The captain of the guard had pulled Adam to a side room of the arena, understanding there was a certain procedure she needed to follow since the arena was partially involved. The room provided was large and bare, just a small table between Adam and the captain, the pair sitting on a set of basic chairs.
A pair of guards stood on either side of the exit of the room. They wore half plate mail, and carried blades at their side. Their cloaks were a deep red with a golden trim, just like their captain.
“Do you recognise this man?” Captain Clara asked, revealing a piece of paper with a sketch.
“Yeah,” Adam replied, staring down at the sketch. “Hari, the Red… something. Serpent, maybe? I faced him yesterday in the arena. Easiest one hundred gold of my life, save for the bets I made. Still, I didn’t kill him. The priests can attest to that since they checked on him.”
“He was found dead in the river with slash marks against his body,” the captain informed. “We can tell they were done by an axe.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Adam said, frowning. He had only met the man last night and he had seemed a decent enough fellow. “You think I got something to do with that?”
“Now how did you come to that conclusion?” Clara leaned in, narrowing her eyes towards the Half Elf.
Adam remained sitting opposite her, his hands on the table. He had handed over his axe and shield to Jurot, understanding that it was a bad idea to take them with him. The guards had made to try to take them from the Iyrmen, but the arena guards had quickly stepped in to stop the situation from escalating too hard, and had moved Adam’s group to a nearby room, where they could be easily accessed if they needed to gather them for any reason.
“If I had to take a guess, it’s because I fought him, won a hundred gold, used an axe, and I’m a Half Elf whose made quite the name for himself and probably upset a noble or two.” Adam had an inkling that this was something done by a noble in order to deal with him. He was someone who could challenge the favourites of his segment, and was perhaps an eyesore for the nobles. “I hope you’ve sent word to Sir Landon Littlesea that one of his warriors has been accused of murder.”
Clara threw a look to one of the guards, who stepped out, before she turned her gaze back to Adam. ‘Sir Landon Littlesea? The son of Baron Ramon, was it?’
Adam leaned back to relax, seeing that the woman was no longer questioning him, and had pulled away herself as she waited for Sir Landon to be brought before them.
Sir Landon arrived a short while later, far shorter than expected, escorted by the same guard who had left, as well as an arena guard. A seat had been brought for him, as well as a cushion which was placed upon it. Some tea and fruit was brought for the young noble, and the tension in the air began to melt away.
“I hope you have a good reason for bringing me here,” Landon said, giving the captain minor trouble for calling him here. However, he understood what the situation was, the unspoken gazes between them explaining everything.
“Your warrior, Adam, is accused of murder.”
“Murdering who?” Landon asked, before leaning in to look down at the paper to see the rough sketch. “An Aswadian? I’m sure he had it coming to him. Adam wouldn’t kill a man like this unless it was for self defence.”
Clara relaxed slightly, leaning back away from the young noble and the Half Elf. Since Sir Landon had managed to form a decent enough justification, and was willing to defend the boy, it meant that this wasn’t about charging Adam for murder, but rather to learn more about Adam.
When two nobles were involved like this, it wasn’t good to aggravate one side over the other, and she hadn’t been given any special requests to make sure Adam was brought to justice. This justification was good enough for her to write up a short report, and for her to continue with a much lighter interrogation of the Half Elf.
“Whoa, whoa,” Adam raised his hands up from the table, as though he was threatened under crossbowpoint. “I didn’t kill him.”
“I’m sure it was self defence,” Landon said, sipping his tea, before giving Adam a look. It was a look to tell him that the matter was settled.
“I didn’t kill him,” Adam repeated, noting that Landon was looking at him strangely, and gathered that something else was going on.
“You didn’t murder him even if you did kill him. Murder is the unlawful killing, and killing with the justification of self-,”
“Sir Landon,” Adam said, daring to interrupt the noble, even causing the guards to pause in shock. “You’ve travelled with me before. You know how strong I am. You know that I’m much stronger than before too. Think about it. The wolves. The cult. The Twilight Fox. Even your own warrior. Do you think I, Adam, need to kill a guy if he came to attack me? This guy, he was pretty skilled, sure, but please. I’d be able to knock him out, drag him to the guards, and still fight in a match, and win.”
Landon knew Adam had been holding back in his fights, though to hear Adam speak so earnestly about his strength like this, it revealed to him that Adam was stronger than even he imagined. He had seen Adam do some pretty crazy things, and then there was his brother, Jurot. The Iyrman had fought the previous King’s Sword, known as perhaps the greatest King’s Sword to date, and had forced the now Traitor King to use his greatest spells to deal with him.
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None of that was relevant to this situation, however. It seemed Adam had an issue with the matter of killing. He wondered which noble had ordered the interrogation. There were many suspects, of course, but there would be a problem if Adam didn’t go along with the play, especially if it was someone much higher up.
‘Are you going to cause trouble?’ Landon thought, wondering how far he should go for the Half Elf.
“I heard that most other Experts get under a hundred gold per win, but you spent even more money on us because you know that we’re strong, and that was two years ago, before, I believe, I was an Expert.” Adam raised his brows towards the young nobleman. Adam, using his knowledge about how nobles typically worked, understood that this was about justification, or assumed that was the case.
“Adam is right.” Landon decided to bet on Adam. “Adam had no need to kill him, and is strong even to deal with the likes of the Aswadian. Though he prays to Lord Sozain, his companion is Sir Vonda Eastlake, a member of Life’s Rose.”
The guards glanced between one another, visibly relaxing further. The mention of Life’s Rose had certain eased what little tension remained in the room. Clara was glad she had received more justification to deal with the matter cleanly. The name of Life’s Rose was probably the best justification they could bring in.
“The only other person I know who uses an axe is Jurot, but I don’t think he did it,” Adam said.
“Jurot?” Clara asked, glad the Half Elf was giving her more information without needing to be prompted.
“My brother,” Adam said. “He’s the one who I handed my shield and axe to.”
“Is he also a warrior under your name, Sir Landon?” Clara asked. If she could get him here, then perhaps there could be more she could gleam from the pair.
“He is.” Sir Landon slowly bowed his head, giving Clara permission to continue. ‘Phew.’
“Your brother is an Iyrman?” Clara asked Adam. Last she recalled, the person the Half Elf had given the axe to was an Iyrman, as evident by his furs and tattoo.
“He is.”
She looked to his forehead, and then back to Sir Landon, her eyes full of a question. This was something she hadn’t expected, and was a little bit of an issue. Sir Landon replied with a slow nod of his head again.
“Send for the Iyrman.”
The arena workers understood what was going on, and had gotten to work right away. There weren’t many guards which could use their influence within the arena. Clara had gone through the proper protocol, and had thus far followed the procedure agreed between the guards and the arena, so they caused no trouble for her.
Adam’s companions were hanging out nearby, with the fights shuffled so that the teens could fight later in case they were required for the situation. They assumed that this was the matter of a noble either trying to frame Adam, in which case Sir Landon would be called in to testify on Adam’s behalf, or this was a noble trying to dig up more information about the Half Elf for one reason or another.
“So you’re Jurot?” Clara asked, staring at the young Iyrman who was adorned in heavy furs. She couldn’t help but admire his physique, for the Iyrmen certainly held the greatest physiques in the land.
“Yes,” Jurot replied, noting how relaxed Clara seemed. He realised that Adam wasn’t really in trouble.
“Take a seat.”
Jurot sat beside Adam, sitting tall and proud. He crossed his arms, waiting to be interrogated. He had no fear of the situation, and it wasn’t because they had allowed him to keep his axe, or because Sir Landon would deal with it, or even because Adam was at his side, or because this wasn’t as serious as expected.
He had no fear, because the best thing would be for them to walk away freely, which was most likely, and the second best thing was to spill their blood on the floor, which was most preferred.
“The Half Elf claims you’re his brother, but I don’t think I’ve heard of any Half Elf being an Iyrman.”
“He is my brother,” Jurot confirmed.
“I know many tales of the Iyrmen. In East Port, there are many tales which pass by from all of the world. The Fire Giants of Voodur. The people known as Inasir, those of the elements. The Confederacy, with its corsairs and great mercenaries, many of which East Port has hired even in the past decade.”
“The Brands are currently active around the port district,” Jurot confirmed.
Clara nodded, the Iyrman revealing quite a bit of information with just that singular line. “One thing I know about Iyrmen is that, once you’re a man, or woman, you get tattooed.” Clara motioned to Adam’s bare forehead. “He’s got no tattoo.”
“Adam is no Iyrman,” Jurot confirmed, “but he is my brother.”
Clara remained silent. She had assumed Adam was lying when he mentioned they were brothers, since he wasn’t an Iyrman. Yet, if the Iyrman said it, then this was another matter entirely. She had been sent in order to gather every little detail. If Adam had been confirmed to be lying, then even Sir Landon wouldn’t have been able to deal with the matter, and it could have escalated further than either side expected.
“How can he be your brother if he is not an Iyrman?”
“We have the same sister,” Jurot replied.
The captain held the Iyrman’s gaze. “Alright. He says he didn’t kill the Aswadian. What do you think?”
“He did not do it.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Adam, did you kill him?”
“No,” Adam replied.
“Then he did not do it.”
“You believe him just because he said so?”
“Adam is queer, but he is no liar,” stated, as though it were fact. “He would not bring shame to the Rot family name.” Jurot’s eyes remained firmly fixated onto the captain’s. He was daring her to disagree. He knew what she was doing here, but even so, he wasn’t going to let her act up freely, not when it came to the Iyr’s matters.
“I hear you’re doing quite well in the tournament,” Clara said, smiling slightly. “I’ve yet to watch your bouts, since I have been working. You’re quite young still, though, so you shouldn’t let it get to your head.”
“You are strong, captain,” Jurot said. He had noted the colour of her cape, red, which meant she was a member of the elite guard. The trim was golden, revealing she carried magical weapons. The buttons that clasped her cloak to her armour were far more stylised, meaning she was close to the level of a Master, while the other two were Experts. “There are six warriors in this room, and you would place in the top half, after my brother and I.”
“You think you can beat me?” Clara asked, raising her brow, as though daring him to state it again.
“No,” Jurot stated, keeping his gaze glued to hers. “I know I can beat you.”
The pair remained glaring at one another.
Adam, who had been remaining silent, swallowed. He had figured that something was up, but to think that the greatest card he had drawn in order to deal with the situation was trying to get him killed.
‘Damn it, Jurot! Stop trying to aggravate her!’
Adam now understood how it felt to be on the receiving end.