Noble Arcana

Drakthiss is the most secure empire in the world. Our guards patrol the streets and our armies keep any from ever reaching the homeland. There is nothing more reassuring for a citizen than the sight of guards on patrol.

Jerkahn, Drakthiss: The Jewel of the World

Inquisitor Song sat forward, leaning toward him just close enough to put him in a vague state of unease. She stared at him silently with her silver eyes for a few moments before she began to speak.

Solomon felt a bit of pressure on the back of his eyes, and could see her mana moving. She was casting something, or activating a spell she already had working passively. It seemed to be mind magic, which was forbidden when used on someone other than oneself. Either there were exceptions, or Inquisitor Song was willing to break rules in the course of her investigations.

Solomon kept his face from reacting, using a lifetime of experience as a noble to keep any sign that he knew what she was doing from showing on his face. He also kept himself from activating his mental fortification, though he wouldn’t have had enough mana to put any real force behind it anyway.

“You had encounters with both Mayor Neiman and his brother. Why did they attack you?”

She was going back further than he’d expected, but it was all still within his expectations.

“When I moved here I made it a priority to check into the finances of the town. I found a number of discrepancies. First Watchman Vantus, at great personal risk, met with me to point out even more problems. I had prepared a letter to be sent to Etling detailing my discoveries. My manor was attacked the day it was meant to be delivered.”

She didn’t nod, or acknowledge what he’d stated in any way, just continued staring at him with her silver eyes.

“In the attack you were noted as killing as many as five watchmen. How did you do so?”

“It’s largely a blur. I heard something happening and left my library. I remember fire, and I remember managing to kill one man with a dagger, biting another. The next thing I recall was waking up in bed. The servants handled most everything.”

“And your subsequent encounter with Neiman?”

“I saw that the manor was on fire and took a horse from the carriage to ride out and see what was wrong. I found Claire, my cook, being tended to by a temporary servant I hired to watch over the property looking after her. She mentioned that Mayor Neiman had done it, and had taken Felicity, one of my maids. I ran into the manor to see if anyone else was inside. While looking in the library I saw Neiman moving into the woods carrying Felicity. I ran to follow them, eventually catching up. I managed to surprise Neiman with a heavy piece of stone, and struck him across the face. When he was dead I found several naked women nearby. They didn’t seem to have any clear recollection of what happened to them… probably for the best.”

“Truth is what’s best,” responded the Blue Boot. She leaned back and Solomon felt the pressure behind his eyes build a bit.

“Are you a warrior?” she asked simply.

“No,” he answered simply, seeing where this question was leading.

“Have you had training in the ways of war?”

“I had some training as a child, but never excelled,” he’d been too sickly and weak to do much more than learn the proper way to ride a horse and hold a weapon.

“How is it that you managed to fight so many men? You do not seem to have the strength to do so.”

He shrugged. “I do not know. It was likely more their mistakes than it was any talent of my own. I have little recollection of the guards that attacked the manor aside from shocked expressions, and in the case of the erstwhile mayor, he was weak and feral when I encountered him. Not only that, but he’d just carried a woman through nearly a mile of forest.”

He could hear the weaknesses in his explanations as he spoke. He’d come up with them with short notice and a fraying mind in both cases. Unfortunately there was little he could do now. If he added details, or attempted to go into more thorough detail he was inviting more scrutiny and risking mistakes. He instead relied on his name and place, though that was shakier ground when dealing with a Union agent outside the usual order of things.

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She leaned back, her eyes still not leaving him. The pressure behind his eyes built until he decided it would be more suspicious to keep ignoring it then to do something. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“You’ll have to excuse me, I believe I didn’t get enough sleep.”

The pressure built just a bit more before gradually fading.

“Would it be possible to interview the people with you today as well?” asked Song.

“Yes, that would be fine. Could their interviews be held at the Watch? I have some paperwork I can work on there while I wait.”

She nodded.

After a short ride they arrived and all entered the Watch office. Solomon watched as Melissa walked with the Blue Boot to one of the windowless cells for their interview. He went to the office that had been set aside for him and reviewed all of the paperwork with Feist, the mayor’s secretary who currently served no mayor.

Song seemed capable. Exactly the kind of person who should be acting as an inquisitor. Solomon had met many guards and even military officers that treated their responsibilities lightly. As if it was chosen merely as a job without fully understanding that the work they were doing should place a heavy weight on their shoulders. Song seemed to take things seriously. He appreciated that, even if it put him in danger.

He wasn’t too concerned about what she’d glean from Duncan and Melissa. Neither knew the truth about him. If she asked the right questions though it could certainly put more suspicion on him. He forced his attention back to the paperwork in front of him. It was out of his hands for that moment. His greatest protection at this point was his name and fact that the main suspect was meant to be Neiman, not him. Song would need to produce an incredible amount of evidence to actually bring anything against him, even with Union backing.

He sighed. He had been attempting to control the investigation by requesting Union assistance directly, but perhaps that had been a mistake. It would’ve reached them eventually no matter what, but by adding his seal to it he’d escalated its importance and likely wound up with a more competent investigator than would’ve been assigned otherwise. He’d overplayed his hand.

After nearly an hour Duncan and Melissa’s interviews were done. Song approached Solomon.

“I need to examine the damage to your manor. I will be there by the evening.”

“Of course.”

She turned and walked back into the interview room.

Solomon turned to Duncan and Melissa.

“Let’s head back.”

They nodded and went back out to the carriage. It was a short ride back to the manor from the Watch, but just as they reached the path up to the gate Solomon felt the carriage suddenly lurch and slide to a corner. He barely caught himself from falling, and Melissa actually hit her head on the top of the carriage due to the jerking motion.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

She nodded, smiling. “Only my pride is wounded. I’ll see what that was.”

She opened the carriage door and carefully stepped out, Duncan was already at the wheel.

“Wheel came loose my lord,” said Duncan. “You can walk the rest of the way, or wait here. Shouldn’t take too long to reattach it well enough for it to ride the rest of the way for Barnabus to take a look.”

Solomon nodded, taking his walking stick, his old one with no magical affinity rather than his uncles, and stepping out carefully as the carriage was heavily leaned to one corner. Melissa walked ahead to open the gate for him and he started making his way forward.

There was a loud cracking sound and Solomon felt a sudden pressure in his side. He stood still and looked around.

Another crack shook the air, and then several more.

Solomon felt something bounce off of his head and land on the ground next to him. He looked down to see a small flattened piece of metal. It appeared someone had just shot him.

He sucked, reacting far more slowly than he would’ve liked. Several more shots rang out and more flattened bullets struck the ground next to him.

He looked around and saw a man fleeing in the distance toward town. He was wearing a plain shirt and pants, was of average height, and had plain brown hair. Nothing even remotely distinctive that he could use to identify him.

Solomon couldn’t pursue him. His mana hadn’t restored enough and even if it had Melissa and Duncan were too close.

He crouched down as if in fear and picked up all of the flattened bullets he could see. How many had been fired? Was it three or four? His mind was too addled by the lack of mana and whatever Song had done to him to have an accurate count. He managed to find three before Melissa reached him and he quickly pocketed the disks.

“Solomon, are you alright? What was that?”

Solomon watched the figure disappear from sight.

“I’m not entirely sure. But I believe that man may have fired a gun at me.”

“A gun!?” she asked. They were heavily policed within Drakthiss. Melissa and Duncan probably had little idea what they sounded like, and the rifle that had been fired also sounded vastly different from the one Solomon himself had used.

“Yes… I think we may need to give another report to the Watchmen.”

“We should get you back to the manor first, lord,” said Duncan, a vicious looking hatchet in his hand that Solomon had never seen him wielding before at his side.

“Good idea,” he responded, making his way quickly up the path with his servants at his side, wondering how many more homunculi he’d be burying that afternoon.