Bad Cop, Bad Cop
Dragonsfall Weyr
Amber Hills Hold
Vintner Hall
Healer Hall
Hidden Meadows
Dolphin Cove Weyr
Dolphin Hall
Emerald Falls Hold
Harper Hall
Printer Hall
Green Valley Hold
Leeward Lagoon Hold
Barrier Lake Weyr
Sunstone Seahold
Citrus Bay Hold
Writers: Aaron, Curious
Date Posted: 25th April 2024
Characters: Oriel
Description: Captain Oriel interrogates the prisoner, Enval, who was apprehended red handed after the gruesome murder of the Emerald Falls watchrider.
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 10, day 19 of Turn 11
Oriel was a hulking man. Fingers like sausages, hands like dinner plates. But he had the face of a teenager, at best. He was all at once imposing and harmless. He sat down across from the restrained man, still bloody from his grim deed.
"What's your name?"
Enval stared Oriel down with the cold, unyielding eyes of someone who knew his fate and had long since accepted it. "Does it matter?" he flatly asked. "I'm a dead man anyway."
"Oh, you are?" asked Oriel as though it were not incredibly obvious. "Why are you dead?"
"You must think I'm exceptionally stupid," Enval said.
He knew that Oriel knew what he had done. But if there was any chance that there was still a way for him to wriggle his way out, a loophole, if he needed a _confession_ - well, he wasn't getting one.
"Well, you couldn't be terribly clever, could you? After all, you are already dead," Oriel laughed. "So, yeah. I think you're pretty flaming thick. Here's the thing-- the only thing you can change now is _how_ you die. If it were up to me, there'd be no question about it. You'd be eaten alive from the feet up by Thread."
"But our new Acting Lord apparently has a bit of a soft side to him, and he's willing to take your head off, nice, sharp, quick, and easy. Depending on how forthcoming you are with me, that is."
Enval didn't even blink. "If you think I'm thick, you're naive. If I committed the crime I am held here for, I would have done so with the knowledge that I will be staked out for thread. Why would I endanger my cause for the sake of avoiding that fate?"
Oriel grinned.
"I _know_ you're thick. Because if you really had any idea what you're about to endure, you wouldn't have counted it worth committing the crime you're held here for in the first place."
He stood.
"Seems like getting eaten alive is what your little death cult is after, anyway. I'm not gonna share your fate, but I'll happily oblige you. Fair skies, Threadfood."
Enval smiled. "I'll die knowing that the Weyrs will die with me. And as you realize that your worst threat is meaningless, you'll grow to live your days in fear knowing the same. Good day, guardsman."
Oriel burst into laughter as he left so hearty that he had to wipe away a tear.
Enval didn't bother to say another word, content to sit in silence with his cold smile. He may die screaming, but there was nothing they could do to bring that rider back. He may not live to see it, but the downfall of the dragonmen was upon them.
His life was more than worth it.
Last updated on the April 26th 2024