AO 7 Ch 30

As Zuri stepped into the fray with the new monsters, we learned a lot quite quickly.

For example, I learned that they could lunge surprisingly fast despite the slow shuffle they'd been performing on their approach.

The monsters physically threw their entire body weight forward in a reckless attempt to grab and claw at Zuri.

However, she wasn't so easily caught. Spinning around the first wave of monsters, Zuri’s two blades slashed deeply into each of them, only to let out a burst of light that burned the monsters and made them stagger back.

More pooled out from the shadows and gained physical form as they flooded the hall.

Aurelia swept in behind her, fire billowing out from her axe as she cut into the first two ghouls. She then turned her attention to the ghouls that had missed Zuri and were still recovering. Meanwhile, Maribelle and Emlyn stayed back with me, keeping wary eyes on our Vel'shae companions.

Which, I couldn’t blame them for. The two Vel’shae had gone a little crazy, even if they seemed sane now. 

"Damn it, Missy. I still can't do anything," Ditzy grumbled, her goddess of war spear was out and she was stamping the butt against the ground in frustration. 

"Would you like me to?" Missy asked, batting her lashes at the other goddess. 

"Yes, please," Ditzy harumphed and wrapped her arms around the spear, shoving it between her breasts. She caught me looking a second later with a sly smile spreading across her lips as if to ask ‘is this really the time for you to enjoy them?’.

Missy chuckled and summoned more magic. A blue spear slowly formed in front of her before launching itself down the hall, picking up three ghouls along the way. It hit a wall and exploded in a shower of light that swallowed the monsters.

The ghouls of darkness healed quickly, drawing on the shadows or their fallen comrades. Yet, fire and light seemed to injure them far more than a simple slice.

Ditzy clapped her hands together excitedly. "More, more!" she cheered. 

Their antics aside, I was suitably impressed by my anchors. Zuri and Aurelia were making quick work of the ghouls. Their elements were putting them down even as they massed together to recover and more spilled out from every corner and alcove in the room.

But as I watched, a frown crossed my face. "These aren't very tough," I said, turning back to the exposed doorway. "I don't think they're here to hurt us, just here to stall us long enough..." 

Emlyn joined me in discovering that the continuation of the hall we had unveiled had caught fire. "Don't like it when you're right, Ard," Emlyn spat. 

"I will do us all a favor and just avoid being right in the future," I replied with a roll of my eyes.

"That would be a blessing," Emlyn said. 

However, whoever had started the fire in front of us hadn't done the best job at giving it enough fuel to really get going. I pulled sand from the stone all around me and sent it spraying into the room, smothering the fire, and hopefully keeping much that was inside recoverable.

No sooner had I shifted my focus to putting out the fire did the ghouls cease and a calm return to the hall. It was like whoever had summoned them realized the futility now and had given up.

I tried to reach out and sense any life nearby, but there was nothing. The hidden area of the palace was void of anyone.

The two Vel'shae were still being quiet nearby as if they were still in shock. 

"Comments?" I stared at both of them. 

"None," the uninjured one said grumbly. "However, would you allow us to inspect the room? Or do you fear we'll start another fire? I can already tell you simply don't like being wrong." 

"Promise not to cause trouble?" I asked and held out my pinky, enjoying this moment immensely.

The Vel'shae stared at my outstretched pinky with comical confusion.

"It's a pinky promise," I said, wiggling my pinky at him. 

"I'm aware of the practice. However, I wouldn't say it is standard for agreements in any practical field.” He replied.

"Well, congratulations," I wiggled it again. "You get to be the first to get the super secret four-sphere mage binding agreement. All it requires is your pinky. And of course, the intent towards an honest agreement."

The Vel'shae linked pinkies with me.

The moment we touched, I dove into his soul and briefly touched it to ensure there was no duplicity on his mind. "You pass," I said quickly. "In you go. Time to see what we've found."

The two Vel'shae walked in carefully, their eyes sweeping over every surface. The moment their eyes locked on a stuffed teddy bear Talia gasped and moved forward.

"Do you remember when Princess Fiona lost this and nearly had the Vel'shae and the royal guard turn the palace upside down? The queen nor her servants got a wink of sleep for almost a week." The Vel’shae stated.

The other Vel'shae chuckled before taking in its location and frowning. "But what is it doing here?"

"That is a very good question," the other said, appraising the teddy bear carefully before setting it back down. "And this? Lady Eva, do you recognize the pottery you made your mother as a teenager?"

I turned to my princess to gauge her reaction. There was a hint of recognition, but alongside the look was profound confusion. 

"I think so, but mother said she lost it." Eva stated.

"Well, whoever resided here seems to have a habit of pilfering trinkets it seems." I added before reaching out and swallowing the pottery in my shadow. There was an ill feeling about everything in this room. If there was a purpose behind these collections, then I didn’t want them to have Eva’s.

Knicknacks lined every available surface. I wondered if it was a strange collection or a more nefarious purpose. I wondered if the connection of these items to people in the palace affected their souls?

It was that or the person living here had a very strange hobby.

"So, now that we've found all of this," I gestured at the eclectic horde, "can the Vel'shae do anything to identify who might have been squirreling it all away here?"

The two Vel'shae looked at each other. "I have no recollection of this place even existing," the one said with a sad dip of his head. "Even if you wanted me to find out, who am I supposed to ask? Most of these things were considered lost."

I chuckled. "Good question. What do you think, Eva?"

The princess had moved to one of the closets and opened it. "Well, we can at least get some hints here." She picked around the room. Her mood soured as she threw open the closet to rows of dresses. "At least it's not the princes, we know that.”

There was a low desk with makeup and a large mirror that backed this idea. I went over and ran a finger across it, there was a decent layer of dust on the mirror like it hadn’t been used in quite some time. 

“Unless this is information to throw us off," Emlyn so helpfully muddied the waters even further.

"No, she could be right. We will bring more of our people here and pick this room apart," the Vel'shae promised. However, I had little faith in them after coming to learn of whoever or whatever has been lurking in the palace. Even if their intentions were in the right place, I didn't know if I could trust they were able to act upon what they found.

“There’s not much to go off of here.” Eva said. “The whole place feels like it’s been forgotten.”

There was a heavy layer of dust on it all, like someone had been cooped up here for a very long time, but had left it sit for the last few years.

Which meant they might have mixed in amongst the palace rather than use this place. At least, that was my suspicion. A murder mystery was so exciting.

"Okay, well, at least we uncovered this space and it fits with the attacks. We can guess whoever was living here is connected with them and has been active in the palace for decades. Let's head back." I cast another glance around the room, hoping to sear the details into my mind's eye. I was certain there was something present that would help us identify the murderer, but the more I looked, the less certain I became. 

The knickknacks around the room were, perhaps purposefully, related to nearly every royal within the palace. For now, it would be better to let those more familiar with the royals take guesses and turn all of this perhaps into some sort of pattern.

“Thoughts?” I asked Zuri as we walked away.

“It felt like a collection of trophies,” Zuri glanced over her shoulder at Missy. “Perhaps there’s another meaning to them if this involves a god and their aspect can interact with those trophies.”

The goddess hummed. “Curses come to mind. You often need an object of significance, but most of those are old objects that belonged to adolescents and no longer hold much significance.”

“Meaning, they could have been used before?” I asked, a sudden thought occurring to me. “Eva, did you lose that pot around the time you came into your magic?”

The princess opened her mouth to respond and paused. “My magic came about a month after my mother’s birthday. That had been a gift for her.”

Missy, Zuri and I all shared a heavy expression.

“Then that means it might have been used to curse new mages.” Missy added thoughtfully.

“Can you tell what the curse might be?” Eva asked hopefully.

Missy shook her head. “Any traces on those objects are long gone. It is something though.” The goddess put a hand on Eva and a small magic circle sank into the princess.

“What was that?” Eva asked me like I’d know.

“I’m guessing something to keep you safe.” I leaned over and kissed Missy. “Thank you.”

“Just doing my part. It won’t hold back whatever might have been set deep inside of her for long, but we’ll get at least a chance to react.” Missy smiled softly at Eva. “Don’t worry.”

Eva didn’t look quite so calm about it. “I will try my best.”

Zuri had been thoughtful through this. “Were there objects belonging to the Vel’shae there?”

“Not that I saw.” Eva must have understood where she was going. “Which means there’s another place responsible for what has happened to the Vel’shae.”

“Another thread to pull on and perhaps make this whole thing unravel. But for now we’ll have to let things unfold until we have a clearer picture.” Zuri said.

I was like a volcano of excitement on the verge of exploding. A murder mystery was everything I could have dreamed of.

We had barely gotten away from that hall and back to the more populous areas of the palace when the commotion reached our ears. People were arguing quite passionately.

"Don't you understand? Regardless of your opinions, the battle for succession has already begun," said Arthur. 

"You can't be serious, Arthur. If ever before now was the time to work together," Gabriella was arguing in the gardens. I stepped out with my entourage, only to see that lines had been quite clearly drawn. Tight cliques were gathered together, about three of them by the looks of it, standing off against one another as we entered the gardens. 

Our arrival caught the attention of several Vel'shae, who rushed to inform the two who had gone with us to investigate. "Another of the princesses has passed away," the Vel’shae reported sharply. 

"Huh. That's really unfortunate," I stated, only to get a cold look from everyone around me. "No, no, that wasn't sarcasm. I could see how it came off that way," I said after a moment of realization. "I just think it's rather unfortunate we're all dying while trapping each other in here. How about we leave the palace and figure this out calmly like adults?" I offered. 

"He wants us to leave so that Avente can swoop in on the back," someone accused.

I opened my mouth to argue and realized the futility immediately as the mood around us shifted. 

"Well, I wasn't expecting you to jump quite so many logic leaps and get there, and it's really hard to convince you out of a position that you didn't get to with logic," I shook my head in disappointment.

The prince snorted at me. 

"Case in point," I gestured at the snorter. "Somehow I feel he's not going to listen to anything that I say." 

Gabriella opened her hands towards me. "Arden, of course you are going to be treated as an outsider here. It might be best that you come stay by me at least until this settles down. I would hate for anything to happen to my relative who was only just able to join the family." 

Instantly, Arthur perked up and gave me a very similar offer. "If you went with her now, it would look like you're picking sides. Perhaps the best would be to join someone who's actually capable of protecting you." It was important to note he wasn’t saying not to pick sides, but rather to pick his side.

"Oh, this is fun," I said, turning back to my entourage with a massive grin. 

"Arden," Emlyn warned me. 

"Yeah, I know," I waved her off. "I won't cause too much trouble. I thank both of you for your invitations and would like to politely decline. It's not yet clear which way the wind is blowing." 

My words, however, only caused the two to bristle and their eyes to gleam. It was as if I was a new prized toy for the siblings to have a spat over.

"Please," I pleaded with anyone who would listen. "The panic, the danger we find ourselves in, is not that the battle for heirs has begun, but rather that someone wants to keep us all here. We need to find the culprit. Splitting up into groups and fighting amongst yourselves is only going to make this situation that much worse. In fact, it might be the killer’s expressed purpose to divide you all. It makes their job much easier."

Gabriella looked like she might at least consider my words, only for Arthur to snort. "Those are the words of someone who's at a disadvantage, Mr. Four Sphere Mage. Still, if you're so concerned, you're welcome to join me. I'll protect you."

If anything, the clusters in the garden only huddled closer together, watching each other warily. I had to seriously work to not curse at all of them and remember that they were not as talented as I was at solving murder mysteries.

"All right, all right," I held my hands up. "I will happily join whichever side is willing to prioritize figuring out who is murdering everybody." If I couldn't speak to reason, then I would just speak to their greed, with, of course, myself as the prize. 

Gabriella huffed. “Speak to me later, Arden. This news is fresh, and my group and I will be retiring for now. I expect, despite Arthur's bravado, he'll need to speak with his strategist before he does anything else as well."

Though Arthur looked incredibly displeased, he didn't refute her statement, which told me all I really needed to know. He wasn’t the brains behind his particular branch.

"It was a good try, Arden. For once, you actually tried to bring people together. Is it still chaos if it's done with good intentions?” Missy asked.

“Hush, you. And while I think they're taking the opportunity to retire, we should as well. The last thing I want is to be caught off guard with whatever wild situation comes at us next." I told them.

"You could use your own strategy session if we're honest, Ard," Emlyn implored me. 

"Is that what we're calling it these days?" I asked, wiggling my eyebrows, only to get another eye roll for the collection. 

“You all are giving him exactly what he wants, a reaction.” Ditzy stated.

"Of course I know he likes a reaction, Ditzy. I've been with him long enough.” Emlyn told the goddess. “It ruins his fun if you explain it, though." 

I smiled, appreciating Emlyn all the more for coaching the goddess. Sometimes, Emlyn was pretty incredible. Despite the fact that she could be a pain in the butt most of the time, she was, in fact, a woman after my own heart. 

"All right then. Meeting adjourned," I said to my group, slapping my hands on my thighs. "Eva, you don't by chance have massive, luxurious suites that we could all stay in, do you? I mean, you are a princess."

She paused for a moment and beckoned for me to follow with a slight blush on her face.

The guest suite seemed less appealing now that people were dying off all over. Really I should be sticking with the whole group and ensuring Eva’s protection.

One of these days I was going to make Eva and the rest of Zenovia owe me for this debt of helping them out of this horrible situation. But for now, I would just have to take payment for the debt from Eva herself. 

She led us back through the palace and blushed as we got to her room. "I don't suppose you could seal Ard's mouth shut before we go in there?" She looked at Emlyn. 

My eyebrows crept up to my hairline in an instant. I had no idea what was inside, but I desperately needed to immediately.

"It can't be that bad," I said, trying to fight a smile from flashing across my face. I tried to play it cool as I inched closer and closer to the doors.

"Can you try that again when you stop grinning?" Eva scowled. 

"I can try. Success is about 50-50," I gave her another massive grin. 

Eva sighed. "Come in." 

Eva’s entrance to her bedroom was guarded by a pair of massive, ornate oak doors. Even in House Aldis, I'd never seen anything quite like the doors in front of me. Though, it was only ornate on the exterior. Inside, Eva's preferences trended towards dark, slightly disturbed-looking plushies. I mean there were other things, but those really drew the eye and I couldn’t look away.

"Eva, what interesting decor you have," I said stiffly.

"You could at least pretend to ignore it." She sighed.

"Oh no, no, there's no way we are ignoring this." Emlyn darted across the room and picked up one of the plushies. It was a dark, insidious green with two button eyes, one of which seemed purposefully loose and dangling. Its mouth was made of rough stitching all the way across its face. In fact, I'd say it went a touch too far across, making it particularly ghastly.

Eva groaned. "Are you going to make me regret ever showing you my bedroom?" 

I turned to her and nodded rapidly. "I'm afraid I am."

Rather than being too upset, Eva just let out an almost expectant sigh. "Fine. Well, if you're going to have so much fun, please be my guest." She gestured inward to her bedroom.

"Well, since I've got the invite," I jumped forward without a moment's delay.

She stared at me. "Not even going to pretend?"

"Would you believe me if I did?" I shrugged and picked up another of the ghastly stuffed animals. This one vaguely resembled a dog patchworked together with bits of stuffing glued to the outside of the stitching like it was coming undone. "So, honest question. Do you have to special order them like this, or does someone actually make them?"

“My mother made them.” Eva said, sounding tired.

"Really? Fascinating." I held it aloft. "I mean, even if I tried, I'm fairly certain that no one would pay me for something like this."

"Well, you won't know until you try now, will you?" Eva smirked as if an idea occurred to her. "Is this why you sometimes feel this way, Emlyn?" She asked.

I frowned in confusion. "Feel what way?”

"The desire to hit you.” Eva told me.

I gasped and held my chest. "Who would ever want to hit my adorable, completely unpunchable face?" I looked around, my jaw dropping as none of the women around me came to my defense.

"Yes, who indeed, Ard. Who indeed," Emlyn said, fairly amused.

"I really have no clue." It was a rhetorical question, but I decided to answer her anyway. I put down the stuffed animal and threw myself on Eva's bed with an oomph and a sigh of nothing but pure delight to be lying on the very plush bed.

"Emlyn, forget everything else. We need to find who made Eva's bed. And how I can get one.” I stated.

The princess cleared her throat. "That's not the main bed."

I suddenly bolted upright, turning to her immediately. "The main bed?" I emphasized. 

"Yeah, that's the day bed." She told me.

"Day bed?" I looked around the room. There were, of course, other doors, but I had assumed they led to supplemental type spaces. Maybe a bathroom, closet or servant chamber.

Before she could say anything more, I was across the room, diving through the different doors. 

"The one on the left," Eva said, sounding pained. I ignored her, throwing open every door, absolutely giddy.

"What is this?" I said excitedly, pulling open the door to reveal another room. This one was twice the size of the last. Eva closed her eyes and tried to shield her embarrassment with a futile hand.

"This is where I sleep, the other is for lounging," she told me.

“Ah, of course.” I said, trying and failing to keep the amusement from my voice.