Messenger

by Diesel Jester

  “Which we all know that, per Theocracy law, any ‘suggestion’ given by a senior male of the household can be taken as an order by any female, regardless of age,” Gabriel interjected. “Had Baron Spencer the Third suggested it to his own mother, she would’ve had no choice but to do so.”

  Jake nodded once. “Yes, I am in agreement with that assessment.” He scribbled down some notes. “Miss Spence, had Eddie ever once told you of his plans with Charity Carmichael?”

  “A… a bit,” Lucy admitted. “He told me that it was his intention to marry her and take over controlling the finances of the Carmichaels as it would be a big boost to both of our houses. The Carmichael’s aircraft factories alone would make us the richest house in the country.”

  Jake smiled and gestured to her. “Please, continue,” he said.

  ***

  Standing on the witness dais in the center of the courtroom, Lucy concluded her testimony against her own brother. Despite her nerves and misgivings, she spoke loud and clear to the judge before her and answered the same questions as she had a couple of days earlier.

  “I had no knowledge that my brother was having me conduct activities under the disguise of Charity Carmichael, nor did I have any knowledge that he had our house slave, Esmond Wain, make transactions on my behalf under her name,” she said, unable to hide her newfound disgust for Eddie. She glanced over to him, as he sat in the space for the accused, barely able to disguise her contempt. He remained stony-faced and silent as he glared right back at her.

  In the space of a couple of days, he had not only been discovered for all the crimes that he had dragged her into, but he had also pulled a knife and a beamer on the same Consortium official who she’d talked with, kidnapped Charity Carmichael out of petty revenge, and then proceeded to beat the poor girl almost to death. Today, Lucy was ashamed to be called a Spence. This was not how father had raised them.

  “Had I known what he was up to, I would have put an end to it at once as I am uncomfortable being an instrument that contributed to the downfall of a prominent house within our country,” Lucy concluded.

  The witness’ dais was flanked by Jaegers Deliverer and Messenger who were serving as Prosecutor and Advocate, respectively, and then her brother and his advocate to her left. Lucy averted her eyes from her brother, as she could hardly look at Eddie’s seething glare.

  She was the last witness to be called and her testimony was the last in a pile of already damning evidence that the Consortium had brought against him. Lucy had sat through the testimonies of Lucas Wolverton, Charity Carmichael, Ayla Greenstar, another Jaeger, a few constables, the count and countess of Marietta themselves, Esmond, and a host of accountants from the bank.

  “Thank you, Miss Spence,” Jake said with a nod before turning to look up at the judge who was seated behind his bench, elevated above everyone else. “The Consortium has no further questions for this witness.”

  “Advocate?” the judge asked, looking toward Gabriel.

  “The advocate for the witness has no further questions, and we move that the Consortium make good on the agreement reached earlier in the week that led to the arrest warrant of the accused,” Gabriel said, standing up from behind his desk.

  “The Consortium has no objection with this motion, your Honor,” Jake said.

  “Objection, your Honor!” Michael Ladd — Eddie’s advo-cate — called out from the opposite side of the room. “Advocate for the defense has yet to cross-examine!”

  “Irrelevant, your Honor. Miss Lucy Spence is not the one on trial here,” Gabriel countered, raising his voice. “Whatever deal was made with the Consortium does not affect her testimony or her ability to be questioned during these proceedings.”

  “Overruled,” the judge said. “Per the agreement made in exchange for testimony, the charges against Baroness Lucy Spence are hereby dismissed. Defense advocate, you may proceed with your cross-examination.”

  Lucy let out a sigh of relief. It was almost over and now she was officially free! She steeled herself against her own family’s ruthless advocate who had a spotless win record. Then again, he’d contended against a pair of Jaegers before, and the amount of concrete evidence they produced was staggering.

  “Miss Spence,” Mr. Ladd said, admonishing her with a hard glare as the Jaegers took their seats at the prosecution table. “You are a citizen of the Theocracy, are you not?” he asked in a stern tone.

  “Yes,” Lucy replied cautiously. Her gaze flickered to Gabriel and he, too, was warily watching Ladd. Their eyes met and he gave her a slight nod, motioning to continue answering his questions. During trial preparation, she learned that, at any time, Gabriel could step in and end the line of questioning if Ladd tried to get Lucy in trouble. She took a deep breath, confident that this would all be over very soon.

  Ladd folded his hands in front of Lucy and looked down his nose at her. “As such, does not the Theocracy state that you are not to bear witness against your own family unless you have permission from a male in your family?”

  Gabriel and Jake were both on their feet at once, shouting out their objections. “This is Consortium matter!” Gabriel bellowed out first. “Theocracy law does not apply here!”

  “The advocate for the defense cannot cite nationality in his line of questioning, as it bears no relevance for this case!” Jake roared just as loud.

  Ladd held up a hand in surrender. “I withdraw the question, your Honor,” he said softly. He pressed his wire-frame glasses up the bridge of his nose before continuing. He folded his hands again and gave Lucy a patronizing smile. “Miss Spence, you have a history of very liberal spending with your own family funds, do you not?” He glanced at the Jaegers, who were both ready to pounce by shouting more objections. “It goes for the credibility of the witness!” he snapped and raised a forestalling hand before they could say anything.

  Lucy figured that if looks could kill, then Ladd would’ve been dead on the spot by the way that both Jaegers were glaring at him. She swallowed hard. “No more than any other member of Dixie aristocracy,” she said, trying to keep the dignified tone in her voice from wavering.

  Cocking his head thoughtfully, Ladd looked at her and she felt herself whither under his hard gaze. “So, would it be safe to say that your spending habits would’ve caused your older brother to do something rash, like tap into other funding sources to sustain your spending habits?”

  “Objection!” Jake called out, jumping to his feet. “Leading the witness!”

  “If I may have permission to treat the witness as hostile?” Ladd asked the judge innocently.

  “Why?” Gabriel chimed in. “She’s from your employer’s family!”

  “Because if you haven’t noticed, brother and sister are not exactly seeing eye to eye, here,” Ladd said as he motioned over to his client. “She has officially broken with the family by bearing witness against an older family member,” he said somberly. “Her father has refused to provide her with any support in this matter, which is the reason why you are sitting there, Messenger,” he added with his own glare toward the Jaeger.

  Lucy blinked and felt a bit faint. Broken with the family? Father cut me off? Lucy thought with alarm. No! I have done no such thing! How can he say that?

  “Objection overruled,” the judge admitted. “Permission granted to treat as a hostile witness,” he said while Gabriel muttered a few choice phrases under his breath as to Ladd’s parentage.

  What does that mean? Lucy wondered as she looked uncertainly from the judge, to Ladd, then over to Gabriel. She mouthed the words “help me” to him as she had no idea what was coming next.

  “Permission to approach?” Gabriel called out. At the judge’s nod, he cleared the distance between them. He motioned for her to lean over and he whispered into her ear. “He’s allowed to challenge your testimony and ask very leading questions without regard to prior evidence submitted. I have no idea what he’s up to with his line of questioning, so be careful with your answers.”
/>   “O-Okay.” Lucy nodded. She swallowed hard again to steady her nerves.

  “Relax and take a couple of deep breaths. You’re doing fine. Jake and I will try and keep him off your back as much as we can.” Gabriel gave her a reassuring smile and patted her hand in a friendly manner. She found herself blushing and smiling back at him.

  “If you’re done flirting with the witness?” Ladd asked with disdain. “She has a husband arranged.”

  “Funny how he’s not here and you’re treating her like a common criminal, then,” Gabriel shot back with equal hostility. “Get on with your line of questioning.” He patted his sidearm. “Just be careful of where you go or else you’ll be finding out if you do have a higher power or not.”

  “Counsel will refrain from shooting opposing counsel,” the judge said with an eyeroll and a resigned sigh.

  “Can I just wing him, then?” Gabriel asked innocently, grinning while he sat back down.

  CHAPTER 3

  The trial ended and Lucy forced herself to watch as the judge read out the verdict. She looked around and found it odd that Mother and Father were not here to lend their support. For that matter, even the Carmichaels were not in attendance but she’d heard that Charity was still recovering from the beating she’d received from Eddie. Lucy couldn’t help but shudder at the memory of seeing Charity Carmichael, days earlier, as she walked to the witness dais with as much honor and dignity that she could muster despite her injuries. After her testimony, Lucy made it a point to head out to the lobby and apologize profusely for how she’d treated her back at the Regis.

  “I am so sorry, had I only known,” Lucy gushed.

  Charity gave her a sad smile. “It’s okay. Really. You now have other things to worry about. Try not to let your brother bring you down.”

  Now, it was nearly a week after Eddie had been arrested. From what she’d heard, justice moved a lost faster these days than it did prior to the Cataclysm. Maybe that was why her parents were not here. With all the evidence and testimony presented, Eddie’s fate was almost certain. In fact, the audience was sparsely populated with a few Consortium clerks who were taking notes along with one stony-faced prison overseer who seemed to regard Lucy with great curiosity.

  When Eddie was called up to the dais for judgement and sentencing, someone slid into the chair next to her in the courtroom audience. “You shouldn’t be here for this.”

  It was Gabriel and he put a hand on her hand, which had a white-knuckled grip of the arm of the chair. “You don’t need to see what’s coming.”

  Lucy gulped as she looked into his hazel eyes. They were laced with genuine concern. “It’s that certain?”

  “We’ve convicted with far less before,” he said as he shook his head. “Trust me — you don’t want to see this.”

  Lucy couldn’t help but look up at the front of the court where Eddie’s proud posture slumped as the judge read out the guilty verdict. “You are hereby sentenced to death by firing squad, effective immediately.”

  “How immediate?” she croaked out as Eddie scanned the audience for help and support and found only her. Lucy wasn’t sure, but there seemed to be silent pleading in his eyes followed by a flash of anger. Was that also hurt and betrayal that she saw in his gaze? She just wasn’t sure. She realized she didn’t know who her brother was anymore.

  The back doors of the courtroom opened, and four Jaegers in full battle armor marched in. Their brass armor clanked and they held beamer rifles at the ready as they walked past Lucy and Gabriel on their way to the front, tinted faceplates hiding all facial features.

  “Very. Immediate,” Gabriel said, now pulling on her arm. He got her standing and led her out the back. Lucy felt like she was in a daze as Gabriel pulled her along. Just as the doors closed, she heard the crack of four beamer rifles firing in perfect precision.

  “Oh, God,” she breathed as she fainted into Gabriel’s arms.

  ***

  Lucy was let out of the steam carriage’s back compartment when Gabriel opened the door for her. After she’d come to, he helped her outside to a public carriage that was waiting to take her home after it was confirmed that her brother was indeed dead. She squeezed his hand as she stepped out.

  “Thank you, Mr. McKibben, for everything.”

  “Yeah,” he said in a hollow voice and then looked toward the front door of her estate. “Would you like me to come in? I can break the news to your parents if you’d like?”

  She shook her head. “No, thank you. They should probably hear it from me.”

  “Look,” Gabriel said, and fished a card from his uniform pocket. “If you need anything, call me. You can get a hold of me though any Consortium office should you lose that. Just ask for me by my callsign,” he said as he gave the card to her.

  “Jaeger Messenger.” Lucy looked at the card and gave him a wan smile. “Why Messenger?”

  “A wicked messenger falls into adversity while a faithful one brings healing,” he quoted with a proud upward flourish of his hand as if delivering a soliloquy. “Proverbs, in the One Book.”

  Lucy regarded him in a new light. “I didn’t figure you for one who followed scripture.”

  “Well, I sure as hell didn’t get my callsign from sending letters in the mail system,” Gabriel said with a shrug. “Theocracy habits die hard, I guess.”

  “Will I get to see you again?”

  He answered her with a smile, took her hand in his, and brushed his lips to her knuckles.

  “Have as good of an evening that you can, Lady Spence,” he replied before hopping back into the carriage and thumping on the side to get the driver moving.

  Lucy watched the carriage chug off before absently bringing her hand up to her face. She was sure that it was her imagination, but it really felt as though she could feel the warmth of his touch lingering on her skin. Letting out a wistful sigh along with a pang of regret for what could have been, Lucy turned and entered her mansion.

  The first thing that she noticed was that the serving staff was conspicuously missing. In their place was a legion of clockworks, all moving with purpose from room to room as they packed things and transferred belongings around.

  “What on earth?” she muttered as she moved from the entry hall farther into the building. She stopped a clockwork. “Where are Mother and Father?”

  It pointed her in the direction of the drawing room before moving off to complete its assigned task. With mounting trepidation, Lucy walked into the drawing room to find her mother in tears while she packed mementos away into an oversized carpet bag, and her father, stern as ever, staring out the window with hands clasped behind his back.

  “Mother?” Lucy asked cautiously. “Father? What… what’s going on?”

  “Our marriage has been dissolved,” Reverend Edward Spence the Second said gruffly without turning around.

  Lucy’s hand went to her chest as she gasped and reached for the nearest chair before her legs gave out. Her father was a big barrel of a man whose looks many often compared to the old American president, Theodore Roosevelt.

  “Dissolved?” Lucy squeaked. “How can that be?”

  It was her mother, Jennifer, who answered in a hollow voice. “After learning what went on at the trial from one of his associates, your grandfather decreed that, in the wake of this scandal, I return home to the family estate with my children while the Spences are under further investigation by both the Consortium and now the Theocracy.”

  Her eyes came up to meet her eldest daughter’s, and Lucy was taken aback to see a flash of anger and hatred in them. They blame me, Lucy thought, as an overwhelming glumness came over her.

  “We have to leave home?” Lucy asked as she pictured her whole world start to shatter. “But… but this is where I grew up and… and I’m to be formally declared at the gala this September.”

  “No,” Jennifer shook her head. “I said me and my children. Eddie is gone, thanks to you, and I have no first-borne daughter anymore thanks to my father sayi
ng as such.”

  Lucy was bombarded with a wave of grief at her mother’s rejection.

  “I am taking Eve and Amanda with me. You will be staying here….” Her mother’s eyes flicked over toward Edward. “That assumes your father sees fit to keep you.”

  “You don’t have worry about your betrothed, either,” Edward replied in a subdued tone. “He pulled out of the arrangement. While you’ve been preoccupied with that Jaeger and the trial for the past week, rumors have come out that you’ve been, let us say, less than pure in your ways.”

  “What?” Lucy could scarcely believe what she was hearing. Ladd had been telling the truth in that she was being cut off. “But, that is preposterous! I’ve been staying at the hotel the Consortium provided while the trial was in progress!”

  “Yes… I believe ‘protective custody’ was the term that they gave us. At any rate, your fiancé, or should I say former fiancé, says that the prospect of marrying you now is far too risky and the bride price is much too high now.” He turned and glared at her in the way that she was all too familiar with. It was the look she received whenever she was in serious trouble.

  Lucy felt herself start to hyperventilate under her parents’ hard gazes and coldness. Disowned by her maternal family and disavowed by the man she’d been promised to, all at once! On the very day her brother died, no less! Her head started to spin as she tried to wrap her mind around what was happening. One question came to mind.

  “Why?” she asked as tears welled up. “Why am I being punished? Why are you all acting like this is my fault?

  Jennifer started to speak, but Edward silenced her with a sharp upraised hand. “Because it was your testimony that helped doom your brother. Without it, he might still be living!” he snapped, his face turning red with anger.

  “Would you have rather I went to prison… or worse?” Lucy was aghast. “I called you for help, Father, and you are acting like I was in league with Eddie’s scheme to destroy the Carmichaels!”