The corpse reeked with the slls of ti and rot. Almost as soon as she saw it, Amarena frowned.
"Tell what you see," Halie said.
"There’s signs of being beaten, but the marks of torture are too precise for claws." Amarena stuck her finger into a circular wound in the man’s shoulder, finding it went in and then up. The flesh inside was torn. "If a claw made this hole, there should be others. The curve inside was too regular to co from a hand."
"Good. What else?"
Amarena dipped her hand in the waters and washed them quickly. A few curious fish surfaced as they pecked at the morsels of at that her claw had removed.
She noticed the pier.
"There’s no blood here."
"Could have washed away with the tide," Halie shrugged.
"No..." Amarena stood and cut the ropes free, pulling the half-corpse onto the floating pier. On the man’s back were lacerations, more like he’d received a new and sustained whipping, judging by the lack of scars beneath the lashmarks. "There isn’t enough blood where he was tied."
"An imperial tide would have watched that away," Halie pointed out.
"The last double-moon for the region was more than a week ago. Besides, we wouldn’t have a body if these "glints" swam any higher up."
"Solid assessnt. Rember to keep your opinion to yourself until we are ready to render judgent."
*
Later, sitting in a hot spring with Halie after they finished examining the body and performing a full day of interviews, Amarena sighed as she descended into bliss.
"The hot springs here are better than Isegart’s."
"They are closer to the Redweep Shores. It is only natural."
"I haven’t heard of that place."
"It is many places, and more obvious to the north and south of here. The Redweep forms a ring along shores facing Ardon. Volcanoes are common."
"I saw no signs of one here," Amarena said.
"These springs are the sign. The nearest volcano is underwater."
"How has it not gone out then?"
"Ask your lover."
Halie’s tone was always weighty, but the way she said this was much... lighter.
"I’m going to guess you don’t an Telan."
Telan was great in bed, though sotis he liked having sex in his armor which she found strange, but hardly the sort to understand the world. He was a Witnesser Knight, one sub-order of the Order Justiciam that tried to place knights in every major city. Their job was to witness events, survive, and return with the tales - especially if a human hero erged.
Halie remained silent, and Amarena got back to scrubbing herself. There was no point in pressing Halie when she didn’t want to answer. That much she’d learned over the years.
Towards the end of their bath, Halie spoke. "As I have delegated this arbitration to you, it’s up to you on how you solve this case..."
"I plan to speak to the demon tonight."
"That is not what I ant to discuss. Repeat to the three forms of justice."
Amarena held back a scowl at the basic question. "Punitive, restorative, and legislative," she said.
"What form applies to this situation?"
"Punitive. Clearly. There has been a murder."
"You say that despite not knowing what the accused has to say for himself?"
"Given the torture marks, it’s likely we’re dealing with a dolorka."
Halie chuckled. "Pain-eating demons rarely let a victim out of their control. Just as they rarely kill if they can help it."
"You would lecture on demons?" Amarena crossed her arms.
"No. But I would remind you that the three forms can be interchanged at tis... And caution against you showing prejudice against your own kind. I apologize that you have had to put up with Knight Pawl’s lectures so often."
Amarena grunted her disgust. She wound up in a lot of duels, and with every rule violation, she was forced to serve Knight Pawl for a day... and he would lecture her every ti. The middle-aged human was a prick who enjoyed making jokes and reminding people how nasty and evil demons were, and Amarena’s presence did not restrain such behavior. But he was senior to her within the Order and so she had to put up with it...
"Resisting the urge to beat him within an inch of his life is... a challenge."
One of the unwritten rules about being a Valrian Knight was never to duel within one’s own order. Of course, it was also an unwritten rule that demons couldn’t beco Knights, but here she was...
"Did it ever occur to you that perhaps that is what the Order might have needed?"
"What?" Amarena asked.
Her teacher shook her head. "It doesn’t matter now. You should stay focused, so we can get back sooner."
"I thought you were intent on delaying the Gales as long as possible."
Halie remained silent for a little longer than normal. "I have delayed them enough... just as I have brought you to the doorstep of the strength you need." Halie looked at the necklace hanging around Amarena’s neck, and at the hand-length - at least for a human - soul stone that hung between her breasts.
"It is up to you to turn the key."
Amarena reached up and held the stone.
The last two years had built her up so that she was close to another evolution. To complete the process, she would need to subject herself to an obscene amount of mana... the sort that she could more draw from the mana-rich lands far from Isegart, or from a soulstone-grade mana crystal like the one her mother had hidden inside the sword her father gave her.
She was the weakest of Leviathan’s brood, and yet she’d been given a gift her siblings would have happily ripped her apart for... Why?
To love soone who was weak was an act worthy of contempt... to be loved by soone stronger than you was a challenge. That was part of why she’d co to Isegart, to grow strong enough to be worth loving.
Strong enough to take her mother’s na for herself.
*
After refreshing herself, Amarena set out alone into the gloomy spring twilight, while Halie sought out supplies for their return trip. She found the local sheriff’s office and stepped inside, her horn scraping the doorfra slightly because it was uneven.
The sheriff was a pudgy, walrus-like man whose body spoke of waning strength. He was leaning far back on a chair with his feet up on his desk. A helt that seed a bit large for him rested on a peg, and his mace of office hung next to it. Amarena noted a slight bit of rust on the poor weapon.
He saw Rena’s armor and perked up, until he saw Rena’s face and he was suddenly falling backward.
"D-demon!"
"I am Knight Amarena of the Order Justiciam."
"The Order wouldn’t let a bloody demon in!"
"And yet, here I am. In peace. I am here to speak to the accused."
"He don’t say much. Everyone saw him ripping up the Cliff Lord... This has to be a joke."
"You are welco to take it up with Warmancer Halie. But her judgnt tends to get... comprehensive."
The man’s face blanched.
Halie had many nas. Her most well-known in lands to the south was Demon Breaker, but here in the north, she had a different moniker.
"The City Slayer..."
Amarena smiled inside. She had him. Halie had destroyed an entire city by herself, killing anyone who tried to stop her but allowing those fleeing to do so. Not many mavens could claim such power or an arsenal to match it... and in all her ti training with Halie, she’d never gotten even close to having her use all her tricks.
"Now, aren’t you glad I’m here? Demon or no."
"We just needed an executioner..."
"For that, summon angels. Now either you show to the prisoner or stay out of my way."
There was only one other room in the small building. When the sheriff continued to gape, Amarena rolled her eyes and walked into the next room.
As soon as her back was turned, he got up and hastily fled. To where? Amarena didn’t care.
No one else was being held today.
As she reached the final cell, Amarena let out a small gasp.
Instead of the dolorka she expected, a nothrotian was idly sleeping, sitting on the bedcot which had been affixed to the wall, but was now resting on the floor with its chains snapped.
He was big, even for a nothrotian. Short enough to fit through a standard four asure door, but barrel-bodied and wide. Short, curly fur of grey with mottled lighter and darker patches covered him from body to skull, except for where a large quad of curly, ram-like horns protected the sides of his simple-looking face.
Instead of feet, the nothrotian had massive hooves, and his fingers ended in shovel-like claws.
A loud snore revealed his enormous, flat teeth; which rounded out until they reached the tusks at the ends of his mouth.
As soon as Amarena touched the bars, the demon woke up with a loud snort.
"Mmmph... Hel-lo... more tree ti?" He asked, his stomach rumbling a bit.
"Not exactly," Amarena replied.
"Okays... they said I get more tree if I co here, but they just give firewood." He blinked slowly, one eye at a ti as he finally saw Amarena.
His eyes widened as he jumped to his feet, putting his back to the wall as he tried to get away from Amarena as much as possible.
"I no go back! I no go back!"
"Wait!"
A crumbling sound was all the warning she got before the stone wall behind the demon broke. The demon landed on his butt but then rolled back and over his head to stand.
"I no go baaaaack!" He started to run.
Amarena snarled.
"Sloth demons."
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