The brass gavel struck the walnut sounding block with a concussive c***k that silenced the murmuring gallery.
Magistrate Miller stood behind the elevated bench, his face darkened with righteous anger as he glared at the smoking puddle of black sludge eating into his desk. The pungent stench of rotted marsh water hung heavy in the air, leaving no doubt that f*******n alchemy had been used in an attempt to subvert the provincial court.
"Falsifying a sealed land deed using parasitic bloodcraft is an assault on the foundational laws of this municipality," Miller declared, his voice ringing off the plaster walls with absolute finality. "For the crime of high forgery and contempt of the civic registry, I levy an immediate punitive fine of thirty thousand silver bars against Fiona Conway and th
