Adventure of Livia Bladedust 1

The baron's banquet hall reeks of spilled wine, wet wool, and iron. At its center, the noble carriage rests on broken axles, dragged beneath the chandeliers and streaked with dark blood.

Nobles crowd the tables and balconies, whispering behind jeweled hands. Their attention turns as Livia Bladedust crosses the threshold.

The Village Witch stands beside the carriage, one hand hovering over a small iron-bound casket. Mud clings to her hem. Several nobles point toward her, calling her the architect of the attack.

A hush spreads when a gray-haired lord recognizes Livia's horns, scar, and infernal reputation. The accusation shifts across the room like a drawn blade.

Behind Brynn, the casket gives a single, muffled knock. Every candle flame bends toward it.

Brynn cannot say what she saw at the empty carriage. Her account breaks off at the moment of discovery, leaving only the casket's muffled knock and her shaken certainty that something had already taken the baron's place.

Brynn studies Livia Bladedust through the candlelight, weighing the promise against the lord's command.

The next knock comes from inside the iron-bound casket. Brynn flinches, then pushes it across the cloth-covered table toward Livia Bladedust.

Livia Bladedust takes the casket. Brynn steps behind her, placing the tie of her safety in Livia's hands along with the relic.

The casket knocks again, harder. Every candle flame bends toward Livia Bladedust, while Brynn's voice drops to a warning at her back.

From Brynn Calder's angle, the candlelight reveals a second shadow beneath the casket, shaped like the baron's signet-ringed hand but cast by no one present. It points toward the lord, confirming that the baron's replacement is still inside the hall, concealed among the living.

Yes, but the gray-haired lord is only the baron's replacement in appearance; the thing beneath that borrowed face is not the baron, and the true nature of the impostor remains concealed.

The words leave Livia Bladedust firmly, but the hall refuses to carry them. Candlelight gutters between each syllable, and the pointing shadow stretches across the floor without reaching the lord.

Therefore, the gathered nobles retreat from both figures. Their widening circle leaves the lord a clear path toward the banquet dais, while Livia Bladedust remains the only person holding the casket.

But Brynn's challenge falters as the iron bands flash cold white. The casket knocks once against Livia Bladedust's palms, and the false lord's shadow bends away from him.

The casket's weight shifts into the space between them. Its cold iron bands stop flashing, waiting.

But the shadow beneath the casket points again. The lord's denial falters, and he steps from the open circle to touch the lid.

The instant his palm meets the iron, the casket answers with a deep, ringing knock. The lord's borrowed face ripples like paint in rain, revealing a smooth darkness beneath before the features snap back into place.

The nobles' silence breaks. Some flee toward the side doors, while others seize candlesticks and bar the nearest passage. The false lord keeps his hand on the casket, rigid and exposed.