Swordplay

Part 9

Druidus led her to the cafeteria and paid for the tea and sandwiches they chose. They sat at a table standing slightly to the side and ate and drank silently for a while. Druidus' gaze flickered from his food to her face and back. Moira thought he wanted to say something but didn't quite dare. Finally, she took pity on him and asked, "Which division of the Gendarmerie Magique are you working for?"

"Murder Two."

"With Commissaire Sabio Marten?"

"You know him?" Druidus seemed glad about it.

"I met him a few days ago after a burglary."

He nodded. "So you are the aspirant with the great power of observation that impressed Sabio so much? In that case, I'm threefold sorry for the accident."

Moira blushed. Commissaire Marten's praise felt good even if heard second hand.

Druidus bit in his bread and spoke around it. "Sabio is the only one worth working for. I even put in overtime if he asks me to."

"Did he send you?"

He bent over the table. "Tord Mutelens injuries come from the weirdest accident we ever heard about. Sabio thought it better to get every single detail about it."

"What was so weird about the accident? Or aren't you allowed to talk about it?" Moira pushed her teacup away and bent forward too, so Druidus could lower his voice.

"I can with a colleague." Druidus stared at his hands as if pondering where to start. Then, he looked at her, and his blue eyes made the butterflies in her stomach try summersaults. "He had a colleague who was jealous of his job of leading archeologist."

"Lif Borson."

Druidus looked at her with surprise. "My, you are well informed."

Moira waved him aside. "Tord's fiancée is my best friend, and I've known Lif from the dorm. Franka, Tord and I have talked about him a lot."

"Then, you know the basics." He didn't recount Lif's pranks but got to the meat of the story right away. "On the day the accident happened, the professor had asked Tord to pack the valuable artifacts safely."

Druidus soft voice woke Moira's imagination. In her minds eye, she saw the archaeological camp, and the cafeteria around her faded. She saw Tord standing under the pavilion shading a narrow but very long table holding the artifacts. Everything was labeled and numbered. Paper, wood shavings, puffed maize, and other packing materials were piled under the table. Beside it, several wooden boxes waited. Tord just checked his list with items for a last time. Everything was where it should be.

At this moment, Lif approached him. "I wanted to have another look at the beauty." He took the surprisingly clean shortsword from the table.

"Careful. It's got a sharp edge. Everyone who held it already cut himself." He showed the band-aid on his palm.

Lif shrugged and studied a bubble of glass holding a blue liquid that sloshed around. "It's surprising that so much is left after more than two thousand years. I wonder what it is."

"Please put the sword down." Tord reached out for it. "It's too valuable to play around with it."

Lif grinned and held the weapon closer to his body. "What do you think the professor might say if it went missing?" Lif poised the sword in his hand. "Fairly well balanced." He let the blade cut though air. "And you're right. It's still quite dangerous."

Tord jumped aside to avoid being hit. "Put it down."

Lif swung the sword around, and Tord stumbled backwards, leading him away from the table with the other artifacts.