The light behind vos Hoven flashed again.
“Really?” Sogbourne murmured. “That’s an interesting theory, Specialist vos Hoven. Perhaps you’d care to explain to this Court why you’ve lied twice in the past ninety seconds?”
Vos Hoven’s face went totally blank, then collapsed into a sick expression as he realized what he’d done in his zeal to convict his nemesis. He started to jerk around to look at the lie-detection light behind him, then controlled that instinctive reaction and got himself turned around again, facing the officers of the court. Before he could say anything further, Commander of Five Hundred Anshair Kolthar, vos Hoven’s assigned defense counsel, was on his feet.
“Sir, counsel for the defense respectfully requests that all mention of the lie-detection alarm be stricken from the record.”
“On what grounds?” Sogbourne asked coldly.
“On the grounds that a lie-detection spell cannot be used to penalize a witness expressing opinion, rather than fact. Specialist vos Hoven was expressing his personal opinion that Hundred Olderhan bore a grudge against Fifty Garlath, a grudge moreover that was strong enough to send an inferior officer into harm’s way to rid him of a troublesome problem. While that opinion may be unpleasant to the majority of listeners, it’s still merely an opinion and cannot be used to the detriment of the witness expressing it. Again, counsel for the defense requests that all mention of the lie-detection spell’s alarm be stricken from the record.”
“An interesting request, Five Hundred.” Ten Thousand Rinthrak’s tone was cold enough to freeze fire. “An outright accusation of murder is not an expression of opinion, however. It constitutes libel, false witness, and a violation of the military code of conduct while under oath before a court-martial.
“Furthermore, the lie-detection spell didn’t register because the witness stated an opinion. It registered because the witness uttered a false opinion. If the accusation Specialist vos Hoven leveled at Hundred Olderhan had been vos Hoven’s true opinion, his statement wouldn’t have triggered the alarm.
“This court is left with the inescapable conclusion that Specialist vos Hoven lied about his ‘opinion’ as part of a pre-meditated attempt to destroy his commander’s career. His action is contemptible and your protest, Five Hundred, does not even merit a hearing, let alone being sustained.
“Be warned that you’re treading on extremely thin ice even raising such an objection when you know the mechanics of lie-detection spells and the regulations regarding them as well as you know your own name. If you don’t know them, you have absolutely no business being entrusted with the defense of anyone, not even someone who stands self-convicted of lying under oath about his superior officer. Do I make the court’s displeasure sufficiently clear, Sir?”
Sweat had popped out along Kolthar’s brow. “You do, Sir,” he said in a flat monotone.
“Very good. Sit down, Sir, and save your protests for legitimate points of statutory merit.”
He sat.
Bok vos Hoven swallowed hard under the court’s stony stares, and Sogbourne pinned him with a glare that had reduced grown men to gibbering shakes more than once.
“Need I remind you, vos Hoven, that you already face serious-indeed, perhaps capital-charges? If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t utter so much as one syllable that might be misconstrued as additional deliberate falsehood. Be advised that your false accusation of attempted murder against Hundred Olderhan will be added to the charges you already face.”
Sogbourne hadn’t thought it possible for a man to look more thoroughly terrified than vos Hoven already did, but that admonition did the trick. For a moment, he feared the shakira would slide to the floor and grovel on his belly. He got himself under control, however, and nodded in a movement made jerky by muscles locked tight against bone.
“Very well, I suggest you reconsider your testimony about the events leading to Fifty Garlath’s demise. Do you wish to re-phrase your account of them?”
Another jerky nod.
“Then proceed,” Sogbourne said coldly.
Whatever the lying bastard said, it ought to be interesting.
* * *
Commander of One Thousand Arnith Janvers, Count Tisbane, was-like most Andarans, when viewed from a more normal Ransaran height-tall enough to scrape the sky with his hair. Gadrial had begun to feel so small and so intimidated by the towering male bodies surrounding her everywhere she went that her temper had begun to simmer. Not that her temper needed much excuse, given the unholy circus which had enveloped people about whom she’d come to care deeply. The information Duke Garth Showma had shared with all of them was enough to fill anyone with fury; adding the stress of Jasak’s court-martial to it only made things worse, and the way in which so much hatred focused on Shaylar and Jathmar-the only two true innocents caught up in the entire rolling disaster-was sickening. It had taken her considerable self-control to refrain from incinerating some of the people behind that hatred-like that loathsome slime toad Minister vos Durgazon-on the spot. Just one well-placed levin bolt would’ve done it. There was, she thought darkly, a reason Magisters of the Hood took such binding oaths to use their Gifts for nothing but humankind’s good.
Eliminating vos Durgazon would serve humankind’s good, the back of her brain whispered to the front. Temptation was a terrible thing. At the moment, however, she faced a very different challenge. Count Tisbane was one of the finest attorneys money could buy. He was also a senior officer in the Judiciary General’s office who carried a reputation as a scrupulously honest man who was ruthless to adversaries and fiendishly intelligent.
If Tisbane had been assigned to this case as prosecutor, rather than Jasak’s defense attorney, Gadrial would have tasted despair. Instead, she took her seat in the witness’ box with a fair appearance of equanimity, folded her hands in her lap, swore the required oath of truthfulness, and waited for him to speak.
“Magister Gadrial,” he said in a soft, cultured voice that could have charmed bees into handing over honeycombs and dragons into rolling over to have their belly-plates scratched, “there are two main questions this court must resolve: was Hundred Olderhan derelict in his duty and did he perform his duties with good judgment.
“As a civilian, you won’t be able to assist the court in determining whether or not he was derelict in his duty, as that determination is made under a complex set of criteria embedded in Andaran military code and the Articles of War.”
She nodded, having already been briefed on that point.
“What you can do, Magister Gadrial, is assist the court in determining precisely what happened that day and whether or not Hundred Olderhan used good judgment in the performance of his duties as an officer, before the crisis, during the crisis, and after the crisis.
“You were present, either within view or within earshot, of all the main events this court must consider. As Hundred Olderhan’s defense attorney, I’ll ask a number of questions related to the issues the court must resolve. After I’ve questioned you, the Prosecutor will cross-examine you on many of those same points and, potentially, on issues I haven’t raised during my initial examination. If that’s the case, I’ll then be given a chance to discuss those new points with you, to clarify your testimony on behalf of my client’s defense. Is that clear and is that acceptable, Magister Gadrial?”
She drew a deep, silent breath and nodded. “Yes, it is.”
“Very well, let’s begin. How well did you know Hundred Olderhan when he took out the platoon that escorted you in the search for Halathyn vos Dulainah’s Class Seven Portal?”