Healing Touch

"Work your trade. Failure is not an option," Brandon replied, as he moved to take the candle back out of the room, and see if the group of suspects had assembled.

"One of you place a candle in the room of my lord. Particularly... Foul smelling candles. I am going to light it for you and you can all suffer the same assault on your nose that you put my lord through."

He held up the candle taken from Prince Aegon's room, and pointed at one of the servants. "Light it." He instructed, "then you all breathe deep."

He watched their faces carefully.

Aegon tossed fitfully in his feverish slumber, muttering incoherent phrases from time to time.

He realises that the candle looks the same as the others. He recals that there were several candles in the prince's room and that that it may be worth examining all of them, and certainly less time consuming than rooting through the boxes.

OOC - I missed that it was the same candle when I did the servants' response so it's probably my fault. Internet was messing about so I was getting really frustrated.

As Brandon examines the candles, breaking one apart, he notices that the wax core has been hollowed out to perhaps the size of a small nail. The hollow is filled with a fine white powder.

The young man walked over, sniffed the powder. "Ah yes, that is the substance that has caused the sickness. I see now how it was done. It's a mixture of sweetsleep and wolfsbane, an uncommon mixture though it can be most effective. It is not nearly as potent as mixing it in a man's drink, or his food, but everyone uses candles, and it gives the appearance of a slow wasting. Fortunately, I will be able to brew a n antidote."

It looked like the core had been hollowed out and the poison dropped in, with the bottom capped again afterwards. It seemed that the poison would mix with the wax as it melted and infuse the flame and smoke that rose from the candle.

He was given directions to a place in the city, though the servant insisted that the chandler could not possibly be the one at fault. "One of the other servants must have done it," she said. "They must have."

She fidgeted but didn't seem to be as frightened as he might have liked. "Because I know the master chandler. I'm betrothed to his son. He is a good man. I think one of the others did it, lord. Someone has to count the new candles needed for each room."

"I'll fetch her." She went to fetch one of the girls, young and pretty, with an angelic appearance. The girl looked at Brandon and began to cry.

The girl tried to run, but the other held her back. "He made me do it, lord. I didn't want to, but he threatened my...my virtue, if I didn't do what he said." She cried again, much louder this time.

It was a while before the crying girl could speak. "The man. He was very big and tall. His arms were as wide as my thighs. He is one of the house guards."