Entanglements

Everyone in our classes gave us a wide berth for several weeks after our little fiasco with the Adventurers Guild. We took it all in stride, and in the few cases where someone asked us about it, we simply stated it had all been a matter of mistaken identity, and that we were immediately cleared of all accusations. Eventually it all blew over

Elven wisdom states

While the sapling bends to the Wind,

The Wind snaps the Tree in its Fury.

Even the Wise must know when to Yield.

Mid-terms arrived and we all did well. Even Darby thought he was improving. Before the grades got posted Fionna, as Captain of the Guard, assigned us to escort Ériu home, where her mother Marquise Margaret had recently died, as part of our training. Ériu, a junior in the Academy, was now to take her mother's seat as Marquise. Her travel would happen immediately.

Most of the student body would be extremely jealous of us for having been given such a distinguished opportunity, once the news spread. It was inconceivable that First Years would be given such a sweet honor with barely any formal training having been done. As part of the duty we were called to the Palace to be given a crash course in escorting a noble.

When we arrived at the palace we were escorted to a study inside the palace. The Queen was waiting for us there. We all knelt, and the Queen said,

“Rise and be seated. I have a task for you.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” I said, as we all sat down in seats prepared for us. There was a low table before us with a map on it.

“The Marquise Margaret was assassinated, three days ago. Neither our spies, our guard, nor our mages have been able to determine who or how it occurred. All the evidence we have has been preserved. We need you to find the cause and those responsible. Maggie was my most capable spy. Reveal this to no one. Ériu, will be taking her place. Someday. She will join your party and your task. The escort duty is a sham to build a relationship with her. Do try to get along. She is very smart, powerful, and opinionated,” the Queen said.

“What information have you collected?” Kiera asked.

“You are a spy, and assassin, in your group, yes?” the Queen asked.

“That would be one way of phrasing it, your Majesty, but I like to think of myself as the brains of this party,” Kiera said.

“Very well then. Pay close attention,” the Queen said.

The Queen then dove into the details of the situation and how Maggie came to be assassinated. It took two hours to explain all we needed to know for our task. Then we were escorted to the parade grounds, where the Royal Guard taught us the behavior necessary for a noble's entourage. Then without any further delay we headed out with a full squad of the Royal Guard and four carriages. I was to ride with the new Marquise. The rest of our squad was in the carriages before and after hers. The Queen wasn't messing around with security.

The March of the Marquise was in the Southern part of the kingdom. It was six days by carriage normally, but the carriages were being pulled by dragonewts. Dragonewts were a remote kin to dragons. Much smaller, but very powerful. They lacked the power of flight and elemental breath. They were strong, fast, and traveled on four legs. They were intelligent, for magikal beasts. With the dragonewts pulling the carriages, we would make it to the Marquise's estate in three days. These were the Marquise's family's dragonewts. Dragonewts bonded with their masters, if well treated.

I was surprised that the Marquise had so many dragonewts in the capital. With so many bonded dragonewts the detachment of the Queen's Guard seemed more for show than actual protection. Raising dragonewts was difficult science. Gaining the trust of dragonewts was not something the ordinary monster-tamer could accomplish. However, Ériu, was said to be the best Monster-tamer since her great-great-grandfather. Her family had a long history of gifted Monster-tamers. Ériu's mother however came from the infamous clan of assassins, the House of Borjiana. Her mother was the daughter of the famed Lucresaa Uí Borjiana. Perhaps the greatest assassin to have ever lived.

I couldn't help but notice Ériu was wearing a ring of the Uí Borjiana. A beautiful Black Mithril ring, made of a pair of entwined serpents wrapped around her finger, with open mouths holding the midnight black mana gem in place between their fangs. It gave off a terrible dark aura. Surely, here was a magikal artifact with necromantic spells woven in. It was a ring of immense power. But it was a hidden power, unless one had the gift, or curse, of necromancy in their mana.

Dragons were all born with the power of necromancy, woven into our very being. Only once had I drawn upon that power. When I was five, I was attacked by a gang of dragon hunters. The power came out of me unbidden. It was purely an instinctive defensive reaction. Watching the horrible power consume the entire gang was something no child should ever have witnessed. It still gave me nightmares to this day.

“That ring is a darkly-beautiful, powerful, and terrible thing, my Lady Uí Borjiana,” I said.

“You can see it!? It was my mother's ring. When it arrived we knew my mother was dead. Please call me Ériu,” Ériu said.

“I'm sorry for your loss, Lady Ériu. Yes, I can see it. I am draconic,” I said.

“Then you are a necromancer, Miss Deirdre? Sorry, I mean Miss Dee. And please just Ériu. No need for formality. We are fellow students after all, and I do hate all the ritual,” Ériu said.

“I am not a practitioner of the art. So, no, I would not call myself a necromancer, Ériu. Please just call me Dee.”

“Then you have never called upon that power of your race, Dee?”

“Once. I would not speak freely of the matter. I know it is not inherently an evil power, but I dislike it entirely. I also hope you will keep this knowledge to yourself. It could cause a great deal of concern, were it widely known that I had such power,” I said.

“Yes, I understand. Did you know they call me the Princess of Darkness at the Academy? It is inevitable given my family lineage,” Ériu said.

“I had heard. You are quite admired among the student body,” I said.

“Yes, but I have no friends. They all avoid me, and fear me,” Ériu said.

“I certainly don't fear you. I'm sure there are others that don't fear you. Even with the Royal decree though, people will still sort themselves into their ranks, and your rank is quite high. I fear I may get a nose-bleed just being in your presence,” I said.

“So, you will not be my friend either? I had hope, since you do not seem to fear me,” Ériu said.

“I would not turn down a friendship freely offered. I was merely joking about our very different ranks. I'm about as common a commoner can get,” I said.

“You are far from common. I have followed your brief career at the Academy, and the Queen has told me all about your history. I find you irresistibly intriguing!” Ériu said.

“Well thank you, Ériu.”

“So will you be my friend?”

“Why, of course! How could I refuse such a cute request?” I said.

“Cute? You think I'm cute?” Ériu said.

“I think you are beautiful, but you can certainly be cute, as well. Still there is much I don't know about you. Queen Matilde said that we were to bring you in to our party and investigation,” I said.

“We should not discuss that so openly, Dee!” Ériu said.

“We are quite safe here. I have had us in a privacy protective field since we entered the carriage. No one will hear or lipread our conversation. I am quite skilled in the subtler arts,” I said.

“Then you are an assassin?” Ériu asked?

“Oh, not at all. I'm a Monster, not an assassin. A triple S class monster. He he he,” I said.

“He he he! You are so silly,” Ériu laughed.

“I'm really quite stunned that you had so many dragonewts in the capital,” I said.

“Oh, yes, I can't be anywhere without my babies. I just adore them! They are so cute!” Ériu said.

“Cute? Well, that's a new one. I've never heard anyone call dragonewts cute,” I said.

“Oh! That reminds me. You said you are draconic, but the queen said you are demihuman,” Ériu said.

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“I am half-dragon, half human. You should be careful using that term. Most people that it refers to really hate being called demihuman. Some take great offense to it,” I said.

“Oh, I'm so sorry! Did I offend you?”

“Not at all, Ériu. I have been called many far worse names than that. Not to mention it probably really is applicable to me. Still I consider myself draconic,” I said.

“Then you can take dragon form?” Ériu asked.

“Not without destroying this carriage, but yes, I can. Although, mostly I only use my dragon battle form. It's more compact, and adapted to my fighting style,” I said.

“I would love to see that!” Ériu said with excitement shining in her eyes.

“I will show you sometime, but even that form would destroy this carriage,” I said.

“I'll hold you to that,” Ériu said.

Other than an idiotic attack by band of outlaws, and several monster attacks in the Southern Woods the trip to Ériu's estate was uneventful. Now the hard task remained, to find and capture the Marquise's murderers. It had been almost a week now since the murder, and what trails remained would probably be destroyed or overrun now. But first, Ériu had to give her last goodbye to her mother, and take hold of her new position as head of her clan. There was no rival to spark a succession battle. Ériu was an adult according to the rules of this world, although it was a terrible burden for a eighteen-year-old.

A state funeral was performed the day after we arrived. Two days later was the gathering of the Marquise's vassals.

“Walk by my side, Dee,”

“As you wish, my Lady,” I said.

After we entered her audience chamber, I took a place on her right.

“Greetings and salutations my Ladies and Lords. First off, I here name as Reachtaire my brave and loyal knight Dee Ní Rían, the Red Knight. My mother's Reachtaire has agreed to help train and transition my Reachtaire,” Marquise Ériu said.

Gasps were heard throughout the room, including my own. Then everyone turned and looked at me. She had used my fictitious name given by Queen Matilde to hide our origins. Some of her close allies had been roped in, and family registers were altered and letters patent written, giving all of us noble designations. Now Ériu had named me her Steward! I could not run a domain! What the Hell is she thinking!?

I turned to face Ériu, knelt, and said, “I am you humble servant, my Marquise.” Then I rose and resumed my station.

Ériu acknowledged me, and continued, “As for the remainder of my officers, I shall make no further changes at this time. My knight?”

“Yes my Marquise?” I answered.

“You will proceed with the task we discussed earlier. This evening Sir Eoghan will begin your training. Tutors from the Academy shall arrive on the morrow, and we must all prepare to continue our obligations to the Academy as well,” Ériu said.

“Yes, your Ladyship,” I said.

And so I left Ériu with her vassals and officers, to manage her lands affairs. I gathered my team, and we began the search for the truth. The search began in the heart of the Southern Forest which surrounded the Marquise's entire lands. A land of monsters and SSS Ranked beasts. Ha! Marquise Margaret was found on the far Southern edge of her estate. Apparently killed by a Fenrir. Her body torn to shreds. No traces of poison were found. No Fenrir. So this was where we started our investigation.

“What do you make of this? Apparently a Fenrir killed her and left the body here. I see what appear to be Fenrir tracks leading from and to the forest. There was a battle here, and there is a lot of blood. This seems rather straight forward,” Darby said.

“It's all bullshit. A stage. Performance art at its very worst. No, indeed, if a Fenrir killed her, it had even failed to so much as snack on her. Fenrir are intelligent monsters, and can even take on human forms. Killing for killing's sake is not a Fenrir trait. The Fenrir that would leave behind a kill does not exist. Whoever did this knows nothing of the hunting patterns of Fenrir. No, the murder probably didn't even happen here,” I said.

“Even if a Fenrir killed someone for a reason other than hunger, they would still eat the heart, or some other organ. If the Fenrir didn't take the corpse with it, the corpse would have been buried, for later. The killer was a human, and this performance we have been given was not staged by an assassin, or a pro, but definitely by a human. Still there is a chance the murder happened here either before or after the alleged Fenrir appeared. Let's examine this place.”

For the next hour we combed the alleged crime scene to no avail. I had expected as much.

“I think the Marquise was here. There is some residual mana here. Mana that, I think, may have been her mana. We should search the surrounding area for her mana,” I said.

“Why do you think it is the Marquise's mana?” Kanae asked.

“I sense Dark Mana. The Marquise was likely a necromancer, and had Dark Elemental power. Try sensing for yourself,” I said.

“How do you detect mana?” Kanae asked.

“You'd use the Sense spell. In this case Dark Sense, and specifically Dark Longsense, Try it,” I said.

“Dark Longsense!” Kanae cast.

“Dark Longsense!” Kiera cast.

“Oh, I see dark mana. There's a pool of it right there!” Kanae said.

“Yes! There's also a thin line of it going that way! But it's getting choppy,” Kiera said.

“Oh! I see it. We should follow it!” Kanae said.

“Yes, lead the way Kanae. You and Kiera have the strongest affinity,” I said.

“Dark Longsense! Nothing. How come I detect nothing.” Aoi cast.

“You don't have the Darkness elemental affinity, you can't sense dark mana,” I said.

“Well you don't have it either! How come you can?”

“Hello, Dragonkin? It's built in,” I said.

“That's so not fair!” Aoi said.

We followed the mana trail into the forest, but after about fifteen minutes the mana trail became overwhelmed by the all the Dark mana from monsters of the forest, and we lost the trail.

“Well, that sucks! I can't separate the different types of dark mana,” Kanae said.

“Nor can I,” Kiera agreed.

“Nor I. We're going to have to give up for now. We can come back here with tools. Now we need to go question those who had been handling the investigation,” I said.

“Right. I've always wanted to solve a murder investigation,” Kanae said.

“Are you sure you're an elf? You are the weirdest elf I've ever known,” I said.

“I'm definitely an Elf. I've just not been raised as an elf, in elf lands,” Kanae said.

We returned to the castle, and I finally met my predecessor.

“Dee, I'd like you to meet, my mother's Reachtaire Denjirou Ó Ferdia. The single most valuable man in our domain. He's going to be helping you solve my mother's assassination,” Ériu said.

“This was not the work of an assassin,” I said,

“Surely you don't think this was an accident. That Fenrir didn't just show up to kill the Marquise Margaret,” Denjirou said.

“The Marquise was not killed by a Fenrir. That whole murder scene was a stage for the worst act of fiction I've ever seen in my short life,” I said.

“I saw the wounds my Marquise had. Those were Fenrir wounds!”

“Or made to look like Fenrir wounds. Someone killed your mother and staged a fake Fenrir attack to make it look like an accident. But it was such shoddy workmanship, only an idiot would be deceived. The murder of the Marquise happened somewhere else, and by some other means. A means that required disguising her death as an accident. That means what ever, or whoever, killed the Marquise left tell-tale signs that only a mauling such as her body sustained would hide the evidence that would lead to the killer. It's probably futile to try to solve that riddle. I want to know your reasons for suspecting foul play Sir Denjirou?” I said.

“Her Ladyship was a skilled Monster-tamer. There is no way she'd have been killed by any Monster. Also, there was something wrong with that whole scene, but I couldn't figure it out,” Denjirou said.

“The Fenrir took no prize from the attack, nor did the Fenrir eat any part of her Ladyship.”

“Fenrirs always take a memento from a kill,” Denjirou said.

“The body was mauled, but intact,” I said.

“Fenrir always eat their kills! How did I miss those signs?” Denjirou said.

“Given the new facts a number of suspects can be eliminated. But, I'm not ready to eliminate anyone. Once we eliminate the impossible, whatever remains must be the answer,” I said.

“Thank you for your insight. I'm glad Little Miss brought you here to help solve this case,” Denjirou said.

“Now, tell me everything you know about the murder,” I said.

We spent the rest of the day trying to casually collect accounts of the murder and what people knew, or suspected. When we were done for the day, we gathered in Ériu's room to discuss the case. I raised a privacy shield, and threw up a darkness shield for total privacy.

“Why did the Queen send us on this mission? Surely she has more experienced investigators,” Kanae said.

“It doesn't make any sense. Unless we are just a diversion,” Aoi said.

“Perhaps we are bait dangled in front of the killer to draw them out for the Queen's real investigating team?” Kiera said.

“I don't think the Queen sent any other investigators or did any of those other things you are saying. As far as anyone knows the investigation is over. This is a secret investigation, but the Queen obviously can't send anyone from her own spy or investigator networks. That would probably have alerted the killer, or killers. You five are unknowns, just fellow students, tasked with protecting me. No one will suspect you. Or if they do, the Queen is hoping they underestimate you,” Ériu said.

“Well, it doesn't matter. We have a job to do, and Hell yeah we're going to do it!” I said.

“Hell yeah! What are we doing?” Darby said.

“Boys.” Aoi said. We girls giggled.

“So what do we have?” I said.

“Well we have a Fenrir that appears to have killed for no other reason than to kill. Then we have a victim killed in one location, and killed again after the body was moved,” Kanae said.

“We have no signature tracks, or evidence, at the scene of the staged murder, other than a dark mana trail that has been mixed with the natural mana of the forest,” Kiera said.

“So we have a killer who can use dark mana,” Darby said.

“Or someone who used a dark mana artifact. Someone using a dark mana artifact would have residual traces of dark mana around them,” I said.

“How do we find people with residual dark mana?” Darby asked.

“We need dark magik users, or tools that detect and analyze dark mana. However, the trail may be cold now, and if we go hunting for a tool to detect and analyze dark mana, we will probably alert the killer,” I said.

“Maybe we can get the Queen to provide us such tools?” Aoi said.

“That's a good idea!”

“My mother would have had such tools. Perhaps I can sneak one out of her atelier,” Ériu said.

“Perhaps we should come with you, or at least some of us. Also, I think I should cast an illusion to make it look like you've not taken anything out of your mother's atelier. Also want to add a secret alarm. No one should be going in there except you,” I said.

“Those are excellent ideas, Dee!” Ériu said.

“I agree some of us should be with you anywhere you go. That is our cover story,” Kanae said.

“There are always a pair of guards outside my door and tasked with my protection. It might appear suspicious if you are always around me. You are after all supposedly being trained as potentially part of my entourage, or another household's entourage,” Ériu said.

“I don't like the idea of you being alone at any point. This murder may be part of a deeper plot. We should assume you are in equal danger here. You must be protected at all times. I trust none of the guards assigned to you,” I said.

“We could have sleeping parties while we are here and working on the case. That shouldn't draw any attention. Just some academy friends trying to cheer up Ériu,” Kiera said.

“That's a good cover story. Let's have the staff bring mattresses, pillows, and such! Then all us girls will sleep here!” Aoi said.

“That's an excellent idea!” Ériu said.

“Alright, then tomorrow we'll find some dark mana tools, and check everyone for traces of dark mana. That will give us enough to do for a while. We still need to keep gathering gossip, and anything that might reveal the cause and perpetrators of the murder at all,” I said.

We then had the staff bring in more bedding, and played at having a party, and eventually kicking Darby out so we could all sleep. The next day the Academy tutors arrived, and we all had to juggle classes on top of everything else.