AO 7 Ch 35

“Come in!" I shouted. Deciding that if no one else was going to, I would dig into the sandwiches. I just had to take the top layer off so I could find ones with no or minimal Maribelle blood. Then, after a moment, I realized it didn't matter. They'd just be a little extra salty and metallic.

Really, it was perfect murder mystery food.

"Hello," A Vel'shae greeted me at the door. "Crown Princess Gabriella Zenov would like to invite you for dinner tonight. And in addition to dinner, a small meeting in the dining room beforehand."

I smiled at Vel'shae. "Okay, then can I assume dinner is going to be a larger audience?"

"Of course, Mage Aldis…." He frowned. "Lord Aldis, I must confess I am unsure of the proper term that should be used for you."

"The most fantasti..." I started but was cut off by Emlyn.

"Just Arden. He doesn't like formalities." She glared at me with big eyes, daring me to say whatever it was I had begun in order to mess with the man. It was a good thing that I loved Emlyn, considering her penchant for spoiling some of my fun. Which was fun in its own way too.

"Yeah, that's fine," I said, sitting back and enjoying my sandwich. "Hungry? I'm sure you guys are running around non-stop." I smiled at Vel'shae.

"We're certainly being kept busy, especially as the heirs work through who will take over.” He acknowledged.

“And of course, the secret room and investigating that too, right?" I said, probing for answers.

The Vel’shae paused, tilting his head to the side. "Secret room?"

"Yeah, the one I found. I showed it to two Vel'shae. Dark shadowy ghouls popped out when I made a big whole in the wall. You know, the one in the center of the palace." I waved my hand, letting him fill in pieces, not entirely sure how I was going to describe it better.

"The center of the palace... The Hall of Contemplation?" he said with a frown at me. "About a month ago, the Queen particularly enjoyed pacing the empty hall and thinking through some of her larger decisions."

I nearly leapt out of my chair and spilled my tea. "You're saying that the empty hall at the center of the palace? The Queen was regularly visiting it prior to her demise?" I asked for urgent clarification.

"Yes, and she has dubbed it the Hall of Contemplation. We will likely add several images of her as well as a name for the hall and the palace once things return to any semblance of regularity. And the Hall of Contemplation is currently whole.”

“There's not a giant wall that's been removed and showing a creepy room full of people's odds and ends beyond it?" I asked, growing increasingly alarmed.

The Vel’shae blinked at me as if I had a curious condition. "The Hall of Contemplation is as it was and likely will be for some time, Mage Arden. Now, I must ask, do you accept the invitation to dinner and drinks beforehand privately with the crown princess?" He spoke to me like I was ill and he wanted out of the room, lest he catch it.

"You sure bet I do," I said with a big grin. "And while you're at it, can you ask about the Hall of Contemplation? I just want to make sure it's not like I talked to one group of Vel’shae and you belong to another." I offered.

The guard shook his head. "We are regularly meeting and informing each other of the ongoings. It is terrible that the vying for the throne has already caused several deaths amongst the family and we are doing our best to mitigate unnecessary and cowardly actions of poisoning."

"Poisoning?" I asked, staring at the Vel'shae intensely.

"That's how the princess died in the greeting hall.” He said.

“And the other one, while we were all waiting for you to investigate?" I asked.

The Vel'shae shook his head sadly. "It is a terrible tragedy, but I do regret to inform you that two more potential heirs have passed away to the same horrid poison." 

My smile became incredibly stiff. I was a terrible liar. "Oh!" My voice jumped an octave. "Yes, terrible poisonings. That's exactly what's happening. And you have already completed your investigations of those deaths?" I asked. 

The Vel'shae nodded.

"Great, wonderful. Yes, I will be there for drinks. Though I do ask for a certain Vel'shae." I frowned, thinking of the name. "Talia, I believe it was. She was with me earlier, and I had a few follow-up questions." 

"I will send for her at once," the Vel'shae said with his head held high and left the room, like he didn't desire to be spending any more time with me.

The dismissal was a little rude, but I was too focused on the juicy new details to my murder mystery. I spun back around to my group.

"Yes, Ard, we all heard that. Something is clearly wrong with the Vel'shae." Emlyn stated, ruining my moment to inform them of all I had just discerned.

I forgave Emlyn for many, many things. But I frowned at her for spoiling my chance to squeal about the next step of the murder mystery. That was almost unforgivable. 

"Anyway," Emlyn said, "if you missed it, Ard, we're going to meet Gabriella. And since she was the actual crown heir, there's a good chance that she actually has access to all of the things you could ever want to know about your father." Emlyn gave me a knowing look.

"Oh!" My annoyance faded away. "That's a really good point.”

“I thought you might like that one." Emlyn smirked and the two of us stared at each other for a long moment. “And yes, I am sorry.”

“Sorry for what?" I said and turned slightly away from her, pouting. 

"Ruining your big reveal. I saw you deflate. But yes, we all can see that something is wrong with the Vel’shae." She droned, but refused to meet my eyes. 

"Thank you for the apology. But now that we’ve acknowledged that my moment was ruined, I think I should get a redo.” The others around the room shrugged, and that was all the invitation I needed.

I threw my arms out wide. “Something is clearly wrong with the Vel'shae," I said, a stone smoking pipe appearing in my hand. I nibbled at the end thoughtfully. 

"Hold on, what are you doing?" Emlyn asked, tilting her head to the side.

"In all the stories I have heard about detectives, they have a pipe, a magnifying glass, a weird twirly hat, something to make them distinguished and mysterious." I replied. “Especially when they need to think about the mystery.”

Emlyn shared the look with the other anchors, as if checking to make sure they were all seeing the same thing. Not that it mattered, we had a murder mystery to solve.

"Anyway, something is clearly wrong with the Vel'shae, and it must be connected to all of the troubles we've been having thus far. Whoever is doing these attacks clearly has far more delicate manipulations than we've seen thus far. I'm not even certain we can trust people's memories at this rate.” I chewed on the pipe, which I thought would look kind of cool, but I immediately regretted the gritty texture between my teeth.

"Are you going to lose your teeth that way?" Zuri said. 

"I know. I'm horribly regretting it, but I'm already committed to the bit. Can’t back down now." I replied.

"Well, as long as you know," Zuri shrugged. "Also, regrowing teeth is so incredibly itchy. I do not ever recommend it." 

I looked down the pipe and thought perhaps I could let this one go and try to find a different signature as I solved my murder mysteries. Because hopefully this wouldn’t be the last. What if it was? The regret of not being able to perfect my act in this single one would be a travesty.

Before we could even move on to the next subject, much less finish lunch, there was a loud banging on my door. 

"Oh, please come in," I said, sneaking three finger sandwiches in the blink of an eye and tossing the pipe over my shoulder. 

Arthur and a small entourage were standing on the other side of the door. Unlike the other mages I had met so far, Arthur had a sharper appearance. His hair was cut short sloppily, like he simply wanted it out of the way. He had a sense of violence around him.

I wouldn't say he was dumb, but he certainly seemed more likely to find a book as a convenient cudgel than a tome of knowledge. In many ways he was a man after my own heart, though far more violent than I preferred.

"I'm sorry, have I interrupted lunch? I would have thought you would have already had it by now." He said, looking at the table.

"Me too. But it seems my door's quite busy. Don't let that stop you, though," I said as he already began walking in. 

"Then don't mind if I do." He slipped in and nabbed a couple of sandwiches for himself. Turning them over and inspecting them before nibbling on one. "I take it the talks with Augustus didn't go well then, given how short they were." He offered, digging for information.

I raised an eyebrow. "Did you have someone watching Eva's room?"

"Of course," he said, not even bothering to deny the concept. "The best way through a battlefield is one where you know the movements of your enemies. I expected a man of your caliber having gone to war to understand such matters."

I shrugged. "I was less a general and more of a scalpel. Going behind enemy lines and riling up Garrish was my main role, as well as assassinating a number of key targets.” I had talked to Zuri enough that I was pretty sure I could pull off talking over those details with a man of Arthur’s experience.

Arthur studied me. “Those who have to go the furthest alone are often the best. Though they're still soldiers and the decisions that soldiers and generals make are from entirely different perspectives." Arthur's grin faded and he sat back. "So I have to ask you, Arden, in all of this, do you want to become a general? Or are you fine taking orders?" His eyes gleamed. 

"Well to answer your first question that I never quite got around to, Augustus' offer was okay," I waffled a hand. "He's a little too academic and not enough experience. He has good intentions, but I feel like he's destined for failure. As for you, it might be the opposite.”

Arthur frowned and just that motion was enough to connect his two brows together, he really needed to trim back that center section, it made him look like an idiot. "I have too much experience?”

Never mind, he might be one. I guess I’ll have to spell this one out a little more slowly.

“The situation is changing rather rapidly. Avente and Garrish are going to go through some rough times, times that are going to take some innovation that I saw in Augustus' proposal. Even if he was overly optimistic, he at least was thinking ahead and trying to solve the root causes rather than just sending a life mage and calling the plague cured." I answered.

"Leading is an ever-changing challenge," Arthur said. "It takes action to solve it, of which I must confess I am incredibly experienced in."

Arthur had to be one of the tallest amongst the Zenovs I'd seen, and his shoulders were more square, perhaps that came part and parcel with wearing armor day in and day out and practicing with the sword even though he was a mage. I saw plenty of determination in him, but to me he was the kind of person where everything simply looked like a nail and just needed a good whack to fix. 

Augustus was the entire opposite, where every nail needed a council to deliberate over and receive a thousand bids before he would be able to proceed forward.

The truth was, being a monarch came with heavier responsibility than I think any of them truly realized or else they wouldn’t have such a narrow range of actions. Neither of them were fit for the job. But it was probably too soon to say that out loud.

“Well, I think you've done quite well for yourself. At least, according to the exploits Eva has filled me in on.” I offered, without much to back it up. I had not listened to a single thing they’d rambled on about where it regarded Artur’s wartime role. If he quizzed me, then I was going to be dead in the water. However, much to my blessing, he only grinned and puffed his chest up higher. 

“Of course! It is my great honor to support Zenovia and its many endeavors.” He sat a little taller.

“Though I do have to ask. If you were out chasing pirates as Gabriella said, does that mean you did not participate in the three-way conflict between Avente, Garrish, and Zenovia?” I asked, finding that point odd.

“Well, it wasn't that I didn't participate. It was just that my focus had shifted over the course of everything. And my attention was needed far more on the pirates rather than staring across lines at enemy soldiers.”

I nodded. “So, the fight with the greatest stake in it for your kingdom was too boring for you to keep active in?”

Arthur's eyes flashed dangerously. “We all have our roles. I expect your own contributions were stipulated on keeping yourself alive. After all, if you were being chased by two kings and sent across enemy lines to shield yourself from the one at home, they absolutely would never have allowed you to die fighting the one abroad.”

“I don't think they had much choice in the matter,” I said. “They had given me a fair amount of autonomy, and it is thanks to my quick decision making that I was able to come out and solve the war.”

Arthur narrowed his eyes at me. The war hound realized I was putting myself above him when it came to his own ‘specialty’.

For all of his bravado and supposed experience, I realized there was also a good chance that had left the more dangerous front lines, not simply out of boredom. But to hunt pirates, a relatively easy target for a mage, Vel'shae and anchors to tear through like wet tissue paper.

It was to protect him and still accumulate merits.

“I see.” Arthur narrowed his eyes. “We'll have to discuss more of this later. I think my elder sister is putting together a dinner tonight. I am sure you will be attending,” Arthur said, standing up, suddenly ready to leave. “And if you don't join my side, do know that there is no safety in neutrality. Should fighting occur amongst my siblings, spells will fling in every direction with no eyes and no mercy for those who might get caught off guard.” 

“I thank you for the warning, but I don't think I'm as fragile as you're suggesting. Otherwise, you wouldn't be here.” I called his bluff and bluster.

At this point I wasn’t sure what the value of the warrior who avoided the war as a leader really was.

“We'll see about that. Don't be late to dinner tonight, Ard. This is going to be a dinner that no one amongst the Zenovia will be able to forget.” Arthur told me.

I started laughing, which was apparently not the reaction he was expecting. 

"Excuse me?" He frowned.

"Oh, please. The ominous, 'this-is-a-dinner-not-to-forget' is just pure icing. But I respect the attempt to increase the drama." I leaned back, grabbing a finger sandwich and savoring it along with the scents of a beautiful murder mystery. "Oh, and do be careful, Arthur. The Vel'shae are acting funny. Conversations I had with them previously seem to have been forgotten. And now they're all talking as if the princesses were poisoned rather than having their souls destroyed." 

Arthur tilted his head curiously. "Since when were their souls destroyed?" 

"Since…” I started to say before becoming unsure how to continue. "Wait, Arthur. Do you remember the princess that foamed at the mouth and fell during your and Gabriella's argument? I was then allowed to inspect her by the Vel'shae and discovered that her soul had, in fact, been attacked, destroyed, and in the same manner as the late queen." 

Arthur's brows pinched down even further as he stared at me. "That's impossible. There's no way I would forget a detail like that." 

He glanced at one of his entourage, a woman with round spectacles who immediately opened a book and ran her finger through it, only to gasp and lean close to whisper in Arthur's ear. 

"If you do find an issue with your memory," I smiled at him, already having a fairly good idea what the woman was whispering in his ear, "then please seek me out to set it straight. There are strange events afoot in the palace, and it might be better to double check, rather than rushing to any conclusion." 

"I understand your concern, Arden, but there is nothing wrong. I must have misunderstood the question. Now, if you'll excuse me," he swept out of my room, and for the first time I realized he had a badass cape trailing him. 

"Hey, Em," I turned around quickly to get her attention. I didn’t even have to point to what had me so excited.

"No," she said without a moment's thought.

“You don't even know for sure what I was going to say.” I frowned. 

"I don't, yet I can tell you the answer regardless." Emlyn grinned at me. "No cape for you." 

"But," I tried, and she held up a finger.

"Ard, eat your sandwiches. We are all well aware that something is wrong with not only the Vel'shae, but it seems the heirs are affected as well." 

Emlyn glanced over at Eva.

"Do you think she was poisoned?" Emlyn asked, and Eva shook her head. 

I smiled, glad Eva didn’t have the memory problem that seemed to be going around. Which meant that being with us was at least sheltering her.

“If this is happening to Arthur, that means whatever this is," Emlyn gestured vaguely around her, "it's affecting everyone. And that is decently concerning.”

“If everyone's having their memory altered or unable to see the truth, then we have no allies within the palace.” Zuri agreed.

"I'm more concerned about how this is happening," I said. "It's terrifying that someone might be playing with other people's heads. If we can find out the how, we can also figure out how to trust people again," I mused, recalling Zuri's earlier point. "I'm all for team 'screw around and find out', but there's not a lot we can do if everyone is oblivious to the problem."

Just then, Ditzy came out with more small finger sandwiches.

"Has the second guest already left?" She asked, noticing the absence.

"Blame Ard," Emlyn said, without a shred of mercy.

"In fairness, he took one look at me and ran for the hills." I puffed myself up.

Emlyn snorted. "The day you all start believing Ard over me is the day I quit."

"Harsh," I said, turning to stare at Emlyn. “I mean, just because it's true doesn't mean it's not hurtful." I feigned being wounded.

"Well, if anyone else wants to take this seriously," Emlyn said, facing the rest of the group, "I'm going to make sure I eat and Ard gets enough food stuffed in him that he doesn't get grumpy before dinner."

I would have pitched a fit at her words but my stomach suddenly betrayed me. It grumbled like a bear fresh out of hibernation.

Emlyn raised an eyebrow at me in challenge.

"Fine, food first," I conceded, feeling peckish after only grazing between the two meetings.