The Dragon of Despair (48 page)

Toriovico asked no more after Melina’s whereabouts, but left, taking with him the dirty robe. He didn’t bother to order Tipi to say nothing of his actions. She would disobey him if she feared her mistress more, and such an order would only make her sneaky.

He resolved to make some inquiries after what might be behind Melina’s actions. Perhaps Xarxius would know something. He knew about foreigners. Maybe there was some odd ritual that Melina needed to attend to at this time of year, some Pellish thing that she was ashamed to mention.

The idea comforted the Healed One as he made his way back to his studio and to the still unresolved dispute with his personal Choreographer.

ELISE COULD SEE
that it took every bit of courage that Firekeeper possessed to restrain herself from bolting when she realized the threat her surrender offered Blind Seer. Elise laid her hand protectively on the younger woman’s arm, then turned to Captain Brotius.

“Lady Blysse will not permit Blind Seer to be locked up,” Elise said in New Kelvinese, “and if you value your life I would not press her on this matter. In any case, do you really want to risk harming the chosen daughter of a noble house?”

Captain Brotius snorted as if unwilling to admit that he would defer to any foreign noble, but Elise saw the worry in his eyes.

“We would not harm even the dog,” he replied stubbornly, “if it cooperates.”

“Blind Seer will not cooperate,” Elise said. “It is against his training. The only one he obeys is Lady Blysse and she will not give the orders.”

“Then what harm comes to the dog is on her head,” Brotius said triumphantly. “Tell her that.”

Elise nodded. “I will, but first let me warn you that any harm that comes to your men will be on your head.”

She spoke loudly enough that she was certain the captain’s men could hear. Brotius scowled at her.

“We will restrain the dog with nets. Perhaps we will set dogs on him.”

“I was not talking about any injury Blind Seer might give you,” Elise said with false sweetness, “but what Lady Blysse will do if you attack her pet. As you have said over and over again these last few days, she did kill a man for threatening her dog. Why do you think she will not do the same again?”

Brotius gaped at Elise, his glance flicking over to where Firekeeper stood tense and alert, her hand curled in the thick fur of Blind Seer’s ruff, her dark gaze unreadable.

Perhaps he realized that Elise’s warning was not without reason. Perhaps he feared his own men might mutiny. In the end, Brotius accepted Firekeeper’s surrender of the knife in her sheath along with her promise to keep Blind Seer on collar and leash at all times. Then the two groups settled into an uneasy stalemate, waiting for the arrival of the judge.

For the better health of all their sanities, the judge arrived the next day. Judge Ulia was a tall woman past middle years but very fit. She sat her dapple grey with the posture of one who spent much time in the saddle. Her hair was the color of cold ash and her eyes a neutral brown. Her long, oval face was divided down the middle by a solid black bar, symbolizing—so Peace told them—the balance of justice.

This bar was a tattoo, not face paint as Elise had initially thought. Judges, Peace explained, were elected for life. If they were proven corrupt or impulsive, then they were executed, the axe brought down to meet that black line and slice the skull in two. Condemned judges were restrained so that they could not move their heads and drops were put in their eyes so they could not blink.

It was an ugly death and the incidence of corruption among judges was quite low.

As unsettled as Elise was by this evidence of the brutal side of New Kelvinese law, she was also comforted by it. Surely Judge Ulia would be very careful in whatever decision she made.

Judge Ulia spoke Pellish fairly well, a necessity given that her jurisdiction contained numerous traders. In answer to Elise’s rather anxious inquiries, Ulia explained the procedure she would follow.

In private Judge Ulia would talk to the prisoners, both Firekeeper and the surviving bandits. Then she would question any associated with the incident.

“Given,” Ulia said, her accent giving the words an odd music, “that you are foreigners and that Lady Blysse is odd even for a citizen of Hawk Haven I may have many questions.”

The formal hearing would be very limited. There would be no jury, and the judge would be the only one to ask for testimony. After offering what evidence she thought was important, Judge Ulia would then publicly give her decision on the matter. If there was disagreement from any in the audience, she would defend her judgment immediately. Once that was done, sentence would be passed and any punishment carried out as soon as was reasonably possible.

The entire procedure seemed a bit abrupt to Elise, to give too much power to one person’s judgment, but when she remembered that tattooed black line and what it symbolized she allowed herself to hope.

Judge Ulia spent the full day following her arrival interviewing prisoners and witnesses. Of Firekeeper’s friends she spoke longest to Elise and Wendee since they could answer her in New Kelvinese, thus eliminating at least some misunderstandings that might arise from the different values each language gave to words. Ulia even spent a fairly long time talking with Edlin about dogs. On the morning following her arrival, she convened her court in the public room of the inn.

By now Elise was aware that more than Firekeeper were on trial. The bandits were as well, and even Captain Brotius stood to be censured if Judge Ulia thought he had acted outside his area of responsibility.

First called forth was Firekeeper, who tersely reported what had led her to kill the one man and to Blind Seer’s maiming of the other.

Next called was Lucho, the man whose arm had been maimed. In assisting Doc to save Lucho’s life, if not his arm, Elise had spent a great deal of time with Lucho and she had seen the near worship with which he now regarded the healer.

Lucho’s testimony confirmed the truth of Firekeeper’s version of the story. Judge Ulia asked him if his version of events had been in any way coerced, “even by kindness.”

Lucho shook his head.

“No, Judge. That’s how it happened. Nobody made me tell it that way.”

Lucho’s fellows looked at him with such hatred that Elise feared for the man’s life if they were set free.

Judge Ulia then called on Captain Brotius. He reported what they had encountered.

“You saw Lady Blysse and her dog running after the fleeing men?”

“Yes, Judge.”

“Was she aware you were there?”

“I think so, Judge, but I can’t be certain.”

“Did she have the opportunity to kill or harm the remaining four men?”

“Yes, Judge.”

“But they were not harmed beyond the bruises and scrapes that occurred when they were prevented from fleeing.”

“Yes, Judge.”

“Thank you, Captain.”

Those flat brown eyes surveyed the gathered people, stilling with a glance those observers who had begun to whisper.

“I am prepared to pass judgment,” Judge Ulia said. “As is only right, the New Kelvinese should be judged first. All evidence agrees that Lady Blysse and her dog were attacked. The men who came upon her possessed dogs which were trained fighters, and show the scars of pit fights and bear baiting. Moreover, I have discovered that several of these men have been before a judge for other infractions of the peace.

“Therefore, I rule that all five of these men shall work a term of hard labor in the glass foundries of Urnacia, their services to be bid upon by appropriate persons. Until that bidding can take place, they are to be kept in the custody of Captain Brotius, who will arrange for their transfer. They may be worked sufficiently to cover the expense of their care, but should not be exhausted or underfed.”

The New Kelvinese bullies did not look happy. Knowing a little about the heat at which glass was made, Elise did not fancy that their work would be at all pleasant. She wondered how Lucho would manage with his maimed arm. From the look on his face, he was wondering this as well.

“Lucho,” the judge continued, motioning him forward. “You have already been at least somewhat punished for your role in this assault. Moreover, your testimony gave me information that I was able to use to break down the lies told by some of your former associates. Therefore, I offer you a different sentence.

“If you so choose, you may work your term here as a servant of the guard under the supervision of Captain Brotius. Understand that any further trouble from you will lead to you being given not one but two terms at a glass foundry.

“Are you interested in accepting this alternate sentence?”

“Yes, Judge Ulia,” Lucho said, stepping sideways to avoid a sharp kick from one of his former associates. “I won’t cause any trouble and I’ll work as hard as I can with this arm.”

Judge Ulia made a note, then looked up.

“Don’t use that arm as an excuse for shirking, Lucho. I pass through this area regularly and I’ll be checking on your behavior with Captain Brotius.”

Lucho nodded and, in response to her gesture, stepped back, careful to take up a stand nearer to the guards, who had now become his protectors instead of his enemies.

Judge Ulia now turned her attention on Captain Brotius.

“Captain, it has come to my notice that in your eagerness to make certain that these foreigners did not defy our law with impunity you nearly—very nearly—created an international diplomatic incident. This will go on your permanent record and will be considered in your next posting. Careful handling of the prisoner Lucho and any other foreign travelers might well mitigate any charges that you were imprudent. Do you understand me?”

“Yes, Judge Ulia.”

The look Captain Brotius turned on the Hawk Havenese when he was certain the judge’s attention was back on her notes was not at all kind.

I don’t think we’ve made a friend there,
Elise thought despairingly.

Looking up from her papers, Judge Ulia continued:

“Lord Edlin Kestrel has advised me that the dogs owned by these men are all fighting animals. It is his expert opinion, supported by local authorities, that these dogs cannot be retrained for another type of work. Since they are apparently accustomed to being set on humans, they must be destroyed lest they do injury to an innocent.”

“I say!” Edlin began, but he was silenced by a single look from the judge. No one else felt moved to protest.

Elise felt a cold twist in her belly at what this last judgment foreshadowed for Blind Seer, but she knew she must not say anything until the judge was done speaking.

“Lady Blysse Kestrel,” Judge Ulia said.

Firekeeper stepped forward and curtsied. She was wearing a gown today out of deference to the formal occasion and had, after great resistance, agreed to leave Blind Seer outside. She had only made this concession after Doc had offered to stay with Blind Seer so that no harm could come to the wolf unwitnessed.

Judge Ulia studied Firekeeper for a moment, then said:

“All the evidence says that you are innocent of anything but being somewhat beforehand in your self-defense. Since you could have disabled the man who threatened you and your pet or even screamed for help, my belief is that you overreacted.”

Firekeeper said nothing, only held her head high and fixed her gaze on the judge.

“However, I have spoken to many people and have heard from them the story of your peculiar childhood. Indeed, I had even heard some tales of you before this meeting—though I must admit I did not believe them until we met. Given your upbringing, I can see how it would be natural for you both to kill rather than disable and to value human life rather more lightly than I would like.

“Because of these circumstances, I am releasing you without penalty into the custody of your older brother, Lord Kestrel. Understand, however, that I will send a letter to be circulated to all those responsible for enforcing the law in this land. They will be told that you have been warned that killing when disabling will serve is against our law. Next time—if there is a next time—you will not get away so lightly. Do you understand?”

Firekeeper tilted her head to one side in consideration.

“I think so,” she replied, “but I will ask Derian and Elise to tell me again so I am sure.”

“Wise,” the judge said with the faintest of smiles. “However, I cannot permit your dog—or wolf, as I now realize him to be—to go free. He has shown himself more restrained than you, but clearly as fearless as any fighting dog when it comes to attacking humans. As they are to be destroyed, so he will be destroyed.”

“No,” Firekeeper stated. “He will not be.”

Judge Ulia did not look surprised either at the interruption to formal procedure or at Firekeeper’s response.

“I say he will be destroyed,” the judge replied coolly. “It is only right and harmonious. Moreover, there is none to answer for him as your brother must answer for you.”

“I answer for him,” Firekeeper growled.

Her hand drifted toward the folds of her dress and with a sudden tingle of fear Elise realized why the wolf-woman had been so willing to wear a dress. She could conceal her Fang in the folds of a skirt as she could not in trousers.