Stephen Deas - The King of the Crags

For most of the morning the questions went on. The speaker grew visibly impatient. King Sirion sat and twisted his fingers in his beard. The King of the Crags looked as if he'd fallen asleep. Only the two eastern kings, Narghon and Silvallan seemed to care about what anyone had to say. They all made up their minds before they came here. All of them except Hyram's cousin.

He'd made up his own mind too. Made it up long ago. As he listened, he wondered whether he should consider again, question his belief and be sure. But that sort of thinking wasn't going to get him anywhere. No one had ever asked him for an opinion and he'd never offered one. The kings and queens of the realms would make their judgement and he would execute it. That was all.

So why are my knuckles clenched white? Why is the inside of my head burning?

'Enough!' Zafir stood up and slammed the point of the Adamantine Spear into the marble floor. The blade drove at least three inches into the stone. Vale wasn't sure that Zafir even noticed. She glared out from the Table of Judges at all the standing members of the council. 'The kings and queens of the dragon-realms will pass their judgement. I say Queen Shezira murdered Speaker Hyram. We have a hundred witnesses to say they were alone and that no one else could have been with them. My husband was old. He was sick and drunk and hardly able to defend himself, but not so sick and drunk that he'd simply fall off a balcony. Shezira was desperate and had every reason to want revenge. Further, I say that King Valgar and Knight-Marshal Lady Nastria were her pawns. I say that their efforts to murder me were at her command.' She turned her glare onto the sitting council. 'What say you? King Sirion, your judgement, please.'

Sirion didn't move. He was shaking his head and couldn't have looked less comfortable. 'I'll not condemn another king on such flimsy evidence,' he said. 'If Shezira's knight-marshal was truly set on murder that night, she would not have taken her orders from anyone but Shezira herself. I say Valgar has committed no crime. Shezira…' He took a deep breath and shook his head even more. 'I don't know. Hyram was my cousin. My heart calls for justice and vengeance. But I cannot, despite the evidence, believe that Queen Shezira would murder him with her own hand. I simply cannot. I have nothing to say. I do not pass judgement.'

Zafir's face darkened with fury. 'He was your cousin! Who else was there to push him?'

'I have given my verdict,' snapped Sirion. He didn't look at Zafir when he said it though. He looked like a man who'd be wondering whether he'd done the right thing for a very long time.

The speaker sneered. 'And we all know that Shezira offered her daughter to Prince Dyalt. Has little Jaslyn not thought better of marrying a fool?'

'You have my answer.' Sirion stood up. 'I will not be the one to start a war, Speaker, and if you mean to do so, I suggest you consider who are your allies and who are your enemies very carefully. You'd not be the first speaker who failed to see out their first year.' With that, Sirion walked away from the Table of Judges. The lords and princes of his entourage got up to follow him.

Vale flinched. His hand moved to rest on his sword and he almost took a step forward, he was so sure that Zafir would command Sirion's arrest. What he'd said was nothing short of a threat. Yet Zafir watched him go in silence. She only spoke when he and his were gone from the Chamber of Audience.

'It seems King Sirion does not share my opinion.' She was all smiles now. 'King Silvallan, what say you?'

'You can have Valgar if you must. I venture no opinion on his guilt or otherwise. But you may not have Shezira. She did not murder Speaker Hyram.'

Zafir nodded slowly. 'Are those your words or Jehal's?'

'They are mine, Speaker.'

'And you, Narghon? I imagine your words will be exactly the same, almost as though someone had written them down for you both. Although they are your words, I am sure.'

'I share King Silvallan's views. Shezira cannot be condemned without a witness who saw Hyram fall. Accept your defeat with some grace, Your Holiness, and accept that it is for the good of the realms that Shezira goes free.'

'Then it seems I am alone. They sent an assassin after me and then, when she failed, they killed my husband. Yet none of you will condemn them.' Vale bit his lip. This is how Jehal said it would be. Shezira will go free. There will be no war between the north and the south, and the legions I command will not be hurled into battle against a sky filled with dragons. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. The Adamantine Men were made for battle. Forged for it from the day they could walk and talk. They had no other purpose to their existence. The thought of war made Vale's heart race and his blood run hot. His head filled with visions of glory, of slaughtering riders and scattering their dragons. Any of the Adamantine Men would think themselves lucky and honoured to be called to war. After all, that's what they were told from the day they took up their first training spears.

On the other hand, he was the Night Watchman. They were his men, and his second duty, after his devotion to the speaker, was to them. To their strength and to their lives and to their health, not to honour and glory. The Viper was right about one thing. Wars were bloody. Very many would die and few would be dragon-lords.

'King Valmeyan. Since you have graced my palace with your presence, what say you? Do you have an opinion to offer, or do you intend to doze until all the matters of this council have been closed.'

The King of the Crags barely opened his eyes. 'I've heard one voice either way for King Valgar, am I right? I've never met him and probably never will. If I remember the law, the speaker casts the final judgement if the council is tied, so I will offer no opinion. King Valgar's fate rests entirely in your hands, Speaker. As for Queen Shezira, she I have met. She came to my eyries a decade and more ago, seeking my support to ensure Hyram sat where you sit now. I say she is quite capable of murdering a man. Perhaps she did, perhaps she didn't. I leave her fate in your hands too, Speaker Zafir. Shezira is guilty.' He uncoiled himself from his slouch, slowly stretched and turned to look Zafir in the eye. 'You hold a very sharp spear in your hand, Speaker. Who will you cut with it?'

The smile that curled across Speaker Zafir's mouth made even Vale's stomach turn. The feeling was strange and new, until he realised what it was. Not fear, that was too strong a word. Anxiety. Yes, he was anxious.

She was looking at him now. 'Then they are both guilty. Yes. Since it is the duty of the speaker to cast sentence, they are both guilty and they are to be beheaded. Their remains will hang in cages by the gates of the Adamantine Palace, one on either side, until they have been picked clean by the crows. They will serve to warn all others who would overthrow the laws of the realms.'

King Silvallan hammered the table with his fists. 'You cannot do this!'

'I can and I will. Today, Night Watchman. As soon as possible. Valgar first. Let Shezira see! Go! Do it now!

The Table of Judges was in uproar. Silvallan and Narghon were on their feet. Jeiros and Aruch were shouting at each other. Only the King of the Crags seemed unmoved. He'd slumped back into his seat and if anything looked as though he'd fallen asleep again. Vale hesitated. All his instincts said he ought to stay, that there was every sign of the council coming to blows. But he'd been given an order, clear and unambiguous. Reluctantly he bowed towards the chaos, turned and walked away. The Adamantine Men who served as his officers were all quite capable of taking his place. When it came to war, they had to be.

Outside, he set about the execution of his duties. Orders were given. The Guard had quietly prepared for this for days, just as they'd prepared for Shezira to be released. They all knew what to do. One company of men would bring out the headsman's block and sword and throw plenty of sand down into the Gateyard to soak up the blood. Another company would drag Valgar out of the tower where Zafir had imprisoned him. He'd get Shezira himself. The cages were a little unexpected. They'll need some quick work to get ready but at least we have a little more time with those. She never said what she wanted us to do with the heads. Mounted on spikes would be usual.