Chapter 13
"He's right, you know," Cindy said.
Adam lifted the heavy knocker and let it go another time. It gave off a frequency that was equivalent to nails on a chalkboard. The three of them stiffened until the sound faded.
"I know," he said. "But nothing can guarantee equality. Especially bloodshed."
They were talking about what the lead harbinger – the one controlling Ted Tane – had said to them last before allowing them on their way. They were having this discussion in front of the gates of Aulora while they were waiting for someone to let them in.
"Well what would happen if that guy got a hold of magical ability?" Sally scoffed. "If he knows how to use the Secret Path that might kill him, but he could do a lot of damage before that happens."
Adam remembered back to what Van de Ryn was capable of. Maybe he deserved….
"No," Adam said. "We can't think like that. No one deserves to die. No one has the right to decide."
"If that were true, we'd never eat meat," Sally muttered.
The little window in the gate swung open then and a middle-aged man peeked out. "State your business."
Adam looked at both the girls and then to the man. "We've come to talk to the tribunal set to meet tomorrow. It's urgent."
"About the forest to the south, yes," the gatekeeper said. His face may have been dull with dirt, but his eyes were sharp, and they studied the teens in weird clothing. He stepped away from the window and slowly opened the bulky wood gate. Directing them in he added: "You'll find the men at the public house – just down the lane way here and to the east."
"Thank you," Cindy said, turning to him.
"But," the man began, "you may also find that the men are reluctant to speak with you. Tensions have been running high over the southern forest. Unsettling rumors have been circling."
"I think they'll want to talk with us," Sally said confidently.
The gatekeeper just nodded as they turned and left.
"I'm not sure about that guy," Cindy said once they were out of hearing range.
"I'm not sure about leaving this dimension without getting the plague," Sally said, eyeing the rats that were scurrying around the narrow street. The stench of a village full of people devoid of hygienics was overwhelming.
Adam brushed past a man in filthy rags and fought not to gag. "What's a public house anyway?" he asked sheepishly.
"A pub," Cindy told him. She was covering her nose and mouth.
It took only a couple of minutes to reach the small decrepit building. Wasting no time, they walked into the dark, crowded place and announced their arrival.
"We're looking for the tribunal," Sally said, looking around the room. Adam thought they should be more subtle than that, but they were awfully tight on time. The harbingers gave them an hour before they would take action themselves.
Everyone stopped their drinking, talking, and outlandish behaviour, and turned to them – the curious young people in clean, foreign clothing. At the far end of the bar an overweight man with grey hair and red complexion turned to them lazily and then stood. The table he was sitting at with friends was full of crudely made metal mugs – probably empty from the looks of everyone's faces. The men he was sitting with looked at them with disinterest.
"I am of the tribunal – Daffyd. We are convening tomorrow – you can say your piece then," he said, waving them off.
"Sir, you don't have until tomorrow," Adam said.
"And what does that mean?" Another man asked at the table.
"Well, we have information that is of interest," Sally told them vaguely.
The second man laughed. "What could foreigners know of this village's matters?" he said.
"Naia," Cindy blurted out.
The entire table stood up then. Their faces grew red. Well, more red. The rest of the bar remained silent spectators. Personally, Adam thought that it may not have been wise for Cindy to cut to the chase so suddenly, but it was done.
"You will come upstairs with us," the old man ordered, pointing to a dark hall to his right.
Adam, Cindy, and Sally shared uneasy glances, but they each ascended the steps to a room with a large table. The three of them silently prayed that everything would go alright. Adam felt confident that reason would work.
"And exactly how much do you know of Naia?" the old man, the leader, asked them sternly as soon as the door was shut. Adam felt this was a loaded question – that any answer would be a disadvantage. But he answered honestly.
"Everything," he said. "The job, her being a fairy, the banishment to the forest…."
Daffyd nodded. "I see," he said. He smoothed his beard. "And where did you find such information?"
Sally sat down in a chair. "The creatures of the forest," she explained. "They also told us about Van de Ryn and how he wants control of the land."
Another of the men spoke up. "Yeah? Well, this is all knowledge we had before. Except there are more people than we thought who knew of that damn creature," he said, grabbing the handle of his sword. "Easily fixed."
"Hold, Egan," the elder man ordered.
"Yeah," Sally echoed. "We haven't told you the best part."
"We've discovered," Adam began, "that he's not interested in the land. He knows about Naia, and her power, and he wants to exploit her."
The room was in an uproar then. The tribunal yelled at the three of them and at one another. They yelled about who's fault it was, and that it couldn't be true.
"Quiet. Quiet!" Daffyd yelled over them all. Though the sound slowly faded, the tension remained thick.
"That's a serious allegation," the second man warned them. "Using magic carries a heavy penalty."
"He's got a group of men," Cindy said. "At least one wizard."
"Though that man, Gadley, was murdered almost two hours ago," Adam added.
The room erupted into talking again.
"Quiet!" Daffyd shouted. "I will not ask again." He sat down as well and tapped the table nervously. "You must understand that Gadley is known as a great wizard. This is also a serious accusation," he explained to them. "How was he killed?"
"That would be another thing," Adam said slowly. "Some creatures in the forest have decided to take a stand. They killed him after Duke van de Ryn kicked him to the ground to save himself. These creatures are heading for your town now and they're controlling the bodies of people from our own village."
"We'll kill every blasted one of them!" a man in a tattered blue velvet jacket yelled.
"Yes!" cried some of the men, heading for the door. But not Daffyd.
"Don't you get that that's not going to do anything?" Cindy asked in exasperation. "Have you not seen the forest lately? It's dying because that duke has been trying to drive Naia out of there with magic. Be constructive and go deal with him!"
Daffyd cleared his throat. Tapped his fingers on the table. "She's right. Why do we jump at the chance to blame the creatures of the forest? Naia was always more pleasant then that silly duke, and yet it is he who remains in this village," he said. "I will trust these foreigner's words because the duke is just the sort to do this – Van de Ryn has snuck around and broken the most serious of our laws. And he's now turned a terrible power on this village."
"I agree," one of the men said. "He's the root of this weed, a thorn in this town's side. And not just now – he's been doing this to us all since he was old enough to scheme."
"I saw him heading home not a half hour ago," another man offered.
Daffyd nodded. "Go there. Arrest him. There will be a trial instead of a tribunal."
"Now just hold on," the man in the blue jacket said angrily. "You can't get to the root without first pulling the whole plant. Those weeds from the southern forest need to pay for thinking of taking us on."
Sally scoffed from her seat. "I'm sure they're thinking the exact same thing," she said.
But no one had a chance to challenge Sally's observation. Another man burst into the room then.
"Chief Daffyd, the town's being attacked by snake-skinned rodents and people in strange clothing," he said exasperatedly. "The villagers have begun to arm themselves, but we need direction!"
"Don't attack them," Adam said quickly. "Those people are from our village. They don't have control over themselves - those rodents can control a human's mind. Please…."
"Hold them off," Daffyd looked at Adam sternly and then to the man that had burst in. "Only attack as a last resort." He turned to the other men. "Help fortify the walls. Egan, Devlin, you will accompany these three foreigners to get Van de Ryn."
"Sir, we may have spoke with those creatures earlier, but I don't think they will spare van de Ryn's life if we ask them," Cindy explained.
"Yeah. They are seriously pissed off," Sally added.
"Well, if they're as intelligent as they claim they will want him to live a long life," Daffyd said. "All the more longer to suffer for his crimes."
"I don't know about this," Adam whispered. "The duke either gets stabbed to death, or rots in jail."
"No, I'm sure they'll take him out to torture him," Sally said.
Adam, Sally, and Cindy were headed for a secret exit out of Aulora with two members of the former tribunal. Adam wondered if the men would now be jurors. At least he hoped there would be jurors while trying Van de Ryn.
"The more pressing issue is whether the harbingers will turn on us," Cindy said. "It hasn't been an hour yet and they're attacking. They promised us an hour."
"Through there," Egan instructed. He tossed Sally some keys for the lock on the small door in the fence.
"You're the ones with the swords – you go first," Sally told them.
But the three of them were made to go. Luckily there didn't seem to be any harbingers around.
"Van de Ryn's farmstead is close," Egan said.
"Yeah, the coward doesn't like to run too far for safety," the other man cracked.
Egan ignored him. "Through those trees," he pointed. "You can see the very top of the chimney."
Though danger was probable because the three of them were usually in it, they hurried toward the house. They might be able to beat the harbingers to Van de Ryn's house if the creatures weren't aware of where he lived.
"Ted, stop!" Adam shouted.
As they made their way through the last of the trees, they realised they had not made it there before the harbingers.
"Ted, take the sword away," Cindy pled.
He did. The harbinger controlling Ted Tane stepped back from Van de Ryn who lay trembling on his front steps. When Egan and Devlin drew the swords, the lead harbinger held his sword back to the duke's throat.
"Come to rescue this fiend?" he asked, smiling.
"I wouldn't say 'rescue,'" Sally corrected him. "More like relocating him."
"The chief of Aulora wants him arrested," Cindy explained. "So you don't need to hurt anyone else."
He smiled wider. "Oh, you people are taking the moral high road, are you? Justice and all that?" He and the harbingers with him chuckled through their hosts. "You Auloreans are going to justify coming after us now. We are not stupid. We will be making sure you learn all about justice. We-" The lead harbinger suddenly stopped. A shudder went through his body. His eyes lost their fire.
"Ted?" Adam said.
"No thing," he said incorrectly, regaining his composure. "This man will die by my hand. And the rest of you will by my comrades'."
"I don't know," Sally said. "The chief is keen on torture for that one," she explained, pointing to the tear-stained Van de Ryn. "A lucrative offer if I don't say so myself."
"Shut up!" the lead harbinger screamed. "Shut up." He swung his sword toward them now.
Suddenly screams rose from the town. Screams of pure terror. Adam was once again reminded of the murder he witnessed.
"What the hell's your problem?!" Adam yelled at creature on Ted's shoulders. "Both you and these humans claim you're intelligent beings but I have yet to see how either of you are," he said angrily. He then pointed to Van de Ryn. "This man will be dealt with which is what you wanted, but both torture and killing are barbaric. And that makes you just as bad as the humans you hate," he spat.
"How dare you compare us," the harbinger seethed. Adam took notice of how his hand shook, though the creature tried to hide it by burying the tip of the sword in the ground. "Kill them," he instructed his fellow creatures.
There was a pause before they started moving. And as each of the harbingers took a step with the human bodies, they dropped to the ground. Ted then crumpled as well.
There was also a pause before anyone spoke. "What just happened?" Cindy asked.