Chapter 13 I Meet Justice
Part A
"We should probably follow them," Edomael sighed sadly his wings drooping to the floor.
"You have a basic understanding of what is going on with your body. I think any other questions can wait until you actually enter your maturation." He stood up and his entire body flashed white.
The back was the normal human looking Edomael. He had lost his black bathrobe and slippers and was wearing something more like white light armor. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt but had a white metal cuirass, that covered both his chest and back, over it. He also wore long white metal bracers on each forearm. He had on black doeskin leather pants. They looked stretchy and soft with none of that rock star shine you often see on leather. On his shins, he had white metal grieves over tall white boots.
All his armor had stylized white on white pictures of birds. He was also wearing a laurel wreath style crown, but instead leaves, his crown was made with white feathers. I wouldn't at all be surprised if it had been made using his very own feathers.
While all this was very militaristic, the most eye-catching item was actually a bow and quiver. I had taken two semesters of archery in college to complete my physical education requirement and I had learned a little bit about bows. This bow was just beautiful. It was definitely a type of recurve bow. I could tell that even when it was unstrung. Though this one seemed larger than any recurve bow I'd used in college and it looked like it had been made with white marble. I knew it couldn't be marble because a bow has to be flexible. It would also probably be too heavy. It was honestly something straight out of a fantasy since it also had fine feathers carved onto the surface. Of course, his quiver matched his white on white bird themed armor, but his arrows looked normal enough even though I suspected they were fletched with his own feathers.
"Where did they go?" I stood and put my hands firmly to my sides. I didn't trust myself not to touch the bow to find out what it was made of.
"To her temple. She's probably causing a small riot as we speak." He gave a sardonic smile.
"Are you going to tell me what is going on, or am I to be left in the dark?"
"Some of the story I can not tell you since it deals with the Priest personally. However, since you will probably hear about most of it anyway..." He trailed off and went to push back his hair with his hand, discovered the feather crown and had to stop. His hand dropped to his side.
"Crue is a healer and as a healer when there is an emergency he is called upon.
"Several weeks ago Crue had to deal with a case of miscarriage. Only this time the mother-to-be was only a ten-year-old girl. She had obviously been bleeding for a while without anyone tending to her and if they had waited much longer the girl would have died. After stopping the bleeding, he succumbed to magic taxation and passed out, leaving another healer in charge of the little girl.
"Even the most inept healer could see that this girl had been suffering from long-term sustained abuse. The woman who took over insisted that the guard be called. It is the law that anything of this nature must be reported.
"The mother who had brought the girl in was really upset about this and demanded to see the head priest. When she finally convinced that there was no choice in the matter, she left her daughter alone at the temple to get her husband.
"The husband shows up, without the mother, around the same time as the guard. He is ranting and raving about rape and how he knew it was his neighbor. His neighbor had always been eyeballing his girl and everyone knew his neighbor wasn't right in the head.
"The guards take statements from the father then while the father was standing there took a statement from the girl. The girl backed her father's claim that the neighbor had been abusing her. The guards arrest the neighbor and released the girl into the father's custody.
"Now, the problem is that the neighbor who is due to executed next week is innocent. Before Crue passed out he was able to learn that it was actually the father and both her brothers systematically raping this girl ever since she was very young and the mother knew about it.
"When he finally woke up, he told the head priest. Alarmed, they both went to the magistrate with this story. The magistrate heard them out, then dismissed their claims as inadmissible.
"Then the magistrate practically tells them both to keep their mouth's shut. If they were found spreading false rumors about an upstanding member of the town council then they would find not only themselves in jail, but the temple would be shut down.
"Crue later found out that the magistrate actually holds a share in the man's business and that the man's neighbor was actually the man's main business rival.
"It's a tale of true corruption with an innocent child being made a victim of powerful men's plotting.
"That's why we chose to step in. We aren't allowed to interfere with things like wars or large power struggles that can determine the fates of thousands. We can interfere with the small things and as callous as it may seem, this is something very small in the grand scheme of things."
It was a terrible story, and I could see how anyone would be angered at such an injustice. I also knew that Edomael was leaving out parts of the story. The way Crue had reacted told me something else was going on. I could understand the girl not talking in front of her father, but why had she been fine telling Crue in front of her mother when the mother was obviously complacent in the abuse?
I also wondered about Amoris. Yes, she was a goddess, but how did that change the circumstances? Would she just zap the entire family to dust? She was a bit unpredictable, so smiting wasn't out of the question.
"When we get involved in something like this, when we give our divine judgment, mortals usually don't question our authority to do so. After all, we can divine the true hearts of mortals." He paused then added, "there are a lot of you so we can't go around looking into the souls of every being.
"We have limited omnipotence. We don't see everything all the time. That would drive even a god mad to have that much information constantly inside our heads. We choose where to focus our omnipotence.
"Typically, we only get involved when an area begins to accrue a lot of negative energy or miasma. It's usually the miasma that draws our attention to the problem. So far this town still has an acceptable level of miasma, but given another year the actions of these few individuals would have created so much miasma that we, or some other gods, would have likely stepped in any way.
"Even though we have a loose non-interference policy with mortals, clearing miasma is part of our duty. My brother believes that excess miasma would cause Apep to rise again and he does have a point since last time Apep was around, the world was suffocatingly thick with negative energy. So even though we are interfering earlier than necessary, we shouldn't get into too much trouble."
"I see, so you are going to go help Amoris with this?"
"She doesn't really need my help, but since I was present when the situation came to light I am obligated to stand as witness and to perform my duties when this is over." He glanced up slightly then said, "incoming. Don't say anything stupid."
Four seconds after he said something, a woman walked through the door. The first thing you noticed about her was her armor. Scarlet plate mail was worn over top white embroidered clothes similar to Edomael's. The next thing you noticed was the big fricking sword strapped to her back. I didn't know much about swords other than the stuff I'd learned playing video games, but this sword looked like a claymore. It wasn't anything fancy, like Edomael's bow, but it looked wicked sharp where parts of it stuck out of the odd-looking sheath. The tip of the blade rested in a traditional leather sheath, the main body of the sword was bare, but was held in place by two leather straps snapped over the cross piece. It seemed nearly impossible for someone so small to wield such a large weapon.
She was small, shorter than me, maybe a bit taller than Illia. She was very muscular though, I knew without a doubt she'd be able to take on all the big burly adventurers in the Guildhall no problem. While she was diminutive and appeared strong she had this fluid grace about her that was distracting. It was almost as if she was moving to music only she could hear.
Her skin was a dark mocha color and her hair worn in a red metal headband was black and very curly. It swayed with her as she walked into the room. It looked very soft, like a fluffy black cloud. Her eyes were completely black, no whites, no iris, just a solid black. Somehow they didn't seem alien, but they absolutely suited her. She focused her black eyes on me and I could practically feel her judging me. Goosebumps popped up on my arms. It was also pretty damn obvious that she was a goddess. She had that omnipotent feel to her gaze.
"This is Aequitas," Edomael introduced us, "Quita this is Eri. His name is short for Veritas. So in a way, the two of you are name buddies."
"An Elrich Goddess with a Latin name?" Seriously, who wouldn't question that?
"My father chose this name, Child of the Winged Death and the Flighty One," she pushed some of her hair back off her shoulder. "It is Latin from your world, but have you not noticed child? The language of this world also has similar words to your home. The reason for this is because we gods enjoy world hopping. We frequently have other world visitors to Elrich and some of those other gods brought along some unique words. They've stuck around in the common lexicon."
"More important than word entomology, why are you here Quita?" Edomael interrupted.
"Yes," she turned her gaze towards the window, "I was notified of several grave injustices taking place in this area stemming from nearly eight months ago. Your situation seems to cross mine. I had just finished up the paperwork for an intervention and submitted it yesterday. I just received verification this morning.
"I have been watching the magistrate of this town," she shook her head, "This situation is further reaching than either you or Amoris suspect."
"Well, I'm glad you were able to get verification. This way we won't have to have another meeting where everyone scolds her for acting rashly."
"She does act too rashly, but in this case, I believe her actions may be time sensitive."
"I see, if that is the case why come here to me first before heading to her temple?"
"It would be rude to walk into another's temple while the god is present without an invite. You have that invite so I will tag along."
"I think you are the only one who observes that custom anymore."
"It's still considered polite."
While this conversation was taking place I was searching for Aequitas in my Gamer Glass.
*Aequitas, Goddess of Justice, law, and equality, military justice, honor, and heroic endeavors. Not necessarily fairness since she is also the goddess of military strategy. Considered one of the wiser Gods. Patron goddess of town guards. She is the twin sister of the God of War.~
So she was a military goddess and a goddess of law. It made sense that she would be involved in this situation. There was an innocent man who was going to die. I'm sure that would draw her attention.
"It's not just one innocent man, child," she commented in my direction. She had picked up Edomael's quiver and was playing with one of the arrows. "There have been no less than five innocent men put to death in this town within the last six months, but you will see for yourself later.
"Edomael, do you think you can let me have some of these arrows? I want to gift them to my brother. He's been grumpy lately because no one is warring. I'm hoping to cheer him up, and your arrows are always the best." She bounced Edomael's arrow in the air a bit testing its flexibility.
"I have a surplus at home, would a bundle of fifty suffice? It would be a gift of thanks of course. After all, you are letting us tag along on your verification so Amoris won't get in more trouble."
"Fifty would be fine.
"So should we get going then? Your part in this doesn't begin until the end, but I need to get there earlier." She placed the arrow back into the quiver and turned to the door.
"She should have gotten things started by now, so we probably should," Edomael stood beside me and patted my shoulder.
"It was nice meeting you both," I held out my hand. Edomael glanced at me and picked up his bow. Aequitas held the quiver out to him.
"Child of the Scatterbrained, you are coming with us." She turned those dark eyes on me. More goosebumps and my scalp began to tingle where my hair was standing on end.
"I don't understand, I don't have anything to do with any of this. Why do you need me?"
"Your role will also be at the end. While the young priest is stable of mind, he's been dealing with a lot of trauma recently. He'll need you to distract him when this is over," Edomael explained.
"I'm sure he's got other people who he's known far longer than me. I just met him yesterday."
"It's because you just met him yesterday. All you really need to do is distract him from his problems long enough for the shock of what's about to happen to wear off. Take him to dinner, get him drunk, go flirt with women. That's your job."
"Child of the Great Mistake Maker, you probably won't get the chance to see a true godly triumvirate again in your lifetime. While it is not a pleasant way to meet our worshipers, the people will take any chance to see us in the flesh so to speak. It will literally be standing room only, and you have the chance at a front row seat." Aequitas said patting me on the other shoulder. I was getting the impression that she didn't think highly of Amoris.
"Personally, I can do without the fanfare." Edomael crossed his arms in a sigh.
"I need to make it very clear that this sort of behavior will never be tolerated. So I need witnesses to spread the word."
"I understand that, but I don't have to like it." He shook his head and glanced at the ceiling.
"Even the gods themselves sometimes have to do things we would rather not. This is perhaps more especially true for you I would think." She patted his bicep in a show of sympathy.
"I think there are aspects of us all that we would rather not have to deal with," Edomael sighed and then reached out and squeezed my shoulder.
He and Aequitas sort of pushed me towards the door. I opened the door and the three of us walked through. Dunbar and two guild employees were standing right outside.
"Gods above," Dunbar whispered.
"I see you made an entrance," Edomael commented to Aequitas.
"A rather elderly man saw me pop in and come into the room."
"Hi," I waved at the three Guild employees standing in the hall, "Um, Crue already popped out with Amoris so the room is free if you need it." I knew they weren't waiting on the room, but I thought it was polite to say something. "A situation has come up."
Dunbar choked a bit, the two other employees stood their jaws open. I hoped the older Dunbar wasn't prone to heart attacks. He'd had a shock today. Edomael led us both down the hall and passed the three Guild members.
"Are we not, poofing," I made a poofing motion with my hands, "away?"
"It looks like we are going to walk, to make a show of it so to speak." Edomael shook his head and glanced at Aequitas with a bit of consternation.
Well, hell. The last thing I wanted to do was walk around town with two gods on either side. Before that though, we would have to go through the Guildhall. I turned my head. Dunbar and the two other Guild employees followed along behind. Would we develop a line like this all the way to the temple?
"Let's hope so, I want people to witness justice being served." Aequitas linked her arm with mine and had me escort her past the counters with the Guild employees. She probably was trying to keep me from running away. People were still lined up for either lunch or for the service counter. It was rather busy.
Neither god did anything unusual that I noticed, but gradually all the hustle and bustle of the room quieted. Perhaps a hundred people turned eyes this way and watched as the gods, and me, passed through the hall. I had a feeling that this would turn into a mini parade by the time we got to the temple. I was surprised that not one person had the courage to ask what was going on. That would be the first thing I would have done, then again I wasn't born in this world so I probably wouldn't have recognized a god or goddess if they happened to just walk by on the street.
Come to think of it, I don't think most people of this world would have recognized just any god or goddess either. There were a bunch of minor ones after all. Edomael and Aequitas were part of the original twelve. They probably had statues in their temples as Amoris did. So they would be easy enough to spot if you'd been seeing statues of them all your life.
People cleared out of the way and one huge bald guy with an eye patch held the door open. As we came out front there was a lot of jostling at the door. Everyone wanted to see outside, but no one wanted to cross the threshold just yet. There was a lot of craning necks and shoving.
We made our way down the road. I glanced back and it looked like the Guild building had just spat out a bunch of people. They followed at a distance, but still, they followed. Street vendors abandoned their carts, people came out of stores looking around at what was happening, children not knowing better ran alongside us until a matronly woman corralled them to the back with the rest of the people. We even picked up a few town guards who simultaneously looked concerned and confused.
We ran into Sturgis and his men a few blocks away from the Temple. We intersected at a Y in the road. He stood there for a full three seconds mouth agape before he spotted me.
"What is going on," he staged hissed at me from about ten feet away. Good man, asking the pertinent questions. I applauded him in my mind.
"Come, stand with us older sibling of the Priest," Edomael waved at him. "Your men can follow behind with the rest." Sturgis' face paled and he actually stumbled a bit in his step.
"He's not in trouble," I hurried to assure him. Good lord what he must be feeling. A Death God addresses you as the brother of the Priest the first thing you are going to do is come to all sorts of misunderstandings. "He's just a witness so to speak." I waved my free arm around indicating who knows what, but it was meant to be reassuring.
"I was summoned by Commander Tagert. All captains are supposed to go to Amoris' Temple immediately," Sturgis staged whisper again from nearly 5 feet away from me. He kept giving slightly panicked looks at Aequitas and Edomael.
"Were you not told what was going on?" I asked him. That part seemed important for a captain of the guard to know.
"No, I was the only captain at the gate when the orders came in," He shook his head in the negative.
"Do you want to explain?" I asked the goddess standing on my left. She had been ignoring all of the commotion and was firmly leading me at a steady pace towards the temple.
"I do not wish to explain it twice," she said simply.
I looked over my shoulder at Edomael.
"Your brother inadvertently brought to Amoris' attention a grave miscarriage of justice. I was just there to save my son from my lover," he nodded at me. Sturgis' mouth hit the ground. I had a feeling that it wasn't the part about his brother that shocked him.
"If you are going to go around calling me your son, then I should get a birthday present," I laughed making it a joke. The last thing I needed was to stand out even more because people thought I was the literal son of a god. To Sturgis I said, "He zapped me with some extra juice during my reincarnation cycle and viola." I waved at myself. I intentionally left out just when that had happened and just how much godly juju I had been hit with.
"Oh," Sturgis laughed, "some of the Priests of Edomael have said the same thing. Murray has a gift of being able to cure the worst insomnia." He nodded his head in understanding. So this was a common enough thing for it to be passed over as just something that happens.
"That doesn't explain this though," Sturgis waved at the parade and the two gods.
"I don't know where to start to be honest," I told him. "I guess it would start with my new job, I think."
"New Job?" Sturgis asked. As we talked normally, he came a little closer and he stopped trying to stage whisper.
"I was hired to be the new Surveyor for the Guild. Crue is supposed to train me. We had a meeting this morning. Crue is a Priest of Amoris and I'm her Oracle. She decided to pop in on our meeting and accidentally sort of almost killed me."
"Sounds like her," he muttered, then gave a quick glance at Edomael to be sure he didn't offend the god. Edomael just shrugged it off. Really now, how often did Amoris accidentally kill mortals that it was just shrugged off like that?
"Crue kept me alive long enough for her to get help from Edomael," I pushed on. I was stretching the truth a bit, but I figured it was for the best. "I guess because of my extra reincarnation juju from him," I nodded behind me, "it was harder for Amoris to save me. So he had to come down and fix me. One conversation led to another. Point being gods can read minds and Crue thought about something he had witnessed a while back." I paused. Then glanced at the parade behind us. We weren't that far from the temple at this point. The rest would be hard to talk about. I waved Sturgis closer and dropped my tone.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"Crue was called on to heal a little girl who had a miscarriage. He found out that she was being raped and that the wrong man was going to be executed. When he went to this towns magistrate he was told not to say anything or the Amoris Temple would encounter problems." I used my free hand to make air quotes around the word problems.
"I don't know much about the politics involved, but it was enough to prevent both Crue and Dickson from speaking up."
"It's been tearing the poor boy apart," Edomael sighed, "He hates himself for allowing an innocent man to be executed. He hates himself for knowing that the Amoris Temple closing would mean hundreds of people would go without medical treatment, being that they are the best healing temple in this town. The clients could literally die without the temple. So he's had to weigh the potential lives of the people of this town against the life of this one man and the continued abuse of this girl." Edomael looked at Sturgis. "Of course he couldn't go to his family. You might have believed him, but your father? No," Edomael shook his head, "Your father would have sided with the magistrate."
Sturgis looked like he would have argued, but the temple was in sight. There was already a fairly large crowd forming out front. The man at the door was doing his best to keep people from rushing the door to look inside. A younger looking priestess was helping him keep order. They looked to be losing as people pressed closer to the doors.
That was until someone spotted us. Then everything seemed to get very still in the crowd. Children still ran around and played, but the adults seemed to all freeze. The still people made it easier to spot the commotion coming towards the temple in the opposite direction.
A group of eight armed guards was leading a group of people towards the temple.
"Excuse me," Edomael suddenly sprinted, would you call something that looked almost like instant teleportation a sprint, towards the group.
"Good call," Aequitas muttered. Then she looked at Sturgis obviously annoyed, "Is it common practice for the guards to escort the victim along with the abuser to a trial?"
"No," Sturgis said as Edomael picked up a child from the center of the group and disappeared. His sudden appearance and disappearance looked to have scared the life out of everyone else in that party. The woman near the center of the crowd was yelling and demanding that the guards save her baby.
"Wait a minute," I gripped Aequitas' arm, "are you telling me those guys actually thought it was a good idea to bring the girl in with her father and then parade her in front of this crowd?"
Just the thought of what that would do to the girl pissed me off. It was bad enough she would have to live with this, but to have to deal with being paraded in front of a crowd? Whoever gave those orders had a lot to answer for.
"What," Sturgis hissed. To his credit, I think he pieced together what was going on quickly. He marched off and confronted the other group. He began to yell and shout at his men. A large middle-aged man began to shout back at him. Two younger men began to argue as well. All the while the woman was yelling about her baby being kidnapped.
"Enough of this," Aequitas drug me along beside her making a path through the crowd in front of the temple with just her look. Her look was more than a little frightening. If she had been coming after me looking like that I probably would have pissed my pants and fled in the other direction. She went from beautiful to scary as hell in an instant.
"You men," she said in a low voice to the guards, "have a lot to answer for." Sturgis took a knee and bowed his head. All the other guards followed suit. Oh, Lotte, was near the back with a middle-aged woman. Lotte bowed too, her face going pale then bright red.
"Who the hell are you!" One of the younger men yelled at Aequitas.
I thought the temple area had been quiet before, now I could probably hear a pin drop with the intake of a collective gasp.
"That is Aequitas Goddess of Justice, among other things. The man who just took off with your daughter is Edomael, God of Death," A woman stood in the doorway of the temple and spoke in a calm voice that barely concealed the rage she was holding in, "I am Amoris, Goddess of Love, but in this case I am acting as the Goddess of CONSENSUAL sex." She spoke the word consensual as if it should be in all capital letters. "Since there are now three of us this should make for quite the triumvirate."
"No," the middle-aged fat man whispered. Looking at first one goddess then the other. He looked like he was about to faint. He had been flush-faced before while yelling, but you could literally see the color draining from his face. Then he took a deep breath and tried to collect himself. All the muscles in his body tensed, then he tried to run for it.
The guards not only had failed to separate the victim from the abuser they had also failed to tie up the accused. Sturgis had been reprimanding his men about this when the middle age guy started to argue and bluster. Apparently, he had used his position in this town to browbeat the guards. The only thing the guards had managed to do properly was deliver the family to the temple.
Once the father ran for it, two of the three boys made a break for it too. The middle-aged woman stood in the back with a confused looking teenage boy. Just by looking at the expression on his face I had the gut feeling that this boy really had no idea what was going on. Aequitas, who was still holding onto my arm squeezed it briefly. Then she let go.
It seemed to happen in a span of seconds. Her sword was drawn and somehow it reached all three fleeing men. It was a large sword, but they had fled in opposite directions. Yet, all three were on the ground screaming and holding the stumps of where their left foot should have been. I would swear that she only swung the sword once. How she managed to amputate three people running in different directions, without hitting any of the guards or bystanders, with one swing? I couldn't tell you.
I expected to be shocked or appalled. The scent of blood and someone's bladder letting loose hit me with the slight breeze. If I had witnessed something like this on Earth I probably would have lost it. You don't see this level of violence carried out in front of you. Yet, as I stood there expecting disgust or something to manifest in my emotions, I got nothing. I didn't feel anything, but a slight displeasure at the smell. I was actually more stressed out by my lack of reaction than the event itself. What was wrong with me?
"Tie up these men immediately, then get them inside. Drag them if you have to. I am out of patience. Have someone heal them enough so that they don't bleed all over the temple floor. It would be a waste of magic to reattach the limbs, so don't bother." Aequitas looked at the group like they were the nastiest of cockroaches.
The woman's face paled even more, and she began to dry heave. The teenager still seemed confused, but moved to help his brothers. A look from Aequitas stopped him. He hesitated only briefly before helping his mother by holding her hair and patting her back. I could see the boy's emotions as they played across his face, confused, to panicked, to rage as he watched his family being tormented around him.
Aequitas used the back of the young man who had questioned who she was, to wipe the blood off her sword. She walked passed me as she re-sheathed it. Then she paused, turned around, looked at me and held out her arm. I caught up with her and we linked arms again. We made our way into the temple with the only sound coming from three screaming men.
"There is nothing wrong with you," Aequitas said in an undertone, "You've been re-born into a harsher world. If you panic every time a monster attacks or someone dies you won't survive. So your fight or flight instincts have been changed to reflect the norms of this world. Those instincts are still adapting though so they might be a bit out of sync. Don't be overly concerned if you find yourself panicking over mundane issues, but blase during times like this."
So I wasn't a dribbling mess of emotion, and wet pants, because my sense of danger had been changed. It was an odd feeling knowing I should feel something, yet not knowing why I couldn't feel it. In a way, I was grateful for the explanation, at least I could stop stressing out about not reacting the way I thought I should be reacting.
Amoris met us at the door, watching as two of her healers went out to heal the three men. Brief orders were given by Amoris as they passed by her. They nodded acknowledgment and descended the stairs to begin staunching the blood.
There had been people on the stairs leading up to the temple as we had approached it, but as the situation escalated it seemed as if by agreement all the people had cleared the steps. The crowd now circled the temple on either side of the road.
Aequitas stood on the stairs to the entrance of the temple as if waiting for something. She was giving Amoris some serious eye contact. Amoris sighed heavily and relaxed her posture.
"Come in and be welcome into my home," Amoris said formally.
"Your hospitality is well received," Aequitas nodded her head in acknowledgment. I assumed this was tradition and didn't even bother to question it.
"That was certainly a show," Amoris commented.
"And your announcing to everyone who we are and that we are here as a triumvirate wasn't a show?" Aequitas retorted.
"True, but you aren't here for those three."
"Not originally no, but after seeing their thoughts and the color of their spirits," Aequitas winced.
"I understand," Amoris hissed, "I would have cut off more than a foot."
"Unfortunately, it gets worse. I'm here for the magistrate after all."
Both goddess' looked at each other and seemed to share an unspoken understanding.
Amoris came up to me and linked with my other arm. Really now, I wasn't going to run away at this point. Why did I suddenly become the guy stuck in a goddess sandwich?
Dickson stood off to the side of the large room with Crue, a priestess I hadn't met yet, and a man in full armor. All three priests looked worn out and pale as death. The man in armor looked just as bad. It was probably a good thing we had a death god handy because they looked like they were about to drop any second. What had Amoris done to make them look so haggard?
"I yelled at them a bit," Amoris answered hand on hip.
"I hope you made it clear where they went wrong. You have a tendency to miss the point," Aequitas commented.
"Where they went wrong?" I questioned.
"As soon as the temple was threatened by the magistrate they should have gone to Amoris," Aequitas answered.
"She means they should have prayed for my help. They are my priests after all and since it's my temple in jeopardy I should have been told right away," Amoris added.
"That one?" Aequitas pointed at the man in armor a question in her voice.
"When I found out you were coming I decided to leave his scolding to you. He's one of your worshipers after all."
"Very good," Aequitas nodded in confirmation, "it seems like I am going to have to scold the entire guard and my own priests in this town. It was a series of mistakes made in large part by them that allowed this problem to get so out of hand.
"I apologize for the trouble my people have caused you," Aequitas bowed her head to Amoris.
"My Lady, no," the guy in armor protested.
"You will see in a short while just how lacking you and your men have been," she answered sternly.
I wondered who he was, was he a priest of Aequitas?
"We should do introductions when everyone gathers," Amoris commented. "Some of Edomael's men are already here. He brought them in after he saved the child. I have two of this temples best healers working with his people on the girl now. It seems she's with child again and has been slowly been fed a poison so she would miscarry this one as well. Edomael's priests say the fetus is already dead and it's just a matter of time before her body rejects it."
I glanced at Crue. I felt terrible for the girl, but Crue's feelings must be amplified a thousandfold. It wasn't his fault. He had honestly tried to fix things. It was the father and the corruption of the legal system in this town that was at fault. Still, he probably felt like boulders of guilt were being piled up on his shoulders.
The door to the temple opened and the three screaming men were carried in. Followed by the middle-aged woman and the teenage boy. The woman was crying as if it had finally hit her what was about to happen. The teenager was trying to comfort his mother while shooting dirty looks at the guards and, once fully inside, at Aequitas.
Sturgis stood to the side and kept trying to make eye contact with his brother. Crue refused to look at anything but the floor. Both brothers stood as if they had rods shoved up their spines, arms clasped tightly behind their backs. You could tell that Sturgis wanted to leave the prisoners to his guards and talk with his brother, but after his men had screwed up so badly, he couldn't just abandon his duty.
"This way," Dickson suddenly spoke up and broke off to lead the group into the room with the statue of Amoris. There were several priests and priestess kneeling out of the way backs against the walls of the room. The prisoners were made to sit on the floor in front of the statue. That included the mother and the teenage boy. The three men had their feet reattached but were bound up so they couldn't run again. However, while the three men had been tied up like ordered, the woman and the teenager were left unbound. No one commented on this, so I assumed this was fine with Aequitas and Amoris.
That's when Edomael popped in holding another middle-aged man by the arm. He was dressed in old, tattered, and stained clothes that were several sizes too large for him. He had no shoes and his hair and beard were unkempt and looked infested. He smelled terrible too like he hadn't bathed in months.
Amoris jumped into action on that. She instructed a couple of the kneeling priests to have the man bathed, shaved, and provided with clothing that fit. Men sprung into action and they practically drug the man away from Edomael in order to complete their Lady's bidding.
Edomael followed them.
The fat man on the floor started swearing when the other ragged man appeared and he didn't stop when he was escorted out of the room.
"Why was he tortured?" Aequitas addressed her guards rather calmly.
"I don't know, Lady," the man in the armor bowed.
"You should know when one of your prisoners has their tongue cut out shouldn't you?"
"His," the man paused then gulped, "I should have known, Lady. I don't understand how this happened."
"Your men were swayed by money, Commander," she hissed. Shit, she was going into making me want to flee for my life mode.
"You'll know who they were soon enough," Amoris commented, "We just need to wait for the final people to get here before we start."
Aequitas visibly worked on trying to relax. Pacing the room and opening then clenching her fists. She even kicked the corner of a bench a couple times. After taking a few deep breaths she turned around and stood over the fat man who was still swearing.
"Shut up," she hissed. That amount of menace in those words literally gave me chills. Her hand moving to grip the hilt of her sword didn't help tone down the aggression. Goosebumps ran up and down my arms and I shivered a little. The middle age woman actually yipped and hid her head in her hands.
"She's normally a very pleasant person," Amoris commented beside me, rubbing her hand up and down my arm, "but this situation has gotten us a little enraged."
"It's not the worst issue we've come across, not even close," Aequitas whispered looking up at the ceiling. She still had her hand behind her head stroking the hilt of her sword as if it were a security blanket.
"No," Amoris answered, "Not by a long shot, but even still, it is upsetting every time. You'd think we'd become more jaded by the atrocities that mortals can commit."
"We were born specifically to represent the thoughts and ideologies of mortal beings. I am the living embodiment of the concepts of justice and equality. You were literally born from the emotion love. All of us gods, we were created to specifically understand the mortal emotions. It's probably because we were made to feel, that we can't become jaded."
"You may be right," Amoris said with a sigh, "it feels like it breaks a part of me each time though. There have been moments when I thought I'd shatter."
"We are immortal, we can not shatter. No matter how broken you are there is always a way to put the pieces back together."
"If you fall apart you'll just end up in the Abyss anyway," Edomael came back into the room, "Then I'll just toss you back together give you some wine and let you sleep over."
"Aww, will you let us cuddle with your giant stuffed swan?" Amoris teased Edomael, though it sounded rather forced. It was a rather lame attempt at lightening the mood, but she at least tried. Wait, he had a giant stuffed swan?
"Roger is mine. He would never sleep with anyone but me." Edomael smiled sadly, playing along.
"You actually have a stuffed swan named Roger?" Aequitas asked. Leave it to a goddess to ask the relevant question.
"He sleeps with him. Uses him as a body pillow," Amoris smiled a genuine smile.
"Telling everyone about my bedroom habits, tsk," Edomael shook his finger back and forth and smiled. It was obvious he didn't mind if people found out about Roger.
If everyone else was like me they were all imagining a death god cuddled up with a swan. I had the added bonus of knowing what he looked like all shiny with wings. Somehow it didn't seem right that a death god slept with a stuffed swan, a hellhound plushie maybe, but a swan?
"I used to have a stuffed pig named Tupper," said the unidentified priestess shyly. "I actually still have him sitting on a shelf in my room."
"My daughter has a rabbit she calls Bun Bun," the Commander in armor commented. "She's going to be married next year."
A handful of the surrounding priests commented that they too still had their childhood sleeping buddies.
It had suddenly turned into a commentary on childhood toys. Wasn't this supposed to be a serious occasion? Why was everyone acting as if this conversation at this moment was perfectly natural? Did they just not want a god to feel alone?
"Everyone has a good idea of what will happen," Amoris whispered by my side just loud enough for me to hear her. "Sharing childhood memories is helping them cope with the stress."
There was a loud bang out in the hall. The Commander jumped then glanced at Aequitas. He had started to head for the door, then paused as if asking permission of the goddess. Sturgis had begun to move as well but was waved back in place by the Commander.
Another rather loud bang could be heard, but this time you could also hear swearing. Quite colorful uses of adjectives. Any seaside bawdy sailor would have been hard-pressed to come up with so many insults for a person's parentage.
As the Commander reached the door, it swung inward at the same time. Six heavily armored men drug in a thin, greasy looking, rat-faced man. Literally, drug him in. They had him trussed up like a turkey and were pulling him into the room by a long rope. He could have used his feet if he wanted to, but he lay on his back, arms tied in front, and forced the guards to drag him into the room. A decorative vase, levitated from a nearby stand, flew past me and smashed into the head of one of the guards pulling the rope. Lucky for him, his helmet blocked most of the blow, but shards of pottery went flying in all directions.
*Skill Gain- Telekinesis~
The rat-faced man was using magic to attack the guards. That was most likely what the banging had been about in the other room. The offering plate at the base of Amoris' statue launched itself next, spinning like a frisbee through the air at another guard.
Fortunately for the guard, Crue was standing near the statue and plucked the plate out of the air as it spun by. The plate jerked in his hand a few times, then stopped. A tray with ribbons and locks of hair bashed into Dickson, who wasn't as quick as Crue. Hair and multi-colored ribbons scattered across the floor.
All the while the rat-faced man was swearing. A vein was popping on his forehead, and his eyes were going a bit buggy. He was breathing heavy. Every chance he got he tried to kick out at anyone who approached him. His luck ran out when the guards drug him past Edomael and he launched a kick in his direction.
The rat-faced man suddenly froze. His eyes darted around and his vein was still pulsing, but other than that he didn't seem able to move. My guess was that Edomael had used restraint on him. I looked for more flying objects. Nothing, it was good to know that restraint also prohibited magical abilities as well.
"I see," Amoris hissed. She looked like a feral alley cat for a second before her features smoothed. I'd never really see anyone with eyes that you could say burned, but hers actually looked like a bonfire had been lit behind them. They blazed with the anger she was attempting to hold in.
Edomael had turned his back to the crowd. His shoulders moved up and down as he took a series of deep breaths. He was squatting with his hands on his knees focusing hard on a spot on the floor. At the end of each breath, he'd jerk his head as if fighting with himself.
"This," Aequitas waved her hand towards the man, "is why I am involved."
"Magistrate Givens?" one of the priests who had been standing quietly along the side of the room whispered the question as if he was truly puzzled at this turn of events.
"You," Aequitas pointed at the priest who had just spoken, "go tell the people outside that they may enter. This is a rather large sanctuary so we should be able to fit most of that crowd in here. Warn them that sentencing will take place immediately in the town square after the triumvirate. No children will be allowed to witness this, so have people get them out of the area. Leave some room though because there will be one more person kneeling on this floor. He seems to be heading here of his own accord.
"Commander Tagert, have your men assist in preparing the square for sentencing. Not that one," the Commander had turned to give orders to Sturgis, "he needs to be here to witness the triumvirate. Send them." She pointed at four of the guards that had led in the family of prisoners. Lotte was not one of the guards picked since she still stood watch over the untied woman and teenager.
Everyone jumped to do as Aequitas ordered. The prisoners were lined up single file facing the statue. I was led to stand over by Crue and Dickson, off to the left-hand side of the statue. The guards stood to the right and directed the crowd into the room as they filed in. Even though the room was large it became crowded quickly. The benches had been pushed to the sides so it was standing room only. Even the minstrels' gallery behind the statue was filled, though the people up there wouldn't be able to see much of the proceedings.
Three men walked in wearing black clothing and white on black priest vestments. The priests of Amoris all wore the silver on pink silk embroidered scarves with their regular clothes. I couldn't tell the difference between ranks exactly, but even I could tell that the amount of embroidery around the symbols designated rank. Lower rank less embroidery.
One of the men wearing the white on black vestment had enough embroidery to rival Dickson. I could only assume he was the head priest for Edomael. Black and white seemed to be his colors so it made some logical sense. I knew they had been in the process of healing the girl so they would have been in the building.
The head priest of Edomael nodded at Dickson, but they didn't share a greeting since another man wearing a red on white vestment came in. He didn't have as much embroidery on his, only enough that I could see that he outranked Crue, but didn't outrank Dickson. He had to be a priest of Aequitas, but why didn't they send the head priest?
I gave a questioning look at Crue, and he explained before the priest of Aequitas reached us.
"The head priest died nearly a year ago, the main temple in the capital has to confirm the head priest. They usually wait a year before confirmation. He is the highest ranking priest of Aequitas currently in Yellow Springs."
He sounded the same as usual, but he was still doing everything he could to avoid eye contact with his brother,who was standing guard on the other side of the statue.
One of the last people to file in was a priestess with the silver on pink. She led in the man that Edomael had transported in. They had cleaned him up and given him a fresh change of clothes that actually fit him. He looked better, but you could tell at a glance that he was undernourished and sickly. Now that he had been cleaned up you could see where patches of his hair had started to fall out from malnourishment. His face, now shaven, looked skeletal and it made his eyes appear bug-eyed.
In his hand, he held a glass bottle with some thick white liquid in it. He took sips from it every few seconds. If he tried to take too much at once the priestess would stop him with a slight tap on his wrist. It must have been some sort of medicine or nutritional supplement.
I heard somewhere that when you are starved for a long time that if you eat a lot right away you could become sick. That's probably what the priestess was trying to prevent when she stopped him from chugging the bottle. The poor man was sickly enough without adding that to his problems.
There was a shimmer of amber light from the priestess as someone walked by her to find a place to stand in the crowd. She had been letting him use her arm as support, but it looked like she was actually doing far more than that. I suspected that she was using some sort of touch-based healing magic on him.
As the crowd stopped trickling in, Dickson cleared his throat. I think he felt like he should take charge since he was the head priest. The room was already quite subdued with the exception of a few excuse mes as people bumped into each other trying to make room, but when Dickson cleared his throat everything went still. Then he glanced at Amoris.
"I, Amoris, Goddess of this temple, welcome Lady Aequitas and Lord Edomael." The prisoners had been sat in a line facing the crowd. Amoris stood in front of her statue, standing behind the prisoners, also facing the crowd. Edomael and Aequitas stood to either side of her and they nodded when she stated their names.
"Today, a grievous crime involving my temple was brought to my and Lord Edomael's attention. Later, Lady Aequitas discovered the connection between a case she had already been investigating and our discovery of this crime. We decided to hold a formal Godly Triumvirate to bring all perpetrators to justice." She stopped and in a very graceful manner waved at Aequitas.
"Worshipers at my temple have been pleading for justice. Let it be known that we do hear your prayers," Aequitas addressed the crowd calmly and began to outline upcoming events.
"A Godly Triumvirate works differently than the mortal justice system. The main reason for this is obviously because we are gods. I am literally justice personified," she touched her chest, "We will ensure that the correct people are punished and that the innocent are pardoned. We do this so that you, our people, will bear witness and spread the word of our divine justice.
"We will first ask the accused to admit to their crimes willingly. They can refuse. If that happens then their crimes will be listed by one of us," she waved her hand towards Amoris and Edomael. "We can see into a person's heart, we can see their intentions and the workings of their minds. No one can hide their guilt from the gods as long as they stand before us in judgment. We have formed a triumvirate to ensure that there is no unnecessary favoritism.
"We will then determine if there are any other accomplices to the crimes. We will then request that the guard leave and bring back any further criminals if need be. One more accused is en-route, so we will not need to send guards after him. We do not anticipate the need to gather more prisoners in this case. Most of the other accomplices were either unwitting or were motivated by greed. Once we've determined who they are, they will be relieved of any positions of power and will be brought to justice by the guard at a later date.
"After the interrogation of the prisoners, we will immediately move on to the punishment. At this time everyone will adjourn to the town square. We would never have gotten involved if the crimes committed were anything less than death offenses. You have been warned in advance."
She shook her head sadly. The woman began to wail in earnest and crushed the teenager to her small chest. The teen had gone deathly pale and I expected him to pass out. The four other prisoners remained silent. One was being forced into silence by Edomael, but the other three had already had a taste of the Aequitas' wrath.
"We will commence by asking for voluntary confessions. Do any of you wish to start?" She glared at the prisoners. Surprisingly, the teenage boy spoke first.
"I didn't do anything," he whined at her. Really, he whined. He had just witnessed his family have their feet amputated and he thought it was a brilliant idea to get whiny with a goddess. Next thing you knew he'd be wearing all black and moaning about how life is meaningless.
"You may not have committed a crime worthy of death, or even a crime worthy of prison. However, you have committed numerous injustices towards your fellow man. If left on your own it will only be a matter of time before your neck is in the noose," Aequitas addressed him sternly. Her hand was inching back to the hilt of her blade. I wasn't sure if she intended on scaring the teen or if she was doing it unconsciously.
"I didn't do anything," the boy crossed his arms and pulled away from his crying mother.
"We will get back to you and your mother later," Amoris told him firmly, "for now just sit there and watch what happens when you decide to follow a dark path.
"You," she pointed to the older man, the father of the children, "why don't you start first."
The man sat on the floor and glared at her. One of his older sons was about to speak up when he reached over and smacked him.
"Don't you dare say anything," the father turned and glared at the thin ragged man who was being supported by the priestess.
"John, Joe, and John Jr. or JJ as you prefer to be called," Edomael sighed and shook his head, "You are guilty of multiple instances of rape of a child, abuse of a minor, and a conspiracy to conceal your crimes.
"John is also guilty of misappropriation of funds, giving false testimony that almost resulted in the death of an innocent man, and twice guilty of infanticide. Once when you murdered your first newborn daughter nearly sixteen years ago and again last year when you killed your own grandchild."
"JJ is guilty of several cases of unsolved rape in this town," Amoris continued where Edomael had left off. She looked directly at the Commander, "You have had exactly five reports of out of town ladies being accosted by a dark-bearded man who wore a brown mask. The beard was fake, you can find it hidden in the bottom drawer of his dresser."
"To sum up rape and murder. Now to move on to our magistrate," Aequitas turned to the rat-faced man, "I don't suppose you want to confess, Magistrate Givens?"
"I am innocent. This is all just nonsense. You have no right to dictate your idea of justice towards mortals. What I did was clean up this filthy town. I made it a better place. I made it safer, cleaner, and more," the doors burst open in a sudden loud bang. It made nearly everyone in the room jump.