The tables of the dining hall had been pushed together by someone, making a perfect space for a large group of people to have a hearty debate. Devorah took a moment to study everyone present.
Tiberius looked stern as ever, a watchful eye on Faith, the man next to him. Faith leaned back in his chair with a smug look- Devorah was sure she was going to find out why he was so smug later. Next to him was Xoco, who was talking with Nour in low voices. The seat next to Nour was empty, likely waiting to be filled by Kefilwe once she was ready. The other side of the table had Budi, then Sushruta with a watchful John sentinel behind him. Thankfully, Jacob found his seat next to Sushruta, then Georgie went next to him.
“I’m glad we’re right next to each other,” Devorah told John. “I’m sure Gabriel will sit next to Georgie and Jacob too, so we’ll be with Bell. Just like a little reunion.”
John nodded in response.
Lupe came into the room and helped a still crying Kefilwe into her seat next to Nour. Nour reached out and wrapped their arm around Kefilwe, who gladly leaned into the embrace.
Lupe then took her own seat at the head of the table. “Brad and Gabriel will be here soon. Has anyone seen them?”
Ah, the mysterious girl group that kept popping up in conversation. “Have you met them?” Devorah asked John.
“No.”
Of course he hadn’t. And it seemed that none of the others knew where they were.
Lupe pressed a hand to her face. “Brad was supposed to get everyone. He’ll probably forget now…”
Georgie raised a hand. “I’ll go get all of them, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Georgie. Try and come back as quickly as you can.”
Georgie scurried out of the room. Jacob looked after her, and Devorah could tell he didn’t want her to leave him alone. Lupe didn’t seem to be suspicious of him, but with his main allies out of the room, he could be an easy target for someone trying to shrug off blame.
“If we may begin,” Nour said, inclining their beaked head towards Lupe, who nodded in assent, “then I will report that Mathilde- that the cause of death is likely poison.”
“Good doctor, are you sure of that?” Faith, the Puritan-looking man, asked.
“I am sure,” Nour said, quietly. “If you insist, I can explain how I came to that conclusion.”
“Please do,” Lupe said.
“The most telling sign is the scent of her- of the body’s mouth. It smelled of vomit, which the victim likely asphyxiated from. Coupled with constricted pupils and no visible sign of struggle, poison is the most likely cause.”
“That is a reasonable conclusion to come to. I am in favor of moving forward, and only revisiting the cause of death should more evidence surface that suggests another cause,” Sushruta, John’s charge said. John nodded in agreement.
Xoco clicked her tongue. “It would have been easier to examine the kitchen if it hadn’t been torn apart!”
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Tiberius crossed his arms. “We don’t know where the poison came from yet. Whoever is holding us here will replace the spoiled food with fresh offerings, as they have been doing for weeks now.”
“He’s right.” Lupe said.
But that was interesting, wasn’t it? Lupe was modern, from the current era just like Devorah. She should know about the Champions’ League. True, there were civilizations that were still out of contact, and a few more that eschewed entertainment like the Champions’ League, but it was more likely than not that she would know.
In Devorah’s game, she and the other modern cast members were allowed to tell historic cast members like John and Anna what was going on. But considering the cast make-up, maybe it was different here. Maybe something was keeping Lupe from telling- maybe something like the headaches Devorah had been getting? That, or… Maybe Lupe was the Champion?
“Either way,” Lupe continued, “let’s get back on task. Mathilde is counting on us.”
Xoco took the chance to speak up again. “While you and Tiberius were ruining our food, did you at least find something that seemed poisoned?”
“Nothing obvious,” Lupe conceded. “We don’t have the facilities to test the food though, and I don’t want to risk anyone sampling the floor food. Another body on our hands is the last thing we need.”
Devorah saw Jacob tense, then speak. “What if it wasn’t the food? What if it was the trap? What if there was poison on the spikes?”
That was pretty brave of him to offer. If that was the case, it was his head on the line.
“What spikes?” Sushruta asked, raising an eyebrow.
“There was an incident yesterday,” Nour began to explain. “In the afternoon, Jacob accidentally pushed Mathilde into a portrait, triggering a trap. At the time, Kefilwe and Mathilde had managed to identify the location of the trap using that strange wand Kefilwe found. When Mathilde fell, several spikes emerged from the portrait, impaling her left arm and shoulder. Thankfully, I was able to quickly administer medical help and Mathilde seemed like she would recover.”
“Wand?” Jacob asked, almost as if reading Devorah’s mind.
Kefilwe sniffed, then reached into the pocket of her overalls and pulled out a thin rod about half a foot long with a clear crystal on the top. Within seconds, the item was glowing with a red light. Seeing as no one else reacted to it, Devorah had to assume that it was some kind of product placement.
“A week or so ago I found this in my room, wrapped up like a gift,” she said. “I thought… I don’t know, that it was for fun? At first, Mathilde didn’t like it. Thought it was witchcraft.” Kefilwe paused. “I don’t think her opinion on it ever changed. But when it started glowing, gleaming ever so brightly the closer I got to a trap? I thought it was heaven sent. With how Loowa died…”
“Loowa never would have died if she had a trap detector,” Lupe said in a low voice. “It does sound like someone wanted to protect you, somehow.”
Loowa? Who was Loowa?
A tear rolled down Kefilwe’s cheek. She wiped it away, then said, “I know. And we were using it to try and protect everyone else, too.”
Budi clapped his hands together. “You’ve been the person labeling where all the traps are!”
Kefilwe nodded. “The three of us,” she said, clearly including Nour.
Nour’s head bowed. “We were foolish. We should have informed you all of our actions and intentions. Possibly even included Sushruta, along with Lupe and Tiberius if no one else. We thought we could protect you all. I failed. Please forgive me.”
Jacob waved his hands. “There’s nothing to forgive! I should have been more careful. If I hadn’t fucked up, Mathilde might still be here.”
“If poison from the spikes is truly how Mathilde died, then no one but whoever forced us here is to blame,” Budi said, nose scrunched up as if he had smelled something foul.
“Well, I don’t know about that,” Faith said, voice bright and airy.
Devorah turned to get a good look at him. Faith was a small, neatly dressed man with dark brown hair and light blue eyes. His elbow was up on the table, and he perched his pointy chin on the back of his hand. With the shade of his wide brimmed hat casting a shadow on mischievous eyes and the upturn of his nose, Faith looked almost fae.
“What do you mean by that?” Budi challenged.
“Even if Jacob didn’t mean to kill Mathilde, if the trap really was what killed her. Well, we don’t have much of a choice, do we? We would have to designate him as the one responsible.”
Lupe’s eyes narrowed. “When Loowa had her accident, we designated her as both victim and murderer.”
“Ah, but Loowa was the one who single handedly accidentally triggered that trap,” Faith said with a smirk. “No one pushed her. No one was even near her! Jacob pushed Mathilde, and in this scenario, it led to her death. We can’t set this precedent. What’s next? Lupe stabs Tiberius and it was the sword that killed him, not Lupe?”
“I’d argue it was both,” Jacob said, jumping in. “In that situation, the blame would mostly be on Tiberius. But if there weren’t swords just hanging around, then he never would have been able to stab, right?”
Lupe slammed her fist on the table. “We can philosophize later. Tiberius isn’t killing anyone. We need to focus on the actual poison that killed our actual friend!”
Tiberius nodded. “Besides, there are no swords here. Lupe and I have checked.”
“And if you really want to kill someone here, you can get creative,” Budi pointed out.
Lupe looked up to the sky as if asking for help. Devorah could relate. But at the same time, she wished they would backtrack and talk more about Loowa. Who was that? What caused her death? The implication was that she accidentally triggered a trap, killing herself, but in Devorah’s experience the Champions’ League’s investigation games were rarely so simple.
Either way, there was no mention of any consequences for choosing the wrong person. So whoever was in charge had likely decided that Loowa had indeed killed herself.
But Devorah supposed that didn’t matter at the moment.
What did matter was this- Sushruta stood up, pushing his chair back. He was a man of average height, with deep brown skin. Most of his lower face was obscured by a well-trimmed beard, but when he spoke, his voice was unobscured. “I would like to trigger the trap purposefully, to better discern whether or not it is likely that the spikes were poisoned. I do not believe this will take long. To assist, I would like to ask for help from Kefilwe and Tiberius.”
“Good idea,” Lupe said. “We’ll pause here until you come back.”