Chapter 18: Cunning

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Cunning

Allan slowed before entering. His appraising eyes gazed at the situation as two well-clothed men stood inside.

One was Lord Arclight, an older noble with a face that was instantly recognizable to Allan. He had been described to Allan by his daughter on many occasions.

He was dressed in a dark blue coat with silver embroidery. He sat on a plain wooden chair in the corner of the room, and his posture was ramrod straight.

He seemed a calm and placid soul, but Allan knew better than to trust men like this in games of politics and power. Men like this rarely raised their voice, and usually it was someone else who spoke for them.

The second man was Baron Emberwind.

Allan’s eyes settled on him mostly.

The baron was a big, burly man in his late forties or early fifties with a short beard and a thick head of hair. He wore a big red cloak over his black armor. On his chest, over his heart, was an Emberwind crest worked into the metal of his armor.

Allan’s gaze lingered there for half a second.

The same crest. The same symbol he had found on the blood-stained dagger inside the Hollow Root.

Baron Emberwind noticed his stare and stared back at him, while Kael sat behind her desk, one hand supporting her chin.

"Can you stop glaring and sit quietly, please."

Then Baron Emberwind rose. "So you are Allan Oakwood."

His voice was deeper than Allan expected.

"That depends," Allan replied. "Who is asking?"

The baron’s expression hardened while Lord Arclight’s eyebrow lifted slightly.

Kael’s lips twitched.

"Sit," she said.

Allan pulled out the empty chair across from the desk. He did not remove his eyes from the face of the baron until he had sat down.

Kael sighed, seeing the situation as she folded her hands, begrudgingly.

"Let us begin with what happened in the Hollow Root. I do not want noble stains here in my Guild."

"That is a broad question. Was that the only reason you summoned me and the Baron from our busy lives?" Emberwind commented.

"Then narrow it for me, please. We have jurisdiction in dungeons and labyrinths. Speak carefully," she replied.

Allan leaned back, his own thoughts roaming around. "The dungeon has changed."

Baron Emberwind scoffed.

"Changed?"

"Instead of higher levels of mana inside the dungeon as I had experienced on my previous expedition into the place, there was much less. And the usual beasts of the Hollow Root were not present. In fact, the deeper sections of the place were specially silent."

Kael’s expression remained neutral.

"Continue. And why was that?"

"Of course, any seasoned adventurer would know," Allan said, his eyes on the baron. "When a lot of human activity occurs in dungeons, using mana and what not, such things happen. And like I reported, there were signs of fighting."

"Between monsters and humans?"

"No." Allan paused.

"Between humans and humans."

The room became still.

Baron Emberwind’s fingers tightened around the armrest, and Allan noticed it.

Kael noticed too.

Lord Arclight’s face did not change.

"How many are we talking about?" Kael asked.

"Enough to absorb all the mana in the dungeon."

"Can you identify them?"

"No. Their uniforms were like those of adventurers."

"Can you identify who killed my men, then?"

That was the moment when silence gripped the area the most. Allan knew that with his one word, Kael was ready to split the baron’s head from his body.

But no, he had other plans.

"...Not yet."

"Huh?" Kael looked at him, utterly confused.

Baron Emberwind leaned forward with a smile.

"I see. Not yet?"

Allan looked at him. "Indeed, but I found something. Evidence of some kind."

Baron Emberwind’s eyes sharpened.

"What evidence?"

Allan reached inside his coat. Seeing the edge of what was coming, the baron’s shoulders stiffened.

Allan slowly placed the dagger on Kael’s desk. It landed quietly on the wood, and her smile finally returned.

Nobody moved.

The Emberwind crest was utterly visible there. Kael’s eyes dropped to it, then back to the baron.

Lord Arclight leaned forward, checking it closely. Baron Emberwind did not move at all.

His throat tightened in a dry swallow. His fingers tapped his armrest in a staccato rhythm of three beats. Allan recognized the emotion; a cold, hard thing that filled his belly with ice.

He watched as the baron’s eyes rolled upward, as a cold sweat popped out on his brow. The man looked sick to his stomach.

Allan filed that away.

"Where did you get that? How did you get that?" asked Baron Emberwind in a lower register than usual.

"Inside the Hollow Root. Beside the dead adventurers."

The baron stood.

"That is impossible. This is a plot, a plot against our noble house. Say something, Lord Arclight."

The viscount kept his silence, letting the situation be as Kael reached for the dagger and sniffed it.

"Blood magic residue," she murmured.

Baron Emberwind looked pale. Allan was surprised by this. To have been hiding this secret for so long would be a great weight to bear. The baron seemed to have been expecting this to come to light at some point.

"It was stolen from us, clearly, and used upon to defile our name. It is plain and obvious," the baron admitted.

He seemed to have lost interest.

"By whom, then?" Allan asked.

"I do not know. But believe it was not us," he said, looking at Kael and her sharp eyes.

The baron’s eyes whipped toward Allan. For a moment Allan expected a blusterous outburst, but instead Emberwind’s shoulders slumped in tired defeat. He rubbed his forehead with his gloved hand.

The chamber stayed silent after the baron’s last words.

Kael spoke up in the silence. "Baron Emberwind, you said the dagger was stolen."

"Yes, it was."

"Then write a report for the Guild. Detail its disappearance, who had access, and when you discovered the theft. Can you do that for me?"

Emberwind’s jaw went rigid, the tendon in his neck even more visible as he growled out, "I do not have such a report."

"Why is that?"

"Because I did not know it was missing. Simple as that."

A low rumble ran through the officials seated in rows along the walls. The implication was clear: no one kept an inventory of weapons.

There was no record of the patrols made that night. Emberwind had lost a signed blade. A house of such standing, and it was as if he had lost nothing.

Kael’s fingers tapped against the wood of the desk. "A family crest on the blade of this dagger. It vanished unnoticed from the house of a noble family.

Later it was found in a restricted sector of the dungeon, carried by some person or persons unknown, and used in a blood-magic ritual, which in fact is forbidden. And now it has been found outside the very same dungeon amongst the bodies of several adventurers."

"Someone is trying to frame my house. Obviously, that is what I am trying to say this whole time," Emberwind said.

"Perhaps."

The Baron’s eyes narrowed. "Perhaps?"

"Feelings are for the army," Kael said flatly. "I investigate facts."

Allan almost smiled.

He took a slow sip of his ale and set the tankard back down on the table in front of him with a soft clunk.

What is she trying to do? Allan thought.

Then Emberwind turned to him.

"Of course," the Baron said with a relaxed nod. His voice took on a slick quality as he continued.

Allan met his gaze.

"You were the one who found it. Right?"

The room shifted. Arclight’s head swiveled toward him.

He leaned forward, his body tense to throw a punch. "You entered the Hollow Root of the ancient trees alone. You returned with the long-abandoned sword of my house.

Dead adventurers were found in the dungeon, but you refuse to say who killed them. There is blood magic at play, but all we have found is that one dagger. Supposedly it belongs to House Emberwind."

His voice climbed, sharpening into a blade.

"How. Convenient."

Allan watched Emberwind shift to a more aggressive posture. His shoulders rolled forward, and his center of mass dropped. This was an old trick of the soldiering trade. The defense was failing, so now the man was going to try to discredit the witness.

Allan set his tankard down with a quiet thunk.

"You think I killed them?"

"I think there are questions that deserve answers."

"Then ask them."

"I just did."

"No," Allan replied, setting his two fingers on the table. "You are making an accusation without having asked a single question. That is not an investigation. That is a smear. Are nobility too thick in the head these days?"

Kael almost smiled.

The Baron’s ears had gone red. The mask had cracked, just once, then was pulled back into place once more.

"Besides, if I wanted to frame House Emberwind for these murders, I would have brought the bodies and the weapons used to kill them, as well as their magical signatures.

I would have presented a tidy chain of evidence to support my case, and you could determine whether or not they were guilty of these crimes.

Instead, I brought a single dagger to the Guild and asked for an investigation. You seem to be doing everything in your power to prevent that investigation from clearing your name."

The silence that followed was heavier than stone.

Kael’s gaze shifted to Emberwind. "Enough."

The Baron sat back, his chest heaving.

The verdict was swift. House Emberwind members would be prohibited from entering the Hollow Root until the investigation was over.

Any interference with Guild witnesses or with the evidence would be considered obstruction and thus could lead to severe penalties.

"Noble houses answer to no one within their territories," Emberwind said with a sniff.

Kael sneered. "As I told you, Adventurers’ Guild matters in the Hollow Root fall within the Adventurers’ Guild’s jurisdiction. Challenge that authority as you wish. Before the crown."

That shut his mouth.

Allan watched Lord Arclight as his fingers stilled on the arm of his chair. For a moment his gaze was fixed on Allan, then it shifted to Emberwind and back again.

For a long moment he simply sat there, his eyes locked on Allan as if recalculating the Adventurer. Allan thought of a dungeon boss in the middle of a phase change.

Then the chamber doors burst open.

A low-ranking secretary to the Guildmaster ran into the room with a stack of papers clutched to her chest.

The papers were held together with a large ribbon, and she clutched them to her body much like a shield. Her spectacles sat crookedly on her nose, and her cheeks were red and blotchy.

The guildmaster’s face hardened. "How many?"

"Seven confirmed, Guildmaster."

"Where?"

"Three merchant houses. Two transportation contracts. Two adventurer-supply agreements."

"Who canceled them?"

The secretary swallowed, and her voice trembled. "House Emberwind."

The Baron sprang to his feet. "What is happening here? How dare you use my house name?"

The secretary seemed to shrink within herself, but she continued to speak in a wobbling voice.

"The cancellations went out this morning, Guildmaster. They were letters to the merchants stating that if they continued to trade with House Oakwood, then their future trade with House Emberwind would be placed in jeopardy."

Allan felt a blow to his physical form by these words. The scaffolding. His economic retaliation had been anticipated, but this was too soon.

The warehouses, the supply lines, the current contracts between Bela’s production and the shops across the territory that he had stocked with goods.

His fingers tightened around the ceramic tankard.

The Baron looked around at the skeptical faces of the guildmaster and the viscount.

Lord Arclight stirred in his chair at last. "Then someone must be acting in your name," he said to Emberwind, as if he were surprised by this development.

Emberwind turned sharply. "Lord Arclight."

Lord Arclight continued without acknowledging him. His obsidian ring tapped the arm of his chair for a final time and then fell silent.

Allan let go of his tankard and placed it on the table before him with a heavy clunk. "Does House Arclight intend to honor its existing contracts with Oakwood?"

The room held its breath.

Lord Arclight studied him for a long, uncomfortable moment. "The business with my daughter, Amelia, is her affair. You deal with her."

"Then you are withdrawing your support?"

"I did not say that."

"Then what are you saying?"

Lord Arclight’s expression shifted. "Political protection is not something a father gives freely to every merchant his daughter chooses to partner with," he said.

Allan forced a small smile to his lips. "Fortunately, I never asked for protection."

There was a flicker of recognition across Arclight’s face, a hint of something that looked almost like amusement.

And then it was gone, leaving behind only the glint of obsidian.

He had seen that look once before, in the cool-eyed face of a trader who had refused to play along. He respects people who do not beg. Allan had a sudden memory of a dinner conversation with Amelia, long ago. Her words: Father hates grovelers.

"Your confidence is quite impressive for a young man whose House was bankrupted only a season ago."

"I have learned that confidence is cheaper than fear."

Lord Arclight’s lips creased into a fleeting smile. "The Arclight contracts will remain, you do not have to worry about that," he said. "Until Emberwind gets back on their feet from this drama."

Allan inclined his head. "Thank you."

Emberwind turned sharply. "My lord!"

The lord, still not acknowledging Emberwind’s presence, continued to walk toward the door.

Allan added, "And if evidence proves Emberwind responsible?"

If evidence proved Emberwind responsible for the fire, then the Arclight contracts would be canceled. It would be up to Lord Arclight to make whatever decision he felt was best in that circumstance. He thought.

"We will see," Lord Arclight said, now walking to the door and leaving the two barons behind.

"Watch yourself, Lord Oakwood," the baron said, cautioned in a voice barely audible. "People who disturb old graves often discover it was not the dead who were dangerous."

"We will see about that."

With those words, the baron too walked out of the office, leaving Allan and Kael alone. He turned to her.

"You knew this would happen," he stated.

"Indeed. Nobles will be nobles, no matter what."

"When did you start the investigation?"

"The moment you sent me the details on the knife."

Allan’s brain churned as an auspicious thought came to him. He knew she would not just help him like that. Giving him the information that House Emberwind was trying to sabotage him.

Oh, that makes sense, he thought.

"You clever woman," Allan said. "You revealed that information here and now, when all three of us were present, throwing fuel on the fire."

Kael only leaned back as Allan came closer, both of his hands on the table.

"You want to get rid of House Emberwind. Using me."