Bronze Gold, Black Iron, Silver Steel Think Before You Speak-Chapter 35
"Excuse me, a vine, er, there…" Rammeld cleared his throat. "Well, continue."
Smirking to himself, Elmerin continued his report, talking in more detail about the various potions found in the room. He handed over all of the samples he'd placed in one of his item bags; he had plenty of spares in his item box to analyze later.
He was interrupted as he began to discuss what Drysia may have known. "She confessed everything to me. You needn't worry about it," Rammeld assured him.
Well, that meant he didn't have to talk around the tattoo, or his troubling reactions to her after the Lustvine exposure. He'd rather handle those matters himself.
"While we're talking about her, there's something else." Elmerin brought out the recording bracelet. "I got this a while back in a dungeon." Technically true, since the member of the Edwards clan had handed it to him there. "Drysia said some very disturbing things about Lisko while I was blacked out, and this picked it up. I'd say she was unloading because she thought no one could hear her." He handed the bracelet to Rammeld.
The minister took the bracelet, and with a little help from the adventurer was able to bring up the recording. Rammeld's face grew darker and darker as he watched. As it ended, he sat for a moment, bringing his fury under control.
"His own son. A traumatized young girl. No wonder Firnen -well, that's another matter."
Elmerin already knew. Firnen wanted the county seat, and a sure way to undermine Lisko and build royal support was to inform the king about what the Cothmores had been up to. What he knew, anyway. The dungeon of the Cothmores' crimes was a lot deeper than even Elmerin had seen.
Oh.
"No wonder Lisko is so furious that Falchan's such a waste. That guy would blow this all up once he took the seat."
"Mmm." Rammeld examined the bracelet still in his hands. "May I keep this? I'll give you full compensation."
"Send payment to the guild, then." Elmerin tapped the table for emphasis. "It cannot hold more than three recordings at a time. It will record over the oldest one automatically. Be careful with it." He grabbed some of the paper on Rammeld's desk and wrote down instructions on how to use the device.
When he was done, Rammeld read them over, then carefully put the bracelet and instructions into an item bag with a secure lock. "What happened afterwards?" he asked, resuming the debriefing.
Elmerin continued detailing their journey from the Cothmore hidden room to the meeting with the patrol, keeping his reactions to Drysia to himself. "That's about it, unless you want me to detail everything from there until we left the labyrinth."
"Unneeded. But." Rammeld looked at Elmerin, his eyebrows raised.
Elmerin's spine stiffened. He knew that look. It was the look of Someone In Authority who was Not Happy, but would give you one chance to explain yourself.
"About when you left the labyrinth. Your encounter with Falchan."
The adventurer ran over the encounter in his mind. "I did provoke him into attacking me. I should have exercised better self-control."
"In your mental and physical state at the time, a loss of self-control would be understandable. It's really surprising you stopped when you did." Rammeld waved that detail away. "The problem is what you said to provoke him."
"What? That?" Elmerin was puzzled. "People have been saying Falchan won't or shouldn't inherit for years, long before I came here. There's plenty that have said it both to his face and Anol's. Only reason they haven't said it to Doscel is he'd slap penance on them for insulting his cousin's offspring, and of course, Lisko would throw a very nasty fit if anyone said it to him." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Granted, it was the first time I said it to Falchan's face myself."
"It's not that an adventurer repeated a common sentiment among the population," Rammeld said. "It's that someone with a proven ability of Foresight said Falchan would never inherit."
Elmerin felt his stomach sink; his head dropped into his hands. Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck. He'd been doing the Foresight thing more than long enough to know better.
Rammeld felt some sympathy for the adventurer. The man kept his age hidden in the guild records, but he couldn't be older than his mid-twenties. Close in age to Drysia, as talented, and with Foresight on top of it. It had to be a harsh burden. "So," he asked. "Was it just an insult, or have you seen something?"
"Yes." Elmerin cleared his throat and sat up straight. "Yes. Lisko will die some time in the next five to seven years. When, how, and where all vary, but he'll be dead before the eighth year.
"How Firnen wins also varies, but he will win and inherit. Some of the potential conflicts are really bad for the county, though."
"Hmm." Rammeld made a note. "We'll have to do what we can to mitigate that."
"There is a way for it to be faster and cleaner."
"Something else you see?"
Elmerin grinned, but it wasn't pleasant. "Something I know. A couple years ago, Drysia was tapped for a quest. Falchan was in a real snit over it.
"He insisted on going monster hunting by himself while she was gone, but Lisko wouldn't allow it. They compromised by hiring me to go with him."
Rammeld checked his notes. "Kres was still in Firnen's care at that time,correct?"
"Yep. So we got a few Topaz and Ruby monsters, and Falchan got cocky. He kept running off ahead of me, or disappearing down side paths. Which led to him being ambushed by a jaculus when he walked under its tree."
The minister sat up sharply. "Jaculus venom-"
"-causes sterility if untreated. And it wasn't. I healed the wounds -it crunched his neck piece and got a fang into his neck- but Falchan wouldn't let me treat the venom. He knew the toxin wasn't lethal, and thought he could show off by toughing his way through it." Elmerin shook his head. "I don't know who he thought he could impress. I was the only one there, and bragging to anyone else would mean admitting he came out second to a creature most Rubies can easily handle."
"Uhhmmm." Rammeld was writing furiously. "This could indeed ease the succession situation. Did you tell him the risks?"
"I tried." The adventurer's tone was heavy with remembered annoyance. "But he kept talking over me and telling me to shut up, so I finally said fuck it. At least it meant he wouldn't be sticking any more women with his kids."
They were both silent for a moment. Both knew from their different sources that Falchan had sired at least three other children, the first before he even met Drysia. Two of the women had been helped to secretly leave Cothmore by the adventurers and merchants guilds, and now lived in other, distant, parts of Korrum.
The guilds had acted because the first woman Falchan had gotten pregnant had been taken to the Cothmore estate. After that, no one knew what had become of her or the child she carried. It was as though they had vanished.
Rammeld began going through his notes. Watching him flip through the papers, Elmerin's curiosity grew. "Why do you do that? I've never seen an official so concerned with creating their own records. Those that are somewhat concerned usually leave it to a scribe."
"Oh, it's because of the stories my grandfather, Duke Wervil, would tell of Silver of Geler."
Elmerin's eyes widened. "Silver?"
The minister thought this might be a chance to learn more about any relationship between Silver and Elmerin. "Grandfather told stories of what a hero Silver was, but he also talked about how he behaved while he was staying at our estate. One thing I remember was how Silver was constantly writing in journals and recording things. It seemed to be mostly about monsters, but he seemed to record other material as well."
Fuck. Fuck and the horse fuck rode in on.
"I miss grandfather at times," Rammeld said sadly. "He wasn't always a good person, but he was always good to his family."
Elmerin wondered if Philip Rammeld would say that if he knew how Wervil had treated his first wife when she had been unable to carry a pregnancy to term.
Time to change this subject, before Rammeld started asking questions -Elmerin's own habit of journaling had likely been mentioned to him by now.
"There's going to be more trouble before long."
Rammeld's expression was both questioning and long-suffering.
"In about three weeks, a manticore is going to come down from the mountains to the north. It might be affected by corrupted magic.
"Drysia needs to be on the team that goes out to stop it. And Falchan needs to not be on it."
*******
People mentioned in this chapter:
Present:
Elmerin
Philip Rammeld
Doscel Merrill, the local head priest, Lisko's second cousin. Is fine with remaining local and exploiting his connection to the count.
Past:
Wervil Rammeld: Philip Rammeld's grandfather. He was quite the local tyrant in his lands. He liked collecting pictures of attractive people, gender unimportant.
Note:
The adventurers default to calling everyone by their first name. Calling those with family names by that name is a sign of respect, hence "Rammeld" vs "Lisko". Using a title is also a sign of respect.
With kings and in formal situations, different rules apply.