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Well, she thought, it just may be that I’m begi
“I appreciate your assistance, Sir Salthan,” she said after a moment. “And I think I may be begi
“I couldn’t agree more, Milady,” Salthan said soberly. Trisu’s magistrate was sitting across the table from her now, his blue-gray eyes intent … and troubled. “Unlike you, I haven’t had the opportunity to compare the documents to one another, but I know these copies have been here in this library from the day they were first pe
“No doubt you’re right,” Kaeritha said. “On the other hand, Sir Salthan, I can’t quite escape the suspicion that he’s a little more irritated over the apparent violation of his rights or prerogatives when the suspected violators are war maids.”
“Probably—no, certainly—you’re right, Dame Kaeritha. And he’s not alone in that regard, either. We’ve had other disputes with Kalatha over the years. Indeed, when Lord Trisu’s Uncle Saeth—his father’s younger brother; Lord Triahm’s father—was killed in a hunting accident some ten years ago, there were those who claimed to have evidence that it was no accident at all. That the war maids arranged it because of his outspoken condemnation of their chosen way of life. I personally always found that a bit hard to swallow, but the fact that it could gain such wide credence clearly suggests that Lord Trisu is far from alone in his dislike for them. Yet even if he were, would that truly have any bearing on whether or not our interpretation is correct in the eyes of the law?”
“No,” she said, although she was guiltily aware that part of her wished it did. On the other hand, champions of Tomanak were still mere mortals. They had their prejudices and opinions, just like anyone else. But they also had a unique responsibility to recognize that they did and to set those prejudices aside rather than allow them to influence their decisions or actions.
“Are you familiar, Sir Salthan,” she continued after a moment, “with the sorts of abilities Tomanak bestows upon His champions when he accepts Sword Oath from them?”
“I beg your pardon?” Salthan blinked, clearly surprised by the apparent non sequitur. Then he shrugged.
“I’m scarcely ’familiar’ with them, Milady. I doubt very many people are, really. I’ve done some reading, of course. And to be honest, I did a little more research when Lord Trisu told me a champion had come to visit us. Our library, unfortunately, isn’t especially well stocked with the references I needed. The best anything I had could do was to tell me that Tomanak is less … consistent from champion to champion than many of the other Gods of Light are.”
“ ’Less consistent,’ “ Kaeritha murmured, and smiled. “That may be as concisely as I’ve ever heard it put, Sir Salthan. There are times when I wish He was more like, oh, Toragan or Torframos. Or Lillinara, for that matter. Their champions all seem to get approximately the same abilities, in greater or lesser measure. But Tomanak prefers to gift each of His champions with individual abilities. For the most part, they seem to mesh with abilities or talents we already had before we heard His call, but sometimes no one has any idea why a particular champion received a specific ability. Until, of course, the day comes when he—or she—needs that ability.”
“And is this such an occasion, Milady?” Salthan asked, his eyes more intent than ever.
“Yes and no.” Kaeritha shrugged. “I’ve had the need for almost all of the abilities He’s granted me at one time or another already. But I have to admit that I should have begun to suspect there was a specific reason He’d sent me to deal with this problem. Especially when Lord Trisu reminded me that the controlling language itself is in dispute.”
“I wish I’d had the opportunity to examine the Kalathan originals,” Salthan said a bit wistfully. “It’s been obvious from the begi
“Well, I have had the opportunity to examine them,” Kaeritha told him. As she spoke, she stood and crossed to another table, under the library window, where she’d placed her sheathed swords when she and Salthan entered. No champion of Tomanak ever left the sword—or swords—which was the emblem of her authority behind when engaged upon official duties. Now she unbuttoned the retaining strap on the sword she normally wore at her left hip and drew the glittering, two-foot blade.
Salthan raised an eyebrow in surprise as she drew steel, and then she smiled, despite the gravity of the moment, as his other eyebrow rose to match it when her sword suddenly began to glow with a blue nimbus bright enough to be clearly visible even in the well-lit library.
“As I say,” she continued in a deliberately blase tone, “I have had the opportunity to examine them. Unfortunately, it didn’t occur to me then just how thoroughly I should have ’examined’ them.”
She sat back down, facing him over the original table once more, and laid the sword flat before her, its glittering blade across both the scrolls Salthan had located for her.
“And now, Sir Salthan,” she said in a far more formal voice, “I have a request to make of you as champion of the Keeper of the Scales.”
“Of course, Milady,” the Sothoii said quickly, and Kaeritha noted his tone and ma
“This is primarily for the record,” she told him, “because you are the primary custodian of these documents.” She turned her sword slightly, angling the hilt in his direction. “Please place your hand on the hilt of my sword.”
He obeyed, although she felt dryly amused by the fact that this time he did hesitate ever so slightly. Not that she blamed him. This was undoubtedly the first time anyone had ever invited him to lay hold of a sword wrapped in the corona of a god’s power.
She waited for his initial, ginger touch to settle into something a bit more confident when no lightning bolt sizzled down from the rafters to incinerate him where he sat. Then she nodded.
“Thank you,” she said, as encouragingly as she could without stepping out of her own magisterial role. “And now, Sir Salthan, will you attest for me, in the presence of the God of Justice, that to the best of your personal knowledge, these are the original copies of the proclamation of King Gartha and the Kalathan land grant of Lord Kellos which were originally placed in the custody of the Lords of Lorham?”