Arrows Of Change (Book 1) (12 page)

Taranis take it, she was no lawmaker! She hadn’t meant to
give Edvard the impression she was all wise either. She should’ve kept her
mouth shut and just let them build the wall willy-nilly.

Resigned, she trudged along in Ash’s wake back to Edvard’s
study.

They entered the study to find that Ashlynn and her da were
already there, seated about the table, with Edvard saying, “—can’t have people
going about starting riots because of the laws. Or the lack of laws. We need
this situation resolved
now.
”

“Well, I agree with you,” Ashlynn responded in exasperation,
“so what’s the hold up?”

“I don’t know where to start,” Edvard admitted sourly.

“We need a viable way to punish lawbreakers, Edvard.”
Ashlynn said firmly.

“It would help, sister dearest, if we gave them firm laws
first,” Ash retorted as they stepped fully into the room.

“Ah, Ash, Riana, glad you could join us. Sit, sit. I’ve
decided that I can’t make up everything on my own—I barely know what’s needed—so
I thought it best to form a council of sorts to help me. Now, since Ash has
studied some law before, and Riana’s proven to have good sense on problem
solving, and Ashlynn and Broden are out in the streets dealing with everything,
you four seem to be the best suited to give me good advice.”

Rational it might sound, but Riana would bet that he was
tired of thinking about it, and wanted it over and done.

“Now,” Edvard beamed at his coerced council. “Where do we
start?”

“Now hold on, man,” Broden objected. “Do ye no’ even have something
to build on? It be me own ken that ye were thinking about these laws of yers.”

“Well, I tried, certainly. But I never got far on my own.
Ashlynn kept saying my ideas wouldn’t work.”

“You wanted to reword the Bindings and keep the ones you
liked,” she pointed out, not at all troubled with his complaint. “But that
leaves gaps in the laws. And it doesn’t deal with the more heinous crimes. You
cannot keep the Bindings, Edvard, not in any form. The people here won’t accept
them, and what good are laws that no one will accept?”

In an exaggerated movement, he slumped in his chair and put
his face against the table like a sulky child. “But not all of them are bad.
Can’t I keep at least some of them?” Edvard moaned pitifully against the
table’s surface.

Seeing him face down, slouched against the wood like that,
made him more comical in her eyes than anything. Riana bit her lip to hide a
smile.

Ash leaned over enough to thump Edvard on the back, not
entirely unsympathetic. “No.”

Edvard raised his head enough to give Ash a betrayed,
wounded look as if that single word had sucked all the joy out of the world.

“You don’t want to be a tyrannical king, remember?” Ash
reminded him patiently, eyes twinkling with unvoiced laughter.

“That was before I had to create all of these laws, and
legislations, and figure out how to create a government from…from…” Edvard’s
hands made this flighty, whirlwind gesture in the air, “nothing but hot air.
Why did you let me do this?”

“I didn’t give you permission to do any of this,” Ash denied
with false mildness.

“Yes, I know, but why didn’t anyone
stop
me?”

“We tried
,
remember? You have no one to blame but
yourself.”

Edvard let his head thump back against the table’s surface
in a gesture of absolute despair.

Having a smidgeon of pity, Riana sank into a chair across
from him and offered, “It no’ be that bad, Edvard. Just use some common sense,
start from there.”

He raised his head just enough to stare at her. “Common
sense?”

“Well, do ye want people going about murdering, or raping,
or stealing from each other?” she asked in exasperation.

“Oh. No, I take your meaning. Start with the worst crimes,
give them suitable punishments, and then…” he trailed off, pointing to a side
desk that had paper and ink on it. “Ash, give me those. No, better, take notes.
Your handwriting is more legible than mine.”

Agreeably, Ash grabbed a handful of sheets, ink and quill,
and joined them at the table. “So, murder?”

Edvard nodded. “She’s right, I don’t want people killing
each other off. So, murder is outlawed completely. I think anyone that is guilty
of it should forfeit his own life.”

“Hold up,” Broden objected. “Ye’ve got to give some leeway. Be
a man no’ allowed to defend himself, or his family?”

“You’ve got to make an exception,” Ash agreed. “Otherwise
every person in this room is guilty of murder.”

Edvard waved a hand in agreement. “So, except in
self-defense or in defense of another, murder is outlawed. Better?”

Her da looked at the king with narrowed eyes. “Ye sure ye
want to execute murderers?”

With a sigh, Edvard met Broden’s eyes without flinching.
“Broden, I absolutely will not tolerate crime in my country. I can’t, for one
thing. Creating prisons and running them is a terrible drain on a country’s
coffers, and I simply don’t have the funds for it at this point. But also, I
think that giving people such leeway encourages them to commit crimes. After
all, the consequences aren’t that bad, so why not? It’s that sort of thinking I
want to avoid. Better to give them a strict sentence, something that they would
think twice about.”

Broden gave a half-shrug, palm splayed. “But no’ all crimes be
heavy, or worth a man’s life. Ye’ll have to think of another way to punish.”

“Fine them,” Ash suggested. “Attach a large price tag to
certain crimes. If they can’t pay, make them work it off. The country can use
the extra hands for labor, if nothing else, and we’ll compensate the victim.”

Edvard snapped his fingers. “Ash, you’re brilliant. Let’s do
that for certain cases. I think assaulting a man would count for a fine, don’t
you?”

Ash nodded agreement. “How much?”

“Hmm…I have no sense for these things. Riana, Broden, what
would be a sum you wouldn’t want to have to pay?”

Riana thought about it, thought about the amount of money
she used to have before working for Ash, and offered tentatively, “Anything
over fifty deneres gets mighty steep.”

“Still payable, though,” Broden offered, his brows furrowed
in thought. “I’d say one hundred deneres would be very hard to pay for most
men.”

“One hundred deneres it is, then!” Edvard smiled at them,
his posture alert, looking ready to spring up and run around the room at any
point. “Broden, Riana, you’re both becoming very helpful in crafting all these
laws. I need your insights. From now on, when I need to create laws, I want you
to be part of my council. Plan on that.”

Riana and her da shared an alarmed look. Them?! Create laws?
They were simple archers for mercy’s sake!

Ash, seeing their panic, quirked an eyebrow at them and
drawled, “Should not the common man have a voice in these? The Bindings were
strict and unfair to the citizens as a whole. Wouldn’t you rather have a say in
these things before you get bound by laws that are too harsh to survive under?”

Well, he had a fair point. Riana in no way wanted the
responsibility of helping to forge an entire country’s laws, but she didn’t
want those laws made without some sensible input either. Mayhap, if she just
approached it as if she were making laws that she, herself, could abide by,
then things would be fine.

Her da must have come to the same conclusion, as he promptly
snapped his mouth shut.

Ash’s quill scratched away at the paper with quick, deft
strokes. “We’ve covered murder and assault. What else?”

“Rape,” Riana said firmly. “And that be no’ a matter of
fining, either, so put that notion out of your heads.”

Edvard blinked, somewhat surprised by her vehemence. “So, as
a woman, what would you feel is the right punishment?”

“Death.” She smiled grimly when every man at the table
flinched. “Sirs, I put to ye that rape be the worst thing a man can do to a
woman. She never recovers from it, not wholly. And there be no reason to do it,
either, except for some evil sense of pleasure on his end.”

Broden and Ashlynn both looked at her with full
understanding and didn’t raise a word of disagreement.

“So, you’re saying it’s akin to torture,” Ash stated slowly,
eyes staring blindly ahead. “I hadn’t thought of it quite like that. Although I
think death might be too harsh. Castration instead?”

Edvard’s eyes studied Riana’s face, taking in every nuance
of her expression. “Broden? Your opinion?”

“I put it to ye like this, King: if a man raped one of yer
sisters, what would ye do to him?” Broden responded levelly.

“I’d kill the rat with my bare hands,” Edvard responded
without a second of hesitation.

“Then should ye no’ protect every woman in this country of yers
the same way ye would protect yer family?”

Edvard blew out a low breath. “Wise council. Wise council,
both of you. That’s exactly how I should view this, as if I’m protecting my
family. After all, my family will live as citizens in this country, subject to
the same laws. Good. That puts things in sharp perspective for me.” Nodding to
himself, he said to Ash, “Make rape punishable by death.”

Ash simply nodded, writing it down.

Sitting back for a moment, Edvard pondered before speaking.
“We seem to be on a trend of dealing with crimes against people right now. I
think we should do something to punish slavery as well. I’ve seen a few people
try it here, bringing in slaves, or making them into slaves to pay back a debt.
I won’t tolerate it. So, no one can enslave another. If there’s a debt, it’s to
be reported to us, and we’ll mediate some way for the debtor to pay back what
is owed.”

“We’ll have to make someone capable of making judgments like
that,” Ash cautioned. “Not every case can go directly to you. You would sit in
judgment from morning to night and never get through all of the cases.”

Edvard grunted sourly. “Yes, well, make a note of it for
now. We’ll have to keep that in mind when we actually decide how to organize
the government.”

Broden cleared his throat slightly. “Do ye want to make a
law about lies and gossip?”

Edvard paused, eyes cutting to him. “Slander? Hmm. That’s a
thought. If a man’s reputation is ruined, it makes it hard for him to live in a
country, doesn’t it? Would a fine cover that?”

Riana felt instinctively that was the wrong approach. “Aye,
Edvard, ye can do a fine for that, but it would no’ truly solve things.”

“Solve things?” he parroted in complete incomprehension.

“These laws ye be making, they be made to stop people from
doing harm to each other,” she sought to explain, “but they also be made to
help make right of what be wrong.”

“To repair the damage done, in whatever way we can,” Ash
supported.

She flashed him a smile. “Aye, exactly. A man’s reputation,
well that will no’ be given back to him with a money pouch.”

“I take your meaning. That’s quite wise of you, Riana, but
at the same time, how do I give a man’s reputation back through the law? How
can you erase the words said that harms a man so? You see my point?”

“I do.” She frowned to herself, unsure of what a just
punishment would be.

“Make it clear to all who be telling the lies,” Broden
advised. “If ye can no’ take the words back, then mark the liar so people know
no’ to trust what he says.”

Edvard’s lips parted in delight. “Perfect. How should we do
that? A tattoo on him? Make him wear something?”

“Shave his head.” Ashlynn grinned as she spoke. “It’s a
fitting punishment, I think: a temporary punishment for temporary harm.”

Edvard threw his head back and laughed in true delight. “Ashlynn,
you’re evil! I love you for it, too. Shaved heads it shall be.”

Riana felt her own mouth quirk in amusement. Was this law
making session supposed to be serious? If so, then why did Ashlynn and Edvard’s
expressions remind her of two children making up schemes for mischief?

Broden poorly disguised a chuckle with a cough. “And what
about theft? That be a real problem, that. Ashlynn and I deal with that more
than any other crime.”

“Iysh imprisoned thieves,” Ash stated slowly, “but if we’re
trying to stay away from prisons—”

“Free labor.” Edvard snapped his fingers in a victorious
movement. “We’ll have them work off the value of what they stole. Say, ten
times the value of what they stole, to make it more of a punishment and deterrent.”

“We need all the help we can get building things right now
anyway.” Ash wrote this down with a pleased look. “Although long-term, we might
have to modify this.”

“No’ as much,” Broden disagreed. “There always be nasty jobs
to do when ye got a lot of people living in a small area.”

“True enough.”

“Noted.” Edvard ticked things off on his fingers. “Alright,
we’ve covered murder, assault, theft, enslavement, rape. What else have you and
Ashlynn been seeing, Broden?”