Evidence

After some searching, Parvil and Aspen managed to find somewhere still willing to serve them food at the late hour, and provide a room for the night. Though said room was small and had only one bed, the innkeeper assured them it was big enough for the two of them.

The pair were seated at a table near the back, Aspen with all her notes spread out, her plate of food off to one side, but within reach. Parvil only had a small notebook jotting something with one hand while eating with the other. “What do you make of all of this?” she asked him.

“Political from the looks of it.” Parvil answered, “It never was my strong suit but if they were as high ranking as the constabulary said, then only thing that makes sense.” he said with a shrug.

“That is the conclusion I came to.” Aspen replied.

“Only thing I don’t understand is, if it’s political, why kidnap the girl?” he asked.

“Ransom or leverage for demands?” Aspen suggested. “But we can’t say for sure until we know what type of political motivation it is.” she said. “A power grab and forcing a power vacuum are very different functions.” she said.

“And our only suspect is…” he started.

“A fairy story?” Aspen finished. “Or damned well close.” she shook her head. “Either a man in a weird mask or people think they saw something.”

Parvil took a bite of food and shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve seen weirder. I mean when you go full on with your magic you get icy scales all over your face. Is a man with big ears that weird?”

“No, it's not that weird for a person to have big ears. Its weird for it to be a man of a race what’s not been seen since the incident in Skeldergate.” she said.

“Skeldergate?” Parvil asked only a touch of recognition of the name in his tone.

“Nobody really knows what happened.” she said, “It was the home to Fey folk then one day…” she shrugged. “It was gone. Or most of it anyway. Just a crater. Some theories are that some gas pocket of some kind was trapped under the ground and lightning struck the big tree in the middle, some think a meteor struck, a crazy few claim a single man did it.”

Parvil looked perplexed. “A single man? Like a mage, I mean…” he paused. “I know some probably have power on that scale, but…if a mage did that don’t you think we’d know. No offence but you lot, love to brag about your wizardly prowess.”

Aspen pushed up her glasses, “None taken, but no.” she said, “Not a wizard.” She searched her brain for the best explanation “We’ll we don’t know much about him, Enanth claims he was a man with an iron will, and odd style of fashion and that’s coming from a wizard so you know it must be true, and that he could wear different faces, but you somehow always knew it was him.”
“A man who wears different faces, that can level, based on what you said is a highly magical place, and is respected by Enanth, and you think a man with rabbit ears is hard to believe.”

“I never said Enanth respected him.” Aspen corrected.

“Still, he bothered to remember him.” Parvil added.

“We should get back to the case.” Aspen sighed. “But…” she scribbled a note about ‘rabbit man’. We won’t rule it out yet.”

“If not a suspect, then a witness.” Parvil said. “If he was around he might have seen something.”

“Treat him as a suspect first.” Aspen said, “You saw the bodies.” she added, “You know what he can do.” Aspen looked long at Parvil. “I’d rather not let him kick you in your pretty little head.”

“Little?” Parvil questioned.

“Yes.” she shook her head. “Can you describe the injuries?” she asked, getting fresh parchment.

Parvil went on to describe the results of such extreme blunt force trauma in overly graphic, crystalline detail.

Aspen gulped and pushed her food away. “You…sure painted a picture, since when can you remember that much?” she questioned him, watching as he slid her plate over to finish it. He raised an eyebrow at her and Aspen just responded with a nod watching him dig in.

“I think it came with the…” he looked around and whispered. “Warlock, powers.”

Aspen tilted her head slightly, “Not a warlock power I’ve ever heard of, that’s something you are either born with or get old enough to train yourself to remember that much detail.” she shook her head. “We need to do more research on that necklace when we get back.”

Parvil waved it off. “Focus on the case now. Worry about the necklace later.” he said looking at some notes. “Do we know of any enemies?” he asked. “Besides obvious ones.” he added. “Had this been your run of the mill assassination…” he shook his head. “No. It was too much of a message. You don’t kill like that unless you intend to leave a calling card.” Parvil added.

“You are right it does seem strange to leave such a mess when they likely could have just stabbed them and been done with it.” Aspen agreed. “But why?”

Parvil scratched his head. “I don’t know yet. I can’t say it was a sloppy crime.” he said. “But it feels like looking through a peephole, just such a narrow view of some big picture we can’t see.”

“It's just such a strange thing we are probably over complicating it.” Aspen said with a yawn.
“Let’s go over it again.” he said “From the top.”

“We have the murder of a duke and duchess. The only sign of forced entry was the front door was lock picked poorly. Injuries deeply troubling and inconsistent with anything but someone very physically powerful. A possible missing child.” she paused and sighed. “Sighting a rabbit man.” Aspen went on. “And several guards killed in action protecting the town when a fire broke out either slightly before or slightly after the attacks, so far that is unclear.” Aspen flipped a page of her notes over. “And apparent deaths of more guards near the border of the adjacent township.”

Parvil let out a long breath. “So, plans for tomorrow. Canvas the fire stricken part of the city, and ask questions at the next town over.” he said. “Maybe they got a good look at any stranger they passed through. Easier to spot new faces in a small town than a city.” he added.

The two gathered their notes and retired upstairs to the rented room. Flicking his wrist a small mote of pale green light filled the room with eerie candlelight. Both locked eyes on the bed at the same time. They’d been swindled. “That’s barely big enough for me…” Aspen said.

“Well.” Parvil said, looking around. “I’m not sleeping on the floor. I’m pretty sure there are spiders so we’ll have to scrunch up.”

First light came quickly. More than the pair wished it had. Parvil was already awake when Aspen rose, stretching and rubbing his knees and neck. When he finished he pulled out a notebook and scribbled the name of the inn on a page listing the places to never stay again. “Dandy Donkey one star.” Parvil said putting the book away. “Lets get breakfast somewhere else.”

“Agreed” Aspen said also rubbing her neck. “I think I slept on my arm most of the night.”

“That was my arm.” Parvil said rolling his shoulder as the two set out to find more clues.