The Accused
Originally published February 2026 as a submission to the NYC Short Fiction competition.
The assignment was a randomly generated combination of ‘Genre | Character | Theme’.
I was given ‘Mystery | An Outcast | Sleep Deprivation’.
I’ll reveal the result beneath the story itself.
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I was too tired to run any longer. Too cold.
Numb to it all. I sat, broken; an abject failure who had disappointed the legion, risked the very security of that which I was honourbound to protect.
And so the legion had done what it must, and I had finally run out of options.
I made the conscious decision to just sit and wait for him. That, I had control over. The shivering I could do nothing about.
It took far longer than I expected for the killer to find me. Or maybe not — for all I knew, my perception of the passage of time had been distorted by a thousand micro-dozes — but sure enough, he appeared. He inevitably appeared.
I’d tucked my chin into my chest in a vain attempt at preserving warmth, so I didn’t actually see him approach. Nor did I hear him — he couldn’t help being stealthy, even when he knew I was alone and unarmed, with no need for him to sneak. I became aware of his approach through what seemed to be a base, primal instinct, and with it rose an atavistic terror in my breast.
His sheer size was a revelation. Even if I had all the energy in the world, I wouldn’t have had a hope at matching him strength for strength.
It looked like he was grinning sadistically.
“You,” I said, levying the word like a bitter accusation.
And yet I smiled too, because if nothing else, I had finally seen the face of my son’s murderer.
[CASE NAME: The Empire vs. Mara Aves]
[DATE: XII Kal. Iul, Anno Panthera]
[JURISDICTION: Weddell Coast]
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Bring her forward.
PRAETORIAN:
She stands before you.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
State your name.
ACCUSED:
Mara Aves, loyal daughter of the Empire.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
I asked your name, citizen Aves, not your position. You are aware of why you stand before us?
ACCUSED:
Because my son was murdered.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Because your son was neglected.
ACCUSED:
To a grieving mother, the distinction bears no relief.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
But it does bear an outcome here, Mara Aves. It is precisely the matter under scrutiny and, may I remind you, one upon which your fate will be decided.
ACCUSED:
Very well. But I remain curious as to why this Council has more of an appetite to judge a victim than a murderer.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
Mara, please understand that this Council does not judge your pain.
ACCUSED:
Then, pray tell, what do you judge?
[SILENCE]
ELDER FOSTERI:
Your fitness to remain.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
Elder Forsteri, please. We are not at the point of sentencing yet.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Agreed. We are presently discussing the transgression at hand.
ACCUSED:
Having ones’ son murdered is a transgression? On my part?
EMPEROR CONSUL:
That is incidental.
ACCUSED:
Incidental to what, exactly?
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Your dereliction of duty. Were you not assigned to the Northern line alongside your son?
ACCUSED:
I was.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
And you were to hold your place until relief came.
ACCUSED:
I did.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
You did not.
ACCUSED:
I held it until my legs failed.
ELDER FOSTERI:
Others held longer.
ACCUSED:
Others were stronger.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
Strength IS the duty!
ACCUSED:
So is survival.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Enough! Let me ask the accused plainly: when did you leave your station?
ACCUSED:
When the pain in my chest would not stop and my view of the world narrowed to a point. I was so tired that I could not maintain it. If that is my transgression, so be it.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
And so you admit to abandoning the line?
ACCUSED:
I stepped aside for merely a moment.
ELDER FOSTERI:
But a moment was enough, wasn’t it?
ACCUSED:
I…
ELDER ALCIDAE:
When you returned, what did you find?
ACCUSED:
It was… I found an empty place.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
And your son was gone?
ACCUSED:
Not gone. Slain.
ELDER FOSTERI:
You searched the area, didn’t you?
ACCUSED:
Until my voice failed.
ELDER FOSTERI:
After that, you wandered the outer ring.
ACCUSED:
Looking for him.
ELDER FOSTERI:
You did not return to your place.
ACCUSED:
I did, but there was no place left.
ELDER FOSTERI:
Your absence caused disruption.
ACCUSED:
My son was dead.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
Your grief endangered others.
ACCUSED:
No. My grief endangered only me.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
That is not true.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
You brought a killer to our doorstep.
ELDER FOSTERI:
He knows where we are.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
You know his type. He will not stop.
ACCUSED:
And yet this court will do nothing about it, except put a victim on trial for the simple act of mourning.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
You are on trial for misalignment.
ELDER FOSTERI:
For becoming unpredictable.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
For breaking rhythm.
ACCUSED:
Then you are not judging me.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
We are judging the state you are in now.
ACCUSED:
A mother without a son.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
A body without a function.
[SILENCE]
ACCUSED:
I am beyond exhaustion. I beseech the Council to speak plainly.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
You no longer belong in the core.
ACCUSED:
Then where do I belong?
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Beyond the outer stones.
ACCUSED:
Alone.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Unattached.
ACCUSED:
To die, then.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
To not endanger the living.
ACCUSED:
And if I refuse?
EMPEROR CONSUL:
You will be driven.
ACCUSED:
And if I collapse on the way?
ELDER ALCIDAE:
You will be left.
ELDER FOSTERI:
The Legion will continue ▆▆▆▆▆▆
EMPEROR CONSUL:
No. The accused is to disregard this information.
[SILENCE]
ACCUSED:
I will not lead him to you. Go. I will solemnly wander Westward.
EMPEROR CONSUL:
Then it is ruled. Mara Aves, the Council finds that you can no longer be held within the body of the Legion. You are to leave before the next movement. You may take nothing that binds you to a place: no stone, no mark, no memory.
ELDER EUDYPTES:
So mote it be.
ELDER FORESTI:
So mote it be.
ELDER ALCIDAE:
So mote it be.
ACCUSED:
At least say his name.
[THE EMPEROR CONSUL AND ELDERS CONSULT ONE ANOTHER]
EMPEROR CONSUL:
The Council recognises the loss of Chordata Aves.
[END OF RECORD]
“You.”
The sun was low in the sky. Even though he was silhouetted by it, I could see that his eyes were darker still. If there was any trace of a soul behind those eyes — now fixed firmly on me — it was entirely eclipsed by an all-consuming malice. Only defeated exhaustion lay behind mine.
I had finally looked upon his face. And now I heard his voice.
“You’re the mother, are you not?”
“I am.”
“And you’re not afraid?”
“I am.”
“Then why not try running? I’ll give you a head start.”
“I am too tired.”
“Oh, you’re no fun,” he snarled through his sadistic grin. “How about this, I’ll give you a choice: do you want to die here, or in the water? It’s right there. We can slip in together.”
“No. I am far too tired.”
“Suit yourself. I’m still feeling charitable, though,” he rumbled, brandishing his bared teeth. He towered over me, at such a great height that I had to raise my head upward in order to maintain contact with his coal black eyes. “I think I’ll make this quick for you. See? I’m not as much of a monster as your people make me out to be. Are you ready?”
I had neither the desire nor energy to honour him with a response. Instead I looked Eastward, to the direction my people had begun travelling, relieved to see they were long out of view. Separating us at this moment — the moment of my death — was a seemingly endless tundra. Streams of wind blew across its surface; aside from the howling, the furious streams would have remained invisible if it weren’t for the eddies of snow betraying them. The low sunlight glanced across the landscape, reflecting brilliantly back at me from the disturbed snowflakes like powdered, glittering crystals.
My last sight on Earth. It was quite beautiful, I supposed.
He clamped his teeth around my neck with crushing pressure and began to shake.
At least the leopard seal was true to his capricious word.
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This submission did not make it past round one of the NYC Midnight writing competition. The judges did not pick up on the fact that this was a penguin colony, or that the killer was a leapord seal.
