\u201cWhat’s to decide?\u201d the tiger grumbled. \u201cThey’re bandits and murderers. They’ve earned their lot.\u201d<\/p>\n
The bigger, blue-eyed white tiger beside him sighed. \u201cVerantine enjoins us to be merciful where we can, Marquis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Marquis Aramon di Talai considered the man trembling before them, and shook his head. \u201cHe also teaches us that ignorance of the consequences of our deeds does not absolve us of those consequences, does he not, Ser?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ser Nicolai di Casson nodded, slowly and reluctantly.<\/p>\n
The Marquis understood the man’s hesitation \u2013 he was a good man, Ser Nicolai, who saw before him someone who was not evil, but had strayed. But that straying had been into a life of misdeeds. \u201cHe brought this lot to one of my<\/em> villages, Ser. He let the bandits in, and everyone within was put to the sword. Even if he didn’t raise a blade himself, for conspiracy in such deeds, the law claims one forfeit. If you would extend mercy, let it be the mercy of a sharp blade instead of the hangman’s noose,\u201d he urged.<\/p>\n He urged \u2013 but he could not command. This endeavour had crossed several marches to come to this point, and even had it been entirely on his own territory, he could not command a Right Hand of the Just on that Hand’s pledged duty.<\/p>\n Moments passed. The wind tugged at Marquis Aramon’s furs, and made Ser Nicolai’s sword-and-scales cloak flutter. The man in chains continued mouthing prayers, as he had done for quite some time now. The words cut off, and he trembled hard enough to rattle the chains, when Ser Nicolai drew his sword from its scabbard.<\/p>\n But still Nicolai did not strike.<\/p>\n \u201cIlia di Ramero,\u201d he said, so softly that even the Marquis, standing right beside him, strained to hear. \u201cDo you forsake the deeds of your past?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGreat Father, yes,<\/em>\u201d the chained tiger whimpered. \u201cI didn’t want… didn’t know…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cLower your head,\u201d Nicolai commanded, and Ilia obeyed.<\/p>\n The sword swept down, whistling, and came to a halt just short of the man’s neck, steel parting fur.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom this moment,\u201d the Hand declared, \u201cyour life is done. You have no station, own no property. All that may have been owed you is null and void. You shall live only by the charity and mercy of others, such as your former companions did not show.\u201d The blade lifted slightly, turned, the point of it pressing under the captive’s chin and lifting it up. \u201cForty-eight people died as a direct result of your actions. When forty-eight people swear by the Chain that you have changed their lives for the better, then you may call yourself a man once more, and begin your life anew. Until then, you are as one condemned, whose sentence merely has not yet been carried out.\u201d<\/p>\n The Hand lifted his sword away, reversed it, and slid the point into the scabbard. \u201cBy all that you hold dear, do not<\/em> disappoint the Father of us all,\u201d he commanded, and let the sword sink home.<\/p>\n \u201cYou’re a better man than I,\u201d the Marquis sighed, and beckoned to the jailer.<\/p>\n Nicolai shook his head, watching impassively as the man’s chains were undone. \u201cToo many have died by my hand,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot refuse this chance to spare a life instead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The bandits in the mountains have been captured, and the time has come to decide their fate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[162],"tags":[84],"class_list":["post-335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles-of-rendayn","tag-flash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/furry-tales.net\/shurhaian\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}