The people below her cowered in fear as Sanya flew over the small town. That was an ill omen if ever she'd seen one. Normally the only time she saw fear from a human was if they were trying to cover a lie and knew they were about to be found out.
Sanya hadn't wanted to do the investigation of Ketel's death but she was the calmest of the dragons closest to in flying distance to the village he stood in as judge for. The sharp pains of his slaying had faded but she still carried the dull ache of losing him. It coiled behind her breastbone and leached the strength from her wings. The fresh thought of the brutal murder brought a lump to her throat. She quickly controlled her thoughts to keep from keening over the pain shared between all the dragons.
Sanya wheeled over the center of the town. Today was market day and nearly everybody in the town had gathered together as they exchanged their goods. She ignored the cries from around her as she landed in the large open air market. The sooner she could get back to her quiet home to shed her tears in private the better. She concentrated and called forth the spirits of those recently passed in the local area. Sanya composed herself as the white spirit form of the late Ketel appeared in front of her. She didn't want to add to his pain. Ketel appeared much as she remembered him; one of the benefits of her truth spell, it brought back the spirit with none of the ravages of death. Ketel's eyes widened as he recognized the town below him, a place he had called home from the day the first wide spot in the road had turned into an inn. With a start he turned to Sanya.
"Warn Kiara! Tell her to stay away until this can be worked out! Please!"
Sanya held his gaze as she nodded. The dragon consciousness worked only for the living dragons. Ketel had no way of knowing that his mate Kiara had been missing since his death.
"Of course Ketel, I'll let her know the next time I speak with her." She darted her eyes toward the horizon and hoped he didn't see the truth in them.
The townspeople cried out and pointed as Lady Beth appeared high above them, as elegant and compassionate in death as she had been in life. She wore a simple gown, as she often had in life as she had worked beside the villagers in her many philanthropic efforts. Many below seemed to have forgotten about the dragon hovering nearby as they dropped to their knees in reverence for the spirit of their beloved Lady.
Sanya, glad for a moment that Ketel would be distracted from his questions about Kiara, turned her attention to Lady Beth.
"Lady Beth, can you tell us what happened?"
"I was in my chambers, getting ready for bed, when I heard a loud thump from the balcony." Beth wept softly as she shared her story. "I saw a large shape through the glass and as I unlocked the door to the balcony the doors burst inward,"
A man shoved through to the front of the crowd and fell to his knees before her.
"My Lady! Please forgive me! I was doing my final check of the property. I saw the dragon leap into your chamber and I heard your screams and," he sobbed into his hands, his voice breaking in grief, "and, like a coward I hid! I refused to aid you. I thought the whispers of the dragons turning against us were finally coming true!" Lady Beth stretched a hand toward her former Lord Chamberlain and drifted closer.
"Michael, what could you have done? I do not blame you."
"But my Lady, I failed you!"
"No Michael, you did all that you should have. You have a wife and children to consider and had it truly been the honorable Ketel attacking me you would have only run to your death."
"I, I guess Lady Beth," he sniffed back his tears a bit. "But,"
"No, Michael, no buts, it was for the best. Honestly." She quietly asked after his wife and children, glad to hear that they were all well but Michael had been removed from his job as a result of her death. A voice from the back of the crowd called out.
"If it wasn't the dragon then who attacked you?!" Lady Beth turned her attention back to the mass of people gathered before her. She took a deep breath before continuing her story.
"It was my own husband, Lord Doug." There was a collective gasp from the crowd.
"Lies! She lies!"
Lady Beth rose up higher in the air to spot who said such things. The crowd parted as Byron strode to the forefront.
"Byron, why am I not surprised." Lady Beth's voice was full of sorrow. "So long as Lord Doug is in charge you profit, the more he makes the more you make. You hated how much I gave back to the village as much as he did." Byron flushed as her words hit true.
"Again I say, it was Lord Doug who attacked me."
"Care to explain all the claw and bite marks then?" Byron spoke up again.
"Lord Doug wore a contraption of wires and cloth to look like wings, he used knives to slash at me until I fell. He wore a mock up dragon head like a hat and boots that had been modified to look like claws. He bragged about how he'd be through with me and my spending of his money to help what he called the dregs of society." The crowd muttered at this, Lord Doug's opinions of his servants was well known. "I was helpless and could but watch as he carefully cut my body to approximate bites and claw slashes." She wiped a tear from her check.
“I have loved all of you, helping you was the joy in my life, working beside you was a comfort. You were all a blessing to me. Please take care of each other.” Lady Beth turned to Ketel. "Please do not blame the people, they knew not the truth."
"I do not blame he people for their actions. They listened to those in charge and merely did as they believed they should." He addressed the crowd directly.
"I simply ask that you do take this tragedy to heart. Find all the facts before you pass judgment on others. What appears to be is not always what is. I had hoped that you had learned that before now, but hopefully this will be the time you truly remember it.” Ketel and Lady Beth both turned to Sanya.
"I think we'd both like to go back now, the pain here is far too fresh for us." Lady Beth nodded at Ketel's words. Sanya nodded and released her hold on their spirits. Both faded into the bright blue sky. Sanya turned and spoke to the people of the town for the first time.
“Ketel may not blame you, but I do."
"We were lied to! How is that our fault?" A faceless voice called out.
"How you could simply allow yourself to forget hundreds and hundreds of years of happy accord between the dragons and the humans I don’t understand. I may never understand it. The whispers and rumors that you hear in the shadows of the dark places are lies."
"Lies from trusted people!" Sanya felt her anger rise a bit as another voice rose. The crowd fell silent as she turned a baleful eye on them. She answered quietly, the rage dripping from her words.
"Dragons are here to help the people, to guide you, to judge ‘for’ you, as our Goddess Shichimen has decreed. She loved you as friends and companions, and so have we." Sanya took a deep breath before continuing. "The dragons will meet in council to decide what we will do now, if we will continue to help you as we always have, or if we will go away, leaving you to your own devices. Personally, my vote will be to go, I don’t want to be around those that don’t believe me or trust me.” Sanya turned and with a mighty push launched herself into the sky, her white and silver trimmed form was soon lost in the clouds.
There were quiet murmurs amongst the people in the gathered crowd. Suddenly one of the shopkeepers cried out.
“I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not settling for this. Lord Doug should be made to pay!”
“Yeah, he lied to us!” Another yelled. Other voices began jumping in and adding their opinion.
“Deceived us!”
“-tricked us!”
“-murderer!”
“Get him!” Somebody screamed.
“Take him down!”
Soon the entire crowd was once again under mob mentality and on the hunt. They grew angrier and louder as they made their way to the grand house that Lord Doug called home. The guards standing at their posts saw how focused the throng was on their objective they decided that prudence was the better part of valor and stepped back into alcoves and halls to let the mass of angry citizens proceed as they liked.
In his bedchamber Lord Doug slowly became aware of the growing noise and in confusion looked up from his recent conquest just as the door burst open, a sea of very incensed humanity pouring into his room. The doxy in his bed with him screamed and tried to yank the covers up to cover her nudity but her position underneath the Lord of the Manor prevented that, until he rose, indignant and unmindful of his current state of undress.
“What is the meaning of this?!” He exclaimed.
With a roar, the crowd flowed around him and he found his hands bound behind him and he was hoisted to the shoulders of the men surrounding him. He was carried through the halls of his home and tossed to the ground in his garden. Well placed kicks and punches from the horde around him kept him on the ground. From back in the back of the mob another voice cried out.
“Burn him! Burn him for Lady Beth!”
Somebody ripped a couple of slats off of one of the small fences bordering a bed of flowers and soon there were torches being passed to the front of the mob circling Lord Doug as he lay, broken and bleeding, on the soil of his backyard. The pointed ends of more broken fence slats were cruelly shoved through him, staking him to the ground, then lit on fire. He screamed and writhed as the fire burned down the wood passing through him and finally reached him.
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lordrexfear! I hope today is a blast and the coming year brings you nothing but laughter and photo opportunities!
awake
cheerful
jubilant
tired
amused
accomplished![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small}
contemplative
curious
calm