Free The Mage's Limits: Mages of Martir Book #2 by Timothy L. Cerepaka Page B

defend yourself, I believe it is time to bring this trial to a close.” She sat back and looked at her fellow Council members. “Is everyone in agreement?”
    “Why are you avoiding my questions?” said Durima before the rest of the Council could respond. “Is it because of Uron? Are you afraid he'll attack World's End, so you set up all those battleships to stop him if he attacks from the sea?”
    “No one here is afraid of Uron,” Valumor snapped. “The gods assured us that Uron is no threat to World's End. He'd be a fool, even with the God-killer, to attack World's End.”
    “Would he?” said Durima. “I don't think so. Last time I saw Uron, he wasn't afraid of anyone, not even Skimif. There's no one else you would need to defend World's End from anyway, considering how the only other possible threat—the Sleeping Beast—was killed decades ago.”
    “Soldiers, kill them now,” Kaxu ordered. “Then dump their bodies into the sea. It is the only fate that murderers like them deserve.”
    Immediately, the Soldiers turned on Durima and Gujak, holding their weapons above their heads as they prepared to strike them. Durima crouched defensively, while Gujak just stood there with his head hanging as usual, like he hadn't even noticed that they were about to get hacked into pieces by a bunch of murderous Soldiers. Seeing the looks of eagerness on the Soldiers' faces and the way that the light above gleamed off the blades of their weapons, Durima felt about as depressed as Gujak looked.
    Then Valumor held up a hand and said, “Wait. Soldiers, hold your positions. Do not kill Durima and Gujak.”
    The Soldiers stopped where they stood, each one of them frowning like they had been told to jump off a cliff and sprout wings on the way down. Durima didn't know what Valumor was planning, but she was grateful that, for the moment at least, she and Gujak were going to live.
    “Sir Council Member?” said Erich, looking up at Valumor. “May I ask why you ordered my men not to kill the murderers? I thought that that was the punishment for murder, according to the Laws of Grinf.”
    “He contradicted me,” said Kaxu. She was glaring at Valumor. “The Council is supposed to stand as one united face, Valumor. Why did you order them to halt their attack? Don't you think they deserve nothing less than death?”
    “Don't get me wrong, Kaxu,” said Valumor, tapping the tips of his fingers together he looked down on Durima and Gujak. “I believe that death is exactly what they deserve; however, I do not believe that this is the right way to execute them.”
    “Why?” said Kaxu, slamming her fists on the arms of her bench. “We agreed to make this trial and execution as swift as possible. I think that having these Soldiers hack them into pieces is the swiftest way to kill them.”
    “Swift it may be, but it is also inappropriate,” said Valumor. He glanced at the Council members on either side of him. “Fellow Council members, don't you think that Durima and Gujak deserve a special kind of execution for their crimes? They have committed a unique crime in katabans history, that of murdering a god. Executing them like ordinary murderers is not, in my opinion, appropriate. The punishment must be more severe than that.”
    “Oh?” said Kaxu. “Then how, Valumor, do you think we should kill them?”
    “I am glad you asked,” said Valumor. He looked at his fellow Council members again. “With the approval of the rest of the Council, I suggest that we banish Durima and Gujak beyond the Void, into that place where no katabans—or anyone else—has ever returned from.”
    Durima gasped. Even Gujak broke out of his depressed rut long enough to look up in shock at that suggestion.
    The other Council members, on the other hand, appeared to be giving Valumor's suggestion serious thought. Huju was smiling and chuckling like he thought it was a brilliant idea, while Namusa wore a thoughtful, intrigued expression. Even Kaxu no