The head of the Kaeirean Diplomatic Corp, Urquin van Mirri, knocked
twice on the door to the Inquisitor's office, and having received a
reply, opened the door and walked in.
"Yes, what is it, Urquin?", asked Lord Karl van Kahshaar, whom Urquin
had served under for nearly twenty years in various capacities.
"Lord van Kahshaar, I have just received an unusual report from the
Magister-Inquisitor in ouir Embassy in Thalsedon. A member of the Von
Kiviri was murdered recently down there. I believe you probably know
him, as he once belonged to your house. Erik van Kahshaar."
"Ah yes, young Erik, well he was young back then. He joined us when the
Office of the Inquisitor was called the Information Secretariat*, at my
urging. He had the makings of a good intelligence officer, and he did
quite well for us down in Thalsedon, where he spent most his career.
However, he made very few friends in our house when he formally joined
another house and a Young House at that, Von Kiviri. I can't recall
anyone from Van Kahshaar having ever done that. Even before this though
he was somewhat of a black sheep.
He had a talent for magic you know, Urquin, something I never had. But
he refused to study under any of weathermages in the Ka'Shari Quarter in
Kahshaartown, claiming he wanted nothing to do with "batty old seadogs
and seacrones". In some ways, I should mention, the Ka'Shari Creole can
be very traditional. Difficulties at home were one of his reasons for
joining the then Information Secretariat, just so he could get away from
the whole Ka'Shari Creole. Though I didn't like his reasons, I did
support his application as I thought it would do him some good. He was
actually a first cousin, which probably means I should go back to
Kahshaartown to break the news to his poor old mother."
Urquin shifted uneasily on his feet. The Inquisitor had rarely ever
discussed matters about his personal life with him before, even with
their long association. It may have been that Karl was grieving, but
Urquin certainly didn't intend going there. "Van Kahshaar, I am sorry
to hear you were close to him. It is never good to lose family, even if
they are not close.
"Please do read this report Lord Van Kahshaar", Urquin said as he placed
the bound document on the Inquisitor's desk. "I obtained a copy through
official contacts our Ambassador had in the Sedonian Government. Our man
down in Thalsedon is actually quite good, and I recommend we utilise him
for special tasks in a year or two. I believe he is not far from
reaching the maximum period for a posting#, and would be due a transfer
or promotion. Perhaps Mirabalpur, or something with headquarters here.
Anyway, as you will read in this report, Erik was murdered. The
Sedonians aren't sure by whom, though there are some possible
candidates. What is concerning is that there is mention of the
Garrists, and Erik's possible involvement with them somehow. If this is
true, then there are still Garrists in Kaeir. What is more, some will
be horrorified to see a Kahshaartownman and the cousin of the Inquisitor
involved in Garrism."
"Well, Urquin, of course there are still Garrists here. From what we
have learnt from their organisational structure, the Garrists use
cell-structures. This means, that if one cell is disrupted or destroyed,
there are almost no connections to be traced to other cells. I suspect,
based on the way other organisations have used cell structures in
history, that only the cell leader would have contact with other
Garrists, and even it is probably through a unaware intermediary. The
only way I suspect to determine connections with other cells is to
capture the cell leader alive, which is hard enough itself.
"In fact, Erhad von Celtehari is arriving in Port Kaeir later today or
tomorrow from New Tirmaeir. I suspect, given the timing, he wants to
discuss something related to this. I have an awful feeling of dread
which I get whenever he has to communicate anything to me from the Green
Lady."
At this, Urquin was surprised. Karl van Kahshaar, known for his
agnosticism, believed in the native cult?
"I assume from your expression, that you are surprised that I talk about
the Green Lady as existing. You know I am not a religious man. I never
had time for the old ways and gods of the Ka'Shari, nor for the Millat
that so many people of high standing in Kaeir like yourself now follow.
Regardless of what great forces interfere in the world, in the end each
man is responsible for their own life, and should live it as fully and
honourably as they can, for once it is over that is the end. But I do
believe in the Green Lady, though not anywhere near to the extent that
native Lords like Adin do. I know She exists, and more importantly, I
also know the Republic's fate is tied to Her. So because I believe in
the Republic and what it stands for, I by necessity, must believe in and
cooperate with the Lady.
"Anyway, whatever it is that that shaman Erhad has to talk to me about
obviously was too important to be discussed via those scrying bowls he
uses normally to talk to me with whenever he is resident in the Green
College in New Tirmaeir. The two young shamans that serve in my office
tell me that while the scrying bowl method is fairly secure, a strong
magic-user could tap the conversation without being detected.
"Very good, Lord Karl. My immediate concern though with this report is
that he belonged to Von Kiviri, a popular Young House. Its also known
as Von Quetzal, from the name of its found, Quetzal von Kivir. His
murder will obviously have an impact on Von Kiviri, and Sir Quetzal will
possibly use this to his own benefit. He is very popular amongst the
Young Houses, despite his unpopularity amongst the Great Houses. Von
Kiviri, in my opinion, has all the hallmarks of becoming a Great House
one day. The murder of a reasonably significant Von Kiviri of Van
Kahshaar blood, with possibly links to Garrism and unnamed organisations
in Sedonia does not bode well for domestic affairs, nor for a future
more prominent Von Kiviri's reputation.
Sir Quetzal Von Kiviri is clearly the leader of the Young Houses
currently, and his House dominates the NE trade and has an increasing
role in the Trans-Calarnari trade. What is more, Quetzal still has
strong influence in the Tirmaeiri Rangers, and amongst Guard officer
circles. Even in my contact with Kaeirean merchants in Sedonia, that is
clear. I suggest you tread carefully, Lord Karl, concerning this.
* In 145*, the highest authority in the Republic of Kaeir, the Great
Council of the Republic, convened to address a series of significant
concerns held by many merchant and landed Houses. The result of the
Great Council was the forced resignation of the first Consul, Lord Sanus
Jafaarsan, and the reformation of the state structure. These reforms
were formalised in the Green Compact, signed by a majority the three
hundred or so members of the Great Council, and were seen by many
scholars as the final transition of the Republic into a stable polity (a
process initiated years earlier by Jafaarsan, who steered the Republic
away from its revolutionary roots).
# A regulation instituted in the wake of the Great Council Reforms of
14** concerining the state civil service is that in all positions of
Magister rank and higher, no state official may continuously occupy a
same position in a geographical region for more than ten years, with the
exception of the Consul, Senators and the Inquisitor.
Andrew Janssen wrote:
>Thalsedon, 1459
>
>* * * * *
>
>The last man Ion Ronir-Varros expected to see waiting in his office that
>morning was Lecon Rhellmanos, the Chief Investigator of the Thalsedon
>City Watch. "Good morning, Chief," said Ion as he hung his cloak on the
>rack by the door, "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
>
>"I have a problem, Deputy Minister," said Rhellmanos, "And after
>consulting with my superiors and Minister Ghere, it is about to become
>*your* problem, also." He smiled humorlessly as he placed a
>leather-covered dispatch box on Ion's desk. "That's the file."
>
>Ion sat down behind his desk and opened the dispatch box. Inside was a
>collection of documents neatly bound with red ribbon. He untied the
>ribbon, and began to examine the documents. The top document was
>labelled: 'Post-Mortem Report for Erik von Kashaar'.
>
>As Ion began to read, Chief Rhellmanos began to fill him in. "Day before
>yesterday, a landlady down in Riverside came to a Watch Post. One of her
>lodgers, Erik von Kashaar, hadn't been seen for a week, the rent was
>due, and there was a nasty smell coming from within his locked room. The
>post commander was no dummy, and he sent for investigators and a
>Coronite priest.
>
>"When they got to the flat, they had to break the door down. Inside,
>they found von Kashaar sitting in a chair in front of a window, with the
>end of a crossbow bolt sticking out of his left ear. The window was also
>shut and locked. The room hand been searched."
>
>Ion looked up from the post-mortem report. "A locked room? How did the
>killer get in?"
>
>"We don't know," said Rhellmanos, "and it gets worse, as you'll see if
>you read farther in to the autopsy report. The crossbow bolt came from
>one of those 'one-shots' that your Ministry invented."
>
>"And you suspect that an agent of the Ministry of Special Projects
>killed this von Kashaar?"
>
>Rhellmanos shook his head in negation. "No, and if you read page three
>of the postmortem report, you'll see why."
>
>Ion turned to page three and read silently for a moment, before reading
>aloud, "'Due to the nearly total lack of bleeding from the wound, it is
>my opinion that it was inflicted *after* death'?! Who would shoot a
>corpse? And how did he actually die?"
>
>"Well, it's on the next page," said Rhellmanos, "but to sum it up, he
>was stabbed in the back with a very thin, narrow, and long blade,
>possibly a lady's hat-pin or a stiletto. The surface wound was very
>small and barely bled at all, but the tip of the blade nicked an artery
>in von Kashaar's left lung. He bled to death, internally. According to
>the examiner, he probably never knew he'd been stabbed. He just felt
>tired, sat down in his chair, and never got up."
>
>Ion was reading more of the post-mortem report. "It says here that as
>much as an hour might have elapsed between when von Kashaar was stabbed
>and when he actually died . . . stomach contents weren't very helpful,
>since he'd been dead a week when his body was found, and alchemical
>analysis showed no drugs or poisons in his system." He put down the
>report, and steepled his fingers. "So why, Chief Investigator, aside
>from the presence of the one-shot bolt, is this murder a matter for
>Special Projects?"
>
>"Because of who Erik von Kashaar was," came the reply. "He was a Kaeiran
>expatriate living in Thalsedon. He came here in 1443 as a staffer in the
>Information Secretariat section of the Kaeiran Embassy. In 1456, he
>apparently resigned his position at the embassy, and joined a Kaeiran
>merchant house, Von Kiviri, as their agent here in Thalsedon.
>
>"He seems to have been something of a deal-broker, matching buyers to
>sellers and taking commissions on the trades. There were complaints
>about sharp dealing, but nothing obviously criminal. For the last year,
>he seems to have been involved in a project to construct a major
>watermill complex on the Imperial River above Tirroth in partnership
>with several Sedonian merchant houses. Apparently, he and his partners
>were planning to build a whole complex centered around steel-making,
>using the river's flow to drive bellows on the furnaces and forges, and
>hammer-mills for beating out plates. His proposal involved building a
>dam, but the consortium was being sued by other mill-owners to prevent
>construction."
>
>Ion frowned. "A dam could obstruct river traffic, reduce the water
>available for irrigation, and have an adverse effect on the flour and
>fulling mills below Tirroth. You think someone killed him over that?"
>
>Chief Rhellmanos shrugged. "It's possible. Someone stabs a former agent
>of the Kaeiran Information Secretariat who's involved in litigation over
>Sedonian water rights on the street. He comes home, sits down and dies.
>Someone else then shoots him in the head with a weapon that's supposed
>to only be available to agents of the Ministry of Special Projects,
>while all the ways in and out of the room are locked. And then there was
>what we found under his bed . . . it should be in the box, at the bottom."
>
>Ion reached into the dispatch box and drew out an amulet hanging on a
>long chain. The amulet was in the shape of a grasping hand with long,
>pointed fingernails. "So," breathed Ion, "the plot thickens."
>
>Chief Rhellmanos nodded. "Minister Ghere and Minister Ellis want us to
>find out who killed Erik von Kashaar, who tried to kill him after he was
>dead, if his death has security implications, and why that amulet was in
>his room. There's a list of von Kashaar's friends and business
>associates in that stack of documents, and Minister Ghere has a carriage
>waiting for us out front. He suggested strongly that we not delay."
>
>With a nod, Ion took the list of names, put the other documents back in
>the dispatch box, and stood up. "Very well, let's go talk to the landlady."
>
>* * * * *
>
>Andrew
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