101 Ashan 715 | Mathias Blackwood and Sylvia Lockson | Orm'del Sea
The crew and other members of the Traveling City filled the main deck of the ship with whispers, questions, and a lot of bed breath. Everyone crowded around to see the body but not Mathias. He stayed at the back of the swarm because he knew it was Raaf, one of the herbalists with the traveling city that had specialized in remedies for aches and pain. Mathias was in the business of death but no one ever expected someone you knew to die... the shock was surprising. Mathias saw Perseus coming out of the captain's cabin with Simon, the ships actual captain who had settled for an officer room because of what Perseus was willing to pay.
The crowd parted like the red sea to allow Perseus and Simon a clear path to the body. Simon knelt down and looked over the puncture wounds over Raaf's abdomen but they didn't tell him nearly as much as the copper dagger still hanging out of Raaf's chest did. As Simon slowly slid the blade out of Raaf's chest a ripple of whispers spread through the surrounding crowd. Only one person on the ship carried a copper dagger.
Perseus.
All eyes shifted to Mathias's mentor and Mathias slowly backed away towards Sylvia's room. It was the only place she could have gone to hide so quickly because it was on the main deck right beside Perseus'. Mathias tried to reason that he was leaving Perseus so he could prove his innocence but it wasn't enough to let him write his master off completely. When someone cried out that Perseus was a murderer Mathias couldn't help himself.
"It wasn't him!" Mathias shouted over the rising noise of a mob forming. "The body came from the bow and Perseus was in the captain's cabin with Simon! I saw them come out together after we found the body!"
"Aye, he was with me. We were discussing preparations for Etzos when we heard the screaming." Simon confirmed boldly as he looked around at the members of the Traveling City who had gathered. Mathias pushed his way to Perseus and Simon but when he reached them his eyes fell to Raaf's body again. It had bloated some and stiffened but Mathias wasn't a forensic scientist. He didn't know what that meant about how long the man had been dead... yet.
"But it is his blade!" One of the people in the crowd shouted out. Everyone seemed to shout in support of the protester and Simon realized the growing pack mentality. He turned to Perseus and Mathias, speaking softly so only they would hear.
"Perseus I need to do something here or they will demand blood. Raaf was well liked." Simon spoke the words like he wasn't about to condemn an innocent man.
"Simon you can't, it wasn't him." Mathias insisted. He began to feel as if his hands were burning and thought it nerves so he ignored the sensation. Perseus seemed conflicted about what to do and say until he looked at Mathias. Perseus was the unofficial leader. Everyone followed him when they could trust him but if they thought he murdered one of them... Perseus would be no safer than someone passing through the city. So what he did next baffled Mathias.
"His hands are tied Mathias but yours are not. Fix this. Simon, put me in the brig until Mathias can bring you proof I did not kill this man." Perseus spoke loudly so that the crowd heard the declaration. It would be up to Mathias to prove his mentor's innocence. Mathias reached up to grab Perseus only to find the veins in his hands were glowing with a silver light. His eyes widened and Mathias quickly pulled his hand back. He made a semi-audible noise of shock and Perseus leaned to him, "Get Sylvia, find who killed Raaf. Hurry." Perseus whispered to Mathias just as Simon pulled him away.
Mathias watched Perseus and the crowd move below deck without a word. The mob brought the innocent man to his prison... then again Perseus was hardly innocent in the grand scheme. As soon as the crowd had dissipated, Sylvia popped her head out of her room. She spotted Mathias almost instantly and then his hands a second later. Sylvia waved him over frantically and then dipped back into her room while Mathias jogged over and opened the door. It was strange because his sense of touch hadn't been affected. Everything still felt the same as it always did but when Mathias touched things his veins began to glow some more. It was his spark burning ether to identify the material he was touching... he just didn't know it yet.
"They've arrested Perseus." Mathias said as he stepped into the room and Sylvia shut the door quickly behind him.
"I know. I heard. I'm sorry I left, I was afraid that they'd blame us and-"
"I get it, I'm not mad you left but we need to find out who did it."
"Mathias don't worry. Perseus can talk his way out of this. What happened to your hands?"
"I don't know, don't worry about it. I'm worried about Perseus. I doubt he will be able to talk his way out of it but even it he could, there would still be a killer loose on the ship." The caused Sylvia to pause and after a moment she nodded in silent agreement. "I'll go talk to Raaf's wife and see if he had been arguing with anyone lately. Maybe you could check competitors? Wasn't Gilmyn bragging about a new mixture he'd come up with? Maybe Raaf tried to take it."
"Even if not, it is a place to start." Sylvia agreed as she walked over to her chest and opened it. She pulled out a small dagger and slipped it into her boot. Sylvia had a thing about always being armed if she could be.
"Meet back here when we are done?" Mathias proposed and Sylvia nodded. With the plan set Mathias slipped out of her room and back onto the main deck. Mathias knew that Raaf's wife Braya had been sharing a room with him on the same deck as Mathias but he wasn't quite sure which room it was. Not that he imagined it would be hard to find Braya so soon after her husband had been killed. The difficulty would be getting to her alone, without a crowd of people singing condemnations for Perseus.
But Mathias had a plan.
Mathias took one of the staircases from the main deck down to the cargo deck where most of the rooms had been made. Braya's room was near the bow of the ship and Mathias knew for a fact neither she nor her husband would be in the room- given the husband was presently laying on the main deck with many holes in him and she was standing around the same deck talking to people who thought they were making her feel better. He reached for the door handle and found a padlock and chain binding the door shut. Odd. The captain's quarters was the only room that was allowed to have a locked door, that had been agreed upon early into the voyage. It was something about fast access in cases of crisis. If pirates attacked, nobody had time to fumble around for keys.
Mathias didn't have the time to fumble around with keys now either. He took the padlock into his hands and thought back to the various steps. Perhaps he could transmute weaker properties and make it breakable? Mathias's mind raced back to see what he knew about glass and then he got a different idea. The first step of transmutation was deconstruction... what if he just didn't put it back together?
