"Is it true?"
Yoko had barely escaped from her room and the stern lecture her father had delivered, when the cloaked, furtive figure of Princess Sheela apprehended her on the garden walk outside the cathedral dormitory. The Princess stood half behind a trellis of roses gone stalky and bloomless in the beginnings of winter. A fur lined, green cloak half hid the contours of her face. Tendrils of long, black hair escaped the cowl and the eyes in the shadow were huge and desperate. Yoko stopped four feet from the sister of her king, the muscles in her jaw working spasmodically. Too many days of tension had her nerves and her tolerance at a breaking point. What she saw in Sheela's eyes, what she had always seen in Sheela's eyes when it concerned Schneider set her teeth on edge. She could not forget that this woman had known him in a way that she -- despite all his declarations of love for her -- never had the chance to. This woman who had always had everything had pursued Schneider when she had known Yoko loved him. It had never been malicious and he had certainly been an instigator -- as he instigated quite a few liaisons with women who caught his eye, but with Sheela who had once been Yoko's childhood friend, it grated more. She would never wish the Princess harm -- it was not in her nature to let jealousy turn her spiteful, but she would also never be friends with Sheela again. Not with him between them.
Yoko pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, taking a breath to collect her poise.
"Yes." She said simply.
A soft release of breath and the princess lowered her lashes, murmuring a silent prayer. "I heard so many rumors. So many terrible tales. I was afraid to ask ---"
"Yes, I imagine your husband would be irked if you showed too much interest in a former --- lover." Yoko hated herself for saying after the words left her lips. Goddess, this whole situation had made her snappish and short.
Sheela stared at her, large dark eyes brimming with liquid. Goddess, don't let her start crying. Yoko was most certainly not up to comforting her.
"Yes." Sheela whispered. "You're right. He's a good man, but protective of me. I -- don't wish him to be hurt."
Yoko nodded, swallowing. "I'm sorry. I'm tired. Sleep hasn't come easily of late."
"How -- how is he? They say he's mad."
"He was. He's better now. Still mad, but more of the angry sort."
"How did it happen? How did he come back? We were assured there were no spells of resurrection or rebirth cast."
"I don't know, Princess. He doesn't remember. It doesn't matter."
"No."
Sheela looked down, as if she didn't know what else to say. Yoko chewed at a nail, having the sudden thought that though Sheela might not be her crony, she might very well be an ally of Schneider's. An ally with the ear of the king.
"The Prophet keeps saying that he was sent from hell to destroy us. I'm afraid he's going to persuade the king to do something horrible to him."
"All those men that died -- I've heard."
"It wasn't his fault. He reacted blindly to them attacking him. He wasn't in his right mind. Do you think Larz might listen to you, if we tried to convince him of it?"
The princess twisted the edge of her cloak nervously, looking across the garden square to the lights of the cathedral. Her silence made Yoko desperate.
"I know you don't want your husband to think you're interested in another man, but --"
"I'll do it. I'll talk to Larz. Tomorrow, I'll take lunch with him. Come as my guest. We'll make him understand."
Yoko let out a sigh of relief, closed the distance that separated them and took the princess's cold hands in hers. There were some things that even rivals could agree on.
"Thank you."
She dressed formally for the luncheon in a skirt and overtunic, an ornate belt cinched about her waist. She met the princess outside the royal wing and the two of them descended on the east garden solarium, where the King liked to take his mid-day meals, together.
Larz looked up from the table and the pile of parchment he was leafing through, saw Yoko in his sister's company and lifted one dark brow.
"Well, strange bed fellows. Let me guess what brought the two of you together."
Sheela blushed. Yoko was past embarrassment and merely curtsied as any proper subject of the king would in his presence. Be humble, she told herself. Humble will get your further than brazen and demanding.
"I don't suppose lunch will be a peaceful affair, then." The king predicted, waving them over.
"I see no reason why it shouldn't." Sheela said, settling into a gracefully curved rod iron chair. Yoko followed suit, folding her hands demurely in her lap. Larz waved at a servant who went off after their lunch.
"How has your morning been so far?" Sheela asked sweetly.
"Terrible. There are bandits along the west coast that are harassing merchant ships and its damn slow work rebuilding war ships to fend them off. I believe the demolishment of the seaboard kingdom's navy can be directly attributed to Lord Kall-Su when he was rummaging about the south a few years past."
"He was under the influence of Ansasla." Yoko murmured in defense. "It was not his fault."
"Ah, yes. And you would be a great defender of those not responsible for their actions this week, wouldn't you lady Yoko?"
"Oh, Larz, be nice." Sheela reprimanded. "Just because you're in a bad mood this morning, don't take it out on Yoko."
He lifted a brow at his sister. "Oh my and here I had heard rumors that the two of you were at odds since Dark Schneider's first reawakening. What is one to think when you join forces?" he leaned forward conspiratorially. "Don't be too obvious, Sheela, or your husband -- dull as he is, will become suspicious."
"Larz!" The Princess glared at him.
The servants entrance with a cart loaded with food hindered any further castigation Sheela might have delivered. There were sautéed shrimp over a bed of greens drenched in a citrus vinaigrette, thin slices of pork with a sweet gravy, seasoned rice with bits of vegetable and a mushroom mix rolled and fried in a thin, salty pastry. Light and elegant fare and Yoko had no taste for it. There was about Larz a certain hostility that had nothing to do with the state of the southern alliance, and more to do with his assumption of what case they were here to plead. Certainly one expected no love between the king and Schneider, the two of them being enemies of a deadly sort. On the occasion of their last traumatic encounter, Schneider ending up trapped in the body a newborn and the Dragon Prince reincarnated into, appropriately enough, a dragon pup. It took over fifteen years to rectify the both of those situations.
"All we want," Sheela said, when they had all pushed plates away and the servants sedately cleared the table. "Is a little bit of fairness."
"Fairness? And what, prey tell, would you have me do for Him, that I would do differently for any other man responsible for the deaths of -- I believe the tally is up to fifteen good men?"
"But no one speaks for him." Sheela said.
"On the contrary, he has the two of you."
"Neither of who is a litigater and besides which, it seems that it is the church who is the accuser and the church who wishes to hand out the punishment. Since when are murders tried by the church?"
"Since the murderers are spawns of hell, your highness."
The Prophet strolled down the solarium walk, hands hidden in the folds of his sleeves, a serene smile on his face.
"You have no proof of that." Sheela cried.
"He's back from hell. Is that not proof enough, Princess?"
"He's a great wizard. The things he does can not be judged by the standards of common men."
"Ah, and of what is he a great wizard of? Holy magic. The white power granted us by the benevolent gods we worship? No. He is and has always been a child of the dark hegemony. You say he can not be judged by the standards of common men. You are right, my child. He can only be judged by the holy standards that he and his kind abhor."
"He was wild when he first came back." Yoko said quietly. "You know that. You saw that. We all did." She cast a look to Larz for confirmation. "So you can not deny that what he did might have been done with no more thought than an animal gives to defending itself. If he killed those men, it was not intentional."
"Even unintentional murder demands penance." Larz reminded her, at which Angelo smiled and took the remaining chair that the king offered.
"The people demand justice be done." Angelo said. "They pray for it daily. I pray hourly for some solution to this dilemma, my dear." He reached out and patted Yoko's hand.
"I strive to seek some manner in which forgiveness might be offered. Some sign that he has a soul that might be salvaged."
"He has a soul." Yoko whispered.
"Ah, you speak of the part of him that you grew up with. The boy, Rushie, whom it seemed was the moral side of Dark Schneider. How do you know that part of him survived hell, my child? That evil place is anathema to good."
"You don't know that it didn't."
"Only Schneider can answer than question."
Yoko blinked and looked up at him, grasping for a slim chance. "And if he did. If he did prove that he's not evil. What then?"
"Forgiveness for his magnitude of sins could only be achieved by complete denouncement of his hedonistic ways. Of a declaration of faith in our god and an unanimous agreement by an ecclesiastic tribunal that it was uttered in good confidence."
"You're not serious?" Larz stared incredulously.
Angelo smiled. "Oh, but if what the lady Yoko says is correct, that he meant no real harm with his actions, that he does indeed have a moral soul hidden within him -- then it would be remiss of the church not to give him the chance to amend his ways. It would be remiss of me, as Prophet of the High God, not to personally attempt to salvage a soul. But it must start with him."
He turned his eyes to Yoko, who was staring at him wide eyed, speechless. His hand squeezed hers.
"Do you understand, my dear? He has to will forgiveness. He has to declare his willingness to change his ways and submit himself to the mercy of the High God. It's the only way mercy might be granted."
Schneider couldn't stop laughing at her. She stood, with the uncomfortable presence of her father behind her and the Basilica guards outside the door and blushed furiously while he sat against the wall and laughed until tears leaked out of his eyes.
"It's not that funny." She complained, glancing back to make certain her father had a adequately supportive look of seriousness on his face.
"It's hilarious." Schneider contradicted her, wiping at the corner of his eyes with a knuckle. "I haven't heard anything so amusing in -- in I don't know how long. Ages. Decades at the very least. They want me to bow before their ridiculous god and pledge my faith? They want me to plead for forgiveness from the likes of that ass Larz and his pet Prophet. I'd as soon beg it of you, Great Priest and we all know how likely that is."
"Then you will likely revisit hell sooner than you think." Geo Note said. "For between the Prophet's declaration that you are a minion of hell out to destroy all good men and the outcry for justice over the murdered men -- I've the feeling they'll see you burn."
"Oh, will the witchfires grace Meta-Rikan again? I thought that persecution had ended fifty or more years ago."
"You are sooo stubborn." Yoko cried, stomping her foot in agitation. "This is serious. The teachings of the Prophet have the people scared silly of any magic not ordained by the church. Mother's scare their children into obedience with tales of dark magic. Stories about you."
"Oh, they've done that for years."
"Well, it goes further now. They've chased the hedge witches out of town. The shops that used to sell charms and wards have been banned by public outcry. People are so wary of magic now, that the whole town is terrified at the rumors that you've come back."
"As well they should be, considering my warm welcome." He glowered at her, at her father behind her. "Believe me when I say if it weren't for these damned bracelets -- there would be hell to pay."
"Then perhaps the Prophet is right." Geo Note said. "Perhaps we are all safer with you gone."
"Most assuredly, he is."
"Rushie!" Yoko dropped to her knees before him. "They want to burn you or drown you or whatever they do to witches and hell beasts. You can't stop them. He's taken your power. Can't you get that through your thick skull?"
"I understand that they want me humbled. They want ME to beg forgiveness for something I don't even recall doing. I don't do the begging thing, Yoko. You should remember that."
"Ooohhh. I remember how stubborn and asinine you are."
"What are a few moments of retribution when your life is at stake?" Geo Note asked.
"I'd rather die."
"Then you probably shall. Yoko, we've done what we can. Let us go."
"No! Damnit, no. You will listen to reason if I have to cram it down your throat." She leaned forward and screeched at him, slamming the heel of her hand into his chest to accent each word. "I don't care if you would rather die. I won't have it. Do you understand? I can't go through that again."
Schneider caught her wrists to stop the pummeling and held them between them. "It is not as easy as you make it out to be, Yoko."
"What? You're saying the great Dark Schneider is incapable of doing something? That it's beyond you?"
He looked past her to Geo Note. "You'd just as well that I did die, wouldn't you, old man?"
"If I did, I would not be here with my daughter. I do not believe what you sacrificed for us should be repaid in this manner."
"You don't have to mean it." Yoko said desperately. "What's a little lie and little contriteness if it will get you out of here?"
"They won't believe it." He let her wrists go, reached out to catch a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his fingers. "Would you believe it, Great Priest, if I came to you and professed a sudden love for your hypocritical religion? If I told you how sorry I was for -- say, wiping out your army at Gudara? Why should this Prophet be any different? Why would Larz, who even if he is an ass, is at least a smart one, buy a word of it?"
"I wouldn't believe you." Geo Note agreed. "But, then I'm not the Prophet. I don't have the ear of the High God . . . "
"As if he does."
" . . . .and most importantly, I don't have wards on your person preventing you from using your vaunted powers. Whether you like it or not, you are at a disadvantage here. A very great disadvantage, and I might suggest you learn to deal with the situation from that perspective. He will believe you, because he has the power to force the issue. And for once, you my friend, do not."
Schneider's sullen glare was not so much for Geo Note as for the bitter truth of the words he spoke. Oh, it galled him, Yoko knew very well it galled him to the core not to be able to magic his way out of this cell and the power of the Prophet. He leaned his head against the wall, mouth a tight, angry line. There were faint bruises on his face. A scratch running down one finely crafted cheek. The scrapes he had made on his own wrists were crusted with dried blood. He could have healed it all with a whisper had he access to his power. In frustration he slammed his skull against the wall. Once, twice and Yoko reached out to touch his face, leaning in to press her cheek against his.
"What's one little lie? If you fool them, then you'll still be the winner. Please, Rushie."
Against her hair, she heard his low agreement. "All right. For you, I'll do it."