Adventure of Maurice Headsman 3

Maurice escorts the bound Baron into the Duke’s newly convened judgment hall, his executioner’s sword governing the distance between them. Celia follows, while Elianor waits beside the high bench.

The Duke, a lean human man with weathered pale skin and a thin scar through one eyebrow, an elderly man with a stern narrow face and silver hair, sits beneath the estate seal in a dark crimson mantle. The broad-shouldered herald stands at his side, calling the hall to silence.

The herald marks the cleared floor. Maurice steps into it, keeping his sword between himself and the Baron as the court withdraws beyond the boundary. The judgment becomes steel.

At the first signal, Baron Edric Vey throws back his head and calls upon power siphoned before the reliquary’s destruction. Surviving marks flare across the hall; his body swells into monstrous height and strength as his bound hands strain against their restraints.

Maurice advances as the Baron’s stolen marks flare across his enlarged frame. With no shield or ward to blunt the force, Maurice accepts the danger his vow of poverty leaves him, keeping only his executioner’s sword between them.

The Baron shifts his bound hands and turns his massive shoulder, expecting a direct cut. Maurice reads the political calculation behind the movement: the Baron protects the marks that would expose his crime, not his flesh.

Maurice’s trained eye uncovers the hidden hands within the surge. The surviving marks pull the Baron’s strength toward one guarded side, revealing the opening beneath his ribs.

He steps inside the swelling reach and drives the executioner’s sword through the exposed gap. The blade bites past the empowered flesh and drops the Baron hard onto the cleared floor.

The monstrous swelling falters around the embedded blade. The Baron remains alive but beaten, his bound hands trapped beneath him as the surviving marks dim without the corrupted power feeding them.

The hall does not erupt. The Duke studies the fallen Baron, then the dim marks across his enlarged frame, weighing the plea against the law that permitted the combat.

The ruling falls short of the judgment sought. The herald steps inside the cleared boundary and signals armed attendants to take the Baron into guarded confinement.

Maurice lowers his sword only when the attendants secure the Baron’s restraints. Celia watches the dim marks, while the hall shifts from spectacle to an official reckoning still to come.

Maurice stands beside the cleared boundary as the armed attendants lift Baron Edric Vey and begin leading him toward confinement. His executioner’s sword stays angled across the prisoner’s path, governing every step.

He has no shield or ward to turn aside a sudden blow, his vow of poverty leaving the sword and his body as his only defenses. He holds position anyway, allowing the attendants to pass without exposing the court.

Maurice gives the Baron no opening and no answer. His blade keeps the restrained man separated from the attendants, while his stance preserves a clear retreat for anyone endangered by the Baron’s lingering marks.

The attendants carry the Baron through the judgment hall and into guarded confinement. Maurice remains with them until the door shuts, his sword still the measured boundary, his safeguard complete.

Celia and Elianor leave the hall for the sickroom. Maurice follows far enough to observe, but his vow of poverty offers neither physician’s tools nor written measures for the examination.

Celia checks the Duchess’s breathing and the dim living marks, while Elianor studies Tavin’s pulse and guarded breaths. Maurice reads the healing signs with trained attention, separating lingering weakness from renewed corruption.

The assessment falls short of clearing both witnesses for testimony, but it opens a usable path: the Duchess may give evidence now, while Tavin’s condition requires guarded waiting rather than another attempt to wake him.

Maurice takes the Duchess from the sickroom, choosing the clearest route and setting a pace her weakened breathing can sustain. Safe Escorting turns each corner into shelter rather than delay.

His heavy protective clothing absorbs the knocks of narrow walls and swinging doors, shielding her from their edges. The Vow of Poverty offers no cane, brace, or hired bearer, so his strength must carry the burden.

On the last stair, her weight settles hard against Maurice’s supporting arm. Pain bites through his bruised shoulder, but his legendary athletic control keeps her upright and preserves her failing breath.

He brings her through the judgment hall doors before her strength gives way. The broad-shouldered herald raises a hand, and the court clears a path toward the high bench.

Maurice takes his place beside the Duchess, between her weakened body and the open court. Safe Escorting sets a steady shelter around her, while his heavy protective clothing turns brushing robes and passing shoulders aside.

His bruised shoulder stays still rather than bearing her weight again. The Vow of Poverty leaves him no shield, brace, or hired guard, but Safeguard the Freed makes his stance a clear promise that no hand will reach her unchallenged.

The Duchess pauses for breath. Maurice remains close without crowding her, his body and clothing forming a firm barrier as the court leans forward to hear every word.

Her testimony settles into the hall with the weight of witnessed fact. Maurice stands beside her until the Duke’s scribes have recorded it, his protection complete and her account secured for judgment.