"But if anyone escapes the island, it gets worse wherever they go?"
"Pretty much."
She sighed, and so did I.
"You don’t think you’d be a good king?"
"Who knows? Maybe I could be a good king. Maybe you’d make a good queen. But that's not the issue."
"What is?"
"A mage should never be king. Or any kind of leader."
"What makes you say that?"
"I met one once."
"A king?"
"A Mage King."
"How was he?"
"His minions tried to force me to bend my knee to him. I had no idea what was going on, and they were forcing me to do something immediately, without any explanation."
"And you hate bullies."
"Even then, yes. I didn't really have time to wonder about it, but I did later on, and only a tyrant would force people to do things without explanation or choice. Especially since it was choosing day for me."
"Was he a tyrant?"
"When his minions failed to make me kneel, and then failed to kill me, he turned up himself."
"And?"
"Tried to kill me himself. I've always suspected if he hadn't turned up, there would have been no last second surge of energy, I'd have jumped to the glade I wanted to get to, successfully, and my life would have been totally different."
"And you’d never have met me."
"There's that."
I paused for a while, and she sat there with me, cuddling my arm.
"I've seen what life under a mage king is like. Sure they were different times, and life was a lot harder. But it didn’t have to be that hard. I was too young to really know anything, but even us boys being trained for the choosing knew why an army was needed, and why towns had their own militia units. I heard rumours of clashes with other armies, fighting sometimes weeks away from home. And more about bandits preying on towns who let too many of their best go to war for the king."
"That doesn’t make the king a tyrant."
"I've been wondering about that for years now. He was a tyrant by any definition I've come across. And what I remember, and him trying to kill me for not swearing allegiance to him then and there, tells me he abused his power to get what he wanted, and to kill anyone who opposed him."
"So if he was that powerful, why did he need armies and fight normal wars?"
I sighed.
"It’s a great way of removing troublemakers from your subjects ranks, and keeping the population of those most likely to revolt against you down, without needing to demonstrate your real power to the masses."
"Thorn?"
"Yes?"
"You’ve been reading too many books."
Fifty
The inquisitors turned out to be a secretive bunch.
Bill found no references to where any of them were. All the same, the ones on the homeworld were easy to deal with.
Once the formal peace treaty was finalized and signed, the neutral system agreement signed and sealed, and an open border trade agreement also signed and sealed, I sent the prime minister and her people home.
Before I did though, I took her and the marshal aside, and demanded one last thing from them.
"Now you want to dictate to a democracy?" asked the prime minister.
"Dictate, no. Put it this way. I suspect those who made sure slaves could be legally kept as indentured workers, are in fact slave owners, or are being lobbied or bribed by those who do own them. I expect you to amend the legislation, and call the vote. If it gets passed, no-one will need to meet me. If it doesn’t pass, those who vote against it will go before the court."
She shuddered.
"The only reason I've not visited those who ensured slaves could be kept, is I haven't had time yet. I'm prepared to allow democracy to fix its own mistakes, but I won't wait forever."
"Understood. But I doubt you're going to be happy on this."
"We'll see. Do your part, vote properly, and you have nothing to worry about from me. Those who vote for keeping slavery, will regret it. And I will be watching."
"I'll see it done, when the peace settles down. You can rely on me to do my part."
"Thank you."
I turned my gaze on the marshal, and he shifted uncomfortably.
"You have an easier job."
"I do? How is it easier?"
"Before your dictatorship is replaced by a democratic government, you will abolish all forms of slavery and indentured anything. You will also ensure whatever document, or set of laws your democracy is based on, includes slavery as being a capital offence."
"And if whoever governs afterwards reintroduces it?"
"They had better like a long walk in the desert."
He shuddered this time.
"I know you both have a hard road ahead. But the future starts here and now, and you will do your damndest to get it started right. Or I'll find someone else to do it. If you find difficulty with certain people or groups, let me know. I'm not going to fix everything for you, and I'm not going to be at your beck and call, but genuine blockages on the road ahead will be removed."
I looked at them both, and the three of us shook on it. A moment later, and the prime minister and her civilian people, were back where I took them from.
Tasha was back on the ship, as I hadn't seen any need for her to come here, so I sent the new marshal over to the headstones to wait for me, while I addressed the rest.
The building vanished from around us, the table returned to its original shape, and it and the chairs all went back where they came from. The facilities blocks vanished as well, followed by all the bedrooms.
None of those remaining looked happy.
I can't say I blamed them. I had what I wanted. Peace, the beginnings of trade, the location of both fleets, and the guilty. All that remained was punishment.
"You did good work here. Unlike those before you, your names are on what you accomplished here, and you will be remembered."
"But we're not going home," said the senior admiral from my side.
"No. You're going to a penal colony. But unlike those I've sent there before, you go to a much better place to start from, and with some information."
I paused and looked around. Some of them looked tempted to run, but the desert was daunting enough to stop them.
"You're going to an island. It has a temperate climate most of the time, some animal life, and plants you can eat. You can eat the fish if you can catch them, and there is shellfish and edible sea plants as well."
"What's the catch?" came from the back of the group.
"There is a predator on the island. Most likely those I've already sent there have fallen to it. But I gave them no warning they were there, and I put them down in the middle of the island. I'm putting you on a beach. The predator dislikes open areas, so to start with, unless you wander into the wrong place, you should be safe enough. With some discipline and hard work, you should be able to make somewhere safe to live."
"Is this island on this planet?"
"Yes. So take it from me, the island is a lot better than most of the rest of the planet. You can survive there, if you work together. But here's another downside. As soon as you leave here, you will no longer understand the other language. I'd urge you to learn the other one, or evolve a common one. But it's up to you what you all do there."
They were silent. I gave them time to ask any more questions, but none did.
I moved them to the only safe beach on the entire island. At my feet was left a pile of pads, a few pieces of jewelry which could be used as a weapon, and the non-cloth contents of their pockets. The pads went to Bill's domain, and the rest into a box in my personal cargo area.
The new marshal was standing looking at the desert, with his back turned to where the group had been standing. He turned as I came up to him, and I handed him the insignia of a grand marshal, copied from the one in the ground under our feet. He reluctantly removed his own, and replaced them.
; He startled as I changed my skin colour and uniform between eye blinks, and dropped the nice leather folio he was carrying. He picked it up, and a moment later, we were in the meeting room I'd taken him from.
The marshal's staff were called in, given the bare facts of the change in leadership, and shown the agreements.
In short order, the announcements were made, the secret fleet was recalled, and senior officers and civilians were called in to operate as a committee to begin the process of elections.
No-one questioned the new marshal. No-one so much as dared look at me, sitting in the background, overseeing everything. With an Inquisitor apparently in agreement with everything being done, everything must surely be in order, no matter how radical the notions being actioned.
Updates came into my pad, showing me the announcements put out by the prime minister, and the reactions to them, most of which were positive. The secret fleet had been broken up, and ships dispatched to both of the other block points, now being called border points. Plans for diplomatic missions to go beyond them, were already in progress.
At one point, a flunkey approached me, offered me the local version of a pad, and backed away again, all without looking at me. The state run media was broadcasting all the news as it always did, and reports were coming in of people being jubilant in the streets, as well as people refusing to believe what they were hearing and seeing.
I sent the marshal the suggestion to have his secret fleet broken up, and relocated to the other three block points they had, and for them to be prepared to allow diplomatic missions to go out, and traders to jump out and in.
Personally, I had the feeling the military on both sides wasn’t going to be too happy about things. They might need watching for a while. On that note, I advised both leaders to recall the admiral in command of their secret fleets, supposedly for duty in newly constituted high commands, but actually to be screened for early retirement. The fact these leaders had gone along with secret fleets, showed them to be the wrong people in command. With the fleets broken up, there shouldn’t be a problem with the next in line trying to usurp the roles.
Further announcements were made about ambassadors being chosen, and the assembly of diplomatic staff for embassies to both home worlds, and the joint mission in the new neutral system.
A message came in from Bentley, saying he'd been ordered out of the system, and back to the previous jump point. The orders came from the prime minister, and not the high command, since there wasn’t one, and he'd wanted to check I knew about them. I responded immediately confirming the orders.
A follow-up message advised me the admiral was being returned to his jump point squadron, and he'd been promoted to a junior admiral himself, with command of his fleet. His orders were to show the flag, act as a customs force, and to ensure traders coming in didn’t get into trouble.
I suspected his fleet would end up spread across a number of systems, acting more as a police force than military. It was going to take time for both sides to accept the other, and in the meantime, someone would have to break up any trouble started by people who'd lost out in the war. I smiled when I realized the captain who'd always wanted combat, and never seen it, still hadn't.
Later still, media broadcasts on both sides showed reports of traders starting to head for the neutral system, and their reactions to being able to trade out of known space. Most were excited about the possibilities, but a few grumbled they were only going to make sure they didn’t lose out to competitors. They fooled no-one.
Lunch was brought in at some point, but I was losing track of the day. I needed some attention here, but I was also using my sight to confirm what was going on elsewhere.
So I almost missed the inquisitor's entrance.
Fifty One
Five of them marched in together, and everything in the room stopped, with every head turning towards them.
One of them headed for the marshal, and the others fanned out around the room, the last one remaining by the door. They were all in military uniforms.
"You are all under arrest for a class one heresy," said the leader.
"No, they're not," I said quietly, while at the same time, removing their weapons.
The leader rounded on me, studied me for a moment, and started to come at me. He stopped when he bounced off a force wall a good way away. He picked himself up with as much dignity as he could manage.
"I don’t recognize you. Who are you? And what are you doing with inquisitor insignia?"
The next instant, all five of them were standing under the desert sun. I changed into my hooded look.
"The Reaper!" yelled one of the others, and they all dropped to their knees.
I returned my appearance back to orange normal, and held my hand out, palm up. Their pads appeared on my hand, one on top of the other.
The one on top quickly revealed the locations of all of them. These five were the only military ones on the homeworld at the moment, but there were also three civilians.
I focused my intent on the other three, and they appeared next to the others. As I found the locations of others on other planets, and one on the secret fleet, I brought them here as well. Each one, seeing their fellows on their knees, did likewise. They were all male.
"Are you all here?" I asked them, when I thought I had all of them.
"Yes Reaper," said the original leader.
I put a lot of command into my next order.
"Those who have killed will move to my left. Those who haven’t, will move to my right."
Only two moved to my right. And if I had the insignia right, both were juniors. I turned to them.
"You are going to a penal colony. You'll find some of your military already there. Rank will have no meaning, so I suggest you make yourselves useful, or one of two things will happen." I paused, but neither said anything. "Those already there will kill you rather than put up with whatever you inquisitors usually put people through. Or the local predator will eat you when no-one bothers to protect you from them. Am I clear?"
"Yes Reaper," they said together.
I moved them to an unoccupied part of the same beach I sent the military to. They immediately removed their inquisitor and rank insignia, and threw them out into the ocean. Several others started walking towards them. But I brought my attention back to the rest.
My shifting back to my normal skin colour and uniform, scared them all back onto their knees.
"My name is Judge Thorn, and all here are found guilty of murder. The punishment is death. This is a desert. There is no food or water for five days in any direction. If you stay here, you will die. Choose a direction, and chance your fate."
"Just like that? We are condemned?"
The speaker looked angry.
"You condemned yourselves. Being what you are, and what you are being what holds your society back from civilian government, you were already condemned. Your two juniors could live long productive lives in the penal colony I sent them to. You however, you have all killed, and admitted it. Punishment will fit the crime."
"What we did was no crime."
"We operate under ancient law," said another.
"We are the law," said a third.
"No longer. Here, today, my law is the only one which counts. And under my law, you are guilty, and sentenced. Choose a direction, and start walking. The longer you delay, the less chance you have of surviving."
I shifted myself to invisible, to make them think I was gone, leaving them to their fate. Their pads added to the pile in Bill's domain, and the contents of their pockets added to the box. There were startled exclamations from some, but resignation on the faces of others. One by one, they turned away from everyone else, and began walking.
The leader of the first five was the last to go. Once his back was turned, I dropped the invisibility, and moved back to the meeting room.
I ignored the gasps of surprise when I popped back in, ignored the muttered whisperings about my skin colour and uniform, and resumed si
tting where I'd been. The marshal made eye contact with me, I nodded, and he went back to his discussions.
By the time I left, he'd disbanded the office of inquisitors, both civilian and military. The heads of the office staff had been brought before me, and incarcerated pending trials. Others joined them. The rest of the inquisitorial staff were informed they no longer had jobs, should pack up their desks, and go home.
I had no illusions about them. Among the seemingly deskbound office staff, there would be a few genuine problems. But these were the new marshal's concern.
My job here, for the moment, was done.
Fifty Two
Assassins came for both the marshal and the prime minister over the next two days.
But both had decent security details, and hadn't needed my help to survive. Neither had gone out in public, both using their media services to full advantage. None of the assassins survived, so there was no judge work for me.
Sasha was offered a promotion to go back to the neutral system, and take charge of security for the station, and the existing colony. When the new diplomatic site was built on the empty continent, she was top of the list to take over as head of security for our side of the mission.
With nothing more to do here, I moved the six escort ships to park next to my other ones, and shifted us to just off docking distance of the neutral system station. Jen docked us carefully, being as the ship was a tad larger than the station was designed for.
The best restaurant on the station hosted us for dinner that night, me paying, and we gave Sasha and her team a merry send off. The actual goodbyes happened the next morning, and were a good deal more emotional than I’d expected. Even the sergeant gave me a hug, before a formal hand shake, and I was surprised to see Jen, Jess, and Lea, also hug the male members of the team. Progress indeed.
Tasha was saddest of all of them. She'd been with the team long enough to feel their loss, but she'd been adamant when Sasha had offered her a promotion as well, and now she was watching her team leave without her.
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