Apprentice Astin squirmed on the narrow stone bench Sister Oma had compelled her to sit on and watched guards lead a man in a brown robe and cloak into the long, narrow room.
The man knelt on the narrow floor of the trial chamber, and his guards looped deep red cords around his back and knees so that he could not get up. His head was shaved like Apprentice Astin's, but his days of imprisonment had allowed a light shadow of hair to creep over his scalp.
Apprentice Astin was twelve now, and old enough to watch a sentencing, but she didn't think she would like this one. The man on the floor was Conscience Morro, and according to Sister Oma he had been fool enough to accept a bribe in return for saying a guilty man should go free. The offer had been a test; Conscience Morro had failed it. Sister Oma said that he was going to be punished. She was on the Baron's council, and so Apprentice Astin did not doubt her information.
Apprentice Astin had not expected the punishment to be death. Apparently, as Conscience Morro had proven himself to be untrustworthy, he knew too much to live.
When Conscience Morro heard what would happen, he screamed. The agonized, harsh noise echoed about in the stone-walled council room for what seemed like an eternity, then stopped. Nothing else followed but a single tear that Astin saw shining on the man's stubbled cheek as he walked from the room.
"What is going to happen to me?" Apprentice Astin whispered to Sister Oma as they left several minutes later. Her heart was pounding; she never wanted to let those red cords even touch her.
Sister Oma turned. "You exist to serve Justice, child," she said blandly, without even hesitating. "When you no longer serve Justice, your purpose will be gone and so will you. Do not forget."
It was not the type of lesson you could forget.
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Mercy (Short Story)
FantasyConscience Astin was unaccustomed to staring Justice in the face. She had worked alongside it all her life, sent helpless souls into its unforgiving hands-but she had never faced it as she now did. She had been taught to expect that this day would...
