A Roll of the Die - 1. Inception

"Your inn and home have been seized and liens filed; Laurel has been evicted; your bank accounts will be frozen shortly. You stand accused of fomenting rebellion, which is treason — a felony. If you coöperate fully, King Robert, in his mercy, will limit punishment to forfeiture and a short term of imprisonment. If you do not coöperate, the penalty for treason is hanging."

"I cannot tell you what I do not know!" Alton declared.

"A true statement, but an empty one. As was said, your men gave you up before they died."

"Lies."

"Last chance," Matthias said. "Speak the truth, or the Prosecutor will convene a panel of Knights to hear the case and render a verdict."

"I have nothing to say," Alton replied. "I cannot give you information I do not have."

"Then give me information you DO have and save your life!"

Alton shook his head. "Nothing I say will help my case."

"So be it," Matthias replied.

He left the jail and returned to the Bailiff's office. He gave his evidence to the Prosecutor, then he, Milos, Karla, Tyra, and Stefan left the Keep.

"I believe our next step is to go to Alton's house and search it," Matthias said. "We'll be less destructive than the City Guard, and I want to get maximum value for the property."

They made their way to the house, and Penelope admitted them.

"We're going to search the house," Matthias declared. "Do you know of a safe or any hidden spaces or rooms?"

"There is a safe in the pantry cellar, hidden behind a cask of ale. There is also a door to a room I have never entered behind a tapestry in Alton's bedchamber."

"Did he tell you about those, or did you discover them?"

"I discovered them, my Lord, but I never mentioned them to anyone."

"Milos, you and Stefan search the ground floor, Karla the first, Tyra the second. I'll take the cellar and safe. We're looking for any communication with anyone or anything out of the ordinary for an innkeeper."

"My Lord," Penelope said, "Alton would entertain visitors at very odd hours, long after the bells rang for the city gates to be closed."

"Did you see any of these visitors?"

"No, my Lord. He would answer the knocks himself, and he would serve them food and drinks. I was instructed to stay in my room."

That was strong circumstantial evidence, being so far outside the ordinary that, without a satisfactory explanation, it would damn Alton, even if they found no additional evidence. Matthias felt the standards of evidence were too lax, and warrants for searches were too easily obtained, but those were challenges for another day, as was the presumption of innocence. As the law stood, Alton would have to prove he did not know Oscar and Karl, and that his wee-hour meetings were not untoward. It was nearly impossible for him to do so, which meant his fate was sealed.

The others began searching, and Matthias went to the cellar. A cursory search turned up nothing other than the usual things one would find in a pantry cellar — casks of ale, sacks of flour, carrots, mushrooms, and other food. The only things missing in Matthias' mind were potatoes and mason jars of preserved food. That was something he hadn't thought about on his two transits, but he knew almost nothing about the process. He'd have to ask Miri because her mother canned in the OP.

The safe was exactly where Penelope had indicated, and the lock was only moderately complex, with only the most basic defenses against being picked. An untrained person, or one with only minimal skill, would struggle to open it, but Matthias managed to open it in just under four minutes.

There was nothing specifically incriminating, only a cache of gold and silver coins and the free titles for the house and inn, both granted by King Ludwig ten years previous. It was odd for an innkeeper or tavern owner to have free title, but such things did happen. What was potentially incriminating was that neither free title had been recorded in the Bailiff's office. Once again, circumstantial evidence that something was amiss.

Matthias left the coin, but took the documents, then closed and locked the safe, reversing what he had done to open it. He went upstairs to see what the others had discovered, which, for Milos and Karla, was absolutely nothing.

That didn't surprise Matthias at all, so he went up to the uppermost floor to see what Tyra had found.

"Nothing so far," she reported. "But the door is locked and likely warded somehow, as I could not detect anything beyond it. I attempted to dispel it, but I am not yet a powerful sorceress."

"Powerful enough," Matthias said with a smirk.

Tyra laughed. "Men do very much enjoy deflowering shy, reluctant maidens. It was fun to pretend, though the blood was real."

"Let me see what I'm able to do with the door."

Matthias spent ten minutes examining every aspect of the door, the jamb, the lock, and the walls that encased it.

"There is some sort of trap, in addition to the ward," Matthias observed, "but it is not one I have ever seen. Alton is no mage, so there must be a mechanism to disarm it somewhere in the house, either in this room or the room immediately below it."

"What are we looking for?" Tyra asked.

"Anything that would operate a mechanism — a sconce, a lever, a brick that moves, a pushbutton, a chain, or anything similar. It could be a ward, but Alton would need some way to charge it, and such wards only have limited uses before they are rendered inert, as I'm sure you know."

"Not to mention they are against the law because they are concealed magic," Tyra observed. "Though I suppose a Black Crow would not care. Are there any reports of mages amongst the Black Crows?"

"Only rumor. You know how Black Crows typically behave when caught."

"Similar to Uma and Alton. Oscar was an aberration."

"Most men and women cannot stare death in the face and willingly accept their fate. The Black Crows attempt to recruit only those who can. Let's search for the mechanism."

Matthias went down a flight of stairs to search the room under the master bedchamber, while Tyra searched the bedchamber itself. After a lengthy search, aided by Milos, they discovered a handle concealed by a cross-beam. Upon turning it, they heard a mechanism engage, and Karla, who was aiding Tyra, called out that the door was open.

Matthias and Milos quickly climbed the stairs, and Matthias carefully approached the door, checking for traps. A close examination revealed two nearly invisible tripwires — one at ankle level and one at chest level — but no obvious trap mechanism. Matthias bade the others to wait and carefully stepped over the first tripwire and ducked under the second. He approached a desk and chair, observing a third tripwire connected to one of the chair's legs.

"I'm not going to try to disarm these now," he said. "I'm going to get the papers from the desk, along with the two small tomes."

Checking carefully for additional traps, Matthias gathered the items, then made his way slowly and cautiously out of the room, ducking under one tripwire and stepping over the other.

"Code," Matthias said when he examined the papers. "Highly incriminating for an innkeeper, and doubly so being in a hidden room with traps."

"Are either of those small tomes codebooks?" Milos asked.

"No. A series of numbers and letters, and what looks like amounts on each line. For example, 'X2FC4HTV 2g 1s 4c'. However, there is no running total as you would expect in a legitimate ledger. Some of the codes repeat, but with different amounts."

"Alton will hang on this alone if he refuses to explain," Milos observed.

"Take a look at these," Matthias said, handing one of the Royal Writs granting free title. "They were not recorded."

"Forgeries?" Milos asked.

"Or a conspiracy that reached all the way to King Ludwig," Matthias suggested.

"To what end?" Tyra inquired.

"Despotic rule," Milos answered quickly. "Stir up unrest, include the threat of invasion, and declare a suspension of rights for the safety of the Realm. A suspension of rights is permitted, but the Knights must confirm within a half-moon unless the Realm is at war, in which case it continues until hostilities cease."

"That does fit with everything we know about King Ludwig," Karla interjected.

"And about King Edward," Matthias observed. "If he were involved, it would explain what happened with Priscilla. That makes me wonder if the Danian spies were actually Danian spies."

"Do you realize what you are saying?" Milos asked.