Marachius Ainsley

Charges Alleged

It was morning in Stormwind and Marachius was standing outside of the Cathedral with two of his fellow trainees, their armor gleaming in the early sunlight. They had finished their breakfast and were discussing their assignments for the morning. Realizing that they had all been assigned to different tasks, the three were making plans to meet later that evening.

“There he is, dad.” A voice called out across the courtyard.

The three paladins turned to look at the call. Next to the fountain stood an older man with a teenager beside him, a teenager that Marachius quickly recognized.

“He’s the one,” the teenager said, pointing at Marachius. The older man looked to the teenager, then strode over to stand in front of the paladins.

“You’re the one who accused my son of stealing?”

“I didn’t accuse him,” Marachius replied, turning to face the man. “I implied it, perhaps.”

“Don’t give me your sass, boy.”

“Of course not, sir.”

“We do not have thieves in our family.”

“Rogues then?” Marachius asked. “I’m not very familiar with the wording,” he added with a slight shrug.

“I will slap the sass out of you!” the man snarled, clenching his fists.

“Then you would guilty of assault,” Marachius said calmly, staring at the man.

“Against a member of the Cathedral, no less,” one of the other paladins added.

“Do you know who I am?” the man bellowed.

“Your son asked me that before. Is that how you all do introductions in your family? It seems rather awkward.”

“I will report your behavior. I’ll have you reprimanded.”

Marachius frowned at the man. Slowly, he reached over his shoulder to the great sword that was strapped to his back. The paladin pulled the sword and held it in front of him. 

The man, seeing the paladin pull his sword, took a step back with a look of fear on his face. “What..  What do you think…”

Marc turned and held his sword out to one of the paladins standing behind him.

“Take care of this, please,” Marachius said as he handed off the sword. The other paladin nodded and took the weapon. Marc then turned back to the man. “I will take you to my superior officers, sir, so that you can make your charges.” The father turned to his son, a smug look on his face, before turning to face the paladins again.

“Then,” Marachius continued, “I will make my response to those charges. My public response. I will explain how I found your son along with his two friends holding a child’s property above his head. That these three teenagers were taunting a child half their age. Then I will provide my superiors with the address of that child’s parents so that they can be contacted to make a statement. A public statement. All of which, I’m sure, the Royal Courier or some other paper might be interested in posting.” The paladin stood, his head tilting to the side as he stared into the father’s eyes.

“Wha…” the father sputtered. “You…   We’re not done here.” The man took his teenaged son by the arm and led him away from the courtyard.

Marachius turned to face his fellow paladins. His friend held Marc’s sword out to him, which he took and slung back over his shoulder.

“That was impressive,” one of Marachius’ friends said.

“I don’t know where it came from,” Marachius said with a shudder and a slight smile.

“You know there will be trouble from that one,” the other offered.

“Probably,” Marachius said before letting out a sigh. “Guess we know where the boy got his attitude from.”

“We’d better get to our assignments. See you both at the tavern tonight?”

“You bet.”

“Definitely.”