What happened really depended on the King’s response to her theft, didn't it? She asked Princess Veronica if she had any thoughts as to what would happen, which got her to produce the letter from Richard. She did it very formally, standing and walking to her and presenting it with a full bow, holding it out from a respectful distance with both hands. Holly went white, but made herself read it. Near the end she gasped, her eyes going wide and a little afraid for some reason.
She didn't read it out loud, but passed it back to Varley for her to read. Then it got passed around the table for everyone else, Tor going last. He was fine with that really, it gave him a chance to finish his pie. It had a slight tang that he hadn't noticed at first, but realized had to be lemon juice. It was a complex and subtle flavor set.
When the letter got to him he read it casually. It didn't say a lot really, that Tor didn't already know.
It started by saying that she was incredibly lucky that Tor viewed this as a friend merely having borrowed some of his things without asking, and just being willing to leave it at that. The theft of three point two million golds worth of devices would normally garner the death penalty otherwise, even for someone of her station, which was casually mentioned by the King.
It made Tor glad it wasn't theft then and kind of vowed to just assume that nothing ever really was. Things weren't worth a life. Not ever.
Sighing, he realized that meant the military hadn't stolen his home either then. Though some of them had still been jerks.
Near the end the King suggested that County Printer should pay for the devices, which was probably what had gotten the gasp, or, Tor found, the bit under that, which ordered her to not attack County Ward until the King OK'd it. Well, that made sense, but could the King afford to stop her from doing it if she ignored her? Not through force of arms. Not with a war going on with Austra. Tor wondered if that meant that he'd be responsible for any messes Holly got into then? It was… well, not fair, of course, but… Tor had been the one making that many devices and leaving them lying around after all. She'd just “borrowed” them.
Tor just sighed and shook his head a little, hoping it didn’t seem sad or put upon. He felt that way a little, but the situation wouldn’t change just because he didn’t like it.
“Right. So Holly, obviously we don't want this to become some big problem or anything… Reading between the lines it's clear that the real issue here is all about not killing people without a good reason. So… um, not to be all ordering anyone around or anything, but is that OK for now do you think? We try to set up a trial first and if that doesn't work… Really, we need an investigation first though, don't we? If we just take the Wards in now, we pretty much just have to kill them, guilty or not. The circumstantial evidence is all there. I mean, they look guilty enough that I just kind of presumed they were. Only…” He blushed and looked down.
“Only I already thought that both Captain Wensa of the Royal Guard and Trice had tried to kill me, and turned out to be wrong both times. The evidence was there for that too, only it wasn't. Not really.”
That got silence from around the table, Trice staring at him for a full half minute without saying anything.
“Me?” She looked hurt.
“No one told you? Lots of clues. Let's see, you knew that I wouldn't wear a shield right after a meal back then, and what rout I'd take to get back to my room. The person that kicked me down the stairs was about the same size you are and had seen Wensa enough to fake being her. Which you could easily do. With the poison… come on Trice, it was placed in my room, on my bed, and the juice came directly from your parents estate. Plus, you know, you're an expert on poisons and stuff, or at least expert enough to take a crack at me. Yeah, it would have been stupid to do it that way, but you kind of looked like a reasonable person to blame, especially after telling everyone that you wished I'd died and attacking me in public like you did.” He hadn't started out sounding that way, but bitterness filled his voice by the end. Sure, it wasn't her fault, the King had made her say all that stuff, but that didn't mean that Tor felt fine about it just for knowing that. Taking a second, he closed his eyes and sighed.
“See, Holly? It's easy to get side tracked and blame the wrong people. Now, I'm not saying this means that Martin and Maria are innocent, but…”
Petra interrupted him.
“Marvin.”
“What?”
“My brother, his names Marvin, not Martin. Kolb's name is Martin.” She grinned at him, even while he felt like burying his head in his hands.
Crap! He'd called the man Martin to his face at least six times when he'd been there. Well, if that didn't make him feel stupid… So obviously he wasn't the one to run an investigation into this, was he? Not if he couldn't even get the names right. Instead he nodded and committed the name to memory. Marvin Ward.
Who ran investigations like this for the kingdom anyway? When he asked everyone looked down at the table for a while without speaking, it was Countess Printer that finally answered him with a bit of a shrug. The answer was, that for the last ten years or so, when such things became needed for upper level nobles, William Smythe had run the investigations.
Smythe of Westend.
Supposedly he was even good at it, the best in fact, though the idea didn't fill Tor with any kind of confidence. The man had tried to kill him and would have if he hadn't been able to get that weapon away from him and blind him in return.
Kolb, bald head shining a little in the evening light that came through the window, smiled, one of his wintry ones that always made Tor wonder if he planned to kill someone.
“He's out of commission for now. Luckily for him. I suppose we could let him investigate himself first… Not that we really need to. It was a clear act of treason trying to kill Tor. If he'd managed it, our military would be crippled for months. In the palace even… Actually I'm kind of surprised he's still alive. A bit of an oversight on your part Tor.”
Tor stuck his tongue out.
“What do you expect? You trained me to run away. The only reason I didn't there was because I was blind already. Even at that I tried to crawl away to avoid him. “Crawl away slowly” just isn't a very good battle cry. I…” Sigh. Why did everything have to be so difficult all the time? He knew what had to be done, but it seriously wasn't fair. Not at all.
“I… suppose I could fix his eyes. His hand is gone, I don't think I can get it to regrow or anything…” That was true, he'd looked into the idea for Trice, but so far nothing seemed like it would work. “Really though, if I do that, what are the odds that he'd just try to kill me again? Are there any other investigators available?”
If there were, Smythe was in charge of them.
The rationale everyone explained to him made good enough sense from a royal perspective. Smythe ran the military, so if a Count had to be called on their behavior, the guy running the investigation needed as much protection as possible, or else they could be intimidated into buckling under due to threats, or possibly be bribed. Smythe was, apparently, known for a lot of things, which included having been a powerful warrior in his youth, a good military strategist and also, apparently, un-bribable. He lived in the palace for free, in a simple servants room, didn't have a family to threaten, and his only “vice” if it could be said to be one, was his penchant for wearing those cream and yellow robes of his. Apparently that wasn't the uniform for the position, it was just what he liked. Well, that and a spot of Tor killing now and again.
He was even known for being friendly and kind in general. Fatherly even. Everyone agreed on that point. Even the ones that had seen the man blind him.
That earned the room a snort from Tor, but he didn't comment. The first time he'd met the guy he'd seemed nice enough, but then the next he set a commando squad after him who tried to capture and/or kill Tor. The time after that they didn't speak and this last time… Well, obviously the guy had issues somewhere in his head.
What got Tor was that, while everyone else in the room, except for Kevin, the man in black that had opened the door, seemed to feel that Smythe should be put to death for attacking him, they also thought that Tor should fix his eyes and get him to investigate the Wards. Kevin stayed out of it, looking pale and a bit frightened by the day’s events. He stood near the back of the room and had started shaking more than a little. Finally Tor got up and went to him, gently placing his hand on the older and larger mans arm.
“Alright there Kevin?”
“I… well, this has been a lot to take in. It's not what I expected at all for today. I just answer the door and make sure the staff does their jobs, set schedules and deliver ma'am her meals. And then suddenly, rooms are
