October 4, 1187
"Dead?" Though surprised, the king gave no indication of sorrow. Mernolt, sadly, was not surprised. Felron was his own brother, and he hadn't felt much either. "How?""Murder, it seems. But the details are..." What was the word for it? He wasn't sure there was one. "...odd."
"How so?"
A pity he hadn't had a chance to rehearse the story to his wife. He could stumble and stutter in front of Imena. King Oswald... not so much. If only he'd had that easy, personable nature of Garrett or Nythran. Either one would have been a better choice of informant. "Well... the steward found him on his desk, lying on his stomach. He was probably knocked out first--bruise on his head. Or maybe that killed him, I don't know.""If it wasn't that, then what?"
"Well... his tunic was slashed open, and he had some cuts on his back. Whoever did it used his own knife, it looked like; they stabbed it back through his hand after they were done. There was a lot of blood."
"Deep cuts, then."
"Yes, but..." Christ. Who had ever heard of such a thing? The killer must have been grateful for Felron's broad back. "Not so deep as to tear him apart. There was a message carved on his back."
"A message?" So perhaps the king had heard of such a thing. He was not so shocked as Mernolt would have guessed. "What did it say?""'Happy birthday, Rina'." Mernolt swallowed He didn't doubt that his niece would be no more worked up about her father's death than anyone else, but he feared the message may raise a few brows. "You don't think she had anything to do with it, do you?"
"I doubt it. From what I know of her, being a country away from him would be a better way to heal than going through the trouble of planning his death. But it does point to someone who cares for her." It did. Mernolt had feared that too. "I'll send Sidwein to inform Rina and Arkon about this; he can visit his brother while he's there. And I'm sure your mother will be able to manage the shire until Arkon graduates."
"She will, yes." If anything, it would take her mind off of things. It must have been a horrid feeling, losing a child you couldn't bring yourself to earnestly mourn.
"I've known her for many years. A very capable woman." The king crossed his arms, a flicker of fondness in his eye before the mask of serious business came down once more. "I suppose I should ask: did anyone at the castle report anything suspicious last night? Sounds? Sights?"
Ah, yes. Yet another question that would have been better left to Garrett. "Actually... a number of servants claimed to have seen my father."NEXT CHAPTER:
11 comments:
Mernolt is between Garrett and Nythran age-wise. He's married to Old Lonriad's daughter with Geneva.
Also, I've been up for maybe four hours and I think I need a nap.
Well, hopefully they (except the king and Searle, of course) will all believe that Tertius came back from the dead to avenge his granddaughter. Though rumors and conspiracy will probably still float around with this kind of death.
I'm just going to hope that nobody thinks about accuse someone of witchcraft or the evil eye.
(This is just Mimus, btw. I wanted to try out OpenID. ...Not impressed.)
I'm sure there will be some people who have trouble swallowing this story, but I think it will satisfy at least most of the masses. The people of Tagrien will probably be happy that their beloved Tertius is still looking out for their best interests. A few of the lords might suspect something's up, but I doubt any will care too much.
Yeah, I'm not a fan of OpenID either, personally. Though hey--you have a site now!
Well, nobody will mourn him at the very least. A little sad but more on the side of pathetic.
Though I have to admit that I cringed at that message, especially since it was carved into his back. >.<'
Did Searle request that?
More like a stub of a site, though I have hopes for it. xD'
My internet connection is throwing me curveballs.
At least I have most of the chapters for the first year written down.
Yeah, you know it's pathetic when even a man's mother won't miss him. :S
I'm thinking Searle would have requested the message. He can be kind of morbid sometimes. Plus, it's another arrow pointing toward the ghost of Tertius, as Rina was his favorite.
Ack, internet connections! But yay for writing things down! I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next to your Sims. :)
Good thing nobody knows about Severin then. I mean we know that he wouldn't go so far, but try to explain that to a judge if push comes to shove.
Aw, thanks! ^//^
I need to write it down before publishing it or I wouldn't know what to do with the pictures. ^^'
I usually take them with a story in mind, but I'm also prone to forget about it and then I look at them all confused. I had to scrap at least two or three chapters because of this.
Indeed, Rina hasn't told too many people back home about Severin! You're right, he's not about to off anybody (unless maybe there was no other choice...), but if someone suspected otherwise, he might be in trouble there.
I have done that on occasion! XD I do take my pictures before writing out my posts, but nowadays I have an outline with a general synopsis of what it's going to be about. It's all about finding what works for you. :)
I'd actually say the message would work in favor of Rina and/or Severin being innocent. Stabbing someone is supposedly a very difficult thing for someone to do. Carving a message into Felron's back would require a lot of practice at brutality and/or mind-numbing hatred. If either of them was going to snap like that, you'd expect it to have happened ages ago.
I do like the whole murderous ghost from the grave vibe that Searle(?) came up with it. He does have the occasional flair for drama.
True! If Rina or Severin had wanted to murder Felron, it would have been quick, messy, and candid. This was the work of someone who has killed before and is good (for lack of a better word) at keeping his own emotions out of it.
Yep, I'm thinking that was Searle's touch. Oswald is the one who gave the whole thing the okay, but he's just not that imaginative.
That's actually a pretty cruel thing to do to Rina if the news ever gets back to her. He was an awful man, and I'm sure she hated him, but he was still her father. Imagine having that hanging over your head.
Luckily for Rina, this seems the kind of detail that would be better left at the urban legend level.
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