Chapter 186: Lynessa Is Sentenced To Death

Nira stepped forward, her hands trembling slightly. "There’s something else." Tanaka looked at her. She had decided to speak, even though they had agreed to keep it quiet until they understood it better. She explained what she had felt. The spirits. How they were unusually attracted to Lynessa during the festival. How they gathered and circled her without being called. And how this didn’t match up with her inability to cast even basic spells.

Tanaka added what he knew, his voice low. "Her mana isn’t absent." A few rulers looked at him, confused. "It’s locked." This caused a bigger reaction than Nira’s story. A ripple of disbelief and unease went around the table. Queen Elowen leaned forward, her staff creaking in her grip. "Are you sure?" "Yes. I’ve felt it. More than once." Nira nodded, backing him up. "Someone with such a high spiritual affinity shouldn’t be unable to use magic. She shouldn’t be able to fail at Gentle Wind. Something must be stopping her mana from moving."

Tavren’s face hardened, his patience gone. "And how does this prove she didn’t kill my sister?" "It doesn’t." "So what’s the point?" "It means you don’t understand the person you’re trying to kill." Tavren stood, his chair toppling backward. "I understand my sister is dead." "And killing Lynessa won’t bring her back." His claws dug into the table, splintering the wood. "Be careful, Eldoris." Tanaka’s eyes narrowed, and the air around him seemed to drop several degrees. Raizen shifted beside him, a low growl building in his chest. Raishin remained completely still, but his hand had moved to rest on the hilt of his blade.

Garrath spoke, cutting through the tension before it could snap. "He’s right about one thing." Everyone turned to look at the Lion King. "We don’t know enough." One of his own Lion representatives instantly objected, his voice shaking with grief and rage. "My king! Darrok is dead! He was your cousin!" "I know," Garrath said, and his voice was like ice. "I sat with his widow this morning. Do not presume to tell me who is dead." The representative stepped back, chastened.

Garrath continued. "We aren’t protecting suspects. We’re making sure scared fools don’t turn this into an execution to make themselves feel safe for a night." This silenced his representative, and the rest of the hall. For a few seconds. Another ruler spoke, a Deerfolk matriarch. "The people won’t like this." Another agreed, a Boarfolk lord. "Nor will we." Another added, younger and more afraid than angry. "The longer she lives the more unrest there will be. My people are asking why we do nothing."

Tanaka understood. It wasn’t just about the evidence anymore. It was about whether the Wolf Crown could keep Varghelm from falling apart. Fear was a fire, and Lynessa was the easiest piece of wood to throw on it. Aldren understood this too. He stayed silent for a few seconds, looking at each face around the table, before looking at Garric. "Declare an emergency Crown Council decision."

This changed the atmosphere in the room completely. Several rulers sat bolt upright. A few gasped. Tanaka frowned. "What does that mean?" Garrath answered before Aldren could, his tone that of a teacher reciting old law. "Normally the Crown Council wouldn’t be able to make a criminal decision for citizens of another people. Wolves judge Wolves, Lions judge Lions and Rabbits judge Rabbits. However, the law is up to the ruler of each territory." Aldren nodded.

"But Varghelm is Crown territory. If a crime has been committed here and it directly affects three or more recognised Beastfolk peoples and puts them in danger of conflict, then the Wolf King can declare an emergency inter-race ruling." Tanaka instantly understood. Mereth was Tigerfolk. Darrok was Lionfolk. Mirella was Rabbitfolk. Plus the Hawkfolk merchant and the Bearfolk guard. The murders had crossed too many borders to allow any one ruler to claim sole authority over the investigation. And no one wanted to let the others judge alone.

Aldren continued, reciting the law from memory. "Each recognised sovereign people will have one vote. This will be given to their ruler or authorised representative. The size of their territory won’t effect how many votes they get. The Wolf Crown will also have one vote." Sora frowned, doing the math in his head. "So a small kingdom will have the same amount of votes as the Lion King?" "For an emergency council decision, yes," Aldren said. "Otherwise the largest peoples would decide everything by numbers alone. This is to be fair."

Nira asked, her scholarly mind catching the detail. "What about the clan representatives?" "They can give advice to their ruler but they won’t be getting any votes. Nine wolf clans don’t mean nine votes for the Wolves. Same with the Lion prides, Fox houses and other internal divisions. One people, one vote." Tanaka glanced around the room. This explained why there were so many representatives there without it becoming a popularity contest. Each king had their council, but only the king’s hand would count. "What about Eldoris?" Tanaka asked.

Aldren met his eyes, and his expression was apologetic but firm. "You’re recognised as a sovereign neighbouring nation. However you aren’t part of the Wolf Crown. You can speak as you’ve been given standing in this investigation by the council. You aren’t getting any votes as it’s an internal decision." Tanaka didn’t like this. But it was fair, as he had insisted on this agreement months ago. Eldoris hadn’t joined the political structure of the Wolf Crown. He couldn’t ask for independence one day and then expect them to have voting rights the next.

"What does the vote mean?" Raishin asked quietly. "It only means how we want to deal with the prisoner," Aldren said. "It doesn’t mean we can wage war on another people, change borders or give anyone authority over another kingdom. These things need to be dealt with separately by treaty. This is just for Varghelm law." Garric placed the voting sheet on the table. A simple piece of parchment with two columns: Detention and Execution. "It’s a simple majority. If it’s a tie then they will remain in detention as we can’t sentence them to death without a majority."

Sora stared at the parchment like it was a monster. "So if most of them vote to kill Lynessa..." Aldren’s face darkened. "Then according to the laws of Varghelm the Wolf Crown are obligated to sentence her. The King cannot veto an emergency decision. That is the price of calling it." Tanaka finally understood why Aldren had been reluctant to vote. Once it had been declared they couldn’t just ignore the result because the Wolf King didn’t like it. His hands were tied by his own law.

Looking around the room, at the fear in the eyes of the minor kings, at the grief in Tavren, at the exhaustion in Elowen, he knew exactly what the vote would be. The voting began. One by one the rulers made their decision, standing to speak their people’s will. Some wanted her to be killed. Some wanted her to remain in prison. A few abstained, unable to decide. Each recognised people had one official vote no matter how many clan chiefs, nobles or representatives were shouting behind them.

The Wolves voted through Aldren. "Remain in detention." The Lions voted through Garrath. "Remain in detention." A few of the Lion representatives looked absolutely disgusted with their king’s decision but couldn’t change his vote. Garrath ignored them. The Tigerfolk voted through Tavren. "Kill." No hesitation. No extra words. The Foxfolk delegation voted to keep her in detention as they didn’t want to support her being killed when their people were being deliberately framed with copied spirit magic. Their representative looked sick at the thought of their sacred arts being mocked like that.

The Bearfolk requested she remain in prison. The Hawkfolk requested the same. The Boarfolk voted to kill. The Deerfolk hesitated for a long time before voting to keep her in detention, their matriarch whispering a prayer as she did. The Rabbit Kingdom were next. Queen Elowen stayed silent for so long the whole hall was on edge. Her fingers gripped her staff so tightly her knuckles turned white.

Tanaka watched her. She was thinking about Mirella. Everyone could see it. The young Rabbitfolk girl who had been found in the pantry, who had loved the lanterns. Eventually her eyes dropped. She couldn’t meet anyone’s gaze. "Kill." Tanaka stared. He felt Sora flinch beside him. Elowen couldn’t look at him. A single tear ran down her cheek.

The rest of the minor kingdoms voted. This was where the balance tipped. A few of the smaller Beastfolk peoples voted to kill her as they were terrified another of their own may be killed next. Some argued to keep her in detention, saying that killing a possible innocent would curse their harvests, but fear had already taken hold and fear is louder than principle.

The final tally was announced and the room fell into silence. Garric’s voice was flat as he read. "Eleven for detention. Thirteen for execution. Two abstentions." Aldren looked down at the results on the parchment. He held his hand over the paper for a few seconds, as if he could change the ink by will alone, before speaking. His voice was heavy. "The majority have voted." Tanaka already knew. Aldren looked at him, and in that look was an apology, and a warning. "Lynessa is to be executed. At sunset tomorrow, according to the old law."

Sora stopped breathing. Nira paled, her hand flying to her mouth. Raizen growled, a deep, dangerous sound that made the guards by the door reach for their weapons. Tanaka said nothing. He looked around the table. At people he had negotiated with. At people he had shared wine and laughed with during the first nights of the festival. At people who now wanted an innocent girl dead because fear was easier than patience, and because a body gives the mob something to look at besides their own shadows.

Aldren’s voice softened, almost pleading. "Tanaka... please. The law has spoken. Don’t make this worse." Tanaka stood. The room seemed to shrink. The air, which had been warm from so many bodies and mana lanterns, went cold. Not the cold of winter. The cold of a deep, still lake just before something rises from the bottom. The mana lanterns above the table flickered. One by one, they dimmed.

Nira felt it first and took a step back, her eyes wide. "Tanaka... your mana..." Tavren narrowed his eyes, his own claws still out. "It’s been voted on. It’s law." Tanaka looked at him, and his eyes, which were usually a calm, dark grey, were now reflecting a faint, unnatural light. "I know." "Accept it. Or are the Eldoris going to show their true face and spit on Wolf law?"

Tanaka’s face changed. All the diplomacy, all the careful patience he had worn like a cloak for weeks in Varghelm, fell away. Cold. Very, very cold. "No." And this time, everyone in the chamber understood exactly what that meant. Raishin, without being told, stepped forward and placed himself between Sora and the rest of the council. Raizen moved to the other side of Tanaka, his shoulders rolling, ready.

The Wolf Crown guards at the door looked to Aldren, uncertain whether to draw their blades. Aldren Greymane, King of Wolves, looked at the slime king who had come to become his neighbour, at the being who commanded high level monsters as friends, and realized once again that this was truly a powerful monster.