Torsade Literary Space The Totem-Maker (part thirty-four)
The Totem-Maker
Chapter Four
To Be and to Choose
(part thirty-four)
“Now, one who is challenged may see fit to decline. When it is recorded that he answers no, equally he has forfeited the right of dispute. What is charged against him stands, though he pays no other penalty than in honor lost.
“If he will fight, he must appear with his challenger at the Offices of Cause. Record shall be made of the dispute and its circumstances; who charges; who denies; where they will fight, and with what weapons. The accused may, and his challenger may, employ as champion a knight…or a friend.”
She glanced down, though she spoke from expertise and had no need to consult Lady Nyma’s tablets. “They who seek charity may, counselled as to form by my deputies, apply to the Vranga-chae’m of our order.”
The law permitted any length of delay, but the Vranga-chae’m’s refusal meant combat must take place within four days. Her deputies might explain to me why I should wish a delay. I didn’t. I had wanted to pay such close attention to these great ones, trust with all my heart I could sit empty-minded, drink in grand-sounding phrases, gaze with wonder at the Villa of Montadta, its alley of columns, every four the legs of a giant horse, a team to pull Lotoq’s chariot, to speed his wheels of thunder and fire…
And at the high dais draped in its rich cloths, the handiwork of patient years, wise minds deciding for the best.
Wanted to be lulled out of all awareness. I was not so gifted; I understood. I feared I did. The friend to fight my battle was Cime. He would kill Mumas, and Mumas could not die that way. For between doing and being done evil lies a thread so narrow…only Ami can discern the path that never veers.
Yet it might be also that Cime was hated by someone, or the House of Decima was, or Cime’s wife or his riches were envied. Mumas might gain the luck of an enemy’s enemy. Can my son come into his own, Pytta had said. Now?
Could he? No grief to a friend ought to come, at any rate, from this scuffle of a proud fool who had murdered, and his tormentor, who would see justice done. Mumas must pay the price he owed, but only that. The tale of Mumas Martas only, live or die, be written on this tablet.
The Minister of Causes took her seat, and the High Magistrate rose.
“In summary, I state the question again: Does the law, in benefit and punishment alike, govern all who are charged to obey it? Our enquiry has uncovered two key principles. First, that the slave cannot be classed as an object, or an animal, for the slave possesses a conscience and a will; second, that the law must touch the slave, albeit the slave is not a citizen, albeit the slave holds no property, else the will of a slave shall be ungovernable.
“The complaint may be raised that if one slave challenges, many will challenge. I counter with two points: One, that we allow marriage among slaves. We do not find this fault in the case of marriage, that if one slave seeks to marry, many will seek to marry. Marriage proceeds by consent among parties, and by worthiness to maintain a household. It is constrained by the weight of ceremony and obligation. The solemnities are the reasons marriage does not occur wantonly, or in ways disruptive to society, neither among slaves nor citizens. The laws of challenge are constructed with those same constraints in mind.
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“Two, that we uphold the master’s right to place one slave in the stable, another in the kitchen, a third at his side. We know well that ‘making places’ may cause jealousies and intrigues, and does so among citizens as well as slaves. Here we have a practice that often leads to harms, yet we make no attempt to manage human nature by law. Harms in theory and not in fact cannot supersede our basic right of choice. The fear of slaves’ challenging cannot carry more sway than whether a slave challenges…with the present hearing, our weighing of each fact and factor, evidencing where reality places its limits.
“Should the court allow an argument constructed along a particular line, it cannot be lax in enforcement, or blind to instances of identical construction, for the sake of convenience. The law, if to answer imagination rather than fact, must intrude upon and oppress the free citizens of Monsecchers intolerably.”
Lady Nyma restated the attestations of Mumas, Cime, Banche on my behalf. She spoke again of challenge…
The Prince’s men began to be difficult.
A shock, then. The Prince reached across and hauled me to my feet, as he stood to his own, unbidden.
In a voice to cow the room, Lady Nyma’s officer bellowed: “Citizens. Honored guests. Counsel and client. Cime Decima. Sente Vei.”
My head stood no higher than the Prince’s bruma, a breastplate northerners wore, a beast with flared snout molded upon the heart. I held motionless—in no way to suggest opinion, loyalty, even curiosity. But with great curiosity, I wondered. Sente had made an attestation of his own; Lady Nyma had not introduced it.
“The court rules thus: The challenge against the Respondent, Mumas Martas, is in full keeping with the Law of Challenge, and is within the rights of the Petitioner to issue; therefore Mumas Martas must answer. That is all.”
All, but not simply. I willed, I prayed, Mighty Lotoq, Great Ami, have him say it, let his pride bear it. A hundred witnesses saw him commit the act…
I will not fight, may it please the court.
The Prince said: “Mumas Martas agrees to the challenge. He will fight the slave upon the mustering grounds of the fort. What else?” He fingered his chin. “Knives…shall we have shields?”
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To Be and to Choose
The Totem-Maker (part thirty-five)
(2018, Stephanie Foster)