Chapter 94: Knock Knock
They had to wait for a bit on the roof before Victoria returned, carrying sealed documents. On her heels, was the Stockade’s captain along with a regular city guard.
“Right, boys and girls, these two will be accompanying us to ensure everything is done properly and by the book,” Victoria let out, sounding very pleased with herself. “Balethon, if you want to return to the infirmary you may do so. We have a new sniffer. Captain Bushell here felt impartiality was required on that front.”
“You are the prosecutors in the latest case against the Flaxen family. I do hope you understand the precaution,” the captain went, in a very respectful tone directed at Dakota.
“No, I understand. It is only right,” Dakota replied with a polite nod.
“Uhmm what about Victoria?” Tiguan asked, looking a tad confused. ‘Really? You just had to ask that?’ Sapphire questioned to herself, looking at the dragon and trying not to let her annoyance show.
“I’m technically still in charge of the Royal Guard investigation of the allegations against Bizmati Keep, of which Lady Flaxen and her family is very much a part. Though the good captain has agreed to provide additional oversight for a bit of added credibility to our findings should there be any. You coming, Balethon?”
“If Tiguan is fine with it I wouldn’t mind coming along,” Balethon replied, clawing at the ground a bit. Sapphire drew a slight smile. Yeah, just seeing the faces of those Flaxen bastards should be worth the trip.
“... Uhm… sure,” Tiguan answered after a bit, realizing it was his answer they were waiting for.
“Very well, you two mount up then. Same three wing formation as before everyone,” Victoria continued looking around at everyone “Ylditz, you know the way, right?”
“Oh yeah I do,” the lieutenant replied in a cocky tone.
“Do I have to look scary for this one?” Tiguan asked, clearly not thrilled with the prospect.
“Not until we get there, but yeah, that would be helpful if you wouldn’t mind."
“No, I get it, I’ll do it,” Tiguan replied, looking off the side of the roof for a second with a bit of a sigh.
“Now Ray remember, these are bad people, so we are gonna be scary. You just do your best to hold it together. You don’t have to say anything, and I’m sure Tiguan here will protect you,” Sapphire went, trying her best to sound reassuring.
“No one is getting hurt on my back. That’s just not happening,” Tiguan added. “If they are as bad as you say they are I will scare them, but I’m not mad at you okay?” The dragon tried looking straight at Ray, who Sapphire could feel shrink down under the dragon's gaze.
“Hey if you need a reason to be mad at them, you’re dealing with incestuous murderers and kidnappers,” Balethon let out in a destinctly unimpressed tone as he walked over to Tiguan
“Don’t forget, they tried to label us traitors too. That could have wiped out the entire keep if it had stuck. I will show no quarter to those who tried to kill my kids and burn my home,” Dakota stated very plainly, looking at the dragon.
“Oh and the bribery,” Balethon added as he beat his wings to make it onto Tiguans back. The dragon lowering a wing for Ray, Sapphire leading the woman up before jumping back down again herself.
“Yes, that too, Balethon,” Dakota replied, shaking her head a bit.
“I almost feel a little offended that the slights to my own, Baron’s, and the Royal Guard’s honor weren’t mentioned,” Victoria added, though there was a little humor in her voice which vanished as she glanced around the roof. “We ready to depart?” She received no protests to indicate otherwise. Turning to Tiguan she gave the dragon a nod. “Lead on then.”
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“Don’t ride him too hard, he’s not from around here.”
“Oh, so gods change depending on where you are from?... Good to know,” Quin replied, sarcasm heavy in her voice. She had been less than pleased to learn that Tom didn't in fact know a lot about the gods around here. And when he admitted he didn't really believe in the ones he knew about either, she had launched into a full lecture. Looking back, this was definitely the wrong time to have said that. In his defence he had just downed a flask of whiskey, so he was at least a little drunk which did also help with weathering the storm.
‘Oh god let it end,’ Tom cursed to himself. He just wanted to make a lighthearted joke, not spark a religious argument.
“The gods reside over the world, I know that. You don’t need to school me in that,” Unkai protested, having taken Tom's side.
“Oh, so what are you suggesting? That he isn’t even from this world?”
“Uhm…” Unkai let out, sounding like he just realized he said too much.
“You have got to be shitting me,” Quin finally replied.
“Do not say a word. That goes for all of you,” Unkai ordered, with a surprising amount of authority in his voice all of a sudden.
“Can we leave the debate for when I’m not dying?” Tom tried, hoping to switch the subject. He could worry about the wrong people figuring him out later. Hell, the people here seemed trustworthy enough anyway.
“Right sorry. I’m not sure there’s not much we can do though. Unless you want to risk trying some of the alcohol already here. Your liver is just gonna be chugging away, slowly… you know.”
“Yeah, I’m killing myself right now, I got that.”
“Why don’t you just try and slow down his liver? Like if you were putting someone into hibernation,” Quin let out, as if a brainwave had just hit her.
“You can do that?” Unkai questioned. “Don’t you have to, you know… do the whole thing?”
“Sure you can… your training isn't complete, is it?” She questioned in a very unimpressed tone.
“No…” Unkai replied, sounding rather ashamed of himself. “Also not to spoil anything, but he’s not a dragonette. Can it even be done with someone warmblooded?”
“When in doubt, throw magic at the problem,” Tom let out, throwing his arms into the air.
“The whole thing would kill him for sure, might be able to do it with parts though. Move over, I’m gonna try to see if this works. If you live you will give your prayers to Kalador.”
“Quin, he saved everyone here. Just get on with it and don’t kill him,” one of the wounded dragonettes interrupted from one of the other beds. Quin replied with an annoyed Harumpff.
“A word of warning, I haven't done this on… whatever you are, so it might be dangerous. Actually, yeah, this is probably extremely dangerous.” Tom tried doing the math in his head, which just gave him more of a headache. Fuck it, it was likely this or trying to guess where the methanol had come from, which he had no idea how to do. Chuck it on the bad idea list and hope for the best. He needed more time.
“Are you gonna be putting me to sleep or just the liver… so to speak?”
“I’m going to try and put you into hibernation, just the liver though. I think if I try all of you, then you just freeze to death. Might be rough on the liver, but that should be fixable in time… if it doesn’t end up too far gone.”
“That sounds reassuring... Sure go ahead, good luck making it worse.”
“Tom are you sure?” Unkai tried, clearly not convinced by the idea.
“Best case scenario, they are back here in what, 12 hours? It’s likely gonna be more than that. Even if I’m still alive by then, I don’t think it will be in time." Unkia let out some rather distressed noises in reply, but didn't push it further.
Quin’s hands were cold to the touch as she rolled him over onto one side placing them on his belly and lower back. Tom felt kinda cold inside too, uncomfortably so in fact. It felt like a lump of ice was forming in his belly or something, and it definitely wasn’t painless either.
“Would you know if it’s working?” Unkai questioned.
“Wouldn’t he get better?” Quine replied, the concentration clear in her tone.
“Don’t think so, maybe a little, but that will take a long time. It definitely feels strange though,” Tom admitted, fighting the considerable pain. “Why didn’t you just say you could do this, then Jacky could have stayed."
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“We didn't send her, Tom, she ran off,” Unkai clarified, sounding a tad annoyed. “It won’t fix it either, even if you might be able to pee a bit of it out.”
“Then get him more water. The bastard is fighting back.”
“Right,” Unkai went, getting out a canteen of water. “Drink like Shiva is winning,” he went, clearly trying to lift the mood a bit.
“Why can’t things just be easy for a change?” Tom went as he took the canteen, drinking as much as he could.
“Because you're a damn heretic, that’s why. Kalador, lord of light and healing, please bless this ignorant heretic despite his wrongful ways and guide him to the light, for despite his sins he deserves the gift of life.” Quin replied in an annoyed tone, though clearly concentrating on something now.
Tom promised himself not to bring up gods in life threatening situations ever again as he continued to try and drink more water. Then someone could be heard slowly walking up the stairs outside the infirmary.
“How is he doing… Jarix wants to know rather badly,” the old lady questioned, cautiously.
“He’s sad, drunk, and a heretic, but possibly not dying,” Quin dismissive her in a hard tone.
“... Luke, could you tell him that for me darling?”
“Sure thing, mum” Luke replied in a kind voice, even if the unease was rather easy to pick out.
Tom drew a breath to shout out so Jarix could hear, being stopped by Unkai who put a hand over his mouth.
“Don’t do that. Just lie still,” Unkai pleaded. “He’s gonna be fine, Jarix, don’t worry!” he then shouted out.
“Thanks bro. Next question, doesn't the liver do blood sugar things?”
“Your blood has sugar in it?” Unkai questioned, followed by a few seconds of silence. “It didn’t taste sweet?”
“What the hell dude?!” Tom let out, receiving an annoyed growl from Quin, as an ice cold shot of pain went through his abdomen. Tom trying his best not to gasp.
“Lay still, damn you!”
“It was on my fingers okay… I was curious,” Unkai replied in a cautious tone.
“I think he is talking about how much energy is in his blood,” Quin added, voice still heavy with concentration.
“Sure that works,” Tom replied, gritting his teeth. God, this was uncomfortable.
“I don’t really know… would it?” Quin questioned, seemingly directed to the room.
“I could get him something fast burning. White bread perhaps. We have a little honey in the stores too,” the old lady tried, voice heavy with worry.
“I think that could work,” Unkai replied. “Might help with getting him to drink more too. What he really needs is alcohol.”
“We have the wine and ale,” the lady tried again,
“Yes, but one of those did this. We've been over this,” Quin replied. “Something about being stored or made weird.” There was a bit of silence, before the lady spoke up again.
“So something else might work? we could get another cask of ale”
“If it doesn't have methanol in it, then yes it would,” Tom clarified. “But we have no way to test for that.”
“I say we just go for slowing down his liver as much as we can. That will make the current dose last longer and then we get him to pee out as much as possible,” Unkai went, sounding a bit more confident.
“It better do something, we can’t keep this up forever. Unkai, think you can take over in a bit?"
“Uhhh… I have no idea how to do that, i’ve never tried putting just a port of someone into hibernation” The male healer replied, confidence once again diminished.
“Goddammit... don’t we have something for you to practice on? a pig or something?”
“They killed all the animals when they arrived,” the lady replied, with deep sorrow in her voice.
“I’ll do it,” Kalix added, from somewhere. Tom wasn’t really sure. “If it gets me out of scrubbing floors that is.” The kid was sounding way too cheerful at that, false cheer. He knew the risk of doing that.
“No you don’t,” Tom demanded, receiving another stab of pain for his troubles.
“Like you can stop me,” Kalix replied, clearly trying to sound confident.
“Lay down next to him. Tom I’m gonna stop for a second to show Unkai how, okay?”
Tom didn’t respond. He didn’t want to. That kid was what 13 or something. First Jacky, now a kid who had only just met him a day or so ago…
“Don’t worry. He will be fine, and so will you. We just need to buy time,” Quin tried, switching to a reassuring tone.
‘He damn well better be!’ Tom cursed, without saying a word. “Do it for Jacky. She is going to make it. Do it for Kiran... you promised."
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“Tiguan, you are gonna be coming down center. We flank him, everyone try to look scary.”
“Not a problem,” Dakota replied in a cold tone. ‘Gonna be hard not to look smug,’ Sapphire mused to herself as they approached the rather impressive looking mansion.
It was definitely smaller than the Hashaw estate, but it was lavishly decorated and practically screamed wealthy. The estate even included the rather absurd addition of a tall fence, as if to deter intruders or something. Sapphire just shook her head a bit.
“Seriously those people tried to bribe us with five hundred gold,” Dakota went as they came in for a landing outside the big front gate.
“Looks like thay could have gone for five thousand… I’m guessing they didn’t take us that seriously then. Either that, or they believe the court case was going to be cheaper.”
“Well that was their mistake, not ours,” Dakota replied with an evil grin as she looked around at the assembled formation.
The look on the guards’ faces when Tiguan set down flanked by the Royal Guard, the City Guard, and Saph and Dakota was most definitely worth the trip. They looked ready to piss themselves.
“Good morning. I’m here to see the lady of the house,” Victoria went, walking up to the two unlucky bastards at the gate, focusing on the guy and leaving the woman to try and face down the assembled forces before her.
“Sorry ma’am, but the lady isn’t here at the moment. Would you want another member of the family?” the guy responded as politely as could be expected in his situation.
“Why would the lady not be home at such an early hour? This is a serious matter which requires her attention,” Sapphire was doing her damnedest not to smile as Victoria kept a perfectly calm and serious expression. ‘Oh come on, just say it.’
“The lady is currently… Unavailable for a prolonged period. She’s away on business.” ‘God dammit, so close,’ Sapphire cursed slightly.
“Oh, business. I was under the impression she was currently being held in custody awaiting trial… I recommend not lying to me again,” Victoria continued, not missing a beat, taking a step closer and looking down at the guard. “It would not end well for you... So are you hiding something else from me?”
“No ma’am never. Is there anyone else I can get for you?”
“How about all of them,” Victoria went, her voice going hard. The guard seemed to get the message as he shrank down nodding, before scampering inside. With only one guard remaining Victoria turned her attention to her.
“So, have you seen anything you want to share with us… perhaps certain people being out and about in the early hours of the morning?”
“No Ma'am, I've been here all morning. No one has come in or out,” the guard responded back, looking straight ahead.
“Interesting… are you absolutely sure about that? I feel I should repeat that lying to me would be an exceedingly bad idea.”
“I understand, Ma’am.”
“I’m a colonel. I will be addressed as such.”
“Of course. No colonel, I have seen nothing this morning. I swear it.”
“I do not believe you. Have someone pray for you that I’m wrong.”
It was hard to judge fear through a helmet, but Sapphire felt fairly certain that the guard was more than a little scared right now as she looked up at Tiguan. Who, to his credit, was doing a rather nice job of putting on a nasty looking snarl.
Ray was still on his back, along with Balethon. The two of them were neatly obscured behind Tiguan’s raised head. Ray was clearly nervous as hell, but Balethon appeared to at least be helping her a little.
They stood there waiting patiently, all staring down the lone female guard, who to her credit held her ground admirably, despite her opposition. Sapphire had been hoping to see an entire line of fancy looking nobles marched out in front of them. Instead she got two finely dressed women coming down the steps from the mansion towards the gate, with a few more guards acting as escorts. The two women did look rather fancy and very much not pleased as they stopped on the other side of the gate. The younger of the two also seemed rather familiar.
“Isn’t that the one who tried to bribe us?” Sapphire questioned, leaning over to talk to Dakota in a hushed tone.
“Yup,” Dakota answered plainly, staring daggers at the two of them.
“Victoria Hashaw… We were wondering when we would have to deal with you and your little posse,” the older of the two woman went, stepping forward. “There is going to be a court case and we will apparently be seeing most of you there,” The woman continued, shooting a look at Sapphire and Dakota, which did lead to Sapphire cracking a slight smile. “So quit posturing, trying to intimidate us with a dragon that wouldn’t harm a cripple, and go away.”
“Well, today’s agenda is actually regarding something more recent. To whom am I speaking?”
“You are in the presence of Jamila Flaxen,” one of the guards helpfully clarified, gesturing towards the woman while bowing slightly.
“Very well,” Victoria replied, holding up the fancy looking document. “You are to be investigated on suspicion of involvement in an attempted kidnapping. More accurately, the charges are attempted kidnapping and attempted murder by proxy. I believe that is what it says anyway” Victoria replied, presenting the document to the lone guard outside the gate, who respectfully took it and passed it through the iron bars to the fancy woman inside.
The Flaxen woman glanced over the document for a second before looking rather confused and actually going over it in detail, her expression turning exceedingly angry.
“How dare you make such allegations?! Captain Bushel, do you have any idea what kind of harm this could cause? It’s bad enough you keep our lady locked up as if she would flee prior to her trial! And Colonel Victoria Hashaw… Do the Royal Guard always start bullying good people into submission out of the courts? Have you no respect for proper proceedings?” Sapphire braced herself for the return fire, as Victoria took a step back from the gate, but she replied with perfect calm.
“Since your family is already guilty of insulting both my family and the Royal Guard I shall refrain from further comments. I’m here under the authority of both my station and the city guard. As of this night, a kidnapping attempt was thwarted, and your family have been declared prime suspects. Since both your family and the ones targeted are central to the case I'm currently overseeing, not to mention one of my own crew being involved, I am effectively ordered to include this in my investigation of the allegations you placed against Bizmati Keep. Submit to investigation immediately. This is not a request.”
“We will have your rank stripped for this, Hashaw,” the Flaxen woman replied, stepping back and gesturing for the guards to open the gate with a fearsome look on her face. Her attempt at intimidation was rather ruined by Tiguan snapping at her with a deep growl. That sent two of the guards inside the fence backing up a few paces before they gathered up the courage to open up the gate. Sapphire’s smile just grew a little wider until she got it back under control. It wouldn’t do to laugh and she needed to remember what these pieces of shit had done. They were here to ruin these people for all the pain that they had inflicted, and they would be merciless.
“So then Colonel, are you here to search through our cellars or do you want to dig up our gardens?” the older woman went, clearly trying to put as much venom into her voice as she could manage.
“No that won't be necessary. I want every family member lined up out front immediately. Ylditz has a list, so I do mean everybody. Those not present are to be accounted for so they may be investigated when possible,” Victoria stated in no uncertain terms. The older woman scowled at Victoria for a few seconds.
“Abberline, please take those two inside and start rounding people up. We are apparently to stand inspection,” the older lady went, turning to the Flaxen that Sapphire and Dakota knew while gesturing at the rear pair of the guards. “So what exactly are you planning Colonel?” the older woman questioned, turning back to Victoria as the younger woman went inside with the two guards at a leisurely pace.
“Oh, we are gonna be having a good sniff of everyone here, that’s all. I want you lined up abreast, then we are going through the mansion while you lot are out here. Nice and simple.”
“How fitting the Hashaw wants a parade.”