(Continued from Part 2 Installment 9)
"Today, the value of life is implicit, not explicit, in the law," I stared at the upper door jamb of the hall to avoid all those eyes watching me and ignored my queasy stomach. "Coyn under the law have no rights and their lives are governed by laws either for property or for livestock. That being said, one can surmise that the life of one Coyn is valued at least as high as quality goats and sheep, since a proven breeding pair of either animal from the best breeds fetches at least 100 silver.
"Oyseray sent ten Coyn to the grave. Since they were property, this was not murder under Foskan law. Because they were livestock, she was fined for cruelty committed ten times. There is, by the way, no fine nor penalty for cruelty to Coyn when committed nine or fewer times.
"Foskan law, in general, forbids wrong acts, punishes wrong deeds, and attempts to prevent wrong actions from happening. Treating your slaves cruelly is forbidden. Cruelty may be punished if committed too many times, and a repeat offender can not own or contract slaves ever again. Nor may a repeat offender live where there are many slaves nearby.
"Prohibition, punishment, and prevention are the three main goals in Foskan law. Why this is germane will become obvious in just a bit.
"Oyseray came to Arkmet unable to own a slave and forbidden to live where slaves were plentiful. These provisions were designed to prevent the repeat of a previous crime. But the law of cruelty is broken. It could not prevent a further incident between the violent Oyseray and a Coyn.
"One could argue that the fine failed as a deterrent. One can argue the limitation on where Oyseray could live also failed as a preventative measure. The sad irony is that Oyseray learned she should not be around Coyn and she took her own steps to prevent that. All this failed because no measure prescribed in the law was sufficient to prevent what happened between me and Oyseray.
"No one posted a sign on Oyseray's door saying: 'No Coyn Allowed. Beware of Hostile Cosm. Coyn Do Not Enter.' Surely, in hindsight of Oyseray's status as a ten-time killer of Coyn, this was willful ignorance on the part of the Foskan system of justice because the Kingdom of Foskos should have known and acted better.
"One could argue that Foskan justice was remiss in trying to remove Oyseray's potential victims instead of removing the killing tendencies of Oyseray herself. In a place where magic can compel a change in how a person acts, why did no one compel Oyseray to act differently? She is no silverhair or halfhair who could oppose or resist a compulsion to never touch a Coyn ever again. Why did no one consider that?
"There is more," I held up a hand at the growing murmuring. "I present to you the case of Aylem Nonkin. She escaped both childhood and a shrine education with a potentially lethal mental illness. The Convocation agreed in hindsight last year that they should have intervened to prevent the violent temper in the most powerful Cosm mage known to history. One could argue that the Shrines were remiss in not healing the illness in Aylem Nonkin when she was young, before an adverse pattern of behavior was established. Consider what a compulsion to delay acting on anger might have done for the Blessed Aylem if imposed before the power of her magic became too great to resist.
"Granted, the Convocation did discuss the extreme remedy of removing Aylem from this life because of the danger she posed to others. Before that decision could be made, it was taken out of their hands when Tiki made Aylem the first revelator in six centuries at the age of nine. Regardless, when Aylem killed me, the justice system was ready to try and execute her for the crime of killing a sacred person despite her status as a sacred person herself.
"Hence, the gods intervened a second time. The gods valued the life of Aylem Nonkin higher than the Kingdom of Foskos did. This should inform us of something that the kingdom has ignored: if the gods intervene to prevent the law from acting contrary to divine will, then the law is broken. That's because the first purpose of the law is to align the actions of the sapient races with the will of the gods.
"Do not make the mistake that sacred persons are above the law because normally they would not be. Up until now, there were no revelators who were not Cosm mages. The law currently errs on the side of execution for powerful mages because it is practical. The magic to incapacitate the magic of a powerful silverhair is much more difficult than execution. The Convocation considered the extreme step of execution for Aylem Nonkin last year because it was practical, and because it is human nature to desire retribution for extraordinary wrongs. In doing so, the Convocation did not consider the value the gods had already invested in Aylem's life, nor did it consider trying to cure Aylem of her illness until after the gods intervened."
I had made my opening. Now it was time to start pulling the house down.
"Holy One," I looked at Fassex, which startled her. "Would you be so kind as to cast a compulsion upon me to speak only the truth without omission? There must be no doubt about what I say next."
I just loved the look of disbelief she gave me as she grasped her crystal from where it hung around her neck and wordlessly cast the charm. I felt it pass through and it was strange, like being tickled from the inside out.
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"Thank you," I nodded and smiled, and then went back to addressing the small crowd of large Cosm: "A criminal silverhair is close to impossible to control or imprison and presents a clear danger to society. The gods themselves were prepared to remove Aylem from this life during the worst of her recent illness because it would be too dangerous to allow her to live if she were incurable."
Despite the small number of people in attendance, the noise this generated from those both standing and sitting was surprising, though I should have expected it in hindsight. I held up a hand to quiet the crowd.
Aylem's face had gone white and her eyes were round with fear. She was looking at me as if she had never seen me before. I don't know what was going through her head but it was nothing less than profound, at least to her.
"This is why, Great One," I looked right at Aylem, "the gods woke me in the middle of the night to visit you in Black Falls. Galt said that if you had fled a second time from your troubles, you would have been lost to incurable insanity and they would have taken you from this life. Preventing your flight from Black Falls was nothing less than saving your life. Erhonsay warned me about this in advance three seasons ago, on the day after Cold Season Midday."
Those bits of previously-unrevealed knowledge almost brought the roof down. Even the unflappable Lisaykos dropped her public stone face and was looking at me with round eyes. I had to ask Kamagishi to quell the crowd so I could continue, which I did once silence reigned again.
"In the case of Oyseray, the law valued a Cosm life higher than the lives of ten Coyn, whose true worth we will now never know because Oyseray destroyed her own property, as was her right under the law. We can not try her for the crime of ten murders because killing livestock is not murder. Yet the law begrudgingly concedes there is more to livestock than just being property, which is why the cruelty law exists.
"Were I just another Coyn, Oyseray would have been fined for throwing me in a bush, for both the loss of my labor due to injury and for the cost of my healing. The fine would be split between my owner and the Shrine of Mugash. If I was just another Coyn, she would also not be on trial today for her life. But Tiki made me a revelator to give value to my life in the eyes of Cosm because Coyn in Foskos are valued no higher than goats and sheep under the law. Many Cosm in Foskos, like Oyseray, do not value Coyn at all.
"So now, I arrive at my third legal opinion, which is: Foskan law is not aligned with the divine will of the gods, and thus is broken. The law must be fixed so that verdicts and punishments take into account the value of life. All lives for all the people in all six races have value in the eyes of the gods. An enslaved griffin has less value under Foskan law than a free griffin. This is not the will of the gods, who do not care if someone is legal property or free. It is an artificial distinction inserted into the law 14 years ago in reaction to the backlash by certain Lord Holders at the end of the Mounts' War when they objected to giving enslaved mounts too many rights.
"Some lives are viewed by the gods as having greater value than others, but outside the small group of sacred persons, the gods' view is that all other lives are equal regardless of race. The laws punishing crimes against all members of all six sapient races must value lives the same way. Under the current broken law, killing a free mount is murder but killing a Coyn is no crime: it's merely the disposal of property subject to a tax penalty. This practice must end."
"It may be argued, and I am sure some will argue, that a Coyn life has less value than a Cosm one because of the obvious differences between size, strength, and magic. That is a short-sighted view made solely from the Cosm perspective. Can Cosm fly like griffins and winged horses if they are not silverhairs? Can silverhairs fly for more than a bell if they are not Aylem Nonkin? Can Cosm live indefinitely both underwater or on land like the Chem? Can Cosm can see as well as roc eagles? Can Cosm cut 100 threads per finger-width in a metal fastener or weave 500 count linen like the Coyn? Can Cosm can live on less than 10 stone of food in a rotation like the Coyn and the Chem?
"Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses. The law should not value life on a Cosm standard but on a standard that values each race for what it can do best, whether it is flight, agriculture, aquaculture, magic, detailed crafting work, or many other things that I am sure I will think of later when I do not need to speak off the top of my head.
"Today, over seven of every ten statutes in Foskos are to protect the rest of Cosm society from the powers of the silverhairs. The rest deal with taxation, property, labor, and shrine affairs. None of the statutes, except for the treaty with the winged races, deal with the other races except as livestock. For the Cosm race tasked with the oversight and protection of the other five races, this is a grievous flaw in the law. Nor is this limited to just Foskos. This must change in every country until all laws everywhere are aligned with the will of the gods.
"Oyseray, in hindsight, your fate and the fate of the ten Coyn you killed should have been different. Those offenses are done and past and I will not judge your crime based on those deaths. Regardless, you have been the source of great suffering. I know their suffering was great because I too have suffered the cold, without shelter, and lacking enough food to eat. I too have skirted injuries close to death at the hands of Cosm. Without the rescue provided me by Aylem Queen and the generosity of the Shrine of Mugash, I too could have died like your ten Coyn. No Cosm can know this suffering because no Cosm will ever walk a wagon-day while wearing Coyn feet.
"Oyseray of Arkmet Village, I find you guilty of sacrilege due to willful ignorance, because it is absurd to think that throwing a Coyn a distance of 40 hands into a bush would not result in injury. For your penalty, you will be stripped naked and chained to a boulder larger than you can move inside a lava cave on the edge of the Great Cracks. The location of your punishment will be known only to the adept of Landa who is your punisher. You will be given three rotations of water but nothing else. The entrance to the cave will be sealed so there will be no light to mark the passage of time. There you will be left alone in the cold and the dark to make your own peace with the gods. If the gods see fit to grant you the means of life, then so be it."
"Holy One," I looked at a disturbed Fassex, "please remove the compulsion." I turned to an equally-disturbed Kamagishi, "Holy One, would you please conclude this trial?"
I gave Aylem a look of appeal to get me upstairs so I might escape the beehive I had just knocked over. She looked as if she was waiting for me to do so, and without a word, she complied.
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