Ankyloses

The Imperial Academy of Adjudication?

A fancy name for a prison.

But there was no time to enjoy the views and the warm spring weather while contemplating the various methods of keeping us inside. I only glanced at the numerous patrols of legionnaires from the second legion ‘Scorch’; the tall brick wall surrounding the entire area of the academy; multiple watchtowers placed at equal intervals on the wall, each manned by two archers and two crossbowmen; the row of five huge cages standing on something that seemed to be training grounds… and stopped dead in my tracks after realizing what exactly was chained inside each of those cages.

“... blood beasts, for real?”

And not just any blood beasts.

The massive bodies of those five were covered in overlapping layers of black carapace with a metallic sheen to it. Protruding from their sides and top were short but deadly bone spikes, but their primary weapon seemed to be something else. Each of them had a tail with a hammer-like ending that was capable of turning a human into an unrecognizable pile of meat with a single strike, not that being bitten by their triangle bone-crushing jaw would be any better. However, I read that the stout legs of those particular monsters and their own weight made them unable to run fast and jump. In other words, the ones in front of me clearly belonged to the heavy armored type of blood beasts that took ages to kill even for an entire centuria of legionnaires not equipped with their scutums, like the ones all around this place. I just hoped their shields were stored somewhere close in case one of those monsters somehow broke free from its sturdy metal cage and the soldiers had to cook its insides.

At least those five blood beasts were relatively calm and rather small compared to what I read in the books about this species, the biggest of them was at most three meters long, not counting the tail, and about a meter and twenty high. Still, the empire’s law clearly stated that any attempt at keeping an alive blood beast in a cage was punishable by being thrown inside the said cage… or were there some exceptions to this rule? I couldn’t tell, finding the imperial law codex was a must. Nevertheless, the border between a prison guard and a reliable protector was surprisingly thin, just a matter of perspective and the direction soldiers were facing, and if the empire was using those monsters as a source of common threat aimed to replace our first negative impression of this place with the feeling of being thankful that it was so secure, then it was damn effective. Of course, logic screamed that everything was the empire’s fault since they had brought those monster here and wouldn’t allow us to leave, but if anyone relied purely on reasoning, then the promised prize of becoming an imperial adjudicator waiting at the end of this thorny road must have been irresistible.

Many of the candidates who went to take a look around were stunned by the sight of those cages and the things they contained, but there were also a few more interesting reactions.

“... the empire’s mad… they fed a corpse...”; “Yeah and not only…”; “... what about escaping?”; “How? … and then?”; “We ... I guess?”; I managed to overhear some bits and pieces of a conversation between two older candidates standing nearby.

Near the cages, a well-built guy with a stupid looking face was talking with the legionnaires, gesturing widely. But it didn’t seem as if they were going to listen to his demands.

“I wonder if I could ride one to battle...” Said a small ma’gan girl with curly blond hair who passed me on the road. She also mumbled something about their tails and how cute they were.

But the one that stood out the most was a young boy with long ginger hair who excitedly jumped all around and shouted: “Whoa! Five mini ankyloses!” He made sure that everyone around knew the name of this particular species of blood beasts.

I shook my head, refocusing myself on the thing I had to do, and moved forward in the direction of the imperial adjudicators living quarters.

A short paved path diverged from the main road. It was surrounded on both sides by apple trees that provided shade in summer and led to an elegant portico which stone roof was supported by four white composite pillars - the entrance to a building that was like a bigger and more luxurious version of our dormitories. Two centurions, whose helmets had silver and gold plume attached, were guarding the main entrance to the imperial adjudicators living quarters. Their harsh expression, bulging muscles, and suspicious gaze caused me to reconsider the entire plan.

Maybe I was mistaken, and the little girl never came here? I entirely forgot to check other places in our dormitory where she could be hiding, like my own room. Or maybe she had simply gone outside to breathe some fresh air, and I was unnecessarily worried. Or perhaps I was demonizing the imperial adjudicators who in reality weren’t half as terrible as I thought and nothing bad happened to her… Those and many other excuses went through my head one after the other until I decided that it wouldn’t be wise to proceed any further without some good reason to explain myself. If I had one, then I could disguise the question about the white-haired girl as nothing more than mere curiosity or something. Actually, there was one thing that should serve as an interesting enough topic to talk about with the junior judge.

My position didn’t require me to greet the centurions first, and they had already halfheartedly saluted, so I just walked forward, wanting to ask them if I could go inside.

“Halt!” Stopped me with his pilum one of the soldiers as soon as I placed a single foot inside the portico. The tip of his spear was dangerously close to my neck. Only after confirming that I wore the necklace with the bronze burning scale he slowly took away his weapon and crossed it with the one held by his comrade on the other side. “State your number and the goal of your arrival.” This unexpected reaction and the ‘X’ created with spears in front of the main door nearly caused me to say ‘sorry, mistake’ and turn back.

“C-candidate for imperial adjudicator number f-forty-eight.” My voice shook, and a hot wave of nervousness emanated from every corner of my body. “I request a vi… an a-audience with Junior Judge Umbric in o-order to talk-”

“The goal of your arrival is to arrange an appointment with the mentor of class five Junior Judge Hector Umbric, is that correct?” Interrupted the other centurion and gave me an example of a proper formula.

I made sure to remember the face of this good man. Next, I took a deep breath and confirmed. “Yes, that is correct.”

“Please go inside, one of the servants will take you to the waiting room.”

Good, the hot influx of stress was already being replaced with a soothing wave emanating from within me. A bit of waiting was exactly what I needed to shift my gears and prepare for the meeting with the judge, I wouldn’t allow myself to be caught off-guard again. Though I had to admit that I was starting to wonder where all those sudden unexplainable urges, random ideas, and other various things affecting my mind and body were coming from, was it always like that? Or was there something wrong with me? On the other hand, it felt natural and was helpful, so maybe I was just overthinking the situation.

Once inside, one of the servants bowed to me respectfully and led through the marble corridors to the waiting room. “My lord, please wait here until someone comes to get you. Also please refrain from venturing into the main corridor without a guide, but feel free to use any facilities contained in this section of the building.” The servant, a woman in her fifties, bowed deeply yet again and left.

“And please get ready to spend the rest of today in here.” Mocked a loud voice from within the waiting room. A bored looking guy was lying on a leather sofa, trying to stifle a yawn while scratching his chest. “But man, I’m so glad to have someone to play with.” He shifted to a sitting position, then pointed at a nearby table on which were spread various board games. “Even if you don’t feel like it now, you will change your mind in an hour or two, trust me I’ve been here since morning.”

This brown-haired guy was both slightly older and taller than me, but his lack of tension and obvious annoyance directed at imperial adjudicators made me wonder if he had made the right choice by coming to this place. But that was his own business, and I shouldn’t interfere with it unless he was next in line to jump out the chest in my room.

“Forty-eight, but call me Faust.” I decided to take his invitation.

“Sure, I’m Draco. As for the number, I would love to complain how much those three single lines of mine hurt but seeing this behemoth of a burn on your hand made me realize that I was rather lucky. Ha! Now that I think about it, they must have run out of space when dealing with thirty-eight or used a smaller set of metal numbers.” He paid no attention to our surroundings and talked as if we were standing far from each other, outside, during a windy day.

We shook our right hands and sat down at the table with games.

“As for what I would love, it’s for you to speak more quietly, the voice carries way too well inside those stone walls.” I picked the simplest of the games in front of me since it didn’t require too much attention.

“Dice, huh? Fine, but I will set the rules. We roll one dice and add points from each throw to our respective scores, the first person to reach one thousand wins, you may begin. One more thing, it’s boring to play without some kind of a wager, any ideas?” He actually listened to my advice and lowered his voice.

“Not a thousand but a hundred, otherwise I can already imagine one of us forgetting his score, and what do you say that the loser has to answer any three questions of the winner?”

If he truly had come here in the morning, then he should know if the little girl had been here or not. Well, it didn’t seem as if he would refuse to answer if I simply asked without using this whole game as an excuse, the problem lay on my side. I was still unsure if I really wanted to involve myself with Forty-one as much as this unexplained feeling told me to, it was dangerous and went against the idea of keeping a low profile, which led to the decision of leaving everything in the hands of fate. As the saying said ‘when in doubt, let the gods decide’.

“A bit lukewarm, but alright. Wait, we can talk, right? If you’re just going to throw the dice silently, then there’s no point to it.” Asked Draco while tossing the dice from hand to hand.

“Yes, of course.” I swiftly caught it during his next toss and immediately rolled on the table.

I rolled - 3

“Hmm… but what to talk about? I know! You’re in class five, right? Any nice looking ladies over there?”

Draco rolled - 1

“A kid with issues, a skeleton with fancy hairstyle, and a crybaby ma’gan girl.”

I rolled - 6

“Crybaby ma’gan girl? Skeleton? Give me some details, but you can skip the kid, there’s one strange brat in my class as well. ”

Draco rolled - 4

“If you prefer a kind and funny girl, then the skeleton may turn out nicely if you feed her well, but there may be some competition. As for the ma’gan girl…” I paused for a moment to think of how a normal boy my age would describe De Mora if his libido was working as it should.

I rolled - 2

“What about her?”

Draco rolled - 1

“... she’s smoking hot, tall and curvy in all the right places, especially her breasts, there’s something in them that just makes you want to grab each with one hand and personally check their perkiness. Add to it the lovely combo of her exotic face and silky orange hair, and for sure you won’t be disappointed.”

I rolled - 3

“Nice! Now we’re talking. You see, there are three girls in my class as well, but one’s a kid, one’s like an adorable blonde doll, but still a bit too young for me, and there’s this perfect raven-haired beauty.”

Draco rolled - 2

“Hmm? What’s the problem then? Go for the third one, or are you afraid of competition?”

I rolled - 1

“That’s not it. Trust me, the third one’s really great looking, but her personality's horrible. She’s distant, cold, hostile and has a superiority complex. When I tried talking with her, she called me a ‘horny barbarian’ and said that if I opened my mouth in her presence once more, then she was willing to lose a few points in exchange for castrating me. The beauty in your class isn’t like that, right?”

Draco rolled - 4

“...”

I rolled - 6

“Why aren't you saying anything?”

Draco rolled - 6

“Well… you see, there’s this little problem. Are you willing to risk waking up without a bone or something in exchange for putting your hands on the ma’gan girl from my class?”

I rolled - 1

“What? Why?”

Draco rolled - 5

“Stuff happened. I would prefer not to talk about it.”

I rolled - 3

“Alright, but mind you I will ask about it if I win. By the way, do you think it’s possible to pay with points for the castration of another candidate?”

Draco rolled - 6

“No idea, I have yet to check out this whole item house, maybe there are some 'special' services available.”

I rolled - 3

“She surely made it sound like it, even though it was just after our morning assembly.”

Draco rolled - 4

“Don’t you think she had in mind castrating you with her own hands and losing a few points as a penalty for it?”

I rolled - 6

“Oh.”

Draco rolled - 2

The current score was 34:35, Draco was winning by one point. Since we’ve exhausted the current topic, or because my opponent was analyzing the things I told him, we made the next few rolls in silence.

Draco rolled - 2

I rolled - 3

Draco rolled - 6

We played mechanically, each submerged into his own little world. I was glad that I no longer had to pretend to be interested in talking about girls. This wasn’t my forte nor a field of interest unless we were talking about who you wanted to hug the most - and yet again a strange thought had popped up out of nowhere.

I rolled - 2

Draco rolled - 4

I rolled - 6

Draco stood up for a moment to pour himself a cup full of wine, judging by the smell it was stronger than the stuff in our dormitory.

Draco rolled - 2

I rolled - 1

Draco rolled - 2

I wondered if it was still possible to cancel the whole appointment and leave.

I rolled - 4

Draco rolled - 1

I rolled - 4

“Hey.” The rhythmical sound of the rolling dice was finally interrupted by Draco’s voice.

Draco rolled - 1

“Yeah?”

I rolled - 4

“Now that I think about it, one kid from your class came here earlier. I think it’s the one you’ve mentioned, a cute white-haired girl, right? But she was lucky and didn’t have to wait even an hour before…? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Are you a fucking god?” I snapped while giving him a death glare.

“Huh? Where did that come from?”

This whole game just lost its entire meaning. Though Draco still rolled his turn and tried to pass me the dice, I ignored him, there was this strange ringing in my ears that sounded almost like someone's laughter. But if such was the will of gods then so be it, I was going to take care of that little girl, no matter if she wanted it or not. Though it would be nice if she were still in one piece by the time I found her.

“Hey mate? You alright?” Draco put away his cup and tried to shake my shoulder, but I stood up and moved to sit down on a nearby leather sofa. It wasn’t his fault and taking it out on him, especially in this place, would achieve nothing or worse.

“Yeah sorry, just tired of this game. Don’t mind me.” I replied so he would leave me alone and engrossed myself in all the thoughts that until now were sealed with the excuse that she hadn’t come here.

“Alright, I remember our scores so just tell me when you’re ready to resume.” Said Three with a smile, emptied the cup in one gulp, and moved to lie on a leather sofa opposite to mine, only this time he also took off his boots and filled the entire room with the stench of his sweaty socks.

Until the time one of the servants came to get me half an hour later, I remained silent. My brain was focused entirely on conducting imaginary disputes with the junior judge, trying to predict and prepare for as many different outcomes as possible - involving myself and the little girl as well as the fortunate and the unfortunate scenarios.

“Junior Judge Hector Umbric is awaiting the candidate for imperial adjudicator number forty-eight in his study. Please follow me.” Said the same older woman who had brought me here.

“What about me?” Asked Draco with a hint of hope in his voice.

“My lord, High Judge Kyle Blackdust has just been informed about your request to meet with him. Please be patient.”

The corner of Draco’s mouth twitched as he quietly kept repeating the word ‘just’ over and over.

“My lord, may I suggest to take a bath in the meantime? I will send one of the younger serving girls with a batch of fresh clothes, she may also assist with the bath if requested to.” The servant skillfully tried to take care of two problems at the same time.

This instantly pacified Draco, and he replied with a sleazy grin. “Indeed, it’s a bit hot today, and since this is unfamiliar place assistance may be required.”

I shot him a look full of pity, he had yet to realize that for a fifty-something old woman, a younger girl was a very broad definition. And this woman didn’t look like someone who would send an innocent lamb into the maw of a stupid wolf. This was the last clue required to conclude that Draco was of a rather humble origin. However, despite his severely lacking manners, he seemed alright, and it wouldn’t be a bad idea to talk with him from time to time, having an acquaintance in another class could come in handy.

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and followed after the servant.

It was time to meet with the mentor of class five.