Warning: contains references to rape, including the attempted rape of a teenager, and murder, including the attempted murder of a child.
What northern wind blew us into the street?
And what fatal one will we all some day meet?
-- The Collection, Sing of the Moon
At first Ilaran didn't believe she was really there. Haliran had been on his mind for weeks. Her ugly face had forced its way into his dreams as his mind superimposed her over every enemy he'd ever faced. No wonder he imagined he saw her here when she wouldn't give him a minute's peace.
He blinked and looked again. Haliran glared right back at him.
Unlike Abi a few minutes ago his reaction wasn't horror. At first it was surprise. Then it was bemusement. Why was she here at all when she didn't make a habit of attending court? Then he accepted she was here, there was nothing he could do about it, and the police would be spared the trouble of going in search of her to arrest her.
At last silence fell in the courtroom. Raivíth looked expectantly at Ilaran. He continued talking as if nothing had happened. The whole time he kept his eyes on Haliran's reflection. Judging by her suspicious frown, she knew something was happening that she didn't like but hadn't realised yet that she was the person being spoken about.
He studied her surroundings in the reflection. The mirror was so small it was hard to tell where she actually was in the room. By stepping forward he got a better view of which seating area she was in. A little bit of deduction and glancing at the other mirrors, and he managed to conjure up a fairly accurate idea of where she was. Not directly behind him, in spite of what it had looked like at first; she was off to his right and sitting quite near the council table. He kept that in mind as he spoke.
"Five thousand years ago this person got their hands on top secret battle plans during the Kadinis War. She sold them to whichever foreign government was willing to pay the most for them. As a result Saoridhlém lost six battles and over twenty thousand soldiers were killed."
Ilaran could see the exact moment Haliran realised she was the person in question. Dawning horror appeared on her face. It was a memory he would cherish for the rest of his life.
"She is also guilty of embezzlement, at least eighty murders, rape, forced marriage, and bribing police officers and judges. All the details of her crimes are in here, provided by the testimony of one of her victims and a former ally."
He held out the folder full of documents. Raivíth waved a servant over to take them from him.
"Who is this person you speak of?" she asked.
Dramatic gestures were very useful in moderation. They were also very tricky to get right. Performing one correctly relied on careful planning, careful timing, exploiting details other people were unaware of, and a great deal of luck. Ilaran tried not to use them too often. Over-indulging in drama came with a heightened risk of getting something wrong and making a fool of himself. Still, this was one time when a dramatic gesture was practically required. He thought of where he'd figured out Haliran was sitting. He kept that exact image in mind as he turned -- slowly enough for him to avoid a humiliating mistake if he was wrong.
He was right. He turned round and looked Haliran straight in the face.
"Haliran-rúdaun."
~~~~
Profound silence fell over the entire room. Everyone was too stunned to react. Well, almost everyone. Two people already knew what was coming and were spared the surprise.
Abi facepalmed. Oh, by all the gods. Why does Ilaran have to be so dramatic about it? What does he think he is? A conjurer in a pantomime?
On the other side of the seating areas Irímé watched with eyes nearly as wide as saucers. How did he do that? This thought was followed almost immediately by, How can I work this into a story?
~~~~
It took Haliran less than a minute to recover from her shock. Predictably she decided denying everything was the best way to go. She leapt to her feet and shouted, "Your Majesty, I must protest! These are scandalous lies!"
Good grief, Ilaran thought. She couldn't sound any less convincing if she tried.
Even more predictably Haliran's next course of action was to attack him personally. "This is a petty attempt at vengeance. This man is unfortunately related to my husband. He kept sponging money from my husband."
Now that was just stupid. Everyone in Eldrin aristocratic circles knew Siarvin had no money of his own. Haliran had never tried to keep it a secret, proof she wasn't nearly as intelligent as she thought.
"I put a stop to it when I realised what he was doing. He swore he'd get revenge, and this is how he goes about it."
It was all Ilaran could do not to laugh in her face. He struggled to bite back a smile. Does she really think anyone believes her?
"Do at least try to be creative in your lies," he said, adopting the bored drawl he always used when dealing with exceptionally stupid officials wasting his time with pointless questions. "You used to be quite good at them. Your mind must have weakened with age."
Someone in the audience giggled. As usually happened in a room full of many people and a very tense atmosphere, that sent everyone else off into gales of laughter.
"We both know who the liar is here," Haliran said coldly. Well, she was right, even though that was something he hadn't known anyone actually said in real life. She sounded like a character in the first act of a badly-written comedy of misunderstandings. "Or have you forgotten about the first time I ever had the bad luck to meet you, when you came begging for my help?"
Oh no, she was not going to drag up that old story again. Especially not her warped version of it. Ilaran completely forgot about the audience listening to every word in the burst of rage that filled him then.
"I begged for no one's help," he snapped. "I asked my uncle for advice, because thanks to you he had already dealt with the same situation I was in. It would not surprise me to learn my teacher was a relative of yours!"
Raivíth cleared her throat. "I don't mean to seem inquisitive," she couldn't have sounded more sarcastic if she tried, "but what in the name of all the gods are you two babbling about?"
When Ilaran was barely a thousand years old[1] and a student at the University of Haratra, his maths teacher had attempted to seduce him. Repeatedly. When that didn't work he began trying to corner Ilaran alone in empty parts on the university. Ilaran took to never attending any of his classes to avoid the chance of ever meeting that man. Next the teacher started a rumour that Ilaran was the one trying to seduce him. It was amazing how everyone was willing to believe an adult's word over an adolescent's. In desperation Ilaran wrote to Siarvin for advice. His uncle's advice was two words: "Kill him". So he did. Slowly and painfully. That was the first time he killed someone, and the man's screams were a particularly treasured memory.
Ilaran pictured attempting to explain any of that in front of all these people. He shuddered. "It has nothing to do with the case."
Luckily Raivíth accepted that without asking any awkward questions. "You said you had witnesses outside." To one of the guards she said, "Bring them in now."
He hadn't said that, but it was unsurprising to discover that Raivíth knew about Siarvin and Koyuki waiting outside. She probably had guards keeping an eye on them right now.
An interruption came at that moment, from a most unexpected direction. Luamon jumped to her feet, glaring at the empress.
"Are you going to let this farce continue?" she demanded, before sheepishly tacking on, "Your Majesty." Without letting that faze her she continued, "My mother is innocent!"
How ignorant are you? Ilaran wondered. Haliran had hardly attempted to portray herself and Siarvin as being happily married. If outsiders could tell something was badly wrong in that household, their own children should know all about it.
"I will decide that, child," Raivíth said, in a more kindly tone than she'd used so far. She looked at the guard, who was hesitating at the open door. "Well? Bring them in!"
The guard looked most uncomfortable. "Er, your Majesty? There's a giant snake out here."
Everyone leaned forward in their seats and craned their necks to see what new excitement was in store. Ilaran and Raivíth exchanged baffled looks. Going by her expression Raivíth thought this was part of his plan. Ilaran's first thought was Koyuki taking his snake form for some reason. Then the snake slithered into the room. He revised that opinion at once.
"Shizuki, what are you doing?"
~~~~
It had been ages and Haliran still hadn't mentioned the necromancy. Abi couldn't have felt worse if she had already revealed it. Her ribs seemed to have become too tight for her lungs. One minute her heart was in her throat, the next it felt as if it was down at her feet. Not even the snake's appearance distracted her from the crushing terror. It felt like she had a sword at her neck and was waiting for Haliran to swing it.
Almost unconsciously she began to gather her magic, ready to defend against the impending attack.
~~~~
Shizuki reared up and hissed at Haliran. All the people around her quickly vacated their seats. Haliran surprisingly reacted more calmly than she had before. She simply glared at her son, unafraid of his very sharp fangs.
None of this had been in Ilaran's plan of how the court case would go. "Leave her alone, Shizuki."
Out of petty spite he dearly wanted to add, You might die if you bite her. She'd poison anything. He stopped himself just in time. No need to turn this into an excuse to throw insults when the facts were damning enough.
Shizuki slithered away from Haliran, shrinking down until he was no longer than the average garden snake[2]. He looked far too pleased with himself for someone who had just caused an uproar in a courtroom.
"What is that snake doing in here?" Raivíth demanded, staring at Ilaran with the bafflement of someone who wished what they were seeing would start to make sense. "Is it a pet of yours?"
Naturally Shizuki chose that moment to turn back into his immortal form. He grabbed Ilaran's arm and held on like the world's most determined limpet. "Not a pet!" he said indignantly, glaring at Raivíth.
The guard showed Siarvin and Koyuki in at that moment. Siarvin looked around at Shizuki clinging to Ilaran, Haliran glaring daggers at him, the empty chairs all around her, and the thoroughly confused empress. He sighed.
"Shizuki, I told you to stay out of sight."
For a few minutes after that everything went back to being more like a normal trial. Siarvin and Koyuki gave their evidence. Shizuki piped up with the story of the time Haliran tried to poison him and the other time one of her friends attacked his snake form with a shovel while she watched. Ilaran hadn't heard either of those stories before. He had to resist the urge to turn into his eagle form and tear Haliran's eyes out on the spot.
"Arrest her," Raivíth ordered the guards.
"You can't seriously believe this nonsense, your Majesty," Haliran protested even as the guards advanced towards her.
"I will order a full investigation into this," Raivíth said. "Whatever the truth is, I'll find it. And I don't mind telling you that I'm strongly inclined to believe them."
Until now Haliran hadn't played her trump card. Ilaran had wondered idly why that was, in the brief moments when he wasn't preoccupied by everything else that was happening. Now she finally decided to play it.
"Your Majesty, do you know your granddaughter is a necromancer?"
The audience burst out laughing. So did most of the guards. Even Raivíth herself cracked a smile. Everyone took it as a ludicrous non-sequitur. And they would have continued to take it that way if not for a sudden and unexpected turn of events.
Some invisible force yanked Haliran out of her chair. It tossed her around like a ragdoll. Then it hurled her to the floor with such force that her arm audibly snapped. Everyone froze. Their laughter died.
Only one person had jumped to their feet at the exact minute Haliran was thrown around. They were still standing, with one hand outstretched and pointed right at Haliran. Every eye turned towards them. Ilaran's stomach sank.
It was Abihira.
Chapter Footnotes:
[1] Equivalent to about fifteen in human years.
[2] garden snake = A small and harmless snake, usually only about a foot long.