by Jim Butcher
The Merlin stepped back to the podium, and Morgan collected his crystal. The globe vanished. “Thank you, Warden,” the Merlin said. “As we expected from Council records, our various retreats and Paths through the Nevernever are threatened. Frankly speaking, ladies and gentlemen, the Red Court holds us at a disadvantage within the mortal world. Modern technology so often disagrees with us that it makes travel difficult under the best of circumstances and unreliable in a time of conflict. We vitally need to secure safe Paths through the Nevernever or else risk being engaged and overwhelmed in detail by an opponent who can move more rapidly than we. To that end, we have dispatched missives to both Queens of the Sidhe. Ancient Mai.”
My eyes flickered to the podium to the Merlin’s left, where stood another of the Senior Council members, apparently the Ancient Mai. She was a tiny woman of Oriental extraction, her skin fine and pale, her granite-colored hair worn in a long braid curled up at the back of her head and held with a pair of jade combs. She had delicate features only lightly touched by the passage of years, though her dark eyes were rheumy. She unfolded a letter written upon parchment and addressed the Council in a creaky but firm voice. “From Summer, we received this answer. ‘Queen Titania does not now, nor will she ever choose sides in the disputes of mortal and anthrophage. She bids both Council and Court alike to keep their war well away from the realms of Summer. She will remain neutral.” ’
Ebenezar frowned and leaned forward to ask, “And from Winter?”
I twitched.
The Ancient tilted her head and regarded Ebenezar in perfect silence for a moment, somehow implying her annoyance at his interruption. “Our courier did not return. Upon consulting records of former conflicts, we may confidently assume that Queen Mab will involve herself, if at all, in a time and manner of her own choosing.”
I twitched more. There was a pitcher of water on the table, along with some glasses. I poured a drink. The pitcher only rattled against the cup a little. I glanced back at Bluebeard and saw him regarding me with a pensive gaze.
Ebenezar scowled. “Now what is that supposed to mean?”
The Merlin stepped in smoothly. “It means that we must continue whatever diplomacy we may with Winter. At all costs, we must secure the cooperation of one of the Sidhe Queens—or at least prevent the Red Court from accomplishing an alliance of its own until this conflict can be resolved.”
Martha Liberty lifted both eyebrows. “Resolved?” she said, her tone pointed. “I would have chosen a word like ‘finished’ myself.”
The Merlin shook his head. “Wizard Liberty, there is no need for this dispute to devolve into an even more destructive conflict. If there exists even a small chance that an armistice can be attained—”
The black woman’s voice lashed out at the Merlin, harsh and cold. “Ask Simon Pietrovich how interested the vampires are in reaching a peaceable settlement.”
“Contain your emotions, Wizard,” the Merlin replied, his voice calm. “The loss of Pietrovich strikes each of us deeply, but we cannot allow that loss to blind us to potential solutions.”
“Simon knew them, Merlin,” Martha said, her tone flat. “He knew them better than any of us, and they killed him. Do you really think that they will be inclined to seek a reasonable peace with us, when they have already destroyed the wizard best able to protect himself against them? Why should they seek a peace, Merlin? They’re winning.”
The Merlin waved a hand. “Your anger clouds your judgement. They will seek a peace because even in victory they would pay too high a cost.”
“Don’t be a fool,” Martha said. “They will never sue for peace.”
“In point of fact,” said the Merlin, “they already have.” He gestured to the second podium on his left. “Wizard LaFortier.”
LaFortier was an emaciated man of medium height and build. His cheekbones stood out grotesquely from his sunken face, and his bulging eyes looked a couple of sizes too large. He had no hair at all, not even eyebrows, and on the whole it gave him a skeletal look. When he spoke, his voice came out in a resonant basso, deep and warm and smooth. “Thank you, Merlin.” He held up an envelope in one thin-fingered hand. “I have here a missive from Duke Ortega, the war leader of the Red Court, received this morning. In it he details the Red Court’s motivations in this matter and the terms they desire for peace. He also offers, by token of goodwill, a temporary cessation of hostilities in order to give the Council time to consider, effective this morning.”
“Bullshit!” The word burst out of my mouth before my brain realized I had said it. A round of snickers, mostly from brown-robed apprentices, echoed through the theater, and I heard fabric rustle as every wizard in the place turned to look at me. I felt my face heat again, and cleared my throat. “Well, it is,” I said to the room. Ebenezar translated for me. “I was attacked by a Red Court hit squad only a few hours ago.”
LaFortier smiled at me. It stretched his lips out to show his teeth, like the dried face of a thousand-year-old mummy. “Even if you are not lying, Wizard Dresden, I would hardly expect perfect control of all Red Court forces given your role in precipitating this war.”
“Precipitating it?” I exclaimed. “Do you have any idea what they did?”
LaFortier shrugged. “They defended an assault upon their sovereignty, Wizard. You, acting in the role of representative of this Council, attacked a noble of their court, damaged her property, and killed members of said noble’s household and her as well. In addition, the records of local newspapers and authorities reveal that during the altercation, several young men and women were also killed—burned up in a fire, I think. Does that sound familiar to you, Wizard Dresden?”
I clenched my jaw, the sudden rush of rage spilling through me in such a torrent that I could scarcely see, much less trust myself to speak. I’d been brought before the Council for the first time when I had been put on trial for violating the First Law of Magic: Thou Shalt Not Kill. I’d burned my old mentor, Justin, to death. When I’d clashed with Bianca, lately of the Red Court, the previous year, I’d called up a firestorm when it looked as if my companions and I were going to buy it anyway. A lot of vampires burned. The bodies of some people had been found afterward, too. There was no way to tell which of them had been victims of the vampires and already dead when the fire got to them and which, if any, had been alive before I came along. I still have nightmares about it. I’m a lot of things, but I’m not a willing murderer.
To my shock, I felt myself gathering in power, getting ready to unleash it at LaFortier, with his skeletal smirk. Ebenezar caught my eye, his own a little wide, and shook his head quickly. I clenched my hands into tight fists instead of blasting anybody with magic and forced myself to sit down again before I spoke. Self-disciplined, that’s me. “I have already detailed my recollection of the events in my report to the Council. I stand by them. Anyone who tells you differently than what you read there is lying.”
LaFortier rolled his eyes. “How comfortable it must be to live in such a clear-cut world, Wizard Dresden. But we are not counting the cost of your actions in coins or hours wasted—we are counting it in blood. Wizards are dying because of what you did while acting in this Council’s name.” LaFortier swept his gaze to the rest of the theater, his expression stern, controlled. “Frankly, I think it may be wise for the Council to consider that we may indeed stand in the wrong in this matter and that it might be prudent to give careful considerations to the Red Court’s terms for peace.”
“What do they want?” I snarled at the man, Ebenezar providing the Latin for the rest of the Council. “A pint of blood a month from each of us? Rights to hunt freely wherever they choose? Amulets to shield them from the light of the sun?”
LaFortier smiled at me and folded his hands atop his podium. “Nothing so dramatic, Dresden. They simply want what any of us would want in this situation. They want justice.” He leaned toward me, bulging eyes glittering. “They want you.”
Chapter Six
Gulp.
>
“Me?” I said. Et la, LaFortier. Feel the bite of my rapier wit.
“Yes. Duke Ortega writes that you, Wizard Dresden, are considered a criminal by the Red Court. In order to end this conflict they wish to extradite you to an area of their designation for trial. A resolution that is, perhaps, distasteful, but may also be only just.”
He didn’t get the last word out of his mouth before several dozen wizards around the auditorium rose to their feet with outraged shouts. Others stood up to cry out against them, and still more against them. The room descended into a cacophony of shouts, threats, and cussing (among wizards, cursing is a different matter altogether) in dozens of languages.
The Merlin let people shout for a moment before he called out in a ringing voice, “Order!” No one paid him any attention. He tried once more, then lifted his staff and slammmed it down hard on the stage beside him.
There was a flash of light, a roar of sound, and a concussion that slopped the water in my glass up over the brim, spilling it on my flannel bathrobe. A couple of the wispier wizards were knocked down by the force of it—but in any case, the shouting ceased.
“Order!” the Merlin demanded again, in exactly the same tone. “I am well aware of the implications of this situation. But lives are at stake. Your lives and my own. We must consider our options with the utmost gravity.”
“What options?” Ebenezar demanded. “We are wizards, not a herd of frightened sheep. Will we give one of our own to the vampires now and pretend that none of this has happened?”
LaFortier snapped, “You read Dresden’s report. By his own admission, what the Red Court accuses him of is true. They have a just grievance.”
“The situation was clearly a manipulation, a scheme to force Dresden to those actions in hopes of killing him.”
“Then he should have been smarter,” LaFortier said, his tone flat. “Politics is not a game for children. Dresden played and was beaten. It is time for him to pay the price so that the rest of us may live in peace.”
Injun Joe put a hand on Ebenezar’s arm and spoke quietly. “Peace cannot be bought, Aleron,” he murmured to LaFortier. “History teaches that lesson. I learned it. You should have, too.”
LaFortier sneered at Injun Joe. “I don’t know what you are babbling about, but—”
I rolled my eyes and stood up again. “He’s talking about the American tribes losing their land to white settlers, dolt.” I figured Ebenezar would leave the insult out of the translation, but there were more stifled snorts from brown robes around the room. “And about Europe’s attempts to appease Hitler before the Second World War. Both attempted to purchase peace with compromise, and both got swallowed up bit by bit.”
The Merlin glared at me. “I did not recognize you, Wizard Dresden. Until you have the floor, you will refrain from such outbursts or I will have you removed from this meeting.”
I clenched my jaw and sat down. “Sorry. Here I was, figuring we had a responsibility to protect people. What was I thinking?”
“We will protect no one, Wizard Dresden, if we are dead,” the Merlin snapped. “Be silent or be removed.”
Martha Liberty shook her head. “Merlin, it seems clear that we cannot simply hand one of our own over to the Red Court because of their demands. Despite past differences with Council policy, Dresden is a fully ranked wizard—and given his performance in recent years, he seems well deserving of the title.”
“I do not question his ability with the Art,” LaFortier put in. “I question his judgement, his choices. He has played loose and reckless with his status as a wizard since Justin’s death.” The bald man turned his bulging eyes to the wizards in the theater. “Wizard Harry Dresden. Apprentice to the Wizard Justin DuMorne. Apprentice to the Wizard Simon Pietrovich. I wonder how the Red Court learned enough of Pietrovich’s defenses to bypass them so completely, Dresden.”
I stared at LaFortier for a second, shocked. Did the man actually believe that I had learned about this Pietrovich’s defenses through Justin? Then sold a Senior Council member of the White Council to the vampires? Justin hadn’t exactly taken me around much. Before I’d been put on trial, I hadn’t even known that there was a White Council—or other wizards at all, for that matter. I gave him the only answer I could. I laughed at him. Wheezy, quiet laughter. I shook my head.
LaFortier’s expression grew outraged. “You see?” he demanded to the room. “You see in what contempt he holds this Council? His position as a wizard? Dresden has constantly endangered us all with his obtuse indiscretion, his reckless disregard for secrecy and security. Even if it was someone else who betrayed Pietrovich and his students to the Red Court, Dresden is as guilty of their murder as if he himself had cut their throats. Let the consequences of his decisions fall upon him.”
I rose and faced LaFortier, but glanced at the Merlin for permission to speak. He gave the floor to me with a grudging nod. “Impossible,” I said. “Or at least impractical. I have violated none of the Laws of Magic in this matter, which rules out a summary trial. I am a full wizard. By Council law, I am therefore entitled to an in-depth investigation and trial—neither of which would provide any kind of workable solution anytime soon.”
The room rumbled with agreement when Ebenezar finished translating for me. That was hardly a surprise. If the Council jammed a trial down my throat and then threw me to the wolves, it would set a deadly precedent—one that could haunt any wizard in the room, and they knew it.
LaFortier jabbed a forefinger at me and said, “Quite true. Provided that you are, in fact, a full wizard. I move that the Council vote, immediately, to determine whether or not Dresden’s status as a wizard is valid. I remind the Council that his appointment to his stole was a de facto decision based upon circumstantial evidence. He has never stood Trial, never been judged worthy by his peers.”
“Like hell I haven’t,” I answered him. “I beat Justin DuMorne in a duel to the death. Is that not Trial enough for you?”
“Wizard DuMorne died, yes,” LaFortier said. “Whether he was defeated in an open duel or burned in his sleep is another matter entirely. Merlin, you have heard my motion. Let the Council vote upon the status of this madman. Let us end this foolishness and return to our lives.”
Ouch. An angle I hadn’t thought of. If I was stripped of my stole, it would be like a medieval noble having his title taken away. I would no longer be a wizard, politically speaking, and according to Council law and to the Accords between the various supernatural factions, the Council would be obligated to turn over a fugitive murderer to the Red Court. Which would mean, if I was fortunate, a horrible death. If I wasn’t fortunate, it could be considerably worse.
Given the kind of day I’d been having, my heart started skittering in my chest.
The Merlin frowned and nodded. “Very well, then. We vote upon the issue of the status of one Harry Dresden. Let those who would have him keep his stole vote for, and those who favor that his status be restored to that of apprentice vote against. All those in fav—”
“Wait,” Ebenezar interjected. “I invoke my right as a member of the Senior Council to reduce the vote to the Senior Council alone.”
The Merlin glared at Ebenezar. “On what grounds?”
“On the grounds that there exists a great deal of information about this matter of which the Council at large is unaware. It would be impractical to attempt to explain it all.”
“Seconded,” Injun Joe murmured.
“Accord,” Martha Liberty added. “Three votes yea, honored Merlin. Let the Senior Council make this decision.”
My heart started beating again. Ebenezar had made the right call. In a room full of frightened men and women, I wouldn’t have had a prayer of keeping my stole. With the vote reduced to the Senior Council, maybe I had a fighting chance.
I could almost see the Merlin trying to figure a way out of it, but Council law is pretty clear on that point. The Senior Council members can always take a matter to a closed vote with three supporters.
“Very well,” the Merlin said. The room rustled with whispers. “My interests lie in preserving the health and safety of those upon this Council, and of the communities of mankind in general. I vote against Dresden’s validity as an initiate wizard of this Council.”
LaFortier jumped in, bulging eyes narrowed. “As do I, and for the same reasons.”
Ebenezar spoke next. “I’ve lived with this young man. I know him. He’s a wizard. I vote to preserve his status.”
Little Brother chittered from his perch on Injun Joe’s shoulder, and the old wizard stroked the raccoon’s tail with one hand. “My instincts about this man tell me that he comports himself as a wizard should.” He gave a very mild glance to LaFortier. “I vote in favor of his status.”
“As do I,” Martha Liberty added. “This is not a solution. It is merely an action.”
Harry three, bad guys two. I turned my eyes to Ancient Mai.
The tiny woman stood with her eyes closed for a moment, her head bowed. Then she murmured, “No wizard should so blatantly misuse his status as a member of this Council. Nor should he be as irresponsible as Harry Dresden has been with his use of the Art. I vote against his retention of wizard status.”
Three to three. I licked my lips, and realized at just that moment that I had been too nervous and involved with events to take note of the seventh member of the Senior Council. He was standing at the far left of the stage. Like the other wizards, he wore a black robe, but his dark purple, almost black stole had a deep cowl upon it as well, which covered his face entirely. The candlelit dimness masked in shadow whatever the cowl didn’t cover. He was tall. Taller than me. Seven feet, and thin. His arms were folded, hands hidden inside the voluminous sleeves of his robe. Every eye in the place turned to the seventh member of the Council, and a silence deeper than that of the nearby Great Lake enveloped the room.