[center][b]Shulhu, Hanartha[/center][/b]

Shulhu was not a particularly large town, and in most cases it wasn't of any more importance than any other town. However, at the moment its value was multiplied thanks to the presence of a single man: Alkisir Rha, the Warden of the East. The Warden of the East was the military commander in charge of the entire Eastern peninsula of Hanartha, a position of enormous power and responsibility. The West had a mirroring title, but it hadn't been filled in centuries due to a lack of need. The East, however, was a different situation. It wasn't an especially violent or unsafe area, but the Finger, referring to the portion of Hanartha surrounded by Marmon, had an exceptionally high number of bandits and thieves prowling the countryside. They were mostly those from Marmon who decided to leave that land for one reason or another and pray upon the Hanarth. And the Warden would not have any of that.

Which was why he was currently in the Court of Shulhu, watching as a group of a dozen or so humans stood before Shulhu's Judge. The men were a ragged and dirty lot, chained together by the hands, feet, and necks. They were all bandits that had been preying on the nearby area, and that Alkisir had lead a detachment of men out to catch. The fight had been short, with casualties on both dies. But the bandits in the end suffered the worst of it; the dozen men here were only half of those Alkisir's men had engaged. The Judge himself was a hanarth dressed in a plain black robe, looking at the men from above on the Judicial Throne. Behind him was a wall of black stone completely covered in black engravings. And in the corner stood Alkisir himself, a tall hanarth with dark brown hair and piercing grey eyes, as well as a face that was bisected diagonally by a long, jagged scar. He hadn't had time to change out of his armour, so he was still dressed in his bloodstained armour; steel lamellar over chainmail, with a dark green cloak fastened to his armour with a golden clasp.

The Judge sighed as he looked down at the assembled men, some of whom looked scared and some of whom looked furious. "You claim that our soldiers simply attacked you for no reason?" he said in the language of Marmon. Most judges in the Finger knew it, since it was much easier to deal with criminals when you could speak to them directly.

"Yeah!" one shouted, "We was just minding our own business when they attacked us!"

"A group of twenty-odd armed men, with no banners or identification," the Judge clarified.

"It don't give him no right to-" another began before being interrupted.

"Close your lips, your lies defile this place of justice," Alkisir shouted, before turning to the Judge, "Me and my men gave a fair warning of who we were, and these brigands attacked us first. We gave them a chance to surrender."

"Yeah, and be carted here and have some point-eared bastard have our heads chopped off?" one of the men shouted angrily.

"So he did give you a warning?" the Judge said.

"Uh, what?"

"You just gave a reason for ignoring his warning, but earlier you claimed they attacked you without warning."

"I, uh..." the man stammered, while the rest of the men glared at him angrily, "You see, we, uh..."

"I see perfectly clearly," the Judge said, shrugging, "You are bandits and brigands who fail to understand that, in Hanartha at least, laws actually mean something."

The men started to raise a cry in outrage, before the Judge stood up and shouted, "Silence! This trial is over. I hereby find you all guilt of banditry, brigandry, thievery, and murder. As your punishment, tomorrow morn the headsman's axe shall kiss your necks."

The men raised up another cry, but this time several guards entered the room and escorted them away. There were a few times that the prisoners lashed out, but the guards replied in kind with their fists shod in steel and iron. And it wasn't long before the prisoners were all gone, to await their fate in the morning. Then the Judge looked over at Alkisir and smiled, "I have to thank you for coming personally; it is an honour to have the Warden of the East in our town."

"No problem at all," Alkisir replied with a shrug, "My job is to protect the East, and protect it I shall. Until the last wisps of breath leave my mouth and the last drops of blood leave my veins."

"You still could have sent a group of men to catch those brigands, though," the Judge said back, "There was no need to come personally."

Alkisir shrugged once again, "If I always sat comfortable in my fort, I would not be deserving of the title of Warden."

The pair's conversation wasn't over, but it was interrupted by the entrance of another man. Unlike the pair in the Court, he was human, but he was dressed as a hanarth and when he spoke he spoke in the tongue of the hanarth. After all, not all natives of Hanartha were elves.

"My Lord Warden, I bring a message from Nosha," he said, panting and out of breath. 

Alkisir looked over at the Judge and nodded respectfully, "I apologize, but I must cut this conversation short."

The Judge nodded respectfully as Alkisir turned to the messenger, putting his arm around his shoulder as he spoke. "Come, walk with me," he said, "What sort of news is it."

The messenger took a few more moments catching his breath, and by the time he began relaying the message they were already outside the Court, and making their way along the dirt roads of Shulhu. "It is not urgent, but your Lieutenant wanted to get the news to you as quickly as possible," he said, "Marmon is on the move."

At that Alkisir stopped outright, giving the messenger a strange look, "On the move? How do you mean?"

"We have reports that they have begun a campaign of expansion westwards, into the free villages between them and Manas," the man elaborated, "And not peacefully either."

"But how could the King of Marmon raise up an army to conquer them?" Alkisir wondered out loud, "From what I have heard he cannot even raise up enough men to protect his palace from looters and thieves."

"Well, we don't have anything concrete. But your Lieutenant at least believes that the army was most likely mercenaries and thugs," the messenger replied.

At that Alkisir narrowed his eyes and began walking again, "Of course. I wouldn't be surprised if the King wasn't even aware of what was happening." Alkisir considered them to be something of his personal rivals, viewing their existence as the reason for the rampant crime in Marmon and thus the bandits and brigands that plagued the Finger. And he would like nothing better than to see their heads roll across the ground.

"This is a disconcerting development, and you were right in bringing me the news as quickly as you did," Alkisir said, "Now go get some rest and a good meal. You deserve it."

The man nodded his head in agreement and walked away, leaving Alkisir to ponder what was happening as he walked. This wasn't good, since it meant he'd need to cover more ground with his men. With the small independents coming under the 'rule' of Marmon there was the chance that they'd begin to prove as much of an issue in terms of bandits and brigands as Marmon proper. Then again, the independents did have some functioning rule of law and that could keep them in check for a time. But that was still a risk. He didn't like this situation one bit; while they seemed to only be threatening independents for now it was probably only a matter of time until they wanted to come after Hanartha or Manas. He need to get back to Nosha, the city that served as his 'base of operations' of sorts in the Finger, and find out if there was any more information available. And then he needed to write a letter to the Grand Prince; Alkisir was certain his Lieutenant had already sent one but he wanted to send a letter with his own suggestions. An alliance with Manas, or perhaps Frisstreek, seemed necessary to the Warden and he would say as much to Grand Prince Napizzi. But in the mean time, he needed to prepare for a possible expansion of the threat to the Finger, and possibly the entire southern border of Eastern Hanartha.