Crownless Consort-Chapter 35 - : Janes’s Complicity

His eyes, gleaming with anguish, nearly rolled over as he toppled to the ground, spreading puddles of crimson in the doorway of the Lawton family's home.

"Janes!?"

"Oh dear..." Coriel's mother, Marien, exclaimed, "I'll go grab some bandages!"

She disappeared into the back-room of the house, leaving Coriel to kneel beside Janes, shutting the door before tilting his head upwards.

Coriel assessed the state of the man as she pressed her hand against his wounds. There was a large gash on his stomach, another on his face which crossed over his left eye, and a wound in his shoulder. Whatever or whoever had done this to him had clearly sought to finish the job.

"What happened to you, Janes?" Coriel spoke in a calm, serious tone of voice as she began to bind his wounds, spilling blood all over her white shirt.

"Men... three men attacked me..." Janes winced, letting out a pained groan. "Sorry, I shouldn't have come to you..."

"No, no, it's fine, Janes. We'll fix you up."

He was attacked? Did they intend to rob him? Why would thieves come to a village like Selsch? There's nothing of value here...

"There is no fixing this up, Coriel." Janes retorted, the last of his wit displayed. "I came to tell you of your husband..."

Marien suddenly arrived, clutching an armful of bandages. She handed the bandages to Coriel, using her own hands to press cloths against Janes's injuries.

"What about her husband?" Marien crooned beside them as she lifted the cloth to check the state of his wounds, frowning.

She tore away a strip of the bandage with her teeth, she had already exhausted her Spirit Bond and could not maintain control over her prosthesis.

"We took their bribes, Coriel..." Janes sputtered, crimson spilling down his chin.

"The men who attacked you?" She responded absently as she set to focus on bandaging his wounds.

Janes nodded weakly.

"Elien was killed, Coriel..." Janes grimaced. "Not by wolves, by men..."

"What...? What are you talking about...?"

Coriel's eyes widened. Her heart plunged into her stomach, and the world around her grew dark, like static had begun to invade her mind.

She grasped his collar with her free hand, causing him to let out a pained yelp, grasping at his wounds.

"Coriel! Put him down!" Marien exclaimed, reaching out to grasp her daughter's arm.

But her words cut through the tension of the room.

"You told me that his death was an accident! Now you tell me it was the fault of these men who attacked you!? What is the truth...?"

It felt like the somber mood had shattered. Her anger burnt harsher than the gashes on his flesh.

Marien took to replenishing a calm state.

"Why did the men attack you, dearest Janes? What did you do to offend them? Were they the same men that attacked my daughter's husband?"

Janes looked at Marien thankfully, letting out a staggered sigh.

"Elien... me and him... we took a bribe... they just wanted us to hand out papers wherever we went... seditious things, I remember... he had wanted to buy you a home... he thought it was the only way he could secure enough money..."

Janes suddenly keeled over, emptying what little remained in his stomach onto the shoddy carpet below. His wounds were getting to him.

Coriel and her mother exchanged looks.

It was clear that bandages weren't enough for Janes. Nothing was, his wounds were too severe.

"Who did you take a bribe from, Janes?"

His eyes were glossy, almost hollow.

He replied weakly, "Our... connection... his name- it was Mayhew... he knows the truth of it. We were just... footmen... but he worked for someone more powerful, I could tell... we've been... silenced..."

Janes coughed, spilling crimson onto the ground. He cried out with each fit, the pain immeasurable.

"I thought if I took you in, it might bring you safety... but I was wrong... they'll come after you too..."

"Why did you burden me with this, then!?" Coriel's gaze fluttered with sparks of anger.

"So you can get your mother to safety..." he grasped at the sleeve of her shirt, cursing through gritted teeth.

Janes gestured for Coriel to come close, whispering in her ear as soon as she had complied.

Her gaze shook.

The words echoed through her mind.

'The words he had cried out when he died, it was your name...'

When Coriel looked back towards Janes, he had gone. His body, it remained, but he was no longer there. His last words were different from Elien's. He didn't have a wife's name to echo, he didn't have any parents or siblings, Coriel was his only surviving friend.

'I don't want to die...'

That was what would be burned into her mind from that moment forward, of a pitiful man who had begged to live, when she had no means to grant his wish...

This man, she had known him nearly all of her life. They had grown up together, alongside Elien. Janes hadn't been a particularly forward individual, he had never had any dreams he wanted to strive for. He wasn't like Elien, who was motivated to achieve what he desired at all costs. And for that, Elien had offered him a place at his side, if only so his friend could continue to live.

They had traveled together often, making their way to various regions throughout the Blackbaast. Many months would go by in between Elien's escapades, and so Coriel had continued to live in her parent's home as she helped them tend to the many menial things they dealt with on a day-to-day basis.

It was a peaceful enough life. She didn't want for more. It was clear that Elien did, and so he used dangerous means to achieve that. And as a result, he had gotten Janes, who had never striven for anything at all killed, when he had only ever wanted to live.

But what was this situation she had been presented with? Janes and Elien had been involved in some conspiracy? If it was sedition they had been spreading in exchange for a bribe, then could it have been the Hunt that attacked them? But while the Hunt was often violent, they rarely ever killed those involved in sedition towards the Crown. Especially in recent days, due to the acts of law put in place by the Witch-King, it made it harder for them to use such force against offenders.

So who could have attacked Elien and Janes?

Coriel felt her lip quiver, so she bit it down to suppress it. But then tears began to well up in her eyes, and she felt her throat choke up, and she had no further means to hold herself back from grief.

He came here to warn us, didn't he...? We should leave soon...

Coriel stood up from beside Janes's body, Marien alongside her, who reached out to hug her daughter, but was refused.

"No... I'm going to step outside, mother. I need to... dig a hole... for Janes. He doesn't have anyone else willing to do it for him."

"My dear... I'll help you! You've already exhausted yourself!"

Coriel shook her head. "You should start packing. It's clear that we're in danger. We'll head towards father in the Capital. I'm sure we'll be safer at his side. I have enough strength left in my Bond, so I'll use that to dig the hole."

Marien's eyes softened. "You've grown up far too much..."

Coriel let out a wry chuckle, smiling weakly. It felt like all of her emotions had been stifled, and she could barely conjure a laugh. "Isn't that the point of aging?"

Without a reply, Coriel grabbed a shovel from beside the shelf of tools at the edge of the room, opening the front door to their home.

A storm had gathered over the village of Selsch. The winds rattled the wood-plank paneling outside, bearing down on the stone brick foundation of their house, and lightning clashed with the gleaming crystals of the cavern ceiling, bouncing in between the surface and the sky as if the bolts couldn't bear to settle.

Rain poured in droves, creating mud underneath her feet as she struggled towards the garden. The wind had torn up many of the plants she had worked so hard to cultivate, but that wasn't the reason for the warm tears that had begun to trickle down her cheeks, sobbing as she fell against the outer wall of their home.

What kind of world view had she been consoling herself with up to that point? Because Janes had labeled her husband's death an accident, she was content with the fact that she had been robbed of her life by Destiny. Nothing could escape such a thing, it was inevitable. She could at least control the path her life took, but that destination would always arrive - she had lived a happy, peaceful life with Elien, and he had died. That was just how it was.

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But now she had been told otherwise, that Elien had been killed on purpose, as a footnote in a grand conspiracy.

And she felt that she had been ruined.