Twilight had fallen on the palace when he arrived. He adopted his disguise once more as he prepared to meet the king and ease into palace life. When he was informed that the king was currently in the countryside, he felt a moment of rage at the realization he was too late. He assured himself that he must simply be patient; there are other ways of catching prey. This needn't be a hindrance, with cunning it may even become an opportunity. He accumulated himself to what would be his quarters for several months, until the king returned or was dead.
Hannibal and Will went riding several times over the course of the week. Each time Hannibal was somehow able to find a new route they hadn't traveled yet. Will found himself enjoying the fresh air and scenery. Visiting Abigail afterwards was another added bonus, although he was still unable to learn anything more about her family. All the while he also kept a close eye on Randall Tier and the dogs.
Halfway through the week, he and Hannibal were eating breakfast. Hannibal always insisted on Will eating with him before they went riding. Will had finished the ham and eggs and was just about to ready the horses when a servant brought Hannibal the news from London. The messenger came every morning, but this morning Will decided to inquire about the goings on in London.
"Of course," Hannibal said, handing him the paper. "You must be kept informed if you are to access any possible dangers."
Will ignored Hannibal's smug smile and skimmed the paper.
"There have been no new murders," Will said, censoring since we've been in the countryside. Hannibal continued to smile at him from the other end of the table. The thought occurred to Will that both Hannibal and Randall Tier had left the city at the same time.
"You should be glad," Hannibal said. "It means you're doing your job well."
A scoff rose in Will's throat but he pushed it down. He had been struggling to do his job well for ages, and hadn't had much success so far.
"I'll go prepare the horses," he said.
Beverly's letter arrived at the end of the week. Will was disappointed to find its contents identical to the previous one. He wrote back an equally bland letter, even though he had desperately tried to find something to discuss with her. He supposed that was a good sign but it made him feel detached.
Hannibal found him just as he gave the letter to a servant to be mailed.
"Will, would you care to join me in a round of fencing?" he asked. Will noticed he had already dressed for the occasion, apparently assuming he'd accept the invitation. His immediate reaction was flight; the last thing he wanted was for Hannibal to have a chance to study his skills with a sword. Unfortunately, he couldn't find a legitimate excuse and once again felt himself trapped in a corner. He nodded his head as he inwardly cursed himself to be more cautious going forward.
The sight of servants awaiting the king in the gardens behind the castle heightened Will's unease. He wasn't sure if Hannibal had invited them for his own ego or to unnerve him. He felt their critical glances as he took off his coat and chose a fencing sword. He heard the soft swishes of a cape being taken off. Will looked up from his sword, keen that it was beginning to appear that he was purposely avoiding eye contact, and decided instead to inspect his surroundings. They stood near the hedge maze, where the gravel began. The ground was stone where they stood, a sturdy foundation to navigate on. The air was brisk enough to nip any weariness from Will's eyes, but not frisky enough to be painful. He agreed with Hannibal, snow was on the way.
He concluded that the conditions were suitable enough. Yet his agitation remained.
"En garde" Hannibal said. Will heard the chime of a swinging pendulum, and allowed it to give him focus.
"Pret," a servant said. He examined Will and Hannibal then after a moment said, "Allez."
Will's eyes locked with Hannibal's, while still searching for weaknesses out of the corner of his eye. Hannibal's sharp gaze was distracting, but Will was unable to find any soft spots in his impeccable stance anyway. A dab of doubt teased at Will, as he considered his own out of practice stance. All he could do was try to ground himself and prepare.
The high chime of a gong announced the beginning. Immediately, Hannibal pressed forward. He danced lightly on his toes. With each curve of his attack, Will stopped it midway through but not without losing ground. The sight of the marble statue which marked the boundary of the ring made Will change to an offensive strategy.
On Hannibal's next lunge, Will saw an opportunity. He blocked his attack then quickly twisted his wrist into offense. For a moment, he almost saw a victory within his reach. Before he could score a touch, however, Hannibal deflected his sword. As Hannibal jabbed at him, Will sidestepped the blade. He almost caught Hannibal off guard with this move, but he parried it at the last moment.
Hannibal's head shone lightly with perspiration. On the other hand, a cool fat sweat drop crawled along Will's hairline despite the early winter weather. Will weighed his options of either continuing the match in the same way and waiting patiently for Hannibal to reveal a weakness, or putting in the rest of his energy to cut short Hannibal's time to test his skills.
His sword made his decision for him, and his hand began to quickly jump between defense and offense. It was risky, but he finally saw his opportunity to curl his sword around Hannibal's in order to flick it out of his hands. Unfortunately, Hannibal stepped closer which distorted the angle of their swords. Hannibal continued moving closer until his sword was in the ideal position to disarm Will, who felt his own sword loosen from his grip. A wave of relief and frustration hit him as his sword flipped through the air and landed with a metal clang on the stone a few feet away.
Hannibal looked at Will for a moment, making Will suddenly aware how little room there was between them. He could feel the light exhale from Hannibal's mouth and had to fight back a shiver. Will was left no choice but to stand defenseless and uncomfortable until Hannibal finally lightly tapped his chest with his sword.
"An impressive game," Hannibal said. "You have a very unorthodox fighting style."
"You are a very experienced fencer," Will said, turning away to pick up his sword.
"Thank you," Hannibal said. "Fencing is as much about the fluidity of the movement as it is about laying a touch on your opponent. I suppose you were not taught much about fluidity at the royal guards."
"We were taught to look for weaknesses and aim for deadly targets," Will said. "And how to defend ourselves."
Hannibal nodded his head.
"I suppose I can't convince you for a second round?" Hannibal asked. Will shook his head, putting away the fencing sword to pick up his real sword.
"I'm sure we could find someone else for you to fence," Will said, eyeing the servants to see if any of them were hiding a fencing figure underneath their uniforms. "In the meantime, I have to do the daily perimeter check."
Hannibal's lower lip drooped enough to catch Will's attention, but he didn't pause. His arms comfortably slid into his coat sleeves and he reattached his sword to his waist. Then he stopped moving. Something felt off, something was suddenly wrong in the picture around him. He looked up and understood that one of the servants was slightly out of place. Stubble dotted his jawline and Will could see his feet were twitchy.
When Hannibal turned his back to the servant, he stepped out of his ranks and Will rushed forward. The servant raised a knife he'd had concealed in his coat. As he brought it down towards the king's vulnerable back, Will unsheathed his sword and intercepted the blow. He knocked the knife out of the man's hands and across the garden. The servant gasped at Will, shocked by the icy power in his paralyzing gaze. Will held his sword up to the man's throat.
"Who hired you?," he asked, keeping his sword and gaze steady.
"N-no one. I did it on my own," he stuttered. Will eyes involuntarily hardened.
"You're clearly not capable enough to try this on your own, you certainly wouldn't have enough reason to," he said. Then he asked again, his words slow and weighted, "Who hired you?"
The man shrunk under Will's deadly stare, worsened by the king who was watching with amusement over Will's shoulder. Suddenly the man pulled Will's sword, slicing his own hands in the action, and nearly threw Will off balance enough to tumble forward. But Will caught himself and quickly followed the trail of blood from the man's hands. The man was stumbling forward and Will understood what he was about to do, however before he could stop him the man pulled out a vial of dark purple liquid and drank it.
The man hunched over, clutching his throat and convulsing, until his eyes finally bugged out and he collapsed on the garden walkway. Will stood over him, scowling at the dead body. Hannibal came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder.
"You saved my life," he said, closely surveying Will.
"That is my job," Will said, but he couldn't keep the bitter taste in his mouth from seeping his words. Now that the moment had passed he scolded himself for his decisive action and wondered if he shouldn't have just kept his eyes down for a second longer and let the king receive overdue justice. Yet perhaps he had stopped this assassination not for the king, but to save himself the satisfaction of bringing justice. He pushed this thought from his head. Hannibal didn't seem bothered at all by the harsh undertones of Will's words, or perhaps he didn't notice the pained look on his face.
"It is unfortunate he took his own life," Hannibal said, not sounding very remorseful.
"I'll just have to investigate his connections some other way," Will said. He glanced at Hannibal's hand on his shoulder, then at Hannibal. "What do you intend to do with the body?"
A smirk appeared on his face, but he shook his head at the body.
"It's been spoiled, no good to anyone," he said. "Rather wasteful actually. I'll just have the servants dispose of it."
"I'd like to search it first," Will said, relieved by Hannibal's answer. He bent down and started shuffling through the man's coat. He found nothing of significance, so he announced to Hannibal his plans to investigate further, starting with the other servants.
"An admirable idea. Just don't be late for dinner," Hannibal said. Will involuntarily glanced down at the body. He ordered a trusted guard to stay close to Hannibal while he took a few others with him to investigate the servants.
Will and the guards didn't discover anything significant from the guards. None of the other servants seemed suspicious, just confused. It wasn't until Will searched the man's private quarters that he uncovered some unsurprising evidence in the form of a fallen wax seal, apparently from a letter. There was not a trace of the letter, but the seal belonged to G.R.D. It solidified his theory that, whoever G.R.D. was, they wanted the king dead.
He tucked the seal into his pocket, careful not to let the other guards notice it. If G.R.D. knew something condemning about the king's past, Will wasn't ready to expose them or expose his own possible suspicion of the king. Hannibal wasn't surprised when he turned up empty-handed at dinner.
"I can't help but feel partially responsible," Hannibal said, while a servant taste tested his food. "If I had been more selective in choosing my servants I may have avoided this."
"You're plenty selective," Will said. "This man was just very clever."
The next morning Will tried to dissuade Hannibal from going riding. He stayed stubborn against Will's protest of more assassination attempts. Will finally conceded and offered to go ready the horses. Hannibal was disappointed when he ordered another guard to watch him. When Will saw the sad expression on his face, he couldn't stop himself from promising to be back soon.
Will hoped visiting Abigail would lift his spirits after he'd driven a man to kill himself the day before. At first he didn't even see her. It wasn't until he called out her name and he heard her suck in her breath quickly from in one of the stalls.
"Abigail?" He asked, peering into the stall. Abigail was brushing one of the horses. Her face was hidden.
"Will," she said. Her words were forced and the fear in her voice made his stomach twist. "I didn't expect you."
"Is something wrong?" Will asked. Abigail finally looked at him, her eyes withdrawn. Will could see her working to properly phrase her thoughts. "Did I do something?"
Her eyes squinted for a second, as if shocked he'd even had to ask. She went back to brushing the fur off the horse.
"You almost killed someone yesterday," she said, her voice barely louder than the brushing. Will's lips thinned and he watched her steadily brush for a moment.
"No. I led a man to kill himself," he said. "I stopped him from killing H-, the king. We were going to interrogate him but he poisoned himself before we could. We never found out if he was only an assassin or a spy for someone else."
Abigail's face turned a lighter shade of pale. She stopped brushing and just rested her hands on the horse.
"What would you have done if he was a spy?" She asked. Will considered her question.
"I would have tried to discover who he was spying for. Now we may never know," he said. He scrutinized her movements and tried to infer what had motivated her adverse reaction. "Is there something else bothering you?"
"No. It's- I guess you're just a little different from who I thought you were," she said.
"Different or worse?" Will asked, afraid of her answer. She looked up at him, having hidden her fear.
"Different," she said. "Does learning someone is different from what they say they are make them a bad person?"
The question made Will pause. He had the strange sense she wasn't attacking him but rather genuinely asking of her own curiosity. Or perhaps her own well-being.
"No. I don't think it does," he said. Her eyes softened slightly and Will felt a twinge of relief. Abigail nodded her head towards one of the other stalls.
"Your horses are already ready," she said.
"Thank you," Will said, stepping back.
"Enjoy your ride," she said, her fear having dissipated for now.