Chapter Thirty

The following morning was bright and cloudless, a stark contrast to the heavy, somber mood within Fort Ranik. Even though Coran was certain as to the parties responsible and the method of the murder, even that closure would be unlikely to break that ghastly cloud, or indeed much of anything anytime soon.

"Your highness?" One of the Fort Ranik enlisted soldiers said as he stepped into the meeting hall. "Duke Maran has arrived, and I was told I was to bring him straight to you."

"Yes, of course." Coran said glumly, "Do let him in."

It was barely two breaths later that the Duke of Kyhlo stepped hastily through, looking rushed and dazed.

"Your highness, I returned as soon as I had heard the news of Darrin's death. To think that I had met him for lunch that afternoon to discuss further plans of Ascalon's restoration." Maran said forlornly. "And now…"

"Yes… I am fully aware of the shock it must have been. It surely was to me as well, I can promise you."

Maran licked his lips as he took a seat around around the corner of the table to Coran's right. "Your highness… while I know Darrin's passing likely weighs heavy on all the hearts of the whole of Ascalon... you seem distracted. Is there something else burdening you?"

Coran took a deep breath. "The Queen-in-waiting was attacked two nights ago by Canthan assassins."

"Prayers be to Dwayna… is she all right?"

Coran shook his head somberly. "We thought so… but she suffered internal wounds due to the combat, and… she collapsed soon after arriving here with me. The High Priest to be, Mhenlo, is doing all he can… but he… isn't optimistic that she'll recover. The wounds are deep and have been bleeding for so long… He's had to resurrect her twice in the last hour. He's certain she won't live to see this coming sunset…"

Maran slouched as if drained of life. "Your… highness… I…"

"Spare me your condolences." Coran muttered bitterly. "I've already had to deal with the shallow well-wishes pouring in from all the other nobles who had been so eager to force their oldest of age female kin on me."

"Well… since I have no children, rest assured I have no ulterior motives to wish you the best." Maran said with forced lightheartedness.

Coran smiled wanly, and several moments of silence hung between the two before Maran nervously spoke again.

"Your highness… I know this will sound forward and inappropriate… but I was wondering if you have given any thought to Darrin's replacement. I would understand if you hadn't, but considering the current state of the kingdom, and your own admitted narrow window if we wanted to see optimal results in the shortest time…"

"It would be in the nation's best interest to find a replacement quickly." Coran finished. "I understand fully, and it would be very selfish and unacceptable for the people to unduly suffer as I fight through my person grief. No offense is taken."

"I am glad to hear that…" The Duke of Kyhlo added. "And, again, I hope I am not speaking out of turn… but as I'm sure you know, I worked closely with Lord Darrin in the various restoration projects. I dare say, and again I hope I am not out of line to suggest this, that if I were to assume his position, in the grand scale of things, the process would suffer the slightest and be delayed the least."

"Are you saying you wish to take over for Darrin as my 'right hand'?" Coran asked dourly.

"Only if you deem it acceptable, of course… and it need not even be on a permanent basis… I'm willing to accept a demotion of sorts in case you find someone more suitable."

"The right hand isn't a permanent post by right anyway, Duke Maran." Coran interjected. "But you make sense at any rate. To be honest, you were the one I entertained as the logical successor anyway."

"I should have trusted your wisdom, your highness, and not tried to impose."

"You had the well-being of Ascalon at heart. Even if I had felt you had overstepped your grounds, I would have forgiven you for that." Coran said with a deeply burdened sigh. "I suppose there is no sense to draw this out then." He slipped his hand into the satchel at the foot of his chair, and slid a sheet of white paper and a shallow bowl that looked like an ink pool in front of the duke.

"Please place all five fingers of your right hand one at a time in the ink, and press them firmly onto the paper in order from thumb to end finger."

Maran blinked… and asked the obvious question. "Why?"

"I have locked information that can be accessed by analyzing the tips of an individual's finger. I need those prints so that I can set the records to recognize you and access them when you need."

"Oh… of course…" Maran said with a perplexed shake of his head, but dutifully followed his king's instructions.

"You can use the washroom over there to clean your hand. The ink will wash off with nothing but a little soap and water. I'll be right back once I set these prints into the records."

With that, the king stood and left Maran to clean up. Once the duke's fingers were washed, he returned and politely waited for Coran's return.

However, once the king entered the room again, he looked cross and angry, followed by a contingent of five of his Shade escorts, the trained assassins and bodyguards from the former Hylan colony. Maran blinked, and asked innocently, "Is something the matter… your highness?"

"Just some little things about the past two days that have bothered me up until now." The king grumbled as the Shades took flanking positions to Maran's back and sides. "You see… I had figured the one who hired the Canthan assassins was one of the Lord's Conclave. Only one within the Conclave would have known that Devona already officially carried the title of my 'left hand', even though the official ceremony to wed us had not yet been performed."

Maran's eyes darted back and forth between the Shades frightfully, "I'm not sure what that has to do with…"

"Even at the time, I found it curious that the Queen-to-be was the target of the assassins, and not myself. I made more sense once I learned of Lord Darrin's death. You see… I realized that the logical scheme was that whoever was responsible needed me alive… in order to promote him to my 'right hand'. The attack on Devona was intended to rid me of the 'left hand', and thus putting the new man at my 'right' as the direct heir to the crown. From there, it would be rather simple to arrange for another Canthan attack to correct the 'error' the first team had made, and eliminate their 'true' target. Likely the new king would then threaten war on Cantha… just to complete the ruse."

Maran's jaw dropped, "Are you suggesting that I killed…"

Coran's jaw set angrily, and the king nodded to the Shades, who swiftly grabbed and immobilized the Duke. "I'm more than suggesting. I know you're the one who poisoned Lord Darrin, and by proxy, tried to assassinate my bondmate."

Coran's scowl turned almost triumphant, "You seem to have forgotten I'm more intelligent and more learned than you would ever be in three lifetimes. I quickly identified the poison you used to kill Lord Darrin, an Ascalon necromancer concoction normally used to execute traitors to the Order of Grenth called The Kiss of Grenth's Blood. From there, I quickly sent a telegraphed message to Necromancer Munne at Sardelac Sanitarium to see if anyone had accessed the stores and withdrawn the items necessary to make that very complex poison. And one person did indeed... a Lady Gemma… I trust you know her."

Maran nodded dumbly. "Of course I do… in passing… Barradin's second daughter, if I remember correctly…"

"According to Munne, it's more than just passing. You had met with Lady Gemma several times over the past two months, and Munne's own minions brought visions of the two of you meeting with Canthans that Munne had initially assumed were traders at the time… but in light of recent events matched the description of one of the assassin mercenaries killed in the attempt on Devona's life. It wasn't much of a secret that Gemma fancied herself as my future wife when we were teenagers… and would have taken extra delight in my betrothed meeting an untimely death."

"I fail to see how that proves that I was responsible for either…"

"Duke Barradin, upon learning this, apprehended his daughter last night, and she eventually came clean with the entire sick plot. I learned about her confession about an hour before you arrived, in fact. However, I wanted one last piece of evidence linking you to the crime… and you unwittingly gave it to me."

"And what would that be?" Maran scowled, deciding to drop his innocent ploy of ignorance.

Coran raised the sheet of paper bearing Maran's fingerprints. "You probably weren't aware until I told you just a few minutes ago that each person has a unique pattern on the tips of their fingers, and that there are techniques that can be used to match those prints with individuals. One of the drudges I questioned noted that during your 'afternoon meal' with Darrin, you inexplicably offered to prepare the drinks yourself, using a bottle of white 'spice' you had recently acquired from Canthan traders that you wanted Darrin to try."

Coran paused to gather his breath, than continued, "The drudge remembered thinking it was rather odd that you only added the 'spice' to Darrin's drink, and that you seemed quite… vigorous… in attempting to dispose of the vial it came in. I located said vial, and lifted a set of remarkably clear prints; glass is very good for keeping the oils on our fingers in fingerprints, you see. It was little effort for me to take the prints you gave me, and match them with the ones on the vial, as well as correctly identify the residue inside it as the Kiss of Grenth's Blood poison Lady Gemma had brewed for you."

"I'm afraid to say that the evidence against you is quite damning, Duke Maran." Coran finished. "So damning, in fact, that I will allow the Lord's Conclave to convict you; rather than potentially bring up challenges of bias by having you executed right here on the spot. I just want to know one thing before I send you off. What were planning to do once you became king?"

Maran's eyes gleamed venomously, and he replied, "Whatever I wanted…"

Coran sighed, and as if suddenly no longer interested, waved a hand dismissively. "Take him away. The Ascalon Army should soon be by to transport him to Rin for judgment."

Maran was forcibly removed from the conference room, and his eyes bulged to see Devona waiting in the hall with her comrades in arms, her features taunting and triumphant.

Once the condemned nobleman had passed, she wasted no time slipping into the conference room, and embracing Coran. "So, I see you went with the 'my beloved is on her death bed' story…"

Coran gave a sideways smile and said, "It seemed the best way at the time to get him to incriminate himself, by appearing vulnerable and detached. However, to say I'm not concerned about you would be a lie."

"Your bondmate is quite well, Coran." Mhenlo said comfortably. "Her collapse was a result of stress, fatigue, and her recently discovered pregnancy, nothing more. I suspect she will be much more careful of her body with that knowledge."

"Quite." Devona said, her face beaming.

Coran kissed her gently, and exhaled his first happy breath of the day. Meanwhile Yuu added acerbically, "If I need to tie her down to keep her from overtaxing herself and eating improperly, then by Baththazar's sword, I'll do so."

The joyous mood however, didn't last, as a Shade quickly caught Yuu's ear, and the news the assassin had to relate dispelled the victory fresh in the room. "News from telegraph just came from Rin." Yuu began darkly, "Grazz has reported that the Charr are on the move, and he wants to report directly to you, Coran. Apparently, it's quite dire."