Chapter 5: Evidence

Fen made it out of the palace without incident, and a few minutes atop the hill watching the palace let him know that his incursion hadn’t even been noticed. He knew that he wasn’t being followed.

He was still afraid to go home.

Uncovering a secret room in the palace full of potentially incriminating evidence left him feeling unsteady, so instead of turning into the city he went the other way, marching out into the forest that butted up against Unger.

The thick canopy blocked out most of the light of the moon, and the trees made Fen feel hidden. In the darkness, away from any possibility of prying eyes Fen finally felt safe. He slumped down against a tree and sat in the comfortable darkness until he caught his breath.

The sack filled with pilfered papers just sat there, looming over Fen. Deep down he truly wanted nothing to do with a massive conspiracy, and he’d already retrieved the ledger that would get him paid. He could turn over the book and remove himself from the situation.

On the other hand, Fen had a burning curiosity pulling him to find out where this would lead, the same as he had felt when he’d been about to turn back on those stairs in the palace.

Almost against his own will Fen pulled out his little lantern, closing its hood all but a sliver and lighting it. A narrow beam of light spewed out, landing on the bag and illuminating Fen’s hand as it pulled out the ledger.

He heated the blade of his knife and moved to pry up the seal that held the ledger strapped shut, but he was surprised to see that someone had already done that, sticking the thing back together with a lump of clay.

As Regis had suspected the King was messing with Kheltirm. He was paying huge sums of money to a fanatic cult called “The Chosen Storm” to harass the city, hoping that it would make them mad enough to ally with Unger and the King would have leverage to get them to relax their tariffs, ending the trade famine Unger had been in.

If evidence of this manipulation got to Kheltirm—and with how easily Fen had obtained the ledger he was certain it would—then there would almost certainly be a war.

Fen snapped the ledger closed, resealing it with the bit of clay. He was shocked to see that the sun was already peeking up over the distant horizon. The early light of day made the forest feel much less concealing, and Fen felt like there were eyes in every long shadow as he looked around the woods.

He tucked the ledger away and slung his sack over his shoulder before slinking out of the woods and sneaking through the awakening city to his little house. Fen closed the door behind himself and latched each one of his many locks. He double checked that the shutters were closed on the windows and then lit a lamp and sat down at his small table to sort through the rest of the documents.

They were frustratingly vague. Correspondence with nobles, finance documents with seemingly random numbers circled, and other assorted bits of paperwork. Fen’s overworked mind couldn’t parse it, and it meant nothing to him.

He looked at his bed, but despite the fact that he’d been up a full twenty-four hours at this point his spinning thoughts pushed the call of sleep out of him.

So he packed up all the documents back into their sack. He shucked his cloak and hung it on the peg by the door, and donned a simple wool overcoat instead. He stuffed a few vegetables into the top of the sack to make it look less suspicious and then slipped back out into the city.

Fen made sure to trudge, taking tired, almost limping steps to blend in with the early morning crowds who were all bleary eyed. He made it to Regis’s house with no trouble, easily stepping over the traps and knocking lightly on the door.

The short man answered the door holding the same oversized crossbow again. He blinked in surprise when he saw Fen.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you so soon.”

“Well, I’ve had an eventful night.” He shook the bag. “I need some help with all this though, I can’t make sense of it.”

“That’s my job.” Regis gestured for Fen to come in, and then locked the door behind him.

Fen dumped his bag on Regis’s table, and the short man chuckled at the carrots and turnips that fell out. His amusement at that was immediately overturned when he noted the ledger with wide eyes. “You already found it?”

“Yeah. Like I said, eventful night.”

“Care to explain?”

Fen quickly told him the story, and Regis’s bushy eyebrows rose with every new detail.

“Well, that’s all quite troubling.” The short man said once Fen was done with his tale.

“I agree, but I don’t really know what to make of it.”

“For now, you should take a nap.” Regis gestured to the couch. “You look exhausted, and it’s going to take me a while to sort through all of this.”

Fen nodded, taking a seat on the couch. He wasn’t fully intending to nap, so he watched as Regis took the ledger and set it on the empty bookshelf that was next to his chair. He placed another notebook next to it on the shelf and then tapped in a strange pattern on the wood. In a blink the notebook was a perfect replica of the ledger, all black leather and sealed with the King’s seal. Regis set aside the original and then tucked into the duplicate.

Fen grinned at that, but as Regis read he soon found his head growing heavy, his eyes drooping. The room was very warm, and the stuffed couch was comfortable. He didn’t register that he had fallen asleep until he awoke to Regis swearing and muttering to himself across the room. With no windows Fen couldn’t tell how long he had slept.

He sat up to see that all the papers were neatly stacked atop the ledger and Regis was frantically scribbling in a notebook while he muttered to himself.

“What did you find?” Fen asked.

“A lot, but not enough. The evidence here is all circumstantial, it’s not enough to draw a definitive conclusion about who is doing all this.”

“I thought the ledger was pretty clear. The King hired the cult to harass Kheltirm.”

“Oh, yes, that part is clear. I meant that it’s unclear who’s plotting against the King.” Regis gestured to the stack of papers. “I have a hunch it’s the Queen, with everything you’ve brought me it’s enough to draw a weak chain of evidence to her, but not quite enough to be certain.”

“I see.” Fen said. “That would actually make sense with what I saw the King up to before I got into the palace.”

Regis nodded. “My assumption is that she’s mad at the King, and wants to get him deposed, or maybe even killed, so that she can take his place.”

“That’s not good.” Fen said. He chose not to mention that that plan was very similar to the plan Regis himself had explained to Fen the day before.

“No. This kingdom cannot hold up to a coup. If the King goes down then it’s likely the Queen will go down with him, and the whole infrastructure of power will have to be replaced.” Regis looked up at Fen. “What do you plan to do from here?”

“I haven’t decided yet.” Fen said. “I’m not even sure it’s my problem at all. Yet.”

“Well, here’s what I owe you.” Regis tossed him a sack of silver.

“Thanks.” Fen had a feeling he would need that before this was through. Despite his words to Regis, he could feel the need to look into this, and he wasn’t sure if he could leave it alone, even at his own peril. “Can you keep the documents here for a while? I have a feeling that if they’re in my house they’ll go missing in some sort of burglary.”

“Will do. Come see me any time. I’m happy to help.”

Fen pocketed his money and walked out into the daylit streets of Unger, pondering what was next.