Bloodname

It was all the Loremaster could do to bring the uproar to a semblance of order. It took a long time, during which Aidan stood impassively, not looking at anyone, but not looking down either.

Joa

The council's gesture was political, an attempt to extricate the Clan leadership from a serious dilemma. But Aidan had probably doomed himself with his refusal. Sentiment would go even stronger against him now. The Khan had backed him into a corner and directed the vote. This council session would, in effect, block Aidan from going after the Bloodname. Khan Elias Crichell was known for crafty political strategies. Well, Joa

Though some warriors continued to squirm in agitation, all the while speaking to one another in angry whispers, the room returned to relative quiet. Lenore Shi-Lu began her interrogation. Her first questions concerned autobiographical details, which Aidan provided succinctly and without emotion.

"Star Commander Aidan," she said suddenly and with no preparatory questions, "when you were posing as a freeborn here on Ironhold, were you aware Ter Roshak had violated Clan law?"

"I knew that I was not supposed to receive a second chance."

"Yet you took it when offered, quiaff?"

"Aff. I only wanted to be a warrior. I had failed the first time because I was too bold. If not for that, I would have succeeded in my Trial."

"You would have won, you say, if you had modified your strategy. Yet, how can a Clan warrior be toobold? Can you answer that?"

"No. I ca

"As you so easily accepted the second Trial."

"Yes, I suppose you could put it that way. Inquisitor, I have been a warrior for a while now. As a warrior, I can look back on that time and say, in all honesty, that I should have not been granted a second chance. But I also believe it is too late for the Clan to renege. I have served the Jade Falcons well, and as a warrior."

"Then in your estimation, pragmatism replaces proper procedure, quiaff?"

"Aff. Whatever happens here, I am a warrior."

Though spoken softly, Aidan's words reverberated through the chamber, which immediately erupted into a new babble of protests.

Aidan stood, alone and calm, at the center of a whirlwind. Joa

He was right in a way, she thought. His brand of defiance, of standing up to others, of speaking his mind at all costs—that too was part of the Clan. The refusal to step back, that was the way of the Clan as much as any other rite or custom. Aidan never stepped back. Who could expect him to do so now, renouncing the means by which he had earned his warrior status? Though such speculation might upset some of the assembled warriors, it made perfect sense to Joa

In a strange way, Aidan is my ally, she thought. The two of us are much alike. Perhaps that is why I hate him more than any other. And perhaps that is why my destiny seems so entwined with his.

Aidan's responses to Lenore Shi-Lu's subsequent questions were desultory. No, he had not known how Ter Roshak had manipulated the events leading to his second chance. Yes, he had suspected chicanery and confronted Ter Roshak with his suspicions. No, Ter Roshak had admitted nothing of substance to Aidan. (Ter Roshak, almost everyone knew, would have been too shrewd to make that error.) Yes, the Trial of Position had been run fairly, and he had earned his warrior status through superior strategy.

Beck Qwabe's few questions added little to Aidan's testimony. When Aidan returned to his place at the table, he did not quaver before the rumble of sustained hatred against him; his calm remained. During his interrogation, he had not become ruffled, an achievement that—for Aidan—approached the superhuman. He knew what he would do, and as he heard the Lore-master calling Roshak's name, he already suspected what Ter Roshak would do.

The man stood up. His spine erect and his shoulders militarily straight, for the first time he looked like the Roshak of old.

27

"Ter Roshak? Did I hear you right? Do you mean to tell us that your motives for the crime of which you are accused were both honorable and benevolent?"

The usually detached Loremaster could not keep the disbelief from his voice. He had interrupted Lenore Shi-Lu's current line of questioning with more abruptness and less politeness than was his usual wont.

"That is correct, Loremaster."

"Ter Roshak, as a Bloodnamed warrior with a fine combat record, we must listen to your defense, but I must say that I fail to see how the terms you propose offer any justification of your acts."

"If you will hear me out, Loremaster."

"By all means. Go on."

Roshak glanced at the tiers of Jade Falcon warriors, most of whom were leaning forward with expressions of doubt on their faces.

"It has been said repeatedly during these proceedings that I arranged for Cadet Aidan's second trial because of some special potential I saw in him. Though I did recognize such potential, it was not sufficient to merit a violation of Clan law to award him a second chance. I have seen too many cadets with just as much potential end up in lower castes or dead on a scarred battlefield. If anything, Cadet Aidan's potential was almost negated by his cocksure, rash, often arrogant tactics. Daring too much may sometimes result in impressive individual heroism, but it is more likely to lead to overbidding, then humiliation in battle.

"In his official trial he came close to qualifying, but fate took his chance away. I have often believed the Clans should provide a second Trial for certain cadets, but I would not have gone against Clan law and custom for any but the most extraordinary reasons."

"It is to learn those, as you say, extraordinary reasons that we wait with bated breath," Lenore Shi-Lu commented drily. "Please abridge your prologue to the main points and provide us the evidence we require."

"I am sorry. I had wished to be as meticulous in my testimony as the Inquisitor is meticulous in her questioning."

"Flattery is an I

"Yes. Just a bit more prologue, if you please. It is significant to this case that I previously served with Ramon Mattlov, one of the greatest Galaxy Commanders in Jade Falcon history."

Lenore Shi-Lu tapped something onto the keyboard of the computer console set into the main table, then sca

"Aff. He was a great hero in his life, Ramon Mattlov, and I watched him die as one. When I left warrior duty and took command of the Ironhold training center, I dedicated my service to him. Indeed, Ramon Mattlov was often in my thoughts as I went about my duties. I considered his views whenever I made my own decisions, and in my briefings and meetings with my training officers, I often repeated Ramon Mattlov's views and beliefs verbatim. There were times—and I must ask the council's indulgence for uttering such unClanlike sentiments in this official session—when I almost believed I wasRamon Mattlov. I would dress down a cadet just as he would have, I would demonstrate a fighting technique exactly as he had demonstrated it to me, I would conduct surprise inspections just as brutally as he did."