14th night of the Month of Ice, 0:30, Walpurgis
She is working late when the dove comes in. The incessant ringing all over the shared office for all Nocturnals, and making Jeza flinch from the sound.
There’s no one else at Night Hall so late, well, almost no one, Captain Ulrik is in his office, looking straight at her as the ringing continues. Jeza sighs and gets up, approaching the office Chabutra, located right in the middle of the office space, and taking the device, putting it to her ear and spouting out the speech she could know do in her sleep.
“Night Hall, what’s your emergency?”
“A body! In the river! And-and! A Nomad, I think, they ran away when they saw me!” Shouts the voice on the other side of the Chabutra, making Jeza put the device far from her delicate ear for a second.
“Last location?” Asks Jeza
“The body is right under Muddy Bridge, it got stuck” explains the man “I’m looking right at it, but the Nomad ran in the direction of the East Gate!”
Jeza shares a look with Captain Ulrik, that has left his office and is approaching her with the pace of a man on a mission.
“A squad shall be dispatched to your location, do stay by the Street Chabutra until a Nocturnal arrives” says Jeza and hangs the device on the post “Captain, a body and a Nomad, shall I send squads for both?”
“Just for the body, the less people go find the Nomad, the better” says the Captain “Do also dove Master Merlo”
“Yes of course, but, who shall I send for the Nomad?” Asks Jeza as she starts to dial Master Merlo’s location
“You, of course” says Captain as he leaves the office space “I’ll contact and reunite the court for the trial. Now, hurry up before the Nomad gets out and eaten by an Ula”
“Ula’s do not hunt that close to the walls” huffs Jeza as she puts the device to her ear and waits for Master Merlo to pick up. Captain Ulrik does not bother to turn around to speak and just raises a hand in goodbye as he leaves the room.
Jeza rolls her eyes, but enters Nocturnal mode as soon as voice speak on the other side of the Chabutra. She has a job to do.
——
With Master Merlo on the way with a Nocturnal squad to Muddy Bridge, Jeza took her assigned Nerval-a mighty beast by the name of Thasi- towards east gate, hoping the Nomad had not crossed the walls into the fields.
Nocturnal Nervals were breed to be the fastest, with lithe bodies often a dark brown with a darker horn, a mere shadow that moved as fast as the yellowtails as they hunted bugs in the sky. They had been bred to hunt criminals, but at the beginning of time, they had been bred to find Nomads.
It doesn’t take long to find them, they stand directly at the closed gate, staring at it like it holds every answer and none at the same time. They’re a girl, a teenager, dark skinned and dressed in painful colored clothes-Jeza didn’t know green could look that bright-with long braided hair. It reminds Jeza of herself, she had worn that type of braids in her youth, close to the scalp and in rows, but had eventually evolved into other types of braids and after many years, very short hair-it was easier for her job, Nocturnals didn’t have helmets, getting dragged by the hair was not that strange.
Jeza dismounts swiftly and approaches the Nomad that has finally noticed her presence.
She looks terrified, eyes wide and too small pupil ringed by brown, moving around in too much white. Nomad’s eyes always freaked her out.
Without even thinking about it, Jeza’s body turns as small as it can get, as non-threatening as she is able, hands visible and in front of her. No weapons, no danger. That was what she tried to transmit, when no Nomad was available to help hunt a newcomer Nomad, walking slowly and speaking in calm tones helped.
A Nomad this new cannot understand Netherian, at least not until they pass the Trial and Ritual, but a slow tone and unwavering eye contact can do wonders on a scared and displaced Nomad.
Normally, in these situations, a Nomad is called in to calm the newcomer, but, so late after moonfall, it would be a miracle one appeared, even if they were summoned by Captain Ulrik himself.
One of Jeza’s hands goes to her belt in a slow movement-no need to scare the Nomad further- and she grabs her lariat, made specifically to capture people, a long thin wire with two small iron balls at each end, often thrown directly at the feet of a running suspect and then used to tie them down.
“Easy” murmurs Jeza, one hand still with the palm facing the Nomad, it’s just like calming a wild beast or a jittery Nerval. “It’s okay”
The Nomad’s eyes are moving everywhere in the creepiest way possible and Jeza thought she was already desensitized after spending her childhood in close quarters with a Nomad, but no chance.
With a swift motion, Jeza whips out a rope of water from her free hand, it swirls for a second around her palm before rushing at the Nomad and circling her, tying itself around her and freezing.
Jeza sends a short and grateful prayer to Nunet under her breath and finally grabs the lariat, unwinding it and approaching the Nomad, that know sits on the ground in an ungraceful heap, with a deeply confused expression on her face.
“Usually, I’m more caring, I assure you” mentions Jeza, even as the girl cannot understand her. Her voice is back to her usual tone, no need to calm down already aprehended prey.
She ties down the Nomad and unfreezes the improvised capture weapon, letting it pool at her feet, now just normal water. Jeza drags the girl towards Thasi, that stomps one of it’s hooves in distaste. The Nomad mutters something at the nerval, eyes wide in what looks like unfiltered wonder. Jeza just sighs and pats Thasi’s neck, it’s at times like this that she misses her old girl Morala, the nerval had been put down just last year, she was a gentle creature, nothing to do with Thasi, that was still young and rebellious.
The Nomad is put like a sack on the back of Thasi’s saddle, on the place created to put captured criminals, a simple addition to the normal saddle for the captured person to be tied down to. A better option that tying the lariat to the saddle and make the criminal walk behind-something that is still done when a criminal is nefarious enough or tricky to catch.
Now she just needs to get to the Night Hall, she is sure Captain Ulrik must have already doved everyone in for the trial and that makes Jeza wonder about the future of this particular Nomad. It’s been a while since the last Nomad arrived, five years at least.
The trip is mostly silent, with only the sound of the nerval’s gallop over the cobblestoned street. Night hall is not far and the entrance has filled with Nocturnals and Court members, clearly waiting for the Nomad to arrive.
Darule, her shift partner, is one of the Nocturnals waiting at the entrance of the Night Hall, the moment he sees Jeza approach, he whistles loudly to warn the rest and the Nocturnals move away from the open door, allowing Jeza’s nerval to move directly into the golden and illuminated main hall.
There, she stops right in front of Captain Ulrik, that looks wary and nervous underneath his normal glare.
“Zasya” he greets, voice stern “Glad something went right tonight”
Jeza is almost afraid to ask, but she doesn’t need to when the Haruspex himself walks in from another wing of the Night Hall. Clothed in mourning red leather, with his red beaked mask pointed at Jeza.
“Zasya” says the Haruspex as he stops right besides Captain Ulrik. His voice sounds almost like a whisper and Jeza wonders if he is sick with the Gryme Flu that has been hitting the town particularly hard this year.
“Vyshe Ardashir” answers Jeza with a pronounced bow of her head. She lowers herself from Thasi and then picks up the Nomad and puts her on the floor.
“We have terrible news, Zasya” says Captain Ulrik “I’ll put you and Darule on the case, Infans Mikhe Drest has been found dead, Prince Artemy will lead the trial today”
Silence takes over the noisy hall, and Jeza looks at the Haruspex. She hates herself for it, but she is glad Mike Drest is dead, such a terrible man in such a high place of power, he’s better off gone, and she is sure Vyshe Ardashir agrees.
“We’ll deal with that later” says Captain Ulrik “Now, let’s us deal with the easy part”
And with that, the grand golden doors to the Court Room opens.
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