Chapter 8 #3
Low voices carry from the courtyard, speaking in Aurelian, and I try to catch a glimpse of the Commissioner, but I cannot see him through the wall of thick bodies. The distance blurs the words beyond recognition. Then the three men step aside, allowing the Commissioner to walk towards the house.
He is much younger than I expected.
He looks to be in his late twenties, which means he has perhaps three centuries of life, compared to the five or six centuries of the triad who captured me.
His plain formal robe is brilliant white, without a speck of dust, wrapped around his body in precise folds and fastened across both shoulders.
It covers his chest and falls to his ankles above a pair of sandals.
I search for the other two men of the Commissioner’s triad, but he is alone.
Mero, Arrek and Talarin enter behind him, and the vast, high-ceilinged dining room feels a lot smaller.
The Commissioner’s gaze reaches the cage before it reaches me. His eyes travel over the heavy bars, the little locked door and the furs gathered inside. I don’t know if I imagine his gaze settling there a little longer, perhaps upon the bowl, or if that is only what I want to believe.
Then he looks at me and breathes in, his nostrils flaring.
He tenses. He is handsome in a youthful way, not quite seven feet tall, with finely shaped slate-grey eyes made almost delicate by long black lashes. But his hand clenches into a hard fist.
With all the trappings of his authority and rank, with all his pomp and poise, the scent of a virgin drives him just as mad as any other Aurelian.
He clears his throat and smooths his robe. Mero gestures towards the coffee, but the Commissioner refuses with a small shake of his head and takes Mero’s chair at the head of the table to my right.
But I notice he only takes that chair after Mero gives him a quick nod.
“I am Commissioner Lain. Do you understand Aurelian?” he asks, his voice smooth and measured.
“Yes, of course.”
“Can you read it?”
“Not the best.”
“Every document will be provided in both Common and Aurelian. I will personally certify that the two versions are identical in meaning.”
“What documents?”
“The formal allegations against you and any private agreement offered in settlement. You may answer the allegations through criminal proceedings before a court, or you may attempt to resolve them privately with the claimants. I can explain both procedures, but I cannot advise you which to choose.”
He opens the first document.
“The claimants allege that you destroyed the entire mature bloom of a Virelian pleasure-dress tree during its once-decennial harvest. They further allege an ongoing pattern of poaching and foraging upon land under their legal ownership. Twenty-two concealed stores have been located containing evidence of that activity.”
Twenty-two.
They found almost all of them.
“The final allegation concerns the removal and use of immature pleasure-dress threads before they had the opportunity to bloom.”
I wince before I can stop myself.
“I didn’t know. It was an accident.”
“I understand. You don’t need to say anything right now.”
Arrek shifts upon the bench, but a glance from the Commissioner stills him before he can speak.
“Am I able to ask you questions openly?”
“Yes.”
“What prison would I be placed in? What security level, and would it be on-world or off?”
The Commissioner pauses, tapping his fingers lightly against the heartwood.
“The value of the destroyed harvest would ordinarily support medium or high-security confinement. However, nothing alleged against you was violent, and based upon what I presently know, my recommendation to the court would be low security.”
Some of the pressure around my lungs eases.
“That recommendation would not bind the court,” he continues. “You evaded three experienced Aurelians for six months and concealed stores throughout their estate. The court may consider you a substantial flight risk.”
“So I could be sent to high security, or even to one of the station prisons above us.”
“You could.”
“What kind of sentence could I be facing?”
“You are putting me on the spot. I do not yet know the case well enough to give you a responsible estimate.”
“Worst case?”
He taps one finger against the table.
“Five to ten years in a higher-security facility.”
“Best case?”
“One to three, if the court accepts that the destruction was accidental. However, the skill you demonstrated and your extensive knowledge of these lands may work against you.”
“Very well. I see.”
The Commissioner sets the formal allegations aside.
“You may proceed through the ordinary criminal process. If you choose that route, I will take you into temporary custody aboard my Reaver while the allegations are referred to the court.”
Mero lifts a folded document from the table and slides it towards me.
“We’ll settle the charges through this.”
The document is provided in Common and Aurelian, the two versions bound together. I open the Common copy and read the title.
COURT-SUPERVISED PRIVATE RESTITUTION PET AGREEMENT.