A knock at the door was followed by a clerk of some sort walking in. She stared at him. “It is time, Lord Koen.”
“Ah, well. We’ll find out what they have soon enough.” Looking troubled, Verrill stood.
The public seating in the courtroom was completely filled. As Lord Koen stepped through the doorway, murmurs passed like waves across the sea of watchers. He smiled and followed Verrill to the defense table. There was nothing like being in front of an appreciative audience.
Just as the last time he sat at a table like this, there was a great deal of boring goings on at the start. Announcements were made, explanations given, and instructions laid out—to lawyers and to the present public. He had to stifle a yawn.
Finally, the actual trial began.
The prosecutor stood and began his little speech.
“Your Honor,” he bowed to the judge, “and esteemed jurors,” he bowed to the six jurors. “We will bring before you several witnesses and items of evidence proving that Lord Koen not only plotted but actually initiated a years-long plan to burn buildings across this great city, and during the execution of said plan, injured and killed many of your fellow citizens, all as a distraction to not only damage the name of High Lady Hasana, but, at the plan’s fiery conclusion, to also assassinate her by burning down the Theater for the Performing Arts while she and over a hundred people were inside.”
Lord Koen sat forward. “Preposterous!”
A gavel-strike. “Order!” The judge glared at him and turned to his lawyer. “Master Verrill, keep your client under control. I will not warn him again.”
“Yes, your Honor.” Verrill leaned over and hissed. “Unless you want to spend more time in gaol for contempt, no more outbursts!”
“I cannot seem to be accepting of the accusations,” he hissed back.
“Stick to the damn plan! This isn’t a pissing opera, this is your life!”
Lord Koen pressed his lips together, but leaned back in the chair. “Fine.”
The prosecutor raised a brow. “As you can see, Lord Koen is not one to follow rules . . . or laws. His plot to murder his niece, had it succeeded, would have allowed him to step in as High Peer. You see, he’d already started whispers touting him as a better person to lead. Those whispers were supposedly the true feelings of the people, but were in fact, paid for and initiated by him, just as the criers were paid and supplied with a script to denounce the High Lady across the city.”
Lord Koen did not again respond to the man’s rhetoric, he merely continued to listen, clenching his jaws in silence.
That bastard Tobin had betrayed him, had revealed everything he knew about the plan. It was good that some things had been kept from him, though it sounded as if the prosecutor, likely via the Gella woman, had learned of them anyway. How? Did they really have more witnesses than Tobin? Who? And what items of evidence had the man meant?
+ + + + +
Polandra wiped sweat from her brow and pressed her hands to her lower back. “Gods, shouldn’t all the training we do make this an easier task? And where does all this dust even come from?”
Liara looked over from where she swept. “More to the point, didn’t you do this kind of thing all the time here? I’d have thought you’d be used to it.”
Polandra nodded. “Yes, crusani did all the cleaning like this, and I was a crusan for a few years.” She leaned backward a touch and let out a groan. “I guess my back just isn’t used to me leaning over so much anymore.”
They were helping clean the spare rooms in Bataan-Mok that would be used sort of like a temporary boarding school. Many of the villages that the children had gone back home to were half a day distant or more. It would be impossible for those children to trek back and forth each day for school. Thus, Polandra’s initial idea had transformed: the children would take lessons here as originally intended, but those students who needed to or wished to could also live here.
Having gotten the Guildmaster’s approval, she met with the leaders of the first village she wanted to approach with the idea, Pashi, a couple of days ago, and they were more than happy for the assistance. Rooms in Bataan-Mok would be more conducive to learning—and less smelly and dusty—than the barns and warehouses they had intended to use while new schools were being planned and built. The temporary boarding school would be available to all the villages.
Another consequence of so many children having been discharged from the former Order was that there were not enough crusani left to spare for the task of preparing all the rooms at once. That’s why she and Liara had volunteered to help a little each day. The cleaning was turning out to be more wearing than she’d first thought, however. And then there was the meeting tomorrow.
She let out a frustrated sigh.
“Come now,” Liara said, “it’s not that hard. And just think about the kids that will be able to go back to school, like Benji. He’ll be able to take lessons here and keep spending time with his brother.”
“Actually, I think he’s probably going to be more excited about still being able to live where dragons are.” She rubbed her back. “But that’s not why I sighed. I have a meeting tomorrow with Pashi’s teachers to discuss our school’s education program.”
“Ah, right.” Liara scrunched her nose. “You said something about how they all seemed to have their own ideas about that.”
Polandra nodded. “Exactly. In the meeting with Pashi’s leaders the other day, one of the teachers kept trying to forward his personal ideas concerning the lessons. I had to constantly drag everyone back to the main topic—whether they would make use of our temporary school while they worked on theirs. I’m worried that in addition to a few teachers, every village might have their own ideas of how the lessons should go. I mean, yes, they will hire the instructors that will use the rooms here, but—”
“It’s ridiculous.” Liara leaned on her broom. “You can’t have that many lesson plans for the children—you’d have dozens and dozens of classes of a few students each. There aren’t enough rooms here for that.”
“That’s exactly right!” Polandra smiled at her. “I’m going to use that argument in the discussions. But I do need to have a defined plan to show them.” She scowled.
“We can ask around, see if anyone knows someone with Education Craft training.”
Polandra nodded. “Yeah, though we don’t have much time.”
“And speaking of time, aren’t we supposed to pick up the auditors, soon?”
She glanced at her wrist-watch. “Damn. You’re right. And I was hoping to go to Stronghold a little early and find out how the trial’s going. It took them long enough to start it.”
“It sure did. Could there be that many cases awaiting trial?”
Polandra shrugged. “Who knows.”
“If we don’t hop to it, though, we won’t be able to go until that thing later on.”
“Aye, so let’s get moving.” She got back to sweeping.
Perhaps half an hour later, they were done cleaning and had finished moving the furniture around. Pieces that would not be needed were set aside to be removed later to another room for storage.
“Here you are!” Cirtis walked in. “I’d worried that I missed you until I saw Mia and Ikan still in the plaza.”
Polandra took a step toward him. Fala was still fresh in her mind and she remained a little nervous. “Did something happen, sir?”
He raised his hands and smiled. “No, no. I just thought I would ride with you to the wing rather than take Komako, ah, the adepts away from the dragons. You were bringing them here to update me on progress at the wing, but I can as easily go to them.”
“Oh,” Liara glanced at her, curved her lips into a sly little smile, and raised an eyebrow. “Sure. We can take you.”
What was she intimating with that look? Polandra glanced back at Cirtis. “Of course. We’re actually done here and, after a quick wash-up, were about to head off.”
“Perfect.”
After exiting the por
tal, Polandra spied Zolin below, basking near the spire on top of the mesa. The black dragon raised his head and let out a welcoming bark as they descended.
Once on the ground, Ikan and Mia chirped at him, and once everyone had dismounted, the two padded over to join their dragon friend.
Polandra, Liara, and Cirtis headed down the passage into the wing. Shadows danced along the walls from the lantern Polandra held aloft.
Liara turned to her. “I wonder if any on the enchanting shift have an education background.”
“Hmm. It’s worth asking. The sooner I start, the better.”
“Education Craft?” Cirtis looked from Liara to her.
“Yes.” Polandra nodded. “I need to devise a unified education plan for the classes that will be held in Bataan-Mok and I wanted to talk with someone who had knowledge about that kind of thing.”
Cirtis grunted. “I would have thought the teachers would have an idea about that.”
Polandra chuckled. “Oh, the teachers have ideas, too many ideas. And I wouldn’t be surprised if each village has its own as well. The thing is, we can’t have twenty different lesson paths. I wanted to come up with one that everyone could agree on.”
“Ah, yes, that would be best,” Cirtis said. “Adept Komako is also an adept in Education Craft. You should ask her about it.”
Polandra blinked. “She is?”
Cirtis nodded. “She was torn between teaching and animals, it seems. Teaching won out at first, but then she was gifted a horse. She fell in love with the plucky mare.” He frowned. “After a terrible accident, it had to be put down. She switched crafts within the week, determined to learn all she could so that mayhap something like that could be prevented in the future.”
Polandra glanced at him. When had he learned all this about the Animal Craft adept?
“Well you certainly know a lot about our esteemed auditor.”
It wasn’t certain, the light wasn’t the best in here, but it looked like Cirtis’s cheeks pinked at Liara’s comment.
Polandra stared. If her eyes saw true, then the little smile on Liara’s face earlier made more sense, now. “Thank you for the suggestion, sir. I’ll speak with her about it.”
He cleared his throat. “You’re quite welcome.”
She stepped out of the passage and stood at the top of the large ramp that led down to the sandy room below. Light fixtures had been added along the walls, and by their illumination it was clear that the room was empty.
“Now, where exactly are they?” Polandra frowned. Ikan, can you sense where the auditors are?
His replay came a moment later. Zolin says they are in the old living spaces.
Ah, I see. Thank you.
“They’re this way.” She headed down to the sand floor.
Once at the bottom of the ramp, she took the passage across the room, and not too long after, it intersected with one of the finished corridors.
“Is that . . . a hallway?” Cirtis stared at the opening.
“Oh!” Liara hurried into the corridor. “They’ve already enchanted this far in?”
Polandra chuckled and followed her. The walls and floors were smooth like cut and polished stone, but from enchanting.
“Ah, of course.” Cirtis walked in. “It seemed so out of place it confused me for a moment.”
Where possible, the ceiling and about a foot at the top of the walls had been left rough, and it made for a nice contrast with the finished walls and floor in the large hallway. Widely-spaced sconces along the walls, their brand-new light globes sparkling, provided just enough illumination to see by.
She shuttered the lantern and turned left. “This way.”
The downward sloping corridor ended at the first of what looked like a series of large caverns. The smooth, enchanted floor continued in for a bit, but eventually stopped at the top of a wide set of stairs designed to accommodate dragon paws and gaits. The stairs looked more like tiered platforms, so large was the tread width—the distance from the front of each step to its back.
“Cirtis!” Adept Komako waved from where she sat next to Nenet.
The two auditors were sitting with half a dozen dragons several yards ahead. Nenet’s mate, Tototl, sat on his haunches next to her, Tozi was there with Atoc, as were two former Departed whose names Polandra didn’t yet know.
As they walked over to join them, Adept Oran stood. “Cirtis, we expected the dragonlinked, they were going to take us to the meeting with you, but to what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?”
“Ah, yes, well, it seemed more efficient if I were to come to you.” Cirtis smiled at Adept Komako. “Why take you both away from your work for longer than need be?”
“Indeed.” Adept Oran had the ghost of Liara’s little smile on his lips.
“Tototl, my good man,” Cirtis approached the gray-brown dragon and smacked his hand on the big dragon’s shoulder, “how are you doing today?”
Tototl chirped. I am well, Cirtis. And you?
“In excellent spirits, thank you.” He smiled and turned to the Animal Craft adept. He bobbed his head in a little bow. “Adept Komako.”
She smiled. “Cirtis. It’s nice to see you again.”
Polandra stepped forward. “There is something I wanted to ask you, Adept Komako.”
She turned from Cirtis. “Hmm?”
“Would you have time, sometime today, to talk about helping me design an education program for the temporary school we’ll be setting up at Bataan-Mok? I’d like to have at least the framework of a plan ready for a meeting I have tomorrow afternoon.”
Adept Komako glanced at Cirtis, smiled, then glanced back. “Um, sure. Most schools across the nation base theirs off a standard guide, so it shouldn’t be too difficult. Uh, perhaps we can meet this evening after dinner?” She glanced back at Cirtis.
Unable to help herself, Polandra smiled at the distracted woman. “That would be perfect, thank you.”
“Cirtis,” Adept Oran said, “why don’t I let Komako here catch you up while I show the dragonlinked around?”
“That would be splendid,” Cirtis said.
The still smiling sorcerer adept turned and winked at Polandra and Liara. “Come, my friends, let me show you the great work the enchanting teams have done.” He led them back to the wide hallway.
Though the stone was different and it was much wider and a bit darker, Polandra could almost imagine she was walking along a hallway at the Guildhall.
“Why so little light, though?” Liara looked up and down the corridor.
“Ah!” Adept Oran lifted a hand with a raised finger and looked up. “You noticed how parts remain in their rough state?”
Liara looked at the ceiling. “I did.”
“They’re going to bring back moss-tending here, and too many sconces would drown out the light-emitting mosses and fungi.”
Polandra remembered the discussions. Both Aeron and Anaya had been fairly adamant about it. “Eventually,” she said, “we might even remove the sconces entirely.”
Liara grunted. “Golden.”
Adept Oran rubbed his hands together. “We can’t wait to document the various designs. All this time we’ve had almost no knowledge of dragons, and now we’re getting so much. Their history, their social makeup, that they even practiced art in this form—it’s quite exciting!”
Polandra couldn’t help but smile. Adept Oran’s grin was infectious. “Have you already pored through Sharrah’s dragon notes at the Guildhall, then?”
“Oh, yes. Komako made that our first priority. We addressed that shortly after we arrived. And a good thing, too. So much has happened since then! The arrival of the Departed, dragons from House Yaot wanting to join House Mochyehua, the meeting of the queens.” He chuckled. “We’ve been hard at work noting everything down. Luckily, we now have time to focus on studying unbonded dragons.”
“And how go those studies?” Liara briefly ran a hand along the smooth wall while they walked.
“As well as can be
expected,” Adept Oran said. “We’re still in the midst of interviews—recording histories and such and getting them comfortable with us. Once the interviews are complete, we’ll move off to the periphery to take notes. Eventually, we’ll seem like part of the background and the real observations will begin.”
A corridor branched off on the left, and he stopped in front of it. “If I recall correctly, today the team started work on rooms down that way. Offices, I think?”
Polandra nodded. “Yes. We’re still working out where things should go in here. We’re not exactly sure what a House Wing is, so . . .” She shrugged. “At any rate, we thought having a few rooms for bond-pairs near the ground entrance would be good. Those were completed yesterday, so now they’re starting work on offices. Enclosed cisterns or tanks on the mesa will be next, into which we’ll pump water from the spring so we can supply water to the place.”
Liara whistled. “I should have visited more often. It sounds like there’s lots going on.”
“That there is.” Polandra sighed.
Liara took her hand. “Well, once we finish helping get the lesson rooms ready, we can devote more time to the work needed here. In fact, I wonder if we should move down here sooner rather than later.” She looked at Adept Oran. “I’m sure the team leader won’t like us interrupting them, so why don’t you show us the rooms for bonded pairs?”
Chuckling, Polandra squeezed Liara’s hand and said, “You want to get first pick on a suite of rooms for us, don’t you?”
Liara laughed. “Maybe. Let’s hurry, though, we want to get to Stronghold before that ceremony so we can check on progress at the trial, right?”
She nodded. “Yes. And I’m getting hungry, but we still have to take Cirtis back to Bataan-Mok after he’s done, and I want to fit in a quick lunch somewhere in there before we leave for Stronghold.”
+ + + + +
Full of mirth, Sharrah watched over the newest members of House Mochyehua as they got brushed down by a few candidates. The activity was one of several added to chores a little over a week ago so that the newcomers and candidates could become familiar with each other.
“Votan!” Sharrah struggled not to laugh. “What are you doing? Keep your wing raised.”
Of Gods, Trees, and a Sapling: Dragonlinked Chronicles Volume 4 Page 103
