45. Trials.

"So let me reiterate, to see if I understand your demands fully." Violet Wildstripe spoke mildly. Early in her life she learned that calm and politeness were the best response to aggression and bluster, at least when you were a badger and nobeast dared to presume you weak. "You demand that I break all the laws of hospitality by turning my guests over to you to do with them as you please. You also demand that I publically reprimand my loyal hares, who followed my orders. And finally, you demand from the Long Patrol to ask your clan's permission whenever any of us ventures north of the River Moss, as if you owned the whole Northlands and beyond. Pray tell, who do you think you are, Akkla Axehound, to threaten a Badger Ruler of Salamandastron in her own domain?"

Most beasts would have been shivering like reeds at this point, but if Akkla had any second thoughts, she quickly chased them away and stared at the much bigger creature defiantly. "And who do you think you are, Violet Wildstripe, to harbor vermin scum who murdered one of our crew and then berate me for my demands?"

The two females stared at each other, neither willing to back down. Then Violet answered, even quieter than before. "Among other things, I am a seer. And I saw this – if you persist in your intent, Akkla Ahehound, you and every creature you love will come to grief. Your misery in life and shame in death will become a legend. May the Dark Forest and all of my predecessors there bear witness to the truth of my prophecy!"

This, at least, affected the otter. Violet saw doubt in Akkla's face. But only a fleeting doubt, like a tiny ripple on a pool of stagnant water. "You should not think that Axehound otters are easily fooled barbarians, Lady Ruler. If you do not wish to settle the matter in private, then so be it. I'll present our grievances again, now with everybeast as witnesses!"

"So be it. Let all woodlanders know of your "grievances" and decide for themselves whether they are just. And let the consequences be on your head."

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Salamandastron did not have any dedicated throne room or audience chamber. Badger Rulers were not kings – not in name. The first among equals should not surround herself with symbols of rulership, Lady Violet knew that. Still, she was annoyed with the hassle she had to go through every time she needed to hold court publicly.

Now one of the big dining halls of Salamandastron was freed for beasts who gathered to hear what the Badger Ruler would say to the accusations levied against her Long Patrol, with Violet herself and her advisors sitting at the far end, under the narrow windows cut in the outer wall, and the central space freed for beasts called to forth to speak.

And speak they did. First Akkla and her party presented their accusations, then it was time for Aldwin and those who were with him to refute – and in turn to charge Axehound otters with forcing travelers who did them no wrong into a fight.

Of course, Aldwin and others knew what they had to say beforehand. Violet believed that their cause was right, but righteousness was no substitute for good presentation. Akkla's game was clear – either force Violet to admit herself wrong or present her as a high-pawed despot who not only consorts with vermin but disregards reasonable grievances. Badger Rulers were not kings – no, their power was greater and more rooted in tradition than that of any king. Yet even that power was ultimately based on respect, and Violet had no intention of testing the limits of this respect. She had to win the hearts of those who gathered to witness the dispute. That was why she asked the most respectable and least personally involved of all outsiders within her reach, Heorik of Swiftstream, the mouse captain of the big barque "Northwind" from Riftguard, who was caught at Salamandastron by winter after his vessel got damaged in an autumn storm, to preside over questioning of the incident's participants. And that was why she made sure witnesses on her side learned the roles they had to play.

At least most of them. There was one witness Violet dared not direct. Ironic, as the words of this young otter probably were going to be especially important, given her ties to both sides…

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On the previous evening Selvathy sat in the room given to the three woodlanders, footpaws on the bed, hugging her legs, looking at the floor. Everything was her fault. If only she wasn't so incredibly selfish, if only she hadn't put her own feelings and fancies before her tribe, Scrimmo would still be alive, and there wouldn't be blood between woodlanders, and she wouldn't have to choose between kin and friends again the next day – now before a crowd. Was it all the price that fate exacted for betrayal of one's own blood?

She saw Ewalt walking in from the corner of her eye and raised her head. Now there was a good walking focus for her grief and anger. "So, what would you advise me to do now?"

"What?" Her question took the mouse, busy with his own – less than happy – thoughts, by surprise.

"What should I do? Look where yer words, back then on Ergaph, got me! So what ye can tell me now? What should I do?!"

That was not entirely unexpected. The thought that Selvathy might one day question his words ate at Ewalt ever since the night she convinced her to turn cloak and help in stealing the longboat in which they made their way to the Northlands. And he had an answer prepared. Perhaps it was the only answer their small group and perilous case could afford, yet words still tasted like bile as Ewalt spoke. "Back then I asked you to do what you truly wanted, Selvathy. And you wanted to do what was just, even if your kin disagreed. What you should do now? Be a real otter and stick to that!"

Selvathy was almost hysterical, as her pent-up emotions finally broke to the surface. "But Scrimmo died because of that! I stuck with you to avenge my kin slain by vermin, and instead I added to their number! How would I face them in the Dark Forest?"

This blow was hard to deflect. Seasons and fates, he should have talked with her sooner, instead of hoping that Rowanbloom alone would manage to console her! Before realizing it, Ewalt spoke his mind.

"I wish I could tell you that. But I can't. I don't know how I would face my murdered tribe myself. I can't tell…" The mouse shook his head, as his reasoning caught with his tongue. "I can tell you just one thing. If we fail our quest, if we fail to take our revenge, if we step away, then every death so far would be for naught. Scrimmo's death too. I wouldn't be able to live with that! Would you?"

Selvathy buried her head in her paws and wept. Even after her previous outburst, this took Ewalt by surprise. Selvathy, for all her youth, always seemed to him a warrior grown, cool and reliable. The fact that she was half again his size must have blinded him.

Uncertainly, the mouse stepped forth and touched the otter's shivering shoulder. "I'm sorry, Selvathy. If only I could change things…"

"No… No, don't worry, it's alright…" Selvathy covered Ewalt's paw with her own, clasping it as if afraid he was going to disappear. "It's just… after tomorrow, I won't have no clan, no kin, not anymore… nowhere to return. No one but Rowanbloom… and..."

Ewalt mentally kicked himself again. Why did he not notice the woes of others when they stared him right in the face? "And me. I promise you, Selvathy, I'll be there for you. As your friend."

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"So, young miss, you don't blame this ferret for intervening in the duel that was supposed to be fair?" Captain Heorik was not especially big, even for a mouse, but he had an air of severity worthy of a badger about him, and his voice was deep and strong for a creature of his size, easily reaching the farthest corners of the hall.

"No, I don't." Selvathy, in contrast, tried to keep her voice from faltering. "Captain Aldwin ain't asked if she agreed to the duel, and it all happened 'cause Heddin Wintersky was insistin' on a fight."

Before Heorik could ask anything else, Heddin himself, who stood not far away, among the Axehound otters and tribesbeasts that crowded the left side of the hall, butted in, speaking as loudly as was possible while still making his words sound casual. "I reckon she seemed quite eager to let Aldwin protect her tail, until my back was turned, yeah."

Kethra, who was discussed here, stood with the rest of the vermin on the opposite side, at Lady Violet's right paw, hemmed in between the Gallopers. She would have been stopped had she tried to jump forward – a good thing, as after several hours of the hearings she was in high bad temper – but she could speak as well as Heddin. "That's a bloody lie, wavedog! I am not and was not afraid of you!"

"Silence!" Heorik could only glare at one of the interrupting beasts, and he choose Kethra, which only made the ferretmaid angrier.

"How bold!" Heddin radiated the sort of condescension most beasts save for irate cubs. "Care to prove it with swords, not words?"

Aldwin squeezed Kethra's shoulder painfully to make her shut up. Violet started speaking. But the Badger Lady's words were drowned by Kethra's shout of rage. "Anytime, you piece of…"

"Stop it, both of you!" This time it was Violet's turn to raise her voice. "We gathered here to resolve a quarrel! Not to bicker like brainless sparrows!"

The thunderous command made almost everybeast shrink and gave pause even to Heddin. But as the hall froze in silence, Akkla Axehound made a step forward and addressed the Badger Lady with stressed politeness. "May you allow me to speak a word out of turn, Lady Ruler?"

Violet stared at the thin otter. "Speak, but I would not hear any more provocations or insults from your side."

"Lady Ruler, we indeed have gathered here to resolve a quarrel. But when beasts quarrel with each other, what is the most ancient and truest way of deciding who is right and who is wrong if not trial by combat? Truly, we wouldn't be so incensed if Kethra here had not intervened in exactly such a trial! And now she just agreed to atone for that by facing my foster nephew one on one. What could be a better way to settle the matter once and for all? If Kethra is as good as her words, of course."

"Don't you dare fall for it!" Aldwin hissed in Kethra's ear. "Heddin is certain death for you, no, for any ferret."

The last phrase was an error. Fuming with rage, Kethra twisted out of the hare's grasp. "I am!"

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Even after several hours remembering that scene still made Violet Wildstripe furious with herself. She feared that Akkla would try to goad the vermin into making a bad showing before assembled woodlanders, perhaps into attacking somebeast. And she never thought of the simplest possible ploy! Her claws scratched the stone breastwork of the balcony, on which she stood, as she tried to control her wrath. Did she fail to take all possible precautions because, after all the visions, she did not really believe that bloodshed could be averted?

Then another thing struck the badger lady like a flash of lightning. No. What she really did not believe in was a ferret who accepted a challenge despite being horrendously outmatched. Was Kethra simply stupid? Too clueless to know the odds? Or… more valiant than Violet ever expected from a vermin? She did not know whether to laugh or cry. She staked so much on the assumption that vermin have goodness and heroism in them. Yet her own heart, deep down, failed to follow it.

Then the badger noticed something down below, on the large, relatively flat rocky terrace overlooking the bay, which was going to serve as the duel field tomorrow. A couple of figures were moving.

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"Heddin, look." Akkla waved her paw up, towards the balcony on which Violet stood far above, and the younger otter reflexively raised his eyes in that direction. A sharp jolt of agony through the back of his head immediately reminded him about the error of turning his head incautiously these days. Heddin did not wince, he was proud of fearing no pain, but Akkla, who raised him and knew him well, noticed something in his movement, a sort of stiffness that raised a vague worry in her. "Are you unwell?"

"Do not worry." Heddin Wintersky put on a careless smile. "Can't say that knock on the head made me healthier, but now I'm well enough to cut a lone ferret into fifty pieces starting with a paw of your choice."

Akkla looked into his bright blue eyes with a mix of suspicion and worry that made her hard-edged, bony face seem almost soft. If Heddin had any weakness it was reluctance to admit weakness, a stupid warrior's bluster that forced many youths to pretend their scratches were not worth mentioning even as they bled to death. "Tell me the truth, Heddin, no boasts. Have you recovered enough to fight at your full strength? I can take the field instead of you, and everybeast will deem that a magnanimous gesture, giving the vermin filth a chance. To tell the truth on my own part, I expected the ferret to show her cowardly vermin self and make us look better by that."

"The truth, Aunt?" Heddin sighed. "In truth, my head still aches badly from time to time. Enough to think twice before taking on a creature like the Badger Lady or even Aldwin. But a ferret? Hah! Unless all the fates betray us to become her shield, she'll grovel and beg on her belly before I'm done!"

"All the fates"… But fates definitely were on their side. Heddin didn't know that but he still had a destiny to fulfill, one predicted by an old mole hag before his birth. Akkla didn't put much stock in the mole's words at the time. Extorting a fortune telling was little more than a game for the overgrown brat she was at the time, but at least one phrase got firmly etched in her memory: "And such shall be the marks of the beasts who shall turn the fate of highland and coast: eyes of blue for the orphan warrior born among creatures lowly and despised by the proud Axehound otters, eyes of green for the wise one to encourage him at the time of doubt." These words were what initially made her convince Willag to adopt Heddin. And remembering those words dispelled her doubts now.

"Just don't play with her too much," Akkla grumbled. "Even a ferret is dangerous when cornered."