A/N: Readers, I am feeling very disheartened. I got only one review last chapter (thank you, Herald Kelsin!) but my reviews keep going down. I might end up putting this on hold and trying again with another story if this continues L. Of course, if this continues, then I wouldn't get any reviews this chapter. And you can prevent that easily ::Breezefire begs with big, teary pleading eyes::, by REVIEWING! Little purple button, you type… not that hard. Hopefully this chapter will actually get the real plot started, and then people will review…please?
Herald Kelsin: Thanks! You are my only reviewer left… please don't leave me all alone, with my story and no one to read. I know, don't you want to whack those evil Guards on the head? I hate people like that, in stories and in real life….ugh! Hope you like the new chapter!
Chapter 5: Emotions
Jaseen didn't know what to expect. She was heading down the corridors, on her way to a night in Imperial prison for a crime she did not commit. However, Jaseen was always optimistic, usually to an impossible, almost sickening extent. In fact, she usually expected the best to happen in any situation, which caused her disappointment many a time.
Maybe my brother can come help me! Or one of the people in Court who knows me, knows I wouldn't poison anybody! I need help, and I need it now.
Jaseen continued walking, and her legs began to buckle as they walked for almost an entire candlemark, lower and lower in the Palace, until they reached a point which she hadn't known existed.
Ugh, it smells horrible in here!
Jaseen had reached the murky dungeons. This was the lowest floor in the Palace, and on account of this, it was as dark as a morgue. The Guards were holding torches, but they would take them when they left, and leave Jaseen alone amidst the dark. Mold and old, rotten mildew lurked in every corner, and the smell of urine, dirt, and unwashed bodies overwhelmed Jaseen, who was used to a well-kept suite in the Palace.
I have to stay in here? Surely they can't expect me to sleep here!
The Guards did, in fact, expect Jaseen to stay in the Prison without a fuss, and told her so. "Now, you aren't guilty yet, so we can't have a piece of you yet," the Guard told her, snickering. Jaseen moved back, cowed by the strong emotions being emitted from the Guards. Greed, cruelty, but most of all-an overpowering feeling of lust.
"But when you are convicted guilty, and you will be, the law doesn't care what we do to you. Remember, we can do whatever we want soon!" The Guards laughed jeeringly as they exited the Prison, extinguishing their torches, leaving Jaseen with only the hope that some evidence would be found, evidence which proved that she was not guilty.
-- -- (the next morning)
Jaseen stirred, for perhaps the seventh or eighth time, from her restless slumber, and could see a few sparse tendrils of light being emitted from the cracks beneath the prison door.
Finally, the morning.
She looked around, finally truly seeing the mold, rats, and awful smell lingering in each corner of her miniscule hovel. The Guard spoke, jerking her to life. "You have two guests, cupcake," the Guard in the front of the prison drawled. "Your guests and I are going to escort you to the scene of Larle's death, as well as a Judge. Who won't help your case any."
The two emerged into the prison, and at first Jaseen could only see their shadowed silhouette. Suddenly, their identity's were revealed, as they walked under the Guard's light torch. Larlai and Prtif.
"Larlai! Prtif! Thank the Star-Eyed someone can help me! You know I didn't poison him, right? Do you have proof?" Jaseen's eyes turned big and pleading when they did not answer her cries. "Or anything?"
"We haven't found anything yet, Jas," Larlai murmured, quietly. "We're here to go to the scene of the crime with you. Maybe we can help you figure out who really did commit the crime, right Prtif?"
Prtif did not respond. His eyes were unfocused, and he seemed to be thinking of something else. His arms were loosely by his sides, and Larlai was forced to try again. "Prtif?" she asked.
"Huh, what?" Prtif responded. "Oh, yeah, of course we can help you, Jas!" He still seemed to be thinking about something, though, his mind not fully on the problem ahead of him.
"Let's go then," Larlai said irritably. Suddenly Jaseen felt a sudden burst of impatience, sadness, and hope barge into her mind. Jaseen felt the "balls of emotion" around her, and found the one emitting these feelings. Larlai.
She's always been impatient! Jaseen thought. At least she has some hope. I think mine may be running low.
The three left, heading towards Larle's suite, with an escort of a buff guard and a judge. Finally, they reached Larle's suite, and pulled the door open.
"The suite has been left untouched since Larle had been poisoned," the Judge told them/
Jaseen started, confronted with the suite where she had slept for a month. It looked different then when she had lived there. It was messier, and there were random objects lying on the ground, including a dagger with a piece of wood on the end.
He used that to carve into my door! I bet he hasn't had any night-time pleasure since I left him. Not that he ever got any pleasure out of our nights together. He seemed to be oblivious to what I could do with his body, and he never truly seemed to enjoy it.
Jaseen pulled herself out of the mystery of Larle's nights without pleasure, to bring her thinking to her own problem, the case. She began to listen to the Judge's oratory of the happenings of the day before.
"Larle had woken up, and immediately attended a lunch at Court. Present were the King, Ma'ar, all of Ma'ar's assistants (including Larle), and the King's clerks," the Judge said.
Jaseen interrupted quickly, "My brother must have been there! He is one of the clerks here, maybe he saw something!"
The Judge responded, with a hint of doubt in his voice, "The crime didn't happen at the lunch, miss, so there was nothing he could have seen. Anyway, Larle was out of the house during this time, and supposedly left the door completely unbolted. When he returned, he had a private meeting with Ma'ar in his suite. The servants had set out food for both Larle and Ma'ar, a couple of hours before. Larle ate his before Ma'ar arrived. A couple of minutes after Larle had eaten his food, he choked and died, with Ma'ar and all of his servants present," the Judge clarified. "The room has been left untouched since then."
"The servants could have done it!" Jaseen cried, indignant. "Why am I immediately the one placed under suspicion?"
"Because the servants were under the supervision of the Head Cook when they made the food, so that Ma'ar would have the best," the Judge answered. "All of the servants and the Cook had some of the food, and none of them have died. It was after the food had been set on the table, and the servants left, that the food was poisoned."
Still isn't necessarily me. There is no justice in this world.
With all of the background information, the three looked upon the room.
As the Judge had said, there were two plates on the table. One had been completely demolished, the other untouched.
"There were no remnants of the poison on either plate. That we could find," the Judge added. Lying about the room, in no apparent semblance of order, were many randomly placed objects.
The first that Jaseen's eyes were drawn to was a steel, cold rod, lying on the floor. It was about as long as a book, and as wide as half of someone's hand. Jaseen lifted it off the ground, and examined it, puzzled.
"You shouldn't move the evidence, or touch it," admonished the Judge, but Jaseen was too busy contemplating to think of that.
What in the Havens could this be?
Jaseen asked all those around her the same question. "None of us know," the Judge replied, baffled. "No one can figure out what this is. Ma'ar tried to take it away though, when he left after Larle died. None of us will question the esteemed advisor, of course."
He might have done it! I must ask, but surreptitiously.
"Is there any chance that…" Jaseen began asking, but the Judge interrupted hastily.
"That our esteemed advisor to the King may have done it?" the Judge continued. "Some of us in the justice business thought that, but all of the servants testified that he had just come in when Larle began to choke. We believe that there is no possibility that Ma'ar could be the culprit."
Disappointed, Jaseen turned, and saw Prtif staring, with a strange shocked expression on his face, at a ripped portion of a robe. It was a dark, azure blue, with golden stitching, and seemed to be the center portion of what would be a stunning evening cloak. Either gender could own a robe like this.
"Who owns that?" asked Jaseen. "That could give us a huge boost in our search for the culprit. And, that's evidence that the guilty party isn't me! I never owned anything like that!" She looked at her friends and the Judge hopefully, and grimaced when the Judge shook his head.
"We don't know anyone who owns something like that, either," said the Judge, "so it doesn't give us any hints. And you are well known for wearing splendid gowns."
Someone must know who wears gowns like this. Maybe Larlai or Prtif, they are around Court.
"Larlai, Prtif? Do either of you know anyone who owns a gown like that?" Jaseen asked hopefully.
"No," answered Larlai regretfully. "I've never seen anyone wearing a gown like that." Larlai suddenly gasped, with an idea.
"It is probably new then!" she said in triumph, "and Prtif went shopping yesterday for new robes, at Morrimer's, of course." There was only one store where robes like this could be bought, Morrimer's. This store was near the palace and only open for one day a week, for only a few candlemarks.
Prtif replied, quietly, "No…I didn't see anyone who bought robes like this."
Jaseen's mind collapsed, in horror. For all they know, I could own this robe! All right, Jaseen, calm down. There is more evidence, some of it may be used against someone else. Someone must have done this, and I will find them. Right when Jaseen had started feeling calm and optimistic again, a rush of emotions hit her brain.
The most overwhelming feeling was guilt. There was also a small tendril of fear, from Larlai, and still an overhanging lust from the accompanying Guard, but the guilt by far overpowered the other two emotions. Jaseen was stunned.
Who could be feeling guilty?
For the second time that day, Jaseen used her strange powers to feel around her. She could see globes of emotion around her. Larlai's was laced with fear, and hope, the Guard's with lust and greed. Suddenly, she saw the sphere, almost completely covered with the sickly feeling of blame and guilt on the surface.
It was Prtif.
A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger, people! Seemed a good place to end, and if I went any longer it would be another 5 pages on Word before I was done. Will the verdict be guilty or innocent? What is the metal rod? Who poisoned Larle? Who owns the robe? And why does Prtif feel guilty? These will all remain unanswered unless you, my readers, continue reading and review. The real plot is emerging now. This isn't supposed to be a "who-done-it", by the way, it is easy to figure out who poisoned Larle. If you read Black Gryphon again, you can definitely figure it out. That's not the main point of this story. I've gone on for too long now, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Wind to thy wings, Breezefire