The guards brought in a tall young woman with long dark hair. She was dressed in a simple gown of green homespun wool, poorly dyed. She was charged with three offences: magicking – contravening an ancient law first brought in by the Vagars long before the Avatar conquest; taking employment within the city limits without a permit; and having upon her person less than five silver pieces, thus falling foul of the law governing vagrancy. The vagrancy charge could cost her two crystal years, the lack of a permit another five. But the ancient law could invoke the death sentence.
Ro read the evidence sheet carefully and slowly. The woman was a newcomer to the city, and had – apparently – healed a baby sick with fever. A crowd had gathered, calling out for healing of boils, headaches and various other minor disorders. She had laid her hands on them all. Before long the crowd was so large it was blocking the thoroughfare and two Avatar soldiers had pushed their way through and arrested the woman.
‘Your name?’ asked Questor Ro.
For a moment the woman looked distracted, gazing up towards the fluted ceiling. She was exquisitely beautiful. Ro pushed such thoughts from his mind, and asked the question once more. Her deep blue eyes focused on him. ‘I am Sofarita, lord,’ she said, her voice husky.
‘Your place of birth?’
‘The village of Pacepta, lord.’
‘Occupation?’
‘I have none, lord, for I am recently arrived and not yet in possession of a permit.’
‘Is this why you sought to earn coin with magicking tricks?’
She seemed to be struggling with her concentration, as if she had been taking opiates. Perhaps she has, thought Ro. Or perhaps she is merely mentally afflicted. Yet when she spoke her voice was firm again. ‘I took no coin, sir. The silver pieces the officers removed were mine. I came to the city three days ago with twenty-six coins, but I have had to take lodgings, for which they charge me a half-silver a day. Added to this I have bought items of clothing. But the remaining money is mine.’
‘So you did this magicking for no reward?’
‘Yes, lord.’
‘But you do maintain it was magicking?’
‘I suppose that it was. I have never experienced such powers before coming to the city. Something has happened to me, but I don’t know what it could be. But now I can make lanterns light without flame, and heal disease. And I can see things … terrible things.’ Her voice tailed away, and the faraway look returned to her eyes.
‘What is it that you see?’ asked Ro.
‘Golden ships, men with weapons of fire coming across the sea. Children buried alive on mountaintops, women, with their hands bound being carried to an altar and … and … murdered.’ She began to tremble. ‘I went for a walk this morning, to clear my mind. I hoped the noise and the bustle would help me to put aside the images. There was a woman with a sick child. I knew it was about to die, so I went to her and removed its fever. I don’t know how. I just laid my hand upon it, and the heat moved up my arm and into my own head. Then it dispersed. The mother began to cry out that it was a miracle, and others gathered. I committed no crime, lord.’
‘On the contrary, Sofarita,’ said Questor Ro, ‘you committed a great crime. Magicking is punishable by death. However, the law is an ancient one, and I need to review it before passing sentence. Take her away,’ he commanded the guards. ‘But keep her close. I will want to question her privately.’
Chapter Sixteen
The All Father watched with great sadness as the evil came to his children. In the beginning they had begged him to allow them freedom to live their own destinies. The All Father had promised them he would not interfere. Yet now they faced their doom. With a whisper he could have saved them, but his promise was iron, and it weighed upon his soul. So, in the quiet of the night, he reached out and scooped a handful of earth. This he fashioned into the shape of a woman. Plucking a star from the sky he bathed her in its light, then set the star into her brow. And this was the birth of Star Woman.