02.47: Mystery
The small house stank of wet rot.
Meat left too long in heat.
It was silent, except for one man’s pleas.
The other two struggled to breathe.
“Please… I didn’t—”
“Quiet.”
The drunk hiccuped into silence.
“Let’s check the place one more time before dragging him out,” Brenn suggested.
Korrin nodded and went into the bedroom, boots echoing against flat floorboards.
“Did you two live alone?” Brenn asked.
“No. He… he kicked me out. Months ago.”
“Anyone else?”
He shook his head.
Korrin emerged.
“Look what I found,” he said, jingling a purse.
It sounded heavy.
He showed the contents to Brenn, who sucked in his breath. He regretted it instantly.
Large silver coins mixed with small ones. Dozens of them. Years of wages.
Brenn looked at the culprit.
Early twenties at most. Thin. Poorly fed.
Then at the body peeking through the dirt.
“How old was your brother?”
Bram swallowed. “Twenty-five.”
Brenn’s eyes flickered to the coins.
A craftsman that young, no matter how talented, shouldn’t be able to amass a fortune that big. Not legally.
He looked at Korrin, who shared his look.
“We’ve stumbled onto a mystery.”
“Where did the money come from?” Brenn asked.
“My brother. He--”
“Don’t say he gave it to you.”
“He had it on him!”
“Where did he get it from?”
“I dunno.”
“Did you ask him?”
“No. He didn’t show me. The pouches fell when he-- He was actin’ odd. Wanted to leave the city.”
“You refused?”
The drunk nodded silently.
“How did he die?”
Bram’s face crumpled.
“You killed him for the money, didn’t you?”
“No!”
Fast and loud.
“We had a fight, and— he fell. I swear, he was breathin’!”
His words dissolved into incoherent sobs.
“I’ll call the boys and have them fetch the body. Then we can talk to his guild.”
“I don’t think he stole from them.”
“Yeah. They don’t take theft lightly. He,” he pointed to the bloated body, “looks like he’s been dead for days.”
By the time they reached the Military Police’s headquarters, the sky had begun turning a bruised purple.
Bram stumbled as Brenn pushed him towards Korrin.
“Would you like to visit the carpenter’s guild tomorrow?” Korrin asked.
Brenn chuckled.
“I’m not in the Military Police anymore, Lieutenant. I will try to come if I have some free time.”
The next morning, Brenn found himself with some free time.
The recruits were practicing shield formations, terribly, while sergeants barked orders at them.
They were slow to react and as coordinated as a newborn, but better than yesterday.
The new NCOs were very driven, if a little too harsh. Just the right kind of whetstone needed for turning the weak, dull men into sharp, living weapons, along with regular meals.
Brenn had given them a plan. It was up to them to execute it.
His thoughts kept circling back to the sobbing drunk and the dead craftsman with too much money.
He exhaled sharply.
Damn it.
An hour later, he was walking into the Military Police’s headquarters.
“Sir Brenn,” Thibault bowed with a flourish as he let him in, a grin on his face.
“Thibault. How have you been doing?”
“The usual. Following in your giant footsteps.”
“Don’t. You’ll trip.”
Giving the cheeky ex-subordinate a reluctant smile, he pushed into his old office.
Korrin looked up from his desk.
“Captain. You’re here.”
He was about to get up when Brenn waved him down.
He dropped into the opposite chair.
“I managed to find some free time. So, what did you find out?”
“The boys questioned Bram. He says he had an argument with his brother, Tomer, which turned into a fight and he knocked the brother out. He found two heavy pouches of coin on Tomer and hid them. Says when he came back, the brother was dead, a stab wound to his heart. So he hid the body in a panic.”
“You believe that?”
“… I think he is telling the truth about not doing the stabbing.”
Brenn cradled his head in his hands. “If the drunk is right, this was made to look like simple theft.”
Korrin got up. “Let’s go speak with the guild.”
“The higher ups?”
“No. The men he worked with. And let’s not go in our uniforms.”
Brenn hesitated, then nodded.
It took them an hour of careful probing to find out the location of men who used to work with Tomer.
Just outside the Inner Wall, a half-built villa echoed with the rhythmic bites of adzes striking wood as the two men entered its grounds. The resinous smell of freshly cut timber filled the air.
They approached the building, its timber ribs exposed, being careful not to look as if they were searching for someone.
They found the man by his description.
“Are you Kellen?” Korrin asked quietly.
The brown haired man with wide set eyes let his adze fall one last time before looking up.
“Yes.”
“You work with Tomer?”
The man’s eyes narrowed. His grip on the adze tightened.
“What’s it to you?”
Brenn could almost taste the tension.
“We have some questions,” Korrin said, his voice calm.
“Who are you?”
“Authorities.”
When the carpenter kept looking at them with suspicion, Korrin took out his insignia.
“We’re trying to keep this quiet.”
Kellen’s eyes flickered past them. To the other workers.
Checking who was listening.
“What do you want to know,” he whispered.
“Where is Tomer?” Brenn asked.
A pause.
A heartbeat too long.
“He took some time off.”
“For what?”
“His mother passed away.”
“When?”
“A few days ago.”
Korrin inhaled sharply.
“What?” Brenn asked.
“Bram said she died a year ago,” he whispered.
Kellen’s face changed slightly.
Brenn’s heartbeat increased. He turned to Kellen. “What was he working on?”
Kellen didn’t answer.
Behind them, one of the workers resumed chopping. Loud and fast.
A signal?
Or nerves?
He kept his gaze on the carpenter, who still hadn’t answered.
“I am Sir Brenn, Captain in Her Majesty’s Royal Army,” he said, voice low, “and this is Sir Korrin, Lieutenant, in the Military Police. Will you answer here or answer in a lock up?”
A pause.
“The men are rather rough there.”
Kellen’s grip loosened.
“The… the new buildings,” he said. Quietly and reluctantly.
“Where?”
“In the castle’s inner bailey.”
Brenn turned to Korrin, whose face had gone pale.
“Captain,” he said, voice tight, “the Queen was scheduled to inspect them today.”
A craftsman with a false alibi.
Killed so he could never testify.
Testify what he had done to make that much money.
A heavy stone fell in Brenn’s stomach.
“When?” he asked sharply.
“Around noon.”
Brenn looked up.
The sun was right above them.
Without saying anything, He and Korrin turned and ran like death was at their heels.
──────── ⋆✩⋆ ────────
Laira remained silent on her knees.
Hands clasped together and head bowed at the foot of the altar.
She could feel him watching her.
She got up slowly and turned to face him.
Cardinal Godmar remained still, hands folded in his sleeves. Sunlight filtering from the windows made his lined face glow.
“Your Majesty,” he said, inclining his head enough to acknowledge her crown.
“Cardinal Godmar.”
Silence, as heavy as the smell of incense, settled in the Church.
He broke it first.
“The Church is worried about the amnesty you have announced.”
“A necessary measure.”
“You are offering mercy to thieves and oath-breakers. Men who have profited from the faithful’s suffering.”
“Not all, Cardinal. Just to the ones who will give me the names of their peers. The rest will face justice.”
He sighed. “You put utility over righteousness.”
“Reluctantly. Only because I have no other choice.”
“Sin… should not be tolerated just because it is useful. You have openly declared that you would allow a man to confess his sin and walk free.”
She met his gaze. “If that is the price for obtaining the truth, then regrettably, yes. I will do everything in my power to protect our realm.”
“You are teaching the nobles they can steal as long as they confess.”
“No. I am teaching them that no two thieves can trust each other. From now on, they can never be sure when one of them will betray the rest.”
Godmar’s eyes widened a fraction.
“To keep them divided.”
She nodded.
“Can you truly not punish those who have wronged both Crown and God?”
“My throne is barely warm, Father, and my army is going through a major overhaul. I don’t have many options. If I followed your advice, it would force every guilty noble into the same corner, sparking open rebellion.”
“You are afraid.”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Fear is a poor foundation for justice.”
“This is an exceptional case. Only the first to come forward will receive immunity.”
“You bypass the Church in this.”
“I do not. You are free to hear the guilty’s confession and assign penance. To guide their souls as you see fit.”
“But to not judge them.”
“I am judging them as their Queen.”
His voice dropped, soft and more dangerous.
“There is judgment that belongs to the Crown… and judgment that does not.”
Her voice was just as cold.
“And there is a war coming that will not care which is which.”
Godmar inclined his head. Deeper this time.
“Even if these men are spared by your decree, they will not be spared by God.”
“I expect nothing less.”
She sighed in relief.
“I’m glad we understand each other.”
“We,” he paused, “understand the stakes.”
“There is,” he continued, “another matter. I received a peculiar letter from the border county of Nobart. From the local priest, Korric.”
Laira felt her blood run cold
“Regarding your intended. Father Korric has made some grave allegations.”
She bowed.
“My intended is not… the best at tact. I apologize for his rudeness.”
He shook his head.
“The priest wasn’t concerned with politeness. Count Nobart replaced an ordained physician with a surgeon.”
He said the last word almost like an insult.
“That is no small matter.”
“I will talk to him when he is back. I’m sure we can resolve the issue amicably.”
“Korric has some suspicions as well. Are you sure you want to move ahead with this betrothal?”
“What suspicions?”
“Possession. Count Nobart is said to have healed from a wound that should have been fatal, in a matter of days.”
Laira caught herself in time from showing her shock.
That bitch. She underplayed his injury. And the healing… Jack did tell me he had been blessed by God Himself.
Not something she could say to this priest.
“I will be sending someone to investigate,” he pronounced as a judgment.
“That is your prerogative. However, I would like to have a say in whom you send.”
“Oh?”
She lowered her voice.
“I would be very thankful.”
He remained silent for some time, then nodded.
Laira sighed, internally.
That man is going to empty my entire treasury!
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