“-Sbel!” Floria’s voice was the first and only sound that cut through the thudding blood that pounded in Isabel’s ears. She hadn’t felt anything else since the words and the set of papers that boldly stated their claim. Not even their cuffs binding her or the rough hands registered at first.
That was when the pulse went through her body. The clarity of her blood sang in her ears and silenced every last sound around her, drawing forth a resounding moment that meditation had left her lacking thus far. It felt like every drop in her was trying to vibrate all at once and in every direction. It was only when her shock passed and she caught Floria’s gaze and shout that she broke free from the feelings beating at her.
“What is the meaning of this!?”
“We have orders, Madame Bordigan. The papers are right here.”
Floria shoved aside the papers, disregarding them entirely, and stared the man in the eyes. He remained calm and brought them back up once again.
“You can not be serious.”
“We are ma’am. You can let us take her or we can take you in too.”
They had come prepared for the task too, all of them equipped with a large amount of armor and weapons each and keeping a hand on them. Floria looked between them and noted the readiness before raising her hands and starred at her daughter.
“You people are making a huge mistake. I’ll be contacting the law offices and be down soon Isabel. And I will be taking a copy of that document before you leave.” The last was directed once more at the lead peacekeeper. His face twisted into a grimace.
“We don’t really do that, ma’am.”
“You do, actually. And you will.”
The sounds of them arguing cut off from Isabel as the carriage door closed behind her. Two of the guards came with her into the compartment of it while the other two sat on the coach. One of the two inside, a woman peacekeeper, offered her a nod and began reading out a number of rights.
“First, you have the right to an attorney and if you cannot afford one, one will be afforded to you. If this is not done in a timely frame, you will be released with both a minder and a bounty of 100 gold to be placed on you. Secondly, you have the right to council and freedom to speak while held in our holdings without retaliation or self incrimination from spoken word. Third, you will be placed within our holdings and treated fairly without bias from your standing or lack therefor and of while in our care. Do you understand so far?”
Isabel offered a nod, not trusting herself to speak yet without giving into the flow of emotions that seemed to throb with the woman’s every word. She also had little capacity left after the intense sensation that had assualted her when first placed in cuffs. This was enough for the peacekeeper to nod herself and continue.
“Fourth, any and all attempts to lie or leave prior to investigation’s end will be considerwd admissions of guilt and you will be charged with tampering. Finally, you have the right to make certain requests for your comfort, safety, and privacy during your stay so long as they do not enable your escape, suicide, or conflict with the investigation at hand. You may also choose to remain silent and or refuse any or all of these rights given.”
Finding her voice after nodding her understanding once more, Isabel finally spoke.
“Do you really think I had anything to do with my family’s murder?”
Her voice shook and the two guards exhanged a look before the peacekeeper responded.
“My lady… we are not at liberty to say at present our current opinions. In due time the process will establish what happened and your role will be determined. I am sorry, that likely is not the answer you wished for.”
The irony of being told what she had not a wish for finally drew another emotion out of the numbly pained Isabel. She offered a single dark chuckle, something she had never done before in her life, and readjusted in her seat.
“You are right, Ms. Peacekeeper. None of this is likely what I ever wished for.”
Tears began down her face as the two guards awkwardly exhanged glances once more and silence joined the cabin and rode heavier than all three combined.
“Lady Isabel?”
The first other person in two days to speak to her beyond the same five peacekeepers all asking the same general questions stood outside of her room. Jumping from the sudden sound, Isabel hurriedly straightened her attire and stood as the door swung open.
In walked a tall, handsome man with hair slicked back and a bag slung over his shoulder. Isabel thought he seemed familiar but lacked the placement for his personage in mind.
“Lady Isabel, I presume? I am Stanly, from the Bureau, to represent you and offer council. May I sit with you?”
As he spoke, he handed his bag to the peacekeeper who had followed while offering an extended hand out towards an Isabel who hesitantly accepted it and gave a nod at his request. His smile, thus far a permanent fixture to his face, deepened and the warmth he gave off filled the startled doe that was Isabel’s soul with a remarkable amount of comfort.
“Excellent! Keeper Malte, may I bother you for some food and water for the lady and myself? I fear the trip here was made in haste and has left me quite in need of sustenance. Plus we could use the privacy for council.”
The peacekeeper, Malte, nodded and dipped his head respectfully to both before taking leave. When the door shut, Stanly turned in his seated spot and dropped the smiling demeanor entirely. The shift made Isabel’s spine shiver at the suddenness.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“I am so sorry, Lady Isabel. I was an associate of your late father’s and made as many string pulls as I could to be the one here today. You have my most heartfelt and sorrow filled apology for the terrible situation and circumstance of our meeting.”
Before the shock of his demeanor change set in fully, or his words, he continued on.
“Before you say anything, there are a few matters I need make clear at this time. I am one of the only people your father ever confided in the location of… certain objects better left for discussion in other settings. I know, as do many, that you having any part in their untimely deaths is as likely as shitting diamonds because you ate coal, if you will pardon the phrase. But this place is not safe for the conversations we need to have. I can see you are awakened, so I need not tell you all the ways we might be overheard in these matters. Stick with the truth of that day and mention nothing of the other matters for your own interest. This is bigger than just your family. Do I have your understanding in this?”
Overwhelmed by the deluge of information, Isabel starred at the man uncertainly and opened her mouth without uttering a sound. The struggle was quickly cut short by the opening of the door and the return of peacekeeper Malte with a tray of food and pitcher of water. Getting tired of jumping at the noises, Isabel made eye contact with Stanly before giving him a brief nod. His smile had returned in full force as the peacekeeper set both down and made his way out again.
“Stanly, was it?” Isabel found her voice hidden behind her shock, “My father never mentioned you by name. He was always careful not to mention who knew, only how many. Is there any chance you can prove this?”
Stanly tapped at his chin for several moments.
“I suppose if me simply telling you that is not convincing enough… how do you feel of this?”
As he spoke Stanly removed a ring that had sat unnoticed by Isabel from his left hand. It was a black band of metal, a full fingernail’s worth of width to the size and affixed with tiny yellow stones that formed shapes that seemed to shift as the light reflected off of them. It was one of the strangest rings Isabel had ever seen but strangely familiar.
“Your father, may he find peace, was a hero in his own right. His nose for treasure and willingness to help the struggling made him many friends and enemies in his youth. He always made sure that his friends were better off for his friendship and this ring, right here, was the first magic ring he had ever found.”
His smile took on a phantom of reminicent pleasure as he stared at it. Isabel had actually heard about this ring, though the memory was faint.
“Technically, we actually found it together. But it was your father who made the actual discovery. Without him, or this ring, we would have died from our own foolishness.”
He slipped the ring back on and, after a moment, a strange high pitched sound like a thousand screaming bats and sparks started coming from it and suddenly lightning was just sitting there in his hand as though his personal pet. Seconds later he stopped whatever he was doing to cause it and the energy simply disappeared as if it wasn’t there. Isabel starred at him and the ring both with awe.
“The ring, when charged with mana, acts like the lens of another and creates the lightning you saw just now. My own awakening talent is not so combat useful so this find allowed us to escape and return. After, I left that life and started at the Bureau. Your father gifted me this once more after I graduated. It is what I consider one of my most prized possessions.”
Isabel remembered now where she had last seen the ring. He father had used it once, when she was quite little, to show someone the power of magical equipment. She could hardly recall who, but the ring was most certaily the same. One thing that he mentioned was bothering her still though.
“What do you mean awakening? And that I am awakened?”
Stanly looked at her for a moment with his own surprised face before slipping one on that was more contemplative.
“I suppose that is what one gets for presuming. I thought your mother or father would have attempted to awaken you at some point, but you must have triggered from the stress of the situation. Do you recall any time where you felt like everything, all around you, began to reach out to you and connect? Like the sound of the birds reaching you from miles further than should be and coming closer than birds do? Or feeling so filled with physical energy that you seem stronger than you have any right?”
Isabel almost shook her head, but recalled then the moment of her arrest and feeling like everyone’s blood and pulse were calling out to her. She nodded slowly and described the feeling to him, worried what the specificity of the feeling might say of her.
“That… is a very rare awakening. From what I know, only a few types of light experience that sensation you described and all of them are considered some of the most terrifying of them. Are you sure it was their blood and pulse you felt? Not their emotions? Or movements?”
Her affirmation to the sensation made him go a little light in coloration and he sighed.
“From the sound of it you have a light set in the body sector of mana. Specifically, you have a connection to blood. You, my lady, are a blood mage with a lens yet to be discovered. A dangerous position to be in, even were you not in your current situation.”
“Oh.”
Isabel looked at Stanly and did the only thing that she could possibly fathom doing after the last month, this news, and her current stay with people who suspected her of the most atrocious kind of murder. She started crying.