Chapter 100: Book 2 chapter 42: Justice in motion

A brief word of wisdom. If you have a routine, it is probably a bad idea to break it, for any reason. Of course, school takes priority, so I ignored that rule. This, however, resulted in the usual. It is very hard to get back into the routine once it is stopped. This is why this chapter is out about 3 days later than it would have been if I was able to pick it right up and write at my usual pace once my finals were finished.

Well, anyway, thank you everyone for your patience and understanding. Hopefully, I will be able to re-establish my routine when it comes to writing and get a good pace going over the Christmas season.

Steven’s POV

“Waara haranga-nandor! Pi-n’taurn wara! Uma ta kemen! Sikil ndengina amin yassen! Uma ta!”

Steven cast an exhausted glance over toward the wall of his cell, from which a small imp hung with a chain around it’s chest and neck. It kept screaming, and while he could only just barely make out the words “Uma ta,” which he recognized meant “Do it,” he was pretty sure he could make a good guess at the rest of what was being said, and he was quite certain it was not very pleasant.

More importantly though, it seemed to be a call to action which supported what that fairy Gailben had told him. That even this fairy turned imp would not want to live in this state, and that it would be a kindness to put it down. He was also promised all manner of aid and everything he had wanted to if he just went through with it. However, he simply could not even contemplate the idea when the offer was in front of him. It just wasn’t something he could accept.

Gailben quickly lost patience with him when he wouldn’t do it, and he was sent back to his cell along with the imp with a fresh new set of chains to keep it powerless. It was then chained to the wall, the wood was retreated back a short distance and the chain was wrapped around one of the iron bracings that lined all the walls, floors, and celing.

He held the wooden knife in his hand and turned It over a few times contemplating it. Being made of a weak material like wood, it was nearly useless as any kind of tool. It would likely become useless with just one or two cuts on something like the nuts that are provided here as his only source of food.

“Uma Tula sinome nandor! Tanya sikil! Magha ta!” The imp broke into maniacle laughter. “Lerta-il magha sikil, naa? Milya nandor!” Steven heard the unmistakable sound of the imp spitting. He could not see where the spittle landed, all he knew was that it did not hit him, and he was thankful for that. It probably wound up on the floor somewhere. He did not care a lot about that though.

Steven’s thoughts were interrupted by a horrible screech of metal against metal that, by now, had become rather familiar to him. That did not make the soul-rending pain any better though, he still felt it through his entire body and recoiled, allowing the knife in his hand to simply fall to the floor as he scrambled to clamp his hands over his ears. He was certain he heard the imp screaming as well, not that it was anything strange for him. It actually amused Steven quite a bit when the first thing he heard as he cautiously removed his hands from his ears was the imp hissing like a cat. It was oddly endearing in a way.

He heard the lumbering of the jailer’s large feet against the ground, and in rather short order the large goat man was in front of his cell. Steven realized what was about to happen next, and his hands were already clamped tightly over his ears by the time the goat man began to open the door to his own cell. That sound was just so horrible! How did that big goat stand it!? Were his ears bad or something!?

Steven couldn’t help looking back at the imp. It seemed he had fallen unconscious. The goat man noticed too, probably followed Steven’s eyes. The goat’s horizontal eyes flickered about the cell and finally came to rest on the knife laying on the ground, and then he began to sniff the air. It seemed he didn’t like what he smelled, because he gave a disgusted sound and a shake of his head after a few quick sniffs before fixing his eyes back on Steven.

“Y' Istar merna a' elea lle” The goat said. Steven could only just barely grasp the gist of what was said, someone wanted to see him. However, he was not sure how much of that was because he was picking up pieces of the language and how much of it was because it was just the most reasonable thing to expect to be the reason the jailer was coming to his cell.

Steven glanced quickly over to the imp, and then to the knife. He felt conflicted about this whole thing, and he was wondering if he should do anything with them.

“Anta tanya il-lle. Tul a!”

The demand in his voice was hard to miss, and Steven didn’t really even have to try and translate to figure out what was meant. He quickly scurried out of his cell and to the goat man’s side. The large man gave a groan, and then glanced at the open door, then back to Steven. He was afraid for a moment the goat man was going to slam the door shut, subjecting him to annother sonic attack from the screeching hinges, but the giant man simply gave a snort and placed a hand on Steven’s back. This was also a rather familiar situation by now, and soon Steven was scrambling to keep up as the large goat man forced him toward the entrance to this compound inside of the tree.

He was shoved out into the wooden interrogation room. He could already feel it was easier to breath here and he felt his body growing a little stronger like someone recovering from a blood-sugar crash. There was a bit of a surprise waiting for him in this room though. First off, instead of a fairy, there were actually two people sitting in this room. One of them was an elf. The other… for some reason, was an alien. Or rather, that’s what this other man reminded him of. He looked very much like an alien, with the exception of the fact that he was not bald. He had a full head of white hair. Those giant black eyes though…

“Good morning.” The alien said. “You are Mr. Steven, I presume.”

“Uhh… yeah.” Steven said aloud and in a slight daze. Wait! Did that alien looking man just speak English!?

“My name is Sagel, I am a familiar to the princess. Also, before you ask, no I am not from your world. Becoming a familiar to someone grants one the ability to instantly grasp any form of communication your master can use. It is one of the benefits that causes fey to become someone’s familiar in the first place.”

“Ah, I see.” Steven responds. The princess… he means the one from Earth who is changing the legal system here, right?

“Now then, you must be wondering why you were called.” The alien man, Sagel, said as he stood and walked around the table. “Please, have a seat.” He gestured toward the seat on Steven’s end of the table. “Eirlathion, saesa duna.”

Steven thought he recognized the words at the end of the sentence as “please stand.” His attempt at translating the words in his mind was soon verified as the elf across the table from him stood up right at the same time Steven was taking his seat.

“This is Eirlathion.” The alien man said while gesturing toward the elf, who gave a slight bow with his upper body upon being mentioned. “I trust you have been informed about him being up for trial? I have been asked to request your services to act as his attorney for that trial.”

So this is the man? Eirla… something? Earl-a-thin? These foreign names were all just too hard to even say. But, there was an issue with this request though.

“Ahh… well, I would like to, but…” Steven gives a glance back toward the wall that obscures the prison cells on the other side of it, and then raises his wrist, showing off the iron chain that is wrapped around it, sapping his energy even as they speak.

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“Yes, we are quite aware of that.” The alien man says in a tone that implies it’s no big deal. “I already told you, didn’t I? I am the familiar of the princess. This means that I act as her representative in times like this. I can have your sentence commuted immediately, and you can be released under her highness’ service.

“Alright then, yes!” Steven says eagerly. “Umm… also, there’s something else. There were some other people from my world who got in trouble for telling the dryad about the idea of moving the tree here. I would like to be able to appeal their case if possible.”

“Of course, I will let her know about that immediately. Can you tell me the details about their case and their punishment?”

-

??? POV

Dragon flight is about the fastest possible way to get from one location to another. Even a sub dragon could manipulate the air in a strange way that allowed them to fly at speeds fast enough to cross the entire kingdom in a single day. This power only became more amazing with the true dragons.

While it was the fastest way to travel, it was usually a luxury that could only be experienced by the dragons themselves as they are not usually known to allow someone to ride them. However… ‘It would be annoying to have to wait for you two to keep up with me. Grab on to my mane and hold on tight.’ Those words from lord Shugen were all it took to have a pair of great fairies holding on for dear life as they rapidly accelerated away from the great tree and the capital beneath its branches.

The acceleration was tremendous, but a few seconds later when they had hit their traveling speed it was actually quite pleasant. Lord Shugen’s body was wide enough for them to ride side-by-side as they stabilized themselves with the narrow plume of hair that trailed from the base of his skull and then went down his spine. The two great fairies looked back over their shoulders to see that they had already cleared the outer edge of the heaven’s scar and were now over the forest. It would take one of them at least 30 minutes to cross the same distance. Although, to cross it on foot was a different story entirely, that’s more on the scale of an entire day’s journey just to navigate the difficult crags and fissures of the stripped bedrock.

Now, they were over trees. This would usually be difficult to navigate, were it not for the long life and memory of all who lived in the fey woods. Even without that, there was a new landmark peeking above the trees that showed where the abandoned Cundo village stood. A single tree, clearly a lakira tree by its extraordinary girth, that peeked up above the rest of the surrounding trees by about three times the height of the rest.

‘So, that’s the main body of the dryad that has everyone so concerned? It is far smaller than I expected.’ Lord Shugen said. Indeed, at that height, it is about equal in size to a 50,000 year dryad. That was definitely absurd considering that it had just awoken, but from the reports given it was made out to sound like it was far more powerful than any other dryad in the entire forest, save for the great tree itself.

‘I believe it was not the power of this new dryad, but it’s unusual intelligence that has people concerned.’ One fairy offered.

‘Yes, that was a concern.’ Lord Shugen said as he began to pitch slightly to the side, directing their flight path away from where it would pass near that tree. ‘However, it also guarded vines against dragon fire, even if it was just a sub-dragon. It may have power beyond what its main body’s size suggests. Also, even the power of a normal dryad guided by a more cunning mind is something I shudder to even contemplate. I would be keeping my distance even without the orders to avoid Cundo for the time.’

‘The residents fled to Rima, correct?’ One of the fairies asked.

‘Indeed, it should be a short distance passed Cundo. I want to draw a wide birth around there though, it may take as long as another 10 minutes to reach our destination.’ Lord Shugen said. Just 10 minutes by dragon flight though meant covering enough ground as to take an entire week on foot. From that perspective, 10 minutes was really nothing at all.

-

Shugen’s POV

Despite the detour, it did not take long to reach the village of Rima, and Shugen was not incorrect in his memory of the village’s location. As he neared, he gave the standard formal dragon’s greeting. That is, a long vocal call. “Hear me! My name is Shugen! Marquis of the justice committee!” He said, knowing nobody would be able to understand his word. Other races were unable to understand the vocal language of the dragons, other dragons were about the only ones who could and there were no other dragons around at the moment. As such, he did not put much heart into his words. However, a formality was a formality. It would be disrespectful to chose to say some absolute nonsense just because there was no-one who could understand what he was actually saying.

He had made his call in time to have it go out shortly before he arrived at the village, and then he did a fly-over and began circling around as he repeated his message, exactly as he had said it before. He was kinda glad there were no other dragons around to hear the bored tone with which he mechanically recited his name and position once again. Well, that’s twice. That ought to have gotten the attention of everyone in the village as is the true intended purpose of that greeting. Now it is time to repeat it a third time, this time with the spirit speech added in.

‘People of Rima village, here me! I am Shugen, Marquis of the justice committee! I have come with my subordinates to discuss a recent development in the neighboring Cundo village of which several of your people were involved. Please make yourselves available to discuss the matter, particularly those who were involved with the incident at Cundo village!’

After his announcement, he spread his wings and cast the wind’s grasp spell, suspending himself in the air without the need to keep himself aloft with his wings. Unlike the version used by sub-dragons though, this was an advanced version of the spell. He did not simply freeze himself in place, he could still move himself and he used this ability to slowly lower himself to just above the canopy in a position that allowed him to overlook the village clearing. This created the illusion that he was actually sitting on top of the trees as though he could be supported by only the most gentle contact with the tree’s leaves.

As he stopped in his position, his two subordinates released their grasp on his mane and took on an appearance of composure and dignity as they both slowly hovered down to the ground before the gathering crowd.

Subscriber comment of the chapter.

"Mama Dryad ain't gonna like that..."

-meowingLexi

Yes, yes that was actually the only subscriber comment on this chapter. It doesn't seem this one generated much buzz.

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