Rowaini Musketeers: One For All and All For One

[Shayuri]

"Well...we have a couple of choices about how to see what's going on," Jacen replies, pacing away a few steps, then back.

"We can see this as an attack by a masked outlaw, who's highly skilled with a blade, with herbs, and is a master thief to boot. Who's obsessed with you, but never appeared before tonight. Who manages to steal the -one thing- your father would give you up to keep safe. Who seems a flamboyant showman, but has never been heard of by any of us Musketeers...and we're exactly who would normally be called to deal with this sort of thing."

"I mean, any way you look at that, it's just...incredibly unlikely, isn't it? It doesn't FIT. Even if there was a person of those skills, where did he come from? Why hasn't he come to light before now?"

Jacen shakes his head.

"The more complicated an explanation is, the less likely it is to be true. There's a much simpler explanation for everything that's happened."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Well, I would suspect that the reason for the mask is that this is an alter-ego of someone else, no? It could have been anyone who was at the party last night, or even someone who was not. But I don't understand--what do you need to know from me, Jacen?"

 

[Shayuri]

"Right, sorry...thinking out loud. Anyway...who has access to the vault the stone is kept in, besides your father?"

He frowns.

"I may have asked that once, but...well, just...does anyone?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

"I don't even know where it is," Marie admits, "I don't think anyone does except Papa, and maybe Richard now. It is probably in a secret passage or something. That in itself would make it easy to find for someone who was able to search for the passage though, wouldn't it? And that makes it all the more likely that a servant was involved, since they have the ability to move about the manor to different places without looking suspicious. They could dust about while looking for a secret door or something."

 

[Shayuri]

Jacen sits heavily down on the bed and pinches the bridge of his nose.

"Maybe you're right," he admits. "My idea is simpler, but...less agreeable."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Wait, what is your idea?" Marie attempts to process it since Jacen hasn't actually mentioned it yet, "You can't think my Father is the Crimson Pumpernickel? It doesn't even make sense, and he surely has witnesses that he was with the other older men the whole time."

 

[Shayuri]

Jacen shakes his head.

"I think Guillarme is."

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Guillaume," Marie is surprised, and she stops to think, "Wasn't he in the garden with us at the same time as this attack, or at least too close to make it to my closet?" Marie wonders, "Besides, what reason would he have to do this? I know you don't like him, Jacen, but he is my brother and he is not a bad person."

"And anyway, didn't Sir Tristan say he delivered massive blows, much more than he received, to the Crimson Pumpernickel? Guillaume bore all the bruises from his fight with you but no such grave wounds, not even a trace. Even if he had found one of the rare and storied priests who can perform miracles, either all would be gone or none, right?"

 

[Shayuri]

Jacen nods. "I'd need to check more closely to be sure of the time. That alone could prove it wrong. The wounds are another point, I didn't see him after Tristan's fight, so I didn't know he was free of them. I'll explain why I'm going that direction though."

"First, I obviously don't think he's after you. I think he's after me. I think he seeks to avenge his embarrassment at my hands, but more importantly, I think he's trying to protect you from me."

"He fits the age and build of the Pumpernickel, according to Tristan's description, or close to it. He's good enough with a sword to have given Tristan that much trouble too. As your father's son, he'd have the run of the grounds, including the kitchen, and no one would question him. He also might have found it easier than most to have figured out the secrets of your family heirloom, even if your father didn't tell him directly."

He doesn't add that the whole idea is made even simpler by the thought that her father is complicit...and that the gem still rests in the vault where no one else can confirm or deny its existence. It actually made a lot more sense that way, but there were still nagging loose ends. The death at the party, and the Pumpernickel's wounds.

Jacen frowns. "Still, the wounds are vexing. Has your father used hounds to try to track the blood?"

 

[Rystil Arden]

"Yes. Apparently, he must have used the distraction with Tristan to make it to the balcony and then swung by a rope off the balcony of my room all the way to the outer wall in true insane swashbuckler fashion. Tristan didn't give chase, so no one saw this, but this is predicted due to the irregular and widely spaced patches of blood in a direct line from the balcony to the wall. After that, the blood trail is gone, so he probably bound his wounds when he noticed that Tristan wasn't even bothering to follow him or watch him. In theory, that means he could have returned back into the party, but I still doubt it--his injuries would have given him away unless he was Gabriel or the man who died, Meleagant Degorre," Marie sighs, "The things you say are certainly viable factors for why it might be Guillaume, but I think the evidence against it being Guillaume is too strong to consider it. And it is absolutely certain that Father is not involved in this. If it was some kind of childish chestbeating male dominance display from my brother against you, there is no way that Papa would ever support that."