Chapter 13: A Rigged Trial
For being his first time on an airship, Balthazar certainly wasn’t enjoying himself. It was a larger ship, the Midsummer Night, surrounded by the others, flying in formation above the city of Calima. Deponesian soldiers had his wrists shackled together, along with the others. Seeing as he wasn’t a direct suspect, they hadn’t yet taken his things, but as he looked around the deck, he felt completely and utterly trapped. The soldiers completely surrounded them, either at work, or keeping trained on them, so that no movement they made went unnoticed.
“Excuse me, why am I under arrest too?” Sienna raised her hand at her shackles.
“Quiet you!” One of the soldiers barked.
“Right, I’m really starting to think you all are bad luck…” She eyed her shackles. She very well could break out, but with nowhere to run, she was better off playing nice.
“I demand an explanation for these charges!” Atma furiously cried out.
“It’s simple really.” A middle aged man stepped out from below deck. His hair was a faded gray, his face scarred, and his eyes empty. He wore stone colored armor, scratched and beaten from years of combat. “Your father was assassinated, we felt the need to investigate any possible connections. His son leaves the country immediately after the murder and being named heir? Forgive me if it's just a little off putting.”
“Stein, to hear that from you of all people…” Another knight, in black armor with white trim, stood beside him. “It’s ironic, cruel even.” He was on the younger end, closer to Atma and Sienna’s age. He had white hair, with a dyed streak of red on his right side. He was just under six feet in height, marginally taller than Stein, and perhaps as tall as Alice. “Listen, we just need to be sure to clear you of all charges, you come back to the Kingdom peacefully, I doubt we’ll have a problem.”
Atma seemed to choke a bit, trying to process the news. “Dante. My father, is he really-”
“I’m sorry.”
Atma closed his eyes for a moment, thinking to his father in reverence. “Very well. Back to Deponess. Please see to it that Captain Sienna is returned to her ship, and my companions are taken care of.”
“Not quite yet, Prince Atma.” Stein spoke in a very matter of fact manner. “We’ll be interrogating them first.”
“Excuse me?!” Atma seemed taken aback.
“Sorry, interrogate?” Balthazar raised his voice.
“A special investigator, Lieutenant Watts from Linia, is aboard the Pleiades, and will be conducting the primary interrogation," Dante answered. “Just answer her questions honestly, and this will be quick, we can go home, and we can get to the bottom of this.”
Balthazar sighed in relief, a Linian investigator was more likely to be fairer with him and Alice than someone directly affiliated with the Kingdom. Brothers in arms or not, something about the way some of the soldiers around them looked at him told him they weren’t exactly fond of him regardless of his innocence.
“I want them in the cells below deck for now. Isolate them, I don’t want them ‘getting their story straight’ or trying anything.” Stein eyeballed the group, pacing in front of them, stopping directly in front of Balthazar.
“That won’t be necessary, Stein.”
Stein was unmoving, staring directly into Balthazar’s eyes as he replied. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Prince, but you’re in no position to be giving orders right now.” Stein paced around Balthazar, and searched him and his belongings. “What do we have here?” He held Faust’s core playfully, investigating its mysteries and details.
The glare from the knights around him told him he should answer. “It’s an old relic I picked up on our travels,” he started. “Just a personal trinket and project for the future.”
Stein eyed it a while longer, before returning it to Balthazar's bag. “And thi-” He reached for the black grimoire, his finger making contact as Balthazar reached to stop him, an instinct from somewhere he didn’t recognize. A soldier drew their blade on Balthazar as soon as he did, lunging, and keeping the tip of his sword trained on Balthazar’s neck. Stein gripped the back of Balthazar’s collar, lifting him slightly. “And this is?”
Balthazar’s eyes darted back and forth. “S-sorry, that’s a book I just picked up. It's in old mage script, I can’t really read much of it.”
Stein’s eyes narrowed. “I’m confiscating it to search for any evidence, since you seem so keen on guarding it.” He eyed the soldiers nearest to him. “Like I said before, cells, now.”
***
Lieutenant Watts smiled, as she sat with Atma, flicking through the pages of her notebook. Everything about seemed almost overly formal, between her keeping her steel hair in a bun, the officer’s uniform being spotless and well kept, or even smaller details, such as the placement of her cap, or the arrangement of pins on her uniform. “I understand you changed companions before leaving the country?”
“At my prior companion’s request, yes.”
“I have statements from your report to the Guild House in Port Royale, and from your previous companion, documenting your time.”
“Then you’re aware I would have had no opportunity to arrange the crimes I stand accused of?”
“Yes, your report was quite thorough, the report of this Miles even more so.” Watts leaned forward, the change in her position adjusting the glint of her round glasses, revealing her steely eyes tracing every detail of Atma. “But, I simply must wonder if this was planned even further back. Surely you must have realized that your father had gone rather long without naming his successor, that one of you would be due to be King one day? Given he did choose you as his heir, surely you must have realized some time ago that he intended you to be King.”
Atma was silent for a moment, the lieutenant incredibly difficult to read. “I was under the impression that Escalus would be King.”
“Jealousy then?”
“None. Escalus would make for a fine king.”
Watts leaned back, the glare of a lamp in the room illuminating her glasses, the reflection hiding the boredom in her eyes at his answer. “I see. Very well then, guards, the next one!” A pair of soldiers entered the room, escorting Atma outside, unshackling him from the interrogation chair, as the special investigator turned to the book Stein had confiscated, thumbing through it with little interest.
***
“Locke Helion, born third child to Leonidas Helion. You’re not expected to inherit the school your family teaches, the estate, and while your performance is certainly above average compared to your peers, your siblings, on the other hand…”
“May I ask the point of this line of questioning?”
Watts crossed her legs and sat up straight in her chair. “What I mean to say is, what does a third child have to gain from siding with a man who would be king?” She let the question simmer for a moment. “I imagine nearly everything.”
“I’m neither skilled nor worthy to inherit any of it. And I’m fine with that, if I’m to gain anything, I must earn it myself, not through inheritance, or some elaborate scheme.”
“You’re a loyalist, I see.” She adjusted her glasses. “Tell me then, is there anything then to definitively prove to me a lack of involvement.”
“You’re lacking in evidence, Lieutenant, and we both know that. If you’ll note the logs we made with the Guild House, there is no time in which Atma could have made contact with anyone outside of the group, or other supervision. And I doubt the knights who acted as his guards beforehand would be so unobservant.”
***
Stein entered the room in between interrogations, Dante at his side. “Anything so far?”
“No, nothing incriminating, if that’s what you’re asking.” Watts snapped the black grimoire shut before facing them.
“I told you,” Dante scoffed. “None of them has done so much as attempt to pick a fight.”
“There was the Dark Mage,” Stein countered.
“The kid was reaching for a book Stein, a book no one can even read!”
Stein turned back to the investigator. “Is there anything in there?” His eyes drifted to the book, a hunger the lieutenant recognized in them.
“I’ll need more time there.”
“Should I bring him in next?”
She seemed to ponder it for a moment. “No, save him for last, bring me one of the girls.”
Stein nodded, stepping back into the halls of the Midsummer Night, while Dante lagged behind for a moment. “I’ll report to Raine and Agravain, they’ll want to keep updated.”
“If we get anything, you’ll be the first to know, but again, you’ll need to give me time, Sir Tellian.”
Dante turned to the door, a sour expression on his face. “Understood.”
***
“Alice Taube Nocturne, born December 3, Light Mage, graduated with high honors just a few weeks ago. It’s been a while.”
“Sorry? I can’t say I’m all that familiar with you.”
“I don’t blame you, I don’t believe you’ve seen me in years.” Investigator Watts didn’t emote in a particularly strong way, but Alice could sense an odd elation to the way she carried herself, as if she were holding back excitement. Watts tapped the black grimoire with her finger. “Where exactly did you pick up this little number?”
“Right below your feet if you can believe it. We were exploring the old catacombs when we came across an old lab where we found the book.”
“Interesting.”
Alice raised an eyebrow. “You don’t seem all that interested.”
“Alice, may I call you Alice? I’ve seen a lot in my time, and this? Oh that’s nothing compared to what else you might find in the world.”
“I didn’t take you to be that well traveled, Lieutenant Watts, but that is a Fay Grimoire, I’d hardly call it run of the mill.”
“You’d be correct in that regard,” Watts, in a way similar to how a bored child might, opened the book, and flipped the pages from one cover to the other. “Call it a preference of interest. I seek new truths, truths relevant to the now. It’s part of why I’m here. I’m well aware you won’t have anything new for me that the others haven’t said before.”
Alice scowled. “So is the interrogation over, or-?”
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“Not quite,” Watts said, removing her cap. “I'd like to know your impressions on things.”
Confused, Alice took a moment to answer. “If you mean Atma, he doesn’t really seem the type. The man’s a big softie, always trying to get as many people through something as he can. I wouldn't call him a killer. He negotiated with pirates, pirates of all people! Saved our lives doing it too. I mean, it’s not like the captain is a brutalist or anything, but Atma certainly kept things smooth.”
“And what about now? Has your opinion shifted in the light of these accusations?”
“Certainly, it’s jarring to hear such a thing, but I’ve seen him get all bleeding heart, really spill his guts. No, I don’t think he’s a murderer.”
Watts tilted her head slightly, and removed her glasses, her face seeming off from how it was before as she did so. “I suppose the last question I want to ask is; what are you feeling right now?”
***
“I can’t say I’ve met you before.” Watts eyed the prisoner curiously. “Will you tell me your name?”
“...”
“Well aren’t you the strong silent type, let’s go off of that mark on your shoulder then, Miss Nocturne.”
“...”
Watts sighed. “You’re not making this any easier for me, are you Miss Nocturne?” She smiled. “That’s fine though, I welcome a challenge.” Watts met the brunette’s eyes with an unusually bright demeanor, especially as the chains of the interrogation chair rattled and strained. “See, now that’s a look I’ve seen before, eyes I’ve seen before. Eyes of a savage beast.” She leaned back in her chair. “But if you’re not going to be helpful, then that’s perfectly fine, I’ll just see if I can get a bite from the Dark Mage.”
Her chains relaxed, clinking lightly.
“You really don’t care, do you? What would Alice say if she saw that, I wonder?”
***
Balthazar felt unnerved as Stein pulled him from his cell, which had been closer to being a box than anything. He was carted up a ways to a nearby room, catching a glimpse of Atma and Sienna outside of the interrogation room, silent, as guards remained stationed on either side of the door, and trained on either of them. Stein shoved him into the interrogation room, where Lieutenant Watts sat, readjusting her glasses.
“Melly? Melly, it is you!” Balthazar sighed as he sat down with her. “I figured when they said Watts, but I wasn’t certain. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Stay quiet until you’re asked something.”
Balthazar shrank back at Stein’s voice, freezing up as the man reached to shackle him in the interrogation chair. Watts raised a hand, Stein stopping. “That won’t be necessary here.” She smiled and returned the black grimoire to Balthazar, sliding it across the table. “Nothing in here that you could call evidence, Sir Stein.”
“Fine, but this one I’m staying in on.”
Watts shrugged it off. “How is your mother doing, by the way?” Her eyes glanced back and forth between Stein and Balthazar.
“Busy as always, but she’s glad to be out of active service with the military. She still talks fondly about you, Melly.”
“Well then, Balthazar, I think I have the most important questions for you.”
“Me?”
She pulled at her glasses again. “One question, really.”
“Shoot.”
Watts smiled as she took off her glasses and ran her hands down her face. “You want to see something really scary?”
***
Atma stood inquisitively by the door, Sienna at his side. “They’re letting you off, right?” The guards didn’t seem to pay much mind to their conversation, if anything, welcoming any open words to find evidence to prove or disprove his innocence.
“They should, they don’t exactly have anything they can use to hold me, not like the others being your companions and all.” She sighed. “I'm sorry about your father.”
“... Is this what it felt like for you?”
“Hard to say, Atma, grief’s never quite the same for people.”
“This sort of echoing emptiness?”
“Well, that much is familiar.” Silence for a moment, as they waited for Balthazar. “Listen, I’m sure this’ll pan out just fine for you and all, but I hope you can find the truth behind all of this.”
“You and me both.”
THUD! CRACK! The two and the guards nearby staggered as they felt the ship take a heavy impact, and shudder with its weight. “What was that?!”
One of the guards rushed to the interrogation room. “It sounded like it came from-” CRACK! The door flew off its hinges, smashing into the wall, the soldier caught in between, a horrid popping and groaning sound from his bones and armor as he was squeezed between the door and wall. A large, wiry, shadowy black arm extended out, holding the soldier in place. It flowed like a fire, not quite solid, and was far too massive to be from anything that could fit on the ship, though its size was far from consistent. Towards the hand it grew thicker, further way, thinner, closer to a human arm. A soldier tried cutting at the shadowy mass, only for it to corrode away at his sword, and recover, not unlike how Salamander had. The arm pulled the door away from the wall, and hurled it down the hall. Atma grabbed Sienna and dove to the ground as it bounced and splintered, shattering itself into the wood surrounding, and a few soldiers getting hit by the debris.
“Balthazar!” Atma called out, trying to teach the Dark Mage, as a second arm emerged from the doorway, feeling around, and working with the other to try and drag the main body out.
Sienna held him back, her strength being more than enough to keep him from rushing in. “You’ll die if you go in there unarmed!”
“But Balthazar’s in there with that thing!” The arms seemed to suddenly be dragged back into the room, another loud crashing shaking the ship. A low cracking noise intensified, as the ship shuddered, and a flash of red light burst from the room, Louder and louder, seeming to spread.
“We need to move!”
“What?!”
“Move!” Sienna dragged Atma and tried making distance from the room, as the arms burst out again to try and break free, a howling shadowy mass dragged along, with eyes a glowing gold color, locking down on them. CRACK!
Atma found himself nearly in freefall, as the monster’s violent outburst strained the ship beyond its limits, and split it in two. Sienna grabbed his hand, holding onto the railing leading upstairs, and some of the soldiers started free falling, the wind roaring as the ship began crashing down. The two were throttled around, the railing straining to support them. Atma caught a glimpse of something in the distance, the black mass still rampaging on the other half of the ship, and plummeting far faster. Then, towards the direction of the Pleiades, another familiar sight. “Sienna, I need you to trust me!”
“Don’t really have much choice, do I?!”
“On my signal, I need you to let go of the railing, but hold on to me!”
“What?! Dammit, fine!” She grimaced and nodded.
“3… 2…” CRACK! The rail gave way, and the pair were flung from the airship, in a free fall of their own.
“I’ve got you!” A third voice called out. In a flash, Atma caught a grip on a large spine. He still hung loosely, straining to keep his grip and pull up Sienna.
Sienna grunted as she grabbed hold of another spine. “Is this thing-”
“Sienna, meet Hiryu, Dante’s dragon.” The beast roared in affirmation, smaller and leaner than one might expect, but with three prominent horns, and a massive wingspan that soared the skies with an incredible strength and grace to them.
Dante leaned back from his mount, reaching out to Atma. “Hold on, this landing’s going to be a little rough!” He grabbed hold of Atma’s hand and helped the two work their way up Hiryu’s back. The dragon wheeled away from the falling debris nearly skidding to the ground as it landed, Atma and Sienna hitting the ground rolling with the rough landing. Dante dismounted, to check on them as Hiryu stood on its hind legs, its forelimbs being more like proper arms. It folded its wings, and carefully observed the three.
“Oww…” Sienna groaned as she sat up, trying to get her bearings, finding they were somewhere to the North of Calima. “What the hell was that?”
“That wasn’t your doing?” Dante warily looked over the two of them.
“No, something just- I don’t know, burst out of the interrogation room, attacked everything.”
“You thought that was us?”
“We, Atma.” Dante hastily looked back to the Pleiades. “Atma, we saw something burst out of the interrogation room, and assumed someone was fighting back. They sent me to scout things out.”
“Fighting back?”
“Atma, they think you and your companions were attempting to escape!” Dante paced back and forth. “Dammit, Agravain’s all excited to hunt you down, and Raine’s too dogmatic to not try and hunt you down. I don’t have the authority to stop them!”
“Shit.” Sienna glanced around, trying to find any kind of cover.
“Calm down, both of you. There’s got to be some way to explain this.”
Dante slowed his breathing, trying to focus. In the distance, to the southeast, a flare shot into the sky, calling for help, presumably at the wreckage of the other half of the ship, Survivors. “You two lay low for now. I’ll try and meet up with the Pleiades over there and see if I can try and clear this up before this situation gets any worse.” Dante looked up to Hiryu, who lowered himself to allow his rider to mount. “Wish me luck.” He turned to the wreckage. “Let’s fly, Hiryu!”
***
Stein brushed off debris on his armor as he watched the flare descend. His face had a new scar to it, but he hardly noticed as his attention turned to the Pleiades, and then, the woman claiming to be Watts. “Where is he? That Dark Mage?”
She shrugged, waving her hand around whimsically. “You could always thank me for saving you first, you know.” She cracked her neck to either side. “I think he landed somewhere else, this half of the ship wasn’t so lucky, split up even more mid fall than it seems like the other did.”
Stein stepped up to the woman and held her up by her collar. “Who are you, really?”
“Not afraid of you, that’s for sure. While I’m at it, you can thank me for letting you see my real face. I don’t go showing it to people all that often. But you saw me, real scary, wasn’t it?”
Stein let her down, curious. “More beautiful, if I must say so.”
“Oh, you charmer you.” She giggled, and reached into her coat, placing a mask with a stitched mouth on her face. “I hate to give this up,” she said, patting down her uniform, “I think I make this look good. As for who I am, you can call me Loki.”
“That boy, that book, what was it when I touched them? It felt like-”
“Like the Goddess herself poured the world into your mind? Why not go after him, now that you’ve gotten a taste of real knowledge. That is what you’re seeking, isn’t it?”
“It is,” he smiled, maliciously.
“Then do me a little favor. I’ve given you plenty of set up, and soon you’ll get plenty of bodies, and the knowledge on what to do with them. You just tell them they fought back, and I’ll consider us even. Give it a little spice, I know exactly what’ll do the trick.” She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, her mask smiling like a jester.
“Consider it done.”
“Just what I like to hear. I’ll keep in touch.” With a joyful sway to her step, she stepped into the shadows of the ship’s debris, and vanished without a trace, out of sight, as the Pleiades set down.
***
Dante was shocked as Stein gave his report, with the usual nonchalance. “But why?! They had nothing to hide!”
Stein glared at him, leveraging his being in the interrogation room, and general outranking of the newcomer to the Knights’ Council. “I’m simply telling it as I saw it. The Dark Mage attacked, and killed the Lieutenant, his magic broke apart the ship. She was on the verge of cracking him, and he tried fighting before she could get an answer from him. As I understand it, there was some sort of collusion between the prince and the Mages of Linia, hence the children of their Mage Paragons accompanying him.”
Agravain growled, “I always knew we couldn’t trust those bastards with the pointy hats. What now?”
“What else,” Raine asked, their voice cold. “We hunt them down.”
Stein grinned. “Alright then, by your leave, I’ll go after the Mages. I’m the most experienced here with them after all.”
“Very well. But I want them alive if you can help it. I leave it at your discretion if they put up too much of a fight. The rest of us will go in pursuit of the Prince.”
Dante protested in shock. “Raine, your brother is among those Mages, you can’t just-”
Raine cut him off swiftly and confidently. “Locke has always been able to choose the right path, but he’s weak willed. If he’s alive, he will surrender, of that I have little doubt.”
Dante shrank back, they weren’t hearing him at all. He clenched his fist and bit his lip. Member of the Knights’ Council he may have been, but to them, he remained just the rookie.
***
Balthazar found himself next to Alice and Locke, with a rhythmic thudding vibrating his body, a gentle, but warm embrace as he drifted in and out of consciousness. It was almost like being carried by the Dryads all over again, but his body felt too battered to do a thing about it. His clothes were shredded, his arm burnt lightly, and a nightmarish dread hanging over him, feeling as though claws had shredded into him. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been moving, or how fast, his eyes drifting open once more, as the crimson, fiery light faded away. The others were still out, left who knows where. It didn’t matter to him at that moment. For now, he felt safe, from whatever it had been that had filled him with so much terror. Part of him wanted to remember, but every time he tried, his mind screamed him away. He took solace in his safety for now, his gaze turning back to the black grimoire, still clutched in his hands.
***
“That’s the Marauder, it’s breaking off to the east. Maybe in search of the others?” Atma perched himself at an outcropping of rock near a river that led back towards Calima. He sighed, as another ship neared their location, the Silverbolt. “Do you think Dante got through to them?”
“No.” Sienna glared up at the ship. “That ship’s not slowing down. That thing’s on an attack run.”
Atma’s eyes darted back to the ship as a cannon ball hit a nearby outcropping, shattering rock, and raining dirt down on them. “No, no, this can’t be-”
“You’d better believe it's happening!” She grabbed him again, nearly slinging him over her shoulder as she did, and made a run for the river. “Hold your breath, this is going to be rough!” She dove into the river, as the barrage commenced, the shore being bombarded with near endless cannonfire, clouds of dust and debris filling the air. The Silverbolt circled around the area, trying to find any sign of them. Nothing.
PART ONE: END