Graduation Day (Schooled in Magic Book 14)

by Christopher Nuttall

  Fulvia was still speaking. “Despite being lucky enough to transfer to Whitehall, Frieda’s behavior continued to worsen. Her record shows a string of black marks, growing more and more serious as she grew older. Indeed, over the past six months, she set a record for the number of thrashings administered by her tutors. One hopes this is a record that will not be beaten.”

  A faint titter ran around the room. Emily resisted the urge to cringe.

  “Frieda should have been expelled long ago,” Fulvia said, sharply. “The Head Girl should certainly have brought her to heel. Instead, she was allowed to continue on her path - assaulting a number of younger pupils, including Marian of House Waterfall - until she finally committed an offense so horrific that expulsion became a very real possibility. Those incidents were not innocent mistakes, but part of a consistent behavior pattern. Frieda crossed the line and became a rogue magician.

  “There can be no excuse. She is old enough - and experienced enough - to know the difference between right and wrong, to understand where the line is before crossing it. I do not believe there are any reasons not to hand her over to me. Her guilt is a matter of public record. I will prove this to you.”

  Fulvia sat down. Emily gritted her teeth. Everything Fulvia had said was literally true, but she’d left out a number of details. Of course she’d left out the details! She wouldn’t want to mention anything that might weaken her case, would she? And dragging in Marian was a low blow. It would get under Sienna’s skin ...

  “The Defender may now make her opening remarks,” Gordian said.

  Sienna stood, regally. “Before I start, I would like to make a clarifying statement. It is true that Frieda attacked Marian of House Waterfall, my youngest daughter. However, upon investigation, it became clear that matters were not as cut-and-dried as my honorable opponent suggests. House Waterfall believes, for reasons I will go into shortly, that Frieda was not responsible for her own actions. Accordingly, we did not seek punishment.”

  A shame that House Waterfall’s claim couldn’t supersede House Ashworth’s, Emily thought, sourly. That might have solved the problem rather neatly.

  Sienna’s voice echoed around the room. “The decision was taken by House Waterfall. The Prosecutor does not have the right to bring such matters into the inquest. I must therefore ask that her statement about Marian be stricken from the record.”

  Gordian looked at Fulvia, who rose. “House Ashworth does not question House Waterfall’s right to decide if it should seek punishment or not,” she said. “However, Frieda’s assault on Marian of House Waterfall is part of a consistent behavior pattern. Therefore, it should remain part of the record.”

  “Agreed,” Gordian said, after silently canvassing the jurors. “It will not be stricken from the record.”

  Sienna didn’t look bothered by the defeat, if indeed it was a defeat. Emily wasn’t so sure. Fulvia had a point, but so did Sienna. The jurors might react badly to any suggestion that House Ashworth could override House Waterfall at will. It might have been a stalemate, she concluded. House Waterfall did have primacy when its own members were concerned. And if Marian’s mother was unconcerned, perhaps the jury should be unconcerned too.

  “There is no shortage of spells designed to manipulate - and even control - a person’s mind,” Sienna said. “A magician with a few weeks of training in magic can learn to cast a spell that implants post-hypnotic suggestions and triggers. Or even directly control someone like a puppet. There are potions that do everything from forcing the drinker to become violently aroused to compelling them to do everything they are told, even if it is illegal, dangerous or suicidal. And so it is a basic principle of our law that a person cannot be held accountable for anything they do when someone else influenced or controlled them.”

  Her lips quirked. “Indeed, I remember a time when a young student was compelled to walk up to the most fearsome tutor in Stronghold and insult him to his face. This behavior was so out of character that the tutor had no difficulty in discerning the spell and cancelling it, then punishing the student who’d cast it. The victim was not blamed for all the horrid things he said to his tutor.”

  And thank God for that, Emily thought.

  Sienna’s voice was calm, but firm. “These spells work in many ways. Some blot out the victim’s mind altogether, making them little more than meat puppets. Others override free will, leaving the victim aware of what is happening and yet unable to stop it. And still others work on a subtler basis, pushing the victim towards a certain action without the victim ever being aware they are being influenced. Regardless, it is a point of law that the victim cannot be held accountable for their actions.

  “Frieda, Daughter of Huckeba, was pushed towards the line - and then across it - by outside influence. Her behavior did not grow strikingly worse until after the influence took a solid grip on her mind. The record she set—” chuckles ran around the courtroom “—was not set until she had already lost the ability to judge and question her own behavior. Before then, her behavior was fairly normal for a young girl of her age. The records of her first three years at Whitehall are not significantly different from every other student.

  “My honorable opponent has every right to be angry,” Sienna conceded. “It isn’t easy to remain calm when one’s family appears to come under attack. And attacks on students, those without the experience to know how to react properly, are the hardest to handle. And yet, I submit that my honorable opponent’s anger is targeted on the wrong person. Frieda cannot be held accountable for acts committed while she was under outside influence. As such, I move for the case to be dismissed.”

  She sat. Emily looked at the jury, trying to decide who believed Sienna and who didn’t. It was hard to tell. Jade and Markus were the only ones who knew Frieda - Emily couldn’t remember if Cat and Frieda had ever met - although Zed had probably taught Frieda at some point. He might not remember her as anything more than another common-born Firstie, if he remembered her at all. Frieda had only been at Mountaintop for a few months before she’d been expelled.

  “Thank you,” Gordian said. “Would the Prosecutor like to expand upon her opening remarks, or shall we proceed?”

  Fulvia stood. “Yes, Grandmaster. I have one comment to make.”

  She looked at Sienna, her gaze flickering to Emily, then back at the jury. “My honorable opponent is quite right to assert that a person cannot be held accountable for anything they do under outside influence. When resistance is literally inconceivable - when there doesn’t seem to be any need to resist - a person cannot be blamed for being influenced or controlled. One does not expect a newborn magician to be well-versed in resistance techniques, after all.

  “But mind control is not an excuse unless there is solid proof that there genuinely was magical influence. A person who is talked into doing something stupid - or criminal - is not a victim, not when there was no form of irresistible coercion involved. And I see no reason to believe that such influence was involved without solid proof. House Waterfall may make whatever judgement it sees fit; House Ashworth is not obliged to accept it.”

  She sat. Sienna rose.

  “My honorable opponent is quite right,” she agreed. “There has to be proof that some form of magical influence was involved. We will, over the coming days, present such proof. And we trust the jury will understand that Frieda was as much as victim as any of the students she hurt.”

  Emily surveyed the jury again. Master Highland was looking at her, his eyes silently warning her that his vote would come with a high price. Cat winked when she met his eyes, but he showed no other reaction. Markus didn’t look at her. His eyes were fixed on Fulvia. Emily felt a twinge of bitter unease. What if she’d been wrong? What if Markus could be pressured?

  Or Zed, she thought, grimly. Fulvia could bring a great deal of pressure to bear on him.

  She eyed a nearby jug of water wistfully. She wanted a drink. But she didn’t dare move. She didn’t want to draw attention to herself. The tensio
n in the courtroom was so thick she felt she could cut it with a knife. Fulvia was in her element. And Emily felt as though she was out of her depth.

  “This concludes the opening remarks,” Gordian said, when it was clear Sienna was not going to make a further statement. “The Prosecutor may now call her first witness.”

  “I thank you, Grandmaster,” Fulvia said. She raised her voice. “I call Adana of House Ashworth to the stand.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ADANA LOOKED TINY BESIDE LADY BARB as she walked to the witness box. Her red hair - a shade or two lighter than Melissa’s - was tied back, while her pale face was scrubbed clean of glamours. She had her hands tightly clasped behind her back, but Emily could tell she was nervous. Adana wore her white dress robes as if she’d never worn them before. She looked as though she was going to her own execution.

  Poor girl, Emily thought.

  Gordian’s voice was surprisingly kind. “Please state your name, for the record.”

  “Adana of House Ashworth,” Adana said.

  “And please tell us something that is demonstrably false,” Gordian said. He waited, then spoke again when it was clear Adana was confused. “Tell us a lie.”

  Adana hesitated, then spoke. “I have black hair.”

  The air around the witness box turned red, just for a second. “The truth spell is now calibrated,” Gordian said. “Would either the Prosecutor or the Defender care to test the spell?”

  Emily glanced at Sienna, who shrugged. Gordian wouldn’t play games with the truth spell, not when there were a dozen mediators in the room. It wasn’t designed to force someone to talk, according to the briefing notes; it merely sounded the alarm if anyone told a lie. Emily wasn’t sure what would happen to someone caught in a lie, but she doubted it would be pleasant. Fulvia didn’t seem inclined to test the spell either.

  A pity we can’t call her to the stand, Emily thought, crossly. She might just have to tell us about Daze.

  “Adana,” Fulvia said. “Would you please tell us, in your own words, what happened when you were injured?”

  Adana looked pale. Her eyes were firmly fixed on the courtroom floor, rather than her great-grandmother or anyone else. When she spoke, her voice was almost inaudible, despite the amplifying spells.

  “I was dueling with Frieda,” she said. “It was a tricky match - she had more power and skill than I had, so I decided to play sneaky. Midway through the contest, I cast a growth and animation spell on the ground under her feet. I had the idea that it would distract her long enough for me to win.”

  She paused, her voice shaking. “It worked, sort of. The creepers burst up, trying to grab her arms. I’d programmed the spell to do that, you see. I figured it would expose her to my hexes. Instead, she blasted the creepers with raw magic and lashed out at me. I went flying backwards and ... and everything gets a bit hazy until I woke up in the infirmary.”

  “To clarify,” Fulvia said. “Frieda hit you with an illegal move?”

  Adana nodded, once. She didn’t look up.

  Gordian cleared his throat. “We need a verbal response,” he said, kindly. “Speak for the record, please.”

  “It was illegal,” Adana said.

  “Very good,” Fulvia said. “Have you been told that Frieda was not acting of her own free will?”

  Adana hesitated. “I ... I have heard rumors to that effect.”

  Fulvia leaned forward. “And do you believe them?”

  “Objection,” Sienna said, sharply. “It doesn’t matter if the witness believes the rumors to be true or not. She is in no place to comment on them.”

  “Sustained,” Gordian said. “That question need not be answered.”

  Fulvia bowed her head. “A different question, then. Did Frieda need to lash out at you to win?”

  Adana hesitated, again. “I’m not an expert. I don’t know.”

  Fulvia looked displeased. Emily wondered if she’d spent much time coaching Adana on what to say. It would be a risk - Sienna might well ask Adana if she had been coached - but Fulvia might consider it worth taking. The right answer from Adana might make Frieda look like a bully - or worse.

  “In your opinion,” Fulvia said. “Did Frieda need to lash out at you to win?”

  Emily glanced at Sienna. But Sienna didn’t move.

  “I don’t think so,” Adana said. “But I don’t know.”

  “Very good.” Fulvia looked at the jury. “A young girl, two years younger than the defendant, injured so badly that she had to spend several days in the infirmary.”

  She shot Sienna a sharp look. “Your witness, Lady Sienna.”

  Sienna rose. “Adana, when you were injured by Frieda, what were you doing?”

  “I was dueling with her,” Adana said.

  “And you entered the dueling ring of your own free will?” Sienna asked. “You were not forced to duel with her?”

  “The selection process was random,” Adana said. “I knew there was a risk of facing someone older than me.”

  “Assuming that equal numbers of students from each year competed,” Sienna said, “I would have thought the odds of facing someone older were very high. Would you agree with that?”

  Adana took a moment to puzzle it out. “Yes.”

  “And when you joined the dueling club,” Sienna added, “did you understand that there was a prospect of being seriously injured?”

  “I did,” Adana said.

  Sienna turned to the jurors. “It is true that, under normal circumstances, an older student who injured - or even pranked - a younger student would be in very serious trouble indeed,” she said, calmly. “However, these circumstances were far from normal. Adana and Frieda were dueling. And while it says a great deal about Adana’s ingenuity that she managed to find a way to discomfit her older opponent, it says nothing constructive about the prosecutor that she has decided this event says something bad about Frieda. The risk of getting seriously injured in a duel is quite high, regardless of any sort of outside influence. To punish Frieda would require that we also punish vast numbers of other students.”

  She sat. Fulvia rose.

  “It is true that a duel may result in serious - and unintentional - injury,” Fulvia said, smoothly. “But an older student should have plenty of options to beat a younger student without resorting to naked force. Indeed, such a student should have no difficulty in winning such a contest. Frieda chose to lash out, instead. And the results were catastrophic.”

  She paused. “And they fit into a pattern of bullying behavior,” she added. “Behavior that was not, I might add, stopped by the then Head Girl.”

  Ouch, Emily thought.

  Gordian cleared his throat. “Do either of you have any further questions for the witness?”

  “No, Grandmaster,” Fulvia said.

  “Thank you, Adana,” Gordian said, after Sienna shook her head. “Please wait in the antechamber. There may be more questions.”

  Emily watched Adana leave the room, then looked at Sienna. The older woman didn’t seem perturbed. Emily wasn’t so sure. On one hand, they had tried to make it clear that Frieda hadn’t blasted Adana at random; on the other, they might not have made it clear that Frieda hadn’t had many other choices. Someone sitting in an office, a long way from the dueling circle, would have plenty of time to think of what else Frieda could have done, then condemn her for not thinking of it under pressure. It was a common problem.

  “I call Sergeant Miles of No House,” Fulvia said. “Let him take the stand.”

  Emily groaned, inwardly, as Sergeant Miles marched into the room. He wore his uniform rather than robes, every inch a soldier. His uniform was utterly spotless, so clean that she knew he’d used spells instead of washing it with his bare hands. She didn’t really blame him either, although he’d made her wash her uniform in class. He’d insisted it taught respect for the uniform. She was mildly surprised he hadn’t insisted it built character.

  “You witnessed the duel between Frieda and Adana,
” Fulvia said, once the truth spell was tested. “Is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Sergeant Miles said, bluntly.

  Fulvia nodded in apparent satisfaction. “Do you believe that the matter could have been settled - that the duel could have been won - without seriously injuring Adana? Without using an illegal move?”

  Sergeant Miles looked back at her, evenly. “Do I believe that Frieda could have won the duel without injuring Adana?”

  “Correct,” Fulvia said, irked.

  “I do not know,” Sergeant Miles said. “Frieda is in her second year of Martial Magic. She was trained to use maximum force to end any duels as soon as possible. What she did, in the dueling circle, was precisely what she was trained to do. I don’t know if she could have won the duel without injuring her opponent - I do know that she acted on instinct, falling back on her training.”

  Fulvia’s face went blank. “Could the duel have been won without Adana being injured?”

  “I could have done so,” Sergeant Miles said. “But I’m old enough to be Frieda’s father. I’ve been a combat sorcerer for longer than she’s been alive. Frieda would have had to react on a more advanced level to win the duel without injuring Adana.”

  “But it could have been done,” Fulvia pressed.

  “It could have been done,” Sergeant Miles agreed. “But perhaps not by Frieda.”

  Fulvia paused for a moment. “I understand that Frieda used an illegal move, correct? Why was this move illegal?”

  “Anything that had a strong possibility of causing permanent harm - or death - was banned,” Sergeant Miles said. “Frieda’s move was illegal.”

  “And presumably she knew this,” Fulvia said. “And yet she made it anyway.”

  She looked at the jury. “She not only injured a younger student, but broke the rules - rules devised, I might add, by the former Head Girl. And breaking the rules was completely unnecessary.”

  Her lips twitched. “Your witness, Lady Sienna.”