Chapter 33

The Court adjourned, the five justices retiring to their chambers to contemplate the arguments made by counsel. The issues were weighty and the potential outcome could rock the Empire. All of the Justices were burdened by their great duty. But none was more burdened than Lucas Aldon.

He sat in his chambers in the large Court building in Dekiyem, pondering the charges his good friend Kilthanis had laid before the Court. Spread before him were treatises on Imperial Law and the Law of the Gods, some of them written by Lucas himself, despite his relatively young age.

Lucas had taken quite well to the law and to the priesthood. All judges, from the lowest to the highest, were priests in the Church of Bokiyem. Because they were called upon to interpret the law as laid down by both men and Gods, they needed to be learned in both sources of law.

He had come further than his father could ever have imagined, he reflected. As the second son of a noble in Ethsheya, he would never be a ruling lord like his older brother. That gave him the freedom to pursue his true love – the law. But he had expected to be appointed as a judge in his home nation. To be sitting on the High Court, and at such a young age, was a great honor and did his family and his nation proud.

The fact that his opinion carried great weight with his colleagues was a source of personal pride. It was one reason this case weighed so heavily on him. He could count votes and he could read the law. He knew from the oral argument that the Chief was likely to rule in favor of the Emperor and it seemed just as clear that Justice Juroch was leaning in favor of Kilthanis’s position. Justice Kilrean was a question mark, as was Lord Justice D’Orne. He hadn’t asked a single question, as was his custom. That made him very hard to read. But he was a conservative at heart. He could probably be counted on to rule in favor of the Emperor’s power.

Given the nature of the accusations in this case, a unanimous bench would be almost essential to ensure that the Court’s opinion was followed. The Court had the advantage that since it was made up of members of the clergy, its decisions on the Law as handed down by Bokiyem were unimpeachable. But they could claim no special wisdom in interpreting the law of men, other than their experience in doing so.

All of these thoughts laid heavily on the mind of the most brilliant legal scholar of his generation. And overlaying them was one more thought – these desert people could not be allowed to win. It had nothing to do with a potential crisis if the Emperor ignored the ruling of the Court. Those sand snakes thought they could partake of the benefits of the Empire while maintaining their right to be apart. What made them so special? Just because they alone could do magic? No. Just as the Solicitor had argued that you couldn’t vitiate the Pact and then seek protection under it, they shouldn’t be allowed to claim the spoils of Imperial Citizenship, while insisting on their right to remain autonomous.

And with that thought, Lucas realized what he had to argue, in order to sway his colleagues. He took up a griffin quill and some parchment, dipped the tip of the quill in his inkpot and he began to write.

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