The next morning, the Jellybeans assembled in the tavern part of the Home Inn. Today was the deadline to find out who wanted Blair Cormund dead and why. Their only lead was the head guard of the Bruntworth estate. "Do you know where the Bruntworth estate is?", asked Aliya.
"Of course I do. It's near the west part of town," Ken stated. "Does Lord Bruntworth have something to do with this murder?”
"At least his head guard does," snapped Kira. "What would a guard want with Cormund?”
"Well Blair Cormund is a political speaker for Lord Storn. Both Storn and Bruntworth are competing for a chair on the counsel. The elections are only a few days away,” explained Ken.
“We should go talk to Lord Bruntworth," suggested Aliya. "Or at least talk to his head guard if possible.”
"Good luck with that. Lord Bruntworth doesn't normally see commoners without an appointment and with the elections so close he is only seeing potential business partners during this time. He probably wants to establish strong connections so people are more likely to vote for him while also strengthening his own business at the same time.”
"Now how are we suppose to get in?", asked Fern. Silence gripped the room as everyone paused to think about how the group could enter the estate.
Gene paced a little bit before he stopped. "Well, I have fancy clothes and I'm good at forging documents. I could pretend to be a nobleman.”
"That's not a bad idea," Aliya agreed.
"What is the closest major city to here? I need the information for my disguise.”
"That would be Erand. It's the biggest city around here. Just eight hours of travel slightly north-east of here," Ken replied.
"Thanks, Ken, I'll be back down in an hour." The young monk returned to his room and got started creating his fake identity. Once he finished Gene returned in a nobleman’s attire and had a piece of parchment containing his new identity. It stated that his fake name was Ulborg, the Silver Spoon, a half dwarven noble from Erand. There was even a crest on the certificate, which added a more authentic touch, and it claimed Ulborg specialized in selling fine silks and sometimes sold dwarven liquors. "How do I look?”
The Silver Spoon wore tan pants with nice black riding boots that went halfway up his calf. He was wearing a white collar shirt that had a fancy white scarf that went down his torso, disappearing under a tan vest that was a darker shade than his pants. Finally, he wore a regal blue tailcoat that had gold buttons and had golden embroidery on the shoulders.
Ulborg's face also had differences from Gene's. First, Ulborg's lips were a light shade of red and had slightly paler skin giving him a younger but nobler appearance. He had a bit of scruff on his jaw and his short hair was combed to the left, parting on the right side of his head.
"Quite handsome actually," Meowlynn said. Her hazel eyes scanned the monk very purposefully. "Would you be able to add a bit of makeup to me? I could pose as your wife.”
"Why would you want to do that?" asked Fern.
"It would make the act more believable," she remarked condescendingly. "And besides, I'm the most regal looking person of all of us.”
The group agreed awkwardly. "I suppose I could do something," Gene said defeated. "Let's see what we can do." He combed her hair to make it perfectly straight then braided it and let it flow over her right shoulder. Next, he gave her dark red lips and applied a light blush to her face. Meowlynn hadn't been pampered like this in what felt like thirty years or so. Her nails were also painted to match her lips. A small amount of eyeshadow was applied and the look was completed.
After, she rushed over to a mirror in the closest room to her. An unnaturally large grin went across her face. "I look gorgeous," she whispered to herself.
"Do you have a nice dress?" Kira's little voice was heard from down the hall.
"I have just the thing," the high elf shouted back. Being the entertainer she was, she had one dress that she was fond of. It was a gothic style dress that had an elegant look to it. The dress was the same purple she adored, but the black on the dress was made into patterns of enchanting spirals and looked like a tree from a fairy tale. Within ten minutes, Meowlynn had emerged with the appearance of a dark princess people would read about in stories. A smirk crept across her face, "Let's go dear.”
"The rest of you shall act as bodyguards," Gene stated. "It will be easy to say we hired your services after learning that the Jellybeans allowed my trade to continue. Hiring you would be a way to show my appreciation to the group.”
"Sounds like a good plan. Can we please get going?" asked Kira impatiently.
"Very well. Aliya and Fern will take the lead and Kira and Cilyia will be behind us. We will remain about five steps behind the first two and the rear guard will stay about five steps behind us. Let's make it look as professional as possible." With Gene's instructions given, the group assumed the discussed formation and made their way to the Bruntworth estate.
Upon arriving, the group saw a high wall that surrounded the estate with a gate in the centre. Two guards were stationed at the top of the wall on either side of the gate. The guards wore full plate armor and had no special marking on their outfit. Helmets cover their faces for the most part and each of them had a crossbow on their hip. As the Jellybeans approached the gate, the guard on the left side shouted to them. "Halt, who goes there?”
"My name is Ulborg, the Silver Spoon. I am here to discuss a business opportunity with Lord Bruntworth. I heard that he was going to be a chairman of the council. It would be beneficial for both of us to become partners in trade.”
"Do you have an appointment?”
"No, I do not, but I thought he would want to discuss a partnership. If he is too busy or does not wish to see me, I can always go to Kennith Storn and form an alliance with him and help his political campaign.”
"Fine, I'll see if he has time for you." The guard disappeared behind the wall and the guard on the right side raised his crossbow and pointed it at Gene.
A short time later, a man who appeared to be in his early twenties with simple plate armor and a great sword arrived. He had short brown hair that was well kept and was clean-shaven. This man also had a strong stocky build and stood at head height to Fern and looked at the two would be nobles. "The Lord will see you now. Please follow me.”
The group began following him. "And what is your name? You never introduced yourself," Gene said.
"Sorry, sir. My name is Trent, I'm the head guard of the Bruntworth's. I was sent personally to escort you. The Lord is just finishing his current business." Upon hearing the title of head guard, the Jellybeans glanced at each other. This was the man they were looking for. The one who paid Shield to kill Cormond. He looked too strong for them to fight so they would have to find another way to question him.
"Here we are," Trent's voice interrupted the thoughts everyone else. They stood at a set of double doors with blank stares on their faces. Trent opened the doors and revealed a large dining hall. At the end of the large oak table were sitting two men, with a slender woman standing over them.
"Sir, this man is here to see you. He wants to offer you some sort of partnership." The head guard slightly bowed and pointed at the Silver Spoon.
"Come in, come in," the plump man sitting at the end of the table said in a jovial tone. Both men at the table stood up and shook hands. The other man was a tall elderly elf, wearing gorgeous blue robes, and pointed features on his face. This handsome elf was high born, Meowlynn could tell just by looking at him. He carried an air of dignity and had a warm smile, unlike the slob who sat at the head of the table. The elf then walked towards the party, smiled at her and left the room.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It had been quite a long time since she had seen someone from her branch of elves. Despite the pampering and comforts of her upbringing, she had grown bored of that life and instead struck out seeking excitement and adventure by becoming a starving musician. She learned how to play the lute from a bard in a traveling band. He taught her a great deal about how to earn money using music, magic and men manipulation. While, traveling she only really saw humans, halflings, and half-elves so seeing a high born gave her a sense of nostalgia.
All attention then turned to the man sitting at the head of the table. He sat there smiling at everyone but his eyes locked on the noble-looking Gene. Meowlynn felt insulted, how could his eyes not go to her? She was extremely sexy and should have captured the gaze of any man. "Welcome young man. How can I help you?" the lord of the house said.
"Hello, my name is Ulborg, the Silver Spoon. I am a half-dwarf merchant from Erend that sells fine silks and dwarven ale. I was wondering if you'd be interested in becoming trade partners since I heard you are becoming a council member after the elections.”
The man let out a hearty laugh, "I appreciate the confidence in my victory but elections aren't over yet. Come and sit down, we can discuss this more over a pint." A servant pulled out two chairs for Gene and Meowlynn to sit in. The man at the head of the table stood up and waited for them. At least this place practiced the common courtesies for royalty. The Jellybeans walked to the head of the table and the two impersonating nobles from the group approached their seats. Being of noble birth, Meowlynn knew that no one would be allowed to sit until she sat first. It was a silent perk of being a lady because she could make any man who pissed her off wait to eat if only for a moment. She did this a lot when she was a girl.
She sat down, then the men sat after exchanging a firm handshake. "You have a lovely wife, it's not every day you see an elf and dwarf couple.”
"Yes, well his money helped him when he asked my father to marry me. My noble heritage and his skills as a merchant allowed him to be very successful. It allows him to be able to sit and chat with other noble houses in different cities, just like now." Meowlynn bragged believing that she is the most important person in the room and taking credit for the disguise's success.
"Well if you would like, young lady, you could go for a walk in the garden with my wife." He gestured to his wife who was standing behind him. His wife was a tall, slender human woman with jet black, long hair. She has blue piercing eyes that glared at the young wizard. The lady of the house's robes were black elegant robes that matched her hair but had hints of silver in them giving them the appearance of the night sky as she moved.
"I suppose I could walk in the garden with her. Our garden is quite exquisite and it will allow the men to chat about boring things. Come, darling, we shall take a stroll." She motioned for two guards to join them. Meowlynn kissed Gene on the cheek, so she could appear as a loving wife, and looked towards their faux guards.
Fern was blushing slightly after watching the display. "Fern, you'll be my escort in the garden. I know you love flowers and such." He merely nodded his head and walked towards the door to the right of where the Bruntworth's were with Meowlynn. The high elf wanted to tease the half-elf as much as she could because she enjoyed watching men become enthralled by her beauty.
Sun greeted them as they stepped out the door. The garden was indeed quite breathtaking. It possessed roses of every colour and many fruit-bearing bushes. Vines were forced into a wonderful pattern along the castle walls, even going as far as having the house name written with them. Gardeners were tending to the plants and helping smaller flowers that were under the small plum trees get enough water. Anyone could see that Fern was enchanted by this garden. The wizard chuckled to herself, it was too easy to impress this young man.
"What is your name, my Lady?" the noble-born elf asked.
"Candice Bruntworth, I know that men rarely introduce their wives. I think it's because they normally only see us as the position of wife while they are fucking young whores. I am thankful that my husband isn't like that, and is very diligent in his work. I suppose he just has poor manners from all the other nobles he's around." She showed no sense of passion though her words sounded like it was there. This was the case with most aristocrat women in Meoelynn's experience, all of them expert liars. "I am just like you though, married in for the wealth. My husband is a fantastic tobacco merchant and has been doing it ever since his father had taught him to do so.”
Meowlynn understood where this woman was coming from. They both believe that marriage was simply a tool to increase your state of living. It never really matters to who just as long as you benefit. "Your garden is lovely, where did you get all the flowers?”
"Here and there I suppose, Ronald gets them for me now and then because he believes its romantic. I only truly like these flowers," the woman bent down in front of a group of purple flowers. They had slightly darker stripes and seemed to glow slightly. She touched them in a very loving manner and for the first time, she had a genuine smile.
"Where did your husband get those?”
"He didn't get me these, someone else did. They are truly gorgeous flowers though. I heard they can only be made with magic.” Candice stood up and shook her head. I'm getting a little bit tired, could you return to the dining hall? I'm going to retire to my private quarters for a while.”
"Thank you for the tour, My Lady." The elf slightly lowered her head and walked back towards the dining hall. Fern was busy using his magic to constantly bloom that purple flower in his hand. It was a cheap magic trick but it always impressed the ladies.
************
Meanwhile in the dining hall, after they had introduced each other, Gene and Ronald were just served their drinks. As the monk lifted his tankard to his lips so did the lord. They locked eyes and chugged their drinks as fast as they could, both men finishing at the same time.
"It's good to see a lord who can drink," laughed Lord Bruntworth. "Then again, you are half-dwarf so it's probably in your blood.”
"That is true, but it's good to see a human who can keep up. How about we have a contest?”
"Now that sounds interesting," agreed the plump man. "What are we wagering?”
"As I see you enjoy your drink, I can wager my house's finest dwarven ale.”
"Do you smoke? I have wonderful tobacco.”
"I do not, how about I up the deal. I will give you the ale and four hundred gold pieces if you offer your head guard's services to me for twenty-four hours. I plan to leave town tomorrow and he seems more capable then this lot." The rest of the Jellybean felt both proud and insulted at the same time. If this bluff works then they can take the knight to the inn for questioning without raising suspicion.
"Very well, bring us four pints of rum each.” The lord of the house said as he pointed at a random servant.
Quicker than expected, the servant brought in eight pints of rum and placed them in front of the men. "The rules are simple," the lord of the house said seriously. "The first one to finish all of their drinks the quickest wins. If you vomit, then you automatically lose.”
Both men shook hands and began the competition. The first glass was no problem for either man and both quickly moved on to the second one. Half way through this drink Gene had to slow down his pace allowing Bruntworth to finish first but Ronald was no fool. He wasn't going to chug all his drinks as fast as he could in fear of puking before this man had even caught up. Instead, he began to sip his third drink waiting for the monk to finish his drink.
Ulborg began to panic but reminded himself that panicking would cause mistakes. After he finished his second drink, he briefly paused, took a few deep breaths and drank his third drink quickly. This caught the lord by surprise and he tried to keep up with the young man. Gene finished his third drink slightly ahead of Ronald.
Both men stared at their final drink and slowly picked them up. "Cheers, and to the victor will go the spoils," Bruntworth slurred. They touched cups and began. Gene drank his drink slower and focused on trying to let the liquid go down at a steady rate. Ronald couldn't risk losing and drank as fast as possible. Three fourths through the drink he had the controllable need to burp but tried to fight it off. A few more sips later vomit shoot out of his mouth and into his tankard. Ulborg was the winner. The monk walked over and patted the plump man's back as he puked into a bucket his servant had brought him.
"Fair is fair, you may borrow Trent for the agreed upon time." Meowlynn and Fern walked through the door from the garden. She was disgusted by the sight of that pig vomiting. It was extremely uncivilized.
"I will see you tomorrow my Lord," Trent faced Gene after saying goodbye. "I will follow you wherever you go, sir." The wizard could hardly contain her surprise. How the hell did they pull off this miracle?
"Thank you, Ronald, it was a fantastic competition.”
"I won't lose next time," smiled Lord Bruntworth. The party left and headed to the Home Inn. Trent never said a word the whole way to the tavern. He was well trained and respected nobles, just like a knight should. The high elf really admired that he was trained properly.
The sun was setting, as they arrived at their destination. The wizard felt happy she was able to play the role she was raised to play. Today made her miss her noble power but it also made her want to find a powerful man to marry. Lost in her thoughts, she didn’t notice an arrow flying towards he hear. Metal smashing against metal brought her back to reality. The knight had used his great sword to deflect the arrow right before it hit her. Three men emerged from the alley, "Shield sent us as a parting gift to make sure you stay silent. It seems you have taken this little act further than he likes."
"Tell him I have no intention of revealing his crime," Trent shouted back assuming they were talking to him.
"We know that you'll protect your Lady's honour since she would get hung if anyone found out. We were talking to this lot here. We've been ordered to silence the nosey rats. I guess Shield didn't think they could get this far with his information. ”
Confusion could be seen on the head guard's face before Gene spoke. "Under contract, you are ordered to defend me so please do your job." The monk dashed towards the man in the front who carried a long sword. He punched the man in the gut and then gave him a hook to the chin. The man return an attack and ran his sword across Gene's abs. As soon as Trent saw the blood drip from Gene, he ran in and stabbed the man through his heart.
The two archers in the back raised their bows to shoot at Gene but Meowlynn reacted to this and threw a bright green ball of acid at them. It splashed against them, melting their skin. Using the opening, Aliya conjured a holy fire in her hand and hurled it towards one of the archers. Being in sync with her best friend, Kira fired an arrow through the flame, carrying it to the man's chest. Ciylia shot the last man through the face causing the fight to end quickly.
Trent shouldered Gene into the tavern and laid him on a table. Fern and Aliya both used healing magic to close the young man's gut. The knight faced the monk after he sat up. "You are clearly no lord. No noble I've met have the ability to fight like you do nor has ever been as reckless. Who are you really?”
"My name is Gene, leader of the Jellybeans and we are investigating the murder of Blair Cormund. If we do not find out who did this then we will most likely be charged for his murder and then executed.”
"Then what do you want from me?" The knight asked while avoiding eye contact at times.
"We want you to confess your involvement to the council. I know you want to protect house but can you really let innocent people die for that woman?" Meowlynn added her opinion. "I know she isn't a kind person and I'm sure you know that as well." She paused to allow her words to sink in. She wasn't going to die because of some ill-advised loyalty. "I know you have a noble heart so please understand our plight."
Bruntworth's head guard stood their speechless. "I am sorry to have troubled you," he muttered. "The day that we hired the assassin, the Lady came into my room and stared into my eyes. Her gazed was unbreakable and as she commanded me to bring the box of gold to Shield, I felt powerless to resist. My body began to move on its own even thought I tried my best to fight it. She also told me to never tell my Lord or else I would also be found dead." Tears were forming in his eyes, "I have a family to feed, you must understand.”
The two shorter women patted his hands. Kira and Aliya both understood he struggling to do what was best. He smiled slightly at their attempt to cheer him up.
"We will bring our evidence to the council tomorrow," announced Gene. "We will allow them to handle the situation in the manner they see fit.”
"Let's just hope they aren't corrupt like some places," chimed in Kira.
"I will also join you to visit the council tomorrow," said Trent. "I'll help clear you name. I'm sure my word will go a long way as well."
"You may," said Gene. "Thank you for your cooperation. We will do our best to protect your family while the trail is going on. Hopefully, we can also help disband the group of cutthroats from under the Northern Bridge as well.”
Trent bowed and left the inn. "Sounds like my troubles will end tomorrow," stated Ken as he poked his head out from the kitchen.
"Seems that way," Ciylia remarked.
“Well let's have a celebration tonight, on me," said Ken. The group sat down for food and drink while they listened to Meowlynn play her lute in an upbeat tune. Everyone cheered for her and clapped merrily, being a musician had its perks too.