She was plain looking, her hands had calluses, likely a farmer's daughter.
Currently Harlan was reattaching her tendons, luckily there was no major damage that would cause a new tendon to be required.
“Now, please stay calm, you aren’t able to feel the pain in your legs, but you will feel it when I stretch your tendon back into place and connect it.”
Lugh shifted around her leg so that even if she reacted poorly she would be unable to spasm and possibly damage her body.
She cried and complained that it felt wrong when he connected them, but she handled it very well.
“Now, we are going to sit here for 10 minutes, then we are going to see if you can stand, does that sound alright?”
She nodded her head.
“Good. Now, can you tell me where you come from? Do you have somewhere to go back to?”
“T-tole, my parents.”
“Good, you’re doing great, do you have anything else you want right now? Food? Drink?”
Harlan could tell she was just rattled after what had happened, his scan showed that the worst had not yet happened.
She was lucky.
But she was also terrified of him, the bodies were still fresh and one could almost taste the iron in the air.
“W-water.”
She barely got out with her hoarse voice, she had been taken by chance as she went to fetch water from a creek.
Harlan gathered it right out of the air and used the same motions to make a downwind so she couldn’t smell what had happened before.
He placed it in his waterskin and handed it to her.
From what he learned about bedside manners, it was important to help her but to also let her do things on her own when possible, this should give the patient some confidence in themselves after a serious injury.
She drank dry what she had been given and then handed it back to Harlan who refilled it again, then she returned to silence for a time.
After the 10 minutes were up Harlan held her hand and asked her to try standing.
She was a little wobbly but it only took a few minutes for her to regain her balance.
New limbs and muscles very quickly got back the muscle memory that they had before so long as the body wasn’t given time to adjust to its newly crippled state.
“Do you have any pain? Any odd sensations? If you do, then please tell me now. I am not a full doctor, just a first year student with other practice on the side.”
“I’m alright, this feels normal.”
She kept her eyes on the ground so she didn’t need to look at the state of the camp.
Three minds were approaching, unknowns.
Harlan kept her close to him and he got nearer to them.
Two guards from Tole and what looked to be a farmer.
“GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER OR I’LL-”
The words caught in his throat as he recognized the crest on Harlan’s shirt.
The guards went pale, they knew who Harlan was and what he looked like.
But more than that, they had approached from the thick woods and now they could see the scope of what had happened.
“Excuse me, you aren’t the cleanup team sent by Redwall, right? Since the girl’s father is with you I assume you are just here to find her. But you must all stay here until you are given leave so you can answer any questions they might have for you.”
The farmer looked at his daughter and she nodded, the guards nodded far more strongly.
Yet when they got closer to Harlan he asked that they stay back so they didn’t see everything else.
He dragged the bandit leader alongside the rest of the group as he put up a small wall and chairs of dirt for them to sit at.
The bandit leader awoke a few minutes later to find himself next to the only other survivors and buried up to his neck with the girl throwing stones at him.
The guards wanted to stop her, but when they were about to speak up Harlan glanced in their direction and their sixth sense warned them against opening their mouths.
“YOU BITCH, I”LL-”
Harlan tossed a stone at his throat, not hard enough for serious damage, but enough that he suddenly remembered what had happened.
“Good, you are awake. I wanted to resume the conversation.”
The man’s eyes went wide, Harlan was increasing his fear while lowering his anger.
“I want to know, why are you like this? How do you personally justify what you do? What you were about to do? Please answer to the best of your abilities.”
“I-I just like hurting people. I wanted what they had, I knew that my men needed somebody to satisfy themselves with and the girl happened to be there as we were moving.”
Hardened dirt crumbled in Harlan’s hands as he resisted the urge to pluck the eyes from the man’s head.
He knew it wasn’t the right thing to do, it would help nobody, it would just be torture for tortures sake.
He didn’t want to be that person, the one who did things like that, it would barely make him better than that man.
“How did you convince the men to join you? 20 men is a full unit, so with you as a sergeant it would be 21. Were they all men under you?”
“Y-yes. I told them they could have better pay, women, food, jewels, whatever we found.”
“Whatever you pillaged, whoever you kidnapped. I would like you to be honest with me when we talk, I don’t want things to be, unpleasant for you.”
He could not meet Harlan’s gaze that seemed to be burning a hole through his skull
“Right. What we stole.”
“Better. Now, why are you selfish like you are?”
“I don’t understand.”
“Why do you put your lust above the life of this young girl, is she any less of a person?”
“I don’t know, I wanted her so I took her.”
“Even a beast only kills when it is hungry. Only mates when it is driven by instinct, that would make you less than a beast, wouldn’t it?”
Harlan raised his anger, hoping for an honest reply, yet the man said nothing but insults.
“I see that I won’t be getting any good answers from you. I should try asking a human being next time.”
The man yelled into nothing as Harlan put up an array to stop his sounds from traveling.
“So, you are a farmer I assume? I saw the calluses on her hands, you’ve got a piece of hair in your hair.”
“Y-yes, Sir, uh, Sir Fomoria, Sir.”
“You don’t need to be so formal, I have my own callouses.”
Harlan showed his palm, most nobles, even those who did form calluses from handling weapons, had them healed so their hands remained soft.
Yet another separation from a peasant.
“I grew up doing farm work until 10, then I had another place I needed to be.”
Everyone calmed down as the tension broke and Harlan lowered their fear.
He never tried it with multiple subjects, no, people, but it was working out just fine.
“You are from Tole, right? Do you have any opinion on the magical items that are being sold there?”
“I got a small golem that can help me start fires in the morning and keep it stocked when I work. It is nice that my wife doesn’t need to keep an eye on it, it even keeps my younger ones away from the fire.”
“That’s nice.”
Smalltalk filled the area until the clean up crew arrived.
“Sir Formoria, we need a report of what exactly happened here, to the best of your ability. Anything outside of your sight does not need to be included in the report, we are seeking only the facts and we can follow up as needed should anything be left out.”
“Of course, do you want it in writing?”
“We have a man for that.”
Harlan explained exactly what happened and those from Tole went pale as he left no detail out.
It was especially bad once they realized that Harlan really had done all of the killing himself.
The cleanup crew however, was not surprised, they had been told that he had done it all from the start.
“Thank you for your time. You four are free to leave now, this month's taxes will be halved as repayment for the time you’ve lost and for mental distress.”
The girl thanked Harlan and though it lifted his spirits somewhat, it was dampened by how clearly afraid of him she was.
Breken and Ava returned to give their reports, they did not leave out how Harlan had only reluctantly saved the bandit leader, but Harlan told the same story, so there was no trouble that came from it.
The three of them were back at the farm before dinner.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“Harlan, I don’t blame you for what you did. I know Ava doesn’t like it, but you are young, so is she. I am going to say however, that what you did crossed a line and you cannot repeat that mistake. Under different circumstances you might end up with a small sentence just as a lesson, but I doubt Blackstone is going to even fine you for what you did.”
“Wouldn’t that be Redwall’s choice?”
“You are a count, so you get judged by another count, unless of course they want you tried.”
“I will not make that same mistake.”
“Harlan, that doesn’t mean that you should kill the person instantly next time. It means you should capture them unharmed to the best of your ability if possible.”
“How did you know what I was thinking?”
“Because you are spying on your sister and I am spying on you. I know you want the best for her, but if I think you are going to take her down a bad path, I am willing to stop you with as much force as I need.”
“Thank you.”
Breken didn’t really know how to feel about Harlan at the moment, but from his last words he knew that Harlan at least understood that he could be wrong about what he did.
When they got inside they found guards, but Harlan wasn’t sure which town they were from.
“Excuse me, you are Count Harlan Fomoria, correct?”
“Yes, why are you here at my parents farm?”
“We have been asked to deliver a message. The orphanage in Yor has been cleared of wrongdoing and will not face legal actions. We have ascertained that it was the work of the healer who was hired at the time of the incident, and not the work of the director. The matter is officially closed.”
“Wrong on nearly every account. But don’t worry, I’m sure you are just doing your job.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, you might be ignorant of the law, but I am not. Until a judge gives an order or I close the case myself, the matter is not closed. You didn’t give me a piece of paper from the judge and I am not leaving this be, so I’ll be over at Yor soon to look over the case personally.”
The two men put up a veil, not something just any town guards could do, though it was still a very simple spell that anyone with time in the army would learn.
Harlan was checking Ava’s armor for any dings and dents, though in reality he was asking the soul inside of it for reports on Ava when the men dropped the veil.
“There is no need to come by, the case is closed.”
“Guards, make sure these two don’t stick around any longer than needed.”
The men nearby saluted Harlan as walked past the men and entered his parents home.
What a lucky day he thought, had he missed them they would’ve probably said they asked for the case to be dropped and received no reply so the judge might’ve considered that a lack of interest and closed the case, which would’ve made it take even longer to get the director in a courtroom.
The director himself was not a noble, and had little rights compared to Harlan in a legal battle, but the orphanages were run by the royal family in name at least, so the workers were given some protections against abuse.
Harlan let the guards do their job, though he quickly found out that the director was a rather wealthy man who had been using the orphanage to embezzle funds and find women to work at brothels when they reached the legal age of 16.
It would’ve been comical how evil it sounded, but it was not a joke, nor was this story unique to Yor, this man just hid his business well enough that it was hard to actually prove he had done anything wrong.
Nobody really wanted to work an orphanage job if they had something better to do, yet at the same time the requirements for somebody to actually get the job were too high for just anyone to do it.
So those with knowledge and a love of children would take them, or those who wanted access to children for any reason.
The job itself actually paid quite well, and if the children from the orphanage grew up to do something important they could even be given bonuses.
But that was a very long time investment, and greedy people wanted money right now.
So just mark a few of them as having died from natural causes or accidents, then ship them off to whoever wants to buy them.
This man had at least not forced anyone into prostitution, though he clearly guided them towards it and his magic made sure there was not even the slightest chance of pregnancy.
The reason it was as difficult as it was to fix Sara was that a normal sterilizing spell only reduced the chances to have offspring to a level so low that it was effectively impossible, but the organs themselves were left healthy, this however, damaged these organs ability to either produce healthy eggs or sperm.
Harlan stepped inside and the sigil in his mind was pulsing with energy, though Harlan did not yet understand what it was doing.
“Mom, Dad, sorry, but I’ve got some things to do. Probably won’t be back tonight. Might not stay the weekend.”
“Is it related to those guards who made us sign an acknowledgement that they asked about some case?”
“Yes, now then, they have involved you two in their plans, so I will be sending a message tonight.”
Breken spoke up.
“I hope you aren’t planning to kill them. I would be forced to stop you.”
“And I am sure you could do it. But no, I am going to see if I can’t call in a favor and show them that they aren’t the only ones who can use the law. I didn’t mind waiting until the court date, but now I need to make sure that they don’t try to flee.”
“Wait a moment, what were those papers then? They told us that they were just making sure you hadn’t abandoned the case?”
“And you signed it with your ring, right?”
“Just like you told us to.”
“And they didn’t tell you that the case was dropped, right?”
“What? You aren’t really doing that, are you?”
“No, but they came here to pretend that they told you that, and with the signature telling the judge that somebody in the family had signed off on an acknowledgement of them telling you that, they would try to actually have the case closed through proper channels.”
Harlan had visited Blackstone during one of his trips back home so he could get in her amulet connected with his own.
Currently he was taking a carriage from his home to Yor.
“Harlan, what a pleasant surprise.”
“Do you still consider my favor owed?”
“Yes, Sable not being mad at you is not a favor. What do you need?”
“Any chance I can rush a court date?”
“Perhaps, but I need to know if this is worth the favor I owe you.”
Harlan laid out everything he knew, Balor’s little spy network was far beyond their expectations due to the addition of devices to record audio, video, send messages instantly, flight was no small feat either as most people didn’t look up and most people didn’t lock their windows on the 3rd or 4th floors.
“Should I ask how you gained this information?”
“Blackmail, bribery, breaking and entering. The usual methods.”
”Well I hope you have been discreet at least.”
“Of course. I have reasons that I can tell the judge, I just thought that it was better to be honest with you.”
“Thank you. Your little communicators are a wonder, so I should be able to send a message to the judge of your case and then so long as you give the other side 24 hours of notice I can have you in a courthouse by tomorrow evening. Now, how about we discuss a dinner, maybe you could bring your family and friends, or just by yourself even. You will be here next weekend, right?”
“I will be, and I hope if I said no that it wouldn’t affect my favor. But that doesn’t matter, since I accept. I will be coming on my own. It is short notice and I know my father has meetings that he has already pushed back a week since I had an unprompted visit today.”
“You are in the county right now?”
“I am.”
“For how long?”
“Today and tomorrow. Though my schedule is quite full as you now know, so I cannot be at your home and then at the courthouse if I came to you unless I had someone to gate me around.”
“Well, that is a shame, if only you invented something that could speed things up. Those golem horses don’t need rest, and they are faster than normal ones, but not as fast as any of the magical breeds.”
“Unfortunately I am not sure what I could do to get around much faster, though I suppose I could ride one of my golems instead of hitching it, but my carriage helps keep them full of energy.”
“Ignore it, just words of wanting. I will be seeing you this next saturday then?”
“Of course, thank you for what you’ve done for me. I will not forget this.”
When he arrived in Yor he made meticulous notes of what little information the guards actually had, though this was just being done to show them that he could appear whenever he wanted and his authority meant he could basically tell them what to do so long as it did not break any laws.
The next day he did the same thing, arriving early in the morning and then only staying for a few minutes to make sure they hadn’t removed any reports or done anything to claim he had taken or destroyed anything.
Then he made his way to the relatively close city of Dullen, roughly 4 hours away, Blackstone’s home was actually not more than an hour away and this was her city which she left a mayor in charge of.
Harlan had never actually visited the town that Redwall had designated as the capital of his barony, which Harlan found mildly amusing.
The walls were 40 feet tall and had many archers towers set upon them, though they never got this far, there was consideration taken for the possibility of fighting Reino from such a place and the watchmen were disciplined under that assumption.
Harlan had never actually walked around a city before, so he left his carriage at the gate to be taken to a stable by guards.
They were expecting him and had an escort ready for him at the gate.
It was one of the first times Harlan really got to see a clear effect of his amulets, as these people were given a description of Harlan and an estimated arrival time with enough warning to have everything ready for him when he got there.
The escort for him was the vice captain of the guard, a woman 35 years of age.
It was known, or at least rumored, that Harlan had a very soft spot for women, though not in a lustful manner, so to ensure he had the best impression as well as was least likely to cause any issues, they gave him one for the day.
She however, was less happy with the detail, she had been a guard for 10 years after serving in the army for 6 years.
While women had the right to join just as men, it was still a harsh divide between the sexes in such fields and she felt it was disrespectful that she was chosen, not because of her skills and nearly impeccable record, but because she was a woman.
“Count Fomoria, I am Lian, I will be your guide for the day. I am told you have no experience with cities and you might find yourself lost or confused when we enter.”
“Thank you, I did not expect a guide but I appreciate the help. Is there anything I should be aware of?”
“Inside of this city that ring of yours grants you the right to use magic, everyone else needs a badge. You will feel a great deal of discomfort as you lose your magic for a moment when the array verifies your ring. After the first time your ring will become synced with the city and will no longer have that same effect on you. Stone magic is banned, however it is not blocked, it is considered too dangerous to let people use it as they please due to the tiered nature of the city making a rockslide a devastating thing. Yet you may use such magic if it is needed to safeguard your life.”
“Thank you for the warning, how much discomfort?”
“I will keep a bucket nearby.”
“Very well, I am ready.”
One step inside and Harlan threw up as expected, then he kept throwing up for another minute.
A farmer who had no training wouldn’t feel a thing, a soldier might get an itch that goes away after a few seconds, and mages who had far more training could get anything from a passing vertigo to feeling ill for upwards of 40 minutes unless they had a badge or a ring; for Harlan who was in the process of becoming something else, the ring could only lessen the effects on his body so much.
Part of this was the tempering of the body, making any human who worked with magic enough a magical creature of sorts, part of this was how subtly a mage perceived the world differently and the array would put them back to normal human levels for a short time.
The array itself was a very closely guarded secret and every city with a population over 9,000 had one put in place by people directly under the royals, Dullen had a population of over 50,000.
It was one of the last things Marigold gave Yggdra before she left him for the last time, a way for him to keep his hopes of people not living in fear of mad mages and wizards once more.
He dry heaved a final time and then Lian gave him a glass of water.
“I’ve never seen it hit somebody as hard as that before. Are you sure you don’t require medical attention?”
“Yep, just fine. Now I could use something to eat however. I need to check in at the courthouse so they can call me on my amulet when the time comes, but between then and now we should have about 4 hours.”
“You just threw up all that and now you want food? Shouldn’t you wait for your stomach to settle first?”
“Maybe. After I eat I want to look around, preferably the slums.”
She knit her brows in confusion as they walked to the courthouse, which was in the center of the city and directly connected with the mayors office and home.
The city itself was very old, dating back to the days of the Reinoan Empire, in such times they liked their leaders to live and work in the same exact building.
It was not odd these days to have the same arrangement, but most nobles liked their homes to be private and away from cities and towns.
Duke’s often had a large castle in the center of a city that wasn’t connected to anything else, but they still lived inside of the city walls themselves.
“Why would you want to visit the slums, if it is not overly offensive to ask.”
“Because you find out a lot about people by how they treat those who have less than them. My father had no issue giving out odd vegetables to those who truly had nothing to spare, he let travelers who had no place to go in winter come in to get warm before they went back out to finish their travels.”
“Thank you for answering my question, Count Fomoria.”
He thought about how he wanted to phrase it, he didn’t like how she was being so formal, but if he said he outright didn’t like it, then she might feel forced to act in a casual manner which she was uncomfortable with.
“If you would like, you may call me Harlan and speak in a tone that you would use with those not of nobility.”
“Yes, Sir Fomoria.”
Well, he tried at least.