Asher the Insane

57 - The House of Lords Part 05

The dwarf Thakin was first, "That much ah can assure ye: when ye look back on it, it was truly a magical occasion. I ain't gonna repeat what the goddess had said to be, but I'll say this much: No living person on the planet knew about what she had told me, that's it."

"Are you really not going to tell them?" Miss Asharisralorentanithilgenkian had asked Mister Forgebreath, and he threatened her with these words.

"Aye, and if you or anyone else here tells them what she said, then I'll cut out yer tongue and make you swallow it while I use yer eyeballs to cool my mead with. Is that clear?"

"Mister Forgebreath, must I remind you that you are in the House of Lords?" He was reminded to behave properly by the Lord Speaker.

"Bugger off, ye dress-wearing, wig-powdering ninny. She talked to me about mah family and that's that. I'd rather die and take everyone in this room with me than say what it was." Mister Forgebreath crossed his arms and armed himself with a sour face and cold eyes.

"Oooh, me next!" Miss Nox lifted her hand and waved it around. "She gave me this lovely necklace as a gift. It's the thing we have been searching for the entire time. It also feels like it's what I have been searching for my entire life. It's nice and shiny. And even after examining it, and letting it be examined by some of my- uh... contacts, I still don't know what it's made of. She told me that she has no use for it anymore and that it's old, for us anyway, and that its shininess' never gonna wear off. Cool, right?

At first, I thought that it's gonna be worthless, things churches like never seem to have a lot of worth, but this is different. It has a nice... aura, yeah! And if she really was a goddess, then it's the mother of all jackpots. I must be the luckiest goblin alive."

The second to last person to talk about his encounter with the alleged goddess was General Glory. "I have to admit that she did tell me some strange things. Just as she did to Thakin, she talked to me about the dead, about the men I had lost in battle, about loved ones who had passed away too soon. And it felt like I fell into a trance when she started telling me that they were thinking of me. There was definitely a warmth in her speech, albeit if she wasn't a goddess then I'm not sure how she knew the names of these people or their fate. That's it"

"We didn't have much of a chat," Ms. Ashar-* the dark-elf woman, stated, "I'm not sure what to say. She said she didn't mind if I or my family didn't believe in her, just that I should keep trying to do good as I had up until this point because, in her own words, there were numerous occasions when I had the option of veering off the path but didn't. Wonderful to hear, isn't it? But, there isn't really much left to say in the end. We encountered a goddess, and thus it is."

"That's all I have to hear about personal experiences. What happened then? What has become of her? How did Miss Burell fare?" They were questioned by the Lord Speaker.

"After that, the goddess bid farewell before she vanished in another bright flash. Miss Burell, on the other hand, went about it very differently than the goddess did. She started to leave and then vanished from view in a split second. I'm honestly unsure of what happened to the girl with wings. She was gone, following the blast. We picked up Aebshem, or what was left of the man, and set out for Aloshir. And that was the whole ordeal."

The Lord Speaker was in deep thought. "There might not be another opportunity for you to speak if you don't do it now."

"No, there is nothing else to add," they all agreed as they exchanged glances.

"That is acceptable if that is how it is to be. Please have the guards remove them. We are to be finished here then-"

"No, we're not done yet," King Arthur Sybil said while raising his hand. "Aebshem himself must yet give us his account of the events."

"Sir, we have already tried to interrogate Aebshem, but he is in no condition to answer anything that is brought against him," the Lord Speaker attempted to tell the King.

But, the King refused to listen to the Lord Speaker's remarks and continued to say: "He is at the core of the unfolding events, thus it would be absurd to exclude him from the court proceedings. Deliver him to me."

"Very well, my lord."

After the Lord Speaker had ordered the guards to bring before Aebshem from his holding cell, the King himself took it upon himself to question the cult leader.

Ten armed men were accompanying Aebshem, who looked uneasy and pressed his hands to his head as if it were hurting.

"Do you understand why you are here today?" The King asked.

"No... I'm not sure," Slowly, Aebshem responded.

"You are unaware of anything that has occurred during the previous few weeks?"

"I don't know..."

He responded as if he were a child being reprimanded by a parent after being caught doing something he was not supposed to.

"Do you truly remember nothing? Truly nothing?"

"NO! How often do I have to tell you people? I don't know what you want from me." Aebshem fell into a tantrum.

"Calm down!" The King stood up and yelled out, "If you do not remember, then tell me what you do."

"I- I know I was hungry, very hungry, and hurt. I fell sick, but no one wanted to help me. There was nobody to look after me. I felt so cold and alone.

I heard from somewhere dark someone called out and there was a man on the ground. He was really hurt, more than myself, with blood on the ground, so much of it. He crawled towards me and asked for help, and I wanted to. I didn't want him to be like me. He reached out a hand, and then I touched it... and that's all I can remember.

I'm sorry if I did something bad, but I don't know what it was.

Then I felt a warmth on my shoulder, then I woke up, surrounded by the people who brought me to a priest. He's been taking care of me since then. I'm sure if you ask him, then he can tell you that I didn't do anything bad on purpose. Please, I'm sorry."

*I apologize once more for my shoddy scribesmanship. The dark elf woman who attended court will only be referred to as the dark elf woman in the revised version of this text.

(Another comment from an unknown scribe):

If they shared common sense with humans, they would select names that are simpler to write.