A Scholar's travels with a Witcher

by Spike368

Sent out to gather the knowledge of the real world. A young scholar from the University of Oxenfurt finds a wounded Witcher on the steps to the inn where he was staying. So he starts gathering the material for his journals. Rated T for language I will be publishing this story on Royal Road /profile/349358

141. Chapter 141

(Warning: Autopsy comments on what a very bad person or persons did to a woman in this chapter. Seriously, it's bleak enough that Freddie, who has seen some pretty shitty things, feels strongly enough to warn readers himself. These injuries were taken from what happened a few years ago in India, so this kind of thing does happen and is still happening today. Not just in a world as far back as the Witcher. That this is the case, along with so many things that are still around in the modern world, is sometimes depressing enough to cause comment.)

I have seen many terrible things in my time on the road. I have seen the results of a Wyvern attack on an isolated farmstead where the beast carried off the young children for the beasts young back in the nest.

Kerrass and I once found a nest of Alghouls that had been fighting off competition from other Necrophages from the rich spoils that they had found. Those spoils being the fact that a local group were using the Necrophage nest as a place to dump the bodies of their victims. Unfortunately for them, Necrophages do not gorge themselves instantly and often keep back a hefty chunk of food against leaner times.

I have seen what happens when a rabid troll hits someone with a flying boulder and also what happens when a giant stands on someone's head.

I have seen bodies torn apart in the air when harpies and sirens carry their victims off and then fight over them in mid flight. I have also seen what happens when Gargoyles spray their acid over livestock and found the horror that is left when an Engrega carries something fleshy off to be cocooned in webbing and slowly dissolved into some kind of fluid so that the larval state of those horrors can properly ingest them.

I have seen the bloated corpses of men, women and children of all races after the drowned dead have dragged their victims down to the watery depths to drown before being eaten.

And May Ariadne forgive me for saying this, but I have also found those murder sites where a Katakan vampire has torn it's victim apart so that it can lap the still warm blood from the surrounding area as is it's preference.

During my time on the path with Kerrass where I hope I have been able to assist him in my own small way, both as a practical assistant in the hunts, but also as an emotional and mental support in those hardest parts of the time. I have seen many horrible things. Horrible, awful things, much of which I can still see in my nightmares and who's echoes I can still hear on the edge of my hearing in the cold hours of the morning before the sun has fully risen. I can still hear the echoes of the man who was woken from his venom induced stupor to realise that the eggs that the Arachnomorph had planted in his guts were starting to hatch ready to burst forward.

Kerrass shot him in the throat so that he bled out. He turned and smiled at us while his blood welled around the bolt and Kerrass doused his body in oil before setting fire to the awful things that were emerging. I can still smell that as well. It's odd how these things come back to you. Nightmares are never just about what you have seen or heard, but about what you can smell and taste as well. The worst is when it actually smells rather pleasant.

I have seen all these things and they are awful. Awful enough that they can melt your mind if you let them. Awful enough that were I not surrounded by good people who help and support me then I feel sure that I could only find solace in the bottom of a bottle. Indeed, as Kerrass has told me, more than one Witcher also finds their own solace in such a place.

But I find that these are not the worst things that haunt my nightmares. They are not the memories that come up, unbidden in the middle of the day to overwhelm otherwise sunny, bright, happy moments. They are not the thoughts that cause me to clench my jaw, squeeze my ears shut and ball my hands into fists so that I can force those memories back into the past where they belong. Those killings are the result of monsters being monsters.

The poison that emerges from an Endrega's jaws is not the result of a choice, it is simply how they devour their prey. The charred remains of the men and women in the field are not the result of an active decision. It is more the result of the natural rage of the Noonwraith, raging at the fate that leaves her tied to this world and unable to move onto the next.

Truly, the worst dreams, the things that wake me up at night, sweating and throat burning as I try to scream are not due to what I have seen at the hands (or claws, jaws, mandibles or whatever) of the monsters. But rather the things that have been done at the hands of our fellow sentient being.

And to be clear. I am not talking about what the Scoia'tael, what little remains of them, do to the unwary. Their hatred is understandable to me, even while it is not particularly useful, nor do I believe that it is going to achieve anything. But I can understand where it is coming from. Nor is it done at the hands of the thieves and criminals of the cities who are only trying to get enough to be able to survive.

It is, instead, what is done at the hands of those that believe that they are entitled to more than the people next to them.

I still, even now, have nightmares where I think that everything that I have done, everything that has happened since Ariade was released, is a fever dream brought about by the fantasy of what a dying man hopes for as his insides slowly liquify as a result of the greed of a man who wanted more than he had been given.

I also hear the screams of my comrades of the Wave-Serpent as they freeze to death in icy waters, driven there by the greed of Nilfgaardian merchants and those same merchant sailors who signed up in order to have a job that pays. About how they died in the cold and unyielding horror of the artificial winter of the Skeleton ship while being unaware that they were sent to sail against the Empress of a continent.

I can also remember looking out from a castle's walls over a mist shrouded plain in order that we could look at a man that I hadn't liked, being tortured to death in an effort to provoke those of us that were safe inside a castle's walls.

There are so, very many of these that it beggars belief. As I look through my previous collected notes, it is sometimes dispiriting to realise that a lot of the problems that Kerrass and I have dealt with, certainly those that I have noted down in this particular collection of works, have been to do with the actions of people rather than the actions of the monsters themselves.

I have wondered why this might be the case and unfortunately, I am forced to concede that the answer is rather simple. The actions of monsters are fairly boring and do not warrant the kind of coverage that this magazine requires. The very basic hunts of the monsters in question are so rapidly covered that it is quicker and more expedient to group them all together into a single source and that, often, is better done as part of an academic text.

Why do I think of this? Unfortunately, I think that you can probably guess the things that I am about to tell you.

I had managed to get a few hours sleep, but certainly no more than that and it was beginning to add up. The previous night had been the night where we had fought the Witch of Lynx Crag and rescued one of the presumptive heirs of the Duchy. The fallout from that as well as everything that accompanied that had meant that I had only had a few hours sleep that night.

The previous night to that had been relatively sleepless as well. Not because I didn't have time to sleep properly, but because I was so busy desperately trying to disentangle the riddle that I had been set that getting my mind to relax, even with the input of Anne and Ariadne between them that I could not get to sleep quickly and then, afterwards, I had not been able to get back to sleep when pressure in the bladder had woken me up precipitously.

Ariadne was not happy to wake me up. She was wearing a white ish travelling dress with a fur lined cloak and had one of her working satchels on which I knew would contain healing items. She gestured imperiously towards the food and the coffee that she had laid out to me while she told me in no uncertain terms that she would not be parted from my side that day. That she would be there to catch me when I fell (notice the "when" there. I certainly did) and that she was furious with the various people that were conspiring to ensure that I was not getting the rest and the relaxation that I needed given my "fragile state."

Who she was choosing to blame for this, I had no idea but I suspect that the list included the Duchess, Syanna, Guillaume and the other Knights of Saint Francesca, my parents for allowing me to have overly romantic notions of a man's duty in the face of enemies that wish to do us, and those weaker than us, harm. She was openly muttering about the people that were doing this in the first place, the people responsible, the people that had driven events to the point where they felt as though they needed to do it. Emma for agreeing that we should all be in Toussaint at this particular time. Me for being ill in the first place and refusing to stay in bed which was good for me. Kerrass for giving me the ability to fight back as needed and giving me the capability to be involved.

She didn't spare herself either. Cursing her own proven inability to keep me in my bed where I needed to be and also her own enjoyment of the fact that she was in love with a man that put the needs of others before his own needs. She was particularly grumpy about the last part.

She wasn't as angry with me though. She was just coming round to admit that there was nothing she could do about me and that I was already a lost cause when it came to this kind of thing. Kerrass didn't help by commenting that it was one of the reasons that she loved me so much which prompted a moan and an anguished "I know," before she allowed herself to be shooed off into the corner so that Kerrass could join me in eating something and telling me what he knew.

Which was not a lot.

It seemed that Colonel Duberton and his wife had been invited to dinner at some nobleman's house in the city. They had absolutely intended to be there and back before the curfew was in effect but they weren't that worried anyway. Colonel Duberton is a fine swordsman, skilled and experienced in battle. They were also accompanied by other members of the Nilfgaardian regiment that were escorting the couple to and from the dinner and that the lord of the house that had invited them also had his own guards. The route home was often patrolled by Guards and Knights of Toussaint and as a result, there was little belief that the couple were in any danger at all.

It would seem that it was this confidence that was their undoing.

We ate in all but silence, Kerrass and I. It was an odd feeling that had stolen over us in those early hours of the morning. No-one told me what time it was. I could only see darkness out of the windows in our little room so if we had passed midnight then it was still early. Even for Winter. I was desperately trying not to think of how little sleep I had managed to get over the course of the night and in trying not to think about it, naturally, it was all I could think about.

As I say, we ate in silence. It felt like… It felt like… I have no idea what it feels like the morning before battle. Nor do I have any idea what it feels like to wake up the morning before you go to be executed. I know that there are Jack induced dreams and memories in my past that give me a clue, but I have no idea if that's actually true or not. The closest I have to describing how it felt was that it was like the morning of a funeral. One of those funerals where you are not particularly close to the person that has died but are there to support the people who have really lost someone.

There was a weight to the morning which sat upon us heavily. A weight that was nothing to do with our fatigue or lack of sleep. Kerrass and Ariadne could feel it too where Kerrass is used to doing without sleep for extended periods of time and Ariadne can save up sleep and get rid of it all in what she describes as "an orgy of snoozing."

But we sat there around our guest table and ate breads and cheeses that were quite delicious despite our inability to actually enjoy them. Our conversation was hushed and the small jokes that we told each other in order to pass the time while we ate our food and I drank my medicine were cut off with our laughter coming in short bursts.

Poor Lady Duberton. I had liked her.

In the end, we couldn't procrastinate for too long and we were led out into the courtyard by a yawning servant carrying a lantern. There we were met by Sir Guillaume who was waiting for us and the figure of Sir Gregoire bidding farewell to Anne.

Some part of me had hoped that I wouldn't have to see her again for some time, let alone having to see her together with Sir Gregoire being all lovey with him. But in the light of torches and lanterns, I could see them for what they were, which was a couple who had been in love for an age but had only just found each other. And in seeing this, I found that I did not mind so much. Indeed, I felt a small amount of pride as I looked on Anne's face that was radiant with her happiness as she gazed up into Gregoire's eyes. Gregoire still looked as though he had been struck in the head with a pole-hammer.

"I did that." I thought to myself and it didn't seem so bad.

Especially given that we were about to go down and see that another good woman had been murdered. If I could bring a little bit of romance and happiness into the world, then I had done well and I could be proud of what I had done.

Guillaume greeted us with a wave.

"Kerrass." He began, "Lady Ariadne…"

"Please, just Ariadne." She said as she smiled at Guillaume. "I think we can admit that the time for such formalities has passed."

"Lord Ffff…. Freddie." He went on. "Are you alright. You look a little grey."

"That's a shame," I joked. "I was trying for Bright orange."

"Do not joke of such things." Ariadne said as she covered her smile with her hand.

"You understand I'm talking about the orange of the fruit right." I carried on. "The kind of orange where, when you see it it's not Orange it's more, "ORANGE"."

Kerrass snorted.

"Stop stop." Ariadne complained. "It's a sign of illness."

"I see," I said, smiling at her. "So I should go for yellow instead."

"That's worse."

We all snickered as we watched Gregoire lean down and kiss his intended bride.

We were speaking quietly and the rippling sound of the flames leaping from the lit torches was loud as we waited for the loving couple to finish with their farewells.

Gregoire eventually pulled away. Anne said something to him which was too quiet for us to hear. Guillaume murmured something back. There was a brief conversation and a pause as they both turned and looked at me before finishing up and kissed each other again.

"Boo." Kerrass called softly. "Boo, I say thee."

"Put him down Lady." Guillaume called. "You don't know where he's been."

"Maybe she does know and that's the point." Ariadne joined in the teasing as the couple finally broke up and Gregoire could come towards us.

Anne had clearly heard the teasing and smiled as she waved at us before pulling her shawl around her shoulders a little tighter and turning for the doors.

"Lord Frederick." Was Gregoire's opening gambit as we moved to where a groom was holding onto our horses. "I am instructed to inform you that you should still be in bed."

"I agree." Ariadne said. "But unless you are willing to sit on him to keep him there Sir Gregoire, then I'm afraid that Freddie is coming with us."

"I do not think I will try that." The huge Knight said. "My duty is done with telling him that he should return to his bed and now I will leave it. Although I am instructed to ensure that you do not overexert yourself Lord Coulthard."

"And how were you going to do that?" I wondered after I had pulled myself into the saddle.

"It wasn't made clear." Gregoire admitted after a while. "I am reluctant to use violence, given the incredible service that you have done for me."

"That might be what you need to do." Kerrass commented dryly.

Gregoire frowned for a while. "Yes." He decided. "I am coming to see that. Where are we going Guillaume?"

"The house of Lord Bas-Tyra." Guillaume said. "Kerrass and I in front, Freddie and Guillaume at the rear, Ariadne, if you would ride in the middle. The order of the day is that we are to appear calm and collected."

"Not wanting to start a panic then." Kerrass commented.

"Less that, more so that we appear as though we are in command of the situation I think." Guillaume told him. "Lets go."

We turned and walked our horses out of the gates.

There was still no sign of the sun rising over the eastern mountains. Poor Lady Duberton.

I looked over at the Sir Gregoire riding next to me. He had his head bowed and was frowning slightly.

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

"Hmm?" He shook his head and looked up at me.

"How does it feel to leave with the blessing of the lady rather than the curses of one?" I wondered, taking care to smile gently so that he wouldn't take offence.

"It is interesting." He admitted. "I will admit that I am not sure yet. It is not what I am used to to be certain. It was always useful to me to have those last boos and insults as I leave my pavilion. It is something that gives me an extra kick. That little bit of a boost to carry me over, to prove to the bastards that I am a better Knight than they can ever expect to be. This though? This riding out in the dead of night to no cheers, no cries or insults. Just quiet men…"

"And women." Ariadne commented, showing that she was listening.

"Forgive me Madam, but of course, I mean women as well." Gregoire visibly adjusted his thinking. "Quiet people about our business, the business of securing Toussaint for the good of her citizens. I feel cold. Tired and sluggish."

"Would it help if I insulted you?" I wondered before I could stop myself. "You know, one last insult for the road to get your juices flowing."

He grinned. It was an odd grin, it took years off his face and I could vividly see what he looked like as a child when he had been caught at some kind of mischief.

"No." He said. "For then I must kill you and that would return me to where I was." He sighed again, returning to his more solemn demeanor. "My world was very small." He said slowly after a while. "I was the villain to be defeated and slain. I was the… the sideshow brute that men paid to see get knocked off his horse. Now that I know the difference I will admit that I was far from happy in that circumstance, but I was comfortable in that situation. I was used to it.

"Now… I look out and I see the difference. I had been placed in my niche and I did not see that these kinds of things happened. My job was to be the villain. To walk out in daylight and make children shriek in terror as they fled for their mother's skirts. I was there to make men scowl and women flee in terror. I knew how to do that. I was good at it too. Now I cannot be those things. Now, I would know it to be a lie. An act that I used to put on to be set aside when I went home to a woman that loves me."

He scratched his nose.

"I am uncomfortable in this new role. I am not used to it. I do not know if I like it. It is… foreign to me."

"And yet you have the perfect reason to become used to it." I pointed out.

He shook himself. "Oh don't get me wrong Lord Frederick…"

"Freddie." I corrected him.

"Yes of course." He grinned again. "As you say. I would sooner die than to make Anne unhappy and being uncomfortable for a while as I get used to my new role is a small price to pay in order to make her smile."

"I can understand where you are coming from." Guillaume said from the front, twisting in the saddle. "I remember doing everything in my power to get Vivienne to even notice me, let alone fall in love with me. I nearly died trying to do that. But then, when it was done, suddenly I had no reason to go out there any more. Nothing to do. When I left my pavilion to go to the joust or the contests, I would look for her face and pray for a smile. Now, that price was guaranteed so it occurred to me to wonder why I was bothering. I will not lie, it was a dark moment."

"What did you do?" Kerrass wondered, more curious than I thought he was going to be.

"She is Toussaint for me. Trying to think of the country as a whole is too much. The Duchess is the ruler of Toussaint to be sure, but to me… Now… When I think of Toussaint, I think of Vivienne smiling at me from some Pavillion. And every late night or unprophetly early morning, I do it to serve Toussaint with the face of the woman that I love before my gaze. I have found that this gives me the kick I need to get on the horse and go to do my duty."

Gregoire considered this.

"I like that." He decided. "I shall take it."

"I'm not saying that it doesn't take practice." Guillaume joked. "After all, it's fucking cold this morning."

We all chortled at that.

"How is it going, the new lifestyle?" I wondered at Gregoire. "Life with Anne I mean."

"It is taking some getting used to." He said. "I keep looking at her and realising that I've told her how I feel. Then she notices me looking and smiles at me shyly. I feel like I'm a child again, telling the girl that I like her and presenting her with a daisy. Only instead of running away screaming, she smiles and kisses me."

"I remember that feeling." I said, looking at Ariadne. "It never goes away."

Ariadne turned in the saddle and smiled at me.

"Good." Gregoire said. "That bit I am enjoying immensely."

"I thought you had been given your freedom." I wondered. "So that you can get used to your new found status."

"I was." Gregoire admitted. "But the Knight Commander came to see me. Apparently she needs all she can get… I am a dutiful servant of the Duchy now and well…"

He shrugged.

We were speaking with each other quietly, soft voices echoing in the night. After all, Graveyard humour is always the best kind of humour. As we talked, we crossed the bridge and came into the city of Beauclair itself. It looked like a painting of itself, cloud cover was forming over the winter skies which promised more snowfall or rain. According to a conversation I had with Lady Vigo at another juncture, Toussaint is, essentially, a massive valley, surrounded by mountains. This is another one of those odd coincidences that means that the land of Toussaint is ideal for the growing of grapes. The effect results in the odd weather patterns that are almost unique to that part of the world, the brighter, warmer sunshine without it getting too muggy. The clear skies as well but, according to Lady Vigo, it meant that when it rained or snowed it really fucking hammered it down.

Her words.

She also told me that temperature could change on the edge of a dagger, especially in winter time. Where you might look out of your bedroom window first thing and see the rain coming down so hard that it was hitting the floor and literally bouncing (if you haven't seen that before and are currently considering tearing the magazine up as being full of nonsense then I would stress that it is true. It does happen) you might prepare yourself with oilskins and thick boots only for the rain to ease off in a few moments and for the sun to come out a little while later.

I had a dim view that we would begin to see that soon.

What that meant was that the light of the moon was diffused through the cloud cover bathing the city in an eerie sheen of silver and white. Which, mixed with the torchlight that was carried by the guards that were around the place, made Beauclair itself seem like an alien place. As though it was the set in some kind of highly elaborate stage production.

The guards were everywhere. Knights too. And if I was any judge, after this latest death, the troops of the Alba division would be back on the streets again soon. The Colonel's wife was not a small target to be taken and retribution would be swift and certain.

I could not decide if this latest move by the conspirators was the work of genius or foolishness. It is true that the dividing line between the two is a thin one at the best of times. But it seemed to me that there was no way out of this. As we rode and bantered with each other quietly, my imagination would run off with the train of thought. Killing the Colonel's wife was a big deal. From what little I had seen, the Colonel himself was as popular with his troops as a Commanding officer can be. And it is the nature of men to love their master's wives.

The Nilfgaardians would tear the country aside in order to find out who killed the wife of their colonel. So all the conspirators had to do was to hold up a scapegoat, make it seem convincing and then….

But the other thing would be that all of that rage and anger could, just as easily, fall back onto the heads of the conspirators themselves. As we had seen before when talking about Lord Tratamara hiding a few things in order to preserve his dead daughter's dignity…

Or so we assumed…

Syanna's hands were tied. There were certain truths to the feudal system which meant that she couldn't act without proof. The Nilfgaardians themselves would not be so easily contained. They would not care who a person was. They would not mind who was in charge, or how ancient a man's noble line was or where their name came from. If a man had done them wrong then they could expect to demand justice and they would not be the kind of people that would take no for an answer.

And that was before the Empress got involved. I had no idea if Lady Duberton or the Colonel knew Ciri personally, but it rather struck me that it would not matter so much. Toussaint was an annexed country, a Nilfgaardian national and noblewoman had been killed. Politicians and Generals get excited over that kind of thing. Words like "Reperations" get bandied around and before you can turn around, wars start.

So it was an odd move. If properly handled, it really could unseat the Duchess. I didn't really think that this was likely though. The Duchess has fielded this kind of attempt before and she plays these games on an international scale. And the truth was the Empress was firmly on the side of the Duchess herself, but when you are playing these kinds of games, that might not matter. It would need doing carefully to bring the Duchess and her sister down. But I rather thought it could be done.

We continued to ride down into Toussaint itself.

The guards were carefully not rushing around. You can always tell if you are looking for it. Kerrass calls it the "Purposeful Nonchalant Walk." Where a guard has somewhere to be. Needs to get there quickly, but doesn't want to let anyone know that there's a problem. It is used when tracking someone or chasing someone or approaching a hiding spot but they don't want to alarm anyone. Apparently, criminals use the same walk when they are running away from the scene of the crime but don't want to draw anyone's attention to the fact that they are running away from the scene of the crime.

Kerrass would often make a joke to say that the line between thief and thief taker is a matter of semantics. He sat down and debated the thing with me once. The results were far from conclusive but they were rather… unsettling.

We approached a row of houses that had been shown to me as being the first row of New money. When the first generation of Knights who were not associated with the older families came together, this was the group of houses that they built.

The history of any city is a fascinating read if you ever get the time and I would heartily recommend it if you get the time. This row was also one of the first groups of houses that were part of the expansions that were being built on the edges of Beauclair.

We were led to one a few houses in from the edge of the city itself. It was a large house for a city dwelling. Not the grandest of buildings, but neither was it the smallest. Father would have called it "respectable". Three stories tall, fully detached from the neighbouring buildings with a small courtyard in the front. As I would later find out, the main reason for the richness of the dwelling was due to the view over the river that the back of the house afforded. There were city guardsmen that were waiting for us outside the front gates of the courtyard, one of which had ducked inside when he saw us coming. Our horses were taken as Syanna came out.

She was still wearing the same clothing and armour that she had been wearing the last time I had seen her. Her face looked unsettled and unformed, as though it had been made out of clay or plaster that hadn't quite set yet.

We didn't say anything, we just dismounted as the guards took our horses and led them away to a stable that was just down the street. Apparently a neighbour who owed the guard a favour had opened his house for that purpose.

Syanna led us through the gate into a nice little courtyard. There was a large pool of water in the middle that had floating plants in the middle and around the place. The very stereotypical carving of the perfect toddler boy, peeing into the fountain was present and correct. It wasn't working at the moment. Every time I see one of those things working, I always resolve to figure out how it's done and then never quite get round to learning the secret.

The walls were covered in ivy and there were various plant pots and hanging baskets. Most were empty but there were one or two small trees and bushes that were around so that there was at least some greenery. Mostly though, I was given the sense of shelter. There was no wind. No air and as a result, the smell of burning oil from all the torches that were about was overpowering.

There were two corpses in the courtyard. One was lying on his back with his arms outstretched and splayed out. There was a not inconsiderable pool of blood that was drying underneath him and I guessed that there was a stab wound somewhere. I couldn't see it though. He looked like some kind of servant.

Syanna led us to where the door was. There was another dead man just outside the door, he looked to have crawled to where he had fallen before collapsing due to the blood loss. One hand was at his throat from where the throat had been slashed and the other was reaching out towards something.

He too looked like a servant.

Inside the door was another one. This time, he looked like a guard of some kind. Or at least, he was wearing a breast plate and some livery colours. It looked as though the armour was mostly for show though, both of his femoral arteries had been slashed. He must have bled out in seconds with nothing to do but to sit there and watch as his life ran away from him.

There was a sword next to him, it was clean.

We were in a small entrance hall. A serving woman was slumped against one wall. She looked like a puppet whose strings had been cut. I couldn't see her face but there was a tray of drinks next to her that had fallen, the wine splattering against the wall.

"This way." Syanna said, leading us into a comfortably furnished sitting room. Mercifully, this room was empty of bodies.

There was a fire lit and it was burning away merrily. The things that you notice. The back of the room opened up onto a balcony.

"The other side of the entrance way is the dining room where most of the horror seems to have taken place." Syanna told us. "The back of the house opens out onto a veranda which hangs over the gorge. Lady Duberton's body lies at the bottom of the gorge. We are still trying to figure out how to get her out of the gorge, Prophets stand with her soul."

"What is the issue?" Ariadne wondered.

"Getting to her. It is a long way down and getting into the gorge is treacherous at the best of times. Let alone at night. Even in the morning it's going to take ropes and…"

"I can get her out." Ariadne said, taking her satchel off. "I will have a look and see which is the best method to use."

"Are you going to teleport?" Gregoire wondered.

"No. I will turn into a mist and move down. That is if I cannot easily jump."

"Not, turn into a bat?" Kerrass teased.

Ariadne glared at him.

Gregoire goggled for a moment.

"Vampire." I told him helpfully.

"You know." He said wonderingly, "it's one of those things that you think you couldn't forget."

We all, including Syanna, had a quick chuckle.

The things we laugh about.

A guard was summoned who took Ariadne through the door at the back of the room.

"Ok." Syanna. "Here's what we know. The owner of this house was a man called Lord du Bas-Tyra. He was not anyone special but it seemed that Colonel and Madame Duberton had struck up a friendship with him at some point early in their deployment to Toussaint. The couple had been invited to dinner and were loath to put that off much further.

"They were in the middle of dinner when Jack attacked. Several courses and several bottles of wine in which dulled the reactions. They heard a commotion in another room and then they heard a scream. Colonel Duberton rushed to render aid but then, as soon as he opened the door, Jack was on him."

"Is the Colonel dead?"

"No, although he rather wishes that he was. He is upstairs at the moment, talking to Damien."

Damien I noticed. Not Captain de la Tour.

"We rather think that a combination of the drink and things slowed the Colonel down as we are aware that he is a very fine fighter in his own right. But Jack took advantage of the Colonel's inebriated state and rendered him unconscious. Lord du Bas-Tyra was similarly incapacitated. After that our information is sketchy for a while. We think Jack went on to massacre the other people in the house. You have already seen one of the guards who, again we think, tried to hold Jack off while the other two men ran for help… Much good that did them."

"No survivors?" Guillaume wondered rather grimly.

"None."

Guillaume nodded.

"When Colonel Duberton woke up he was restrained. Lord du Bas-Tyra was already dead and the Colonel tells us that Madame Duberton was tied to the dining table where Jack… did things to her before he beat her to death with a fire poker."

"In front of her husband?" Gregoire wondered before shuddering. "And people used to call me a monster."

A sense of humour can only carry you so far in the face of horror.

"After that," Syanna carried on with a sigh. "Jack took Lady Duberton and threw her over the balcony down into the gorge below. Leaving the same way that he arrived."

"And we don't know how he did that?" Kerrass wondered.

"No."

"So…" Guillaume took stock. "How many dead servants?"

"Six." Syanna told him, "Two maids, two footman, the butler, the cook, two Nilfgaardian soldiers and two guards. As well as that, Lord du Bas-Tyra himself. And let us not forget the incapacity of Colonel Duberton who is no slouch with the blade. Even if he was drunk, I would have put considerable odds on him against, well, anyone. I don't think there are many people in Toussaint that would be outright better with a blade. Kerrass and Guillaume maybe?"

"Alain." Guillaume was looking at his feet and scuffing them across the carpet. "I have seen the Colonel train as well. Alain could take him. Gregoire too if Michelle did not have a chance to make some room to come up with a strategy."

"Michelle?" Gregoire wondered.

"The Colonel's first name." Syanna supplied.

The Big Knight nodded. "I never met him. I didn't feel the need to talk to him and he didn't feel the need to talk to me."

"And then there is Lady Duberton herself." Syanna finished with a big sigh. "And if even half of what Colonel Duberton says is true then her death was… horrific."

"Who could do that?" I wondered. "Not that I don't believe it. And I've seen some horrific things in my time. I mean it as a practical question. Who would be able to do that? Who has the… lack of themselves to be able to do that to such a woman. To any woman for that matter."

"Keep thinking Freddie." Syanna was watching me so I obeyed.

"The Cultists in the North did horrible things. There's no getting away from that. And if it's remotely similar to that… Then… But they were doing it because there was a power there. There was… a magic to the actions that gave them a high. It was like a drug."

I had started to pace.

"But this… This is politically motivated. That is different. So someone did some horrible things to a woman for political reasons. That takes…. Something. That takes a lack of Empathy that is almost staggering. To do that in cold blood? In front of her husband. And then you would have to be certain that he would have no way to come back at you. You would need to know that you would be safe from Colonel Duberton. I did not know the man well but he rather strikes me as the kind of man that isn't going to take this sitting down."

"He will not." Guillaume commented.

"So who could do that?" I wondered. "It's not a rhetorical question. Who would be capable of mowing down, what was it six servants, two guards, two soldiers plus the Lord of the house? AND to torture an innocent woman to death. And she was as inoffensive a lady as you can get. If ever there was a woman in the world that it's impossible to hate, it was that one."

"Francesca was impossible to hate?" Syanna wondered.

"No." I winced at the name. "Francesca had gained the ear of the Empress. People were jealous of her and that makes for hatred really quickly. So who could do that? Who could, and would do that?"

"Up until recently," Guillaume admitted. "I would have thought that Gregoire could have done it. I apologise for that by the way."

Gregoire shook his head. "I worked hard at maintaining that image. And it will take more than a duel and a betrothal to completely rid me of that stigma. I take no offence."

"Thank you. But even then, this carnage looks clinical." Guillaume looked back out into the hall. "These strikes are precise, calculated. Utterly deadly. With all respect to my newest colleague, wounds inflicted by such as he would have left much more… well…."

"Carnage." Gregoire offered. "It is true, that you do not need to be precise when you use weapons and styles such as mine."

"There is also a speed to this." Kerrass commented. "Do we know if the Servants were killed before or after Colonel Duberton was debilitated?"

"We do not."

Kerrass nodded. "So this happened fast. Lightening fast. Frighteningly fast…" He pulled at his lips. I think there must have been more than one person here. I would even wonder if Lord Bas-Tyra was in on it. This was an ambush. It was planned and executed. Even I would struggle to knock out a Colonel of the Imperial Army and incapacitate his wife before killing eleven people before someone got a warning off, or someone escaped to carry word of what was happening to the guard. Even Geralt, possibly the finest swordsman currently on the continent would struggle to do all of that without an alarm being raised. How did we find this out by the way?"

"A patrolling guardsman was summoned by the sound of the Colonel calling for help." Syanna told us.

Kerrass nodded. "This is staged." He decided. "This was an ambush. This has been planned."

"But who is it staged for?" I wondered. "Us?"

"The Colonel surely." Guillaume spoke up. "Otherwise, why would he be left alive? It has been announced that this is a man. So what is going to happen now? What is going to happen in the Nilfgaardian court when word is passed that a Nilfgaardian national, wife of the man sent to help us, was so horribly murdered?"

"Outrage." I said, somewhat needlessly. "Fury. There will be calls for blood. Demands for it even."

Syanna nodded. "So now we are up against it. Time for the news to get out of our borders. Time for decisions to be made. The Empress will want to be on our side, I am confident of that. But she can only do so much. But the solution is still that we need to catch the fuckers."

"I still haven't been given an answer." I said. "Who could do this? Who could use a sword like that and do that to a woman. Not only must there be one person but it seems like there must be several to get this done. Who could do that?"

"Alain." Guillaume said again. "He treats women like objects to be bought and sold. Notches on his bedpost. I do not doubt, for one instant, that he could do this without blinking. Childhood association makes me hope that he wouldn't have been involved in torturing a woman to death. I could believe him… assaulting a woman. Killing one even. But not torturing one to death. He would see it as tasteless. He would argue that a death would be enough there."

"You should have let me duel him," Kerrass said in a sing-song voice.

There was another moment of silence after that. A short while as we all considered things.

"Raoul." Gregoire said. "He is cruel enough, skilled enough and he wants to watch Toussaint burn. He would not blink at doing this. He would feel nothing for the woman or the other dead people. We are all pieces on a board to him and he would feel no different about torturing a woman as he would… say… splitting a training dummy. In all honesty, it is a surprise to me that you haven't spoken about suspecting him before."

"I want it to be him." I admitted. "I want it to be him so badly that I was worried that I was biasing myself."

"Sometimes, instincts are right though." Syanna said. "But we still need proof." She turned to Gregoire. "We know that Alain is guilty, but without proof of connections to others, the conspiracy can just cut him out of their thinking and leave him to rot."

Gregoire nodded. "I am unused to these efforts. I see an opponent, I kill the opponent. This detective work is outside my normal area of expertise. What do we do next?"

Syanna nodded before thinking. "Well. I agree with Freddie that this was an ambush. So if I was ambushing someone, I would have set lookouts. There would have been runners and messengers and things. So Guillaume, take Gregoire and head for the Colonel's lodgings. Speak to the servants there and see if one was paid off as an informant. Then work your way back and see if anyone saw anything that might help us. Dawn is not far off and the shops will be opening soon."

"I am not good at being charming." Gregoire warned.

"Then it is time to learn." Syanna told him. "You are my Knight now and this will, unfortunately, not be the last murder that we have to investigate. Besides, you might find that you are more popular than you might think. You are the man that saved the street worker from being executed. Also, the Colonel and his wife were popular. Tell them what happened and that you were investigating. People will believe it and offer information."

"The trick might not be getting the information." I suggested. "But rather figuring out which piece of information is actually worthwhile."

"Come on my large friend." Guillaume said. "We can have breakfast as we work. You would be astonished how free people are with their mouths when you spend some money in their stall."

"Kerrass." Syanna went on. "You are an investigator and tracker. See if you can put together what really happened here. Who died first and who died last. Where were people waiting? Where were attackers watching from?"

Kerrass nodded. "I still think you should let me drag Alain through the streets by his hair."

"Now who's allowing bias to cloud their judgement." I teased.

He made an obscene gesture.

"Freddie?" Syanna prompted. "Paperwork. If you could go through all of the diaries and things. I struggle to believe that Lord du Bas-Tyra would be involved in his own murder. But on the other hand, he was just the kind of ambition but no ability kind of Lord that would be taken in by such a plot. I just thought he was better than that."

"I will look. It is also possible that he was being blackmailed or coerced in some way."

"And Ariadne? If you could see your way towards getting Madame Duberton out of the gorge then I would be most grateful."

"I will do that." She said.

We split up about our different tasks although I followed Ariadne out to the balcony out the back of the house. Unable to keep from being curious as to how she was going to get down there.

There were already two guards out there who looked as though they were trying to secure ropes and things but Ariadne strolled past them, taking her satchel off and leaving it on a nearby table. A place that looked as though it had been reserved for some quiet drinks with friends while looking out over the view.

It must have been a spectacular view in daylight. The eastern skies were just beginning to brighten. The cloud cover was still rather thick though so it was hard to see much more than the silhouette of the clouds. The wind carried the promise of the rain and the smell of the harbour on the river bank.

"Where is she?" Ariadne wondered of the guards.

"Errr." One of the two quailed and fell back from the view of the Vampire, the other straightened himself up.

"Down there Ma'am. We threw torches to see her."

Ariadne nodded and peered over the balcony.

"Why not send people round the long way?" I wondered.

"Ravine is treacherous and rocky milord." The more nervous of the two said. "It's the same reason that we can't climb down. Loose rocks could go down and crush… well… you know."

"I do." I admitted.

"I can see her." Ariadne said. "Poor woman, she looks like a broken rag doll. Ground is too rough for a teleport though, Ah well." She turned to the two guards.

"I am going to need rope and blankets?"

The nervous one fled.

"Why blankets?" I wondered.

"The poor woman looks as though she might come apart." Ariadne told me. "It is not pretty Freddie. Tell them to hurl the rope and blankets down to me. No need to worry, I can see them."

She looked at me for a long time. "You have never seen me do this Freddie, stand back."

I did as I was told before she turned and leapt over the wall in something very similar to a dive. Except it seemed to elongate her body before she turned into a reddish black smoke. It was odd to watch. Her body didn't transform so much as it seemed to dissolve into the smoke. The physical form seemed to disappear into the billowing smoke as it drifted down to the gorge below. Far faster than woodsmoke actually moves.

It was… interesting to watch.

But I wasn't there to gawk at the woman I love, work, I was there to work myself.

I found some stairs and headed up. I passed one room which was under guard by a fully armoured Knight of Francesca. As I say, they were FULLY armoured so there was no way that I could easily recognise them. As it was, they gave me an apologetic look as I was forced to edge round them due to the sheer bulk of the armour. The door was open so looking in I could see what I took to be some kind of guest room judging by the lack of personality. There was a bed, a chair and a painting of a landscape of some kind. There was a fire in the hearth.

In the room, sat on the chair was the stricken figure of Colonel Duberton who was sat, staring into space. If Captain De La Tour had been doing any questioning at all, then he wasn't doing it any more. Instead, he was sat on the bed. He had a look of poised, coiled tension.

I recognised the scene as one that I had seen before. It's how people sit when they have delivered bad news to someone and don't know if they need to comfort or restrain the person that they are speaking to. On any given day, it could go either way. Especially when it comes to husband and wife. If it's a love match, there is always the danger that one or other partner might try for a knife in order to end their own life and join the departed in whatever life comes after this one.

You can stop that sort of thing if you're careful. I have found, from watching Kerrass work, that the mistake is to remind them what they have to live for, or what they can look forward to. This is a mistake. As it tends to make people think that they would rather share that experience with the people that they have lost. Instead, remind the person who needs them. It's shitty and manipulative, but in the heat of the moment, sometimes you need to be shitty and manipulative. Remind them of children, relatives, friends, comrades and colleagues that would miss them if they died.

It doesn't always work as sometimes you might have misread the relationship. But it is a good start.

I tried to remember whether or not the Colonel and his wife had any children. Something told me that they didn't though. A half-remembered conversation about waiting until the end of the tour of duty before settling down to trying to start a family.

I moved on. I found the master bedroom next. It was clear that Lord du Bas-Tyra was unmarried rather quickly. There was no writing desk in evidence in the bedroom though so I moved past it. Kerrass is far better at ransacking a bedroom for clues than I am anyway.

I found the man's study and I found myself forming a picture of Lord du Bas-Tyra. I found that I was beginning to dislike him. The purpose of a study is a place to keep your work out of the way of the other occupants of the house. Or if there is other business that is carried out at the house. Otherwise, you have all your work in the main rooms of the house where it is more easily accessible.

If I lived, by myself, in this house other than with the servants, then my paperwork, books and things would have been downstairs. I would have things set out so that I could take books and letters out to the Veranda so that I could work while enjoying the fresh air and the sunshine. You find similar measures taken with most serious scholars and researchers.

Lady Yennefer reads and studies outside when the weather is available to do so. Otherwise, according to the gossip, she spreads her books and papers all over the main eating table in the chateau at Corvo Bianco. It's important to have these things at hand so that when a thought occurs in the middle of the day or in the middle of the meal, you don't have to traipse all the way up to your study to get at a notebook.

This looked like the kind of place where there was a study because he felt as though he had to have a study. There had been no signs of books or any of the other working paraphernalia elsewhere in the house that I had seen. A treacherous part of my brain was trying to tell me that this meant nothing. The man had been expecting guests after all and he might have tidied things away in preparation for having people over.

But somehow I knew that this wasn't the case.

There was an Encyclopedia on one shelf. Not the full version but it still came in several volumes. There was a work on local Etymology as well as several books on Flora and Fauna of the local area. To my eyes, even though there was evidence of regular cleaning, there was no sign that any of these books had been seriously read. Even the most careful reader leaves a mark on a book. Spines get damaged and scuffed, paper gets worn by the passage of fingers and the opening to the elements. Sunlight and damp in the air gets into books when you open them and all of that leaves a mark.

I decided that I would check them for hidden messages later. None of them were misshapen though so I doubted that I would find anything in that shelf.

The only books that looked as though they were regularly read or used was a book on Etiquette and the proper comportment of a gentleman in polite society. These kinds of books are almost entirely useless. There are certain rules of etiquette that never change but the rest of it is in a state of constant flux. By the time that a person starts to write a book on the subject then the fashions and rules of the game have changed.

There was another book on deeper analysis of the duties, responsibilities and privileges of a Knight. This book was, to my eyes, particularly well thumbed. I made a note of the author in order to ask someone like Guillaume as to what kind of politics that particular book would talk about. I also had a quick flick through it and felt like I had some idea. The author was moaning about the lack of proper pride in the examples of modern Knighthood that they had seen. I didn't need to read much more than that to think about what else I would find. I checked it for hidden messages and letters and things but found nothing.

There were several volumes of noble heraldry. As I think I've said before, these are the kinds of reference books that no noble library is without at any stage. Inside you will find a comprehensive list of nobles, their heraldry and their holdings. It is one of those skills that gets drilled into you when you grow up in the gentry to be able to recognise a flag and to be able to provide some information about them. Even if you don't know them personally or have any idea what their name is. You can usually tell where they come from and how old their family is and a bit about their family history by just looking at their flags.

For everything else there are these volumes. There are new editions every year and your average noble family buys a full set once every two or three years while keeping up to date with the regularly published addenda that are supplied from the original book sellers.

Emma buys new ones every year so that she can keep up to date. There is a hope that it will all die down now that the wars are over and that, therefore, there will not be any sudden deaths, dispossessions and completely new noble houses being founded in the next few years.

There was also a book of Romantic Erotica in there. Of course I looked. People hide things in places where others would fear to tread. So of course I looked. I found it odd and certainly not to my taste. The romance was sweet and naive while the erotica itself was brutal, rough and repetitive.

"FREDDIE." Ariadne bellowed through our link. "FREDDIE IF…"

The volume and the strength of feeling was absurd and it all but knocked me off my feet. I caught myself in the chair.

"FREDDIE, YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE TO..."

"Ariadne please," I begged.

I may have whimpered.

"Oh flame I'm so sorry." She sobbed through the link.

I took a moment to let the room stop spinning as I listened to the woman that I loved weep over a link. "What's wrong?" I asked carefully.

"Bastards." She whimpered. "Bastards."

I did my best to soothe her. "Do you need me?"

"No, no I will be fine. Just promise me something."

"Anything, you know that."

"When you find these… things. Promise me that you will not leave me with them. I don't think I could stop myself from tearing them apart. Oh that poor woman."

"Do you need me to come down?" I asked again.

"No, I must still do some work to get her back up to the house. But I swear Freddie. I swear that these bastards are going to pay. Catch them Freddie. Catch them so that they can be destroyed."

She broke off the link and I took a couple of breaths. I have seen Ariadne angry before. Hers is a restrained, simmering rage. It is a banked fire that she carefully directs against the target of her ire. When she does unleash that flame then it is something to see. This was… something else.

But I was here to work.

The desk in the office was a thing of beauty. Expensive, well built and solid. There was a large surface area for the moving of things around there were numerous drawers in it to store things. It must have cost a fortune. It was also, all but unused.

I found one drawer that was full of perfect quills along with a trimming knife that was properly razor sharp. There were spear blocks of ink and blotting sand in their proper areas. There was some sealing wax the looked barely used and a candle that was only just reduced. The papers, such as they were, were non-existent.

It is easier to say what there wasn't. There was no list of accounts. Nor were there any investment reports or anything that might say how a man might make his money. With a house like this… it wasn't rich enough to assume that he could afford to pay someone to do all of that for him. But nor was it small enough to mean that there was no source of income at all. It felt like a summer home. A temporary building that a man might go to if he mostly lived in the country but came to town on business. Except, that would mean that there would be no need for a study really, or if there was… The reading would be for leisure.

What there was was the correspondence. It was not epic in scale. Certainly nothing on the level that Emma maintains, or that even I maintain given my infrequent ability to set time aside to actually see to such things.

When I sat down to start reading them though, I started to groan. The letters that he received fell into three categories. The first was letters from various ladies that he had been pursuing telling him varieties of excuses as to why they would not be able to accept his suit for their hand. Mostly such things were palmed off on reluctant fathers. I have received many such letters myself and there soon becomes an almost standardised look to them. These appeared… cold. There was no care about them. They read like he had just asked as many people as possible and that the responses were not unexpected.

My letters were slightly different. I had never had any difficulty getting the girls to laugh and like me. It was taking it to the next level that I found difficult so I tended to receive far more personal letters that spoke of enjoying my visit and a desire to continue a friendship. But also cutting me off for any hope for the future.

These particular letters felt a lot more. "Stop talking to us and leave us alone." Except more polite than that.

I started to wonder what Colonel Duberton and, or his wife, might have seen in such a man in order to establish any kind of relationship at all.

The next series of letters was from various creditors that were wondering when they could receive their promised payments with varying degrees of civility. None of them were to the stage of making overt threats. It was much more about… "I am sure that My Lord du Bas-Tyra would not wish for future dealings to be negatively impacted by tardiness." Thus saying that when he needed money in the future, that it might be less likely to be forthcoming than he might have preferred.

I only recognised three of the names from the letters. Most were from various private individuals that I didn't recognise from places that were an increasing distance outside of the Duchy itself. It would seem that the further away the creditors were, the less likely it was that Lord du Bas-Tyra knew them personally. Again, I was left with the feeling that these letters were standardised letters written by a clerk somewhere before being taken to the relevant person for a personal signature and seal.

The three names that I recognised were The Vivaldi bank from the North. The Dwarven family that initially, at least, owned most of the banking concerns in the Northern Kingdoms. Various efforts have been made to remove the venerable financial institution from the hands of the "non-human scum" but I have noticed that when this has been done, often to fund a monarch's or private individuals military expansion, the money is inevitably wasted and the individual branch has ended up being reclaimed by the dwarves until it gets built up again accordingly. There is a certain circle of people, including me, that finds that endlessly amusing. There are just some things that they are better at than we are and one of those things is that dwarves are simply better at making money than we are.

Another name was the Giancarli bank based out of Beauclair itself. The Vivaldi letter had a more personal touch to it whereas the Giancarli bank was telling Lord du Bas-Tyra, in detail, exactly how much money he was losing while he waited to pay back the amount owed. There was also a little reminder on the bottom of their letters that told Lord du Bas-Tyra that failure to pay the amount owed would result in legal action which could lead to seizure of assets and time spent in penal servitude or prison.

The last name was Lord Velles, or Sir Velles if you prefer. To refresh people's memories. Lord Velles is the merchant that was seeking an invitation to Sam's confidences. A former soldier and veteran of Temeria's armed forces. He was the most insistent that money be repaid sooner rather than later and was also the most blunt about what would happen should the money not be forthcoming. In this case, any and all business interests that might have been in existence between the two would be voided and the debt would be reclaimed out of those business dealings.

I laid this group of letters down and sighed. The man was just a gambler's problem and a few bastard's away from being the stereotype of the useless noble man's son.

I sighed and reached for the third pile.

And the image of the man that I had constructed in my mind was complete. These letters were from other men that seemed to mostly be agreeing with Lord du Bas-Tyra about the different faults and wrongs that he could see in the world. People complaining about peasants not paying their proper respect and that kind of thing. Moaning about how the world would be a much better place if people would just listen to them rather than to other people. It was only due to the brief suggestion that some of these letters might contain some kind of code that I didn't hurl them away from me in some form of disgust.

I was in the process of this when I heard some voices from further into the house that I didn't recognise. Old habits of curiosity caused me to set my work aside, work that I was becoming convinced was pointless anyway, take up my spear and head in the direction.

There I found myself facing, down the corridor on the upper levels of the house, a man in a Nilfgaardian officer's uniform who was looking… unhappy would be the right word for it. Not angry. Definitely not that. It was more… It was the face of a man that was doing an unpleasant job. He was being led by Syanna who saw me.

"Lord Frederick." She called. "I do not believe you have met Major Dunnet of the Alba division. Second in command to Colonel Duberton."

I strode forward and offered my hand to be shaken.

"I have not." I said. "It is my honour sir although I wish it was under better circumstances. Much better circumstances."

"I share your sentiment Lord Frederick." He said with a slight smile, saluting before taking my hand. He was not wearing armour. But instead, he was wearing a formal looking tunic that bore the Golden sun of Nilfgaard and the crest of the regiment. He was also carrying a heavy broadsword on his hip in a cavalryman's sheath.

He did not wear spurs which told me a lot that I needed to know of the man.

"May I add my personal thanks Lord Frederick." He went on.

"Oh?"

"Yes My Lord. I have both read your accounts of your journey with the Empress and it is noted throughout our military that the Empress has had more… Pep since returning from the islands. She had lost some of her drive after the loss of her friend, your sister and it was a concern to certain members of the military. But since then she has returned to being the woman that we are coming to respect and admire."

"Ummm, well, you are quite welcome."

"I am also particularly pleased about your recent essays on the cost of this lifestyle. Both in terms of physical cost as well as the cost to a man's mind. We were able to use these essays to persuade my father to not force my younger brother into service. My brother is a sensitive soul who would have broken under military discipline and would not have survived some of the things that a soldier is expected to do. I do believe that you saved his life sir. And for that I thank you."

"Not so sir." I told him. "I am just the messenger. It was my brother that told me to send the message and it was you, and your father that acted on it."

He smiled "I had thought I would like you. Much though I would enjoy getting to know you better sir, I am here on official business. Is this the room that the Colonel is in?" He asked Syanna this last.

"It is,"

The Major nodded and moved into the room. Damien stood.

"Colonel Duberton." The Major said to his superior formally.

The Colonel took a deep breath before rising to his feet with the same kind of ponderousness as the ram striking the castle gate. Once he was standing he straightened his clothing and arranged his sword.

"Major Dunnet." He said. "I am sorry that it had to be you."

"As am I sir." The Major said. "It is my duty to inform you that, on this most horrible of occasions, that I am here to relieve you of your command and your authority. Once matters are dealt with, your orders are that you will return to your place of residence near the capital and you will deal with family matters until such a time as the Empress deems it prudent."

The Colonel drew himself up to attention and nodded.

"I must ask you to surrender your sword sir."

The Colonel looked down to his side and was astonished to see that it was still there. He unclipped the scabbard from his belt and held it out to the Major who took it.

"I stand relieved sir. I will not be able to leave until the pass is clear and I will not leave here until justice is served. If you intend to prevent that then I would ask you to say so now."

"Understandable sir."

"Further to this," The Colonel went on. "I give you my word that I will not seek to interfere with the running of the regiment. You will do a good job Bill and I hope that you stay with the lads."

The Major then handed the sword back. "Now that that's over with. I thank you for your parole." He scratched behind his ears. "Sun burn me to a crisp Mike," He went on, I guessed that Mike was short for Michelle. "But I am so sorry. I loved her like a sister and… Well… If there is anything you need."

"Thanks Bill."

"The lads, those that were no duty are just itching to pay the bastards back as well." The Major went on. "You know how they felt about her."

For a minute there, it looked as though the Colonel's self control was going to crumble. "Thank them for me Bill. I wish it didn't have to end like this."

"As do I sir."

"Congratulations Colonel." Duberton held his hand out.

"Thank you sir." The new Colonel of the 4th Regiment took the hand. "But I wish it wasn't like this."

Colonel Dunnet turned to Syanna. "The 4th stand ready to assist you Knight Commander. We are yours to command and deploy as you see fit until we receive orders to the contrary."

"One last bastard to catch for the road Ma… Colonel." Syanna wondered.

"As you say. I will be with the lads should you need me. You should know that Major Forrest went to the palace to speak with the Duchess."

Syanna nodded. "I was expecting that."

"We all have our duties to attend to. It would have been the other way round if he had been senior. Lord Frederick? A pleasure. You must dine with me when this is all over."

"I would be honoured." I told him.

"Captain de la Tour." The Colonel shook hands with the bemused Guard Captain and left.

We all stood there for a moment as the new man left and tromped down the hall. Of all people, it was Colonel Duberton that broke the silence. How did he do that? He chuckled.

"You have questions Lord Frederick." He said.

"What?"

"I have read about you sir." He said, a little formally. "I know that one of the things that drives you is your curiosity and that you cannot do anything until your curiosities are vanquished. I had thought it was an exaggeration of your own invention or that other people have said of you, but until I saw it for myself… You really are paralysed by it."

"Now I have even more questions." I said with a sigh and a rub of my temples.

"Then ask. If you are well enough of course. If I may say so, you look a little wobbly around the edges."

"I have not been well." I admitted. "You have read of me?"

Syanna chuckled herself and left muttering something about a scholar's pride being worse than a Knight's

"It is compulsory reading." Duberton said. "I hope all this didn't get you out of bed. Recovery time is important."

I ignored that part. It would head into dangerous territory "Ok, I will leave why such reading would be compulsory for now. But what was that?" I gestured towards the door.

"What was… Oh. Colonel Dunnet. Well," he scratched his chin. "I never met the Emperor." He said before sitting back down. "Only in passing and when I was being given orders. But it's one of those directives that he instituted into a military when our organisation and hierarchy stopped being feudal based and started being centrally organised. The Emperor was calm, calculating and ruthless. That part of it, the histories got right. He is also fair. He does not mind the first mistake but if you make that mistake again then you are going to be destroyed.

"He also has a thing in his head that if you get to certain ranks then you shouldn't be making certain mistakes. If Marshal Coehoorn… yes, I read your assessment of the battle at Brenna. If Marshal Coehoorn had told the Emperor that his scouting corps was incompetent and that he could not trust the information enough to advance… Which he should have done, then the Emperor would have been fine with that. But he promised victory. Therefore the Emperor's rage was colossal.

"But he strikes me as a man who learned his compassion out of a book. Someone told him that Officers should marry. Especially senior Knights and officers on the grounds that marriage makes a man more careful. Recklessness is for junior ranks. Captains and the like. Majors and Colonels up to generals and field marshals are expected to marry. And for love where possible.

"Then someone told him that having a field commander whose spouse has just died might compromise their judgement. So he gave a general order that any man," he pointed at himself, "that loses their spouse should be relieved of command and authority instantly, before being escorted home where they can recover from their grief. It's the kind of brutal, uncompromising act that he was famous for. Just as he was the same when waging war, he was the same when he was caring for those under his command. The needs of the many over the needs of the few. Brutal and uncompromising kindness."

Once again, his face and manner seemed to waver as I thought he might collapse. And then he didn't. "Ask your questions." He told me.

"I do not have many." I said. "I am sure that you have already given your story to others. But I do have one. I am going through Lord du Bas-Tyra's correspondence and I am getting a picture of the man that is not very flattering. Whereas you seem a good, decent and honourable man. What was the basis of your friendship with him?"

The Colonel sighed and rubbed at his head.

"He was kind to my wife." His voice almost cracked at the end of that. "A lot of people have been cruel to her in the courts and salons of Toussaint and I have found that all a man needs to do to earn my friendship, is to be nice to my wife."

I nodded. It was easily believable. "I shall leave you to your Grief sir." I told him before leaving.

"Do not neglect your health Lord Frederick." He told me. "Take proper care of yourself."

I accepted that with a smile and a wave before leaving. Then I stopped just outside the room and felt myself frowning. Why had I considered whether or not Colonel Duberton's story was believable or not?

I returned to my paperwork for a while but there was nothing more to add to what I was seeing. I tried various techniques that I had left over from my army service in the logistics and intelligence divisions to see if I could see any codes. Elementary stuff, but then again, I didn't have much of an opinion about Lord du Bas-Tyra anyway, so if there was likely to be a code, then I thought it would be fairly easy to find.

I found nothing.

Remembering Edmund I also looked to see if any of the books on the shelves could act as the basis of some kind of book code but there was nothing there either. I also took the time to take the desk apart by pulling the drawers out and looking at the back for any hidden messages. There were none. In the end I decided that I had a good idea of who the man was and that if anything was hidden then it wasn't going to be in the man's study. Instead, I tried to have a look round in the main bedroom.

Kerrass was already there, tearing apart pillows and blankets, looking under the mattress and behind the dressers and things. He is far better about this kind of thing than I am so I just waited. He noticed me and looked up at me with a raised eyebrow.

"Make me a happy man." I said, "Tell me that there is some kind of hidden cache of papers and letters that owns up to everything."

Kerrass shook his head. "You doing ok Freddie?"

"I've been happier but, you know, sleep when it's done and all that."

Kerrass frowned at me for a moment before nodding and going back to work.

I returned to the study and tried to get back down to it but everything that I was reading at that point just confirmed things that I had already found. Fighting off the urge to put my head on the desk and have a brief nap, I had just made my mind up to wander up to the servant's floor and see if any of them kept anything interesting like a journal or a diary, but I heard the door opening and closing again. Shortly after that, a guardsman stuck his head into the study to tell me that the Knight Commander wanted us all.

We all went back into the living area. Kerrass had found something I thought as he was wearing his thinking face. Syanna was expectant. Guillaume and Gregoire were kind of impassive while Ariadne was furious.

Her face was so mask like that I looked at her carefully and it wasn't until I saw Kerrass clutch at his medallion that I realised what was going on. She was wearing an illusion of herself. Something that I have not seen her do since the early days of her release from her tower.

I went over to her and cautiously put my hand on her shoulder.

She flinched before realising that it was me. Her shoulder felt hard. Bony, but also with a lot of iron hard muscle under there. She normally feels, well… She normally feels like a woman. A fit, healthy, woman who has some muscle on her limbs when I touch her. Now it felt… It felt like touching the hide of…. Something else.

She looked up at me and I am coming to know her well enough to realise that she was afraid.

"I'm sorry." She said, through the link rather than via words spoken aloud.

"Are you alright?" I asked in the same manner.

"No." She said, "No I am not alright. I want to kill them Freddie. I want to tear them apart. That poor woman."

"I love you." I told her. I would have hugged her too but that seemed as though it might have overwhelmed her. "I love you so much and we are going to catch them. I am also certain to the depths of my soul that what the Duchess is going to do to them is worse than what you can do. Also, justice needs to be seen to be believed."

"I know." She said aloud this time. She took several deep breaths and the shoulder under my hand became more… shoulder like. I know that sounds strange, but believe me when I say that it's the closest that I can express to what it felt like.

"So you have seen my mist form." She said after a few more deep breaths. "I don't think you've seen that before."

"I have not." I admitted.

"What did you think?" She was challenging me there. Also a little nervous I think.

"I'm not gonna lie." I told her as I thought carefully about what I was going to say next. "It was kind of hot?"

"Really?" She grinned, becoming herself again. "How interesting. In what way?"

"Well, it means that if you wanted to, I would never hear you coming. So all of a sudden, there you are, coming out of nowhere and kissing me or doing… other things as well…. I find I like that idea."

"A monster fetish Freddie?" Kerrass teased. "Who would have thunk it."

"To be fair," I retorted. "It shouldn't be that much of a shock. And it's less of a monster fetish, more of a vampire fetish."

"Lord Frederick." Guillaume joined the deliberate lightening of the mood. "I have not known you for long and I would say that you have a beautiful woman fetish than anything else."

"Not the worst fetish that a man could have." Gregoire rumbled. The big man was wearing an astonished expression at the level of banter. Also, that I hadn't taken offence seemed to be part of the astonishment.

"This opens so many new and interesting possibilities." Ariadne said with a calculating expression and a glint in her eye.

There was more good natured chuckling at my expense which I took on the chin. It needed to happen. The world was a bleak place and the mood needed to be lightened.

"Alright, that's enough." Syanna told us all. "This is a tough one, I know. Let's keep working it though. Ariadne, tell the boys what you told me."

Now readers. I have talked about some horrible things in my time. I have talked about horror and weird sexually violent rituals that cultists have used in order to worship dark gods from… wherever the fuck. But as I warned at the top of this article, this was worse because humans did this for political purposes and it made me ill to think of it.

If reading the descriptions of horror done to women by evil men upsets you then I advise you, I encourage you to skip the next few paragraphs. I am recording it though because this is the kind of thing that people in certain circles still think is ok. So, along with my promise to my brother, I think it's vital that we, as a continent, confront this kind of thing head on and even if it convinces one person to open their eyes, just one person, then I feel that it is worth it. I will have the publishers put some stars in the text so that people know when to start reading again.

"Madame Duberton…" Ariadne cleared her throat. "Madame Duberton was immobilised by a blow to the back of the head. It was not severe but I would guess that it was enough to shock her to a state where she was all but insensible. Then she was restrained at the wrists and ankles by some kind of thin rope or cord that was twisted. The ropes were used to pull her limbs out of position rather harshly. Then she was…"

She took another deep breath.

"She was raped. Several times by, I think, multiple people. Then when they could no longer do that properly, they started raping her with household objects. She was already dying from internal rupturing from when they used the iron poker.

"When they grew bored of that. They beat her to death including going so far as to cave in her face so that the only recognisable feature of her is her hair and even that is matted with blood and… other matter. They made her a piece of meat gentlemen. If she was in a butcher's shop window, people would not be able to recognise her as human."

Silence fell for several moments.

"Prophets preserve us." Gregoire said. The big man had not yet learned to control his expression. "I have heard about such things being done in bandit camps and the like, but in Beauclair itself, and we think Alain is...?"

Then his face twisted into a grimace of rage that was… frightening.

"You will need to get in line." Syanna told him. "So that's what we're dealing with. Freddie?"

Ariadne squeezed my hand. I could not remember the moment when she took it.

"I ummm." I took a breath, and the same as I do every time we find something like that on the road, I took it and pushed it aside in my own mind.

"I will be honest." I said. "If he wasn't lying dead, I would have assumed from his correspondence, that Lord du Bas-Tyra might have been one of our conspirators."

I saw Kerrass nod slightly.

"Explain." Syanna went on.

"Well, he has numerous debts. From what I could see of his financial records which are all but nonexistent. He has a habit of borrowing from one creditor to pay off another. And that's how it goes. I don't think he has any solid records of any kind but I am almost certain that he wagers money on things. Cards would be my first guess although I have not found a gwent or Pokiir deck."

"I did." Kerrass said.

I nodded, that would make sense.

"He was resolutely single although not by choice. He has issued many proposals of marriage, all of which were turned down and some of those were as recent as last week. He had an approach to courting of throwing as much at the wall as he could and seeing if anything would stick. Some people appear to have found that insulting."

"As well they should." Guillaume muttered.

"He also keeps a considerable correspondence with various people where he moans about the state of Toussaint today. All the normal kinds of dissatisfaction. Peasants not giving enough respect, people should know who their betters are, tavernkeepers having the cheek to demand payment up front. That kind of thing. To be truthful, I am astonished that Colonel Duberton and his wife were friends with him. I asked, but apparently it's something to do with Lord du Bas-Tyra being nice to Madame Duberton when they first arrived."

Syanna and Guillaume nodded.

"It's believable..." Guillaume said.

There's that word again. I felt myself frown

"...There was a bit of an uproar when the Nilfgaardian Knights first brought their wives to court and they steadfastly refused to obey fashions and social mores. They were withdrawn, quiet and some people took that to be insulting and as a result, were… cruel."

Syanna nodded. "I heard about that. Did you find anything concrete from the letters?" She asked me.

"No." I said. "In his correspondences, especially with the other people that were complaining about things, we would only expand our suspect pool. I could find no family connections, there are no portraits of anyone that he might feel any kind of affection towards and so I am…" I thought about it for a moment. "There might be some friends that will be unhappy with him being dead. But it's not going to cause a blood feud. I would imagine that his death is going to cause problems for his creditors as they fight over what was left of his estate. I found evidence of him having borrowed against this house with at least three people."

Syanna grunted at this.

"There used to be noblemen's sons like this one all the way through the continent." I said. "I was nearly one myself. Young men, convinced that they deserved more than what they were given because of their birth. Living outside their means but not having the drive or the ambition to make something of themselves. Instead of doing anything, they preferred to keep their living conditions too high and spend their time spending money that they don't have."

I thought a bit more.

"Wow, that got harsh pretty quickly." I commented.

"But not unfair given what I know about the man." Guillaume said. "He would regularly complain that he would not be treated with respect because he couldn't fight with a sword. Therefore, anyone could challenge him to a duel and he would lose. If you suggested that he should learn to use a sword, he would claim that he was far too busy. If you asked him what he was busy with he would make some kind of excuse before walking away. I know it's wrong to speak ill of the dead, but I do not think he will be missed by anyone. As I recall, there is no family. If I was being more charitable, I might suggest that his problem was that his father died when he was too young and as a result, he got access to the family funds when he wasn't ready for them."

Syanna nodded.

"What did you and Gregoire find?"

"Not much." Guillaume said. The big Knight had turned away to master his own emotions. "The Colonel and his wife left Madame Duberton's town lodgings and headed down for dinner in the right kind of time frame. Her Landlady confirmed that this was the case although she said that Madame Duberton appeared kind of nervous. Beyond that, we met a baker who summoned his son who saw the couple going down to dinner in the evening. The same with a pair of beggars who were disappointed that Madame Duberton did not drop any money in their hats. She is, apparently, someone who can often be depended upon to add a couple of crowns to the mix. The route matches up as well."

Syanna nodded. "Ok then, Kerrass. I can tell you found something."

"And I found a lot." He said.

"I think that there were two, maybe three people involved in the attack, and I am all but certain that they had been waiting in the master bedroom for the Colonel and his wife to arrive."

I had found a chair to sit in but Kerrass' words caused me to lean forward.

"This attack was staged." Kerrass said. "If this was a monster, these dead people were arranged to taunt us. This is… Forgive me Ariadne. This is like a Katakan or another more feral Vampire, arranging the bodies of its victims in order to inspire fear or anger. I also agree with Freddie that Bas-Tyra was in on it. I imagine that he was very shocked when his fellows turned on him."

"How do you know all of this?" Syanna said, she was breathing a little harder than she would normally.

"Working through it. There is no way that even the most skilled swordsman would have been able to kill all of those servants and incapacitate Colonel Duberton and his wife without someone escaping or someone screaming loud enough to bring the guards, bring the neighbours or bring anyone that was coming.

"Some people did try and escape but they were pulled from the walls. THere were also four guards who knew what they were doing. Their weapons are cared for and they have proper calluses and muscles in all the right places to be experienced fighting men. So that's eight people not counting Lady Duberton and even if he had been drinking, to be a Colonel of the Alba Light division it takes more than knowing which end of the sword to hold."

Guillaume was nodding.

"So that takes at least two other people, maybe three. I think these guests were known to the servants and were brought here under some form of an excuse. That they were going to surprise Colonel Duberton or play some kind of fun prank. There are signs of men waiting in the Master bedroom. There is tobacco smoke, a game of Gwent was in evidence and a book that had been set aside. So I think there was a signal at some point. The men came downstairs. One went into the dining area and incapacitated the Colonel and his wife. The surprise being enough to get the advantage on the Colonel who I would put as a better swordsman than the guards. So they neutralised the bigger threat up front…"

He paused and frowned. "Which reminds me. It is possible that there was a drug, lacing the food or drink that the Colonel had been given in order to slow him down. Is there a way to check that?"

"There is." Ariadne said. "But it's much harder to tell what it is. I could tell you that he has been drugged. Or if you find me a sample of a drug or a poison, I could confirm or deny whether or not it was that particular sample used. But I can't tell what the poison was… Unless it's spider venom of course. But that would not work to slow someone down, that would cause more paralysis. Not the slowing of a man down."

Kerrass nodded. "It might be worth pursuing."

Syanna nodded. "If you could take the necessary steps Lady de Angral?"

"I will go now." Ariadne nodded. I need to get started though as the longer I leave it, the less conclusive the results will be."

She left and I felt a loss. I stretched and yawned.

"But the fight spread from there." Kerrass went on. The brawl in the dining area was over quickly. One attacker went forward and dealt with the servants in that direction, then either the man from the dining room went backwards, or there was another man that went in that direction, down to the Kitchens and things. Killing as they went. Then they came back, restrained Bas-Tyra. Killed him before torturing and beating Madame Duberton to death. Tossed her over the balcony edge and left. Probably through the front gate now wearing their normal clothes."

Syanna grunted… "Were all the men involved in the killing good with the blade?" She asked.

"Oh yes. They would have to be, to get the job done this quickly."

"Can you tell the difference between the training?" Gregoire added. He had mirrored me in sitting on a chair. "The difference between how a Knight would fight against a duellist for instance."

"No." Kerrass said. "The weapons were quick and sharp though, but they could have been daggers, short swords or longer blades. There is no way to tell. But most of these people were untrained, unarmoured and probably didn't expect anything. They had probably even been told that a man appearing dressed as Jack was part of the "Friendly japes" that were planned regarding the Dubertons. Plus the shock of the untrained person in the face of violent death… The difficulty in the task was to do with the speed involved. The actual killing would have been easy… relatively speaking. But the movements, with guards and soldiers in the way? That is the bit that takes the skill.

"Also," Kerrass went on. "This was planned. They knew exactly where they were going and they knew exactly what they were going to be doing when they got there. These people knew this house. They knew how many people were going to be here and they knew how it was going to be done and in what order."

Syanna nodded. "There is a question here that I think I know the answer to." She began. "It's not a nice question and I dread the answer. But I'm going to ask it anyway. Why leave Colonel Duberton alive?"

Silence fell for a bit longer.

"Freddie, I think that question was for you." Kerrass joked and I jerked myself back to the upright position from where I had begun to slump."

"I think…" I began before realising that my thought patterns were not yet in order. "I think that…" I tried to force my sad and tired brain to think. "I think that the answer is currently in a meeting with the Duchess. I don't know if our enemies knew about the standing orders about what happens when a senior officer loses their close family members. But I think that Colonel Duberton was allowed to live so that he could bring his anger and his outrage."

I started to warm to my subject.

"We have all heard stories about how the Emperor used to act if one of his ambassadors or citizens was killed in foreign countries when not fighting a war. It's part of the Pax Nilfgaardia. It is known throughout the land that should you kill a citizen of Nilfgaard, then it is certain that the wrath of the Empire will come crashing down on your house. So right now, the conspirators are… I think… hoping that the Colonel, or someone, is in the Duchess' office demanding the replacement and punishment of Syanna and the Knights of Saint Francesca. They will think that the only thing that the Duchess can do in response is to reinstate the old order.

"Now for the record, if it was the Emperor of old, then I would say it would be much more likely that the Imperial 2nd army would arrive and tear Toussaint apart until the killers would be found. Wine trade and economic problems be damned. Under the Empress… I genuinely think that they have forgotten that it was the Empress that ordered these changes."

"They are too used to living in the past." Guillaume said. "We know this of them already. Delusions of Toussaint's precedence in all things."

"But I think it would be much more likely that the Empress will order something else. She will allow certain rules to be violated in the pursuit of these killers. People should also not presume that the Empress is any the less harsh than her father. More sharp and precise maybe. But not weaker."

"So they think that they are disgracing us, but in reality, they risk the destruction of the entirety of Toussaint." Syanna said.

"Pretty much"

"But why leave Colonel Duberton alive at all?" Gregoire wondered. "I know that I am… unused to this… what was it called?"

"Detective work." Guillaume supplied.

"Yeah. But why does that require Duberton to be alive? What you describe could be achieved by just killing the man as easily as it would by what they did. I too have seen the Colonel train. I could take him, I think, but I would not come away unscathed and the outcome would not be certain. I would not want that man angry with me."

I was not the only person that looked at Gregoire in surprise.

"There are two reasons that I can think of." I said carefully. "And I don't know which is worse. The first is that… After all, this is Toussaint. The story appeals to them. Leaving the man alive to seek his vengeance."

"And what's the other option?" Gregoire nodded.

A guard came in and passed Syanna a note which she read with a grimace.

"That they enjoyed the cruelty." She said. "We're nowhere with this." She declared. "We have found nothing new. No new suspects, no new evidence and not particularly any new leads.

"This." She waved the piece of paper. "Is my sister summoning me up to the castle and I agree with Lord Frederick's assessment as to what I am going to be told. I am going to be told to step up my game or we run the risk of Nilfgaard invading. It is not a meeting that I am looking forward to. So go back to the castle. I'm going to lock all of us in a room with all the paperwork and evidence that we have until we can come up with a scheme as to what we are going to do next. Freddie?"

I realised that I was nodding off again. "Hmmm?"

"I am sorry Lord Frederick. Lady du Angral has made it clear to me before how much this is costing you, as has Kerrass. But I need you, are you with me?"

I nodded. "I'm going to need some strong coffee." I told the room to which Kerrass snickered.

"It can be arranged." Syanna said. "And if your intended permits, when this is all over, I will drown you in beautiful women so that you will not leave your bed for a week."

Even Gregoire laughed at that.

"A week?" I wondered.

"Very well, a fortnight. But it might limit the number of women." Syanna smirked. "My funds are not inexhaustible."

Gregoire snorted. "I thought we got paid more than that."

There was a solid minute where we all looked at him in horror.

"I mean, if the Knight Commander can't afford the really good women, then what hope do the rest of us have? Anne needs jewellery after all."

Guillaume laughed in astonishment at the big man's humour. "Ah Gregoire, I never knew you had it in you."

"What, only you lot can make jokes?"

"For my part." Kerrass spoke up. "I found that ladies always enjoy the gesture rather than the content. Flowers work just as well."

Gregoire looked relieved for a moment.

"Whoever told you that, Witcher, was a Prophet cursed liar." Syanna told him. "Flowers wilt. Diamonds are forever. Now get to work."

The little laugh was much needed as we all trooped out of the house. As we left, some guards were erecting a barrier across the door so that the early morning traffic would not be wanting to intrude. There are always nosy members of the public that want to get involved whenever there has been a tragedy, the more gruesome the better. I have no idea why. Kerrass once told me that it is a matter of reassurance. That if people can see the horrible things that have happened to other people then it reminds them that they themselves are still alive.

Like a lot of other things that Kerrass has said over the years. I am left, kind of hoping that this is not the case, but at the same time, knowing that it probably is.

We waited in the courtyard for our horses to be brought and we left, mounting up in an open area that the guards cleared for us. As they always do, the watchers called out for news. "What has happened? What is going on?" and the increasingly popular. "Why haven't you caught the bastard yet?" and "When is this going to end?"

The fatalistic response is "This will never end. Even if we catch the killer today, there will always be another killer. There will always be someone else to catch. But the people in the streets don't want to hear that kind of thing. They want to be reassured. THey want to be angry, shout and throw things.

I know this because I saw that Gregoire reacted to the crowd's shouting in an automatic, reflexive kind of way. He turned to hurl abuse back. To shout and gesticulate and threaten violence. Guillaume caught it though and explained how things were. Gregoire was appalled that the Knights of Francesca were just expected to ride along and take the abuse.

"When we are on duty, or in the middle of an investigation, then yes." Guillaume told him. "We can leap to the defence of others. We can always express some righteous violence on people if the ones that we are escorting get insulted. But if it's us, then we suck it up."

"You have to be careful though." Kerrass said when we got clear from the shouting crowds. "If you hurt someone then it's much harder to get their help at a later date. You cannot ask someone for information if they remember you smacking around their neighbour because they were a bit rude."

Gregoire grunted, frowning in thought. "I had no idea. I kind of want to stop being one of the Knights and just follow you around, calling out all the bastards that hurl abuse at you for daring to challenge you in the process of doing your duty."

Guillaume laughed. "I quite like that image." He said. "But I think I would rather have you on side. I will not lie my friend, I can think of several ways that we can gleefully use your established reputation and routine in order to make Toussaint a better place."

Syanna had gone ahead to her meeting with the Duchess. We spent a bit of time in idle speculation about what the two most powerful women in the realm would be talking about. I also spent some time talking to Ariadne, she was still bothered by what she had seen back in the house and who could blame her to be honest. We talked a bit more about what she had seen. I got the feeling that some of her faith in humanity had been damaged at that moment and, again, I couldn't blame her . She told me that she would be working in the lab down in Corvo Bianco for a while and that I should contact her if we needed her. She wanted to help catch the fuckers but was a little bit too angry to entirely trust her own judgement to be logical.

"Yeah," I said. "There's a bit of that going about."

She instructed Kerrass and Guillaume to keep an eye on me in her place. Damien caught up with us as we rode. He told us a bit more as we rode, about the first steps of the city guard and about how they had found Colonel Duberton tied up in the dining area, hoarse with tears and rage as he had been screaming for help. It had been arranged that he would be escorted back to the Imperial camps so that he could be surrounded by his Knights and men rather than in his wife's lodgings where he would just be alone with the memory of his dead wife.

When we arrived in the castle itself, a messenger was waiting for us who passed a note to the Guard commander who in turn, told us all that we were setting up in one of the meeting rooms and that Syanna would join us there shortly. It was a nice room, large table and when we got there, there were already servants arranging large jugs of Watered wine and coffee. The latter of which I drank from greedily.

I was most disturbed to realise that my hands were shaking. Not the sort of thing that you want to realise about yourself. So I treated myself to one of the sweet pastries that were the next things to be carried in, before taking myself off to sit and watch the sun rise while I focused on breathing in and out.

A few more people started to arrive. A man that I took to be one of Captain de La Tour's more senior Watchmen as well as a couple of scribes. A few more Knights arrived from the Saint Francesca division. A black armoured Knight of the Nilfgaardian armour division came in and greeted Guillaume as though they knew each other. There was an uneasy rattling of armour as Lady Tonlaire came in.

It was somewhat reassuring to see her in that guise and in that way. She was…. She had obviously been dragged from her bed earlier than she was entirely comfortable with. She was dressed in a much more flowing dress than she was probably used to, there were no cosmetics on her face and just a simple pair of earrings on as well as a pendant of some kind. The kind of thing that you could throw on as you were hustled down the corridor. She looked… more human than she had previously but even despite all of that, and the yawn that threatened to split her head in half. She seemed distracted.

I made a point of taking her a cup of strong coffee for which she thanked me automatically before frowning in thought at me.

We just sat there making small talk for a while. There seemed to be a consistent and conscious effort to not discuss the reason why we were all there. I met the Nilfgaardian Knight who was introduced as a Captain Carline. He seemed like a nice young gentleman and he was there to offer aid wherever and however it was needed. I asked him whether he was here to observe that Toussaint was taking this seriously or not and he grinned at me.

"Yes." He said. "But I'm also here to help you all catch the bastard. Nothing would make me happier than that being the case."

I liked him. There was no subterfuge in his body.

We were not kept waiting for long before Syanna came back. She did not have the attitude of a woman that had been in a shouting match. Instead, she seemed calm, her jaw was clenched slightly and she was frowning. There was a general kind of movement as we set aside coffee cups, finished off the last of our pastries and took chairs around the table.

"Right." Syanna began. "Are we all here? I see that we are. And the scribes as well. Excellent. Everyone should know that the scribes are here in order to make a full record of these discussions. This is for two reasons. The first is so that we can refer back to the records should it be needed, but also as a formal record for coming history and explanations to the authorities should it be required."

There was some murmuring around the table.

"And by "the authorities," you mean the Empress." De La Tour said. It was not really a question.

"I have no doubt that she will be one of the interested parties." Syanna said. "Or at least, one of her secretaries will be." There were some scattered chuckles.

"Well then Ladies and Gentlemen." Syanna began a bit more formally. "I have just come from the office of the Duchess. Given the recent death of Madame Duberton, a citizen of Nilfgaard and wife to the Colonel who has helped train many of the people in this room as well as being beloved of the men and women that have kept us safe over the last year. The Duchess has decided that she has had enough. I share her sentiment."

There was some muttering among those that had not heard about Madame Duberton. I was watching Lady Tonlaire specifically and she was clearly appalled. She might be a talented courtier but I didn't think she could have faked such a thing.

"The investigation has been kept relatively small up until this point. However we can no longer afford to tiptoe around the issue. The Duchess wants this done. She wants, and I quote, she "wants the bastards caught." She wants them to face justice and from what I gathered of her mood, the penalties will not be small. As I say, I share her sentiment.

"That is not to say that we are displeased with the work that has been done so far. I would especially like to take this moment to formally, on the record and before witnesses, thank Lord Frederick Coulthard who's insights into the matter have been invaluable, and also Witcher Kerrass who's tracking skills and experience have, likewise, enabled us to do far more than we would otherwise have been able to manage.

"I would also like to thank Lady Ariadne, Countess du Angraal for her services, even though she is not present, it bears saying so before witnesses and so that our gratitude, the Duchess' as well as mine, can be entered into the official record.

"But I do not think it is unfair to say that, to date, the only thing that the investigation has managed to do is to react to what the killers and conspirators have been doing. Meaning that, all we have done is removing suspects and suspicions from the board rather than actually being able to zero in on who is actually carrying out these attacks.

"That ends today. By the end of today, I want to have given orders for us to take serious, proactive and decisive action in order to bring some of these perpetrators to justice.

"It is also true, and worth admitting, that we know who at least one of these people are."

There was some shifting in the seats at that and I saw the Nilfgaardian man frown at that.

"We will explain why he is still allowed his freedom in a moment. But in short, it is because we believe it vital that we sweep up this entire plot in one go. We need the names and locations of everyone that has taken part in these attacks. It is impossible, as you will see, that it is only one person performing these attacks.

"We also believe that the purpose of these attacks is to undermine confidence in the law keeping abilities of the Knights of Saint Francesca in the countryside, and the city guard themselves within Beauclair. What we believe that the conspirators have not taken into account, is that the changes that they would revert, were made on the Empress' orders. And that therefore, it is impossible for the Duchess to rescind the Imperial decree. And that if she did so, the Empress would be… well..,"

"Irate?" Suggested the Nilfgaardian Knight.

"Put out." I added.

"I would be more inclined to say "Fucking Furious"." Syanna said.

Lady Tonlaire was particularly troubled by that. I found myself wondering if that had even occurred to her… Probably not.

"So what we are going to do now," Syanna told us. "Here in this room is, we are going to go over everything again. And then we are going to come up with a plan. Food will be brought and anyone that tries to say that we are not doing our job will be eviscerated by my sister who has had enough of… well… everything. So let's start at the beginning."

And that's what we did. I'm not going to go through all of this again. I have to assume that if you've read this far in things then you have read the previous chapters, so you will know the more precise details about the different things that we had found and discussed over time.

So just brushing over things so that we can get to the meat of what was discussed. We discussed matters in order of discussion. We started off with Appoline, the bar maid at the Cockatrice inn, we talked about what we had found and our various suspicions as well as the fact that the investigation into her assault and murder was not as thorough as it might have been given the recent attack on Lady Vivienne de Launfal that took place on the same night. Syanna forced us to skip over the recriminations and accusations of incompetence and moved us on before things were allowed to get more bitter.

After that, we talked about Miss Donnet, the young girl that had wanted to be a nun due to her fascination with learning and a lack of interest in anything else. The fact that this was the first proper sighting of Jack was discussed at some length.

We moved on to the matter of the death of Flower of the Night, the courtesan that had worked as a colleague to Anne out of the Belles of Beauclair. That was dissected in a bit more detail with regards to her route and that being the first opportunity that Jack was a serious threat. That was the first time that it was considered that it might really be Jack that had returned to terrorise Beauclair. Again, Syanna refused to allow recriminations or ridicule that did begin to float around in response to this. She said that it was very easy with the benefit of hindsight to determine that it obviously wasn't Jack but at the time, given the witness testimony, it was more than plausible that Jack had, indeed, returned.

From there we moved onto the matter of the death of Lady Matamara, the daughter of the court's most prolific huntsman the night of the party of unknown talent. Otherwise known as the party where Sir Raoul Leblanc had done his best to humiliate me in front of all of the nobility of Toussaint. That was analysed by all present. I would like to think that this was because there was a lot more evidence to be assessed and measured, that there were more witnesses to what had happened and more victims of the killer. I would like to think that this wasn't because she wasn't the first member of the nobility to be killed and therefore got more attention than she would have done otherwise.

As we went through the first four victims, I took the time to watch the other people around the table, to most of the people there, none of this was particularly new and that was clearly the case for the Knights of Saint Francesca that were present, as well as the guards and the Nilfgaardian Knight. So far, it was a fairly dry recitation of facts. So I was watching to see how Lady Tonlaire was taking the news of everything that happened. To be fair to her, she was frowning in conversation. She had a piece of paper that she was taking notes on, or doodling, I could not tell from the distance.

Do not let anyone tell you that doodling in the margins is a sign of someone not paying attention. It can be that. But it also can be someone who is scribbling down a thought. I have seen Ariadne do it when a thought occurs to her in the middle of a discussion and when later challenged, she does not remember where the thought came from but is glad that it has turned up.

I was pleased that she seemed to be paying attention. I would hate to think that everything we had done the other day was all for nothing.

Gregoire was also listening intently with a focus that other people might have found frightening. It is the same kind of focus that I could imagine being on his face when he was carefully lining up a lance strike against an opponent.

After the death of Lady Matamara was discussed, I started to be more involved in the discussion as that was where Kerrass and I entered the tale. I was forced to describe to the room that my family had deliberately kept the news about Jack's supposed return from me due to fears regarding my health. There were some murmers of disbelief regarding that which Kerrass and Syanna between them shut down. There was a mortifying few minutes where my previous injuries and illnesses were disclosed to the room and what had happened as a result. It was made clear to everyone just how upset and angry I was that things had been kept from me and people were able to move on.

I spoke about how I came to be involved, spoke briefly about my assessment as to whether or not Jack was really involved and then talked about how we started to work the problem. That included Kerrass' determination that it was more than one person that was involved and our increasing determination that it was definitely not Jack that was responsible for the various deaths.

I talked about the patterns that might have been involved and our creation of several lists of people. How we started to look for people that the dead women had rejected their advances. I also spoke about my suspicion that Appoline was a secondary target and that the real person that was the first person that was targeted for attack was Lady Vivienne and I explained why.

We moved on to talking about Lady de Launfal and her death and the message that we left to target me. We also did not hesitate to point out the delays that were put on us by various people that demanded that we make proper accounts of ourselves when we could have been out and about investigating. We spoke about our brief interview with lord Matamara and our investigation into the matter about how his dead daughter had been accosted in a party.

Again, that was interesting. Lady Tonlaire had the good grace to squirm a bit when I described the fact that we were delayed in properly pursuing our investigation due to courtly interference. I did say why such things might be useful and what I had gleaned from it but even so, she shifted in her seat.

From there the matter regarding the murder of Lady Moineau was discussed, the framing of Kerras, why he was framed, the affair that he was having with Lady Moineau and the supposed reason for that death in the figure of Lady Caroline. Guillaume and I, very briefly, described our adventures regarding the rescue of Lady Caroline from the Witch of Lynx crag and the return to court before launching into our explanation into the trap that we set in the hopes that we could capture Jack or at least one of the figures in that conspiracy.

The fight between Guillaume and Jack was assessed and analysed to a length that I rather saw as pointless but I suppose if that's the sort of thing that you are looking for… There was also some more criticism against the fact that the net around the area of Knights and guardsmen was so loose as to allow Jack to escape. It was admitted that this was a mistake but it was a mistake that no-one could have done anything about.

No-one criticised the Duchess for issuing the decree that led to that particular judgement, but it was also quite clear as to why it had all happened.

From there we had, again, been distracted from our investigation by the matter of a spy in my family. We talked about why we pursued that instead of the person that we knew was involved in the conspiracy in the form of Sir Alain de Moineau due to political and legal matters which caused something of an unfair retread over the previous days events regarding Anne, Gregoire, Sir Morgan and Lady Tonlaire.

Then we all went over what we had found out regarding the murder of Madame Duberton and what had happened in the home of Lord du Bas-Tyra.

In total, the entirety of the conversation took several hours, numerous pots of coffee and several trays of pastries. It was frustrating, brain melting and more than a little bit embarrassing. As it always does in this kind of conversation, it is easy to see why certain things might have been mistakes and why we would have been better off doing other things but in the heat of the moment… What else were we to do? I was far from being alone in being mortified. As I say, when it was put into the context of the delays that it was caused, Lady Tonlaire was clearly embarrassed. It was missing a certain edge that made me feel that she was lacking in shame, I didn't like that, but at the same time, it was certainly far from ideal.

Gregoire took the fact of his previously being a suspect on the chin though. Thus proving that he is a better man than I am. I would have been furious at learning that I was a suspected murderer and rapist. When it was all done, Syanna told us to break for an early lunch which was when the servants came in with more substantial things to eat as well as, mercifully from my perspective, a lot more coffee.

I mean, I can only drink the stuff when it is all but drowned in milk and honey but at the same time, it really does have an effect on your energy levels and right there and then, I found that I needed every aid to staying awake that I could get.

I tried to find a place out of the way of everyone in order to eat my food and drink my coffee and get my facts in line. The next bit was going to be the hard bit and I needed my brain to work.

"I had no idea." Lady Tonlaire said.

"What?" I looked up at her.

"I had no idea what was happening."

I sighed. A thousand and one retorts came to mind then. A thousand and one responses came to the fore. Things like "People like you never do." And much less kind phrases and retorts. Instead though, I took a deep breath and properly tried to look at the woman in front of me and see what was actually there.

"You had Anne steal my spear." I was not asking a question.

"I did."

"You also told Raoul about how to… trigger my illnesses."

"I did."

I nodded and took a drink from my coffee.

"You know that that's going to come up in a short while right? People are going to ask whether or not you were passing that information to the conspiracy. They are going to ask whether or not you told anyone else that, because Jack and his message to me over Lady de Launfal's body was surely designed to do the same thing. It nearly worked too."

"I know. It was…"

"Stop." I held my hand up. "I don't care that much, and I would rather not go over the entire thing twice. I meant it more as a warning so that you would be prepared when the questions start coming up."

She nodded.

"Was that you trying to apologise?" I wondered.

"No." She protested before stopping. "And yes. Yes I suppose it was. And now I realise that I should do the deed properly."

"Probably." I said. "It was a piss poor attempt at an apology. But out of the long list of people that you need to apologise to, I am not anywhere near the top of the list."

"I have spoken with Lady Anne briefly this morning." She said. "My husband and I intend to…"

I cut her off with a shake of the head. "The political games that you played, you and your husband and the other members of that faction. That delayed us. I can't say for sure whether that resulted in more death. But it almost certainly contributed. There are families, people that your games have hurt. People that deserved better at your hands than what they received."

She nodded unhappily and I shook my head.

"I will not condemn you Lady Tonlaire." I told her. "But for the intervention of a Witcher and an Elder Vampire, I might even have turned into someone like you. My father would have had me married to someone that I would have hated, or worse, merely ignored. I would have stagnated and become angry and bitter. It is easy to look around a courtroom and see myself reflected in the eyes of far too many people. I cannot hate you or condemn you. Like many people that I have met on this visit to Toussaint, I could have become you, very easily."

"Except that you are a man." She pointed out. "Even if you were married, you would still be in control of matters."

"True," I admitted. "But at the same time, I have seen more than one marriage where the woman has more control than either she, or the husband, might have imagined. In my case, I would almost certainly have married for money, title or some other thing that only my father cared about. Trade concessions probably." I sniffed. "I would imagine that it would be pretty easy to hold that kind of thing over my head. But that's not what we're talking about here is it."

"No," She admitted after a brief moment. It was interesting watching her. Guarding your expression so as to not give anything away is an elementary skill in the art of being a noble and a courtier. It's habit forming as well. But that "courtier's mask" is much easier when you are comfortable with the emotions that you are feeling. If those feelings are things that you are unused to, or that you find yourself thinking in new ways, then it becomes much harder to keep what you are thinking from the people around you.

I decided to throw her a bone.

"Your efforts to distract yourself from what you are feeling by trying to turn the conversation into an attack on me, are not going to stop the thoughts from being… well... Thought. I rather think that you might do better if you express yourself more openly. That includes discussing whatever is bothering you in the open."

"How do you do it?" She wondered. "How do you keep working on these kinds of problems knowing that if you make mistakes then people die?"

"Having second thoughts about taking your penance quietly?" I teased her.

She glared. "It was a serious question."

I let her have that point with a smirk.

"I can only tell you what Kerrass once taught me. You do your best. You do the best that you can. You tell yourself that you can't save everybody and that next time you will do better. Then you work the problem until a solution presents itself. Even if that solution occurs because all the other answers turn out to be false. That is the only way to do this."

"It seems like an impossible mission."

"And it is."

"How do you live with it?"

I laughed at her and heard the bitterness in my own voice. "Fuck." I swore. "It made me ill and has left me with multiple injuries. But in your case. You are not the only person in Toussaint who is also working towards redemption."

I gestured towards Syanna who was getting everyone back together to start again.

"That is a fair point." Lady Tonlaire said.

"I have another piece of advice for you." I said as people started to gather properly, find seats, pour themselves some drinks and finish their sandwiches.

"Oh?"

"Yes. My Father told me this."

"And you listened to your Father? I thought you hated your father."

"I do. I did. I also loved him and I miss him every day, but your attempts to distract me are still not going to work."

"Sorry. It was automatic."

I nodded.

"If you are going to apologise to someone. There is a process. It is not enough to say "I am sorry" and then pretend that everything is ok. It is not. Such things are like putting a bandage over an injury without cleaning or closing it. It will just fester and make things worse."

I checked to make sure that she was listening, she was frowning in concentration. She had a little furrow between her eyebrows that was pronounced when she did that kind of thing. I imagined that it might have made her cute when she was younger. So I thought that it was safe to move on.

"If you are going to apologise, you must mean it. Otherwise that would make the apology a lie. You must also be clear with the person as to what you are apologising for. What you think you did wrong and what they think you did wrong might be two different things so you need to be aware that they might come back at you with other stuff that you might need to consider."

She nodded.

"And finally," I told her. "You must then take corrective actions to ensure that what you are apologising for, never happens again. Otherwise, all the good work that you have just done is pointless. Father once told me that this is the most important step. Indeed, he once claimed that, in some cases but not all, you could leave all the other bits of an apology out and just take the appropriate actions. Show people that you are sorry, not just telling them so. It can make all the difference."

"I will remember what you said." She told me before she turned and returned to the table.

Kerrass had saved me a space and arranged matters so that one of the larger pots of coffee were near my hand. I nodded gratefully and sank into the chair. This whole being nice to people that I'm pretty sure I despise is pretty tiring work.

"Ok," Syanna began, bringing things to some sense of order. "So that is what happened, those are the facts of the matter so now I want to open it up a little bit. No assumptions please, let's take it from the top. I want to go over our suspect list. I want to go over our motives, our methods and everything from the very top. No old lead is to be unexplored. No suspect name is too ridiculous, no idea is too stupid.

"The only thing that I will want to step on is any kinds of criticisms against the investigation so far as, again for the record, there are mistakes that were not our fault, assumptions made that were based on what we knew at the time and for my money, we did some good work that we can be proud of. I will also not tolerate criticisms of my sister that might come up. Yes, I will admit that she was a little too emotional when I would have preferred that she be analytical.

"Especially when it came to the matter of trapping the attack against Lady Caroline. Lord Frederick, Sir Guillaume, Comtesse Ariadne and Lady Caroline herself went to considerable lengths to make sure that that happened and yes, it was thrown away. Believe me when I say that that has been argued about, shouted about and there is no point in "if onlys". Do I make myself clear?"

There were various sounds to the positive.

"My sister wants this sorted today. I want to give orders today. Even if we don't catch the fuckers today, I want them to feel us breathing down their necks today. They have been living in safety and security for far too long. Now… who would like to start?"

There was a long pause. I didn't dive in because I had been instrumental in getting us to this point as it was. I rather thought that what was to come would be a long series of people poking holes in my own reasoning and I was not looking forward to it.

"I will start." Lady Tonlaire began, much to a few people's surprise. "I did not know half of what has been discussed here and I hope that, when we get into things, I will be able to add some pertinent information to what you know in an effort to… move things forward. For the record, I have no doubt that the declarations that this killer is not Jack returned to terrify the people of Toussaint is accurate. But I would like to know the reasoning behind that declaration.

"Your next question is to ask why I want to know that. First, I will admit to a desire for some level of reassurance that it is not Jack. But also… I think it's interesting that these people chose to hide behind that particular mask. Why Jack? Why not… Oh I don't know. Why not another vampire? People are still just as terrified of Vampires. Why Jack?"

"It's easier to reproduce?" Someone murmured. "A man with a dagger is easier to pretend to be than a vampire."

"Yes." Lady Tonlaire responded. "That is part of it, but it is not entirely true. There are vampires that are bestial, silent killers. With all respect to Comtesse Ariadne, but there are others that are not so easy on the eyes. A throat torn apart with blood and things splashed everywhere would be just as effective. Cause just as much fear."

"And just as likely to summon a Witcher." Captain de La Tour argued.

"Which did not stop you from doing the same thing with Jack. And with the same results I might add."

I smirked to myself. Lady Tonlaire had had that answer ready.

"I stress that I am not criticising," Lady Tonlaire said. "and I understand that I am the least popular person in the room. But there is something there that is worth thinking about. If you are not going to pretend to be a monster, why not forget the pretenses and actually be a normal killer. I agree with Lord Frederick's, often repeated theme, that the really terrifying things in this world are the thinking men, women, Elves and the rest that live amongst society. Why not be one of them instead. Why Jack? And I think that starts with "Why not Jack?" Why are we so sure that it isn't Jack?"

Syanna nodded. "Freddie?"

I took a deep breath. "There are a lot of short answers." I told the room. "It starts with, Jack told me. He occasionally visits me in dreams when he's bored and has nothing better to do. He did so to warn me that he would not tolerate copycats in Toussaint any more than he would tolerate them anywhere else. Now that is easily dismissed as the dream that it is.

"The second reason is this. This does not… feel like Jack. The only person that knows even close to what I know about the figure "Jack" is Lady Yennefer. Her area of study was the magical classification of the entity. If you read the book when it comes out, hers is the science stuff. But the history of when he comes and when he does what he does, that comes down to me. I have studied every instance that Jack has been made manifest in the continent and beyond. I have gone over the documents and exchanged letters with other scholars as well as some of the people that are still surviving from the times when he was last here.

"In case you were wondering, it was in Nazair and he terrorised the place for months. For long after the deaths themselves had ceased. These killings are… They are not classy enough for Jack. They are crass, tasteless and brutal in a way that Jack would find distasteful. That is not a satisfying answer and I understand that but just let me explain why it's important.

"I am the world leading expert on Jack. If you want a joust fought, you fetch a Knight. If you want a Monster killed you fetch a Witcher. If you need a wall built, you fetch an Engineer. If you consult any of those people in advance… If you tell the Witcher that it's a monster that is performing the killings, he looks around and tells you that it's not a monster, but rather that the dead people got drunk and fell off a cliff. If the Engineer tells you that you can't build a wall there because the land is not stable enough and the wall will fall over with the rains. If the Knight tells you that the man you want them to joust is unbeatable, then you listen to the expert.

"If the Mage tells you that it's not a magical phenomenon and that it is, in fact, a perfectly normal land movement. You do what they are telling you. I am the world leading expert on Jack. This is not Jack.

"But this too, is not satisfactory. The original, less instinctive response as to why this is not Jack is this. Jack has rules that contain the way he works and behaves. They are not nice rules and we do not agree with them. But they are rules nonetheless. One of those rules is that he must follow a pattern. He must kill a certain type of person. In one instance, he killed Prostitutes. In another he killed people that had just made a declaration of love. He spent some time killing priests from particular sects. There was one memorable occasion where a city state had an accredited warrior system, where you had to pass tests and swear oaths in order to be called "warrior." And that they acted a lot like the old Knight Errants did. Jack found it amusing to kill them for a while causing the system to fall out of use.

"There is no pattern here. There is no single box that all of these women could fall into. We thought we had a pattern at first, and indeed, those early women did fall into a pattern but then the pattern changed.

"Also, I respect Sir Guillaume as a Knight. And as swordsmen go, I am prepared to say that he is among the best I have ever seen. But in a one on one fight, even with my support. Jack would have toyed with him and killed him easily."

There was some shifting in the seats.

"I remind everyone when it comes to that point." Kerrass spoke up. "That when Jack was last in Toussaint, at a mere fraction of an imitation of what the full entity can be. Where someone stole some of his power and put it in a man that tried to kill himself in horror. It took four Witchers to finally put him down. After he had killed many Knights and soldiers of the Imperial guard. And even then, he let us take him."

Silence fell for a moment.

"What was the pattern?" Lady Tonlaire asked. "What was the box you put those early victims in?"

"It was that the, then, only four victims involved were known to be either selective or completely avoiding of physical affection." I said. "When we were looking for these things, there were only four victims and that was the connective tissue. Appoline was a barmaid, trapped in her job and unable to marry her sweetheart due to family pressure and illness. So she had to be kind to visitors to the inn but also remain celibate. There are untold numbers of bar staff around the world that are just like her, forced to be friendly, but not too friendly.

"Miss Donnet was known to be a beautiful young girl but utterly uninterested in romance or anything related to that. To the point that she intended to go to a nunnery to escape that element of societal pressure. As a result, she had rebuffed any number of sexual and romantic advances.

"Flower of the Night was, depending on who you ask, the best and most exclusive courtesan in Beauclair. To the point that she could select her clients with a discerning eye and turn away anyone that she wasn't interested in."

I saw Gregoire shift uncomfortably at that. I wasn't waiting for it, but I was not surprised.

"And finally," I went on. "The young Lady Matamara was one of the most eligible young women in Toussaint. Young, beautiful, intelligent, charming and commanding of a large dowry due to the affections of her father. As a result, she had already turned away many attempts at assignations and many more marriage proposals. Our information suggests that this was partly due to the actions of her father."

Lady Tonlaire was nodding along with some of that. "Your pattern was broken with the death of Lady de Launfal."

"It was. Suddenly, we go from the chaste, or relatively chaste, to the openly and proudly promiscuous. That was also the death where someone left me, personally, a message. But that, all but confirmed for me that it wasn't Jack so we were able to start looking at it all in a whole new light."

"What Lord Frederick doesn't know." Syanna spoke up. "Is that he brought his rough, reference copy of his research into Jack. The kind of book that stays in libraries. The publishable version is taken from that. Since he gave it to us…"

"Leant it." I said. "I leant it to you. Those things cost hundreds of crowns."

(Before anyone comes at me for how much money these books cost, I will stress, here and now, that I am not responsible for setting the price of these volumes. For that, you would have to contact my publisher in Oxenfurt. But given that the printers are a Dwarven company, do not be surprised when they send you a detailed list of reasons why it costs so much. When you get one, notice how little the "Author's payment" is and register the fact that I have to share it with Lady Yennefer)

"Very well," Syanna smiled as there was a small ripple of laughter that went round the room. "You leant it to us. But I had one of my more studious knights read the volume and after doing so he concurred… Well, let him tell us all himself."

One of the Knights that I didn't know spoke up. "I must agree with Lord Frederick." The voice was high and boyish. "Jack would have stopped by now while he was still unknowable and mysterious. He would not have scrawled words in blood on a wall and his pattern would have been far easier to interpret. And Jack would never, ever, ever have walked into a trap. Or rather, he would, but then he would have walked out of the trap with all of the people that had been trying to trap him lying bleeding in a heap behind him. This is, in no way, Jack."

There was some settling down after that and I was forced to wonder how many people were still a little bit nervous about whether or not this might have been Jack himself.

"However," the Knight went on. "I would share with Lord Frederick, the concern that if we don't bring this to an end soon, then Jack will come back to Toussaint."

"Something to look forward to," someone muttered darkly.

"So then your new theory started to take form." Lady Tonlaire prompted.

"Yes." I said. "I think that this grew out of the attempt on the life of Lady Vivienne. I think it was initially part of a plan to upset and derail the progress that was being made by the Knights of Saint Francesca. I think the attack on Appoline was one of frustrated lust and violence. They needed an outlet and then she occured to someone on their way… wherever they were going. After that, I think the idea of Jack occurred to someone, I have no idea who of course. I think they tested it out on Miss Donnet near the quarry as that attack was far from entirely successful."

"Yes, that was another point" my unfortunately squeaky voiced Knightly scholar spoke up. "Jack would never be caught with his dick hanging out."

There was a bit more laughter at the image.

"And then," I went on, "they refined the process with Flower of the Night, and Lady Matamara. Also, while doing so, they were leaving a false trail away from who their real targets were."

"Who were the real targets?" The Imperial officer Captain Carline asked.

"The real targets," I answered. "were various people that would destabilise the government of Toussaint and erode faith in the Duchess herself and her chosen officials. I would guess that they had lofty goals of eventually targeting Syanna and the Duchess herself. They started with Lady de Launfal because they knew that Lord Palmerin was one of the most staunch supporters of the new way of doing things. If he could not protect his own wife then…" I shrugged to make my point.

"They killed Lady Moineau to clear the way for Alain de Moineau to remarry and also to facilitate their exit from the stage in framing Kerrass. They attempted to kill Lady Caroline when they realised that she was no longer in their control and then they killed Madame Duberton in an attempt to provoke the Empire into doing their job for them. It was a plot to remove the Duchess and replace her with a puppet that they controlled and could have married in order to take the throne for themselves. "

"Why do you say that?"

"Because of what was going on with Lady Caroline. The use of Jack might have been an improvisation when they began to realise that they had overreached and underestimated Lady Vivienne. But the plan has been building since, probably, shortly after the Empress disbanded the Knights Errant. They sent Sir Alain to seduce and try to impregnate Lady Caroline. Then she would marry him when the way was clear which, also, would prove Sir Alain's innocence in the plot. After all, who would suspect him after his own wife had been one of the ones that had been killed.

"Then when the attacks had completed their goal of removing the Duchess by either the assassin's blade or at the hands of the growing dissatisfaction with her rule from the faction led by Sir Morgan, then they would have their replacement from the Ducal family, who was already married to Sir Alain, one of their own. The Duchess' own, now dead, husband was the precedent that marrying into the Ducal family would make him Duke and the more intelligent members of the conspiracy would then control Toussaint through Alain who, lets face it, can be kept happy by the presence of a drink, an easy fight and a pretty face."

"You said that you thought that they were framing Witcher Kerrass." Lady Tonlaire said after everyone took that in. "Again, I'm not disagreeing with you, but why do you think that?"

"I think that the leader of this conspiracy is a clever person who is far too clever to get their own hands dirty." I said. "I think this, because, the reason that this has all gone wrong for them is because of the presence of other people. The reason we know about Lady Caroline at all is because Alain did not do his job properly. Lady Caroline could tell you more but once Alain had got what he wanted from her, he essentially grew bored of her and then she had the opportunity to start properly thinking about what was going on. The attack on Lady Vivienne almost certainly went wrong because the attackers underestimated Lady Vivienne. I think the mastermind was furious that night.

"I even wonder if the original order was just to kill her, but instead, the people carrying out the attack decided to kidnap her in order to… well… have their way with her. And as a result, she had her window to fight back and escape.

"So if we accept that this leader is a clever man then they would know a couple of things. They would know that they might not be entirely successful. They targeted me for the message in order to distract us all. But they had to accept the possibility that we might figure some, or all of their plan out. They would also have to know that, being in command now, the Knight Commander and the Captain of the guard, would not rest if the killings just stopped. They would keep hunting until the murders had been solved."

"Not unfair." Captain de La Tour joked to some chuckling.

"So they came up with a scapegoat. Helped along by the fact that Lady Moineau had taken a shining to the Witcher who is one of the few people that could imitate the actions of Jack by himself. I mean he couldn't, some of the things that were done are impossible without more than one person being involved, but to the courtier and the people on the street, it is believable.

"I even think that this is where it started to go wrong for them. The morning after Lady Moineau's death, the first thing that the Knight Commander did was to arrest Kerrass. I think that the conspirators were expecting Syanna to be emotional in her response. I think they were expecting her to refuse to believe that Kerrass could be responsible because, of course, we knew that he wasn't. So they could keep killing and the rumours of the fact that it would be Kerrass would continue to mount up and in the end, a quick manipulation would "prove" that Kerrass was impersonating Jack because… I dunno… Cat Witcher? I don't say that this plan would have worked, but it would be enough to make the court and the people believe it.

"I would also point out to the fact that shortly after Kerrass was arrested, Sir Alain, who is the one person that we know to be involved, was outside Kerrass' cell demanding his release. I think Alain panicked in seeing his scapegoat vanish before his eyes because he also knew that the next thing to happen was that someone else would be killed, thus proving that Kerrass was innocent."

Lady Tonlaire had made some more notes. "So they don't have a scapegoat ready now."

"We don't know."

She nodded and made some more notes.

"I have a question." The Imperial Officer asked. "If you know that Sir Alain is involved, then why not arrest him and question him. Torture him if necessary. It might be distasteful but such matters have cut through the rough before now."

"If we accuse Sir Alain." Syanna spoke. "Then he will demand to face his accusers and challenge them to a duel, which he will win. There is a reason that he is considered the finest swordsman in Toussaint. The only person that can come close enough that the outcome could go either way would be Lord Geralt. Who is not here. If we cut out that bit and just arrest him, question him and yes, torture him. Then we have no way of guaranteeing that the information he gives us is true.

"As Lord Frederick himself has written, a way to confound torture is to have prearranged and rehearsed information that can be given under duress in order to throw people off the scent. It might even be a pact that if any of the conspiracy do get arrested then they accuse another of their enemies in order to remove them from the field. How would we react if, for instance, Sir Gregoire was accused of being the mastermind of the conspiracy. Obviously by now we know that that wouldn't be the case. But if you had told me that the day before yesterday, then I would have believed it."

"Also," of all people it was Lady Tonlaire. "If the information is gotten that way, then all the other people have to do is to say "We are innocent. He is a proven guilty person, you yourself have said so. He would do anything to save his own skin." We could act on that kind of information but the instant you…" She sighed and scratched her head, "the instant we move against Alain, the others will have their warning and will have time to prepare their excuses and destroy the evidence."

"The last point is a strategic one." Syanna said. "This conspiracy needs destroying. If we let even one of these conspirators get away, then they will do this again. Not this year, not even next year but they will find a way to come at us again and that time, we might not see them coming. We need to pull this weed out by the roots. If we know about Alain then we can watch him and see who he's associated with him. I would also remind everyone that we are only certain about Alain as of the early hours of yesterday morning. And since then, we have had other things on our mind."

Lady Tonlaire had the good grace to look embarrassed.

"Right." She said, swallowing her embarrassment. "You surely have some suspects?"

"And how did you get to them." Gregoire rumbled. He was frowning in thought.

"Are you asking us whether you were on the list?" Guillaume wondered of his new friend. He asked carefully and a little bit gently.

Gregoire stiffened a little bit and tilted his head in thought.

"I didn't think of it like that." The big man admitted after a while. "But it does make sense. That doesn't mean that the question doesn't have merit however."

"Quite right." Syanna said. "The… what did the Colonel call it? The type of person that we were looking for."

"He calls it "the profile." the Nilfgaardian said before launching into a small speech that sounded like he was quoting something. "A group of characteristics, behaviour patterns and societal factors that might conspire to create the kind of criminal that we are looking for."

"That's good." I commented. "I shall have to remember that."

"There is a reason that the Empress assigns us to peacekeeping and law enforcement roles." The Nilfgaardian said. "The Colonel has a talent for that kind of thing and his training on the subject is exemplary."

"As I was saying," Syanna spoke up. "The profile that we used to come to the list of suspects was built by Lord Frederick."

I sighed, knowing that it was my time to shine again. I say shine, but it felt exactly like how I imagine that the carved duck feels when it gets set up at the sideshow in order for people to throw things at it.

"I cannot deny that the profile started to be built off two factors. The first is one of sheer capability. The first three suspected attacks, the attack on Lady Vivienne as well as Miss Appoline and Miss Donnet, could have been done by anyone. Indeed, I think it's more than likely that those attacks were carried out by some… guardsman or flunky of the conspirators. The conspirators themselves would not be stupid enough to allow themselves to be caught attacking the wife of one of the strongest Knights of the realm and confidante of the Duchess. And there was a crudity about the attacks on Miss Appoline and an incompetence around the attack on Miss Donnet.

"So that is another factor. These people had to have flunkies. But then, according to Kerrass, it would have taken more than simple climbing ability to get to the roof top over the body of Night Flower. That would have taken a noble's level of training. That makes the man a Knight or at least a professional soldier or acrobat.

"After that, the attack on Lady Matamara was done by someone that was highly skilled with a sword. He was able to kill several mercenaries that were no slouches according to Captain de la Tour. He was then able to lead the guard on a merry chase, fighting them off relatively easily. That speaks to a level of training that is greater than the standard norm. Even if there was more than one attacker… and what witnesses there are says that there was only one attacker at a time. Even then it would take more than a standard amount of sword training.

"So that was the beginning of our… profile. From there we were only given things that would add to the profile rather than cause us to change it. But I will come back to that.

"Given the costume that the attackers were wearing, it meant that the people knew about Jack. Also, there was a pattern to the attacks. Not much of one, but there was a pattern there. So I found it easy to imagine that there was a conversation somewhere where the conspirators got together and said "So, which attractive woman has had the bad form to deny our charming advances." Before picking one that suited their requirements. That suggests a certain level of hatred and disdain for the female gender. Also a sense of entitlement that is on the more extreme ends of those kinds of sentiments as well as some education in order to have read about Jack.

"So that was how we drew up our list of suspects."

I pulled over a piece of paper and drew a circle. "There is a name for this kind of diagram but I cannot remember what it is at the moment. The first circle is a list of people who have the necessary martial skills to be able to carry out the attacks that we had seen."

I drew another circle to one side of the first but allowed a bit in the middle where the two circles overlapped.

"The second circle was made up of those people that were known to have been rejected by those women that had been attacked. Those people that were part of both circles…"

I shaded in the overlapping section.

"... made up our suspect pool. We could have refined the matter further using people with flunkies or servants that would be willing to partake of such… activities. But another factor occurred which was that, to get to that level of Martial training requires the ability to set aside time for the training and practise. Which means that the person would have to have money. And if a person has money, then they can hire people to do whatever the hell they like. So some of the factors were not as exclusive as we might think.

"At first we were dispirited because there were no real names that appeared to fulfill the criteria and I cannot speak for the others that were part of the investigation at the time, but I, for one, felt a small amount of despair at the factor. Until Kerrass was able to declare, a little more formally, that there was more than one person involved in the attacks which meant that the use of alibis or excuses was useless. So the number of people that could fall into both categories began to grow.

"Later attacks did not really change that original profile but rather added more factors to the matter. Lady de Launfal was rather freer with her affections than any of the previous victims. But even she was a little bit discerning. She would not have gone with a farmer, or a villager…"

"Unless they were uncommonly pretty to look at." Guillaume said unhappily and a few people, including me looked at him in surprise. "Don't get me wrong. I loved my Aunt a great deal, but I am aware of who she was becoming towards the back end of her life." He scrubbed his eyes. "I interrupted Lord Frederick. Forgive me."

"But…" I cleared my throat. "It was easy to understand how she might have been lured away from safer areas by the promise of an assignation with a young and handsome nobleman."

"Or a noblewoman." Guillaume muttered. Not too loud but it was audible. "Or a…"

I decided to keep talking. "So that would still fall into our overlap. The next victim, Lady Moineau is all but hidden from us. All we know is that Lady Moineau was killed, witnesses claim it was Jack and we know that Sir Alain had all the witnesses in the world to prove that it wasn't him."

"But there are more than one person in the conspiracy which means that his alibi is useless." Lady Tonlaire was scribbling some notes as she spoke

"Later, when we spoke to Lady Caroline and learned the full scope of the plot. We were able to narrow and expand the field a little bit more. As that made it a political matter. Therefore, the killings could be political in nature. A man, a Knight, who would shudder at the thought of killing a young girl from a village would be a lot happier doing such a thing if he thought it was for the benefit of the realm."

"Especially if that benefit of the realm meant for the benefit of himself." Gregoire commented with just a shade of the bitterness of old.

"And the attack against Lady Caroline, not only proved the complicity of Sir Alain, but also that we were on the right lines."

"How did it prove that Alain was involved?" Someone asked.

"Because we leaked Lady Caroline's location to him." Guillaume said. "He had been hanging around and insisting on Kerrass' innocence for a while. So I approached in an effort to complain about the same kinds of things. I let things slip and after that… Lo and behold, Jack appeared. It is another reason we are concerned for friend Alain, the rest of the conspiracy must be aware that we have identified him after all."

"Not very honourable of you." Gregoire muttered dryly.

"Nonsense." Guillaume declared. "In the face of an honourless enemy, it is far more honourable to remove such people in order to make the world a better place."

"After that, the most recent attack was more brutal than anything that had come before." I said. "But it also doesn't cause us to change that original… profile as to who our enemies were."

"So who made the list?" Lady Tonlaire asked. "And who has since been disqualified from the list.

"We know that Sir Alain was on the list." I said. "He fulfills all the criteria for one but he's one of the few that are left. We also thought that your husband, Sir Morgan Tonlaire was involved in some way."

She stiffened, not in shock or insult, but more as her head went to another way of thinking. "I can see why you thought that." She said. "He does fit the pattern and despite his recent loss to a better man, he is a skilled swordsman. But my husband would not have agreed to the deaths of any of those women. Nor would he be stupid enough to ignore what was happening. If he is involved…"

She smirked unhappily.

"If he is involved at all, I can easily believe that he is a primed… Attack dog. Some charming conspirator will have talked to him, got him ready to attack when this or that happened so that when a death occured, they would not need to hesitate, my husband would already be there with all the outrage that his breeding and training could muster. I would suggest that he is a pawn rather than anything more important."

"Do you know if he was ever approached to be actively part of the plot?" Syanna wondered. "Did anyone ever talk to him about his dissatisfactions and try to figure out if he would be open to such things."

"I am unsure. My husband has positioned himself correctly so that whenever people have things to complain about, they go to him. He absolutely believes that he has the best interests in Toussaint at heart. Even when he thinks and believes in the utter opposite of what he had years ago, or even months, weeks and days ago. I've seen him argue different sides of the same debate in the course of the same evening and everything he says is for the "benefit of Toussaint," before complaining about the fact that no-one seems to listen to him. If he was more self-aware he might have realised that the reason no-one listens to him is partially because of his wandering convictions."

"Does he do it consciously?" I heard myself wonder.

"He used to." She admitted. "Back when we were still trying to build our influence base. But after a while, it became more and more instinctual to the point where it just became second nature. Like a reflexive… thing in order to stay on the right side of the debate. Even when it had changed."

She sighed and shook her head free of the bitter nostalgia trip before continuing.

"Unfortunately, that means that I cannot say for certain who it was that might have been whispering in his ear about all of this. It is even possible that there are genuine people that were nervous about what was happening in the mix as well. People who genuinely think what this conspiracy want us to believe. There might even be intermediaries between him and the people that are doing this.

"There was also," I went on. "A significant time where Sir Gregoire was on the list of suspects."

The big man sniggered at that before shrugging and nodding.

"Not unfair." He said. "But why specifically, other than me being me."

"There were several reasons." Syanna spoke up. "And to be fair it was something that Lord Frederick in particular was not too impressed with as he thought we were making assumptions."

"Which we were." Captain de La Tour added, rubbing his head with embarrassment.

"It was undoubted by anyone that you had the skills needed to do the things that the Jack figure were doing. Even though there was an argument that the Jack that we were seeing was smaller physically than you are, and also that the tools that he was using were not the kind of tools that any of us could imagine you using. There was also the factor that you were on the lists of having been turned away by all four of the first women. It was also suggested by Lord Matamara that you were the one who accosted and… assaulted the person of his daughter at a ball some time ago."

Sir Gregoire's face darkened reflexively at that.

"I suppose I deserve that." He said after sighing and visibly setting the reflexive anger aside. "Although it wasn't me that night. I can see why Lord Matamara would want to accuse me."

He sighed again and took a step forward.

"To talk through the different women and to give you the perspective of what they all looked like as an outsider and what was going on…"

"I hasten to add that you are not a suspect any longer Sir Gregoire." Syanna said with a smile.

This time Gregoire laughed along with a few other people.

"So I should hope." He said. "Apart from anything else, Lady de Launfal would never have gone anywhere near me. Not that I ever asked her." He added that last with a sidelong look at Guillaume.

"The outsider's perspective would be useful." Lady Tonlaire said. She was frowning in disapproval of something. I have no idea what it was.

"Running down the list then." Gregoire moved round the table and poured himself a drink as he spoke. "Appoline to start. I knew of Appoline, same as everyone did. The problem there was that the Cockatrice is the busiest inn and tavern in Toussaint. There was absolutely no way that I could ever go through that place and not be "In character" so to speak and whenever I was there, I would almost become some kind of sideshow attraction as people would gather round me to see how close to pissing me off they could get before I actually lost my temper. As I say, I knew of Appoline although I didn't know her. She was friendly towards me, but plainly intimidated by me and so I did my best not to bother her.

"The only time we had any kind of real interaction was when I made the proposition that people are probably talking about. There were a group of other men in the inn. I have no idea who they were and I have not seen any of them around since. I think they were a set of guards for a trading caravan at some point, but they were leering and being unpleasant towards Appoline, asking how much she charged for a roll in the hay, that kind of thing. I couldn't interfere without betraying my "character" at the time because I had a tournament coming up and people were paying a fortune to see what was going to happen.

"So instead I made a big scene of losing my temper, loudly and violently insisting that Appoline was MY woman and that she shouldn't be serving at tables anyway. I made a big scene to her father about how he had refused my many demands as to her virtue, that she hadn't been allowed to join me as my mistress and how dare he be suggesting that she… and on and on I went. I threatened the men and threw them out for daring to suggest that I would be so weak as to allow them to touch MY Appoline before loudly yelling at her father, the innkeeper, that I expected my answer for her virtue sooner rather than later.

"I then stormed out and every time I went to the Cockatrice since I demanded an answer from her father as to whether or not I could take her as my mistress, offering increasingly ludicrous sums of money for the privilege of taking her virtue and carrying her off to my manor so that she can… well… I got rather crude. Her Father never got the joke but I like to think that Appoline saw what I was doing.

"There were certainly occasions where her denials and her protests were a little more theatrical than they needed to be, or that I had seen her employ with people that were less savoury than I was. I certainly found that when she was "forced" to serve my table that I would get the larger portions of food, the freshest bread and things. And although we never spoke about it, when no one was looking and she had her back to the rest of the room, she would smile."

He paused in thought, smiling at a memory.

"The line was that I never touched her. Never. Not even as part of the ruse, although I took great delight in touching some of the men that were off colour with her. Them, I had no trouble touching until I threw them over the bridge and into the water below.

"I was never in any doubt though. It was plain to see that her heart was given elsewhere and that she was looking forward to being able to tell her father to fuck off and leave her alone so that she could marry the person that she wanted to. Poor girl"

He took a long drink before shaking himself from whatever he had been thinking about.

"Miss Donnet was a similar case but kind of different. It has long been a cause of concern for me. I am required to marry in order to carry on my line but getting near enough to any woman in order to come up with any kind of romance so that they could see who I am really and we could come up with some kind of arrangement has been difficult, if not impossible. I had heard of the beauty that lived in the barge village before I went there in order to order some stone to help get some repairs down to my manor. I was aware of her situation and her distaste for any kind of physical affection or romance so an idea occurred to me.

"I approached her when I was sure that no-one was looking and made her a proposition. I had heard about her desire to go to a nunnery in order to carry on and complete an education but her father was reluctant. I said that if she married me then I would pay for all the tutors and books that she could want, including paying for her to travel to Oxenfurt or wherever she wanted to go in order to carry on her education. And that way, people would leave her alone and she wouldn't have to worry about things. And then, if she preferred the spirituality idea, then I could send her to the nunnery under the guise of… I was her husband now and what I said mattered. Or she could sit in the manor and read and she didn't need to see me for anything other than social engagements."

He sighed.

"It was a weak moment for me. It happens occasionally, or rather I should say, it used to happen occasionally. Being the villain of every tournament and sideshow is grating after a while and I rather saw someone that I shared something with, that of being an outcast. Being like me, I had no real friends because society forced me into the way of being a villain. She was beautiful but couldn't get past the fact that people expected her to get married and enjoy the romance of the thing. I wanted a friend. I promised her that if she didn't want anything then she never had to have me anywhere near her and that I would adopt someone if I needed an heir. I was not shy about the fact that to get any physical affection I would need to pay for it anyway. I hoped that she might be a friend.

"I will admit that she was very attractive and there was a very male hoope that, in the long run, she might change her mind. But even so… I like to think that the sentiment was genuine. She seemed, not averse to the idea and I approached her father. It did not go well. She shrugged and went back to her book. I will not lie, I had got my hopes up and her dismissal hurt more than it should have done."

He sighed again at another memory.

"Night Flower was pride. I make no bones about that. I was a champion, I was wealthy, I wanted the best and she was the best. There is some complexity there with Anne as well that I am still getting to grips with. I can't claim to understand all of it so don't ask me to explain it yet. I don't know the answer. I understand that part of the reason that she would decline me and pass me over to Anne was because she was aware that what I actually needed was some love and affection. And Anne was better at providing that than she was. She was right and again, I am left feeling that I let her down.

"Now we come to Lady Matamara. And this is fucking awful. She was one of the most eligible unmarried young ladies in Toussaint. I proposed to her in the same way that every unmarried male proposed to her. As someone has said, she was intelligent, charming, funny, educated and of course, she was beautiful. Any man would consider himself lucky to have that woman on his arm and I cannot pretend any different.

"In the cold analysis of the matter I would suppose that she was a bit young for me but I was accepting of the fact that I could not afford to be choosy. I was proposing to anyone that I thought might be accepting of things, or might be intelligent enough to see through what I was doing with my character and public persona. I thought she was one. And she was, I think but her father would have had none of it. I had proposed, partially, because it was expected of me. I did not doubt that it would get nixed by her father if not by the girl herself but sometimes you do these things because you feel as though it's necessary. Of course, she turned me down although she was more graceful about it than some people have been in the past.

"Her father was less accommodating.

"As for the party where she was attacked. I hope that, by now, it is clear that I did not attack that girl. Indeed, I would have defended her if I got the chance. She was a good woman, one of the few and I count myself lucky that I am going to be marrying another one of them. I did speak with her that day. As I admitted before, I was unhappy and I was lonely and I was hoping that she might have been willing to talk to her father on my behalf. She was kind enough to make it clear that she was not able to and that she wasn't particularly willing to. I was not particularly surprised. Disappointed certainly, but not surprised.

"Who was it that attacked her that day? I think it was Raoul LeBlanc. I saw him trying to tug her into the gardens and I saw that she was unhappy with the thought. She got free of him that time before they got into the gardens. I suppose he could have made another attempt later though. I heard her scream when it happened, I didn't know what was happening but those gardens are like a maze. By the time I got anywhere close to them, having to take many detours on the way, she had already pulled free of her attacker and had fled to her father. My reputation was entrenched enough that no-one would listen to what I thought and the girl was safe. Should I have done better? Yes, almost certainly.

"Another suspect might have been Sir Alain who was also there and trying to make a pass at her. I think she was too clever for that though.

It is easy for me to believe it of both of them. I can well imagine Alain getting annoyed when his advances were rejected before going too far. And Raoul would have been able to hide behind his reputation and preserve his innocence so… He would not have any problem with assaulting the girl and then claiming innocence before passing the blame onto me."

The big man shrugged.

That sounded a little bleak for everyone. That it was so easy for people to take advantage of the system in order to just… do what they want.

"When…" Syanna cleared her throat and tried again. "When we went to see Lord Matamara, he claimed that it was you that assaulted his daughter. We rather thought that he was lying though, but can you explain to us why he would have possibly blamed you in the first place?"

Gregoire's face had darkened a little before again, he swallowed that anger and let go of it. It rather occurred to me that this was going to be his life for a while, where he would hear about people believing the worst of him before throwing him to the wolves. There were going to be a lot of people saying "We always thought that it was a bit suspect" and "We never believed it was you, really, we were always on your side." I think he's going to really struggle with keeping his temper over the years.

Still, with the benefits of knowing that he was right, the love of a good woman and the affection of some good friends, that would soon mean that he will be able to see through the sycophants.

"Why would he blame me?" He grumbled. "Because it's so obviously believable. The fact that people in this room would so obviously believe it to be the truth is testament to that." He sighed and shifted his weight. "My attitude towards women is far from perfect and with Anne's help, I shall certainly work on that. But as to why he would blame me?" He shrugged. "Just as it is so easy to believe in all the dark and evil things that I have so easily committed, are there other people of whom it is impossible to believe?"

There was a lot of muttering and exchanging of glances.

"Further to that," Gregoire was not finished calling out hypocrisy. "You are all labouring under a misconception. You believe that Toussaint is the fairytale Kingdom where Good and Evil exist, where good Knights wear Golden armour and evil ones wear black and dull armour. You believe that there are two sides of everything. Where people are good and honourable men and women, or they are evil and scheming men and women."

I saw the point hit home with Lady Tonlaire and she started nodding as Gregoire continued.

"You all look down on those people that are either unable to, or unwilling to, serve the Ducal crown before you realise that for some people, that is simply not possible. The truth is that Toussaint is far more complicated than that. And the majority of people are just struggling to get by. I don't know what the truth of the matter is, I don't know why Lord Matamara didn't want to tell you who actually molested his daughter, but I can guess.

"In order to maintain my standard of living, I have been forced to lean into my reputation. To keep my manor maintained and my lands productive, to keep my servants paid and my workers in food, shelter and the rest, I have been forced to be what everyone else has always expected me to be. The dastardly, dark, pitiless and honourless Knight. It has made me a lot of money over time. But in the long run, In the next few years I will no longer be able to maintain that charade. Ten years after that, I will struggle to even compete, let alone win. It is why my change in career could not have come at a better time.

"I was still competing because I knew all of this. If I lived day to day I would be fine, but how will I keep everything going in the years to come? I have invested in trading companies. Other landowners have similar concerns. Toussaint is not self-sufficient. It is one of the reasons that, from what I have heard, this plot cannot be allowed to succeed. These Knights and men think we are impervious to military conquest, I don't know enough about that but my banker is quite clear. Without trade, Toussaint dies. So I trade my goods with certain people and interests. I am forced to go outside of Toussaint for this because of my reputation. But in order to make their money. In order to trade for the goods and services that are essential to our way of life. People need to invest their money and trade with other concerns. Lord Matamara will not be an exception to this.

"Someone will have attacked his daughter. They will have a hold over Lord Matamara so that if the Lord made a proper accusation then Lord Matamara's investments or trade or… whatever, would have suffered. The arithmetic for him would have been simple and he will have hated himself for it. His daughter was dead. There was nothing else he could do about it. Blame me, and if he was caught in the lie, he could say that he assumed, or that his daughter lied to him. But his sons and the future of his lands and his people would need to survive.

"That is what I think happened. He made a choice to protect his land and his people over his, and his daughter's integrity. Would anyone here say that they would have made the same decision."

Silence fell after that little speech. It struck me for a moment, to ask whether or not he had said as much to so many in so short a space of time before. It could have gone either way I thought.

The mood of the room was a little strange, strange enough that I couldn't quite read it properly. There was some chagrin there and some embarrassment. And it was a while before we noticed that Syanna was laughing.

"Ah Gregoire." She said. "All that time ago, when I first came back to Toussaint, I should have gone to you to help me overthrow my sister. But you misread the room a little and do us all a disservice."

Gregoire frowned. "Knight Captain…"

"No Gregoire." She said, staying seated. "I command here and it is my turn to speak. There is a time and place for your little speech but it is not this time or this place. Not because we have more important things to do and talk about, which we do, but because you are yelling at people who have already made their choices. Lord Frederick would never allow himself to be in such a position as you describe. He would ensure that his lands and his people would be protected first and ensure that the land provided that. Anything else would be a bonus and he would prioritise the land and the people over his own quality of life. That is the reason that he and his family make so many of his fellow nobles nervous.

"Witcher Kerrass is not a landowner and his honour is his own. Sir Guillaume is only recently landed and although he stands to inherit his uncle's lands and title, he would also not allow things to get to that state.

"Captain de La Tour lives by the grace of the Duchess and has strived, to change things from within, a crusade that was hampered by his birth. Lady Tonlaire is trying to redeem herself. Nilfgaardians are taught that the primary purpose of Nobility is to serve the state in the person of the Imperial throne and that all other measures are secondary. We should all of us count ourselves lucky that Empress Cirilla is a benevolent dictator and Goddess. Because that is what she is to the people of the Older Empire and, I suspect, to the North as well before too much longer.

"And as for me? I saw everything that you are talking about. And I agree with it. I ran down the wrong path and I caused untold pain and misery in doing so, to so many people. Including a Vampire that deserved better at my hands. But here I am, trying my best to keep Toussaint safe. Toussaint, not the nobles, or the Knights. Not even the workers in the fields and quarries. But all of them. To try and change the culture towards one of service first.

"Your point about why Lord Matamara is well made. Your anger at the way that Toussaint has treated you is also understandable. Your anger towards us for our prejudices are deserved but you will notice that we have set those aside in light of your recent actions when your older actions did nothing other than to reinforce that stereotype. Which you confess to. The moment that you proved otherwise and showed your true colours, we took you in."

Her voice, and gaze hardened.

"But do not lecture us Sir Gregoire. The people in this room are the ones who have already seen what you describe and are trying to make the world a better place. It is you that have come late to it, and I remind you that you were invited to come when all of this started."

Sir Gregoire had listened to all of this impassively. "You are right of course. I… I am not used to being on this side of the debate."

"And that is understandable." Syanna said, her voice quiet again. "We will learn to work together and your perspective is invaluable. You have much to teach us, you have much to teach me. But save your condmentations for those that do not see that they have much to learn."

Gregoire nodded. "I too, have much to learn. I apologise to the assembly."

"No need to apologise in my opinion." De La Tour said. "We could all do with a reality check every so often. But someone said that we had better things to do and talk about here. That person was right. Can we get back on track?"

There was some chuckling around the table including a smile from Gregoire and a glint in Syanna's eye that suggested something.

"What I would like to say is this." De La Tour went on. "Gregoire, your ruse regarding your reputation and character was so effective that you fooled us in this room, barring Witcher Kerrass and Lord Frederick of course. And we include some of the foremost investigators of the realm. I would therefore suggest that it is not unfeasible that your pretense might have fooled some of the people on the other side. Have you ever been approached by other people in order to be recruited into a conspiracy or club or… in order to get your influence and expertise to support this side or that side in the court?"

The Guard Captain smirked. "Fuck," he said, "it's almost a shame that your new character and life was changed so publicly, otherwise we could use you as an undercover infiltrator in order to inform us about all the people that might be trying to take advantage of the matter. The same with lady Tonlaire for that matter."

"The Lady Tonlaire factor is part of her punishment." Syanna reminded De La Tour.

"That is true." He admitted. "The Duchess can be devious in some ways but far too naive in others. We could have used that. But my questions are still valid."

The room laughed at, and with him. Damien is another man that can be selectively clever and stupid at the same time and I wonder if he had realised that the room needed some levity.

"The answer is, yes." Gregoire said. "Yes, people try to recruit me all the time. So many that it's almost impossible to say this or that, them or they. It's… a little upsetting to tell the truth but it also means that we can't see the tree for the forest. The other problem that my reputation has caused in that direction is that… if you didn't trust me because of my reputation as a villain, then the other side didn't want to confide in me because they knew that I would be under suspicion and therefore, they wanted to avoid me. I am a little too difficult to hide in a crowd after all. And I sometimes feel that people would be nervous of me losing my temper or otherwise… I don't know… drawing attention towards the plot."

He chuckled. "Even Sir Morgan tried to recruit me to his faction on more than one occasion."

We all laughed at that, including Lady Tonlaire..

"The problem for me," Gregoire took up his speech again, "is trust. I have been playing a character for so long that there have been times where I don't know where Gregoire de Gorgon, the Brute of Beauclair stops, and I begin. A side effect of all of that though is that I don't believe people when they come to me. Are they approaching Gregoire, or are they approaching the Brute of Beauclair. Whenever people do start things like this up, the justification is always the same. And what they start with is always a recruitment phrase. Something nice to sell to you.

"I hope Lady Tonlaire doesn't become too offended if I tell the room that the thing that her husband said to try and tempt me was "a group of gentlemen that are working to return Toussaint to a more traditional standpoint"."

"Sounds about right." The lady herself said.

"No-one ever leads with… "By the way, we are working to overthrow the Duchess, do you wanna join in?" or "We hate women, we are angry that we can't get away with just taking any pretty girl that we like whether she is willing or not and we intend to do so anyway." They must work up to it. Both so as not to drive me away, but also to justify to themselves that they are doing good things deep down. If it was pointed out to Lord Tonlaire that his actions amounted to Treason, then I imagine that he would be shocked and appalled that that was the case. Indeed, as I recall, he was.

"And when we catch the bastards that are doing this, I would also not be surprised at all if they are similarly appalled if we confront them with the obvious treason involved in their actions. As well as the horrific things that they have done to these women. They will say, "of course we are not trying to overthrow the Duchess. We just want to guide her towards proper wisdom." Or "These women were just a means to an end. Shame about Lady Matamara to be sure as she was a good girl but, she was a Lady of Toussaint and she would be happy to know that her death will go on to serve Toussaint"."

He grimaced in anger.

"And when some fuck stands before me and says that they don't know which one Miss Donnet was, or says something disparaging about Appoline, something like "She was just a tavern wench" then I might need to be restrained.

"I didn't join any of those clubs or secret conspiracies because those people disgust me. I would honestly be more inclined to join one of those causes if they had been honest enough to walk up to me and say "The quality of Knighthood has declined sharply and we intend to do something about it." I would have attended a meeting and listened to what they meant by "Quality" but beyond that…"

He shrugged.

"So I have no new suspects for you I'm afraid. Alain is an obvious suspect. I would have agreed that Morgan needed to be on a list of suspects. I would give him the credit that he would never do some of the disgusting things that have actually been done here, but I could easily have believed that he could send some people to do something despicable. He would be the kind of man that would hire the most horrible person he could find, knowing full well that the mercenary would rape and do horrible things to the woman that he was sent after, then Morgan could be all properly outraged as he had the moral distance set up for him.

"I would have suggested Raoul. Le Blanc as is. That man is a snake, skilled with a sword and has enough disdain for women to be able to do this kind of thing. Except he would not be caught. He would not risk anything that might… go wrong for him. He would not be involved in such a society or club except on the edges of it. Or if he was, then he would have things in place in order to… He would have a scapegoat, or he would have had flunkies, minions to do the work for him. And some of the men that work for him are equally as bad. But Raoul would not risk having one of them turn around and say that it was him. He would want to be able to deny everything that was happening."

Syanna nodded. I was frowning in thought. Something that Gregoire had said was tickling the back of my brain. The same way that an answer to a question can stay just out of reach. You can see it, you know that you know the answer, it's just there, just out of reach. I desperately wanted another cup of coffee but I could feel the jitters in the ends of my fingers and Ariadne had once told me that when it gets to that stage, then you need to take a step backwards.

Nor could I have a nap which is my other favourite way to allow an answer to float towards the top of my brain. I realised that I was about to doze off and shook myself awake before I fell forward onto the table, or fell off my chair.

Syanna was speaking.

"Does anyone else have any suspects to share? Any thoughts or names that fall into the categories that Lord Frederick described? Remember what we are looking for there. Ability with a sword, a disdain for women, political aspirations. Or someone who could lay their hands on any or all of those things. It had not occurred to me that some of the attackers could be mercenaries. Is there much of an avenue for that kind of thing in Toussaint Damien?"

"There is not." The Guard Captain said. "There are many gifted swordsman in Toussaint and some of them are mercenaries. But most of the mercenaries that come to Toussaint are Caravan guards. To have the kind of talent with the sword that would be required to face Lady Matamara's guards before fighting off a bunch of my guards. That would take more talent than those people that are currently wintering in Toussaint. The real talent is off in the fight against Vergen and Cidaris anyway."

He shook his head. "Caravan duty is for untested blades and old hands. And certainly anyone that is here for the winter since the passes closed would not fit the bill. That level of talent needs training. There were two nights where a man with training was guaranteed. The first was the death of Lady Matamara, the second was in the fight against Guillaume. I don't think that Guillaume would disagree if I said that he might not be the most skilled duellist in the realm, but as a fighter, there are few that could stand up to him. Let alone survive. His skills since his marriage have only improved.

"The death of Lady Moineau in her grounds, although there are witnesses that say that he was a skilled fighter, I don't think we can entirely believe those witnesses as they may be complicit. The other attacks could have been done by any random servant or private guard. Indeed, I would be surprised if the death of Miss Donnet turned out to be anything other than some amateur who was sent out to do the job."

"He did fight off several men that night." Kerrass reminded the guard.

"It does not take much training to knock a few… forgive me… common folk senseless."

"There is also the matter of the death of Madame Duberton." Guillaume added. "That needed the attackers… because we're pretty sure that there was more than one attacker was there not?"

"Undoubtedly." Kerrass put in.

"Then even then, to do things that quickly would need men of skill and strength. So there are several attacks that needed skilled swords as part of them. But I have had a thought about the man that fought me.

"Oh?" Syanna said with a raised eyebrow. It must be some level of breeding. Or something that you get trained to do from a young age if you have high noble blood. Or maybe…. I don't know. I've seen Lady Yennefer, Ciri, The Duchess, Syanna and Cerys all perform the trick of raising one eyebrow in question. And it takes a strong person not to wither away in front of that kind of gaze.

I wonder how they do it.

"Yes." Guillaume went on. "And I think I have another name for the lists of suspects. Lord Velles, Sir Velles or whatever he is. The merchant."

I could not suppress a moan at the name. "Flame I hope not." I muttered. I did not think anyone heard me.

"Why do you say that?" Syanna wondered of Guillaume.

"Ok… Right. The man that fought me was good. Very good in fact. He was quick, strong and he had stamina. All of the things that a man should have for that kind of work. So he had training, of that I am sure. Now we move on to some gut feelings. I cannot tell you why I think some of these things, but I do. In fact I am convinced of them.

"The man that I fought was not taught to fight in Toussaint. They have had some training here and have taken on some of our techniques. But the basis of their stance, the placement of their feet, the way that they held their weapons. No man of Toussaint would hold his blade like that."

"Can you replicate the stances that he used?" Kerrass said. "I have seen men fight all over the continent."

"Not easily." Guillaume said. "My own muscle memory is hard to… Ok. Sir Knight," He addressed the Nilfgaardian "May I borrow your sabre?"

The black armoured officer drew and offered, the hilt held over the forearm. Guillaume grimaced as he took it. "I understand the logic of a lighter blade." He admitted "But I can't agree, still…." He pulled his glove off and took up the sword. Then he frowned as he twisted his fingers around the wire grip. Even then he still wasn't satisfied. "It was close to that, the guard interferes with the extension of the forefinger."

Kerrass got up and went round the table to examine the grip for a moment, Gregoire too bent to look before Guillaume had to place the sword on the table, wringing his hand as he did so.

"That's a northern grip." Kerrass said. "They use that sort of thing along the Pontar valley. It's meant for a heavier sword than that one. Toussaint blades are heavier but balanced towards the blade in an effort to get through armour, whereas the Northern blades are balanced with the weight further down the hilt. If they need to get through armour, they have a mace for that kind of thing. Swords are for killing peasants who wear a glorified blanket as armour."

"Also," Guillaume went on. "He had an old injury. Isn't it Lord Velles that claims that he fought at the battle of the Line outside Vizima and was captured after he was injured."

"Yes it is." I said. "Yes, that's him. Although, the joke that was said at the time when he told me, was that if everyone who claimed that they fought at the Line was actually there, then it would have been like Brenna and far more decisive for the Southern war effort."

The Nilfgaardian man laughed at that.

"Why do you hope it isn't him Lord Frederick?" Syanna asked.

"He's a friend of my brothers." I told them all. "Sam has been struggling with everything and he needs some friends. Not only that, but we were hoping that the introduction might be the beginnings of a bridge over the rift that is growing in my family."

"Freddie…" Syanna began unhappily.

"I know I know." I said. "If he's involved in something this evil then I don't want him anywhere near my brother. It's just, I hope it's not him."

"Friedde." She began again. "You and the rest of your family are idealised in Toussaint. After getting to know you a bit better, I can absolutely understand why. You are rare people. But I did not like the younger of the two brothers and I cannot say that I will be sorry if he is inconvenienced. We have to pursue this."

"I know." I said. "I just hope it isn't him."

She nodded. "Alright. What can people tell me about Velles?"

"He's a merchant." Guillaume said. "From what I understand, he's a fairly good one. Especially given that he only started in the trade relatively recently. He claims to have fought at the battle of the line outside Vizima but he himself acknowledges the fact that that is virtually impossible to prove either way. He certainly has military training and from what I understand he is pretty good with a sword. However the injury that he sustained during the battle of the line, or elsewhere, means that he cannot keep up any more."

"How does that track with the person you fought?" Syanna asked.

"It would all fit. The man I fought was good, if I had to depend on hunches then I would also say that he was not as good as he used to be. He had the feeling about his fighting that he was relying on experience more than he should have. I have no doubt that I would have beaten him eventually and he knew the same thing. It was an odd fight, I didn't want to kill him which hampered me and he wanted to get away, so all my opponent was trying to do was to create some room between us so that he could do precisely that. If it had been a straight fight to the death then I think it would have been over far quicker."

"That's not a lot for us to work on." Syanna said. "It's more supposition. I mean, it all fits but there is nothing there that we can point to and say "He's the man. He did it." Lord Frederick, you might know more about his mercantile business. Is there anything else you can tell us?"

I sighed unhappily. "I only have what Emma told me. He is a good merchant but he's about to hit the ice ceiling of the fact that he's trying to do all of this by himself. He is a lone operator and those kinds of merchants can only go so far before they have to start working with someone else. They need to expand their territory or start working with partners or one of the other countries. According to her, sooner or later, there is only so much money that can be made if you are a merchant just working by yourself.

"I will admit that I liked him but I rather thought that he was putting his guise on. He's a merchant after all and part of what you have to sell is yourself. Which is what the whole "I fought at the battle of the line" is about. True or not, and I don't think it really matters, it portrays him as a man of duty and a man of honour. It's meant to get you to trust him even when you have every reason not to. Emma said that his ideas and schemes were sound enough when she talked to him. He didn't try to over reach with her or with his expectations regarding what he could do for Sam. All she would say of him in that regard was that he was reluctant to sign up to the Coulthard company or any of the other companies that around the continent. He wanted to be his own master but, in the long run, that would limit the amount of money that he could make."

Syanna nodded. "Does anyone know anything more about him?"

"You can find a dozen like him in the markets of Toussaint." Damien said. "I keep an eye on them because the majority of the work of a guard is in keeping their stall holders and caravan guards from killing each other in the height of summer. He's one of those men that Toussaint cannot live without, he takes the wines and olive oil that we make and takes it north to be sold in all the places that you can expect. He brings back all the tools and basic things that we cannot produce wine or Olive oil without. Barrels, nails and such like. He keeps his nose clean, as far as I know he doesn't try and get anything too obscene past the border inspections. He pays his taxes on time, doesn't get more drunk than he needs to in order to be properly sociable and when he does find a girl to sleep with, he doesn't mistreat them."

"Sounds pretty boring." Syanna said. "Anyone else have anything?"

"He's ambitious." Lady Tonlaire said. "He seems to have plans far above his station and as well as what Lord Frederick says, above his ability as well. His current iteration will only take him so far and if you pushed me, I would say that he lives slightly above his means. He has expensive taste and is often heard to complain that he cannot get more for his money. Back when the Knights Errant were first disbanded, he was one of those merchants that complained about the new order of things being done. You know, with proper border inspections and incorruptible guards.

"He was dismayed by how much money he had to waste by bringing things across the border above board and all legal like. If he has a motive to be involved with the conspiracy, it won't be the women or the power. It's going to be about the money involved."

Syanna grunted as she took all of that in before she shook her head.

"It's still not… I can see it. I might even agree that he bears looking at. But is there anything we can act on here? We have Guillaume's hunch about who and what he was fighting which is compelling to be sure. We also have a theory as to why he might be involved."

"It's possible that he's been pressured into it." I heard myself say. "He has money, but not that much money, the other members of the conspiracy could have talked him into it. I struggle to think that he would found a conspiracy like this one, but I could see him joining something that might make him more money and then him being dismayed by how far it went."

"I can see all of that." Guillaume agreed. "Except there was no-one out there holding a knife to his throat when he fought the two of us outside the cottage. He could have surrendered, stood down, asked for help… Any number of things. He's as complicit as the next person here. Was he pressured? Maybe but he still owns the amount to which he is involved here."

I nodded unhappily.

"And again," Syanna said. "Your sister and her efforts are the exception to the rule. I have known a lot of merchants in my time and the sheer number of them that would sell their mothers for a quick mark by far outweigh the number of merchants that were trying to make an honest living. I have read the histories of your family. Your father was a war profiteer in that he predicted the Nilfgaardian invasion and sold his stock of weapons and equipment to Redania. That he was a patriot is undeniable but from another standpoint…" She shrugged. "Your sister has the luxury of being able to be noble about the way she conducts her business but it is a luxury that not all merchants have."

She sighed and rubbed her head. "I apologise, Lord Frederick. That came out far harsher than I meant it to. I respect and admire your sister and your father saw an opportunity to lift himself and his family up."

"He did." I admitted. "But that does not change that what he did was, as you say, war profiteering. And I cannot say that I am sorry that he did it."

She nodded in response to that.

"I'm not happy with the Velles suggestion." She said. "I can see it and it all fits but I agree with the sentiment that he is not the mastermind. There is the benefit that we can accuse him, search his house and warehouse and we will get away with it given that he is a foreigner, but in the long run, that might cause more harm than good to the other foreigners that we have to deal with. We need more. Anyone else have a suspect?"

There was a whole bunch of exchanging glances. Other than the Nilfgaardian Knight.

"To be clear." Syanna said, biting her words off in irritation. "This is a question for the locals in the room. We know more people than people like Lord Frederick. Who else could, who else would, let's start to think a little bit outside the box."

Lady Tonlaire took a deep breath. "I have something."

"Go on."

"It astonishes me that Sir Raoul isn't on the list of suspects. Twice now I have heard his name mentioned, even in this room as well, but you all seem to skip over it."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because it seems pretty obvious to me looking back. He has all of the factors that you describe. He is not the best swordsman in Toussaint when you compare him to someone like Alain, Guillaume or Lord Geralt, but he would give Gregoire a challenge I think…"

"Not unfair." The big man grumbled.

"And he would trounce my husband nowadays. He has no particular love for the new directives that have come out of the Duchess' office. He has been heard, many times by his servants and friends, to have bemoaned the fact that he does not have as much power as he used to under the old systems. But there is also a couple of other factors. One of those factors is that he hates Lord Frederick. I mean he really hates you sir."

"I am aware." I said.

"No," she said. "I don't think you are. He hates you. Not your family, or anyone or anything else. I mean yes, he does hate everyone in the world to a greater or lesser degree. But he hates you more than the others. He would happily die, I think, if it caused you pain and suffering."

"Why?" Syanna was frowning.

"When he talked to me," I jumped in. "He claimed that it was because he thought that the two of us were very alike. That I was everything that he had been taught was weak and yet I had attained a status that he could only dream of."

"That is part of it." Lady TOnlaire said. "I am sure that that is part of it, but not all of it I think. I can't say what it is. Raoul is not a nice person to try and get inside the head of. But it fits. He had us steal your spear in order to humiliate you at the party of Talents. He had us find out about your illness and exactly how your illness could be triggered. We took a misstep there. We thought that reminders of old conflicts would set you off, but we missed the part where the introduction of a puzzle would energise you."

"Is this a confession?" Syanna wondered.

"No." Lady Tonlaire said. "He asked me how to torment Lord Frederick, how to trigger his illnesses and injuries. We thought it was a matter of humiliating a Northern Lord who, and this bit I kind of agree with, a Northern Lord who's family has far too much of an influence on Toussaint culture and politics. That is the sort of courtly game that has been played since Toussaint was founded."

"And beyond." I said. "That game is played all over the continent. And I have been the target of it before."

"So, just tormenting Lord Frederick was why I did it. But now I know more, it is easier to see the possibility that it was done to throw Lord Frederick off the scent. To confront him with Jack and therefore the failure to rescue Lord Frederick's sister, back into his face. From what I've seen and heard, Lord Frederick has done a lot of the thinking on this case. That says something to his character. And I wonder if I was being asked to assess Lord Frederick in order to ensure that the plot went ahead and that he, and therefore Witcher Kerrass, would be unable to assist the investigation."

It made sense.

"Also, there is another factor about Sir Raoul. I said earlier that he hates everything. That is true, and he wants to watch it all burn to the ground. Toussaint, the Duchess, the order of Knighthoods. You have talked about a Ringleader but I want to suggest that it's him. He will have told the others involved that there are political reasons. He would have lied to their faces in some cases and otherwise got them on board by fair means or foul. But the truth is, that he doesn't care. He wants to live life and he wants to burn everything else to the ground."

"He turned on your husband fast enough yesterday." Gregoire agreed.

"And he was seen to be helping Alain when Alain was trying to get Kerrass out of the cells." Guillaume added.

"So why haven't you got Raoul on the list of suspects?" Lady Tonlaire asked. "It seems an obvious choice to me."

"And it is." I said. "It is a recently noticed flaw of mine that I sometimes look for the complicated answer when a simple one would do. I didn't want to name Sir Raoul because of the way he has been trying to bully me. I was biased against him and I didn't want my accusations to be born out of that bias."

"Bias is sometimes instinct speaking to us." Syanna said. "Not always, but some times. It is important to take these things apart and figure out why you are biased. Is it because you're being an ass, or is it because there is something there." She shrugged. "This is all wonderful and everything. But there still isn't any proof. Nothing for us to act on. We have suspicions, theories and assessments. Nothing for us to act on. Who else?"

That went on for a while. A long while. Far longer than was entirely useful. Names were discussed and set aside. I don't want to go through it all in case I offend or damage someone's reputation unfairly, as there were some people in that mixture who were completely innocent. We ran out of steam in middle of the afternoon when Syanna threw her hands up in the air. "We're nowhere." She decided and told us that it was time for another break.

'Right." She began as we all came back. "We have suspects but we still don't have any proof that we can reasonably act on."

"Tell me again." Gregoire began. "I know I'm new to this whole thing and I will admit that my experience about law keeping is about smacking the shit out of bandits who have made the grave error of trying to rob me or one of the people on my lands. But why can't we just arrest Alain and use him to tell us who the rest of the conspirators are."

"It's complicated." Damien waved the question off.

"Then make it simple." Gregoire hissed.

The room went still.

I took a deep breath. "It is indeed complicated as I understand it. Made so by Toussaint law. We cannot use any kind of coercion on Alain as, technically speaking, the state is not allowed to use torture or other interrogation methods to get information out of the noble born."

"It can be done." Syanna said, "but the Duchess needs to sign off on it personally and there needs to be a provable cause of concern going in."

"Isn't there enough of that though." Gregoire argued. "Are they, or are they not going to try this again?"

"They are." I said. "But there is some suggestion that Alain is being cut off. If they haven't made another scapegoat, then Alain is, very probably, going to be their sacrificial lamb. So it's even more likely that evidence is being forged to say that he was acting alone and anyone that he could give us would be able to prove that they are innocent. And even if they aren't, the political…"

Gregoire laughed bitterly. "You should have just said that it was political." He said to Damien. "Would have saved all the time."

"Finish the point Freddie." Syanna told me.

I cleared my throat. "If we just pick up Alain, he will almost certainly accuse people. Those people will then have alibis, excuses and explanations as to why it wasn't them. Including the fact that we are using a guilty person who is accusing them to save his own skin. Which is true. That the information was attained illegally, which is also true. And then they will go to ground."

"The other problem," Guillaume said "is that if we just accuse Alain, then he will demand the right to face his accuser, same as how Sir Morgan challenged Lady Anne. Then he will challenge them and I think we both know, Gregoire, that Alain is the better swordsman. He will win, be proven innocent and then there is nothing we can do about it."

"The Duchess' concern here." Syanna spoke up. "Is that… Yes. We could certainly remove Alain from the board. But what then. The conspirators are still out there. Still out there and able to, well, conspire."

"Yes, but we would still know who they are. We could watch them." Gregoire argued.

"There are only so many of us." Damian argued.

"There will be other crises." Syanna was a little calmer. And when we are looking at those new problems, these enemies will strike. We need to remove the entire thing from the board. At once, at the same time."

"How do we do that?" Lady Tonlaire asked. Gregoire was pouring himself a drink to calm down while he shook his head and muttered to himself. "What proof will work. I can see the problem. Not least because Alain's word against his servants or his guards will be believed, even if all of them stood up and pointed the finger. At what stage is the Empress allowed to stand up and say, "That man, arrest him." Regardless of any other concerns like honour duels and trials by combat. I can see the reasoning but what sort of thing are we looking for."

"Ideally an informant." Syanna said. "Lady Vivienne has done some research into the precedence of the matter. The Duchess is allowed to intervene on civil matters when there is quote "incontrovertible proof of a person's guilt"."

"Then what does…"

"What counts as "incontrovertible proof"? Shockingly, the document in question doesn't say." Syanna smiled a little.

"It wouldn't." Lady Tonlaire said. "Because this is an area of Law that needs as much ambiguity as possible."

There was some small laughter.

"Upon consultation with a few legal experts, Lady Vivienne is of the opinion that "incontrovertible proof" is whatever the Duchess says it is. The trick is that the Duchess needs to decide in advance and new laws in order to draw up guidelines are being written as we speak. The Duchess does not want to be a tyrant after all so she wants to be sure. And like all my Knights are required to do, we read the treatise by… I forget whom, but the argument that information revealed by torture is often false anyway as the subject tries to feed us what they think we want to hear."

(Freddie: The book's name is "Torture and it's uses," by Andrew Tourent of Temeria. It argues all these points and that the only worthwhile use of torture is as a capital punishment. But there are far more effective ways of coercing someone to give out information or to do something against their immediate will. It's an interesting book and I highly recommend it, but only if you're not particularly squeamish.)

"In this case, in order to make such a declaration, the Duchess wants a willing informant from within the conspiracy, or she wants some kind of material evidence, paperwork, costumes, something along those lines."

"Tricky." Lady Tonlaire said, tugging at her bottom lip. "So by an informant... Would it work if we caught them red-handed and asked them to give the names. If they aren't tortured, if they voluntarily give up the information. Would that work?"

"It would,"

"And how would we manage that?" One of the Knights I didn't know asked.

"We could set a trap." Gregoire said. To me, it was fairly obvious that Gregoire was tired and frustrated by the entire process. To see why, let me say this.

I am not a man of action. I am a scholar. I still stoop occasionally after a long period of crouching over a desk. I still have a tendency to peer at things rather than looking at them. It took me years of hard, mind and body breaking work to become even adequate in combat and even now, there is still a tendency to freeze and over think the actions that I am taking. Kerrass has worked to overcome that and I still have days when I backslide over things.

So imagine it from the other way. Imagine a man of action. A man who has been raised, trained and practised the method of fighting first and asking questions when there are no more people to hit. To think analytically about problems that are to do with politics and motives and belief systems rather than the best method to breach a man's armour. I am not that person, but it strikes me that it is as hard, if not more so, to do it that way round than it is to do it the way that I had to learn.

"To set a trap, we would need bait." Damien said, picking at something on his clothes. "So who do we use? We can't use Lady Caroline again. It would obviously be a trap, they know that it was a trap last time. They almost certainly know that Lady Caroline is currently enjoying her lodgings with the Knights of the Saint, so why would she suddenly be moved? To somewhere less secure?"

"We could use…" Gregoire was hot.

"Who else would they be willing to set aside their existing targets for?" I wondered, doing my best to be calm and conciliatory. "Make no mistake. These men know who they are coming for next and they already have their plan in place. As I say, the only target that they changed their plans for was when Lady Caroline was in a different place. So who would make a better target to disrupt Toussaint? Emma? She would do it if I asked but if I was a sinister cultist, especially an intelligent one, I would not interfere with one of the biggest trading concerns in the North and therefore one of the biggest customer groups for Toussaint wine. If Lord Velles is involved then they know how much they would all stand to lose if Emma died suddenly and at the hands of a Toussaint assassin. And they would know that wherever Emma goes, at least Laurelen goes as well. Jack leaps out, or the group of attackers leaps out and her Sorceress lover whisks them away."

"Yes," Gregoire admitted "but what about?"

"The Duchess?" I suggested. Not seriously but enough to throw it out there so that it was said aloud.

"Never going to happen." Syanna.

"And I don't think it would work." I added. "They want to control the throne, not destroy it. If they kill the Duchess then she becomes a martyr and her heir presumptive, Either Lady Caroline or Lady Syanna, would tell them precisely and in detail how to get fucked. Killing Syanna comes with a similar concern. Right now, if the Knight Commander was killed then she would become a martyr to her cause. It would solidify the Knights of Saint Francesca in the hearts and minds of Toussaint and the world. They need to destroy her first. With all due respect to the lady herself…"

"But we should be so lucky that they kill me." Syanna finished. "So who else do we use as bait? Anne? She would work."

Gregoire bridles, his face reddening before he saw what was happening and nodded. "I would not allow it."

"You would." I said. "If we all told you that it was the only way, then you would. I think. You would not enjoy it and you would insist, rightly, to be standing at her elbow for the entire time so that when the threat appeared, you would be there to defend her."

"That I would do." he agreed.

"These men that are doing this are not stupid." I said. "They will know that you would do that. As would any man when finally being allowed access to the woman that they love. So the only way to kill her is with an arrow which defeats the "Jack" nature of the thing."

"Why do we think they are still using the Jack gambit?" Lady Tonlaire wondered. "I mean if they're so clever then they must know that the pretense is ovooohhhh. I see." She sighed.

"I don't." Damien said.

"It's about the fear of the populace." Kerrass said. "That is their most powerful weapon here."

"I rather thought that their most powerful weapon is their anonymity and their ability to set the pace of the events." Damien muttered.

"That too." Kerrass agreed. "But jumped up bandits have hidden behind monstrous pretenses before. This is not a new story. I apologise to the Toussaint pride that I have just injured, but it isn't a new story. We know it's a group of people, probably men…"

"You really think that a woman could be involved?" Lady TOnlaire protested.

"Definitely." Kerrass said. "I mean, I doubt it in this instance, but women can be just as cruel as men. And a lot of times, the people they are cruel towards are other women. You are the perfect example of what happens there. What you did to Anne was horrible."

Lady Tonlaire lowered her gaze.

"But hiding behind a monster is not a new tale. We know that it isn't a monster because we have seen the proof and listened to the testimony. But the other nobles in the courtroom? Even if they know it. Do the people in the street? How about the people in the countryside who lock their doors against the Fetch that creeps about in the shadows underneath the trees?

"If it is known that it is a group of men that are doing this, then the people will take the law into their own hands and roust them out."

"Some of them are already doing that." Damien said.

"So a trap isn't going to work." Syanna said. "So what else can we do? Come on folks. As I say, the Duchess wants this dealt with today. If we do nothing then she will yell at me and if she yells at me, then I will yell at you."

The small laughter died away after a moment.

"And then some other woman will die." She finished with a significant glare.

As pieces of motivational theatre go, that was unparalleled. There was far too much to unpack there that it was… honestly? A little terrifying.

"What else do we have?" She said into the lengthening silence after that.

There was some shifting of feet.

"Could we play this against them?" Lady Tonlaire asked. "My husband is, I hope, even now standing in the courtroom declaring how wrong he was and how magnanimous and wonderful the Duchess is. Not everyone will listen but some people might. If we could harness a few of the courtiers that would be pro our stance, could we then take the political fight to them, put them under pressure and draw them out?"

"Freddie? You're the court mind."

"Am I?"

"You are." Syanna said flatly.

"Fuck." I muttered. "Then we're worse off than I thought. It's not a bad plan and if we had a week or two then I would say that it was a viable one. However we simply don't have time. Violence is fast, politics is slow."

"Unless it's done violently." Guillaume commented, trying for a joke. It was not entirely uncomfortable.

"It is worth starting," I began. "if we haven't already. But it's also worth remembering that we've done all of this and that all of this has happened in only a couple of days. It was only a few days ago that I was called to service."

"Freddie's point is well made." Syanna said. "This needs acting on now, not later. We are bringing pressure on our enemies but we are not there yet."

"We could announce a pardon." Guillaume suggested. "The first person to come forward with something will be pardoned or given a lesser sentence."

There was some grumbling around the table at that and I felt the need to defend my friend.

"It is not a bad plan." I suggested.

"But it does bring up the same problem as to what would happen if we just arrested Alain." Gregoire was beginning to see where all of this was going. "If it's a common man then they will simply deny it and no guard who was involved enough to act on these things would betray their masters anyway. And no Knight or ringleader figure would fall for it."

The room fell into silence for a while.

"Come on," Syanna said. "I do not want us to fall back into being reactive, sitting around with armour on and weapons prepared hoping that the next woman to die will give us enough clues to allow us to work out what is going on. There must be something that we can do."

"What about Magic?" Guillaume asked. "Magic could show us…"

"Magic is not a viable option of evidence." The Nilfgaardian man said. "If Magic is used then we are still believing the magic user over the actions and words of someone else."

"But they could tell us where to look." Guillaume argued.

"Which is again… If magic can conjure up the location of some incriminatory evidence then it can certainly conjure up some of the incriminatory evidence itself." The Black armoured Knight snapped.

More silence.

"Was there any sign that someone had fled the house after Madame Duberton was killed?" Gregoire asked Kerrass.

"None." The Witcher said. "The killers had enough time to clean themselves off in the fountain. They knew what they were doing."

"Did anyone see them leave?"

Kerrass just shook his head. "And how would you know one person from the other? It's winter, a cloaked and hooded figure leaving a house in the middle of the night does not attract notice. It's cold. People wrap up for the warmth."

"Colonel and Madame Duberton did."

"And Nilfgaardians dress warmer than other folk. And they were doing their thing at the beginning of the evening. These people would have left last thing at night. For all an onlooker might have thought it would have just been a servant going about their…"

"When Jack was on the prowl?"

"Yes, even when Jack was on the prowl." Kerrass was growing angry. "Nobles have strange requests for their guards and servants at all hours of the day and night. Further to that, they are more likely to send men out, or servants in general, so that they wouldn't be attacked."

Gregoire held his hand up to stop the flow of anger from the Witcher.

Silence fell again after that. We were still nowhere and had nothing else to add. I glanced at Syanna suspiciously. There is a school of thought when it comes to leadership and leading these kinds of conferences. It suggests that when you have a difficult choice to make, you put everyone in the room and start asking for options. This will mean that people will shoot down their own and each other's opinions until you get to the choice that you know is correct, but will be unpopular. That way, everyone will have seen that the options have been exhausted and that there is no other option except to go for the problematic choice.

She seemed just as frustrated as the rest of us though so she was either genuinely needing options, or she was being a much better actor than I gave her credit for.

Turns out I was looking in the wrong place.

The silence was broken by someone sighing.

"One of my old duties as a commander of the watch…." It honestly took us a moment or two to realise who it was that was talking. Damien stood up just as we realised he was speaking. I still wonder if he knew what he was going to say when Syanna had called us into the room and whether or not what happened next was inevitable.

"One of my old duties as a commander of the watch was to monitor the bare-knuckled boxing. Depending on where you go in Toussaint will depend on the rules and one of my first duties as a guard commander was to order and consolidate matters so that we were all singing from the same song sheet. It took us ages to get the rules codified so that it turned into the relatively gentleman's art that it is today. As a result of our efforts, the number of accidental deaths due to people taking part in the sport has been reduced to almost zero. Now we are working on reducing the number of maimings but… one step at a time."

"I fail to see how this is relevant." Lady Tonlaire grumbled.

"Hush." Syanna told her. "Let him speak."

"Thank you Knight Commander." Damien had poured himself a drink and had picked up a sweet pastry.

"There is normally a point to these stories." Syanna told us all with a very slight smile. "The point is always well made and often needed. Even if it does take his cute little ass far too long to get there."

The flirting was a well aimed blow. Damien reddened and bowed before glaring at the Knight commander who winked at him before frowning. "But my patience," she went on, "like my sister's patience, is running out Captain, remember that."

He bowed. That point was well made too. Syanna really was good at this.

"Back in the early days of the fighting, there was a fighter called Markus Calloway. He was a big man, originally a sailor out of Skellige. Huge, bair of a man with long red hair and big bushy beard. He did this intimidation thing where he would glare at people before rolling his eyes up into the back of the head before grinning horribly and stepping into the fight. At the time, the rules were just getting codified. We had things like, no eye gauges, fists and feet only. Grappling was permitted of course and we would remind people that if you killed someone it would be down to the magistrate as to whether or not they would be done for murder or not.

"We had just got to the point where we were forcing them to wear padded gloves in the higher fights, more to protect the higher fighters than anything else. The bare knuckle fights needed to be reserved for the less professional fighters who didn't know as much. But when you got to the level of someone like Markus, the gloves were essential. As I say, to protect the man throwing the punches from criminal problems as much as anything as when someone like Marcus punches someone, they tend to stay punched.

"When we were trying out the whole thing with the gloves which, alas, didn't last. Unfortunately a Nobleman's son thought he could get involved, protested when he got his head beaten in and so we had to outlaw the fights all together. Which drove them back underground and made them all but lawless again. But for a while there, back alley brawling for side bets became a sport that anyone could enjoy.

"But when we were trying out the thing with the gloves, Markus, who was one of the best fighters there, was getting his ass kicked. It was weird to watch. As I say, he was a big man, hugely strong, lightening fast, but over and over again he was being beaten on points, or because another fighter would get in some lucky punches. And the fights would go the same way, over and over again. The fighter would rush in, block Markus' punch and close the distance. They would unleash a flurry of blows which would send Markus reeling backwards and then it would be all over bar the shouting. It took us ages to figure out what the problem was. Why Markus would win the sparring rounds but wouldn't win the actual matches."

As it turns out, Damien is actually a gifted story teller. He claims that it's due to the long and lonely nights sitting on duty with other men watching the time trickle by. The only way to endure that kind of thing is to learn to entertain each other.

"The problem was this. Obviously there were rules against blows below the belt, not feet and the like. No knees either, but there was a consistent problem with the use of Elbows. As anyone who has been in an actual fight will tell you. A punch to the face is no joke. But if you get hit in the face with an elbow. It's like being hit in the face with a sword or a hammer. The point being that the person doing the attacking is always nervous of throwing a punch, because they know that the punch is going to hurt the hands as well as the other guy's face. So they tend to hold back a bit. You don't have to do that with an elbow.

"The problem from our standpoint. Was that it's much easier, far easier to get away with throwing an elbow into someone's face than it is to get away with a kick or a Knee. There is a lot of movement involved in that kind of thing whereas throwing an elbow in the middle of a punch can often be excused as being "accidental."

"And that was Markus' problem. Being Skelligan, he had a similar viewpoint on honour as someone like Guillaume or any of the other Knights in the room."

See where I get the comparison from?

"He was a man of honour," Damien went on, "and so he refused to throw an elbow. He just wouldn't do it. So there was a missing element of fear there. An elbow doesn't have the same range as a fist, so it's only really useful up close and personal. So that meant that all his opponents had to do was to close with Markus and there was nothing he could do. He would just back off and try for the room to swing which was what his instinct was.

"For every other fighter, his opponents would not close that far, because there was always the fear that they would throw that elbow. So they would stay at range to get their own punches in before stepping out. But with Markus, who could outrange most, that meant that they needed to close with him."

Damien took a long drink and grimaced at the taste.

"He was a good man, pretty wife at home, two kids, making a bit more money to pay for education and things. So we pleaded with him. We begged him, "just throw an elbow. Just one. Pick a guy that you don't like. Someone that's a treasonous fuck that beats women and children. Someone who steals and shirks their work. Hell, we even pointed out a couple of prime contenders, but he just wouldn't do it. He just refused. He wanted to remain honourable. We complained and complained and he just wouldn't do it.

"If he did, his opponents would be terrified of him. A man that size? A well thrown elbow would take someone's head off. But he refused. In the end, I had the privilege of being there when a fist fighter from Temeria who men called Zdenek watched him fight and he took Marcus aside and explained the issue with the Elbow. Markus was having none of it of course.

"Zdenek was just a wiry old man but he had seen more hand to hand combat than any three of the fighters in Toussaint put together at that time. Markus explained that he refused to throw the elbow and why and Zdenek laughed. "Ah my boy." He said to the much bigger man. "You do not need to hit someone with an elbow every time you enter the arena. You only need to do it once."

"It took Markus a moment as I recall, before he marched into the arena with a man who was well known to be a bully, only fighting with opponents that would never hope to beat him, much like Sir Crawthorne used to. The fight went the same way as it ever did, the other man tried to close with Markus and get inside his reach. But this time, Marcus' Elbow came round and fair took the other guy's face off."

Damien laughed at the memory.

"He was disqualified from that bout, but he won his first tournament that week. And the next one and the one after that. Before too much longer, he was able to give up working as a sailor and dock worker and fought professionally. He lives in the Nilfgaardian capitol now, training other fighters and charging a fortune for those that want to go that way."

"And what is the point behind all this?" Lady Tonlaire wondered when it became clear that Damien was done talking.

"We need to throw an Elbow." Damien told us. "Everyone in this room are honourable people or," he glared at Lady Tonlaire significantly, "are making amends from those times when they weren't. You are all thinking like honourable people.

"But our enemies know this, they know that we will act like this so they've already taken it into account. They know that we have tied our own hands behind our backs and that there is nothing. Nothing at all that we can do to get around that. In the meantime, they can enjoy themselves and do whatever the fuck they like outside the same selfimposed restrictions that we have placed on ourselves."

"All of this is fascinating and everything." My read of the situation was that Guillaume was amused rather than annoyed but his tone of voice did not carry that as well as he thought it would have. "And your point is well made. But what does that really mean in practical measures? What is our elbow?"

"I am under no illusions." Damien said. "I was made a Knight and put in charge of the City Watch, not in spite of my common blood. But because of it. I don't think like a noble, I don't act like a noble and as such, I come up with the unpopular choices that no-one else will consider. Then when I act on that kind of thing, when I arrest the nobleman who has molested the bar maid, when I let the thief go who stole a loaf of bread for his starving family, the Duchess can yell at me in public, tell everyone that it is my common blood that means that I think I can get away with that kind of thing, and later, sometimes months later. I get a reward, some land or a horse or a sword as a gift for doing my duty. Sometimes people like me are necessary to make the world work and the Duchess knows it.

"Do not be fooled." He told Syanna. "It is the same reason that she put you in charge of the Knights Francesca. You think more like a bandit than you do a noblewoman. And she wants people that think like that in order to catch the fuckers out."

I nodded. For those people who are interested, what Damien was talking about is called "The Black Knight gambit." Named for a King of Aedirn who was having problems with an uppity noble of the lower valley of the Pontar. The noble was threatening to abandon his lands to Kaedwen in return for the usual wealth and whatever. There was no legal reason for the King to do anything and if he did just kill this noble then the other Lords who, in Aedirn, have always done their best to take more power from the throne than they should, would be outraged.

Rightly too as that would mean that the King would do it to them.

In the end, what the King did was to take a Knight of his court and dress them up in anonymous black armour. As you will know, all Knights like their pageantry. Bright colours and ornate scrollwork on their armour to make them look as fancy as possible. But this stuff was obviously well made and utterly plain, almost boring in its appearance. The Knight then went, called the noble out, hurled a load of insults at him until the Noble was forced to defend himself before the Knight killed him on the field. The Black Knight rode off, probably just round the corner to where his squires were waiting and changed into his normal armour.

The thing was, everyone knew who the Black Knight was, it was one of the finest Knights in the Kingdom. A man loyal to the crown. His fighting style was unique, his size and build was a lot like Gregoire in that he was a big, heavily muscled man and therefore he was unmistakable. But his squires, who were all noblemen in their own right, swore that the man was in another part of the country at the time, meeting with the King about a pending marriage to the King's cousin. A lady of considerable grace and beauty who everyone loved. Who also swore that she had been in the company of the Knight in question.

There was even a minor scandal about it as she admitted that the two of them had fallen in love and had even been… indiscreet. To the point where, in a rage, the King had insisted that the pair of them marry in order to avoid scandal.

And after that day, if the King knew that he was having a problem, or if someone was being belligerent, then a black Knight would attend court. Often a different man, and the enemies of the King would suddenly find themselves less keen to talk down to the crown.

The tradition of the Black Knight has taken new meaning in modern times to talk about the courtly play. The unpopular but loyal man who will say the things that need to be said, or do the things that need to be done. Not quite the tradition of the Fool who speaks the truth that the power does not want to hear. But the necessary act that the Lord does not want to perform. Or wants someone else to come up with in a public place.

If you want a proper analysis of the history or the things behind this. I can recommend the work, "The ebony armour of the North." By Walter de Flambert of Nilfgaard.

"I can see some of you growing impatient." Damien said with a slight smile and the air of a street corner magician about to reveal his trick. "So here is my point. We need proof, evidence and testimony. The place where this proof, evidence and testimony is in the manor houses and residences of the people responsible. How do we get this evidence? Well, we go and get it."

There was silence for a long moment.

"Raiding people's property for such things is illegal." Guillaume commented.

"That didn't stop you when you raided my husband's love nest." Lady Tonlaire said with a bit of asperity. "And yes, he bought it as a warehouse but he intended to keep a mistress or two there. The fact that he hasn't been able to attract one in several years is beside the point."

"We can raid if a person's life is in danger." Damien said. "And again, you are all thinking like nobles. I would argue that without evidence, these people are going to keep killing. We have reason to believe that the proof is there and that if we get the proof, we can prevent more deaths. Sounds like people's lives are in danger to me. And even if there is no proof of what we are looking for, which I doubt by the way. But even if there is none of that kind of proof, are you honestly telling me that the Temerian noble has done nothing illegal. That Alain, who is guilty, or Raoul or any of the others that we have talked about here. Are you honestly telling me that we won't find sign of anything illegal? We will, I promise you and when we do, even if we don't catch the "Jack" conspirators, we can deal with them as we find them."

Syanna was smiling and looking at Damien as though he was a piece of meat. The man was clearly doomed.

"Hold on though." Guillaume said. "How do we know that there really is something there?"

Lady Tonlaire was nodding. "I see what the guard Captain is saying. We are noble, we know that according to the letter of the law if not necessarily the spirit of the law, that no guardsman is going to burst through our doors and ransack our places of residence. What that means in real terms is that our Manor houses and chateau's are safe and inviolate unless we are known to be committing a provably treasonous act which needs to be delivered from elsewhere. Or if there is someone's life in danger. A clause of law that was introduced to prevent an assassin sneaking into the home to slay the Lord in question where the rescuing Knights were kept out of the walls because the estate was supposed to be inviolate.

"So we, as nobles, know to the depths of our souls, that our homes are safe. No-one is going to come and search the place because if they did, they would be breaking the law. I know for a fact, that if someone like Lord Frederick went into my home and searched my private study, they would soon learn everything that I know, and probably a bit more as well.

"For my view, Captain De La Tour's solution will work."

She sat back in her chair, her expression suggested that she was troubled about something.

I deliberately stayed out of the discussion. I had a dim feeling that I was watching a debate regarding the future of Toussaint's soul and I would not have been welcome. Nor should I have been for that matter.

"I like it." Gregoire admitted after a moment. "I have nothing to hide but I would hide my own stashes well away from my home because I was born a bastard. So I am well aware that my home can be invaded whenever my noble master wished whereas his was perfectly safe. When I inherited the manor from my Father, some of the things I found in

there would have curdled milk at fifty paces."

"The law is supposed to apply to all." Damien said. "And yet I have found in the enforcing of the laws in the city, the people that protest the loudest are those people that have something to hide."

"And one of the purposes of the Knights Francesca is to treat everyone equally." Guillaume added unhappily. "I am still enough of a product of older Toussaint to admit that I don't like it. I think that this will set a dangerous precedent although I do not know what that danger is or will be. I do agree that if it is something that we do to the p… commonfolk, then it is something that we should be able to do to the nobility."

"And." Damien said, openly grinning in anticipation. "The legal wranglings are not our problem. That is a matter for politics and the politicians. Which means that it is a matter for the Duchess and her courtiers. We have, expressly, been ordered by the Duchess to do what needs to be done. The results of the arguments, the bitterness and the complaints that come after that are not our problem. They are the Duchess' problem."

Syanna laughed in delight before examining Damien again. "I love you." She said. "I really do and one day, I am going to lie you on that table and have my way with you until you beg for mercy."

Damien paled and spluttered a bit.

"Twice." Syanna said with relish.

I have no doubt that she meant it. But I also noticed that it also served the purpose of putting Damien back in his place.

"My wife is one of those courtiers." Guillaume complained. "And when this sort of thing happens, she doesn't come home until long after I have gone to bed."

"Is that a problem?" Syanna wondered.

"It is when your wife is as beautiful as mine."

"I will make it up to you."

And that, ladies and gentlemen is how the great men and women of the continent make decisions. By leering and making filthy jokes with each other.

"So how do we do this?" Syanna wondered of the much more chastened Captain de La Tour.

"The first question is who we are going to raid." He said. "The trick is to have a wide enough net to catch at least someone, but narrow enough so that we are not spread too thin. In this case, given the number of people that we are dealing with. I think we need to choose three targets, relatively close to either Beauclair or the Knights Headquarters and we need to do it sooner rather than later."

"Alright." Syanna nodded, back to being all business. "Can it be done today?"

Guillaume unrolled a large map and spread it across the table. "That depends on who we go after. I think so though."

"Then who do we target?"

"I think that one of the targets needs to be Alain." Guillaume said. "A suitable force can be at his manor house before nightfall if we go by the direct routes. He is the one person that we know is definitely involved in all of this, so we are most likely to find something there."

"I can give you some names." Kerrass said. "Of people that will be only too pleased to help out."

"The other factor there," I added, "is that it is almost certain that they know that we know about him. So it would almost be weird if we didn't go after him after all."

"I would certainly be a little bit insulted if we didn't go after him." Gregoire said. "There are many occasions where I have been blamed for his transgressions and he has passed that blame onto me directly."

There was more nodding.

"So Alain is number one on the list. Who else?"

"I really like Lord Velles for being involved in all of this." Damien said. "I don't like merchants in general, apologies Lord Frederick."

I shrugged. "They are a sneaky bunch."

Damien grinned at me. I decided that this was the happiest I had ever seen the normally rather dour man. "Velles sounds like he could fit into the scheme and I certainly think that we could find something to incriminate him there, even if it is nothing to do with Jack himself. He has a large Manor house in town, similar to the one we raided yesterday."

"Foreign national though." One of the other Knights that I didn't know. "The Ambassador is going to be cross."

"My sister will be more cross." Syanna said. "But I will lead that raid, that way there is only so much that he can do to complain."

There was more nodding.

"And for a third?" Syanna wondered, "Or do we just stick with the two."

"A third would be good." Damien said.

"What about Lord Matamara." Gregoire suggested. "He was awfully quick to pass the blame onto someone else."

"All due respect my friend." Guillaume said. "But I think your bitterness is showing there. You weren't there. I agree that the man is no saint and that he was lying about who it was that molested his daughter at a party. But it is a big jump from that to saying that he was party to his own daughter's death. I've talked to him, he is genuinely distraught over her death and just as genuinely outraged over the other deaths. For a given value of thinking that a noblewoman's life is more valuable than an innkeeper's daughter."

"Again." Lady Tonlaire said. "I still think you are ignoring Sir Raoul. Leaving aside all the matters that I discussed earlier, the man is a snake. And I struggle to argue that he would not be involved in this kind of thing. He is often an architect of the clubs that argue against the establishment before withdrawing to the sidelines. He's your man."

"He's quite far out." Damien said. "We would need to get a shift on to get there before nightfall."

"Then we should be about it." Syanna said.

"Hold on." Guillaume said. "With all of this running around and Knights dashing everywhere, we will need a distraction. How quickly did you know that something was afoot the other day Lady Tonlaire?"

"It was fast." She admitted.

"Anyone have any ideas as to what we could do to distract everyone?" Syanna asked of the room. "Including the people that we are targeting? It would need to be something spectacular."

There was an extended moment of silence before the door to the room slammed shut.

Have you ever had a situation where you desperately want your brain to be working faster than it actually is. Where you look around and you're kind of waiting for the next thought or inspiration to occur to you. You can feel it coming down the pipe as it were and there is nothing you can do except to sit there and wait for it to arrive.

I remember looking around for the servant or messenger that must have arrived in order to set the door to slamming. I waited for the rebuke that would come from one of the nobles that would greet a servant like that. I looked for the person who would be putting a small and discreet piece of paper into either Syanna's or someone else's hands.

Then I realised that something was missing. It was a whole heartbeat before I realised that it was not something, but someone was missing. It was three more horrible, excruciating heartbeats before I realised that it was Kerrass that was missing.

"Fuck." I said, a little louder than I intended to given the shocked look on Lady Tonlaires face.

My chair clattered as it fell backwards and I sprinted for the door and wrenched it open. The corridor outside was empty but for a poor child who was replacing candlesticks with fresh ones.

"Which way did he go?" I demanded of the poor, defenseless candleboy. He looked on the verge of tears as he pointed towards the courtroom and I took off after the Witcher.

The next corridor led to the courtroom directly and I just had time to see Kerrass walking into the larger room with a purpose.

"Fuck." I swore again and charged after him, dimly aware of the clatter of armour behind me as Guillaume and Gregoire both followed me.

Never has such a short distance seemed so long as I charged down the corridor, a dimly heard shout from Guillaume echoing behind me, causing the servants and other courtiers that were out in the corridor to "make way".

I all but skidded round the door and into the busy room. I caught sight of Kerrass, just as he was reaching his intended target.

It was an impossible distance. There was no way that I was going to make it, but I tried anyway. Pushing my way through the other people there. As a result, I didn't see what happened.

I heard it though as Kerrass' fist collided with Sir Alain's jaw, sending the armoured man to the floor.

"You sir." Kerrass snarled. "Are a cad and a wretch. I have waited as long as I can for some relative, some friend or trusted confidante of your now dead wife to step forward to defend her memory. But in the lack of any other men of honour that would protect her in life from your vile behaviour, it falls to me, a Witcher, to defend her in death. Your failures as a husband will be avenged at the end of my sword unless you are a coward and I call you such before these witnesses."

I did make it through the crowd to see Alain climb to his feet. In a move straight out of a storybook, he wiped the blood from his lip and examined it on his hand. Then he grinned at the Witcher.

"Jealous Witcher? To know that I had her first and that you were nothing more than a sympathy fuck? I hadheard that my wife had whored herself with you and I had chosen not to address the matter given that My friend will contact yours to make the arrangements. But in short, this evening in the graveyard. That way your friends will not have far to carry your body."

Kerrass nodded as Alain turned away.

I nearly hit Kerrass myself as the Witcher smiled in triumph.

"I will go and let someone know that they have their distraction." Guillaume said quietly.

(A/N: Just wanted to say thank you for sticking with things. What I thought was going to be a short delay turned into a longer one due to various things, not the least of which would be the sheer length of the chapter. I would have cut it in half but there was no natural way to stop it without shenanigans. And it was important that certain things were recapped for the characters to reconsider. Thanks for sticking with the talking heads.

Stay safe out there folks and thanks for reading)