Valen retreated back to the palace and noticed that trail were first paws and then feet. Truly her suspicious were right, a wolf did this but how did they gain entrance.
Valen went straight to the healer's wing, they were already checking the body for the cause of death.
"How long do you think he has been dead for?" Valen said softly.
"Judging by the scent of the flower used, around twelve hours," the healer in charge said quietly still taking notes of everything.
Valen stared at the rogue body once more and noticed something quite different, there were no marks of restraint.
"It seems it was a suicide attempt," Valen said out loud causing the healers to look at her.
"I highly doubt that, it's pure murder, someone purposely feed him the toxin and since it has a sweet scent and taste, no one would notice."
Another healing spoke calmly but Valen shook her head and walked quietly to the body, "if truly it was murder, there would at least be forceful signs on his body."
Valen pointed to the places he was chained up, "look...here...here...and here, signs of him being chained up previously, the only place that is quite different is his neck that shows he tried strangling himself before."
"Actually that was from the king yesterday..." another whispered in fear that someone might hear him.
Valen nodded, "see...apart from that, the only bruises were externally bruises that were gotten from when he was originally captured and now he is regarded a rogue but there are no previous wounds or scars on his body meaning there is more to this case."
The healers started whispering amongst themselves, "but...we still have to rule this as a murder case."
"Yes...it's a murder case, someone killed him before we got to the know the truth but he took the poison willingly," Valen used a stick to raise his hand, "when I entered the cave, his hands smelt flowery a lot and I presume he must held the flower himself so the question is who came into the cave?"
The healers are completely stunned by her intelligence and how quick she was fast to give out what might have occurred.
"Valen, we have heard all what you said but it is still our job to investigate properly before handing out the cause to the king," the older healer finally spoke.
Valen nodded calmly but it didn't sit well with her, "I'll take my leave now," she turned and finally left making her way to the King's chambers.
She knocked slightly on the king chamber's, and walked in gently. "Your Majesty..." she bowed.
King Kaelvryn took a small look at her and returned to sipping his wine, "I heard the rogue is dead, seems they are now one step ahead of us."
Valen let out a deep breath, "your Majesty, the presumed rogue doesn't look a rogue."
King Kaelvryn stopped drinking mid air slightly turning his face to face Valen, "what exactly do you mean?"
"I saw his body properly at the healer's wing and saw only the bruises that were inflicted when he was captured earlier, aside that it looked more like a suicide than a murder case but the poison he took was definitely given to him when he was in the dungeon."
King Kaelvryn dropped his chalice on the table and faced Valen completely, "so what you're trying to say is that he was paid to assassinate me and in case he fails, he dies to keep shut."
"That's about it your Majesty," Valen replied calmly.
King Kaelvryn laughed softly, "this just seems to get more interesting, so how do you suppose he got the poison that he used to kill himself."
"Someone brought it for him, a wolf per say but he didn't come from the outside but the inside and that caused my confusion because of the..."
"He isn't a wolf but a shape shifter," King Kaelvryn suddenly spoke.
Shape shifters?
They were close to excitinction, Valen curiosity now reached its peak and wondered how shape shifters found its way to this side and the wolf that died, was it also a shape shifter?
Valen was about to talk when he heard the door knock, "your Majesty, we have information from the healer's wing concerning the dead rogue."
Valen went and got the scroll from the guard who stood outside, she passed it to the king, he opened it then let out a scoff the moment his eyes met the content.
"Apparently the healers say that the rogue did commit suicide but they can't affirm what poison he took since the content are quite unfamiliar to what they practice..." he closed the scroll, "in simple terms, they want me to not dig further in the case."
"But..."
King Kaelvryn raised his hand to stop her from saying anything, taking the chalice from the table, "to their eyes, the case will not be looked into but remember that you are my eyes, ears and mouth."
Valen nodded and turned to leave but stopped in her tracks when she recalled something, "your Majesty... I overheard some of the councilmen discussing why they should be careful so that nothing would go wrong unfortunately I could not get a clear look at their faces."
King Kaelvryn nodded, "keep investigating so I can get this off my skin."
Valen bowed and left, the moment she closed the door, she couldn't stop thinking about many things.
Shape shifters?
The council trying to take down their own king.
What exactly doesn't she know in this palace that she is in now?
As she walked through the halls, a guard stopped her, his breathing ragged like he had been running and looking for someone.
"Valen..." the guard tried to catching his breath.
"Is there anything wrong?" She asked calmly.
The guard shook his head and stretched out a letter from his armor, "a letter for you from your family."
Valen collected and stared at it for a while then nodded, "thank you."
She went straight to her own chambers and looked carefully before closing the door, she opened the letter, it was from her father.
"Dear Valen, I really don't know why you decided to do this, you are putting yourself in danger but since I can't talk you out of it, I just want to remind to be extremely careful when doing anything there, your new king is rumored to be a blood hungry monster and I really want you to trend with caution. Your mother fears for you and misses you terribly, please be safe and act carefully.
Love, father."
A tear drop fell from her eye, for a second she wished that she never came but she had already accepted her fate.
She wrote a reply back being careful with each word in case it ever get intercepted, as she came out from her chambers to find the messenger guard, she bumped into Lord Valor.
The letter fell to the floor but she was quick to pick it up and bowed in apology, "I apologize for my clumsiness, Lord Valor."
Lord Valor gazed deeply into her eyes, like he was trying to interrogate her with his eyes but found nothing then without a word, he left brushing past her. She breathed out calmly and found the messenger guard, "please I put this in your care."
The guard nodded and left, there was something completely odd about Lord Valor but she couldn't place her fingers on.
As she made her way back to the King's chamber, she heard a loud horn sound...a distinguished guest had arrived but who?