RP:Jacklin and Ikked discuss several important things
Jacklin steps down into the Fortress sickbay with a wad of cotton cloth balled in her fist. Peeling the mask from her face she saw several of the nurses scribbling on pads of paper, eyes roving up and down the men and women resting on the clean beds lining the walls of the bay. Ikked was seated in a chair near the entrance looking over one of the scribbled pages with a pair of comically small spectacles perched on the end of his nose. Descending the stairs slower she gave a light chuckle, gruff and short, as the final step was reached. “You wouldn’t mind taking a look at the hand of a scoundrel, would you Ikked?” Immediately the man fumbled, sheets falling to the ground as he looked up into the eyes of Jacklin, “Ah, Jacklin Erristyn. I heard them talking about your crazy self going on a rampage and killing some thief up in Larket. Don’t know if I should handle your hands with all that blood on ‘em.” With a wink he rose to his feet while leading the woman by her elbow to an exam table.
Jacklin went along with the good surgeon as he seated her on one of the plainly made steel tables. Cold to the touch was the table, as were the hands of Ikked. As his fingers peeled back hers from around the wad of blood-wet cloth he examined the small slit across her palm with the glasses he’d plucked from the floor after her surprise entry. “So,” he began cautiously while rummaging around in a bin below her feet. “why’d you kill him?” Kicking her heel back against the steel leg she lifted a brow at his forthrightness. “I knew you’d ask me that if I came down here.” With a grave sigh and wince at the liquid Ikked was dabbing at the wound she shared the burden with the surgeon. “Why do I kill anyone? I was bred for killing so why does it surprise anyone beyond these walls that another could die at my watch? It is as if accusing a fish of swimming or a dog of barking. It is natural for me to do these things. The thief you heard about would have been the end of your Queen had I not put his heart to rest. He knew my face and was angry at being a suspect. Either I died or he did. But instead of looking at it as safety for the Queen of Larket, the Kelay haunters decided to label me crazy. At least they got something to talk about, right?”
Ikked shook his head with a slow grin spreading over his face. “Jacklin Erristyn…you like them people up there thinking you’re a crazy lady. I bet my needle you do.” Holding up said needle he removed a few flecks of dirt and small pebbles from within the wound. Jacklin, in turn, winced at the work of her surgeon. Funny how the smaller injuries caused the most pain in a patient, “The smart ones know how I run things. The rest will have their rumors until something better comes along. I’ve been talked about my entire life so why should it stop when I became Queen of Larket? If anything, I doubt more will rise and accuse me of more. How the river flows.” Both fell quiet for a few moments, Ikked busy wrapping her hand and Jacklin staring around at the other wounded citizens. She hated this place. “Oh, and I do believe we found our girl for the murder. Mahri…some she-wolf thing. I have her thumb on my desk. We found a part of her shirt in Cenril Library so she’s as good as ours I think. Would have been nice to have one solid word to wrap it up though, ya know?” Glancing down to the work of Ikked she smiled at the wrap. “Those magic hands of yours, Ikked,” she clicked her tongue as the ashen face of Ikked rose to meet hers. “Maybe you should stay here for a few more minutes, Jacklin.”
Jacklin purses her lips as she eyes Ikked suspiciously. She’d never heard his tone so serious save for when a body was too broken to be fixed. He was a warrior once, she knew. She’d even fought beside him once at a war long ago. Too long to even recall save for blurred images nearly lost along the way. “It’s about Beatrix, isn’t it?” Jack knew. She knew before Ikked even uttered word about it. She knew far more than he gave her credit for it would seem. Slowly he placed her bandaged hand back on her lap and with a heavy sigh scooted the chair back several inches, “I saw the woman you just claimed to be the killer following Beatrix into the Eternal that night. She had a bad look about her as you probably already know. I was heading along the Vibrance from colleting herbs for the pantry when I saw them. I thought they were just talking in friendly tones. So I moved on…I moved on and let that girl die by the hands of that beast. I could see them through the thicket, Jacklin. And I didn’t stay to help. A surgeon who flees from the injured and attacked,” another shake of his head and face was buried in hands, “some oath I took.” Daring a look into the eyes of his Queen she healer straightened in his seat at the sight of a broadly grinning human, “I told you I fled the scene and you’re smiling.” Jacklin hopped from the table and stood over Ikked, “You just gave me the final piece to the puzzle, Ikked. You just gave us all we need to arrest Mahri for the murder of Beatrix Huxley.” In a fit of glee the reserved Executioner planted a kiss on the bald head of Ikked before tilting his head up to meet her face to face, “Now don’t go telling people I was happy. They would surely label me crazy then.” Grabbing a handful of gauze for good measure she rushed from the Sickbay and up the stairs headed for the office of Roldan.
Related Pages:
- Larket
- Part of the Case of the Burned Baker Arc