The Trial at Litus Albus II

"Wonderful," Lauf said without a trace of sarcasm. He went over and sat down next to Geflo, motioning the chief evangelist to lead.

"Weard Darflaem, this is not a trial," Geflo said. "We have talked long about how to treat this circumstance. You claim to have received the gift of magic from Marrish ..."

Weard raised his hand and opened his mouth, and Geflo waved dramatically.

"Please wait until we have finished speaking. You will get your turn." He cleared his throat. "Yet many people will admit there was much confusion at the time of your alleged miracle. The Oper belief system sets no punishment for faking the use of magic, but let it be known that the town of Litus Albus will request you to leave if you are found to have lied, for your presence among us as a charlatan will interfere with the running of the Oper and our community."

He leaned forward. "At this time, we are prepared to remove all suspicion from you and allow you to leave if you admit to this jury of your peers that your claim that lighting the candle was merely a trick." Geflo sat back and folded his arms across his chest. "You may speak."

Weard had maintained his calm. He even, to Tharv's amazement, managed to crack a smile. The herbalist winked at Tharv before leaning forward slightly and saying, "The Mar have magic, and I can show you how we do it."

Lauf laughed out loud. Tharv grinned in spite of himself. The grins at the rest of the table weren't so genuine, though, and Geflo's searching nod at Hugrit spoke volumes.

"Please excuse the following formalities, as ridiculous as they may seem to be," Lauf said, then, with a nod to Geflo for extending the authority of the moment. "Battlemaster, would you please see that no person is within 100 feet of this house, lest any mede or wint be out there who could perform magic for the accused?"

The battlemaster nodded, turned and saluted Rin sharply. He gave the command. Rin left, and the room waited in tense silence.

Lauf cleared his throat after a moment. "Is there anything you will need, Weard? A candle, perhaps?"

The herbalist smiled. "Something other than my beard to set on fire, yes, that would be good."

Hugrit laughed. "You set yourself on fire?"

Weard nodded, the smile leaving his face. "There are two applications that I can perform, though I'm not sure how I did one of them. That is what I will attempt here for you. The first, though, the way the discovery was made, was setting myself on fire."

"Are you certain you were not too close to a candle?" Hugrit said, stroking his own thick beard. "Why, sparks from a fire have landed in my beard before! It does not take much."

"There was a lamp present," Weard admitted. "But I was not close to it. And my services do not afford the luxury of candles."

Rin returned to say that the guard was keeping people far back, and he immediately was sent out again to find a small table and a candle.

Again the crowd waited in silence, until Weard broke it.

"I don't suppose you want to know how I found magic?" he asked.

"No," Geflo said quickly, just as Tharv said, "Please tell us."

The panel leader gave Tharv a stern look, turned back to Weard and said strongly, "We do not wish to hear what fabrications you may have until we are certain of their value."

"Fair enough," Weard said. "The town seems to be up in arms. I should tell you, Schafft is already talking about touring the nearby towns."

"The farmer?"

"He would prefer, agriculturalist." Weard shrugged. "So either way, I will be leaving Litus Albus for a while. Sophi, unfortunately, insists on coming with me, but you do have the services of Hinga Kleput as an alternate herbalist."

"We will be sorry to see you leave," Lauf said. "Your work as the town's leading healer has been exemplary."

"Yes," Hugrit agreed. "The town will suffer for its loss."

Rin returned, placing the table and candle on it. The wax candle nearly rolled on to the floor before Weard caught it. The herbalist looked at the candle, almost identical to the one Tharv struggled with in his pocket, then balanced it on the table. He reached into his pocket to remove a flask.

"This is ..."

"What is that?" Geflo said impatiently.

Weard nodded. "This is kalysut tea," he said. "It is required to see the mystical fog that is the conduit for Mar to use magic. I invite any of you who desire to taste this tea so that you can see what I will do."

"How do we know you are not trying to kill us?" Geflo asked.

Tharv, who was already rising to his feet, felt his shoulders clench. "Here," he said, walking over to Weard. "May I?"

Weard offered him the flask, and Tharv took a sip. The world grew brighter, the motes appeared around him. Green, red, yellow, blue, colors he couldn't name. Tharv stumbled trying to get back to his seat.

"Well, he's not dead," Hugrit said, and with some grumbling, everyone took a sip. Weard himself swallowed a large gulp.

Almost immediately the room was filled with awed silence.

"Do you see this all the time?" Hugrit asked.

Weard laughed. "Only when this tea is drunk."

"I've heard of this," Geflo said. "The tea has no medicinal use and is not intoxicating. It only creates this vision for people."

"Indeed," Weard said. "Which allows me to do this."

And the candle lit.

Geflo leapt to his feet.

"Distractions and lies!" he roared. "This colored fog you made us all see kept us from watching you light the candle."

"By all the gods, Geflo," Lauf reprimanded the man. "Sit down and watch Weard. He said he would show us how it was done.

Tharv had slowly slid himself down, trying to hide under the table, during the interchange. He had forgotten how distracting the colored motes could be, how they made clouds and shapes and shadows on people's faces that could be quite terrifying. Now, he pulled himself back up on his chair and tried to focus on what Weard as doing.

Geflo grudgingly returned to his seat and smiled fiercely at Weard. "Show us your tricks of the swamp, Weard Darflaem."

Graciously, and very patiently, Weard nodded. "First, as you all can see, I gather as many of these green motes toward me as possible." They watched as he brought a few near each other, then a few more, the pace quickening until there was a sizable cloud near him, giving him a somewhat green aura. He reached down and pinched out the flame on the candle, which Tharv noticed hadn't melted any of the wax.

"Then, and this part is hard to explain, I kind of ... imagine the motes to become real." The motes disappeared, not even flowing into the candle. They just vanished, and the candle lit again. Murmurs rose around the table, and a beaming grin grew on Lauf's face.

Weard kept talking. "The link no one else has made, the insight that I had, was that these motes represent Mar magic. What you are seeing is always around us, but invisible without the tea. Mar would never use magic, if they never saw these. Then you have to play with them, see what you can do. I'm not sure if there's they are all related to magic, but I would guess so. I've only been able to do two different applications at all and those only with the green ones."

"What is the other thing you can do?" Hugrit asked.

The herbalist cleared his throat and looked down at his neatly trimmed beard. "Set myself on fire," he said, clearly embarassed.

"Well, Geflo? Shall the panel deliberate to reach a decision or simply give our vote publicly?" Lauf said. "I would have to say that all evidence suggests that what Weard is doing is magic, the gift Marrish promised us."

Sounds of assent went down the table before Geflo could open his mouth. The leader pounded on the table with his fist.

"Come now, Geflo," Hugrit said, "this is a wonderful day for Litus Albus. Our own Weard Darflaem has brought magic to us. How can you dispute him at this point?"

"It's not supposed to be this way," the evangelical leader said in a whining voice. "The stronger the out-pouring, the more service done for the community, that person is supposed to get the gift from Marrish."

"The gift of magic belongs to everyone," Tharv heard himself saying. His eyes widened as everyone looked at him. "It does," he said, shakily, withdrawing.

Lauf nodded. "It is not something for one person. It goes to all Mar. What did Esgil say? ‘Marrish's gift of magic to the Mar,' he said."

"Weard becomes the teacher," Hugrit agreed, nodding. "Marrish has chosen him to teach the Mar the gift."

"Gifts don't need to be taught," Geflo mumbled, but his tone was full of defeat.

"Call the vote," Lauf said dismissively.

"I don't think we need one," Geflo responded, standing.

Not much later, they stood outside in front of the gathered town, Weard flanked by Rin and the battlemaster. Lauf stepped forward to speak, having wrested the reins of leadership from Geflo with his handling of the panel. Tharv saw strangers in several groups near the front of the crowd; these must be the witnesses from the nearby towns. Sophi, Schafft, Tharv's son and the crowd with the green bands on their arms were half-surrounded by guards, for whose protection Tharv couldn't tell.

"It is the decision of this panel, representing the people of Litus Albus as witnesses to Weard Darflaem's claim that he did, indeed, receive the gift of magic from Marrish, the lord of wind and fire, that the claimant did not lie as he was accused to have done."

The roar from the crowd forced Lauf to stop speaking. He held up his hands, but the crowd talked loudly amongst itself. No one was listening.

The diplomat turned to Tharv. "I guess they heard what they wanted to hear." He smiled and shrugged.

The cooper smiled back, scratching his head. Lauf stepped closer and lowered his head to Tharv's ear.

"Well done in there. Very good insight. All of Geflo's arguments had no base to stand on after that." He clapped a hand on Tharv's shoulder. "I was surprised when Sophi told us you needed to be there, but I'm glad she did."

Tharv had felt his face reddening from the beginning of Lauf's approach, and he didn't trust himself to speak so he just nodded and looked away. He saw Geflo approaching Weard and nudged Lauf. The two went over to listen, joined by Schafft, Sophi and Aussie.

"... won't be able to leave until people here can use magic," the evangelist was saying. "Do you understand? You cannot deny the gift from the people of Litus Albus."

"It is unfortunate, then, that he has had to waste his time with your mad game," Schafft said bitterly. "You could have been learning from him just as easily as the rest of us."

"Be quiet, Schafft," Lauf interceded as the evangelist grew red and looked ready to jump the man. "I agree with Geflo, Weard," he went on. "Whatever your plans for the near future, you must leave someone in Litus Albus who can teach the rest."

"I am certain Sophi, Schafft, Yarpelt or Aussie could teach it," Weard said, "because the principle is fairly simple. But they can't actually make it work yet. We're not sure why." In a gesture Tharv would remember for a long time, Weard put his hand on Geflo's shoulder. "Maybe, when you join us, you'll see something that we're missing."

The evangelical leader held his body stiff as the herbalist touched him, the nodded tersely. "You can expect me there at every moment."

"The real problem," Sophi said, "is that everyone will want to learn right away."

"Oh, do not worry," Hugrit said. "I can keep them all very busy in the fields."

They laughed. "Seriously," Lauf said. "I think you overestimate people's desire. And if it is as difficult as I have heard it is, then people will give up quickly. We all have our own lives to worry about, and no one is going to feed us if we focus solely on this great achievement."

"There will still be more people than father can teach," Sophi said. "Even if it is just us and the green bands. We will spend half the day brewing tea just for that crowd! You must set a limit."

"That is Weard's decision," Lauf answered.

"Then it is Sophi's decision." Weard nodded to his daughter. "She has shown far more interest in my health than I have."

Again they laughed, Tharv grinning uncertainly. He looked around.

"Weard," he said. "The other townspeople."

A few of them came forward, smiling nervously. "Weard Darflaem?" one man said. "We would witness you performing magic, if that is all right."

"Ah," Weard said. "I would love to, except I can only light myself on fire or bring a cold flame to a candle, and I do not want to do the first and have no candle for the second."

Tharv pulled the broken candle from his pocket. Weard laughed. "Who knew our cooper was so resourceful?"

The representatives gathered around, staring at the candle as intently as Weard was. They waited. Finally, a flame appeared, but Tharv noticed the sweat on Weard's face. The people oohed and ahhed at it.

"Very good," their leaders said. "We will tell our town. Word will spread that Weard Darflaem has discovered magic and will teach it to all Mar." They backed away.

"A second, if you will," Schafft said, following them. He was soon talking animatedly to them far away. Sophi, Aussie, Lauf and Geflo argued over how to divvy up Weard's day so he could teach as many people as possible. Tharv found himself alone with the herbalist. He stepped forward.

"Are you all right?" he said, touching the man's shoulder.

Weard paused in mopping the sweat off his face. "Ha, you noticed, didn't you?" He smiled. "You'll probably be the first to use magic after me, Tharv. You seem to be in the right place at the right time these days." He put the rag away. "It would seem that the Mar's use of magic is different from our ancestors in more than just how we use it. Each of them had to have a store of it, but the Medes kept it in devices and the Wints generated a giant, community pool. These were hard to drain if you were careful. But the Mar, well, we have a smaller pool and no storage device."

"We have all of that mystical fog."

"True, true, we do, but remember, that isn't magic. Magic comes from within. The magic works in a curve, with an asymptote ... I can see that's too technical for you." He laughed. "Let me put it this way: The first application is very easy, when you can do it. The second is also fairly easy. The third is harder, the fourth is very difficult, and the fifth is impossible. The curve," he gestured with his hands, "is very steep. That might make you think magic isn't worth it, but I should say, the first day I did it, I could only do it twice. Today, I did it five times."

"Like building barrels," the cooper said. "The first one takes forever, but as you work at it more, you can build many in a day."

"Yes, magic is like that. Like any profession."

Copyright 2005-2007 Eric Zawadzki and Matthew Schick. All Rights Reserved.
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