Brightly Burning (42 page)

Hoarfrost rimed every surface of the buildings around the Square, muting the colors; the sky above, a flat gray, promised nothing and added nothing. It seemed that all the elements had agreed to contribute to the atmosphere of rejection that Theran had concocted.

Theran stood, and slowly scanned the entire gathering, the force of his personality ensuring that every single individual in the Square would be willing to swear later that the King had locked eyes with him, personally. Theran took a deep breath, and his voice rolled over the silent crowd.

“We are here to pass judgment,” he said, each word weighted carefully. “
You
are here to bear witness that justice has been done. These seven men—” he gestured slightly at the hired thugs, “—were captured in the act of attempted murder of one of Valdemar's Heraldic Trainees; this boy, Lavan Chitward, called Firestarter.”

Pol's swift intake of breath was echoed by many others; this was the first time that Lan's Gift had been acknowledged publicly, and those who knew that he had been one of the boys involved in the Guild School fire would now be putting two and two together. This was no accident on Theran's part, but what was he going to accomplish with this information?

“These seven men stand convicted of that crime, and of the crime of attempted murder and injury of one of Valdemar's Companions, the Companion Kalira, bound to Lavan Firestarter.”

Another and more general gasp; for most people, the very notion that someone would deliberately harm a Companion was shocking. To actually see the men who had done such a thing was an outrage to their sensibilities.

“Have you men anything to say for yourself before we pass judgment upon you?” Theran stared down at them; his look one of utter disgust. Pol didn't really expect them to say anything at all, but to his surprise, one of them stepped forward.

“We wasn't to hurt the horse—I mean, Companion,” the grizzled, mustached man said defiantly. “And we was just doin' the job we'd been hired to. By
her—
” and he pointed at Jisette Jelnack.

The crowd murmured; there had been rumors flying all through Haven since the attack two days ago, but until now none of that had been confirmed. Pol noticed with satisfaction that if anything, the general sense of outrage had increased.

Theran's expression did not change by a hair. “We are aware of that,” he said, distantly. “Nevertheless, regardless of who hired you, or why, you intended to murder, you attempted to murder. The fact that this attempt was on one of our Trainees and resulted in the injury of one of our Companions only compounds the felony. You stand condemned out of your own mouths, under Truth Spell, and duly witnessed. Is that all you have to say?”

The man wilted a little, and shook his head, stepping back a pace.

Theran hardened his expression. “Very well. Your crime is punishable by death.” Here he paused, while the condemned looked sick and the crowd radiated approval. “But we have—another fate in mind for you, one that will serve Valdemar. You will proceed under guard to the Karsite Border. You will remain under guard, in heavy chains when you are not performing your duty, in light chains when you are. You will be outfitted in a special red uniform, patterned with a broad black cross on front and back, to make you visible and prevent you from being mistaken for Bards. You will serve the Healers in whatever capacity they deem fit—including and especially the extraction of the wounded from the battlefield during battles.” He raised an eyebrow at them, for the first time changing his expression, from one of condemnation to irony. “This will be your duty for the rest of your lives—however long or short that may be. And I do not recommend an attempt at escape. You would not evade my Guards and Heralds for long, and should you think to find mercy at the hands of the Karsites, think again. They burn our people in Karse, and you would never be able to pass yourselves off as Believers in their One God.”

He gestured to the Guards surrounding the miscreants, who took the seven away to their fates, to the subdued approval of the crowd. Now his attention turned to Jisette.

The Guards brought her forward at his gesture. Pol knew what was going through the minds of many who could not see her face.
How could this wealthy, pampered, delicate woman have done what she was accused of?
She stared up at the King in defiance, then her gaze went to Lan, and her expression turned to one of pure hate. Lan trembled, and would have shrunk back, if the King had not put a hand on his elbow. Of all of those present, only Pol and King's Own Jedin could know how much it cost the boy just to stand there impassively. It was damnably unfair to put him through this, but worse was to come.

“You, Jisette Jelnack, stand accused and convicted of hiring men to murder Heraldic Trainee Lavan Firestarter. Out of your own mouth you were condemned, under Truth Spell. Have you anything to say for yourself?”

Jisette shook off the restraining hand of one of her Guards and stepped forward, entirely unrepentant. “That—
creature
—next to you is a murderer!” she shrilled, and Pol was not the only person to wince at her tone. “He killed my son! Put
him
under Truth Spell if you dare! I only sought justice for my poor boy when your justice was denied me!”

More murmurs from the crowd, uncertainty this time. There had been rumors of this also—and Theran had decided to deal with them in public, once and for all. He couldn't deny that Lan had, in the sight of witnesses, brought up fire to protect himself and Kalira. People were already thinking back to the Merchants' School Fire. He couldn't have confidence in the Heralds undermined.

So Lan would have to take the blows, and bear them, for his sake, and the sake of every Herald in the Kingdom.

“I intend to,” Theran said flatly. “Now, in the sight of all these witnesses, so that there can be no question of the depth of your obsession and insane hatred.” He stepped back; Jedin stepped forward as Lan swallowed hard, and waited.

A moment later, Lan was surrounded by a faint, blue glow, clearly visible against the universal white of the platform, the draping, and the white uniforms. Very few people, even those living in the capital, had actually seen a Truth Spell in action, and from the front to the rear they craned their necks, peering up at the platform in avid curiosity.

Jedin wasted no time; after a few preliminaries to establish that Lan was, indeed, Lavan Chitward, and that he had attended the Merchants' School as stated, he went straight to the heart of the matter.

“Describe the situation between the younger pupils and the older,” Jedin ordered.

In a strained voice, Lan related everything that Pol already knew about the behavior of the Sixth Form, as the crowd listened closely, and began to radiate disapproval—not of Lan, but of the gang of bullies who had so dominated every other pupil in the school. Jisette Jelnack, however, stirred angrily.

“Lies!” she shrieked, when Lan was finished. “All lies!”

Now the Seneschal's Herald stepped forward and offered Theran a sheaf of papers. “This is testimony from forty other pupils of the Merchants' School, all taken under Truth Spell and witnessed, that corroborate and add to the statements of Lavan Chitward,” he said, for the benefit of the crowd. “These include statements from the boys who survived the fire and styled themselves ‘Sixth Formers,' and were the followers of the Jelnack boy.”

“Lies!” Jisette shrieked again. Theran glared at her, rapidly losing patience—a feat in itself, for Theran's patience was nothing short of monumental.

“Woman, you will be silent unless permission is granted you to speak,” he thundered. “If you cannot be silent, you will be gagged. Do you understand this?”

Angrily, she stared up at the King, as if she were the rightful ruler and not he. Then she nodded once, sharply, with extreme reluctance.

Lan was not out from under the burden yet, and Jedin returned to him. “Describe, from the moment that you were accosted in the classroom after dismissal, precisely what occurred on the day of the fire.”

Shaking so that his distress must be visible even to the farthest corner of the Great Square, Lan complied, leaving out nothing. He faltered when trying to describe how his Gift suddenly erupted and broke free of his control; rather than coach him, Jedin asked very specific questions that enabled him to give details that would satisfy even the most skeptical that, untrained as he was, and not even knowing what it was that had happened, there was nothing he could have done to stop what had happened once it got started. The blue glow of the Truth Spell never wavered through all of this. Finally Jedin asked the most important question of all.

“Did you intend for anyone to be hurt?” he asked, almost gently.

Lan shook his head.

“What did you want?” Jedin persisted.

“I just wanted them to
leave me alone!
” Lan cried, his voice breaking. “All I ever wanted was to be left alone!”

It was obvious that not only his voice was cracking, but his nerves, and Jedin dismissed the Truth Spell, nodded once to the King, and stepped back into his proper place.

But Jisette could no longer control herself. “You see! You see! He murdered my boy in cold blood! I demand—”

“
Silence!
” Theran shouted, making everyone jump. “Guards, gag the prisoner!”

The Guards, looking pleased for the first time this afternoon, obeyed him with alacrity. Jisette struggled, but uselessly. In a moment, she was silenced, and glared all around her with eyes so wide that the whites showed all around.

Another murmur rose from the crowd, this one of approval. “I'd'a given the bitch the back of m'hand a candlemark agone,” one man behind Pol muttered to his neighbor.

“Trainee Lavan, called Firestarter, has demonstrated to the satisfaction of the entire Guard and Collegium that his Gift is now under control,” said the Lord Marshal, over the comments of the crowd. “Under attack, he eliminated the weapons of his attackers, and confined them, without harming them.”

“Very good,” Theran responded with utmost gravity; this, of course, was to settle any remaining unease concerning Lan's Gift. “And there is no doubt that the Companion Kalira's Choice is a true one?”

“No doubt whatsoever, Sire,” Jedin supplied. “And everyone knows that a Companion does not Choose the unworthy.”

Despite what poor Lan was going through, Pol had to admire the way that Theran had orchestrated these proceedings. Every possible doubt that could arise had been set up, like a target, and neatly knocked down. Only one possible thing remained, an analogy to what had occurred at the school that even the dullest could understand.

Theran stood up, and glared down at the Jelnack woman. Unrepentant to the last, she glared back up at him.

“Woman, your child willfully and intentionally went about that school throwing stones aimed to hurt,” he rumbled, as the crowd stilled, the better to hear his words. “He triggered an avalanche with his stones when he aimed at Trainee Lavan. The fact that the avalanche killed him is his
own
fault and no one else's; not the fault of Lavan or even of the avalanche itself. Those who take delight in causing harm would do well to heed his example and his fate.”

Pol nodded with satisfaction; Theran must have been working on those exact words for the better part of a day. He could not have chosen a better simile, or one more memorable and graphic.

“As for you,” Theran continued, “we have thought long and hard about your punishment. You are very clearly obsessed, for the warning you had and the evidence you have heard was not sufficient; just as clearly, you are no longer able to consider your actions rationally. We do not execute the insane in this land. It is obvious that your family can exert no control over you, and thus cannot be trusted with your custody. Our Healers have enough to do; we will not burden them with the duty of taking care of you. We do not want you in our prison, providing an added burden for our Guards; prison is not the place for one such as you. Fortunately, and due entirely to the consideration of the combined Priesthoods of this land, a solution has been found.”

He gestured, and a robed figure in cream-colored wool came forward from behind the platform. Pol craned his neck along with everyone else; this was as much a surprise to him as to the rest of those here. It was a woman, but he didn't recognize the robes of her Order.

“This is Priestess Fayshan, of the Cloistered Order of Kernos-Sequestered,” Theran announced, and Pol saw his lips curve ever so slightly as Jisette's eyes widened in recognition. “I see that you know the Order. For the benefit of others, Fayshan's sect normally accepts only the most ardent in their faith, for their way is one of the most
complete
seclusion. In fact, each votary is sealed into her cell for the entirety of her life, receiving her needs and nourishment through a slit in the wall, and daylight through a slit-window. They know when they are sealed into those cells that they will exit their cells only at death. However, given the circumstances, Priestess Fayshan has graciously offered the hospitality of one of her cells, so that you may have the opportunity, through diligent prayer and contemplation, to be cured of your madness, and then, through more prayer and contemplation for as long as you may live, expiate your sin. Like her willing votaries, you will leave your cell only when you are dead.”