Chapter 40
Chapter
Forty
Wraith’s eyes widened as Konrad turned and looked at him. Wraith’s fingers twitched.
Oh no. Is Konrad going to turn on me?
The white hilt made of bone stuck out from the grand healer’s back. Wraith had known it was a necromancer’s blade the second he saw it. But Wraith had nothing to do with it!
As he gazed at Konrad, Wraith’s muscles tensed. Was Konrad about to start hurling accusations? Again? Opening his mouth, he tried to think of a denial.
But Konrad spoke first. “Do you recognise this kind of dagger or do you have any idea who might use such a weapon?”
That was not an accusation. It was a question. A question because Konrad thought Wraith could help solve this murder. They were husbands. Allies. And Konrad trusted him and thought he could assist!
Swallowing down the joy that took sudden flight in his chest, Wraith turned towards the body. He kept his expression blank and appropriate for the current situation. He took a step forward and leaned closer.
It was as Wraith initially thought. “It’s a ceremonial dagger. It’s a black steel dagger with a bone handle. It’s not for fighting.”
The bone hilt was plain except for the skull at the base of the handle. He couldn’t see the blade, as it was buried in the grand healer’s back, but he knew it would be black steel.
“Are they common?” Konrad asked.
“Very.” Wraith straightened. “Most necromancers will have one. Even I have one amongst my belongings. It looks exactly the same.” He’d used his when he’d created the dread knights.
“Many necromancers have them even if they never used them. So you won’t be able to tell who it would have belonged to. ”
“So a necromancer did this?” Clara asked.
“It would seem so,” said the grand shield, still staring at Wraith.
Wraith’s skin prickled. Konrad may believe Wraith had nothing to do with it, but it seemed others might not think the same.
“Wraith has been with me for the entire afternoon. From the looks of it, the grand healer died very recently, so that would be when Wraith was with me,” Konrad said, voice firm and unwavering.
Wraith exhaled. Konrad had jumped to his defence and given him an alibi. Wraith struggled to hide a smile.
The grand shield looked between them. “Are you sure, Your Majesty?”
“Very. And we have been away from the White Monastery for the afternoon and into the evening. When we returned, we went straight to the banquet hall. Together. He has not been out of my sight for hours.” Konrad met everyone’s gaze before settling on the grand shield. “So it cannot be him.”
“I see,” said the grand shield. Wraith couldn’t read her expression.
One of the Draconian guards cleared his throat.
“Yes, Moritz.” Konrad said. “Do you have anything to add?”
Moritz stepped forward, shoulders back, chin up.
“Your Majesty, I do not think this points to a necromancer. A necromancer would have to be a fool to use a dagger that clearly belonged to a necromancer if they wanted to escape suspicion. It is as likely that it is someone who wants to frame a necromancer.”
Konrad nodded. “Good point.”
The warrior monks moved around, examining the scene. A healer monk looked over the body.
Konrad stepped in close to Wraith. “Is the grand healer’s spirit here?” he whispered.
Wraith shook his head. “I think she is in the corridor. I can sense a presence out there.”
Konrad turned to the grand shield. “Excuse us, Grand Shield. We’ll give you space to work.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The grand shield didn’t look their way as they left.
More monks stood outside, whispering to one another. A few individuals who did not look like monks also stood around. They must be the students, here to learn healing magic. Some of the monks and students had tears streaming down their cheeks.
“It seems like she really was loved,” Konrad mused.
“Over there.” Wraith pointed down the corridor to a large stained-glass window. It depicted a dove carrying a lavender flower. The grand healer’s spirit paced back and forth in front of the window, muttering to herself.
Thankfully none of the monks or students stood around her, which meant Wraith could talk to her without them overhearing.
Konrad looked to his guards. “Try and keep everyone away from this area.”
The guards took up position, and Wraith grabbed Konrad’s hand and led him over.
“This isn’t right. This isn’t right.” The grand healer reached up and clutched her shaved head in her hands. “This isn’t right.”
Wraith thought they’d been introduced early on at the assembly. But he couldn’t really remember. He’d definitely seen the grand healer around though. He’d never seen her distraught before.
“Hello, Grand Healer Eveline,” Wraith said. “It is good to see you again.”
But she paid him no mind. She just shook her head. “This isn’t right.”
“What isn’t right?”
But if she heard him, she didn’t acknowledge it.
“This isn’t right. What do I do?” Her fingernails dug into her skull.
“She’s agitated,” Wraith said to Konrad. “She keeps saying something isn’t right and she doesn’t know what to do. She doesn’t see or hear me.”
“What do I do?” She lifted her head to the ceiling, as if begging it for answers.
“Grand Healer, can I help you? Maybe if you ask me, I can give you an answer.”
But she just paced back and forth, muttering to herself over and over, the same words.
“Can you ask her how she died?” Konrad asked.
“I can, but I doubt she will even respond in this state.” Wraith cleared his throat. “Grand Healer, can you tell me what happened to you? Do you know how you died?”
“This isn’t right. This isn’t right.” Her voice grew in volume. “This isn’t right!” she shouted. Then she fell to her knees and sobbed. She rocked back and forth.
Wraith knelt beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder as her body shook. “I’m so sorry.”
She was too fixated on something from life to be able to see Wraith in death. And he knew that Umbra would not help in this situation. The grand healer would not notice the hellhound.
Then the grand healer’s head snapped up. “I must tell the grand monk.”
“What? What do you have to tell the grand monk?” Wraith asked.
“Yes. I must tell the grand monk. Now.” Then she rose. She froze for a second.
Then she began pacing once more, seeming to have forgotten that she’d decided to speak to the grand monk. “This isn’t right. This isn’t right. What do I do?”
Wraith exhaled. “She’s stuck in a loop.” He stood.
“What do you mean?” Konrad asked.
“She has a problem in her head, something that she would have been dealing with shortly before death. It consumed her, and now she is stuck in that problem,” Wraith said.
“What has she said so far?”
“‘This isn’t right,’ ‘What do I do?’ and, ‘I must tell the grand monk.’”
Konrad’s brows furrowed. “So maybe she found something out that wasn’t right, didn’t know what to do, and decided to go to the grand monk.” He placed his hands on his hips and stared at the floor for several moments.
“Perhaps she found out some plot against the treaty. But …” Konrad glanced in the direction of the grand healer’s study. “But the plotters realised what she knew and that she was going to tell the grand monk. Then they killed her to silence her. Maybe it was the robed figures.”
“This isn’t right. This isn’t right. This isn’t right!” The grand healer fell to the ground. She held her skull in her hands, rocking back and forward as she wept. Her cries grew louder, turning into screams.
Wraith’s spine curled. He gritted his teeth. This behaviour could be the result of her violent death. The details might have been forgotten. But the trauma could have been absorbed by the spirit.
“I have to send her on,” Wraith said.
“Is she ready?”
Wraith shook his head. “No. But she is extremely distressed. I doubt she will ever be ready to move on on her own. She is more likely to turn into an angry spirit, a poltergeist who haunts and harms.”
Wraith took a deep breath and stepped towards her. “I’ll have to force her on. I don’t like doing it. But I don’t think there is another option for granting her peace.”
With a thought, he summoned the Bone Door. He heard it open behind him. Cold wind rushed through the corridor.
“Grand Healer Eveline. I am here to help you move on. Will you come with me?” Wraith held out a hand. He had to at least try to reach her.
But she didn’t even glance at him. She just threw back her head and wailed, “What do I do?”
“Grand Healer Eveline. It is time for you to move on. You must leave this mortal plane. You must go through the Bone Door to the beyond.” Wraith’s hands, feet, and lips tingled. The wind intensified as the temperature plummeted.
“Go now. Leave this place. I command it of you.” Wraith pushed his will into the words he spoke, making them an order.
The wind whirled around the grand healer. She let out a cry as she was lifted into the air. The wind and the grand healer whisked towards the door and through. The door slammed shut behind her.
The gust died away. The air returned to its normal temperature.
“What was that wind?” one of the monks down the corridor said.
“Someone must have left a window open.” Another monk checked inside a room, no doubt looking for said open window.
“Is she gone?” Konrad asked.
Wraith nodded.
“Then we should head off too. I want us back in our quarters. But first let’s see if the grand shield has found anything.”
When they got to the room, the grand healer’s body had been placed on a stretcher.
The grand shield exhaled when asked if she found anything of importance. “Nothing. Nothing of note, Your Majesties.”
“Thank you, Grand Shield,” Konrad said. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
She didn’t respond.
Two warrior monks carried the grand healer out, the necromancer’s dagger still sticking out of her back.