n earch f he ey - Part 3

They changed out of their damaged armour and clothes which were taken away by servants for cleaning and repairs and washed to rid themselves of the sweat and grim of the battles they had faced. Shortly afterwards as they sat discussing what had happened Raritol entered.
"I hear you had an encounter with some of the old duke's pets?" commented Raritol wryly. "The Duke would like to tell him about what you found." He looked pointedly at their bulging backpacks, scattered about Cain and Trimus' beds.

The Duke looked very unwell, even worse than the previous night. Turok and the duke's physician were beside him. Ako tried to diagnose what was wrong with the duke without making it obvious what he was doing but stopped when he noticed Turok looking at him. When Raritol introduced everyone the Duke beckoned them forward. Across the duke's thin knees was the sceptre, which Grabthroat and Trimus surreptitiously examine. The Duke asked some questions about what they had found in the old tower's cellars, his voice thin and quivery. Darkhawk and Trimus reply as best they could but they could tell that the Duke was hardly listening.
"Time for you to leave." Stated Turok coldly, his dark eyes looking at each of them. They each knelt to kiss the Ducal ring in departure, Ako letting his staff of healing caress the Duke's hand as he did so. The Duke's breathing became subtly different, deeper and less strained and a little colour came back to his cheeks. Hoping no one noticed Ako and the others backed out of the room.

They spent the rest of the day in town getting the items they found in the ruined tower identified and valued. On the way back to the keep Trimus noticed an old women selling herbs from the back of a wagon.
"He carefully examines the bunches of leaves, stems and seed heads as well as the twists of paper containing the crushed nuts and seeds of other medicinal plants.
"This is a fine collection of herbs. I would wager that there is none like it in the whole market place." Said Trimus in an oily voice.
"You are right there young man." Said the old woman puffing out her more than ample chest with pride. "Even the Duke's servants buy their herbs from here."
"Really!" said Trimus open eyed. "And what might they be buying, if it is good for the duke it would be more that good enough for the likes of me."
"The young master's servant has been buying crushed nightshade. They have a small rat poison in his cellars, nibbling at his wine corks don't you know."
"Really, it's a poison then."
"Yes, it will make you weak if you accidentally take a little but it will kill you if you take a whole packet, so you be careful."
"Well, I don't have a rat problem but I do have a friend who isn't eating well, what can you recommend."
They talked at length about the various herbal remedies on the stall and eventually Trimus left with a small pouch of mixed leaves and seeds.
"What was all that about?" asked Darkhawk as they walked back to the keep.
"Don't you see?" sneered Trimus "Turok is poisoning his father!"

They had a quiet lunch in their rooms then visited Raritol who was signing some papers when they entered.
"I'm glad you have come to see me." said the duke's cousin no longer looking nor sounding like the mutton headed dandy they had assumed he was. "Turok doesn't like you. Especially you Ako. He suspects that you are a cleric. Now I am more tolerant than most but what you did was very foolish and dangerous. It may push Turok's hand."
"Then you know that he is trying to poison the duke?" asked Trimus with a superior glance at Darkhawk.
Raritol raised an eyebrow and pursed his lips. "I never said that and neither did you. If you are heard to whisper such treasonous thoughts to anyone else you will be executed for treason. The official explanation is that the Duke was attacked by a rabid dog while hunting. "
"I believe we should search Turok's quarters to see if he has hidden the poison in there." Suggested Cain.
"That would be dangerous, but that never stopped you from entering the ruined tower. Turok is at weapons practise, you will have about an hour. I will stand outside, the signal will be five sharp knocks."

Ako and Trimus entered Turok's rooms, Cain, Grabthroat and Raritol remained in the corridors outside waiting for sign of the Duke's son's return. The first room was comfortably furnished with a wide fireplace with a thick bearskin rug spread before it, a large bed with ornate coverlet, a wardrobe, chest and bookcase. Trimus examined the titles of the few books in the case but there was nothing relevant to the Duke's illness. Ako examined the chest and wardrobe finding nothing buts spare clothes and boots. Trimus shook his head after looking carefully under the rug before the fire.

Moving into the second room of the suite, a study by the furniture, Trimus and Ako were getting worried.
"What if we don't find anything?" asked Ako anxiously.
"What if we do?" replied Trimus with a equally troubled look on his face.
Trimus opened the drawer in the desk, taking care not to disturb anything. A few sheets of parchment, some goose quills and a crystal bottle containing ink. Ako shook his head, he could find nothing either, even under the rug. Trimus drew the wand that Rintrah had given him and signalled that Ako should pull back the rug. Commanding the wand to work Trimus pointed it at the floor. Nothing happened for a moment but the room to the mage seemed to glow brightly then dim back to normal, all apart from a square of pale blue light where the rug had been. Trimus knelt and indicated to Ako where the secret door was. They tried levering the flagstone up but could not get a grip, the stones were too close together. Sweating with fear and exertion Trimus pressed down on one end of the slab and pushed and the stone sunk slightly allowing it to be slid under the others. In the space now revealed they could see a small pouch, a sack and a glass jar. Opening the jar Trimus chuckled quietly. "There's the evidence Ako, crushed nightshade. It seems Turok had some problems with rats. Trimus emptied the crushed leaves into a spare pouch he had brought along and replaced them with the herbs that he had bought from the market stall. Then replaced everything as it was. Just then they heard the signal at the door.
They moved quickly but carefully back out into the corridor where Darkhawk was waiting for them.
"Quick, down here, it leads away from the main stairs. Raritol is delaying Turok with some discussion of finance but I don't think he will be able to keep it up for long." Darkhawk hissed ushering them along a dark little used corridor that ended in a narrow stair that descended into the servants' quarters. A few moments later they were joined by Raritol.
"Well?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.
"We were right." Sighed Trimus. "Turok is poisoning his father. I have substituted some healing herbs for the crushed nightshade we found in Turok's quarters. Now all we have to do I persuade the old woman in the market to 'lose' her stock of nightshade or substitute some harmless herb for it the next time Turok's servant buys some from her."
"Leave that to me." Said Raritol.

A few days passed and Trimus and the others were summoned to Raritol's quarters.
"It seems that the Duke is feeling a lot better." Smiled the duke's cousin. "Turok however is not best pleased, he has been heard cursing in his room and throwing things around. It seems you have done a fine job. I suppose you will be leaving soon?"
"Yes." Replied Trimus. "We have a few things to finish up then we will be leaving in the morning."
That morning just before the summons to Raritol they had been into the town and collected the duplicate Nidus and Phoenix Key from the craftsmen they had commissioned to create them.

That night while all were sleeping, Trimus cast a spell of invisibility about himself and took the false Nidus and key with him to the Hall of Artefacts. Knocking open the case he swapped the armbands, carefully placing the false one in the same place and orientation as the old, knowing how vigilant Hespin was. He then went to the case where the sceptre was kept and gasped. The case was empty. Cursing silently he realised that the Duke had taken it to his rooms for a knighting ceremony that afternoon. Returning swiftly but silently to the others the mage reappeared and told them the bad news.
"We can only hope that Rintrah can aid us." Finished the mage. He then clasped the Minotaur amulet and called Rintrah's name. Moments later there was a pop and Rintrah appeared.
"Yes. Trimus, do you have it." Seeing the armband on the table the mage whooped and snatched it up.
"Thank you Trimus , thank you all." The mage snapped the silver armband on his upper arm and stared at it for a few moments.
"Before you go Rintrah, may we ask a favour from you?" asked Trimus.
"Yes of course, for this anything."
"The key to our skyship is in the possession of the Duke and he has it in his quarters. Would you be able to get it for us and replace it with this one?"
"With this." He tapped the Nidus. "Anything is possible." And with that the mage vanished.

Nearly an hour passed. Trimus paced the room.
"Perhaps they have caught him?" he whispered.
"No. If they had the alarms would have been raised." Reasoned Cain.
"Perhaps he has taken the key for himself." Suggested Trimus.
"Stop worrying Trimus, he'll be back." Comforted Ako and no sooner had he finished speaking Rintrah appeared with the sceptre in his hand.
"I'm sorry I took so long, I wanted to try out the Nidus first." Said Rintrah, still ecstatically happy as he handed the key back to Trimus. Trimus punched the air with the sceptre in joy and the young mage found it very difficult to sleep that night, stroking and caressing the sceptre at every opportunity.

The following morning they bade their farewells to the Duke and Raritol. The Duke looked much fitter and even had a joke with Raritol about his over ornate clothing. Turok stood in the background a very black look on his face.
"Thank you Raritol." Said Ako. "Watch out for Turok, he must make his move soon." He added in a whisper.
"It is you I should thank." Replied Raritol. "And don't worry, the Duke is aware of what his son did but the drugs prevented him from doing anything about it. I think it is Turok that needs to be careful. Ride carefully."

With that they mounted their steeds and left the keep down the main street of the town, the start of a long journey home. Home to where the Phoenix waited for them, but not all of them would make it.

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