Storm of Prophecy: Book 1, Dark Awakening (38 page)

Treyfon leaned forward, his eyes fixed on her. “I’m sorry, what?”

Everyone was quiet and listened to her intently, and there was no doubt that the black eyes of the rune-covered, savage-looking summoner were gazing upon her even though this was not readily visible. Her voice when it came was soft, and she took slow breaths while she took her time with it, looking too weakened to do more. “…it was dark and there were quite a few in the surrounding trees…I would guess that they still had over half their number when they retreated…They could have killed us…I’m sure of it…They just didn’t want to risk any more of their flock to do it…They weren’t willing to accept the losses.”

“Makes sense,” Master Clemens commented from Anthony’s right.

A great deal of time had been spent reviewing all the information the four of them provided, and the council had asked so many questions that Treyfon accidentally repeated one already asked. “And what do you make of the green flame they used against you?” Out of respect, or fear, none of them were eager to voice right away that it was redundant.

Karl stood waiting with his green-sleeved arms folded, looking off to the side disinterestedly, and became irreverent. “Maybe you should ask Master Magnus to add it to the curriculum.”

Magnus’ face turned red and he leaned forward, looking as though he would have strangled Karl if the large table and the distance hadn’t been between them. “You insolent little whelp!”

Treyfon put a hand on his shoulder to ease him back. “Oh yes, I can see that we have already covered that.” He looked to the row of his colleagues on one side and then on the other. “Unless someone has any other questions left, I think it is time we proceeded with the next stage of this inquiry.”

He waited. None of the masters on either side of him voiced anything. “Very well then, we shall move on to the disciplinary actions.” He unfurled the scroll once again. “Of the first charge, you are all guilty. There can be no doubt of this. You did withhold vital information from us. However, we have no reason to believe that it was done as a malicious and deliberate act of betrayal, and since you were all forthcoming today, your sentences for this charge will be reduced. Stacy Clark, Karl Faren, and Erick Miller, as punishment, the three of you will perform menial duties as decided by each of your department heads for no less than one week.” If not for his worry over his own worse fate, Vincent would have felt more sorry for Rick than he did since he knew who was going to be deciding his tasks. “Vincent Faren, since you face three additional charges, your penalty will be assessed separately.

“The second charge leveled against you is regarding your extra-jurisdictional activities. We have, by your own admission and from evidence that we have received, reason to believe that you did willfully carry out interrogations and interviews on behalf of Gadrale Keep when not authorized by us to do so in any official capacity. How do you plead?”

“Guilty,” Vincent answered, his mood sinking while he looked down.

“Of the third charge, criminal negligence resulting in the death of two junior members of the Academy Guard, how do you plead?”

Vincent lifted his head and fixed a firm glare on Grandmaster Treyfon and the rest of the council, steeling himself to his defense. “Not guilty,” he answered in a loud clear voice.

They all seemed shocked by this, but to Vincent it was nothing new. He had already made up his mind about it a long time ago. Silence resounded in the chamber for only a moment even though it felt much longer.

Grandmaster Treyfon regarded him coolly with his Elfin gaze. “From your own testimony, you did knowingly allow these two young men to travel into danger and unescorted. What do you have to say in your defense?”

“First of all,” Vincent began, having had plenty of time in his cell to think of what he would say, “that is a specious allegation. The only reason why it exists is because Stanley and Craig were only a few years too young to be considered adults. They were junior members of the Academy Guard. That means they were training for the very purpose of one day defending the keep.” Vincent was becoming especially frustrated with the council and he could feel it being reflected in his voice and shaping his gaze as it passed over them. “It makes
no difference
, no difference whatsoever that they were two, maybe three years each shy of being considered adults.” His eyes began to glisten when he thought of their sacrifice. “They were guards, and they did what we guards do best: place ourselves and our lives between the enemy and the people we try to protect. If they were too young to be considered combatants, why did you risk their lives by having them guard the vault?” He flicked his eyes at Clemens and noticed other masters doing it too. “They were doing what I myself have already done twice now, and would like to go on doing. Or have you forgotten?”

Master Magnus guffawed and looked to the side before returning his eyes to Vincent, clearly feeling as though this were a melodramatic act he was putting on. “That’s how you defend yourself?” He then lowered his voice in a drawn out tone used when trying to mimic someone in a way to make them sound stupid. “‘Oh, well if they had been a couple years older…’” He shook his head at Vincent with a look of disgust.

He was certainly the master of fire, Vincent thought, he had definitely succeeded at setting Vincent’s anger aflame. “I remember well one of Stan’s last words to me before we left. He asked me: ‘sir, as members of the Academy Guard, is it not our first sworn duty to defend the academy from outside threats?’ If I had answered ‘no,’ I wouldn’t be standing here before you today.”

Magnus’ disdain was unfettered. “How dare you invoke the last words of a foolish boy to try to hide your own crimes. It doesn’t change the fact that they looked up to you, and you failed them in the worst way possible. Your recklessness cost them their lives and caused a lot of damage.”

With smoldering wrath burning within him, Vincent took in a deep breath to keep himself under control. The old pyromancer seemed to always want to get the last word in. For the moment, Vincent ignored what he said and pointed at the rolled up parchment sitting on the table before Grandmaster Treyfon, hoping he could get through to the others. Even though his eyes glistened, his anger remained hot. “I already know what the fourth charge against me is. Next you’re going to accuse me of treason for abandoning my post, and I tell you that I did no such thing! I may have left the vault behind, but I never betrayed my post or my sworn duty!”

A moment or two passed, and once again Master Magnus had to play the chief advocate in condemning him. His head jostled slightly, accentuating each disapproving utterance. “You just want everything forgiven then, is that it?” He surmised in a fashion meant to be to Vincent’s detriment. “How can we trust someone who goes behind our backs, someone who keeps things from us and takes actions without our approval?”

A vicious retort immediately sprang forth. “If you had been fulfilling
your
obligations in the best interests of this keep and the people beyond it, I wouldn’t have had to!”

Magnus’ anger and his voice seemed to only escalate further. “When
you
sit behind this table,”
-
he pointed a finger down toward it to make his point
-
“
then
and only then will you get to decide what is in the best interest of this keep and the people beyond it!”

Grandmaster Treyfon held up a hand once more and with the other slammed the metal ball repeatedly, calling for silence. The chamber remained quiet for at least a full minute while the Elf kept staring at Vincent with an inquisitive yet perhaps incriminating gaze. It was hard to tell which, though it was clear that he was considering what had been said.

Finally, he spoke. “Vincent Faren, your intentions are not on trial. Your actions are. You are clearly a headstrong individual who does not want to wait for permission while something goes unresolved. This can be a great asset, but it can also become a severe liability. Especially to our purposes here. Currently your ambition excludes care and finesse. You have potential, but you lack discipline.”

The ancient Elf took a deep breath, sighed, and leaned back. He kept his strange eyes fixed on Vincent the entire time. “None of us had foreseen this. To us you were someone of little note, someone we had once granted admission out of pity. We can see now that you are much more than you appeared to be. Perhaps you are even qualified for pursuits more challenging than you have been given in the past. Unfortunately, your reliability still bears scrutiny.

“This inquiry was never about your loyalty or commitment. It is your ability to abide by the chain of command that we question. If you can learn to follow the orders you’ve been given diligently, we may yet have further use for you in the future. Unless this council has any further objections, you are hereby sentenced to two weeks in the penitentiary, sufficient time for you to reconsider the choices you made.”

“
I
have an objection!” Vincent voiced immediately, not waiting for or caring if any of the other members were about to do so. Their eyes all stared raptly at him. “You ignored the deaths and suffering of hundreds!” Tears formed around his eyes and his voice broke slightly, but his anger was unrestrained. “Mothers cried over lost children while you sat back and did nothing! And because my attempt to help had a result you didn’t like, you now have the gall to put
me
on trial!” He swept a finger across the air at them. “I charge all of
you
with the crime of ‘negligent leadership!’”

Tears went down the side of Vincent’s face and his breathing was not as calm as he wished it would be. Aside from this sound, the meeting chamber was filled only with silence. Treyfon regarded him with an even gaze that bore only the most perceptively small hint of dissatisfaction, his head tilting to the side only the slightest bit while he considered. Master Anthony’s expression was similar, only laced with less confrontation, and his posture was straight. Clemens eyes slowly shifted back and forth as though regretful of what Vincent was accusing him of, and Master Magnus, who sat left of Treyfon was the least reserved of all. He looked on at Vincent with a sneer that made the tightlipped left half of his mouth look like it was actually smiling. Vincent thought that he was perhaps delighting in this, pleased that the loss of detachment might make Vincent look worse in some way. Whatever his reason, it was strange; Vincent thought that he would have been made more angry by this challenge.

Stacy stood silently at his side, her dimmed eyes occasionally blinking. Left of her, Karl still had his arms folded and looked from one side of the room to the other, appearing more bored than ever. Vincent heard a cough past him that came from Rick.

Treyfon’s visage did not change nor did his strange Elf eyes break away from Vincent the entire time. When he at last spoke, it was not in reprimand of Vincent’s outburst. “What you have said contains some elements of truth. This incident may indeed be a symptom of our failure to give this crisis the attention it deserves. Take heart in the fact that we shall not make that mistake again. Because we must assume some measure of responsibility, I am going to move that we truncate your sentence to only one week in the penitentiary. Understand that we are not your enemy. We do not enjoy punishing you; our intention is to help you.”

“This is how you help me? By locking me up? And what about the cult! After you hide me away in your
closet
, I won’t be around to be a painful reminder of your shortcomings! What do you plan to do then? Ignore these fanatics and pretend everything is fine?”

Treyfon closed his eyes briefly and sighed. “A new commission headed by Master Anthony is already looking into that matter…”

Karl, who usually preferred to remain quiet, interrupted, drawing the Elf’s gaze. “Then the four of us should be a part of it! Not scrubbing pots or rotting in a cell!”

“Are you volunteering for something?” Master Gautrek asked. Karl responded to the green robed Dwarf with only a low, aggravated groan.

Vincent would have been more inclined to go along with this procedure instead of agitating them further if he didn’t think it was a huge waste of time. The verbal reprimand he received seemed enough. “I swore to defend the academy, and on the night in question, I was doing just that. We were faced with another intrusion and I obeyed my duty as a guard to take up arms against it.”

Treyfon countered him with calm incredulity. “An intrusion of the keep? Really? And whom else did you alert to it besides the other three people standing here?”

“Who else would have helped me!” Vincent responded, standing his ground against this reproach. “There was no time for that!”

“Even though you may have had just cause, you still deserted your post and left The Crafters’ Vault vulnerable to a second attack. As a guard, you cannot leave your position undefended anytime it pleases you.”

Rick, who like Vincent was also a member of the Academy Guard, began to add his own protest. “This is absurd! First you ask us to fight for the keep! To defend it from its enemies! And then you punish us for doing what you ask!”

Treyfon’s voice became uncharacteristically stern. “That will be all. The punitive sentences are to be carried out immediately.”

Vincent took in a deep breath and straightened up. “I left to fight the keep’s enemies after another robbery had taken place. I could do no less.”