by Dan Decker
“My father protested his innocence and is among the most honorable of men. I never had a desire to make a claim, but he taught me duty and responsibility. Training me in the ways of the Radim from as early as I can remember, preparing me for the day that is at our doorstep.”
“And what day is that?” The man at the podium’s voice was raised, and his face was reddening. It appeared that Jorad was somehow frustrating the man, but he wasn’t sure of the exact cause. Was it the fact that he had mentioned his father? Or could it just be that he was a Rahid, and that was enough for the man? Abel wasn’t bothering to hide an amused smile.
Jorad thought about how he might best respond. If the Council refused to accept the word of Karn, Xarda, and the others, he had no way of proving his lineage. It was time for a different approach.
“Rarbon is steeped in tradition, the belief the Hunwei will return, and that it will be up to us to fight them. To protect not only Rarbon but the world. That is why I’m here. For no other reason than the safety of our people, have I come. The Hunwei have returned. I’ve witnessed their awful powers of destruction. They’ve taken two cities I know of and likely others we’re yet to hear about. Even the Ou Qui have already tangled with them.”
The speaker laughed, he wasn’t the only one as others throughout the audience joined. Abel sat with a considering expression, his head not moving, but his eyes scanning the crowd as if trying to judge which way the wind was blowing.
“There’s a difference between hearing,” Jorad said, “and seeing it firsthand.” He removed the head, holding it aloft for all to see. The laughter died. Here, at least, the Council members should know what the small horns on the top of the head should mean. They couldn’t have strayed so far from their roots to not know what that signified.
The gray skin had shriveled, and the orange eyes had swollen to the point that it looked as though they were in danger of popping out of the sockets. The sharp thorn-like protrusions on the top of the head were sharp and cut into Jorad’s palm as he held the Hunwei head high for everybody to see. Those closest on the podium stared with scrutinizing eyes.
Jorad didn’t give the speaker a chance to respond. “You’ve no doubt heard rumors,” Jorad cried out. “They’re true. The Hunwei have returned. Ever since my father fled with my mother’s murderers at his back, he has searched for a way to fight the Hunwei. He’d hoped to have something more to offer the people of Rarbon, but he only has me. I am Jorad Rahid, son of Adar Rahid. I make my claim to become Ghar.
“It may be the Council’s responsibility to assign me tasks but know this. Every minute that passes is one that will not be regained in our fight against the Hunwei. We have little time. Rarbon’s days are numbered.
“I ask the Council to waive the tasks and give me admittance to the Portal immediately.”
Chapter 9
Silence filled the hall as all eyes focused on him or the grotesque slimy head he held in his hand. The air seemed to take a sudden chill as silence took hold. Jorad was painfully conscious of his travel-worn clothes and wished he would have taken a moment to at least wash his face and change clothes. Karn could have found a place for him to do that before coming here.
Abel’s face was stone, but his eyes were moving everywhere as the man tried to gauge everyone’s reactions to Jorad’s words. His hands, which had previously been at his side, were now clasped in front of him, his fingers tapping against each other as he tried to decide what to do next.
None of them expected this. Jorad kept his face smooth, though he was sure Abel was pleased with what Jorad had done. His conversation with his grandfather had not gone nearly as bad as he’d expected and it even seemed Abel had come around to believing the Hunwei had returned.
Jorad turned so he could address the crowd. It took effort, but somehow, he managed to keep his hand from shaking while brandishing the head.
How had they managed to collect so many people so fast? It had been little more than two hours since he’d set foot within Rarbon. A large crowd couldn’t have been gathered so quickly, they must have already been convened. He felt a fool for not realizing it immediately.
“The Hunwei have returned,” he said, raising his voice. The place was so vast he doubted those from halfway back and beyond could hear him. “I’ve fought them.” He waved the head around. “I’ve killed them.” He almost went a step further and said that Adar had been by his side during all of this, but he refrained, knowing that while his father might have a strain of popularity, it might not be the majority or even a significant minority. The fact of the matter was that other than being Jorad’s father, making him heir to become Ghar, Adar had no other relevance here tonight.
The thought made him unhappy, but he pushed it away. This moment of revelation was only possible because of Adar. The people of Rarbon would give Jorad the credit, but it if hadn’t been for Adar, none of this would have happened.
“The long-awaited day of their return is upon us. I come to call the people of Rarbon to my side. Who will heed the call?”
Silence once again filled the vast chamber. As Jorad considered the faces of those surrounding him, he realized there were only men and women in the crowd. No children.
What kind of meeting was this supposed to be originally?
As the silence hung in the air, either all confused about what he was doing or seething with anger like the speaker, he couldn’t tell.
“Would you like to see?” Jorad asked, motioning with the head to those on the platform. There looked to be more than thirty people on the council. While he waited to see what they would do, he glanced at Abel who looked as calm as a still pond, without even a waterskipper moving across the top.
They locked eyes. Abel smiled, his lips barely moving. Whatever Abel had planned before Jorad had returned, the man had shifted to accommodate his arrival. He wasn’t certain what made him think that, but didn’t doubt his assessment.
If I turn up with a knife in my back, he thought, the odds are good Abel’s behind it.
The speaker at the podium found his voice. “Not only do you claim to be Jorad Rahid, but you also claim the Hunwei are upon us and that we should dispense with all the traditions that have protected our people for hundreds of years.” His voice was thick with anger. “Are there any here with proof that this man is who he claims to be?”
A murmur swept the crowd. Jorad looked at Karn who gave him a short nod of the head but made no other move than that.
Jorad kept the surprise from his face. Why wasn’t Karn coming forward? Sweat formed on the side of his head as he tried to avoid looking at the crowd, wondering if Xarda or Leron might have come. Surely, despite the speaker’s words before, the Council would at least consider the words of a Radim soldier. If Karn wasn’t going to say anything than Jorad would be left flapping in the wind.
More likely hanging from a noose. Wonder what they do to people they consider imposters? As the seconds passed and Jorad waited, he realized Abel had a small thin smile on his face. It gave Jorad pause. He’s figured out how to use me.
Jorad looked again at Karn, sensing that if Karn didn’t speak up now that Abel was going to put him in a bad position.
“I’ll speak for him,” Abel said, stepping forward but not approaching the speaker at the podium. This appeared to be intentional as if to communicate that he didn’t need the podium to make use of his power.
Abel had been the last person Jorad would have expected. He would have preferred Karn.
Had Karn waited for Abel to speak first?
Subtle things were happening here, of which he knew nothing. That bothered him.
Had Karn misrepresented what side he was on? Had he been playing Adar this whole time? Jorad thought of Karn’s story about what had happened back in Zecarani, and he kept his hand from curling into a fist. He hoped to keep his irritation from showing on his face but wasn’t sure if he succeeded.
“I summoned Jorad. Tere finally tracked down Adar, and while he failed to
return with Adar or carry out the death order, he did convince Jorad to return.” He paused and held up his arms. “And I’m afraid the boy speaks the truth. The Hunwei have indeed returned. He returns in our greatest hour of need.”
Jorad was speechless. I should have expected this, he realized. Tere had had plenty of time to catch up with Abel, to fill him in on what had happened. Abel had probably hatched this plan from the very beginning. This was why Abel hadn’t been as hostile as Jorad had expected.
Abel was good at politics, and Jorad didn’t doubt that trusting the man would be a mistake. Was it wise to refuse the man’s help when it was offered? The Hunwei were a big enough problem that all other conflicts should be subjected to dealing with the Hunwei. Had Abel been convinced by the decapitated Hunwei head?
If so, he was the first.
Was Abel a threat? An enemy?
“At my urging,” Abel continued, “Jorad came to claim what is rightfully his.” Abel’s gaze could have frozen water. It cut through to Jorad’s heart.
Wetting his lips, Jorad kept his frustration from his face. That would have been a mistake on many different levels. He hadn’t known how he was going to make his way forward, and the obstacle that had seemed insurmountable several moments before was no longer an issue. He would take it, though not without reservation.
Abel had spoken for him, and while that was going to bring complications of its own, it did mean there was no doubt about Jorad’s heritage.
The speaker cleared his throat. “Now that is out of the way, we can hear from Jorad Rahid.” He looked disappointed, maybe even a little surprised, but he went along with it.
Abel looked at Jorad expectantly, along with the rest of those on the platform. The speaker’s eyes narrowed. His request to enter the Portal without first passing through the trials had been ignored. It was clear what they wanted him to do.
“I have come to make my claim.”
Silence filled the arena. It stretched out. Jorad had thought of this moment many times, but the possibility of his announcement being met with silence was something that had never once occurred to him.
Was this customary? Had he said the wrong words?
It started from somewhere in the back, so imperceptible he didn’t notice at first. Then it slowly grew, in a way that made Jorad think that those who joined in did so reluctantly, with reservation.
Before long he could plainly recognize what it was, more by their movements than the sound. The people were stomping. As he stared out into the crowd, he could read the conflict on many of their faces.
It hadn’t been his imagination, they were hesitant to join.
He would have thought that showing up with proof of the Hunwei’s return would have scared most of them, but they did not look afraid.
Abel gave a small nod of his head to Jorad, and the look on his face couldn’t have communicated the sentiment more clearly. You have no idea what you just walked into.
Chapter 10
Once the stomping had reached its loudest, the speaker waved his hands, and the audience stopped. The sudden silence stood in stark contrast to the noise from a moment before. There was no murmuring or whispering. Come to think of it, during the stomping Jorad had not heard a single voice.
“This is highly irregular, Rahar Rahid,” said the man at the podium. “Never has one made a claim and not spent years in the service of the Radim armies.”
Abel opened his mouth, but Jorad got there first, determined to take control of the situation. “These are uncertain times. My father administered the Radim oaths to me as a boy at the requisite ages, with witnesses that could be produced if desired, but it would take months if not longer to procure them all.” This did cause the furor Jorad had expected from the beginning. Yelling and shouts filled the vast chamber. After it had settled down, he spoke again. “My father may have had a death order on his head but was he ever formally removed from his position as a Radim soldier? Even if he was, I believed I was taking the oaths and have always acted accordingly. Since my eleventh year, I have been in the service to the Radim armies, though no one in Rarbon knew it.”
Jorad kept his eyes on the man at the podium, refusing to look at the crowd. He’d just given them a lot to consider. When Adar had administered the first oath on his eleventh name day, it had been before an old man who’d shortly died thereafter. On the thirteenth, a blind woman. And on the seventeenth, a man who was barely of legal age. It was a bluff that witnesses could be called but that had seemed the proper thing to say. Surely, they wouldn’t insist on doing so.
It had galled Jorad each time his father had insisted on the oaths, but rather fight it, he’d decided it was easier to go along with it. The oaths had never changed anything for him anyway, Adar had always treated the two of them as a two-man army. Adar had always lived as if he were still a Radim General. It had been Jorad’s way of life for as long as he could remember.
“Oh, but he was.” The man frowned. “Adar Rahid was stricken of his titles as soon as it was discovered he murdered his wife, this is well known. Whether he was officially removed from the rolls of the Radim Armies is not relevant. It was known he’d been banished. His removal was implied, if nothing else.”
“A Radim member can commission other Radim if circumstances warrant. My father never wavered in service, though in exile. He lived by the oaths better than most who never left.” Jorad could not stop himself. “And my father did not kill his wife.”
Abel stirred in the chair that he’d retaken during the stomping, but Jorad kept his eyes steady on the man at the podium. It was probably not the wisest move, but considering that he was basing everything else on Adar, he figured he should dispute the charges that had led to the death order.
“You think to mock our process? Our people? That is what you’re doing, boy.”
Jorad opened his mouth, but Abel was once again on his feet, this time he didn’t walk forward, forcing the speaker to look back at him. It was a power play, pure and simple.
“I renew my dispute of the Council’s removal of Adar’s titles. He was never tried. It was a unilateral action taken by the Council without consulting me. Adar is no murderer. He would never have sent his son back if he wasn’t loyal to Rarbon.”
It took every bit of effort on Jorad’s part to keep his face smooth. If only Adar could hear this. Would he be able to tell if these words were genuine? Was Tere in the audience? What did he think? The man had given up more than a decade of his life to the cause of hunting down Adar. At Abel’s orders.
While Jorad had been able to control his emotions, the man at the podium could not. His nostrils flared as he balled a hand into a fist. Something significant had happened, and Jorad wasn’t so sure he knew what it was.
“It is your intent to dispute the Council’s declaration. After more than fifteen years?”
“It wasn’t relevant because Adar was gone,” Abel said.
“Look at what’s in front of you, Drake. The Hunwei have returned and against all odds I’ve been able to procure a way into the Rarbon Portal. Instead of disputing my grandson’s origins and commitment, you should assign him an army and get things moving. Time is short, and we dally about non-important issues.” He looked Drake square in the eyes. “Unless you doubt my word. I can present at least five witnesses who will vouch for the boy’s lineage, that’s two more than required.”
Drake didn’t answer for several long seconds, looking from Jorad to Abel and then finally at the crowd. He didn’t look over his shoulder at those who were behind him, but it was plain by his actions that he hadn’t forgotten they were there.
“We’ll have to vote on this, once we’ve heard from all interested parties.”
Abel folded his arms. “There is no time. I move for an emergency vote. Now.”
Drake hesitated, as if considering whether to argue against it. “So be it.” A man came from the back of the Rarbon Council seats, and Drake turned over the podium to him.
“The quest
ion is posed: shall the purported Jorad Rahid be recognized as the son of Adar Rahid, grandson of Abel Rahid? Voting shall be in the usual manner. As I call out your name, say aye or nay.”
Karn leaned towards Jorad. “This is going to take a while.”
“Why?” Jorad demanded. “Why did he vouch for me, while you sat idly by?”
A smile crept across Karn’s face. “I thought he might. He thinks to turn this to his advantage—and perhaps he might, he’s very cunning, never forget that—but could we afford to waste weeks, maybe even months just fighting about your parentage?” He shook his head. “Would have been a waste. This was far more efficient.”
Jorad growled under his breath. “You could have told me your plan beforehand.”
“I didn’t think of it until we were in the moment. He just got you past the worst obstacle to making your claim. Everything else is now just a detail.”
Just a detail? That was an understatement. The trials would not be easy. He had hoped they might consider skipping the tests altogether, but had known it was vain.
The vote came in, twenty-five for, fourteen against. Jorad might have felt a sense of relief if it wouldn’t have been for the way Abel didn’t bother to hide his happiness with the result.
The foreman cleared his throat. “The question is posed: shall the Council accept Jorad Rahid’s claim to become Ghar?”
The vote went faster, and the result was twenty-three for, sixteen against.
“The question is posed: shall—”
“If I may,” Abel waved his hand, cutting off the foreman. “I propose Jorad be given command of an army but only after proper administration of the oaths following his acceptance of punishment for impersonating a Radim soldier. The typical punishment is death, but the sin is on the head of his father. I recommend twenty lashes. This puts to rest the issue of whether my son was still a member of the Radim and forges a new path forward for Jorad. Let his ignorance be answered upon the head of his father, but let him pay a token for his part.”