“Forgive us your grace, but I don’t know how we can fit this through the door” Pleaded the servant. Both he and his two colleges had been here for nearly half an hour. They had been tasked by Duncan to try and move his desk from the head advisors chambers into his new bedroom, without any success. It was currently stuck at a diagonal angle in the wooden door frame.

“If they were able to get it in here then it must be possible to take it out” Duncan said, it was clear that he was frustrated with the whole ordeal “take it apart if you must”. Begrudgingly, the servants once again lifted the desk back into the room and set about taking it apart. Normally Duncan wouldn’t bother with such a trivial task, but the desk was important to him; it had been a gift from Isabel when he first arrived in Nyhem and even after all this time he had never replaced it. As Duncan watched the servants try to disassemble he failed to notice that Patrick was currently stood outside the door.

“Having trouble brother” He said. His voice startled the servants who immediately stopped what they were doing 
“Nothing of importance” Duncan relied glumly. “May I inquire why you are here?”

“I have come to bid farewell” Patrick said as he slowly paced into the room “As you already knew I was not staying here for long and I need to get back to Cawanor”.

“Leaving so soon?” Duncan said, clearly surprised by the sudden announcement of his brother’s departure “I knew your stay here was brief but you only arrived here a week ago” he continued as he motioned to the servants to leave.  Patrick waited for the servants to exist the room before he responded

“War waits for no one, and Cawanor is currently leaderless” Patrick said, his demeanour had changed slightly now that the servants had left, though he was still stern, he was somewhat more laidback than usual. “I need to be there in case house Sutharlan decides to invade from the south. Besides I am far more use to you down there than I am up here”. 

“I suppose you are right, though it will be a shame to see you go. Your visits are too few” Duncan said as he sat down in a chair next to the unlit fireplace. 

“I apologise brother” Patrick replied as he sat down in the chair opposite “I hoped I would at least be able to stay for your coronation”

“It’s hardly your fault. You have a kingdom to rule, besides you never seem comfortable here in Nyhem anyway” Duncan smiled

“Too many schemers and backstabbers for my liking” Patrick paused for a moment “Of course who are we to criticise, we did turn on the king we swore to protect and put his vassals to the sword” Patrick said humorously. Duncan smiled in response

“It is funny how people call us traitors despite the fact they would have done the same in a heartbeat. After all, not many of Heylot’s supporters remained loyal once they realised they were on the losing side”. Duncan sighed. There was a brief silence before Patrick decided to change the conversation, he briefly looked round to make sure they were alone; the servants had shut the door behind them and anyone trying to eavesdrop would have a hard time listening through the thick wooden door. Even so Patrick lowered his voice to make certain.

“Have you found out what caused the death of King John yet”? Patrick said sternly. Duncan was slightly surprised by the sudden shift in tone of the conversation.

“I had the alchemists’ guild take a look at the body, according to them there were no signs to indicate it was murder, it appears that he died from natural causes” Duncan whispered

“Is that what you believe?”

“No” Duncan said bluntly “It was simply too sudden. He was far too young for it to be old age and he showed no signs of ill health. I spoke to him hours before he was found dead and there was nothing out of the ordinary. He was killed, no question about it, the real question is how and who by. I currently have my spies looking into possible ways in which the assassin could have killed him and yet leave no trace. As for whom I am still unsure, John had very little enemies, at least none that would have taken the risk in trying to kill him, and I don’t see who could have benefited from his death”.

“Perhaps it was Andrew Manshrew; he was very quick to secure the throne for himself” Patrick suggested

“Unfortunately not, as much as I dislike the man he is too ‘honourable’, though I haven’t ruled him out as a possibility. Giles Blackwell is another possibility; from what I hear his niece is a skilled spy and assassin, meaning he would have the means to do so” Duncan let out a sigh before continuing “truth be told I have no idea as of yet, I will let you know if I find anything worthwhile”.

“Very good” said Patrick as he stood up from his chair “I must not delay any longer I must leave for Cawanor” Duncan had stood up almost simultaneously 

“I understand brother, have you already said farewell to Isabel?”

“Yes I have. She seems to have adjusted quite well to her new position, all the same keep an eye on her; we don’t want a repeat of what happened down in the slums”. Duncan nodded in agreement as they both walked out of the room.