by Peter Kenson
“You have no say in this, boy. You ride in here on a fancy stallion, bringing a group of brigands and murderers into this village and you think to push me aside. Well it won’t happen. I am still a member of the council and I demand to be treated as such.”
“Your membership of the council has been temporarily suspended due to the heinous nature of the crimes of which you are accused,” Falaise told him. “You will be treated as any other member of the Lyenar people. You will have the right to examine the witnesses and to speak in your defence. That is all.”
“That is not all,” he shouted. “I do not recognise the authority of this court. You have no right to suspend my membership or to put me on trial.”
“That’s not strictly true, Lord Gaelan,” Foxley cut in. “There is precedent in the law for a council member to be tried before the other members of the council. I looked it up. The last occasion was over a hundred years ago but the precedent is there.”
“I do not accept that and I do not recognise the authority of this court,” he repeated. “I am not staying here to be a part of this farce.” He tried to get to his feet but was pushed down again by the guards standing behind him.
“Lord Gaelan,” Falaise said sternly, “you will be seated and you will be silent to allow this trial to proceed. Otherwise you will be bound and if necessary, gagged.”
She nodded to her son. “Lord Jeren, please present your first witness.”
David had sent Kemon into the crowd before the start of the trial and he reported that they were almost evenly split between those who had heard Aron’s story and those who did not want to believe ill of a senior council member. David sent him back again to sense if the mood was changing as the trial progressed.
The first witnesses were the two thugs who had been lying in wait for Falaise. Cud, the older of the two, defiantly refused to testify so Falaise had him taken away to be flogged. At that, Finn, the younger one, hastily retold the events of the night. He admitted under questioning that they had not been told explicitly by Gaelan to kill Falaise but said that they would have had no choice but to kill her, in order to prevent her from talking.
Next Jeren called the scouts who reported what they had observed when Gaelan and his man entered the camp. This carried little weight as they had to admit they had not overheard any of the conversation so Jeren called Evan to testify. This was the game changer. Even without the help of Kemon, David could feel the rising anger and hostility in the crowd as Evan related the detail of the negotiations.
They had agreed a calling order for the witnesses before the trial began but, sensing the changing mood of the people, David walked casually over to Jeren and suggested quietly that he call Aron next. Jeren raised an eyebrow and then nodded.
Aron testified that he had not been seen by any of Duke Henry’s men prior to meeting Gaelan on the trail and then David’s scout and finally David himself. When he described the attack on his wagon, there were shouts of traitor and murderer from the crowd and Falaise had to call for order before Aron could continue. At the end of his story there were cheers for David but the furious crowd surged forward towards Gaelan who stumbled back from his chair in terror as David’s men formed a line in front of him to keep the crowd back.
When order had been restored, Jeren called Raslo to testify. Initially he stuck to the well-rehearsed story that he and some of the others had escaped in the confusion while his father was being attacked. When challenged to name the other boys who had escaped with him, Raslo said he could not remember because it all happened so fast.
“Raslo, you are a pathetic liar,” Jeren said.
“I object,” Gaelan shouted. “He is my son and entitled to as much respect as you are, Jeren.”
“Be quiet or you will be gagged,” Falaise ordered. “You will have your opportunity to examine the witness in a minute. Continue please, Lord Jeren.”
“Raslo, you are lying to this court. I remind you that you are giving your evidence under oath. Now you and your father made up this story because you believed that there was no chance of the other boys returning alive. But thanks to Lord Held here, all of the boys returned safely and, if necessary, I will bring all eighty three of them before this court to identify which of them escaped with you and were subsequently recaptured.
“I remind you again that you are under oath, Raslo. Now do you want to change your story?”
Raslo looked panic stricken at his father who was being held firmly in his seat by the two guards. “It… it may have been my father who a… arranged my r… release,” he stammered.
There was uproar in the court. Gaelan was shouting furiously as he struggled to get to his feet and the guards restrained him. There was a roar of disgust from the crowd who surged forward again and it was all that the line of guards could do to hold them back. Falaise and the other council members were on their feet appealing for calm but it was several minutes before they could make themselves heard. Even Bardsley was looking shocked at the evidence that he was hearing.
When they could finally continue, Jeren announced that there was only one final witness, the captain of Duke Henry’s soldiers. The captain was reluctant to testify but eventually supported Evan’s version of the negotiations with Gaelan. The crowd were mostly silent this time. This evidence only confirmed what they had already heard and they waited now to hear the judgement of the council.
David was about to signal the guards to take the captain away when he suddenly shouted out. “You’re fools, all of you. You will pay dearly for attacking Duke Henry. His men are already marching and when they get here they will destroy this so-called village. They will kill every man here and take all the women and children as slaves.”
“Wait,” David ordered. “What do you mean, his men are already marching? The Duke cannot possibly know yet about the attack. It was only two days ago.”
“You fool,” the captain sneered. “The Duke knew about the attack within hours of it happening. He ordered the troops to march yesterday morning.”
“But how? You didn’t have time to release a bird and I had archers watching for their flight. No bird flew.”
“You know nothing. You are just an ignorant savage with a sword. The Duke’s chancellor knows everything that I know, sees everything that I see, hears everything I hear. We have no need of birds.”
David staggered as a memory surfaced in his head and he turned to Ash. “Did anybody search this man when he was taken? Did he have any jewellery or anything like that on him?”
“Milord, we stripped him of his weapons and armour but you ordered there to be no looting. It may be that he wasn’t searched thoroughly.”
“Well do it now but, if you find anything, don’t touch it.”
David turned back to the council. “My lady, we may have a more urgent problem than I had anticipated. I suggest that we finish our business here and then re-convene in private.”
Falaise nodded and called the other councillors into a conference. They spoke for a few moments and obviously called for a vote. Bardsley furiously shook his head but the other four all raised their hands in agreement.
Falaise indicated that Gaelan should stand and the guards hauled him roughly to his feet. “Lord Gaelan, you have been found guilty of the gravest treachery against the Lyenar people. Your attempt to sell the sons of Aron Golder in order to obtain the release of your own son, was both shocking and despicable. You are unworthy to be a member of this council or to advise the leaders of our people. It is the judgment of the council that you be stripped of your titles and privileges. Your wealth and possessions are forfeit to the people you have betrayed. You, your family, your servant and those thugs you hired to ‘arrange my accident’, are hereby banished from this village and from all other communities of the Lyenar people. Word will be sent to all the Lyenar. No-one will give you food or shelter or aid of any form. Your name will be erased from the records of our people. You are no longer Lyenar. Take him away.”
“I protest this excessive punishment of a father who was perhaps overzealous in the recovery of his beloved son,” Bardsley said.
“Your dissent is noted, Lord Bardsley,” Falaise replied. “But I suggest you do not pursue it further unless you wish to join Gaelan in his exile.”
Further debate on the merits of the judgement was interrupted by a shout from one of the guards who were searching the captain. “Milord, he’s got a sort of amulet round his neck.”
“Don’t touch it,” David warned a moment too late as a halo of fire surrounded the guard who fell to the ground screaming. There was a moment of shock before other men leaped forward to roll the stricken soldier over and pat out the flames.
There was a smile on the face of the captain. “Now you know. I am protected by a very powerful man. You will all pay for this. You’re going to burn…”
He stopped short as David stepped forward and punched him hard in the stomach. As he sagged in the arms of his guards, David reached for the amulet. “Let’s see just how powerful your protector is, shall we captain?”
As soon as David touched the amulet, the halo of flames burst out around him as before. However, to the astonishment of the watching crowd, he did not fall to the ground in agony but appeared to smile grimly as he grasped the amulet firmly in his hand.
Through David’s eyes another room swam into view. It was not a room he recognised but it was opulently furnished and obviously part of a building of significant size and importance. The ducal palace in Paelis, he surmised. He was not the only occupant of the room. There was a small man, dressed as a clerk at a desk in one corner, staring in open mouthed horror at the scene before him.
David looked down at the body he was currently occupying. It was dressed in the court robes of a high official and currently wreathed in the same halo of flames as his own body back in the village. “Amateurish, very tawdry,” he thought. As the flames were patently causing no damage to his host’s body, he switched them off with the mental equivalent of an impatient flick of the hand. There was a snarl of rage from his host who switched to a direct mental attack on the invasive mind instead. Immediately David felt the mental strength of the attack and hurriedly raised the level of his own defensive shields. The man was not a natural telepath but had been trained in the use of artefacts such as the amulet the captain was wearing.
Another part of the fog in David’s head cleared and more memories popped up to the foreground. He knew that he was not a natural telepath either but his years of training with the monks of Platos burst into his mind with blinding force. Almost effortlessly he switched from defence to attack and he felt the defensive shields of his host’s mind start to crumble. He increased the power of his attack and, one by one, he stripped away the levels of shielding until the body whose eyes he was looking through, collapsed to its knees and then rolled onto its side in agony. Then the whole scene blacked out and he was back in the village to find everybody staring at him in silent amazement.
“Are you all right, milord?” Feynor asked him.
“Yes, I’m fine but where the hell is Platos?” he enquired vaguely.
“Uh, Platos milord. I don’t really know. It’s not a place I’ve ever heard of.”
“No, never mind. You wouldn’t know it.” David pulled his thoughts back to the present. “Tell me, is your man alright?”
“He’s a little bit singed, milord. But he’ll live,” Feynor replied.
“Good, then get him out of here and gather the other officers. I want them all in the council meeting in ten minutes.”
David looked down at the amulet that he had obviously ripped off the captain’s neck during the mental battle. “And take the captain away.” he ordered. “You can put him in with the other prisoners. He’s of no value to me now.”
There was a large tent behind the councillors’ wagons where the council would normally meet in private and Falaise intercepted him as he headed in that direction.
“David, what just happened there? I thought you were going to be burnt alive,” she said quietly.
“No I’m fine, Falaise. Really. It looked worse than it was. Those flames were just an illusion.”
“But they were real enough to burn your man.”
“He wasn’t prepared for them and didn’t know how to protect himself. Look,” he caught her hand and turned her to face him. “It’s sweet of you to worry about me but I was never in any danger. Well not much anyway.”
“Sweet of me,” she exclaimed, pulling her hand away. “Don’t get the wrong impression, Lord Held. Ours is a purely business relationship. I have a feeling that our people are going to need you… alive.”
“Yes… uh well… I’m glad that we’ve cleared that up then. I’ll explain what I’ve discovered when we have everybody together inside.”
David ordered his men to ring the council tent to ensure that the discussions could not be overheard and then lifted the flap to allow Falaise to precede him into the tent.
Bardsley rounded on him as soon as he was inside. “Why are these men here? Only councillors are allowed in this tent.”
“They are officers in my company, my lord, and they are here because there is a serious problem. Both the council and I are going to need their advice before this meeting is over,” David replied.
“What problem?” he demanded.
“The captain wasn’t lying. He may have been boasting but he wasn’t lying. Duke Henry did learn of the attack two days ago and by now, he has almost certainly sent troops to find us.”
“How did he find out about the attack?” Falaise asked. “You said they did not have time to release a bird.”
“They didn’t need to, my lady. They used this,” David replied, tossing the amulet onto the table.
“I suspect that Duke Henry has recently appointed a new chancellor. Certainly this chancellor is a… a powerful magician who can use artefacts like that amulet to read the thoughts of the wearer. The chancellor learned of the attack by reading the captain’s mind shortly after the attack took place and would have gone straight to the Duke.”
“And how do you know this?” Wynter asked.
“I know this because I have some talent in the use of such devices,” David admitted. “I used it to pay a visit to the chancellor which he is currently sleeping off. When he wakes up, I would imagine that he is going to be even more pissed off with us.”
“Pissed off with you, you mean,” Bardsley said. “We’re not involved in this. You’ve brought nothing but trouble to this village since you arrived.”
“I’m sorry but you are involved. It was your boys that the Duke’s men took in the first place. I now believe that it was done on the orders of this chancellor rather than the Duke himself but that changes nothing. He wants those boys back and he is sending more troops to get them.
“Now I don’t know where the nearest garrison is to us but if they left barracks yesterday morning, that puts them two days nearer to us than I would have liked. How quickly can the village move?”
“I spread the word informally a few days ago, as you suggested my lord,” Falaise replied. “We can be packed up and ready to go in twenty four hours.”
“That’ll be mid-afternoon tomorrow,” David commented. “The Duke’s men will have had nearly three days start on us. Where will they be coming from? Does anybody know where his nearest garrison is?”
“The nearest garrison is in Stadenbridge, milord,” Ash volunteered. “I asked the new recruits. They came from Paelis which is where the Duke’s main force is, but the nearest garrison is Stadenbridge.”
“And how far is Stadenbridge from here?”
“It’s about a hundred leagues southeast of here milord. There’s a track that follows the river down to the point where we attacked the caravan two days ago. It’s not a good track. It’ll take foot soldiers nine or ten days to get here with the supply wagons but they could send horsemen on ahead to find us and slow u
s down.”
“Do we know how big the garrison is in Stadenbridge?”
“Only from the new recruits, milord. They didn’t pass through Stadenbridge on their way here but they reckon there’s normally about thirty riders and twice as many foot based there.”
“Most of whom will be on their way here by now. Okay, we will obviously have to sit down and plan our course of action but the immediate priority is to get the village mobilised. I suggest my lady, that we take a ten to fifteen minute break and everybody gets out there and starts spreading the word that the village is moving tomorrow. Those who are ready early, I will start moving out in the morning but I want even the stragglers ready to go by this time tomorrow. I would also suggest that the herds will need to be culled. The weakest animals will have to be killed and butchered. We can’t afford to be held up by a flock of sheep.”
“Where do we tell them we’re going?” Perborn demanded.
“I don’t know yet,” David replied. “That’s what we have to sort out. But we can do that when we reconvene once the village has started preparing to move.”
“I agree,” Falaise said. “My lords, each of you go to your own people now. Tell whoever you need to tell and get them to spread the word. We will meet back here in fifteen minutes.”
As the councillors hurried out of the tent, David turned to the assembled officers. “Right, which one of you has brought the maps?”
“I have them here, milord,” Bern replied.
“Okay, let’s sort out the best map of this region and spread it out on the table here. Now, where are we and what’s the quickest way off Duke Henry’s land?”
“Across the River Staden, milord. That’s the river we could see just before we ambushed the Duke’s men. The river forms the northern boundary of Paelis with both Keldis and Westron. Once we’re across the river, we’ll be relatively safe, at least for a while. There’s not a lot of love lost between the three Dukes and it’s unlikely that Duke Henry will risk an incident by sending his troops across the river without seeking permission first.”