The Lady Knight

Chapter III: Suspicions and Surprises

The Lady Knight

I clasped my hands together and rested them on the table, waiting for the chatter to cease.

Even my most formidable Captains, who could frighten almost any man into submission with a single gaze, simply loved to laugh and talk nineteen-to-the-dozen with one another, especially when they were all gathered together in one room like this. It was only during such meetings could they ever find time to do so.

However, we had a problem at hand. This was not the time to chit-chat.

The noise eventually died down as my silence stretched on.

I shot them all a grim look once I had their attention. "Thank you, Captains, for realising so quickly that this is neither the time to laugh nor relax."

They had the grace to look abashed. "Our apologies, Ma'am."

"Apology accepted. Now, shall we address the matter at hand?" I gestured to the parchments strewn all over the table.

"All these are sketches made of the victims of the four murders in the last three months. This is the one of Lord Pierre, that one is of Lord Louis, the one beside that is of Lord Francois and the one on the extreme left is of Lord Lucas. Now, can anyone find any similarities among these sketches?"

There was a small beat of silence as the sketches were passed around the conference table for the Captains to observe. Murmuring broke out in the room, as they frowned over the sketches in concentration. My deputy, Lieutenant Raleigh, was quick to spot what the others could not at one glance.

"Aye, Ma'am," he spoke up, clearing his throat, "all four of them have a serpent symbol branded on their right shoulder blades." He pointed to the symbol, a double helix structure of two identical serpents entwined together, on one of the sketches.

I offered him a faint smile. "You are right, Lieutenant Raleigh," I nodded, "I think this symbol belongs to a particular illegal establishment, and serves to unite its members. By extension, I believe that these four men were involved in it. What do you all think?"

"I am of the same opinion, Ma'am," Captain Everard agreed, "and I am certain Lord Lucien is their leader - since he must have held some form of power over the four victims to dare murder them in their own homes. The question is, what had driven Lord Lucien to do so? Had they committed some folly to anger him?"

The others plunged into deep thought at Captain Everard's words, but Captain Dupont alone frowned in puzzlement.

I tilted my head towards him. "Is something bothering you, Captain Dupont?"

He turned towards me, his forehead creased in worry. "Ma'am, forgive me, but how are you, and the rest of the Captains here, so certain that it was indeed Lord Lucien who had murdered Lord Lucas and all those before him?"

There was a beat of complete, nonplussed silence at that.

Lieutenant Raleigh shot him an incredulous look. "We caught him with the knife in his hand, Captain Dupont! Dripping with his brother's blood!" he exclaimed, shocked, "you were there in Derelia, were you not? Enlighten me on how he could have been innocent of the crime?"

Captain Dupont ignored Lieutenant Raleigh, and focused his solemn gaze on me. "Ma'am, you are aware I do not speak of anything without giving thought to it first," he told me quietly, "and I truly feel that Lord Lucien may have been framed for a crime he could not have committed."

I nodded, listening. "Please continue, Captain Dupont."

"If Lord Lucien had truly plunged that dagger multiple times into his brother's body as shown in these sketches, then he should have held it vertically when we burst into the chamber. But he was holding it horizontally - almost as if he had merely lifted it off the ground."