Murder in Cormyr - Chet Williamson [81]
He turned left on the path that ringed the mere, and I followed him toward Fastred's tomb.
"The path led directly to the mound," he said, "and I hid behind it, hoping against hope that my pursuer just happened to be going to the same place as I. Miraculously, such was the case. It was Grodoveth, as I saw from the brush where I was concealed. I had no choice but to lie down, and I'm afraid I got my cloak rather muddy."
"So that was it," I said, remembering the last laundry I had washed. "It didn't get muddy from just rubbing against Lindavar's clothes."
"No, and my apologies for making you work so hard at your washing. Grodoveth grinned when he saw the mound, and at first I was afraid he was grinning at me, prior to playing bobbing for wizards in the quicksand. But he didn't even know I was there. He fumbled about on top of the mound for a moment. I heard the click of a long-hidden latch and saw him opening a trapdoor buried by thick layers of moss and swamp slime. Then he descended the stairs into the tomb. Ah, and speak of the wicked, here it is."
The mound was there, sodden with the rain. The trapdoor on top was still open, just as we had left it, and I wondered if any creatures had descended to try and make a feast on Fastred's dry corpse within. Remembering the bare bones, I knew they would find slim pickings, unless they had remained to await the advent of a corpulent wizard and his servant.
'There is where I hid," said Benelaius, pointing to a large, low, needle-leafed bush. "In a moment, I heard noises. There was a sharp, singing sound, then a clatter of something, but no voices, not even a groan. After waiting a bit longer and hearing only silence, I decided to investigate. At the bottom of the stairs I found Grodoveth in the same bisected condition in which you saw him later that morning, the axe precisely where you found it." He gestured downward. "Come, let us revisit the scene."
"Are you sure it's safe?" I asked him.
"No one would go down there without a light," Benelaius said, "and it seems quite dark."
"I wasn't necessarily thinking about humans," I said.
Benelaius only laughed and lit one of the lanterns, while I lit the other. Then he began to walk down the slippery, moss-covered steps. I followed.
36
At the bottom were two dried areas of blood, the larger one where Grodoveth's body had fallen, and the smaller one where his head and shoulder had lain. A passageway led into the dark room where Fastred's bones sat upright.
'There lay the body, there lay the axe, and there"-he pointed at the passageway-"was darkness. I entered that room, and found only the body of Fastred, with a small box at his feet. There was no one else. No possible killer."
"Not Tobald."
"No. But what I saw, and what you might have seen, told me that the same person had killed both Dovo and Grodoveth. Look, Jasper, and observe."
Frustrated beyond words, I did as he asked, and covered the floor even more carefully than I had before. "Cold…" he muttered. "Colder… a bit warmer… warmer…"
"Master, there is nothing on the floor!" I blurted out.
"Then look up, Jasper. Behold what is right before your eyes."
I examined the wall, and my attention was once again captured by what I had taken to be a line of striation in the rock. Since it was the only thing I saw on the wall, I touched it and discovered that what I had thought a thin layer of rock was actually damp clay. "Very hot now," said Benelaius as I dug the clay away from the rock.
When I had finished, I had discovered a concealed trap. It was horizontal, an inch high, two feet deep, and five feet long. When I held my lantern to one end, I could make out a heavy metal spring that pointed toward me.
"There's more to it than it appears," said Benelaius. "A rather clever contraption for being five hundred years old. And it did what it was set to do. It killed the first intruder to enter Fastred's tomb."
"But… but I thought you said the same person who killed Dovo killed