Forgotten Embers

37. All Is Borrowed

Blackridge watched as Kallida stepped out and addressed the accused. "State your name for the record, please, sir."

"Eliezer Horatio Webber," he replied humbly.

"And, Mr. Webber, could you please state your occupation for us?" Kallida requested, arching around the front of the floor with his hands folded in silent consideration.

"I am a Kingsmen clergyman," Eliezer stated, his eyes watching Kallida as he circled around him.

"Mr. Webber, as a Kingsman, do you consider lying and deceit to be immoral?" Kallida asked him with a quick glance and a clever smile.

"I do," Webber replied simply.

"Then tell me why, Mr. Webber, you have lived for the past twenty years under false pretenses and a fraudulent identity!"

'Kallida's a fool if he thinks this will work. Painting Eliezer as two-faced and self-interested is about as credible a cause as claiming that the sky is grey because it has clouds in it. The fault in the approach is with Eliezer, himself. The man is too meek to be believed as a conman. Still, the way the crowd reacted... terrifies me.'

"It was necessary should I return to Pyre as I had hoped to fulfill my position as ambassador that my identity as a court officer remain unknown. Elsewise would I have put in jeopardy the lives of countless others."

"Were others your concern or was it your own self-preservation that you had in mind? Isn't it true that you knew if you were identified it would jeopardize your own life?"

"No," Webber insisted. "It wasn't like that."

"No? Then why not turn yourself in? You knew you were wanted. You clearly recognized the danger that you, as an outlaw, would bring to those around you. So, why would you not turn yourself in, if it were truly their safety you had in mind?"

'I'll give Kallida effort, but nothing more. All that man does is out of concern for his companions and his God. There is no way to rectify that with the appearance of a man Kallida is trying to create. There is a quiet genuineness which will save him... at least from shame, if not from death.'

"I am that I am not to myself only, nor to the people among whom I minister, but to the Supreme King, whose I am and whom I serve. It is to Him that I have committed my life, and it is He who has spared me from the shackles of death. To throw away such liberty I would consider utmost treason."

"So, then, you admit that you serve another king."

Blackridge was appalled. His eyes widened. 'No! What is he doing? Putting the whole of the Kingsmen on trial? But he can't!'

"The governments which rule over men are those which are subject to the Divine governance which has authority over nations and kingdoms and peoples. All creation is subject to Him and His judgements. Any governmental authority which is exercised here on earth is merely borrowed, awarded according to His just allocation. Nations rise and fall at His hand. It is He who will uphold the throne of a king and it is He who will despise it. All is borrowed." He took a moment to pause, moving his eyes upwards.

All the while, Kallida watched him as a serpent ready to strike.

"You have mentioned," Webber began again slowly, "my life and its value." He wet his lips, moving his eyes again from the balcony to the right. He looked to Blackridge for a moment. His gaze then swept across the crowd until his eyes finally rested on Kallida. "My life," he told him sternly, "was never mine to lose. It was never mine to keep or to uphold. My life was never mine. It was borrowed. All is borrowed."