The Unforgiven and The Exile 9 Chapter 9

Riven watched two temple priests carry in a large wooden tray draped with a scarlet cloth and set it gingerly on the table before the council judges. A warrior priest stepped forward, his high rank made evident by the fluted edges of his wooden pauldron and breastplate.

"Show us," the judge said.

The warrior priest withdrew the scarlet cloth, revealing a weapon and sheath both bigger than a kite shield. The scabbard was etched in the harsh strokes of Ur-Noxian, the heavy angles and slashes in stark contrast to the fluid script of Ionia. But it was the blade that drew the interest of the judges. A blade so thick and heavy it looked like it would break the well-trained arm of a temple priest to lift it, let alone the slender wrist of the young woman shackled before them. Indeed, when Riven had seen the weapon for the first time, she had thought the same thing.

Now, instead of one solid blade, the weapon was fractured into angry pieces, as if monstrous claws had raked through its metal flesh. The five largest pieces would have been deadly in their own right, but laid out against the soft Ionian cloth, broken and raw as it was, it was terrifying.
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The judge looked at Riven. "This weapon belongs to you."

Riven nodded her head.

"I suppose in this many pieces, it makes it a bit difficult to wield," the judge said to herself.

There were snickers among the crowd.

The warrior priest shifted uncomfortably. "This weapon is ensorcelled, magistrate. The Noxians have bound magic into the blade." The disgust hung heavy on his words.

Riven didn't know if the judge was listening to the priest. The judge was nodding absently, her gaze washing over the weapon until it found the spot that Riven knew it would, the empty place Riven had struggled to fill. The judge's falcon nose twitched.

"There is a piece missing."

A young temple adept swayed nervously before the council hall.

"Adept, is this the weapon Master Konte presented to the temple?" the lead judge asked.

"Yes, magistrate."

"You were the one to alert this court?"

"Yes, magistrate."

"How did you know this weapon would be of interest to us?"

Riven watched the adept wipe his hands on the lengthy sleeves of his robes. His face was pale, as if he might faint, or be sick on the stone floor.

"Adept?" the judge probed.

"I am a bone washer, magistrate." The words tumbled out of the young man. His hands hung like spent candle wax. "For the elders. After their bodies have been left to the sky, I collect them and prepare them."

"I am familiar with the duties of a bone washer, adept. How is it this weapon concerns you?"

"The blade is the same."

A moment of confusion swept over the judge's face. The same uncertain daze washed over the crowd, passing from person to person in befuddled looks. Riven, however, felt a wave of unease crawl over her skin.

"When I prepared the bones of Elder Souma, after his time, for the temple, I mean to say." The adept's haphazard explanation was losing many. Instead of continuing he pulled from a fold in his robe a small silk bag and started undoing the tight knots with his long fingers. He retrieved from the bag a shard of metal and held it up. "This metal, magistrate. It is the same as the broken blade."

Chapter end