The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (little red riding hood ebook free .txt) 📕

the harm donemust require a commensurate penalty. You will be stripped of thetitle, ‘Protector of the Northern Reach’, but you will retain thetitle Count di’ Cameron, so that your heir, who is blameless ofthese crimes, may inherit it. I sentence you to death by hanging,to be carried out immediately.”

As the words rang out Ifound myself numb. Next time, I shouldlisten to Rose, I thought as what seemedto be a very heavy stone settled in my stomach. Penny’s hands roseto her braids, reaching for the metal cylinders that capped them. Iknew instinctively that they must be weapons.

Desperate I looked around the room.Harold stood opposite me, next to the Queen. Whatever his feelingsmight be, I could only assume he would act on behalf of the courtif my wife attacked. The extra guards and Gareth weighed on me. Inan instant the Hall of Lords could turn into abattlefield.

There would be no winners.

Reaching out, I put one hand overPenny’s, “No,” I said softly. “We can’t win.”

Rose nudged me then, and I realized Ihad missed a question from the High-Justicer.

“Huh?” I said in someconfusion.

“Do you have any last words to say?”he repeated.

I blinked and took a deep breath.“Yes, Your Lordship, I would like to address the full assembly oflords.”

“You have one minute to speak,” hereplied.

Facing the gathering, I put on adetermined face. “While I find the court’s decision to be just, Iwould like to reiterate that I did only the best I could underunusual circumstances. If I could change what happened in Tremont,I would. As for the Duke himself, I am unrepentant. I would alsogive warning to any here who may have secretly conspired with him.I have returned from death once already. Should I discover that anyof you were in league with him, or should any of you create a newconspiracy against our queen, I will find a way to do so again.There will be no refuge that can hide the traitors from myretribution.”

A number of people’s faces went paleas I spoke. The fire in my eyes left no doubt, even my death wouldnot grant safety to the wicked. I hoped they would lose sleep overit.

Another messenger from the Queen foundthe High-Justicer’s ear, and after a moment he held up his handagain.

“In accordance with our ancient lawand custom, our monarch reserves the right of pardon. Rather thanforce her hand, she has instructed the court to commute LordCameron’s sentence. Out of respect, I will do so, rather than seejustice diverted,” announced the Earl of Winfield.

Now I was confused. “What does thatmean?” I asked Rose.

“It means the Queen will use her rightto pardon you if the High-Justicer refuses to amend your sentence.Rather than let that happen, he has agreed to give you a lesserpenalty,” she explained in a whisper.

Relief washed over me.

The High-Justicer continued,“Therefore I will reduce the sentence to a fine of twenty gold, tobe paid for the death of every person who died in the attack onTremont’s estate, and ten lashes to be administered at noontomorrow. The gold paid as a result of these fines will be given tothe heirs and relatives of those who died. For those with nofamilial survivors, which I understand are many, the gold will beheld to assist whomever the Queen grants title of those landsto.”

While I should have been glad to befree of the threat of death, it was hard to be overjoyed by thereplacement. Ariadne was frowning at Earl Winfield from herposition behind him, clearly displeased with his substitution, butshe said nothing. Her only option at that point would have been topardon me anyway and overturn the entire trial.

A lashing for a peer of the realm wasvirtually unheard of, and the humiliation that accompanied such apublic event was probably viewed as barely preferable to death bythe majority of the noblemen present.

Lashes in Lothion were not ascivilized or humane as they were in Gododdin. There they used ashort rod that terminated in a number of thin plaited leatherstrips. It was painful, but unless the number of lashes given wasvery high, it wasn’t dangerous.

Lothion however, had a differenttradition that had probably originated with early punishments givenon board ships. In Lothion lashes were administered with a mediumlength leather whip that was capable of slicing through the skin ofthe prisoner if done by someone with sufficient force andskill.

As a result, the number of lashesgiven as punishment in Lothion was generally low, two or three formost offenses. Five or six were used for very serious crimes, andmore than that was unusual. Ten could be dangerous if the personpunished wasn’t treated promptly to stop bleeding. A sentence oftwenty sometimes resulted in death even with prompttreatment.

I was willing to bet that the royalflogger took great pride in his work.

Penny was shaking withrage.

“Penny, you’ve got to calm down,” Rosetold her, for she seemed on the verge of a violentbreakdown.

“You’re not taking this!” said mywife, glaring at me indignantly. “To hell with them, they can’t dothis to you.”

I smiled bravely, “Winfield never didlike me, but I will survive.” My courage never felt as false as itdid then.

“We don’t need these people, Mort. Wedon’t need the titles or the money. We can…”

“…talk about this later,”I interrupted. Too many eyes and ears were focused onus.

Lifting our heads we let the finalmoments of the court play out until I was dismissed, and then weretired from the hall. We were in dark spirits when we finallyleft, but Penny and I did our damnedest to keep from showing it toanyone there.

Chapter 53

Our debate that evening had beenheated and bitter.

Penny had thought we should abandon itall, rather than accept the punishment. I felt otherwise. In theend it wasn’t something she was able to persuade me on.

There were a number of possible waysmagic could make the lashing less painful. A shield would negatethe entire thing, but that would be noticeable. Subtlystrengthening the skin could prevent a lot of the damage and reducethe pain somewhat, but again, it might be noticeable.

Blocking the nerves, as I did whenhealing, could save me from the worst part of the experience, andsince I could heal the damage immediately