Unknown Dangers

His steps were soundless, his feet light on the ground. He quickly crossed the empty, dark halls of the archives, his imposing figure blending in the shadows of the night. The door, made of sturdy wood, meant to withstand any attempt at forcing it open, was as thin paper for its key, no matter the hands who were holding it. The room was small, crowded with shelves so high they reached the ceiling and pervaded by the perfume of old paper, from the seemingly endless amount of carefully stored registers. There was only one window, a small one. Outside all you could see was the darkness that swallowed the entire city. It was a night of a new moon. A perfect night for a perfect crime.

He had waited until the last clerk left the library, patiently bidding his time, and then, when the last drop of light had disappeared behind the hills, he had struck. Now, he reached the shelf nearest the door, where he knew he would find what he was looking for. He inside his coat, took out a folded piece of paper, and flattened it, laying it on the open page of one of the tomes.

"Atramentum Reflectere" He watched with quiet fascination the words disappear from the paper he had brought with him, only to reappear on the page of the book in his hands. 

The day after he would send the Dove, their ancestral symbol of victory.

---

The wind howled furiously, spinning quickly around the peaks of the mountains surrounding the hollow, black hole that was the old entrance of the abandoned mine. Janice wrapped her hands around her shoulders, trying to warm herself in the chilly air of an oddly cold day of early summer; there was a storm on the way, and towers of heavy, grey clouds were crowding on the horizon.

The Duchess could see why Luden's citizens decided against reopening the mine after the incident, its unfortunate position was only the first of the many disadvantages of the area. The entrance was closed, clogged up by rocks leaving no way to enter it but a small opening that no adult could've fit in; the area around was completely abandoned, left to the claws of time, and the once clear path was now reduced to few broken stones, weeds of every type growing between the cracks. And yet, in this forgotten place, a murder had almost happened.

But why? What could be found here that was worth killing someone? What terrible secret was guarded here? Janice had no idea. She had been in the archives for the last two days, reading every information she could find about the mine, hoping to somehow stumble upon a report, a document, even just a note that could attest to the presence of a precious resource. Nothing. It had been at best an average mine, producing just enough coal to be considered useful.

 She paced back and forth, trying to gather her thoughts. Attempting to steal resources from other territories wasn't unheard of, it was quite normal, even. However, these mines were very far from any border and none of her neighbors could've claimed them. Also, there were far more appealing assets in her territory than an old destroyed mine.

Janice gritted her teeth in frustration. Damn it. Luden's Duchy and its citizens were supposed to be completely ignored by the main plot so what was this? An attempted murder didn't exactly speak of peace and quiet, it screamed the opposite, actually. This place, tucked between mountains, away from every central city of the Empire was supposed to be a safe haven, an oasis of peace and joy.

So, who? Who had dared to try and break the fragile harmony of her reign?

Something terribly wrong was going on, she could feel it.

Janice didn't appreciate surprises or unknown variables. Whoever the culprit had been, they would be squashed under her fists and quickly, punished for trying to ruin Janice's much-deserved retirement.

She looked around her one last time and sighed, exasperated. She was wasting her time here and these unperturbable stones couldn't help her.

---

Mr. Jameson looked oddly fragile in his hospital bed; after months of knowing him, Janice was used to thinking of him as an unmovable object, a reassuring and reliable presence, someone that she could always turn to. And now she was harshly reminded just how human he could be; his hands, usually warm and deft, were trembling, making the paper in his handshake. Had he always done that? Had he always squinted his eyes that way, pulling the document right in his face, trying to read the words?

She knew. She knew, rationally, that he was an old man, a sixty-nine-year-old man who whined about his back pains and couldn't walk for more than thirty minutes without having to sit down. And yet, it seemed that no amount of logical thinking could lessen the pressure on her lungs. What a bizarre sensation.

"Let's go over this again; where were the men exactly? Were they trying to enter the mine? Is it possible that they were coming from another location and just happened to pass in front of the mine?"

The man sighed wearily, leaning on the pillows propped behind his back. "They were near the main opening, I'm sure of that. They were looking for something and if I had to guess I would say they were hoping to find some residuals of viridine but well… there's nothing left anymore, even before the incident."

Janice furrowed her brows in confusion, suddenly extremely alert. "Viridine? There was nothing about viridine in the archives."

"That's impossible. Viridine used to be Luden's main source of profit, even if a long time ago; the registers should talk about the mineral extensively."

"They don't. Viridine is never mentioned." A long silence stretched between them, both trying to come to terms with this new realization. And suddenly, like a strong wind swept away any cloud from the sky, leaving nothing other than endless blue her mind came to an almost obvious conclusion. 

"Someone has forged our reports." It was a seeping discomfort that nestled under her skin, an uncomfortable itch that went down her spine. It was a terrible thought; someone, an enemy, had infiltrated her domain, like a particularly insidious virus, a disgusting parasite, ready to contaminate and spoil everything she had managed to build in this new world. She felt… violated, intimately; it was more than a mere document being faked, more than a building being broken into. It was her life.

She took a deep breath, trying to control the feelings that were raging inside her, almost taking her breath away. Her hands shot up to her temples, rubbing circles on them, hoping to calm her piercing headache. 

Get ahold of yourself. She pursed her lips, making herself calm down.

"So, someone had a very good reason to do so; the stakes were pretty high, weren't they? Employing a spy, using magic, and almost committing murder. Whoever the instigator is, they must really need Viridine, and they must need it for something important." She got up, pacing nervously through the room, unable to stay still.

"Viridine was… the old emperor used it for explosives; the mineral is highly inflammable and it took just a little spark to cause an incredibly destructive explosion. That was its main use."

Janice stopped in her tracks.

"Weapons? Do you think that's what they are trying to do?" Mr. Jameson shrugged.

"I can't imagine another purpose. But it's weird don't you think, your Grace? An enemy ready to employ so many resources and yet so misinformed. Luden's hasn't produced Viridine in almost thirty years, how could they not know that? The Empire is big but news travels fast."

"Could they think that we're hiding something? Hoarding Viridine for ourselves? Building an arsenal?"

"Sometimes I forget you were nothing but a babe in the Old Times, my Lady. The old emperor checked thoroughly every inch of our duchy, worried that we were doing exactly that. Everyone knows the truth."

She nodded, deep in thought. "We'll wait for the doctor's report. I'm sure that will give us some hints on where to look."

---

The town's doctor stood in front of her, his hands worrying an already crumpled piece of paper, his beady eyes shooting from one part of the room to the other. 

"Well? Did you find something?" Janice tapped impatiently her foot on the ground, unable to contain her anxiety, the hole in her chest that took her breath away, as if she was falling with no way to stop. The loss of control was unnerving, almost too much to handle. She took a deep breath in, trying to steady herself; she would've solved nothing if she let her emotions get the best of her.

"Yes, my Lady. I have examined the traces of poison I've found on Mr. Jameson's wound and the results are… confusing." The old man licked his lips

"Go on."

"The poison is incredibly powerful, it had to be, to be lethal this fast and in such a small quantity. Not to mention its intense color, a purple so vibrant that could be mistaken for dye, and the texture, so remarkably rare and difficult to obtain. The alchemist would have to boil it for hours on hand, attentively regulating the fire and…"

Oh God. Janice swallowed back her growing irritation.

"Not that I don't find that interesting" She didn't "but could you possibly be more… succinct."

"Oh! Of course, Your Grace. What I was trying to say is that… you won't find this poison here. You could search the entire country, the entire continent even but you wouldn't be able to find something like this."

Janice leaned on her desk, getting closer to the man, his words awakening something deeply unsetting inside of her, like a vice closing on her lungs, making her feel like an animal that had fallen in a trap, betrayed and hurt. She was tired of feeling like this, but it seemed that this day was not going to get much better. Not here. It didn't make sense: if not here then where? What else could possibly be outside of here, outside of the Empire? 

"It's foreign, my Lady. From Utrecht, if you asked me."