The Affairs of Mortals

Chapter 24

Vero walked down the stairs towards the wizard's laboratory located beneath the castle. Jean had stayed with her for hours, until an urgent message arrived from the capital which called him away. He had told her to stay in her room, but only minutes later she had left, almost as though in a trance.

"Where are you going?" Mattias' voice startled her out of her reverie. "You shouldn't be alone my Lady, not under the present circumstances."

Vero did not turn around to face him and began her advance down the stairs once again. "I must see her at least once- before the examination."

Mattias walked in lock step behind her. "I'll accompany you."

"That's not necessary."

Vero found herself hesitating in front of the door until Mattias opened it for her. "My honor compels me, my Lady. I hope you understand."

She nodded. They moved together through a small straight corridor towards another door into the laboratory itself. A mechanism held the second door locked shut until the first had been properly closed and sealed.

Inside the laboratory, Antoinette's body lay on a slab in the center of the room, stripped naked and deathly pale. Aeolus stood nearby scribing notes onto a sheet of vellum. All around the perimeter of the room, set into the walls, were creches containing an assortment of scalpels, tools, parchment, and other paraphernalia of his profession.

Mattias looked all around the room, while trying his best to avoid noticing the body. He may have been content to ignore the indignity, but Vero was not.

"Could you not leave her at least the barest shred of privacy?"

Aeolus clicked his tongue at her in his accustomed peculiar way and closed the door behind them. "I know she was your friend, but all that's left here now is meat. Meat, yes- but meat that we can learn from. Once I make the incision in her chest, I'm sure her spirit will fly free from her mortal shell. If indeed it is still trapped at all."

Vero ran her hand through Antoinette hair. She pressed her face against Antoinette's cheek, but her skin felt cold.

"There's no guarantee of that." The chill in the basement began to affect her and Vero wrapped her arms around herself. "Once you're finished with the dissection, you'll make arrangements with the White Sisters to have her placed in an aviary for a proper funeral."

"Suppose I should miss something during my initial investigation?"

"See to it that you don't."

Aeolus just clicked his tongue and shrugged before going to work.

Vero stood back, but remained to watch, despite Mattias' suggestion that they leave. Aeolus paid neither of them any mind whatsoever. He began with an initial inspection of her hair, skin, and fingernails. Once this was finished, he opened Antoinette's chest cavity. It took him a great effort – eventually requiring Mattias to help – after which the knight left for the hall outside to vacate his dinner.

Aeolus carefully removed the maid's organs one at a time, carefully weighing and examining each, before placing them in a brazier to burn down to ashes. He captured the smoke in a glass instrument placed over the flame, which appeared to be designed for the purpose. All throughout the process he took notes and constantly referred to texts written in Liturgical and Sylvan scripts, neither of which Vero understood. Finally, once he was finished, he stood over the body for a long time, seemingly lost in thought.

At last, Vero intruded on his musings. "What have you discovered?"

"Well," He clicked his tongue. "it's poison alright, that's sure enough. But this was a new strain. Far faster acting and much more fatal than any of the maleficar's other work. Previously, everything was disguised as a natural illness. This maid suffered a sudden seizure, then her heart stopped. A minute at most."