Free Centaur of the Crime: Book One of 'Fantasy and Forensics' (Fantasy & Forensics 1) by Michael Angel Page A

sword, a short blue bow, and a quiver of rainbow-colored arrows.
    I picked out Captain Vazura by his arrogant sneer and the blood-red mantle he had draped across his shoulders, similar to the purple one Duke Kajari wore. Lord Behnaz’s mantle also came cut from the same style, only in the bright felt green of a cheap pool table. The portly Andeluvian noble made a face, as if he’d smelled something distinctly unpleasant.
    “Air cavalry,” I said. “I should have known.”
    “It takes a will of iron and no shortage of skill to work with a griffin,” Kajari said. “We used to use dragons. Terrible upkeep. Most ended up eating their riders. We still have a few dragons in the keep and care of Captains like Vazura. But only as weapons of last resort.”
    “That’s good to know,” I said, as Vazura and Behnaz spurred their mounts towards us at a walk. And a ‘walk’ to a griffin means a ‘predatory lope’ to anyone in its path. I felt myself wanting to freeze up again, and almost violently shook the urge off. “What do they want with us?”
    “Likely to welcome us to the Grove of the Willows. These are Behnaz’s lands, and Vazura operates under his authority.”
    At that moment, Vazura reined in his mount, a proud-looking griffin with silvery sides. “What are you doing here?” the Captain demanded. “Turn back, or you will meet your deaths!”
     
     
    Chapter Ten

     
    I’d already seen Duke Kajari blush. This time, as he faced the two nobles astride their battle-ready griffins, his face went white with fury. His eyes fairly speared through his subordinates and nailed them to the green boughs of the willow grove beyond.
    “You bear a merry message for your Lord Regent,” Kajari said, his voice as cold as a glacial lake. “Normally, I do not require that you or your Lord patron make the gesture of respect to the crown. Give it. Now.”
    Then something happened that I didn’t expect. As I’d noted before, Kajari’s voice was naturally deep and commanding. Certainly, it was the voice of someone who was used to being obeyed without question. But while Vazura and Behnaz didn’t do anything to further inflame their Duke, they exchanged a look which spoke volumes. Captain Vazura turned to Lord Behnaz and raised an eyebrow as if to ask: should we humor the Lord Regent? Behnaz seemed to weigh this and nodded brusquely, as if deciding to go along with the game.
    Question was, what game were these two playing?
    Vazura and Behnaz both dismounted their griffins. With a comical creak of their shiny leather armor, they each went to one knee, looked to the ground, and held their right arm out, palm down. Together, they recited an oath in a bored-sounding drone.
    “We serve the King and Lords of our beloved Andeluvia. May the Land Between the Forests never fall nor fail.”
    “Your gesture is accepted,” Kajari said, sounding mollified. “Approach, and tell us why your greeting was so poor.”
    Behnaz got up and approached first. I’d marked him as a short, paunchy man who used expensive clothes to wrap an otherwise unappealing package. Closer up, nothing swayed my opinion otherwise. Without the fur-trimmed cap I’d seen him wearing at the court, his coarse blond hair and fat, ruddy cheeks made him look like a tubby scarecrow that had spent too much time in the sun.
    “My Lord Regent,” he said, his voice toeing the line between respectful disdain and open sneer. “Captain Vazura and I have spotted armed groups of centaurs scouting this area. We’ve not been able to secure the Grove of the Willows, and it makes a fine spot for an ambush. Going in there would likely cost your party their lives.”
    “Then you’d best remain here, Behnaz. On the Andeluvian side of the Grove, unless we need call for you.”
    “I live to serve, my liege.”
    “Really? In that case, you can serve me now. By answering some questions about King Benedict’s last day.” Behnaz’s mouth shut with a snap as he saw Kajari gestured