marrinikari (
marrinikari) wrote in
minipyre2014-08-07 03:24 pm
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kushiel's scions
Deep in the wilds of Camlach, a horse is picking its way through the forest trails. The rider is wrapped in his cloak, long and luxurious and well-made, to protect him and his satchel as they brave the mountains to Skaldia. The road from Kusheth is long indeed, and they are tired; they will be glad enough to stop for the night. But not just yet. Ahead is the river, and the little wooden bridge that spans it. It is but a few leagues past the bridge to the clearing he is seeking, and there they can rest.
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The little wooden bridge collapses when the messenger is halfway across, dumping him, his horse, and his satchel into the river.
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Next order of business: searching for his satchel.
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His arrival is quiet, his reception less so. Inside, he is ushered into the presence of Melisande Shahrizai. She is, as ever, the perfect picture of a D'Angeline noblewoman, with her curtain of blue-black hair and her elegantly expensive dress; but her eyes, her eyes are hard as they regard him.
"I believe you were delivering a message," she tells him cooly. He shivers.
"The bridge, m'lady," he stammers. "It washed out, and my bag with it."
When she does not explode, he breathes a sigh of relief. Instead, she appears thoughtful. "This bears considering," she says aloud, almost to herself. "If another has joined the game- well. You may go."
He flees, hands shaking. He has escaped, for now.
Melisande Shahrizai is worried.
She plays a long, long game; she knows the stakes. One of her messages is missing. Rarely does she write such missives, which put her plans into writing, in her hand and under her seal. That this one has disappeared is- concerning. She has people to investigate.
So, she investigates. Questions are asked, maps are examined, nearby villages considered. And yet- nothing. None of her agents have been questioned; no one of any note has gone near that route for a year or more. It is not in her nature to let such a question rest.
She has to be sure.
And yet- still nothing.
Finally, even Melisande concedes defeat. Nothing, nothing at all, suggests foul play. She sends word that she is to be informed immediately if the messenger's bag should reappear; her spies will keep watch. Meanwhile, she will continue with her plans.
There are games to be played.
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Sarafiel considers the problem for about a day before she settles on Barquiel L'Envers as the most obvious answer. Not too long ago, after a lengthy investigation, she sent him an anonymous note detailing exactly why Dominic and Thérêse Stregazza must have poisoned his sister Isabel; she judged that no proper authority could make good use of the information, and that it might please him to know. It pleased him so much he sent a squad of barely-disguised assassins to rid the world of Dominic Stregazza. This time, therefore, she cannot trust any details to writing. She must meet him in person with her news, and convince him to take it to the Queen in absolute secrecy. At least he is currently in the City of Elua, which simplifies things.
So.
Barquiel L'Envers receives a second anonymous note, very like to the first. It reads thus:
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The Captain eventually makes his report; though he was unable to locate the author of the notes, still he found no traps. If it is a trick, it is well-concealed indeed. The Duc considers for a day. And then, the following eve, he can be found on Rue Clavel, standing by the fountain. He appears, to the careless eye, to be consulting with some of his guardsmen.
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"Good evening, your grace. Are you here for a tale?"
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"Good evening, child. I... have come for a tale. I will, nevertheless, confess to some surprise at the source."
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He prefers his own territory for such things. Particularly at times such as this, faced with a girl so- eccentric.
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"First - Waldemar Selig, the Skaldi warlord who has been frightening the Caerdicci. He sent an envoy to the Duke of Milazza with an offer of marriage for the Duke's daughter, and was refused, and now they are wary of him. But it is not Caerdicca Unitas that Waldemar Selig plans to invade. It is Terre d'Ange. For which purpose he can muster thirty thousand Skaldi, who will come through the mountain passes like a spring flood. Second - a man they call Kilberhaar, 'silver-hair', plans to allow them through certain passes to make a show of threatening lower Camlach so that he can make a show in turn of meeting them in the northernmost pass and negotiating for peace, ending in acknowledgment of Waldemar Selig as King of Skaldia and installation of Kilberhaar as King of Terre d'Ange. Already he pays the Skaldi to raid our villages more frequently. You would know this man as Isidore d'Aiglemort. Third - Waldemar Selig plans to betray d'Aiglemort and bring his armies through the northern pass in force to wipe out the Allies of Camlach and the Royal Army and conquer all Terre d'Ange from there. He conspires in this with Melisande Shahrizai, who sent him this letter."
She extracts it from a hidden pocket and holds it up, the seal intact but loose, parted carefully from the paper beneath so that the letter can be opened and read. The paper is warped along one edge, but shows no other signs of water damage.
"Do you read Caerdicci, your grace? Waldemar Selig does."
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She speaks in just the same way that she writes - brutally unadorned, like an assassin's dagger. This is of a certainty the same person who wrote the original note telling him of Dominic and Thérèse.
"From there I learned about the man they call Kilberhaar, a D'Angeline nobleman who pays them in gold to raid our villages. I followed his messengers until I learned his identity. One of the messengers I followed led me instead to Melisande, which is how I learned of her involvement. To lay hands on this letter, I arranged for a small bridge to collapse and drop the messenger in a river, then retrieved his satchel before he could find it himself, leaving him to believe it had washed away irretrievably."
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"I wish to hell I knew whether or not to believe you," he sighs. "But I don't think you're lying. So tell me- what do you gain, in all of this? Why have you come?" He gets up and starts to pace. "Damn them both to hell," he mutters to himself. "What in the seven hells do we even do?"
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