The sentencing chamber was packed. Word had spread quickly through the academy, and every officer, cadet, and dignitary who could find an excuse to be present, came to watch. Most of them had however been bared entry and were now lining the halls outside, the accident halted everything. I stood at the centre of the grand chamber, I wore shackles, it seemed they already passed judgment before my case started. My ‘hearing’.
The tribunal sat elevated above me, dark polished wood, as dark as their expressions and colder than the grey walls surrounding us.
They did not ask me questions, their interests were in the form and function of the case, their papers making slight rustles as the last light of the day filtered on through the tall windows.
After more details and whiteness accounts had droned on, they got to the meat of the matter. A central figure rose up to deliver the final blow. A beady unpleasant man almost in a hurried summary to conclude this farce of a ‘hearing.’
I had yet to say a word!
“Cadet Sari, your recklessness has caused grievous harm, damaged military property, and endangered lives. Your fraudulent use of a war crest to gain entry into the academy is a disgrace to the service. As such, you are hereby stripped of your rank as cadet and sentenced to execution for treason and defamation of the honour of this academy and the pilots it represents. This sentence is to be carried out by tomorrow morning to spare us from further disgrace.”
There was an erupted of whispers and gasps out in the hallway. I stood frozen, if they were aiming to shock me into silence it had worked. If they had figured I was unprepared for a defence, they were right, I wasn’t. Everything I had been thinking to say, gone in an instant.
Two guards stepped forward, reaching for my arms.
“WAIT” !
The voice was my grizzled old friend, now filled with authority and no friendliness at all. It lashed through the air, silencing the room.
“Step forward Commander” they said.
“What is the meaning of this?” the beady man demanded, his tone icy.
The commander ignored him, his sharp gaze fixed on the tribunal as a whole, taking it in. In his hand, he held something small and glinting my timepiece. I blinked in confusion. When had he taken it?
“You''re making a mistake he said,” his voice steady but with an edge of urgency. “Before you carry out this sentence, you’ll want to see this.”
He twisted the timepiece open, something I did not know it could do, holding it up for the tribunal to see. Stamped into the lid of the tarnished metal, was a crest of intricate design. A mountain adorned with a pickaxe, a hammer, a pair of wings and a cluster of stars in Array. Murmurs and voices and looks of recognition dawned on some of the older officers.
“That mark” one of them whispered. ‘Eilanara’
The eyes of the tribunal narrowed. “Explain yourself, Commander.” tho they were weary
The commander turned the timepiece in his hand and began to speak more steadily, i come from common stock, but i fought with the ships of this house,” indicating my timer again “and rose through its ranks, a privilege i gained through the merit of this mark” he held up his own little brass stamp, the war crest— “This mark, by my father who came before me, in the first war. I know both of these well. I knew this family” he said “I also heard that one of the sons of this renowned house went missing many years ago, the last of his line, a stir that was promptly forgotten for whatever reason. But this girls war crest is one of very few not accounted for. And this family crest we also have here that accompanied it, can’t be mere coincidence. As luck would have it, one of the family ships is in circuit,”
“I sent a bird.”
“ It will be here any moment.” As if timed to perfection the windows of the hall darkened. A vibration could be felt in the walls and floor.
I couldn’t make any sense of this. I hung my head and gestured to the commander. “I am just a commoner girl” I said. Then a little louder. “I think your making a mistake commander” I didn’t want to be executed, but i didn’t want anyone else’s blood on my hands. I was literally at the end of my rope.
“Impossible” one of the judges snapped, “you heard the girl. And besides, The line was ended, we have suitable pilots who have assume command of their fleets. Their lands and titles were claimed long ago by the academy.”
“Then explain how this girl carries their crest and carries a war mark? Or perhaps you’d rather hang the last of a bloodline in disgrace without even investigating?”
The room went silent.
I could barely breath, the humming in my chest was building again.
The judges hesitated, then asked: “and what makes you so sure?”
The commander grew weary then. I suspect my own daughter, a commoner I left behind for glory, is the one and the same who stole a young man’s heart. I believe this young girl is their progeny.
The judges leaned back in their chairs, the beady man in the middle spoke again, rich in distain. “This is a tribunal for military matters not a hearing for an old man’s fancies, speculation and sentimentality, however heavily decorated the individual who does so is.”
The commanders posture straitened his anger building, Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Furthermore it is quite ridiculous, the claim that an esteemed noble would choose the life of a peasant for love.”
Before the commander could respond, another voice broke through the tension.
Everyone turned as a man stepped into the chamber, his presence, a force. He wore dark leathers, seductively plain, but they held a sheen and suppleness that spoke of use and quality. His chest adorned with a badge bearing the same crest as the timepiece. His hair was the black of the ‘ravn’ and streaked with grey, and his eyes burned with a quiet intensity.
He wore a gauntlet on each hand, polished black, gleaming. A field of power radiated around him.
“I serve House Elia” the man said, his voice calm but firm. “ I am here to claim what remains of it. This girl.” He pointed at me.
The old man now looked triumphant.
The beady judicial drawled. “And what of her legacy? Their is no claim without one.”
“I am an emissary of one of the High Skye Houses” the man interrupted smoothly, raising an eyebrow. “I also hold a title of ‘sky lord’ in my own right. My ship stands above this court. I think it well within my rights to ascertain the truth of the matter for myself. Perhaps without shackles.”
He made a flick of the wrist and my shackles warped and flacked off. It was both a powerful and strangely delicate movement.
The room froze. The judges jaw was clenched firm. Then unclenched. “No one is above the law, not even a sky lord” he said “have you no more important matters to be dealing with in the midst of a war? we have cadets to train.”
The man had started leaning towards me, ignoring the Tribunal. “You don’t have a little black crystal on your person by any chance?”
I think at this point my neck was aching from looking around. My head was spinning from the news and the hum of the gauntlets were making me sick. I absentmindedly touched my pendent while I said “no, sorry, nothing like that”
But he just rose a cool eyebrow and held his gauntlet up, hovering over me.
My necklace drew tight towards his gauntleted hand, a smile of satisfaction as he turned to the judges. He made a flick of a finger and the necklace snapped and flew to hover just a foot from his face. Then it began to spin and the humming in his field amplified until heat was emanating from that point. I saw the paint smoke and a little flame.
“No don’t!” I said, “that’s my fathers!”
But he hadn’t broken it. As I feared. In its place instead, shed from its pale blue cocoon of paint was a small black crystal.
“Gentlemen of the tribunal, I give you a legacy crystal, and by the little woman’s own account, it belonged to her farther”
There was a pause, so he continued “I see that this is a little bit of a shock, but since she was unawares of being in possession of one, it stands to reason she has not been taught to harmonise with one either. Further I speculate that using a shielded and keyed gauntlet with such a device on her person, and by one so untrained, she is also less guilty of this negligence you were causing her of earlier.” He continued a little loader. “It’s actually a miracle or a talent by birthright.. that she did not shoot herself into the sky or blow up her classmates earlier.”
Some of the judges looked as sick as I felt.
“Come, Lady Sari” he said, offering his hand. “ Its''s time for us to be on your way.”
I stared at him, my mind reeling. Lady? None of this made sense.
Before I could respond, The commander stepped forward. “Wait” he said, his voice uncharacteristically shaky. He looked between me and the crest, his brows furrowed.
“Are you taking her… I thought.”
But the emissary cut him off, his tone firm. “No she will not be staying here, her father’s whereabouts is of great importance.”
The commander hesitated, his hand tightening for a moment
“I am going with you.” he said finally, his voice rough.
Before I could ask what he meant, the emissary took my arm, guiding me toward the exit. We walked briskly, like we were pressed for time. The crowd was parted on either side of the hallway, their stunned faces blurring together as I was led outside. Maren was there as well near the end, caught between her loathing of me and a sparkling shine for this ‘sky lord’ fellow, as well as the same confusion that plagued the hall. It would have been funny any other day.
The skyship waited above, its shadow blanketed the courtyard. Its sleek form glowing softly under the evening sky. I was ushered aboard a black polished disc the length of a two men, we all stepped onto it, my mind still struggling to catch up with everything that had happened. We shot upward to the deck of the ship. Like the flat top of a boat, but faint crystal and something like pale stone lined its surface instead of wood.
We were lifted over a little railing and looking out to a sunset, the courtyard below now completely shrouded in dark. Movement could be seen, but barely.
As the ship lifted into the air, I found myself staring out the at the academy growing smaller and smaller. It was unreal. But I suddenly felt lighter and free..
the sky lord turned to speak to me then “so, Sari.. where is your father to be found? He asked.
“Oh, he died earlier this year” I said, my heart going numb along with my hands and face. It was getting colder.
“Shit” he said. “Sorry for your loss, I mean, ah, this makes things a little challenging”
The commander cut in “ you’ll have answers soon enough he said”, placing a hand on my shoulder. “Its been a longe day don’t you think,.. captain”
“Quite right he said” his thinking changing tracks. Activated again.
“Find yourselves appropriate quarters and we can speak later”
I heard a sharp whistle then and the whole ship. It’s sleek black Finns folded inn to its more pale lined center, its wings flexed back like a seabird and it tilted violently to one side, sweeping round. I could see the whole length of her. It was roughly the length of the whole academy and then some, and I was stunned at the speed. The wind picked up, the light brightened as we climbed higher and just as I saw what looked like a sea of clouds I was ushered below decks.
The commander found me a cabin to rest up in, my things had already been fetched from the academy.
Before closing my door he had one last question. “Is Sari your real name?”
“It’s Elana”
“Of course it is” he let out a long pensive breath “your family owns quite a bit of land, including one of our great mountains, it’s famous you know, the best crystals in all of Shea are mined there, perhaps you’ve heard of it ‘Eilanara’?”
I nodded glumly then said “wait, no, I haven’t, I mean I didn’t know it had a name”
Of course it has a name, it’s house is named after it! And you have its namesake” he chuckled.
“I’ll leave you to rest, forgive me, noble Elana, noble Sari” he winked and shut the door.
I don’t think the commander truly understood how I knew that mountain at the time, or that I failed to understand what I represented to him, or anyone for that matter. I was in plain shock and looking for something familiar to hold fast. I hadn’t spoken to Corren or Dev, I didn’t know where I was going and I had forgotten to ask the commander his name! All this time! Something so simple was polite for common and noble alike! I was First to be executed, then a noble Flying high and out of my depth, i groaned, then I did the first sensible thing that day, I went to bed. It was late.