29. The Golden Girl (5)

Novum felt weaker and weaker by the moment. He had lost a lot of blood. "Perfect timing gentleman." Novum dropped to his knees and the before he cold do anything else he fell forward, unconscious.

The older of the two instantly stepped over Novum to protect him from and further harm. The younger man chased down a few of the stragglers and killed them before they could get away. He was about to turn the corner. "Come back son. We have your sister back and we need to help this man. We will find out the truth soon enough."

The younger man did not look happy about the situation but he did as his father said and came back. By that time a healer had shown up and started using healing spells on Novum. In just a matter of moments the blood appeared to stop flowing. Once he stopped losing blood them put him on a stretcher and carried him up to the house. They were almost back to the house when Novum woke up. He tried to sit up but a hand held him down. "Easy there young man. You put your body through a lot and you need to rest."

"Thank you sir but being carried like this, my stomach does not like it and I feel ill. I should be strong enough to walk for now." The stretcher stopped and the man put out his hand and helped Novum to his feet. "Thank you Sir Lions. You should not have assisted me yourself."

"Young man you rescued my daughter outside of betraying my family or my king I can't think of anything that I would not do to repay your kindness."

"You flatter me sir. I do apologize about the stone. I had nothing that could break the chain and I could not leave her there. It is a little unsightly."

The man laughed. "I thought my two guards were going to die by the time they got here and let me guess the only carried it from the spot that I found you?"

"Within a short distance of that sir. How is your daughter did they manage to get it off of her yet?"

"Not yet. We have requested the Duke's mage to come and take a look at it. But without the key I am not sure how to get it off."

"Then we should probably go and ask the man for the key."

"Do you really think it is that simple? The man is an Earl."

"And I am a nobody but I still managed to get onto his property and take something from him. I say go to the Duke and let him now what is going on."

"I don't know what is going on. Other than some basic ransom that was not even that much money I have no idea what they are after."

"He is after the Duke's land."

"Wait let's go somewhere else and talk about this." The man led him into a big office. A tray of refreshments came in and once it was in the person left and Sir Lions turned over a special stone. "Okay what do you mean?"

Novum pulled out the silver coin and tossed it to him. "I found that in the home of a name that went by the name Jim Stewart. Who turned out to be Stewart James the son of Earl James. Your coin has been wiped so that it is no longer linked to the piece of land in the palace. They kidnapped your daughter in order to distract you from the fact that your coin was missing. And since you already told me how important she is to you it was a feasible risk."

"How do you know that he was not going to try and take my land?"

"You already said that you would give anything for your daughter. Why waste a coin like that on something that you think you can get without any issues. No he wanted bigger fish. The problem became that Henry was loyal to the son and not the father. I am assuming that he worked here and that is how he stole the coin and drugged your daughter. So he sent the coin to Jim instead of the Earl."

"Why was the son out of town though?"

"Jim likes little girls. I mean really little girls. And he and I disagreed on the matter and his ego cost him his head. Before he could send the coin back to his father he died and I got my hands on his everything in accordance with the Duke's law. And the coin was hidden in a safe. I am guessing that the father kicked the son out to protect himself from something involving his tastes. And I am not sure he kicked him out more like put him out of sight for a while."

"And this Henry?"

"He was the one that was watching over your daughter. He is also dead."

"So by using the coin on the Duke's property even the king could not take it back since it was done under a royal decree coin. Then he felt that since he was the one in charge of the largest portion of the capitol that the King would have to promote him to a higher level and he could do as he pleased with impunity. Then he could bring his son home without repercussions."

"That is the theory that I came up with."

"The problem is how do we prove the theory?"

"Your daughter."

"She said that she never saw anyone other than Henry."

"But someone other than Henry put the chain on or he would have had the key. I think that the Earl put the chain on her while she was still unconscious. Talk with the Duke and have him called in on the grounds that Aureus was found on his property so that he can clear himself. I will provoke him or trick him into confessing that he has the key and that will be all the proof that you need. And then if I were you I would take that silver coin to his property and take it as well. Just to make sure that he truly pays for what he did. Of course there is another option to get him summoned to the Duke as well. Without using your daughter."

"And what would that be?"

"The Earl's warehouse is filled with slaves. There are a lot of cages lining the walls. If you only go in and look around close to the door you would never see them but there is an illusionary barrier that is hiding them. I saw them last night."

"So you report it to the guards and take them there and the Duke calls him to talk about it and when he shows up we ambush him with everything."

"That and the slaves get freed."

"I have a friend that is a guard captain. I will send for him and let him now."

"If he shows up here the Earl is going to freak out and do something stupid. Give me a writ for verification and I will find him and get him to take care of it."

The knight looked at him funny. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"I am not sure what answer you are looking for but it just seems like the right thing to do. I could do something so I should. Given the circumstances I was probably the only one that could do something. I had the information and I was outside of any an all influences. If you had tired something you daughter would have been in danger so that was out and even if you told someone without proof there is no reason for judgement under the eye."

"But if a single person who had that information acted on their own what is the worst that could happen. If they caught me they could have killed me but that would leave them wondering who knew what. If I forced them to kill me instead of being captured they would still know nothing. And if they caught me and put me under a zone of truth I could not tell them anything since I was only guessing at what I thought. That is why I did not approach you earlier. It would have been a bigger risk to your family."

"You gave this a lot of thought for a person your age without any chips in the game. And I cannot fault you in any of you assumptions." He finished the writ and was about to hand it to him when there was a glow at the door. He touched a rune on his desk and the sounds of the house came back. "Yes."

"It is Paul."

"Come on in. This the guard captain that I am friends with."

"I heard that there was a disturbance between you guards and the Earl's men. Is everyone alright?"

"No, I lost four guards but I got my daughter back thanks to this young man. But we are not out of the woods yet. She still has a chain attached to her that drains her magic and her strength. It will not kill her but we can't get it off."

"Then what can we do?"

"I actually just finished up a writ for this young man to bring you. He found out that the Earl has slaves in one of his warehouses and if you raid then and find them we can put him under the eye and get some answers. Though it will not be easy a good thinker could get it done."

"Well once he is brought in we could hit the judge with a last minute request and have whoever found her give testimony under the eye as well. That way all the right questions could be asked and since I am the one asking the questions since it is my allegation."

"Sir I have a few questions that might assist in things if you would like to hear them." Lions gave the man a nod.

"Okay let me hear them. I am not promising anything but I will listen."

"We do not want to break him to early. I know that, that is what the eye is for but we need to make sure to get the key and the information in that order. So ask him if he has a key to the warehouse. He will probably say yes at my house or no my, so and so, has it. This person will be the scapegoat he tries to pin everything on by twisting his words just enough to be the truth but not really the truth. The eye is powerful but a smart man can twist things just enough to get by."

"Then since you are not under the eye ask him about the key you saw around his neck. What is it to? He will probably try to get around this one by saying a magical lock. Ask him specifically what the lock is on. He might reply that it is on something very important. Don't ask him what important item, ask him who it is important too. And he might be able to say that it is important to him then you ask him why it is important to you. If he is quick he will say it is helping me to expand my power. Then simply ask how is it helping you expand your power. He might say it is making him money, ask him how or depending on his answer you might ask who is he making his money from. Either way it should get you to Sir Lions."

"And if that does not work." Paul was impressed but he wanted to see how far into the future he was thinking.

"Asking him about Aureus being on his property will not get you a lot. He will simply say that it was done by his son and Henry in order to shift the blame. And if asked if he knew he will say yes but only just found out since time is something that can be made to sound one way when it is not. Since he is older just finding out could be a month or so ago but it is a short period of time to him. Then he would simply say that he was trying to figure out a way to get her back to her family without bloodshed. Again this is all about money to him and not blood. And if he keeps trying to find ways around things to reach up jerk the key off his neck and toss it to Sir Lions to take the chain off. The judge might admonish you but little or nothing will happen after that."

"You are a very dangerous young man. So what is your plan about the warehouses?"

"I am going to walk in like I own the place. When his guards come running join them and say that even if it is private property it is within the city and under the laws and jurisdictions of the city guard. If someone pushes simply say that based on the reaction of the guard you were afraid of a fire."

"I am always afraid of a fire in this place. Okay then I will leave it to you until I see the guards and I will be right there with them."