Book 2 Extra: Crowey (1/2)
”I want results!”
The strained, high-pitched roar of the wounded man echoed in the large, crowded bedroom for a second, only to be immediately followed by a series of painful, wheezing coughs that didn't subside for several seconds. None of the ten or so people in the room dared to utter a single word until the man in the bed finished.
They were all dressed in fine, if slightly eclectic clothes ranging from modern suits to what looked like costumes from a Victorian Era stage play, with the only common ground between all of them being their pale faces filled with disbelief and uncertainty.
At last, a middle-aged man stepped forward. He was wearing what at first glance appeared to be a grey navy officer's uniform, with several black stripes on its sleeves. He had long, dark brown hair that reached the middle of his back, and upon approaching the bedside, he bowed and respectfully told its occupant, ”My liege, please calm down. Your previous injuries haven't completely healed yet, and you've also been poisoned. Losing your temper like so will only hinder your recovery.”
The man on the bed, Lord of the Abyss, head of house Inanna, Noire Liliam Inanna, and also colloquially known as Crowey or 'that dick', turned his withering glare towards the man.
”I wouldn't be losing my temper if I wasn't surrounded by incompetent buffoons,” he began to hiss through clenched teeth, yet his voice kept rising until it reached a crescendo with, ”Why are you standing around my bed like a pack of vultures instead of looking for whoever is responsible for this... bullshit...!”
Crowed chocked up at the end, and then he was seized by another violent coughing fit that turned his face purple. Or rather only one side, as the other was still under layers of bandages covering the burns he suffered less than a week ago.
At long last, his seizure abated, and after heaving several times he croaked out, ”Did you figure out how they got into my study without any of your guards noticing a thing?”
”My deepest apologies, my liege, but we found no trace of the intruders,” the middle-aged man answered with an apologetic bow. ”None of the guards or servants noticed any intruders. The wards around the room are undisturbed, and neither the seals nor the locks show any kind of tampering. As for the insides of the study, we are currently unable to investigate in earnest. Lady Audra strongly insisted that no one should enter until the last traces of the Udug Blood Amalgam are neutralized by her men. The process may take days.”
”Marvelous,” Crowey scoffed. ”And who is in charge of that damn letter?”
There was a long moment of pause, but then a young woman hurriedly stepped forth like she just realized she was called. She had a youthful face with an upturned nose supporting a pair of round, thick-rimmed glasses, and she had almost comically well-endowed, especially considering her short stature, and further emphasized by her outfit, which could be best described as a vampire cosplayer's wet dream with a fur coat on top. Maybe even more importantly, her straight, shoulder-length hair was pitch black on one side and a pinkish blonde on the other, signifying the fact that she was most likely important in some shape or form.
”It is also my responsibility, my lord,” she stated in a low voice.
”Then speak,” Crowey growled in turn.
”Yes sir, certainly,” the woman with the mismatched hair responded with a sputter, and then she cleared her throat. ”My men are still compiling the results of our test, but allow me to share with you our preliminary findings.” She paused once more, this time so that she could reach into the inner pocket of her coat, which unfortunately made it look like she reached into her generous cleavage, and she produced a folded piece of paper.
”First, our experts have ascertained that the source of the Udug Blood Amalgam on the letter was the bottle our lord kept in the hidden compartment inside his desk. The beguilement, misdirection, and security wards have all been removed without any trace. We've also discovered that the culprit used our lord's fountain pen to write the letter. We've sealed all of these items for the time being. Based on the suffusion of the Blood Amalgam within the room, we estimate that the culprit wrote the letter last evening, between five and six o'clock.”
”That's curious,” interjected an older woman with her grey hair in a bun on the top of her head.
”What did you say, matron?” the middle-aged man turned towards the old woman and gestured for her to continue.
”I find the circumstances surrounding the Blood Amalgam truly curious. It was a secret only our lord knew about, was it not? And it was hidden in a compartment that was impossible to find by chance.”
”You mean to say that the culprit broke into our liege's study with the express purpose of using the Blood Amalgam?”
”Is there any other way to interpret this?” the old woman responded with a disinterested shrug. ”They must have already known not only where to find the poison, but also how to access it. There's no other way to explain what happened.”
”True,” the man in the navy uniform slowly nodded. ”Which would mean that this was a message. It was to show us they have infiltrated our estate so thoroughly they were privy to even our most well-kept secrets.”
”That would certainly agree with the content of the letter,” the busty woman agreed. ”Maybe the two were supposed to reinforce each other?”
”It's likely,” the old woman nodded after some contemplation. ”It would certainly fit the Celestials' modus operandi.”
”Right!” a previously silent old man with a big bushy beard suddenly yelled out in the back. ”What did that accursed script say at the end of the letter anyway?”
”It's… please give me a moment… it was here somewhere…” the woman with the two hair colors mumbled as she began rummaging through her pockets, ultimately producing another piece of paper from some nook or cranny, and then she quickly unfolded it. ”Yes, here it is.” She theatrically cleared her throat, then she said, ”After making sure the Blood Amalgam on the paper was properly sealed, we showed the final line to several of our experts on Celestial Script, including some of our collaborators. According to their assessments the last line, which appears where the signature would traditionally be, was written in an unusually complex, archaic dialect of High Celestial Script. After meeting with some difficulties during the translation process, our experts concluded that it was most likely an actual signature, consisting of four overlapping Sub-Scripts, most likely titles of the—”
”We don't need the history lesson, just tell us what it said,” Crowey interrupted her in a low voice, and she let out an audible gulp in response.
”Yes, my lord!” she hastily answered as she raised the paper to her eyes again. ”The first part says, 'The Second True Archon, Prince of the Blade and Sovereign of the Spear.' ”
”'Archon'?” the man with the navy uniform repeated after her. ”That isn't a rank amongst the Celestials.”
”Not anymore, it's not,” the old woman replied almost absent-mindedly. ”It hasn't been for centuries, if not for millennia. Not ever since the Celestials worship their false god.”
”I can't make sense of this,” the old man with the beard grumbled. ”What about the rest?”
”The second part is a little vague, and our experts came up with multiple possible translations. The most likely one says, 'A Conspiracy of Ravens'”
”Conspiracy?” Crowey asked, genuinely baffled.
”My lord, I believe it is not in the literal sense,” a younger man with a very short crop sporting some sort of medieval cloth armor explained after some hesitation. ”I think it refers to the peculiar way a group of ravens is called.”
”They call them a conspiracy?” the man with the bushy beard asked with a skeptical expression.
”I believe so, yes.”
”Huh. I learn something new every day.”
”I'm glad to hear that, but we are still not any closer to the solution of this riddle,” the long-haired man told his colleague with a disapproving frown.
”Let us hear the rest, maybe context can help,” the old woman urged, and the dual-haired woman complied.
”Yes, matron. The third part was translated as 'The One Who Rejects Your Reality and Substitutes Their Own'.”
The whole group fell silent for a moment.