Introduction

Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.

If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!

The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found HERE.

Part 61

A cold wind blew through the open window.

It was not often that Queen Mary felt the shiver of premonition run its finger down her spine, but she felt it in the air. There was a hush of stillness across the city and a shrill cry of an onlooker. Mary did not need to see. It was a woman.

This was the sound of a grieving widow, as she was. This is the sound of anguish that she would make if she were allowed to do so. But she was a Queen. She was the head of state and the leader of one and a half nations now. A leader who had ruled in a land that had fought against the horrors of the undead and an insurrection of corrupted Priests within their own walls.

The King fell and the Kingdom would have shattered had Mary been allowed to do what any other common woman would be allowed to do. What any sane person would be allowed to do. She felt as though she was going mad with grief. It twisted her guts, it churned her stomach. But it was all kept internal, where none of it showed on her face or on the cast of her shoulders.

When she had heard the sound she had begun dressing for travel. To take to her horse. She did not call for her servants to dress her. Instead, she had set them other tasks and dressed herself. When she was younger, she had been a warrior living from camp tent to horseback. She could take care of herself. Now was not a time for luxury.

She donned her fine undertunic and breeches, done in a tan and cream color. Over this was black dyed leather, studded with metal where it would hold her armor in comfortable positions. Her armor was a mixture of plate and scale armor. The chest, shoulders, thighs, calves, and forearms were protected in a light but durable plate while the gaps in between were covered in scales with flowed fluidly but were good at deflecting a blade.

The scale mail was not particularly good at deflecting arrows or spear thrusts and therefore she relied on her speed with half-plate and an assortment of shields. She donned her Clarpratian bladed gloves. She had made only one concession. She left her helmet on the armor stand.

The people needed to see a warrior, but they also needed to see the crown. They would see their Warrior Queen. She turned and stood ready when the knock came at the door to her chamber.

“Enter.” She commanded.

Captain Pierce walked into the room, his face grim and pale. “Your Majes… You are already dressed for trouble?”

“My people need me, Captain. You are here to tell me where.” Mary said and walked past the gaping man in the direction of the stables. “You can brief me on the way. Bring a detail of men. Not too large, but a few of your best. The City and the Nation shall see me and my response to whatever it is.

It took less than ten minutes for Mary and the Captain to get to the stables. “There has been a double homicide.” The Captain explained. “Or a homicide and a suicide, we are not sure which.”

“And how is this important enough to call me?” Mary asked.

“There is a strange weapon used in the killing. That and the fact the two deaths are a father and son who love one another dearly.”

“Which is why the mother and wife of the dead can be heard from inside the castle,” Mary said. “Most disturbing to be sure. But there must be something else.”

The Captain had already given orders for his men to get ready and for the Queen’s horse to be saddled. Everyone was surprised to see the Queen arrive so soon and she waited another five minutes for them to hurry and complete their tasks.

The Captain continued speaking while they waited. “Indeed my Queen. We would not have called you except…” Captain Pierce trailed off as though looking for words.

“Yes, Captain?” Mary prompted.

“Forgive me, your Majesty. It is a strange thing but I feel as though this weapon was involved in a murder not too long ago. The murderer was jailed and the weapon was confiscated. It then disappeared. This weapon is not the same but it is very similar to that weapon. You will see what I mean.”

Mary rode out of the gates shortly afterward with only two men before her. One bore the standard of Dragonshold and another her banner as Queen Regent. Behind her came the Captain and four more of the Captain’s Veteran Guards.

It was a sufficient entourage for a non-wartime outing. Anything less than two dozen assailants would not fare well against this armed and armored Queen and her seven.

The effect on the common folk was satisfactory. They were simply awed. Several of her subjects bowed their heads and others saluted her and her soldiers. There were none that looked angry at her presence. There were some of the new wave of Clarpratians that looked a little afraid, but this was to be expected. They had been through a lot.

They rode through the city and the residential area to the edge of the city to the closest field beside the city walls.

They arrived at the scene… It could only be called a manslaughter.

There was an oppressive feeling in the air. Several civilians were there, the City Guard keeping them from getting too close. The woman… who would now be a childless widow was on her knees, not too far away. There were two female Blazeknights standing near her. One was rubbing her back and murmuring a prayer to her while the other stood guard and kept others away.

Queen Mary was nearly shocked to see that the commander of the Blazeknights, the self-styled Deathgrip was there. The man’s dark face was set grimly. He was a little off to the side of the widow and still far apart from the scene of violence. Though the City Guard would not have dared to obstruct this warrior, he also had not intruded on the scene where he had no jurisdiction.

He seemed to have been waiting for Mary. Deathgrip bowed deeply toward her.

“Commander Deathgrip. It is a surprise to see you here.”

“Your Majesty. I sensed an evil while in my meditations.” He replied. “When I felt it I came to where the feeling led me and found this scene of murder. I know this to be the domain of your City Guards and therefore I waited for someone of authority to allow my aid, should it be needed. I did not expect to find it to be you to deal with this directly.”

“My Captain of my Guards brought this to my attention …” She hesitated. “… but I had known, somehow, that I would need to be here.”

The Commander bowed deeply again. “God speaks to you. You have come in person but answered a call before it was asked, as I have.”

Mary inclined her head in acceptance. She was not about to argue about deeper meanings or semantics. As long as this Commander did not turn into a raging fanatic, then she would leave him to his beliefs.

She turned to the Captain. “Where is the weapon now?”

The Captain pointed where the two bodies lay. Mary and the Captain dismounted and walked closer to the area. Mary nodded at Deathgrip and the Blazeknight joined them.

The dead man was middle-aged and his son was an adolescent. It chilled her to realize that he was of a similar age to Magna and Adrian. Both of the bodies were slashed open in several places. The father was lying on his back with an ornate and oversized cleaver stuck in his chest.

There was no doubt that the son had been wielding it. There was no doubt that the same weapon had inflicted wounds on the son but that the son could not have cut himself like that. The son’s wounds had bled him out, but not before getting the weapon and being driven into his father’s heart.

“You say this weapon was similar to the murder weapon that went missing, but not the same?” She asked.

“Yes my Queen. The first weapon was a hook-tipped sword. This cleaver was made of the same material and bears the same gemstones.” They were close enough now to inspect the blade.

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Mortis Custos

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