A/N: So, we're finally here! Many, many thanks to RaeCamille for lending a hand with all the legal terminology – some of those concepts have been slightly modified in order to further differentiate Earthrealm and Outworld justice and laws. Now enjoy!

Arc III

Chapter XX

Poisoning the Well

Part II

"I can give you my loneliness, my darkness, the hunger of my heart; I am trying to bribe you with uncertainty, with danger, with defeat."

Jorge Luis Borges

She seemed dubious without Torr; as if incomplete or simply uneasy perhaps. As the tiny warrior fidgeted relentlessly in the small mauve settee they had arranged for her, the signs of her nervousness became crystal clear, now reflected all over her confused visage. Her eyes, widened in surprise, were waiting for a clue that would never come – what to say; what to expect from that particular scene were the only questions running wildly through her mind.

Black's future was in her hands, or so it seemed. The other man, though still fighting, was beginning to express a certain resignation, a certain sense of defeat transpired and translated into his unfocused sight now hovering someplace around her petite figure yet not quite looking at her. Black, on the other hand, was staring at her intently, as if demanding something he was not allowed to materialize through simple words. And the emperor – the imploring eyes of her employer were begging for the truth. Her legs swung in the air, balancing the lower part of her body: that monumental man standing right in front of her was the only one she truly obeyed, she knew, yet the feeling of comradeship between Ferra and her fellow enforcer was still a solid bond – what was she supposed to do then? Succumb to a lie that could lead to her own doom or be completely honest, respecting the trust the Kahn had put in her?

Both sides of the argument were claiming to possess such a capricious thing as the truth; the evident, undeniable truth.

But what was the truth?

"Do you remember the day Erron Black went missing?" The emperor asked her and the female enforcer nodded at first but then she lowered her head, still debating whether to come clean about the events of that day or not.

"I need you to tell me what happened that day."

He could have asked about the jungle, about the Tarkatans – even about the number of rebels they managed to catch that day. Yet he had asked the one question she wasn't willing to answer, the only question powerful enough to condemn Black for good. The truth was they had never talked about it; one day he was finally home again and the truth behind his mysterious disappearance was forgotten under a thick halo of silence and exchanged glances – the feeling of belonging, of not being an outcast anymore was powerfully intricate for her rather simpler emotions. Ferra and Torr, that's what they all said. An entity, just one being formed by two complementary existences… Black's silence had provided her with a new sense of complicity, he had inadvertently become a brand new companion in this life even if only tacitly, even if only through an unspoken necessity; a mere formality of the very meaning behind the word 'partnership'; the chance to share something with someone other than Torr, the chance to exist as a completed, self-addressed being no longer prisoner of her own nature.

Ferra began to toy with her short fingers; she couldn't afford to face Black: the scorching eye contact he had to offer was an ocean made of fire that could corrupt her, could make her tremble and fall.

"Ferra, we are waiting," Yvo intervened, trying to get the enforcer to finally speak. Time was up, once again, for her to unveil what had remained covered by a mysterious mist of silent understanding. They had left the palace together, Torr, Black and herself. They had stepped inside the dangerous jungle together. Then she had looked over her shoulder and that was it: Black was gone.

Gone.

Long before trouble had even had a chance to present itself in front of her eyes.

Long before the problematic rebels had even had a proper chance to pinpoint their location.

Gone.

Simply gone.

"We went to jungle," she began, slowly, as if unsure about how to go on. The common eye could have mistaken her for a small child, she knew, and so a most conceited part of her troubled mind was struggling to sell that impression, to fool them by bearing a false innocence upon them – yet they knew better, and a mere mirage was not enough to make them falter: they were bloodhound dogs; they had been trained, they knew exactly what they were doing.

The barrister sat down next to her. Her pretended, shy ambiguity was beginning to play games with his patience: she was recollecting fragments from a distant date, that much was true – yet her words were vague, possibly vaguer than usual, and time was slipping through the hourglass of their benevolence.

"We need to know if this man, Erron Black, was present at the moment of the attack," Yvo tried being blunt and straightforward this time.

"We went to jungle," Ferra stated once more, trying to focus, "Bang-Bang with us."

"Liar!" M'horel exploded, unable to believe she was willing to discredit his arguments, "you told me he wasn't there with you!"

Losing his temper, the Emperor walked up to Ferra and stared right into her frightened eyes, demanding: "Was he or wasn't he with you when the Tarkatans discovered your location?"

And there it was; the moment of hesitation – the shared looks that shouldn't have been shared. As her eyes met Black's in desperation, the Kahn covered his face with his palms: her awkward silence was finally revealing the truth.

"Giving false testimony will get you punished as well," Kotal somehow managed to say, stupor tainting the colors of his voice.

"I had been informed that Kano had been spotted right outside the Jungle," Black intervened, finally, "we left the palace together: Ferra, Torr and me. I stayed with them for as long as I could but then I left – I couldn't miss the opportunity of chasing after Kano; I thought I could capture him, bring him to you," She had done more than enough; he couldn't risk the heavy weight of a potential punishment to be added to the long list of burdens he already carried on his tired shoulders, a punishment she did not deserve at all. Many had already paid for his mistakes; maybe saving the child-like warrior could be his last chance for redemption.

"Ferra?" Yvo questioned, longing for some sort of confirmation.

The enforcer looked down, accepting Black's help with bitter resignation encysted deep inside her eyes.

"Bang-Bang with us," she said timidly, "but then Bang-Bang gone."

There was a moment of silence. The chocked sounds of desperation, mixed with the undeniable fear for what was about to come were paralyzing every single soul inside the Throne Room – Kotal Kahn returned to his place, but only momentarily. Engulfed in rage, he rushed his way and stood in front of Black, grabbing the gunslinger by his shoulders and forcing him up.

"You abandoned your fellow enforcers to do something no one had asked you to do. You left them there, at the mercy of those wild, animalistic rebels – there could have been consequences to your irresponsible actions! And then you lied to this Throne; you forced Ferra to play your filthy games of mistrust and deception!" Creating a tight fist, the Kahn hit Black in the stomach, sending him flying across the room. He landed back first against a wall, his hands were still handcuffed so he couldn't quite defend himself from the incoming attack but Kotal was not yet satisfied: he approached the fallen Earthrealmer once again, a patient yet darker rhythm taking over his menacing steps.

"You truly are a mercenary; I should have listened to that treacherous D'Vorah."

My father tried to warn me about you a thousand times but I chose not to listen.

Amanda's face, ever present in the theater of his mind, was evoking that tacit duality that had always betrayed him: his reputation preceded him; there was no point in denying the utmost visible aspect of his intricately patterned personality. Even if his intentions were good, there was always the bitter hint of a doubt, the what if, the mercenary taking over the little, fragile remains of his better side.

Ulterior motives, they always said, were the true fuel motioning his every action.

"You weren't trying to respect our laws, you weren't trying to do the right thing," Kotal roared, driven by fury, "you were merely trying to sell Kano to the highest bidder!" The emperor cursed Black under his breath as he retreated to the Throne, his fists still shaking from all the tension he had just released through his elocution. Yvo reached for Ferra almost silently, his light feet moving graciously across the room as if afraid, as if trying hard not to further provoke the beast dwelling inside the Kahn. The small man placed his arms on the tiny warrior's firm shoulders, a half-grin sweetening his otherwise rather impartial expressions.

"Thank you, Ferra. You can go now," he commanded softly, nearly whispering the words. Ferra nodded and jumped off her sit, then ran quickly towards the door – she paused, though, one eternal second for her gaze to meet Black's: his eyes had hardened somehow as if the color of that intimidating look of his had darkened all of a sudden. The affected enforcer sigh soundlessly, the gesture a mere way to reflect her inner struggle, the deep confusion taking over her mind: should she feel sorry for him? Was she actually helpful or not? Noticing the cowboy's attention had returned to his employer, the small woman left the room for good, mumbling incomprehensible words through clenched teeth – she slammed the door behind her, the echoing sound of her frustration reverberated all across the room as a desperate cry of agony, of everything that's unalterably final.

"Get these two out of my sight," Kotal Kahn vociferated then, his tone weakened, but he didn't even dare to look at the two guards waiting for his resolution. He simply covered his face with one of his hands as if trying to avoid all unwanted eye-contact. Yvo obeyed diligently, summoning two guards and commanding them to escort the prisoners back to their respective cells yet, as their feet began to walk down the sullen path of uncertainty, a metallic noise caught the emperor's attention.

The tiny, unevenly shaped golden coin slipped off from M'horel's pocket and fell down to the ground, its capricious figure traveling a most fascinating straight line. Kotal's left knee barely kissed the ground as his hand reached out, curiously, and picked up the coin.

It was indeed peculiar – for a regular guard to possess such selective currency.

"Behold the key to everything…" M'horel reflected rather petulantly with a broad, maddening smile accompanying his ironic tone. Yet the emperor remained silent, lifting one of his hands to indicate the guards to take both Black and M'horel out of the Throne Room. Kotal inspected the coin as it lingered between his fingers – then the metal disappeared abruptly, lost inside a tight, fiercely gripping fist.

"We should go through every single fact we have discovered," Yvo suggested as soon as the guards closed the copper-colored gates of the Throne Room, secluding the Emperor and the Palace Barrister from the world outside those impenetrable walls.

"There's no need to," Kotal sentenced, his voice trailing off little by little as if a bitter sense of sadness had suddenly begun dictating his thoughts, "both of them are guilty."

There was silence, for a moment – the lack of all sound stretching out its ethereal halo and wrapping them up in an uncomfortable, brand new verity: the crossroads they had surprisingly stumbled upon suddenly seemed clear enough to be ventured. Yet Kotal's somber eyes seemed rather disappointed, his whole face suddenly taken over by a profound gesture of grief: Erron Black was a treacherous man yet he was one of his best enforcers – losing him to his own childish impulses felt wrong, it made him feel unworthy.

"My Emperor, if you allow me," Yvo began shyly, sensing the Kahn's inner turmoil, "they are both guilty, as you said, yet both crimes are intrinsically different: malice aforethought versus self-defense. M'horel wanted to hurt Black – he seems calculative and cold-hearted, perfectly capable of crafting such a nefarious act. He instigated the attack by convincing his younger brother. They killed another Earthrealmer in the process - the doctor - and then M'horel himself went after Black and attacked his wife. Erron Black, on the other hand, killed M'horel's younger brother but in my opinion, it was an act of self-defense. The man had already killed the doctor, it all seems to be indicating that Black was his next target and, yes, while some people may say that the body was found in the Marketplace, decapitated and seemingly quite staged, I believe Black was actually trying to deliver a message: get off my back or this is what shall happen next."

The emperor sighed, his tired eyes gradually losing all focus.

"When you put it that way, you make it look as if Black's divine intervention prevented these evil brothers from spreading their violence any farther," Kotal said, his voice quiet, his expression pensive and absorbed deep within his own conclusions, "truth is that these brothers… they were blinded by greed, they crossed many lines they should have never dared to cross but still, we cannot thank Black for getting rid of them, he is not a vigilante – he should have stepped forward and presented his case… he should have remained loyal to our laws instead of imparting his own twisted sense of justice."

Yvo lowered his head and nodded, the wise emperor was right.

"There's one thing that troubles me deeply, though, maybe even deeper than this unfortunate affair we've encountered ourselves with," the Kahn went on, his eyes had resumed the newly-found task of carefully inspecting the coin he had confiscated from M'horel only minutes ago.

"What is it, my emperor?" Yvo asked in a low tone, as he took two short steps forward, approaching the Throne.

"The dead doctor."

Yvo nodded once again, finally able to see through the Kahn's worried expression: the doctor's death could potentially cause trouble with Earthrealm's authorities, should the news escape the secrecy of the palace walls.

"And Kano," Kotal added, finally, already feeling the headache that implied having that name resounding inside his head once again.

"So, what's it going to be, then, my emperor?" Yvo questioned, looking for a resolution. The Kahn flipped the coin until its edges began to feel as if they were burning against his skin – the conclusive feelings stirring inside of him motioning in the same way, turning and tossing inside of him, scorching his interiors with what seemed to be brand new brimstone.

"I need Reptile to talk to Black - perhaps he can persuade him into telling us those things he's still hiding," Kotal said, the coin still resting against his palm. The barrister nodded and lowered his head in silence, quickly making his way out of the Throne Room.

"My Kahn, are you sure?" The Palace Barrister questioned one last time, his eyes still inspecting the paper he was holding between his fingers. Kotal had spoken his mind, he had pronounced himself and the hesitating barrister had been his personal scribe, taking note of every single one of his words until the proclamation was finally ready. A steady voice had guided the emperor's resolution, the penalties were to be unprecedented – exemplary punishments, he had said.

"Yes. The information provided by Reptile was indeed useful," Kotal reflected, his gaze wandering outside the window, inspecting the crowded courtyard.

"That's in case Black was honest," the small barrister seemed to ponder out loud, raising a suspicious eyebrow. According to Black himself, there was no need to involve the Special Forces: he claimed that Kano was dead, he had killed the man himself the very same day of his untimely disappearance. Kano had been the one who had wounded him, his body had collapsed after the fight, he would have nearly bled himself to death if it wasn't for the Rebel-Seekers intervention. On the other hand, the anonymous woman that had tragically died in the fire was an illegal immigrant, there was not a single record about her, she was a ghost.

No need to inform her death to the Special Forces, after all, there was not a single trace, not a single clue that could connect the fallen doctor to Earthrealm. She was merely a nobody, and a nobody could definitely be an Outworlder for the common citizen.

Yvo made his way to the courtyard, knowing that Kotal Kahn's unreachable, inscrutable eyes were to follow his every move once in front of the crowd: it was his job, after all, to be presented as mere cannon fodder, to be offered to the ever impassible crowd for the show to begin. He stood on the wooden dais; both Black and M'horel were also there, just a few steps to his right. He eyed the men still waiting for a resolution and gulped, already knowing what fate had in store for them. He beckoned Ermac and Reptile, the only enforcers that were present in the scene, and signaled the escorts to take their places behind both parts of the conflict – the crowd was roaring louder than before, their uncontainable hunger was about to be sated.

Kotal raised his right hand as he stood motionless in the balcony – a simple gesture to indicate them all that it was time to begin.

Yvo cleared his throat, taking a short step forward and causing the wild multitude of faces to stay quiet. With a flickering tone, he began to read out loud:

"We are gathered here to announce the Emperor's resolution and final say regarding the civil and penal concerns of the two men appearing before our Royal Magistrate. It is with a heavy heart that I, Kotal Kahn, Emperor of Outworld, announce the measurements that are detailed in the following proclamation," the Palace Barrister paused for a brief moment, indicating M'horel to take a step forward. The escort accompanying him followed his step, watching over the guard, his steady hands resting on M'horel's shoulders, restricting his moves.

"The first individual, publicly known as M'horel Ssui-'Pcha, is found guilty of the following crimes:

Attempted murder against the official enforcer known as Erron Black, twice.

Attempted murder against the official enforcer known as Erron Black's wife, lady Zarrabayeusse Zmbrá Black.

Criminal mastermind behind the fire that destroyed Mr. Black's personal property and led to the assassination of an unknown woman who was present in the scene. This crime, in particular, places Mr. Ssui-'Pchá as the necessary perpetrator and thus responsible for the physical disappearance of the victim.

Mitigating circumstances: none.

Aggravating factors: considering the fact that Mr. M'horel Ssui-'Pchá currently serves as an Official Palace Guard, the figure of Abuse of Authority applies to this case. The crime committed by the individual was especially heinous, atrocious and/or cruel. The capital felony was a homicide and was committed in a cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification.

It is the judgment of this Royal Office:

For the murder of an unidentified woman, the individual is sentenced to be put to death in the manner prescribed by law. For the attempted murder of Erron Black and Zarrabayeusse Zmbrá Black the individual is sentenced to be put to death in the manner prescribed by law,"

Yvo's voice quivered through the reading, exposing his nervousness. The crowd was immersed in a profound silence now: that man standing there in front of them was the image of defeat itself. He, the once neighbor turned to guard, one of the leaders of the Rebel-Seekers initiative was cruelly meeting his end. The executioner approached them, the ax already reflecting the iridescent lights of the hot midday sun – M'horel lowered his head in complete resignation, embracing his destiny, partially relieved to know that his death would reunite him with his fallen brother: both comrades and relatives would turn, in time, into the flag for the average citizen to shelter themselves with, to wrap themselves up with.

Clearing his throat, the Palace Barrister now turned over his shoulder and indicated Black to take a step forward as well. The guard standing right behind him outstretched his arms – his steady yet sweaty hands resting on the cowboy's shoulders, restricting his moves. Black kept his head held high - no matter the outcome, at least the bastard standing right next to him would be accompanying him to the gates of hell.

Yvo lifted his hands, demanding silence from the crowd since some incipient voices had started to reach their ears once again, then continued.

"The second individual, publicly known as Erron Black, is found guilty of the following crimes:

The murder of the individual publicly known as Pareedis Ssui-P'chá, younger brother of the first individual, M'horel Ssui-P'chá, who was responsible for the destruction of Mr. Black's property and the death of the aforementioned unknown woman.

Mitigating circumstances: the crime for which the individual is to be sentenced was committed while he was under the influence of a mental or emotional disturbance. The crime for which the individual is to be sentenced was committed as an act of self-defense.

Aggravating factors: considering the fact that Mr. Erron Black currently serves as an Official Enforcer of the Emperor's Office, the figure of Abuse of Authority applies to this case.

It is the judgment of this Royal Office:

For the murder of Pareedis Ssui-P'chá, the individual is sentenced to serve a term of imprisonment in the Z'unkahrah Royal Palace Maximum Security Dungeon for ten years. No parole will be allowed or offered during the first half of the specified term.

During his imprisonment, the individual shall be removed from his duties and lose his status as an Official Enforcer of the Emperor's Office.

During his imprisonment, the individual's wife will receive a pension derived from the individual's incomes and official salaries as if he was still working as an Official Enforcer of the Emperor's Office."

Stunned, the mercenary spat despondently: the Kahn had opted to save his life yet the bitter feeling encysted deep in his chest was gradually blinding him. As the crowd began to roar its irrepressible fury towards the decisions that had just been made, Reptile rushed his way and sheltered Black from the countless objects that the wild public was throwing in his direction. The Zaterran grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him inside again, this time the path in front of his tired feet was the last one he was going to walk in a very long time.

Lost in the sea of countless enraged faces, Zarrabayeusse witnessed his furtive disappearance with teared up eyes: she had once coped with his cruel and unexpected abandonment but now that she had found him, now that they had been provided with the closest approximation to an actual second chance, the image of her defeated husband being escorted to a common cell was making her feel as if she was losing him all over again.

Theirs was a slow, meandrous journey, the woman reflected as the first tears started to cascade down her cheeks.

As the Zaterran enforcer escorted Black through the numerous corridors, the sounds coming from the outside became terrifying for the mercenary's numb ears: the ax taking a life, its sharpened edges eradicating M'horel's existence from the surface of the most hostile of worlds was enough for him to close his eyes, finally understanding that that gruesome fate could have been his own. Yet another sound penetrated the palace's walls, Yvo's voice once again taking the lead, delivering a brand new message to the people:

"It is also the judgment of this Royal Office:

To officially terminate the Rebel-Seekers Initiative, and to warn all citizens that anybody still pursuing said interests or actively engaged in such forbidden activities will be considered and immediately declared insurrect. The felony embodied by said acts will be punishable by death."