Arrows Of Change (Book 1)

by Honor Raconteur

  Broden gave a half-shrug, palm splayed. “But no’ all crimes be heavy, or worth a man’s life. Ye’ll have to think of another way to punish.”

  “Fine them,” Ash suggested. “Attach a large price tag to certain crimes. If they can’t pay, make them work it off. The country can use the extra hands for labor, if nothing else, and we’ll compensate the victim.”

  Edvard snapped his fingers. “Ash, you’re brilliant. Let’s do that for certain cases. I think assaulting a man would count for a fine, don’t you?”

  Ash nodded agreement. “How much?”

  “Hmm…I have no sense for these things. Riana, Broden, what would be a sum you wouldn’t want to have to pay?”

  Riana thought about it, thought about the amount of money she used to have before working for Ash, and offered tentatively, “Anything over fifty deneres gets mighty steep.”

  “Still payable, though,” Broden offered, his brows furrowed in thought. “I’d say one hundred deneres would be very hard to pay for most men.”

  “One hundred deneres it is, then!” Edvard smiled at them, his posture alert, looking ready to spring up and run around the room at any point. “Broden, Riana, you’re both becoming very helpful in crafting all these laws. I need your insights. From now on, when I need to create laws, I want you to be part of my council. Plan on that.”

  Riana and her da shared an alarmed look. Them?! Create laws? They were simple archers for mercy’s sake!

  Ash, seeing their panic, quirked an eyebrow at them and drawled, “Should not the common man have a voice in these? The Bindings were strict and unfair to the citizens as a whole. Wouldn’t you rather have a say in these things before you get bound by laws that are too harsh to survive under?”

  Well, he had a fair point. Riana in no way wanted the responsibility of helping to forge an entire country’s laws, but she didn’t want those laws made without some sensible input either. Mayhap, if she just approached it as if she were making laws that she, herself, could abide by, then things would be fine.

  Her da must have come to the same conclusion, as he promptly snapped his mouth shut.

  Ash’s quill scratched away at the paper with quick, deft strokes. “We’ve covered murder and assault. What else?”

  “Rape,” Riana said firmly. “And that be no’ a matter of fining, either, so put that notion out of your heads.”

  Edvard blinked, somewhat surprised by her vehemence. “So, as a woman, what would you feel is the right punishment?”

  “Death.” She smiled grimly when every man at the table flinched. “Sirs, I put to ye that rape be the worst thing a man can do to a woman. She never recovers from it, not wholly. And there be no reason to do it, either, except for some evil sense of pleasure on his end.”

  Broden and Ashlynn both looked at her with full understanding and didn’t raise a word of disagreement.

  “So, you’re saying it’s akin to torture,” Ash stated slowly, eyes staring blindly ahead. “I hadn’t thought of it quite like that. Although I think death might be too harsh. Castration instead?”

  Edvard’s eyes studied Riana’s face, taking in every nuance of her expression. “Broden? Your opinion?”

  “I put it to ye like this, King: if a man raped one of yer sisters, what would ye do to him?” Broden responded levelly.

  “I’d kill the rat with my bare hands,” Edvard responded without a second of hesitation.

  “Then should ye no’ protect every woman in this country of yers the same way ye would protect yer family?”

  Edvard blew out a low breath. “Wise council. Wise council, both of you. That’s exactly how I should view this, as if I’m protecting my family. After all, my family will live as citizens in this country, subject to the same laws. Good. That puts things in sharp perspective for me.” Nodding to himself, he said to Ash, “Make rape punishable by death.”

  Ash simply nodded, writing it down.

  Sitting back for a moment, Edvard pondered before speaking. “We seem to be on a trend of dealing with crimes against people right now. I think we should do something to punish slavery as well. I’ve seen a few people try it here, bringing in slaves, or making them into slaves to pay back a debt. I won’t tolerate it. So, no one can enslave another. If there’s a debt, it’s to be reported to us, and we’ll mediate some way for the debtor to pay back what is owed.”

  “We’ll have to make someone capable of making judgments like that,” Ash cautioned. “Not every case can go directly to you. You would sit in judgment from morning to night and never get through all of the cases.”

  Edvard grunted sourly. “Yes, well, make a note of it for now. We’ll have to keep that in mind when we actually decide how to organize the government.”

  Broden cleared his throat slightly. “Do ye want to make a law about lies and gossip?”

  Edvard paused, eyes cutting to him. “Slander? Hmm. That’s a thought. If a man’s reputation is ruined, it makes it hard for him to live in a country, doesn’t it? Would a fine cover that?”

  Riana felt instinctively that was the wrong approach. “Aye, Edvard, ye can do a fine for that, but it would no’ truly solve things.”

  “Solve things?” he parroted in complete incomprehension.

  “These laws ye be making, they be made to stop people from doing harm to each other,” she sought to explain, “but they also be made to help make right of what be wrong.”

  “To repair the damage done, in whatever way we can,” Ash supported.

  She flashed him a smile. “Aye, exactly. A man’s reputation, well that will no’ be given back to him with a money pouch.”

  “I take your meaning. That’s quite wise of you, Riana, but at the same time, how do I give a man’s reputation back through the law? How can you erase the words said that harms a man so? You see my point?”

  “I do.” She frowned to herself, unsure of what a just punishment would be.

  “Make it clear to all who be telling the lies,” Broden advised. “If ye can no’ take the words back, then mark the liar so people know no’ to trust what he says.”

  Edvard’s lips parted in delight. “Perfect. How should we do that? A tattoo on him? Make him wear something?”

  “Shave his head.” Ashlynn grinned as she spoke. “It’s a fitting punishment, I think: a temporary punishment for temporary harm.”

  Edvard threw his head back and laughed in true delight. “Ashlynn, you’re evil! I love you for it, too. Shaved heads it shall be.”

  Riana felt her own mouth quirk in amusement. Was this law making session supposed to be serious? If so, then why did Ashlynn and Edvard’s expressions remind her of two children making up schemes for mischief?

  Broden poorly disguised a chuckle with a cough. “And what about theft? That be a real problem, that. Ashlynn and I deal with that more than any other crime.”

  “Iysh imprisoned thieves,” Ash stated slowly, “but if we’re trying to stay away from prisons—”

  “Free labor.” Edvard snapped his fingers in a victorious movement. “We’ll have them work off the value of what they stole. Say, ten times the value of what they stole, to make it more of a punishment and deterrent.”

  “We need all the help we can get building things right now anyway.” Ash wrote this down with a pleased look. “Although long-term, we might have to modify this.”

  “No’ as much,” Broden disagreed. “There always be nasty jobs to do when ye got a lot of people living in a small area.”

  “True enough.”

  “Noted.” Edvard ticked things off on his fingers. “Alright, we’ve covered murder, assault, theft, enslavement, rape. What else have you and Ashlynn been seeing, Broden?”

  Her da didn’t even have to pause before answering. “Lots of conmen running about. Getting some damage done to buildings too.”

  “So, fraud and vandalism.” Edvard hummed, considering. “I think those are both a type of theft, in a way. Fraud is just a lie in order to steal something. Vandalism steal
s property from its owner because it’s too damaged to use properly. So can’t the sentence we use for theft be the same?”

  “I think so.” Ashlynn looked a trifle too gleeful at this. “More free labor that way. It’s perfect for us too.”

  “And debt?” Broden asked. “Many a loan shark running about.”

  “Already?” Edvard grumbled to no one in particular. “We really have to do something about that. But for now, I say that if a man is in debt and can’t pay, he has one of two options: he either uses property he has to repay the debt, or he can choose to come to us to work it off. We’ll repay it in his stead.”

  “Fair,” Broden allowed with a judicious nod of the head. “That be the worst of what Ashlynn and I have seen.”

  “We’ll need to work out the fine details of contracts, and taxes, and the like.” Edvard rubbed at his forehead. “But that’ll have to wait until I can figure out how the government is supposed to run. I’m open to any input on its structure, by the by. Thoughts?”

  Riana and Broden shared another look, eyes communicating all their worries. But as open as Edvard had been with them, they were not entirely sure if he would welcome something that struck close to home. A man never liked to hear that he would need to give up power. And yet, that was precisely what they felt he needed to do.

  “That look says they do have an idea,” Ash observed. “Alright, you two, spill it.”

  Broden cleared his throat and looked uncomfortable. Riana sighed, resigning herself to the inevitable, and spoke for the both of them. “Edvard, I think the Iysh king failed his people ‘cause he took too much on himself. He did no’ share the power he had as he should have, and it led to power-hungry fools fighting over every scrap.”

  “You think I should create a government where I don’t have all of the power.” Edvard translated this without trouble.

  “Aye,” Broden said simply.

  Ash gave her a subtle wink, which relieved her. So, he thought she had said the right thing. “Edvard, I have to agree. If you keep all of the power in your hands, people will start feeding you misinformation and manipulate your decisions that way. We saw that happen with the Iyshian king. The power needs to be balanced out, spread among a select group that is responsible for the larger whole. You need to have something that will check one side from making rash or selfish decisions.”

  Edvard steepled his hands in front of his mouth, eyes blindly staring straight ahead. “Yes. Yes, you’re all right. A system that allows all sides to check the other…I’ll need to think on that.”

  Broden dared to add, “Right now, we be stretched too thin because we be running from one side of Estole to the other, wasting precious time simply traveling back and forth. It would be for the best, I think, if ye divided up the land so that one person was in charge of each section. It would give someone a way to access help quick-like.”

  The king stared at his archer like the man had just spouted golden wisdom. “Broden. I think that’s it.”

  Blinking, Broden asked blankly, “It be what?”

  Chapter Twelve

  Edvard stared at the ceiling for a long stretch of time, muttering to himself inaudibly. “Yes! Yes, I think that works. What if we have a tiered system?”

  Only Ash seemed to realize where he was going with this. “Like that ancient government of the Empire’s, before they changed it?”

  “Something very like that, yes. With a few modifications. You have to admit, that government worked very well for hundreds of years before they went and changed things.” To the archers, Edvard expounded, “We’ll follow your suggestion, Broden, and divide up Estole into different quadrants. We’ll have one person over each quadrant, someone that can act like an ombudsman or a mayor of sorts. These people, in turn, report to a council of selected people. The council will be like a committee, or a ministry, and they are there to make sure everything is running smoothly on a more national level, and make laws and policies as needed. The council will, in turn, report directly to the king and queen.”

  “How does that check your power?” Riana protested. So far, what he had explained was different from Iysh’s government, but not that much different.

  “Oh, the king and queen will have veto power over them, but they can be overruled by the council. If the majority of the council wants a law, then the king and queen can’t do anything about it. In turn, the king and queen will both act as regents over certain quadrants themselves, so that they act as part of the council most of the time, instead of reigning over it.” Edvard paused before tacking on, “At least, that’s how the old government worked.”

  “So, people over quadrants that will run things day to day, councilors that they report to that run the whole country, and a king and queen that do no’ really rule unless things get out of hand?” Broden summed up. His expression indicated he wasn’t sure what to think of this idea. “It might work. If ye had good people to run things.”

  “The idea needs refining,” Edvard admitted without embarrassment. “But the basic structure, is it sound?”

  Ashlynn gave a ginger nod. “I think so. It would work best, I think, if you had each council member in charge of certain quadrants. So that these ombudsmen or mayors of yours know who to report to each time something’s amiss.”

  “A good thought. Ash, make a note. Now, Ashlynn, Broden, you’re out on the streets more than I am. How should I divide this up, by number of people in an area, or by sheer land size?”

  “By people,” Ashlynn replied promptly.

  “Otherwise one man will no’ be able to keep track of things,” Broden added.

  “I concur.” Edvard sprang to his feet and quickly crossed to another table, where he snatched a map and another quill before coming back. He flung it out flat, closer to Ashlynn and Broden, then tapped a finger against its surface. “Gut reaction. How would you divide this up?”

  The three of them fell into an in-depth discussion of how many people were in certain sections, and how they would divide things into quadrants. Riana, only knowing a small part of the city, couldn’t contribute much to that conversation, so she stood and drifted over to Ash’s side. He wasn’t paying much attention to the other side of the table. Instead, he had pulled out a clean sheet and was making a clean copy of the laws they had made. As she read back over them, a thought occurred, and she asked without thinking, “Do these apply to children as well?”

  Everyone in the room froze.

  “The children,” Broden breathed in stunned realization. “Most of the thefts be made by children. Sweet mercy, that be too strict a sentence for children.”

  “What age does a child stop being a child?” Ash asked the room in general. “Eighteen? Sixteen?”

  “Sixteen?” Edvard said slowly. “Yes, I say sixteen. At sixteen, you should know what you’re doing, at least where the law is concerned. But I agree, the laws are too strict for a child. What would you suggest?”

  “Belike this be a case where an ombudsman will need to use his best judgment case by case.” Broden rubbed at his jaw, leaving as streak of ink behind on his skin as he did so. “But mayhap ye should say, half the sentence for the children.”

  “That’s still rather harsh,” Ash objected.

  “We are trying to prevent crime with these laws, not just ascribe punishments for them,” Edvard pointed out. “I don’t want hardened criminals as children that then grow into adults. So half it is.”

  Ash had a grim set to his mouth that suggested he still didn’t agree, but he made a note of that. Riana rather sided with Ash on this one, as she felt that was still rather harsh as well. Would an eight-year-old be able to afford fifty deneres for an offense? Then again, she would hope an eight-year-old wouldn’t be doing some of the harder crimes either. If they were, then they had bigger problems on their hands than a simple fifty deneres.

  Even if she hoped it, she knew that they had many a child on their streets with no home to call their own. Simply hoping didn’t solve the issue. “Edv
ard…” she started off slowly, the idea forming in her mind as she spoke. “We need something for the children. Many a child has come here hoping for a better life and no’ finding it.”

  “If you don’t want child thieves, then you better find a way to teach them a trade.” Ash tapped the paper with a finger. “Simply proscribing a punishment won’t fix the problem where children are concerned. They have no source of income, after all.”

  Edvard rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “Unfortunately, nothing springs to mind to solve that problem. I’ll think on it. All of you think on it. If you come up with a solution, tell me.”

  Steep order, that one.

  Ash cleared his throat to get their attention. “In the meantime, I felt like the laws needed a preface. How’s this:

  We declare that all men are equal in the eyes of the law and no man may rise above it. From King to Pauper, all men shall adhere to the laws of this land. Men and women are of equal standing and one shall not stand above the other. We further declare that any man or woman above sixteen shall be judged strictly according to the laws. Any person younger than this will receive half of the sentence prescribed for each offense.”

  Riana’s eyes grew wide. Never was it so clear to her until this moment how learned Ash truly was. She’d barely understood what he’d said, some of the words unknown to her. And yet, he had come up with that all on his own, without any other source, and did it while talking to them and answering questions, to boot!

  To think, this man that was so skilled and educated, valued her opinion…well, it humbled her, it did.

  Edvard actually clapped. “That was splendid, Ash. Have you the other laws cleanly written out in plain language too? Let me see.”

  Ash handed over the paper, and Edvard read through it quickly. “Oh, you divided up the types of crimes as well. Good. This isn’t a complete ruling, of course, but do you think it will do for now, Ashlynn?”