Free Amidst The Rising Shadows (Book 3) by Ken Lozito

your people?” Halcylon asked.
    “My ancestor, Daverim Alenzar’seth, created the barrier to protect his people and his world. I cannot know what was in his mind when he committed the act. I’m already betting my life that he wouldn’t have taken such an action if he hadn’t believed it was necessary. You found Safanar through an accident of fate; who says you should live at all? What desperate measures have you taken to survive? The Hythariam on Safanar paint a bleak picture of what life was like on Hytharia and the measures the Zekara had taken to achieve its goals.”
    “Doing what is necessary is never wrong,” Halcylon countered.
    “Was it necessary to murder your own people? Sacrifice entire cities so that you should live?” Aaron asked.
    Halcylon studied him for a moment, “We’ve had to make tough choices in order to survive.”
    “That’s exactly the point. My people also made a tough choice in the name of survival, and yet here I stand waiting to be judged by your tribunal. Who will judge the actions you have taken?” Aaron asked.
    “Indeed you are here to answer for the genocide that your people have committed against mine. Can you justify that?”
    In that moment, Aaron knew it was hopeless. “It’s not genocide if the Hythariam are alive on Safanar. You’ve had almost eighty years, and are you telling me that in all that time the Hythariam didn’t come up with a contingency plan? That it was either make it to Safanar or die?”
    Halcylon regarded him with an icy glint in his eyes, “Make no mistake, human. We will be going to Safanar, and when we do the Safanarions will have much to answer for, as will the Hythariam there.”
    The roar of the crowd shattered the silence, and Aaron could hear the echoes of the other Hythariam throughout the great cavern outside the stadium they were in. The roars outside were deep and bestial, beyond that of any normal Hythariam. Aaron felt the stirrings of the bladesong within, and the muscles in his arms grew rigid, straining against the shackles on his wrists. He looked at Halcylon, understanding once again why Iranus was so fearful of his coming to Safanar. If he were to die here, then perhaps he could make his death count for something. He pulled the energy in hardening his muscles and skin. He kept his gaze upon the ground and took a breath. In the last second before he would jump, he looked at Halcylon.  
    The Hythariam watched him, waiting for Aaron to reach out toward him. “Do it, human,” Halcylon hissed.
    The moments ebbed away, and the only reason Aaron didn’t move was because it was exactly what Halcylon wanted. Instead Aaron turned to the tribunal and waited.
    The crowd came to a muttered silence as the five members of the tribunal rose from their seats.
    “We of the Hythariam find the human guilty of the war crime genocide against the Hythariam race. His sentence is death to be carried out immediately,” a member of the tribunal said.
    Halcylon stepped up, “I have a better idea that I would like to present to the tribunal and one that would serve the justice we of the Zekara would seek.”
    “The judgment has been rendered and cannot be changed.”
    “Yes, it has. What I propose is that we condemn the human to the same fate that he and the other Safanarions have doomed the rest of us to. When the portal is once again opened upon Safanar, the human will watch and remain alive long enough to bear witness that the way back to his home is right in front of him, but forever beyond his reach. He can die with our beloved Hytharia.”
    The crowd roared their approval. The cheers of righteous fury changed to fear as the ground shook violently beneath Aaron’s feet. Pieces of rock detached from the roof of the cavern and slammed into the ground around them. The Hythariam in the stadium were thrown to the ground. The tremor finally passed, and Aaron noted that Halcylon was completely unfazed by what had happened.
    Halcylon turned and waited for