Thunderhead (Arc of a Scythe #2)(117)
Then the Clerk rose, and cleared his throat to make sure he had everyone’s attention for the formal opening of the proceedings.
“This is an inquest concerning the death and subsequent revival of Scythe Robert Goddard of MidMerica,” the Clerk proclaimed. “The party bringing said inquest is Scythe Anastasia Romanov of MidMerica.
“Just Scythe Anastasia,” she corrected, hoping the Council did not find it pretentious that she had chosen to go by only the doomed princess’s first name. Scythe Hideyoshi grunted, making it clear that he did find it so.
Then Xenocrates stood and bellowed an announcement to all present. “May the Clerk please note that I, Grandslayer Xenocrates, have recused myself from this proceeding, and henceforth shall remain silent through its completion.”
“Xenocrates silent?” said Grandslayer Nzinga with a mischievous grin. “Now I know we’ve entered the realm of the impossible.”
That brought more laughter than Cromwell’s previous quips. It was easy to see the relative power structure here. Kahlo, Nzinga, and Hideyoshi seemed to be the most respected. The others either jockeyed for position or, like MacKillop, the quietest of them, ignored pecking order politics completely. Xenocrates, as the freshman Grandslayer, was paying his dues and thus was an object of their derision. Anastasia almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
Rather than respond to Nzinga’s jab, Xenocrates sat himself down quietly, proving his ability to remain silent.
Now the Supreme Blade addressed the four scythes in the center of the circle. “We are already aware of the particulars of this case,” she said. “We have resolved to remain impartial until we’ve heard the persuasions of both sides. Scythe Anastasia, as this action was brought about by you, I will ask you to begin. Please put forth your argument as to why Scythe Goddard should not be eligible to be a High Blade.”
Anastasia took a deep breath, stepped forward, and prepared to begin, but before she could, Goddard stepped forward.
“Your Supreme Excellency, if I may—”
“You’ll get your turn, Goddard,” said Kahlo, cutting him off. “Unless of course you’re so good, you want to argue both sides.”
That generated a few chuckles from the other Grandslayers.
Goddard gave a small, apologetic bow. “I beg the forgiveness of the council for my outburst. The floor is yours, Scythe Anastasia. By all means, begin your performance.”
In spite of herself, Anastasia found that Goddard’s interruption left her rattled, like a false start in a race. Which was, of course, his intent.
“Your Exalted Excellencies,” she began. “In the Year of the Antelope, it was determined by early members of this very council that scythes shall be trained, mind and body, in a year-long apprenticeship.” She moved around, trying to make eye contact with each of the Grandslayers around her. One of the more intimidating, and probably intentional, things about an audience with the World Council, was that you never quite knew whom to address, and for how long, because your back would always be to somebody. “Mind and body,” she repeated. “I’d like to ask the Parliamentarian to read the scythedom’s policy on apprenticeship aloud. It begins on page 397 of the scythedom’s volume on Precedents and Customs.”
The Parliamentarian obliged the request, and read all nine pages of it.
“For an organization with only ten laws,” commented Amundsen, “we sure have a lot of rules.”
When the reading was complete, Anastasia continued. “All that just to make it very clear how to go about making a scythe—because scythes are not born, they are made. Forged in the same trial by fire that we all went through, because we know how critical it is that a scythe be ready for the burden, body and soul.” She paused to let it sink in, and as she did, she caught the gaze of Scythe Rand, who was smiling at her. It was the kind of smile that preceded the clawing out of one’s eyes. Anastasia refused to let herself be rattled again.
“There is so much written about the process of becoming a scythe because the World Council has had to preside over many unexpected situations over the years, and kept having to add and clarify rules.” Then she began to list a few of those situations. “An apprentice who attempted self-gleaning after being ordained, but before accepting the ring. A scythe who cloned himself in an attempt to pass his ring on to the clone before self-gleaning. A woman who supplanted her own mind with the mental construct of Scythe Sacajawea, and claimed the right to glean. In all these cases, the World Council decided against the individuals in question.”
Now Anastasia looked over at Scythe Goddard for the first time, forcing herself to meet his steely gaze. “The event that destroyed Scythe Goddard’s body was a terrible thing, but he can’t be allowed to defy the council’s edicts. The fact is, like that misguided woman with the mind of Scythe Sacajawea, Goddard’s new physical body didn’t undergo the rigorous preparations of apprenticeship. This would be bad enough if he was just any scythe, but he’s not just any scythe—he’s a candidate for High Blade of a major region. Yes, we know who he is from the neck up, but that is only a small fraction of what makes a human being. I ask you to listen to him when he delivers his argument, and you’ll hear in his voice what we already know: ?We have no idea whose voice is speaking, which means we have no idea who he is. All that we can be certain of is that ninety-three percent of him is not Scythe Robert Goddard. With that in mind, there is only one decision that this council can make.”