Sonja walked over to the far right-hand side of the two covered tables and pulled something out from underneath the cloth. “Engineer Aristes, one of the many jobs you do here for the sorcerers is to make their sources, is it not?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Are you the only one or do other engineers make sources also?"
"I make them all, General."
"I have here a source in a box. As I understand it, a student source is a bare source, small in strength, but always exposed. A source in a box is usually a personal source, so you would make that source for an individual sorcerer, would you not?"
"Yes, I would. I like to personalize their source, since it will be theirs for life."
"Then you can recognize a source and tell us who you made the source for?"
"Yes, I can."
"Whose source is this?” Sonja asked, handing the source to Aristes.
The engineer took the source, turned it over in his hands, then looked up at the general. “This is Adept Pleates’ source."
"Without looking at the source, you can say that?” Sonja asked.
"In most cases I can, because I vary the art work on the outside of the box. Pleates was a very special student for me, because I taught him all I could about mining; he didn't have to learn anything about the subject if he had not wanted to. I know this source well."
"I know that exposing a source gets the attention of every sorcerer in Inhestia; something I didn't know until recently, by the way, but please take a careful look at the source and tell me what you see."
Opening the box, Aristes took a casual look at the source, then stopped and moved the source closer to his face, staring intently into the box. Aetria and Coleni felt the now-familiar buzz, and having been warned by Sonja of the box being opened, made no outward sign of feeling it. The engineer pried back the leather lining of the interior. He closed the source and handed it back to Sonja. “The shield material has been changed. There is a thin layer of core material between the inside of the box and the shield material. Other than that, it is as I made it."
Sonja gave the source back to the engineer. “Magess Trelana, please take Sorceress Aetria out of the room, and before returning when I ask, cover her eyes with a blindfold."
As the two women walked from the room, the general turned to the Council members. “I am going to have Engineer Aristes place Pleates’ source on this table,” she pointed to the far right one, “and ask Aetria to find it for me."
When she signaled Jalista, the Novice removed the cloth, revealing the top of the table, which was covered with sources of all description. Aristes walked over to the table and looked down, moving several sources from their places as he found a spot to put Pleates’ source. Sonja assisted Jalista in placing the cloth back over the table. The engineer returned to his seat.
"Council Leader Meldoran, would you like to pick out Pleates’ source for us?” Sonja asked.
"It is highly unlikely that I could, General. Only by pure luck would I find it, even knowing where Aristes put it on the table. There must be twenty-five sources on that table."
"Forty-two, to be precise, Council Leader. Bring in Sorceress Aetria, please."
Trelana guided Aetria into the Council chamber and up the aisle. The Magess led her over to the far right table and stopped her at its edge.
"Please find Pleates’ source,” Sonja said.
Aetria stood with her hands down by her side; with her face covered, it was hard for anyone to tell what she was doing, but the sorcerers all knew she was putting herself into a light trance to sense better. After a few moments, Aetria turned and walked toward Aristes. She only put her hand out during the last five feet of her short walk, stopping herself when she touched the older engineer.
"Engineer Aristes has the source; it is not on the table,” Aetria said. The engineer nodded and pulled the source out of his vest pocket.
A few of the Magi made skeptical sounds; primary amongst them was Corerilla. That did not surprise Sonja very much. She walked over to Aristes and took the source from him. “Counselor, would you like to hide the source? You can go anywhere in Inhestia that you like, but I prefer it not take too long to prove again Aetria's ability to sense the source."
"It will not take long at all, General Borlock. Magess Trelana, please remove Sorceress Aetria from the room, block her hearing as well as her vision, and when you have done that, have Lieutenant Fernonia return her to this room. You may observe from a distance; I would not want anyone saying you influenced your student."
While Aetria was being led out one more time, Corerilla walked over to the far-left corner of the chamber and sat down on a bench. She motioned for Aetria to be brought back. As she entered through the southern door, Aetria stopped, oriented on Corerilla, and pointed at the Counselor. Corerilla arose silently and walked slowly across the room. Aetria followed her with her pointing finger. Corerilla placed the source in front of Meldoran as she walked by, not stopping to do so. Aetria stop pointing at her and remained pointing at the source. Corerilla took her place once more.
"So, General, you have proven once more the charge that she has developed an improper use of the Power. I don't see the relevance to the treason charge."
Sonja looked at Fernonia. “Remove the covering from Sorceress Aetria's eyes and ears, please, Lieutenant. You may leave when you are done. Thank you, Engineer Aristes, you may also leave."
More than a few moments passed before Aetria and Trelana were back in their seats. The general had used the time to look at her notes while seated in her usual chair. She looked up from her notes when Meldoran cleared his throat.
"Are you ready to proceed, General?” he asked.
"Yes, I am. I call Magess Tierii Chalinee Rhuhani v'Nomeles to give testimony before this hearing."
As Aetria expected, the calling of the commander of the Hermanian Sorcerer Regiment caused gasps to erupt from the Council members, setting off a major commotion within their membership.
Chalinee stood and removed her hooded robe, shaking out her long, white-streaked brown hair. She wore the plain black robe of a Mage, with no other insignia to show her station in life. She dropped the hooded robe to the floor and walked past the witness chair, approaching the Council table. As soon as she started to move, a silence fell upon the room, as if she had cast a spell on the occupants.
Aetria glanced at Coleni. Her sister was still sitting in her chair. If Coleni had not been warned of Chalinee's presence by Sonja, Aetria was convinced her sister would have fled the room, fainted, or both.
"You are Magess Corerilla, Aggressor master, Council Counselor. I have heard much of you. And you are Mage Kelristo, Master of Healing, Headmaster of Inhestia. You are well regarded by my Order. And you are—” Chalinee walked along the interior of the Council table, naming each Mage, giving his or her discipline, and sometimes faint praise.
Aetria doubted if any of them could name the Hermanian Coven Magi; she knew she couldn't. What a remarkable woman, Aetria thought.
When Chalinee had walked past the last Mage, she approached the general's table, skipping over Sonja. “The young Novice Provisioner I do not know, but I believe I know you, Sorcerer Meloses.” The Provisioner looked startled, glancing at Aetria with a question in his eyes, as if asking, why me. “Your reputation for providing for your army is known to me."
She turned and walked to where Trelana sat. “Magess Trelana, Master of Illusion, mentor of my daughter."
Aetria jerked back as if struck. What did she mean by that?
The Hermanian Magess walked by Aetria to Coleni and stood looking down at her. “You know me, and I am certain I will know you when it comes time for the general to lift your veil of secrecy. Until then, I will respect your anonymity."
Chalinee returned to the witness chair and sat down. She looked at Aetria and spoke softly in Tierian. “You did not tell me the whole truth, daughter of Tieria, and I will judge you for that at the correct time. Do you understand?"
Aetria nodded. When in my immediate future will I stop being judged by the world?
"Magess Chalinee, thank you for coming to give testimony—” Sonja started.
"I would not have come at all if this matter concerned anyone but my daughter,” Chalinee said, cutting off the general.
Sonja looked at Chalinee with a puzzled frown. “Your daughter?"
"She is Tierii Aetria Menhala v'Grelnes. Her name translated means ‘Issue of Grelnes, of the Menhala Clan, Daughter of Tieria.’ I am of the Ruling Clan; she is one of mine. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Ma'am, I believe I do."
"Good, now proceed."
"Magess, until the defeat of the Hermanian army and its surrender, you were the commander of the sorcerer regiment, were you not?"
"I was."
"The Saphradean Order of sorcerers refused to join their army, and the Hermanian sorcerers had to cover the Saphradean forces. Were you at the final battle between Delmathia and Saphradea?"
"I was. You almost captured me, then-Sergeant Borlock, so you know that."
"Do you know General Amexis Parlinto?"
"That slug. I wish I didn't. He's as hated a man as exists in Saphradea. He has spent the last five years blaming everyone and anybody for his failure. I was there. I saw him leading the charge of his men by fleeing as fast as he could away from your Lancers."
"I couldn't agree with you more in your judgment of his character, but he has raised the question of whether or not you knew of our attack. He implies he was told of the feint, and asked where the information came from. He wrote, ‘I was told it came from within the Delmathian army.’ Did you, in fact, know of the feint?"
"Yes, we did."
"Who told you?” Sonja asked.
Chalinee turned and looked at Aetria. Aetria's heart stopped. Power, she's going to say I did!
"The man she killed—Pleates. He told us about the feint and the charge of the real Royal Guard. He said he was going to use a Novice to spell the disguise on the Lancers, so not to expect much. We were very disappointed in his choice of sorcerers. That spell cost us very dearly."
Aetria watched the faces of the Council. Hearing the confirmation that the real traitor was Pleates seemed to change no one's expression, except Corerilla's. She smiled a grim smile.
"So are you saying Pleates was the traitor, not Aetria?” Sonja asked.
"Pleates came to us before your Order entered the war. He said he would assist us in any way he could if we would give him an estate located in Hermania's Logathian Mountains. We agreed to that. After the Saphradean battle, Pleates had to be very careful in assisting us. That idiot Amexis was telling his story to anyone who would listen and had put Pleates in a very touchy position. Several years went by with Pleates giving us minimal help. He spent that time working on his own plans."
"What plans were those, Magess?"
"He said he was developing a new weapon that would solve the problem of limited Power availability, but he was very protective of his project. He said he would perfect the weapon, then turn it over to us. We could do little but wait for him to succeed."
"Thank you, Magess. I will have more questions for you shortly; please take your seat by my other ‘mystery’ witness."
Chalinee stood and walked back to her chair.
The general got up from her chair and walked over to stand beside the source table. She stared at the sources as if trying to collect her thoughts. She slowly turned and faced the Council members.
"I am having trouble sorting out the pieces of this story that Counselor Corerilla has asked us to believe. Was Pleates the traitor, or is the traitor Aetria? Maybe Aetria and Magess Chalinee are acting in collusion. We have a report of their meeting. They are both members of a folk that all the people of the land suspect. Is Magess Chalinee trying to protect her daughter? I am sure Magess Corerilla will be asking these kinds of questions in her rebuttal. My next witness may be able to answer some of these questions before then, but she will raise a whole lot more than she can answer. I call Novice Coleni to give testimony before this hearing."
Coleni stood. Chalinee said something rapidly in Hermanian to Coleni, who nodded meekly, then removed her hooded robe and dropped it to the floor, to stand before the Council in the dark gray robe of a Hermanian Novice. Pandemonium broke out. Lieutenant Fernonia and a half dozen Sorcerer Guards rushed in to see what the noise was all about.
Aetria stood and held out her hand to her sister, who stepped up beside her twin. Together they faced the Council Leader, who was trying to regain control of his members. He finally resorted to a hand flame, which worked once more to bring silence to the room. He waved for the guards to leave. Fernonia looked to Corerilla, who gave her a slight nod in the direction of the door. The lieutenant ordered her guards out, casting a long, hard look at the sisters.
"Please be seated, both of you,” Sonja said. The sisters sat.
"Coleni and Aetria are, in all likelihood, twin sisters. Both were fostered as babies, one in Hermania, and one in Delmathia. Neither knew the other existed until two months ago when I captured Novice Coleni. Novice Coleni, you were at the ‘Battle of the Novices,’ were you not?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Why were you there?"
"We were a Novice recruit company under the command of Sorceress Marteli, traveling to our army encampment."
"I believe you were acting as the Sub-commander of that unit. How many Novices did you have in your company?"
"Counting myself, ten."
"How long had you been at that site?"
"A week. Sorceress Marteli told us we were waiting for another company to join us from the north. That didn't make a lot of sense because we were heading north. I suggested we continue north to meet them. She told me to mind my own business. So I did."
"On the morning of the battle, where were you?” Sonja asked.
Coleni hesitated a moment before answering. Aetria wondered if she would tell all, as she had in her trance. Aetria doubted that.
"I was on guard duty near the foot of the southern hill."
"It was my understanding that Hermanian sorcerers are normally heavily guarded by regular troops. Why were you standing guard duty?"
"It was part of our training. Our regular guards were also standing watch just beyond our position. The Novices stood watch in pairs. We spent a lot of time watching our guards."
"Then what happened?"
"Novice Lornes heard a commotion in the bushes near us. Out of the semi-dark of dawn, a body flew into our post knocking us both down. It was one of our guards. His throat had been cut. We struggled to get up from the ground. A figure in black kicked Novice Lornes in the stomach and put a knife to his throat. I thought I was next. The man laughed at us and ran off into the dark. I saw people on the hill above us and went to warn them of the man in black. I sent Lornes to warn the camp."
"The figure in black was one of our Sorcerer Guards,” the general told the Council members. “The people on the hill were Sorceress Aetria's group of Illusionist Novices and Novice Aggressor Recanlin. What happened next, Coleni?"
"A group of sorcerers on the northern hill starting hurling fireballs into the camp. Horses erupted out of the brush line and started a charge at the camp. The other group of sorcerers on the hill above began to fire fireballs into the camp. Realizing they were the enemy and not my people, I retreated back to my camp."
"So you are saying the sorcerers on the northern hill fired first?"
"Yes, they did."
"I have already asked if you saw the explosions on the northern hill. You shook your head, meaning no. After the explosions, what did your guards do?"
"They rushed the hills. A sorcerer in the northern group fired a fireball of at least Adept level, if not higher, into the troops advancing on that hill. It stopped the charge of those guards. The Aggressor on the southern hill fired a less powerful fireball which slowed the reserve guard's advance, but did not stop them. When they reached the hill, t
hey found one Sorcerer Guard officer attacking a Hermanian Novice and killed him. The rest of the Delmathian troops had retreated."
"Then what did you do?"
"Nothing. Sorceress Marteli ordered the guard to secure the area around the camp and not to pursue the enemy."
"Was that normal procedure for your troops not to follow up a victory?” Sonja asked Coleni, glancing at Chalinee.
"No, it is not. I was distraught over the death of my fellow Novice Lornes and wanted blood in revenge. Marteli told me the enemy was too powerful and she did not want to lose any more troops."
"Did your Novices attack the northern hill with fireballs?"
"No. I asked them why they had not at least attempted a counterattack. There were four Aggressor Novices other than Lornes. They said Marteli ordered them to retreat to safety, afraid the charging horsemen would kill them."
"So no sorcerers, even Sorceress Marteli, took offensive action against the Delmathians?"
"That is correct,” Coleni stated.
"Why is that, Novice Coleni?” Sonja asked.
"She wouldn't know the answer to your question, General Borlock. She was just a recruit Novice.” Chalinee said.
"And you would, Magess?"
"Of course. I ordered that no action be taken against the attackers."
"You were there?"
"Were you in every battle your army ever fought, General? No, I wasn't there. It was a small skirmish and not worthy of my leadership. Pleates wanted a battle to demonstrate his weapon. I agreed to let him capture a source, but under the condition that no sorcerers were to be hurt or killed. Marteli's orders were to encamp, expose her source, and wait for the attack. She was to allow the source to be captured and not counterattack with her sorcerers. She was obeying my orders."
Coleni's cheeks were flushed, and Aetria saw her sister's fists clenched. Coleni jumped up and turned toward Chalinee. Aetria reached out to touch Coleni but was not able to stop her from angrily saying, “A lot of good it did Novice Lornes!"
The response in a low-voiced growl in Hermanian made Coleni stiffen, then bow from the waist in submission, tears dripping from her eyes. Chalinee spoke again, and Coleni stood straight, wiping the tears hastily with her robe sleeve. Sonja looked away as if not to see the Hermanian commander rebuking her Novice. Corerilla seemed to be straining to hear what had been said, but she was too far away to hear the exchange.
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