The Rising - Ennead 1

Scene 4 - The Trial of August; Act 2

August Gaines

I raise my head to meet the beady eyes of the pompous ass that (unfortunately) is currently First Maker. I haven't ever seen him till now. I'm not impressed; his skin is so very pale and his eyes seem to be constantly calculating.

Aunt Priya had never told me about him directly, but even a deaf person would know that she and he had very different views about the future of the Fourth Society. He had directly and indirectly been undermining Aunt Priya and hers since before I was born.

My heart clenches as I think about what this trial will do to Aunt Priya’s standing in the Society. I had to keep my head down to avoid meeting her gaze by chance as I walked towards the dais.

I should probably have avoided Summoners like the plague. The Faerie are much more united and progressive than we have ever been. Finding out what Aunt Priya and Rajiv did was too attractive for me to choose any other path. Now I'm finding that that choice might have been a mistake after all.

The provost brings me back to the present by wheezing my transgressions, rather loudly in High Latin, the archaic language Summoners insist on using in official communication.

“August Amanda Gaines, you are charged on two counts. Count one, wilfully obverting the spirit of your initiation vows on our great secret. Count two, performing surgery on a human through the use of Biochemystry and Sylvanics.”

If the first charge had made the chamber bubble, the second made it boil over. The provost’s calls for order make no dent on the uproar. Curiously, the Lord First does nothing about the clamour. It seems as if he’s enjoying it. You almost wouldn’t notice from looking at his face though.

“How do you plead child?” he purrs, voice treacle sweet. “With cognizance of your extraordinary promise, I will gladly show mercy if you accept your fault and show penitence.”

I scowl, for a moment I forget that he is the Lord First. The snake knows I won’t plead guilty; he just wants me to say it out loud so he looks reasonable and I look like a spoilt brat. There is no helping it though.

“I plead not guilty and would respectfully request leave to explain the circumstances”.

The First Lord’s nostrils flare slightly. My plea is definitely not penitent enough for him. He waves me on though, so I proceed.

“Stain is the greatest impediment to our society. How may times over the centuries have we been vilified for ‘healing dogs but not men’. How many times have we lost friends, colleagues, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers because our hands are tied by the constraints of Stain? Can we even begin to imagine the value the lives of those lost, or the change it would have made to the fight against the Underdark?”

I pause to gather my thoughts. I hadn’t really planned this speech out. The mood in the Chamber is not yet where I need it to be. I take a deep breath and continue.

“I lost a brother to a condition that maybe; just maybe, we should have been able to heal. My own father begged and pleaded with a Professor who sits within this very chamber. Her hands were tied by the reality of Stain, and her lips were sealed by her vows.”

I set my brow and still my aching heart. I wasn’t Aunt Priya’s fault that she hadn’t been able to save Janus. I was too young to understand at the time; I had refused to speak to her for years. I continue my defence.

“There is a reason why we call our methods and frameworks ‘Theoreticals’. Because they are not Laws, cast in stone. They are ideas, theories that can grow and breathe. Now, with the support of the Third Society...”