The Guard Post
The arrival of the train onto the platform in the Royal City was a blur for everyone. Since the train was late by a couple of hours, the officials at the station had already been preparing to scramble a ranger group to follow the tracks back and figure out what had happened to the train. The Queen Kateryn approached the station at full speed with a full compliment of Royal Army Grenadiers and Rangers standing in the Great Hall. In the meantime, the group inside the train had not thought about their arrival onto the station at all and barely had time to pull on the breaks as they saw the massive brass dome on the side of the mountain that houses the imperial city quickly approaching them. As the train stopped, the full complement of grenadiers got on board, seeing the damage from the barricade run. The group was quickly apprehended and dragged off, separated before they got to say two words to each other. Their weapons were taken off them as they were escorted towards the guard posts. Engineers and soldiers moving in to secure every part of the train.
Ferah and Paki were dragged rather roughly towards the Guard post, with their strength it took almost six guards to subdue the pair. A crowd had formed at the great hall and the walk to the Guard Post was a dizzying blur. Once in there, they were thrown into a tiny holding cell while the rest of their companions were interrogated. Ferah and Paki were the last to be left there, in a cold tiny cell surrounded stone walls and iron bars.
Ferah gave Paki a grim humourless smile. "Welcome to the Royal City," she said before facing the door. "Pah. Royal Pain in the Privates." The cell was not how she'd pictured returning to the city, and it had her riled up, being treated like a criminal. Then again, she thought, I am marked as one. "We best get our gear back when we leave, that was a good blade I gave you."
"Ack! We are innocent! The others are innocent as well!"
Paki protested to the guards as they were left in the cell. "Ah?" He turned to Ferah, still gripping the bars. "Why would they lock us here and separate us? We have
survived, and should that not be enough? We all saw those beasts, yes?" At the mention of the blade, Paki nodded solemnly. "Yes, it would be a shame to lose it so soon..."
"Oi!" said simply a guard as he approached the cell holding Paki and Ferah. Holding a baton on one hand, he hit one of the bars which made a terribly loud ringing noise. The man had a wide nose and short red hair under his police hat. "Be quiet or i'll go in there and-" he began to say when he was interrupted when a door suddenly opened at the end of the hallway. "Officer." said simply a cold voice coming from out of Ferah and Paki's field of view. A shah walked to the daguerrian guard, who reluctantly nodded at him. The shah had sharp features and narrow eyes with pale skin and jet black hair slicked back under his cap. "Constable Koh." he introduced himself before he pulled out a small notepad from his breast pocket. "Paki Egwu... and Ferah Azzal?" he asked as if to confirm the pair's identity.
"Yes,"
Ferah said, standing and folding her arms. "Are you here to release us? I have little patience for foolish guards who lock me and my friends away for no reason." Her grim face held her firm frown as she narrowed her eyes at the Shah officer.
"Certainly there's been a mistake. There were beasts and much gunfire but we returned the train as well as we could, yes? The blockade was even shoved aside!"
Paki blurted to the constable. "And why were we separated? Some people were injured, are they doing well?"
Koh simply lifted an eyebrow at Paki's assertions, but his face was otherwise unreadable. "Not exactly." he said simply to Ferah, respectfully enough. "We need to talk to you about what happened in the train." he added simply as the guard began opening the door to the cell. "We'll be happy to take your statement then." he added. "If things add up we could even consider releasing you." said Koh as he stepped away from the now open cell door. "If you would be so kind." said finally the constable, walking towards the other end of the hallway and gesturing Paki and Ferah to follow.
"Come on then, young man,"
Ferah said to Paki as she left the cell. She held herself up straight, shoulders back, prideful, but she made sure not to show any signs that she might cause trouble. She stepped along the hall, focusing on Koh. His words showed him as reasonable, but she had been fooled before.
Paki hesitated at Koh's words, believing that it meant they were--in all likelihood--go
ing to be kept locked up for a while or even blamed for what happened. When Ferah went forward, however, Paki's feet followed regardless of his misgivings about the situation.
Koh led the pair into an interrogation room, as they entered, they saw a barren room with plastered walls, a few chairs and some galvanic lighting. On one side of the table sat an older man with short brown hair, complete with a beard and mustache. He was clearly a Daguerrian with reddened skin and a large bulbous nose. He wore a long coat and a pair of glasses which covered a pair of very tired looking green grey eyes. "Mornin'" he said, though it was well into the afternoon already. "I'm inspector Van Leeuwen. You've met the good Constable Koh... we've heard all kinds of crazy shit today, so we'll try to keep it short... take a seat, please." added Val Leeuwen, gesturing to the two chairs across the table.
Ferah and then frowned immediately at Leeuwen. "While I will agree that what we witnessed was crazy, I would not dismiss us as such," she said, near enough growling out the words. "Ask your questions and do what you will with us, I grow tired of your version of justice." She folded her arms and waited.
Paki sat as close to Ferah as possible, not really trusting the other occupants of the room. "We are innocent! We are sane! We did what was necessary!" Regardless of his fear, his mouth just would not get the memo.
Koh seemed to simply lift a single eyebrow at Ferah as she spoke with grim determination. "Aye, you're all consistently crazy, I'll give you that. But you can also understand it's hard for me to go back to my superiors explaining how we should let you all go because 'monsters did it'." added Leeuwen, his patience wearing a bit thin about the lack of sense he had been encountering. Regardless of what they had run into in the sea of snow, none of them had had the consideration of at least making up a more plausible explanation that might make his job easier. "There were two private investigators working for the Royal school on the train. Can you tell me what happened to them." he simply asked, looking up at Paki and Ferah.
While she was tempted to lie, Ferah suspected any ruse she tried would easily be seen through. "I can't be sure if who you are talking about are the two men we encountered, but they were violent. If we didn't step up, they could easily have killed us." While not the whole truth, none of it was a lie. "Is it a crime to defend oneself from a lethal attack? That is what I did."
"Yes!" Paki cried out in agreement to Ferah. "They shot and killed that one lady in the snow! Poor lady..." The Kkala hung his head sadly and uttered a short prayer.
"Step up?" said simply Van Leeuwen staring straight at Ferah and then Paki. So you're admitting you killed these agents and not these... snow monsters everyone keeps bringing up?" he added. He knew these men were just bruisers who were on an assignment from the Royal School and they were most likely aggressive and stupid, but he had not expected the two sitting beyond him to so casually confess to two murders, even in self defense, specially consider they were Majai who had killed Daguerrians. "Lady in the snow?" he added, looking at Koh, who simply shook his head and shrugged. "Another snow monster? All the women in the passenger manifest have been accounted for... except for that one urchin."
"But there was a Daguerrian woman in the Majai cart! The men called her something that wasn't her name and shot her in cold blood! And she was so terrified of the creatures, too... Who shoots their fellow man when something inhuman is hunting you?!" Paki bellowed at the investigators, his face contorted in anguish and confusion.
To Ferah it seemed that these officers were acting purposefully stupid. Perhaps to trick them into making a slip up and being set up for a crime they didn't commit? She let out a long sigh as Paki made his outburst before she folded her hands in her lap and tried to speak calmly. "My friend here is telling the truth. There was a woman on the Majai cart with us. None of us knew her." She recalled the misadventure they'd had. "The train was stopped by a blockade on the tracks. When we went to investigate what had happened, the creatures revealed themselves and attacked. They were pale, with dark hair, as big as a man but I don't believe they were human." She managed to suppress a shiver at recalling their howls. "We dispatched the first group that attacked us. We then made our way towards the forward carts to find help. That was where we met these agents, who attempted to arrest the woman. She fled, they shot her, then they turned on us." It had all been a blur. To her, it was as close to the truth as mattered. "We killed them in self-defense. We were attacked by the creatures again as we tried to move the train on." The modicum of calm she'd been holding fell apart as she ended her account. "Are we expected to lay down our weapons and die in the snow like filth?!"
"We've no evidence of anything inhuman though." replied simply Van Leeuwen. The two Majai seemed not to understand he was unable to simply believe and accept anything they claimed, and even if he were to, his superiors would probably not be pleased with 'magical monsters did it.' "All the hard evidence I have is what was on the train, which IS some odd evidence, I'll give you that." added the old inspector with a sigh as he massaged his temples with the index and middle fingers of each of his hands. "And I have a confession of two Majai who killed two Daguerrians because they, in turn, killed a woman who is not listed on the passenger list, whose name we do not know and whose existence could not be confirmed. Now, if you were from the Royal School and I came back and told you we were not prosecuting the people who broke into your locomotive and killed your men because of that, would you take it at face value? Do you understand how that all sounds?"
When the inspector mentioned that they did not know the woman's name, Paki squeezed his eyes shut for several minutes and after a while of contorting his face into strange shapes and having his face turn warm from the exertion finally began to mumble: "...Flower...something flower...A red flower?...No, Rose!...Something Rose..."
The kkala seemed to be missing the interrogator's point, but Ferah's blood was running cold. She had already been branded for murder and gone into exile for it, and now, so close to reuniting with his family, it seemed that her actions could take her away from them again. "Perhaps questions should be raised as to why these agents were on a train at the same time as a woman not on the manifesto, seemingly looking for her." She was shooting in the dark, but hoped it might make some impact with the guards. "Since when did the Royal School have the right to take control of the passengers of a lonetrain? Even if we ignore the presence of Lena Rose, when have agents had the right to order around citizens of the land? When have they had the right to perform summary executions?"
Paki smacked the table with the palm of his hand, causing a loud THUD. "Yes! Lena Rose! That was her name!"
"Since they made the lonetrains." replied Koh bitterly, looking away as if he wanted to spit on the floor at the Royal School of Engineer's dealings. "Koh!" said simply Van Leeuwen to shut him up. "Listen-" began to say Van Leeuwen, but was quickly made silent by Paki's exclamation. The older detective's eyes opened wide for a second and it looked like he was reaching for his gun, but he quickly calmed down. He turned to Koh, who simpy shook his head as if saying 'no'. Turning back to the pair, he simply said, "We don't seem to have record of that person." and then felt quiet again. "Tell you what... this thing stinks to high heaven and I don't think you guys killed all those engineers, specially considering how easily you admitted killing the royal school thugs... they were known as... unsavory fellows." said Van Leuwen, taking a pipe and lighting it before breathing in a long draft of the smoke. "The Rectory is still going to want heads to roll, and I'm going to be straight with you, you guys are simply the wrong race. There's a good chance it'll be your heads... but I'm sick and tired of the school sticking their noses in official business." he added, behind him, Koh seemed to smile for the first time in the interrogation. "So I can cut you a deal...If you're willing to listen."
The Amiri warrior had hit a lucky number - Van Leeuwen seemed to dislike the Royal School. Ferah smiled and bowed her head at the man respectfully. "I am more than willing to listen, sir. Your words ring well to my ears." She simply hoped that Paki would also be willing to listen.
Paki was still wary of these people, but if Ferah--who he has grown to admire as a warrior and perhaps a mentor (even if she has not agreed to be one)--was being respectful and agreeable... "What is this deal, then?" He remained tense, though. Even Ferah's reassurance could not help that.
"You're obviously going to be declared the main suspects in this, I'm probably supposed to keep you in a holding cell while a mock investigation happens that won't make a difference in your eventual fates." said simply Van Leeuwen. "But instead I propose you help me get to the bottom of this, you can't leave the city so you won't run, and it does me no good to have you here eating our food for two weeks, I get no answers from that." he added, taking another long draft of the pipe. "So I'll cut you lose, even give you your stuff, and you have until the investigation is concluded to get me proof of your innocence. Works for me and works for you. And you might have an in into the lower city that my men lack... Majai are not known for being the most cooperative bunch, no offense." he added, leaning forward, ready to hold his hand out for a handshake if the two agreed.
"I suppose that a miracle was not expected," Ferah said vaguely before gripping Van Leeuwen's outstretched hand. "Proof would be easier to find outside the city, but I will do what I can." With a squeeze, she then returned to her calm seating position.
"Perhaps my father's old business friends know something?" Paki honestly doubted it. What would a bunch of traders know about the strange creatures in the forest? And even if they did, if it was anything confidential they would not talk about it in front of him--they knew he was a bit of a blabbermouth. But at the very least this would buy him time...
"We have an agreement then." said simply Van Leeuwen with a smile. "Come look me up if I you think I can help. I'll try to stall the investigation." said the older detective as Koh finally escorted the two Majai towards their release.
Adventure Concluded!
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