NOVEL NEXT 074: Justice and Kindness
Inner Sanctum First Floor | 11:26 AM | Third Day
I froze instantly, my body feeling like I'd just made eye contact with a gorgon. This wasn't like the last few corpses I'd seen over the course of the night. She looked so normal, so at ease, that my mind was in disagreement with itself over what it was seeing. It was obvious at a close glance that she wasn't breathing and her eyes had gone still and lifeless, but everything about the situation contradicted that reality. This couldn't really have happened. We were only out of the room for a few moments. I'd just seen her!
Hadn't I seen her?
I didn't snap out of my reverie even as the others arrived and had somewhat less subdued reactions.
"Wh-- What...?" Kamrusepa said, more baffled than upset. Ophelia, approaching the same spot, gasped in shock at the sight. "She's-- Is she...?"
"I'll check her vitals," Ran said, slipping past me. She advanced on Sacnicte, lifted up her wrist, and pulled one of her eyes open. The perpetual frown she wore deepened. "Fuck. It doesn't look good. We need to get her downstairs and examine her properly."
That was what she said, but her tone suggested a belief much stronger than 'this doesn't look good'. It suggested the same conclusion I'd already come to a few moments earlier.
Still, she wasted no time in scooping her arms around Sacnicte's back. Kamrusepa moved to help a moment later, taking the woman's legs. Her arms fell as they lifted her up from the seat, lifeless.
Suddenly, as if struck by something in this sight, Yantho trembled violently for a moment, then leapt forward, shoving Kamrusepa - who was taken completely by surprise - away from Sacnicte's body, and taking it by the shoulders himself. Ran exclaimed protest, but he frantically tried to push her away too, almost throwing his own body onto the chair on top of her without regard for her apparent condition. His eyes were wild with pain as his hands grabbed at her collar, then desperately squeezed her unresponsive face.
His mouth opened wide, like he was trying to scream something from the depths of his lungs. But no sound came, of course.
"Get him off her!" Ran commanded, her voice urgent.
This was enough to finally stir me from the dumbstruck state I was in, and along with Kamrusepa, I moved to grab one of his arms to pry him off of the body. I'm not very strong, but it ended up being much harder than I thought it would; despite Yantho's size, he clung to it like his life depended on it, kicking at my chest and legs in the process - Kamrusepa let out a yelp of pain as his foot landed square in her gut, but maintained her grip all the same. When we finally pulled him off, he still wouldn't calm down, his arms flailing wildly. He struck the side of my face, and my glasses tumbled off. I heard one of the lenses crack as it hit the ground.
Oh, great. That's the last thing I need right now!
Still, Ran didn't waste the chance, and lifted Sacnicte back up, this time enlisting the shocked Ophelia, who seemed to be at a loss for words at the tragedy of the situation. It was only once they'd made it to the steps and begun descending that Yantho toned down his desperate attempts to break free, though his body was still shaking. I caught another glimpse of his face. He looked beyond horrified, like he wanted to throw up.
Seeing that, I felt at a loss for words too.
But what could I have said? Even if I had a better idea of him as a person and what could bring him some comfort, the situation defied all reason so much that I could barely process it myself. The culprit had told us that they intended to murder someone right under our nose, but people had been running in an out of this room repeatedly over the past several minutes. To imagine that nobody would have caught so much of a glimpse, heard any signs of struggle, was absurd. It was like she really had been struck down by the gods.
Yantho grew calmer still as I heard Ptolema and Seth exclaim in shock from down below, and Ran start to ask the latter to perform a diagnostic incantation. The others had probably heard the shouting and would be along shortly, too, and then we'd have to try and explain this bizarre situation. This awful situation...
The more lingered on it, the more inexplicably frustrating it was. We'd gone to such lengths to save Mehit, only for this to happen right under our nose. Why did Zeno have to wander off? We did we have to be so stupid--
"Su," Kamrusepa suddenly said at my side, her tone severe. "Something's not right."
I blinked, turning to face her. "What?"
"I think he's stopped breathing."
I was silent for a moment, staring at her. Then, slowly, I lifted up my hand to touch his neck.
And there... I saw it. A strange red mark; two dots on flesh, spaced a few inches apart.
No, I thought. No way.
𒊹
The situation had gone from tragic to surreal in a matter of moments. If the culprit had endeavored to make us feel powerless, they had succeeded beyond all reason.
Of course, Sacnicte had died. By the time Seth finished assessing her with the Power, even basic neural output from the brain had ceased almost completely. The specific cause turned out to be a little more complicated in ascertaining - it was quickly established that a strong neurotoxin had led to asphyxiation and direct damage to her brain, killing her within a matter of moments, but what exactly that neurotoxin had been remained ambiguous. Light wounds were found around her neck, suggesting she might have been briefly held in a chokehold, but on its rear was found something far more concerning: Two red incisions, like bites from a small serpent.
Self-evidently, a literal serpent would be unlikely - the obvious theory was that someone had injected her with something, then created the second wound as an obfuscation. Though, I wasn't prepared to rule anything entirely out.
Yantho's case, however, was... Different.
Though he also bore the same mark as Sacnicte, there was no trace of neurotoxin in his body. There wasn't even an obvious cause of death that could be acertained with the Power - it was like his soul had simply left his body, leaving an empty vessel in my arms.
Thinking about it, it was all so hard to wrap my head around, it hurt my head to even try. One moment he'd been struggling for dear life, and the next - less than a minute later - he was dead. A person had died in my arms, I hadn't even noticed until Kamrusepa had pointed it out.
A living person, one who less than a day ago I'd watched talk about his hobbies with Ran... Had disappeared from this world, without explanation, right before my eyes.
A few moments after Kamrusepa and I had confirmed that he did, indeed, appear to be dead, Fang and Zeno arrived in the room, and... Well, from there, things played out more or less as you'd expect. Everyone got very, very upset that this had happened. Pretty soon, accusations started being thrown around.
"There's only one person who was in the room with her regularly over the past few hours," Kamsupa had said, eyes leveled darkly at Zeno.
"Don't be fucking absurd! I was out in the main hall practically the whole time since those two brought that woman in, and I saw her speak to them as she passed! I wouldn't have even had a chance!" She narrowed her eyes. "And I barely crossed paths with that boy. You were the ones who were literally holding him when we found you."
Soon enough, we were all gathered the security center - save for Anna, who refused to cease her work even in light of what was happening, and Mehit, who remained recovering by her side - to try to determine what happened. The atmosphere was less morbid than after Bardiya's death, since none of our class had really known Sacnicte or Yantho beyond a few brief interactions, and of the council members only Linos seemed to have sentimentality towards them... But it made up for it by being far more tense. We'd removed our masks, to better pick up on any suspicious behavior.
Last time, it had been plausible that a complete outsider had killed Bardiya. This time, however, that wasn't the case. The security center had been tightly enclosed by our group at all times, even in the brief windows where Sacnicte had been alone. So the conversation quickly turned to trying to establish--
𒊹
PLAYWRIGHT: Wow! Amazing! Someone actually died.
PLAYWRIGHT:
PLAYWRIGHT: You don't want another scene where everyone is crowded around some table for practically a bloody hour talking over each other while they're trying to suss out the culprit, while you're sitting there trying to pick out the actual hard facts like a child trying to get the onions out of their bowl of curry, do you? Of course you don't. Especially now that there's even more of them all in one place. It'll turn into a complete dog's breakfast.
PLAYWRIGHT: That's why I'm going to do you a bit of a favor, and make this all a little easier to digest with some théâtre symboliste.
PLAYWRIGHT: Here's how this will work: We'll break the conversation down into nice little chunks that are easy for you to digest, and to keep everyone's stories nice and tidy. Then, if there are any outstanding questions, we'll give them their own sections too. After that, it'll be easy to review them to your heart's content, like it's a little game!
PLAYWRIGHT: Yes, yes, I know...
PLAYWRIGHT: So let's make a quick rule about it.
8. ANY SCENE NOT REPRESENTED CONVENTIONALLY WILL NOT OMIT ANY PIVOTAL CLUES
PLAYWRIGHT: There! That should do it, shouldn't it? Now, just to ensure there's no quibbling over errata, we can define 'pivotal clues' here to mean any sort of information of value to understanding the events taking place in the narrative. Not just in the sense of 'solving the mystery', but anything to contribute to the broader picture of the characters, the setting-- All of that affair. In short, this will not be used as a device to obfuscate anything from you.
PLAYWRIGHT: ...what, are we still doing this? What are you waiting for? Time is money! Restart the damn thing!
𒊹
SETH AND PTOLEMA'S ACCOUNT
"Uh... Let's see," Seth said, rubbing his eyes with anxiety. "I mean, it was pretty straightforward for us, right, Ema?"
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I mean, we didn't really go anywhere..."
"So, you all remember when the logic bridge started going off, right? And that right after that, we headed downstairs with Ophelia to start treating Mehit. We ran into Zeno and Sacnicte on the way there-- She, uh... He was complaining to her about the noise and she was talking back, and they both looked at us when we were rushing by, so at that point, she was definitely okay." He looked to Zeno. "You can confirm this, right?"
"Yes, yes," Zeno said, gesturing for them to get on with it.
No one particularly suspected Ptolema and Seth of being culpable of anything, having among the tightest alibis. This was mostly about just building the broader picture.
"Right," Seth nodded, then spoke up a little more loudly, trying to carry his voice down the steps. "And, uh-- Grandmaster, you can confirm we arrived in the basement right after that, right?"
"I can," Anna said bluntly.
"There you go, then," he said.
"Did you attune to the logic bridge, on your way down?" Linos asked. Because he'd more or less been in the same place for the whole sequence of events, where there'd also been the most witnesses, he'd sort of unspokenly assumed the role of arbiter.
"I mean, I didn't," Seth said. "Ema? Ophelia?"
"Nope," Ptolema said. Ophelia shook her head.
Seth nodded. "So, after that, we set Mehit down and got out our scepters... I was gonna cast the Flesh-Weaving Arcana, but it didn't work. I thought it might've just been something wrong with my scepter in particular, so I asked Ptolema to try, but nothing happened for her either. That was when we realized something was wrong."
"It was me who asked Ophelia to go up and get help," Ptolema said. "Honestly, it was pretty spur of the moment... We were all sorta freaking out, since we had so little time to help Mehit. I just suddenly remembered that my tools were over in the conference room, and shouted at her to go get 'em. I kinda forgot about everything else going on, and how dangerous it'd be..." She scratched her head, her expression regretful.
"How long did it take for the Power to start working again?" Ran asked.
"I dunno," Ptolema said. "Like a minute or two? We only noticed when Anna did."
"It was pretty soon after that that everybody ran back in, though," Seth said. "And then, well... You know the rest. And before you ask, we didn't hear anything from upstairs. Just whenever people came or went."
OPHELIA'S ACCOUNT
"Um, well..." Ophelia said, clasping her hands together, her posture rigid. There weren't enough chairs for everyone in the room, so some people had been forced to stand. "Up until Ptolema told me to leave, my story is the same as her and Seth's, obviously... After that, I rushed up the stairs-- I only saw Sacnicte briefly, and she was facing away from me, so I couldn't tell if she was alright or not. There was nobody else in the room speaking with her, so I thought she might have just been preoccupied." She frowned, looking downwards. "In the hallway on the way out, I ran into Yantho... He asked me what was going on downstairs, so I told him, and then we headed out into the main hall together."
"Hmmmmmm," Zeno said. Her intonation was drawn out with skepticism to an almost farcical degree.
So Linos told Yantho to go downstairs and check on the others... But he only ended up making it half-way there?
"A-After that," she continued, obviously put off, "I came out into the main hall and, um, relayed Ptolema's request. Then I just stood there and watched as they made plans to go out and retrieve her tools... I should have helped, but after what happened before, I was too afraid." She gulped. "Linos, you can vouch for me having been there, can't you? You too, Fang."
"Y-Yes," Linos said, looking between us. "Ophelia was standing right by me through that whole course of events."
"Sounds right to me," Fang said, looking like they were thinking about something else.
"Okay..." She went on. "Well, when everyone finally came back, I went downstairs with them to bring the tools to Ptolema. I-- I didn't really look closely at Sacnicte at that point, either. Her chair was facing away, and we were all rushing... I suppose that's it."
ZENO'S ACCOUNT
"I have nothing to hide in this situation," she said. "My account is simple. I was in the security center, working on-and-off trying to fix up an old cleaning golem to act as a scout - Anna can confirm that, if she pleases - when I heard people shouting and making a fuss out in the main hall. I remember it was almost exactly 11 on the clock at the time. I said something like, 'I better go see if this is important' and then strolled down the corridor to take a look. I heard about that woman screaming - despite not hearing it myself - and rightly advised that it would be expedient not to endanger any further lives in a rescue attempt."
"I think you put it a little more forwardly than that," Seth said coldly.
"I'm not sure this is the hill you want to die on, kid," Zeno replied. "After all, it was your plan that ended up getting two more people killed, when push came to shove."
He was silent at that, but wore a deeply resentful expression.
"After that, I headed back into the security center, and returned to work. At this point, the girl was still fine; I rambled a little bit about what was going on outside, and she said something about how you were all more sentimental than she expected. Then, only a few minutes later, everyone started shouting again and the logic bridges all started going off, and a moment after that, those three barged into the room and ran down the stairs carrying Mehit before I could establish what the hell was happening. So, naturally curious, I went back in the main hall to see what was happening again, and then I was there until the body was discovered watching that whole fiasco."
"You realize this makes you the biggest suspect, right?" Seth asked. "You were the last person to speak with her, and had the best chance to have made the assault."
"Let's not start throwing out accusations yet," Linos said, trying to soothe the situation.
Zeno flattened her brow. "I'm sorry, did you yourself not say that I was still talking to Sacnicte at that very time you barged in? And she was, in fact, talking back?"
Seth flinched, then hesitated, breaking eye contact. "Oh, y-yeah."
"Is that not a perfect alibi?" Zeno asked, raising an eyebrow.
"You still multiple chances to poison her earlier than that," Seth said. "You were in the room with her for hours."
"Sounds like someone doesn't want to suspect his friends," she said, crossing her arms. "Not exactly gifted in the survival skills department, are you? And I believe I already said, I was never in contact with the boy at all - and if we're not assuming a more contrived scenario where the two murders were committed by completely different people, then..." She snorted. "Well, draw your own conclusions."
"One thing, though," Fang said. "When the logic bridge started going off, it was happening in the security center too, right?"
"Eh? Oh, yeah," Zeno said.
"But you didn't, like, attune to it there?"
"No," they said, narrowing their eyes slightly. "I did it out in the main hall, with everyone else. Whatever impression you have of me, I do have some sense of collective responsibility."
KAMRUSEPA, RAN AND UTSUSHIKOME'S ACCOUNT
"I'll take the lead, you two," Kamrusepa's mouth said, while her face insisted. "We were together through all of this, so there's no need to complicate the affair overmuch.
"Uh, okay," I replied. Ran, for her part, made a vague shrug you could interpret as assent.
It was enough for Kam, who nodded. "Right then. I'll try to keep this short. After we got back from our venture out into the manor at large, we stayed behind in the main hall while the others went to attend to Mehit. We saw Zeno come out from the security center, then all listened to the transmission over the logic bridge. Following that, we saw Yantho head to check on the people in the basement, then come back out a few moments later with Ophelia. She told us about Ptolema's request, we discussed it for a little bit, and then came up with the plan." She glanced to Linos. "Do I need to explain the plan?"
"I... believe everyone is aware of the details already," Linos said. "But I don't see any harm in reiterating it, just to be clear."
"Very well." She cleared her throat. "After Theodoros volunteered to make a run for Ptolema's surgical equipment, we decided to cover him from the door. I did so along with Utsushikome, Grandmaster Melanthos, and Ran. He successfully recovered them, but on the way back, Utsushikome believed that she spotted something encroaching in the shadows, so we opened fire, but nothing came of it. Theodoros returned successfully, and then we went downstairs along with Ophelia, while Theodoros remained behind to catch his breath." She glanced to me. "Am I missing anything important, Utsu?"
"Uh, well, we should probably clarify that Yantho was in the main hall with us for this whole time," I said. "At least, as far as we could tell, since we were looking away."
"I can confirm that, real quick," Fang said, sticking their hand up. "They weren't close to Zeno, either, so the shit she said about not having time to stick a needle in 'em was probably not bullshit."
"Hell of a vote of confidence," Zeno said flatly.
Kam nodded again. "Right, well. After that, the three of us went down to the basement with our spoils - as Ophelia said, we were in such a hurry that we saw little cause to check on Sacnicte's state, since the chair is rather tall and was turned away - where we came upon Anna, Seth, and Ptolema standing over Mehit. They then proceeded to explain that the Power was apparently no longer being blocked, and we speculated a bit about how that might've happened, and maybe doing doing some manner of investigation." Her tone grew more troubled. "Then, we suddenly beheld the artifice Yantho made use of to communicate tumble down the stairs... And going up to take a look, saw him staring listlessly ahead at Sacnicte, now clearly lying prone where she sat."
"Pardon to interrupt," Linos said, "but to be clear, who exactly came up with you? That wasn't made clear in the other's accounts."
"It was just the four of us," Kamrusepa said. "Myself, Utsushikome, Ran and Ophelia.
"And the boy seemed fine, at this point?" Zeno asked, a skeptical eyebrow raised.
"Indeed," Kamrusepa said. "Well-- Fine wouldn't be what I'd consider the opportune word, but there appeared nothing physically wrong with him beyond sheer distress. Though said distress was... Extreme, if possibly understandable... And I suppose what ultimately transpired does force one to wonder what forces might've truly been at work in him." She hesitated, her eyes wandering for a moment, before shaking her head slightly. "Forgive me, I didn't intend to get sidetracked. After that, Ran confirmed the woman was dead or at least on the brink of it, and we resolved to bring her downstairs. That was when Yantho suddenly fell into hysterics, assaulting Ran and trying to... I don't know, resuscitate her himself? Frankly, I doubt there was any rational objective in his mind. He was like a man possessed."
"Was he having any strange symptoms?" Seth asked. "Was he feverish, anything like that?"
"Not so far as I could tell," Kamrusepa said. "In any case, Ran bid us to restrain him," - Ran nodded along as she said this, looking downward - "and Su and I took him by the arms while Ran and Ophelia moved Sacnicte down into the basement. I have to confess that my thoughts were in rather a frayed state as this was happening; by this point, so many overwhelming things had taken place in a short span of time that I could scarcely focus... But when I did focus, I noticed that Yantho had calmed down very suddenly. And then that I couldn't seem to hear him breathing." She gestured outwardly with her palms. "You know the rest."
"Tell me," Zeno said, and glanced to me, as well. "In this moment, were either of you looking at the other? Watching what they were doing?"
"I... wasn't," I admitted.
"I was glancing at Su periodically," Kamrusepa said dismissively. "If you're trying to suggest one of us might've done something to him without the other's knowledge, then I very much doubt it."
THEODOROS'S ACCOUNT
"Erm. Right," he said, clearing his throat. "I didn't really have anything to do with... With either of the two servants, but I suppose I ought to give my account for the sake of context." He cleared his throat. "Let's see. I was, ah, seated at the table with dad right up until Ophelia came running out... I didn't listen to the message from the culprit, get up to touch the logic bridge, or anything like that." He sounded nervous, fidgeting and looking downwards. "Hearing about what was happening to Mehit, and that no one else seemed willing to do anything about it, I decided to volunteer to go fetch the surgical equipment from the conference room. We set up the plan and dad untied me, I went to the door, then made a run for it once Ran had given the signal."
"Did you see much, out there?"
"No," Theodoros replied, shaking his head. "Not really-- I know Utsu thought she did, but the hallway and conference room both seemed empty." He frowned. "Though that's not to say I wasn't frightened, especially when the guns started going off. Even before that, when I was trying to pull out the drawer, I almost dropped it because my hands were shaking so much... Still, I made it back, and then practically collapsed on the floor. My chest felt, ah. Well, I was worried I might've been in cardiac arrest."
"Did you see Yantho leave...?" I asked.
"I didn't," he said, shaking his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't even know anything had happened in the security center until people shouted a few minutes later."
"I believe I can fill in here," Linos said. "I... Caught a glimpse of Yantho looking idly down the hallway, then seeming alarmed and running off. But I was still preoccupied seeing to Theo, so I didn't follow after him."
"Huh," Fang said.
"What is it, Fang?" Kamrusepa asked, furrowing her brow.
"I mean," they said. "I think I saw that too? But I thought it was the other way around." They scrunched up their lip, looking upward thoughtfully. "They looked alarmed, and then turned towards the security center."
Kam looked puzzled. "Why the devil would they do that? Could they have heard something?"
"Dunno," Fang said. "Hell, I might be misremembering." They looked to Zeno. "Were you paying attention?"
"Mm? No," Zeno replied. "I was checking something on my logic engine."
Fang shrugged.
EZEKIEL'S ACCOUNT
"What, me?" he said, frowning at the request.
"Yes, you," Kamrusepa told him flatly, arms crossed.
"What do you want me to say?" He shrugged. "I didn't see anything that people haven't already talked about, And I barely moved the old woman got herself shot."
"Even so," Linos said. "You might've noticed something someone else didn't. Give us your account, please, mister Ilaadbat."
The young man clicked his tongue, his face contorting with irritation. "Fine. I'd just finished taking down the engravings on Ran's scepter when the scream happened. I didn't say anything in the conversation that followed because it all seemed like such a fucking stupid idea. I waited around the area until they came back, then watched the message on the logic bridge. Then I sat around while everyone made the plan to get the Viraaki's knick-knacks, watched it happen, and then stayed put until the murder happened. Because again: Fucking stupid idea."
"Got a lot of team spirit, huh, Zeke?" Seth said, his brow flat.
The boy crossed his arms. "Even if he was egging you on during the second part, the old man had a point. When everyone around you decides to act like lemmings, sometimes the best thing to do is nothing at all."
Zeno scoffed in irritation.
"Since you brought it up," Ran said, "you talked to almost everyone before this all happened, right? While you were checking their scepters."
Ezekiel frowned. "What of it?"
"Did you notice anything out of the ordinary with anyone?" She eyed him. "Anyone who seemed tense?"
"Saoite, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but half of our class is so autistic that they constantly seem tense. You might as well ask me to find a specific turd in a sewer."
"Just answer the question, please," she replied flatly.
He groaned in irritation. "I don't know. Theodoros? Ophelia? Your girlfriend? The usual suspects."
I sighed softly, trying to displace my mind until this part of the conversation was over.
"If anything, what's more surprising was Fang's reaction. I checked his while the hunt for the Mekhian was going on, and he didn't seem to give a single fuck." He snorted. "Probably barely thinks of the rest of us as real people."
Fang didn't say anything, seeming to be preoccupied with their own thoughts again.
"What about Sacnicte herself?" Ran asked.
He shrugged. "She seemed relaxed. Guess she didn't see it coming at all."
ANNA'S ACCOUNT
"And you, Anna?" Linos called out.
"I never took more than two steps from where I'm standing right now," she explained bluntly, raising her voice-- Though not quite enough to hear her comfortably. "All I can say is that the accounts of what happened down involving me seem correct. Otherwise, I was focused on the work. Whoever killed her must have been quiet."
Unless it was her, I thought. Or she was complicit.
"If it's alright..." I said, "I wanted to clarify exactly what happened with the Power. How did you know when it became active again? How large a window could it have been?"
"I was tracing constantly," she replied bluntly. "So no window at all."
"It's a good thing we had her there," Ptolema said. "Me and Seth had kinda given up by then."
Huh.
"One other thing," Ran called out. "Right before we saw Yantho's tablet fall, you were talking about checking the logic engines to see if anyone else can been in the tunnels. Did you manage to check that?"
"I did," she said. "But found nothing. Either we were too late, or there was no one at all."