Marduk’s Mark [7]
A Guardhouse
Thomas knew he was running late, but he didn’t feel any guilt or remorse. Quite the contrary, he had quite a light, peppy step and a smile on his face. He crossed the streets of the common district of Incantirl, going past the main gate and arriving at a small guardhouse past the northern entrance to the city. He had a piece of parchment that Dana, the waitress, had given him when he left. He recalled her description of it.
“Weird man, probably an easy job with good pay,” she had told him. He was sure Gregor would be proud of him. He could see him sitting on a wooden chair in front of the guardhouse. He was peeling a huge grapefruit with the tip of a long knife with a serrated edge.
Gregor started laughing as soon as he saw Thomas. Thomas scratched the back of his head as he lowered the speed in his step, just walking normally towards the entrance to the guardhouse.
“So it seems you had a fun night. Hell, you probably had a fun morning, and a fun afternoon too!” the big man exclaimed. Thomas lowered his head and snickered.
“What?! He’s alive!” another, higher-pitched voice exclaimed. That voice belonged to Benjamin, whom he heard from within the building. “You’ve gotta tell us how it went,” Benjamin said as a yell from within the guardhouse.
The three men: big and intimidating Gregor, lithe and spry Benjamin, and strong, muscular Thomas sat in chairs surrounding a small, round, wooden table.
“Judicators, huh? That alone can’t be the problem,” Benjamin suggested. Thomas shrugged.
“Just telling you what I’ve heard.”
Gregor burst out laughing.
“There wasn’t much conversation in that story you just told us about our dear waitress!”
Thomas shook his head while rubbing the back of his neck.
“I guess I may have paid more attention to the fun details than the gathering of intelligence during that telling,” Thomas said and laughed.
Gregor chugged a shot of clear liquor and sucked on the grapefruit.
“I’ve heard of those Judicators before; I just didn’t think they existed over here in Incantirl,” the big man said. Thomas leaned towards Gregor and nodded. Benjamin looked at them both and shrugged. Thomas continued.
“Apparently, they’re some sort of high-ranking guards,” Thomas said.
Gregor shook his head.
“They’re more like blind justice personified,” Gregor corrected. Benjamin scratched the back of his neck.
“What does that even mean?” Benjamin asked while shrugging his shoulders and bending his arms at his elbows, extending his forearms to the sides and holding the palms of his hands outstretched. Thomas looked at him seriously and replied in a somber voice.
“Apparently, once a Judicator is on the case they’re authorized, by the crown, no less, to judge the culprit and execute the sentence on the spot.” Benjamin stared at Thomas in disbelief, then his eyes met Gregor’s, expecting him to correct what Thomas just said once more. Gregor just nodded in agreement with Thomas.
“The hells? That can’t be,” Benjamin protested.
A guard that overheard their conversation pulled up a chair from another table and sat with them.
“Sorry for intruding,” he told them, “But I couldn’t help to overhear your conversation.” Gregor grinned at the guard and poured some of the clear liquor he was drinking into an unused shot glass and offered it to him.
“Thanks,” he said. He drank the liquor and loudly exhaled. “Those are some mean spirits!” the guard exclaimed and Gregor laughed.
“Pure sugarcane rum,” he told the guard.
“Not bad. I may take a liking to it. Anyway — ” the guard took a deep breath and then sighed. “ — The Judicator program started in full force about three moons ago,” he said. “The subjects that were, umm,” he made a pause and then held his hands up front, extending his index and middle fingers and flexing them twice, signaling for quotes, “Indoctrinated,” he lowered his hands, “for the program were chosen two springs ago — ”
Gregor, holding his chin, interrupted him. “So it’s been twenty-nine moons since,” he said. The guard nodded.
“So, for the first moon there wasn’t much of a difference, but then word got around.” The guard said, then he looked around and shivered.
“Go on,” Gregor said. He leaned forward, towards the guard. Thomas stared at Benjamin. Benjamin looked back at Thomas and took a sip from his drink, a caramel dark, bubbly liquid. The guard leaned towards Gregor and continued.
“Their methods were designed to be unorthodox,” he said. Gregor nodded. “The one that is talked about the most was the one we started calling the grudge,” he said. Benjamin put his glass down and looked at the guard, his curiosity piqued. Thomas also looked towards him. The guard scratched the back of his neck and proceeded.
“The grudge is when a Judicator is sure that he has the culprit for a murder. At this point, the Judicator will attempt to locate the culprit and knock him out.” Benjamin, Thomas, and Gregor exchanged looks. Gregor waved his hand towards them and pointed at the guard.
“Let him continue,” he said. Thomas and Benjamin glanced at each other. Gregor poured more liquor into the guard’s glass. The guard drank the liquid in one sudden gulp and let out a strong, sudden bellow as the liquid went down.
“Lively spirits,” the guard said. “Anyway, when the culprit comes to, he is usually bound in some sort of restraining device. It may be just that he’s tied to a chair or a bed,” he said.
Gregor nodded. Thomas and Benjamin looked at each other and shivered.
“Just a moment,” Benjamin said. The guard looked at him and grinned.
“I’m about to get to the good part,” the guard said. Benjamin swallowed hard, producing a distinctive gulping sound.
“The Judicator has also gone through the trouble of locating a person deeply hurt by the murder, maybe a parent or a spouse. Probably the children, anyone important — ” Thomas interrupted him, a serious tone in his voice as he produced question.
“You mean they’d have a father or a wife choosing what to do to the murderer?” he asked. The guard looked at him seriously with an unflinching stare and nodded.
Gregor shifted in his chair and observed the reaction on Thomas’ and Benjamin’s faces. The guard remained silent. Finally, Gregor broke the silence by putting his glass down hard on the table.
“It’s exactly as I’ve heard in other cities to have instituted the Judicator program,” Gregor said. Benjamin immediately directed a stare towards him.
“You mean you knew about this? And that this is common?”
Gregor remained motionless and shook his head.
“It’s not really common,” he said. “A few large cities have chosen to handle crime with these drastic measures,” he said.
Thomas joined in. “If you knew, why do you still insist on exploring mercenary activities?” he asked.
Gregor shook his head and looked at the men.
“What else would you have me do? That’s what we do. And anyway, Judicators or not, there is always room for the kind of quality work that we offer,” Gregor grinned after saying those last words. The guard got up from his seat and looked at tall, brutish, grinning Gregor. Gregor nodded at him and the guard walked away from the group.
“So we look for another city to work in,” Benjamin said with a straight face as he could muster. Gregor lowered his head, rummaging through his thoughts.
“Well,” Thomas interrupted. “I guess we just have to focus on assignments around the city and not inside of it.” Benjamin looked at Thomas and grinned.
“Sounds like you have something lined up already,” Benjamin said. Thomas grinned at both men.
“Like I said; I spent some time gathering intelligence with the assistance of the lovely waitress,” he said and then beamed a smile as wide and white as a little boy’s. Gregor raised an eyebrow. Thomas pulled out a parchment with a very attractive red wax seal.
“A caravan,” Thomas said. He loudly scratched his throat, preparing his voice for reading the information in the parchment. “His highly regarded Master of Academia and Starlit Skies, Janus Delphi, is seeking guards for his caravan as he leaves to study,” Thomas paused for a moment. Gregor held his chin with his right hand. Benjamin protested.
“What? To study what?”
Thomas stretched his arm out towards Benjamin, making a ‘stop’ sign at him.
“Just give me a second,” Thomas replied. Gregor ripped the parchment from Thomas’ hands.
“To study,” Gregor continued reading in his deep, booming voice, “the daemonicus phenomenae he expects to happen within the next lunar period.” He paused for a moment before regarding Thomas or Benjamin.
Benjamin was the first to react. “What in the Four is a daemononicus ‘phenomia’?” Benjamin asked, horribly mangling what he had heard.
Gregor looked up, his gaze piercing through the ceiling of the guardhouse.
“Daemons,” Gregor said. “Very few would want to encounter them, yet this man willingly wishes to find some? That’s terribly unusual,” he added. Thomas looked at him.
“So we don’t want this job?” Thomas asked while looking at Gregor for some sort of response. Gregor sighed.
“Does it matter? It’s the only one on offer,” he replied.
Of course, that wasn’t his only motivation for considering this offer. Daemons. The word by itself sent Gregor’s blood in a rush. Couple that with that name. Janus Delphi. Daemons and Janus, he thought to himself. That fool hasn’t given up on that crazy plan of his, he thought to himself.
