And then, the Kayalese estates, winery and business were handed over to some more northerners in order to fund the Knights of Saint Francesca. And even worse, again, the efforts made by the Coulthard family mean that the last year has seen a better harvest, a better vintage and better working environs for the Kayalese winery than has been seen for generations.

So now these people are threatened. Every time the Duchess gets a chance, she actively seeks out a way for the old ways to be compromised. Their words, not mine. She gives the work to outsiders, she makes sweeping changes to the Toussaint way of life and even worse than that, she steadfastly refuses to get married and have children.

Not to mention the fact that these efforts have been staggeringly successful. The taxes gained from both the Kayalese wines and the Corvo Bianco wines, oils and liqueurs have left all their fellows in the dirt. Matched only by the efforts of Lord Geralts best frenemies in the wine industry. What’s their names? Belgard?

(Freddie: Liam and Matilda of Belgard, Coronata and Vermentino.)

But they themselves are young, idealistic and have their own ways of doing things. Which means that, again, they are showing up their elders.

So these conspirators are now in the position that they are in danger of being proven wrong. Of it being proven that their ways are old, obsolete and useless. Naturally they couldn’t have that, so serious plans started to be made. Instead of playing the waiting game, they would actually seek to topple the Duchess and put things in place.

They knew that they couldn’t do anything while the Imperial Guard were in charge of law keeping and security. If they mounted a rebellion then, then the Imperial army would be down on them like the proverbial army. So what they needed to do was to prove to themselves, and the world, that all of the Duchess’ reforms and orders. Her ideas and schemes, made her vastly incompetent. They would undermine and destroy the Knights of Saint Francesca. They would discredit Lord Frederick and the Coulthards and if possible, they would also get rid of Cousin Geralt and his Sorceress lover.

Unfortunately, that was just about as much as Amelie knew, or as much as she was willing to tell me anyway. She still loved her husband and telling me even that much almost crippled her with guilt. She described scenes straight out of some secret society gentleman’s club.

As I said before. Calling them a cult conjures up images of the First-born cult. This is not that. This was not even close to that. They were more like a club or a Knightly order. They had secret handshakes and signals and the like. They had robes and secret meetings where they met under utterly redundant masks. She only knew that her husband was involved because those meetings were housed at her husband’s estates and he would boast of the matter to her in private.

And by “in private” I mean it as a Noble would mean it. There were still plenty of Servants in the room but I am getting ahead of myself.

I come into the matter then. Still convinced that I was having an affair with a woman that was way out of my reach for anything more than what I was having. Which was a nice, passionate affair. I guarded my feelings in order to ensure that I didn’t fall in love with her in order to avoid having my heart broken later. I would imagine that we could have kept that going for months otherwise.

She honestly thought that her husband’s philandering ways were as part of the efforts to save the Duchy from itself. The fact that this left her lonely and unhappy was besides the point. It was her duty to suffer under such things in order that she could be a good wife to her husband. It would honestly make me sick. She did as she was told and just carried on as normal.

Then Lady Caroline comes into the picture. Of course I now know what part she was playing, even if I didn’t at the time. She was the potential replacement for the Duchess. Alain’s value to the club… yes, I’m going to call them that from now on, was as a pretty face used to the seducing of pretty and naive women. I think they might have needed another man if Caroline had turned out to be ugly as then, Alain’s arrogance would have come to the fore.

But Lady Caroline is not stupid, certainly naive, but not stupid. Also, Alain’s stupidity and incompetence means that Lady Caroline finds things out that she should never have been aware of. Lady Caroline puts it all together and arranges to meet and warn Amelie in the market square.

(Every time I have heard the story told from Kerrass’ lips, he pauses here. And every time, there is a moment where he follows the pause with a phrase that he says, over and over again. Word for word, same tone, same volume, same pitch and timbre. Recording it as a Historian. This is the moment of absolute truth in the tale. My professor would have me agree that it is the moment of truth from Kerrass’ point of view but still.)

It cannot be easy to have everything you know, everything you care about and everything you love torn away from you in an instant.

When I went to visit her later that evening she was still in denial really. In fits and starts, at first with Severine and later when the two of us were in Amelie’s rooms together. We went through it all. She was still in denial about it. So the way she would speak was to refuse to believe what Caroline said.

It would go like this.

“If what that bitch of a whorish trollop is telling the truth then that means that Alain has never loved me. That I am a political piece of furniture. A game piece. That means that… That I am a target. That Alain and the rest of them are killing those women. But that can’t be true. Alain would never do that. He loves me. This bitch is just bitter that he won’t set me aside so that she can take my place as Alain’s wife. That’s all it is. It can’t be anything else. I am one of them. I am part of that group. What the Duchess and her sister are doing is wrong. It weakens the Duchy as a whole and leaves us vulnerable to outsiders. It’s dangerous. We’re trying to show her the error of their ways. Alain would never kill those women. That whore, demon-bitch is lying. Of course she’s lying. She has to be lying.”

And with every word that she said, it became clearer and clearer that she no longer believed it herself. But neither could she bring herself to leave with me that night. I tried to convince her. I’m told that Severine told her to leave with me. I would have gone. The passes were blocked, otherwise, I’m sorry Freddie, I would have pulled her onto the back of my horse and you would not be able to see us for the dust that we left in her wake. I would endeavour to come back and lay things out. As it was, a better plan would have been that I would bring her to Ariadne or Laurelen to have her taken North somewhere while everything could be sorted out.

Which was when I made my mistake. What I should have done was used a nice bit of magic to trick her into coming with me, to influence her mind to the point where she would take that on board and happily climb onto the back of the horse while I did that. The same way that I calm a horse if it’s getting too fractious. Insulting to her? Yes. Would she have hated me for it? Probably, but she would still be alive and I would, at least, have saved her.

But I did none of those things. Instead, I begged her to come with me. I am not a man to beg, but this time I did. I was literally on my knees. But she refused. She wanted to see it for herself. She made some kind of half-assed little declaration. That she would investigate the matter from within. That she would find out all the secrets and that she would be able to tell me for sure if a crime had been committed and what I would need to do in order to ensure… In short, it was all nonsense.

She wanted to see things for herself. She refused to believe that Alain would betray her in such a fashion. She refused to believe that Alain would do that to other women. She wanted to see for herself. I would no more have sent her into her husband’s manor house than I would have sent her into a Wyvern’s nest. But she wasn’t having it. She refused to believe that Alain was having anything to do with it and as such? She concocted all this nonsense about what she was going to do, how she was going to help us with what we wanted to find out. But she wanted to go. She wanted to see it for herself. She would stay with Severine and she would wait to see what happened.

(“She will have needed to see it for herself.” Guillaume muttered bitterly. “I can understand the fault. And the fault was not yours sir.” He had reset into the formal speech of a Knight. “She was of Toussaint. You would have had to beat her into unconsciousness to bring her with you and the moment that you dropped your guard, she would have taken out a blade and slit your throat for dishonouring her in such a way. She would need to see it for herself and then she would have tried to find a way to fight back and gain some justice or returns for it.” He sobbed. “Oh Amelie, you deserved so much better. The fault was not yours sir. I will stand for it alongside you should the need arise. It is a sad fate that we do not all get to survive our fight back from the precipice of doom and damnation.”

Then he wept openly for the dead woman. Edmund would have laughed at him. There are many men that I have known in the past that would have laughed too. I might have laughed in any other situation. It was ridiculous. But then again… It wasn’t. Instead, it was heart-breaking. It was soul-destroying. Here was a man, tall, broad shouldered. The very image of the perfect Knight. Powerfully built with a sword that I had seen wielded expertly.

And he wept for the woman that he used to know.

There is something to be admired there as well. It is all too easy for those of us who come from the north to hide our emotions. Ariadne has even argued that I am ill because I kept my emotions and my sense of horror contained for far too long. But the people love, laugh, weep and cheer with full abandon.

But they also hate with the same passions. The world should be wary of that hate)

Finally, I surrendered. She wasn’t going anywhere. She was going to stay at the cottage for a while with Severine to think things through and discuss matters. Severine swore that she wouldn’t let Amelie go off anywhere on her own. I told them both that that was a good thing. I told them that I would send a contingent of Knights to see to their protection and protect them from any kind of attacks. They refused of course but I insisted.

And then I made my second mistake. Amelie made me swear on my sword and the love that I held for her as well as the love that I held for the Princess Dorne, that I would not betray a word of what she had told me. That I would not betray her on this or on anything else. That I would keep it quiet. I tried to tell her that the information that she had could save the lives of others. That we could crack this open. But she wouldn’t have it.

What I should have done is break that oath the very second that I was out of sight. I should have ridden back here as fast as my horse could carry me and told you to guard them. That they should have been discrete or… hell… Kidnap the two women for their own safety. But of course, I didn’t do that.

Freddie likes to say that Toussaint is a madness. That it is contagious as well. He is correct in that matter. I could not get it out of my head that I would be dishonouring myself and the lady in question to break my word. So like a fool, I kept my word. I returned to the palace, meditated for a while in place of resting properly and then we all returned to work for a while.

But something had gone astray. The danger of Amelie’s betrayal reached the conspirators. Or maybe it was always their plan to kill her. I don’t know. And when I find out, the people that are responsible for it will find out what it is to make a Witcher angry.

At some point over the course of that day. I couldn’t even tell you when, I received a note. It was just a short note. A message that was handwritten on a small piece of paper which contained four words. “I have been taken.” The words were hastily written, a little spidery in nature but I rather thought I could recognise Amelie’s hand in the writing. It could have gone either way of course and there was even a decent chance that the letter was a forgery, given away by the spidery nature of the writing.

I also didn’t want to give it away that I had received the message in case people were watching who might see to Amelie’s fate. So I bided my time… I want to hate myself for the fact that I waited. Self flagellation can be a wonderful tool when properly used even as it is not always very good for me. But the truth about Amelie’s future was already decided. Even if she was still alive, which I don’t think we can prove one way or another.

(“We can’t,” Syanna told him. “Truth be told, we can’t even really confirm that she’s dead as we weren’t allowed to see a body. But there are enough servants and guards and things that have testified to the death. We were allowed to investigate briefly and I am begging the Duchess to give me leave to kick doors down and demand things, but the truth is that if there is any evidence that could help us, or was any evidence, it will be long gone by now. But it is entirely possible that she was killed as soon as they got her into privacy. The presence of the note suggests otherwise though.)

The note suggests that she had some time alive. That at some point, she persuaded a maid or someone to get the message to me. There were many maids who could and would do that so it could have been anyone.

As soon as we were done for the day, that personal matter that I wanted to go with, I took to my horse and made the best speed that I could. My first target was the cottage. I was still not entirely convinced that the whole thing wasn’t some forgery to trick me into some kind of foolish endeavour. So the first thing was to confirm what I knew.

As you all know Anelie had been picked up that morning by a group of her husband’s “guards” and escorted back to his manor. I somehow managed to swallow my own anger, turn Severine’s proposition down with as much grace and kindness as I could manage, and searched the room.

I knew that there was a message although I had no idea what the message was or where it could be found. But what I wanted was the confirmation. She had told me that there had been a message and I wanted the note so that I could verify the hand-writing against someone else. There was also a private message to me which I am not going to show you. It is hidden and I will take it out and take it with me when I leave Toussaint. What honour I have, I swear on it that there is nothing contained within that will help find these killers and if something comes to light, then I shall, of course, inform you of everything you need to know.

I knew then that the cause was hopeless, that there was nothing that I could do. But I had to try. I took to my horse and rode for Alain and Amelie’s manor house. It was not a pleasant journey and I had to circumvent a couple of threats. A vigilance patrol was in place and there were some other things going on in the road that I would prefer to have not become involved in. I just wanted to get in there and get her out.

I harboured all the usual fantasies that are, in the end, just that. Fantasies. I had visions of rescuing her from whatever fate her husband had planned for her in order to carry her off somewhere safe. It was a stupid thought. I would find her a nice husband who she could fall in love with. Then I could watch the wedding from a tree at a distance before turning away at the climax of the ceremony. She would see of course and give a small, sad smile for what might have been.

That dream was dashed the moment that I arrived.

The manor house was like a fortress. Not particularly walled or anything but there were guards on the edges, patrols, men standing guard. They were ready for me. Me or for something else. I have no doubt that many of them even believed, firmly, that they were protecting the manor from any potential incursion from Jack.

I scouted all around. I looked to see if there was a uniform that I could steal and use. Isolated guard patrols that I could pick off and make my way inside.

But there was nothing. I might have got in but getting out would have been difficult. Impossible if I was carrying Amelie at the same time. Alain might be a fool, a fop, a wastrel and a cad. But he knows his business when it comes to defending his own manor house.

So instead, I watched and I waited and I looked around.

They were prepared for someone to come and try and break into the manor house. That was obvious. Whether they really were prepared to protect whoever it was from Jack, or whether it was to deliberately keep me out, I do not know.

(“Maybe both.” I suggested. “A subtle man might wait until you are seen coming into the grounds before killing his wife and then “capturing you” so that they could frame you as Jack. Thus getting rid of the “Jack” problem by framing you, they can claim the power of the Knights errant because they caught you and The Knights Francesca did not. And that wraps the conspiracy together in a neat little bow.”

“Alain is not that subtle.” Guillaume declared.

“He might not be,” Syanna agreed. “But I agree with the assessment that whoever is in charge, it’s not Alain. That was their plan. This was the plan of a tactical… I don’t want to say genius.”

“But if that was the case, they would have left a more obvious route of entry into the grounds.” Kerrass argued. “The place was like a fortress. If there was a gap I would have gone for it and trusted to Freddie figuring out who was actually at fault should it have turned out to be a trap. I would have trusted to my potions and my signs and I would have got out. The danger was not to me, not really. But getting Amelie out would have been the tricky part. As it was though, as I say, they turned that place into a fortress and I could see no way in without hacking my way through a not inconsiderable amount of people. And generally speaking, I would prefer not to have to do that. It would have been tricky too. I would want some room to maneuver if that was the case.”)

So I looked around. Like many of these kinds of places. Nobility might describe such a place as being isolated. A nice “country estate” or something similar, but the truth can never be further from the truth. Such a place always has a large amount of upkeep and maintenance. Regular servants might sleep in the manor house itself. A cook and the kitchen staff might sleep in the kitchen and the maid might sleep near her mistress. But the rest?

There are always cottages and other buildings nearby that house the other servants. The gameskeepers, the carpenters and the black smiths. The people without whom such an estate simply cannot function. And these people were outside the cordon of guards. So I made myself known.

(Kerrass would chuckle here)

Alain and his family are far from popular in the local area. So much so that it is almost laughable. Amelie had made sure that we kept our affair’s secret. Freddie’s family knew on my part, Some of the closer friends that we have made as well. People that have an eye for that sort of thing might be able to put the things together and figure it out.

Severine knew, on Amelie’s part but after that?

Lots of people might guess, insinuate and fantasise. But people that actually knew were going to be few and far between.

But the people surrounding the manor house knew. They didn’t know me, or that it was a Witcher that she was having an affair with, but they knew that Amelie had found another lover. Apparently, she always goes to visit her childhood friend Severine when she has a new Paramour in mind and much to my astonishment, they were cheering the pair of us on. They wanted us to be having an affair. They wanted Amelie to be happy, even if it was just for a moment.

The very first family that I met was the gardner and his wife. A nice couple and they figured out what was going on really quickly. He dealt with the larger matters of the garden while she worked in the herb garden with the cook. They figured out what my interest was, they agreed with my concerns although I didn’t implicate Alain in the “Jack” plot, but they agreed that Amelie would be safer with me, “in my arms” they said rather than anything else and as I watched, bemused and more than a little touched, a conspiracy built up to get Amelie out of the Manor house and, as I say, into my arms as quickly as possible.

The carpenter, the gameskeeper and the storesman and their wives were all drafted and were enthusiastic about “getting one over on the arrogant little puke” their words not mine. They made me eat something because “I would need my strength and I looked dreadful” while they concocted a plan to get her out in the morning.

That is the true danger of what this conspiracy and what the Jack plotters cannot see. It’s why Morgan and his cronies might just be responsible for the destruction of the entirety of Toussaint if they are not careful. Far more dangerous than any kind of shift in culture that the Knights of Francesca might bring about.

If we fail. If they manage to subvert matters so that the old system of Knights Errant is reintroduced and the Duchess is removed from the throne. There will, literally, be blood in the streets. Rebellion isn’t the word for it. The people in the countryside… I can’t speak for the townsfolk, but certainly the people in the countryside are afraid of Jack. They are concerned that you haven’t caught him yet. They are taking steps to try and catch him themselves. But they are on your side. Even while I was there, eating fresh bread with some kind of creamy cheese spread on it, they told me about how a man could go to a Knight and ask for help without fear of having his belongings stolen. About how a girl could ask for help and not get raped.

They showed me their stores of weapons and armour that they kept from back in the day, when they heard about a wounded Knight, especially one that they hated because of the aforementioned transgressions, they would hunt the bastard down and kill him the fields. A practice that has fallen out of favour as of late due to the rise in popularity of the Duchess and the Knights.

They are concerned about you, they are still a little afraid of what you might become yet. They are terrified of Jack and are dismayed that he hasn’t been stopped yet. But the things that this conspiracy has forgotten is that the people love the Duchess and they despise the old noble classes. There are some exceptions. Lord Palmerin is one, but he is a rarity amongst others. They like those people that are trying to serve, Any Knight of Francesca, and their families are well loved. But if Sir Morgan was found on the street, his clothing on fire, then I don’t think that the average villager or field worker would stop to piss on him in order to put out the flames.

(“Interesting imagery.” Syanna said with a raised eyebrow.

Guillaume and Damian were appalled at this declaration.

“Kerrass can get awfully poetic when he puts his mind to it.” I told her.)

That is the real danger. If they manage to do what they want, overthrow the Duchess’ rule and disband the Knights Francesca there will be blood on the streets and in the fields. I don’t know much, but I wonder if Toussaint would ever survive that.

I used the time to find out what I could about Alain and his habits. They confirmed that there were often visitors to the manor house that the people there disliked. Men that barely noticed the presence of a commoner in the room. Men that would just hold out a glass and expect it to be filled along with women that would inspect obviously flawlessly clean furniture before deigning to park themselves down on it. I asked for names, but such matters turned out to be redundant. Sooner or later, everyone was on the list. Enough so that I knew of at least two visitors that are not in Toussaint at the moment so it is impossible for them to be involved. So it was clear that the only way I could know about the conspirators was if someone could differentiate who was there for the “club” meetings and who was there for general social engagements. The people agreed that one of the maids or footmen that were in the building proper would be the best source of information in that regard.

I nodded. Which was when, out of the blue, one of them… I think it might even have been the coachman, told me “What you want to do is to go and talk to ‘is Lordship’s mistress.”

I remember blinking at him for a while.

The story came out quickly. They had no idea who the mistress was and didn’t care one way or another. They were a little annoyed at the fact that Alain felt as though he needed one when he already had a beautiful wife who was obviously besotted with him despite the fact that he was “clearly a cunt”.

I will admit that I used Freddie’s normal line of a cunt having warmth, depth and purpose which made everybody laugh but I asked how they knew that he had a mistress.

It would seem that he had a different schedule depending on whether or not he had a mistress, or whether it was a dalliance. A dalliance is something where he finds a beautiful woman somewhere, seduces them into a one, or sometimes, two night stand. Then he finishes it and that’s that. Nothing more to be said. But when he has a mistress, then he has a love shack as well. They know when it is, because he always takes the same path when he is meeting a mistress. I wondered why and they told me that there was a hunters cabin out in the woods on the family lands. A small thing, a little log cabin. Was barely used until Alain inherited it from his father and came up with a use for it. It had fallen into disuse because the game had mostly moved elsewhere. During the day, he used it for meetings that he didn’t want anyone to know about.

(“Thus defeating the point of having a secret meeting.” Emma snorted derisively. “If you want to have secret meetings with people, then the best thing to do is to have a whole load of otherwise useless meetings that no-one cares about and to put the important meeting right in the middle. Delay it even so that people think it’s less important.”

My sister ladies and gentlemen.)

They all gossiped with each other. Including with the guards and apparently, he had a young girl there at the moment. She was so into the matter that she was currently living in the cottage. I remembered what Amelie had told me about the youngish girl that had approached her in the market place and I wondered what this girl looked like.

They didn’t know but they muttered about it and gave me directions.

It was now clear that we weren’t going to get Amelie out before dawn. So I told them to put the plan in place and to get Amelie out in the morning. They all agreed, especially with the prospect of being able to get one over on Alain himself.

I told them that I would send word.

And then I rode off towards the cottage. It was easy to find the path. It wasn’t obscured or anything and as I followed the pathway through the thicker undergrowth. I quickly found the little cottage off to one side. It was a nice place, even a picturesque place. The kind that I could well imagine going to for some kind of romantic getaway.

Except that it was also rather heavily guarded. But they weren’t looking for me. Instead, they were looking inward. It’s a subtle difference but you can tell if you know what you were looking for. Fortunately for everyone, Alain clearly doesn’t hire his guards for their brains.

They had just assumed that a lady such as Caroline would not be able to flee through the thick undergrowth at the back of the cottage.

I spent a bit of time observing matters before I made my move.

I recognised her almost instantly from Amelie’s description of the girl that met her in the market place. A little shorter than Amelie was but that doesn’t surprise me really. Apparently, one of the things that Alain would constantly complain about when it came to the appearance of his wife was that she was too tall. Long, slightly frizzy, curly reddish ginger hair. Pretty enough, just on the cusp of turning from a girl to a woman.

I can absolutely see why she reminded Freddie of Princess Dorn. She has the same attitude of someone who has gone through some things that no-one that age should have gone through. She was jaded and hard when she should have been soft and innocent. It took me more than a little effort not to become angry in her presence. Guessing at some of the things that she had been through, she would almost certainly believe that I was angry at her rather than being angry on her behalf.

Looking back, I can see how some people might believe that she was the Duchess’ daughter although I could see just as much evidence that she might have been someone else’s daughter. Very clever of the club to find someone like that. She was all things to all people. Of course, I had no idea about any of this at the time.

I have spoken to Freddie about what she said to him about our… brief conversation. As far as what he said, that conversation was fairly accurate, even if it was… just a little… embellished by her. Specifically glossing over just how scared she was of me. Especially some of the… darker… things that she suggested to me and some of the things that were in that cottage, reserved for Alain’s pleasure no doubt. Freddie and I have both seen worse when it comes to pleasure dens of men who should know better, but I rather think that it was because Alain lacked the imagination required for such things.

I guessed that, given the guards outside the cottage then this girl was also at risk. So I advised her to make herself scarce. She struck me as being rather brittle, so if I had tried to force the issue, then I was really quite afraid that she might shatter in my grip. For such as her, you have to let them reach their own conclusions. From what Freddie tells me, she nearly left it too late as it was although I am glad she escaped. She did well to do so as well. Someone her age with her relatively sheltered life, getting as far as she had.

(“I thought her life was quite hard,” Guillaume frowned. “No mother, or any other…”

Kerrass laughed at him, just a little cruelly. “Sir Knight. Presuming we all survive the coming days and a life of luxury awaits. I shall take you North to the slums of Vizima, Novigrad and the rest. I will show you human, and Elven, suffering that would make what Lady Caroline lived through seem like the very height of luxury.”

“I can understand the poor.” Guillaume began. “And I have seen these cities…”

“No.” I agreed with Kerrass, doing my best to head off an argument between two men that I respected and admired. “I agree with Kerrass. Her life was not amazing, but I have seen worse. At least she had the love of a father which is more than some had. She had food, clean water and an education. I will admit that she lacked for social circles but… Hard for the potential future Duchess of Toussaint? Definitely. Hard for the average person on the continent? Not even close.”

Guillaume looked from one to the other of us to see if we were pulling his leg, or if there was something else going on here. Then he looked at Damien who shrugged rather eloquently. He has climbed fairly high but it is easy to forget that Damien is a common born Knight.

Syanna was no help either. She was staring into space with a troubled expression. She looked like she had seen a ghost. Maybe, it was even her own ghost.)

When I left the cottage. I returned through the woods to check on preparations for the extraction of Amelie from the Manor house. They were all but ready. Something to do with a wagon full of night soil and a hollow space underneath the cart. She would hate it but I rather hoped she would prefer to be alive. They were talking about slipping some sedative into her morning drinks to make sure that she was relatively compliant with the rescue attempt. I decided that we were as set as we could be and resolved to wait until someone told me that I would need to get some rest, and that also, I would need to be in the capital in order to be prepared for the legal things that would happen.

It was not a nice conversation for either of us I think. The plan was in place now, as were all the players. They only left to find out was to see if she would survive the night. During daylight, she would be fine as it would be easy to get her out. The business of running a manor house demands the presence of servants as the guards often believe themselves above such menial labour and so it would be much easier to extract or infiltrate someone.

So we were struck with the truth. If Amelie survived the night, then she would be safe. If not, then we needed to be at peace with the idea that there was nothing that we could have done to help her.

I will not deny, that did not sit well with me. But it was true.

I returned to Beauclair to grab a few hours sleep and to get Freddie to come and help me rescue a woman that I cared about a great deal. In the same way that he cares about Marion or any of the other ladies that he has loved over the years while also admitting that Ariadne is his one true love.

And then… I was under arrest.

I’m sorry I couldn’t say anything. I really am. But both Amelie and Lady Caroline had insisted that I keep things quiet. Their honour was at stake and… Strange as it might seem, it was absurdly important that I keep their confidences. I also didn’t want to implicate the people that were working against Alain. Even though he is in the wrong, it would not take much legal wrangling to argue that they were guilty of rebelling against the rightful rule of the Lord and Master. The punishment for that is… not pretty and I would save them that.

Toussaint is contagious. Like a disease. And I didn’t know how it would play out. I didn’t know who Caroline was and I didn’t want to put her at risk. Now that she is safely ensconced… somewhere… Then I don’t need to worry. So that is the end of my story.

-

“To answer your unspoken question Kerrass.” Syanna smiled. “She is currently in the Knight Chapterhouse surrounded by Knights who are positively quivering with the desire to show their devotion to the daughter of the Duchess of Toussaint. I imagine that, by now, more than a few of them are already besotted with her. Still more will be hopeful of winning her favour in order to be Duke next to her when she inherits.”

“Will she inherit?” I wondered.

Syanna considered this for a while. “I think it’s likely.” She decided. “When you said that no Lord is going to want to swear their allegiance to me, I think you were right in that. I would do the job if I had to but… I know what it’s like now. When I plotted, I wanted the pageantry, the power and the prestige of the thing. I wanted the pretty dresses…”

Damien snorted and Syanna glared at him.

“I wanted the food, the drink and the guards but now?” She shook her head. “I have seen the stuff that she has to put up with every day from ass-holes like Morgan, LeBlanc and the rest. I do not have her patience. I rather think that I would become a tyrant.”

“A very beautiful tyrant.” Damien said slyly.

We all stared at him in astonishment.

“All right.” A blushing Syanna demanded. “Who fed you that line?”

“Was it a good line?” He wondered, a little too earnestly.

“Judging by the state of her blushing,” I teased. “I think it was.”

“Fuck off, both of you.” She snarled. “It is much more likely that I would be regent and only then if Anna dropped dead tomorrow. Besides, Anna is not old. Getting that way for childbearing purposes but she could easily live another twenty, thirty years without medical assistance and her cousin is a mage. So she could be ruling well into her eighties and nineties. If not longer, if she likes. There is still, more than a small chance that she falls in love with some passing noble. My sister is a sensible woman, fiercely intelligent, frighteningly cunning, ruthless and charming. But she is also a romantic.”

“You might as well just say that she is from Toussaint. As far as I can tell, you are all romantics.” Kerrass grumbled.

“Not an unfair criticism.” Guillaume had recovered from the stuff about poverty in the north.

“If she falls in love again, she will fall in love hard. It is one of those nightmare scenarios that we talk about when we discuss protecting Toussaint if she falls in love with someone like your Northern Radovid. Someone who would not only take over the Duchy but run it into the ground for some cause or another. She knows this is one of her faults and works hard to curtail it. But sooner or later… That’s my greatest fear.”

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She shook herself.

“That sentimentality is her weakness. It is why she refused to allow me to run off and speak to Dettlaff. It is why I was not handed over. It’s just the way she’s wired and I don’t think that there’s anything we can do about it. Will Lady Caroline inherit the Ducal throne?”

She shrugged.

“I do think so.”

“Is she your sister’s daughter?” I wondered. It was a risky question but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

“Of course she is.” Syanna snorted. “You were there when she was adopted.”

“You know what I mean.” I accused.

“Yes I do. If I knew, which is neither a confirmation or a denial, I would not tell you. Annarietta told me her reasons for doing this the way she is and I agree with her that the ambiguity is the only way to keep her safe. Both of them safe, in fact. Do not ask again Lord Frederick. It is unlikely that you will get a better answer than that.”

There was a long pause in the room as we all spent a bit of time not looking at each other.

“Freddie.” Damien began. “Lord Frederick I should say.”

I glared at him but he didn’t seem to notice.

“Do you think that this was their endgame?” He wondered. “You’re the person who has followed their reasoning the best so far. Was that it? They would kill Alain’s wife, frame Kerrass for it and use that as evidence that the Knights of Saint Francesca were incompetent?”

“It would be a good plan if it was,” I mused. Kerrass later claimed that I stroked my chin. “And I think some people might have been pushing for that. A grief stricken Alain becomes the figurehead of the traditionalist movement in Toussaint, he finds and married a girl that he fell in love with by the side of the road, there is certainly enough romance in that thought to satisfy even the most jaded of Toussaint people, and then she turns out to be the long lost daughter of the Duchess. She ascends to the throne after Anna-Rietta is deposed and everyone is happy. But it doesn’t feel like an ending to me. I don’t think it goes far enough. It doesn’t feel like a climax. I think that they were reaching for higher, for something more dramatic. I think we have to be prepared for the possibility that their end goal was to have Jack assassinate the Duchess. Then Caroline could be produced better and to more drama.”

“But they have discarded that plan now. They have to have.”

“Yes, but not really.” A thought occurred to me. “How long do you think it will be before they find the “real” daughter of the Duchess. It will be some… less attractive girl that the Duchess hated and scorned for her ugliness, replacing her with the far more pleasant to look at, Countess Vasseur. The end goal of The Duchess is still a valid thought.”

“I agree.” Syanna said, “I shall have her guard doubled. It would also make sense to frame Kerrass. He could have pretended to be Jack easily.”

“He could, yes. But that plan is also set aside. They will be looking for a new scape-goat now. I wonder if they will frame Alain himself now that he has lost his usefulness.”

“No they won’t,” Kerrass said. “Because I’m going to kill him.”

We all laughed, I mean what else could we do.

“No really,” he said. “After this discussion, I am going to go out there, hunt the bastard down and I’m going to kick him repeatedly in the balls until he agrees to fight me and then I’m going to kill him.”

I don’t think I was the only one in the room who felt their mouths open.

“That would solve all the problems wouldn’t it?” He asked calmly. “We know that Alain is involved, we know that he knows more than we all give him credit for. He can point us in the direction of the remaining club members. We can find out what’s going on?”

“Kerrass.” I tried.

“This is it. They have proved through their own stupid manipulations that I am innocent and now I can…”

“KERRASS.” I yelled. The aftereffects of the bellow leaving me trembling and gasping for breath.

Silence fell like the clash of a falling suit of armour.

“What if you lose?”

“Pfftttt.”

“Kerrass.” I tried again, forcing my voice to keep working past the lump in my throat that had appeared out of nowhere. “You are amongst the best fighters and swordsmen here that any of us have ever seen. We all know that and if this was a straight fight where you could use your signs and all the other tricks that a Witcher has at their disposal, then yeah, the fight is probably yours. But if it was a fight, then you would have to kill him and then we won’t get the information we need.”

“Yes but I…”

“KERRASS.” I snarled. “This would be a duel. And it would be an unfair, harsh one as well. The same piece of coincidence that proves that you are innocent, also proves that he is innocent. He was in town, seen by several people on the night of his wife’s death and last night when Jack came for Lady Caroline. So what are you going to do Kerrass? Accuse him? You would find yourself in the noose alongside him. You would be portrayed as the love-lorn idiot that fell in love with a married woman, killed her out of jealousy and now is doing everything in your power to prove that it was her husband’s fault.”

“Freddie.”

“AND THEY WOULD BE RIGHT.” I bellowed at him. “THINK Kerrass. With your brain, not your balls or your heart. Step outside Toussaint for just a moment and think. It would have to be a duel. A duel that you would lose even if you win. But there will be no signs, no potions. Just your sword against his which, given that the swords will be allocated in advance in order to ensure that neither of you have an unfair advantage, means that you will be fighting with an unfamiliar blade.”

He opened his mouth.

“That would be his arena Kerrass, not yours. You once told me, back when you were first deciding what you could tell me about Witchers, that if you need a sword lesson then you go to the Wolves. You said that you reckoned that you could take Lambert because he has a temper and you could just goad him into losing it. But both Eskel and Geralt regularly school you when you can persuade either of them to train with you.”

I gestured at Guillaume who was looking at his feet.

“Guillaume will tell you, along with any other trained sword in Toussaint, that the only person that can come close to Alain in the Duelling circle is Geralt. Everyone else is outclassed.”

“That is true.” Damien tried. “That is true, the man is like lightning.”

“And we also, both of us, know that you are not at your best.” I told him. “Not since the cult in the north. We both know that your arms get sore and stiff in cold weather. We both know that you are not as fast, nor as strong as you used to be. So when he beats you, and the balance of probability is that he will, you will be dead, Alain will be beyond reproach, his innocence proven to the satisfaction of the Gods and the public of Toussaint. Even if we prove that he is guilty elsewhere, then we cannot take that to anyone. He is innocent because you will have made it so.”

Kerrass said nothing.

“And what if you lose, Kerrass?” I pleaded. “We will have lost you, don’t… Don’t.”

I could no longer keep the tears back.

“He deserves to die Freddie.” To my horror, he was pleading back at me. “I need to kill him.”

I lost my temper.

“So it will be murder then.” I howled. “You sneak up on him in the night, torture him until he tells you what you want to know, then you murder everyone else involved because we won’t be able to do anything else with what you discover. You become Jack. Well go, the fuck, ahead Kerrass. Become the monster that they always say that you are and that you have resisted being your entire life. Give in Kerrass, become that thing. They will send an army after you to put you down like the sick animal that you will be. And Kerrass, you had better kill me now because I will be leading that army. My last monster before I retire, or die.”

I had stood up at some point in my fury and my fear that my friend would do what he intended. On the last words of what I was saying, I felt my legs turn to jelly and I fell. I aimed for the chair and missed, falling to the ground.

Kerrass caught me.

I was trembling violently now, fighting back against the darkness that threatened to engulf my vision. “I have slept for two hours Kerrass.” I told him. “Two hours after I spent all day yesterday and a significant part of this morning proving that you are innocent. Make me a liar now and I will never forgive you.”

“He needs to die Freddie.” He wouldn’t look me in the eye.

“I know Kerrass, but let’s do it properly.”

Kerrass helped me to a chair and stood over me, looking down at me.

“Fuck.” He said.

And I knew I had won.

Guillaume crouched beside me and wondered what he could do to help. I was trembling violently now, my teeth were chattering together. By my own judgement I was not far off going into convulsions.

“Get Ariadne.” Kerrass told him and I was dimly aware of a servant being sent.

“I am going to kill him Freddie.” Kerrass told me. “If we prove he was the killer then I will be the headsman. She deserves justice.”

“She does.” Syanna said. “And I would even agree that you deserve vengeance.”

“The loss of a mistress,” Damien began carefully. “Is more than enough justification for vengeance…”

He was interrupted there by Kerrass picking up a pot, I understand it might have been some kind of vase containing flowers that he pitched into the nearest wall.

The next few minutes, but it was only minutes, were a blur to me before Ariadne was crouched next to me. Speaking in a soothing voice, mentally and physically at the same time, she told me to keep calm and drink. The potion was walking and soothing. Like warm milk after a tough day.

According to Guillaume and Kerrass, she took the rest of the room to task a little bit.

“He does not know his limits.” She told them all. “He was already at those limits a few days ago with the turmoil in his family as well as other memories associated with his sister. I agree that this investigation is necessary and I will also agree that Freddie can help and he would hate us if we try to stop him being involved. But know that we are only delaying an inevitable relapse in his… far too fragile condition. The longer we delay that relapse, the worse it will be.”

“I don’t understand.” Damien claimed.

“It’s like we are applying pressure to his brain.”

“I still don’t…”

Apparently Ariadne got a little frustrated and Kerrass stepped in. “It is like stamina.” He said. “Well, it’s not but think of it like that. We all have so much of it. We can expend it all in an instant, or we can spread the difference out. The difference between a long distance trot for a horse, or a short distance gallop.”

Guillaume burst in then. “My uncle once told me a story of a horse that died after a long battle. The horse had done everything that my uncle had asked of it. It had obviously been tired at various points, it had wanted to stop but when my uncle pushed the matter, the noble steed reacted and leapt to his touch again. Then he took the horse home, brushed it, gave it food, water and rest. Then when it was resting, it just died in the night.”

“That’s close,” Ariadne said. “Except Freddie won’t die from this. He might lose his mind. And as I understand we are throwing around threats and warnings at the moment given how high everyone’s emotional state is I will say this.

“Freddie is a beautiful man to my eyes, more than enough to rouse my desire. But I love him for his mind. His kindness, his intelligence and his perception. If you break him, if you break that. Then I will never forgive you.”

Guillaume would later tell me that the matter of fact way that she said it was what impacted the room. She said it the same way that she might decide what wine she wanted to accompany dinner with.

They spent some time talking to Kerrass while I came back to myself. It didn’t take very long. Mostly going over old things that we had talked about before. Specifically as to why challenging Alain to a duel would not get us the information that we needed and would just drive a lot of the cult underground.

I came back quickly this time. I shuddered, shook, and suddenly I was back in my body, calm and relatively quiet.

“I could do with something to eat.” I said aloud.

“I will arrange it.” Ariadne said. “I would tell you not to push yourself too hard but I think we both know that that’s not going to happen.”

I grinned. “I love you.” I told her.

A silly goofy grin crossed her face. “I know.” She said back. “I love you too.”

And she was gone.

“Where are we up to?” I asked.

“We were just explaining to Kerrass why we can’t let him just challenge Alain to a fight.” Syanna explained. “Not just that he might win but also, for all the other things that we might lose.”

“So what do we do?” Kerrass wondered. “Because damned if I want to leave it to the last minute. If someone doesn’t come up with a better plan, I really am going to challenge him.”

“Let’s leave that to the back of the list of priorities.” I told him. “I have some ideas.”

“You always have ideas.” Kerrass said, smiling slightly. “Are any of these quite as foolish as trying to speak to a dragon.”

“No more foolish than challenging the best duellist in the land to a fight.” I retorted.

“You can put that on the list presuming I lose.” He said. “But all jesting aside. What do we do now?”

“Freddie?” Syanna said. “You are person that keeps coming up with the best attempts to see into their minds now. What are they going to do next?”

“I’m not entirely happy that you’re depending on me for all of this.”

“Why not?” Damien wondered.

“Well, we don’t know I’m right. All that’s happening is that my theories fit the facts as we know them.”

“Which is good enough for us for now.” Syanna said firmly. “The moment that anyone comes up with another theory that explains everything better than one of your theories then we can have that discussion. What are they going to do next?”

I took a deep breath and tried to settle my thoughts.

“They have to know that we’re onto them now.” I said slowly. “They have to. We accurately predicted that they would go after Lady Vasseur and we have stopped them from being able to hide behind the supernatural thing. We know that it is a group of men behind the entire thing but they don’t know that we know that. Otherwise they, or their flunkies, would be clamouring for Kerrass to be rearrested.”

I spent a bit of time waiting for the next words to line themselves up in my head. It felt a lot like I could hear my heart beating.

“I think that they have two routes forward.” I decided after a while. It was one of those times where I said it. Realised that I had spoken, then examined the statement to see if there were any other problems in that statement that I would need to cover. The statement seemed sound however so I kept talking.

“The first route forward is that they hold to their original plan. They continue to kill, targeting people that would undermine the Knights Francesca, put us on the back foot and disrupt our investigation while they work in towards the Duchess. I think that this is the least likely of the two options.”

“Why?” I didn’t register who asked.

“These people know what they’re doing.” I said. “They are careful, plotting minds. They are exposed now and though they think that they are relatively safe, we have made them vulnerable. If they keep going on their original plot, then they are being stupid and aggressive. That is not their pattern, they will be slow and cautious.”

“Which leads to their second path.” Syanna agreed.

“I think,” I began carefully. “I think we’ve accidentally fucked up a significant part of their plan. Or rather, you have.”

“Oh? I don’t follow.”

“I think… I think that their plan was to frame Kerrass as the killer. I think that their original plan was that they would kill a bunch of people associated with Kerrass. To say that what Kerrass was doing was hiding the people that he actually wanted to be killed amongst all the other people that were dying. I don’t know about motives that they intended but I certainly think that this was a thing. I also think that they miscalculated what you and your sister were going to do.”

“In what way.”

I frowned. I was really tired, aftereffects of yelling at Kerrass and the medicine that Ariadne had given me, and I had done most of this thinking without really considering it.

“I think they put themselves in your shoes and wondered what they would do in your place. They knew that Kerrass was having an affair with Lady Moineau. Which meant that his alibi for the other killings was impossible to follow through on. Given that it was the, now, dead woman. So what they wanted, was for you to behave the same way that they would have. They wanted you to say “Kerrass is our guest, friend and comrade. He would never do such a thing,” and then Kerrass would still be free. In turn that would mean that their scapegoat was still on the loose and free to be killing the women that they wanted killed.”

“But you didn’t do that.” Kerrass saw where I was going with this.

I would have given thanks to the Eternal Flame for that, but I was too tired.

“Instead, you arrested Kerrass immediately and promptly. So they couldn’t even say that he was free to tamper with the evidence. And now they had a problem. They knew that they were exposed and that Lady Caroline needed to be killed by “Jack” in order to protect themselves from whatever it was that Lady Caroline knew. Remember that they didn’t know how much information that Alain had leaked to her.”

“Why would they think that he would have leaked anything?” Guillaume wondered.

“The number of times some crime has been solved because the guard has received a lead from something that has been told to dock prostitute in an effort to impress or seduce her.” Damien said. “Men will say a lot to impress a pretty face.”

“Not just men.” Syanna agreed. “Keep going Freddie.”

“So she had to die.” I said. “But their scapegoat was in prison. Remember that it was Alain that was desperately trying to get us to release Kerrass.”

People were nodding at that.

“So now, the only way that they can include Kerrass is to admit that there is more than one person that was involved in the killing. Thus negating all of their own alibi’s in the process. It is why I think that Alain is relatively safe from their wrath at the moment.”

More nodding.

“So I think… I think that the other direction that they can go in the middle of all of this is to start to set themselves up with another scapegoat. They might have more back up suspects involved or planned for as it is, but they will want to distract us from Alain and everyone, and everything, that Alain was involved with. This is by far the more likely scenario. They will want to shore up their own defences before they advance again.”

“Sound military tactics.” Guillaume agreed. “But Knights of Toussaint should be bold?”

“The difference between how the Knights of Toussaint should have been and how they actually have been is huge and is the reason we’re in this mess in the first place.” Syanna told him. “You are a rarity sir and there is a reason that you are loved above all others, by the people and not just by your peers. In the future, years from now when people are writing down a new code of honour and lessons on how a Knight should behave. They will list your deeds as examples. It will become known that a thing is honourable because that is what Sir Guillaume would have done and children will be taught to ask themselves “What would Guillaume do?” before they do something stupid.”

Guillaume blushed. He actually blushed.

“I don’t know.” Damien teased, a little seriously. “I seem to recall a certain Knight sat not very far from myself even now, who decided that the best way to declare his love for a lady was to attack a giant single handedly. His follow up act was to charge a Shaalmaar while still recovering from the incident with the Giant. Not everything that Guillaume has done was entirely clever.”

“You are not wrong, but when has honourable behaviour been consistently clever?” Syanna agreed. “We must add to that that an admission of your own errors is also something that needs to become a standard honourable thing.”

“Not a bad thing to live by.” Kerrass said. “You were saying Freddie?”

“I thought I’d finished if I’m honest.” I said.

“You were saying that they would want to prepare a new scapegoat.” Damien told me. “So here’s my question. Why not just go to the ground? They are exposed now so why keep going? I mean, I think I know the answer but I could do with…”

“Freddie?”

“Are any of you… Can any of you honestly look me in the face and say that they would stop hunting for these bastards. Even if the killings stopped tomorrow and the concern was overtaken by other factors, would any of you stop hunting for these killers? They need to keep going now. At the very least they need to give you someone to hang for the crimes. Someone that is believable enough to convince you that you have caught the real bad guy.”

“Mmmm.” Damien grunted.

“So, any ideas?” Syanna wondered.

“None at all.” I said happily and a little manically. “Who else is capable enough to be framed?”

“Back to that list then.” Damien grumbled.

“If they were going to continue towards the next plan.” Kerrass wondered. “I agree that the end goal would be to have Jack assassinate the Duchess. Maybe her ladyship the Knight Commander as well, who else can we expect them to go after?”

“Following everything.” I said. “You are looking for wives and daughters of the most powerful people. People that can bring their might and power to bear against the Knights of Francesca and their sentiments moving forward.”

“Sir Morgan’s wife.” Damien said promptly. If you want to really turn a group of people against you, make it her.”

“Emma.” Kerrass said. “Emma, Laurelen… either of them would make good targets. It would also mean that, once again, they have proven that the protection given by the new Knights is not enough. I rather think that they would not go after Ariadne for fear that she would be… Ariadne at them.”

“All good choices.” Syanna was scribbling on a piece of paper. “I can also think of several merchant’s wives and ladies of the manor that would make for good targets that would result in pressure being applied against us in court.”

I had been rattled by the suggestion that my family would be targeted again. “Also…” I had to clear my throat. “Also, anyone who has wronged any of our chief suspects. We know that the women have been people that were selective in their choices of partners. So anyone close to people that have attacked or otherwise… disrespected any of our suspects. You know, the wives of men that have mocked Sir Raoul in court. Women that have refused Sir…” I forced myself. “Sir Gregoire’s charming romantic advances. Those kinds of people. If there is a circle of men that are saying. ‘I will kill your problem if you kill mine.” kind of affair.”

Syanna finished what she was writing and handed the note to a waiting squire. “All of this is lovely. But it’s all very reactive. I agree with the assessment that we have exposed these fuckers. To return to a defensive standpoint is wise, but it also doesn’t get us anywhere. It gives our enemies time to regroup, plan and take things easy. We need to be on the offense. Freddie, you have some ideas?”

“I do?”

“Yes, you have said, frequently, that you have had ideas regarding how to move forward.”

“I did?”

“Yes Freddie. You did. Something about…”

“Oh yes. We need to find their source of information.” I said. “They know what we’re up to. There have been numerous times, not just regarding this investigation, where things have been made clear that we have a leak of investigation that is going towards our enemies. If we are going to isolate these people, we should remove that source of information.”

“Example?”

“Who was it that told them that I was having an affair with Amelie?” Kerrass started. ‘They knew it. Knew it enough that they could base their framing of me around it. Amelie would not have said anything, neither would Severine. The people of the Moineaus were on her side so none of them would give the game away. Freddie’s family would know…”

“Lots of people knew.” Damien scoffed.

“No.” Kerrass said. “Lots of people suspected. Lots of people thought. But the only people that knew? Freddie’s family and a few others. Also, how fast after I was arrested was Alain outside the guardhouse demanding that I be released. It didn’t take long.”

“No it wasn’t.” I agreed. “There is also the question, who brought my spear to the duel with Sir Raoul. Our apartments have been infiltrated easily.”

“There is the possibility that your protection has been infiltrated.” Guillaume said. “We have had to recruit a lot of Knights really quickly, so it’s possible that some of those were planted for this purpose.”

“So we need to root that out.” I said. “How do we do that?”

“Normally we would use compartmentalised information.” Syanna said. “Put out streams of false information and see which pieces of information were acted on. A little long winded for what is needed here though.”

“There is also a lot of ground to cover.”

I sighed. “We know that there is a leak in my family’s apartments.” I said. “It might even be true that the leak is unintentional. My family has been careful about such things in the past. Maybe they have seen something that doesn’t make sense. Kerrass and I should go. We know them best.”

“Good ideas.” Kerrass said. “The other factor there is that there are doubtless other leaks. But we know there is a leak there and it also narrows down our search areas. There can only be so many people that are possible leaks in that area.”

“I will go with you.” Syanna said. “Guillaume, Damien, Work on the defences of those people that we know about and game who else might be targets. But not before you, Guillaume, get some rest and tell your wife that you love her. I saw how upset she was when My beloved sister called you a coward.”

Guillaume nodded and rose. “Thank you sir.” He saluted and walked out.

But at first, Kerrass wouldn’t let me leave. For just a while there, I had forgotten that my new nickname for him was Kerrass the Ever present nursemaid and he forced me to have something to eat. The fact that Syanna also took the opportunity to do the same meant that I didn’t really have a leg to stand on when it came to trying to get the whole thing moving.

Kerrass didn’t eat. He claimed to have had plenty to eat that morning when the jailers came for him. I looked at him sharply as he stood over me.

“You’re not planning on running off and going for Alain while I sit here and eat are you?”

“The thought hadn’t crossed my mind.” He declared.

I glared at him.

“Alright alright,” he sighed. “I want him, Freddie. I want that bastard and I’m going to get him. He is going to dance at the end of my sword or at the end of a rope. I want it so badly that I can almost taste it.”

Then he seemed to deflate.

“But… You’re right. It’s not practical at the moment. I want him, I’m going to get him. But not right now. He is too strong, both in the duelling field and in the social state of things. We need to chip away at his confidence first and then I can get away with it.”

“Good.” I said. “I don’t want to lose you Kerrass. We have too much to still do together, you and I.”

“I thought we weren’t going to be travelling together after this Freddie?” He said it teasingly, but despite that, it hurt a little. “Are you ready for this?”

“Ready for what?”

He stared at me for a while. “Your family are… Look, I like your family a lot. I do, but there is also no denying the fact that they are powerful people that are experienced in getting their own way. You are going to walk in there and say that there is a leak in here somewhere. What do you think they are going to say? How do you think they are going to react? Not all that long ago, you were yelling at all of us about how we were keeping things from you. You were right then and we all know it. But if you walk in there and start throwing that around, they are going to think that you are coming after them. You need to be careful that you are not going to end up with some kind of… I don’t know. Some kind of shouting match.”

“But surely they will see the problem.”

“Kerrass is right.” Syanna piped up from where she was shovelling some kind of bread and pate filled snack into her mouth in such a way that almost certainly insulted which ever chef it was that had produced the item. “People don’t like to be made to feel stupid. Intelligent and powerful people are the worst for it as well. It is also why such people are much more vulnerable to that kind of attack. They cannot believe that such a thing would be allowed to happen, or that they wouldn’t notice such a thing if it did happen. No-one likes being made a fool of and especially if they are already smarting after recent events.”

I was honestly a little shocked.

“I was tricked too.”

“Yes, but Freddie.” Kerrass began looking a little uncomfortable. “You should remember that the reason they made that mistake in the first place, where they decided what you should or should not know I mean, is that they still look down on you a little bit. It’s not malicious, it’s protective. They probably don’t even think like that or that that’s what they’re doing. But Emma is your big sister and from everything that you’ve told me, she was more of a mother to you than your own mother was. She is used to telling you what to do, advising you and the like. Nowadays she is literally and legally in the position of being your mother. She is used to being the person that you are going to for advice. She will not like being told that she is wrong or that she has made a mistake in another area.

“And your brother is your confessor and a Cardinal of the church. He is not going to take that well.”

I thought about this, “Lovely.”

“It needs doing.” Syanna said. “But do not expect them to take it well.

I had nothing to say to that.

“Do you want me to do it?” She asked.

“No.” I said, “I’ll do it. It’s an unpleasant job but… I should get this over with.”

We climbed the stairs up to our families rooms in one of the guest towers. I want to say that it was not entirely the same as feeling as though I was a condemned man marching to the gallows, but I would be lying. It was tough going.

As it happened though, it turned out that we were being completely unfair when it came to how they would react. Fortunately, they seemed to be in a moderately good mood when we all arrived.

Mark and Laurelen were playing Gwent when we arrived. They were playing a variant where your opponent is allowed to pick your deck for you and then you have to play using that deck. As I’ve said before, Gwent is not really my thing. There are too many variables for my liking. But I have heard other people say that it is a nice, light-hearted way to play. Because you can’t blame a loss on anyone really as it’s everyone’s fault.

They were playing for match-sticks. Another, low risk way of gambling gently amongst families. Mark was winning. Which was not all that surprising given some of his experiences with the game.

Emma was at the table writing some letters. She once joked that one of the main things a merchant empire ran on was paper and ink. She claimed that if you really wanted to cripple a merchant then you do not kill them. Instead, break their hands so that they are unable to write.

Ariadne was there, reading a book of something that was incomprehensible to my eyes. She had a piece of charcoal in her hand and was writing on something. I recognised neither the language or anything else that was going on. She looked up when we entered, frowned slightly and returned to what she was doing until she had finished her thought, or whatever it was that she was scribbling.

Anne was just gathering her cloak to set off. “Oh.” She said startled. “Is everything ok? You didn’t come home last night and I was worried.”

“Everything’s fine.” I said.

“Are you sure? You look really tired.” She hugged me, “I mean, I have some things to do in town but I can put them off.”

“No.” I said, hugging her back before separating. “I’m fine but, you can’t go into town just yet.”

“Oh?” She frowned and stepped back.

The others had caught that part of the conversation and they were all looking at us now. I sighed.

“Ok.” I took another deep breath. “This isn’t… Here’s the thing.”

“He’s afraid.” Mark teased.

“He doesn’t think we’re going to like it.” Laurelen caught the mood.

“He’s normally right about that kind of thing.” Emma agreed, smiling. “I definitely did not enjoy being told that Father was murdered.”

“No,” Mark laughed. “Nor did I enjoy being told that there was a cult operating in our back yard.”

I laughed with them.

“My advice Freddie?” Emma suggested, smiling gently. “Just tell us.”

I gestured and Anne sat down.

“Here it is.” I said, paused, took a deep breath and then tried again. “We know that someone is feeding our enemies information out of our rooms.” I said.

Emma blinked, Mark frowned, Ariadne was impassive.

“There are numerous examples.” I went on. “Someone stole my spear so that it would be there at the party, the night of my… heh… “duel” with Sir Raoul. Someone made people aware about Kerrass’ affair with the, now, deceased, Lady Moineau. There are other examples but those are the primary ones.”

Mark opened his mouth to speak. It gave me the impression of being something automatic rather than anything intentionally belligerent.

“Yes.” I cut him off. “There are many different places that information could have come from. But there is certainly information coming out of these rooms.”

Mark closed his mouth and frowned in thought. Emma, Laurelen and Anne all wore the same expression. Ariadne remained impassive.

“To be clear.” I told them. “I don’t think it was any of you. I don’t accuse any of you of spying on us. It’s possible that someone, including me even, has been leaking the secrets out and we just don’t know it.”

Emma sighed. “There are always ways and means.” She said. “No information is truly secure.”

“Father once told me that the only thing that can keep a secret is a grave.” Mark agreed.

“And sometimes not even then.” Kerrass told them. “Speaking from personal experience.”

There was a bit of laughter.

“This is just the beginning of the investigation.” Syanna said, stepping forward. “What we’re asking for is your help with this. We need to know if there are any servants that you might have caught poking around something, doing something suspicious.”

Emma and Laurelen looked at each other.

“Also…” Syanna went on. “We are well aware that we have recruited a lot of Knights of Saint Francesca very quickly and without caution. It is also possible that you might have had some of your guards poking around in the pretense of “checking your safety” and the like. We have a lot of questions but one way or another, the people that we know are behind the Jack killings…”

“Hold on, if you know who it is?” Anne asked. “Why not just arrest…”

“Because we can’t prove it.” Syanna said. “These men are powerful men. It’s unpleasant but there you go. If we are going to properly destroy these fuckers so that they never threaten anyone again. We need to be able to, not just arrest them and execute them. We need to destroy them utterly so that they cannot be changed into some kind of martyr.”

“Is this information, definitely being fed to the Jack killers?” Anne carried on.

“Almost certainly, on some level at least.” Syanna replied before she turned back to the room.

“This is just beginning. As well as the five of you, we are going to be questioning the servants and the guards. I am sorry for the disruption to your lives but…”

“No no.” Emma waved the objections away. “No need to worry. These bastards need to be caught. When will the inquisition begin?” She was trying to make it jokeworthy but I know her well enough to know that she was bothered.

“Immediately.” Syanna said. “Kerrass and Freddie will know what questions to ask the five of you, I will start on the guards, occasionally asking for Kerrass’ help in order to put the fear of the Prophets into the servants and the…”

“No need.” said Anne as she stood up. She looked me in the eye. “I am truly sorry.” She told me before she turned to Syanna, her face was a mask. “Do not haul the servants, or the guards over the coals on my account. They are innocent of this as far as I know. I am the one you are looking for. I will have no-onurk.”

There was a blur and a crash.

Then there was screaming.

“I trusted you.” Ariadne snarled. Her hands had grown into claws and her face had become an animalistic, snarl of rage. To the point where I didn’t recognise it.

Kerrass was shouting. I think even I was shouting. Syanna was definitely shouting. Weapons were being drawn but it all came from a distance. The air seemed to whistle so that the only sound that I could hear was Ariadne’s voice.

Anne had been knocked through the room so that she crashed into the wall, the shards of glass from the pictures that she shattered in her passage fell down around her like rain. Flowers fell, from the vases that added water and shards of pottery that had once been, doubtlessly priceless antiques. A table cracked.

Anne was stunned, blinking stupidly and seemingly unable to focus. Blood trickled from her ears and her nose as well as dribbling out of the corner of her mouth.

Ariadne wasn’t done. I had heard about how elder vampire’s fight. She threw the remains of the furniture aside as she stalked towards the fallen woman before she hauled Anne up the wall by her throat.

“I trusted you with that which I hold most dear.” Ariadne’s voice was dreadful. Awful. Horrifying. “I gave him to you. You were given that which I want before I could even begin to… I allowed him to be vulnerable with you. I told him to trust you and be with you. I taught him to overcome his…. How could…”

One of the Knights Francesca that had been in the room drew his sword to attack Ariadne. I dimly heard Kerrass get in the way. “Touch her and die.” He told the young Knight who looked at Syanna who was screaming at Ariadne.

“Do you have any idea how much it hurt?” Ariadne hissed at the now struggling figure of Anne. “Do you have any idea what it cost to let you comfort him when I could not.”

Anne was becoming aware that she was being strangled coming round from the impact of being flung into a nearby wall. Her hands started to creep up to Ariadne’s arms, and then along to the hands as she automatically started to tug at the fingers. It must have been like trying to uproot a centuries old tree with only your fingers.

“I don’t care that you’re sorry.” Ariadne snarled. “How could you… What?”

Anne started struggling in Ariadne’s grip all the more.

The vampire, the woman that I loved let go suddenly and staggered backwards as though she had been struck. She literally fell as Anne collapsed to the floor, gasping for breath.

I was at Ariadne’s side. I had frozen during the fight. An old response but sometimes that’s how it works. She was staring into space in shock, sobbing.

Anne coughed and looked up at us all.

“They have my son.” She croaked. “They have my son.”

The water dripped somewhere and mingled with Anne’s blood on the carpet.

Then Anne started to sob.