Avalon:Chapter Test

Chapter 8 -

By Monday afternoon, Kaede starting to feel burnt out. Not actually being a bookworm, there was only so much reading she could stand before the task grew tiresome and draining. Over a week of almost nothing but research pushed even her focus.

Pascal's dour mood all weekend hadn't helped, but Marina's visit did much to lighten it.

"You're welcome to come down visit us in the servant's quarters," she offered, her smile bright enough to light the room. "It's just beyond the kitchens at the end of the dining hall."

"I'd love to," Kaede beamed back. "Probably sometimes later this week. Are you around here during the weekends?"

"Yes. Most of the staff lives around the nearby town of Kluis and goes back home during the weekend," Marina explained. "But just enough of us are left to keep the kitchen and dining hall running. I'm not from this area -- came up here two years ago in search of a job -- so I also work during most of the weekends and holidays."

"Wow, that must be tough, two years without a single break." Kaede couldn't imagine doing that herself. With her modern standards, she would lose control from sheer stress alone. "Where did you live before?"

"I was an orphan raised near the northern border of the Imperium," Marina casually spoke without any of the melancholy expected of such words. "My parents died during the chaos of the last war ten years ago."

"I'm sorry," Kaede muttered back, uncomfortable after breaching such a topic. But Marina merely shook her head and smiled before returning to work.

Must be the church upbringing, that shy yet untroubled personality of hers.

----- * * * -----

In an unusual turn of events, Kaede found herself waking up late at night. She felt feeble -- weaker than usual these days -- and aching all over, as though she just recovered from a fever. There was also a constant buzzing in her head.

"You are finally awake," Pascal noted from beside the bed. With his back against a chair and a book on his lap, his worried eyes drooped in an uncharacteristic display of fatigue. "Do you remember what happened? I found you collapsed on the floor after returning from my classes."

She looked at the wall clock. It was four in the morning. Has he been watching over me the entire time?

Thinking back, Kaede tried to recall her last memory: "I was searching for my cup... but I couldn't find it and was getting thirsty, so I just used yours..." She eyed the silver goblet that sat on the bedside table.

Pascal nodded: "it was on the floor also, just beyond your reach. I thought you might have been poisoned, but I scanned both the cup and your system with Detection and nothing suspicious came up. Neutralize spells had no effect on you, and Rejuvenate spells would not wake you up either. The healers' only suggestion was that you might have been feeling anemic; none of them really knew anything about Samaran physiology."

"Well... it's true that I haven't been sleeping well, and changing bodies might still be taking its toll." Kaede stared at Pascal from under her frown. "But..." she trailed off as her gaze returned to the chalice: I don't think it was me... Other than the drowsiness I've been getting used to all week, I didn't feel dizzy or any discomfort all day, and I've never heard of anemia or exhaustion that strikes out of nowhere. But other than me, the only person who touched anything in this room since Pascal last left is...

Thinking back, she remembered that Marina didn't just perform the usual cleaning, but also gave all the furnishing in the room a thorough dusting. She must have at least lifted the goblet when cleaning the bedside counter it sat on.

But why would Marina want to harm Pascal? If this is poison, it's far too low grade... almost like an immature prank.

Kaede concluded that the latter may actually be more likely. Pascal was the son of Weichsel's Marshal; his father no doubt gathered plenty of enemies. But at the same time, Pascal's own character was hardly to the type to avoid burning bridges.

"But...?" Pascal leaned just a touch forward.

"How reliable are those detection spells?"

"High. But anything that was invented so long ago may have its counter."

"Then... I don't know. Maybe I was just more tired than expected," Kaede lied with an uncertain scowl. I can't lay suspicion on Marina for no reason; who knows what these nobles may do to a mere servant girl. Besides, it may really be my fault.

His eyes narrowed:

"Are you sure?"

"I hardly know this body well enough to be sure about anything," she simply shrugged back. "And whose fault is that?"

Pascal sighed, partly in response but mostly in relief. He then stood up and began taking off his dress shirt.

"Take the day off tomorrow and sleep in. In the future, tell me when you are feeling under the weather. You do have a girl's body to take care of now."

Kaede merely nodded back, two dozen other thoughts running through her mind, reviewing everything that had happened yesterday. Even after Pascal shut the lights, she still couldn't think of another clue other than her new maid friend.

Looks like I'm dropping by the servants' quarter earlier than anticipated.

----- * * * -----

"Marina! You have a visitor!" The burly chef called out. He then nodded towards Kaede before returning to the kitchen.

"Thank you."

Kaede had tried her best to sleep in, waiting until half-hour after breakfast ended at the dining hall before coming down. By now, Pascal and the rest of the students should have started their daily courses.

It took only a minute before the brown-haired petite maid rushed out, still wiping her hands with a cleaning towel.

"Oh, I should have known it was you."

"You don't seem very happy about it," Kaede smiled back.

Marina's hands rushed to wave it off.

"No, no, of course I'm glad! I was just surprised; thought it was a staff member or something."

"I do wish this was purely a social call, but... I need your advice on something," Kaede decided to approach the topic directly. "Do you have a private room here? Or should we go back to mine? Pascal won't be back for hours, and I need to ask you something important."

Marina's shoulders stiffened as her smile froze. She looked thoughtful for a second, then:

"Probably mine then. The walls may be thin, but all of the other servants are out busy at this hour. Should be fine as long as we keep quiet." She then turned around towards the kitchens' rear: "follow me."

The wide hallway behind the kitchen connected directly to the outside. On one wall were doors leading down to storage cellars, some of which Marina introduced as 'refrigerated'. The other side held two gateways that linked to the servants' quarters, segregated by gender. These proved no different from old boarding schools' dormitories, with each room furnished in a utilitarian manner: depending on the room's size, two to four bunk beds lay against exposed stone walls, and a writing desk or two stayed close to the door.

Marina pulled Kaede into a small room just barely large enough to fit two sets of beds and still cram in a table. Clothes, including girls' underwear, hanged off a horizontal bar just above each bed.

Since she was here for serious business, Kaede found it easy to keep her eyes from wandering.

After closing the door behind them, Marina gestured for Kaede to sit on the bed before following suit:

"So, what is it that you wanted to ask?" The mask that hide her anxiety and nervousness was paper thin.

If she really is a spy, she's not a very good one, Kaede thought. Probably some noble just bribed or blackmailed her into doing it. I should be able to bluff it out of her easily... and hopefully still stay on her good side.

"Marina, I collapsed last night after taking a drink from Pascal's silver chalice that was on the night counter." Being an amateur at this herself, Kaede opted for the direct path again. At least the weight of information kept the momentum on her side and gave her a better chance at reading the other. "Since you were there cleaning in the afternoon, do you know if anything might have gotten in?"

"Uh, no? I don't remember doing anything there except dusting. Are you okay?"

The maid's concern seemed genuine, but the switch of topic itself betrayed a hint of nervousness.

"I am now, thanks. But are you sure you don't remember anything weird in there when you picked it up?"

"No... Honestly, I didn't really pay much attention to it."

Kaede couldn't place an impression on that statement. But after shifting the blame away for a second to alleviate Marina's stress, it was time to boomerang the pressure back:

"Are you sure? Because you were the only other person who came inside all day."

"I'm certain! I didn't do anything other than move it!"

I didn't quite ask if you did anything...

"Please don't lie to me, Marina," Kaede begged. "Don't worry, I won't tell Pascal about any of this. He doesn't even know that I'm here. I mean seriously, why should it matter to me if that noble asshat gets poisoned or not?" She felt a stab of guilt as she spoke her prepared lines. "But this didn't affect him, it made me sick! And I want to know what it is!"

"But I'm telling you the truth!"

Be it desperation or frustration, Marina soon had tears at the corner of her eyes. Kaeded decided it was time to switch tactics again as she leaned back against the wall. Using the bunk beds to cast a shadow over her disappointed expression, she deepened her voice as much as possible:

"No, you're not. I borrowed a thought detection spell from Pascal," Kaede bluffed with her best attempt at being ominous. "Of course, he doesn't know its true purpose. But I can use it well enough to know that you're lying to me. You did do it... I want to know what it is and what for, otherwise I'll have no choice but to report this."

Kaede knew she was in for some permanent damage to their relationship if her gamble turned out wrong. But as color rushed out of Marina's countenance while she stiffened into a board, Kaede thought to herself: bulls eye.

"It's... it's... it's just a knockout poison," the maid finally stuttered out. "It doesn't have any long term effects, just puts the drinker unconscious for a few hours."

"What's the point of something that weak?"

"It's... it's the strongest antimagic poison available."

Sirens blazed through Kaede's head as Marina gave the latest revelation:

No wonder Pascal could neither detect nor neutralize it. It must be immune to magic. This is no mere prank... resources this advanced, that he has never even heard of, could only come from a major benefactor... and the only reason to knock Pascal out for several hours would be to...

"Why are you trying to kill Pascal?" Kaede did her best to keep her tone merely curious.

"W-wouldn't you like to have the link cut and be rid of your master? T-that way you could return to your home in Samara." Marina forced out through her teary gaze.

Kaede almost froze on the spot. Her eyes sprang wide as she realized that she almost made a deadly mistake: the maid's seeming naivety and apparently stress under amateurish interrogation did not suppress a keen mind that was busy drafting a counter-proposal. Perhaps even her entire attitude was an act. Thankfully, Kaede had left herself an opening earlier when she still wasn't sure of Marina's guilt.

"I'd love for an opportunity to go back," Kaede's dry voice spelled out her wistful hope.

"Then p-please, help me," Marina knelt down in a glassy-eyed pleading face as she pulled out a vial and held it up to Kaede. "I don't know exactly what the plans are, but if you can get your master to drink this -- even just coating his chalice with it will work -- my master's men promise that they'll be able to smuggle us out of the country when their task is done."

Reaching for the vial, Kaede slowly wrapped her delicate fingers around it as though it was precious and fragile.

Her own emotions and thoughts lay in utter chaos.

"H-how do I know that your master and his men will keep their word?"

For a moment, Marina looked uncertain. Then:

"R-remember when I told you I was an orphan from the Holy Imperium? I was raised by an Imperial Governor, and I've spied for him ever since to repay the life I owe. I can't promise you, but I doubt my master will throw away a decade of work so easily while I still prove my worth. They will definitely give me a way out, which means helping a second isn't much harder. Besides, we're friends," Marina promised through a tear-stained smile, "and once inside the Imperium, offering you a merchant ship's ride to Samara is a piece of cake."

Barely nodding, Kaede looked down at her shaking hand.

"I just put this in? Do I need to give you a signal or anything?"

After thinking it over again, Marina clarified as she wiped away her tears:

"Wait until tomorrow afternoon. I'll contact the other folks to make arrangements today, then give you an update tomorrow on how to proceed. If you want to back out, this is your last chance. Once I tell the rest, they won't hesitate to kill you if you try to leave the plan."

A cold shiver went down Kaede's spine, but she nevertheless closed her fingers around the vial of antimagic poison.

She wasn't sure if she place any belief behind Marina's offer, but she did know one thing for sure: regardless of which way she leaned, accepting the task would be both her best option.

"No. Count me in."