Venomous Gaze - Chapter 12 - Friendly Collaboration (Patreon)

“Anyone recognize who’s leading the Castille delegation?” Kathrine asked as she confidently strode across the square, scattering civilians before her. “I’m familiar with the young master from Morewin, but I haven’t had the pleasure of attending a conference in the South.”

“I’m pretty sure the one standing on the far right wearing the bronze colored armor and black cape is one of their sword masters,” Pierre muttered behind his mask. “I saw the bastard at a tournament in Redridge last year. I’m pretty sure he’s capable of wielding a mana blade.”

“You think you could take him?” Monique asked quietly.

“Alone, in a fair fight? Absolutely not. Even if I popped my elixir, I’m sure he could take me in a one-on-one,” Pierre replied. “Maybe if we were in a skirmish, and I got the jump on him…”

“I don’t know why you’d take the risk. Just throw something poisonous or corrosive at him from a distance, and wait for him to get worn down,” I said. “If you don’t think you can take him in a fair fight, then you don’t have much incentive to fight fair, do you?”

“Not all of us carry around an entire array of toxins with us,” Monique hissed. “We have more sense than that.”

“Well then, maybe you should start carrying a few, just in case,” I replied. “You never know when you might run into a problem that can’t be solved through brute strength.”

“Please don’t insult me,” Monique huffed. “You know I prefer finesse. If I had to deal with someone like him, I’d wait til he was alone and stab him in the back.”

“Enough,” Kathrine snapped before pausing to look for carriages so we could cross to the council building. “You know that Weapon masters are able to boost their senses with mana. I’d prefer to avoid starting out on the wrong foot, because he overheard us discussing how we’d ‘fight’ him.”

“That’s fair. I admit having a swordmaster trying to kill me would make it slightly more difficult to develop a cure for whatever toxin everyone was exposed to,” I admitted.

Kathrine sighed. “Just leave the talking to me,” she said before putting on a welcoming smile and stepping onto the stairs of the council building. “I, Kathrine of Salvenum, greet the young lords and ladies of House Morewin and Castille,” she declared before bowing slightly. I followed suit, while Monique and Pierre stayed still, blending in with the other half dozen Brethren that had followed us. “It’s been quite a while, young master Morewin. I believe the last time we saw each other was the grand council last year.”

I glanced up just as a young man with long flowing black hair and a spectral eagle on his shoulder stepped forward and looked Kathrine over with cold indifference. “Lady Kathrine. I’ll admit that I didn’t expect to see you here. I half expected your family to just send in your agents, and not participate in the joint investigation,” he said.

“You weren’t informed of our participation ahead of time?” Kathrine asked, masking her surprise.

“We haven’t heard anything from your house since the incident,” the swordmaster growled. 

“Well then, let me assure you, house Salvenum intends to provide it’s full support during this investigation. My cousin Dahlia and I will be participating directly with the investigation, and several squads of Brethren guard will be made available in case the council needs them,” Kathrine said, gesturing towards me.

“I don’t think we’ve met,” the young master said, sizing me up for several seconds before nodding slightly. “I’m Damien Morewin, heir to the Morewin duchy. The charming man to my left is Gideon Thorne.”

“Fifth of the Nine Great masters,” the gruff swordsman announced, showing no respect whatsoever.

“Dahlia Salvenum,” I replied. “I don’t have a title to speak of, but even among my illustrious family I’m well known for my knowledge of rare plants and my alchemical skill.”

“Ah, so the Salvenum sent their expert on esoteric poisons to investigate,” Gideon sneered. 

“Would you rather that we just let the surviving council members die a slow and painful death?” I asked. “Medicines and poisons are two sides of the same coin. By studying one, I’ve gained a better understanding of the other.”

“You can try and justify yourself however you want, just don’t expect me to buy into your bullshit,” Gideon growled.

“I don’t need you to ‘buy in’,” I told him. “As long as you don’t intentionally obstruct me, we won’t have a problem.”

Before Gideon could snap at me again Kathrine stepped between the two of us. “Now, now. We didn’t come here to fight today,” she said. “We have more important things to worry about.”

“If you’re not here to fight, what are you here for?” Gideon snarled. 

“To look at the council chamber,” I said. “Although I could extract the toxins out of blood samples, it would be much easier to retireve samples from the scene. Even though it’s been a few days, there should be residue around the area.”

“The scene is sealed,” Gideon growled. “And it’ll remain that way until the investigation is over.”

“Even to those participating in the investigation?” Kathrine asked. 

“I’ll unseal the door for you, but only if you allow a member of both the Castille and Morewin families to assist you in taking your samples,” Damien declared, drawing a murderous glare from Gideon.

“As long as we allow a member of your entourage to watch and ensure that I don’t do anything untoward, you mean,” I scoffed. 

“Take it how you will,” Damien replied, crossing his arms across his chest. “What say you?”

“It’s fine. I have nothing to hide,” I said.

“We’ll see,” Gideon snorted. 

I just rolled my eyes at his attitude. If this was the kind of welcome we could expect from the toher houses it was going to be a long week.

“In that case, please lead the way,” Kathrine said, gesturing to the front door. “The sooner Dahlia gets her sample, and starts working on a cure, the better.” 

Damien gave a curt nod, and turned towards the building. Two of his guards fell in behind him, probably his own elite guard based upon the fancy uniforms, while the rest of his team stayed behind. 

Kathrine and I followed him at a respectful distance, and Gideon fell in behind us, one hand on his sword. When Damien got to the front door he slipped a large gem out of his pocket and ran it across the door. There was a click, and the heavy bronze door began to creak open all on it’s own.

Even before we stepped through the main doors I could already see signs of the conflict which had occured here a couple days before. There were scorch marks littering the walls, and the heavy granite pillars and floors were cracked in several locations.

“I thought the terrorists bombed the council chambers,” I said. “What’s with the damage out here?”

“They did,” Gideon muttered. “However, our security team responded within seconds of the explosion, and managed to corner the terrorists before they could slip away.”

“Then, shouldn’t you know what sort of toxins they used? The security team must have taken prisoners,” Kathrine asked.

“They tried,” Damien said without turning around. “But once the terrorists realized they’d been cornered, one of them detonated an explosive charge right in the middle of their group,” he explained. “When it was all over, there wasn’t enough of them left to interrogate, either physically or spiritually.”

“To go to that extent,” Kathrine muttered. “They really didn’t want anyone to be able to identify them.”

“Which is why we need to do everything in our power to do so, as quickly as possible,” Damien replied. He led us up to an absolutely wrecked hallway that had only been partially cleared, then paused. “Just beyond there is the council room. We had several people go in there to investigate without the proper gear, and several of them became severely ill from the toxin. Since I don’t have any protection, I’ll wait for you here.”

“What happened to monitoring me while I worked?” I asked. 

“The explosive removed the main doors and destroyed a large section of the wall. We’ll be able to see you from here,” Gideon grumbled. 

“Fair enough,” I said before digging into my bag and pulling out my mask. I passed it over to Kathrine, then took a deep breath. “Alright, let's get a look at what we’re dealing with.”