Owin #58 — Leaving his own mark

Gwen helped Owin wrap the deep cut in his left arm. Now that the immediate threat had passed, the pain had grown. What I wouldn’t give for a priest I could trust. Owin knew he would need to get some help for the injury or risk a serious infection

Knowing that healing would have to wait and wishing for it now was just a waste of precious time, once the last of the cloth was wrapped tightly around his forearm, he patted Gwen’s shoulder. “I know of at least one bit of planted evidence, we need to search for more as well as leave want Denton’s men placed in our room.”

“Do you think that will be enough?” Gwen asked, still a bit subdued. “Just that one note?”

Owin grabbed Urel’s lamp from the floor and brought it over to the assassin’s body. Owin quickly searched through the dead man’s clothing and pouches. He found a handful of coins, but nothing that would provide evidence the man was working for anyone in particular.

Owin stood up and had to fight some dizziness. After a moment, he stabilized himself. “Once we are done here, we need to get our story of events out before that man…Gib was his name…puts out a different version of events.” Owin headed for the stairs as he slipped the extra coins into his pouch. “I’m formulating an idea. Tell me what you think.”

“Sure,” Gwen said, quickly climbing up the stair behind him.

“Gib and Tommy were hired by Urel. They were not certain what they were hired for, but Gib and Tommy learned that Urel was working for Duke Ravigar and planned to kill the ambassador. Gib and Tommy didn’t like being deceived, so they tried to get out of the arrangement, but Urel couldn’t let anyone know the plan.” Owin tried to ignore the throbbing of his arm as he stepped onto the third floor. He looked down the hall. I need to get the rope pulled up.

Owin looked back at Gwen and motioned for her to follow him into the room with Tommy’s body. “So, Urel fought Tommy and killed him, taking an injury in the process. Urel then pursued Gib down the stairs, but Gib got a lucky strike and managed to severely wound and then kill Urel.”

“Do you think people will believe that?” Gwen asked, keeping her eyes away from the body on the floor.

Owin nodded his head. “If we can get the message out before anyone else can come up with a different explanation, people will accept it because it answers questions. Plus, Gib is not likely to challenge the story if he hears our version before he can tell anyone his.” Owin knelt and started going through Tommy’s clothes. The large man did not have anything on him.

“Gwen, go through the room, look for anything that would indicate Duchess Emilia was involved. I’ll check the other room and take care of the rope.”

Owin left Gwen in Gib’s and Tommy’s room because he expected there was only a slight chance anything in here would be booby-trapped. Urel’s room could potentially have some traps, though Owin expected there would be nothing there either. Urel wants people to search the building and find the evidence easily, not kill those looking for the proof.

Owin cursed the cut on his arm as we went to the window in what he assumed to be Urel room. He quickly pulled the rope up from the street and dropped the end onto the floor. Pulling out his dagger, he climbed back into the window and gritting from the pain, using his left arm to hold himself steady, he held the rope taunt with his teeth as he reach as high as he could to saw at the rope with his dagger. He knew he could not free the rope from the chimney, but he could make it so those inside the building would not see it.

The effort to cut the rope caused his arm to start bleeding again, but he managed to severe the rope and get back into the building without falling to the ground. Damn, he swore, angry with himself that Urel had managed to strike a blow. The man was good, Owin admitted. However, he knew the wound would hamper him for days.

“Owin,” Gwen said, coming into the room. “I found a tunic with Duchess Emilia’s coat of arms.” She held the cloth out to him. “It was stuffed behind one of the beds.”

“Okay. We need to search this room as well, but be careful.” Owin went to the desk as she dug through the bed. He found a handful of paper with notes. Several pages showed the plans for the assassination. Owin would never have written down such an outline of events unless he wanted it discovered.

As he flipped through the scraps of paper he found what he expected. “I think this is the bulk of what Urel planted.” He cleared his throat. “It starts as instructions from someone named Gemarli, who I am sure is one of Emilia’s people, to use Tommy and Gib, two soldiers in Emilia’s house, to kill the ambassador. It goes on to detail a rough plan for how the assassination should be handled.” Owin took the document Denton’s men had planted in their room and used it to replace the one Urel had planted.

“Okay, you ready?” He asked.

Gwen nodded her head and smiled. “I found some more money.” She held up a small leather bag. “There is quite a bit here.”

Owin returned her smiled. “I’ve got to grab a couple of practice swords, then we need to get out of here. We’ve made some noise and it is getting late in the morning. Then I want you to give our story to the Steward and tell him where to find this place. Then we stop by Tam’s house and hit the road out of town.”

Gwen nodded her head. “Good, I’m ready to be done with this city.”

Continue to next episode.