<<thanks to Kris, Jax, Pat, and Dan H. for their help.>>
MystHaven Lord Marshall's offices mid-day Carrying the not-so-light frame of Brookshire Captain Rue Denali over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Andor Cole walked into the Lord Marshall's office and asked the clerk to see whoever was in charge, while he set the unconscious man down into a chair. The new Lord Marshall, Gerhardt Menan, was currently out of the office, surveying the two dead bodies of the guards found strung up in the city square this morning. In his stead, the Assistant to the Lord Marshall, Guilane Bennot came out of his small office, took one look at Rue Denali and arched a brow, "What is this, open season on guards?" Very politely, Andor asked, "Tell me Sir, is it legal in this country for a guardsman to go to private residences and assault a person unprovoked?" "Absolutely not, m'lord. I'm Assistant to the Lord Marshall, Bennot. And you are?" "Andor Cole. This man came to my house and attacked me." "I see, and you do not know this man at all?" "Yes, this is Captain Rue Denali." "And you've no history with Captain Denali?" And so the questioning continued between the citizen and the assistant, as several guards came to carry the unconscious Captain off, cracking jokes about Denali being knocked out *again*. It was revealed that indeed a history lay between these two men, or rather between this dragon and this man. A history of unrealized dreams, broken promises, and complete disrespect, all involving MystHaven Guard Brin Winter, who could collaborate Andor Cole's story. And in the end, Andor Cole pressed formal charges of assault and trespassing against Rue Denali, displaying the injury he sustained in the back of his head. ~*~ When Rue came to, he was inside a jail cell, one of the few in the Lord Marshall's building. Bennot was standing over him with a half-filled bucket of water. The other half splattered Rue's face and chest. "Captain, how nice of you to join us. Tell me what happened at the Cole residence earlier today." "Uh..." Rue shook his head and fingered his jaw, feeling the inside of his mouth split open from where his teeth had gnashed through the skin. "I don't recall..." "Oh that so? Attacking from behind, unprovoked...does that ring any bells?" Rue squinted at Bennot. "That man...that creature...killed my unborn children...I'm just sorry that I didn't hit him hard enough to knock his blasted head off." "You know Denali, the Lord Marshall isn't going to give a shit if your claim is even true. Captains don't go jumping unarmed, unsuspecting citizens. For bloody hound's sake, you've a code of honor to live up to." Rue sat up and braced his arms across his knees and winced, not really caring at that moment. "I'm here to take your plea to the LM. How do you plead to charge of unprovoked assault on an unarmed citizen?" The Captain closed his eyes and heard his voice reverb throughout the other empty cells, "Guilty as charged." "And how do you plead to the charge of unwarranted trespassing on private land?" "No way...that's bullshit. I went there for a reason. And for god's grace Bennot, my *children* are buried on that land..." "I'll take that as a 'Not Guilty' plea then." ~*~ Rue Denali spent the night in that cell, with all the time to think over what he'd done. But all that came to mind were those two blank granite headstones and the loss of those two little babies hardened his heart and thickened his skin. In the morning, he was ushered into the Lord Marshall's office and dishonourably stripped of his Brookshire Captaincy and all guard rank. He was also served with a written order not to set within 100 feet of Cole residential land from this day forward until the year 482. the_____________end A brief background on Rue Denali: http://www.dragonmyst.f2s.com/char/rue.html "It sounds cold, but it's not cold," he explains. "I mean, what the truth in life is, you need failures, you need tough times to get any kind of value on what's important to you and what's not. There's no way around it." (BP '92) -- To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives & Other DMI Lists: http://www.dragonmyst.f2s.com/lists.php3
