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Chapter Six

Truth

Sounds of birds chirping roused Sleet the next morning. The headache was worse than the one caused by the hangover.

After brushing the pile of dead leaves off himself, Sleet walked back to thee farms. He wanted to lose himself in the simple, honest work of raising food from the dirt.

That thought did not last long. The night before insisted on being remembered. The camp was leaving tonight. That included the raptors at the farms. The growing season would be over by the time they migrated. Would he get to farm again after winter?

Not if they moved too deep into the forest.

Sleet sighed as the fields came into view. He stopped at what else he saw. "Damn it!"

There was a cluster of armed raptors milling around the cluster of buildings.

The bodies. Sleet ran his claws through his feathers. His options were to run, and never return, or to come up with a story that did not involve him aiding a murdering spy, and betraying his tribe.

He stood still. Hoping a third option would come to mind. Or for the wind to change direction, giving him a little clue as to what was happening over there.

Neither one happened.

The prospects of surviving the winter on his own were slim. The prospects of feigning ignorance of the corpses in the hovel were not much better.

Sleet kicked a rock, forgetting he gave away his boots.

Amidst a cloud of profanity, Sleet limped down the old deer trail and hoped his luck was due for some change.

***

Eesan watched the upside down raptor with disinterest. He was not a law keeper, but he was told to accompany them because of the nature of the crimes.

Seven dead deltas. It was more than a simple dispute. This was serious. Boring, but serious.

"For the gods sake! I wasn't even here!" Shrieked the swinging raptor. He was suspended from the low rafters by his feet. Three robed law keepers circled him while he rocked like a pendulum.

"Confess," hissed one of the law keepers.

The suspect insisted on focusing his pleas toward Eesan. "i swear to you, I was still drunk last night! I just got here before you did."

"Tell that to them, Dest. I'm not here to pass judgement."

Eesan got word of the situation at the farms early this morning. A pack of betas went out there to make sure the deltas put down any slaves they were keeping, and to ready themselves for relocation.

Eesan could not care less what the lesser castes got up too, but there was the outside chance this was political, rather than personal.

One of the law keepers made a show of removing a bundle of porcupine quills from one of his deep pockets.

Eesan watched the hanging raptor's eye dilate.

***

Sleet made sure he was noticed as he approached the warriors. Nothing to hide. Just a normal morning.

The piercing scream suddenly cutting through the air made him immediately regret his course of action.

Too late to run, Sleet slowed his already slow pace, and for the second time in as many days, contemplated what the afterlife might be like.

The warriors fanned out as he walked into their midst. A larger raptor, clearly an alpha, walked out of one of the hovels.

"Sleet?" asked the alpha.

"Yes, sir," Sleet looked down. Not a good sign, for his name to be known.

The alpha whistled. A robed law keeper exited the same hovel.

Sleet scratched his feathers and tried to look unconcerned. His eyes wandered to the alpha's sword. He thought it odd that it should be so rusted.

He squinted. It was not rust, but blood.

"What do you know of the bodies?" asked the law keeper.

"What bodies?"

"Lying will only make it worse."

Fuck. "I honestly don't know what you're talking about." This was a dangerous game to play. Law keepers were more than willing to torture whatever answer they sought out of a suspect. In fact that was their go-to method of investigation. And although they lacked the mechanized implements of pain Sleet had heard the furred ones possess, they were far more practiced in their craft.

The law keeper studied Sleet. "No... you do know." He turned back to the hovel. "Bring him."

Sleet could barely choke out a sputter of protest before two warriors had vice grips on his arms. Another drew his sword, ensuring cooperation.

Sleet let them drag him towards the building. He was paralyzed with fear. He decided to change tactics, or rather, that decision was made for him. Tell the truth.

His eyes adjusted slowly to the interior. He counted two additional law keepers and one quivering form hung upside down.

He hoped it was that damn buck. At least he might get the pleasure of watching the deer confess to the murders after a few hours with the law keepers.

The warriors dropped him on the packed dirt floor. His eyes adjusted further. Dest was the one hanging.

Sleet groaned at what he saw. Naked, Dest's semierect cock was pierced through with several porcupine needles, pinning it outside his cloacal slit.

Sleet winced in sympathy.

The three law keepers conferred in hushed tones. When one approached Sleet, the frightened raptor slid his back to the wall, wishing he was invisible. He drew his knees to his chest, making himself as small as possible.

The law keeper crouched down to look Sleet in the eyes. "Dest says, you are the only other resident not dead. What am I to make of that?"

The calmness in the robed one's voice sent a chill through Sleet's very soul. He struggled to find his voice. "I-I... I don't know."

The law keeper's lips curled back in a cruel smile. "Confess. You were aware of the bodies. You killed them-"

"No!"

The law keeper raised his hand. Sleet cringed, expecting to be struck, but it was a signal to the other law keepers.

One pulled a dagger from the folds of his garment. In a swift motion the ropes suspending Dest were cut. Dest let out another ear piercing shriek as he crumpled face first, his wounded genitals pressed under him.

That did it. Sleet poured out the events of the previous day, in a torrent of half coherent babbling.

Sleet tried to emphasize his lack of options, that at the time he was sure he was dying. He reminded the law keeper that all the slaves were killed that night, so it was a certainty the guilty buck was killed. Lastly, Sleet pleaded that he was a lowly delta caste, that the victims of the deer were deltas, that it was not possible for him to have acted any other way. And was not worth torturing him, he was telling the truth.

The law keeper stayed squatting through Sleet's entire confession. His face an expressionless mask. His sharp eyes studied Sleet's face through the entire ordeal.

The law keeper stood. "You speak the truth."

Sleet realized he had been holding his breath. He sucked in a deep breath.

The law keeper continued. "It would have been better had you murdered these men."

Time stretched for Sleet. Part of him knew this was a pronouncement of death.

"You betrayed the tribe. You will have to be made an example of."