Interlude 20. Maid Interrupted

"...Oh my. That's... quite a selection." - Roxolane mused. She considered the display of cutlery critically, finally settling down on a selection of forks and spoons - "Excuse me? How come this is so cheap? This looks like silver..."

Stocky dwarfess tending to the shop hurried to look. "Ah. S'not silver, lass. T'is melchior." - she rumbled - "Mostly copper an' summat else, the way I heard it ta be. Still, looks purty fancy, innit? Hardier than silver too, y'won't be bendin' this one by accident, nuh-huh."

"Melchior?" - Louise piped in, leaning over to take a look at the set in question - "Never heard about that kind of metal before."

"No wonder, cause t'is one o'them tek-no-logical things godblessed young lady's been teachin' menfolk." - dwarfess explained immediately - "And right good it is fer them hotheads ta take a cue from a woman for once. Goodness, iffen one of them men done got those wisdoms, mark my words, they'd be thinkin' of nuthin' but swords and helmets. Not the a'chual useful stuff, nope."

Roxolane chuckled lightly. "That does sound like Alyssa." - she remarked absentmindedly - "I think I'll buy this set, please."

"...ah." - dwarfess suddenly wilted - "...Beg yer pardon, but are ye young lady's friend, perchance, to call her by name?"

"I, um... I'm one of her wives?" - Roxolane ventured haltingly - "Oh gods, it feels so odd to say this out loud."

Saleswoman sighed. "Ah see." - she murmured - "Ah suppose I'll go pack this up fer ya...?"

Roxolane nodded, thankful for the topic change, and started rummaging through her purse for the necessary coins. She was still at it when the dwarfess came back with a wooden case presumably containing the cutlery set.

"Here ya go, milady." - she proffered the case, startling when Roxolane extended a handful of coins in her direction - "No, no! Yer young lady's wife, ye donna' haveta pay here."

Roxolane frowned. "Actually." - she proffered crisply - "I'm pretty sure Alyssa would be cross with me if I did so. She would insist on paying the price if she were here herself, even."

It seemed like the shop clerk had her doubts, but she wisely elected not to argue and received the coins as they were proffered. Her decision may have had been influenced by Louise frantically nodding at her to shut up and take the money.

"Many thanks, then! Come back again, y'hear?" - she proffered as a conversation ender, retreating to put the coins into the money drawer.

"Welp, that's it." - Roxolane sighed, as she went out of the shop - "Where are we supposed to meet Sally and Bridgit again?"

Louise shrugged lightly, following the guest. It was a little bit odd for her and Sally lately. On one hand, to their best consideration Roxolane's social status was more or less equal to that of Bridgit, and thus, by conventional wisdom - in the social class of their own. On other hand, ever since Alyssa picked Bridgit up as one of her wives, Bridgit's own social status in the household entered a state of weird flux. Louise pinked up as she remembered the discussion she and Sally had a while ago when they learned about all this. How neither of them could decide if they should be glad for Bridgit, relieved it's not them or envious for the same reason. A discussion that ended in, uh... Uhhh. So very... uhh. Suffice to say, she and Sally attempted what they believed to be "skinship" that night and agreed that the experience was weird and peculiar and probably best left for those who actually had the inclination, like Bridgit. Still, in times like these, Louise did wonder what would have happened if...

"By the well in the plaza, I believe." - she proffered - "I'm sure they're already waiting for us."

___

"Bree, wait up!" - Sally exclaimed, struggling to hold straight under the weight of basket on her elbow. She probably should have taken along one of the men for portering, she surmised. Bridgit slowed down, turning to look at what happened to be the problem and immediately smacked her forehead.

"Good gods, why didn't you say something sooner?" - she yelped in exasperation as she stepped to the side, entering a side alley and tugged Sally along to follow.

"Bree, what are you doing!?" - Sally demanded, surprised by the sudden change of direction - "I don't need to... ooh. D'oh!"

She made a sound of realization as Bridgit promptly vanished with the basket. "By the stars, I'd never get used to this!" - she muttered, staring at the place Bridgit was just in. The casual teleportation, which Bridgit took to like a fish to water was an object of much envy among all servants. It was too bad that the only way to get that ability seemed to be in persuading young lady Alyssa to defile you by snu-snu. In all honesty, Sally considered, if Alyssa herself was feeling amenable, she probably would have had more than a few volunteers from the household staff, women and men. Unfortunately... or maybe fortunately... Alyssa made it clear that she finds her current harem entirely satisfying and is not looking for extra lovers at the time. Sally pinked up, recalling that particular conversation. Admittedly, she probably should have had asked Bridgit before assuming the young lady would expect skinship service from all the maids in the household. The young lady was quite nice about it, even... very sarcastic, though.

"Frau Baumhoff?" - a voice from behind her startled her - "A moment of your time if you please..."

Sally turned around - "I think you have a wrong person, sirrah. I'm not Kraut, nor my parents were."

Shabbily dressed man in front of her faltered momentarily before regrouping - "My apologies. I am looking for frau Bridgit Baumhoff, whom I have been told is working as a maid at the count's estate..."

Sally backpedaled from the guy, back towards the street. She was unnerved to see him following, but he did not appear to be trying anything else so far.

"Duke's estate, you mean?" - she corrected the guy - "His grace lord Gillespie had recently been promoted to dukedom by the king, may he reign long and prosperous."

"Duke? Truly?" - the man echoed - "I have been abroad and did not keep abreast of the news. Good luck surely shines on house Gillespie. Still, my apologies, but would you happen to know frau Baumhoff? As I mentioned just now, her given name is Bridgit. I happen to have certain news about her father..."

"You do?" - came a voice from behind him suddenly. Leonard whirled around, startled. Sally chuckled.

"Good timing, Bree. This gentleman had been asking about you, I think." - she proffered - "Goodness, you never said you actually have a family name."

Bridgit's expression soured lightly, letting Sally know the topic was not particularly pleasant. She shook her head. "I... think I need to hear this." - she proffered quietly but firmly - "Sally, can you go ahead and meet up with Louise and Roxolane? Please tell them I won't be long."

Sally scratched the back of her head. On one hand, she really didn't feel like leaving Bridgit alone with a suspicious stranger, on the other... Between news about Bridgit's father, whom Sally knew to be dead by ill means, if not the exact details, and the fact Bridgit could simply vanish if any harm were to be leveled her way, she did not feel like butting in too much.

"Alright then." - she agreed lightly - "Remember, don't be long, or mistress will be upset with you." Thus having had let Bridgit know that Alyssa would be told if she is missing for too long, Sally sallied forth to look for the other half of their shopping party.

Bridgit followed Sally with her eyes, then stepped back into the alley, motioning for Leonard to follow. Which, albeit unintentionally, matched Leonard's expectations to the tee. He presumed Bridgit kept the murder of her father a secret from Gillespies, because in his consideration if count Gillespie knew his maid was the daughter of a man he ordered dead, he would have gotten rid of inconvenient witness long ago by now. Bridgit, on the other hand, was presuming the man in front of her to be a scoundrel. Either he was connected with actual murderers, or he was here to try and swindle her with lies because, after hearing out Verwaand's confession, she had pretty good ideas on who might know about her personal tragedy and why.

"So. What do you intend to lie to me about?" - she inquired coldly.

"Beg your pardon, frau, I bear no lies." - Leonard proffered easily. Bridgit's eyes narrowed. The very way he said "frau" made it certain the man in front of her never learned more than a few words of Kraut. No, his pronunciation marked him as champaigner through and through.

"I'll be the judge of that. Do tell me what is that message you intend to give me from my father." - she demanded.

"Aaaah. My dear maiden, I see the problem now." - he proffered, trying to be suave and failing miserably - "I am sorry to bring up this old pain of yours, but I am aware that your father is unfortunately dead, and had been so for years by now. The news I bear are simple. I know who is responsible for the death of your father and why."

Bridgit bit her lip. That... was getting intriguing by now.

"Go on." - she whispered tersely, inadvertently giving an impression of a girl bracing for shocking news.

"Before I do, I must implore of you to steel yourself." - Leonard offered - "The name I am about to give you belongs to a powerful person and if he finds out you know, he will not hesitate to silence you by any means necessary, and this man considers murder to be the simplest solution to inconvenient people."

"Do tell. I am prepared." - Bridgit urged him on.

"As you wish. The man who ordered your father dead is no other than your employer. Count Gillespie." - Leonard ploughed on - "Your father resisted count's avarice and refused to give in to his mercantile demands, and so count had your father killed as a warning to all other merchants."

"No, it's not him..." - she started, cutting herself off as she realized blurting out her knowledge of the actual perpetrator might be not to her advantage right now - "How do you know it is like this?"

To Leonard, this sounded like a simple denial of a woman finding out her master was actually a murderer of her father. And so, he stuck with his story.

"I am sorry, but that is the truth." - he offered quietly - "Although count impresses a gentile mien towards the public, he is really a vicious and venal man who spills blood like water. The leader of mercenaries he hired to carry out the attack had been bragging about working for the count while deep in his cups and the name of your father came up."

"And you just happened to be in the vicinity of such a violent man?" - Bridgit proffered dubiously.

Leonard sighed, looking downwards. "No. I did not." - he "admitted" - "You see, I have had intentionally sought the company of the man and spent many a sol plying him with spirits in order to loosen his tongue. I have been wronged deeply by the count in the past, and I so I have sought the men of ill-repute who were rumored to work for him in order to expose his wrongdoing and have my revenge."

"...I see. Wronged, you say? What happened?" - Bridgit inquired curiously.

"My uncle happened to be a seer of some renown, you see." - Leonard answered mostly honestly - "He had a vision regarding a disaster caused by count's daughter being incautious. However, when my uncle visited the count to warn him about that, he was repaid with the blackest treachery. Rather than remonstrate his daughter, count ordered my uncle hanged and then permitted her to burn our village to the ground. The only reason I survived was because I was on a long hunt in the woods and thus was overlooked."

Bridgit kept her opinions silent. Her first impulse was to berate the man for slander, but that urge was quickly squashed by a worry of a sicker variety. She knew about the incident with the seer and village, knew that seer was hanged not for the vision, but for trying to kill a child over it, knew that villagers were made to vacate the village first. Why would this man give her such a heaping of lies?

Leonard took her silence as a sign of being too shocked to speak, and kept digging his own grave deeper - "The whole family is rotten to the core, as I'm sure you know all too well. Does the daughter not take you into her bed by force? To demand skinship when she is not even married yet, such decadence. Like father, like daughter, both of them are villainous scoundrels."

He paused, taking in the look of wide-eyed indignation, which was what he expected, but got for entirely wrong reasons. "Is it not natural to want revenge against such despicable people?" - he whispered, pulling out the satchel from behind his back and putting it into Bridgit's hand - "Here. I have spent every last denier I had on this. A drop of this in their food or even just on their clothes, and your father and your dignity will be avenged. It is made by the famous alchemist. No one will ever suspect poison, it would appear as if they died of natural causes. Only you and I will know that it is their comeuppance for their sins."

Bridgit bit her lip and forced herself to take the ominous satchel calmly. She tied the binding to her own waist next to the knife, her fingers shaking slightly from the nervous anger and worry. Then, she straightened up and enacted her own plan.

Leonard watched in satisfaction as the maid took the poison. Either she'd manage to poison the targets successfully, or she would kill herself and pass the poison to everyone touching the body. Either way, the death of the monster was all but certain in his consideration. Then she straightened up... and vanished from his sight. He yelped in surprise, startled by disappearance, become startled again by the fact his yelp was silenced by a palm, then groaned from a sharp deep pain in his back.

Bridgit teleported behind the murderous bastard, grabbed his face from behind to muffle him and thrust the knife into his liver, just like Moon Unit taught her a while ago. Thrust, jank, slide and the tip of the knife rips the liver in halves. Then she concentrated and teleported herself and the man back to a stretch of road close to the river, a place that never saw much traffic due to clay pits at the end of the road having been exhausted years ago. By now, it was overgrown with plants so much only long-time residents even knew there was a road there before. Letting the dying man slump down, she kicked him in the ribs to turn him over on his back and crouched next to him, drawing the edge of the knife against his throat roughly. That move she did not practice before, but the strengthening spells Alyssa taught her before made that irrelevant, the blade severing the windpipe and major blood vessels in one deep cleave. Blood spurted upwards, missing her sleeve by mere inches.

If Leonard could actually manage to blurt something out, it would be "WHY?!". He did not understand what happened when he felt the pain in his back, he did not understand how did he end up in the forest when he was just in the town alley and he did not understand why everything happened. He DID understand however with crystal clarity that his life just ended when he saw the knife sink into his throat.

Bridgit waited for a few moments for the man to stop gurgling. When his eyes turned glassy, she wiped the bloody knife on his clothes and used it to cut off the coinpurse from his waist. He was somewhat truthful about spending most of his money on poison, given there was but a handful of deniers in the purse. There did not seem to be any other valuables on him either. Done with this, Bridgit fired up the strengthening spell again and dragged the body by the legs towards the river, kicking it into the stream as hard as she could once she got it on the bank. The next league or so of the river was entirely unused, so by the time the body would be found, there'd be no indication as to where exactly he ended up in the river, nor who did the deed. To all and sundry, the man would simply be buried as yet another victim of brigands. A fitting fate for someone who... argh, just thinking about what the man tried to trick her into doing made Bridgit furious.

She considered the body drifting away. Nodded in satisfaction. Turned around and messily vomited. "Oh gods, I just killed someone. I did it on purpose." - she whispered hoarsely - "And gods forgive me, but if it's for the sake of Alyssa, I would do it a hundred times more if needs be."