Helka brought the goblet to her nose and inhaled sharply. She made a face and turned to Viggo. “What kind of wine is this?”
“Answer Lady Isa’s question,” Viggo said coldly.
“If I’m not mistaken, this particular age of wine is best served chilled and with sharp cheddar cheese cubes,” Helka said, having the gall to be offended. “How dare you serve it otherwise?”
“It was chilled a moment ago,” Viggo practically growled. “You weren’t interested in it then. Why now?”
She spoke as if trying to communicate with a child. “Because I’m thirsty.”
Viggo marched across the small interrogation room to the door. He yanked it open and stuck his head out. “Someone send for ice for Lady Helka’s wine!”
The woman gasped and twisted around in her seat. “You can’t put ice in wine. It ruins the flavor.”
“You’re a traitor!” Viggo said, leveling a scalding look her way. “You deserve to sleep in a mold- and rat-infested cell for a few nights before being executed. You don’t deserve good wine. The only reason I provided the goblet you currently hold is because Lady Isa asked me to.”
A lie, of course, but it made me seem more sympathetic to her situation. That might help us later.
Helka slowly turned back in her seat to look at me. There was suspicion and pride in her eyes and the set of her mouth.
I shrugged. “You bore a king’s children. Despite the evidence against you, I thought you should be treated with some courtesy.”
“Thank you,” Helka said with a pointed look over her shoulder. “It’s so nice to hear that at least one person in this room hasn’t forgotten who I am.” She raised the goblet as if toasting to me and then drank.
Finally.
Viggo marched back to his seat. “Would you mind terribly if we returned to our questioning?”
Helka returned the goblet to the table. “I mind very much, but I doubt that will stop you.”
I leaned forward. “What do you know about the group of Dotharr’s anointed who have been trying to kill Torvald?”
“I know enough.” Helka’s eyes widened. She snapped her jaw shut, horror and confusion changing her once-proud face.
Viggo grinned. “Who leads them?”
Helka wrestled against her mouth’s desire to continue speaking. “Tat… su… o.”
“King Tatsuo is sending assassins after Torvald from beyond the grave?” he asked with a snort.
“Tatsuo… still… alive.” Helka was sweating profusely from the effort to stop speaking, but as long as we continued asking questions, she was strongly compelled to answer.
“Still alive,” Viggo and I chorused. “How?”
“Out of… respect… execution… made… private,” Helka said, words garbled. “Only king… executioner… eight guards blessed by… Dotharr… present. I persuaded counselors to… let me watch… helped Tatsuo escape.”
“Don’t fight the serum, Lady Helka. You’re going to hurt yourself,” I said impatiently. “How did he escape?”
Helka exhaled before her words spilled out. “The execution was arranged to happen in an older market square in the southern section of the island. The area was evacuated the night before. The guards ran a sweep through the neighborhood to make sure it was abandoned, then set up a perimeter around the square. It was a hot day. I brought poisoned refreshments for them. Tatsuo was brought into the square by the executioner, who was accompanied by three other men.”
She took a deep breath and continued. “I pretended to be overwhelmed and left before they could secure Tatsuo to the chopping block. I had to think fast. I hadn’t planned for three additional men. So I started a fire.” Helka wrung her hands. “I-I didn’t realize that the materials used to make buildings in the southern section were so… cheap. The entire neighborhood went up in flames like a bale of hay in the summer.
“When I returned to the square, there were fallen beams and flaming vendors’ booths and the burnt bodies of the guards littered about. I couldn’t find Tatsuo. I searched for an hour, but he was gone. I supposed he had used the distraction to free himself and surprise the men who hadn’t been poisoned. He could overpower them if he wasn’t bound in chains anymore. I dosed myself in ashes and ran for help, knowing I couldn’t be blamed if I were the only eyewitness.”
“You should have been questioned,” Viggo muttered. “Those circumstances would have sounded awfully suspicious to me.”
Helka shook her head. “I told the authorities the fire was started by one of the southern section inhabitants, a drunk who wanted to see the king die. I was just lucky to be alive.”
How long did they search for this false culprit before they gave up? I wondered. How gullible did Master Philo have to be to believe such a tale?
But it had come from Lady Helka. She was respected on the hill and she had never lied before. Why would she lie about what happened at the square? She was an excellent actress; she had been fooling everyone for years. She must have outperformed herself that day, ranting and crying and being entirely inconsolable.
I glanced at our scribes. “Are you following along?”
They nodded and continued scribbling on their parchment.
“What happened next?” I asked Helka.
She shrugged. “Nothing for many years. His body was never found. There was a glimmer of hope that he had escaped, but I couldn’t know for sure. It drove me mad. Then, about five years ago, I received a letter from Tatsuo. He was alive and well, and he had a plan to avenge himself. He needed my help. I agreed to do whatever he asked, but I had to see him first. He asked me to meet him on the beach near Sippa’s School of Arts. He was changed and horribly disfigured, but very much alive.”
Helka sniffled, eyes downcast in shame. “He thanked me for all my efforts to stop his execution, and told me how he had survived on his own in the southern section of the island until the time had come to strike back. He told me about the secret panel in the wall around the royal hill. He told me about the company that crafted metal sheets similar to the ones used to make guard documentation plaques. He told me how to create false plaques. Then he told me to wait for his message. He promised he would send a helper to protect me in case I was ever discovered.”
“Lennart,” I assumed.
Helka nodded. “Lennart was an excellent liar and thief. He stole the records of Tatsuo’s impeachment and execution, intimidated the counselors who hadn’t been directly involved in Tatsuo’s demise, and fed Torvald lies about the goings-on here at the hill. No one suspected him. Then he gave me a message; it was time to begin crafting plaques.”
“You just let the events unfold,” Viggo said, voice tinted with disgust. “Not only did you help the assassins get rid of the counselors who had dared stand up to that tyrant of a king, but you let Lennart try to kill Torvald.”
“Torvald was never the target,” Helka miserably admitted. “Getting revenge on the counselors was Tatsuo’s main priority. He assumed Lady Isa would blame the king for what happened in Kenshore—”
I stiffened.
“—and kill Torvald. If she didn’t, he would force her to when the time was right.”
“Wait,” Viggo murmured but Helka continued.
“Tatsuo would then reveal to Holger that he was still alive and, with new counselors instated who supported him, he would be voted back into his former position as king.” She wearily waved a hand at me. “Lady Isa proved to be too good of a bodyguard, maybe even a friend, to the king. So Tatsuo decided to send men he had personally trained to get rid of Torvald. Unfortunately, you and Master Viggo caught onto this and began questioning all the hilltop residents. Tatsuo was forced to wait until your investigation became dry and your suspicions were laid to rest before he could act again.”