Striking Chains

by Kris Schnee

  He walked out of the city of Temple Island proper and left the noise and smell behind. As he walked the long stone path uphill he kept the ice in his cupped fingers and willed it to stay cold. He sensed there was a pattern to it, kept orderly by his power alone.

  He got as close to the hilltop as he'd ever come before -- a simple terrace overlooking the city -- and went on. The High Temple was a fortress of simple design, with thick square walls of smooth stone and a flag at each corner. Holding the ice, Dominic bowed at the open doors as he'd been taught, walked through a winding hallway, and emerged in the courtyard.

  There, he faced the heart of the realm. A watery blue-green crystal hovered at the center of a simple garden. It towered over him, like one of the Nether's lights but far outshining them. The courtyard walls were angled slightly upward to help it glow at night over the city. Just as he'd learned, there was writing on the surface of the gem, slowly moving around like thoughts in a dream. These were simple commands, tasks that needed doing, with a number for the bounty on each. Simple, logical, efficient. The day-to-day inspection duties weren't here; keeping track of those was a task for mortals.

  This gem was the Boundless One, inhuman guardian of the State. He kept His mind on truly important matters. His physical presence didn't even need a merely human body.

  Dominic placed the ice into a waiting brazier, then crouched on the bare earth and tapped his head three times against the ground. Only then did he stand again.

  A Servant with gnarled, wrinkled hands attended it, faithfully copying the words and sidestepping when it was necessary to read the longer parts. Dominic watched him for a while. After each statement was copied he read it aloud and spoke a ritual phrase, and the text vanished from the gem with a chime of acknowledgment.

  The Servant said, "Task completed: moral survey of District Two. Bounty paid." He spoke another brief prayer, and the crystal chimed. Then the man turned toward Dominic. "May I help you?"

  "The One won't speak to me directly, will He?"

  "I'm afraid not."

  Dominic nodded; he was only a small part of the larger hive. "I'm leaving for my first mission abroad."

  "Ah; good luck. The One will await your success." He turned to the crystal and repeated, "A young Servant goes abroad!" The One chimed in response.

  As he was allowed to do, Dominic stood for a little while, watching the One glitter in the sunlight. The crystal had no passion, no bluster and intimidation, only judgment and reason. Clarity. Guidance. Dominic stepped backward and bowed in respect, then left to begin his work in the One's name.

  5. Mission Of Inspection

  Dominic and Ben set out for the docks, had an unpleasant but short sail to the north, then requisitioned horses. They set out with their limited riding skill to head east.

  Dominic's cheeks burned under his mask, as he entered a village to do his job. It was embarrassing to show up with no knowledge of this place and no real preparation beyond lectures and books. But the Bound paused in their work to watch him and Ben; he needed to try to look competent.

  The Servants rode up to the Citizens' manor, a simple two-story wooden home with some outbuildings for production of shoes, tools and bread. The Citizen family here peeked out from a window, then kept the Servants waiting for a few minutes as Dominic had been told to expect. The Servants began to brush their three horses down while they waited. At last the Citizens came outside to formally "request" the inspection.

  Ben took the lead and began the usual little prayer. When the formality was over, the old man who was most in charge here said, "New trainees? I don't often see two at once."

  "Yes, sir," Ben admitted. "Is there anything you need?"

  "Iron, mainly. We're training a new smith ourselves."

  Dominic nodded and made a mental note of it. Feeling a little wary for some reason, he asked, "May we see?"

  "Of course."

  When Dominic got to see the village's smithy and the apprentice who shyly waved to the outsiders, he felt relieved and only then realized why. He'd once heard a story of some villages that tried to hoard metal from their mine, to make weapons in secret. He asked a few polite questions, and then there was talk of some Bound who needed healing.

  Ben was in his element now, efficiently tending to them with some supplies from Temple Island and his own magic. Dominic watched him at work, admiring his skill. There was more to the process than casting a spell, since it helped to understand what was wrong.

  Dominic said, "My knowledge stops at about the level of, 'the blood goes on the inside'."

  Ben chuckled, drawing a confused look from the patients and their families.

  * * *

  "That went well," said Ben. He was writing down their inspection notes for later. "No profit in it, but that was a good lunch."

  They rode on, camping in the wild. Late the next morning they came to the next town, this one right along the coast. The waves fascinated Dominic as he rode between the fish-drying racks and the shore.

  The Citizen who greeted them said, "Another visit so soon? We're fine, really. Nothing to report, Servants."

  A trio of young Bound came running up from a fishing boat they'd just beached. "Servants! We need you."

  Dominic raised one eyebrow, but the expression was lost on everyone. "What is it?"

  "Our friend got wrongly punished by our master. We need you to set him loose."

  Ben said, "You're challenging a decision from your owner?"

  "Yes, sir."

  The Citizen scowled and said, "We can handle this ourselves."

  Ben looked to Dominic, who said, "We've just had a formal request. We'll need to investigate. Who is involved?"

  The three tripped over each other, verbally, trying to spin a tale. A Bound woman had vanished, and one of the Bound had been accused and was even now scheduled to be hanged, when really it was probably the Citizen's own son who killed her.

  Dominic listened, glad to be showing no expression. He turned at last to the Citizen, whose face had grown redder and angrier by the minute. "May I assist you in clearing up this dispute?" He didn't bother to add that the Citizen had already breached protocol by trying to brush off the investigation.

  The Citizen said, "I've already lost one of my people. We never found her body; young Durer was clever in hiding it. I'll need someone to send me a replacement or two at the next opportunity, and to record the execution."

  "That's a lie!" said one of the peasants. "It was his own son that did it!"

  The Citizen raised his hand and seized the Bound's shirt by magic, yanking him off his feet so he tripped in the dirt. "Enough from you!"

  Ben said, "Citizen, that was uncalled for. We've been asked to --"

  "To second-guess the man who knows this village and whose family has done nothing wrong. I can't go a month without some masked man inquiring and inspecting, and now two of you show up just when I'm in the middle of resolving my problems for myself. And you're probably here for practice."

  Dominic said, "'Resolving your problems?' That's your term for a hanging, when the prisoner's guilt has been called into question?" He tried to sound amused, but really he was trying not to tremble. He sensed there was more to this problem than the murder itself. A real Servant who knew what he was doing should've been the one to handle this!

  Ben added, "We must meet the accused. If you will please lead us to him?"

  The Citizen scowled, walked away, and beckoned with one hand for them to follow. They went to a shed where a miserable-looking young man had been tied up.

  The man tried to speak and only croaked. Ben said, "Water?" and he nodded forcefully. Ben turned to the Citizen and said, "If you would be so kind...?"

  One long drink later, the captive said, "I don't know where she is. I bet it's Huygen's fault!"

  Without even looking, Dominic held out one arm to block the Citizen from charging at his peasant. "And this Huygen is your master's son? Why do you suspect him?"

  The father s
aid, "If this is a formal dispute, then I'll go to Temple Island to handle it."

  The prisoner gave him a hateful look. "Servants, his kid can't do magic. Maybe that's why --"

  The father reddened. "Enough from you. Huygen's skill has nothing to do with you killing my property."

  What a mess! Dominic sweated. "Servant Ben, shall we consult in private?"

  "Y-yes," said Ben, backing away from the shed.

  Once they were out of earshot, Dominic spoke quietly. "The Citizen's son looks like he's at least fifteen. If he's magic-less, he needs to be reassigned as a Bound. Standard procedure."

  Ben said, "Why'd they have to bring that up? I've never reassigned anyone. Or solved a murder. Let's just haul the accused Bound off to the capital for judgment."

  That sounded reasonable. "But we do need to see the village's records. If he's really fifteen, then we have another job to do."

  Ben said, "If I were that Citizen, I'd be correcting the books right now if I hadn't already done it. The kid will be fourteen today and fourteen next year."

  Dominic stared at Ben. "You're suggesting they'll fake his documents? Just to keep a Citizen's son from being 'raised' to Bound status and assigned a master?"

  Ben shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised. We should demand to see the records right now."

  It seemed impossible that someone would try to break the caste system by avoiding their son's assignment to the proper caste. Fakery would only delay the inevitable anyway, and hurt the State. What good was a Citizen who couldn't be trusted, who showed favoritism to his family? Dominic scowled. "Then we seize the murder suspect and his owner for transport, and check both the records and the boy's magic ability so as to get him properly assigned. Agreed?"

  Ben hesitated, then nodded.

  They walked together back toward the Citizen family's mansion. The head Citizen's wife stood at the door; the husband wasn't in sight. "Your record books, please," said Ben. "And bring out your son for magic testing."

  The branded woman said, "Of course. Just a minute. Can I get you a drink while you wait?"

  Dominic began to feel sick; a chain of events was already appearing in his imagination. He pushed past her to the front door. "Where is he right now?"

  She objected, but Ben forced his way past her too. The manor house wasn't a place of hoarded jewels; in fact it was clearly a workplace. It was sturdily built and using its many rooms for storage and production, as was proper. The subject matter of the staircase painting was one of the approved subjects, a stylized naval battle. All seemed to be in order.

  But a door barred the way to an upper-floor room, and when Dominic tried the handle (locked) the lady of the house objected. Belatedly he looked into the Weave and dimly sensed someone moving behind the door.

  Ben said, "If you please, open this door."

  "In a moment," the wife said from behind them.

  Dominic felt his mouth set in a hard line. You fool! he wanted to shout. He rapped on the wood twice. "I won't knock a third time," he said, and readied a spell.

  The door swung inward. The Citizen stood there, thrusting a book toward the Servants. "Here! Our records."

  Ben took it. "Citizen, why bother? If the boy shows magic talent later, he can be reassigned and branded after all. My companion and I were both discovered later than most, ourselves."

  "Nothing is wrong, Servants. If my Bound dispute my punishment decision, let's deal with that and head to the capital. That's the problem at hand. But if you need to see the record of my lost Bound to make that decision, go ahead."

  They took the logbook downstairs and opened it on the dining table. It held a record of everyone in the village, recording births, deaths, marriages, known associates, transfers, major merits and punishments -- the things that leaders needed to know. Under the watchful eyes of the Citizen husband and wife, Dominic flipped to the youth section. Then he sighed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment.

  He said, "Your son's page is freshly copied and inserted. It has the fuzziness of the Scribe's Aid spell, though I'll admit this is an unusually good copy. Do you have experience at hastily copying and editing other official documents?"

  Ben looked at the man, not bothering to question Dominic's assessment. "You really thought you could fool us, sir?"

  The Citizen was red-faced like a guilty child. "There's nothing wrong here. My Huygen will get his power soon, and everything will be fine. He'll join the navy like his parents and grandparents."

  Dominic tried to keep his voice calm, though he wanted to throttle the man. "That's all this is about? You want the boy to be a sailor, and that justifies forgery?"

  "I... I didn't..."

  The wife said, "Stop this! Servants, we don't need you here! We'll solve our own problems. Give us time. Why did you have to show up so soon after the last visit?"

  Dominic spun to face her. "What does the murder have to do with this matter of your son? Did he kill her?"

  "No! It must have been that filthy Bound boy!"

  "He didn't look dirty to me, beyond what's expected from being locked in a shed. Do you see all of the Bound that way? Because your duty as a Citizen is to serve their kind with respect and honor, as we serve your kind."

  A newcomer stamped his way up the stairs, calling, "Wait!" in a thin, wheezing voice. The boy was the spitting image of his parents, out of breath and reaching out as though casting a spell at the intruding Servants. Dominic saw no Weave activity from him at all.

  Ben snatched up the record book by magic and made it float beside him. "Boy -- Huygen, right? -- how old are you, really?"

  "F-fourteen, Servant."

  "Of course. What's wrong with becoming Bound and being assigned to a good master?"

  "I want to sail the sea, like my family. I want to fight griffins and sea monsters and rig the sails and raid the coasts. Not to live in some coastal town and watch ships go by without me. Can't I do that? I don't need a spell to haul ropes or scrub decks."

  Ben said, "That's not our decision. Can you cast any spells at all yet? If your family has the talent, then you probably do too. Dominic, do you have the test on you?"

  Dominic now felt it would be best to resolve the other problems here before dealing with the boy, but he trusted Ben's judgment. He reached into his robe and handed over a folded paper. "You don't need to cast anything today; that takes practice. Just tell us what's drawn on this page."

  The paper had a design of six hexagons drawn in a type of magical ink, invisible yet standing out to anyone who could see the Weave. The ink was diluted so that it also served as a gauge of sensitivity. (Servant Jasper's testing cube was the same thing in another form.) Even a rating of one counted as magic talent from an untrained person. A five would definitely get attention in the capital. Dominic himself could barely see the fourth mark out of six, after formal training.

  Huygen stared at the page. "I..."

  Ben coaxed him. "Unfocus your eyes. Try paying attention to my voice and barely even seeing. For comparison, here, look at this, but not closely." He held out one hand and made sparks of green light dance along his fingertips, which made the logbook stir in midair.

  The boy paled. "Is it... the triple-triangle mark?"

  "No. Try again. This side of the page should be easiest to see."

  Dominic waited, then murmured, "Ben, he can't."

  "Give him a moment, damn it!"

  Dominic backed off, surprised. But after another minute the boy shook his head, shedding tears and saying, "I don't know! Why can't I see it!"

  Dominic said, "Many people can't. There's no shame in this. We'll take you away to a good village where you can live a comfortable life."

  The mother said, "Why can't you leave us alone!"

  Ben shuddered, and clutched the book to his chest. He passed the paper test back to Dominic and said to the wife, "Citizen, we Servants have a job to do. It's best if you take yourself and your son somewhere out of sight while we get it done."

  Dominic underst
ood, and was unsurprised. The penalty for forgery was death, and it was the sort of crime Servants were empowered and expected to handle immediately. That Citizen fool!

  The wife lurched toward Ben and Dominic. Ben shook his head and spoke gently. "Please don't doom yourself too. The village looks well-run."

  She gave a cry of pain and terror, and fled into a bedroom. The boy ran after her, and the door shut. That left the Servants facing the guilty father.

  Dominic finally noticed that three of the Bound were peeking upstairs. He'd have dismissed them, but it wasn't his place to order their kind around. Indeed, executions were supposed to be public. "Outside, everyone. That includes you, Citizen, if you would be so kind."

  The man said, "Do you have children, Servant?"

  "No," said Dominic.

  "I didn't think so."

  Ben said, "Sir, you know what has to happen now. Would you like to tell us about the murder?"

  "I really don't know for certain." The Citizen seemed to deflate as the Servants coaxed him out the front door. "I think she and that Bound boy were lovers, and he killed her. It's the only explanation that makes sense, and he was accusing my boy. My Huygen would never hurt anyone."

  "But he wants to fight on a ship?"

  "That's war, against foreigners. That's different."

  "Fair enough." Dominic kept him talking until they were outside, with a crowd of Bound farmers and craftsmen pausing to see the spectacle. None looked happy. There was an old man in Citizen clothing too, part of the same family.

  Ben leaned close to Dominic. "Will you do it, or should I?"

  Dominic thought of his friend's experience in killing. It'd been an aberration for him, an interruption from learning to heal. "I'll do it. They haven't made me do one yet and I should learn."

  Dominic tied the man's hands behind his back. Ben gave the usual formal speech and prayer, calling the Citizen out for having forged a document and disrupted the process of caste assignment. Damaging the health of the State. "Do you have anything to say for yourself, Citizen?"