Paul Kemp - Shadowbred

"The high lord abbot cast the spell himself," Mirabeta said. "Will you gainsay the priests of the Justicar?"

Abelar stood and pointed his sword at Mirabeta. "I would gainsay you. Countess. Who has more to gain from my father's fall than you?" He looked to the other members of the High Council. "There is dark magic afoot here."

"Yes," Mirabeta said. "There is dark magic afoot. And with it, your father murdered my cousin."

"Do not believe her," Abelar said to the members. "You know my father. He is an honorable man. He murdered no one."

Mirabeta's face flushed when several of the members nodded. She turned to the priest. "High Lord Abbot, can you use your spells to detect a lie?"

Jemb nodded.

"Please do so," Mirabeta ordered. "And ask whether I had anything to do with the overmaster's death, and whether I had anything to do with his naming of Endren as his murderer."

Jemb looked at Endren and Abelar, at Mirabeta, at the council members. The highspeaker nodded. Jemb grasped his holy symbol and intoned a prayer to Tyr. When he finished, a nimbus of pale light extended outward from him. Mirabeta stood within its glow.

"None may lie within this light," Jemb said. He looked Mirabeta in the face.

"Mirabeta Selkirk, did you murder Overmaster Kendrick Selkirk, either directly or through an agent?"

Mirabeta let the question hang for a moment before answering. "No. I had nothing to do with it. Nor with perpetrating a fraud in this chamber, as Abelar Corrinthal contends."

Jemb nodded. "She speaks truth."

A susurous rustle moved through the council and the assembled guards.

"What of her niece?" Abelar said. "Put the question to her."

Eyes turned to look at Elyril.

"My niece is not involved in this," Mirabeta said.

Elyril stood up straight and stepped forward. "It is all right, aunt. I have nothing to hide."

She picked her way through the crowd and stepped within the Tyrran's light of truth.

Jemb said, "Elyril Hraven, did you murder Overmaster Kendrick Selkirk, either directly or through an agent?"

Elyril shook her head. "No. I was not involved."

Jemb nodded again. "She, too, speaks truth."

A rush of conversation filled the chamber. Elyril smiled at Abelar.

"Spells can be fooled," Abelar stated.

"And so can sons," Mirabeta said

Abelar stared cold rage at Mirabeta. "I know what you are, Countess. You and your niece. You will not succeed with this."

Mirabeta smiled politely. "What we are, Abelar Corrinthal, are servants of Sembia, both of us. But you, you are the son of a murderer and traitor." She gestured at the city guards. "Take Lord Corrinthal into custody."

The assembly erupted into protests and calls of support. The guardsmen looked at one another nervously.

Still weakened from Elyril's spell, Endren pulled himself up with aid from his son and spoke on his own behalf. "You do not speak for the High Council, or the city, Mirabeta Selkirk."

Mirabeta's smile never wavered, though her eyes hardened. Without taking her gaze from Endren, she said to Lossit, "Highspeaker, I demand a voice vote on the election of an Overmaster of Sembia."

The chamber erupted. Blades came up anew. Guards rushed forward and disarmed the council members and their wallmen-all but Abelar, who refused to give up his blade, and none dared insist.

"Countess, I am not certain that-" Lossit began.

"I second the demand," Graffen Disteaf said.

Mirabeta raised her hands to calm the brewing tumult and said, "The vote will be to appoint an overmaster for a limited term, until representatives for the vacant seats," she glanced at the bodies of Zarin and Inmin, "can be filled. The appointment shall be valid for nine tendays. Then a new election will be held."

The majority of the members murmured acceptance. Even Lossit said, "A reasonable course, Countess."

The highspeaker called for a new nominee while the priests of Tyr healed the wounded. No one was nominated-Endren refused to allow anyone to stand as his proxy, contending the vote was illegitimate. Mirabeta was left as the only candidate. Lossit called for a voice vote and Mirabeta was elected temporary overmistress by a slim majority. Endren and his two closest allies abstained.

"So noted," said the Highspeaker. "By action of the High Council, Mirabeta Selkirk is hereby temporarily appointed to the office of Overmistress of Sembia for the next nine tendays. The proclamation will go out this evening."

Mirabeta eyed Endren. The elder Corrinthal must have known what was coming. He struck a dignified pose as Mirabeta spoke. "Endren Corrinthal, you are hereby placed under arrest as a suspect in the murder of Kendrick Selkirk."

"No," Abelar said, brandishing his blade. Rosy light emanated from its edge.

"If Abelar Corrinthal interferes, arrest him, too," Mirabeta said.

Five guardsmen hefted their maces and moved toward the Corrinthals. Endren put his hand on his son's shoulder and guided his weapon downward.

"No, Abelar. Not this way."

"You are not a murderer," Abelar said, his eyes fixed on the advancing guardsmen.

Endren eyed Mirabeta. "No. And I will be exonerated."

Mirabeta only smirked.

Abelar looked into his father's face. Endren nodded, smiled, and Abelar sheathed his blade.

Elyril clucked her tongue with disappointment. She had hoped to see Abelar bleed.

Another supporter of Endren, Herlin Sambruar of Urmlaspyr, said, "There are over two hundred citizens on the street outside who will not countenance this, Mirabeta. This is a transparent grab for power."

Before Mirabeta could answer, Endren shook his head. "No, Herlin. We will not turn Ordulin into a battlefield. Unlike the countess, I value our nation too highly as to so casually risk its good order. Highspeaker, I demand that the High Council call a moot for the purpose of electing the next overmaster at the end of Mirabeta's term."

Elyril scowled. So did Mirabeta. A moot would turn the council of twenty into an assembly of seventy or more. Such a gathering would frustrate all of Mirabeta's plans.

"You are in a position to demand nothing, Endren Corrinthal," Mirabeta said. "The High Council has not called a moot of the nobility in over three hundred years. The point of the representative body is to avoid the need for moots."

Endren stared at Mirabeta. "And it has failed. Ordulin has become an insular hive of political backbiting, of grasping politicians who look to their own interests before those of the state. New blood and new perspectives are what the nation needs. I will accede to this arrest-to house arrest, at my tallhouse in Ordulin-if and only if my son is left free and the High Council issues a summons for a moot. The next permanent overmaster must be elected by the nobility-at-large, not by this council."

"Seconded!" shouted Herlin. "A voice vote on the question of a moot, Highspeaker."

Lossit, a compromising man by nature, called for the voice vote over Mirabeta's protest. Apparently ready to push the responsibility of electing the next overmaster upon all of Sembia's nobility, every member of the High Council voted for the moot. When Mirabeta saw this, she withdrew her protest and voted in favor of it.

But Mirabeta still had the final word.

"By order of the overmistress," Mirabeta said to the guard and pointed at Endren, "take the murderer into custody."

Endren whispered urgent instructions to Abelar, who nodded while staring daggers at Mirabeta and Elyril.

Cale dreamed of spirits writhing in pits of liquid fire. Horned devils covered in dark scales prowled the pits, flaying the damned at random with sharp knives, grinning as they did their bloody work. Fire rained out of a glowing red sky. Laughter, deep and ominous, boomed over the screaming. Cale found the laughter familiar but he could not place it.