Law and Magic

NaNo Part 2

There was a quiet tapping of heels on the marble floor as Rania walked down the hallway of the Advocacy office. She was dressed in her largely ceremonial uniform that was all about showing off her allegiance. She wore a dark red fitted tunic along with a billowing set of pants that puffed slightly around her long knee high boots. Those boots were made of leather, but they had filigree of silver and other along the outsides and steel as well besides, as the boots were not normal boots, but standard issue military.

As she walked down the hallway she passed several large portraits that hung on the walls of previous High Judge Magister Generals. There was nothing that those dark stares were able to not see. The dark eyes of the General's were not to be discounted and even then, the dark stares made Rania shiver sometimes. There were few who could walk down this hallway without feeling the stares and able to hold their head up high. There was even talk that the Judge Magister's themselves sometimes paused while walking down this hallway. Of course, those were whispers behind hands, which were very far away from the Ministry of itself.

Rania continued walking down the hallway until she reached a door on the left side. The walls of the right side were large windows with thick red drapes that showed off the city from three stories up in the air. The city was a largely sprawling and was built from the same stone that was found everywhere. The city however was bustling with the sound of Law and Order and Justice. The door was simple and was made out of dark wood and the door handle was cut simply from brass. She placed her gloved hand on the handle and turned it.

The door opened without a single sound and all but slid open. Rania entered the next room and then closed the door slowly behind her. The room was large and filled with the sounds of her heels. The vaulted ceilings were bare and had no decoration other than the long banners with the symbol of the Rising Phoenix on a field of red with the gold of the empire around it could be seen hanging from the walls. The walls were adorned with nothing else. On the far wall, there was a large fireplace with a large portrait map of the world hanging with a beautiful rendition of all the countries of the world on it. The important ones that were under Imperial rule were colored slightly in red. On either side of the fireplace, two large floor-to-ceiling windows opened up onto a large terrace that overlooked a perfectly manicured garden. Mostly of shrubs and trees, however a few flowers managed to poke their head through everything. It was not meant to be comforting.

In the fireplace, a large blazing fire was burning. It was not helpful in the entirety of the room as the windows managed to allow in the chill air from the outside and kill what little warmth the fire offered. In front of the fireplace, a large table had been placed and the table had been covered with a large draping cloth that also was imprinted with the symbol of the empire. The red runners that came off of it were a testament to the gaudiness of the whole table itself. The runner was a reminder against the dark woods of table itself with clawed feet and a marbleized top. Behind the table were five chairs and seated in each of those chairs was an impressive set of armor.

The Armor of a Judge was built when they rose to the position that they occupied. It was made to fit the personality of the Judge who was to wear it in the name of the Justice that they were to dispense. As for their armaments, they were a myriad of adornments to small bits of cloth to even small baubles. In the case of the Judges in front of her however, they were austere and even unfriendly looking.

On the far left, Judge Osters sat with his graying hair and dark blue eyes. His mouth was moue of unhappiness. His armor looked almost as austere as him, but had a large set of faux gauntlets made from leather and sharp metallic bits on his hands. Next to him sat the rather young and stern looking Judge Maledi. He had long blond hair that was tied in a rather longish ponytail that almost everyone who saw him knew that it was in a small win against the strict code of the Judge that tried to form him into something else. It was the only rule that he ever disobeyed in public. His eyes were a warm gray that made Rania frown with distaste. They were predatorily eyes. His gauntlets were a fine mist of what looked to be the top of tall towers, in a rook like pattern that went up to his forearms.

Next to him in the center was Judge Drake. Judge Drake was not a day over fifty, even if he only looked to be thirty years of age. Many said that he would have at one time been raised to Judge Magister if it had not been for the debacle at the Lima Plains. The battle had been waged for three days and when Drake had come with his army, and to a slaughter. He was still wearing his breastplate in front of the others. It had been etched in parts of gold and silver. The leather gloves he wore had large metal Vambraces that were detailed with even more tracery. The back of the gauntlets had small spikes.

Judge Gixanna was sitting next to him and her dark and beady eyes were only matched by her too long smile that she liked to give people and her obscenely long nails that she painted a rather dark shade of Imperial red. She was known to be rather malicious as well. Her gauntlets were fingerless. Her breastplate was more of a support for her chest, and the curving red metal and rubies that had been inlayed into it in a starling sunburst pattern was thought to be gaudy. Her cuff plate however was decidedly chipped in several places. It was heard tell that she enjoyed being in fist brawls. Next to Gixanna was the dour and sleeping Judge Balthendis.

Balthendis had been a Judge all his life. At one point, he had been a Judge Magister. Usually they were appointed for life, but he had put the title aside six years ago in order to leave it to a younger and spryer generation. How still retained his title of Judge, but he was usually on Inquisition and Privy Councils. Even the current Judge Magisters still occasionally came to him for advice on occasion. His armor was more traditional. The standart Gauntlets, the standard plates, all trimmed in the customary manner of a true Judge Magister. He did have a helmet, but he always complained that it was too stuffy. Even when he had put his role aside, he still refused to wear the helmet that proved what he had been. Too heavy was what he had said then.

Rania walked towards the table and Gixanna made a rather sharp jab at Balthendis in the ribs. The old man made a start with a jump and blinked bleary eyes just as Rania stood at attention in front of the Inquiry panel.

Drake smiled and then said, "Rania Luminess..." Drake looked down and then shuffled some paper that was in front him. A crease furrowed his brow and then he frowned. "Actually, your rank and file paperwork is not in here." He looked up and then looked at Gixanna. "Do you have her paperwork?"

Gixanna made a face and then shook her head. "Of course I do not have it. Why would I? You are the one who is the head of this Inquiry." She made a sound of disgust.

Drake frowned and then looked to the other Judges. Balthendis raised an eyebrow and then said, "Rania Luminess? She is a third class major in the clerk's office." Sometimes, even Judge Balthendis knew entirely too much. Often times, he liked to show off that fact. He made a sound of contentment and then waited. Judge Osters looked all the way down the table at Balthendis and shook his head.

Drake nodded his head and then turned back to the woman standing at attention in front of them. "At ease then clerk-major."

Rania stood at ease and waited, her heart beating rapidly in her chest still.

Drake shuffled some more papers in his gauntleted hands and then looked up. "Do you know what the purpose of this Inquiry is for clerk-major?"

Rania shook her head at this and then quickly responded with a sharp tone of voice, her clipboard clutched under her left arm."No, your honor."

Judge Maledi nodded his own head and then said, "This is actually an Inquiry into a previous arrest that had gone terribly wrong. Perhaps you have heard of it? It was Judge Auralith's case."

Rania thought on what she had heard of the case that was now all anyone in the clerk's office was talking about. Judge Auralith had gone after a noble named Sur. He had been thought to have been committing treason against the throne of Tarsis. Instead, he had escaped and made the Judge and an entire unit of the Military Judiciate Force look like fools.

Even though the rest of the soldiers were made to look like fools, the person who was affected the worse was Judge Auralith. Because of the mistake that had been made to allow Sur to escape, Judge Auralith had been put on suspension and also on leave. She was currently in the Cloisters to "reflect" on what it was that she had done. This reflection was monitored by two Senior Jurists that had been heard telling that the reflection was punctuated with massive amounts of swearing. Rania would have loved to have been the Judiciate Junior Grade who had been forced to sit in on the Consultation that occurred after the failed field expedition. However, she was only a clerk major. She was not even a clerk captain, which would have allowed her to sit in on the strange retelling which was punctuated with many curses and snarls from the Judge.