0013 Guilty or Not

 

"... It was like a lizard, but it was bigger than a house...
... It had a pair of huge wings too and it was black, blue and green..
... He attacked the city spitting fire and destroying everything!
Then Saint Sigun arrived with the other Saints and they prayed to God...
... It was then that the white light cut through the lizard's storm clouds...
... I forgot the name my Father spoke... Dra... Dra... Dra something...
... Then from the white light, the god Diore himself fell from the sky with great white wings, and white light all over his body...
... He looked at the lizard and spread his wings shining like the sun, then fought the lizard and expelled it to the Great Mountain of Madness...".

"That big? Was your Father there?".

"Yes, it happened a few years before I was born...
I just wanted to know why the church didn't pursue to kill the monster...".

Jenany spent the day telling Alicia fantastic stories, as he spoke, he jumped from side to side and made gestures with his hands, she spoke loudly at times and showed an excitement that Alicia had never seen in her until then.

Father Alcione had already returned from the walk a long time ago and spent the rest of the day accompanying the girls, along with the couple who lived in the house, who were wide-eyed by the stories told.

"They say the kingdom on the other side of the mountain doesn't want to let the church go up to kill it...".

"How can the church obey a kingdom that doesn't even accept our god?".

The Father sometimes supplemented Jenany's stories by adding the political knowledge of the empire, which none of the girls nor the family present were aware of, and this time he did the same and answered Jenany's question, but the woman of the house raised her voice in disgust to learn that there are people out there who go against her church.

"Well, the point is simple, they have the power to demand, in addition to the beings living in the mountain themselves who are already powerful...".

""This is unacceptable! Our god can do...".

"Calm down woman, it's just a story!".

"Story or not, this is a disrespect to our faith!".

"Mother! Dad! I just got here and I can hear your screams from outside!".

In time to stop his parents' quarrel, a seemingly ordinary young man opened the door and found the house full of guests, soon he noticed that there were still several would-be soldiers appearing from all hidden corners of trees and shed, and at last he realized that they were people from the church.

He stood in the doorway watching everything and everyone in and out of the house, not knowing how to react.

"Maycon, my son come in, we have guests and we were talking about supernatural things...
... You like that too and sometimes you even tell us things you saw, but we never pay attention, the Father would like to know...".

At the words of his mother, the young man's face was pale, the Father smiled at him, Alicia looked at him with curiosity, Jenany shone her eyes with desire to know their stories, and the couple of parents opened their arms in joy to receive the son at home.

So for a brief moment everything was silent, until without a sound a white knight appeared at his side, he was the tallest knight of the three who was watching the farm roads high in the rock formation, as he approached the young man, he put his arm around his shoulders in a comradely gesture.

"Supernatural things?
I'm also very interested in this...
... Even more seeing that you split from a group with nine others who entered a large shed that the farm next door has...
... Let's go for a walk and talk a little...".

The couple of parents noticed a strangeness in the behavior of the white knight as well as the pallor in the son's face, the girls cringed at the change of mood in the place, the Father sighed and got up to walk towards the young man.

Behind them, the other two knights appeared and stood at a distance watching the situation as would-be soldiers gathered around the house to see how things were going to develop.

"Calm down, it doesn't have to be like this with the young man, it's just stories, nothing big, let him go...".

"Yes, it could just be stories...
... But I'm taking him with me to meet his companions at the other farm, I'm not going to turn a blind eye without investigating first...".

"My son has done nothing wrong, what are you going to do?".

"Get away... I'm just doing our god's work...
... Besides, our Confessor will accompany us, stay at your house...".

The mother who was excited for her son was held by her husband and the Father, and then everyone looked at Alicia who shrank even more in her chair after being quoted, but tried to remain calm.

^"Calm down girl, that's what you're here for, it's your job to recognize the innocent among the guilty...".

She took a deep breath and then got up from her chair and stood up straight, ready for work. 
But still the mood in the room did not improve.

"Father, please let us go investigate, it's still early for someone to come and collect the report, it would be better to resolve this at once...
... You know I've been trying to get promoted for years, I need to do a good job this time...".

Hearing the white knight's request, Alcione scratched his beard thoughtfully, looked around at everyone in the room, and everyone outside visible through the open door.

"All right, you're a Envoy anyway...
... One of the Watchers will take your place at the meeting point, take all the men with you and also take the girl Alicia to investigate, the other Watcher will stay with me and the Jenany girl waiting for your report...".

"Thank you for the opportunity sir Father...".

"Hey! Wait! You can't take me like this!".

"Shut up and go!".

"My son... It's all right, go with them... It's for your own good!".

The young man was pulled by the shoulder by the white knight who didn't want to wait for the young man's parents to speak further, the would-be soldiers gathered and followed together, Alicia looked back at the helpless family and at Jenany who was scared and at the same time interested in the possibility of something supernatural being close to her.

The young man was scared but it was no use fighting, it was impossible for him to get rid of the knight, besides, there was a whole group of men around him, and there was still a Confessor behind, he had to think of something.

"If there's something you'd like to say, say it all boy...".

^"Shit... My parents could kill me for good instead of talking more than they should about other people's lives... I'll fuck everyone with me!"^.

The Envoy didn't let go of his shoulder as he pushed him, and was rushing him to count possible crimes.

The Father watched them head down the dirt road back to the main path that would lead to the farm on the right, shaking his head negatively, he sat down at the table again to try to calm down the Fathers and daughters who heard the commotion and ran to living room.

"Come on, let's sit down, I won't let him mistreat your son ma'am, do you have any tea to calm down?
Go and drink a little, let's stay here waiting...".

The two Watchers exchanged glances and waved at each other, one of them walked out onto the road and followed the rice field towards the rock formation on the right, as for the second, he went around the house and used a wooden ladder to climb up to the roof of the house and stood guard again, behind him, the curious Jenany followed him and sat not far away, watching Alicia's group make your way to the other distant farm.

"Be careful not to fall girl...".

"It's okay, I'll just sit here and watch like you do...".

The Watcher decided to approach Jenany and sat a few meters from her, to avoid any accident with her.

**************************************************

Bruuumm...

A large wooden gate opened and made a great noise as it was dragged across the floor until the entire entrance was revealed.

Outside, the night had darkened the sky for just over an hour, and inside the large shed the darkness was invaded by the reflected light of the two moons in the sky, leaving several wooden boxes in view.

And before any question or action could be taken, the Envoy pushed the youth inside and entered along with the ten would-be soldiers, all looking curiously as they walked.

Alicia followed last, a little unnerved by the way the young man was being treated, but she hoped her investigation would put an end to the whole heavy situation that was going on.

"All right, where are your friends?".

The Envoy asked as he walked to a lamp near the door, when he picked it up, he pointed with a finger and a flame burned igniting the lamp.

"Calm! I didn't do anything for you to treat me like this!".

"I asked... Where are they?".

With the place apparently empty of people, the Envoy frowned looking for the group that should be here, after all, he saw the young boy separate from the other young people at the entrance of the shed and so he decided to follow him, soon the young man arrived at his parents house, and behind him, the Envoy ended up listening to the last part of the conversation with great interest.

"Look at this!".

One of the would-be soldiers opened one of the boxes and held up a palm-sized clock, finished in reddish wood and light gray iron parts.

Everyone's eyes widened, while the young man, thinking of a good excuse to give, swallowed hard, Alicia who saw such an object for the first time was delighted and came close to analyze it.

"Look what we have here, forbidden artifacts...
... Looks like you guys aren't that innocent...
... Look in all the boxes, I want to know everything that's inside each one...".

"No! Wait... Ough!".

Desperate, the young man tried to stop the men from rummaging through the boxes, but he was hit by a punch in the belly that made him fall to the ground, so one of the would-be soldiers took ropes and cloth he had found in one of the boxes he had already opened and tied him up and covered his mouth.

Os aspirantes a soldados se animaram e começaram a abrir caixa por caixa e revirar cada item que encontravam.

"Confessor... It's your turn to work, I want to know everything...".

Delighted by the multitude of pocket watches, room clocks, wall clocks, as well as small and large victrolas, good quality clothes but culturally different from the empire and many other things you have never seen before, Alicia was startled at being called by the Envoy, tried to look serious and turned her body to look at the fallen youth in the distance.

**************************************************

Two boys chatted while others arranged stone tables lined up in an enclosed salon, sweeping and pushing tables from side to side.

The salon had no windows, only a corridor that on one side led to another corridor of yellowed stones, and its end not to be seen, only darkness on an endless path, on the other side, the corridor was short and led to a straight staircase going up for a few meters.

With the tables cleared and the floor swept, one of them took out a distinctive oil lamp, it was almost half a meter tall, its edges were light brown wood, and several skulls carved into each corner of the wood, the shafts and interior made of gray metal.

Blowing away some of the dust, the tall young man began to mop up any dirt, and the brown-haired girl sat next to him to watch him.

Bruuumm...

"That's the sound of the gate opening... 
... Maycon arrived yet?".

"I don't know, he commented that he was going to stay at his parents' house until later before returning...".

"You two are idle and do nothing!
... No wonder no instructor wants to teach you two...".

One of the girls in the group approached the two boys who were just talking and not helping at all, annoyed with their laziness.

"Speech seriously, we'll help by carrying the ceremony's products...".

"Exactly, we have to be rested until then...".

"Everyone will carry stuff, you idiots!
Go there then and help Maycon sort the boxes to start going down!".

"Or else I will beat you until I call for your mothers!".

The last girl in the group joined her friend to kick the lazy ones by telling them to do something, with which they glanced warily at the girl slamming a fist into her open hand, declaring she was ready to hit them.

"Okay, okay, no violence!".

"Let's go before the savage breaks loose...".

The two young men went to the corridor and turned to the left, taking the staircase corridor, while those who remained started laughing at the misery of the two.

**************************************************

The tied young man was on the opposite side from which Alicia lost herself in her curiosity about the contents of the boxes, so on the way back, she tried to walk calmly, trying to appear experienced in her role, so as not to irritate the already irritated Envoy.

Queeenk!

But before she got close to the young man, a creaking door noise echoed down the aisle of boxes, on the darker side because of the distance that the lit lamp was, in a few seconds another light appeared from there outlining a large trapdoor door hidden in the ground, and from there two more young men emerged, climbing up what appeared to be a ladder.

Everyone looked at the youths, and the youths who had just opened the trapdoor were surprised by the lighting on the other side, taking only a moment to find their friend tied to the floor and several church men scattered around the shed near the entrance rummaging through the boxes.

"Shit! The church!".

The two groups looked at each other, one of the youths on the stairs screamed loudly, and the Envoy just smiled as the blue-green light left his body, illuminating the place even more.