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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerebral Paladin" data-source="post: 3018380" data-attributes="member: 3448">A guard was quickly sent to bring the investigator.  Dame Brionna thought for a second.  “They may have killed the bishop because of what he knew… As the Archduchess’s personal chaplain, he would have heard her confessions, as well as those of some other members of her household.  That could include information about some of the conspiracies we’ve been facing.  He couldn’t break the confessional seal, of course, but he might still have been able to use what she had said under other circumstances or that wasn’t strictly confessional to aid us.”Kit frowned.  “But then they may have already cut off our ability to find out vital information about the plot.”“And we should think about protecting the confessors of other key people.  Did Bishop Williams hear your father’s confessions, your grace?”“No, at least not generally.  Father Waters was my father’s personal chaplain and his usual confessor.”“Guard!”“Yes, Captain?”“Send a detachment of guards to find Father Waters and secure him.  Take him into protective custody-- we think he may be a target of an assassin.  Keep him safe, and bring him to the palace.”“Yes, ma’am!”Dame Brionna nodded with satisfaction.  “What about your grace’s confessor?”Alistair looked slightly embarrassed.  “I can’t say that my confessions have been terribly frequent of late.  As a child, of course, both Bishop Williams and Father Waters heard my confessions on occasion, mostly Father Waters.  But it’s been several years since my last confession, and the last few were rather… perfunctory.”Dame Brionna’s lips twitched downwards towards a frown.  “We’ll have to rectify that before your coronation, your grace.  But at least that means there isn’t another confessor to worry about.”Alistair didn’t even bother trying to appear contrite about the infrequency of his confessions.  At least, he mused, the confession before the coronation would surely shock the poor priest assigned to handle it-- the last half decade had been more than a little exciting.“We also need to figure out what happened to Sparkle and her mother,” said Kit.  “We might still be able to rescue them.”“I’d also like to confirm whether they had elven blood.  If this is part of the same kidnapping scheme we faced in Enclaves, I want to know.  Dame Brionna, could you send for the local parish priest and his parish book?  That should give us some information about Virginia Sutter’s ancestry.”“Of course, your grace.  Father Bertram Brockenhausen Drumm, the rector, is also relevant to the investigation in another way.  He identified Bishop Williams while performing the rite of extreme unction over the dead.”“All the more reason to speak with him.”  Another group of guards marched out of the palace to bring him.A few moments later, a lieutenant in the Archducal Guards burst into the chambers with a detachment of guards.  “Is everything right here?  You are well, your grace?”  The lieutenant quickly looked around the room, satisfying himself that there was no crisis.“Everything is fine, Lieutenant,” replied Dame Brionna.  She had already noticed this lieutenant; he had struck her as particularly intelligent and competent, but unlikely to advance further because of his completely common birth.  “What’s the matter?”“Captain, the Knight Guardian of the Pillow was just found dead.”“Suicide?”“No, Dame Katherine.  He was disemboweled.  It was clearly an assassination.  And the assassin is still at large, which was why I wanted to check on his grace.”“Good work, Lieutenant,” said Dame Brionna.  “Please take your guards to Princess Cecilia’s chambers and ask her to come here, along with the guards we have regularly posted to defend her.  We’ll need her sight to make sure that the assassin cannot sneak into the Archduke’s presence.”The lieutenant braced to attention and hurried out to carry out the command.“Another disembowelment?” asked Kit.  “I think we need to assume that this assassin is the same one who killed Bishop Williams.  Probably a demon that frenzies when it attacks, or some sort of ritual killing…”“Or an effort to prevent resurrection,” replied Alistair.  “If either the heart or the brain is destroyed, resurrection is completely impossible.  Spreading around the victims’ intestines could conceal the destruction of the heart fairly effectively.”Kit nodded.  “That makes sense.  But now that we have another victim, we have a lead on their motive.  If they were trying to conceal information, it was about something that Bishop Williams and the Knight Guardian would have both known about.  Would Bishop Williams have been on the trip to Tarsh when the Eldar amulet was stolen?”“Without a doubt,” replied Dame Brionna.“Then we need to find out who else was on that trip with her.  Everyone on that expedition has to be treated as a potential next target.”“And as a possible assassin.  One of them may have betrayed the rest.”</blockquote>

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