[Perrin Mace & William]

The two men sat in their less than palatial suite at the Dragon's
Inn.  They had spent the last few hours tirelessly  studying the
statements that Perrin had procured earlier that day... sworn
accounts from Batista Dyer, Lawrince Ournel, Lucc Caithe,  and
Yals the Woodcutter.    Both Perrin and his assistant read each
statement in full, then Perrin re-read them while William transcribed
Perrin's mostly sarcastic comments onto a sheet of parchment.
William never ceased to be amazed at his employer's ability to
transform a few one-page statments into an inch-thick stack of
notes.

"BAH!"   Perrin threw Yals's statement across the room.  "Did you
READ that one, William."

"The woodcutter?   Yes, I-"

"RUBBISH!"

"Should I make a note of that, sir?"

"Yes.   Rubbish!   R-U-B-B-I-S-H!    Write it down!"

"I take it you don't believe his story?"

"I believe NONE of them, but he lies worse than the rest.  It is obvious
that our client has been the victim of some feeble-minded plot.  To what
end, I do not know.... but I already have my suspiscions."

"The envoy?"

"Perhaps.   Here is THEORY NUMBER ONE:
The envoy's assistant, Netit, was either corrupt or was
made to LOOK corrupt by his employer.    His connection with our client
was through a woman...  perhaps an attempt to besmirch Netit's name
grew out of control.  He AND the woman had to be eliminated, and our
client happened to be a convient way to distract the nimble-minded
authorities while the REAL killers escaped.   Are you writing this down,
William?"

"Yes sir..."  William picked up his quill and began scribbling.

"These statements... these OBVIOUS fabrications... will lead us closer
to the truth than the conspiritors intended."

"How so?"

"What do they all say?   What do they all NOT say?"

"There was a fire..."

"YES!   IF such a fire occured, then there would be witnesses.  We will
need to speak with them.   What else?"

"The two men...  the mage and the adventurer."

"Dead-On, William!   THEY were most likely STOOGES of the TRUE killer,
if not the KILLERS THEMSELVES!     Those two must be found at any
cost!"

"But they supposedly left town."

"Minor complication."

William wrote something down and shook his head.

"What is it, William?"

"Sir... the statements are all supported by evidence."

"Evidence which WE had not examined yet."

"But do you really  think our client is innocent?"

Perrin gave William such a look that his assistant automatically
knew he just stepped into dangerous ground

"William,  what is Rule Number One?"

"Always ask for payment in advance?"

"Very droll,  but no.   As lawyer, our PERSONAL opinions
about a client's guilt or innocence are IRRELEVANT!
Allowing ourselves to entertain such thoughts will only
distract us from the tasks at hand. "

"Speaking of tasks... aren't we supposed to interview
the client soon?"

"Quite right.   Pack up those notes and bring them along."

Perrin grabbed his own satchel and left the room.   Wiliam
looked down at the notes he had taken so far and, before
packing them up for the trip to the Tower, he added one more
scribble to the bottom of the final page:

"Rule Number One:   Ask for Payment in Advance, Espescially when
the client is as guilty as THIS one..."

---

[Tower Guard]

The Sheriff made the arrangements and a small corner room just of the
practice yard was made ready. A large table was set in the center of the
room with a chair on either side. a spell of silence was placed in the
door way. There was a Guard assigned to watch the proceedings and to
intervene if it appeared the prisoner was trying to use magic to escape.
It was the Sheriff that was surprised when Brendan asked to that that
Guard position.

Mage Brendan brought Fillip Menagrim to the room with two Guards. He
posted the Guards outside the door and lead Fillip to his chair. He
spoke not a word but simply stood beside him; his cloak pulled down to
hide whatever emotion his face held.

[Perrin]

Perrin entered the room and examined it briefly before sitting down.  A
few seconds later, William followed.    While his assistant prepared to
take notes, Perrin scrutinized the cloaked guard that stood beside his
client.

"I suppose the concepts of privacy and Client-Lawyer privledge don't
extend THIS far out into the bush."

[Brendan]

"No more than the concept of common courtesy has degraded in Bleckner,
I'm sure. When you are ready to view the evidence that has been
gathered, seek me out. I will be watching from outside, IF I see your
client make any move remotely resembling a spell I will stop him. I will
'try' not to catch you in the casting." The cloaked Guard turned and
stepped out of the door, then turned again to take a silent watch on
Fillip."

[Fillip]

At seeing the two new gentlemen enter the room Fillip's morose
expression became one mixed of relief and wariness. Obviously his Father
had deemed the situation dire enough to send help (even if it was to clear
the Menagrem name - Fillip had no illusions about _that_), but the accused
was uncertain on what type of man his father would hire.

Fillip had been allowed to clean up - at least wash the oil from his
hair and the lard from his face; though samples had been taken as evidence
too.  So now his hair had returned to brown and curly, and the numerous
self-inflicted scratches evident on his face; plus scabbing wounds to his
nostrils.

His clothes had been replaced by a plain brown tunic and trousers, since
his positions were now being held for the investigation.

[Perrin]

Perrin nodded to his assistant, and William nodded back, signalling that
he was ready to begin.

"Well now,"  said Perrin.  He locked eyes with Fillip and did not avert his
gaze even when his client showed signs of discomfort.

"My name is Mayce.   Perrin Mayce.  I have been hired by your father
to represent you."

[Fillip]

Fillip shifted in his chair and tried to look somewhere past Mayce's right
shoulder, but his endeavor was of no avail - the attorney's gaze held him.
"Hello....Mr. Mayce...Thank you for coming...."

[Perrin]

"I've reviewed the statements of your captors and
I have some rather vague knowledge of the evidence against you...
but none of that is of any consequence now.   Those questions will
come later.   For now, Fillip, I would like for you to tell me what
happened in your own words.    Think carefully, Fillip.  Think
VERY carefully..

[Fillip]

Menagrem tried to remember what he had put in his statement, but lack of
sleep (he kept dreaming of his last sight of Denlira - after his knife had
done its work) made his memory jumpy.

"I...had been out walking...Denlira..," he choked on her name -
remembering how her expression remained accusing, even without eyes,
"Because she sometimes brought men back to the ...house."

He rested his elbows and buried his face in his hands - such a display not
only made a good show of grief, but more importantly - he didn't have to
meet Mayce's eyes.

"When I came back I....saw the fire......and the mob," his voice caught,
"They don't like mages and they'd have blamed me for the fire.....But I
was afraid that Denlira was in that blaze....." Fillip's shoulders shook
as he got caught up in his own story, "So I muddied up my hair and worked
my way in to find out if there was a body...There wasn't..."

He ran his hands over his face, and flinched when he accidently touched
his nose.

Fillip glanced up and continued, "I teleported away - figuring I'd come
back later when the crowd had died and I could learn more. But something
went wrong and I ended up in that Hell place ....some type of enormous
ruin....The energy is wild there and I knew I was too tired to try again.
My only hope was to wait till morning and walk back."

The shudder he gave was real - coming from the nightmares visages he had
seen there - those that existed and those in his mind. "That _was a
mistake_ it was a thousand times worse inside. And then those 'people'
started hunting me."

Real anger was in his tone - they had trapped and humilated him!!

Fillip looked up and met Perrin's eyes, and asked, "Who voluntarily would
walk such a place? Who would even _know_ of it?!! A skeletal man trapped
me and threatened me ...and _that woman_.. the one who was all fancy
dressed told him to torture me! The others - the heathens just stood there
- with a clown, who I guess was some mad mage!! And the old man - the
Envoy - he accused me of doing in his secretary. And it was only then I
heard that Denlira was dead - and they said _I did it_!!"

His voice had raised in righteous anger. "I would have said _anything_ to
get out of there alive ...."

"And...," he added as an afterthought, "To find out who killed
Denlira...You see I saved her life once and even if she turned out to be a
whore I couldn't stop loving her...."

[Perrin]

"Saved her life, you say?"    Perrin turned to to give a curious glance
at William, who was still scribbling.

"I know this will be painful... but tell me about Denlira.  Tell me
everything. And don't forget the part about the life-saving... that may
help swing the jury's opinion in your favor."

[To be continued.]