"Oh . . ." Peter let his voice trail off. He stared up at the ceiling, paused for a moment, and then recited, "'And being as it is more grave that a slave should strike a free-man, it is declared that if any slave does so, either to his master or to any other slave's master or to a free-man who does not own slaves, he shall be brought before the court under whose care he is placed, and the circumstances of the crime shall be determined by the use of at least one witness. Further, it is declared that, in order to be summoned on a charge of this crime, the slave must have done the following . . .' Skip the next part; I always used to fall asleep trying to memorize the Definition of each law, because it required me to learn the most circumlocutory clerks' language you can imagine. 'For just as it is required that the Emorian people show proper reverence toward the Chara, so also it is required that those who have been bound into slavery show proper respect toward their masters . . .'"
He caught my look and smiled. "I won't bore you with the rest of the law's Justification. It's one of Lord Carle's favorite Justifications, and I'm sure you've heard his version of it far too many times. 'This being so, the law has been used in the following Cases . . .' Switch over at this point to the Case volumes and spend an hour hunting up a dozen court cases and then memorize them. 'And so the prisoner shall be taken to his court, and witnesses shall be brought to show what happened, and it shall be the solemn duty of the judge to decide whether the striking took place with clear understanding and without provocation. . . .' Ignore the next reference; an entire law book is devoted to explaining what constitutes clear understanding and provocation for the various ranks, with subreferences explaining how acting with provocation is the opposite of acting willfully. I had those passages memorized by age seven. 'And then, if the judge has determined that the striking was done under provocation, he shall pass a sentence of mercy; and if the judge has determined that the striking was done without clear understanding, he shall pass a sentence of branding; and if the judge has determined that the striking was done willfully and with clear understanding, he shall pass a sentence of imprisonment. And being as it is more grave that a lesser free-man should strike a nobleman—'"
Peter stopped, looked over at me, and said, "Well, it goes on to the next law from there. I was required to memorize word for word the five hundred major laws, but I only had to remember the main points of the other eight thousand laws. After ten years of lessons like that, memorizing the names of a few slaves is easy by comparison."
I looked at the bowl again, then picked it up, placed it on a ledge nearby, and unfolded the cloth to place it over the top of the bowl. Peter said, "I am thinking of the right slave? The pretty Koretian one?"
"Yes."
I tried to reply in a matter-of-fact tone, but I saw Peter's eyes flick over toward me. He asked quietly, "Would I guess right if I were to assume that your conversation with Lord Carle concerned the pretty slave?"
I was silent. Peter sighed as he rose from the couch. "No wonder Lord Carle looked guilty. Here. Lie down. I'll bring you a drink – you probably need it as much as I do."
The reluctant corners of my mouth obeyed the command of his eyes, and I smiled and lay down where Peter had reclined. He came back after a minute, holding a pitcher and a single cup, and seated himself cross-legged on the floor beside me, pouring our wine.
"Does this mean that you're now the servant and I'm the Chara?" I asked as I took the cup he had sipped before handing it to me.
"I wouldn't burden even the Jackal with the sort of duties I have to undertake. Today has been the worst day I can remember in a long while. I'm actually beginning to look forward to the dangers of Koretia as a pleasant change from the dangers of this palace."
"The council was difficult?"
"The council and everyone else." Peter leaned his back against the side of the couch and stared morosely at the cup I had drunk from and then handed back to him. "I just had a four-hour discussion with my subcommander on the many nefarious campaigns he has devised to crush the Koretians. I was forced to listen carefully to all that he said, because I may need to use one of those campaigns. This morning I listened to three hours' worth of court testimony, only to finish by kissing the pendant and telling all of the people there what they already knew: that the prisoner was a council official and therefore under the care of the council, not myself, and that all I could do was to give the council judge my recommendation for the judgment and sentence."
"Will he accept the recommendation?"
"I believe so; he often does. So I suppose my morning wasn't a complete waste of time, though it felt like it. I never had a chance for a noonday meal – what was that you were eating just now?"
"Wild-berries." I laughed at Peter's expression. "There are some Daxion nuts by my bed. I'll get them."
"Stay where you are." Peter bounced up and darted into my room as though he were a light-footed goat rather than the ruler of an empire. Returning with the bowl, he seated himself where he had been before and popped a nut into his mouth.
"The council meeting was the worst, of course," he said through chews. "You heard how I had to remind the lords of my full authority before I could get them even to lower their voices."
I reached down to take a handful of nuts. "After that, I imagine there wasn't much they could say."
"You'd be surprised," said Peter dryly. "Lord Dean gave me a small lesson in logic. I felt as though I were a schoolboy again. It was offered to my attention that, firstly, the dominion governors are lords of the council. Secondly, the dominions are therefore under the care of the council. Thirdly, the Chara may therefore only interfere with the dominions when they are without governors or in wartime. And fourthly, in conclusion, as follows from the premises, propositions, and postulates, I should keep out of Koretia until war actually breaks out – at which time, of course, the law allows me to try to bring peace. In other words, my High Lord believes that I should wait until the land is half burnt before I try to extinguish the flames. I was not impressed by his logic, and said so."
"You must have succeeded in convincing him that you were right."
"Stubborn as a Chara – that's the phrase, isn't it? That characteristic comes in handy sometimes. At any rate, I managed to bend the conversation over to the subject of my travelling companions, so that the council lords ended up spending the rest of their time arguing amongst themselves over which of the lords would accompany me on the trip. To my mind, the most logical course would be for the High Lord to remain safe in Emor while I'm gone, lest anything happen to me. But Lord Dean insists on going to Koretia – I think he wants to keep his eye on me."
"I suppose that we can depend on him for pleasant conversation, at any rate."
"If pleasant conversation is what you're expecting, I must crush your hopes by telling you that the other member of our party is Lord Carle."
I reached down again to the bowl and fished among the smaller nuts. "That will be tedious for you. Didn't you have any say in the selection?"
"I could hardly refuse to bring Lord Carle. He knows more about Koretia than I do . . . and bringing him saves me the necessity of bringing a conspicuous bodyguard."
"He'll hate every minute of the trip."
"Actually, I think that he'll receive great joy from seeing all of his worst opinions about Koretia confirmed. Andrew, are you planning to touch every nut before you choose one?"
I smiled. "They are my nuts. Be grateful that I'm sharing them with you – it's not one of my duties as a palace guest."
"Mmm." Peter licked his fingers and stared straight forward, toward the window. "The question of your duties came up at the meeting, actually. Lord Dean and Lord Carle are travelling in their own identities, along with their free-servants, and I am to be plain Lord Peter once more – there are about half a dozen honorary lords of that name scattered around Emor. The council asked me what disguise I planned for you. They didn't think that 'palace guest' was enough of a title to explain your presence on the journey."
I held out the largest nut toward Peter and said easily, "If Curtis and Francis are serving Lord Carle and Lord Dean, then I'll be free-servant to you."
Peter took the nut from my hand. "Thank you. It wasn't something I could command of you, but it's in fact what I suggested to the council. Since I'm to be disguised as a mere lord, I saw no reason why you wouldn't be willing to take on a lesser rank as well. At any rate, I thought you might have a better idea than I do of what to pack for Koretia. I was going mad at noonday trying to figure out what to take."
"Are we leaving so soon?"
"We're leaving tomorrow. I can't depend on thirty council lords to keep a secret for long, and I'd prefer to reach the governor's palace before the Jackal has news of my presence in his land. I've felt obliged to send my private messenger to Lord Alan, telling him of our trip, but I'm hoping that the various threats I wrote behind the lines will inhibit him from announcing our journey."
"Then let me see what you've packed so far." I rose and walked into the Chara's sleeping chamber, leaving Peter to stay and collect the nut bowl.
He had laid a number of items out on the bed in an orderly fashion. Most of the clothes, I could see at a glance, were too heavy to wear in Koretia. I began placing to one side the items that he could not bring; in the process, I uncovered a bone-handled dagger.
I am not sure how long I stood staring at it. Presently I heard Peter say from behind my shoulder, "Lord Carle tells me that the Koretians wear their free-man's blades all of the time – not only on ceremonial occasions, but also as a form of protection. I can't bring the Sword of Vengeance, of course, so I thought that I'd take this."
I placed a breech-cloth to the side, being careful not to touch the dagger in the process. "I didn't realize you had kept it." Even to me, my voice sounded as cold as an Emorian winter.
"You said you didn't want it any more, so I kept it for myself, because it reminded me of the night I gave it to you."
I turned then. Peter was watching me with a carefully neutral expression and guarded eyes that brought back to me a shock of memory. When I was able to speak again, I said, "It isn't a night that I would want to forget either, so I'm glad that you kept the dagger."
Peter's expression eased. He reached over to the bed and said, "I suppose that I can't take the seal-ring; that would be proclaiming my title. I will take the brooch – nothing could part me from that – but I'll keep it hidden till we reach the governor's palace. Tell me, how does it feel to be returning to Koretia as an Emorian?"
"Despite my frequent assertions," I said wryly, "I don't feel very Emorian at times. If a Koretian asked me to explain the law-structure of Emor, for example, I wouldn't know what to say – and this, despite the fact that I've had the best teacher on the subject."
Peter's gaze flicked toward me and then back. Just as I never understood why he asked questions about subjects he was well versed in, so also he never asked the reasons why I made elementary enquiries. "We haven't spoken on the topic very often," he said. "The law is the last thing I want to think about when I have a free moment with you. What is it that puzzles you?"
I went over to the sleeping chamber's chest, pushed the lid open, and began pulling out his lighter tunics. "Nothing that's important. Just various things that are unclear to me about the law's division of powers between the Chara and his council. You said that the prisoner who was tried today was under the care of the council because he was a council official. But didn't you have a case recently where you yourself handed down judgment on a council official?"
"It was a more difficult case than that: I was judging one of the junior council lords who was being tried for murder. Ordinarily, the council takes care of its own, and I have no power to do anything other than offer my recommendations when the crime takes place in the palace. But if the crime is serious, then the council judge may ask me to sit in judgment on the case. If you ever want to explain Emorian law to a Koretian, you may tell him that an entire, thick law book is devoted to the three crimes punishable by the high doom, and I'm the only one who has that entire book memorized, so I'm usually the one who takes such cases. But since I and the council judge are the only ones who try prisoners for the Great Three, I don't suppose that most Koretians have even heard of the high doom."
The room was dark with night shadows. I could not see what lay at the bottom of the chest, so I stood up, took a stick from the fire that had blazed in the chamber all day, and reached over to light the oil-lamp attached to the wall. I said, without looking Peter's way, "How did you decide whether to apply the high doom in this case?"
Peter was silent for so long that I thought he would not reply. Finally he said, "In this particular case, the prisoner was placed under the high doom because he had killed an unarmed man."
The lamp had finally caught fire. I stepped back and watched to be sure that it would stay lit. Behind me, Peter said, "But perhaps that's another Emorian custom that a Koretian wouldn't understand."
"No," I said, tossing the lighted stick back into the fire. "Killing an unarmed man is considered just as serious an offense in Koretia."
I stared at the fire a moment longer. Then, feeling Peter's eyes at my back, I looked over at him silently. Peter turned away and carefully undid the sorting I had just made of his clothes. "I fear that I have led both of us into a pitch-black cave, without bothering to bring a light with me," he said. "Let us move on to another subject. How did you spend your day? Aside from listening to insults from Lord Carle, I mean."
"I spent my day doing absolutely nothing."
Peter continued to look down at the items he was aimlessly moving from one pile to another, but a smile crept up the side of his face. "That sounds glorious. Where did you do this nothing?"
I came over beside him and took a belt out of his hands. "In the council library, to begin with; hence my embarrassing appearance at your closed meeting. I must apologize to Lord Dean tonight before he takes vengeance on the porter."
"I wouldn't bother." Peter left the sorting to my hands and sat down on the bed near me, leaning back against the wall. "I was witness to the porter's own apology, which was the most eloquent piece of poetry I've heard since I had a Daxion bard up on charges of stealing a bit of butter from the palace pantry."
"You put a bard on trial for stealing butter?"
"It's hard to believe, but the law classifies that as a major crime. Any use of the Chara's goods or money for forbidden purposes is considered a crime of disobedience – though you'll be relieved to hear that I let the bard go free. As for the porter, he has nothing to worry about; Lord Dean is fully occupied with planning this trip. Where did you go after you left the meeting?"
"Out to do more nothing. I did it under a certain tree in the garden."
Peter smiled and pulled his knees up to his chest, wrapping his interlocked hands around them as he leaned further back. "I'm glad that you found a good use for my birthday present. You've no idea the trouble I had in convincing the gardener that Emor would not crumble if he planted a Koretian tree in the palace grounds."
"Is it a Koretian tree? I didn't know."
"It turned out to be less expensive to bring a sapling over the black border mountains than to buy one of Emor's few remaining trees. I hope you won't stop using it, now that you know its barbaric origin."
I didn't bother to reply, but tossed a tunic at Peter. Laughing, he prevented it from landing in his face. "If you've spent an entire afternoon doing nothing, then you must have had a particularly terrible morning. I hope that our talk in the Map Room wasn't what drove you to seek pleasure ahead of duty."
I shook my head and knelt down to pull Peter's travel pack from beneath his bed. I knew that it was there only because I had cleaned the floor around it during my time as his slave. Over ten years had passed since it was last put to use.
As I stood up, I saw that Peter was still watching me expectantly. I said, "Lord Dean saw me in the council library before the meeting. We had a talk
on marriage."
"Ah." Peter let the word drop like a heavy pebble into water. When the ripples were beginning to fade, he added, "Well, you needn't pass on to me what he said. I'm sure it's the same that was said to me at the meeting. That was what the council spent most of its time discussing: my ill-considered decision to visit a dangerous land when I have no heir. Fortunately, the lords did not insist that I beget an heir tonight, before leaving Emor."
I began to fold the tunics in the tidy manner which had never come naturally to me, but which pleased Peter. After a while, Peter said, "It seems a curious topic for Lord Dean to discuss with you. Did he say why he chose you as the messenger of his views?"
I noticed that his voice had taken on a note of quiet authority, but I ignored this and said simply, "He has asked me to mediate for him in the past."
"That isn't what I asked." He waited. When I did not reply, he said, "Andrew."
I continued to stare down at the tunics, but my hands were checked in their motions. Peter said, "Andrew, it is my duty as Chara to know what methods my council lords are using to try to influence me. Do not make me have to command you in this matter."
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