Devil's Advocate

An Eye for an Eye: Part 2

To Jurian Cornelissen Esq.,

Thank you for your timely response to my previous missive. It has helped us answer some important questions, though as I'm sure you expected it has also raised more of them. Especially in regards to the entity your client has encountered. The Patrons you have previously described to us have all been spiritual in nature. Intangible. But from your description, this creature appears to be something physical. How does that affect your dealings with this Patron? Where did the hearing for this case take place, and in what way was it different from your usual cases?

I look forward to another helpful response. As always, you have my gratitude, and that of the state of Getemen.

In honoured service,

Annemiek Smalbrugge

---

To the esteemed Councilwoman Annemiek Smalbrugge,

The best way to answer your questions, I think, is to simply finish the tale I started in my last missive. Where last I left off, I had haphazardly agreed to represent Ilene Berger. A diligent woman from Southern Cicia, whose eyes had been unjustly taken from her by an odd entity she encountered in the woods near her homestead. At least, such was our position. When I had made my promise, I had not yet realised that this hearing would not take place in the usual, sterile, timeless courtroom as usual. That I would need to accompany my client and her partner across the continent to confront their opponent. But alas. Thinking back, I can once again hear the clattering of our wagon wheels, and feel the impacts of the uneven cobble road. Not to say it was not a wondrous trip in and of itself. I simply wished I could make it under less stressful circumstances.

I tried to keep up with my reading while on the road, in preparation for both this case, and the few I still had lined up and waiting for me when I'd get back home. Our schedule allowed me only few opportunities to do so in peace, however. After all, we had to arrive in time for the next full moon. The alternative would have me stay there for another month, which at the time, my career would not have survived. Still, when I did have time to look outside the cart and drink in the sights, I was mesmerized by them. Sure, over the past few years, I had seen some mesmerizing sights already. Spaces that defied logic, and entities whose shape rejected human understanding. But all that existed on a plane whose physical laws were alien to me. Seeing the unbelievable there feels much like seeing it in a dream; impressive, but lacking the right to truly surprise you.
The same could not be said for the Goldfields of Cicia. It was an ocean of golden wheat as far as the eye could see. Rippling in a gentle breeze, growing across rolling hills that give the illusion of pleasing waves. The sporadic appearance of scarecrow effigies adrift on the sea lent the scene a clarity of depth that brought the landscape into perspective in a way I had completely lacked in our own flat, yet unique beautiful Kingdom. The beauty that surrounded me wasn't anything otherworldly. It was right here. And for that, it was all the more worthwhile.

We arrived with a day to spare before the next full moon, on the 9th of Crownings. I spent that night in a guestroom of my client's farmhouse, going over the last of our preparations. The following night, the two of us set out. We debated for a time whether or not Estelle should come with us. In previous Warlockry cases, such a thing would have been impossible. That courtroom does not exist in a place one can physically visit. And whenever I did have witnesses in my office, they report that my client and I simply go rigid for a brief moment, and return almost instantaneously, despite our perception of time during those hearings.
This case, however, was clearly different. In ways that I acknowledged, but did not fully understand. By all rights, it should be possible for Estelle to accompany us. But, for her own safety, we agreed that she should stay behind.