Herald of Steel-Chapter 1544: Lord Mirzah (Part-End)
It did not really surprise Alexander to learn that that maester physician also had expert knowledge on poisons. Most doctors hired by high ranking nobles had this trait…because as stated by the Queen Mother, everyone was deathy afraid of being plotted against by this dreadful substance.
Hence she finished with a certain exclamation to her voice, "I do not even know how Pasha Farzah managed to convince the mad king to let the maester leave his side. I had to really stay my hand and not try and poison him then and there."
Seelima did not have all the pieces in place back then, which was the only reason she exercised patience.
"Indeed, I also asked Farzah about how he did this but never got a straight answer. Whatever he promised must have been between only him and Alozmer." Lady Inayah also chimed so from the side, sounding very curious, before turning to Alexander and once again iterating with much greater emphasis,
"The autopsy was conducted by Pasha Farzah's gravedigger and overseen by that mad man. He gave instructions, and the gravedigger followed. The latter also used to be a doctor and knew how to handle a knife. So rest assured my lord, nothing was missed."
With all the former context, the lady's words sounded much more convincing now.
And this made Alexander muse to himself, 'No poison, no wound. Hmmm…' as he stroked his chin, finding the inability to answer very uncomfortable.
It was not only because of his curiosity but also due to security concerns as now that he had been made aware, such a mythological poison would surely continue to hanker at this slightly paranoid man's heart day and night.
'Wait! No poison? Then how did they kill Alozmer?' Until Alexander struck on what he thought was this epihany, and thus with bulging eyes blurted,
"But my ladies… did you also not kill the mad king with poison? Surely if you could slip past all the guards and that mad masester's keen eyes… Mirzah could do it too!"
There was a certain excitement to his voice that usually never existed in the usually cool tempered Alexander, as a wave of relief flooded his heart.
By now, he was sure Mirzah had used the same undetectable poison that Lady Inayah and Seelima used on Alozmer.
This also made perfect sense because the poison supplied to the Queen Mother for the mad king's assassination came from none other Pasha Farzah. It was said to be a Matrak speciality- liquid, colorless, odorless and only requiring only the tiniest dose to cause cardiac arrest.
Best still, it came from an exotic plant considered already extinct, so few even knew of its existence, much less have the ability to develop an antidote for it.
Thus when connecting the dots like that, Alexander thought he was simply fulfilling a prophecy.
Before his father used it to avenge his eldest sister, the son used it to remove his rival.
"....." However when Alexander turned to face the ladies with this great discovery, contrary to his expected round of applause, he only spotted them giving him a weird, slightly confused look.
It was like they almost did not expect him of all people to make such a silly mistake.
"Alexander, you are forgetting, the mad doctor was dead long before we poisoned Alozmer." Fortunately, it was Lady Inayah who spoke up instead of the far more tart Queen Mother, gently reminding him of the facts, "In fact, we had to kill him to let our plans succeed. He would have detected our plots otherwise."
"...Ahhh…" Alexander felt like he had been struck with lightning as soon as he heard this, quickly blushing in shame.
'How drunk am I? There had to be nearly a decade gap between the two events!'
While seeing the reaction, in a strange moment of magnanimity Seelima did not actually step on Alexander to tease him further, but with only a concealed smile, nodded,
"Right. And that poison was still detectable in the body. Alozmer just did not notice it when he drank it. Once someone took a lot at the dead body, it was very apparent… his face was all blue, and the eyes bulged out, bloodshot like they had pricked with a needle."
Thus Alexander's grand deduction was shattered even before it could form, and he was kicked back to the beginning of square one.
"..." Thus for a while, the man pursed his lips, and repeatedly tapped on the armrest of the chair, thinking.
Yet, he failed to gain anything despite all his efforts.
Simply, all this happened far too long ago, and Alexander was thousands of miles from the crime scene.
"Then, my lady can you tell exactly how Pasha Farzah's son died?" Hence as a last ditch effort, he simply asked the lady to recount the events of the accident, "You said there was a horse riding accident, right?"
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"Yes. It was during a tourney." Lady Inayah was there when it happened, so she recounted it with great confidence,
"There was a horse racing event and in the middle of it, the horse suddenly got spooked and went berserk, buckling and throwing off its rider. The fall broke the neck instantly. And then….just to make sure… Mirzah's horse ran over him from behind, trampling the head and…"
The lady trailed with a slightly croaking voice, as if unwilling to recall that dreadful sight of the skull cracking open and revealing that rusty, gray matter.
"So that is why everyone thought he was poisoned? Because he lost control of his horse?" Alexander succinctly chimed, his gaze low and thoughtful.
"What else could it be? The boy was a natural in horseriding. He was even better than Mirzah. Remember, he was ahead in the race." Lady Inayah very firmly confirmed, righteous flames blazing in her eyes.
She could tell from Alexander's tone that he was hinting they were wrong in their assumption somehow but she was ready to vehemently deny all of that. Her heart would not allow anyone to claim they had messed up.
*Tap*, *Tap*, *Tap*,
Alexander only continued to tap away at the pristine wooden armrest, his eyes betraying no emotion.
Until….
"What about the horse? Did anyone autopsy on it?" He suddenly chimed out of nowhere, turning to give the ladies a serious look.
And it instantly stunned both of them.
The words, even though spoken in only a low murmur sounded like thunderclaps next to both of their ears, and for a moment, they even struggled to make sense of it.
"The horse? Autopsy? We just talked about the autopsy. Do you mean if the horse was buried properly?" Lady Inayah said out a bit loud a bit of grumble lacing her voice.
She thought Alexander was drunk and thus mixing up his words and thoughts. Because the thought of performing an autopsy on a horse probably never even occurred to the ladies.
And why would they… when even autopsies of men were rarer than a phoenix feather? They probably did not even think animals could be investigated.
Understanding this, Alexander exercised patience and gently elucidated himself,
"No, my lady, you misunderstood. You say the boy was poisoned, that is why he lost control of his horse. But what if the reason the horse buckled was because it was itself poisoned? Have you thought of that possibility?"
"....That...!!!" As soon as Alexander said this, Lady Inayah almost literally leapt out of her seat, eye bulging, clutching her crystal wine glass so hard that Alexander feared it would shatter.
"Impossible! There were so many… impossible… how could… the stable boy… there were…"
She screamed out at first instinctively, however even as Lady Inayah tried to deny the probability, her logical mind began to find flaws in the logic she was about to provide.
Thus soon she found herself unable to go accept her own explanation.
While Queen Mother was even a step quicker, and chimed to inquire with a very suspicious tone
"Was the horse the boy used in the race the same one he always used? Or was there an 'accident' with the beast? I suspect they offered him a new horse at the last minute, right?"
The question was very direct and pointed, really showing the Queen Mother's sharpness. The speed even surprised Alexander.
It had taken him some time to come up with this possibility, but Seelima was able to instantly guess one possible way of tampering the moment the way was shown.
It really proved how was faster of the two, something Alexander also found in his previous interactions.
Now, this was not to say Lady Inayah was slow or dumb. The black noble lady was plenty a sharp cookie herself.
However she was just not as talented as Seelima. When it came to plotting and planning, the Queen Mother was better than her, it was a fact.
"I… I…. do not remember." Faced with Queen Mother's question, Lady Inayah at first stammered a bit, her face turning pale in shock, desperately trying to remember the details,
"I... I do not think so. I did not hear anything…but, but... I was only a guest… they would not have told me something this mundane even if it happened. No! Why are we wasting time here? We have to tell Farzah! We have to tell Farzah now!"
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