Judgement - Part 4

Nauzet visited them twice during the following day. He always had an excuse to be there but the conversations quickly drifted into something different and ended up talking about Lu’s travels, Nauzet’s students, or how the prison food was about the same quality as the one they were given in the army or in the public dining halls in the city. After the elf left for the last time, three hours before their scheduled meeting with the judge, Lu sad down on their bed staring at the wall for a few minutes. Hands crossed over their chest, focused on taking air in, slowly and in deep breaths. Counting to ten in, counting to ten out. In. Out. In. Out. Today their breathing exercise didn’t quite manage to fully quiet their mind. What if it went wrong? What if it was a trap? Was it really wise to trust someone who they had only known for a day? Were they stupid for having stopped to look for an escape? What if there was something the Empire wanted from them? What if… What if… What if…? No. They had already made the decision to trust Nauzet and were going to stick to it. There was no other option, without magic, without any possessions, being a known rogue mage… The elf seemed confident on their chances, and really there was no point on setting any type of ‘trap’ if he wanted something from them. He could have asked anything and they would have had no choice but to comply, and yet asked for nothing but for Lu to allow him to help. He was good, and a friend of their parents. They hoped everything went well and that maybe someday they would have the chance to repay his help.

Lu was waken up shortly after finally falling asleep with a loud bang on the door. Without waiting for an answer, the same guard that brought them food yesterday opened the door and left a wooden box next to the door. “Floor seventeen. The High Mage will be waiting next to the lift.” She said with a deep raspy voice and left without closing the door.

Lu opened the box and looked inside. All their things were there: clothes and armour washed and neatly folded, their sword was polished… Even the money and stolen jewellery. They took time to dress themselves with their gambeson, their cloak over the shoulders and the sword on their belt. It felt weird to dress like that to go to their appointment, but Nauzet suggested that it would be the appropriate thing to do. Lu even spent a couple of minutes counting the money and every last coin was there, all of them individually cleaned. With every possession tucked away in their backpack, Lu walked out of the cell and turned left towards the stairs. They arrived at a wide hall with a thick wooden door blocking access to the lift. Next to it over the grey stone wall there was a metal button with a subtle golden shrine. It had ‘-1’ engraved on it. Lu had never used a lift before, it was one of those luxuries that only the important buildings in capital cities could have. They looked right to see the stairs spiralling upwards around the cylindrical tower that housed the elevator. Eighteen floors. After hesitating for a moment they decided to press the button, which turned green. Lu waited for a about a minute staring at the door. A pair of guards walked down through the stairs and stopped their conversation when they saw Lu waiting there, eyeing them without saying a word. They continued walking through the hallway and resumed their conversation once they were far away enough. Lu started unconsciously tapping with their foot on the floor, looking around.

The doors opened by themselves without warning and Lu jumped backwards slightly. Behind the door there were five people. Three guards, one of them wearing a suit of armour with golden accents that Lu immediately recognized as belonging to a captain. There was also an pale elf with short hair wearing a green silk dress with some weird symbols embroidered in it with golden thread. He was wearing an stole similar to that of Nauzet, but this one had purple, dust grey and lavender stripes and only three gold circles. The fifth person was standing in the back of the room: a young man wearing a dark suit without sleeves and thick leather gloves.

“Are you going up?” Asked the man at the back.

Only then Lu realised that they had been staring at the people in the lift in silence for a few seconds. “Oh yeah sorry.” They walked in, head down avoiding the stares. “I am going to floor seventeen.”

“Happy to be of service” The man answered.

The room was a cylinder with the wall painted with a detailed mural of fields outside the city as if they were being seen from the very top of the Lightnouse. Eight straight roads pointed outwards, evenly distributed, and in between them you could see the farms, crops and even some of the distant towns. Lu even recognized the farm where they had spent the night and the road they had used to come to the city. Over the exquisite painting next to the man in a suit was a metal plaque with 25 lights, numbered from -5 to 19, with the one marked as “-1” lit up in a golden glow. Lights ‘2’, ‘7’, ‘15’ and ‘17’ were lit in green. To its right there was a steel wheel about half a metre in diameter with a leaver attached to it, which the man with the gloves held and started spinning clockwise with considerable effort, causing the doors to shut as fast as they had opened. The floor of the room was a metal platform with some golden essence crystals encrusted in it and as the man continued to spin the wheel a wave of light pulsated from the central crystals and move outwards, illuminating the ones in the edges last. A full spin of the wheel took about five seconds and caused the lift to go up a single floor. Fifteen seconds later they reached the second floor where the three guards left. Inside the room Lu didn’t feel like anything was moving at all as the flow of people in an out of the elevator continued while it made its way towards the top of the lighthouse. Lu and the other mage stepped out simultaneously on floor seventeen, he was decisive with his walk moving forward and turning right past the stairs while Lu took only a few tentative steps, looking in all directions like a lost child. They had no further directions, Nauzet was supposed to be there.

“Look who decided to go back to work!” A high pitch voice said from where the mage had just disappeared out of view. “Is it you that petitioned the appointment we have now?”

Nauzet’s soft voice replied. “Have you missed me?” He laughed. “Indeed, I expect to convince the judge to allow the rogue mage I told you about to earn an imperial pardon.”

“Well, good luck with that, you know how she is in the mornings.” The other voice replied in a cheerful tone. Lu heard some steps coming towards them and saw the mage that arrived with them turn the corner. He looked at them up and down for a few seconds before turning their head to the side to speak to Nauzet “Is this friend of yours by any chance a very androgynous-looking human with old armour and a permanently confused expression?”

Lu frowned and stared the elf down. “Cunt.” They muttered.

A book slammed closed out of view and Nauzet revealed himself walking past the other elf to meet Lu, stretching his arm forwards and gently grabbing their hands. “Ah here they are! Jay, this is Lu. Lu, this is Highmage Jayard’arhiel but his friends call him Jay.”

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Jay raised his right hand to his face touching his index and thumb together, forming a circle with his fingers. He placed the circle over his right eye and looked at Lu through it, as if he was analysing them through some sort of lens. “Doesn’t seem like anything special is going on in there. Are you sure you want to put that much effort into this child?”

Lu crossed their arms in front of their chest and was about to respond but was interrupted by Nau. “Would you believe me if I told you that this child is able to cast Longstep without a focus and without any training?” He then turned to Lu and lowered his voice “Don’t listen to him, he is just enjoys being mean.”

The petty twink paused for a moment and dramatically leaned backwards while taking a hand to his chest, as if in shock. “If you weren’t such a boring person I would believe you are pulling my leg.” He looked at Lu through his fingers again. “You should do a little demonstration!” He smiled.

“So where is it we have to go?” Lu said turning to Nauzet, ignoring the other elf’s theatrics.

“Ah, the courtroom is just over here. It should be only about half an hour if everything goes smoothly.” Nau responded as he and Lu started walking. Jay lifted his chin in an indignant gesture and followed them.

“I need you to hold yourself together.” Nauzet continued “A Judge’s presence can be a lot to handle, try to focus and pay attention, sit down if you need to.”

A few metres of walking later they were in front of a closed double oak door with a guard standing on each side, spears in hand and eyeing the three of them. They did a quick salute to the elves by raising their right arm to be parallel to the floor, with the elbow in a right angle and the hand closed into a fist in front of their chest. Almost reflexively Lu straightened their posture and repeated the salute back, much to the confusion of both guards. Jay walked to the door and opened them just enough to pass through without revealing the interior. Lu felt a pressure in their chest, momentarily out of breath and stumbled slightly having to hold Nauzet's arm to keep balance.

“Good luck!” Jay said after dedicating a forced smile to Lu, closing the door behind him.

“He will participate in the trial as expert advisor in arcane matters.” Nauzet whispered to Lu. “We need to wait to be invited in. I am usually the one assisting the Judge in these situations because I have a higher grade than Jayard but, as you can understand, I can’t be the petitioner and the advisor.”

Lu nodded.

The elf contained a laugh. “I think that is why he is so pissed today, he hates paperwork.”

“Well, I am not really comfortable about all of this either so he can suck it up.” Lu spat back.

Their conversation was interrupted by the creaking of the heavy doors as they opened wide to invite them in. A warm gold light washed over them and Lu fell to the floor, slamming both hands down to avoid hitting their head. Everything was spinning and they started hyperventilating. It was just as if a giant wave of sheer presence had suddenly crashed over them, like they there was a giant hand crushing their lungs, heart and mind. Lu felt paralyzed like a chick in front of a hungry fox. They mustered enough strength to lift their head up and look to the room bathed in golden light where a figure wearing white robes was sitting behind a raised deck. Behind them covering the wall hung the flag of the empire: top half white, bottom half green, and a golden dragon curled into a circle in the middle. To the right of the Judge was Jay, sitting on a lower desk with a magic book like Nauzet’s open in front of him and to her left, opposite to the mage, was an old man wearing some jewellery resembling a crown. In front of all of them standing at ground level below all of the desks was a paladin wearing full plate armour covered in gold engraving and boasting at least ten huge magic crystals. He had an unsheathed greatsword almost as tall as he was held in their hands with its tip resting on the floor, ready to be swung. The source of the holy light was halo that the Judge had around their head, covering their eyes.

Nauzet helped Lu stand up. Their head was foggy. It was getting worse. Every step seemed to take hours, it felt like their body was out of their control. Slowly they made their way inside the room and sat down on a chair… or was it the floor? Their mouth tasted weird. “...in about twenty years you could have a fully capable locomancer…” That was Nauzet, it sounded like Nauzet, but as if they were talking from rooms away. Lu’s eyelids were heavy. They hit their head on the wall. Numb hands. “...I miss dad…” That was Lu’s voice, but they didn’t remember saying it. The judge was very tall or were they sitting very high up? Nauzet had said to focus. That’s right, focus. Lu closed their eyes, and opened them again, blinking fast and massaging their temples. The door slammed close behind them.

“We did it!” Nauzet exclaimed with a wide smile on his face.

“We… What?” Lu looked around. They were outside the room in the hallway with the two guards, but these were two different guards. “What happened?”

“Oh I am so sorry, the first few times it is disarming. Very powerful magic.” Nauzet was holding their hand and had slowly began to walk to the lift, taking Lu along with him. “What do you remember?”

“Like… Nothing? The door opened, I fell… and we were out. Nothing much really. Locomancer or something like that you said?” Lu scratched their chin trying to remember, but their memories were muddy and barely made any sense, like trying to remember a weeks-old dream.

“Well, just to give you the gist of it…” Nauzet called the lift. “I exposed the fact that you are a misguided individual in need of tutelage. I suggested sending you to Dragon Isle University to train in magic and if you manage to become an acolyte... an low-level mage, that should be proof that you are a proper citizen and fully reformed since you need to take ethics classes and pass an interview.”

“So I just need to pass an exam convince some mage from the university that I am good and that is it?” Lu asked.

“Well… You have six months, until the next Investiture ceremony, which is your deadline.” Nauzet wasn’t smiling anymore. “I suggested you would need at least one year, but the Judge said that ‘their efforts and feats should be as exceptional as the forgiveness they seek’.”

“So… is that bad?”

“You are going to have to study and practise non-stop in order to pass the written exams and the demonstration. For the interview you also need to prepare, is not trivial.” The lift stopped and Lu and Nau walked out, going back to Lu’s cell. “I have a friend on the Island. He is an archmage. I will write him a letter so you can give it to him explaining the situation, he should be able to help you.”

Lu didn’t say anything, they were trying to retain all this new information and consider the implications. As they arrived to their cell, they turned around to ask. “So, what happens if I don’t get it?”

“They will keep an eye on you, the Judge didn’t specify how. If you do anything out of line or you do not fulfil any of your goals, you will be declared a rogue mage again and there wont be a third chance.”

Lu looked into Nauzet’s eyes, looking for reassurance, for words of encouragement. But there was nothing but concern.

“Also, you need to pay twenty thousand imperial seals back within five years.”

“Twenty thousand!? I didn’t even know there were ten thousand seals in all of the empire!”

“Hopefully once you become an acolyte and get your magic licence you will get good jobs to pay for your debt. It is more urgent that you practise to pass the exams. I will put you in contact with my friend, Archmage Xherez’elbes’kiir.” Nauzet turned around and walked away hastily. “You need to stay in your cell for the night, tomorrow morning they will send someone to take you to the Isle.”

“Nau”

“Yeah?” Nauzet turned around to find Lu next to them. Before he could process what was happening, Lu had warped both arms around his chest in a clumsy hug.

“Thank you.”

“Ah, it is nothing. I would just hate to see you go to waste.” He returned the hug.

After a few moments they separated, and with a smile Lu went back to her cell to wait. A guard locked it and they remained inside for the rest of the day. Between the relief of having a chance at earning their freedom and the lack of sleep from last night, they fell asleep as soon as they laid on the bed.