Chapter 127 - Charlotte's Master

Lex looked again at the man by the window, who was watching the commotion outside. He must have been about Prince Gutard's age, but he wasn't that big. Apart from the color of his eyes, and his light brown hair cut very short, he was much more like Magnus than Gutard himself.

Lex tried to control 'his' cough and hide his surprise, massaging his throat, not knowing what to do. Charlotte also looked surprised, but for other reasons, as it became clear as soon as she said,

"Master!"

The man finally turned to them, after closing the window. The lighting in the room came from a single candlestick, but Lex could see that he was wearing discreet but good quality clothes. The man's hand, however, slid into his coat, where he possibly had a dagger. The man looked at Charlotte with an expression of distaste,

"I think I asked you to do this discreetly, Lotte."

"I'm sorry," she said, lowering her head, and still catching her breath.

"Meeting an independent guard group looking to punish invaders was unexpected. And it was by chance that we entered your window, 'Master'," explained Lex. The Second Prince should recognize the clever strategy of watching the entrance from a point across the street, tough.

"Who are you?" the man asked sharply. 

'Monkeys bite me if this is not a von Wuttenfal. It would be difficult to hide that face and that arrogance in a hay-filled barn, 'Lex pouted, before answering,

"You can call me whatever you want. I must keep my identity secret at this point."

"Master, this is the person who interfered with the attack on the Prince on the day of the Bride's Parade. 'The Masked Lady'," explained Charlotte. Apparently, this should lighten the mood of her master, who did not expect her to be accompanied.

The man examined Lex from top to bottom, and said,

"I am in doubt about being a Lady, however. Still, why did you bring it? "

"I stumbled upon it while surveying the new Princess's room. But besides meeting him there, we also met a monster."

As Charlotte explained the events of the night before, Lex wondered why he had never seen this von Wuttenfal.

After the report, the man stared at Lex,

"What are your goals?"

"I can't reveal it right now, without talking to whoever hired me first. But we must not stumble over each other, if we have similar goals. Charlotte told me that, in exchange for saving her yesterday, she might allow me to know what Master Cohen has to say about the found object. Is that still true?"

The man who didn't introduce himself thought about it, then nodded, "Yes. Let's do this. The city is restless, and this neighborhood even more so. We must not move where we are not wanted."

He opened the door for them to go down. They passed through the house of a family, who was dining at the table, and the man threw a gold bag at the feet of the supposed owner of the house, as a payment for the rent on the upper floor. They went out into the street, and although the group wasn't there, Lex saw that they were being watched from a distance.

Moments later, they were greeted by Master Cohen, a short, stooped man with an incredibly hooked nose and a collection of manuscripts and strange objects on shelves. This brought to Lex's mind his passage through Jerusalem, when he was still a child. His father accompanied and was an interpreter of a man who sought the grave of a person who little Alexios did not bother to memorize the name. It was in a room like this that the men discovered an important clue about what they were looking for.

Returning from his brief memory, Lex realized that he had missed an unimportant part of the conversation. Charlotte handed the metal box to the man, brought the object close to myopic eyes. After grimacing and bringing a source of light closer, the man exclaimed,

"There'is no doubt that this object is an element of magic. It is a curse amulet, designed to control someone, as written on the box. The symbols are not so clear to me, but I believe that it's a question of limiting the movements of that man. Because the victim is a man, and the perpetrator is a woman."

"How do you know that, Master Cohen?" asked von Wuttenfal.

"It is about witchcraft as old as time. There was once a group in these lands that practiced these spells. They worshipped the Dark Moon, Lilith, Hecate, and Diana. All are the same at the end of the day. The avenging lady of the night, the first woman."

"Has there ever been such a group? So maybe they're back, considering the recent events," Lex commented.

"Yes, it looks like the same cult. But they banned those over two decades from now ..." said the Jew thoughtfully. "It will be a tough year. Even more so with the plague…"

Lex stirred, and realized that von Wuttenfal crossed his arms defensively when the man said that. Charlotte asked,

"Plague? What you mean?"

This time it was the sage who looked at the beautiful woman with curiosity,

"Lady, Holstein is under a powerful curse. What happened in the square that day, and whose rumors even reached this neighborhood, brought the plague. All that rot and flood ... We still have mud from the dead under our soles. And new dead appeared. Not long ago, the Prince of Holstein had all the doctors attending the court killed… Not many are left in the city. Those who can afford it are even secretly calling doctors from our people because they are desperate. And that is why we know."

Lex remembered the dreadful day when the Prince burned Gisela's remains together with two women accused of having taken part in the attack on Cordelia's entourage. The flood that followed the storm, and putrefying bodies floating through the streets of Holstein. Her skin prickled, and her heart filled with fear. Even today, about a hundred years after the Great Black Death, his ghost was a painful and frightening wound.

Charlotte's Master placed another object on the table in front of the Jewish sage. Lex saw with amazement that it was one of the half-broken pieces. The man looked carefully, then went to his bookshelf and after searching for a while, opened a codex with notes and drawings. He leafed carefully and licked the tip of his thumb to turn the next leaf, making Lex distressed. Impatient, Lex ended up saying,

"Necromancy. Obols1 to pay the ticket. Only in half."

All three looked at the masked figure strangely, but Master Chakkim said,

"Yes! Exactly! The connection with hellish cults is obvious. These witches aim to have control of the spirits."

"More than that. Recently there was a rumor that there was a succubus in the castle. The confrontation revealed that it was true. The demon had a physical body," Lex added to the information that no one else knew about.

"Which means it was summoned," concluded the Jewish sage. Charlotte was gaping,

"So it was really true? There was an actual succubus around?"

Lex nodded in agreement.

"The body of a Polish nobleman has recently disappeared," Lady Duvignes commented to everyone, expressing her concern. "He was a formidable warrior, but he was defeated in a duel, by Prince Magnus ..."

Lex remembered that. The matter had become a serious political incident, which resulted in the expulsion of the Polish entourage. But, to think Florian's body had been stolen to perform a ritual like the one that revived that beautiful woman who was possessed by the gello? That was chilling.

"Lets go to what matters. How can we identify these witches, Master Cohen? We already know that they are dangerous and of the most vile type, if they are capable of desecrating bodies for their nefarious interests. What about this doll? Can we identify who could be the victim just by the object?" Lex asked.

"At least I couldn't identify it, but maybe someone who knows the man can. The object is very rustic and without details. Now, as for the witches, I don't think they were around all this time, hidden and waiting for something. It is possible that they came from afar, or from the countryside. The von Wuttenfal are reputed to be witch killers. It would not be difficult for the witches to have prepared for a glorious time for the family, the marriage of the firstborn…"

Nothing the stooped man said was really new, except for the enlightened point of view: the witches came from somewhere. Lex suspected three women, actually, but thorough evidence was needed.

After that, they said goodbye to Master Cohen, and left the Jewish quarter escorted by his son to the gate. On the bridge, Lex had to say goodbye to the man whom he didn't know the name, and Lady Duvignes. I was sure they would discuss what they had discovered today. 

Upon arriving at the carriage, where Father Agnello and Balbo were waiting, Lex collapsed on the bench,

"Did you know the plague came to town?"

Without even looking at each other, the two men nodded carefully. Balbo said,

"It is impossible to ignore, since I live downtown. Many hearses pass by day, the bells ring almost non-stop. "

"A new cemetery has been built, people who may be being advised to leave the city. Going to the country churches and the monasteries that house them. Until the city is clean, when it is advisable to return. The Archbishop has been quite busy these days," said Father Agnello, knocking on the roof of the wagon for the coachman to take them away. As they walked away from the city center towards the castle, Lex told them about the chance encounter with Lady Charlotte's mysterious sponsor, a von Wuttenfal.

Blue Eyes didn't hide his displeasure,

"This must be Duke Kurt, the youngest son of Otten von Wuttenfal. He was banned from Holstein a long time ago."

"Banned?! Why?" Lex immediately asked. 

It didn't bore well. Obol : 1- a payment or bribe for Charon, the ferryman who conveyed souls across the river that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead.

2- coinage as grave goods presumed to further the deceased's passage into the afterlife. 'Charon's obol' sometimes is called a viatic.u.m, or "sustenance for the journey"; the placement of the coin on the mouth has been explained also as a seal to protect the deceased's soul or to prevent it from returning.