Sealed Shut
Keeping the plug away from Ryker's grimy palm, Jay turned over the small piece of wood in his hand many times, examining it from every angle.
"Give it here!" The inspector tried to bully the colonel with his size.
Instead of heeding the warning, Jay passed the makeshift seal to his sergeant for him to see. He quirked one eyebrow at Ryker.
"I'm an ignorant country colonel, so please humor me. Why would an inspector need to have a forged copy of His Majesty's seal? Don't you know that is treason?" Jay pulled his lips determinedly to one side, clearly expecting an answer.
"It was for…one of my cases. It is evidence. That is why I don't want you to destroy it." Ryker crossed his arms, clearly upset at the colonel's intrusion.
"Then why bring it here?"
"It fell out of the packet that contained the report, so I have been holding onto it until I can deal with it properly," Ryker said smoothly. He held out his hand again forcefully for the item to be returned.
"So you have no other evidence from this 'case' here to prove what you are saying?" Jay clearly did not believe the man, but the story was plausible. A clerical error was serious, but not exactly worthy of death.
Ryker guffawed at the colonel's comment. "What kind of fool do you think I am? Of course not! All the rest was sent to the proper court. I barely carry my necessities with me. To lug more around would be downright insane."
Jay clasped his hands in front of him loosely. It was an open pose but left his palms very close to the knife at his belt. "Then allow me, at last, to ease your burden. I will assist you-- and His Majesty by extension--by sending a small detail of men to deliver this trinket to the appropriate judge."
"That won't be necessary…" For the first time, there was a flicker of worry in the inspector's face.
The colonel smiled, but it never reached his eyes. "It is no trouble. I insist! Merely tell me the town, and it shall be done."
Ryker wracked his brain to think of any town in Birle that would be more than a day's ride from the fort, but also not too close to the capital. A place where he could chase down the detail and make it disappear. His mind, unfortunately, came up blank.
"Let me check my notes..." he tried to stall, "I do not want to tell you incorrectly."
Taking a step backwards, Ryker was completely blind to the spider-web thin wire running across the floor.
It caught the fading light from the crack in the shutters in time for Jay to see that it was attached to the leg of the bed, but there was not time to alert the inspector of the strange observation even if he had wanted to.
Ryker's eyes opened wide as the back of his boot met the metal, halting his progression suddenly. But his momentum was already enough. Though his feet stopped, the rest of his body kept on going. The world flew past him in a blur.
Ryker clenched his teeth at the embarrassment. At least he was going to land on the bed, the inspector comforted himself.
The bed!
In slow motion, the large man looked back to try and pick the best place to fall when he noticed that it, too had been tampered with. The sturdy frame had been compromised, looking like someone had sawed most of the way through the support beams.
It had not been like that when he went to the door; he was sure of it. It was like it had been done by magic.
There was no time to mull over what sorcery had brought the scheme about, for Ryker fell with great force into the bed, shattering the integrity of the remaining struts.
A cloud of splinters caused the three men watching to cover their eyes. Lying on top of his demolished bed, Ryker began to spew all sorts of curses.
"I will have all of your heads for this!" The investigator screamed.
Jay's smile turned genuine as he watched the large man flail about like an upside down turtle. "You can hardly blame us for your own clumsiness. And if you would ever let the fort's servants in here to clean or change your mattress, then perhaps we might have seen the state of your bed and been able to replace it. If anyone is to blame for the dilapidation of your quarters, it is you, inspector."
"Sir!" the sergeant called his superior's attention. Carefully picking up the broken bedpost, the soldier pointed to an anomaly in the wood.
"What do we have here?" Jay popped off the base of the leg with ease, revealing the cavern inside. With a tilt of the oversized post, a leather container slid onto the floor.
"I know nothing about that!" Ryker scrambled to his feet at last and hastened to the colonel's side.
Jay licked his lips. "Strange..." he said mildly. "It seems someone has bored a hole into your bed and deposited something in there."
"And where would I get a drill? Surely one of your own men planted it there!" Ryker stepped toward the door, only to be blocked from exiting.
"That is quite a claim. Blaming others when you do not even know what is inside. Or do you?" Moving to the writing desk, Jay dumped the clandestine contents onto its surface.
"Would you look at that," Jay whistled, clearly enjoying the moment. "An identical forged seal, only from...where is this one from, Adym?"
The sergeant peered at the piece of wood. "Marek, Sir."
"Very good. You are learning. Ha, and here is a lockpick set! A very nice one too," the colonel hummed lightly. "And this..." Jay unrolled the scrolled paper, "this would be a writ from King Willric—granting you amnesty! What a special document. It is too bad it isn't from King Rhodri or it might mean something. But here in Birle, we do not take kindly to Vipers hiding in our forts."
Glaring, Ryker gave a mocking laugh, "The Vipers? You have been reading too many bedtime stories, Colonel. Surely you do not believe in all that nonsense."
"Up until today, I might have agreed. But I have been shown the light... or rather...the tattoo..." From beside Ryker, the sergeant pulled back the inspector's sleeve to reveal the mark on his wrist. The poisonous serpent there was more condemning than the paper could ever be.
Ryker's indignant face changed. The fight in his words was gone, shifting to a fight in his muscles, which rippled with raw strength.
"Arrest him!" Jay ordered the two men with him.
Before the order could be carried out, Ryker pushed the sergeant into the doorway and punched the colonel across the jaw.
The Viper reached for the covert knife which he always kept at it belt, but it was gone. Perhaps it had come loose when he had fallen and broken the bed.
Or it had somehow been stolen.
Shoving aside the foot soldier with his shoulder, Ryker thought furiously. If he couldn't silence all three of the men and make them disappear, he would have to do the next best thing: run.
He dove toward the shuttered window and made another grim discovery. The wire which had tripped him…
had also sealed the window shut…