Bambi and the Duke

Dutan and Vivian stood at the front of a door where Dutan had knocked. The sky had turned dark and possibly gloomier. Snow covering every inch of the ground turning it white and cold. It wasn’t the time of night but the weather turned to a dull one compared to the earlier time when both Leo and she had come out for lunch.

Some of the houses had started to light lantern outside the houses and the torch was burnt at the pole lamps that were placed around the town. The pole lamp had a top plate which avoided the snow from getting in and extinguishing the fire that was lit.

They had picked to go to the last house as that was where the path led to the next town which Leonard and Heuren had gone to talk to the boy and the man.

When the door opened, ”Dutan greeted the elderly woman with a bright smile, ”Good evening, milady.”

”Good evening,” the woman looked at them skeptically, ”What do you want?”

”Sorry for interrupting your day but we were wondering if you knew the family who recently passed away,” Dutan iterated, waiting for the woman to respond who shook her head.

”No. I don’t step out of the house,” and before he could ask anything more, the door was shut right at his face.

”This happens more than you can count,” Dutan laughed trying to keep the atmosphere light and then said to Vivian, ”Let’s look at the next one,” Vivian agreed and they headed to the house adjacent to it. Knocking on the door, they waited until the door opened.

”Good evening, milady. We are from the council-” just as he started the door was closed shut again.

Vivian said, ”I think the townfolks have been questioned many times right now that they don’t want to talk about it.”

”I guess. That can tell why the case was pushed to us after a week. The folks here don’t want to talk and rather keep their work to themselves. Well, there are many other houses,” saying that they went to the other houses, finally, a young man opened the door after they visited a few more houses to not get any answer.

Hearing Dutan’s revised greetings, Vivian could tell that the man had immense patience. If it were her, her enthusiasm in knocking the door and repeating the same lines would have felt tiring. The man let them in asking them to take a seat in his humble house while asking his wife to prepare the tea for the guests.

”The townsfolks appear to mind their work more than others I have come across,” Dutan commented who had settled on one of the wooden chairs.

”Please don’t mind them,” the man answered taking the wall as his support as he looked at the pair of the councilors. Unable to hold back, he said, ”I didn’t know they had a female as a councilor. Things must be changing for the better,” Vivian gave him a smile.

”We have some councilwoman, Sir,” Dutan addressed his comment.

”Of course, you do but I don’t think any of us have seen a councilwoman come to check the status. We receive visits once in a while but they are all men,” the young man replied, turning his back behind, he peeked to see the status of the tea he had asked from his wife, ”I believe you have come here to ask about Walter’s family? The last time we had a visit from the councilmen they were absolutely rude which has left a bad taste in our mouth. But we have given all the information we knew about them.”

”Might you know what caused their death? The boy has been accused,” Vivian wanted to know about the man’s perspective.

The man pursed his lips in a pensive look, to say, ”They were a loving family. No fights, no arguments a very peaceful family. It was quite upsetting when we heard what happened to them. It is one thing to be seeing the people alive and another to see them covered in blood the next day. Everything was perfectly normal so we don’t know what happened.”

His wife stepped outside of the kitchen to bring the tea in a tray, handing them one after another.

”Thank you,” Vivian murmured as she took the teacup from the woman.

She heard the man continue to speak, ”It was shocking,” he shook his head, ”The boy...why would he even do it is beyond our understanding,” it seemed like no one suspected the man who had been married to one of Walter’s family, thought Vivian to herself.

Curious, Vivian asked with her hand holding the hot cup of tea carefully, ”The boy is too young. The accusations are fresh but aren’t determined with conclusions that he was the one to have murdered him. He was their son, their brother and it seems far to nonunderstandable that he would do something when there is no benefit.”

”That might be true, milady,” the woman spoke with the tray close to her chest, ”But there is no one else to suspect. They had no fight and hadn’t crossed anyone.”

”What about Walter’s son-in-law?” asked Dutan, who brought the teacup to his lips but never drank a sip from it. He put it away from his lips waiting for them to answer.

”Henry is a very respectable man, there is no reason why he would commit a lowly sin like that. He even took May as his wife after one meeting. I have to say May turned very beautiful at the time of their wedding.”

”That’s what marriage does when you marry right. Happiness has its effects on the face,” the man replied back to his wife who placed her hand on his shoulder.

His wife agreed to him, ”Yes, dear,” she then looked at Dutan, ”He is a good man. And he wasn’t even in there when it happened. The poor man lost his wife this early in marriage. He must be an unfortunate man,” she shook her head.

”So the Walters had a good relationship with their son-in-law,” Dutan confirmed to have the couple nodding.

”Very good. Henry was the one who paid for the weddings without letting Walter’s pay a penny. Some lucky events tend to lead in a downfall,” the woman answered. Vivian hadn’t minded the tea and instead had drunk the tea she was given until the very last drop in the cup which had Dutan slightly worried.

”I see that you haven’t touched your tea,” the woman commented with a slight frown when she glanced at Dutan’s teacup that was in the same state as she had given it to him, ”Would you like to drink something else?”

At the pressure of the eyes and a curious one next to him, he gave the couple a smile, ”I just feel a little unwell. My stomach has been acting since morning. Please excuse my impoliteness for the hospitability you have shown.”

While the young man didn’t mind it, his wife stared at Dutan for a few passing seconds and then stated, ”I have just the right medicine for a bad stomach. Let me give it to you,” not heeding to Dutan’s protest where his smile turned wry with worry. The woman was back after two minutes with an aluminum glass, ”Drink this. You will feel all better,” she assured him.

Unable to say no again, with great difficulty, he brought the glass to his lips and took a few sips under the eyes of the woman who finally smiled, ”Your stomach will get better in no time now.”

Murmuring thanks, Dutan pulled out the parchment of paper which Leonard had previously drawn in the department room, ”Do you any chance known what this means?” he asked them. The man stared at the parchment but the woman’s expression turned grave.

”That’s a ritual mark to call upon the devil to grant a wish, Sir,” the wife spoke with knitted brows, ”It is a lost ritual.”

”Lost ritual?” asked Vivian. The ways she spoke it was as if the town had been passed down with things that weren’t known by many.

The man laughed nervously while wanting to keep his wife quiet over the matter but the woman ignored her husband’s warning looks, ”Not many are aware of this, but this town was built on the death of both black and white witches. They were killed by themselves and the people who then resided around the town had picked a thing or two, where the curses and spells along with rituals were passed down the families but now no one practices it. Not us too.”

”Do you think the boy used it?” asked Dutan for the woman to shake her head.

”I doubt so, and though many say that it was the boy I don’t think he did it,” wasn’t it a while ago she had been nodding her to her husband’s words on how Henry, Walter’s son-in-law had nothing to do with it.

”The mark that you have shown here, it is used to grant wishes from the devil. But then...” she trailed leaving them intrigued and hanging in the air before continuing, ”It is usually placed on someone you’re sacrificing.”

”Oh?”

This was news to them. Vivian was glad to hear that the boy was innocent. Now the question was who did that to the boy.

”But at this time, I doubt anyone can even summon a devil. I saw it when I was a young girl. My grandmother used to store these but after she passed they were all burnt. We are humans but if step out of line, we knew it wouldn’t go well with the council that every house in the last two generations had cleared every information they had with them so that during inspections in the past nothing would be held against them,” explained the woman to continue, ”I believe it was during my mother’s time as that was when the great white witch was burnt and there were a couple more witches who were killed.”

Dutan nodded his head, ”In the past, white witches were killed very similarly to how the black witches are hunted down now. The council wanted to make sure that the humans were safe and there were no more illegal activities taking place.”

Keeping the glass down, Dutan and Vivian thanked for their cooperation, leaving the house. Once they were far away, Vivian said, ”Don’t sacrifices mean that the person or the animal dies?” the boy was clearly alive and breathing. They saw a carriage appear from the other side which they were familiar with. The carriage pulled over where Leonard and Heuren stepped down.

Before Dutan could report them on what they found, Leonard spoke, ”We brought Henry along with us,” Vivian turned towards the carriage where the door was left open, ”We found the boy battered from head to toe.”

”He beat him?” Vivian felt sorry for the boy. It was barely a few hours and the man had beaten his brother-in-law, she asked, ”Where is the boy?”

”He’s in there. He’ll be kept in the cell room until the council decides on what and where he will be sent. Henry must be upset with what happened and battered the boy too much. We’ll meet you at the council building.”

Heading back to the council, Vivian stepped down to first see Heuren pull the man who had his hands tied in chains. Then stepped down Leonard down who carried the boy in his arms who was unconscious. The word battered didn’t come close to how the boy looked right now.

”It was only a few hours,” she whispered looking at the boy. The boy was innocent and he had done nothing but plead at the court. His brother-in-law Henry’s action didn’t justify his wife’s loss by beating the boy. She pitied the boy.

”Cruel, isn’t it,” asked Leo where Vivian had fallen short of words. She raised her hand wanting to heal him, ”I will put him in the cell room,” he didn’t give room for her to heal the boy as it was something he would never want her to do. Like Vivian, he pitied the boy but not enough that he was ready to trade Vivian’s life span with a stranger they hardly knew.

Retrieving her hand to her hold it in front of her chest, she nodded her head.