explained the problem with his idea

Everyone was silent after she finished talking

“Should we interrogate the bodyguard?” Ken asked at the people in the room

“He went back to Arrow’s then got a whisper” the yawning man answered while pointing up “Bad idea…”

Ken frowned and nodded. The truth wasn't worth the risk, of getting more attention from the gods…

“Then our plans remains as they were…” Grim declared and everyone nodded “Ken, you can start that other experiment now” he looked at one of the men in the room after the blond nodded “Titan, the bodyguard mentioned a snake with an affinity for swords, can you go and get it?”

“No” he was massively muscular and nearly three meters tall, speaking with a deep voice near the back of the room “The guild wants me to the north to deal with a Frozen Tusk, that is getting annoying. I depart in the morning and I can’t decline this…” Grim nodded

“Very well… if it’s unavoidable… tomorrow I’ll place a formal request. Lets see if they finally manage to bring a specimen alive…” he looked at everyone in the room one more time “Anything else to say…?”

The room was completely silent for a few seconds

“Then, go. For the glory of our True God…”

All of them echoed his prayer…

…

Somewhere else, above in the city. The personal maid of Arrow was carefully cleaning the bloodied hand of her naked lady

“That new guy is handsome, but far too weak… have his training doubled” she might have sounded disappointed, but she had a wide grin on her face as she looked at the blood on her hand

“Yes my lady”

“What happened with the fat one…?” she asked, just remembering what had happened earlier

“A messenger arrived at sunset. His whisper was confirmed as true, and he will return tomorrow, my lady”

Lady Arrow glared at her maid

“And I wasn't informed because…?”

“You were having fun, my lady” the maid expressionless face turned to look at her lady

And she laughed sinking the fingers, that still had some blood, on her hair and gripped it pulling her closer to her face

“Good… unlike that bitch of your sister, you have learned beautifully” she let go of the maid and slapped her hard, making her fall to the ground

The face of the maid twitched in pain for a moment, before going expressionless again and sitting on the floor to keep cleaning the hand, not bothering with the blood on her face

“And the adventurer with the weird Deed…?” Arrow continued as if nothing had happened

“His group hasn't returned from their last patrol, my lady”

The lady sighed at that

“Then you are going to go three times per day, to make sure we know when he gets here…” once her hand was clean, the maid moved to clean her feet

Crack!

Before getting kicked in the chest, causing a loud sound of breaking bones

“You really need to get better at taking hits…” Arrow raised a finger that had a ring on it and healed the twitching maid “Say… do you realize that if I cut your hair you look like me…?” the other woman sat again and resumed cleaning before answering

“Only an idiot would confuse your perfection, with someone so ugly like me, my lady” that answer made the lady laugh

“I know! I was saying it with the lights off!” she kicked the maid again, and again cackling as she did so

Having to heal her many more times that night…

…

Above the forest and descending from the stars, two ravens took shape out of thin air, as they traveled to the trees below…

Faster that any arrow that could be fired from a human, they scouted the northern side of it until they saw a tree calling for them and the two brothers landed on it

They looked at the branches before nodding to each other. The older stayed on the tree to guide its branches to the best position. While the younger flied away to look for materials to build a nest…

A nest that was going to carry a singular egg…