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CRACK...BOOM. CRACK...Boom. Crack...Boom!
The sound of something hard and metal, being struck on something hollow and stone, echoed around the largest chamber Dun had ever been in. He’d never heard an echo go on so long and his air-sense couldn’t feel the chamber’s roof to give him even an inkling of how big it was.
“The Stone-council has been called. All present will stand and be silent.”
The friends stood up from another cold stone bench. Dun felt uneasy, although he thought it could have easily been down to the odd watery mushroom gruel and flaky flatbreads they had been given for breakfast. Dun could still smell the odd stale fungus on Padg’s breath. He imagined the experience was mutual. The benches in here were much grander than the ones in their cell. Although they were long, each place to sit was marked by an indent, and once seated one was oddly quite comfortable. Dun suspected that might be a good thing if they were in for a long haul at this council, whatever it turned out to be like.
The voice calling them to silence was unusual too. Also massive and booming but odd in some way—a normal voice made louder somehow. Dun wondered about a huge speaking tube of some kind. Whatever it was, the voice seemed to come from everywhere at once. This chamber had been built to intimidate. Dun had a feeling it might be working.
The voice spoke again, in a strange rhythmic voice:
“As it was when the first stones were cut, so it is now.
I call forth from the Stone-lanes the deepest and the near,
All the Lords of stone.
Come Lord Schist, Lord of us all.
Chancellor Granite, come to the hall.
Wise Obsidian sits at their hand, ready at once to answer our call.
Then Lord Protectors, Marble, Basalt, and Diamond, protect the Carvers, Masons, and Miners.
Next Dukes of the Realm, Shale, Pumice, and Slate.
Follow Barons then after, Sand, Lime, and Clay.
All voices be heard till all voice be one will.
Let the carvers record when the stone becomes still.
As it was when the first stones were cut, so it is now.”
The echoes resonated high into the roof and then the chamber was still again.
Then a different voice, older, thinner, from a definite direction directly across the chamber from them.
“Who calls us here, out of the proper time? And for what reason? Stone-speaker, be swift and tell us.”
The first voice, the Stone-speaker, spoke again, “My Lord Schist, we have been called here at the behest of Guard Captain Tuf. There are strangers in our midst, and we are to determine their nature and purpose, as their arrival in the Stone-lanes was unannounced.”
“Very good,” Lord Schist said. “Proceed.”
“Call Guard Captain Tuf,” the Stone-speaker boomed.
“I am here,” Tuf said.
“You know the price of speaking untruth to this gathering?” This seemed to be more a ritual question than a real inquiry.
“My words will be carved in the annals of Stone, for all my descendants to read and untruths there to read for their eternal shame,” he said, giving the ritual response.
“Speak then and tell us what you know.”
Tuf recounted how the friends had been found unconscious halfway up a staircase, the guards having been alerted by the noise of a huge gong. Tuf made quite a lot out of where they were found. It seemed that they had rediscovered some long-lost route into the Stone-folk’s domain. There was great description of how Tuf’s team of guards got there and the caution they took to avoid setting off any other alarms that may have been down there. As he listened, two things struck Dun: Firstly, there was no mention of the wall they had broken through and what they had found there. Secondly, there was no mention whatsoever of Myrch. Equally clearly, Tuf’s search had stopped when they had been found. Apparently, the Stone-folk’s skills didn’t lie in tracking, although now Dun thought about it, Myrch didn’t have much of a smell to track. The Stone-speaker’s voice snapped Dun back from his thoughts.
“Who speaks for the strangers?”
There was a pause, while the three friends stumbled. Tali spoke first, “Well, we kind of all speak for ourselves.”
“Is the female a noble?” the Stone-speaker said.
“The female can speak for herself, thank you,” Tali replied testily.
“And, noble born?” the Stone-speaker went on.
“Well, the Bridge-folk don’t really have nobles,” Padg said.
“Then she may not speak here,” the speaker said.
“What?” Padg and Tali spoke as one.
“I will speak for my people.”
Dun’s voice rose clear above the grumblings in the chamber.
“What are you doing?” Padg hissed.
“Hopefully saving us. Be quiet,” Dun hissed back.
The murmurs in the chamber stilled, and the Stone-speaker began again, “Who are you and where are you from?”
“I am Dun, an Ambassador of the Bridge-folk. I am sent by my people in peace and with their wishes of goodwill, despite our unusual entrance to your realm.”
“Explain your trespass into the Stone-lanes.”
“We humbly beg your pardon in this matter, my Lords. We intended no trespass.”
Padg whispered, quizzically, “We humbly beg your pardon, my Lords?”
Tali hissed, “Shut up, idiot. It’s how they talk.”
Dun was too focussed on proceedings to let that distract him. It was quite a strain talking in this weird formal way, but that was what the Elders had said he must do and he had spent some time learning the necessary formalities.
“But trespass it was. Explain how you came here.”
“We became lost fleeing from a band of River-folk and stumbled into your halls on a lower level, not knowing where we were. Had we met an officer of your people we would have presented the correct greetings and a formal message from my people. I have those in my belongings if I can be allowed access.”
“That is not possible. Besides, it is a little late for formal greetings, do you not think?”
Not waiting for a reply, the Stone-speaker went on, “And that is not the only thing that is impossible. The River-folk would not attack another people, much less pursue you to our borders. There are treaties in place to prevent such things. Besides, it is not in their nature. They are a nomadic folk, a trading folk, not a war-like folk.”
“Treaties or not, they still chased us and held us captive.”
“Why would they do such a thing?”
“I don’t know,” Dun said, realizing how thin that sounded. “But everything I’ve said is true.”
“The veracity of your tale is for others to decide.”
Lord Schist spoke from across the chamber, “Do you have anything else to say in your defense?”
“No.”
“You know the gravity of the charges you face?”
“Yes?”
“That you trespassed here is beyond doubt. The price to be paid for that is imprisonment. What the council will now discuss, is whether they believe you to be spies. The penalty for spying is death, in the Stone Maw.”
The Stone-speaker spoke again, “Now the Council will deliberate. Guards, remove the strangers and return them to the cells.”
