Justicar Jhee and the Cursed Abbey

by Trevol Swift

  “Happy coincidence.”

  “Still, murder seems extreme if not wasteful.”

  “The client is a piece of work. Someone you don’t want to mist off. It’s why I took such extreme measures to get the pieces back. Yaou’s curiosity did him in and Saheli as well. I had the foresight to booby trap the triptych when I saw his too keen interest in it. I turned out to be right. After he stole the book, he tried to get Elkanah to show him how to use it by blackmailing her over their indiscretion. She turned out to be smart enough not to handle it. I was sure the archivist had it until Saheli, and now the prioress turned up sick. That idiot Pyrmo botched Saheli’s murder, and she returned before I retrieved the triptych. Somewhere in the ensuing chaos over the abbess’s death, the triptych got lost. Thanks to your deft skewering, Elkanah bared her soul in the infirmary where I could hear.”

  “Here I thought you considered yourself the only competent person on this island.”

  “I am surrounded by incompetent crabs who consistently seek to pull you back into the pot with them. I would think the abbess’s death would be something of a cautionary tale for you, Jhee. No one likes a reformer. If I may give you some advice, stay out of depths you’re not suited for. Stick to the rivers and the lakes you’re used to. Don’t be a waterfall chaser or wave maker.”

  The lady didn’t need to tell Jhee that. Her whole dashed tenure as Justicar had been an object lesson. By the time of her reassignment, she had almost welcomed leaving for the capital.

  “Many powerful interests are often invested in the way circumstances are. Tangle with it at your peril. I hope this teaches you a valuable lesson. The next woman may not choose to give him back. Considering your obsession with policies or the law and minutiae, you might have been better suited for a position as a librarian or scribe. My advice to you, given your lack of ambition and cunning, is to keep your head down and enjoy the life of a bureaucrat once you reach the capital. Perhaps find a wealthier benefactor or matron to protect you or else they’ll eat you alive. On occasion, I crave the extra bit of challenge and danger from choosing men of higher prominence. Learn who counts and who doesn’t. A lesson I forgot once and wound up here. And not a lesson I wanted to learn again. If some people counted and some didn’t, do you think I would have gone unnoticed for so long?”

  The lady frowned and held up her hand. “Enough. Tomorrow, would you be my guest for a game of three stack or tiles? I’d be interested in matching wits with you on a smaller scale.”

  27 Gatekeepers

  The Courtyard of the Zodiac

  The hen chimes rang from the spires to mark the morning hours.

  “Shall we get some breakfast, Jhee? It is so nice to have someone to talk to.”

  “I intend to see you brought before a tribunal for murder, rape, and abduction.”

  “My accomplices are all dead. The boys in my salon were more than willing. As for the others... The boys never saw me until I wanted them to, and by then they were under my total sway. What proof remains points to poor Pyrmo and Saheli. Your words against mine, sage and former imperial vizier. In a capital case with such flimsy evidence, I rather suspect the worst they can do to me is force me to retire to some remote monastery for quiet reflection. Wait, they already did that. Perhaps they’ll move me to somewhere better than this. In that case, it will be worth it. Though, I will miss the unique construction.”

  “It won’t just be my word.”

  “Because you’re ‘secretly’ recording our conversation? It would have disappointed me if you had not. I counted on it. Have you forgotten the communications array is down? Your recordings will not be transmitted until it is in operation again. Assuming some unfortunate sabotage does not befall it. It will though be harder to explain your genetic matter on Pyrmo’s flask, the black orchid tea, and the poisonous toadstools she ingested. The same tea and toadstools on your writ and for good measure your prints on the case in the storehouse. You must have thought her greeting of you overly familiar. Although, she thought I meant to extort or frame you for someone’s else’s murder.”

  Jhee remembered the esca touch. They entered the courtyard by now bathed in the new, bright light of day. The rains had stopped finally. It seemed a mockery after the dark and horrible events of the evening.

  “What a pleasant day. I just feel like singing. Which brings us to the matter of Bright Harmony’s return. Bright Harmony. Outside naming. A tool of economic control. Your spouses given no opportunity to grow their own names and thus their independence from you. Yet you would lecture me on the proper treatment of young men.”

  Jhee and Lady Bathsheba ventured further into the Courtyard of the Zodiac. “Enough. How do I secure Bright Harmony’s return?”

  “Oh, fine. You will find that most evidence points to the unfortunate Pyrmo. The only solid proof you have of my involvement is my confession. The antenna doesn’t come up until I say so. In the meantime, one of my admirers implants a simple worm, and the data is erased. As for the copy on your conch, you’re going to remove that and destroy any auto-copies. In exchange, I’ll tell you Bright Harmony’s location.”

  Tampering with Jhee’s evidence register. The vizier couldn’t have hit Jhee harder if she had punched her. She needed to catch her breath.

  “That’s it. That’s the look I want. Let’s finish up, shall we, so we don’t waste this marvelous day. This interference has cost me greatly. It will be some time before I can rebuild my salon. I am nothing if not patient. Slowly bit by bit, I will rebuild. If as stated you consider the deaths wasteful, I can assure you they ‘re not. I will be much more selective, and I promise to more closely monitor my excesses and those of my salon members. I can assure you nothing else like that will happen again. Thanks to our postmortem tea, I now know how the mistakes I made helped you catch me. I can assure you I will take many more precautions next time. Fate is a cruel mistress, karma’s a bitch, and coincidence is monster. Waves always break at the worst possible point with the wrong amount of force and at the worst time. Such are the vagaries of the sea and the wave witch. Now, if you would sign me into your case files.”

  Jhee held up the conch. Her stomach felt cold and sour.

  “Must I remind you I hold your husband’s fate in my hands. You’ve already had a taste of what it felt like to lose him. Would you like it to be permanent?”

  With her heart heavy, she entered her code.

  Lady Bathsheba took the conch from Jhee’s hand. “Goodness, Justicar, do you ever delete anything from this? No wonder I couldn’t transfer my map with the malicious implant. I had to settle for a short-range tracker on the portable. I didn’t always know your whereabouts but well enough to arrange several strategic run-ins. First, the recording of my confession.”

  She made the delete gesture. Jhee winced.

  “That’s pretty drenching. That’s must go. Oh, yes, that too.”

  A rapid series of deletes followed. Jhee’s head swam. She closed her eyes only to see the image of the blood-stained, charred altar where Mr. Pol met his end.

  The lady frowned and then looked angry. “Now, that’s just speculation and unkind as well. Gone.”

  Another delete.

  “That can stay. It points to Pyrmo so no problem there. Now, this. Definitely can’t leave this one either.”

  Another deletion gesture. Each one felt a tear at the fabric of Jhee’s very being. Preserve life first. Let Kanto escape this unharmed. Let it not be in vain.

  “Gone. Gone. Gone. Like words in the waves and kisses on the wind. You are quite the little detective, Justicar. If I had not had so many fail-safes and contingencies, you would have had me dead to rights on a couple things. This has been an amusing couple of days. The most fun I’ve had in years because of you. No one else could have done it.

  “I do hope you won’t judge me too harshly. One must keep oneself amused somehow. It gets so terribly lonely out here with nothing but the near tee-totaling monks and nuns. I just needed something to ease the b
oredom only a fraction. I thought I had it with the salon. Then with the forbidden arcana. None of it did anything. Finally, when the deaths started happening, I had not felt that alive in so long. You kept me on my toes, and for that, I thank you. Plus, the lovely diversion. It was the most beautiful thing ever.

  “It can get so boring here. My amusement with these eager young boys makes it tolerable. Valueless males foolishly committed to celibacy. A natural crime, as you said. I share your contempt for the practice. Don’t you have any hobbies or bad habits, Justicar?”

  “Your dislike of this lifestyle makes me think your retirement here was not entirely voluntary.”

  “I once taught music and etiquette to the future emperors and empresses. Until I chose the wrong participants for one of my special engagements; someone’s favorite son or husband. Now I reside on a rock with rabble and caught between two nitwits quarreling over whether rocks or weeds hold the true path to enlightenment. All because a few priaps didn’t know their limits. A circumstance unlikely to occur here with so many young men coming through here. So wide-eyed and desperate. There are always more Pols and Akesheems.”

  Jhee scratched her muzzle. She had begun to shake. “They are all disposable and interchangeable to you, aren’t they?”

  “They are nowadays. I simply put out my net into the waters, and they all practically jumped into it. They would not have made it at the capital. None of you belong there. But what else are they going to do with you after destroying your homes? You should not blame me, but the foolish feckless officials who put up the wall.”

  “I have seen war if the shield prevents it so be it.”

  “At what cost? A gimmicky boondoggle of a public works folly they claim will protect us yet has done nothing but hurt our own people. It has destroyed so many homes. The smaller isles subsumed under wind and waves among them yours. From the birth defects and pod strandings to the Fresh Lung Sickness, suffered by your very own Mirrei. All so those cowards could gut our military and cede the better part of our world to the barbarian hordes.”

  “They built the shield for our protection.”

  “They built it for theirs. To hide behind like the clergy. To prevent the reunification. To prevent the resurrection of the lost god. The sword and the bridge. Two halves coming together.”

  Jhee twitched from her own helplessness. Itzil’s roar reverberated from the pen where Ms. Anshula must have left her. The shield. The trenched shield. As always, it came back to the trenched shield. “I’d build the drenched shield myself if it prevents more atrocities like the berserkers.”

  “I met one of the last surviving doctors of Medical Protectorate involved in that. Now, she was scary. I like your wit and your fire, Jhee. Despite your crudeness, in my marrying days, I could have molded you into a fine second. If you are going to survive at court, you’ll need to learn who matters and who doesn’t.”

  Lady Bathsheba handed Jhee back her conch. “He’s at the bottom of the Storm light tower. Have your representative meet mine at the tower steps so he can be safely escorted back into your care. Try not to lose him again.”

  Jhee contacted Bax and Shep and gave them the location.

  “Such a lovely day, I recommend the maye eggs and lamprey, one of the few flesh dishes available here.”

  Lady Bathsheba gestured towards the gardens. Jhee obeyed. The vizier’s overconfidence was earned. Jhee had only hearsay left.

  “Lady Bathsheba!”

  The Gate

  “Lady Bathsheba! We are here to make you answer for your crimes.”

  Ms. Hethyr appeared with several villagers and refugees. Each armed with clubs and farming implements. Ms. Hethyr, however, carried two swords with a series of holes along the blades, wind swords. They threw the beaten smuggler and the infirmarian on the ground in between their mob and the two officials. If they were here, where was her husband?

  “Tell the Justicar what you told us,” Ms. Hethyr said.

  “Leigh came to the infirmary complaining of coruscate syndrome, the code for proper identification and transit papers to the capital. He offered me the remaining proceeds from his medicinal sideline and gave me a silk handkerchief and expensive cologne as down payment. He didn’t have to tell me where he got the items from. I knew. The same figure had presented me similar gifts when I first arrived. I was so young and naive. Seems like a lifetime ago.”

  “Who was the figure?”

  “We called her the Witch because of the mask she wore. She also had another name, though, The Mist Abbess. She instructed us in the finer things in life. How to speak. How to dress. Few of us who graduated her course remained at the abbey. It was too small after having seen what the world had to offer for those of us who had never seen such things. I didn’t learn her true identity until she showed up in the infirmary.”

  The crowd advanced.

  “Ms. Hethyr, wait!”

  “Step aside, Justicar. Our quarrel is with the so-called Mist Abbess. I knew if I followed you, you would lead me to my brother’s murderer.”

  “The garment. Leigh.”

  “Yes.”

  The vizier prepped a cypher. Nothing happened. “Protect me, Justicar. I lied about your husband’s location. If they get to me, he remains lost, too.”

  Jhee maneuvered Lady Bathsheba behind her. Ms. Hethyr leaped forward. Jhee grabbed a tall torch stand and blocked Ms. Hethyr’s strikes. The clash of torch stand against sword produced a clank and the wind swords distinctive whistle. Jhee pivoted, keeping herself between Ms. Hethyr and Lady Bathsheba.

  “Stop this!”

  Lady Bathsheba fled. The crowd hesitated.

  “What are you waiting for? Go after her. Don’t harm the justicar.”

  Jhee took a deep breath and projected her voice toward the crowd. “Halt!”

  The mob paused. They murmured and looked at each other in confusion. Ms. Hethyr narrowed her eyes at Jhee.

  “Ms. Hethyr, I can’t let you do this.”

  Ms. Hethyr flinched and shook her head. “You can. I saved you twice. Once when I brought you to Mr. Zane’s door and twice when Cheiropthys and the Wave Witch attempted to carry you off.”

  “You have my thanks and that of my whole house. Still, I cannot allow you to kill her. She has my husband captive.”

  “He is already lost as were our family members. Now let us do what needs be done.”

  Jhee leaned into the voice module. “Return to your elders. She belongs to the law.”

  The mob began to break up and wander off. Ms. Hethyr covered her ears and glared at Jhee. “Sorcery!”

  Lady Bathsheba fled through the arch to the Zodiac Courtyard. “This way, Justicar.”

  “No, Vizier, wait!”

  Jhee had no choice but to follow. One of Ms. Hethyr’s blades whistled by Jhee’s ear. She spun around with the candlestick and brought it up in time to block the second blade. She gripped the candlestick tighter or else she might go for her sleeve knives. Preserve life first.

  Ms. Hethyr swung her wind swords. Jhee edged back from her to keep beyond the reach of her blades. The piercing sound of the whistle increased the faster Ms. Hethyr swung her swords. Her movements generated winds along with the high-pitched whistle. Jhee cleared her mind to grasp them.

  One block and defensive counter after another, she met Ms. Hethyr’s blades and attempts to blast her with winds. She edged herself and Lady Bathsheba back through a covered walkway.

  “Remarkable,” Ms. Hethyr said. “You are a demon and worthy adversary. But all this for her.”

  “She belongs to the law. It and only it will see her punished.”

  “I overheard you. She deleted all your evidence. She will never see justice, and neither will my brother or our families. Never.”

  They reached a closed metal gate, the only way out of the area they occupied.

  “Nowhere left to go,” Ms. Hethyr said.

  Lady Bathsheba tried to cypher a few more times.

  “Tharos root. Didn’t yo
u think your tea tasted a bit odd? I took a page out of your book, Mist Abbess.”

  Jhee seized control of the winds. She blasted Ms. Hethyr back.

  Lady Bathsheba opened the grate to the side yard and slipped through. Jhee caught up to her just in time for the lady to barricade the gate. She shook the grate. “Listen to me, Vizier. Open this gate now.”

  Lady Bathsheba tossed a geld coin at her. “Thank you, Jhee. I will not forget this. If you survive Hethyr and the mob, put me on your favor list.”

  The crowd of angry relatives found them again, dragging the infirmarian with them. Jhee rushed through them to shield him. She grabbed him by the lapels. “Did she tell the truth? Is my husband at the bottom of the Storm light tower?”

  The infirmarian started to cry. Useless. Jhee fought her way back to the gate. She rattled it again. “Vizier, get out of there!”

  Ms. Hethyr groaned and advanced on them again. “I will avenge my brother. Even if I have to cut through you to do it.”

  Jhee dropped the torch stand. She took a deep breath and grasped her sleeve knives. For Kanto and her promise. Jhee’s conch rang with Bax’s tone. Then the sigil on her arm pulsed out a message.

  Jhee dropped her hands to her sides. “No need. Put up your swords.”

  Ms. Hethyr stared at her, confused. “Pick up your weapon. I’ll not slay you unarmed. In liking of your skill, you will not meet the Makers empty-handed.”

  “No. Put up your swords,” Jhee commanded, changing the target of her inspiration to Ms. Hethyr.

  Ms. Hethyr dropped her swords. The vizier grabbed the torch stand. She jammed the gate with it.

  “Thank you,” Lady Bathsheba said.

  “Don’t thank me. You are about to know what it is to be at the whims of animal appetites other than your own.”

  An ominous growl came from behind Lady Bathsheba. The smug expression froze on the vizier’s face. Jhee withdrew her inspiration from Ms. Hethyr.

  “Perhaps you can drug Itzil before she decides she doesn’t like your stench any more than the rest of us.”