At last it was over. Tobi let the window shrink away. Elkan faced the crowd. “Although Tenorran Fovarre originally conceived of the trap and helped construct it, I believe his actions last night have more than atoned for his share of the guilt. His warning saved hundreds of lives. I recommend that he be pardoned and allowed to go free. Is there a consensus that this be done?”
The guildmasters looked at each other, nodded, and raised their voices in support. The wizards joined in. Soon the whole plaza echoed with assent.
Elkan raised his hand. “Does anyone oppose the consensus?”
No one spoke. “The Mother sets her seal on this judgement. Release Tenorran.”
The wizards holding him stepped back as their familiars let the golden ropes fade. Tenorran shook himself and rubbed the places where the light had been. “May I speak?”
Elkan hesitated a moment, then nodded. “Briefly.”
Tenorran addressed the crowd. “My mother does not deserve to be executed. This was an act of war. Killing the enemy with as few losses to your own side as possible isn’t murder; it’s good strategy. You Tevenarans, wizards included, killed many Ramunnans to take back your land. We don’t consider that a crime to be punished. You, Guildmaster, personally sank my own Armada vessel, killing most of the crew I served with, but I don’t hold you to blame for their deaths.”
Elkan said, “The war has been over for months. Verinna and I signed a peace treaty. This was an unprovoked attack; the rules of war don’t apply.”
The crowd murmured in support. Tenorran waited until they quieted. “If you do execute my mother, I ask to be given custody of my sister, Adrenna Fovarre.”
Renarre, who Elkan had allowed to come ashore under a truce flag and stand next to his wife, spun to face Tenorran. “How dare you? She belongs with me, not you, if Verinna—” His voice choked to silence.
Tenorran ignored him and directed his words to Elkan. “Ever since her birth, Mother has entrusted Adrenna to me. I’ve spent far more time with her than Lord Renarre has.”
“Don’t listen to him. Adrenna is my daughter. He has no right—”
Tenorran raised his voice to drown out Renarre’s. “If you kill my mother, Adrenna will be Matriarch. I’ve proven that I wish to cooperate with Tevenar and the Wizards’ Guild. I betrayed my own people to help you. Lord Renarre supported Mother in this attack. If you kill her, he’ll hate you even more. Which of us would you rather have as Adrenna’s regent, ruling Ramunna in her name until she comes of age?”
Renarre took a threatening step toward Tenorran, his voice low and poisonous. “Now we see what you really want. I told Verinna you couldn’t be trusted, you perverted, power-hungry—”
The wizards standing guard wrapped him in bonds of golden light, silencing him and pulling him back. He struggled for a moment, then subsided, glaring at Tenorran.
“If they release you, will you remain quiet?” Elkan asked him.
Renarre gave Elkan a look of pure loathing, then nodded stiffly. Elkan gestured, and the wizards dropped their hands. Renarre stalked back to his place beside Verinna.
Tenorran had raised an important point. But now wasn’t the time to debate it. “We’ll consider both your claims after the current matter is settled. Adrenna is safe with a wizard until then.”
Tenorran nodded. He cast a conflicted look at his mother, then backed to the edge of the crowd.
“Does anyone else want to speak in defense of Verinna or Tane, or introduce any other evidence that should be considered?”
He looked at Edniel, who stood with the rest of the guildmasters. As they’d arranged, she stepped forward and gestured to Josiah. “Three days ago, we witnessed the trial where your apprentice was found guilty of breaking the Mother’s Law. We saw his bond broken. Yet now you say he used the Mother’s power to save the Mother’s Hall from destruction?”
Elkan gave the carefully prepared explanation. “For reasons neither Josiah nor I understood, the Mother directed Sar to pretend to break their bond, and to ask Josiah to participate in the ruse. Josiah revealed this to me when we reached his room immediately after his trial. I believed the Mother must have had some purpose, so I agreed to keep the truth from all of you.” He spread his hands. “Now I know why she did it. Because Josiah acted out of concern for Tevenar, and because he confessed to his transgression and accepted the breaking of his bond, the Mother gave him the opportunity to redeem himself. She knew a sacrifice would soon be necessary, and she preserved his ability to make it. But Josiah didn’t escape without consequences. He’ll suffer for the rest of his life.”
It might even be the truth. A window had shown him the Mother’s shadowy form walking down a beam of moonlight to direct Josiah’s attention to Tenorran’s warning. She’d given Elkan the chance to speak to his apprentice and help him understand what must be done. Even if this hadn’t been her original intention, she’d taken advantage of Josiah and Sar’s continued bond to save the Wizards’ Guild. As long as the rest of the wizards followed his instructions and kept the full truth secret, the people’s faith in the Mother would only be shaken, not broken.
The guildmasters were nodding thoughtfully. Elkan addressed Edniel. “Does that answer your question?”
She inclined her head. “Is he still a member of the Wizards’ Guild?”
As far as Elkan was concerned, Josiah had more than earned the right to bond with another familiar and continue to serve the Mother, here or in Ramunna or wherever he wanted. Unless the Mother directly ordered him otherwise, he would defend his apprentice’s place in the guild to anyone who questioned it. He opened his mouth to say so.
But Josiah spoke, his voice breathy and strained, as loud as his weakened state permitted. “No.”
Elkan jerked to stare at him. “What?”
Josiah’s words were barely audible, but he didn’t waver. “Sar did break our bond, more or less. Just a few days after he should have.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” His shoulders twitched in a tiny shrug. “I’m glad the Mother gave me a second chance, but I don’t deserve to be a wizard anymore. I broke the Law.”
His eyes met Elkan’s steadily. Elkan swallowed. If he accepted Josiah’s declaration here, in front of everyone, he wouldn’t be able to reverse the decision later.
It’s not fair, he railed to Tobi. The Mother let him use her power to deceive. She should accept the responsibility, not make Josiah her scapegoat.
She’s not doing this. Josiah is. He must believe it’s worth it.
Elkan wanted to argue, but he couldn’t. Josiah didn’t look away. Elkan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and nodded. “Very well,” he said heavily.
The guildmasters and the rest of the crowd seemed to accept the explanation and decision. Perhaps the way things played out had been a bit unorthodox—it was Josiah, after all—but the end result accorded comfortably with custom and Law.
Elkan shook his head and ran a hand through his hair, forcing his mind back to the task at hand. “Does anyone else wish to ask questions or introduce evidence?”
Renarre stepped forward. “This is outrageous. You peasants have no authority to hold the Matriarch of Ramunna, let alone threaten her life.”
The wizards guarding him raised their hands, but Elkan gestured, and they subsided. “The Council of Guildmasters rules Tevenar, with the guidance of the Wizards’ Guild. Verinna made herself subject to our authority when she came here and violated our law.”
“By doing what? Killing a donkey?” Renarre laughed incredulously. “You intend to execute the rulers of two nations for the death of an animal?”
The wizards in the crowd muttered, but some of the guildmasters frowned. Elkan clenched his fists. “Sardonyx was far more than a mere animal. He was a Mother-touched familiar. For many years he served the people of Tevenar, first at Master Jovion’s side, then mine, then Josiah’s. How many of you did he help heal?” Elkan sought the eyes of several guildmasters he and Sar had treated.
“He traveled to Ramunna and healed thousands of people there. He voluntarily sacrificed his life to save hundreds of others. How many humans would have been willing to do the same?” Elkan forced words through his tightening throat. “He was my dear friend and companion, my partner in the Mother’s service. His death is a tragic loss to Tevenar and the world. Those responsible must be held accountable.”
The Ramunnans would never understand, but that didn’t matter. The Tevenarans were nodding grimly. A few guildmasters surreptitiously wiped their eyes.
Renarre shook his head, his eyes cold. “If you do this, Ramunna will never forget or forgive. Tevenar will pay for her life a thousand times over.”
He stepped back to Verinna’s side. She couldn’t move or speak, but she cast him a look of exasperated affection. Elkan shook his head. “Anyone else?”
No one responded. Elkan turned to the two prisoners. “Now the accused may speak in their own defense. Verinna, you first.”
The wizard holding her removed the Mother’s power from her mouth. Verinna surveyed the crowd with withering contempt. “As my son said, this was a legitimate act of war. Kill me in retaliation if you must, but don’t pretend it’s justice. I only regret that we failed.”
Outrage burst from the crowd. Verinna watched them with a small smile. If she was afraid, Elkan could see no sign.
He called for order, and gradually people quieted. “Tane.”
When the light withdrew from his face, Tane grimaced. “I don’t suppose you’ll let me scratch my nose?”
Elkan just looked at him. Tane gave a slight nod. “Execute me, and Marvanna will forever be your enemy. My son will take up my mantle and devote himself to avenging his father. He will know beyond any doubt that your animals are in fact demons, as our Keepers hold. He will not rest until every last one of them is exterminated.”
More outraged exclamations, but this time they were mixed with nervous mutters. The cold rage in Tane’s eyes made Elkan shiver. He had no doubt the man was telling the truth. If he went through with this, Tevenar would face both Marvanna’s and Ramunna’s enmity for many long years to come.
For a moment his resolve faltered, but he looked at Josiah’s wasted body and Sar’s withered corpse, and it steadied. “Then he’ll never rest. We’re well able to defend ourselves. As you’ve learned.” He gestured, and the wizards again sent golden light to gag the prisoners.
Elkan turned back to the crowd. “The Mother’s power has shown us irrefutable proof that Tane and Verinna committed the crime of which they’re accused. Neither of them deny it. They offer no explanations or extenuating circumstances, only threats.” He took a deep breath. “As Guildmaster, in the Mother’s name, I call on the Wizards’ Court to find them guilty and sentence them to execution. Who concurs?”
After a hushed moment, a solemn rumble of assent began. It swelled to fill the plaza, reverberating from the stone walls of the Mother’s Hall and rolling over the city.
Elkan waited until it faded. “Does anyone object to this consensus?”
For a long moment all was silent. Elkan fixed his eyes on Sar’s body and opened his mouth.
A single voice spoke. “I object.”
Elkan blinked as Tesi pushed out of the crowd.
She climbed onto the rim of the fountain beside Elkan, folded her hands, and bowed to him and to the watching crowd. Mimi jumped up and crouched beside her, lip curled to snarl at Tobi.
Tesi’s voice was clear and certain as she addressed the transfixed multitude. “I will not consent to these people’s deaths. All life is sacred. It is not your place nor mine to take it from them, no matter what they have done. If you insist on doing so despite my objection, I will not be able to remain a member of the guild that supports your action. If the honorable lady chooses to take her power from me in consequence, so be it.”
Elkan kept his voice soft and kind. “Tesi, I respect your beliefs. You have every right to speak and be heard. But the Mother’s Law allows—”
“I do not care. I acknowledge that the Mother is real. The evidence of my senses has convinced me of that truth. But I do not worship her, nor consider her Law the arbiter of good and evil. Killing is wrong, whether or not your Law permits it. I will not be a part of it.”
The crowd stirred and muttered. There were a few sympathetic voices, but most were condescending. Some sounded angry, even hateful. Elkan frowned, and the loudest protests faded, but the people were still unsettled.
Once he would have agreed with Tesi. The only time he’d conducted an execution, he’d been violently sick afterward. He’d had nightmares for months, reliving the taste and smell and feel of Nedon’s life ending beneath his hand. He’d come very close to losing his faith in the Mother, or at least in his ability to live up to what she demanded.
Later, after a great deal of thought and prayer, he’d adopted almost as extreme a philosophy as Tesi now espoused. Execution only as a last, desperate resort, when no other solution existed to protect the innocent and vulnerable. He’d gone to great lengths to spare the life of Dabiel’s murderer, even in the midst of his anguish at losing his beloved master. At the time, he’d believed Tharan’s death would only make matters worse. He’d grieved his inability to save the man when he’d refused healing.
Now, though… He was eager to carry out this sentence. He wanted to feel Tane’s and Verinna’s hearts slow until they stopped. He craved the pure and absolute justice their deaths would bring.
He need have no fear the Mother would disapprove. The golden light would flow from his hand, but Tobi would control it. His familiar was incapable of acting outside the Mother’s will.
When the two rulers stood before the Mother and looked into her eyes, they would understand to the depths of their beings the full awful truth of what they’d done, the pain they’d caused, the crimes they’d committed. All of them, not just this one. The thought gave him profound satisfaction.
He turned back to Tesi. As much as he admired her courage and conviction, he couldn’t let her argument sway him. “Your objection is noted. But a single dissenter isn’t enough to overturn a consensus.” He raised his voice. “Does anyone else object?”
Vigorre strode forward. “I do.” Tharanirre sprang from his shoulder, circled overhead with a hoarse cry, and swooped to perch on the fountain’s highest point. Vigorre stepped up and put his hand on Tesi’s shoulder. “Executing them will cause more problems than it solves. There must be a better way.”
Frustration boiled up in Elkan. How could they not see? He put a hand on Tobi’s head. “Both of you were sleeping in the Hall last night. You’d have been killed if their plan had succeeded. Your familiars as well.” He swept his other hand to indicate Sardonyx’s lifeless body. “Sar is dead.” His voice cracked. “For too long Tane and Verinna have escaped the consequences of the wrongs they’ve done. The Mother requires them to pay for their crimes.”
A weak, breathy voice spoke. “Master, please, don’t.”
Stunned, Elkan whirled to face Josiah. “I would think you’d be the first to demand their lives.”
“Killing them won’t bring Sar back.” Josiah’s gaunt face stared up at him, his eyes big and worried. “I saw how executing someone affected you. You told me that just because we can do something with the Mother’s power doesn’t mean we should. You said you hoped I’d never have to kill with the Mother’s power. Well, now I have, and it’s every bit as horrible as you said.”
Josiah panted. He strained to lean forward, but his weakened body failed him, and he slumped against the cushions of his chair. Kevessa put her arms around him and drew him upright, giving her support and agreement as he forced out a few more words. “The war changed you. You had to kill too many people. Please don’t kill any more.”
Defensive words sprang to Elkan’s lips, but before he could speak, Meira emerged from the ranks of the guildmasters. She approached the fountain, shifting Ravid to her right hip so she could reach up with her good hand and lay it on his
thigh. “Listen to him, Elkan, please. The Mother called you to heal and help and serve. Use her gifts for those things. Not revenge.”
“How can you say that after everything they’ve done to us? To you?” He clenched his fists, staring down at her.
Her eyes pleaded with him. “Killing them will hurt you even more.”
“Verinna threatened Ravid! Would you be arguing for mercy if she’d harmed him? Killed him?”
Meira flinched and pulled Ravid tighter, but she didn’t look away. “She didn’t. He’s safe. Please, Elkan, I’m begging you. Don’t let anger and hatred destroy the man I love.”
Her words shook him. Was that what he was doing? Was the stern, implacable coldness he felt when he looked at Verinna and Tane not well-deserved condemnation after all, but simple, ugly hatred?
Hadara stepped forward, Whiskers on her shoulder. Todira and Night flanked her on one side, Kalti and Amia on the other. “Think about what Dabiel would advise you, Elkan. She named you as her successor because she trusted you to follow the Mother’s will. Are you sure that’s what you’re doing?”
He’d thought he was. But maybe he was wrong. During his divorce from Liand he’d felt this same righteous fury, this desire to use the Mother’s power to return pain for pain. His master had tried to dissuade him, but he’d ignored her. He’d regretted it ever since.
Hanion stepped up to join them. Mavke pressed against his ankle. “Elkan, trust me, I understand why you want to execute them. I would, too, if I were in your place. I’d probably go through with it. But I surrendered the Wizards’ Guild to you because I believed you could lead Tevenar in ways I couldn’t. Is justice worth confirming Ramunna and Marvanna as our enemies, when you were so close to making peace with them? Isn’t the welfare of Tevenar more important than our desires?”
Elkan flinched at the pointed echo of his own words. Smash it, even Hanion thought he was wrong. How could he cling to the conviction he was right, when so many people disagreed?
Here and there throughout the crowd, others raised their voices in objection. Not a great number, far from a majority, but enough that under any other circumstances he would be unable to argue in good conscience that a consensus had been reached.
The Wizards' War Page 95