Ordermaster

L

Kharl made his way through the double doors of the Hall of Justice. He hoped to spend some time reading through the next-to-last section of Austran Justicer Cases, suggested strongly by Jusof because Jusof had wanted him to finish those cases before they observed the day’s proceedings in the Hall of Justice.

The mage used his sight shield to slip by the open chamber door of the lord justicer’s chief clerk because he really didn’t feel like another long lecture by Jusof on the law as a tool. Kharl had understood that the first time, and he doubted that he could keep from showing some impatience. Kharl knew Jusof was trying to help him, but sometimes what Jusof said lasted a full glass. Kharl suspected that was because Jusof was lonely, and because the older man knew that Kharl was honestly trying to understand the law for itself and not as a way to wealth or fame or both.

He released the sight shield as he neared the corner table, hoping that none of the student advocates happened to be looking his way.

“ … see that?” whispered one of the young men.

“See what?”

“That’s him … the mage … just appeared out of nowhere …”

“How’d you know? You were dreaming about Juhlya. Besides, if he’s a mage, what does it matter? They do things like that.”

“ … say he’s studying the law with Jusof …”

“A mage … studying law?”

“Maybe he figures he needs to, now that he’s a lord …”

“ … don’t know that a mage needs the law …”

“ … big fellow, for all the fine clothes …”

“ … carried Lord Ghrant three kays on his shoulders … killed two wizards and that scum Ilteron … gave him a small estate … then turned a whole mountain into glass …”

Kharl winced at the exaggerations. In the fight in Dykaru, which had brought him Cantyl, he’d been fortunate rather than skillful, and gladenough to have survived. As for the so-called glass mountain, the powers of the two white wizards had been the reason why part of one small hill was glassy. He pushed aside the whispered words, settled himself at the table, and opened volume nine of Austran Justicer Cases.

He’d actually read through two of the cases before he sensed Jusof walking into the library and heading toward him.

He closed the volume and rose, then walked past the young advocates toward Jusof.

“You must have been here early, Lord Kharl. I didn’t see you come in.” Jusof carried a large case under his left arm.

“Not that early. You looked rather intent when I passed.”

Jusof sighed. “That must have been when I was copying out Lord Justicer Priost’s decision on the rendering case … rather involuted, if impeccable logic.” The clerk turned toward the narrow staircase leading down to the main floor. “Are you ready to observe?”

“I am.” Kharl followed the clerk. “Do you agree with most of the lord justicer’s decisions?”

“It is not a clerk’s place to agree or not to agree. I would say that I would rather serve under Lord Justicer Priost than any others in recent years.”

“Austra doesn’t have that many justicers-just one here and one in Bruel. There are that many just in Brysta.”

“There are town magistrates and two subjusticers as well, in Vizyn and Dykaru. The decisions of the subjusticers have the same standing as those of the lord justicers, except that their decisions, in cases involving death, must be reviewed by Lord Justicer Priost. Some excellent decisions have been set forth by Subjusticer Dhorast. Those are in the library as well. As you well know, the powers of lords and magistrates are limited to low justice.”

At the base of the steps, Jusof turned and crossed the lower foyer toward the double doors.

The bailiff opened the left-hand door to the hall as the two men approached. “Good morning, ser Jusof, Lord Kharl.”

“Good morning, Henolt,” said Jusof.

“Good morning,” added Kharl.

Beyond the double doors was a long and narrow chamber, far more stark than the corresponding hall in Brysta-and smaller. The width was about twenty cubits, the length no more than forty, and the ceiling heightbut seven or eight. At the south end of the chamber was a single dais, raised but half a cubit. On it rose a podium desk of dark wood, possibly walnut, thought Kharl. The desk was empty. There was no podium for the lord, as there was in Nordla.

A center aisle split eight rows of low-backed wooden benches, and there was a space of about two cubits between the stone walls and the end of the benches. Between the first row of benches and the dais was a space of perhaps a rod, but in that space on each side, set out from the walls about four cubits, were two thin narrow black tables, behind which were straight-backed chairs. The two tables and chairs were parallel to the sidewalls, so that those who sat at the tables would face each other, and not either the lord justicer at the podium desk or the audience in the benches.

Both side tables were empty, and Jusof walked to the narrow black table on the right side, where he seated himself in the chair closest to the dais. Kharl slipped into the wooden straight-backed chair beside Jusof, his eyes running across the narrow hall. No more than half a score of people sat in the benches, and none in the first two rows.

From his case, Jusof took out a portable inkpot, two pens, and several sheets of paper, laying them out before him. “The case at hand this morning concerns Tellark, a tanner accused of murdering a tariff farmer.”

Even as the bells from the tower above began to strike the glass, the rear door opened, and the bailiff stepped into the hall. At the south end of the chamber, a small side door opened, and the lord justicer stepped out onto the dais.

“All rise!” intoned the bailiff.

Kharl rose with Jusof, his eyes on the lord justicer.

Priost wore a robe over his own garb, and the robe was almost shapeless black, trimmed in green. From what Kharl could tell, the lord justicer was neither lean and angular, nor large and corpulent, but a man of moderate height with black hair tinged with gray. He walked briskly, but not hurriedly, to the podium desk, where he seated himself.

“You may be seated.”

After a moment of silence, Priost cleared his throat. “Before we begin, is there one who would take the Justicer’s Challenge?” He looked around, waited, then went on, “There being none, bailiff, bring forth the defendant.”

The rear door opened once more, and two armsmen in green and black escorted a thin, wiry man with lank red hair into the chamber.

“Tellark, the tanner, step forward!” called out the bailiff.

Kharl noted that the tanner wore a clean gray undertunic and trousers, boots, and that his hands were not tied or chained. He did not look to be bruised. Kharl could not sense any hints of chaos about the man, and there was no feel of injury. The mage waited as the tanner approached the dais, then halted several cubits short of the lord justicer.

“You are Tellark, the tanner, and your home and business are located at the intersection of Renderers Way and the Southwest Lane?” The justicer’s dry voice barely reached Kharl, although the mage was less than a rod from Priost.

“Yes, Lord Justicer.” The tanner’s response was hardly audible.

“You are charged with the murder of Yeson, the tariff farmer for the southwest quarter of Valmurl.” Priost waited several moments. “Did you kill Yeson?”

The wiry tanner looked down at the polished gray granite of the floor, then straight at Priost, but did not reply.

“The accused being mute, and without an advocate, the justicing enters a statement of denial.”

Kharl nodded to himself. He approved of the Austran practice of assuming a person charged was innocent until the evidence was provided. According to Jusof, that was supposed to be the code for both Austra and Nordla, but Kharl certainly hadn’t seen it in his own case. Nor had Charee.

He glanced to his right, where Jusof was writing quickly, but in a clear, if small, script.

Without a word, the armsmen escorted Tellark to the table opposite the one where Jusof and Kharl were seated and had the tanner sit in the middle chair. Both armsmen remained standing, their backs to the wall, a cubit from Tellark.

“The first witness,” ordered Priost.

The hall doors opened, and a large figure of a man, seemingly overflowing his maroon tunic, slouched inside.

“Bebarak, step forward!” commanded the bailiff.

The big man lumbered forward, and Kharl noted that the scabbard at his right side was empty, as was the knife sheath at his left. Bebarak halted short of the dais.

“You are Bebarak, chief guard to the tariff farmer Yeson?”

“Ah … yes, your honorship. Well … I was.”

“Ser or lord justicer will suffice.”

Bebarak looked dumbly at Priost.

“Just call me ser.”

“Yes, ser.”

After several more questions establishing who Bebarak was and that he had seen the incident, Priost asked, “After you entered the tannery, what happened?”

“Well, ser … Master Yeson, he walked up to him-the tanner over there-and he told him that his time was up. He said he’d best come up with the ten golds, or it’d be hard on him-”

“Did he say ‘ten golds’?”

“Yes, ser. He’d been saying that we needed the ten golds earlier-like, too. Anyway, Master Yeson told him his time was up, and the fellow said no he wouldn’t because Yeson was overcharging, and it wasn’t right, and that he’d been taking too much for years.”

“Then what happened?”

“Well, ser … Master Yeson, he laughed. He told the tanner to stop complaining, that everyone paid the tariff farmer. He said he’d be paying like he did every year, and he told him to stop whining, and just like that the tanner bent down; then he straightened up, and he had this hammer. He hit Master Yeson upside his head, and Master Yeson fell over. He weren’t breathing, either, pretty soon.”

“What did the tanner do?”

“He just stood there.”

Priost asked a number of other questions, but the guard’s story remained essentially the same-and truthful, Kharl noted. When the guard was finished, he was escorted from the hall. All through the process, Jusof kept writing.

The next witness was Keromont, Lord Ghrant’s tariff steward. Even as he stopped before the dais, his eyes darted from the lord justicer to Kharl and back to the lord justicer.

“Steward,” Priost said firmly, “so long as you tell what is so, I doubt you have much to fear from Lord Kharl. He is hear to learn how justice is done.”

“Yes, ser.”

“Now … according to your records, what was the tariff assessed on Tellark the tanner?”

“Five golds, Lord Justicer.”

“Five.” Priost nodded. “Were you aware that Yeson was insisting on ten from Tellark?”

“Ah … sir. Not … precisely. Might I explain, ser?”

“Go ahead.”

“Tariff farmers collect tariffs for the Lord of Austra. They have been allowed to require somewhat more than the assessed tariff in order to cover their expenses. If a tariff farmer has to make many visits to someone, or cover the tariffs due themselves until they can collect, that excess can be larger. I did not know how much more than five golds that Yeson was charging, but it is always more.”

“How much more?”

“Usually … and this is only what is considered customary, Lord Justicer, the excess is roughly one gold for every ten of tariff. That is, if large sums are not past due.”

“So you would not consider it unusual for Yeson to have charged Tellark, say five and a half golds, even six?”

“No, ser.”

“Did you know if Tellark happened to be habitually late in paying his tariffs?”

“From what Yeson told me, it would have been unlikely. If what he said was true. He had said that he was fortunate in having no great delinquencies.”

“To your knowledge, had Yeson misled you in the past on this fact?”

“No, ser.”

Once more the questions went on, but Kharl didn’t see that they added that much.

After Keromont came a series of witnesses, including the tanner’s wife. She claimed she had not seen the murder, that her consort was a good man, that he would not have murdered any good person, and, in response to Priost’s questioning, that her consort had been aware that Yeson was overtariffing, but had not known what to do about it. Then came the other two guards of the tariff farmer and a neighbor who had summoned the Watch patrollers.

Jusof kept writing, scarcely looking up from the growing sheaf of paper that he had created.

Finally, some time near midday, the lord justicer called no more witnesses and instead looked to his right. “Tellark, rise and come forward.”

The tanner did not speak as the armsmen escorted him to a position in front of the dais.

“You have heard the evidence against you. Do you have anything tosay that justicing should know? Have any of the witnesses said anything that is not true?”

Tellark remained silent.

“Master tanner, this is your last chance to say anything in your own defense.”

Kharl could sense Priost’s frustration. At least, he thought the thin miasma of order-bounded chaos around the lord justicer was frustration.

“Won’t change nothing, ser.”

“Let me be the judge of that. You stand accused of murder. All of the witnesses save your consort have testified that you committed this murder. If you have anything to say in defense of yourself, you should speak now.”

Tellark shuddered, but did not speak.

Priost waited, far longer than Kharl would have.

Then, finally, the tanner spoke. “He was cheating everyone, ser. Taking golds in the name of the Lord, but keeping’em. Everyone knew it. Even the steward knew it. No one did nothing. Some years, I could pay it, hard as it was. I couldn’t this year. Emela, she lost the baby and couldn’t help none, and I had to hire Balsat’s boy. I told Yeson that, and all he said was that everyone had a story, and iffin I knew what was good for me, I’d be paying. I knows what he was saying. His guards, they burned down that cooper’s place. Kundark couldn’t pay, neither. No one did nothing then, neither. Everyone said it was an accident. Wasn’t no accident.” Tellark closed his mouth sharply, as if he had said too much.

Kharl could sense that the tanner was telling the absolute truth, and he would have wagered that Priost knew it as well.

“Did you come to the Great House and tell anyone this? Did you come here?”

“Wouldn’t done no good.”

“Did you try?”

Tellark did not look at the justicer. “Got nothing else to say.”

“You may be seated.”

The guards escorted Tellark back to the other table.

When Jusof had stopped writing, seemingly for the first time since the trial had begun, Kharl cleared his throat, gently.

“Yes, Lord Kharl?”

“What happens next?” Kharl kept his voice low.

“He will decide. There is nothing more to be heard.”

“Now?”

“Shortly.”

Lord Justicer Priost never left his podium desk, but neither did he look up. Upon occasion he wrote something down, but he did not appear to have written that much. After less than a quarter glass he looked up.

“Master Tellark, come forward.”

The guards flanked Tellark when he stopped before the dais, and this time, they were far closer, and far more alert.

“Call forth Steward Keromont.”

Kharl wondered about that, but said nothing as the tariff steward returned to the hall and stood beside Tellark. Keromont kept glancing at Kharl.

“Master Tellark and Steward Keromont, here is what the justicing has found. First, the tariff farmer Yeson had made a practice of excessive tariffing. He had used his guards to intimidate those tariffed so that they would not protest. The tariff steward was not aware of the degree of such abuses. Such a practice is not conducive to an orderly collection of tariffs, nor is it to the benefit of Austra.” Priost looked hard at Keromont.

The steward swallowed, but did not speak.

“Second,” the lord justicer continued, “the tanner Tellark did in fact murder the tariff farmer Yeson with a hammer, and the tanner did so in a manner that showed that he knew what he was doing.” He paused and looked at the tanner.

Tellark did not look directly at the justicer.

“Therefore, with regard to the questions of the tariff, this justicing sets forth the following. First, the tariff steward will review the rolls and records of all tariff farmers on a regular basis and, where necessary, require a tariff farmer to explain any tariff that the steward judges as excessive. Second, those rolls will henceforth show both the Lord’s tariff and the amount collected. Failure of a tariff farmer to keep accurate records will be deemed a crime against the Lord. Third, the tariff for this year for the tanner Tellark will be deemed paid on the rolls of Yeson’s successor and upon the accounts of the Lord of Austra.” Priost looked at the tariff steward. “Is that clear, Steward Keromont?”

“Yes, Lord Justicer.”

Kharl almost opened his mouth in astonishment that the lord justicer could impose requirements on the Lord of Austra-and expect compliance.

Priost turned his eyes back on Tellark. “Master Tellark, with regard tothe murder of the tariff farmer Yeson, you are found guilty of that murder, and hereby sentenced to be hanged at sunset tonight.”

Tellark did not move as the two armsmen each took hold of him.

“Let justice be done,” Priost stated, rising.

“All rise!” ordered the bailiff.

Priost did not turn and leave the dais until both Keromont and Tellark had been escorted from the hall. Then, without a word, the lord justicer turned and walked to the small doorway from the dais. The few spectators in the hall began to file out in silence.

After several moments, Kharl turned to Jusof.

“You are most agitated, Lord Kharl,” suggested Jusof, in the silence of the nearly empty chamber as the clerk straightened his papers and closed the portable inkpot.

“He killed the tariff farmer, but the tariff farmer was charging him far more than he owed. For that he’ll be hanged? Not put in gaol or flogged, but hanged?”

“It is true that Yeson was not known to be the most scrupulous of tariff farmers. He had been overtariffing the tanner well beyond his costs and pocketing the difference. There were reports that he had done the same with others.” Jusof paused. “In none of those cases did anyone come forward or complain.”

“They were afraid,” suggested Kharl.

“Doubtless they were, but the law cannot reward fear. It cannot guess what people may think or feel or need. If no one speaks, the law cannot act. Tellark could have come to the Hall of Justice and protested. He could have gone to Lord Ghrant’s tariff steward.”

“But … how would he know that?” Kharl certainly hadn’t known that such possibilities existed. Then, in Brysta, he doubted that protesting would have changed anything, because Egen had ordered Fyngel to increase the tariffs on the cooperage so that Kharl could not pay. Kharl had to admit that Tellark had not faced quite as great an injustice-but it was still injustice.

“Did he ever ask? There is no evidence that he did. Rather than try for a better solution, he killed a man. The tariff farmer was not a good man. We know that, but the law must frown on people deciding on their own whose life to take and whose to spare.”

“But hanging?”

“What would you have the lord justicer do? Tellark did kill Yeson. Regardless of the reason for the killing, except in self-defense, or in defense of family, a justicer cannot excuse a killing. In a brawl or an accident, the death penalty is not required, but Tellark knew full well what he was doing. The law cannot excuse willful and knowing murder. If the lord justicer allows attacks on tariff farmers, who are not the most beloved of men, that weakens Lord Ghrant and all of Austra. Who would then pay their tariffs? Justicer Priost did what he could under the law. He insisted on an accounting of all the tariff farmers’ rolls. He mandated a change in accounting, with penalties, and he dismissed the tanner’s tariff for this year, presumably on the grounds that the tariff farmer exceeded the authority granted by Lord Ghrant and that the tariff steward did not exercise adequate supervision. That will ensure that the widow will retain the tannery. The other tariff farmers will receive the message that excessive zeal is not acceptable.”

“That does not seem totally fair.”

Jusof smiled sadly. “Totally fair or just it is not. You might recall, Lord Kharl, what I said about the law when you came to the Hall of Justice. Law is a tool. It is not justice. Sometimes it can be close to it. At other times, while the law is the best we have, it cannot be just, not without destroying Austra itself.” The clerk slipped the papers and inkpot into his case, then withdrew a single sheet, which he extended to Kharl.

Kharl took it.

“The lord justicer has suggested that you write an advocate’s brief. You’ve read enough of them-on a forthcoming case. I have the file in my chamber. Your brief will remain, of course, private to me and the lord justicer.”

Kharl looked at Jusof. Write a brief? He’d never written much of anything, except a few letters, one or two short statements when he bid on barrels for the harbor fort at Brysta, and his statement of candidacy to become a master cooper.

“Just use the same format as all the others,” Jusof offered. “It’s a simple enough pattern. Make it short. Most are too long.” The clerk smiled briefly, then stepped away from the table.

As he followed Jusof, Kharl was silent. Write a brief? Why? He wouldn’t ever be an advocate. Could he even write three sentences that made sense?

Even as he pondered the lord justicer’s request, Kharl was still wonderingabout Jusof’s words about Tellark’s fate. The law could not be just without destroying the land? He’d thought he had understood what Jusof had said on the first day, but Priost’s death sentence for Tellark cast that understanding in a different light. Was it fair to require people to act when they might suffer? That was what Priost’s decision had said, in effect. But Kharl could see what Jusof had meant as well. For years, the tanner had done nothing. Then … he had murdered the tariff farmer. Priost had crafted a sentence to reduce the abuse, but did not excuse the murder.

Kharl took a deep breath. Without even the struggle that trying to write a brief would entail, he had more to think about, because what he had seen went far beyond the Hall of Justice.