Sentencing my Former Friends [18 Lage 4385]

[sythyry]

Mirrored from Sythyry.

I have known for over a century that I cannot bear to kill a parent in front of their children, no matter how angry I am with them. I was plenty annoyed with my awful roommate Dubaille for stabbing my roommate and stealing a few things from me, when I learned that. Zascalle’s betrayal was far larger, done over a course of years and far more purposefully. And not just me: I pay the wages and expenses of nearly a hundred wrongfolk in Castle Wrong and Strayways. (Which had included Thiane and Zascalle both.)

Still, Ochirion and Feralan would know what I had done to their parents.

Whatever other moral issues there are, I am responsible for Feralan. My charge Vae kidnapped him and merged his soul with a Locador angel. The main part of my purpose in life is fixing the things that Vae does: rescuing Feralan, and, honestly, the Locador demon as well. [Sythyry uses near-synonyms which I translate as 'angel' (servitor of a god) and 'demon' (malevolent elemental power). There's little difference, especially for Locador. -bb]

And there’s no real chance of doing that if I kill his mothers, I think.

Me: “Saza, shall we do what we discussed?”

Saza: “Nothing would please me more, coz!”

Me: “Zascalle, Thiane. Since you have been forthcoming with information, I will permit you to live. Note please that living is a revocable state, so please continue to cooperate.”

Zascalle: “We will, curse you. Now explain how we will cure Feralan without any money!”

Me: “Saza and I will attempt to cure Feralan.”

Zascalle: “I cannot believe that! You claimed you would do so earlier — but you have done nothing! Nothing! He is still spiky-headed and halfway beyond reality!”

Me: “I will not risk killing him … but we have had this conversation a hundred times already, and you do not believe me. I shall deprive you of the right to object.”

Thiane: “Oh, no! What will you do?” Her tail was tucked tight between her legs.

Me: “You and Zascalle will be held in indenture. By Saza, for I don’t wish to have anything more to do with you, but I wish to keep you close at hand. I gather that zie has suitable tasks for you both … tasks that do not approach accounting in the slightest. Nor, indeed, other positions of responsibility; you have shown just how responsible you are.”

Zascalle: “I had expected you to simply murder us and have done!”

Me: “You may wish that! Being a parent is a position of responsibility.”

Thiane: “You will steal our children? Our Feralan and Ochirion?”

Me: “Saza will find good foster parents for them. Nearby, so they can see you several times a week. I do not wish to devastate them … nor do I wish to have them trained in your particular form of honesty and loyalty.”

Zascalle: “My babies … my babies!”

Me: “Don’t be silly. You’ll see them more often than if you were transformed, imprisoned, or dead… and considerably more often than some of the other alternatives I am considering.”

I thought that sounded splendid and intimidating.

Ochirion: “My mommies! Don’t vanish away my mommies!”

Ouch.

Me: “I’m not stealing them. They stole from me … and all your friends back at Castle Wrong and Strayway, too.”

Feralan: “When you talk like that, it sounds very oblate.”

Also ouch; that’s not a sane sort of response. I need to do something about Feralan as soon as possible.

Me: “Zascalle, Thiane. I need a further guarantee of your good behavior.”

Zascalle: “I will be glad to swear any oath you can imagine …”

Thiane: “You will have taken our children as hostages!”

Me: “I will have taken your children for their own protection. I shan’t be using them as hostages.”

Thiane: “What more do you demand?”

Me: “I demand your ears.”

Thiane: “Our … ears?”

Me: “One ear from each of you for Saza, one ear from each of you for me. They will be forged into unbreakable arcane connections. Your little trick with that Khtsoyis and those There Is None Who Knows Thee cost me six minutes’ work and two cley. Should I need to track you down again, it will not even cost that. And I don’t imagine that anyone in this room, or Vae, say, could distort those connections.”

Thiane: “Our ears … our ears…” She sounded horrified to the point of incomprehension.

Me: “Oh, stop whinging. Did you not consider that I would surely find you, no matter how far you fled or how well you hid? Did you not consider how annoyed I might be with you, on my own behalf and on the behalves of all our friends in Castle Wrong and Strayway? Or that, if I am half the wicked necromancer you are trying to paint me, that my wickedness might fall upon you?”

La Hish: “I haven’t really noticed the wickedness yet. Have you, Nangbang?”

Nangbang: “It lies in zir sexual tastes, Kzip. An inferior grounding for a classical course of vile warlockery! Still, zie is evilling along in zir little amateurish way. I suppose we must make allowances.”

I had been debating whether I wanted to do this or not. But one of the more annoying points of this whole horrible matter is that I have to make the punishment look punishy — to deter people who might try it again. (There are plenty of worse points, starting with the betrayal. That point manages to be the most annoying. It is somewhat like being pursued by mosquitoes when one is fighting a krango claw-to-claw.)

Too little? Too much? Too oblique? I have no idea. I rather wished I had taken it to a court — any court — so that someone with a bit of a clue about proper degrees of punishment could have worked out something suitable.

I did have one minor point of extra cruelty in reserve, though.

Comments

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Stupid Question... are we talking literally about stealing their ears, or enchanting them so that you can always hear out of them... because it seems rather cruel and odd to steal their ears so that they are deaf to all but you and your cousin. I mean, I suppose that is a interesting punishment, but that's all means and kinds of harsh.

I'm also kinda curious how you are going to be able to keep them indentured so that they don't run away... but it is a city of evil, so maybe they have ways I don't wanna think about.

And Yeep! Feralan!

[terrana.livejournal.com]

Literally, I should think. Body parts make very good arcane connections.

[rowyn]

I think zie meant literally, too. And they'd still be able to hear, of course, though not as well. Although it sounds like Sythyry plans on growing their ears back, which is hard but not impossible for a wizard of zir caliber.

[sianmink.livejournal.com]

Perhaps they will get wicked-looking ears grown instead of the normal ones, to remind them and everyone who sees that it is unwise to steal from a powerful wizard.

[quoting-mungo.livejournal.com]

Well, lopping off someone's outer ears doesn't make them deaf. Just makes it a bit harder for them to hear since the outer ear isn't directing sound waves into the ear canal. I'm pretty sure that's what's being talked about, since Sythyry wants them for arcane connections.


-Alexandra

[kensan-oni.livejournal.com]

Yes, but we're talking Magic here. Magic takes all sorts of things and doesn't let silly things like Physics and "Hey, you have a hole where an ear used to be" get in the way of actually STEALING an ear, hearing and all. At least, I still *think* that works that way, from what I've read of Sythry's world.

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

I direct you to this comment, wherein it is revealed for us that the damage is temporary. (The arcane connections, less so.)

[shurhaian.livejournal.com]

A comment elsewhere has said that the damage is reparable(but we'll have to see the next installment to see this ourselves). It's a body part for an arcane connection, one of sufficiently high quality that it cannot be so easily severed as they've already tried to do.

In other settings, a volume of freshly-drawn blood would probably serve for such an intimate tie. Perhaps that doesn't work so well on the World Tree because blood is an Aquador substance as well as Corpador, and something closer to pure Corpador may work better for this purpose.

[sythyry.livejournal.com]

I am literally going to have their earlobes cut off. They can keep the inner parts. They'll be able to hear, not quite as well as before, but well enough.

And I'm cutting off their ears so they can't run away. Saza and I will each keep one ear of each, giving an excellent arcane connection. They should be easy enough to find agian if they do, most likely.