The Effaced: Chapter Thirty-Eight (Patreon)

I managed to ferry out three more groups before a full force of constables arrived to start searching the scene. Their response time was much faster for a part of the city so high in the sky, with so many wealthy people, and they seemed to be doing a far more thorough cordon and search than they had been when the White Rooms had been attacked. There were even temporary wards being erected over parts of the city, which made it especially hard to escape. 

I slipped through the sewers, then into the undercity, but even there, the ward was serving as a barrier, and I was forced to construct a tunnel out of metal scraps and a half-buried residential building, infuse it with my aura-hiding arch-star, and then slip out of the ward that way before I could even start heading back to the lab. 

When I eventually arrived, it was a bit of a wait before Hadiya, Kelly, and Rhys showed up. Hadiya and Kelly actually showed up first, and they’d picked out a large navy suit that had met with Rhys’ demanding list of qualifications. It must have been designed for a giant-kin, because it was large, even on me, and I definitely thought that I was going to need the tailor. I’d thought that might just be Rhys’ rich person coming through, but even I could tell that I looked faintly ridiculous, like a gorilla wearing a suit sized for a rhinoceros. 

When Rhys did arrive, he was accompanied by my attorney, Aiden Smith. 

Aiden was looking a touch frazzled and confused by everything going on, and gave Hadiya and Kelly some strange looks, but he sat down at the table with us as Rhys spread out the evidence before him on the table. 

“This comes from a… friend of ours,” Rhys said. 

“Can you say who? Or should I submit this as evidence from an anonymous source?” 

Rhys and I shared a look, but I was the one to speak first. 

“Anonymous,” I finally said. “I don’t know if the informant wants his name attached to the information or not. He had to leave before we could get that clear.” 

“Alright. The jury might not like that, but there’s not much we can do. By the way – are you certain you want a jury of your peers, rather than trying to cut a deal with the judge and prosecutor?” 

“Completely, and you’ll see why,” Rhys said. “A rushed trial before peers is absolutely the best case situation right now.” 

Aiden raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t argue, instead just flipping over the folder open to examine the evidence. I leaned forwards to look over his shoulder, since this was actually my first time getting a solid look at the folder full of evidence myself. 

The first page of the report was an intercepted telegram that could be traced from The Malapert to the White Rooms, giving instructions for a money drop of a hundred and twenty thick-panes via a private skyship, in order to hire the mercenary known as Horse for an assassination. The telegram stated that the agent who delivered the money would give all relevant details on the wards in order to allow Horse to take the shot, and even provide a magically enhanced bullet and sniper rifle. 

After that, there was another intercepted telegram to constable precinct Captain Hunt, instructing her that I had killed Senator Ermonte, and that her men were to search the following buildings and rooms. She would personally search room forty-five-seventeen of the Long building, as that seemed to be the most likely spot an abjurer would be able to set up a discreet ritual using information on the Senator’s wardscheme in order to kill him.

It literally said ‘she should search the room herself, in order to ensure no evidence escaped, as that would be a tragedy’. 

That was so unsubtle that it set my blood to boiling. 

In the telegram to Captain Hunt, there was a list of the reasons why it had to have been me. It detailed my known abilities in the arena, my unusual demonic familiar power, my experimental rune bond, and the fact that I had been raised in the Undercity and thus could never be a proper member of society. The Arenamaster had returned to Elderglass recently, and I had almost certainly heard of it and rushed to make a spectacle of myself and aid her. 

It was completely dispassionate. Reading tone was always hard, but the interception didn’t seem malicious, just… flat. Factual. 

It outlined every reason that I was the perfect scapegoat to kill Senator Ermonte. 

There was no mention of Egress’ involvement, but I supposed there wouldn’t be. After all, they wanted to keep their personal assassin and trump card well in hand. I was sure that they had plenty of blackmail on her, though. 

After the intercepted telegrams there was a series of receipts from a reputable enchanter who was known for selling surplus military gear, as well as withdrawals from a bank account that belonged to a corporation. The times and amounts matched up perfectly. 

The enchanter, officially speaking, didn’t sell any weapons, but that had been taken care of as well. I wasn’t sure how Nexus had managed it, but there were photographs in black and white of the shop’s secret rooms, notations on the access to the safes in the room, photographs of their contents, and even a photograph of the enchanter herself working on a rifle. 

On its own, that evidence wouldn’t have done much, but there was a very neatly laid out paper trail showing that the corporation was owned by a secondary corporation, who was in turn owned and operated by a member of the Overriding Judiciary Council. There was even the trails linking corporate donations to multiple other small companies owned by the secondary corporation that had funneled money to the member of the Overriding Judiciary Council.

I looked at the councilman and realized that I’d never heard of him. His name was Abraham Tahmid, and he’d been on the council for nearly forty years. It was one of the government positions that had no term limit, and as the Nexus member had told us, it was entirely appointed internally. He’d been selected by a Prime Minister, Grand General, and Consulate Archmage from before I’d even been born. 

But that wasn’t all. The papers went on to detail several communications going back to before the Arenamaster was even captured. Detailed communications with the labs that had experimented on the Arenamaster’s children, and the funding that she was receiving from Abraham. 

There was communication between Abraham and another captain of the constables, this time the ones who ran the mage prison. Sixteen years ago, he’d had her released from prison discreetly, despite the fact her time wasn’t over, and the prison’s reports didn’t show she had responded well in any of the psychological evaluations. 

There was evidence of money being delivered to her, and tickets to Saxum purchased for the Arenamaster and seventeen children. That was doubtless how she’d been raising them and indoctrinating them. 

I stared at it, and I didn’t even know how to feel. 

Abraham Tahmid. 

A man I had never met, who’d come into power before I was born, a man who was now in his eighties, had effectively ruined my life, and the lives of others. He’d cooperated with the worst person I knew, given her money, and arranged for the assassination of Rhys’ dad… 

And it had nothing to do with me. 

It felt hollow. Empty. 

I didn’t think I was the center of the world. I wasn’t an archmage, running for the position of Consulate Archmage. I wasn’t even the best duelist in the world. I was good, but nowhere near conceited enough to believe I was the best. 

But somehow, I had still expected… something. 

I’d expected for him to have some secret vendetta against me. For me

No. 

I was just the perfect person to turn into a scapegoat. Abraham had held the pieces, and he’d woven them together to tie up one of his loose ends, remove a proposition that he didn’t want, and catapult the Arenamaster back into public consciousness, all in one smooth, clean act. 

And the only reason he had messed up is because Nexus didn’t want Ermonte killed. They might not want Ermonte’s proposed bill to have passed, but they hadn’t wanted him killed. 

Abraham wasn’t being turned on by his fellow Nexus members because he’d helped fund the Arenamaster’s experimentations. He wasn’t being turned in because he was corrupt and taking donations from corporations. He wasn’t being turned in for his use of the constables to enforce whatever laws he wanted, rather than what was right. 

No, the only reason that he was being stood up to, the only reason we were able to stop him, was the fact that he’d moved against the interests of his wealthy and powerful friends, so they’d dumped out every possible bit of dirt they’d scraped up over the decades about him, while expunging everything about themselves, all in order to save their own skins. 

The pages went on, detailing how he had applied pressure to lesser ring judges, including the district attorney that Aiden had appealed to in order to get me out on bail, on fraudulent transactions, illegal insider trading, and a few dozen other crimes. All neatly laid out in tight typeface and photographs.

Aiden’s face started off neutral and calm, as if he didn’t expect the dossier to be much, but as he continued to read, he got paler and paler as the implications sunk in. When he finished, he looked up at me, then at Rhys, and let out a puff of air. 

“Well… this will certainly get you off.” 

Kelly giggled, and I shot him a glare. This was serious. 

“I can’t guarantee anything will happen to Judge Abraham Tahmid, but it’s possible that the court will pursue their own actions.” 

“What?!” Kelly said, shooting to his feet and pointing at the documents. “But there’s so much evidence that he did so much stuff. He’s really not going to face time for that? Or at the very last, lose his power?” 

“It’s possible he will be stripped of his position, but this court case is for Axel, not for Judge Abraham,” Aiden said calmly. “If you want to countersue Abraham for damages, you could likely get quite a bit of money for it. I’m a defense attorney, but I can recommend a good prosecutor if you wanted to pursue this.” 

“But he’s evil!” Kelly half-shouted. “He’s like a badly written play’s villain’s level of evil! And what about those captains who he had in his pocket?” 

“Be that as it may, our justice system doesn’t exist to sling accusations up and down,” Aiden responded, again in a measured tone. “He might have been entirely in the wrong, but unless someone is willing to sue or prosecute him, nothing will happen. Even if you don’t sue, you could provide this dossier to some senators who are on opposite parties to him. I believe the Workmanship Party didn’t like him. They’d likely be willing to pursue action.”

I suspected there would be other captains who had links to Abraham, and they’d each begin burying their own dirty laundry when this came to light. I honestly agreed with Kelly, but I understood what Aiden was saying. There wasn’t much that I could do. I couldn’t take on a city of millions alone. Even if I did try to reshape the government, which I couldn’t, it would always be the people in the undercity who suffered first, and suffered worst, for any changes I enacted. 

“We’ll do that,” Rhys said, cutting Kelly off before Kelly could continue. 

“Excellent,” Aiden said. “It will probably be about two weeks before a trail can be set, even a rushed trial.” 

I considered that timeline anxiously. The Arenamaster had been attacking about twice every day, like clockwork. We were probably safe for the rest of today, but who knew what tomorrow was going to bring. 

Then again, I had dealt the fake version of me a pretty severe wound. She would likely be out of commission for several days, and after attacking such a massive, high-profile place, full of the richest people in the city and the surrounding area, even constables who were in the pocket of Abraham would be taking notice and trying to prevent the further loss of life. The Bulwark party, for all its xenophobia, might actually be useful for once, as they sought to defend Elderglass from the Saxum private military. 

“It’s time to visit a tailor,” Rhys said, slapping the table. “You need a suit. Axel, you’re welcome to stay in my spare room until the trial. I don’t think your apartment is safe.”

“What about me?” Kelly asked. 

“You can stay on the couch,” Rhys said reluctantly. Hadiya let out a breath. 

“Thank the archangels. I am ready to sleep in my own bed, rather than on the table in here.” 

That broke some of the tension in the room, and even Aiden laughed. 

“You all must have gone through a lot to get this much evidence this quickly,” he said.

“You have no idea.”