Thanatyr
Member
Legal Aid
3966 words
Moon as Diamantus
Thana as Amatus Litore
Getting the coded message about Laermont’s detention had sent Professor Craxtus scrambling into action. The detective had been detained on behalf of TorBru Corporation in order to hinder his investigation into their dangerous activities. These activities threatened to unleash an ancient evil on the world and had to be stopped quickly.3966 words
Moon as Diamantus
Thana as Amatus Litore
He had contacted his rebel associate named Diamantus to inform her of the development and wracked his brain to find a way to get legal representation for Laermont. Perhaps it would do no good, the might of TorBru and the Conexus was immense. The professor wasn’t sure that any lawyer would be able to stand against it, but even if it allowed the detective’s arguments to be put forth in his own defense it was worth the effort.
The great challenge was to find someone worthy of the task ahead of them. Without firm connections to Terminus, Craxtus was unsure of how to go about finding such a person. He turned, instead, to Diamantus for assistance. The velen had connections at all levels of the society, so surely she knew of someone with the necessary mettle to manage this challenging case.
Diamantus, for her part, was excited about the possibility of challenging the authorities in a public forum. Although she’d often resorted to more physical actions in the pursuit of redressing the imbalance in Terminus’ society, ultimately she preferred to win through the weight of argument. If she could find this competent lawyer that the professor wanted, perhaps their objections could begin to be stated.
She didn’t have to wait long. Within a day of putting the word out to her informants she came back with a name. It was one Amatus Litore and apparently he had the reputation of being an honest lawyer with a fair bit of competence. He also didn’t seem to charge exorbitant rates and she could appreciate that.
Of course, she could have dispatched someone to talk to this Litore, but she wanted to get a feel for the man himself. She got the address of his offices and proceeded there. It was hard for a velen over six feet tall to go unnoticed, especially a velen woman, but she wore the most drab clothing that she could find and covered herself fairly fully to avoid attracting attention to her powerful physique. She swung the door open and strode in.
“Amatus Litore? I’m looking for one Amatus Litore?”
While the exterior of the building was simple and to the point with brass inlaid letters proclaiming “Amatus Litore, Attorney at Law” being the only decoration, the interior gave another story. Faint aromas of cigars and whiskey wafted freely in the lobby, swirled by the overhead fan. To the left and right of the entrance way the walls were adorned with locked glass cases, with barely visible silver coloured wires weaving inside the glass, neatly displaying a wide assortment of books, paintings, pictures and statues.
Mounted to the wall on either side of a reception desk across from the door shone two half meter glass globes, decorated with frosted etchings of the known landscape of Araevis, the bulbs inside creating a soft halo of light to the wall. Further out from the desk of those lights were two doors, The one on the right was open, revealing a staircase that led to the upper floor and the door on the left was firmly shut. At the desk, the woman with sandy blonde curls looked up curiously. Her dark hazel eyes roamed over the strangers clothing, telling her the newcomer to the office could very well be a vagabond. She mouthed something inaudibly, laughing lightly to the joke only she knew.
“Do you happen to have an appointment by chance? You’ll have to speak with me before Mr. Litore sees you, as does everyone that comes in that door asking for legal aide. I’m Carmen, and Mr. Litore is currently in a meeting, it takes an exceptional emergency to get me to interrupt that man.”
Eyeing the velen she pursed her lips in thought, “You wouldn’t happen to be here about his missing alatichryso shipment, would you? His last bottle met with the unfortunate end of being finished faster than it should have been, for a such a fine Velen whiskey.”
Diamantus smiled her toothy smile at the secretary. If she had to present herself as an alcohol merchant, she would present herself as an alcohol merchant. Whatever it took to get her into Litore’s office was fine with her.
“Yes. I had heard that one of my shipments had gone missing and I wanted to personally apologize to Mr. Litore for the error and hopefully make amends. I can wait if it’s necessary but as your employer is such a good client of mine, I wanted to apply the personal touch to this issue.”
She had spent much of her life playing roles in order to reach her goals, so this was just one more act that she had to put on in order to get to where she wanted to go. She would never let on that she disliked alatichryso and that she never understood why her velen relatives so enjoyed it.
“Then you have lost quite a bit of weight, Silas, among other things,” came an amused voice as the door to the side of reception opened sharply. In the doorway stood an immaculately dressed laicar man with silvering yet well kept short hair. Amatus smiled at his potential new client of the day with a cursory glance, then turned abruptly back into his office.
“So Lionel, I shall see you in a week. And please, for me, do not invest into that sham of a company until then.”
Easily seen just inside the conference room door sat a short, balding laicar that was collecting brightly coloured pamphlets in a hurry. A look up to Amatus and he left them in a neat pile upon the conference table. Huffing, Lionel stood sharply and made for the door.
“You win, Mr. Litore, but mark me this is a great deal and delaying even so much as a week may mean missing out on the deal of a lifetime!”
“Or these potential swindlers will miss out on getting your money, yes?” Amatus patted the laicar’s shoulders and guided him past Carmen’s desk. He skimmed his finger down a schedule sheet on Carmen’s desk, then gave the strange velen woman a calculating look.
“So,” he looked up after a long silent pause, “you obviously are not Silas, and I would know if he had a Carmen of his own. After all, there is only one Carmen...”
“Damn straight there is,” Carmen muttered under her breath, pretending to be busy with some filing, while keeping an ear turned to their conversation.
“Which leads to the all important question, who might you be, my dear?”
Oh well, it was worth a try, Diamantus thought as she looked over the lawyer. There was nothing obviously sleazy about him and he seemed to have a somewhat active practice, although she did wonder about someone who went through cases of alatichryso in a hurry. With a mental shake of her head she dismissed that train of thought, right now, she had bigger things to think about.
“My name’s Melina Trigonus. I’m interested in hiring a lawyer on behalf of a friend of mine. I’m sorry about that line of bullshit I was running with your secretary, but I was concerned I might not get in to see you. I have what I believe is a case you would be interested in taking. Can we talk about it?”
She settled on using an alias for the moment . Amatus Litore might not be quite so keen to work with her if he found out that the Conexus considered her a person of interest, and had for quite some time.. After all, she was only acting as a facilitator for Craxtus and the jailed demvir detective with whom he was friends. What mattered was obtaining the services of a lawyer, and this particular lawyer if possible.
“Of course, and look, this conference room is much closer than my office and just recently vacated. One moment, if you would. After all, this is getting right close to my scheduled lunch break. For you, I can make other arrangements just this once.”
He stepped and briskly gathered up the colourful papers that Lionel had left him, and handed them towards Carmen. Reaching into one pocket he took out some money and also handed it her way.
“Can you pick up my usual from Cafe Mustum, Carmen? To go, of course, I have a feeling this may take some time.”
Once Carmen had locked away the papers in her filing, bundled up then gone out the door his smile widened. Amatus motioned towards the conference room, “Congratulations on not divulging anything until attorney-client privilege is confirmed. You would not believe how many people come barging in confessing to everything under the sun and moons before I’ve agreed to take them on.”
Diamantus surveyed the room as she stepped inside, Amatus closing the door behind them. She sat down slowly, still formulating how she was going to open her pitch to the lawyer. She met his gaze with her cool blue-grey eyes.
“I’m not the ‘confess everything’ type. My friend would likely appreciate me not being too quick to divulge too much. I take it you have quite a bit of experience dealing with corporate law? You’ll need it for this case. It involves some very high level malfeasance by some fairly powerful players in Terminus. Would you be prepared to take on that level of case?”
This rather vague opening gambit was a way for the velen to gauge how much she should (or should not) worry about this man’s fitness in dealing with a case that had potentially massive implications to Terminus.
“You walked in asking for me without knowing my own history? My, my, I must have quite the reputation.” He seemed pleased by this revelation, and continued on as he walked opposite the conference table from his prospective client. “But I digress. To answer your questions, yes, I have had a storied past in corporate law in various litigations ranging from transaction safeguards and legality consultation. Something tells me your ‘friend’s’ situation is not entirely within that realm.”
He spoke with small flourishes of his hand, taking a seat opposite Diamantus, “What may be closer, if not wider reaching specialities, my firm has assisted confidential clients with tax law, bankruptcy, intellectual and arcane property, zoning and securities. Arcane litigations are a personal favourite of mine, there always seems to be someone thinking they developed the most commonly used spells and trying to patent them.”
His rattled list was an obvious test, he never blinked as he watched for the slightest hint at what this woman was really about. Mildly amused by the lack of a tell, Amatus motioned to a simple metal cart stacked with several bottles and glasses which was tucked in a corner.
“Could I get you a drink, by the way? I would offer up some alati, however I had a client that drank just a bit too much the time I had an appointment with them, and a replacement has yet to arrive. Else I have a fine assortment of Prendere wines, spirits, and water.”
Alati? Spare me! She was irritated by the thought of it, but her voice came out smooth and untroubled.
“I’ll take a small glass of Prendere red please. After all, it would be rude of me not to accept.”
She kept assessing the man she held in her level, cool gaze. Her sea grey eyes weren’t hostile but they weren’t warm either.
Making her decision, she launched into her explanation,“as for my friend, you are correct, his situation isn’t normal. It sounds like you’ve had a lot of experience. I might as well tell you now that you’d be taking on TorBru Corporation. I’m sure you’ve heard of them. If you have, you’ll know that this means taking on elements of the Conexus by extension. I won’t force your hand but if you take the case, you’ll certainly be raising your profile. Of course, there are commensurate risks, but we’ll compensate you more than fairly for them.”
Listening intently to his guest, Amatus stood smoothly and made for the drink cart. Upon the name TorBru, he cocked his head back and devoted his full attention to his velen soon-to-be client. Instead of choosing from the selection of drinks on the cart, he patted his suit pockets and moved to the other side of the room. Out of his pocket he withdrew a set of keys, slipped one into a barely visible lock on the far wall, and slid it open to show a large assortment of wine bottles behind the false wall. His fingers danced across the corks and he looked for a particular maker’s mark.
“Ah, a chiadere from this wonderful vineyard I have stock in. This should suffice!” he pulled a dark green glass bottle free of where it stood, closed the wall, and locked it tight. Setting the bottle on the table he spoke and rummaged on the cart.
“I do not suppose your friend angered the entire board of TorBru, did they? I had another client that had a run in with those scoundrels a few months back. Really it was only minor, but apparently even small infraction within one of the factories merited their whole legal team. With that force they strong armed my client away from me and had them sign off on a settlement I would never have condoned to. This does mean two things, thankfully. One, I have a score to settle. Two, I have seen their tactics. Ah, here we are.”
He pushed aside two unopened and clearly less desirable red wines, snatched up two glasses, and made his way back to his seat. With practiced swiftness he uncorked the wine, and allowed it to sit unpoured.
“As for the Conexus, I have got a number of acquaintances within their hierarchy that I can lean on for assistance. On your point of raising my profile, I do enjoy a good challenge.”
There was a lot of good wine in her life these days for which Diamantus was pleased. Her drink with a new acquaintance and potential ally the night before had been the start of this run of good luck.
She would wait with anticipation for the chiadere because she knew that it would be worth it, if it was a good vintage that was, though she suspected the lawyer was unlikely to waste his time on something inferior. However, she had to concentrate on less hedonistic pleasures as well, so she replied to what Amatus had said.
“He angered the ones that count since apparently the current chairman has dismissed anyone who disagrees with him.. As for your acquaintances, I guess we’ll see how far their loyalty to you will go once they find out what the full scope of this issue happens to be.”
She smiled wryly and added to her commentary, “This may raise your profile in a way that you won’t like, but I suppose any publicity is good publicity. It sounds like you’re going to take the case. I think it’s about time to drink some of that chiadere and toast to that fact.”
She concluded, “After we have a glass of that, we should probably start laying out a strategy. I have some suggestions in that regard if you’d be interested in hearing them?”
Without speaking a word Amatus poured a half cup of the vibrant red wine into each glass. He slid one glass across the table without sloshing the contents, then lifted his own to breathe in the brilliant and fruity aromas. After taking a moment to enjoy the first sip, he finally spoke.
“Ah, wonderful year, this one. I would investigate the facts in my usual fashion, but you wouldn’t have rushed here if there’s was not some urgency to your friend’s case. As for angering the chairman, Mercuti always struck me as an overly angry fellow. Why not just add another feather to this proverbial horse's back. What are your suggestions?”
Diamantus spread her hands out on the table, tapping her fingers against the wood.
“You do deserve an explanation in more detail. My friend, Laermont, is an investigator with the Quaestorii. He’s been investigating a case that leads to corruption in the Conexus and connections with TorBru. Part of the case revolves around a device that TorBru wants, an extremely dangerous device. Laermont went to secure that device and had been arrested in trying to do so.”
She took a sip of the chiadere and rolled it around on her tongue, savouring the complex flavours before she continued.
“He’s being charged with stealing TorBru’s intellectual property as well as conduct unbecoming of an officer of the law. On top of it all, they’re accusing him of corruption and accepting bribes, as a little added bonus.”
She added, “The strategy I feel would be useful is to lay out exactly why this device is dangerous to Araevis as a whole and explain why Laermont’s investigation has to be continued. I can provide pretty damning evidence with regards to the device and the threat that it poses. We need to prove that no corporation should have access to this technology because of what it could do and further show that there’s collusion between some elements of the Conexus with TorBru to obstruct any research of their device.”
One more sip of her chiadere slid down her throat as she finished her little monologue.
“I guess you want to know what makes this device so dangerous right?”
“Knowing their dealings, it is of course a device, so I suppose the real question is did they invent this themselves, or find some old tech in a dusty bit of the world no one has explored as of yet. I mean they do have geniuses in the employ, doubly so if one is blowing the whistle on this.”
Amatus reached under the table, slid open a drawer hidden under the lip, and produced a pad of paper along with several pens. Immediately he began jotting down on the paper, turned one leaf, and paused.
“Do tell, why are we all doomed? Financially, physically, or metaphorically?”
Diamantus furrowed her brow.
“Well quite possibly all three but I think the physical doom is probably the worst part. I had a professor explain this all to me so I hope I got it right. I guess they found this device or rather these devices in your dusty bit of the world. Now this next part is going to make me sound like I’m barking mad but bear with me, “ she sighed and cleared her throat before continuing, “it seems that there’s a race of....things...that have been on Araevis since the Cataclysm. They’ve been waiting to make their move and....Vis, I sound like a mad woman...enslave all of the other races.”
She paused to take a somewhat too large gulp of her wine before going on.
“Some idiot explorer apparently discovered these creatures and woke them up. Now it seems they’re trying to reassert control. These devices are part of their plan apparently. TorBru knows this but they think that they can use the technology for themselves and leave the creatures out. They want to create a worldwide communications network but these devices can also be used by the....the aliens to get into people’s heads and take control of them.”
She groaned and continued talking.
“Now you probably think that I should be locked up in a mental ward but I’ve been shown proof of this happening. This is why we need to get my friend out of jail and why we need to stop TorBru from unleashing these things on the world. There. It’s out. Now you can decide if you want to send me packing or go on with this.”
“You would be surprised by the things I have heard in my long career. I try to be skeptical, but even the wildest things have the possibility of being true. Old legends of beasts, relics, and magic. If the Demvir were hidden away, so too could many other creatures. On that note,” Amatus turned his head to the door and barked out, “Carmen, can you get me a book on Serpens and Occultus arcana?”
A moment later he shook his head and remembered, “oh right, she went out for lunch.”
Tearing free a sheet, noted down the books he required, and slid it towards the end of the table closest to the door.
“Those are my best guesses if this device you believe they have has a basis in modern magic, of course. Meaning there is probably a prominent crystal somewhere on it. Likely also some wooden supports, treated to last this long as exposed bone would wear away.”
A small stack of notes built up on his right side, each page numbered neatly. Amatus reached into yet another drawer, bringing out some stationary and an envelope.
“Laermont, was the name of your friend, yes? Good. So, if they were arrested at TorBru’s main headquarters, this should be the arresting precinct,” he addressed the envelope first, “to the good Captain Elio D’onofrio, else they will know where your colleague is.”
Hello Elio,
I do hope yourself and Luisa are getting along famously. We must have dinner again some time, as usual I will bring the wine. Forgive me for not including more pleasantries, I write to you with a matter of some urgency. Some of your officers arrested a person of interest in a corporate matter, I would like you to know now that I have taken on Laermont as a client of mine. For our friendship, please refrain from further questioning until I can arrive later this evening and sort out legal proceedings. Also for their well being, please have them put into solitary confinement. Should your officers not have my client in custody, do advise where they are being held.
Looking forward to seeing how much little Gaetano has grown to be like his father.
Regards, Amatus
“Just let me know if this sounds correct, and I’ll have Carmen get that couriered off when she gets back, just seal the envelope and put it by the door.”
Diamantus nodded thoughtfully as she listened to Amatus reading the letter.
“He was arrested on his way to their main storage facility, so it’s fair to say that your friend’s precinct is the correct one. The letter sounds good so I think that you can have Carmen courier it off. I have some of my own arrangements to make in other areas, so I should probably be going once I finish this excellent wine.”
The strapping velen drained her glass, set it down and stood. She extended her powerful, webbed hand to Amatus.
“I will come by tomorrow to hear how you’ve gotten on. I hope you’ve got good news foe by then. Thank you for your help. I’m glad to have you on our side, Amatus Litore.”
“To adventure, then.” Amatus conceded. Reaching out he grasped Diamantus’ wrist, allowing her hand to do the same to his. With a firm shake he released her arm and smiled warmly.
“Sorry if you are not used to that one, I am never really sure where to have a digit I don’t possess fall in a handshake otherwise. An acquaintance back in Prendere told me that would be a good common ground. Until tomorrow then.”