Elkan sighed. “A repeat offense of this sort, after mind-healing has already been tried and failed… He would be put to death, Josiah.”
“Oh.” Josiah had heard of people being executed back in Korisan, once or twice that he could remember. The last time had been at least five or six years earlier. He tried to recall the details. The woman had poisoned her husband and the rival she suspected of stealing his affections. It had been a huge scandal at the time, though he hadn’t cared much, young as he was. But she had been executed in the end.
Wait. Hadn’t it been a wizard…
He sat straight up. “Would you have to—”
“Yes.” Elkan’s voice was curt. “Now go to sleep.”
Josiah lay back down and pulled the blankets over him, snuggling into Tobi’s warm back. But it was a long time before he was able to fall asleep.
* * *
In spite of the urgency of the impending judgment, with Hyrna’s agreement Elkan stuck to his normal routine. He and Sar spent two days doing healings and led the service on Restday before turning at last to Nedon’s case.
Josiah wanted to attend the trial, but Elkan refused. “I said no, Josiah. If the accusations are true, a window will show what he did. We’ll have to bear witness to it in full detail, so there’s no doubt of his guilt. Bad enough the adults have to see that. There’s no way I’d let you be there.”
“But you think he’s innocent, don’t you?” Josiah ran after Elkan as he headed toward the Mother’s Hall. “Everybody says Master Ziel and Master Kivid would never have let Tafian anywhere near Nedon after what happened with Baira, so they must have gotten her to lie.” Gossip about the upcoming trial had been thick and heavy; they could hardly escape the constant talk whenever people gathered. By this time, both Josiah and Elkan were thoroughly familiar with the details of the dispute. “I heard she giggled when she told Master Hyrna about it. She wouldn’t have done that if it were real, would she?”
Elkan stopped and faced Josiah. “Thank the Mother, it doesn’t matter what I think. And I would find it only slightly less disturbing to watch parents induce a child to lie about such abuse than to watch the abuse itself. Now go.” He pointed relentlessly back to Hyrna’s house.
Josiah sulked back towards the house. Sazan and Heo waited for him there. The two apprentices were near his own age. They’d sought him out Josiah’s first day in Jianolan, eager to meet the newcomer and hear tales of his travels—Josiah’s account of his capture by bandits and midnight escape had particularly impressed them. The three of them had spent much of the previous afternoon roaming around town and down by the docks.
“No luck, huh?” Sazan asked.
“No.” Josiah kicked at the dirt. “I should’ve known he wouldn’t let me.”
“Oh, well. At least we’ve got the day off.” At Josiah’s inquiring look, he explained, “My master’s on the town council. She said I could have a free day while she’s busy with the trial. And Heo…” He shot a worried look at his friend.
“My father’s my master. Both my parents are attending the trial. They want to know what happens to him. Because last time, Karit, my little sister, was one of the girls he… you know.”
“Oh.” Josiah wasn’t sure what to say. “Is she all right? I mean…”
“Yeah, she’s fine. I mean, she used to have nightmares and stuff, but she spent a long time with Master Hadara when she was here, and she’s been a lot better since.”
“That’s good.” Josiah changed the subject. “Hey, Tobi really likes the beach; you want to take her down there and let her run around?”
They spent a couple hours on the beach, returning to town in time for the midday meal. When they got back, the streets were abuzz with news.
“What happened?” Sazan called to a journeyman he knew.
“Trial’s over. He really did it, can you believe it? The execution’s going to be this afternoon.”
“Oh.” Josiah gulped. He’d hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He had a hard time believing Elkan would really be able to…
“Good.” The look on Heo’s face was ugly. “That monster deserves to die. They told me he only did it because he was sick, but I never believed it.”
“Yeah, but…” Sazan was pale. “To kill him…”
“At least he won’t be able to hurt anyone else like he did Karit,” Heo said savagely. “Hey, Josiah.” He hesitated. “I want to see it. Do you think you could persuade the wizard to let me?”
“No way.” Josiah was positive. “I mean, if he didn’t even let me go to the trial, he’ll never let me go with him to that, let alone bring anyone else.” He was pretty sure he was glad. He had no real desire to witness the execution, apart from morbid curiosity. He wasn’t going to admit that in front of Sazan and Heo, though.
“Hmm.” Heo’s face was set in determination. “They’ll do it in the Mother’s Hall, you think?”
“I guess.” Josiah shrugged.
Heo nodded. “As soon as you’re done eating, meet me outside the Hall. It’s got an attic; I used to poke around up there after Restday services. Nobody will know we’re there.
Sazan looked uncomfortable, but was unwilling to desert his friend. “All right. But if we get caught, we’re going to be in big trouble.”
“We won’t get caught. You in, Josiah?” Heo looked at him challengingly.
Josiah didn’t want to look like a coward. “Yeah. I’m in.” They wouldn’t be able to actually see anything, after all, from up in the attic.
The meal was dismal. Elkan and Hyrna were grimly quiet. Elkan picked at his food, then excused himself and disappeared into the yard carrying Sar’s brush. Josiah couldn’t eat much either, though he hated to waste the good meal Hyrna’s husband Gazos had prepared.
“Go on, boy,” Gazos told him, after he caught Josiah staring at his plate unseeing. “None of us are very hungry. Maybe tonight, once we get it over with.”
Josiah nodded and thanked him. He headed for the stairs. Tobi blinked sleepily at him from in front of the fire, then closed her eyes again. Good. It would be much easier to stay hidden without her.
Heo and Sazan waited outside the Mother’s Hall. It was deserted; they were able to slip inside with no problem. A door in the back opened to a tiny closet with a narrow ladder leading to a trapdoor in the ceiling.
Heo led the way, Sazan close behind. Josiah climbed up after them. The hinges of the trapdoor squealed as Heo pushed it open, and they all froze. After a few moments of silence, Heo shrugged and clambered into the attic. Sazan and Josiah followed. The peak of the roof gave barely enough room to stand in the center. Dusty boxes and baskets were piled about, along with a broken chairs and a rickety table on its side. Sazan eased the door down. The hinges gave a longer but much quieter sigh as it closed.
The boards of the floor creaked beneath Josiah’s feet. Heo dropped to his knees, pointing. A knothole in one of the boards had lost its center, providing a good peephole. Heo sprawled on his stomach and applied his eye to the hole.
Sazan and Josiah hunted for similar vantage points. Sazan found another knothole; Josiah found a spot where a warped board had separated from its neighbor, leaving a long narrow gap. He peered through. It gave him a view of the whole downstairs room.
After an interminably long wait, during which Josiah fought to keep boredom from overwhelming him and wondered a thousand times why he was even there, people began to arrive. First a few council members came in and rearranged the chairs. They carried in a low table and set it up near the back of the hall, an arc of chairs around it, the rest arranged in rows. Shortly after they finished, people trickled in a few at a time, seating themselves. There was little conversation; everyone was very solemn and grim.
The council members filed in and took their places in the chairs ringing the table. Elkan entered, stern and dignified in his wizard’s cloak, his hand on Sar’s back as the donkey paced beside him. Josiah stifled a nervous impulse to laugh at the view of the top of Elkan’s hea
d as the wizard passed beneath him.
When everyone was in place Hyrna nodded at the door, and three watchers escorted the condemned man in. Josiah was taken aback to see a slight, balding, mild looking man, not at all the threatening figure he’d expected. The watchers allowed him to stop and exchange embraces with a frail elderly couple who rose from seats near the door. Josiah gathered from the murmurs that made it up to his vantage point that these were Nedon’s parents. They were both weeping. They sat back down, and the watchers led Nedon to the front of the room. He perched on the edge of his chair, pale but composed.
Hyrna rose. “Master Nedon Tailorkin Tailor, you have been shown to be guilty of sexual assault on Tafian Fisherkin. You have previously been shown to have assaulted seven other children. You have submitted to the Mother’s power for healing, to relieve you of the compulsion to commit these acts, but have continued to commit them nevertheless. This council has concluded you are unable, and will always remain unable, to control your actions in this regard, and thus, in order to protect the children of this community, your life should be given over to the Mother. Does anyone present have any objection to this decision?
A very long moment of silence settled over the room. No one moved or spoke. Hyrna nodded. “This matter is concluded. The council gives this man to the custody of the Mother’s representative.” She sat down.
Elkan rose. Josiah could see how tightly his fingers were wound in Sar’s mane. “In the Mother’s name, I take custody of this man. Nedon, do you have any final words?”
Nedon looked pale and scared. His eyes roved frantically over the assembled witnesses. Everyone stared back blankly, except his parents, who were huddled together, heads bent. He looked at a couple in the first row. They gripped each other’s hands and glared at him. “I’m… I’m sorry.” He extended a hand toward them, then let it drop. Josiah could see the man bite his lip, but the woman’s expression didn’t change, and neither of them made any motion to acknowledge Nedon’s words. Nedon grew even paler, but went along, unresisting, as a watcher led him to the table. He hoisted himself up, gulped, and lay down.
Elkan extended his hand to hover over the man’s chest. It stayed there, rock steady, but the knuckles on Elkan’s other hand were white as he clutched Sar’s mane. His voice was calm, assured, but so quiet Josiah had to strain to hear him. “I act not by any will of my own, but only as a channel for the power of the Mother.”
Elkan shifted his hand to lay flat against Sar’s neck and closed his eyes. Golden light spilled from his palm and swept over Nedon’s body. For a moment Nedon stiffened, but as the light washed over his face he relaxed. His body went limp and very still.
Josiah had half intended to look away when it came to the actual moment, but he couldn’t move. His eyes locked in horrified fascination on the glowing, sparkling cloud with death at its heart. A part of his mind wondered, analytically detached, how Elkan had done it. From what he knew of the wizard’s abilities, it seemed likely he’d simply slowed the man’s heart to a stop.
The light faded. For a few long moments no one moved. Then, gradually, the room began to stir. Elkan stepped back and sank into his chair. The watchers came forward and carried the table that bore the dead body out of the room. As they passed the last row of seats, Nedon’s parents rose and followed them out the door, supporting each other. One by one, the other witnesses departed.
The members of the town council made their way out. Several of them stopped to lay a hand on Elkan’s shoulder and murmur a word of thanks or comfort. Elkan slumped, his elbow propped on the arm of his chair and his face in his hand, but he made a small acknowledging sound or motion for each of them. Hyrna spoke to him for a moment, too softly for Josiah to hear. Elkan sat up and clasped her hand, but after she left he sank back, rubbing his temples and forehead. Sar stood beside him, a solid presence, but he made no effort to touch Elkan or interact with him.
Finally, everyone left except the couple in the front row. They looked at each other and approached Elkan.
The woman spoke. “We can never thank you enough, Master Elkan. Because of you, our daughters will be safe, now.”
“I’m not a master,” Elkan corrected dully. “And I’ve done nothing but carry out my duty, in accordance with the Mother’s will.” He stirred and sat up straighter, trying to assume his usual poise. “I do hope, though, that your daughter can recover fully. Would you like me to spend some time in healing with her?”
“Yes, please,” the man said. “Master Hadara helped Baira, our older daughter, so much. I’m sure you can help Tafian. She’s at home; would now be a good time for you to come?”
“As good as any.” Elkan shook his head and heaved himself to his feet. Sar came to his side and Elkan put a hand on his back. They slowly followed Tafian’s parents through the hall and out the door.
The hall was empty. Josiah rolled over and looked at his friends. Sazan was sitting up, his hand over his mouth, pale. Heo rose from the floor, grim satisfaction in his face. “Come on.” Sazan and Josiah followed him back down the ladder.
Outside, Heo looked over his shoulder. “I should go. My parents will be home by now.”
Sazan nodded. “I ought to head back, too.”
Josiah didn’t want them to go, but he couldn’t object. “I think Elkan and I are leaving in the morning.”
“Oh. ’Bye, then.” Heo shifted uncomfortably.
“Yeah, ’bye. Maybe you can come back sometime, and Father could take you out on the boat. It’s really fun, even when they’ve got an extra big catch and make everyone work the nets.” Sazan looked hopeful.
“Maybe. I’d like that.”
“Well, see you later.” Heo waved and left, followed by Sazan, who split off from Heo at the next street.
It was still early in the afternoon. Josiah went back to Hyrna’s house. He petted Tobi for a while, then watched the basketmakers at work. Hyrna sat next to her husband, hands busy. She was quiet, but Gazos was happy to explain their techniques to Josiah, and tell him of expeditions into the marshes and forests to gather the sweetgrass and pine needles that went into the baskets. He let Josiah try his hand at the craft, and Josiah managed to attach a few inches of coil with stitches that weren’t too crooked.
Elkan arrived back and sat silently watching. Near sunset, he and Hyrna departed again. This time they let Josiah accompany them. They went out of town, down a long causeway and across a bridge to the tiny island in the marsh that Jianolan used for a cemetery. The only other people in attendance at Nedon’s burial were his parents and the watchers who lowered his body into the ground. Elkan said the ritual words just as Josiah had seen him do at hundreds of other graves.
Back at Hyrna’s house, Josiah found himself hungry for the plentiful hot stew Gazos had prepared. Elkan, too, ate with more appetite than he’d had at midday. As they finished, he even gave Josiah a small smile. “We should get an early start in the morning. We’ve only got a handful of stops left before we reach Elathir.”
Much as he’d enjoyed his year of journeying with Elkan, Josiah was ready for it to be over. A wave of homesickness engulfed him. He wanted to be back in Korisan, eating at his mother’s table, feeling his father’s warm hug. He wanted to tell his siblings about his adventures from the safe haven of his own hearth, far away from the daily reality of dealing with sickness and health, truth and lies, life and death, when all the fear and tension and anguish could be reduced to enjoyable parts of a fantastic tale.
Twenty-Seven
Elathir was enormous. Josiah couldn’t stop gawking as they walked through the city. People filled the streets, more than Josiah had ever imagined could live in one place. It took them half a day just to walk from the outskirts of town to the central square. They passed hundreds of stores along the way, selling the finest wares of dozens of different crafts. There was one whole area that seemed to be nothing but a perpetual market day, with colorful awnings that sheltered displays of every sort of fruit and vegetable, bread and gr
ain, meat and fish imaginable. Especially fish, piles and racks of it, all glistening scales and round eyes.
Josiah was eager for Elkan to show him the sights of the city, but Elkan wouldn’t turn aside from his goal. “Maybe tomorrow. Or if I’m busy, one of the apprentices can show you around. Hadara should be back soon, if she hasn’t arrived already. Kalti would be an excellent guide; she grew up here.”
The last thing Josiah wanted was to spend a day with Kalti, but he kept quiet. He scratched Tobi’s ears. All the unfamiliar sounds and smells of the city put her on edge, and she clung close to him. People gave her plenty of space, but those that started at the sight of her were quickly reassured by a glance at Elkan’s cloak. Wizards in the company of Mother-touched animals must be an unremarkable sight here.
“But right now,” Elkan continued, “I just want to get to the Mother’s Hall and report in.”
Josiah nodded. Elkan was tired, worn out by the rigors of the journey. Their arrival in the city had brightened him a bit, but for the past two weeks, ever since they left Jianolan, Elkan had been sunk in deep gloom. He’d plodded through the motions of wizardry, healing and helping as always, but dogged endurance replaced his former zeal. It was high time, Josiah thought, that Elkan got a nice long break, back where there were other wizards and familiars to share the burdens of his calling.
The Mother’s Hall was much larger than the one in Korisan, but it was built in a similar style, a grey stone rectangle, with the Mother’s cupped hands wrought in fine marble over the door. Elkan stopped and looked across the teeming bustle of the square. He took a deep breath. “Home at last.”
Elkan led Josiah across the square, climbed the steps, and pushed open the heavy wooden doors of the Hall. This late in the afternoon in the middle of the week, only a handful of people waited in the area set up for healing. On the other side of the vast space, a cluster of people waited by a set of doors. Josiah supposed they must have private rooms available for judgments.
The Fuller's Apprentice (The Chronicles of Tevenar Book 1) Page 37