Giselle - The Afternoon Was Half Over

The afternoon was half over when a lieutenant of the Tianming Guard stopped Giselle and Magistrate Berge from entering Mr. Woe's townhome. The property was smaller than Lady Wu's Riverside Mansion, but in a better location. Giselle had been to the house several times over the years. Mr. Woe never used it for business, only entertaining.

A high wall separated the street from the mansion's garden courtyard. The residence formed a U-shape around the courtyard and butted up against the wall. Small doors for servants provided access through the wall. Behind the mansion was a more pragmatic courtyard intended to receive and store goods. That courtyard also had an entrance. Giselle expected that entrance to also be blocked by the Tianming Guard.

"Do you know who we are?" she asked.

Humor helped diffuse tense situations.

"Yes," said the lieutenant.

"And you're blocking us anyway?"

"Yes."

"It's true I didn't kill anyone back at the Crown Princess's pad," she said. "But I'm not in a good mood anymore."

"Threatening the Tianming Guard…," said the lieutenant.

"The last person I heard say something like that is dead," said Giselle.

"Enough people have died," said Magistrate Berge. "Lieutenant, think about the situation."

"Thinking gets people killed," said the lieutenant. "I'm following orders."

"That can also get you killed," said Giselle.

"Who ordered you to keep us out?" asked Magistrate Berge.

"I was ordered to keep everyone out."

"By?" asked Giselle.

"Tianming Guard Commander."

"This is a crime scene," said Magistrate Berge. "My officers are responsible for investigating crimes. They cannot do that from the street. You are therefore interfering with a criminal investigation. Being in the Tianming Guard will not protect you from the consequences."

"My orders are clear," said the lieutenant.

"Fine," said Giselle. "I can give clear orders to."

She raised her hand. An agent appeared beside her. The lieutenant and his men reached for their weapons. Magistrate Berge urged calm.

"No one leaves this property without my permission," Giselle told her agent. "Anyone who does, dies. This order includes the underground passages."

Giselle's agent saluted and disappeared.

"Threatening the Guard is a capital offense!" said the lieutenant.

"You're in no immediate danger," said Giselle. "Just don't try to walk down this street. Magistrate Berge, I've seen enough to concur with your assessment. Also, good luck."

After exchanging salutes with Magistrate Berge, Giselle turned and walked away. As far as she knew, Mr. Woe only kept a priceless collection of erotic ceramics at his city house. The real goods would be at the winery. Giselle doubted the Tianming Guard knew about the winery. Otherwise, they would know better than to treat the mansion as precious.

Giselle didn't care if the Tianming Guard tried to steal kinky pottery. Her agents would follow her order, however, and kill anyone trying to leave. That would create an impression Moonlight Chamber also believed the mansion contained secrets. That would buy her extra alone time with the winery.

A guardsman raced past her in a panic.

Giselle paused.

"Lieutenant!" the guardsman cried. "The Crown Princess has killed the Commander!"

Giselle laughed.

"If Tianming Duke gave the order to attack her new house," she said, "she'll kill him, too."

"Special Agent," said Magistrate Berge, "please don't be so provocative."

"Tianming Duke doesn't have anyone who can stop the Goddess of Glaives," said Giselle. "Mr. Woe was up against an even more terrifying foe. He only realized he was going to die when he was already dead. You, me, all of us, are the same pieces on the board we've always been. Those wacky royals, however, have decided to turn over the board. Lieutenant, the one who ordered you here is dead. The one who ordered him to do it will flee to the Emperor for protection. Are the clay pots in this house more important than your chain of succession?"

"Special Agent," said Magistrate Berge, "that's low."

"Leave now and I'll let you out," said Giselle. "Otherwise, you're stuck until I come back for you. It may be a while."

The lieutenant inhaled, and exhaled.

"My orders are to remain here and guard the pots," he said.

"Fair enough," said Giselle. "I don't blame you. I have my own orders, or I would be back on that big rock trying to figure out what the hell is going on."

"Special agent," said Magistrate Berge, "what's going on is not for us to figure out."

"Magistrate," said Giselle, "once again I concur with your assessment."

She jumped into the air, teleported to the shade of a tree in an elegant garden, repeated the process several times, took the shape of a hawk, and flew south out of the city. She came down from the sky some distance from the winery's terraced hill.

Anyone who knew about the winery was dangerous.

Giselle herself was dangerous. She wanted the cover offered by grape trellises and peach orchards. As a cat with flashing steps, she made her way up the hill. She saw no one. The winery's outer buildings were also deserted. Someone had let the horses out of the stables. Only birds and insects made noise. Once at the main buildings, Giselle went high and had a look around. Then she went low.

A few feet into the manor, she saw bodies and blood.

The victims had fallen wherever they had been doing their daily routines. There were no signs of struggle. Certainly, there had been no mercy. Giselle was a killer. Despite that, the Second Consort's ruthlessness shocked her. Yes, these people worked for a murderous organization. Many in that organization regarded violence as always the best option. But the Second Consort stood so far above these people, what could Sorrow Woe Society have done to provoke her?

It was like a tiger being provoked by a mouse.

Why hadn't Alistair sent a communication? The most obvious explanation was that Snowblind Tigress had killed him too. But if what happened to Sorrow Woe was a guide, the Second Consort would have wiped out all of Moonlight Chamber – and Giselle was still alive.

The winery contained more ostentatious treasures than Mr. Woe's townhome. Other than the horses, however, nothing valuable appeared to have gone missing. That was a good sign that whatever had been here remained for Giselle to find. A few people probably came into the mansion looking for loot. To such a person, there would have been no way to know that the killer wasn't still around. That would have given them an incentive to get the hell out.

Giselle knew Snowblind Tigress worked fast, so she went in deeper.

She was not familiar with the winery, but was familiar with how Sorrow Woe Society – and sinister organizations in general – hardened locations. The first thing she did was rise to fall. Alistair Sand's lair was at the bottom of a well. To reach it, however, a person had to either use the teleportation array or climb Jade Palace Mound.

Giselle found a ladder behind a false wall in the attic. Descending the ladder as a cloud of dust, she discovered a body impaled by spears halfway down. If he had been an employee of the organization, Snowblind Tigress would have killed him before the spears. He must have provided some service to the winery – and in providing that service, learned just enough to get himself killed.

The ladder emptied into a confined space with murder holes on two sides. The sentries responsible for murdering intruders were dead. The "blind" Second Consort's translocation techniques were something else. Giselle began to explore the villa's bunker. It contained a dozen more bodies. Not counting the sentries, everyone below served in a clerical or administrative role.

At three points in what was almost an equilateral triangle, iron doors opened onto escape tunnels. Until Giselle opened one door to check, all the bolts and locks were in place. No one had tried to enter the mansion through the tunnels – or found the time to flee out through them. After several more passes through the bunker, Giselle identified irregularities in its exquisite wood paneling. Several more passes were required to figure out that one mechanism locked the false wall and another opened it. One mechanism was in each sentry room responsible for murdering intruders.

Beyond the hidden wall was a rectangular cavern full of shelves, scroll cases – and one more body. Figures like the Empress, Snowblind Tigress, and Sword Saint operated on a different level. Giselle noted one more time that the Grand Preceptor put Iba Algi above Sword Saint.

Giselle examined the archives. Everything was coded. It would take years to decipher. Much would be learned that was better left unknown. Giselle left the archive and opened the escape doors. The tunnels beyond were cramped and twisty, but she doubted they were airtight. If they had been, anyone trying to escape would be in serious trouble. Next, she gathered lanterns from the bunker's rooms and emptied their oil on the archive shelves. Finally, she held a stack of papers against an open flame – and tossed it into the oil. 

Sorrow Woe Society had been founded shortly before the end of the Lechun Dynasty.

Soon, it would be truly gone.

Giselle was halfway down one of the escape tunnels, checking cautiously for traps, when her bronze token hummed. It was a call to return to Moonlight Chamber. Finally. The tunnel was not trapped. The entrance was another matter. Simplifying that matter, the sentries were dead. Giselle emerged into the fading sunlight of a warm summer evening. As a hawk, she flew toward Jade Palace Mound. It was no wonder the monolith was sacred to every culture which had ever seen it. At no time did it look more mystical and divine than in the fading sunlight of a warm summer evening.

When she arrived at Moonlight Chamber's well, Giselle walked down the stairs. It was safer than flying. Alistair met her almost all the way to the bottom. They walked back up a couple turns around the well, passed through a hidden door, and stepped into one of the Mounds teleportation arrays.

"Did you call me back because of the Crown Princess?" asked Giselle "Or Second Consort?"

"We have incomplete information," said Alistair, "so the less said, the better. A few hours ago, I would have told you everything was progressing better than expected. The two princes have made incredible progress. All of that has been pushed into the background. If Esmaralde doesn't kill the Rectifying Commandant herself, I'll do it for her."

"The less said," agreed Giselle, "the better."