Chapter 108: Friends of the Court

Chapter 108: Friends of the Court

Mithras was not a happy person. This trial was opening old wounds and bringing up perennial arguments.

Mithras didn't often think of himself as a god. He worshipped the concept of justice, and thought of himself as a high priest and the courtroom his temple. And right now, someone was taking a dump in the middle of his temple.

Leroy has just concluded his arguments. They revolved heavily around "the proper way we did things at the beginning" and "why it's dangerous to let the mortals get too much control." Horse twaddle as far as Mithras was concerned. Time moved on and the law had to keep up with it. Players were pouring into the world making this new age exciting and different. Some of the old powers didn't like different. There was a lot of behind-the-scenes pressure to keep it that way. Despite the inspired arguments by Elgebert Coppertwist, he could feel this case slowly moving in Leroy's favor. There were forces lining up for immediate appeals. Mithras was like a warrior fighting a battle without a sword. He needed a compelling reason to rule in favor of the newer laws, and against tradition and "the old laws that were obviously better back in the old days."

In the next step the five judges would come to a consensus on how the gods would rule on this case. He was surprised when a little mortal stood up in the back of the room, and strode confidently to the front of the court. He paused, casually lighting a cigar as the five gods glared at him.

Anbay leaned forward, "Sit down mortal, you risk being smited."Ñøv€l-B1n was the first platform to present this chapter.

Billy inhaled and blew a smoke ring that floated up into the air, "Nope. Don't think I will. I have a few things that need saying. Consider me a friend of the court."

"We did not ask you to speak. Sit down."

Anbay was technically a god of justice, but his area of influence was paperwork and the correct filing of reports. His smites were more like a bad papercut. He had been hoping to see Marduk strike the mortal down. Marduk also oversaw storms, and had the best smites of the gods assembled, but he seemed amused by the mortal and was just watching him.

"And I didn't ask you to convene court in my town and put one of my workers on trial. Yet here you are."

Billy began to pace, addressing the audience as much as the judges.

"You didn't talk to me, and you didn't talk to ACME. Therefore, I see no reason why I have to ask permission to talk in my own town."

Mithras stood, "I see reasons to allow William Horvacs of the ACME Corporation to speak. You have the floor, William, I suggest you make good use of your time."

"He did. And I'll have a few to make soon as well. I hold only two things dear: Death and Taxes. And push comes to shove, I loved taxes first."

A small imp was approaching the trio. Artemis glared at him with eyes that had put fear into the minds of dragons and armies alike, "This might be a poor time to approach us, minion."

Impy ignored her, ducking under her hand and seating himself between Hades and Hermes. "It's always a bad time to interrupt, isn't it? And yet it's also my job. Lord Hades is so difficult to get ahold of, and I have a question about taxation and I was hoping he'd do me the favor of helping me understand the laws better."

Hades looked down at the little imp with the thick glasses and a stack of files under his arms. "Let me get this straight. You are Impkray, minion and accountant to the Fallen Angel Lemechial, and you wish me to examine some of his book keeping to make sure he's paying his taxes correctly? And you'd owe me a favor?"

The imp nodded, "Yep, a big favor. Oh, and on an unrelated subject, do you still have those quaint ‘whistleblower’ rules in place? Asking for a friend."

Hades eyes glowed and he smiled, showing pointed teeth. A legal pad and a very sharp pencil appeared in his hands, "I'm never too busy to look at a few numbers. Let's see how I can help you out."

Hermes cast a spell that would keep away prying eyes and ears, "Artemis dear? I think we can leave these two alone for a bit."

The warding stones at the gates to Gadobhra had seen better days. One was chipped and scored by lightning, and the other actually had chunks missing from its structure. But they still functioned. Ben was comparing the runes he could see to some drawings in one of his uncle's journals.

If he was understanding this correctly, the smaller stones around the perimeter slowly converted any type of mana into Arcane Lightning and fed it to the larger monoliths. They also kept the powerful spell of Aversion radiating out from the perimeter. Only creatures with the strongest of wills, (or those under a powerful effect that suppressed negative emotions), could approach the city without turning around and marching away.

Some of the crazy things that Lyle had talked about were starting to make sense. The poor druid was still plagued by dreams that were coming to him every time he slept.

From reading his new books through the night, Ben had a good idea of how the stones worked. Talking with Lyle and looking at the runes had confirmed a few things. But he decided he needed to try a few experiments before talking with Billy. Ozzy had explained that they needed to secure Billy's position. One way was claiming the old ruins for ACME.

From his ring Ben produced several large coils of thick, multi-stranded wire, copper tubes, and several sizes of what might be lanterns if you didn't look too closely. Time to get to work.