The Husband Poisoning Society, Chapter Fifty: The Husband Poisoning Society

The Judge looked up me, eyes wide. “I moment ago you were arguing that you were innocent. Where did this come from.”

I didn’t answer. I didn’t dare say anything that might implicate the others. 

Duke Xander nodded. “Very well. If we have a confession, that is sufficient.”

The doors of the hall swung open and Lynn marched in, fists clenched. “They are innocent. I poisoned the duke. Alone. Me. Nobody else.”

The assembled crowd burst into murmurs. I looked at Leon, and saw his eyes widen. Then his face hardened and he nodded. 

Leon took a step past me.  “No. She is covering for me. I killed the duke.”

More gasps from the crowd. 

Fiona stepped forward, “I killed his grace. I acted alone.”

Amy squared her shoulders, “There is no need to protect me. I killed the duke. I alone.”

The crowd burst into a buzz of conversation and activity. Talking and yelling. Muttering and chattering. The noise filled the assembly chamber. 

Vanni sneered and his voice boomed above the clamor. “Execute the lot of them then.”

The judge pounded his gavel. When the room was silent once more, he spoke. “Now then. They can’t all be telling the truth, now can they?”

“They are are not!” I turned to see Ada standing on the top of the gallery. “They seek to protect each other. But truth is that you have gone too far and must be punished. We are the guilty party. We are the Husband Poisoning Society!”

Guards began to rush towards Ada. She cackled and kept talking.

“We poisoned Duke Siggis. And now, as you sat casting judgment on the innocent, we were poisoning your wine!”

The crowd erupted into panic. The guards reached Ada and grappled her to the ground. 

“You sought to silence us. But we have more power than you thought. I killed the Duke and his brothers, and now I have killed the lot of you.”

“You could not have done this alone.” Duke Xander said, pointing at Ada. As he said this, he stumbled and dropped his goblet. He stared at the goblet with wide eyes.

"I do not act alone.” Ada cried, raising her arms and punching the sky. “You can execute me, but we are everywhere. You men are now on notice. None of you are safe from the Husband Poisoning Society!"

The guards dragged Ada to her feet, arms behind her back. She was cackling like a fairy tale witch. The judge pounded his gavel and called for order to no avail. 

“No Hyperborean man is safe who strikes a woman.” Ada yelled as the guards dragged her away.

Ada was still laughing as noblemen began to stumble and fall. Duke Xander stared at her and looked back to me as he crumpled to his knees. I felt a little bad, the duke hadn’t wanted any of this. But that feeling passed. He had worked to enact the king’s will. He hadn’t cared to defend his beliefs, and I wouldn’t either. Xander coughed up a gout of blood and dropped to his hands and knees.

More than half the people in the stands knelt or lay in similar states. The foreign dignitaries stood with hands covering mouths. This was a large portion of the upper nobility in Hyperborea I realized. This was going to impact every level of Hyperborean life. By sheer size of the absence this would create, Ada had crippled the Hyperborean war machine. Hell, she had crippled their civil infrastructure. The king might have to elevate commoners or, heaven forbid, women.  It would take months, or years. Hyperborea would have no time to threaten Ys with war in the interim. 

Vanni turned towards us, and glared. “You did this. Somehow, you did this.” He drew a long dagger and charged at me. 

I should have worried. But Fiona was standing beside me. She spun, arms still chained, and kicked the dagger from Vanni’s hand. He stumbled past her and crashed to the dirt floor. He tried to rise, but coughed up blood and shuddered instead. 

I turned to face the foreign dignitaries, “My lords and ladies. Clearly this is an internal Hyperborean matter that we and all of you have been swept up in. Perhaps it is best for everyone if we leave them to sort this out?”

The delegates began speaking amongst themeselves.

I turned to face the judge, “Your honor, are we still on trial?”

The Agarthan ambassador stood, “Agartha demands the release of the accused. This is clearly the political maneuvering of internal Hyperborean politics.”

The judge stared down at me. Then he looked at his own, untouched, goblet of wine, and nodded. “Under the circumstances, I would say that you have been acquitted. The events unfolding here today speak for themselves.”