Chapter Five

  Part Two

  They were across the river that passed through the city, walking through wider streets. Ahead of them was a crowd of people, all surrounding an entrance to a side alley. City guards, with a mix of royal guards stood keeping the people at bay. Also standing, behind the guards was the familiar red coat of Prince Vax’dian. Of course where there was a Prince stood his personal guard, Hyde was also present.

  Ali forced a way through the crowd, with Line close behind her. When they got to the row of guards, Ali flashed her monastery token. The guards glanced at each other, unwilling to move.

  “Let them in” it was Prince Vax’dian.

  The guards separated, letting them through and immediately closed the gap they had created to stop others from getting past.

  “what happened?” Line asked.

  “Through there” Vax’dian gestured further down the side alley.

  Not that far down, Line was taken aback by what she saw. She hesitated slightly before moving closer to inspect. Lying on the ground was a dismembered body, blood soaked the ground around it and the smell of iron and early decay hung in the air. Covering the head was a beige potato sack, and on it was a smiley face scrawled out in blood.

  She glanced back at Vax’dian, who had a grim look on his face. Ali meanwhile wasn’t even looking, her back was turned away from them. But Hyde seemed to be indifferent to the gruesome scene in front of him.

  Line knelt down by the parts, careful not to step on any blood or disturb the scene. The first thing she looked at were the cuts themselves, they were made expertly, and with considerable force. Only someone like a butcher could make such perfect cuts. The body was male, that was easy to know since the clothes that the body should be wearing were folded neatly to the side. Another reason, was the fact that even the body’s privates were cut.

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  She doubted she would ever forget this scene “do we know who he is yet?”

  “no. We haven’t taken off the sack yet” Vax’dian answered.

  “what about missing person reports?”

  “There have been a few. But given how fresh this body is, none of them matches”

  Line stood turning to leave, but something caught her eye. A small stack of books were also placed to the side. Sticking out from one of the books was a receipt for the books themselves. She took in the titles of each of them, this man seemed to be a scholar of some sort.

  “who found the body?”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vax’dian gesture over to a woman being guarded by two guards. Line stood and moved on over to the woman. Her clothes were shabby and rough looking, and her messy brown hair was tied haphazardly. Line also noticed that her fingers carried rough looking burn scars.

  “you found the body?”

  The woman nodded.

  “what time?”

  “It was very early this morning, I’m not sure”

  “What's your name?”

  “Adel Tilley”

  “Miss Tilley. What reason did you have for being in this part of the city?”

  Tilley smiled “I was just passing through. If I cut through here, it saves me time delivering produce”

  “on your own?”

  She nodded “my cart’s over there” she pointed across the street to a shabby looking cart “it’s empty right now, I’ve already delivered everything. So I was making my way back home”

  “you’re a farmer?” after knowing Adel Tilley’s name, Line could recite everything from the public records about her.

  Tilley nodded “yes”

  “do you do this every morning?”

  “I only do this once a week, saves me the trouble”

  “did you see anything else that was strange this morning?”

  “Apart from the body? No I didn’t”

  “I see. Well, thank you for your time. If I need anything else, I’ll find you at that farm of yours”

  “you don’t even know the name”

  “I don’t need it. I have your name”

  Line made her way back to the others “have the body taken back to the morgue, get the doctor to look it over”

  Vax’dian gave a nod “what will you do?”

  “book shopping”