Our backs against the wall

We're surrounded and afraid

Our lives now in the hands

Of the soldiers taking aim

-- Sleeping at Last, Mars

Many disasters started because of something that someone thought seemed like a good idea at the time. Infinitely more of them started because someone involved just didn't think at all. Many a general had created a battle plan that was foiled by the actions of an apparently unimportant soldier or overlooked detail.

Common sense told Abi that reacting badly when accused would just make her look guilty. In this case common sense was pitted against fear, anxiety, sleeplessness, and general stress. It was defeated. Roundly. Blind instinct took over as soon as Haliran mentioned necromancy. No matter what the situation blind instinct was not known for choosing the most logical course of action; just the one that would immediately neutralise whatever threat she faced. Attacking Haliran with magic seemed a perfectly reasonable thing to do in that moment.

Seconds later, with Haliran crumpled on the ground like a tossed-aside newspaper and the eyes of the entire courtroom on her, Abi realised it wasn't a reasonable thing to do at all.

Down on the courtroom floor her grandmother stared up at her with an unreadable expression. It was the sort of look that would strike terror into anyone's heart, even if they hadn't done anything to warrant it. Naturally it was even worse when Abi knew only too well she did warrant it. Ilaran gave her a look somewhere between horror and exasperation. Beside her Kiriyuki gave her a glare so fierce anyone would have thought she was trying to set Abi on fire. Uncle Arikimi's mouth hung open as if he'd forgotten to close it. A veritable sea of strangers' shocked faces gazed up at her.

Even the bravest person's courage would desert them when confronted with over a hundred rightly angry and horrified people. Abi turned and ran. The people between her and the exit shrank back as if they would suffer the same fate as Haliran just by being too close to her.

The door at the back of the seating area opened out onto the first floor's landing. Abi fully expected the guards to stop her as she charged through it, then ran down the stairs and out the main doors. Amazingly no one stopped her. She received a few bemused looks from servants as she hurtled past them. The guards at the gate paid no attention to her at all. She ran and ran until she was safely away from the Silver Palace.

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You could have heard a feather fall to the floor in the courtroom. Irímé found he hardly dared to breathe. He and Kitri could only stare at each other in horror.

That idiot! he thought over and over again.

They'd had a very good plan. Fool-proof, one might say. No one had taken Haliran's accusation seriously. It would have gone down as a particularly ludicrous attempt to deflect attention onto someone else if only Abihira hadn't decided to confirm it in front of everyone!

A small part of Irímé's mind was reluctantly impressed by how easily Abi had thrown Haliran around. Telekinetically picking up an inanimate object was harder than it looked. Use too much force and it would shoot up to the ceiling. Use too little and it wouldn't move at all. Telekinetically picking up a person, who was much heavier than, say, a book and much more likely to protest, was something very few immortals could do. For an adolescent immortal to toss an adult around the room with enough force to break a bone... Well, no wonder Abi could do impossible things like raise the dead. She clearly had far more magical power than anyone realised.

It was just a pity she'd used that power to make a spectacle of herself.

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Under any other circumstances someone could have taken it upon themselves to throw Haliran across the room and Ilaran wouldn't have batted an eyelid. He'd have applauded and asked them to do it again, in fact. Under these circumstances... Why, oh why, did Abihira have to attack Haliran at the worst possible moment?

Gradually the audience began to recover from their shock. Murmurs and exclamations rose from the crowd as they realised yes, that had happened, and yes, the perpetrator had escaped without being apprehended. Empress Raivíth cleared her throat. Silence fell again.

"Guards! Take Haliran-rúdaun to the holding cells and fetch a doctor."

A group of guards approached the motionless Haliran slowly and with much trepidation. Ilaran had to wonder if they thought they'd suffer the same fate just by going near her. At last they gathered enough courage to pick her up and carry her out of the courtroom.

Raivíth turned to the other guards who still remained. "Find Princess Abihira and bring her to me. There are a few questions I want to ask her. Now, in light of everything that has happened, I think everyone should go home. Court is adjourned for today."

That was code for "I know there's going to be a scandal involving one or more of my relatives and I don't want it to get out too soon".

All of Ilaran's thoughts had focused on the trial itself. He'd never given any thought to what happened afterwards. Certainly he had never anticipated this. Still, even though things hadn't gone quite as he planned, there was still cause for celebration. Haliran was under arrest and would be found guilty. Siarvin and Shizuki were safe from her and out of her clutches. They could start making arrangements to go back to Tananerl now.

"Come on," he said to Siarvin and Koyuki. Shizuki had let go of his arm after the, er, incident. Now he was hiding behind Siarvin and peering owlishly around at the departing audience. It was surprisingly cute for someone who looked as unsettling as Shizuki. "Let's go and have a drink."

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Among the people who hadn't left yet he spotted two familiar faces. One was Irímé, who apparently still hadn't recovered from witnessing his fiancée's idiocy. He looked as if he'd been turned to stone. The other was Luamon. She looked helplessly between Siarvin and the door the guards had taken Haliran through. Ilaran almost felt sorry for her. She and her older siblings weren't to blame for her mother's sins, after all. But she wasn't a child either. She should have realised something was badly wrong in her house and should have tried to stop it. She hadn't, and now she would just have to put up with the results.

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Abi's first instinct was to go home. She began to walk in that general direction. She got as far as the junction leading to her parents' house before she realised what she was doing. Common sense, that thing she had completely ignored so far, finally took over. Her grandmother would inevitably want to question her about what happened. The very first place she'd look was of course Yaruael Palace. Therefore it was the last place Abi should go.

She hadn't bothered to take any money with her before leaving. Why would she, when she didn't intend to go shopping? So she couldn't go to a restaurant or theatre. Irímé and his mother were staying at Yaruael Palace. So was Kiriyuki. Kitri was staying in a hotel somewhere in the city. The problem was, Abi didn't know which hotel. The only one of her acquaintances whose current address she did know was Ilaran. She could just imagine what he would say if she turned up on his doorstep, asking for help getting out of the mess she'd gotten herself into. Worse, the mess she was in because she blatantly disregarded the advice he had given her last night.

For want of anything better to do she wandered away from the palaces and along the path beside the river. This was where Kiriyuki had so unexpectedly appeared just a few days ago. Not far ahead was the barn where she first successfully raised the dead -- even if it was just a dead mouse.

The thought of the dead mouse brought back the memory of that inexplicable moment when the mouse leapt into Irímé's hand. She still didn't know how that had happened. But after yesterday's events she had a fairly good idea. Reanimated corpses had some ability to think and act of their own accord. It was still strange that it had moved without a direct order, but that didn't mean it was actually sinister.

Naturally her thoughts led her back to the subject of necromancy itself. Her grandmother had probably already figured out that Haliran's accusation was true. Well, why shouldn't she admit to it? She could prove none of her... creations, for want of a better word, were dangerous. The most they'd ever done was frighten people. If she could convince Grandmother there was no harm in necromancy, she could practice it openly without having to worry if someone would catch her.

Abi stopped and leaned over the railing at the path's edge. The river churned below her. It had been raining somewhere further upstream, and the water was muddy and cloudy. Anything could lurk beneath its surface, staring up at her, and she would never know.

For a minute an absurd image of Mirio bursting out of the river in his sea serpent form filled her head. Abi giggled in spite of herself.

It was amazing how the world looked much brighter after you'd found something to laugh at. Yes, Haliran still had a broken arm. She'd be fined for that even if not for anything else. Still she couldn't bring herself to regret it. It wasn't as if she'd attacked an innocent bystander who'd never harmed anyone. Yes, she had to face her grandmother and confess to necromancy. But she could face the thought of that much better now.

Abi straightened up. She turned and strode back the way she'd come. No time like the present, and she might as well get it all over with now.

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Amidst all the chaos everyone completely forgot about Menansierd. She kept her head down, acted like it was mere chance she happened to be sitting next to Haliran, and got out of the palace as quickly as possible. When she was safely back at her own house she reviewed the situation.

Haliran had been arrested. That was relatively unsurprising; no one could keep things hidden forever. That wretched husband of hers was involved. Also unsurprising. If Menansierd had been in Haliran's position she would have killed him long ago. Haliran had discovered there was a necromancer in the royal family. Now that was surprising.

There were many people with skeletons they would dearly love to keep in their closets. Anyone associated with Haliran had especially nasty ones. Menansierd was no exception. She had gotten her position at the university through some underhanded tricks. If Haliran's crimes were investigated, hers would soon come to light. Her reputation would be ruined.

Yet there was one person who could help. Princess Abihira had very carelessly exposed both the truth of Haliran's accusation and how powerful a magician she was. If Menansierd could convince her it was in her best interests to help Haliran escape, everyone could breathe a sigh of relief.

And while she was at it, she should probably do something about that infernal pest Ilaran. She didn't personally know any assassins, but she had friends who did.

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The events of the last twenty-four hours seemed like a dream. Now that he was out of the palace and in the fresh air Irímé could hardly convince himself they were real. Could there actually be a walking corpse hidden in the crypt? Could Abi actually have attacked someone in broad daylight? Or was he fast asleep and would wake up to find it was still the day before the festival?

Then he remembered the giant snake. That convinced him it was real. He might have a vivid imagination, but not that vivid.

Thinking about Shizuki led him back to the memory of Ilaran's oh-so-dramatic way of denouncing Haliran. Irímé spent most of the walk back to the palace wondering how he had done that and if there was any chance Irímé could replicate it. All right, so he couldn't think of any circumstances where he would need to turn around and point at someone like that, but that wasn't important compared to how impressively theatrical it was.

He was abruptly jolted out of his thoughts by the sight of Abi walking towards him. She noticed him at the same moment he saw her. They both froze, staring at each other.

"You're an idiot," Irímé said at last. It was the only thing he could think of.

Abi nodded. "I know. I'm going to talk to Grandmother. Wish me luck."

Irímé blinked. "Luck? She's sent guards to arrest you!"

Abi nodded again, grimacing. "I might have known. Well, I'm going to talk to her anyway."

She walked past him before he had a chance to process this latest piece of colossal idiocy. He whirled round and grabbed her arm.

"You can't just walk into the palace! They'll throw you in the dungeons with Haliran!"

"Don't be silly," Abi said. "Grandmother will want to question me first. I'm going to confess. Then I can convince her necromancy isn't dangerous."

By all the gods, was there no limit to her stupidity?

Irímé spoke slowly and clearly so she would understand. "Necromancy is illegal. You'll be thrown in prison just for confessing to it. You should say you lost your temper, or she'd already accused you, or... or... Well, say something that's not a confession!"

Abi's stubborn frown showed she wasn't convinced. "She'd never believe that, and then I'd be in even more trouble for lying."

Irímé sighed. He couldn't talk her out of it and he couldn't get her to give an excuse. So there was only one thing left that he could do. "All right then. I'm coming with you."