13 Preposterous

Rue had her mind on her coronet wondering what it would look like after the hands of the artem. They would adorn it with carefully chosen parts from the Werewolves she slew.

Even though she sometimes forgot about it she never once went to an important meeting without it due to a friend of her father who always looked out for her. So for the first time, she sat at an important meeting with only the hair on top of her head. Her maids did a great job of wrapping its long twists to give it some height.

A horn got her eyes to shift from the clouds floating behind the heads of the palm trees to look down towards the podium on ground level. She and the other attendees stood along rows of seats that ascended in height above the ground by distance from the podium. Her father as usual was close to the ground with the higher-ranked members.

The adult Mera behind the podium untied a scroll and began to read from it with a loud clear voice.

"Here lieth the facts surrounding the last attack on our Kingdom dated four days ago. Eighteen Werewolf corpses and ten of the Pyraus-dragona were found and accounted for. The attack was not wide-scaled and only affected the outskirts near the West-wing gate. No damage was reported past the Royal walls.

"However, thirty Meras were killed and the twelve injured have received appropriate care. The venom Jedposa was used by both parties during the attack, being the Werewolves and Pyraus-dragonas. Today we stand together to bear hearing and trial of the suspect identified as Turill of Kachi-Ganai."

The last statement caused a wave of mumbles from the attendees.

"Turill the sluggard? Could it be?" Rue asked herself.

Two tall and beefy guards stepped through the curtains of the building behind the podium holding by one arm each a skinny and old Mera that had boils all over his skin.

His thin pointy nose stuck out from his face like an arrow lodged in a pile of orsol dung. A large lump protruded the lower parts of his abdomen and it giggled with each step from his legs. His pink eyes that contrasted with his pale skin squinted from the sunlight.

"Gross," thought Rue. He was a despicable sight.

The Mera continued to speak shedding light on the events leading up to the attack. It was revealed that the Werewolves with the aid of Pyraus-dragonas had traveled by flight across multiple borders before reaching there and settled in the forests outside the mainlands. There they recuperated before scouting out the accused, Turill of Kachi-Ganai.

He was found paralyzed by Jedposa he claimed to have made himself. The intended use of the Jedposa was for suicide but he became faint and eventually got paralyzed by its strong fumes. He had no choice but to wait painfully for death.

However, upon the discovery that he was alive, the two parties agreed to move him away from the effects of the Jedposa for interrogation to aid in their attack. There he made a bargain to reveal to both parties how to carefully use Jedposa for their advantage in exchange for food that was later stolen from the attacked town and brought back to him as a reward.

The thought that a Mera willingly allowed innocent civilians to die and get injured all for food he did not want to work for, got everyone's blood to boil. The look of distaste and resentment crowded their foreheads with furrows.

Turill was allowed to speak, but the guards were not allowed to let go of his hands. Flies crowded the top of his head and his tail hung like a single line of thread behind his skinny legs.

"Yes I did it," his cracked and raspy voice reached to even the furthest Meras from how silent it got.

"I've been hungry for too long--I wanted to end it all. But I didn't have the guts to do it." He hung his head towards the ground so his voice got lower and shook his head slowly. His single braid that was one long knot moved from his back and over his right shoulder to hang towards the ground.

"Oh, I envy other species that die from a single scrape to the neck. After learning I could make Jedposa I knew it was the key to ending my pain." He let out a raspy cough that got Meras shoulders to shrug. He took several deep breaths as if his body couldn't sense the oxygen in the air around him. Rue thought he would die right then.

He gasped one last time before he spoke again. "They were a godsend. The fumes got too strong. I laid on the ground for hours before they found me. They could have killed me on the spot but they didn't. They got me so much food I thought I was dreaming."

His head lifted to face the attendees on higher grounds revealing his squinted eyes and lips pushed out with rage.

"Never"--he growled-- "have I been shown such kindness by my kind. I reject all of you! All of you!" he yelled.

"Preposterous" -- "How dare he!" -- "That useless mouth breather," erupted in mumbles from the raised seats around the podium. The honk of a horn got silence to return and the fidgeting bodies to get still.

"And how did you, Turill of Kachi-Ganai, acquire the knowledge on how to make the Jedposa?" asked a high-ranked Mera that stood closer to the ground.

Turill's wide-opened eyes shot to both corners before they got small and he said, "I-I found it in a cave--a cave outside the Kingdom near the gates."

"Find that cave and destroy it at once!" demanded the Mera. Claps and hoots erupted from the crowd in agreement. It continued for several minutes before a tall Mera dressed in a full white tunic and a golden crown stood. With the rise of one hand silence and order prevailed. He began to shout with a loud voice.

"For the crimes of illegally making Jedposa which was acquired by both parties in the attack that led to thirty deaths and for the acceptance of stolen goods, thou Turill of Kachi-Ganai are hereby judged with immediate execution."

Turill's eyes got wide and the two guards pulled him along as he would not move his legs. They brought him towards the guillotine.

It was a tall wooden contraption with a sharp blade pointing downwards from the top. In front of it was a fleet of steps that led down into a small deep pool of water.

The guards had no difficulty positioning Turill as he showed no signs of resistance. They tied his arms to his back and placed him to lay frontward on the plank several feet below the blade. Once he was in position, upon the signal from the high-ranked Mera the blade was made to fall vertically to slice his head off.

The head rolled down the steps until it hit the water. Bubbles sprung around it and fishes with sharp teeth began to eat at its flesh.

Like many of the individuals there Rue thought he got what he deserved. "What a sluggard," she said to herself. At least the worst was over they thought.

But that wasn't the case for some of the high-ranked Meras there. Like her father the Chief, they knew the reason the Pyraus-dragonas aided the Werewolves based on intel gathered from the warriors that shot the runagates from the sky.

Like the one that trespassed into their borders, they fled their Domain that had become infested with vampiric cannibalistic mutants. They were a more vicious and lower-ranked subclass of that species which was why they looked slightly different. However, the threat was still the same.

They flew from afar crossing several Domains seeking refuge and a new place to call home. A breach of the Frontera system.

The ones that settled in the Werewolf Domain were given one condition before they were allowed to stay. They had to aid them to wreak revenge on the Meras and the survivors would be welcomed to return to their new home.

A ripple had started, and a wave had already begun to spread.