—luck! Automatons be damned, I’ve finally found someone who can assist me properly. Admittedly, he came from an unlikely background, but I can’t afford to be picky. It took a bit of persuading as well, but I’m not above selling my story when necessary. A few catalysts disguised as sentas certainly help move things along as well. The important thing is now that I have someone to watch my back even out here, and perhaps a budding apprentice. He did seem interested in what sorcery could do for himself, though it’s hard to tell whether that’s the catalyst’s effect or just a natural curiosity—
Karna folded her hands in her lap as Iricha Northwind, a human serving as an Enforcer for the Harramschall Embassy, committed her statement to writing.
“And after you arrested the suspect, you brought him to the embassy to be detained in a holding cell?” Iricha asked.
“Correct,” Karna said.
It was routine for an arresting Enforcer to give a statement of events leading up to a suspect’s capture in Harramschall, and the embassy in Goronich was no exception. Recalling the whole story and speaking it out loud to Iricha highlighted just how absurd the whole case was. Starting across an ocean and halfway to the savannah on the other side of the world, having the very suspect you’re chasing help you evacuate a burning building. At some point, there would have to be something normal about the case, but even meeting an old comrade like Iricha was a surprise.
In the end, Iricha’s presence made giving Karna’s statement a more comfortable experience. Iricha, a large and formidable figure, worked with Karna back during her own days as an Enforcer for the courts, before she moved to special cases in the field. Before Tiv was ever assigned to her. Iricha’s ability to quickly build an enforcing case out of court records and evidence was unparalleled from what Karna had seen in her career. It was no shock that she’d end up in an embassy, where cases needed to be resolved faster than the return trip to Harramschall. Talking to an old friend like Iricha numbed the strange events that led to Brexothuruk’s capture.
“Well, we’ll be opening a full investigation into your claims of Ydward Perera’s attempt to obstruct justice and harm you, but we need the Goronich Guard’s cooperation for that.” Iricha scanned over her notes. “I spoke with Lieutenant Tivyana about the lion that you insisted on capturing. Looks like the rangers were unable to locate it in the grove after you left.”
Karna couldn’t stop herself from grumbling. “Idiots.”
Iricha cocked an eyebrow. “Some might say that you shouldn’t have left an…animal of interest at the scene.”
“If half our accompaniment hadn’t decided it was a better idea to try and kill me, I would have had him escort the suspect to the embassy,” Karna said. “Given the information available though, it seemed better to ensure he was detained properly.”
“A reasonable assumption,” Iricha said. “I understand that the rangers have closed down the grove until the lion can be found. Though, based on your statement, it was also seen in the form of an orc.”
“A strange one, yes. No tusks. Red hair.”
“I’ll pass along the information to the Guard as well, in case they spot an orc like him.”
“Thank you.”
Silence hung in the air for a moment, before Iricha closed the case file and stood up. “Well I think that’s everything we need.” She reached out her hand, and Karna leaned in to shake it, her grip as tight as ever. “They want to get moving quickly with this, so we’ll begin proceedings tomorrow, I expect. We’ll take over from here.”
It was an enormous relief to hear it. We’ll take over from here. Weeks of searching for answers and following a suspect were finally over. Finally, she could go back to Harramschall.
And yet…
“Iricha, do you know who his Defender will be?” Karna asked.
“Not sure yet. Probably Aechwyn.”
“What do you know about them?”
“He’s fine. He’ll put together a case, but I think it’s pretty obvious. You’ve brought in solid evidence, Karna.”
For some reason, that felt like a punch to the gut. “Solid evidence?”
Iricha nodded. “Yes. It paints a clear picture of the events.”
“What about the fact that he helped me during the storm?”
“Not sure how that relates to the case itself, but even orcs have an instinct to help out when times are rough,” Iricha chuckled. “What, are you going to be a character witness now?”
“No, of course not,” Karna said, realizing how foolish she looked. “Just…tread carefully, Iricha. There’s a lot more to this case than it looks.”
“Yes, well, I’ve never had to worry about a lion that looks like an orc,” she said. “Or vice versa, if I’m being honest. But it’s almost evening. You’ve had a long day. Get a good meal and some rest, then you can head home tomorrow morning.”
“Right, thank you,” Karna said. It was strange to hear those words dismissing her from someone who was her former subordinate. But she saw no benefit in continuing the conversation, and left Iricha’s office.
Outside, Tiv was reading through documents, waiting for Karna. She perked up when Karna finally appeared.
“I talked with the rangers, they said that they couldn’t–”
“Find the lion, I know,” Karna said. “Iricha told me.”
They stepped outside, the sun slowly sinking behind a bank of buildings to their west. The sticky warmth that greeted them earlier had graciously receded, and all that was left was a mild ocean breeze.
“I need a drink,” Karna said.
Tiv uncorked a bottle of vintage Giant’s Whiskey and sat down next to Karna, outside the Bittlesworth Tavern, within eyeshot of the embassy. Karna poured herself a glass and heaved a sigh.
“Nothing about this case makes any goddamned sense,” she said.
“Cheers to that,” Tiv said, leaning over and clinking her glass with Karna’s.
“It’s like we’re dealing with two versions of Brexothuruk. The one that’s sweet and stupid and kind, and the one that’s responsible for the death of seven people.”
“Most people would say those aren’t mutually exclusive. Stupid, sweet people get other people killed from time to time,” Tiv said.
“Through negligence or inaction, sure. But I can’t imagine him doing anything that put the bodies in the state we found them in. Not intentionally.”
“So maybe he’s just covering up one problem with a trail of bodies.”
Karna grimaced. “Something about that just feels wrong.”
“Which is why you insist on drinking outside and watching the embassy, right?”
“You know me too well,” Karna said.
“And you know that I’d never turn down a stakeout with booze,” Tiv said before pouring a glass for herself.
Another moment passed, and Karna spoke again. “What’s the over-under on Brexothuruk being the killer?”
“What, like he gets a guilty verdict?”
“No, on actually being the killer.”
Tiv scrunched up her face, thinking. “Fifty-fifty.”
“What makes you say that?” Karna asked.
“No clue,” Tiv said. “I can’t make hide nor hair of it anymore, so I pulled that number straight out of my ass.”
“I don’t like it,” Karna said.
“So you’ve mentioned,” Tiv said, lilting a few syllables under her buzz. “Repeatedly.”
“What happens if they don’t find the lion?”
“The lion that used to be an orc? Also possibly a dog? Well, I’d say that weakens Brexothuruk’s shot at being ruled innocent. But if they find the damn thing and make it cough up some evidence, then he’s probably going to be fine. Something tells me if you could make it, er, him talk, he’d pull things together better than actually being there.”
“But, of course, he’s gone.”
“Of course, we shouldn’t interfere with the case anymore.”
“Of course.”
They exchanged glances.
“That’s never stopped you before, though,” Tiv said.
“No, it hasn’t.”
Karna almost poured herself a second glass, then saw a human man leave the embassy, wearing fine linens and looking angry enough to kick anything that wandered in front of him. Her gut told her this was worth following.
She approached him with as much a smile she could muster. “Pardon me, did something happen at the embassy?”
The man, visibly irritated, clenched his teeth. “I’m not permitted to speak about it.”
“Why, I’m from Harramschall,” Karna said, realizing she wasn’t nearly as good at coating her words in honey as Tiv was. “Is there something I should be concerned about?”
“Nothing at all,” the man said. “Nothing to do with the city itself. Just a client who won’t listen to sensible advice and wastes my time.”
That was all Karna needed. “Very sorry to trouble you,” she said, and stepped out of his way.
She went back to Tiv, told her to keep the rest of the bottle for herself, and went straight through the embassy’s front doors.
Inside, she saw Thornwater and one of his subordinates speaking in hushed whispers. Thornwater turned to her and put on his diplomatic smile again. “Ah, Captain. How convenient for you to arrive now. I was just speaking with–“
“I need to talk to the suspect,” Karna said, crossing her arms.
“The orc?”
“Yes.”
“Well, normally we wouldn’t allow such a thing, but–“
“But your retained Defender just walked out the door, and you don’t have anyone else,” Karna said. “I know. I crossed paths with him. I need to talk to the suspect,” she repeated.
Thornwater spat out a few flustered syllables before Karna turned to his associate, a middle-aged dwarf woman with light skin and dark hair. “Where can I find him?”
She hesitated for a moment, then spoke. “Second door on the left, use this to open it.” She handed Karna a small metal disc that made her hand shiver as it touched her skin. Some sorcerous key.
Without another word, Karna stormed off, hearing Thornwater’s weak protests and his associate’s attempts at pacifying him. She walked straight to the door, waved the disc in front of another, larger disc laid into the wall next to the door, then watched as it opened before her.
Beyond was an interrogation room with a single window, two chairs and a simple stone table. Sitting in one chair, facing the window, was Brexothuruk. Dressed in simple clothes much too tight for him, no pockets, hunched forward, hands together on the table in cuffs anchored to the stone.
Karna stepped forward, and he turned to look at her, eyes lighting up with surprise, then confusion. He spoke in Orcish, and she realized he was completely without his spells.
She walked over to the chair across from him. “This seems…cruel,” she said, this time in Orcish.
He swallowed back and looked down at his own hands. “They’ve been kind,” he said. “But it’s been hard to understand what they want. The other man, he knew very little Orcish.” He pursed his lips. “But why are you here?”
“Because nothing about my work has made any sense after I bumped into you in Ziqondi,” she said, sitting across from him. “And I have a problem with not understanding things. I want the truth.”
Brexothuruk bit his lip.
“I watched an orc turn into a lion in front of you and you treated it as though it were completely normal,” Karna continued. “I spent days chasing you to Harramschall and you helped me when the city was burning.” She leaned forward. “You’re not acting like a murderer. But you’re the only person who’s ever made sense as a suspect in this case. I don’t understand you, so I’m digging.”
“And what if I don’t want to tell you the truth?” Brexothuruk said.
“Your Defender just walked out, saying you’re ignoring his counsel. I’d say you don’t have much of a choice, unless you want a swift execution,” Karna said.
“He told me that I should negotiate with the embassay, I-I think. That I should just lie, and say I killed all those people but I didn’t. I swear on the stars that I didn’t,” Brexothuruk said. “Except…”
Karna checked that the door was closed, sat down, and spoke very carefully. “Listen, you’ve got nothing but time, and even that’s in short supply. I will sit and listen to you explain what happened. For as long as it takes. Just tell me the truth.”
Brexothuruk paused, pursed his lips, and spoke softly.
“I killed Wallach. I didn’t want to, I didn’t even mean to, but that man…he was evil. He wanted to use me like fuel. And blame me for the all the killings he’d done before.”
Karna exhaled. On paper, this only made things more confusing. Wallach was a fine man, an upstanding citizen. But if he was hiding something…
“You saw his lab, didn’t you?” Brexothuruk asked. “The chains? The organs in the jars, that was Alchemy. That’s forbidden by the University.”
Karna found herself pulled right back in to Brex’s explanation. “Forbidden by the University?”
“He wanted to use my body for his sorcery, so he could develop Alchemy. He was going to make me like some kind of vegetable and take Resource from me while I was barely alive. But…”
“But…”
“He used sorcery to keep me down, and I…I found a way to change the spells he was using on me. But it made me like an animal, backed into a corner. I was threatened, and I…I killed him before he could hurt me any more.”
This is stupid. This is mind-numbingly awful, he’s making something up so he can get off, she kept thinking.
But the pieces fit. Things were coming together better than they ever had before. And that was enough to keep him going.
“The chains, the ones he used on you, where are they now?” she asked.
Brexothuruk winced. “After I left Ziqondi, I had a blacksmith reshape them into rings that I could attach more spells to. I was going to sell them in the Merchant’s Circle, and I even set up a little shop there, but–“
“But that’s where I found you, until the sorcerers detained you.”
Brexothuruk nodded.
“Shit,” Karna said. The chains would have been solid evidence if he’d just kept them intact. “The orcish crossbow recovered in Ziqondi–“
“It was Wallach’s. He used sorcerous bolts to kill his victims. It was a gift given to him from one of our clans.”
Karna stood up and began pacing in front of Brexothuruk. “The other orc. The one that took the shape of a lion. How does he figure into all this?”
“That’s…a long story,” Brexothuruk said.
“Then keep it brief.”
With a sigh, Brexothuruk began the story of how he tamed the Bloodmane.
Karna stood at the window, looking away from Brex as he finished his explanation. Her blood was boiling, but there was no one to blame. She chased a suspect across an ocean only to find out that he was likely innocent. His testimony cleared up the picture, but not well enough to sway a judge. The party responsible for the murders around Ziqondi was buried by citizens of the town he terrorized.
She wanted to scream into a pillow, shoot bolts into a training dummy, kick the foundation of the embassy until it came crumbling down, but none of that was going to help. Not really. There was only one option left.
“Two things,” she said as Brex looked at her anxiously. “One. If I find out that what you’ve just told me is in any way a fabrication, I won’t hesitate to pull the truth out of you by any means necessary.”
Brex winced, and nodded.
“Two. I’m…willing to be your Defender on one condition. You have to let me pursue the truth of what happened in Ziqondi. No bullshit acquittals on technicality. Understood?”
The orc was shocked. “U-understood.”
“Good. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the courtroom, but…” She crossed her arms. “I have some catching up to do. I’ll inform the necessary parties about your new Defender. Get whatever sleep you can in that holding cell.”
She walked toward the door until Brex spoke up. “Captain. My friend. Is he all right?”
Karna pressed her hand against the door. “I don’t know. We weren’t able to detain him.”
Brex looked down at his cuffs. “I see. Still…Thank you. For listening to me.”
“Thank me when you’ve got a verdict,” she said before the door closed behind her.
“You know, we could have been sleeping by now, with two tickets out of here in the morning,” Tiv said, setting a stack of books on the table in front of Karna. “Instead of staying up late and cramming like we’re about to take the Junior Guardsman exam.”
Well into the evening, Tiv and Karna set up a study group in the corner of whatever inn Thornwater paid for. Karna had already forgotten the name, there were plenty of more important things to remember. Like the laws that the Harramschall city council had added in the six years since she last stepped into a courtroom. Reading by candlelight was already starting to strain her eyes, but she was determined to at least skim every damn tome that Tiv brought over from the embassy.
“You would have done the same if you were in my boots, Tiv.”
“I would,” she conceded, “but I can still blame you for the fact we’re pulling an all-nighter.”
“We?” Karna said, opening the first of eight encyclopedic hardcovers on Harrish Law. “This was my decision.”
“I know,” Tiv sighed. “But I can’t help it. When you get noble, I just get inspired to do dumb things right along with you.” She pulled the second volume over to her and opened it in her lap. “I’ll let you know if I find anything relevant in here.”
“Thank you,” Karna said.
A moment passed.
“Kay,” Tiv said, choosing her words carefully, draining the levity from her tone. “Do you honestly believe his story?” Soft as a whisper. “That Wallach killed all those people? That he was defending himself?”
Karna hesitated. “I don’t know if I believe all of it yet,” she said. “But it’s going to lead me to the truth, whether he likes it or not. So far, I’m inclined to think that’s what he wants. But…I’m watching him, to see if that changes.”
“Right,” Tiv said, then flipped a page. “I’ve never been to a trial in my life, by the way. Don’t know if I’ll be of any help in there.”
“It’ll be a learning experience. You might like it. There’s a bit of performance. Shitty people are trying to change the truth to convince the judge that there’s something wrong. Decent folks are just trying to make sure that the truth comes out.”
“By shitty people, do you mean Defenders?”
“Not always. But…often,” Karna said.
“And now you’re one of them.”
“Yeah, not where I expected this to go. But it’s an Enforcer’s job to seek the truth. I’m just following it as far as they’ll let me.”
“You think Iricha is going to do the same?”
“As long as she hasn’t sold out like our dear friend Ydward had. She knows what she’s doing in there. It’s going to be rough. Having been there, it seems like it’s easy. Open and shut. I’m hoping that when she sees me on the other side of the court, she’ll know that there’s something bigger happening here.”
Tiv flipped another page and took a sip from her glass. “What was she like? Before you left the courts to go in the field, I mean.”
“Focused. Intense. Charismatic. She’s got a calling for the courtroom, but she’ll play ball with pleas and deals, as long as she’s convinced that the right person is being put behind bars. She could convince you that one plus one is three if it meant keeping people safe.”
Tiv sighed. “And we’re defending an orc accused of serial murder.”
“Yeah.”
“That we apprehended ourselves.”
“Yeah.”
“After tracking–”
“I know, Tiv. I’m hoping that my closeness to the case will help the judge understand that I know it better than most.”
“Do you?”
Karna scoffed. “Better than most, yes. Know it well? No. Something tells me that even the killer doesn’t know.”
“You say that like the killer isn’t Wallach.”
“There are a lot of unanswered questions, Tiv. But that’s the point of this whole thing. Lay it all bare and find the truth.” Karna turned the page. “We should stop chatting and read faster. I want a decent night’s sleep.”
“We’re well past decent, Kay.”
“That we are.”
Orcanist 