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."Small ones.I fought him myself, till some fool of aMerovencian pulled me away and stabbed at me."The Merovencian soldiers' faces darkened, and Matt hurried on."Two small clubs? Why did he onlyhave one when he was standing over the body?"file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20krui.zard%20in%20Rhyme%2006%20-%20Haunted%20Wizard.html (40 of 329)20-2-2006 21:41:51Stasheff, Christopher  Wizard in Rhyme 6  Haunted Wizard"Because someone had stabbed his left shoulder, milord.""You?""No, milord," the sergeant said."He had both clubs when I was torn away from him.Then anotherbrawler came at the prince's back, felling the soldier who warded him there, and I had to leap to guardhim from behind until I was laid low in my turn by some other Merovencian bully boy.""Probably the prince who stabbed Pargas, then." Matt turned away before the sergeant could object, andmeasured the distance from the stain to the bottom step with his eyes."Ten feet clear of the stairs, atleast.The prince fought a good way into the room.""He was a decent fighter with a knife, milord." The sergeant's tone was neutral."And not very many noblemen are good knife-fighters, hm? Not his first tavern brawl, no doubt.Unfortunately, he made it far enough away from the walls so that virtually anyone could have come athis back."The room was very quiet.Into the silence, Sir Orizhan said, "Then anyone here might have struck that blow?""Anyone," Matt agreed."Start asking questions, Sir Knight.You, too, Sergeant.I want to know whereeveryone was when the prince fell."They started asking.Half an hour later Matt had a complete picture of where everyone had been.Eachone of them remembered whom he had been fighting, and their stories all checked except for two menwhose opponents had disappeared chasing the fugitive, but Matt was inclined to believe them, so theescapees couldn't have been the murderers.One of the Bretanglian troopers even remembered that he'dbeen fighting Pargas when Laetri screamed, and that he'd seen her over the pimp's shoulder the wholetime.The serving wenches had all been hiding behind the bar, and all remembered each other's presence."It would seem that the murderer was the man who went out the window after all, milord," Sir Orizhansaid."That," Matt agreed, "or somebody's lying.Let's go back to the castle, Sir Orizhan.I want a look at thebody before I talk to its father.""A look at the body? But why?""Tell you outside," Matt muttered, men snapped, "Come on, Sergeant.Let's go!"file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20krui.zard%20in%20Rhyme%2006%20-%20Haunted%20Wizard.html (41 of 329)20-2-2006 21:41:51Stasheff, Christopher  Wizard in Rhyme 6  Haunted WizardThey strode out into the night and Matt halted, turning to face the two men."I didn't want to say thiswhere the bystanders could hear but if the man who went out the window didn't stab the prince withhis own hand, and everyone else remembers who they were fighting, there's a very good chance theprince was killed by magic."The knight stared, face sickening, eyes filling with dread but Brock's expression turned stone cold.Prince Gaheris' body lay in state in the Great Hall, surrounded by candles and Bretanglian guards.Hisface and hands had been washed, but the servants couldn't undress him to bathe because of rigor mortis.Sir Orizhan had to do some fancy talking to keep the guards from objecting to Mart's inspection, andSergeant Brock had to order them away from the casket all the way to the edges of the room, so theycouldn't hear the muttered conversation.Matt turned the body over and stared at the wound in the back.Doublet and cut alike were stiff withdried blood.He swallowed heavily against nausea and whispered to Sir Orizhan, "You really think aknife did that?""Assuredly not!" The knight's face turned gray.Even Sergeant Brock turned pale.It was a huge, gaping, horizontal cut, at least six inches long.The edges were ragged, as though someonehad cut in with a saw instead of stabbing."What weapon made that?" Sir Orizhan whispered "A sword," Sergeant Brock told him, "or a spearhead.Even then, the murderer must have twisted it and hacked a bit, to make the edge so ragged."Matt turned the prince faceup again."A lump on the left-hand side of his forehead Pargas scored once,at least.A few more bruises, but I don't see any blood on this side ""No," Sir Orizhan agreed."I have seen sticks hit men hard enough to make them bleed, but nowherenearly as much as the prince did.The pimp could not have slain him, then, could he?""A club doesn't cut into a body too well, no," Matt acknowledged, "and it's hard to hit both the front andthe back of a man at the same time." He scanned the body, frowning."Notice what's missing?"Both men stared down, thinking.Then Sir Orizhan said, "His purse!""Right." Matt nodded."Sergeant, send somebody back to the inn to search.Might be the prince reallydid think he'd been robbed.""Why else would he have accused her?" Sir Orizhan asked.His face sickened as he realized the answer.file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20krui.zard%20in%20Rhyme%2006%20-%20Haunted%20Wizard.html (42 of 329)20-2-2006 21:41:51Stasheff, Christopher  Wizard in Rhyme 6  Haunted Wizard"Right again." Matt nodded."Gaheris wanted an excuse to beat up on her.""I assure you, this prince never troubled with such an excuse.""A real sweetheart," Matt said grimly."Still, it might be interesting rinding out where that purse is.Sendsomeone, would you, Sergeant?""There's no need," Brock said, voice very low."I watched you fight the sorcerer from the shadows.Iwondered why he needed two purses.I thought perhaps one held magical powders.""Not a bad guess, but wrong this time." Matt nodded with satisfaction."You've got sharp eyes, Sergeant.So whether or not the sorcerer struck the death blow, he did provide the excuse for the brawl." Hestepped away from the corpse."Okay.I can't put it off any longer.Time to tell his parents."They went out of the Great Hall, but Sir Orizhan said, "I can see you do not believe all you have seen,Lord Wizard.""Oh, it's believable," Matt told him."I've seen knives big enough to make a wound like that.""Short swords, more likely," Sergeant Brock grunted, then stared in surprise at his own words.Matt nodded "Could have been a short sword, like a Reman gladius, yes.""But you do not believe it," Sir Orizhan pressed [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]