TFATP 2 ch.2

The Empress and Her End

"It all started two days ago when Empress Chairon Demise was murdered in the Library of Kings. A knife wound was deep in the back of her neck and slashes were covering her back. Her topaz sequined dress was torn to ribbons in the back and her body was slumped over a reading table. Her ruler’s headdress was turned over on the floor. The book she had been reading, Mysteries of the Crown, was dowsed in blood. Shoeprints in her blood lead to the window and out it.

"The empress’s death was looked into the next day by the chief guard and the other top officials. At first they couldn’t figure out anything about it but then they found prints on top of a bookcase behind her. Then they matched them and got my sandal type as that sandal. Then Flarzon, the empress’s son, found my small black cape snagged on the back of another bookcase, with another set of shoeprints.

"Next thing I know my home is being surrounded by Zezonian guards and they’re yelling at me: "‘Murderer! Come out now and die!!’" I had to use an emergency exit under my house and out of my small town to freedom. I ran right past Zezon, towards the border. I ran two days, only taking stops when and where I could, which wasn’t that often either. And from there you know the story." He finished suddenly and they both looked around towards the border at the guards.

YYYYEEEEOOOOWWWWW!!!!" he shrieked in pain at the application of the clear liquid.

"Whiskey on open wounds does tend to do that. Alright, now I’ll remove the javelin," he gripped the pole and gave it one twist-and-tug and it came right out.

"OUCH! Man that hurt! Doubt I’ll be walking on this for awhile."

"Correct. But you don’t really have anywhere to go, now that you’re here, anyway," he said pouring some whiskey in a cup and drinking some.

"Oh. OH-I forgot! The empress was supposedly locked in."

"Didn’t you say that there were footprints on top of the bookcases? That suggests that the killer came in through the roof," he set the cup down in a clay zarf on the only table there.

"I will need to move soon."

"Why?"

"Flarzon won’t rest until the one who he thinks killed his mother is caught, and that means that he will not stop pestering the chief judge with reasons to sign a warrant for my arrest until he signs one."

"But that takes a long time, and then he needs to get it approved by the U.C., right?"

"Yeah, right. And that’s why I want to get as far away as possible as soon as possible. Probably to Rune," he said thinking far away.

"It’ll be hard to get across the border without getting caught. And Rune is the farthest country from Zark, from anywhere for that matter."

"Ya, I know but I’ll probably stay there two weeks after getting there then come back to Zark, as long as I don’t see anyone trailing me. Then I’ll rejoin my team back in Valt."