Completed I Demand Justice to be Served!

[TTamark]

The day had finally come. Steve had had to make no small amount of payments, and he had called in no small amount of favours to get himself this fair trial. So as he walked into the court room he could only hope if he couldn't save himself at the very least he might be able to save Ella, the chicken-orc, his biggest mistake.

In the front of the court room was a raised desk, known as the bench, the judge would sit there shortly. Behind the flag of Elbion, as well as the coat of arms for the College of Elbion. To the bench's left was a raised box where the witnesses would give their statements. On the other side, to the right, against the wall was a box with more enchantments placed upon it than could be deciphered, but their purpose was clear: prevent the accused from being able to escape. Before the bench sat a mage ready to record the proceedings of the court. Before them yet were two desks facing forward. The defence sitting on the desk Closer to Steve, the prosecutor on the far side. Behind them behind a small wall, the galley where others were free to come and watch the proceedings.

As Steve was sat in his box he couldn't help but feel trapped. Was this all really a good idea?

 

[Harrier]

An unrecognizable woman of middle years sat in the gallery. Her face tightened fractionally as a large, hard-shelled, saurian being was ushered in to take pride of place at the front of the room.

"All rise for His Honour, Judge Turtious Interferens."

His Honour was of no species Harrier could name, but he certainly looked pleased with himself. And yet grimly determined in a way that unsettled her. She thought back to her own trial many years ago and was happy she'd disguised herself. Like the rest of those present, she stood until the judge took his seat.

"Grrhurrm," said the judge. "Stev son of Wil, you stand accused of sorcerous wrongdoing in several counts. These are grave charges in Elbion, grave charges indeed. I urge all involved to take these proceedings with the utmost seriousness. Each side may present evidence and arguments, and will receive a full and fair opportunity to answer. You may speak, or not speak, as you see fit."

 

[Red Guild]

Procurator Glarmoril Hawkshaw, if you please.

And you should please – if you have any sense of legal self-preservation. Here was a Gnome concerned foremost with the unceasing distribution of the law and second-most with the grooming of his impressive muttonchops, jet black and flecked with grey, connected only by a curled mustache of great artisanship.

Hawkshaw stood to the right of the table appointed to the procurator, as standing behind it would have rendered him invisible to the presiding judge. His assistant, an awkward, lanky human (and ginger, to boot), was bent almost at a ninety-degree angle in order to hear Hawkshaw’s furious, whispered tirade.

“I don’t care how creepy it is,” Hawkshaw reiterated, “You stand in the holding room and make sure it doesn’t wander off. Mandible will fetch you and the thing when it’s good and time.”

The ginger nodded, flushed with embarrassment and resolve. He exited the room in long, poorly measured strides. Good help was hard to find these days. Fortunately, the same could not be said for witnesses to this case.

The judge was here now, and Hawkshaw remained standing. Seriousness. As if anyone had any business telling Glarmoril Hawkshaw to be serious. Some would say, however tentatively, that Hawkshaw was the most serious procurator in the greater Elbion-Cintria region.

He began his piece now, taking a rather cumbersome looking monocle and slipping it over his right eye. It was a jeweler’s tool – a heavy mechanical device that contained several adjustable lenses for various magnifications. He had to squint to keep it in place, and squint he did. Always.

Just as a craftsman used these lenses to uncover faults in their work, so too did Hawkshaw use this device to uncover the faults of the criminally accused, and serve justice!

Or so he often said. Sometimes to uproarious applause, depending on the mood.

“Your honor,” he said, in his leisurely, drawling voice, “It is the solemn opinion of the Office of the Procurator that the accused is of a temperament most criminal and unsound, and should be expelled from the College, as well as the city at-large, immediately.”

Hawkshaw was holding a piece of parchment, which he occasionally waved about or otherwise gestured to as he spoke. “We have gathered the arresting watchman, experts on unnatural magics, as well as the acquaintances and peers of the accused to deliver testimony in support of this claim. We further have, in our custody, several abominable items produced by the accused which attest to his unmistakably villainous nature.”

The galley went noisy with whispers. It always did when people were about to see something gross. And from what Hawkshaw had seen, they were really in for it now.

Hawkshaw gestured to the defense’s table, parchment fluttering with the motion. They could speak now.

 

[Urberus]

An elderly orc with a bare head and a braided white beard shuffled into the room, huffing along with his walking stick. A peculiar monkey sat on his shoulder and squawked loudly at the end of Hawkshaw's address.

"Shush, Chime, not now. Shush," scolded the orc. He smiled congenially at the judge, procurator, and accused, then took his seat in one of the benches at the back.

He laid the staff across his knees and took the monkey in his hands, petting it on the head to soothe its tiny rage.

 

[Harrier]

"I have reviewed the items seized from the defendant's chambers, Counselor Hawkshaw," said Turtious Interferens gravely. "They are abominations of a most serious character. However, much remains unclear to me, and the prosecution must demonstrate its case in cogent detail, beyond a reasonable doubt, if I am to fairly entertain a verdict of exile from Elbion."

His Honour turned to the defendant. "Stev son of Wil, what do you or your counsel have to say? Do you dispute ownership of the...specimens?"

 

[TTamark]

Steve turned to the judge,

"Soooo... I want to first of all make this clear: I did not own the "specimens". As I am sure Ella will tell you, she is her own person. I am sure if you used a spell to speak with the rat it would also not claim that it was not owned by me. So sure I guess I dispute ownership, but I am sure they would dispute it harder than I will as it is them who will honestly be insulted by such a claim. I mean they are not slaves, and I could have found a better slave than that rat, no offence meant to her by the way... It's just well she had an injured leg which is why I was trying to help her, not enslave her."

Steve sat down feeling rather pleased, that was close. He could only imagine how offended Ella would feel having been implied that she was a slave, and not a free orc.

 

[Urberus]

Urberus' left eye twitched.

 

[Urberus]

"Your Honor, if I may address the court,"

The orc had gotten to his feet.

"I am Maester Urberus and I would like to represent the indigent Defendant, if he would permit it."

 

[TTamark]

"I don't know what 'indigent' means, but I think I need all the help I can get, and couldn't afford a lawyer so I'll allow it."

 

[Harrier]

"I recognize Maester Urberus as counsel for the accused," said His Honour. "Counselor Hawkshaw, Counselor Urberus, you may proceed."

In the gallery, Harrier sat up a little straighter. She knew Urberus somewhat: a broad-minded academic with gravitas and experience. The defendant had a prayer now. Fascinating.

 

[Red Guild]

Now Hawkshaw looked confounded. "Your Honor, this is most unusual. But in the interest of fairness I will not object to this, ah, impromptu representation."

The Procurator fiddled with his eyepiece settling on a higher magnification, and looked to Uberus.

Every pore on the Maester's face was now visible to him. You could tell a lot about a person from the state of their pores, if you knew what to look for. But Hawkshaw did not know what to look for, so the Orc only looked very fuzzy in one eye, so far as he could tell.

He folded his parchments and meandered slowly over to Steve now.

"Now, I'd like to address my first set of inquiries to the accused and his, ahem, Advocate," he said. He couldn't get too close to the box, otherwise people would lose sight of him, so he stood a few feet away and simply spoke a little louder.

"Is it true that Master Will's Son was engaged in the use of some private stables within the jurisdiction of Elbion? That he had acquired the right to use that space?"

 

[TTamark]

"Yes, I rented a private stall from an organization that promised the safety of all they kept in their stalls."

Steve was confused as to how this was relevant. He rented a stall, to keep Ella safe why did this matter?

 

[Red Guild]

"I have, here," Hawkshaw indicated the folded parchment, speaking to both the general audience and the accused, "The sworn testimony of several agents of the Elbion City Watch. They attest that, upon entering one of the stalls rented by the accused, an undead winged horse burst through and promptly fled the scene."

There were some murmurs in the gallery. Too bad they didn't catch that horse - would have made a nice show.

"Master Will's Son, was this undead specimen of any relation to you?"

 

[TTamark]

Wow, these city watch were top drawer, being able to tell that buttercup was undead just from a look. Maybe they had some special way, Steve pondered. Steve decided to use the surprise from them telling him they knew it was undead as surprise that it was undead.

"It was undead? How could you tell, if you don't mind my asking? I only saw it briefly when it was escaping, and could see any indication it was undead. As someone who is in this predicament in the first place because I was trying to combat the undead and necromancers, and assuming the watch are right of course, which I assume they are, I would very much love to learn how to better detect the undead."

Steve was on the edge of his seat, his excitement over having the chance to learn more about detecting the undead very clearly shown. Almost as an after thought he added on,

"Oh, and the horse wasn't mine..."

 

[Red Guild]

"Your Counsel will have ample opportunity to question the relevant members of the City Watch," said Hawkshaw, with a congenial smile, as if gently correcting a disobedient child.

His demeanor didn't change, "Now, to be clear, you are denying any relation to the undead horse that was present in the stall you, yourself, were renting?"

 

[TTamark]

"The 'undead' horse was not in Ella's stall, also the one I assume you are talking about had wings, making it a winged horse."

Steve paused for a second,

"At least it wasn't in there when I was in there moments before with Ella, you can ask her as well. I am sure she will tell you the same thing."

 

[Red Guild]

Hawkshaw raised an eyebrow. "That is quite peculiar that an undead winged horse would appear in a stall you were renting, without your prior knowledge, only moments before your arrest. The testimony of the stable staff will corroborate your sentiments, I presume."

It wouldn't. Obviously. He'd already reviewed their statements. But that would come up later.

"Now, Master Will's Son, you mentioned a rat earlier. Is this in reference to the rodent specimen obtained by the city watch that had a potato grafted to its leg?"

 

[TTamark]

"Wait a second are you saying that the horse was found in Ella's stall??? Corroborate my sentiments, what type of waste is that, there was no horse in Ella's stall!"

Steve really seemed confused, likely because he was. Buttercup was supposed to be in the stall next to his, a stall that was not in his name. Steve wanted answers, but the question just kept coming.

"Yeah, I was using a potato to try and help regrow the rats leg, I do not have much practical experience in the matters of growing back limbs that are missing so I was starting small and a potato is firm enough that it can support the rat and protect the regrowing leg while it is still weak. It also is rich in natural energies so it is an ideal container to use for infusing other life magics into and then using it to heal the rat over time. So uh yeah that rat was my experimental patient, not my familiar or anything. So... uh yeah, in short the rat with the potato was the rat I reference earlier.

But can we get back to the horse being in Ella's stall, that is what you said right? D-Did you guys put a horse in Ella's stall? Why?"

 

[Red Guild]

"Master Will's Son," Hawkshaw said, more sternly now, "You are clearly new to these judicial proceedings, so I will remind you that I am not the one being questioned at this time. Please focus on rendering answers in a calm and collected manner."

Hawkshaw waited patiently for Steve to finish his statement, and gave a toothless smile. "Very good, Master Will's Son. Thank you for clarifying."

A reward for a job well done.

"Do you make a habit of fusing unorthodox materials with living subjects? Is this your primary area of study?"

 

[TTamark]

"No, not really a habit, but I was trained in the proper methods of doing such things, and have extensive practice creating magical beasts, and entities. Be them golems, magic beasts, and/or familiars. This comes from my twelve years of study here at the college of Elbion. My area of study was specifically within the minion arts."

Steve announced proudly.

 

[Red Guild]

The minion arts, so far as common parlance went, often included necromancy. Hawkshaw said nothing of this, but did give Steve a quizzical look. "Ah. A lifelong scholar. Most impressive, Master Will's Son. Strange, however, that records would indicate you have not yet been formally certified in that field."

Hawkshaw ambled around a little, removing his eyepiece and cleaning it on his shirt.

"Now, this expertise you've gathered in your twelve years of study - this guided you in the, ah, creation of Ella? The fusing of a young Orc woman with a chicken?"

Oh, the gallery was muttering again. Strange, that. Hawkshaw re-equipped his eyepiece to ascertain Maester Uberus' for a moment - to see if the Orcish scholar had any visible reaction.

 

[TTamark]

"I take no credit in the creation of Ella, her own mother gets all the credit for that. The training I received did however prepare me to be able to safely bind a humanoid and a chicken, for a temporary fusion for the purposes of improved combat. That is why she is not a sack of feathers, blood, flesh, and bone lying on the ground right now."

 

[Red Guild]

Hawkshaw quirked the corner of his mouth. Beg pardon?

"If you could clarify, for the court, Master Will's Son - you are not only directly responsible for fusing Ella with a chicken, but did so for the express purpose of improving her performance in... Combat?"

He cleared his throat. "In what way does fusing an Orc woman with a chicken make her more suitable for combat?"

 

[Harrier]

"Excuse me," said the reptilian judge with the utmost seriousness. "For my clarity, when you say 'for the purposes of improved combat,' do you mean the addition of the orcish girl was meant to strengthen the chicken's aptitude for combat -- or, as Counselor Hawkshaw construes it, vice versa?"

 

[TTamark]

Steve laughed openly,

"Improve the chickens aptitude for combat? HAHA HEHEEHEHE O-oh OK... OK so um... let me explain this bit by bit. Humanoids tend to be less well equipped for combat. We make up for this difference with our skills at magic, or using tools like axes, and bows. But if you want to kill a man you can usually throw him up against any animal that is designed to kill others: wolf, bear, lion. A naked man would usually lose to such a creature, while if he was equipped with his proficient tool he'd have a hugely better chance.

So the reason why a chicken in a human body is preposterous is that a chicken would not be able to utilize the strength of humanoids which is our smarts.

Now I know the obvious question is: why not fuse people with carnivorous animals then? Three main reasons: One, I do not walk around being followed by a pack of wolves. I do however have chickens with me at almost all times. Which leads to number two, I am extremely familiar with chickens so using them is that much safer for this magic. Finally I was arming her to fight undead, agility is going to be one of her main advantages. Chickens if you manage to anger them are nasty buggers. They have these nasty spurs that can be deadly. Ignoring all that, almost any animal fusion ends up being better than the plain humanoid form, and there could have been worse animals for her purposes, which again were to get revenge on the undead."