Snippet #2819773

18D10A

The bells of the church stopped as sudden as they had started. It was only now that he could hear the screaming from below the roof he was standing on. He looked down and saw one monk tried to climb on the same roof with immense difficulty. Sweating and hanging on for dear life the midlife monk tried to catch his attention.
”Master Hetral! Please, our Goddess advisor is requesting your immediate presence. A messenger is downstairs from the palace.”

Raiden but his bow back on his back. With more grace than any of the monks could have ever brought to the table, he swung himself off the ledge onto the floor below. Running down the stairs he saw a nervous wreck of a messengers eyes lit up when Raiden finally came in sight. ”Sir, you will be late! Advisor Veldine has requested you interrogate the gardening staff of the castle.”

”I think you’re forgetting your place, if you are telling me I will be late. You make one more comment like that and I’ll stab your eyes out, so you’ll never realise what time it is again.”
The messenger looked taken aback, profusely apologising and asking for his life to be spared. ”Yeah, yeah, calm down…. Pathetic… How does that windbag think I’ll be more useful interrogating gardeners than scanning the streets?”

The messenger replied hastily. ”It was on our Queens request, my liege.”
”In that case… excellent plan, I will do as she commands. ” He left the church and took the first horse he could see at the church entrance. ”Keep on praying monks, I am sure Benny wouldn’t be happy to just see you standing around.”

In top speed he left for the castle where he arrived only 5 minutes later. He got a quick rundown of what happened before he was shown the small line of gardeners he was supposed to interview. ”Oh you’ve got to be kidding me…. I can smell the manure on them from a mile away. Come on guys, isn’t this more suited for Korgans sense of smell?” he asked no one in particular. He indicated for the first guy to come forward and sit down on the chair that was placed there.

Raiden walked forward to come closer to the gardener, an old man in his fifties was staring at him with beady eyes. He crossed his arms and brought up one hand to save him from the smell. ”Good sir… if you do not tell me the truth…. We will make you take a bath. Considering your odour that must be your very worst nightmare…. So… DONT LIE!”
The man stumbled on his words. ”I’d never lie m’Lord, not to another server of our Goddess Ivelda.”
”Yeah, yeah, calm your shit… or the hands you have covered in them.”
He asked a few more questions, but the guy was as old as he was faithful… and boring.
”Fine, get back to your gardening old man. One more question…. Which of your colleagues do you find to be the least trustworthy.”
”I…I wouldn’t know, m’Lord. I..just… Jeremiah has been working here the shortest. He only started 4 years ago…

Raiden let the old man go, and asked for Jeremiah next. The man who came forward was certainly a lot younger than the man before him, but still a fair amount older than any of the Queens advisors. ”So…Jeremiah…it’s nice to meet you…but awful to smell you.” He paused as he turned around to gulp a fresh breath of air. ”How long have you been working on the castle grounds?”
The man answered to all his questions calmly.

”If I have need for water hemlock, where would I find it?” he looked the man deep in the eyes, but the man tried to look away.
”We have water hemlock in the Queens garden, m’Lord.
”Isn’t that something… the Queen was almost poisoned with water hemlock and you know exactly where to find it.”
The other gardeners would probably know the same thing.
”Where exactly can I find the water hemlock in the garden?”
”It’s in the aisle third from the back, it’s in between the Knights Milfoil and the Joy of the Mountain. But that’s not in my section, it’s taken care of by Lead Gardener Septimus.
”The first guy I spoke to? Fine…. But you know how to use water hemlock, don’t you?”
The man did not answer immediately. ”You know what….wait here.”

Raiden called back the man he interviewed first. Oh my Goddess, is he smelling worse than before?
”Septimus, you are in charge of the water hemlock on the castle grounds? Take me to your stock now.”
The two of them walked to the gardens. Hearing from the breaths of the older man it was at a far faster pace than he was used to. When they reached the place, the man was so exhausted he merely pointed at the herb they were looking for.

The young hunter kneeled down and inspected the ground around the herb. He could not see any disruption to the ground, nor could he see and of the leaves were cut. So they did not take the plant root and all and they did not cut off the leaves. He stood back up and asked the older man. ”Septimus, is any of your hemlock missing, or is the full stock here?”
It was now the man who sat down on his knees inspecting the area in much the same way Raiden had.
”Nothing is missing, m’Lord, not a single seedling.”
”Thanks, then I know enough.”

He walked back at again a fast pace, Septimus not following as closely as before. He finished his interrogations with the last 2 men, and 1 woman. They all seemed to have a dislike for Jeremiah, but they all seemed loyal to the Queen.
”Guards! Take Jeremiah to the Dungeon for further questioning. The others, you are allowed to go. The Great Ivelda thanks you for your hard and dedicated labor.”
Raiden stifled a laugh. Jeremiah might know more, but there was little indication for it. However, if something could make the smell of the Dungeons worse, it was possibly this guy, and that was reason enough for the hunter.

He walked to the Queen and bend the knee before speaking. ”My immortal Queen, there might be one suspicious gardener. He has been sent to the Dungeon for further follow up. I was able to confirm that the water hemlock used, was not from the castle gardens. I don’t know where they got it, but it wasn’t here.”