A Good End in Badside Part VI

From: bernuetz <bernuetz.oliver_at_...>
Date: Mon, 05 Aug 2002 01:55:16 -0000


I straightened up, spotted Jorjar talking to one of his constables and headed over to stand beside him.  We looked at each other and then over to where the bright boys would be coming from.  Unbelievably enough we soon saw a small procession, a litter borne by four burly slaves, a bloke in gilt plate and a squad of twelve templars!  Good grief, who was this dead guy?  There were just enough templars to offer plenty of sport for the locals should they decide to go berserk.  The bloke in gilt turned out to be Haloric Goldbrow the local Light Captain of the temple. So who was in the litter?   The procession stopped outside the building and the slaves lowered the litter to the ground.  Haloric nodded at Jorjar, glanced at me without any recognition and ordered his boys into formation.  The curtains were opened and two men exited.   One of them was an older guy with sumptous robes and no expression on his face.   The other looked supercilious so he must have been some kind of clerk.  I recognized neither of them.  I snuck a look at Jorjar to see if he knew either of them.  Jorjar's jaw just about dropped to his chin and I realized that the old geezer must be Karial the Pure, High Priest of Yemalio in Pavis.

Weird, I thought this guy never involved himself with outside activities.  Again, WHO is this dead guy.  Haloric quickly introduced Jorjar to him, they must have met before though.  Jorjar never bothered introducing his constable, or more insultingly, me.  The supercilious guy wasn't introduced either. After these pleasantries were exchanged Karial asked, "Where is the body?"  Jorjar gestured inside and Haloric ducked inside first to check it out and then popped back out to usher Karial in who was followed reluctantly by the clerk who still hadn't been introduced. To his credit Haloric didn't seem at all fazed by the sight he'd seen inside. He stood looking stern while we waited for Karial to finish up inside. After a long while Karial came back out. He looked somewhat the worse for wear but seemed to be holding up amazingly well. He went to get back into his litter when we all noticed that the clerk hadn't come back out. Karial looked at Haloric who shook his head and ducked back inside. He quickly came back out and motioned for two of the slaves to come in. All three ducked back in and soon came back out with the pale, unsteady slaves carrying the clerk. He was quite unconscious and had been sick all over himself. The slaves stood there uncertain what to do with him. Haloric asked Jorjar to get his men something to use as a stretcher. The remaining constable darted off.

While we waited Karial entered his litter and closed the curtains and the slaves gently placed the clerk on the ground. The rest of us just stood there admiring the views while we waited. The constable soon came back with a couple of dirty locals carrying a wooden carrier used to transport meat. Haloric grimaced at the state of this but gestured for the slaves to place the clerk in it. His outfit couldn't have gotten any messier anyways. They did so and two of the templars were instructed to carry this. The procession made to leave and I decided I'd had enough of being ignored.

I stepped up and cleared my throat in front of Haloric. He seemed to notice me for the first time. "Treibonus the Informer I believe." This surprised me, I wouldn't have guessed that he would have known who I was. I nodded and said, "I've been authorized to investigate this crime by Count Sor-Eel. I have a few questions I'd like to ask."  "Oh, do you have any proof of this?" Nuts. "Well, I'm getting a writ this afternoon..." Haloric smiled and said, "Then maybe you can come and see me this afternoon. I'll gladly answer your questions then." He turned to leave and Jorjar finally realized that they hadn't named the stiff. He blurted out, "Who is he?" Haloric turned to him and smiled. "I'll be happy to tell Sor-Eel's agent once he's proven that's what he is to me." "But I'm the Chief Constable..." started Jorjar. Haloric ignored him, turned and the whole procession left after one of the templars blew a blast on his trumpet. Jorjar and I watched them go, Jorjar swearing under his breath the whole time. He scowled some more, he'll definitely have some more wrinkles after this business is over and said sarcastically, "You'll let me know who he is after you've learned won't you?" "Oh certainly," I replied with a smile on my face, "I intend to co-operate fully with the authorities...unlike the rest of you bastards."

To be continued.

Oliver

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