“You had best get going,” Lance told Rebecca in a disapproving tone, “You have your orders.”

“Yes sir,” Rebecca gave a salute and marched off, still grinning.

As soon as she left the room, Blackwing thwacked me with her wing.

“What?” I asked her.

“I guess?” She said, mocking my answer, shaking her head in amusement.

“Well, what should I have said?” I asked.

“How about, “no”?”

“I mean… if Lily…”

Blackwing thwacked me again, “Human, stop. Too sad. Be more assertive.”

I sighed, “We don’t have time for this,” I muttered. “Does no one else care that the king’s life and the lives of thousands may be in danger?” I asked rhetorically.

Conrad coughed into his hand, before replying, “There’s always a crisis, lad, and the job never ends. You learn to find amusement where you can, or you burn out. But you’re right, let’s go review the list of visitors. I’ve already done some investigating, I’ll bring you up to speed.”

Since I was already in a warded mage training room, I decided to examine my staff, see if I could figure out something useful. “I need a few minutes,” I told the two royal guardsmen. “I need to check something. Please just wait in Conrad’s office, I’ll be there shortly.”

“I’ll wait outside,” Lance said, “to keep watch.”

Conrad nodded and said, “I’ll go over my papers and prepare report for you.”

Once alone, I sat down in the middle of the room, drew an anti-scrying and silence ward, and delved with my magic into the soul siphon enchant. “I know I said I’d never use this,” I told Blackwing, “But I need to understand how it works. What happens if I let it eat a chunk of my soul?”

“Not much,” Blackwing said with a shrug, “Soul is big. Bigger than need be. Lose a third, still works fine.”

Frowning, I triggered the enchantment and felt an indescribable sense of emptiness as something was pulled out of me. A large piece of my soul, perhaps a tenth, was now tightly held within the enchantment’s matrix. “And if I want this chunk of soul back?” I asked.

“Is your will strong? Stronger than enchant?” Blackwing asked.

Still frowning, I focused my mana and my intent on prying my soul loose. The enchantment resisted and I hesitated. Did I risk breaking my staff if I pulled harder? Deciding that I wanted my soul back, and I needed to better understand how to reverse the process, I firmed my will and pried at the enchant. Gradually I loosened the net of magic and intent that held my soul, and it immediately fluttered back to me, to my relief.

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“That wasn’t so bad,” I observed as my soul slowly knit itself back together. “Would it have worked if I hadn’t been touching my staff?” I wondered. "If I find the artifact with the king’s soul, would I need to bring it back to the king?"

“No, it not work. Yes, bring to king.” Blackwing said, “All soulmancy need touch. Soul needs a path. If not touch, soul will escape. Afterlife it goes,” she explained.

I thought about it for a second, then realized, “The king had to have touched the artifact that took his soul then.”

Blackwing nodded in agreement.

That felt important somehow, but I still wasn’t sure why. Under what circumstances would the king have touched something so dangerous? I felt like I almost had something, but couldn't quite put it all together. I decided to set it aside and go meet with Conrad first, maybe I’d figure it out by mulling it over in the back of my mind.

A couple of hours, and sandwiches, later and I felt no closer to solving the case. “So, four members of the royal family visited the king that day, and you’ve spoken to none of them?” I asked

Conrad shook his head, “The royal guard serves the royal family, by law, we can’t question them. If one member of the royal family kills or harms another, we need some solid proof before we can take action… even then, it’s difficult. That’s why I’d prefer if you’d question them.”

“Me?” I asked, incredulously.

“It’s you or an inquisitor. You wanted to avoid the collateral an inquisitor would bring, then you’ll have to do it yourself. My hands are tied, there’s a slew of laws and court precedents that limit what I can do without orders, and the only one who could give me orders is in a coma.” Conrad said, lifting his arms to both sides in a shrug. “Not only that, but your ignorance of court etiquette might actually be an advantage, as you can get away with asking questions that would come across as improper if I asked them.”

I frowned deeply, of course, the downside to that is that I’d be the one earning the ire of these influential people. If the king didn’t recover, I was likely out of a job. Maybe that was a silver lining, I thought to myself, so long as no one tries to kill me as part of the cover-up. But given I was about to annoy the remaining royal family members, I’d also be a tempting scapegoat.

“The four royal family members on this list are the queen, the princess, the nephew, and the first prince,” I observed.

“There’s good odds one of them is involved somehow. I’ll handle the rest of the people on the list, all the courtiers, advisors, and such, you tackle the big four.” Conrad suggested.

“That is a lot to ask from Jason,” Lance observed, then he addressed me, “I don’t fully understand why you don’t want an inquisitor to take over this investigation? It is by far the safest solution for you, if you value your career. And it is the best chance for saving the king,” He pointed out.

“You know, the Inquisitors tried to recruit me,” I told Lance, “The only requirement to be an inquisitor is to be a wizard with a familiar. If the Mage Guild had its way, all wizards with familiars would be inquisitors.”

“Why did you say no?” Lance asked.

“Because inquisitors are the steel hand of the Mage Guild. Kings fear them. The Mage Guild is by far the most powerful political faction in the continent. I didn’t want to be part of that… I didn’t want to be feared. There’s a lot of stories that you can only hear about when you talk to familiars, because they’re unbiased observers of everything inquisitors do, and it’s not a pretty picture. They do what they need to do to enforce the laws of the Mage Guild, nothing else matters to them. This kingdom could go up in the flames of civil war and the inquisitors will pat themselves on the back, so long as they catch the culprit.” I shudder slightly.

“The Adventurer’s Guild is just as bad,” Conrad opined, “They monopolize the dungeons, the kingdom can’t even access the dungeon underneath the capital without their permission.”

“Perhaps, but the Adventurer’s Guild tries to stay neutral, the Mage Guild makes no such pretense,” I retort with a chuckle. “The court wizard is about the only job that lets you stand up to them, I represent the king and kingdom’s interests, not the Mage Guild. That’s basically the whole point.” I explain.

“So you’ll play the part of an inquisitor because a real inquisitor would do the job without caring about what’s best for our kingdom?” Lance asked.

“That about sums it up,” I reply with a wry grin. Honestly, I’d rather be fighting a floor boss in the dungeon, than trying to question these people, but if it saved lives... “Well, wish me luck, for it’s about time for my tea-time appointment with the princess.”