Now that I am finally awake and fully aware I can attempt to move my new body and find out if Adrian or father as I must now think of him has also been poisoned. Whether or not he was I will at least have to try and find out who poisoned my sleeping draft and why. The purser from whom I purchased them is the obvious answer but I don't know where he got them from or anything about him.
Well, first things first, can I move this new body of mine or not. No before that what do I look like, how closely do I resemble a human from earth. Best wait until I come across a mirror, they are bound to exist here, thou not necessarily aboard this ship.
According to the information I was given the inhabitants of the Nostrum Continent or the Nostians as they are called closely resemble Humans, at least externally only with slightly different ears and ridges on the nose.
I think I'll try to wiggle my toes first. Well, that worked, now to get out of bed and move about, no wait what am I wearing.
Do they even have trousers, yes thanks be, outside the field of battle or the training field I don't have to wear anything I am not already familiar with.
Well getting dressed wasn't too hard, fathers cabin is to the right of mine, now should I bring a weapon with me. Silly me its best if I'm always carrying some kind of weapon wherever I go. Darian always had a dagger under a pillow wherever he is and so should I. There it is and if necessary like Darian I now know how to use it, not that he ever had to.
Both his and his father's servants were suffering from severe seasickness and were thus not able to look after then. This also meant he wasn't interrupted as he entered his father's cabin and found what he had feared. His father was lying dead on his bed, he had ended his days coughing up blood and shitting himself, what an undignified way to go.
Now should I head to the purser's cabin to see if he's about or get a hold of the captain of my father's guard, I suppose he's mine now, to fetch him for me. I'll have a quick peck at the purser's cabin and office on my way to find the guard captain.
There was no sign of life in the purser's cabin cum office and thus he quickly went to the guard captains cabin and woke him up. Luca Arndt had served the Leye family in one position or another ever since Gilbert Leye had hired him as a caravan guard twenty-five years ag. He had been Darian's bodyguard for a while during the recent unpleasantness and he trusted him completely.
"Luca my father is dead looks like his seasickness draft was poisoned. I think my sleeping draft was poisoned to but luckily I accidentally dropped it during the rough seas we've experienced these last few hours before I had drunk that much of it.
I got them both from the purser, lock this ship down, find the captain and purser and bring them to me, I should be either in my fathers or the purser's cabin. While you do that have any of your men that are up to it round everyone else up. Weather permitting move them up on deck so you can conduct a top to bottom search of the ship."
"I will see to it m'lord."
"Wait, while you're at it see if you can find someone to prepare the body."
Giving the Guard captain privacy to get dressed he hurried back to his father's cabin to secure his possessions. The decoy document case that contained a fake title of ennoblement and the grant of the Barony of Yasia to his father had vanished but the real one was untouched as far as he could ascertain.
He also found his fathers will which he had a quick look at, it bore no surprises other than a small bequest to someone he had never heard of. It had been drawn up after his ennoblement and he had left the barony to Darian as his heir plus his remaining shares in the family business. His sister and youngest brother were also well taken care of, the middle brother had already been given his inheritance.
There shouldn't be any problems with the transfer of the barony to, although the paperwork might take some time due to the distance between the island and the capital. He already had more than enough money to pay the feudal relief for the barony and he didn't foresee any problems retaining his father's retinue or at least those of them he wished to. Dorian's memory pointed out a few of them he didn't quite trust and Aed would have a look at them from his own perspective.e was also able to find his fathers will
With the documents now secure in his possession he checked his father's strongbox and found it more or less as full as he had expected and headed to the purser's cabin but he ran into his guard captain accompanied by the captain of the ship.
"Sir this is the captain of the Pride of the Waves, Jules Lavel, I've made him aware of the situation but the purser has yet to be found. The sea seems to have calmed down so I did as you suggested and sent everyone fit to do so other than the members of the guard on deck. By the way, your father's secretary and Stewart would like to see you as soon as possible and Darian I didn't feel right telling your sister the bad news."
I'll do so myself after talking to the Prides captains, Ruben and Armand can wait, continue the search Luca and bring the purser to me as soon as you find him. He may try and take poison if cornered so be on the lookout for that."
Guard captain Luca went off to continue the search, leaving the ships captain alone with Darian.
"Captain, I don't believe we've met before since you only dealt with my father he's dead and I believe your ship's purser was if not behind it then certainly involved, what can you tell me about him."
"This was only Ricardo Eckhart's second voyage as part of the crew of this ship, he replaced our old purser who retired suddenly a month ago. He was getting old so it didn't completely surprise us and the owner quickly hired Ricardo to replace him."
"Was he any good at his job and can you tell me anything about him?"
"He seemed competent enough, knew his way around ships, got us good prices and was fair in his dealings with everyone. No family to speak off as far as we were aware he did once mention that he was a widower but that was about all."
"Any other new members of the crew?", Darian asked to see if there were any obvious accomplices.
"Everyone else has served at least a year aboard."
"Did he seem friendly with anyone in particular?"
"Not that I noticed."
"Do you mind if I search his cabin?"
"No go ahead but here is my copy of the strongbox key in case you wish to search inside it.", replied the captain as he handed over a key to Darian
"In that case, you can get back to your work, how long until we make port?"
"Well under usual circumstances about eight bells from now, your guards are still letting us sail the ship so as long as that continues it shouldn't slow us down that much."
With the interrogation over the Captain went to do whatever ships captains do and Dorian went to search the purser's cabin cum office. He was unable to locate any personal items of Eckhart's or any correspondences between him and anyone else. Other than that he didn't find all that much out of place, just what you would expect.
When he opened the pursers 'strongbox he found a reasonable amount of coin, the ships ledgers and a few items such as medical drafts and luxury items that could be sold to passengers. From the ledger, he was able to account for all but the poisoned seasickness and sleeping drafts he had sold him which he must have either purchased himself or been given them by whoever had employed him as an assassin.
Just as he was finishing his search of the Cabin he was interrupted by the Guardsman Hervey Malet who informed him that they had yet to find the purser and that none of the ship's boats was missing.
"Tell Captain Arndt to give it another twenty minutes and if he hasn't been found by then everyone can return to their cabins."
He must have gone overboard or been sent overboard, probably by a member of my father retinue. Well, I suppose it could have been anyone aboard this ship, I can no longer truly trust anyone. I won't fall into the trap of only trusting those who are aboard the other ship. There may be more than one group plotting against us after all. The men that have been with my father since before he found out about the assassination plot are less likely to be involved but I can't rule them out.
I suppose I need a good food taster or two, perhaps put a guard on the castle kitchens. What a way to live a life, always looking over your shoulder never knowing who to trust, you could make a nice song or two out of it.
Telling his sister about their father's death was unpleasant, to say the least, she was still crying when he left her. His father's long term secretary Ruben Lange and his new Stewart Armand Wyss were quick to reaffirm their loyalties to the family as were the other officials aboard the ship. No sign of the purser could be found aboard the ship so the search was reluctantly called off and Darian tried to get to sleep without the aid of a sleeping draft.