Table of Contents – (spoilers)
Lieutenant Cooper and Choke left the infirmary with Pinch and Knuckle following them, heading for the dungeon under the fort. At the main entrance into the keep’s chapel next to the infirmary, Lieutenant Cooper’s man, Sergeant Neil was waiting for him.
“Sir,” Sergeant Neil addressed Cooper, “we have secured the fortifications. We found Sergeant Dudley and his two lads tied up in the stalls of the stables. Dudley told me the three attackers were masked and got the drop on them. They say they couldn’t recognize them.”
“Uh-huh…” Lieutenant Cooper said acerbically. “Were any of them injured?”
“No, sir. They were asleep, so were subdued before they could put up a fight,” Sergeant Neil reported, his tone very neutral.
“Ah. So no shame at all, then. Just lucky for them that the attackers were only looking to kill Lieutenant Pekot here, and not seeking to steal our horses, or else Dudley and his boys would be in real trouble,” Cooper said.
“I… ahm…” Sergeant Neil said awkwardly, glancing Choke’s way.
“I jest, of course,” Lieutenant Cooper said, giving Choke a friendly bump. Choke waved off the suggestion of having taken offense.
“Of course, now we shall have to decide whether or not we choose to believe Sergeant Dudley,” Lieutenant Cooper suggested.
“He is a very fine farrier and horse trainer, sir. The Colonel favors him for it,” Sergeant Neil said.
“I know it,” Lieutenant Cooper said pensively, sucking on his lip. He turned to Pinch: “You observed the three assailants leaving the stables, yes? Were they masked then?”
“No, sir.”
“Shall I search the stables for masks, sir?” Sergeant Neil asked Cooper.
“Digging in horseshit in order to uncover horseshit. I don’t know. What has Captain Edison said about all this? Where is he, anyways?” Cooper asked Sergeant Neil.
“I don’t know, sir. I suppose he is still in his quarters. Do you want me to wake him?”
“What, all that racket didn’t? Well, in that case, either he is too drunk to be of any use tonight, or else too apathetic. Or, something else entirely. Either way, best to leave him be. Do you agree, Bartholomew?” Lieutenant Cooper looked to Choke.
“Yes, I agree, Cooper.”
“Good. So… let me think,” Lieutenant Cooper rubbed his temples with a pained expression. “Blast this intrigue! There are fewer pits and snares fighting goblins! So! What to do?”
“Well, sir, Lieutenant Pekot was crossbowed from within the fort, yes?” Sergeant Neil said helpfully.
“Ah! Yes! Yes he was! Thank you Neil!” Lieutenant Cooper thumped his man appreciatively. “Very good. I want you to go and check that all the keep’s crossbows are accounted for. As well, put some men on watching that Sergeant Euan and the rest of Hamon’s men stay in their quarters. Right?”
“Yes, sir. And if they don’t?” Sergeant Neil asked.
“Well, I just want to know about it, since they would be violating my orders. Our lads should impede as best they can, but they are not to fight them. They are not under arrest, after all.”
“Yes, sir. Shall I get to it now, sir?”
“Ahhhh… Is there anything else we might be missing?” Lieutenant Cooper asked, his pained expression once again dominating.
“What about searching for the masks?” Knuckle said. “We gotta know if them stable guys were in on it!”
“My dear fellow,” Lieutenant Cooper smiled at Knuckle. “Of course they were in on it. At night, those stables are locked up tight with them inside, charged with protecting all of our horses, the Baron’s included. They were in on it. We all know it. The question is: do we want to prove it? I, for one, think not.”
“But…” Knuckle started.
“If we start searching for men to hang for any degree of complicity, how many are there going to be left when we are done? And the stable men likely are not true villains in this. They would only need to be half a coward to go along in order to avoid crossing Outfit men at their dirt. Yes?”
Knuckle nodded ponderously as he thought this over.
“Butters,” Pinch said with a hushed voice.
Sergeant Neil tensed as Lieutenant Cooper peered quizzically at Pinch.
“What’s that now, man? Are we meant to be buttering something? It is not breakfast time already, is it?”
“No, sir. Corporal Butters. He is Sergeant-Major Orel’s right-hand man. And he was drinking on duty with the one in the dungeon that stabbed Choke, I mean Lieutenant Pekot. They seemed thick as thieves,” Pinch said.
“The swine! What’s his name?” Lieutenant Cooper asked Sergeant Neil.
“Who, sir? The man in custody? He is… ahhh…” Sergeant Neil stared off into space for a spell with one hand waving out in front of him. “Horace, sir! Yes. That’s it. Horace. He unloads freight, mostly. Fetch and carry. Heavy lifting and the like.”
“Heavy lifting indeed, this night,” Cooper chuckled. “And he is Corporal Butters’ man, you say? And Butters is Orel’s creature. What is it, Sergeant? Why do you look like you are about to lay an egg every time I mention these chaps?”
“Well, sir…” Sergeant Neil hesitated, “Sergeant-Major Orel is coming back, is he not? Are we all quite sure we want to go down this road with…”
“With whom, Sergeant? Do you mean Lieutenant Pekot? Surely you don’t suggest that we sit upon our hands and allow the criminal scum in our midst to have at him freely, do you?”
“I suggest nothing, sir. I’m just… nothing, sir. Just waiting for orders, sir,” Sergeant Neil firmed up to stand at attention, looking away from Lieutenant Cooper to a middle space beyond his head.
“Yes, of course you are. Duly noted, Sergeant,” Lieutenant Cooper said, glaring hard at his man.
“Lieutenant Cooper,” Choke interjected. “Perhaps we should let Sergeant Neil get on with executing your orders. They are rather pressing, after all, are they not?”
“Yes. Yes, of course. Good. Good. Alright, Sergeant, you may go. Report to me in the dungeon as soon as you have a count on the crossbows.”
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Neil saluted smartly.
Lieutenant Cooper returned the salute. Then he smiled at Choke:
“So. Bartholomew. Shall we go press that rogue in the dungeon, or move straight at the center and find this Butters fellow of yours? Do you feel up to it? I am sure the four of us together are quite a match for whatever the wretch has left to him.”
“Ahhh, yes. Maybe we should talk this over for a minute, Cooper. Get on the same page with everything,” Choke said quietly. “Is the chapel a secure place? Against being overheard, I mean.”
“As far as I know. So long as we keep our voices down,” Cooper replied.
“Good. Knuckle, Pinch, you two watch the exits. Let us know if anyone is coming. Shall we?” Choke gestured towards to pews as he and Cooper moved back into the chapel.
Once they were seated together, Choke paused to gather his thoughts for a moment before beginning:
“Cooper. I truly appreciate the support you are showing me here. Truly. But, I do not want to get you too deeply into this with us. Your man, Sergeant Neil, is right. You may want to exercise caution here and stick to your strict duty in this.”
“Whatever nonsense are you blathering about, Bartholomew? My strict duty and my support of you are one in the same! Besides which, it is nonsense to fear these scoundrels now, is it not? Their leader, Wes, has been murdered, and his subordinates, Sheriff Waters and Sergeant-Major Orel are in the custody of your priest. He interviewed me himself last night. I have no doubt he will get to the bottom of this.”
“Well, I am sure he will. But… what did he tell you about the particulars of that?” Choke asked.
“Just that he shall do it. What are you getting at?” Lieutenant Cooper asked.
“Well, Cooper, that is not all that he said about it, is it? He has said, again and again, to you and the Captain and others, that forgiveness is available to those who admit their corruption and sin, and help him in his task to root it out. Right?”
“Yes, indeed. I think I see what you are getting at. You mean to say that Sergeant-Major Orel will indeed be returned to us. Hmm… And what of Sheriff Waters? Is he to be redeemed as well?” Cooper asked.
“I am sorry, Cooper, I really cannot say. But as to Orel, I do not think it is inappropriate for me to point out that a man as intelligent and opportunistic as him will likely figure out how to redeem himself. And your point earlier about the men in the stable was good sense that speaks doubly to Orel’s situation. How many men such as him can the Colonel afford to lose?” Choke said.
“I see. Food for thought. So, what does all this mean for our course of action this night? A man in this keep shot you. Surely, he must be found!”
“I agree, of course. But running around in the middle of the night, dragging suspects out of their bunks isn’t the correct way to go about it, is it?” Choke asked.
“I take your point. But, what is the correct way to go about this, then? What is it we know? Captain Edison ordered us both to take the watch and has not been seen since. With you taking first watch, I suggested that you tap Hamon’s men to take with you. So, from your perspective, both the Captain and myself must be suspected collaborators in this plot. Yes?”
“Well, I don’t think that is very plausible. At any rate, I don’t suspect you, Cooper,” Choke said, giving his fellow officer a friendly pat on the shoulder.
“I thank you for it, Bartholomew,” Cooper patted him back. “And I think it best we leave off thinking about the Captain in such terms. So… Sergeant Euan sent two of his men out to go on watch with you, and one of them tried to kill you. The three that attacked you from the stables will all turn out to be Orel’s people: kitchen and freight men, I am sure. Sergeant Dudley and his two lads in the stables were surely complicit, if only through having been intimidated into cooperation. Then, there is one more active assailant here in the keep who shot you. Am I missing anyone?”
“Without a doubt. Probably several. Like I said, Cooper, I appreciate your help in this, but I do not think there is anything we can do about this tonight. We can’t exactly go after all of them right now. Can we?” Choke asked.
“Well, I suppose not. How can you be so calm about it, though? This entire keep seems a nest of vipers bent on killing you.”
“Well, people have been trying to kill us for a good while now. We just kill them as they come and move on,” Choke said, deadpan.
Cooper blinked at this. Then he laughed and clapped Choke on the shoulder again.
“Well, my friend, you are a proper madman, then. One that I am proud to know! Good on you! We kill them as they come. Ha!”
“Thank you. But, there’s still the man in the dungeon. Horace his name was, right? He led the men from the stables and stabbed me. He knows who ordered him to do it, I am sure. That shall be valuable evidence. We need to secure him so that he can give it,” Choke said.
“Aha! So there is something we can do, after all!” Cooper clapped his hands together. “With your two lads along, we shall have him singing in no time, I am sure!”
“Well, I don’t know if that’s going to be necessary. I think we should just heal him up with that potion so that he doesn’t die and will be in good condition to give proper evidence tomorrow. If we aren’t going to be immediately acting upon whatever he tells us, there isn’t really a point to working him over. Anything he tells us will just be hearsay when it comes to trial, right?” Choke said.
“Ah. Yes. I keep forgetting you are of the Stronians. I am sorry to tell you, Bartholomew, but what you call hearsay is generally what we have to use as evidence. We don’t have the… capabilities of your Father Morrenthall, after all.”
“Well, what about Father Gerban? Surely he can detect lies for you. Does he not do so?” Choke asked.
“Not generally, no. That is not how things work in the military, my good chap,” Cooper sighed. “It’s just the nature of things, isn’t it. Yes, Father Gerban can cast his spells to detect lies and take formal evidence. But he is a priest of Altas, and these Altarians will not compel testimony with torture. So, anyone being interrogated by him, or near him, for that matter, must speak of their own volition. What is typically done is, if an Altarian priest is willing to be flexible in this regard, of course, which is not always the case, but what is typically done is the suspect is tortured to extract a confession, then taken before the priest and instructed to repeat his confession. This he may or may not do. If he refuses, then he must be dragged off to be re-persuaded. With strong-willed subjects, this kind of thing can go on for some time.”
Choke thought about this for some time.
“I see,” he finally said.
“I am glad that you do,” Cooper said, amiably. “And you must further understand how things typically work here in the military. If your Father Morrenthall were to come here and personally ask every man in the keep, ‘did you crossbow Bartholomew,’ they would all sit mute. To a man they would. For they know that such solidarity in silence is their only protection. From each other, as well as us. And we can’t, after all, flog them all for it, now can we?”
Lieutenant Cooper left a long pause here to let this sink in.
“And further,” he continued, “it is not as though we officers are particularly amenable to this sort of intrusion into our military affairs. After all, let these priests get their hooks into us that way, and there is no telling what kind of dirt they will start raking up. It need not even be corruption or crimes pertinent to the military, after all. How many officers have a camp woman on the side who prays to the moon to keep the bastards at bay? Eh? No sense overturning that apple cart, yes?” Cooper laughed.
“I see. I hadn’t thought about it that way,” Choke said quietly.
“Clearly not. You are far too virtuous for that. But, give it time. You’ll get your head around it, one way or another,” Cooper clapped Choke on the shoulder again.
“So, correct me if I’m wrong Cooper, but if all this is so, then I don’t really see a point in pressing the man downstairs. He might give us a name, but what are we going to do with it?” Choke asked.
“Well, there need not be a point to it at all, Bartholomew. The man did stab you after all! We could just go and knock him around for it!”
“I don’t feel that is necessary,” Choke said.
“Very well. But if he gives us a name of the man that shot you, or the man that ordered the whole affair, we can arrest them. And then, however that might go, you would know who it was that did so. To be better on your guard,” Cooper said.
Choke sighed and thought this over before speaking: “You might think so, but I’m not so sure. Who’s to say the man doesn’t lie? Give us some random fellow just to get us to stop and put us off the scent for a time? And with the situation my men and I are in, I must always assume everyone is a potential killer. Having a name or two won’t change that. Indeed, chasing them down without a concrete notion of what to do when we get them is likely to cause more trouble than it solves.”
Choke thought some more before he shook his head with new determination:
“No. If the prisoner cannot be properly interrogated by a priest, then there is no point in wasting our time with him. He needs to be secured and handed over to Father Morrenthall.”
“Well, that’s fine,” Cooper said, looking just a little disappointed. “But, I have to say, the Father is probably not going to get much from him. The wretch tried to kill you, an officer. He knows very well what he’s facing for that. There can be no leniency given for cooperation. He shall be flogged to ribbons and then hanged. So, knowing that, I expect he shall do his best to take his punishment bravely, having done his duty to his true masters.”
“That may be. But, at any rate, I’m sure Father Morrenthall will want to have a word with him tomorrow. So let’s make sure we can make that happen for him.”
“Well, we have done that already. He is secure in the dungeon with my boys guarding him. I am as sure as I can be of them. So, we can leave him there until tomorrow,” Cooper said.
“What about healing him with the potion?” Choke asked.
“I’d not waste it on him. If Father Morrenthall wants him healthy to interrogate, he can heal him with spells tomorrow. That bolt won’t kill him tonight. And the pain of it is nothing more than he deserves. So, what about informing Father Morrenthall? Should you send one of your sergeants to inform him of the happenings here tonight?”
Choke shook his head. “No, I think not. If Peep, I mean, Otilla, were here, I could send her, since she has leave to come and go as she pleases. But none of us do. Especially since the Captain, presently the commanding officer of the fort, has not been informed of what has happened tonight. We really should wake him. He needs to be informed.”
Cooper sighed. “I suppose you are correct there. And it isn’t as though we have any plans for tonight that he can bugger up. Not now, anyways. Right. Well, Bartholomew, I’d say your watch is over then, yes? Take your sergeants and get some rest. You have earned it. I shall keep thing locked down and awake the Captain. And, oh what fun that shall be!”
“It’s okay, Cooper. I’ll do it,” Choke said.
“No, no, no! You have been stabbed and crossbowed tonight. The least I can do is let you have what rest you can before tomorrow’s ordeal. I’ll tell the Captain your wounds still have the best of you and that you must rest. Get some sleep.”
“Well, thank you. I will. I owe you, Cooper. You have my gratitude,” Choke said as he stood up and offered Lieutenant Cooper his hand.
Cooper stood to shake his hand warmly. “I will take your gratitude, Bartholomew. Deserving a future good turn from the likes of you and yours is not something I would turn down. We have each other’s backs, then!”
“Indeed we do, sir. I am obliged. Thank you, again.”
“That’s enough said on that. Take your rest, man. Off you go!” Cooper laughed, clapping Choke on the shoulder one last time to send him on his way from the chapel.
Muse Vassal 