by Julia Knight
Oku leant towards Ilfayne, forced him back until he all but fell into his chair, and his god gave him his orders. “Mithotyn means to steal our faith away and give it to Regin. A new god, one who he can control. Hunter taints them too, tells them Regin is a god, and by that he is a god’s heir. To revere an ancestor is only as it should be. To worship him is not. You must redress the balance. Mithotyn has corrupted Hunter’s heart, given him Mithotyn’s own lust for power. He has had it five years, the rule he never thought his. And Mithotyn makes sure he wants more. The Third Kingdom, by betrayal or force.”
Oku turned briefly to Valguard. “Mithotyn, through Hunter, has started a war that will see your countrymen dead, Valguard! You must quash it.” Then he turned back to Ilfayne with a cold smile.
“And you, pitiful, oath-breaking mage. You will see that Mithotyn’s plans to besmirch of Regin’s name are ended. Your constraint is set aside for this. Those with Hunter, those who would upset the balance, those who worship Regin do so not for faith but for power. For Mithotyn, though they know it not. They are all his servants, and you may do with them as you will. They sully Regin’s name for Mithotyn. Will you allow it?”
Ilfayne’s skin was grey under his tan but he shook his head. “If anything muddies Regin’s name, you know I’ll right it.”
“Then rid us of these worshippers, deluded by Mithotyn and brought to blasphemy by Hunter. The reverent I will spare, but the worshippers must die, Hunter most of all, or Regin’s name will be irreparably tarnished.”
Hilde stared up at Oku, a fierce war of hatred for him and love of Hunter in her. She gripped her mace, the cold weight reassuring her even if it could do nothing against this. “You’re wrong. Nothing would induce Hunter to ruin Regin’s name! You must be wrong.” Tears slid down her face and dripped from her trembling lips. He must be, but how could a god be wrong? “Kyr—”
Oku bent forward and bellowed a gale at her that shoved her back into her chair. His face was an inch from her own and she thought she might shrivel up and die right there. “Kyr will Choose for him when he is dead. And do not hope he will ascend to the Halls. He chose his fate when he started this, as you once chose yours. I stopped you from feeling Valguard, when you might have discovered my plan. I gave Valguard the means to doctor Hunter’s duria, so that every dose just made his pain greater. I forced him to show his hand too soon. To show his abuse of magic. It is not for my subjects to control.” He slid his eyes to Ilfayne and smiled, a cold, pitiless smile that shivered Hilde’s bones. “Bar one.”
Oath blood from his banner dripped on her hand. Her blood was in there, for good or ill. And if she or Ilfayne should break it… But this was Hunter’s life too. Could he really be capable of that? Even if Mithotyn had tainted him, she didn’t think he could. She glared back at Oku, but said nothing and he stood away from her again. “You have served me well enough up till now. Do not tarnish that.”
She couldn’t look at those cold red eyes any more so she turned away. Tears scalded her skin. She couldn’t accept it as easily as Ilfayne, who looked as though every secret thought of his about Hunter had come true.
Oku faced Ilfayne. “Do this not just because I command it of you, but for Regin also. Valguard will give you every assistance in stamping this false worship out, in restoring order.” He turned to Valguard and seemed, if it were possible, almost benevolent. “You have carried out your instructions perfectly so far, Valguard. You will not find me ungenerous. You also, Ilfayne, if you can find it in yourself to carry out your orders willingly for once. Not ungenerous at all.” With a whoosh of air and smoke he disappeared.
Hilde sagged in her seat. It couldn’t be true, couldn’t, she wouldn’t let it. But a god can’t be wrong. Can he? She rubbed the heels of her hands in her eyes for a moment, until she had herself under control. Stupid tears.
Ilfayne let out a gust of worried breath and wilted into the chair next to her. “Not so bad that time, for him. Any more of that wine, Valguard?”
The priest hurried to bring more. His eyes were very bright. “You see? You must stay and help me. Help us all.”
Ilfayne drained his glass and set it down on a table. It only rattled a little against the wood. He looked intently at Valguard and laid his hand very gently on Hilde’s. Sorry for what he was about to say. “So it seems. Well then, we execute Hunter and hope this false worship fades away?”
“Hunter first, and then the rest. He’s the head of the snake, but by no means all of it. I think maybe even Hunter believed that he could conjure Regin into a god, and there are many others who believe it. If the gods are to be safe from this idolatry then we must rid ourselves of the whole animal. But first, yes, Hunter must be tried and executed. He’s shown his hand, but too soon as Oku hoped.”
“Well then, best get started.” Ilfayne stood up and held out his hand to Hilde. His eyes held nothing but sorrow.
She knew why he had to do this, none better. But a part of her hated him for believing it without question. For not even trying. And herself too.
Will the Accused Stand Forward
Hilde felt faint again and her stomach flipped in protest as they entered the Court. Impossible that this was happening. That Hunter was to be tried for this. It could not be true. She wouldn’t believe it of him.
The round room gleamed softly white and yellow in the dying rays of the sun. A stark room, just whitewashed walls and the black basalt floor. A bare room for the bare truth is what they said. It looked cold and merciless to Hilde. Like the god who ruled the justice meted out here. She suppressed a shiver.
Regin’s sword lay in the centre of the room, stripped of its offerings now. Bare, unadorned and somehow lonely. Eight Disciples stood at regular intervals around the walls, with a space at the head for Valguard. He strode towards his place, past the few others in the room come to bear witness, past Hunter himself, held fast by two guards. Aran and Nerinna stood close by the door. The boy screwed up his lips in an effort not to cry but tears stained his cheeks nonetheless. The Reethan woman stood very still, very pale, and stared at Hunter as though she willed him to look up, to do something, anything.
She looked at Hilde, a spiked glance of pure hatred. Jealous. This woman, so beautiful and poised, so in control of herself, her life, was jealous of her, Hilde, and the life she had to lead. Eternal servitude, blood and guts and death, and now killing a friend. For Oku. At any other time Hilde might have laughed, it was so ridiculous, but not now.
Hunter was just a blank of shock in front of her. Everything about him was numb.
Valguard stepped forward to the hilt of Regin’s sword. He glanced down at it with a look of distaste then glared at Hunter. “Will the accused stand forward.”
Hunter looked up but didn’t move. His face went from empty numbness to livid hatred in a moment. “Accused of what?”
Valguard smiled at him. Smug bastard. “My Lord Regent, Hunter, Duke of Mimirin. You stand accused of many things. Using magic. Treason. And crimes against the gods.”
Hunter’s laugh had a manic little edge to it. Blackness ran through him, bitter despair and resignation, but when he spoke his voice was steady enough and full of false bravado. Maybe it was true, oh please, Kyr, it could not be. Not Hunter. “And you’ve yet to prove any of it.”
Valguard smiled in return, much more sure in his mirth. “Oh, I’ll prove it all to the satisfaction of the Court, have no fear of that. First, the charge of magic using. I think we have many, many witnesses to that.”
“I can’t do magic, and you know it.”
“I know that you’ve associated with magic before. You got away with it then. I’ll not let it happen again. Besides, I have a little more proof than that.” Valguard nodded to a guard by the door. The man slipped out and returned in short order with another. They bore a makeshift stretcher between them. The load was covered in a blanket but the acrid smell of burned flesh managed to emanate through the wool.
Hilde took a step back, faint and nauseated
from the stench. What in the gods’ names was this? Nerinna muttered under her breath a few paces away and put a delicate hand to her mouth.
The guards put the load down by the sword. Valguard strode forward and whipped the blanket back. Nerinna let out a short scream and Aran stepped forward to put a comforting hand on her arm. She turned away and buried her head in his shoulder. Hilde’s stomach threatened to rise and her head swam again. She had to grab at Ilfayne’s arm to keep from falling, and he slid his arm around her and cursed roundly.
The body was almost unrecognisable as human, but human it surely had been. Before this had happened to it, before it had burned up, seemingly from the inside. Little was left now but charred bone and crisp, blackened skin that still smoked. Half a leg lay untouched, three fingers on one hand. One bleak, baleful eye stared from a black skull. A few scraps of cloth had survived, one or two items of jewellery, though several rings had melted into the skin with the heat.
Hunter blanched, his face as pale as if all his blood had been sucked clean away, but Hilde would have sworn he knew nothing of this. He had the same shocked sickness in him as in herself. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t seem to find the words, just stared helplessly at the body.
“This, my lord, is my proof,” Valguard bent to retrieve a charred pack that lay next to the body and pulled out a book bound in green leather. The paper was curled and brown at the edges and at least half the pages were gone, but the rest of it seemed to have survived intact. He handed it to Ilfayne. “If you would be so kind?”
Ilfayne dropped his arm from her with a frown and took the book. Hilde glimpsed the runes inscribed on its surface and knew what it was instantly. She’d seen Ilfayne’s often enough.
“If you’d tell us what this is?” Valguard asked him.
Ilfayne flipped through the pages briefly then snapped the book shut and wiped ash on his breeches with a grimace. “A spellbook. Not very powerful.”
“But a mage’s book, yes? No one else would have a use for it?”
Ilfayne shrugged warily. “Yes, a mage’s book.”
“So?” Hilde burst out. “I might have one of Ilfayne’s books in my pack, that’s not to say I can use it!”
Valguard smiled at her in a way that made her want to slap him. “That’s true enough. But this man died from burning up from the inside. I have it on reliable authority—” he glanced meaningfully at Ilfayne, “—that this man was poisoned so that his own magic turned against him and burned him up.”
“Is that possible?” she asked. Ilfayne’s arm twitched under her hand. His face became pinched, closed, and suddenly she could no longer feel him or his heart. He had shut her off, and panic gripped at her. “Is it?”
Ilfayne licked his lips and was careful not to look at her. “Yes, though I haven’t heard of anyone using it for a long, long time. Most people find it quite difficult to get hold of the poison. Kyrbodan blood is lethal to those with magic in their blood.”
“Ah, but Hunter could,” Valguard said with a crow of triumph. “Who else in Ganheim has ever been in contact with kyrbodans, apart from you of course? It takes several hours or even days to burn, so I’m told. Enough time that Hunter could have poisoned him after he’d infused the spell into Hunter’s firestone. Before the spell against me on the field, so the evidence would be gone by now. Only he didn’t burn, not entirely, thanks to the timely intervention of the innkeep.”
Kyrbodan blood was poison to mages? But… Ilfayne cast her a frightened look, but Hunter’s outburst kept her from saying anything for the moment.
“That was years ago! I’ve seen none since Hilde left the last time. You’ve still no proof it was me, because I’ve never known any mages apart from Ilfayne.”
“Ahh, but don’t the tales tell how you and Regin overcame a whole parade of them to beat the sorcerer?”
“Yes, but—”
“I’ve further proof that you knew this mage. Lady Nerinna, would you be so kind?” Valguard held out a hand to her, fatherly and kind now.
“Me?” Nerinna said, and Hilde could feel the surprise in her. The distaste for Valguard. Yes, that was it. “But I—”
“Please, no need to distress yourself, but just look at the ring that’s left. Recognise it?”
Nerinna looked down fearfully at what was left of the fingers. Her hand flew to her mouth and she stifled a sob.
“Well?” Valguard asked. “Do you recognise it?”
She nodded faintly and tears gathered in her eyes. A wash of her perfume ran over Hilde and her stomach clenched at the rich, cloying smell mixed with what was emanating from the stretcher.
“Where have you seen this ring before?” Valguard asked, not unkindly.
“I— on the ship here,” Nerinna said. “One of the sailors, I thought.”
“Who did you see him with?”
Nerinna shook her head and the tears fell to the floor. It wasn’t just show; Hilde could tell she was mortified, heartbroken even. Her voice came out in a whisper that Hilde could barely hear three paces away. “With Hunter.”
“Did they talk a lot? Did you see him with anyone else?”
“I…I don’t know. They seemed to talk quite, er, intently.” Her delicate face was scrunched up against some intense feeling. Hatred of saying what she did maybe, of being one to speak against Hunter. Fear, panic, sorrow, all mixed up together. Hilde would have felt sorry for her, if she hadn’t been incriminating Hunter.
Valguard smiled and his eyes closed in smug pleasure for a moment. He turned to Hunter. “Well then, do you still deny knowing this mage? Should I call the innkeep where this man stayed and have him tell how the bill was paid by you?”
Hunter still stared at the remnants of the man on the floor, but he shook his head jerkily. “I don’t know any mages. I swear it, if I met him I never knew he was a mage.”
Nerinna sobbed into her hand, completely undone, and at a nod from Valguard two guards led her and Aran away. Aran protested loudly, but he couldn’t stand against the Disciples.
As soon as they were gone Valguard’s face hardened. “Well, we know what your sworn word is worth, do we not, my lord? Nothing.”
Hunter’s head dropped. Hilde stepped forward, a vicious retort on her lips but Ilfayne’s hard grip on her arm stopped her. “Get on with it, Valguard.”
Valguard inclined his head. “Of course, then there is treason. Going against your sworn word to your ward, Aran. Against the king. Not for the first time either.”
“I’ve never—” Hunter began.
“Have you really? Never?” Valguard jerked his head at the two guards. They mercifully covered the body on the floor and took it away. One returned within a few minutes with another man. A Reethan. One who gave Hilde the shivers. Outwardly he might look as though he were a noble. But inside he was a mess of jealousy and triumph. Much like Valguard. Another Reethan came forward to translate.
Valguard turned to the regent. “Did you really not have Lady Nerinna in your rooms last night?”
“What? She came to me but I—”
Valguard cut him off. “My lord Arashin, if you would be so kind to tell us what you saw last night?”
Arashin smiled, his teeth all on display like a hungry dog. The other Reethan interpreted his words. “I saw her coming out of his rooms. Not somewhere she should be.”
“And what time was this?”
Arashin shrugged. “Long after midnight, everyone else was asleep. She was crying. Like her heart was broken.”
“And why did you think that was?”
Arashin dropped his head, a mock show of humility if what Hilde felt from him was anything to go by. “I don’t know. Though I suspect. She’s been different since. Afraid of men. Crying and fearful, flinching to a touch. Afraid even of me, who’s known her since she was a child.”
“Do you think maybe he’d forced his attentions on her?”
Arashin nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, that would explain it. I can think of nothing else that
would cause it.” Liar.
“I know what I think.” Valguard rounded on Hunter. “I think Lord Hunter here was betraying his word to be true to the king. By force this time, rather than the way he betrayed the old king.”
“I was never disloyal to Arall!”
“Really? I have witnesses to prove otherwise. Would you like me to call them?”
Hunter shut his eyes and grimaced. Hilde felt the shame that ran through him. Of course he would not, could not have Amariah’s name tarnished openly, whether it were true or not. This Arashin must have mistaken it. Must have. Or was lying, and that was more likely. Hunter had loved Amariah all that time and had felt crushing shame and guilt for the one time he’d kissed her. He couldn’t have done this, not to any woman, and least of all the woman who was to marry Aran.
That decided Hilde, made her sure the charges were all false. It was not in him to do such a thing, whatever that Reethan said he had seen. But kyrbodan sense wouldn’t be accepted in this court. She needed proof.
Valguard thanked Arashin. “There you are then. Firstly magic using, secondly treason, by way of forcing his attention on the betrothed of his ward and king.” His smile racked up a notch. “And to the last, and most heinous of your crimes. Those against the gods.”
“Wait.” Hilde finally found her voice. “Surely he should be able to defend himself against these crimes?”
Valguard turned a quizzical look on her. “You should know, of all of us, that this is merely a formality, something to show that justice has been done. Oku has pronounced him guilty, and it is so.”
Hilde wrenched her arm free from Ilfayne’s hand. “So why bother with this then? Who are you trying to prove it to? Yourself, or is this just so you can pretend justice has been done?”
Ilfayne grabbed at her arm and yanked her back. His voice was soft honey in her ear. “Stop this. We’ve no choice!”
She whirled around and glared at him. How could he just accept it? “There’s always a choice.”
“No, there isn’t. Never for me, and never now for you.” His lips twisted in a bitter smile, his dark eyes full of memory. “Now you know the hardest of all the things he asks of us. I’d hoped you’d never know this. But we can, will, must let this happen.”