The Vampire & Her Witch

Chapter 1660: What the Pigeons Carried (Part Two)

Henri took the narrow strips of parchment in his hands and smoothed each one before reading it carefully.

There was a limit to what could be written on a message attached to the leg of a pigeon, and each message was frustratingly brief, provoking more questions than it answered, but three messages combined to tell a deeply disturbing story about recent events in Lothian March.

– Demon Raids Intensifying. Hanrahan & Dunn Attacked. Tithes taken: 1 in 20. Loman to lead Templar & Inquisition in Response. –

– Bors Lothian. Dead. Winter Sickness. Midwinter Funeral. Memorial first summer. Owain to Succeed. –

– Ashlynn Blackwell. Dead. Demon Raid. Child unborn. Midwinter Memorial. –

– Owain Lothian to wed Jocelynn Blackwell. Midwinter wedding & coronation. –

– Confessor Eleanor Blackwell murdered by Inquisition. Midwinter Memorial. Inquisitor Excommunicated, Executed by Owain. –

"Trouble in Lothian," Henri muttered as he ran through the slips of paper one after another a second time, arranging them neatly in a line. The first message was the oldest, having been sent weeks before the others, while the rest had arrived within a day or two of each other.

King Thibert nodded while his son examined the messages, saying nothing as he allowed his son to work through the pieces of the puzzle before him.

"The Church tried to make a play for the Lothian throne," Henri said several moments later as his mind constructed several possible sequences of events, dismissing the least likely and selecting the more rational of the choices. "And they failed," he concluded.

"And why do you think that, Henri?" Thibert asked as he retrieved a pair of goblets from the chest beside his writing table, along with a bottle of light pear wine from Trevarthan that wouldn’t cloud the mind even if a man consumed the entire bottle.

"Owain Lothian is one of the greatest demon hunters in the frontier," Henri said. "And one of the greatest swordsmen in the entire kingdom. I saw him fight at the Royal Tournament three years ago, and no one was his match. Saavik Kuusik is the strongest swordsman at the Royal Academy right now, but even if you gave him ten years, he could never catch up to Lord Owain’s standard."

"Only the Templars of the Church have ever demonstrated the capacity to contend with Owain Lothian’s skill with a blade," Thibert agreed. "But so what? Owain isn’t the only Lothian with the power to kill demons."

"We don’t know what powers Loman Lothian has," Henri said with a frown. "Only that he apprenticed to Exemplar Domas, but it’s been years since Loman returned to Lothian, and in that time, he’s never gone hunting demons before. Every report we’ve received from Lothian said that he had dedicated himself to charity, giving aid to the poor and preaching the word of the Holy Lord of Light."

"Intense demon raids along the frontier are nothing new," Henri continued, tapping the first message. "We get similar messages from all of the marches nearly every year. Marquis Crew and Marquis Kuusik both sent messages like that this year, and Marquis Cenita lost half his tithe to demons two years ago."

"And when was the last time the Lothians failed to send their full tithe?" Thibert asked, raising a brow at his son.

"They... no, wait," Henri said as he furrowed his brow in thought. "I, I don’t know. Not once in the past four or five years at least."

"Try the past fifty," Thibert said, shaking his head in grudging admiration. "They may have mortgaged their march to the Church for its support, but doing so bought them a stability the other marches have never matched. Not only have they never missed a tithe, but the tithe they sent last year was also nearly double the one they sent in my first year on the throne. Each year has been larger than the one before it, and the Lothian Lords keep finding new treasures to exploit within their domain," he said as he poured a cup of wine for himself and one for his son.

"You’re saying that, when the Lothians tell us that demon raids are bad enough to place their tithe in jeopardy, it’s worse than when we get the same message from the other marches," Henri reasoned.

"That too," Thibert replied. "But what else?"

"The Lothians intended to press for promotion to Duchy at the end of their Holy War," Henri said, frowning at the slips of paper. "They’re the closest to having the wealth and the territory for it. If they make significant gains in this war, it will be hard for the Ruling Council to deny them. But that only supports my position, Father," Henri said, tapping the first message.

"Loman led the hunt against the demon threat, not Owain," Henri explained. "But this message was sent well after Owain returned to Lothian from Blackwell. He should have been the one leading the charge and claiming the glory. But the message says that Loman led Templars and Inquisitors against the demons."

"That means that Loman is using the backing of the Church to command its forces," Henri reasoned. "And if the Church is allowing him to do that, they must have a reason. The Church has placed one of their own on the Lothian throne before, a former Templar, but if they could place Exemplar Domas’ student on the throne of a Duchy..."

"So you see the Church making a play for a seat on the Ruling Council," Thibert said, nodding in approval. "But what else do you see?"

"Bors died before the Church could convince him to name Loman heir," Henri said as he picked up the second slip of parchment.

"Wait!" Henri said, his eyes going wide in surprise as he looked from the parchment to his father in disbelief. "’Winter Sickness.’ That, that can’t be," Henri stammered as the pieces fell in place one by one. "If the Church wanted Loman on the throne, they would have sent their miracle workers to ensure that Bors lived long enough to write out his decree. A Winter Sickness shouldn’t have been enough to interfere with their plans. The ’sickness’ is a lie."

"Bors Lothian was murdered to prevent Loman from taking the throne," Henri reasoned as a chill crept down his spine. "And that’s not the end of it..."