Chapter 143

"Keep the book, that was the deal. What are you going to do now that you have it?" I asked.

Theo stretched and leaned back on the couch. "Well, I certainly don't mind staying here if you can convince the Madame to let me. Your friend Raya told me your group was probably headed to the capital after you finish up whatever business you have left here. I wouldn't mind traveling with you, I can even help you get into the Library of Sorsette. From there you might be able to find some more information about your memories or whatever else you're looking for."

That's not a terrible idea...

I tapped on the armrest a couple times before answering. "I'll see what I can do but I'm not sure how long we intend to stay. There's a lot we've gotten involved in since we've come here and I get the feeling that she's bending her normal rules quite a bit by letting us stay here as long as we have."

He shrugged. "If she says no then it's not that big of a deal, I'll be able to find another place to stay for a while. It would be a lot less convenient though and I wouldn't want to miss you. I'm confident in my strength but traveling is always easier as a group."

I sighed. "I guess it won't hurt to ask. What kind of fighter are you anyway?"

"I'm a mage-hybrid, I specialize in enhancement magic," he replied.

I raised an eyebrow. "Enhancement magic? You wouldn't mind giving me some pointers, would you?

The bull-man grinned. "I wouldn't mind at all, though not till we're on the road. It will give us something to do.

"True." I stood up. "For now though, I need to prepare for the rest of the day. I have to talk with someone about something important. We'll probably stay here for at least a few more days, I'd love to spend even longer here but I already feel like I'm delaying our capital trip much more than I meant to."

He nodded. "Sure, it doesn't seem like they mind me hanging around in the lobby so far, not yet at least. Just tell me as soon as you can if I have to go looking for somewhere else to sleep."

Theo got up and left the room. I moved to start putting on my armor while the others got ready to leave too.

"Uh, Lilith? I hope you don't mind that I told Raya about heading to the capital. I didn't know she would tell anyone." Torien had come up to me looking sheepish.

I smiled and pulled her into a side hug. "Don't worry about it, no need to apologize. ...but maybe we should tell Raya not to tell anyone else about what our plans are." I patted her on the back and let her go.

I thought about the upcoming meeting with Nathaniel. I wasn't sure how this meeting was going to play out, how much of all of this is attributed to Matilda, Fae's former servant.

Once all of us were suited up we headed over to the castle. Already more guards were patrolling the city and the area around the castle in particular looked a lot more lively. I'm not sure why holding the castle made such a big difference but it was pretty noticeable already.

When we approached the castle a pair of guards I hadn't seen before stopped me at the gate. "Name?"

"Lilith."

He nodded. "I'll take you to see Nathaniel, he's been expecting you."

We walked through the courtyard. It seemed a lot more cheery than it had yesterday. With the looming miasma that was spilling out of the castle gone, the energy and atmosphere of this place was completely different. Despite some missing or broken furniture, it would be hard to tell that it had been infested with demons only yesterday. The guard led us to a sitting room on the first floor to wait.

About ten minutes later, Nathaniel walked in with Matilda. She looked a lot better, she had been healed further and looked like she had bathed and eaten. The second her eyes met Silva's she froze. Nathaniel locked the door behind himself, pulled the unsteady deerkin to one of the couches, and sat her down. He sat down in one of the chairs opposite her so all of us were facing her. As she looked around at us she realized what was happening, this was an interrogation.

Nathaniel cleared his throat. "I'm not sure why you suspect this servant to be involved in this incident but this will be a convenient place to ask her about it. Before we begin are you willing to at least share what your reasoning is?"

I shook my head. "I can't, this isn't something I can share. It concerns my skills and abilities."

The priest sighed. "Very well, though if I decide you have falsely accused her and wasted my time while the city is in shambles I'll make sure you reimburse the two of us for the trouble."

I nodded. "That's fine. Before we begin, may I cast a [Zone of Silence] around this room?"

"That won't be necessary, this room is already warded against eavesdropping. Unless you don't trust me on that?"

"No, it's fine. As long as no one is listening in."

Nathaniel turned to Matilda. "I'm going to cast [Zone of Truth] and you're going to answer all of our questions. I am the acting baron of this territory right now, thus I have the power to imprison you or apply punishments should you refuse. Do you understand?"

Her face turned white and she shrunk down in her seat. "I- I understand..."

He nodded. "I understand this may be hard but if you are not affiliated with the people who attacked the city, you have nothing to fear."

This didn't do anything to assuage her fears, if anything it made things worse. She already had tears forming in her eyes.

The priest took a breath and began to cast the spell. I think he has less mana than I do, or whatever resource clergymen used, despite being a priest he can only barely cast the spell. The [Zone of Truth] formed around us and settled into place. I was already beginning to recognize the feeling as familiar.

The priest leaned against the back of the chair. "First question. Were you involved in the attack on this castle?"

Tears were running down the woman's face. "...yes."

A pulse of truth went through the room and Nathaniel's face hardened into a grimace. "Have you heard of the Cult of Amphores?"

"...yes." Another pulse of truth.

"Are you a member of the Cult of Amphores?"

She sniffled and looked up. "No." Truth.

The priest leaned back in his chair and nodded at me.

I scratched the base of my horn. "Did you help the Cult of Amphores attack the castle?" I asked.

"...yes." Truth.

"How did you help the Cult attack the castle?" I asked.

She rung her hands in the plain dress she was wearing. "I... slipped one of them a key to the stable-house the night before they attacked... and I've been writing down the names and patrols of guards for three m-months before that."

Her quiet response was shocking. She had essentially been a spy for the cult, for months.

Nathaniel leaned forward in his chair. "Were you aware that they were planning on killing the Baron?"

"No... but... No." Truth.

"But?" I asked.

She looked down at her dress. "I suspected that was their plan. They asked specifically for the patrols on the third floor multiple times ...it was hard for me to get those because of the placement of my mistress' room."

"Why did you help them, if you had an idea of what they were planning?" Bella's voice sounded hurt as she asked the question.

Matilda sniffled again and tears fell from her face. "They held my brother hostage... They gave me his letters, it was in his handwriting... He never did have good handwriting..." Truth reverberated through the room. She was on the verge of sobbing now, barely able to speak.

I rubbed my eyes in thought before looking back down at her. "How did they manage to take your brother hostage without anyone from the castle knowing?"

Her hands pulled at her dress. "...my brother was a slave. I was too before the Baron bought me... It... It's my fault the Baron died, he freed me from slavery and I betrayed him... but my brother. They had him, they told me they would torture and kill him if I didn't do what they said. In the letters my brother said he was scared of them, afraid of what they might do if he didn't listen to them. He said they weren't like normal masters, they just kept him locked up in a cage all the time and had him write me letters... they kept others in the nearby cages and killed the ones that weren't useful..."

It was hard to parse what was coming through the [Zone of Truth] at this point but no one in the room thought that anything she said was a lie. But I still waited for the ripples of magic to calm down before I asked my next question.

"If you helped them, why did they leave you here?" I asked.

She wiped her eyes and looked up at me. "When I heard they were looking for my mistress, Sera Faelyn, I begged for them to spare her. They slapped me so hard I was knocked out and when I woke up everyone was gone and there was nothing but demons left..." Truth, she stopped to let the waves coming from the [Zone of Truth] fade before continuing, "After that, I tried to escape but there were so many demons and every day I felt sicker and sicker. I ran out of what food I could find two days before you came and I got bit by one of the monsters when I was trying to find more. ...I don't even know if they let my brother go like they said they would."

Morrigan spoke quietly. "Being in Miasma for a long time can have negative effects on the body. It's why you're not supposed to stay in dungeons too long. Some call it dungeon sickness but the proper name for it is miasma poisoning."

"Why are you so afraid of me?" Silva asked.

She looked at Silva and shrunk down further. "I can't say. I have a geas."

When the wave of truth reverberated everyone looked shocked. Nathaniel was the first to speak, "Why would they cast contract magic for that but not for any of what you have already told us?"

"I- I can't tell you, it breaks the geas." Truth again.

I looked at Silva and studied her expression, she was stone-faced but she didn't seem surprised.

"Silva, do you know why she would have a geas related to you?" I asked.

Silva shook her head and asked Matilda the next question, "Is your geas about me specifically?"

The deer-kin's eyebrows furrowed. "Uh, no not exactly. B-" Before she could continue she suddenly started to choke and grabbed her throat.

"Don't answer further," Nathaniel commanded her. After a few moments, her airway cleared and she could breathe again.

He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. "I don't think we can press that any further without killing her." He sat up and looked back over at her. "Can you describe anything about the cultists?"

She hesitated for a moment but nodded. "There were three people who would talk to me. One of them was a tall beastfolk... some kind of catfolk with brownish-orange fur. She was really tall and had pieces of her ears missing." Truth.

I clicked my tongue. "That one's dead. We killed her when she attacked us in Norta." My words came back true.

"O-oh. Erm, the next one was a beastfolk slave. A dogfolk girl with fluffy yellow fur and floppy ears, she was younger than me. She had scars on both of her arms and seemed sad all the time..." She looked at me to see if I would say something again.

I shook my head. "Haven't seen anyone like that."

"The last one was a human man, He was also tall but looked short next to the catfolk woman. He had grey hair and a grey beard but he didn't look that old so I always thought it looked odd. He wore black... and he always had deep bags under his eyes. I can't remember anything else that would stand out..."

Nathaniel glanced at me to see if I would say anything but I shook my head. He set aside the notebook he had been writing in and cleared his throat. "Well, I suppose the only thing left to do is talk about what to do with her now."

I frowned. Matilda closed her eyes and tears rolled down her face.

"Espionage of a noble is considered high treason and is punishable by death."