Arthur forced himself to move, stumbling over to the door. He reached for his spear automatically, then hesitated. Socially, running around with a spear in the middle of the night was a bad idea; at least in other people’s house. Sort of like drawing a gun and walking around someone’s house with it unholstered.
Just not done.
On the other hand, Arthur had just heard someone scream. So, maybe it was more acceptable to carry his spear? Arthur found himself staring at it for a long time, his mind working ever too slowly for his liking. Another voice, more noises shouting from outside.
“Where are they? I want all of them here, now!” Tun Rahman’s voice rose, nearing a shout.
Arthur groaned, realizing he was taking too long making a simple decision. He shoved it aside, grabbed the door and pulled it open, stepping into the hallway. He moved towards where the sounds were coming from, the main longhall.
Not as though the building itself was that complex, being a single long building with two wings on either side. One was meant for the guests, rooms on either side, a few of them with doors ajar. Arthur paused, long enough to close his own at the visible reminder, before he continued to stumble out.
As he entered the hallway, the gaze of those waiting fixed upon, freezing him a step in to the room. He looked between the group, blinking slowly, more than a few offering him a rather intimidating stare.
“What happened to you?” Tun Rahman asked.
Killing intent spiked and Arthur gulped. “Uh… what?”
“You are injured. What have you done?” Tun Rahman said, again.
“I…” Arthur held a hand up, forced his system to focus, cleansing the poison a little, pushing it out of his head. He blinked, feeling himself stabilize a little more, his head clearing out. “I was attacked. Knife was poisoned.”
“You saw something? Who was it?” the nobleman growled.
“I saw a silhouette, a shadow. It threw a knife at me,” Arthur clarified. Touched his face, realizing that the cut had stopped bleeding, just leaving a stick mess behind.
“So coincidental,” Nor said.
“Agreed,” Ahman added.
Tun Rahman looked over to the pair, narrowed his eyes. Not all the speakers said anything, or chimed in, though to his surprise, the smaller boy; the kid spoke up. "Or, perhaps those throwing aspersions at a fellow warrior are more suspicious. After all, Datin Nor was here, so quickly."
"Hadees!" Nor snarled. "How dare you betray us?"
"Betray? We're all on the same side, I thought?" Hadees said, putting on a look as though he hadn't stolen the last kuih right from under their noses.
"You...!"
"Silence," Tun Rahman spoke up, holding a hand. "Dato' Hadees is not wrong. We should not be fighting among ourselves, not yet." His gaze roamed over the group, counting the numbers. Arthur did the same, noting there were... "Seven. Where is Datin Mahia?"
No one knew, of course and Arthur stepped aside as the lord moved to head for her room. He made it a few steps closer, Hadees falling in right behind the man, the others moving aside like Arthur or to follow before they were interrupted. A figure burst in from the front, front door slammed open with a hard thunk. In came Datin Mahia, hair disheveled, harried, dirt showing on bare feet as she stumbled in, one hand clutching her upper arm which held a kris, unsheathed.
Everyone pivoted to her, weapons out. Dato' Ramli was the first to act, a throwing knife lobbed underhand at the woman. Mahia's eyes widened, her body flinching backwards reflexively but that was the wrong move. It didn't move her body out of the way of knife, that buried itself in her throat.
Staggering backwards, her kris dropping to the ground as she reached for her neck, eyes locked on the group, on Tun Rahman who'd pivoted.
"STOP!" He roared, but it was too late. She was dying, and though some of the others rushed over to help, the blade was caught in her neck. Any movement to pull it out would kill her, all the faster as her carotid artery and potentially other blood vessels were cut.
Arthur moved over, hanging back a little, watching the dying woman, the others who stared at her. He took it all in, the way she stared at the others, the dirty feet, the state of undress that she was in - underwear and light top, rope burns along the arms that scrabbled at the neck.
"Can anyone do anything?" Nor asked, looking around. There was a flatness to her voice, and she was already looking away towards the end of the sentence.
No one answered, not even Arthur. Not that he had the skills to heal another, it was just not something he'd learnt, but he was getting the idea now.
find the killer, or killers. Or kill everyone who wasn't you, but do it in a way that didn't arouse the suspicions of the lord. Which, listening to the haranguing that was going on behind him, was something that Ramil had failed at. On the other hand, he wasn't in chains or ropes or had his hands cut-off, his protestations that someone coming in with a weapon drawn was dangerous for the Tun getting him a pass.
"No more! No one kills anyone anymore without my permission!" Tun Rahman raged, glaring at everyone as he strode over. He looked down at the woman, then gestured. Figures, his ghostly servants, swept in, pushing the warriors aside to close around her body. Funny, how long it took for someone to die, especially when everyone knew better than to yank out the blade that was clogging up the wound. "My servants will care for her. Maybe they can save her."
"My lord, we should..." Nor said.
"I gave an order."
She shut up as he cut her off, allowing the servants to carry the body away. Not that anyone expected Mahia to recover. Unless she had an Accelerated Healing technique, dealing with a blade stuck in your throat was nearly impossible. Patching it together was not going to be easy.
"Well, it looks like we found the killer, at least;" Aryan said as the body was carried away.
"You bodoh ah?" Arthur couldn't help but say.
"What did you say to me?" Aryan snarled, a hand dropping to the parang by his side.
"Because if you are, you're forgiven. But otherwise, you think she was the killer?" Arthur shook his head.
"Why do you say that, Dato' Chua?" Tun Rahman asked before Aryan could say anything further.
"She was tied up. Marks on her arms. Barefoot and underdressed." Arthur ticked the words off. "Someone kidnapped her. Or she went out, and got tied up."
"Why tie her up, instead of killing her?" Hameed asked, reasonably.
"I....don't know." Arthur shrugged. "I can't guess at the motive, just point out the facts."
"Or she could be trying to fool us," Aryan said, doubling down.
"Well, that answers the question," Arthur muttered.
"What?"
"You really are stupid."
"You!" The parang came half out of the sheath before a hand came down, hard, across his face, forcing Aryan to stagger as Tun Rahman slapped him hard.
"I said, no fighting." Then, he turned to stare at Arthur. "And you, stop antagonising him. Or else, I will think you had something to do with all this."
"Apologies." Arthur offered a nod, grimaced at the splotch of blood. "I really wish we had a chance to talk to her. Maybe she was something more..."
"We shall see. In the meantime, you all shall sweep my grounds again." Tun Rahman commanded, then eyed the group before adding. "In pairs."
Well, at least that made sense. Arthur surveyed the group, met Hameed's eyes and nodded to the boy, stepping close. Of them all, he seemed most willing to help Arthur out. Right now, what he needed most of all was information.
If nothing else, he needed to trigger the quest details from the Tower. Or else he'd be playing catch up. And from the bodies around, it was clear that only ended one way.