Chapter 11.

The Man in the Iron Mask

I.

"She's calling me, Berserker." Rosa, pain in her voice from the still pulsing wound, said as she rose from the bed, the great effort of picking herself up causing even more agony to course through her frame. "I have to... have to go to her."

Berserker, concern visible in their eyes, crossed the dirty, mess-cluttered room from the corner they had been occupying. The Servant placed a caring hand on their Master's back, the touch an attempt to encourage her to lie back down. "Master, I hardly think you're in a position to go anywhere."

"I... need to. She can... she can help. Said she would." Rosa placed one hand on Berserker's outstretched arm, using the extremity to stabilize herself as she stood.

"Do you mean that mage girl? The other Master?"

"I gotta... get to her. Help." Rosa was standing now, her knees constantly shaking from her lack of strength and energy, so much of her stamina being consumed by the Tulip and its attempts to heal its vessel.

"Will she want to even see you? Remember it was us who acted the aggressors before. What if they attack us? Your feelings for her aside, I promise you I will act in your defense before making anything else a priority." Sensing that, no matter what they did, Rosa was determined to go find Louise, Berserker shifted from attempting to stop their Master's advance to aiding her. When it became clear that Rosa was not going to cover any considerable ground on foot, the Servant simply scooped her up into their lanky but powerful arms.

"Told me herself. Said she wanted to..." Rosa knew she was fading, and she knew that the faster she lost her own strength, the more the Tulip's increased. She needed to hurry. Secure in her Servant's grip the pair set off into the humid air of the late night.

Though the ride back to Grimaud's home had started with silent reflection, Rider had eventually managed to bring Louise around to some, if not light conversation, at least less despondent talk.

"Now that I think on it, l'Archer Noire gave us some important information in regards to Lancer's identity." Louise said to Rider through the biting wind that rushed past as the post horse pressed onward.

"Marguerite, he had said. He also referred to her as his Love." Rider replied.

"But possibly more importantly he also referred to her as his Queen. Add to that the fact that she referred to him by name as well, La Mole." Louise pulled her smartphone from her pocket, the jostling of the running steed making it a rather difficult affair to accurately type anything on the finicky touchscreen.

Rider, curious what his Master was up to, was continuously glancing down to look at the small screen over Louise's shoulder, his distracted state causing the horse to become even more unsteady which only served to add further difficulty to Louise's hunt for information. In one instance Rider only looked up just in time to violently steer the speeding animal away from a low hanging branch that, had they hit it, would've been incredibly uncomfortable and inconvenient for both riders. Due to this sudden maneuver though, Louise was only barely able to stop her phone from tumbling out of her hands to be smashed on the pavement below.

"Alright." Louise said very matter-of-factly. "Stop the horse."

Rider brought the phantasmal creature to a stop to allow Louise to dismount. Once out of the saddle Louise paced circles around her mounted Servant as she continued her digital search.

"Any luck, Master?" Rider asked, still incredibly curious.

"I shouldn't be surprised by how many Queen Marguerites, Margots, and Margrets there are, but it is making it impossible to nail down which one to even start looking at." Louise had only started the search and was already becoming immediately annoyed with the exercise.

"Well having been in such regular contact with the Archers and their various firearms, I may be able to at least narrow the timing down for you." Rider offered. Louise shot him an uncertain glance, her incredulity visible. "What? I am a military man. And a musketeer no less. I'm quite familiar and knowledgeable on these sorts of things. And I tell you this, they used older models of rifle and pistol than I do, 1570's maybe, perhaps even older than that."

Louise was still unsure if she believed her Servant's boast, but was hardly making much headway on her own. Putting the date together with the info they already knew though had certainly narrowed the field. "Well, upon looking into the Queen Marguerites from before 1570, I only found one linked to anyone named La Mole. At least upon cursory inspection."

"And?" Rider was excited at the prospect of finally knowing one of their enemies.

"Marguerite de Valois. Perhaps better known as Marguerite de Navarre."

"The last heir of the Valois line. She would go on to marry Henry of Navarre and begin the Bourbon reign." Rider reflected on his own service to the Bourbon line as he spoke.

"But I don't understand. Everything I can find says she was wholly in love with and devoted to La Mole. Why would she have killed him so readily? And what does she have to do with inducing madness in the citizenry?"

"She herself may not have been the source of it, Master, but she was rather... involved with such a state." Rider's tone became gloomy as he referenced the event.

Louise paused a moment as Rider's implication cemented itself in her mind. "The Saint-Bartholomew's Day Massacre..."

"If she is able to induce that level of mania on that scale-" Rider started.

"They would need an incomprehensibly vast amount of magical energy." Louise interrupted, pointing at Rider, her words hopeful.

"But if they found it..." Rider asserted.

Louise just looked at him a moment, her finger hanging in the air, and her assurance draining away. "We need to get back and make a plan. Quickly." Louise took Rider's hand and remounted the horse, the Chevalier spurring the creature to action the moment his Master was seated. Louise wasn't sure if Madame Fernix really was preparing to turn a cataclysmic event like that on the city, but what she had learned of the matriarch while in the caverns made it seem far more likely than not.