The Deer Prince's Murder: Book Two of 'Fantasy & Forensics' (Fantasy & Forensics 2) by Michael Angel Read Free Book Online

the depths of the woods and into the bright glade where we’d started early that morning. By now, the sun stood close to its zenith, and it cast a golden glow over where Shaw lay dozing on the grass. His tail twitched slowly back and forth like that of a giant housecat. Next to him, Galen leaned against a handy moss-covered boulder with his nose buried deeply in a book. My bra and panties had been hung neatly on a low-lying branch of a nearby tree, right next to the rest of my clothes.
    “Grimshaw,” Galen intoned, “it appears that our companions have returned to us.”
    “Eh? ‘Tis time for the noonday meal already?” Shaw mumbled, as his eyes perked open. The griffin got to his feet. He proceeded to do a feline stretch that would have made a yoga instructor jealous, and then did a double-take as he spotted Liam’s outfit. “Attend, wizard! Not all of us have returned as commoners, methinks.”
    Galen gave him a puzzled look. “Perhaps I am unclear of your intent.”
    “Art thou a creature of the court, or not?” Shaw approached us and knelt before Liam respectfully. “I, at least, recognize the heraldry and sigils of the ascended.”
    The centaur closed his book with a snap and then trotted over to join us. “Mayhap this is true? What went on back at the grove?”
    “It’s true,” I acknowledged. “The Lead Does have selected Liam as the Heir to the Protector of the Forest.”
    “Even after Prince Liam himself thought that he was unsuitable?” Galen hesitated, and then made a sweeping bow. “Well, this is a pleasant surprise and an honor, your majesty.”
    “Cut that out,” Liam said, annoyed. “And I don’t want to be addressed with any title for now. Believe me, this is nothing to celebrate.”
    “I’m afraid that I’ve gotten off on the wrong hoof today, then. I see no downside.”
    “Then you need to look harder.” Liam’s headdress slid askew again, and one of the tassels batted him in the eye. With a shake of his head, he half-slid the piece off, grabbed the dangling bit in his teeth, and tugged it free. He held the scrap of royal cloth between his clenched teeth and added, “Dayna, please tell them!”
    “The Protector of the Forest wasn’t stepping down,” I explained. “He’s dead.”
    I got a startled exclamation from both griffin and centaur over that one.
    “Dead!” Shaw exclaimed. “Was his death fair or foul in nature?”
    “The Lead Does say it was ‘fair’, but I’m not so sure,” I admitted.
    Liam set his headpiece aside on a nearby stone and then looked up at me. “You think it was foul play? Why?”
    “I don’t know. It’s just a few things about the Protector’s body…they didn’t look quite right to me. But that’s a forensic examiner for you. Give one of us enough time, and we’ll see a murder in every death. I’ve got no proof beyond a bad feeling. But that doesn’t really matter all that much. Whether the death was ‘fair or foul’, Prince Liam was the one who walked away with the crown.”
    “And I’d gladly give it up,” Liam declared.
    “Truly, ‘tis a mad world that I live in!” Shaw exclaimed, with a birdlike squawk. “How is it that I knowest not one, nay, but two heirs to a kingdom’s throne...and neither wish to embrace their duties when their people call?”
    “In my case, the people hardly ‘called’ for my ascension,” Galen pointed out. “If you recall, I received the kingship by knocking my father unconscious with a blow from my fist.”
    “A call to duty hath many ways to summon thee,” the griffin insisted. He cocked his head for a moment at Liam and added, “But what is this? The Fayleene looks to have grown a few inches, or mine eyes have indeed grown tricksy with age.”
    The centaur wizard and I turned our attention back to our cervine friend. And sure enough, Shaw’s keen attention to detail was exactly right. I’d been roughly Liam’s height when we’d arrived at the Grove. Now, I was looking up at him.