After the meal, I split away from the group again and went off in search of Dalia. It did not take me very long to deduce that she was chasing after the Principal to pitch him on her big new idea, which was to pull on her family connections to maybe make them go away. Typical. She was locking everyone in a cage with a hungry lion and was getting upset when it decided to maul her too.

She didn’t get what Welt was trying to do. Either she was unaware that Welt intended to use us as leverage against the nobles, or she was naïve enough to believe that Welt trusted her family and didn’t need leverage over them too. Welt was the type to keep his friends close and enemies closer.

This was his elegant solution. He could blackmail those who stood against him and secure the support of those who already did so they would refrain from making any last-minute grabs at power.

I caught sight of her leaving his office with a despondent pout. I decided to hold back and follow her back down onto the first floor, through the interior garden courtyard and into a rarely trafficked area of the main building. It was then and only then that I called out to her.

“Dalia.”

She stopped and smiled at me. She was excited that I was the one reaching out to her.

“Maria! What a pleasant surprise it is to have you speaking with me.”

“I saw you leave the dining hall and I was wondering if aught was amiss.”

She shook her head, “Ah. I’m feeling somewhat on edge because of the situation we’re in. I decided to leave early and get some peace and quiet.”

I chuckled, “I see. I thought you were looking to speak with the Principal. It seems that I was mistaken.”

I slowly moved all of the pieces into my desired places on the board. I poked and prodded at her anxieties about being found out, knowing that she was a bad liar and that she was interested in currying favour with me.

She hurried to correct my misconception; “I did speak with him briefly. We... bumped into each other while I was leaving. I asked him if there was anything we could do to make these men leave the campus, but he was adamant that no such resolution was forthcoming.”

Reading between the lines allowed me to scry what was going on. Dalia was afraid of going alone to speak with their leader – so she wanted to outsource that job to one of the teachers instead of doing it herself. The Principal would obviously refuse any request for a student to negotiate with them either via proxy or in person.

Without that proxy or escort, Dalia was unable to disprove her theory about using her name recognition to score a ticket out of there. She was going to pursue that goal until the stakes got too high. Her craven nature dictated that staying here was more dangerous than sending a message to them through someone else.

I frowned empathetically, “I struggle to see how any verbal discourse could dissuade them. The very fact that they are here now means they intend to see this action through to the end and face the legal consequences.”

“People can be reasoned with,” Dalia insisted, “You see it in the newspapers all the time. They offer them benefits in exchange for cooperation, like when they testify at one of those trials.”

That wasn’t going to work. Welt had already guaranteed them a pardon from the new monarch should their plan succeed. The easiest way to make someone perform an illegal act is to make them do it in confidence. Even I avoided assassinating my targets when the risk of being caught was too high. It was basic criminal psychology.

“At least they aren’t intruding on the main building now. I wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly with them leering over us in the hallways!” I said in mock indignation. She smiled and played alone with a knowing nod of concurrence. Always the follower when she was put out of her comfort zone.

I twisted the knife a touch.

“I have to praise you for such a selfless effort, regardless of its chances of success. It would be a boon to all of the people here at the academy if you could negotiate with them.”

She never intended to let the rest of us go. The way her eyes flickered to one side told me she was trying not to wince and give it away. It was that statement that made her turn on me.

“Are you trying to insinuate something?”

“What do you mean? We have had our disagreements in the recent past – but that does not strip your actions of their good intent.”

“You’re trying to suggest that I’m just doing this for myself! You better not spread unbecoming rumours about me!”

I hummed, “I seem to recall you spreading a lot of unbecoming rumours about Samantha before the term ended. How she was boorish, violent and ill-mannered and unworthy of being held in esteem by her peers.”

Dalia’s eyes sharpened, “Was I incorrect? Her presence brings shame to this academy.”

“You were mistaken. You should have been more concerned about me.”

I stepped closer. Dalia was boxed in against the wall with nowhere to run. She tried to slip past me and get away but I grabbed her by the collar and pushed her against the stones. Her weak attempts to break free again were short-lived. She couldn’t hope to compete with my strength.

“I can be very ill-tempered indeed. I saw you sneaking away from the hall earlier. Were you going to beg the Principal to go to that empty building and grovel in front of those violent thugs that have taken over? Maybe pull rank, or talk about who your Father is?”

The penny dropped. Dalia took in a sharp breath.

“My Father has nothing to do with this.”

“I overheard them speaking earlier. They’re monarchists. Your Father is well-known for his support of the restoration movement. It’s an open secret to anyone with eyes and ears, and you feel that his position gives you the privilege to order them to let you go, leaving the rest of us to rot.”

“I would never!”

“You won’t fool me with those plain denials. Why else would you so zealously pursue the Principal if not to use him to achieve your ends? You want to be allowed out of here – escaping from the very same danger that men like your Father have crafted. I have a harsh truth for you.”

I pushed her back and stared into her eyes.

“They don’t care about you. Your Father is every bit as disposable as the rest of them. They didn’t warn you or him about this because the man in the chair wanted you to be here. If you go and ask their leader if you can leave, they’ll laugh in your face and tell you to stay put. We’re all trapped - including you.”

The tenacious face she wore faded. The sudden violence of my confrontation and the harsh facts I was throwing at her combined into an unpleasant medicine. I released her jumper and stepped back.

“None of that is true,” she persisted, “It can’t be.”

“What rung of the ladder do you think you stand upon? Your family is influential enough to be worth blackmailing, but not important enough to be in the inner circle. I’d love to see you try and air your complaints to the manic leading this group.”

“Shut up! What is your problem? You’re threatening me!”

“None of what I said was a threat, but this is. If you don’t do what I say I’ll make sure that every single person with a pair of working ears knows that your Father was involved in this.”

“He doesn’t have a part-”

“Spare me the meaningless denials and listen. You are going to be my canary in the coal mine. I want you to go and speak with the person in charge and let me spy on him.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Why?” she asked.

“That doesn’t matter. Now, are you going to do as I ask, or not?”

I’d made my position and intent clear to Dalia. She could do what I asked and put herself in the firing line, or she could refuse and suffer the full weight of my social clout coming down on top of her head like a tonne of bricks. She was part of the reason why my opinion carried so much influence in the first place. She understood how powerful it really was.

“You can’t be serious. You’re asking me to face down those madmen?”

“You asked the Principal to do it for you – and now suddenly you see the issue from his perspective when the tables are turned?”

“Is that what this is about? You’ve proven your point. So stop kidding around and let me go.”

“Oh no. I’m quite serious. I want to hear those words coming from his mouth, and seeing as though you are the only one who has the ‘connections’ necessary to arrange a meeting with him...”

Dalia turned pale.

“H-Hey, wait a moment! I never agreed to do anything! It’s just as you said – he’s going to turn me away before ever accepting a meeting with me. I’m nobody! Is this because of what I said about Samantha? I’ll apologize to her. I’ll get down on my hands and knees and grovel if that’s what you want!”

I expected this type of response to my proposal when I first chased her down, but the desperation and dread she was showcasing exceeded my worst estimations. She was having a full-blown mental breakdown right in front of me. She didn’t mean a word of it. She wanted to squirm her way out of this confrontation without giving up her own safety or reputation.

Now that the barrier was stripped away between her and her goals, she thought it was an idea that only a lunatic would come up with. It was funny how a person’s perspective could change on the same proposal when they were the ones being asked to see it through.

I put my hand on her shoulder; “Samantha does not need an apology from you. Besides, I’m not going to place you in a dangerous situation. This ‘meeting’ will be on neutral ground outside in the garden, and we’ll request that he bring no weapons with him.”

“...We?”

“Yes, we. I need to be there to hear what he says.”

That fine detail made it clear to Dalia that I was being serious. She and I were going to do this and there was nothing she could say to dissuade me. I liked solving problems, and this was a tantalizingly challenging one to untangle.

Once we were out of there – I needed to track down Welt and put a bullet between his eyes.

----------------------------------------

Darin was pleased with how his part in the plan was proceeding.

Dealing with kids was not his forte – so agreeing to a ‘compromise’ with the teachers was his ideal outcome. His men would keep a close watch on the campus exits and ensure that they complied, while everyone on the inside could go about their usual business.

There was no real threat of harm coming to them. Welt had made that clear to him when he originally issued the assignment. Organizing them into groups of children from supporters, opponents and neutral bystanders was too much work. The risk of harming the wrong person was too high. The mere threat was enough for what Welt intended.

He was trying to show the nobles in the capital that he had control over their fate. They could comply with his wishes and help stabilize the incoming new order – or they could risk losing what mattered to them most. Most could give or take dealing with their own spawn, but throwing their succession into chaos was bothersome enough that they would fall in line.

It was only natural that something would go wrong one day into their occupation of the campus. One of his compatriots almost kicked down his door and declared that another, named John, had collapsed from a stinging pain in his chest while he was on watch at the rear gate.

“I need an extra pair of hands out here! John blacked out and I can’t carry him on my own.”

They hauled him all the way back to the old building they were living in and ran away to collar a medical professional, leaving his gun behind to avoid scaring the Principal. He was lying motionless on a wooden table when the Principal and two of the school medical staff arrived a few minutes later.

“What’s all this commotion about?” he asked.

Darin sighed, “John here is having trouble. I want these nurses to check him.”

The two medical staff, Doctor Becker and Nurse Meyer, were uneasy about being surrounded by so many of their number, but the Principal had asked them to do him this favour. He was trying to keep tensions on the campus as low as possible, and he promised to come with them to ensure nothing happened during their inspection.

Becker cleared what was left from the table and started to check on John. She peeled open his eyes and checked for a reaction, before then ensuring that he still had a pulse. It was immediately obvious what the problem was.

“No pulse, no reaction to light... I believe that he’s already passed away.” She pointed to the man who brought John to the building, “What did he tell you?”

His face fell, “He... he just started complaining about a pain in his chest all of a sudden, and it sounded proper bad. He was groaning, said it was like being stabbed. Eventually he passed out after sitting down, and I barely kept him from smashing his head into the stones.”

An awkward silence hung over the room until Becker delivered the bad news.

“I’m afraid that he’s suffered from the tell-tale signs of a Cardiac Arrest.”

“A what?”

“A heart attack. Clutching his chest, losing consciousnesses, complaining about a sharp, stabbing pain – and losing his pulse soon after. Thousands of men and women around Walser die from these exact circumstances every year.”

“Did someone do it to him?” Darin asked.

“No.”

To prove her point, Becker and Meyer removed his shirt and investigated the area around his heart and lungs. There were no outward signs of injury, no blood, and no injection sites.

“There’s nothing suspicious that I can see here from the outside. My gut instinct is that he died of natural causes.”

Darin turned to him, “Was there anyone else there when it happened?”

“Not a soul. No sir.”

Rotten luck indeed. Darin couldn’t believe it. He’d died on the spot from a heart attack? He didn’t know much about medicine – but if the Doctor was so convinced, then he had little reason to suspect otherwise. Where would they even find a poison potent enough to do that at a school anyway?

One of the other men took exception; “What do you mean you can’t fix him? There has to be something you can do!”

Becker shook her head, “I’m afraid not. This is a school, not a hospital. The only way for us to intervene would be to cut him open, but that is extremely dangerous. A lot of work in that field is entirely theoretical.”

“You’re gotta’ be shitting me!” he complained.

“The heart is a delicate organ, and when it ceases to operate the damage quickly spreads to every other part of the body. As we speak, his brain will be starved of fresh blood causing severe problems. The rare few who have their hearts restarted may suffer from long-term consequences.”

Even if Becker and Meyer could deliver a shock to the man’s heart, the damage may have already been done. Who was to say that it even could be restarted safely? The window to revive and potentially save his life had already passed. The only thing that could have averted disaster was a skilled restoration mage, and those were very rare indeed.

The outraged mercenary got up into Becker’s face but the stern woman refused to flinch. Darin was quick to pull him back.

“Koch! Don’t pick fights with the Doctors.”

Meyer closed his eyes and redonned his clothes to prepare him for his final rest.

“I would advise that you take his body into the cellar in this building. It should be cold enough to keep him from decomposing while you’re here.”

Darin frowned, “I don’t know anything about ‘Cardiac Arrest’ or whatever you’re saying – but you mean to say that this was just an accident?”

Becker exhaled, “As I said, thousands of people pass away from these incidents every year. I can’t see any signs of external injury, nor can I imagine any way for a person to induce a heart attack with that kind of precision. The sad fact is that his heart may have malfunctioned, and he has lost his life as a result.”

Darin turned away, “We’ve been here for one bloody day and this happens!”

“It’s an ill omen,” Koch declared.

“You’re always too superstitious!” one of the men responded.

“How the hell do you explain a perfectly healthy lad dropping dead on the spot? Back in my village, we’d be praying at the Goddess’ altar for three days and three nights after a bad omen like this!”

Becker knew that some recent medical journals were exploring the idea of these conditions going undiagnosed for decades before their negative impacts could be seen, at which point it was often too late to intervene. A healthy man on the outside could be hiding a ticking time bomb.

She held her tongue and stepped back in deference. There was no reason to entangle herself with the discussion any more than she had to. They were clearly upset and looking for someone to point fingers at. Darin scratched his head and ushered the Principal and his staff out of the room so they could escape the heated debate.

“I hope this was an accident - and that your Doctor hasn’t been telling lies.”

Becker took exception to that suggestion, “How do you reckon that someone caused your friend to have a cardiac arrest? The other person who witnessed it said he didn’t see a solitary soul out there, and you haven’t eaten any food from the school’s pantry.”

Darin knew that he was on shaky ground making any accusations of foul play. He hoped that the implication would make them break rank and tell the truth, but they stuck to their guns and insisted that it was an unlucky happenstance.

“How long is this going to last?” the Principal asked, “His body will begin to decompose.”

“Not for long,” Darin said. He was not going to give it away and let them make plans.

“Try to keep the campus calm. Do that much and we’ll play along with your games.”

“I know. We shook hands on it. My boys are going to stay outside of the main building and watch the fences. I don’t want any funny stuff.”

Darin already had a map of the building in his possession. The guard stations were under his control and the men under his command were positioned as such to avoid being seen from the outside looking in. Nobody could come or go without them knowing, and the building was so old that no lines of communication had been installed.

Becker and Meyer refrained from arguing again on the same point. He was a paranoid, potentially violent and evidently uneducated man. It was all going to go into one ear and slip from the other. They followed the Principal out of the empty building and back up the stone path towards the main hall.

“I have to apologize to you both for dragging you out here.”

Becker shook her head, “No. I have a responsibility to look after these children too, and while they may be holding us hostage, I also have an oath to fulfil. I can’t overlook someone suffering a medical emergency. Let’s be glad that it wasn’t an incident that earned their ire.”

“Still, it’s incredible that he died of a cardiac arrest a few hours after coming here,” Meyer whispered.

“We will keep this between us,” the Principal asserted, “Hopefully we can remove the body later without alarming the students.”

Oh, how he longed for the days when the most urgent task at hand was filling out paperwork and approving staff budgets...