A Slave's Pity
Damn it.
He should have gotten their stories straight with Alice the day after the prince died. He hadn't. By then he had already decided the whole affair was finished, and a month later, once they left Lion Pavilion, the two of them never met at all.
When he learned the knights were reopening the case, that was the moment to find her and align their accounts. There was no time. The knights would not let Chris out of their sight.
Alice felt the air change all at once. Something ugly had entered the room.
Why are they acting like this?
She hesitated, unable to answer.
"Answer."
Yan would not let it go.
"Now!"
The shout drove the word out of her.
"Yes."
Then her eyes found Chris, and the look said the rest.
Was I not supposed to tell them?
Chris never got the chance to answer. Yan was already moving. He kicked the table aside, surged up, and came at him like a lion, snatching Chris by the throat and driving him into the wall. The impact slammed through his back hard enough to spray blood from his mouth.
"Did you think we wouldn't find out if you hid it?"
"Let him go!"
Alice screamed and lunged in, only for Bianca to strike her down. She still had no magic she could properly wield, and she was no match at all.
Chris hauled his fading mind back into place.
"What are you talking about?"
"The Mana Helmet."
"And what is that?"
"Donna told us. She said you coveted the Mana Helmet they sell at Brian Magic Store."
"Donna said that?"
"She did."
"Tch. Loose-lipped old hag."
"Did you harm His Highness because you wanted the helmet?"
"I have an alibi for that day."
"You might have had an accomplice."
"Ah. I suppose that's possible."
"That morning you learned the prince owned the very helmet you couldn't buy for lack of coin. The one you wanted so desperately. You must have coveted it."
"I did want it."
"Did you think that if you only had the helmet, you would sense mana? That you would become a mage?"
"I was with Chris the entire day! He had no time to scheme, and no time to find an accomplice!"
"Alice. The day His Highness died, when you gave your statement to the mage, why did you hide the fact that the prince had been using the Mana Helmet?"
Alice faltered.
"Are you an accomplice too?"
Bianca seized Alice by the hair and dragged her over like a dog. Alice's face was a mask of blood.
"Answer!"
She snarled it like a lion. Alice still could not get the words out.
"Answer me, you bitch!"
The answer came from Chris.
"Because we pitied him."
Yan's face twisted.
"What did you say?"
"Do you have any idea how wretched the prince looked? He was desperate. By the end he was clutching that helmet and wailing. We never told anyone. We never promised it out loud, but... it was an unspoken promise."
Chris looked at Alice.
"Why did you tell them? I trusted you not to."
Alice smiled. Her teeth were dyed with blood.
"It's been a long time. The feeling from back then has faded. Maybe I let my guard down because I thought it was all over..."
"You hid it out of pity? How does that make any sense?"
Bianca was nearly shouting.
"We're slaves. And Mark was a prince. How do you think a prince feels when he learns a slave pitied him? Now that you know it yourselves, how do you feel?"
The hand around Chris's throat tightened.
"Yes. That feeling. Exactly that. A baseborn slave dared to pity someone high as heaven. The nerve of it. Sir Knight, you want to kill me, don't you?"
A little of the strength left Yan's grip.
"You never stopped gunning for that helmet."
"No, sir."
"Then why did you go up to the second floor while Karl was searching? Don't feed me that lie about asking permission to take a piss. Karl may have swallowed it. I don't."
"Yes. I did go up looking for the helmet."
"Then explain yourself. If you don't want to die."
"While we were gathered in the reception room on Karl's orders, I thought about it. Why did the killer murder the prince? As far as I could see, there was no motive. We all liked him. Why? Because he was the prince. Then the Mana Helmet came to mind, and I understood. The helmet was the motive. That was what the killer wanted. So I went up to see if I was right. If that had been the reason, it would have been gone. And just as I expected, the helmet was not in the prince's room."
Yan kept driving at him.
"When Karl reported that he had searched the whole second floor and found nothing suspicious, why were you relieved?"
"Thirty-two silver coins..."
"Do you want to die?"
Yan's hand closed again. Chris choked and gasped. His face flushed red, the skin swelling.
"I was relieved because the helmet wasn't found in anyone else's room."
Yan raised his voice.
"Why? For what reason? What were you afraid of?"
"You're going to kill him!"
Veins stood out on Chris's face.
"Answer!"
"Because I was afraid the culprit would be caught."
Yan let him go. Chris folded onto the floor, hacking, snot and spit spattering the boards.
"You know who did it."
Chris lifted his head. Tears ran down his cheeks.
"Who is the killer?"
"Chris, do you really know?"
Chris nodded.
"Who?"
His mouth opened, slowly.
"What?"
"Smith is the killer."
"Why do you think so?"
Yan asked.
"You accept that the Mana Helmet was the motive, don't you? Then finding the killer is easy. Among us losers, who wanted that helmet the most?"
"I would have thought all of you wanted it desperately."
"No. There were differences."
Chris rose, rubbing his throat. The print of a hand was already darkening there.
"First, anyone who has reached Spirit Awakening is out. If you have already sensed mana, you have no need of a helmet that exists to help you sense it."
He smiled, bitter.
"Regrettably, our Alex drops off the list of suspects."
"And then?"
"Alice and I are excluded as well. Our alibis are solid."
"Fine. Next?"
"That leaves Tony, Smith, and Faye. Start with Tony. Tony is a noble, and the only one who was actually close to the prince. If a friend asked to borrow the Mana Helmet, would His Highness have refused? Given the two of them, he would have lent it."
Bianca nodded.
"He would have."
"So two suspects remain. Smith and Faye. Faye is small and frail. It is difficult to believe a prince who spent his whole life ringed by knights died by a delicate woman's hand. Eliminate the rest, and Smith is what remains. Smith is the killer."
"Smith could have borrowed the helmet too."
Chris laughed.
"Are you serious?"
Yan said nothing.
"Let me say it again. Smith and I came up as slaves. With the nobles, we shared a disgust for Alex, and as losers we had a bond of our own. But—but we could never have been friends. However lonely the prince was, would he have befriended a slave when he already had a good friend in Tony? Commander Yan. Vice-Commander Michael. Sir John. Dame Bianca. Speak honestly. If a slave asked to share something you held precious, would you allow it?"
The knights had no answer.
"His Highness would not even share a plate, a knife, or a fork with us."
The silence held.
"Whether Smith asked to borrow it, was insulted, lost his temper, and did what he did, or whether he decided from the start, as I did, that it was outright impossible and went in with a dagger, I don't know."
"Smith... Smith..."
Alice could only murmur it. Chris looked at her.
"He was the most desperate of all. If it ended in failure, the prince could return to the palace. Tony could go back to his estate. Even Faye had a home waiting. But Smith was a slave. He had nowhere to go. You and I were slaves too, but we found a way to live. I had thirty-two silver coins saved, and I was already looking for work. You had silver of your own, and you were looking for a position too. Only Smith had nowhere left."
"He could have given up and found work, the way we did."
"Smith believed he was going to become a mage. No. He believed he had to. Right to the end, he never meant to give up."
"Where is the Mana Helmet?"
"In the woods around Lion Pavilion, I expect."
"The woods?"
"Smith is no fool. Why would he leave the helmet in his own room?"
"Then why were you relieved at the time?"
"Because he might have left it there anyway. When a person is worked up, the head stops working."
"Why did you shield him?"
John's voice was reproachful.
"If you had named Smith as the killer from the start, Sir Tony would not have had to die. That commoner girl, Faye, would have lived."
Chris bit his lip.
"I hoped he wouldn't be caught."
"Why?"
Chris began to cry again.
"Because he was my friend. The only friend I ever made in my life. I wanted Smith to become a mage."
He sank to the floor. Alice ran to him and caught him in her arms.
"Don't cry, you idiot. Don't cry."
"Alice. If I had spoken, would Faye have lived?"
"No."
"Why do you say no?"
Bianca asked it from behind them.
"Mages are arrogant. They barely spare a glance for knights as high as you. Why would they care about mere candidates? We weren't even treated as people. Even if someone had raised a reasonable point, they would have insisted on confirming it themselves."
"Memory-extraction magic."
"Yes. They would have used it. And we would have been left idiots."
"Harvey said half of us would come through all right."
Alice snorted.
"Ha!"
The clot plugging her nose shot free with the sound.
"Harvey was itching for a chance to practice. Why else? Because he was unskilled. If his master had cast it, then maybe half of us really would have been fine, just as he boasted. But not Harvey. Every one of us would have been left a drooling idiot."
She looked at John.
"From the moment they landed on the list of suspects, they were already dead."
Bianca set a hand on Alice's shoulder.
"I'll treat you."
Alice shook her off, cold.
"Don't bother."
"If you refuse treatment, then you may go."
Alice looked at Chris, worry plain in her eyes. He patted her hand.
"It's all right."
She rose, reluctant.
"If these bastards give you trouble..."
"And if we do," Yan cut in, "what exactly will you do about it?"
There was nothing Alice could do. Anxious, she chewed at her lip.
"I'm really fine. Next time, come find me at Montgomery Smithy. We'll have a drink."
"A drink?"
"We can't afford expensive tea. Not on what we make."
"Idiot. You should at least treat me to a meal."
"I will."
"Promise."
"Yeah. I promise."
Alice shot the knights one last glare and swept out on a snap of cold air.
"Are the two of you together?"
Michael asked.
"To you knights, Alice and I may both look like slaves. Reality is different. She has reached Spirit Awakening. I am nothing but a hired hand. The difference is heaven and earth."
"You seem close."
"Suppose there is a commoner you are friendly with. Could you marry your son to that commoner's daughter?"
"No. That would never do."
"There you have it."
"What shall I do with you?"
Yan's voice was quiet.
"Shall I have you executed for the crime of deceiving a noble?"
"I deceived someone?"
"You concealed things. You misled us. You lied."
"Don't exaggerate. I simply left a few things unsaid."
"Sometimes what you don't say matters more than what you do."
"Do as you please."