“Hoarding sustenance,” she said as the wagon veered past a crowd of accusing eyes. One by one, they slowly turned to her, saying nothing, yet she knew their minds as keenly as though they’d spoken them.How do I prove that I’ve done nothing wrong if even I can’t tell anymore?
“It’s a difficult matter, but you’ll have answers soon,” she said firmly to every barbed question thrown her way as she rode past. “Yes, Head Tetrarch Cassandane is aware. All will be well.”
And as she rounded the curve that took her out of sight of the Grains Guild’s horreum of death, she was painfully aware that Anek knew exactly when she’d been lying.
“A tale of two countries. That’s how most historians view our land. The starving north and the well-fed south squabbling over the allocation of resources as though there remains a question of entitlement. In case the mountain of research I have condensed into these pages for you wretched southerners doesn’t make it clear, I’m saying that the north deserves as much as you have. I’m saying that while you sit in your domii and feast, the north withers. In your limited understanding of poverty, you dare believe that a poorly negotiated, centuries-old Act entitles you to our resources. I say you ask for civil war. The north may be politically weak, but we understand more of hardship than you lot ever will. We will rally around evil if it means remaining untouched by what you call good.
And when we come and dispossess you of all you took for granted, we will show you the same sympathy that you showed us.”
—excerpt fromTheDistributionDeprivation Act: Legal Robbery, author unknown
Afternoon brought an odd banality to the day that sat ill with her after the horreum and its aftermath.
She’d endured an ear-splitting conversation with Grains Guildmaster Ioratius that had begun with her offering her condolences on the loss of over thirty of his Guildspeople and ended with them threatening to arraign each other on charges of theft—him for hoarding grain from the country, and her for pillaging it and sending it north—and reachingan impasse. But the rest of the day had been… pleasant. The cases were simple, the cold not too sharp, and the throng that engulfed the marketplace in which Kadra held court was blessedly quiet. The petitions spanning the length of the table they worked from had dwindled over the afternoon with nary a screech of “mountain bitch” or worse. It felt wholly ominous.
Tomorrow would be a different beast. Cassandane was already informing the vigiles at Edessa’s four points of entry to examine all who entered the city for welts.Word will spread, and another wave of anti-northern sentiment will flood the city. What a havïd mess.
Telling herself to enjoy the quiet while it lasted, Sarai winced at the renewed cheer on the crowd’s faces. How ironic that she’d sought to convince them only three days ago that the Elsar hadn’t cursed the land and now was barely sure of it herself. How badly would this fragile peace shatter tomorrow?
“It was terrifying!” the plaintiff whose case she was supposed to be hearing suddenly cried. Sarai jumped. “I had no other choice!”
She glanced at the petition.Guildsman of the Wine and Spirits Guild seeking restitution. She started at the listed defendant, wondering if her eyes had it right.The north?
“The crowd swarmed my wagon—I mean, theGuildwagon—like gnats. I’ve never feared so greatly for my life. Naturally, I ran and left the wagon behind,” the Guildsman finished.
Kadra smiled pleasantly. “Naturally.”
“I shouldn’t have to pay for the missing goods.Ididn’t ask the north to riot. Least it can do is compensate me for the value.”
“‘The north’ isn’t a valid defendant,” Sarai said wearily. “Can you describe your attackers?”
“How would I know? These mountainfolk all look alike!”
Sarai frowned. His voice held the defiant thrum of a man who believed what he was saying, even if it wasn’t necessarily how others would see it.
“What were you doing in that marketplace?” Kadra’s arrowlike gaze pinned the Guildsman. “Guild wagons are to deliver their allotments under the Distribution Act directly to the locale’s receiving warehouses or to establishments that purchased additional quantities.”
Guilt snuck into the man’s eyes and fled just as quickly. “Just stopped to examine some wares.”
Just stopped to make a secret profit off marketgoers and deliver the remaining goods to the warehouse while shrugging about how the quantities came up short. She turned to Kadra and smiled at the exasperation in the stern line of his lips.
“Furtumis a crime.” Kadra used the Corpus Juris Totus’s term for theft. “The north has already compensated you well.”
The man turned purple. “I am owed for an entirewagonlost. This doesn’t compare to small profits here and there—”
“You’ve been a Guildsman for some twelve years,” Kadra’s voice took on the quiet timbre that meant danger. “Your skimming will have earned you enough to account for several wagons of supplies. Your case is dismissed.”
Vigiles waved the man off when he attempted to argue further. Cries of “but my coin!” faded into the background.
She shook her head, sigh deepening upon unrolling their final case of the day. Assault, oriniuria, as per the ancient tongue used in the Corpus. Junia of Edessa was demanding compensation for apparently horrific injuries caused by one Lucanus.This could get ugly.
Surveying the crowd while Kadra called both parties to the chairs in the middle of the marketplace, she stared in confusion when a pair of silk-robed nobles stalked forth, looking equally put out with each other. Neither looked horrifically injured.
Kadra considered the duo. “What manner of assault brings you here?”
Junia rose with trembling lips. “I have beendisfigured!” she wailed. “How am I supposed to go out in public likethis?” Before Sarai could stop her, she flung off her birrus and robes in one swift movement, leaving her clad only in her undergarments.
Gaius’s neck nearly snapped at the speed with which he looked away. Lascivious howls rose from the now-boisterous crowd while Sarai sighed into her palm.Wisdom’s teeth, it’s winter. “Please put your clothes back—” She caught sight of Junia’s bare shoulders and jumped out of her seat. Ugly, familiar welts patterned her skin, arcing down her chest.
