N.B. -- Check out chapter 5 right here
"Arrest them! Arrest that peasant, and young Charles Dolamass! And keep them in the dungeon until we sort this all out!" The annoying Master of Coin squawked out to the guards. "And fetch me a parchment! I must write to the Count's younger brother with the tragic news and bid him to come steward over this whole affair and his late brother's estate." He turned his gaze to me, "You! Sage! The boy was under your care. Meet me in my chambers. I have a few questions for you."
Recommended for you
Great. How do I fix this one? First off I need to make sure that I don't catch any of the blame. Then I need to make sure that the young Lord Charles Dolamass is cleared of any accusation. His uncle Olric Dolamass is a far more dreadful man than his father was, and if he gets control of these lands then my good intentions will have turned sour. It should be easy enough to prove him and that dopey peasant innocent of the murder... the peasant probably never shot that crossbow once, and his bolt case is probably full as I suspect both were gifts of the young Dolamass. But he is still guilty of conspiracy to kill his father... I'm not sure what kind of punishment that may carry. I'll worry about that one later. First is my own neck. I have about an hour before the Master of Coin expects me for questioning. I'll have to make sure that my room does not have anything incriminating in it.
Reaching my room I made sure to rearrange my bookshelf so that all my books that the count would have enjoyed, if he ever read a book in his life, were on the top shelves and my more heretical economics and history tomes were on the bottom shelf. It would be unwise to hide them, as that would look suspicious. But assigning them lower priority visually would match well with my sage identity since sages are seldom above learning even disapproved of views. Once satisfied that all looked in order in my chamber I left for the Master of Coin's room. It would be best to show up early to encourage no fear of the meeting.
I approached his chamber to find his personal servant standing guard outside. "Please do not disturb my master. He is still engrossed in his letter to Olric Dolamass."
Perfect timing. I'm earlier than necessary, and I may be able to interject in this letter writing. "Well young lad, may I see if perhaps, as the learned sage of our court, I could offer some assistance and advice on the letter? I assure you your master will not be displeased if you disturb him with my company." He seemed to agree and asked if I would be permitted to enter. I heard the Master of Coin shout "Go ahead, let 'im in!" and so in I went.
"I don't need any help writing this letter." Algus muttered. I suppose I've waited long enough to share the weasly fellow's name.
"Ah my good friend, I did not mean to raise any question as to your abilities. You write far more letters than me. But I had been thinking." I paused for a moment so as to simulate some reconsidering of my thoughts. "Is it really necessary to drag the boy's uncle into this? The boy is the rightful heir and if Olric was to find him guilty then we would have a tyrant on our hands, and just think of the unrest that might cause among the serfs!"
"And what would you propose I do instead? Let the boy go free to rule this estate after having killed his own father?!" There Algus goes squawking again.
"Well actually Algus, dear friend, after having retreated to my room to try to make sense of this whole ordeal a few things just did not sit right with me." And so I began my list. "For one, in all my time with the lad, I never saw any indemnity toward his father. The boy looked up to him! Now that isn't the end all, I know, many dark persons never show a single sign of it. But that's just what started my thinking."
"Well you are right. He always was such a timid little boy but still." Algus pondered, while I interrupted.
"Secondly, I happened to glimpse the supposed murder weapon and it looked to be such a fine new specimen that I doubt it shows any wear of being fired even once. And I'd bet my bed that the bolt case that peasant had with him still has all 10 bolts of a newly purchased case. Now if that is true, which I'm sure it is, where do you suppose he got that extra bolt from?"
"But, but, what about his testimony! How can that be answered for!!" I swear Algus has some avian blood in him what with all his squawking.
"Well, dear friend, that gets me to my third consideration. Given how shaken up that peasant was, it seems equally as likely that those guards who brought him in probably beat him until he told the story their way. They probably saw the young master trading that nice crossbow to the peasant for some trinket or perhaps as a gift and realized they had a scapegoat to their nefarious plot."
"That's mad! You accuse the guards of this assassination!?" Squawk, squawk, squawk...
"Ney, I do not accuse. I'm merely suggesting that of being far more likely given the evidence I've seen thus far. And," I lean in a little closer to Algus "It's a favorable situation that will leave us with the proper estate holder and not cause unrest among the serfs. It a situation worth hoping for."
"Yes, yes. You may be right! Let us go inspect the guards and see if they are missing a bolt!" Drat. Algus took me a little too literally. Fingers crossed that a guard lacks a bolt or two!
