The Moral Equation

[Lanya Caliope]

With the boy's help, she straightened, though she was free of the pain and confusion she'd lived in for the past several days and was eternally grateful for this respite. It would be agony when the pain resurfaced, for it would likely come in one fell swoop - but these thoughts didn't concern her at the moment. She only wanted to follow this boy to the safety his eyes promised.

Lucian's question did at least awaken the curiosity she felt, and as she listened to the elder's answer she turned her head to look at him with some vague sense of worry. His answer was vague and unforgiving, but she still felt the trust from the spell and didn't worry. Instead, she turned her gaze to Lucian, and provided him with a relaxed smile.

"No need to worry. They're only here to help."

The words rang false to her own ears, and a frown deepened the creases in her brow. Something about this seemed wrong, now that she wasn't focused on the boy. Meeting Lucian's eyes, she felt her focus start to come back, and although the spell still hadn't fully collapsed, she could feel the nagging sensation that there was something extremely and inherently wrong here...

Confusion dawned in her eyes as the previous worries began to cascade back into focus.

[Lucian]

"Bring this one too."

Lucian's mind raced as he processed the possibilities this opened. The other young man was moving to unlock his cell and he stepped back from the door, aware that the mage was still out of reach and now alert to him.

Going with them without struggle could provide answers, or at least some manner of opportunity for escape.

It could also lead them straight to execution.

But only the boy would be immediately open to an attack. It would be simple enough to strike him in the throat. But Lucian knew that it was the mage who was his greatest danger, and saw that unless he could incapacitate that one in a single move, the potential for being killed was very great.

Lucian didn't fear death, but things were different now. He needed to survive and discover what the dryad had truly done to him and explore its manifestations more fully. Besides that he was Lanya's only ally here.

So he stood still, looking rather pathetic in his still-wet cloths that clung to his skinny frame and dripped water onto his bare feet.

"No need to worry. They're only here to help."

It was a powerful spell, whatever the had cast on her. But Lucian read the shift as she made eye contact with him, the vague conflicts that suddenly were flickering as she looked at him instead of the robed boy.

Was it by eye contact, then, that they bound her? The gypsy noted that idea.

But he gave her a smile of quiet confidence and peace.

And awaited the boy to unlock the door.

[Moryldar]

Moryldar noticed the exchange of glances happening and drew private conclusions about their relationship. They were friends, and that strength was also a weakness.

The boy leading Lanya pushed her along when he felt his control over her slipping. He drew her away from Lucian's cell, to the doorway and the battlemage so she would have to look over her shoulder to keep seeing Lucian. He tried to keep her going, to keep her mind off of distractions that would draw her away from the peace that came with following him.

The boy still didn't say anything, and the battlemage still refused to look at him.

The older boy unlocked Lucian's cell without ever once looking up. He pulled the door open and stood behind it, expecting him to go without needing any coaxing. If he had any powers, he wasn't using them yet.

"Give us any trouble and I'll skin the girl alive before I kill you, boy."

Moryldar watched Lucian carefully as he spoke. He was noticing something odd about his behavior but couldn't place it. Something about where Lucian was looking all the time. Not just at Lanya, but in general.

[Lanya Caliope]

There was a lull as the other boy moved to unlock Lucian's cell door. Lanya continued to stare at Lucian across the way, and as she did the control the boy held waned even further. It wouldn't wear off in time for her to absolutely refuse to obey - only enough for her to wonder why she was obeying.

The friendly boy shuffled her along, and the confusion rattled away in her brain until she almost couldn't stand it. Why was she following him? Her eyes broke contact with Lucian's as she was pushed forward, and she stumbled to maintain her balance, catching sight of the elder once more. He was glaring at Lucian - and threatening her if Lucian fought.

Lanya felt fear again. It was quiet and demure, barely registering, but compared to her previous serenity it was a roaring flame of doubt.

"Why would you say that?"

Lanya shrank back, away from the elder, looking confused and uncertain rather than outright threatened or terrified. She couldn't comprehend why he would say such things. Weren't they all friends here? Weren't they just trying to help?

[Lucian]

"Give us any trouble and I'll skin the girl alive before I kill you, boy."

Lucian read the words fluidly, per usual, and also per usual, did not show any visible reaction. He had no doubt, as he made eye contact, that this man would do precisely what he promised. But he also knew that should he chose to fight in this circumstance, he would be sure of his strike. He had underestimated these enemies before and would never do so again.

He stepped out of his cell and clear of the door, deliberately and with no wasted or hurried motion, bare feet making no noise on the stone floor. There was nothing immediate between him and the older man or the mage at this point, or the boy who had unlocked his cell.

But if he made his strike, he would be sure. There would not be warning or chance for it to go awry. Lanya's life depended on it. So he stood there, damp clothes clinging to a skinny, gangly frame, with dirt and grit on him and visible in his matted hair.

"Why would you say that?"

Then Lucian smiled, a small half-smile. Her confusion spoke even more confirmation to the idea that they were controlling her thoughts to cooperate. Making her feel like there was no need to fight, perhaps?

Still. He had decided his course. So he said nothing to provoke, nothing to make himself look or sound threatening.

"I do not make trouble." He proffered his empty hands.

[Moryldar]

Moryldar glowered at Lucian, but otherwise seemed to accept the young man's surrender as genuine. He waited for Lucian to step out of his cell, the orderly closing it again behind him. The battlemage's eyes fixated on Lucian the whole time. He was ready for anything, just waiting for an excuse to use his powers.

The other boy said to Lanya, "never mind them. You have to go see the scryers so they can find you innocent and get you out of here. Your friend will be fine."

He kept pushing her towards the hallway and the stairs leading up to the ground floor. Moryldar and the battlemage let Lucian follow without any rough treatment or coaxing if he was willing to go. There was no need to force him, and they operated with a strange degree of civility, despite Moryldar's plans.

[Lanya Caliope]

She didn't trust the elder man, but she trusted her young friend, the boy. What was his name again?...

"You're right. They'll find me innocent and let me go."

Her doubt tinted her voice with hesitation, but if her young friend said it was so, then it must be so. What was his name?...

She moved down the hallway with difficulty. As the spell collapsed, so did her ability to tune out the pain of her knee. She braced an arm against the wall as she moved for support and glared at the upcoming steps with a resigned sigh.

[Lucian]

Lucian could sense the battlemage's eyes on him, but made no move to make eye contact. Such a move was a sign of challenge and an invitation to battle for supremacy. Under such circumstances, he had no intention of being so blatant.

So he followed in step with the others, his posture wholly passive and attitude completely subdued. Whatever else Lucian may have been, he was a most impressive liar. After all, deception was one of, if not the greatest assets to survival that did not depend on strength.

And part of him was curious to see where this would lead.

[Moryldar]

The boy was quick to help Lanya when she collapsed. He offered his support, moving to hold her arm again and lift her up the stairs if need be. He was not strong by any means, but Moryldar had expected Lanya to be able to walk, and because of the nature of his plans he did not have the usual help at his disposal. The battlemage kept his eyes on Lucian. He did not look willing to carry Lanya.

Whatever kind of liar Lucian was, Moryldar was not afraid of Lucian only because he knew he could use Lanya as leverage. Everyone was a liar in his world. He would not trust his own mother, let alone a prisoner. He was luring Lucian and Lanya into a trap designed to have them both legally killed in a matter of hours. All in order to further his position with Kamar, the product of another lie. The battlemages all had their own agendas. Even the other Judges were not truly aligned with Moryldar. They schemed and plotted to attain wealth and power at least as much as he, and they only cooperated with him when they had something to gain. Such is life with a pack of wolves. Old and fat and bitter as he was, Moryldar could survive among wolves.

Justice hall itself was an entity that could be described as sentient. Mechanical, but sentient, and even it was in on the great lie that was unfolding within its walls. The Porter knew what Moryldar was up to - how could it not? Should the other Judges find out about his plans they would surely interfere to tarnish Moryldar's name at the least, or have him executed for breaking what many considered fundamental laws at the most. The Porter knew, but it had no obligation to volunteer the information to the other Judges if they did not ask. Moryldar could sway The Porter, within the confines of the law, and by using connections he had with The Porter's father.

With Moryldar and the battlemage in tow, the boys led Lucian and Lanya up the stairs to the ground level of Justice Hall. They exited the stairs in a hallway just behind the main antechamber and altar. In both directions there were intersecting hallways lined with doors marked with double-digit numbers. There were no windows anywhere, and nothing broke the monotony of the white stone. Not a piece of art, not any kind of ornamentation, not a smudge of dirt. Every meter a buldge of light protruded from the ceiling, casting light whiter than the sun's. Nobody else was around. The lights buzzed subtly with a strange, foreign noise that sounded like a metal insect.

The boy led Lanya and everyone down one of the halls to the back end of Justice Hall. As they reached the end of the hall and passed through an open door, the lighting changed. Things grew darker. There were fewer lights and still no windows.

It was another large room, the size of the antechamber, but semi-circular and lined with rows of seats. Dividing the rows were two isles at the end of which were closed doors. Attached to the floor, faced by all the rows of benches, were an empty pair of shackles, finely etched with runes and attached to the floor and surrounded by a ring of larger, black runes that were etched into the white stone.

The boy led Lanya towards those shackles.

[Lanya Caliope]

Lanya was led without fighting or comment. She didn't feel the need to fight against the young boy, for he was a close friend after all - but the elder still earned the occasional suspicious glance over her shoulder. She was not only afraid of him for his comments to Lucian - she also wondered just who he was, and why he was doing any of this in the first place.

She decided to ask her young friend - what was his name? - and turned to do so. But the moment her eyes met his the spell was reinforced, and she found that both her confusion and her pain melted away. It was good to have such nice friends. And she no longer cared for his name.

They walked along a long hallway which normally would have spawned a thousand questions, but Lanya practically floated alongside her companion, giddy with the lightness of no pain or fear. They neared the end of the hallway and the room beyond, and as they passed the threshold Lanya took the time to look about the room in one great sweeping glance.

It was a large room, and not exactly comforting for its contents. The shackles hardly drew her attention though, even as she was led toward them, but the time looking anywhere but at the boy's eyes drew back some of her innate curiosity. Fearless and unafraid to ask, she looked at the elder, who moments before had seemed so terrifying and now just looked old.

"What is this place for?"

[Lucian]

The entire structure, all of it, was enough to make Lucian's skin crawl. It buzzed with unnatural light and hummed with unseen power, alien and dark on Pal Tahrenor. The building, the people who dwelt within it and were representatives of it- all of it an affront, a dark and loathing thing that welcomed something insidious.

And Lucian hated it more, though showing no sign.

When they were brought into the large room, in one sweeping glance he understood the purpose, though having never been in such a place before in his life. The room emanated despair and grief, as well as rage and anger. Lucian was almost surprised at his level of sensitivity to the energy of room, but at the same time it was natural to him. He was aware like he never had been.

"What is this place for?"

Now when he saw the question, it made Lucian's forehead crease for the first time. They were leading Lanya here to kill her, and she was their lamb, completely caught in the spell. Whether or not he could get them out of here alive, he didn't know. But someone caught under such a manipulation as this stirred the embers of anger.

Still. His brow cleared and he looked over at the elder, though his words were for Lanya.

"They think you're a witch, Lanya. They want to kill you."

[Moryldar]

"On the contrary," Moryldar replied, "we want to see whether or not she is a witch. She is, after all, entitled to a trial. Or do you think we should punish her without a trial, boy? If she's found innocent she will be set free, as is the law."

The old man nodded to the boy to lead Lanya into the circle of runes and begin affixing the manacles to her wrists. The boy continued to be gentle with her, using his persuasive powers to communicate to her that the chains were only a protective measure and a part of the ceremony to keep dangerous creatures from attacking the judges. There was nothing to worry about because it was only a trial.

"If we wanted to kill you, you would both be dead already."

[Lanya Caliope]

Lanya met Lucian's gaze when he replied in his rasping voice, and maintained this glance while the elder man spoke. Oddly enough, she felt more balanced and less wispy while looking at Lucian than she did while looking at her young friend. And Lucian's words troubled her, despite the obliviousness caused by the spell.

She was about to ask Lucian to clarify when the elder spoke again. She swallowed her words, moving with the young man in silent cooperation, but listening intently. She avoided the young man's eyes and focused on Lucian when she could see him, for although she felt more confused and even scared as she focused elsewhere, her instincts told her that this was how she should be feeling. The lack of fear and pain was unnatural, and her body didn't like it.

She didn't fight when the boy clamped the shackles to her wrists, though she gave them a look of blank confusion. She hadn't threatened anyone; why would they be necessary? She wasn't physically strong or overwhelming, for all that she wasn't a petite woman.

Nonetheless there they were. She tugged at them gently and enjoyed the slight tinkling sound they made. She refused to allow the fear she could feel welling within to shine through until she had something to be afraid of. Calm and with eyes shining her amusement, she looked at the elder man and waited.

[Lucian]

Lucian measured the Elder's words carefully. No, he wasn't lying. They could have had Lanya and himself killed at any time, easily enough. But this room... and the Elder's eyes. This entire place was dark on a level that could not be dispelled by the artificial devices that produced such ugly, flaring brightness.

No, this man wanted them dead. Lucian had no doubts about that.

From his peripheral vision, he could see that the battlemage was close to him, but not close enough. So he said nothing and looked back to where Lanya stood, chained to the floor. She was smiling, still heavily under the influence of the sorcery.

He smiled at her from where he stood, in some small way grateful now that she was so unafraid, even if it was at the irresistible behest of another's will.

And he decided then. If he could get her out of here alive, he would. Whatever the cost.

[Moryldar]

The manacles began to warm with power drawn from the hundreds of small runes etched onto the chains. They formed a magical barrier so strong even she could feel it cutting her off from the natural background magic that had surrounded her her entire life on Pal Tahrenor. It choked all the world's imagination, emotion and creativity away by tightening the seal around her until nothing could leak through. The room and the people around her became inexplicably different, drier, like they were being filtered through a monochrome lens. There were no locks on the manacles, but they would not open again until one of the boys enticed them to do so.

The battlemage was watching Lucian, not Lanya, and waiting for the younger man to make a move and provide him with some entertainment. Working in justice hall was a bore and he lusted for the chance to bully someone with his powers.

Once Lanya was securely in place the boys both left the court room through the same door they had entered, and shut the door behind them. Seconds passed before one of the two doors on the opposite end of the room opened to reveal a trio of bodies. The men walked down the isle leading toward Lanya and the judge. Two of them were old - extremely old, wrinkled and frail looking. One had the typically glassy eyes of a man in at least his 80's, and looked as though he was having trouble seeing more than three feet in front of himself. A few wisps of white hair crowned his pate. The other wore a blindfold and followed behind the first with confidence that said he could see despite his impediment. Completely bald, he held himself with at least some dignity and inner strength. The third man was middle aged but had the defeated face of someone much older and tired. He kept small, withered hands curled up in front of his chest and had no legs. His rags ended three feet above the ground, his body levitating effortlessly.

Each of the men stopped when they were three feet from Lanya's left side and remained there, watching her impassively.

"State your name, girl." The judge demanded.