That noon...
The King frowned, and rose to his feet for the second time that. Without so much as looking at his General, he took in a long, deep breath and then spoke in a forlorn tone: "As Erika is...no longer available...you will stand in her place as the accuser here, Lord Trubaldsome. Kaguro..." he paused once more, his expression blank, and then continued on, "Please stand before me. You have been...charged with a crime."
Trubaldsome nodded once, slowly, and then rose gracefully to his feet, the heavy cloth of his long coat falling into place about him.
"Yes," He began pacing back and forth between the King and Kaguro, his gaze fixed on the general. "Indeed, as Lady Erika is, understandably, upset, I shall speak for her. After all, it is I who discovered this...
General's treachery, I who she finally confided in, fearing for her life, telling me how he..." He grimaced, and spat the word, "
Molested her." He paused his walking, took a quick sip of wine, then shouted over his shoulder, "
Waery!!"
He scanned the Court for a short moment, and then a grimacing Waery burst out of a crowd of well-dressed folk, looking like a wolf among sheep as he made his way hastily to his Lord's side, knocking a drinks table crashing to the ground in the process.
"Yes, m'lord!" "
Damnit, Waery! Do not do that! You
knew I would need you!" Trubaldsome hissed at the man, eyes narrowed in annoyance. Waery judged this not... Exactly the best time to bring up what he had found.
The young lord looked about those gathered, nursing his goblet in his free, unbandaged hand, saying more loudly, "Waery, bring in the... Assassin."
Waery clapped his hands twice, and called, "Wyrthlast!" his voice carrying clearly even through the noisy court, and a door opened and in came two of Trubaldsome's men, carrying a cloth-swathed bundle between them, setting it before the King.
Trubaldsome looked about, apologetically, and spoke softly, "Now, I would suggest to any ladies present, or any others with perhaps a... Weak stomach, avert your eyes, for we see the sorry fate of the man sent to kill the poor Lady Erika, guarded as she was in my chambers... In this
very castle. Plainly the good General did not want this terrible truth becoming known."
After giving a moment for any who wish to do so to look away, Trubaldsome nodded once, a large, floppy turquise feather in his hat brim bobbing with the motion, and Waery stepped fowards, bowed stiffly to the King, and pulled back the cloth.
A few gasps were heard as the horrid sight were revealed.
Some time had past since the man's death, despite best efforts to preserve the body, and a violent death it was. His face, along with most of his neck and the collar of his tunic, was horribly burnt and misshapen, rendering it barely recognisable as part of a human being. There on the front of his shirt, plainly visible despite the dried bloodstains, was the emblem of General Kaguro's personal guard.
Trubaldsome shook his head sadly, dipping his head in distaste, and spread his hands at his sides.
"My King, I do not know what more I can say."
He looked up once more, to the King, and spoke more loudly. "'Twas only through sheer luck, in that I happened to have my sword out to clean it, that I, and your dear Cousin, survived this man's attempt on her life. A dastardly act
indeed, and I for one have not removed my blade since, unsafe as even the castle has apparently become in your absence."
Trubaldsome speaks convincingly to the King of Kaguro's misdeeds and treachery, and has the burnt and unrecognizable body of the "assassin" brought before the King as evidence.