Justicar Jhee and the Cursed Abbey Read online

  Justicar Jhee and the Cursed Abbey

  Justicar Jhee Mysteries, Volume 1

  Trevol Swift

  Published by Trevol Swift, 2019.

  Justicar Jhee and the Cursed Abbey Copyright © 2019 by Trevol Swift. All Rights Reserved.

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  Cover designed by 100Covers.com

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Trevol Swift

  Visit my website at www.swiftnesse.com

  First Printing: Aug 2019

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  1 The Yacht

  2 Arrival

  3 Echoes

  4 The Feast I

  5 The Feast II

  6 The Audience

  7 The Spires

  8 Family Teatime

  9 The Clergy

  10 The Isle

  11 Ghosts

  12 Wisps Lights

  13 The Tempting Garden

  14 Broken Promises and Remedies

  15 The Charmer

  16 Collections

  17 The Guest Wing

  18 The Accusation

  19 The Eye

  20 The Unexpected Guests

  21 Secrets of the Depths

  22 Secrets of the Spires

  23 Unbroken Chain

  24 The Cloister

  25 The Mist Parts

  26 The Low Chamber

  27 Gatekeepers

  28 The First Spire

  Excerpt

  About the Author

  Dedication

  To my grandmother who taught my family to love reading.

  To my Cousin Snoopy who helped make me the nerd I am today.

  Rest in power.

  1 The Yacht

  Accommodations

  Lightning drew Jhee’s gaze to the stormy skies beckoning beyond the large, squared portholes of her stateroom. She and her marriage cohort’s yacht chugged along its way from the Far Reaches near the recently constructed perpetual storm shield to the storm-free capital. Assuming, of course, the First Makers allowed them to arrive there intact.

  Kanto’s lute playing filled the air. Jhee jotted down the last bit of the healing derivation on the digital, seaweed skin parchment. Her young, junior husband had already reached the tricky crescendo sequence. With her new position in the capital, though, time would no longer be a problem. Jurisprudence and teaching would replace investigation and legal proceedings.

  Jhee triple-checked her part designs for her Mechanist’s ritual objects then sneaked a peek at the music box schematics. At an early age, she had declared herself a follower of Mechanism. However, her duties as Justicar rarely left her time enough to perform even the minimal devotions required of an avowed Mechanist. Her work, also, seemed never to leave her sufficient time to manage a family which had practically doubled overnight.

  Did Jhee dare work on another design? Soon, Kanto would conclude the musical piece he practiced. With the music’s end, Jhee lost another means to politely turn aside his romantic overtures.

  The yacht lurched. Her parchments scattered along with the tallies from her fishing lanes and the massive ledger of legal findings. Kanto missed a few notes. She gathered her fallen work then glanced at the clock. That would be all. She had already spent more time working than she said she would.

  The musical composition ended. As per their agreement, she set her work aside. She stacked the derivations, music box plans, and part designs for her orrery together neatly with the tallies before using them to mark her place in the ledger.

  He joined her at the desk and handed her a parchment. “Missed one.”

  She snatched up the sheet, worried it might be the music box schematics. She wanted that to be a surprise. It turned out to be healing sequences. The handwriting did not match hers, yet the work was excellent. The penmanship on the derivations showed a notable decline the further down the page she read. It brought to mind heavy thoughts of Mirrei resting in the next stateroom under Shep’s care. Kanto’s time, she admonished. She hastily tucked the sheet into the ledger with the others.

  “Arcana?” Kanto asked. “Don’t worry. I will shield my poor delicate male eyes.”

  “Not for these. Healing sequences.”

  The golden light of his eyes dimmed. He laid his hand with its impeccably manicured and lacquered nail-claws on her shoulder. “How far along are you? Did you need a few more minutes?”

  “I think I have some promising avenues. I need to take some time to think about them, though.”

  “Talk me through them?”

  “Which would no doubt bore you to brackishness. This is your time, of which I have already stolen too much for others. Thank you for being so patient.”

  “If your mind was going be elsewhere the whole time then you are not really here with me, are you?”

  Her digital conch beeped. A flashing notice announced the results had returned from her automated search of the death records in the area. She made an apologetic gesture to him and picked it up. She went through a few. Most turned out to be routine. She hovered her thumb over disable search. In the capital, she would have no time to run down death record anomalies in the Outer Reaches. She closed the search results instead.

  Another notice indicated her last attempt to upload to the judicial archives had failed. She winced. Kanto sighed and motioned for her to address it. Miserable weather and interference from the storm zone had made all her transfers slow when they worked at all. She checked its holding capacity. The space on it was running low. She restarted the transfer. She brandished and silenced the conch for him to see then set it aside. He inclined his head in approval.

  Jhee pushed her seat back from the desk to face the oh so very young Kanto. “Please, play for me. You will have my complete attention.”

  He plucked a note on the strings and played beautifully as he always did. It lifted her spirits. She felt lighter and happier. She even found her foot tapping along as his bright notes filled the stateroom. His expression slipped from smiling to pure absorption in the music. She imagined this is how she looked when she worked on legal decisions or arcana.

  The color of his golden eyes intensified. The room resonated with his music. Such a smooth, handsome face. Many older in women in her position took husbands much more disparate in age. She wanted to make him as happy as he tried to make her. That would be enough to make this arrangement work until the capital. He would be the toast of the Imperial Isles. There he would find a more suitable household than hers. Both him and Mirrei.

  Despite her promise, her thoughts drifted to Mirrei. She played with the edge of a parchment. Both so young. Too young for her. She pinched the bridge of her nose.

  Kanto laid his lute across his knees. “We should retire.”

  Jhee stomach sank at the prospect. She became all too aware of the pitching and yawing of the yacht. “No. Your playing was helping.”

  “I think that’s enough for now.”

  “If that is your wish, this is your night.”

  “Our night.”

  As he packed up his lute, her gaze fell upon the robe he had laid out on the bed when he arrived. He rushed over with a smile. He held it up proudly for her t
o see.

  “Try it on. Mirrei and I finished the last bit of tailoring. I want to ensure the extra pockets didn’t ruin the lines.”

  Jhee undid her sash.

  “Let me,” he said in a low voice. He stepped closer and switched the robes she wore. She and Kanto caught each other’s gaze. “Perfect fit.”

  His eyes sparkled and took on a deep golden hue. A shade she hoped hers matched. They touched their foreheads together. A tingle went through her as he gently brushed his esca, the illuminated golden star in the center of his forehead, against hers. He caressed the small of her back. A moan escaped her. He bent in, and she pulled his mouth against hers.

  A knock sounded at the stateroom door. Kanto’s posture sagged. His eyes pleaded with her, “No.”

  Jhee, however, refastened her sash with the new robes. The rain had caused them all to take on sleeker aspects gradual enough she forgot. The extra slick look of his build and blue-black fur was unique to him. No doubt the result of his fastidious grooming and exercise routine. If only their relationship weren’t so new and awkward. She stepped away from him and affected her most official stance.

  “Enter.”

  The Dispute

  The first mate stepped in and doffed her cap to Jhee.

  “Sorry to disturb, Justicar. We’ve had a dispute arise amongst the crew.”

  “Details.” Jhee snatched her conch from the desk. The transfer to the archives had failed again. She found and deleted some non-critical files from the spare and sparse then set it up to record the trial. She still got a critical space warning.

  Kanto plopped down on the bed and folded his arms. “More work. Lovely.”

  She faced him. “I ask your indulgence, husband.”

  “Go.”

  “I’ll hear their case here. First mate?”

  “Yes, Justicar?”

  “Have the disputants bring any evidence they wish to present here in fifteen minutes, and I will do my best to render them justice in the Grand Empress and Emperor’s name.”

  The first mate excused herself.

  “I’ll go next door with Mirrei and Shep.”

  “Yet, I require your assistance as witness and scribe.”

  His ears perked up. “You want my help with a case?”

  “Unless you don’t feel you are up to the task?”

  “No. No. What do I need to do?”

  The spotty connection did not allow them to do a proper set up of the judicial code base on Kanto’s conch. Instead, they painstakingly copied over and adjusted access rights from Jhee’s. By the time the follow-up knock came, they had cobbled something together that would work.

  “Now, fetch me my stones and tabard from that case over there.”

  The first mate brought in two crew women. They doffed their caps and seated themselves respectably like two fine and stalwart women. They looked sheepishly at Jhee but stared daggers at each other.

  “Now, state your names and what seems to be the nature of your dispute.”

  Both began to talk over each other.

  “Enough. One at a time. You”— Jhee gestured at one— “go first.”

  Apparently, the plaintiff had purchased an ice chest full of oysters, clams, and cockles from the defendant. The plaintiff claimed the delivery was light and wanted a refund. Jhee took possession of the evidence they brought with them, namely the chest of sea meat and the payment. She pulled a luggage scale from her arcana toolbox. The defendant turned her cap round via the brim, and the plaintiff appeared smug while Jhee weighed the chest and its contents. Kanto tapped his sketch pencil against the bag of shell coins in dispute. The plaintiff shifted her weight back and forth, coughed, straightened the objects on the table.

  Not content to stop there, Jhee called for a mug and a bowl. She doled out portions until she emptied the ice chest. As she did so, the defendant wrung her hat in her hands.

  The defendant let out a breath and smiled. “You see, just as I said. One full container of sea meat. She just wants to get out of paying.”

  “I counted how many mug fulls. I know how many eight quarts of sea meat is and that won’t enough,” the plaintiff said.

  Jhee picked up the empty chest. Too heavy. She placed her hand in the carton and noticed it ended two finger joints higher than the table. More than could be accounted for by the thickness of the insulation. After motioning for Kanto to stop tapping, she shook the chest. A rattle came from the presumably empty container, and the heft shifted from side to side.

  “But wait, what’s this?”

  Jhee popped open a false bottom containing rocks and sand. The defendant went bug-eyed.

  “I knew it! You’re a cheat.”

  The crew members had a brief scuffle over the sack of shell currency.

  “Enough,” Jhee said, using her siren module to enhance the command.

  They stopped fighting immediately. Jhee seized the currency purse and dropped it on the table. She paused. Kanto also perked up. He had heard it too. Too flat.

  Jhee dropped the purse on the table again. She hefted the bag a few times. A quick appraisal with cypher-enhanced senses proved some shells to be gilded fakes. Jhee curtailed a second altercation.

  “I’m ready to render my judgment. Are you ready to accept it?”

  “Yes, Justicar,” they both said.

  “I find, in this matter of the first crew woman against the second crew woman, against the defendant. I sentence you to issue a partial refund equivalent to one-quarter the agreed payment. In the countersuit, I further find that the plaintiff was also in breach, and she is to return approximately one-quarter of the sea meat, the amount she shorted her payment. Given that these appear to be what you have already done, I judge the matter settled. Should either of you wish an appeal and review of this finding, you can file with the royal archives for one at your expense.”

  The disputants left.

  A Lesson

  Kanto took the kettle and poured them each a cup of tea.

  “A chance to see you work up close. You sounded so official and commanding.” Kanto handed her pencil sketches in addition to his notes. “I hope you don’t mind. The conch was doing most of the work, so I made these.”

  “Multi-talented. You shall overwhelm them at the capital.”

  “Your praise honors me. I enjoyed watching you work, denbe.”

  “I was afraid you’d found it terribly boring.”

  “Not at all. It gives me insight into how your mind works.”

  Jhee played with the teacup. “I enjoy the citrus flavor of this tea we’re drinking. Tell me about this blend.”

  “Orange blossom and passionflower from off the Ylush Archipelago’s southernmost tip. In the latest dispatches from the capital, all the influencers are drinking it. It’s renowned for its properties as an aphrodisiac and fertility aid.”

  Jhee swallowed the tea hard. She reminded herself she agreed to this marriage and its terms. The dispute, while a fortuitous diversion, had also diffused their romantic momentum. Shep’s advice went through her mind.

  He doesn’t know you. Don’t expect him to yet. If anything he does pleases you, from romance to gifts, don’t make him guess.

  “I never thanked you for my lovely robe. Thank you.”

  “I’m glad it pleased you.”

  “It’s subtle how you worked in the house colors via the coral and turtle shell motifs.”

  “Precisely. I’m glad you noticed.”

  “I may not always behave like it, but I notice.”

  “Not as impressive as cyphering equations, but to each their talents.” Jhee fiddled with her saucer. Kanto took another sip of his tea. “Did you mean what you said at dinner about getting me arcana training?”

  “With the lifting of the bans, Tihalmec Imperial Academy at the capital has been accepting and teaching male students, even in the cyphering program. I think you would take to it quite well.”

  “Teach me yourself like you do with Mirrei. Or you could align me s
o I could be a subject like Shep.”

  Jhee winced at the characterization of Shep. She steered the conversation away from crosstalk. “I might be able to teach you to element draw. For cyphering, though, the latest research shows the process is different enough for males to warrant special instruction.”

  “How?”

  “Well, I’m glad you asked that question.” Jhee gushed about data and articles she had read. Kanto smiled and nodded. She lapsed into a professorial tone. She went silent once his brow had developed a permanent furrow. “Listen to me drone on. You asked for a lesson, not a lecture.”

  “If anyone can figure it out, you can. It’s a puzzle then. A puzzle I could help you unravel. We can start now.”

  “I’ll get you training at the capital.”

  “Isn’t tonight the night you were supposed to humor my whims?”

  Jhee fidgeted. “I want to give you the best. I don’t want to limit your potential.”

  “You’re going to make an excellent instructor, both with me and in your new position. Do you think you’ll miss being a Justicar?”

  “I’ll still be a Justicar, an academic one.”

  “Teach me then. It will be great practice for both of us.”

  “Meditation first. Though the situation may make it difficult. Like this.” She shook out her arms and planted her feet wide on the deck. The yacht rose and fell again with the rough seas. She curled her toenail claws into the deck boards. She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Clear and center,” she said.

  Once Kanto matched her stance, she talked him through a visualization of the celestial clockworks of the universe. With it fixed in their mind’s eye, they moved hands and body to mimic its celestial motions. Rains driven by the perpetual storm system lashed against the glass in gusts too irregular to match its timing.

  The giant mass of supernatural power imbued in the storm outside pressed against her inner essence. She braced herself and deep-breathed.

  “The storm’s not outside,” he said. “It’s within.”

  “Exercise care. Don’t let it draw you in. Use the porthole as a buffer. In its current state, it’s a muddle where the arcane finds little purchase. Too many have cut, heated, bent, and performed any other innumerable manufacturing processes to shape it into what it is now. Those same traces should buffer us.”