Falco's Reign - Part 18

The two sorcerers walked through the corridor that led to Falco’s private quarters. A dozen meters to the right of the door that gave access to his and Anya’s apartment, was another entrance. Behind that was a small waiting area and a spiral staircase that went up into a tower and to Falco’s most favorite room in the Adlerburg; his father’s old study. He had hesitated for weeks before he had moved in, but once he had done it, it had quickly become his ‘home base’. Here, he liked to work and study and meet with people in private. There was another staircase as well that ended directly in his apartment, but that one was just for his own and Anya’s private use.
The moment the Varangian Guard let them in the waiting room and told them they could go up right away, a fat nobleman came out. He looked nervous but at the same time relieved. As if he had just completed a difficult and dangerous task and had gotten off better than he had feared.
Falco was waiting for them on top of the stairs and let them in his study.
“Take a seat, guys. Those chairs are surprisingly comfortable.”
“I can see that,” Talisin replied falling into a chair. “Was that earl Sorenson that passed us by on the way up?”
“It certainly was.”
“I thought I recognized him from those negotiations in the chapter house. What was he doing here?”
“Bringing me some very interesting news,” Falco replied, holding up a scroll. “I had him write it down and sign it. I’ll tell you about it later. He feels he’s off the hook now.”
“And is he?” Arcala asked.
“For now. Anyway, there have been some developments. I spoke with that hybrid this morning. You have been studying the dead one. I would like to know what, if anything, you discovered.”
“The mutation is caused by a mix of science and demonic magic,” Arcala said. “The handiwork of a dwarf with demon allies.”
“Do you agree with that?” Falco asked Talisin.
Talisin nodded. “However,” he added, “this being was also natural.”
“Ehm … you lost me.”
“She was created but is natural as well,” Talisin said.
“Still not following.”
“What Talisin means, is that the mutation in itself was created by somebody, but that she herself was born with that mutation. In other words, Arvik has succeeded in making the traits hereditary.”
“Really? So she was born out of children Arvik had turned into hybrids? And she was born a hybrid as well. Would that be the same for Pumori?”
“Pumori?”
“That’s her name. The one we have captured. Question is, can this thing be reversed?”
Talisin and Arcala stared at each other for a moment. Then Talisin said; “In order to answer that, we would have to do more research. However …”
“Yes?”
“However,” Arcala continued in Talisin’s stead, “where it may be possible for first generation hybrids to reverse the process, it seems unlikely to both of us that we could do the same for those that are born that way. For them, you see, it is their natural state and turning them full human again would be an unnatural act.”
“I think I understand. Poor creatures. What place could they possibly have in this world?”
“Poor creatures?” Talisin asked. “Are you forgetting the one in the dungeon tried to kill you?”
“It’s a bit more complicated than that. Let me tell you what I learned.” In a few words, Falco explained what had happened in the cell that morning. “So you see, she’s not really a bloodthirsty killer.”
“That remains to be seen,” Arcala mumbled.
“Which brings me to my next question; Do either of you have any necromantic skills?”
Arcala shook her head. Talisin sighed, a look of understanding on his face.
“Gods! I don’t like where this is going. Yes, I do. But Halem will be pissed off when I use them. He really hates it when I go necromantic. He thinks it’s going to change me into some kind of weird evil monster. So, tell me your plan.”
Falco smiled and explained what he had in mind.
“Alright then,” Talisin said. “After all, she tried to kill you, not me. If you want this … Besides, it will be fun. Almost like a prank.”
“Ghoulish is a better word for it, I think,” Falco said. “I know you have been using magic when they were digging out that tunnel, but do you have any energy left for a little healing?”
“Healing? Now you’re going to far! You didn’t even ask me to heal Narvi! Why would I waste it on …?”
“Narvi’s main problem was not waking up. You can’t heal that, only wounds, right?”
“Yes.”
“I may need her a bit more mobile in a couple of days. That broken leg has to be a lot better by then. Now, can you do that?”
“In a couple of days? Yes, I guess that should be possible, if it is only a broken leg.”
“Try to do it inconspicuously. She doesn’t need to know.”
“We could go down there for our research,” Arcala suggested. “Maybe Talisin can sneak his spell in while we take a few samples of her blood and tissues.”
“Fine,” Talisin said. “We’ll do that.”

“Doctor Hearnson! Just the man I was looking for.”
The doctor startled a bit and looked over his shoulder. He had been just about to enter Rodey’s room.
“Lord Falco! I … ehm … was just bringing …”
“Ah! Is that package Rodey’s medicine? It’s a lot. For a few days I suppose. You can give that to me. I’ll make sure he gets it.”
“But, my lord, I think I should …”
“No, no! I need you to go to Arcala.”
“Arcala?”
“Yes, she’s good with potions. She’s concocting something that should help clear Rodey’s mind. He is very confused as you know. He’s been trying to remember something and tell us ever since the dungeon episode but he just can’t access the memory.”
“But what …?”
“Something about somebody whispering things in his ears to keep his anger towards me alive and well. Poor boy just can’t remember the details. Anyway, the potion should help. But we want to be sure it doesn’t have some weird effects if it is combined with your medicine. So I want you to confer with her.”
“Of course, my lord. Might I ask … when would this potion be ready?”
“Oh, depends a bit on what you and Arcala will be discussing of course. Arcala can probably tell you more precisely, but I would say, no sooner than in two or three days.”
“I see. Well, I’ll go to Arcala right away. I want nothing more than to get that young man healthy again. Good day, my lord.”
“Good day, doctor. And don’t forget the dinner party tomorrow night.”
“I won’t, my lord. Wait, wasn’t that tonight?”
“My cook couldn’t arrange it that fast. Anyway, see you then.”
Falco watched as the doctor disappeared through the corridors.

The next evening, a large table was set up in one of the halls on the higher floors of the Adlerburg. Falco’s inner circle was present of course and so were the remaining members of the Council of the Temple of Tyr, together with some additional guests, like the quartermaster and the doctor. Odokar and Vili had been invited as well. Arno and other squires served them all at the dinner table. The food was excellent and mead and beer were in good supply. The evening progressed pleasantly.
“My lord,” Rolf suddenly said, getting up from his seat, “your food and drink are at least as good as in your father’s days, but, if you’ll forgive me, we haven’t been told the exact reason for this excellent banquet.”
“Since when do we need a reason for a party?” Odokar shouted, followed by the laughter of the guests. Smiling, Falco raised his goblet towards Rolf and said:
“Odokar has a point. However, I did bring you here for a reason. I thought it was so obvious I didn’t bother to mention it. We are here to celebrate the fact that the murder on his excellence Cubert Amharson has been solved. The assassin is rotting in my dungeons as we speak.”
“Excellent, my lord. I already suspected as much,” Rolf replied. “That settles the matter!”
“Hardly,” Falco said, taking a drink from his goblet. The dinner company fell silent and looked at him. He placed his goblet on the table and spread his hands. “Well, there is still the matter of how that creature got in the Temple in the first place and of course, why it killed the high priest.”
“Ehm …” doctor Hearnson said, clearing his throat, “Couldn’t it be that this thing has been living in the darkest corners of the city, has escaped its Tarquinian owners, and that it by accident got into the temple?”
“And Cubert was at the wrong time at the wrong place?” Falco asked. “I don’t think so. That would be a bit too convenient.”
“But what else could have happened, lord Falco?” Owain asked. “Do you know how …?”
“Yes. I know what happened, how it was done and most importantly … who was behind it.”
After a moment of silence, Knut said: “So you believe it was not just an act of a desperate, feral freak. You mean it was an organized assassination?”
“Of course it was,” Odokar said. “Don’t tell me you didn’t see that one coming from a mile away. Or did you think that monster attacked two of the most prominent inhabitants of this city by coincidence?”
“It would have been a bit too accidental, I must admit,” Owain said. “Will you tell us what you know, lord Falco?”
“Of course. That’s what I asked you here for.”

After ordering Arno to fill everybody’s goblets once more, Falco cleared his throat and got out of his chair. He winked at Anya, who was smiling and mouthing ‘show off’ at him. Strolling at his leisure around the table, he began;
“From the very start, I doubted we were dealing with a demonic incursion. And I dismissed the whole idea the moment I set foot in Cubert’s chamber. I have witnessed two demonic incursions myself in the past. Once in Utgard where I saw a demon bursting out of the body of a human and once in Svartelheim, where it took control … of a dear friend. But only for a moment. What I saw in Cubert’s room didn’t look like demonic involvement and in any case, if it had been, the demon would not have left without a trace. A conclusion, I think, my priest friends of the temple of Tyr probably drew for themselves, after they had calmed down a bit,” Falco said tapping Owain’s shoulder for a moment before he walked on.
“I still think that creature is of a demonic nature,” Knut remarked. “Be it a minor demon.”
“Yes, that is an issue that needs to be addressed later this evening,” Falco said, standing still behind Eric. “But allow me to continue. If it wasn’t a demon popping out of thin air, there had to have been a way for it to enter and leave. The door was locked when Owain arrived, remember? That was the first thing I tried to find out. Because I felt if I knew how it was done, I would also be able to at least limit the number of people who could have arranged it.”
“It was the window, wasn’t it?” the Knut said. “You even climbed out of it to prove it was possible.”
“Indeed, at first I thought the window was the key. It seemed so obvious.”
“That was fucking stupid,” Cailida remarked, throwing her head back in her neck as she gulped down her drink.
“Mind your language!” Rolf snapped. “You’re talking to the jarl.”
“Never mind about that,” Falco smiled. “The important thing is, Cailida is right. It was fucking stupid. The creature could never have come through the window.”
“But I thought you were convinced …” Rolf began.
“Only for a few seconds. Cubert left early in the morning and came back before noon. The creature must have entered after he left. It can’t have been there already while he was still there. But when I was hanging out of that window, I realized a simple fact. If, at that time, somebody had been climbing the wall and entering through the window, everybody on that busy courtyard would have seen him or her doing it. So, the window was impossible.” He gestured at Arno, who quickly ran to him with a new goblet. Falco took a sip and, goblet in hand, continued. “I looked around Cubert’s quarters and I saw something very interesting. A big chest, supposedly filled with books. Somebody could easily fit in there. So I asked Cailida and Owain to note down the titles of the books they found in Cubert’s room and I asked the quartermaster to get me a list of the contents of that chest from the archives. And it was as I suspected. No new books were found in Cubert’s rooms. Whatever had filled that chest, it weren’t books. So what had been in the chest?”
“The assassin!” Arno exclaimed, for a moment forgetting his place. He turned red as everybody looked at him, but Falco just slapped him on the shoulder and smiled. “Indeed, the assassin. But then, I hit on two problems. One, according to the records of the quartermaster, the chest had arrived not that morning, but several days earlier. How could that be? Had the assassin been in there for days? Impossible! There were only two explanations possible. Either I was wrong about the chest being the way in, or the records were wrong.”
“Impossible!” the quartermaster grumbled. “My records are always right.”
“Still, this time they were wrong,” Falco continued. “For I remember clearly that there was some mud and dirt on the chest and the carpet on which it stood, was moist. It had rained that night and morning, but not the days before. When I visited your warehouse, quartermaster, I saw the goods were placed on a wet dirty courtyard. So, the conclusion is unavoidable. The chest was delivered that morning, not several days before.
And that leads me to my next problem. Why, if the chest had been delivered that day, hadn’t the young acolyte mentioned this? She described the whole day, but she never said anything about a chest being delivered.”
“The acolyte was in on it!” Halem said.
“True. Unfortunately for her. Because later on, she was considered a loose end and was eliminated. That so called suicide of her only confirmed my suspicions.”
“But who was the brains behind everything? Who killed the acolyte? Who sent the chest with the creature? Who owned that creature?” Eric asked.
“Whoever it was, he helped her bringing the chest to Cubert’s room after the high priest had left. And he helped her getting the hybrid out of the temple again. He thought he was very clever, but he wanted to be too clever. In his desire to make it look like a demonic attack, he had made his first mistake in forging the records concerning the chest. He wanted to make sure there was no other possible way the hybrid could have gotten into the locked room.”
“That sounds like something Anyon would have done!” Knut said.
“Yes. It does, doesn’t it? Anyway, in the early morning, he had delivered the chest, probably not via the warehouse, but via the garbage room and garbage alley. Dressed in the cloak of a garbage hauler, he placed the chest inside the elevator and the acolyte pulled it up. Then, he quickly changed, hiding the cloak under his clothes. He hurried to join his fellow council members to have one final meeting with Cubert. In the confusion of that meeting, the door to the high priest’s chambers was left unlocked. I asked all of you and nobody remembered closing it. So nobody did. With the door unlocked, it was easy to carry the chest from the acolyte room to Cubert’s chambers. After that, it was just a matter of waiting until Cubert returned.
After he was killed, the acolyte and her accomplice made sure the hybrid, this time stuffed in a large burlap sack, was returned the same way she had arrived, through the garbage shaft. The accomplice put his cloak on once more, went down and loaded her on a crap cart that was already waiting for them. And now, he made a second mistake. For you see, before he removed the hybrid, he went through Cubert’s room, looking for reports and books.”
“Why?” Odokar asked.
“Because Cailida had found something else, when she noted down the titles of the books. It was a secret document from Yggdrasil, ordering Cubert to investigate a hidden and dangerous sect. A sect that had infiltrated the very leadership of the Temple of Tyr in Griffnar. Now, we knew the true motive for his murder.
Using Cubert’s keys, a fortified cupboard was opened and all his findings and reports were removed. But in his hurry, the accomplice stuffed the key he had used in his pocket instead of leaving them with the others in the hands of the Acolyte.”
“Why the acolyte?” Rolf asked.
“She created the illusion of the locked door. The high priest had not been killed when she said, but much earlier, so the assassin could be removed at their leisure. When all that was done, she locked the door from the outside, while her accomplice was bringing the hybrid to safety. A few hours later, she performed her little theater, getting Owain to help her break down the door.”
“Wait a moment! Who says it wasn’t Owain who helped her get rid of the hybrid, while he was supposedly helping her break down the door?” Vili asked.
Owain looked insulted and nearly jumped out of his seat but Falco continued before he could say anything.
“There wasn’t time. The chance of discovery at that moment would have been huge as well. No, Owain came to help, broke down the door and discovered the murder. While he was still shocked by the sight of Cubert’s body, the acolyte placed the keys back on the table, where they were later found. All of them, except for this one.” He held up a small key.
“The cupboard key! Where did you find that?” Rolf asked.
“Miranda?” Falco said.
“We found it in the pocket of a cloak in that small room where the garbage shaft ends,” she said.
“And that completes the circle,” Falco said. “The shaft being the only way to get her out, and the key that disappeared from the room and was found there. It all ends up.”
“I agree. But I’m not sure if Anyon had time to do all that. Especially bringing the hybrid to a safe location. I seem to remember he was in the temple that entire day,” Owain said.
“I never said it was Anyon,” Falco replied.  
“Then who was it?”
Falco stopped walking around the table and placed his hands on the quartermaster’s shoulders.
“The trick with the forging of the records is the key to that. Once you’re on to that, everything falls into place.”
The poor quartermaster suddenly turned pale and stared up at the young jarl. Stammering, he said: “My lord, surely you don’t think …? I didn’t do anything! I’m innocent! I don’t even remember that chest and I didn’t forge anything. I swear by Tyr I didn’t! Please, believe me…”
“Quartermaster, Jim,” Falco said, calling the man for the first time by his name, “Calm down. I didn’t say it was you. I know you’re innocent. In fact, I’m grateful to you, because you pointed me in the right direction.”
“Oh, thank the gods!” Jim sighed.
“I find it hard to believe it wasn’t Anyon!” Knut said. “Especially after he tried to torture that monster to death.”
“Of all people, I expect you to believe it,” Falco said.
“What … is that supposed to mean?”
“Because you are the brains who planned all this, obviously.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then, Knut jumped up and yelled: “Outrageous, even if you are jarl, that doesn’t give you the right to utter these baseless accusations!”
“Baseless? Hardly. Quartermaster, is it easy to maintain those records?”
“No, my lord,” he whispered. “I showed you, remember? You said yourself it was a complicated system.”
“So, if you want to forge them convincingly, you really have to know what you are doing?”
“Yes. Yes, my lord.”
“Jim, please tell me, before you took up the position of quartermaster, who was leading the storage rooms and the warehouse, and therefore knows the system for making records?”
The quartermaster stared with big, bulging eyes at Knut.
“It was reverend Knut, before he was promoted to the Council.”
“Reverend Rolf, apart from the acolyte, who was the last to see the high priest alive?”
Rolf swallowed to get rid of a big lump in his throat and coughed nervously.
“Knut. The acolyte came to get him, because Cubert wanted to speak with him.”
“But that was a lie,” Falco said, fixing his gaze firmly on Knut, who was as pale as a sheet and was breathing with increasing difficulty. “In fact, at that moment, Cubert was already dead. She needed you, Knut, to come and take care of the hybrid.”
“Why?” Owain whispered.
“Because I know by now, they drugged the creature to make it wild and ferocious. In such a state, she must have needed one of her direct masters to receive orders. If the acolyte had entered without Knut, she would have been shredded to ribbons. During this so called conversation, knut searched the room with the acolyte, put the hybrid in the burlap sack and in the garbage shaft. As I told before, he then took her to a safe place. Remember, ladies and gentlemen, that Knut was absent that afternoon, both at the moment the murder supposedly took place and when the body was found. A perfect alibi. He had gone for a walk in the city. I asked the temple guards about that. They remember him coming back but nobody remembered seeing him leave. They didn’t think anything of it, because they are more fixed on people trying to get in than trying to get out. But considering all the other clues, I think it concludes our case.”
“You don’t have any evidence!” Knut hissed. “Nothing but suppositions.”
“You may find that to be a mistake. Because now we come at the part that concerns me personally. The assault in the sewer.”
Slowly, he turned to the dwarfs.
“What of that?” Odokar asked sternly.
“Again, the question is, how did the hybrid get at that exact position and at the exact right time? Rather weird, wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes,” Odokar slowly said with a horrified look on his face. “I would agree with that. It must have been an inside job. Somebody in my crew? Who?”  
“I had to ask for some help in finding that one out,” Falco said. “And we have to get back to the acolyte in order to solve it.”
“The acolyte? Why?”
“When I questioned her, two things caught my attention. I didn’t think they were important back then, but later I found them very interesting.”
“What were they?” Halem asked curiously.
“First her name. Kirsti. It’s not a name you hear a lot in Vestfjor. In the Volldan Dominion however, it is very common. Second, her necklace. I remembered from stories Hangfist, Thorfin and Narvi told me that the so called “treaty whelps” or the harvest children as they are better known in Midgard, all carry a kind of, by lack of a better word, dog tag with their name on and usually also their owner’s. In this case, her necklace only showed her name but it made me think. Was there a link with Volldan? I decided to send a message to the Thanes of Volldan. I gave them a full description of the acolyte, her name, age and everything else I could find out about her. Being the jarl of Vestfjor, I obtained their cooperation. There was only one Kirsti who was also a treaty whelp and lived at the moment in Griffnar. Shall I tell you who her owner is?”
“You bastard,” a deep, rasping voice said.
“Yes, Vili. It is you. And it will interest you to know, Knut, that I also know that you supported Kirsti’s application as acolyte, so she could serve as a link between the two of you, if that was necessary. Proof enough for you? Or shall I get that hybrid in here and see how she reacts on the two of you?”
“We’re done for …” Knut whispered desperately.
Vili’s eyes shifted quickly from Knut to Falco. With a growl he jumped up, grabbing a sharp knife from the table.
“I’m taking you with me, demon spawn!” he screamed and lunged forward. On the other side of the table, Knut jumped up as well, following Vili’s example. From the corner of his eye, Falco saw how Arno tripped the priest and Miranda punched him in the face and dropped him to the floor. She and Anya were immediately on top of him. Eric and Cailida were too far from Vili to intervene. Halem was hindered by the floored priest, but Talisin was going for the dwarf. Vili however was surprising fast for a dwarf and outran the sorcerer. Narvi threw a heavy tankard at him, but because of his head wound, his aim was way off.
Howling like a madman, Vili threw himself at Falco. The young jarl calmly awaited his attack, stepped aside at the very last moment and, using Vili’s own momentum, threw him towards one of the huge stain glass windows. With a thundering crash, the dwarf broke through them. Falco stepped forward and looked down. Vili was holding on by the tips of the fingers of one hand on the edge of the window. He looked up and tried to reach for the boy with his other hand.
“I have no more use for you, Stalker scum,” Falco whispered.
The next moment, his hand slipped away and with a scream, Vili crashed on the paved and abandoned courtyard below.