The sun was still hours from rising and the palace was still dark and silent by the time the trio arrived. Mikiva crept off to the servants’ quarters to find coffee, while Jade and Av’ry waited in K’ivin’s sitting room.
“Hey,” Jade turned to him. “Even if Mikiva won’t say it, thanks for helping us out back there. It was honestly looking a little grim.”
“Don’t worry about it. I’m just glad it worked,” he was leaning back in his chair, eyes closed.
“Guess it’s lucky for us that you practice forbidden arts, huh?” Jade mused, a little smile playing across her lips.
“What?!” Av’ry sat up at that, eyes widening.
“Yeah, I was surprised too,” she chuckled. “But, it was pretty obvious, you know. You threw a smoke bomb into a crowded room. Did you think not a single person would notice?”
“They usually don’t,” he admitted sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. “They mostly just assume it is some sort of magic.”
“Bold,” she chuckled.
“Well, not really. Since it is ‘forbidden’, few people are familiar enough with the principles or the results of chemical reactions to recognize one when they see it. It normally just slips by unnoticed. Nobody assumes I am a chemist. Which makes me wonder how you recognized it?”
“Not sure,” Jade replied. “It just… seemed obvious.”
Av’ry studied her, sceptically,
“There seem to be a lot of things you don’t know. And many more that you do, but shouldn’t.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Well, just as an example, when the queen of a country goes out of their way to hire foreign assassins to hunt someone down, most people would have some idea why. Why don’t you?”
“Well, not to tire out a phrase, but I don’t know that either. My life was unremarkable until I escaped Avrinly Carayn’s house. I didn’t take anything with me that would be worth coming after, just a horse and the clothes on my back. And they don’t need me alive to take either of those things. There is nothing I can think of that explains any of this. I wish I could,” she massaged her temples gently as she spoke.
“Are you ok?” he asked.
“Fine, it’s nothing,” she replied absently. “I’m just frustrated. I want to understand why this is happening as much as you do. More, probably. I’m sorry, but I just don’t.”
“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have pressed you like that. Hound’s instincts, I suppose. I hate an unsolved puzzle,” he sighed. “Look, let’s… drop it for now. Just do me one favour, huh? Don’t spread it around that I practice ‘forbidden’ science. Not everyone is so forgiving.”
“Consider my lips sealed.”
“Thanks.”
A moment later, Mikiva pushed through the door and set mugs and a carafe down on the table.
“Sorry that took so long, I had to brew a pot. At least it’s fresh.”
She poured and offered the coffee around before sitting herself.
“Alright, let’s get down to business,” she began.
“Isn’t there something more pressing to finish discussing, first?” Av’ry remarked. “Those assassins…”
“Look, we don’t know why they are after Jade, and frankly, we don’t really have time to find out,” Mikiva sighed. “The war is the most pressing concern. We need to follow whatever lead it is you think you have, quickly. We will just have to keep Jade out of harm’s way until they give up or I have more time to figure out what they are really after. Unless anyone has a better idea, that is.”
“But you were once a Scorpion, is that true?” Av’ry pressed.
“Yes, I was, past tense. But I don’t really feel like talking about that right now.”
“I’m not sure it’s optional,” he argued. “If I read the situation correctly, the value of the information you brought back to K’ivin depends, somewhat, on the Esrasean crown not finding out that you were a spy. As of now, you don’t think they suspect, correct?”
“Right…”
“But, won’t R’all tell them? Once Istaria knows that you were a Maaskalan assassin, the cat will pretty much be out of the bag.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that. The Scorpions won’t tell Istaria.”
“Why not? She is their employer, after all.”
“More like a customer, really,” Mikiva chuckled. “You can buy the services of the Scorpions, but above all else, they always remain loyal to the Guild. And one of the most important rules is that no one admits to another person being or having been, a Scorpion. It doesn’t matter if they are past or present members. The guild and all of its members will deny to the death the identity of any other member. They don’t know me, and I don’t know them. Simple as that. I shouldn’t really even be telling you this, but I can blame R’all for that particular slip. He’s lucky I’m not planning to report his indiscretion; it would be his head. Either way, there is no problem, we should focus on something else.”
“I guess I’ll have to take your word on that,” Av’ry frowned.
“I guess so,” she bristled at his implied challenge.
For a tense moment, no one said anything, they just glared, sizing each other up. Finally, Jade broke the stalemate.
“Look,” she sighed, “I like a good pissing contest as much as the next person, but could you two maybe do this another time? It is far too early in the morning, and if I am not mistaken, we do have a lot of work to do, don’t we?”
“You’re right,” Mikiva turned away from him. “This is childish. How about we move on? Just tell us your story, from the beginning.”
“What do you consider the beginning?” he asked.
“Let’s skip your birth and move right to the relevant bits, shall we?” she rolled her eyes.
“Very well. Hmm, where to begin,” he took a moment to collect his thoughts, sipping from his coffee absently. “Alright, I am going to make this simple, because to be frank, my background won’t help that much. There is very little to go off of here, so most of the work will be up to us. What I do know is this: a few years ago, my partner began to secretly investigate a woman who, at the time, was the archduchess of Highplane, in the west of Esrasea. Her husband had died under mysterious circumstances, and the investigation suggested that he may have been murdered,” Av’ry paused and reached into his bag, removing a packet of papers.
He tossed several sheets down on the table in front of them,
“As you can see, these are store records that show Istaria purchasing poison shortly before her husband died. This was brought to the attention of the authorities. When she was questioned about the purchase, Lady Istaria claimed that she bought it to kill rats in her bedchamber,” his tone made it apparent how credible Av’ry found that explanation. “The authorities considered having a healer test the body of the archduke for poison, but his wife had had him burned on a pyre immediately after his death. There was nothing to test, no evidence to find and eventually, the controversy died down and people moved on.”
“But not Taevyn Fox, I take it?” Mikiva surmised.
“No,” Av’ry chuckled. “She was never the type to let things go. She began to dig around in Istaria’s past, and what she found was… disturbing,” he tossed down more papers.
Jade picked up a few a perused them, finding marriage licenses and death certificates. The new queen, it seemed, had had more than a few husbands, and each of them had died young and often unnaturally. Either she was the unluckiest woman in the world, or perhaps she was very lucky indeed.
“Seven dead husbands,” Jade whistled. “An impressive track record.”
“And each one was richer, more influential, and closer to the throne than the last. Though, that wasn’t always a straight line. If you look at the death certificates, you will see that there are several people who died who were not married to our queen,” he paused for a moment to consult some notes. “For example, F’elder Camren was Ak’lez’s older brother. He inherited the title of archduke from their father. He also had a wife. Shortly after Istaria married Ak’lez, they were both dead.”
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
“How?” Jade asked.
“The king’s investigator determined that it was a murder-suicide, the wife had murdered her husband and then killed herself. They said that she was distraught over her inability to bear him a child. That she did it to end her humiliation. But the evidence was not really there to support that determination. In fact, witnesses claimed that there was nothing strange about the wife’s behaviour before the event. One couple even said that they had been invited to dinner by the archduchess the following night. There were defensive wounds found on the wife’s arms and hands, which didn’t fit with the investigator’s theory of the crime. But the official story stood and, as Istaria and Ak’lez were next in line, they became the archduke and duchess. This was not the first time Istaria experienced such good fortune. If you look, you’ll see a pattern: whenever she could not marry the next in line on her path to advancement, she would marry someone further removed and then eliminate the competition.”
“My gods, she did this for over two decades?” Mikiva asked.
“How did no one notice?” Jade added.
“Well, taken in isolation the deaths, especially the earliest ones, were each only mildly suspicious. They usually appeared to be either natural or accidental. Istaria was rarely suspected. Now, so far removed in time, it is impossible to tell if they were all clever murders. But, when you look at the big picture, it certainly seems unlikely that they were natural. The authorities never had the big picture, unfortunately. Communication is difficult between law enforcement units in different regions. Istaria would remarry, move away, and when another husband died, the people who investigated didn’t know her history, so they never thought anything of it. It would have taken a lot of work to gather all the records. Work few were willing to do, especially with some very powerful people strongly suggesting that they just close the cases quickly and move on.”
“Ok, so let’s say I believe that the current queen assassinated her way to the top of the waiting list,” Mikiva chimed in. “Which does seem likely. What does that have to do with us? It sounds like typical Esrasean politics to me. It makes her devious and cruel, but it doesn’t help us, does it? I’m not even sure it is technically illegal in Esrasea.”
“Well, that is the thing, isn’t it?” Av’ry replied. “To begin with, few people are so blatant in their manoeuvring, even in Esrasea. But you are right, that alone does not help us. What does is the fact that Istaria could not have done all this alone.”
“I guess J’arrin was right,” Jade mused softly. “Istaria had a secret partner with a plan to put her on the throne.”
“Wait, how do you know about that?” Av’ry raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I might have met her first husband.”
Jade briefly relayed what J’arrin had told her, back at the Carayn estate.
“Huh,” Av’ry rubbed his chin. “Do you think this could be why Istaria is after you?”
“I doubt it,” Jade shook her head. “She doesn’t even know J’arrin is alive, let alone that I know his story. If she did, I am certain he would already be dead. Besides, she is queen now. The unsubstantiated word of a slave wouldn’t even give her pause. Honestly, even if he had proof, there isn’t much anyone could do about it now. Why would she care?”
Av’ry nodded, considering.
“True enough. Either way, that tracks with what we know so far, but it doesn’t really add anything, does it? Fox was suspicious about the same possibility early on, for the simple reason that Istaria was not clever enough to have pulled all of this off without help. The woman was certainly ruthless and ambitious, but by all accounts, she lacked the imagination necessary to commit these acts and get away with them. It didn’t prove anything, of course, but in this business you learn to trust your instincts. Fox spent some time with the servants at the estate. As it turned out, the Lady frequently had late night rendezvous with an unknown man in her room. The servants delivered him dinner and stabled his horse, but none of them ever laid eyes on him. Istaria’s personal maid said that this pattern had been going on for almost twenty years, as long as she had been employed. The archduchess never used his name, but she was always admonishing them to be careful with his horse, with his food, always wanting to keep him happy.”
“So?” Mikiva shrugged. “She had a lover who helped her assume the throne. She kept him secret because she wanted to marry powerful men to gain influence, and a lover would ruin that. Nothing sinister there. Well, nothing more sinister anyway.”
“That is possible,” Av’ry admitted. “But if that were the case, where is he now? She is queen, and she is unattached. In Esrasea, the queen or king is granted considerable freedoms. They can marry or even simply carry on with whomever they wish. Why isn’t she with him openly now?”
“She got what she wanted and ditched him. Tale as old as time,” Mikiva insisted.
“That would make sense, but it isn’t what happened. The first thing I did when I got here was have your boss reach out to his contacts at the royal palace. He had them talk to the queen’s maid again. The woman still loves to gossip, and she confirmed that the late-night visits have continued uninterrupted since Istaria claimed the throne. And there is more,” Av’ry said. “Taken in context with Istaria’s other behaviour, the inference could be drawn that he was more of an advisor than a lover. After each of his nocturnal visits, Istaria would call together the staff and give them their orders. Usually, they were the type designed to enhance her position and power. Hosting parties, entertaining dignitaries, that sort of thing. Around the time the archduke died, however, the orders began to change. She began to instruct the servants and the estate guards to go out and obtain specific, rare items for her.”
“Like what?” Jade asked.
“Mostly books. Some hundreds of years old. In the beginning, the books Istaria sought were old Draconic lore. They were hard to find due to their age and the fact that books on that particular subject were banned long ago by the Pantheon. Istaria spared no expense and risked a great deal to acquire them. Later on, the books being sought became more specific. Mostly research texts written by the people who made their livings recovering draconic relics and excavating ruins, before the practice was outlawed. The preponderance of the research she did at this time centered on Draconic ruins in Maaskal, specifically.”
“Her interest, or the mystery man’s?” Mikiva asked.
“Likely his. Every time a significant find was made, he would make another visit and the book would disappear. Then, several days later, there would be a new list of books to seek.”
“Like he was reading them and using them to guide his search?”
“Exactly. Fox’s theory was that they were trying to find some type of ancient artifact, something from over 1000 years ago, when the dragons still ruled the skies. She felt certain that they had narrowed down their search to the country of Maaskal, but she still didn’t know what they were looking for. So, she personally collected most of the books that Istaria had sought out and she travelled to Maaskal herself. She visited many of the ruins mentioned in the texts and questioned the people in the towns nearby. She found that a small group of strangers had been seen before her, men with expensive armour and Esrasean accents.”
“Istaria’s men?”
“Most likely.”
“Did she find what Istaria was looking for?”
“No. There was nothing unusual in any of those towns. And it seems that the queen’s men didn’t find anything either, because they continued to look. At this point, very suspicious of the Lady Istaria, my partner decided to return to Esrasea and turn her attention to figuring out who the lady’s mysterious companion was, hoping that would shed some light on things. But she was killed before she could finish that task.”
“By Istaria?” Mikiva asked.
Av’ry nodded silently.
“That is certainly suspicious,” Mikiva admitted.
“I believe that they failed to find what they were looking for with their impromptu search parties, and so they have decided to simply invade the empire so they can search more thoroughly.”
“You think that they plan to start a war just to look for some old piece of draconic junk?” Mikiva asked incredulously.
“It isn’t all junk,” Jade corrected. “Some of those relics are very powerful magical items, which is part of the reason that studying the old draconic culture was outlawed by the Pantheon. They considered it too dangerous to society at large. Much like the study of the sciences,” she glanced quickly at Av’ry. “In the wrong hands, some of those artifacts could do catastrophic damage.”
“That is my concern,” Av’ry sighed. “Based on her track record, I doubt Istaria merely has an intellectual interest in the relics the dragons left behind when they vanished. So, we need to find what she is after, if only to use as a bargaining chip.”
“I just have one question,” Mikiva said after a moment. “Why wait 2 years to do anything about this?”
“Oh, that’s simple,” Av’ry shrugged. “I didn’t know about it until now. When I said that Fox was investigating all of this in secret, I meant it. She kept it from me, too. Which wasn’t that unusual. She often pursued personal investigations on her own and she didn’t tell me about them because I would just harass her for doing unpaid work while refusing to take on proper clients. We fought about that a lot.”
He paused for a moment, taking a deep breath.
“But before she died, she made me promise I would check her lockbox, if Esrasea began a war with Maaskal. She left detailed records of her investigation there, for me to find. And so, here I am. And that is basically all I know. But I promised my partner that I would get to the bottom of this for her, and I am not giving up until I do.”
There was a quiet resolve in his voice that was unlike his normally light-hearted demeanour. It was obvious to Jade that he had cared for his partner a great deal.
“What is your plan?” Jade asked.
“Well, I figure that we should track down copies of the books that led Istaria to Maaskal. If we can go through them, maybe we can get a lead on what they are after. At least then we might have some idea what we are dealing with.”
“Do you have the copies of the books your partner collected?” Mikiva asked.
“Unfortunately, no. She seems to have stashed them in Maaskal when she was here last, and she never had the chance to go back and get them. I have no idea where her copies are now. Fortunately, your boss seems to be well-connected, and he has managed to procure most of them for me.”
“Most?” Mikiva said.
“Well, all of these books are very old and very rare. For some, the copies owned by Istaria and/or Fox may be the only ones still in existence. We were lucky to get any of them, really.”
“Great,” Mikiva sighed. “So, we are off to a promising start. And I probably wouldn’t miss my mark if I predicted a lot of reading in our future, would I?”
“Hope you feel like brushing up on your world history,” Av’ry smiled.
“Funny, I was just thinking that I should be spending more time curled up with a good book,” Jade laughed.
“Well, books there are plenty of. But I make no promises about them being ‘good’,” Av’ry laughed. “Once K’ivin wakes up, I’ll ask him for whatever he has obtained so far, and we can get started.”
Mikiva sighed audibly, clearly this was not the type of investigation she was used to being involved in. She looked bored already. Kicking back on the sofa, she closed her eyes and knitted her fingers behind her head,
“Well, then I am going to catch a quick nap while we wait. You two might want to try as well.”
“Any chance we will be arrested by palace guards in the meantime?” Jade asked.
“Nah. K’ivin gives all of the guards strict instructions to stay out of the sitting room. This is where he does all of his clandestine meetings. He doesn’t like them being interrupted.”
“Alright,” Av’ry nodded. “Well, I certainly didn’t get much sleep tonight and since we can’t really start until we get the materials from the advisor, I guess that is as good a way as any to kill time.”
He closed his eyes as well. As the two of them dozed off, Jade gazed idly out the window, where the dawn was just beginning to paint the horizon a rosy pink. She was tired too, but in truth, she didn’t want to sleep. The dreams plagued her and there hadn’t been a single night lately that she didn’t wake up panicked and bathed in sweat. But, if she simply stayed awake, there would be no problem. So, Jade rose, pacing the room restlessly. Looking for something to keep herself occupied, she slipped out of the room and into the silent halls of the empty palace.