‘She has Sprite blood.’
‘Yes.’
Tears welled up in Corlas’s eyes and he tried to hide them by looking away.
‘Father?’
‘You are lost, my son,’ said Corlas. ‘In the nicest way.’ He smiled grimly. ‘Your mother would have approved. Actually, I don’t think she would have approved of anyone who wasn’t part Sprite. In fact …’
Bel waited for him to collect his thoughts.
‘…she would have called it a “soul kiss”,’ Corlas finished, and smiled.
‘What’s that?’
‘Let me see if I can summon her words,’ said Corlas. ‘She rattled on about the Sprites quite often but not everything stuck. Hmm. I remember her saying a “soul kiss” for a Sprite was the most common and natural way to find a partner. Sprite souls are a lot more intuitive than minds and bodies, apparently. The best I can explain it is like this: two souls recognise that a capacity for love exists between them and bind themselves together without bothering to speak to their owners first. The two people fall suddenly and madly in love – an event celebrated by Sprites as we would celebrate marriage. In fact, experiencing a soul kiss was something of a rite of passage for young Sprites as they,’ he looked fondly on Bel, ‘grew up.’
Bel considered his father’s words. ‘Was it like this for you?’ he asked quietly.
‘Yes,’ said Corlas. ‘Very sudden. And very real.’
‘Father, you told me that Mother always claimed you had the blood, but you never really believed her.’
‘Yes,’ said Corlas sadly.
‘Well …since meeting Jaya, I think I am better at sensing others who have it …and I think that you do.’
‘Bless you, boy,’ Corlas said, and smiled. ‘I think so too.’
On the road south of Kadass, the blind woman could hear the sounds of the city. ‘How far to go?’ she asked in a quavering voice.
‘We’re close, Mother,’ said the hard-eyed young woman by her side.
‘Yes, Frera,’ said the colourful little bird perched on her shoulder. ‘Almost there.’
Thirty-two
Trial
Baygis elected to hold Jaya’s trial in the Kadass courts, despite urging from Assicon Cydus to hold it in Arkus’s Eye. For Baygis it was insult enough that he had to concern himself with a case of petty vandalism, but the idea of taking it to the Eye, the great court of the Halls where High Overseers presided over only the most important of trials, was appalling.
‘If I were to try a vandalism case in the Eye,’ Baygis had said to Cydus, ‘I would be guilty of it.’
‘Yes,’ Naphur had agreed, then added, less diplomatically, ‘Now please go away, Cydus, you audacious little peacock.’ That had turned Cydus an interesting shade of pink.
Holding the trial in the Kadass courts meant that the wasp Trusted probably would not attend, which was ultimately the exact opposite of what Cydus had wanted – he had wanted to exonerate himself before her. It was beyond Baygis why the pompous ass didn’t just buy her another present.
Baygis watched people filing into the court. He was just inside the entrance to the balcony from which he would preside – it overlooked a flat area of floor where the accused would stand. Tiered wooden benches around the walls formed a viewing gallery, and Baygis noted familiar faces there. Fahren sat with Bel and Corlas opposite the balcony. Baygis gave his hearing a magical boost and tuned into their conversation.
‘If she’s found guilty, the term won’t be especially long,’ Fahren was saying. ‘And I’m sure that the Throne won’t stop you visiting her in Kadass Jail.’
‘Is that supposed to be reassuring?’ said Bel. ‘And what do you mean if she is found guilty? You need not soften your words for me, High Mage.’
‘Don’t call me that,’ said Fahren anxiously. ‘And worry not so overly. Cydus’s power in this matter is transitory, and exists because the wasp Trusted is in Kadass and Naphur is afraid to agitate her.’
‘Naphur should show some backbone,’ said Bel. ‘The Trusted is his subject, just like everyone else.’
‘A very powerful subject, my boy,’ said Fahren.
‘Well, don’t forget who amongst us is really the powerful one,’ replied Bel. ‘Perhaps it would be best not to get the future saviour of the realm agitated, or does that count for nothing?’
‘Bel! Just remember that when the wasp Trusted leaves, Naphur won’t be so worried about Cydus kicking up a stink. Who knows how long Jaya will remain in jail – especially if she marries a peacekeeper.’
Bel turned to Fahren wearing an expression of such alarm that Fahren’s eyes crinkled in amusement. Baygis also smiled – he well understood Bel’s reaction to marriage. He continued to look around the court. At the front, of course, sat Cydus with a couple of his friends, speaking loudly and laughing. Baygis noted a few other courtiers scattered about, boorishly interested in the slightest of scandals. Behind him an aide cleared his throat and Baygis turned slightly in acknowledgement.
‘High Overseer,’ said the aide. ‘The accused has arrived. She waits with the other witnesses.’
‘No other witnesses will be necessary.’
‘Very good, lord. Shall I announce you?’
‘Please,’ said Baygis unenthusiastically.
The aide walked to his own small desk on one side of the balcony. He cleared his throat and a murmur rippled through the crowd as they realised the trial was about to begin.
‘Silence, please!’ called the aide. ‘This is the trial of Jaya Kincare, charged with unlawful entry into the house of Lord Assicon Cydus and reckless damage to his property. Presiding is High Overseer Baygis Naphur.’
Baygis entered the balcony and took his position on a high bench at the front. He flicked his white-gold overseer’s robe out behind him as he sat, and nodded to his aide.
‘Bring in Jaya Kincare!’ called the aide.
A guard appeared leading Jaya, who was shackled at the wrists. Baygis glanced at Cydus, who was waiting greedily for the girl’s humiliation. He would not be sorry to disappoint him, or the other scandalmongers sitting in the viewing gallery.
‘You are Jaya Kincare?’ Baygis asked in a carrying voice.
‘Yes, High Overseer.’
‘I have already had your admission. Is there anything else you’d like to add?’
‘No.’
‘Good,’ said Baygis. ‘Then you are guilty as charged and sentenced to two years in Kadass Jail.’ He rang a brass bell that stood on the bench. ‘That’s it, everybody. Off you all go.’
Cydus was clearly outraged at being denied seeing Jaya chewed up by the court and Baygis gave him a little smirk. Then Baygis glanced across at Bel and the others, and his amusement faded as he saw Bel’s expression.
Bel barely heard Fahren speaking to him.
‘…am sure we can work out some kind of …visitation rights …’
Let the old man waffle , thought Bel. I’m not going to settle for any kind of compromise .
As the woman he loved was led away, she looked back at him and an understanding passed between them – he would fix this, somehow. She disappeared, and he fell to wondering how. He briefly imagined storming into the jail and freeing her no matter who was in his way and hang the consequences – what could they really do to the blue-haired boy? Man, he corrected himself. Blue-haired man. The other way, though, was to simply demand it. Would they really refuse him? Would they dare?
‘Come, Bel,’ his father was saying, taking him under the arm. Bel blinked – the courtroom was emptying. He rose and allowed himself to be led out. Baygis appeared in the corridor outside.
‘Bel,’ he said, ‘I am sorry. If there was another way –’
A commotion broke out at a nearby doorway. A young woman ran into the corridor, her curly hair wild and her eyes wilder. She was followed by a nervous peacekeeper who kept ineffectually trying to grab her wrist.