‘Your willingness to serve the lodge as its Second is well known, EmRan,’ Derwyn said, with a sincerity in his voice that was more cutting by far than any sarcasm could have been. ‘I’m sure it’s a constant solace to us all to know that such selflessness is still to be found.’
Farnor caught the sound of subdued laughter com-ing from somewhere. EmRan looked about him indignantly and the laughter faded.
‘However, I’m not altogether certain what your con-cern is,’ Derwyn went on. ‘Apart from the specific complaint of your being threatened with a weapon, which, I agree, must be dealt with, all you’ve given us is abuse of our new arrival, an accusation against them…’ His arm moved in an encompassing gesture. ‘… coupled with one against me, an appeal for a dire sentence where no trial has been held, and an election speech.’ This time the laughter was quite open.
EmRan leapt to his feet. ‘You may choose to mock me…’ he began. But he was shouting, and his voice welled up to fill the entire Synehal like a roll of thunder. There was a universal lifting of hands to ears and an immediate hiss of disapproval rose up like a biting wind. EmRan dropped his hands to his sides and then sat down with an air of angry resignation.
‘I wouldn’t presume to mock you, EmRan,’ Derwyn said softly, as the sound died away. ‘This is an arena for reasoned debate and I merely listed the items you yourself had raised, in an attempt to gain some clarity.’ He held out his hands to those seated on the tiers. ‘For it’s clarity we need, my friends, if we’re to make sense of the unusual circumstances we find ourselves in. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you that we have a long tradition of hospitality to all travellers…’ There was a mumbled interruption from EmRan in which Farnor caught the word ‘outsider’. Derwyn turned towards him, his face darkening. ‘Just as we have a tradition of respecting the speech of others, EmRan,’ he said acidly. Turning back to the body of his listeners, he continued. ‘Marken came to me before dawn yesterday in a state of high excite-ment. Gave me quite a shock, I can assure you; clamouring on the door at that time – as you know, he’s not exactly noted for his excitable nature. Summarizing his tale however: he had been woken by a Hearing, one the like of which he had never known before, so clear was it. There had been some great commotion to the south. The feeling that was given to him, very vividly, as he kept on telling me, was that our help or perhaps our judgement was called for, as a Mover lay at or near the heart of the disturbance.’
Briefly he outlined the search that they had made, ending with the discovery of Farnor and the return to the lodge. ‘In these last two days I’ve learned a little of this young man’s recent past, and I think you too should hear it. Whether or not he wishes to relate these events to you is, of course, his choice entirely, and I have advised him so, as many of you will have heard. I should add, in all honesty however, that in any event, his story will leave you with more questions than answers. I must also tell you that, despite my exhortations that he should stay so that we might perhaps learn more about why he was allowed to come so far into the Forest, his dominant wish is to leave us as soon as possible. It was only the nearness of night that kept him here so long. He attends on us here purely at my request.’
EmRan stood up and pointed at Farnor. ‘If you were called to exercise your judgement on their behalf, what possessed you to pick up something like that?’ he said.
‘The same judgement that would make me help any faller,’ Derwyn replied, a cold anger suddenly permeat-ing his whole manner. He dispelled it almost immediately, however, with a soft laugh, before it could provoke an equally angry response. ‘And this one is a faller, my friends, believe me. He’ll have your hearts in your mouths every two paces.’
Farnor heard murmurs of confirmation from the crowd and there was much smiling and many nodding heads amongst the listeners seated along the tiers.
‘But, answering your question further, EmRan, ra-ven-headed he may be’ – Derwyn became mockingly dramatic – ‘like some demon from an ancient tale.’ Then, serious again. ‘But Forest forbid that we judge one another by our looks. Suffice it that I felt no harm in him when I found him. Nor have I since, nor has Bildar. And Marken, too, heard nothing.’
‘But Marken’s gone now,’ EmRan said. ‘And why else should he have been taken from us except as a punishment for your faulty judgement?’
Farnor caught a dangerous glint in Derwyn’s eyes. ‘We’re all of us capable of faulty judgement, EmRan,’ he said. ‘That’s why we have this forum. But I wouldn’t presume to dispute the judgement of a Hearer who feels the need to find a quiet place.’ In spite of himself, his anger spilled out into his voice, though he actually spoke more softly. ‘Or have you developed hidden traits in your middle years? Do you wish to become our Hearer now, as well as our Second, in your anxiety to be of service to the lodge?’
EmRan’s mouth worked angrily. ‘They have taken Marken from us because we haven’t done as they wished with this…’ He jabbed his finger towards Farnor. ‘… person,’ he managed eventually.
Derwyn shook his head. ‘You weary me, EmRan,’ he said. ‘You accuse me of faulty judgement when you’d judge a man by the colour of his hair and his horse! And you’d argue the judgement of a Hearer about a Hearing! And do you seriously think that they would have been disturbed by a solitary rider? That they could not have turned him about? Led him into a mire? Over a cliff? Destroyed him in countless ways, had they wished?’ He leaned forward. ‘And consider for a moment why they should make themselves Heard to so many of us when he collapsed in the stables?’ He patted his chest. The hollow sound echoed around the Synehal like a drumbeat. ‘Us! The ungifted ones. Why should they send perhaps two score or more of us running from our lodges to tend someone you call an unwanted intruder?’
EmRan waved his arms as if to dash away such prot-estations. ‘He drew a knife on me,’ he blustered.
Derwyn put his hand to his head in despair, and a general sigh of irritation washed over the platform. It was, however, larded with no small number of angry voices supporting EmRan’s protestations.
‘We’re all concerned about what’s happened,’ Der-wyn said. ‘Indeed, I think it’s fair to say that we’re all a little frightened. But we’re also civilized people, and we’re here to discuss these events rationally. You’re lashing out blindly in your fear, EmRan, and you’re serving no good end by so doing.’ His voice rose a little and boomed through the Synehal. ‘Consider the logic of what you’ve been saying. What would you have done if you’d come upon this man? Slain him where he lay, like an exhausted animal? Murdered him?’
Before EmRan could reply, Farnor, increasingly unnerved by his accuser’s ranting, jumped to his feet. ‘My name is Farnor Yarrance,’ he said hurriedly, but remembering just in time not to shout. ‘I didn’t come here through any choice of my own. I was pursued by…’ He hesitated. If he told the truth, he could not begin to answer the questions that would follow. Moreover, his own ability to Hear the trees might slip out, and who could say what would happen as a result of that?
He must lie.
‘I was pursued by the people who killed my parents and burned down my home. I have had only kindness and help from Derwyn and his family. And Bildar. And I thank them.’ He pointed at EmRan. ‘But it’s true, I drew my knife against that man there.’ He pulled the knife from his belt and held it high. It glittered in the light of the bright sunstones. He was aware of a shocked response about him, not least from Derwyn, but he ignored it. ‘I drew it because he crashed into Bildar’s lodge unannounced and uninvited, like the very bandits who’d pursued me.’ His anger suddenly vanished, and his voice fell. ‘I thought you were one of them, come to kill me. I’m sorry. I meant no harm, but I couldn’t have done anything else. All I want to do now is return home.’ There was a deep silence all around him as he sat down again, his head bowed.