14th night of the Month of Ice, 7:15, After Moonrise
“So” starts Jeza in a whisper, leaning towards Darule “Fill me in?”
They’re both standing to the side of the room, watching as Vyshe Ardashir prepares his tools and work table.
“I thought you read the report?” Answers Darule with a smirk
Jeza had read the report, but it didn’t really paint a picture of the crime. Body found floating in the river by the Muddy Bridge-probably moved by currents- a few minutes after Walpurgis, blood on the victim’s shirt and high probability of a weapon being used. No witnesses except the man that found the body.
“I did” groans Jeza “But really, no witnesses?”
“The lamplighter saw no one, and nobody else has come forward with anything” retorts Darule. After a second of silence, he speaks again “Maybe your Nomad saw something”
A glare is the only answer Jeza dares to give. Their witness said he had found both at the same time, the body floating and the Nomad trying to swim against the slow current of the river. But Jeza wasn’t sure about Enuma seeing anything of value. Nomads came into Neth confused and mostly panicking, stress was not good for concentration and memory.
If Enuma even saw anything, it was worthless to the case.
Her heart clenches in her body for a second. She had left Enuma sleeping, under the care of her chambermaid and the careful eye of Cira, who would make sure mother would not do anything to the poor Nomad.
Her eyes return to watch the Haruspex work. The Royal family has not arrived yet and Jeza fears their reaction to the Baru. A Royal Baru, not many of those around, at least not since the old queen Bacchia died when Jeza was a child, that event had been enough for old king Enke to be challenged by his son to a Direvoir that ended with Enke's abdication, it had been for the best, as he had not been in his right mind since the death of his beloved wife.
And really, Jeza didn’t want to be in the same room as him as his youngest child was dissected. It wouldn’t be pretty. But Captain Ulrik had given the case to Darule and her, and being present in the Baru was part of that, even if it could end with the old king trying to electrocute to death whoever was on range. But really, if he was going to attack anyone, old king Enke was going to aim for Vyshe Ardashir.
It was no secret that Enke and his youngest child held no love for Nomads and hated with a passion those that rose in power. It was because of this, that Captain Ulrik had urged them to investigate possible angry Nomads as their killer. It wouldn’t be surprising that a Nomad had seen Mikhe Drest walking alone at night and killed him as retribution. The Baru would also give them a lead in that field, a killing wound with a weapon could reduct the possible killers to a Nomad or an Earth Asha user.
“Enuma saw nothing of use” says Jeza “After this we should study possible suspects from the Infans enemies”
“Well, that will be a very long list” chuckles Darule
Jeza opens her mouth to snark at him further, but closes it when she realizes the doors to the House of Flesh are opening and the royal family have entered the room. The body, that had been tastefully covered with a white sheet, became a beacon of attention to every member of the family present, and Vyshe Ardashir positioned himself behind the body-covered table, with the wheeled small table filled with sharp tools to his side.
Prince Artemy approaches first- hair collected in a low hair bun and mourning clothes as simple as a shirt and breeches, nothing too complex- swaggering up to the table that hides his dead uncle’s body, and smiles charmingly at the Haruspex. Infans Apollodora follows close behind-long white hair filled with braids and red bows, mourning dress as new as one can be-trepidation clear on her face, almost hiding behind her brother. Consort queen Pherenike-her dark hair shining like a beacon and contrasting wildly with the rest of the royal family, dress worn and spine as straight as a Kinna tree- brings in front of her the old king Enke, in his wheeled wooden chair-an angry pout on his wrinkled face, almost rude mourning clothes, so heavily decorated in the teals and black of the royal family-and finally, behind them all, king Zeno himself-face cold and revengeful, white hair cut close to his scalp with only the top part longer and a heavy mourning red coat over the rest of his crimson clothing, the usual black and opalescent crown missing from his head.
Jeza takes the brief moment caused by the family, to pull out her notebook and pencil. The Haruspex moves his head slightly towards Darule and her, the beak of his red leather mask pointing directly at her, the yellow glass that protects his eyes glimmering slightly as he turned, and Jeza fights off a shiver of fear. Bad luck, her brain screams, such bad luck to be seen by the Haruspex, the servant of Bari herself, made of flesh and fire, hands and body drenched in blood.
At her side, Darule flinches and lowers his head slightly, mouth moving in a short and silent prayer to Bari. When Jeza’s eyes return to the Haruspex, he no longer looks at her, but at the body in front of him, pulling the sheet off in a smooth movement and revealing the pale and naked corpse of Mikhe Drest.
The last time Jeza attended a Baru, it had been for her great uncle Grisha, and Jeza remembered the event mostly in pieces that came to her in her most terrible dreams, the ones referred as Maras, ones that woke her up with cold sweat covering her skin and her breath stuttering like a panicked child. She remembered the smells most of all, ones that invaded her nose and refused to leave, rot and blood, and also the most terrible of all; the smell of cooked meat, that her stomach at the time, used to remind her that she had not eaten anything, but that, together with the sight, caused her to not eat meat for an entire week.
She had been sixteen at the time, older than Infans Apollodora, and no prayer to any of the gods would erase the memories the Baru would create for the fourteen year old Infans.
Another thing she remembers was the silence during the process; something the Haruspex will break to inform them of the cause of death. Silence until the end of the ritual, when the Haruspex will read the organs and see the omens related to the family in question. Something for which neither Darule or her will be present.
The Baru starts without any preambles. A sharp and small ling tool points at the only visible wound in the body, and teases the entrance.
“Small knife, not ice as there’s no necrosis in the wound” mumbles the Haruspex, not very loud, but thanks to the silence and the room shape, his voice echoes.
Jeza takes notes as the Haruspex speaks.
“This was not what killed him, as the wound is too small and” the Haruspex pries open the wound with the tool and pushes the silver metal inside, creating a disturbing squelching sound “It did not go far”
Interesting, Jeza wonders what killed him then. Her first guess had been the wound, but if that didn’t kill him, then it would be a more difficult case.
The Haruspex’s drops the tool with the rest and turns the body slightly, putting it on it’s side. Jeza, that can only see the back of the Haruspex and half the body can perfectly see how Infans Apollodora goes incredibly pale and closes her eyes, clenching at her brother’s arm.
“Hmmm” says the Haruspex as he touches the back of the body’s head, where Jeza can see some blood covering part of the white hair. A head wound? Could that kill a person.
She can also see that old king Enke is not happy, wrinkled hands that look more like claws grasping at the wood of his chair and mouth pinched. He looks a second away from either a heart attack or launching himself at Vyshe Ardashir.
“This wound could have broken the skull and either killed him or made him faint” continues Haruspex “If he fell or was pushed into the river, he could have drowned”
With that, he drops the body again on its back and picks up one of the many knives among the tools. He starts cutting the chest and it’ss at that point that Jeza closes her eyes.
She still follows the Baru, but just with the comments the Haruspex is making just for them. But, even then, her brain makes up for what she is missing with the sounds the organs make as they are dropped into another clean table for later, the snap of bones as Vyshe Ardashir breaks them and the smell of rotting blood makes it’s way to her nose after a while.
“Hmmm. It seems the lungs don’t show sings of drowning” says the Haruspex “The trauma to the head was the cause of death. Now we’ll proceed with the omen reading”
Jeza opens her eyes at that, Vyshe Ardashir has turned slightly to look at them, clearly waiting for them to leave.
“If you have any questions, do come by at a later time” he says as he turns back towards the grieving family. The prince looks indifferent, eyes cold as he stares at the dead body of his uncle, the Infans looks a second away from passing out and the king and queen look tearful but not shedding any tears. Old king Enke just looks angry.
“Of course! Thank you for your time, Vyshe Ardashir” smiles Darule with a short bow “We’ll come by later, when the time is appropriate”
Darule grabs Jeza’s arm to shake her from her haze and together they both exit the House of Flesh, the mirrored walls of the Ogdra halls greeting them immediately. They start walking towards the exit when Jeza decides to speak.
“We should go back to the Night Hall” mumbles Jeza “Write everything and start studying possibilities. We’ll have to interrogate many people”
“Are we including the prince in that list?” Asks Darule and Jeza cannot help but look at him dumbfounded “Come on! Everyone knows he hated his uncle with his life! It was all public, can you imagine what went on behind closed doors?”
“But the prince…” starts Jeza without knowing what to say
“And also, it’s always a family member when someone is killed!” Says Darule “You should know if the prince really hated his uncle best, right? You used to hang out with him when you were children”
It was not something Jeza remembered fondly most of the time. The childhood friend group formed by Jeza, Artemy, Anax, Loa and Hilde had broken up messily when Artemy started to include a nomad child in their games. Anax hadn’t reacted well to something the nomad child had said and a fight between Anax and Artemy had dissolved their group almost entirely. Artemy was still friends with Hilde, as they were second cousins, and with Loa. But he had never spoken to Anax again, and Jeza had been dragged into Anax’s side eventually, keeping in touch with him after all these years.
“I have not talked to him in a long time” says Jeza, but it feels like an excuse
Darule looks guilty and sighs.
“Let’s just write the report and then we’ll see” says Darule
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