"Introduce yourself, kid. The council is waiting for you to speak."
Cloak speaks to me, bringing my attention back to the council. The lady's speech had gone on for a while, and so quickly that Cloak couldn't translate it for me. You can't blame me for getting distracted when I can't make out a single word they say.
"I am a child of the sages.", I begin, waiting for Cloak to translate it for me. Even after a bit, the man doesn't speak.
"Do they understand our language?" I ask.
The instant I speak it, I realize I fucked up as everybody in the room perks up and sits upright. (Even the person of the blood tribe.) Before I can do anything, a presence so strong assails me that I feel like my lungs have stopped working. The message here is clear. They understand my language and they don't need Cloak to let their thoughts be known. I don't even need to turn my head to know that it is the man from the Spear tribe who did this.
"Well, then, I am Antonio Sevenstars, captain of the black mountain guard corps. I am a child of the sages, though I have grown up in the hexmountain. Now I am the disciple of the grand wolf, master of the formation corps of the black mountain." I speak. We have been practicing for the last couple of days now. All that I have spoken is the truth, with me only failing to mention the legion. I wonder if she will take the bait.
The lady from the central table speaks. Their language kind of makes sense in my ear, but that is just my mind making patterns where I can't find any. To me, all of this is just noise, and I would do well to remember that. After all, I need to be very careful about what I speak now. Can't be distracted now.
"The tattoo tribe is warning the other clans that it is clear that this kid has practiced legion battle arts. That is only something a person of the legion can do.", Cloak translates. "Why does he try to hide it?"
"My intention is not to hide, my lady. I do not speak of it for my safety. The legion has banished me. They have also put a bounty on me as they tend to put on every person of the legion that is banished", I reply, exactly as I practiced. "I feared that if anybody were to find out about it, I would be hunted for it."
Again, this is the truth, though I do have to mention that the bounty is of zero mana stones. The only reason it is there is that the legion's laws are clear. Any person who leaves the Legion has to have a bounty put on him. These people won't know about all of that, though. After all, how will they access the records of the legion?
The only lie is that I am worried that these people will hunt me. How exactly are they planning to collect the bounty if the person giving it will kill them on sight?
"The kid is a child of the sages. Trickery exists in their blood.", the lady fumbles, clearly not expecting such an answer from me. As she is looking for some other method of attacking me, the man from the blood tribe begins to growl at the lady. (There is no other way to describe that.)
"The leader of the blood tribe asks the council to get on with its work and decide whether you are to be killed or not. Your origin has already been discussed at length. He has heard enough about blood without getting to spill any." Cloak speaks.
They continue their back and forth for a few moments, clear that it is some kind of a debate that is ongoing there. This continues for a few minutes, as Cloak joins in once in a while. I am being kept out of the conversation by Cloak. Now, judging from the tone, I have to assume things are going relatively well. For all I know, though, these people could be discussing beheading me. (I would have talked about my evening tea with the same intensity.)
"The argument happening now is not related to you. The tattoo tribe and the blood tribe, well, any tribe and the blood tribe tend to have pretty bad relations. The tattoo tribe is threatening to attack the blood tribe, and the blood tribe is teasing them to attempt it." Cloak speaks.
"Aren't they a bit too calm if two of their factions are going to fight like this?" I ask, clearly confused now.
"Well, every tribe has its round of challenging the blood tribe. Nobody likes them, and nobody will attack them. Even they know it." Cloak speaks again. As he speaks, the man from the spear tribe suddenly turns to me and begins talking rapidly. There is venom in his voice.
"The spear tribe is asking everybody to return to the topic at hand. They have accepted your identity and wish to speak on the charges placed on you." Cloak speaks. There is a ghost of a smile on his face. This is a victory after all. "The first charge on you is related to the charge of your bloodline. Sages are not allowed to enter the true lands."
And thus the fighting begins.
(After almost fifteen minutes)
Well, whatever is happening is more intense than I certainly expected it to be. The folks of the Spear tribe seem ready to use their spears. They have come very close to attacking Cloak quite a few times today. Thankfully, those spears have come nowhere close to me. (I would have peed my pants if they did.)
I think the reason for that is the man next to me. For all the rage and venom in their voice, they seem to fear him. He has been doing the work of reasoning with the Spear tribe, trying to calm them down. It has not been easy going, but the man has been doing it pretty well if I am frank. At least that is the assumption.
The only thing that I can say for certain is that the tattoo tribe is trying to inflame the entire council. They certainly seem to have taken this personally. Almost too personal. As if they do not want me to be in the presence of the council for too long. I think they don't want me to speak here.
The only question is what I know that would make the tattoo tribe so uneasy with me. I am literally in their home after all. Still, Cloak seems to be managing this pretty well. At least the tone and confidence of the man have not changed.
Well, it has finally ended, though. As I am recording, the man of the spear tribe finally sat down again. Based on his expressions (and that of the lady of the tattoo tribe.) I can at the very least be sure that this particular charge won't stick to me.
As I think this, the lady of the tattoo tribe barks something at me, annoyance clear in her tone.
"With that, the first charge levied against you has been countered.", speaks the lady. "Next, we shall move on to the next charge. The charge of using formation magic in the truelands. A momentously risky and stupid move..."
She keeps on speaking for a while. Cloak doesn't bother to translate what she is speaking. All she speaks are pretty words, even I can tell that without the translations.
Even before she completed her speech, the wolf tribe began to speak.
"The wolf tribe makes use of certain magics pretty similar to formation magic.", Cloak speaks to me. "Due to this, they are very sensitive about any discussion related to formations. They are telling the council that there are no restrictions on formation magic south of the truelands."
This reply of the wolf tribe is cut short by the lady of the tattoo tribe.
"The lady is claiming that the southern plains are still the territory of the snow tribe. The laws of the council apply there. Formations made there can also make things worse", she speaks.
The reply to this is that the man from the wolf tribe gets up as if he were provoked.
"She shouldn't have said that. The wolf tribe already has to travel to the southern plains for the Wolf's dance." Cloak tells me.
"Wolf's dance?" I ask the man.
"Yeah, it is the name of the magic that they use to make their cloak. It is an ancient ritual. If they were to charge you with this, then this can be used as a justification to attack the wolf tribe tomorrow." he says.
Even as he speaks, the lady from the tattoo tribe suddenly speaks to cut us off.
"Well, I have been told to tell you that I am only your translator. I must just translate what the council needs me to translate." The man behind me speaks. "Any more out-of-turn speaking and the council will force me out of this room."
After this, the council returns to its debating. All I can tell is that things are becoming heated in a hurry here.
(After almost ten minutes.)
The last ten minutes of discussion should have been something that a scholar would kill to get. That is, if they could make out anything that they have said.
Well, at the moment, I am completely out of this discussion that might get me killed. It is not like listening to them without translation is useful to me anyway. All I can tell you is that the lady is slowly but steadily losing control of the conversation.
Right now, I am thinking about something else. There is something off with the tattoo tribe. I am wondering how exactly they could have found me this quickly, and why exactly they are so secretive about it. I swear to you that they are hiding something from the council. The only question is what.
"Well, don't look so out of the discussion, kid.", the man behind me whispers to me.
With that, I completely lose track of my thoughts. I return my focus to the five sets of people who are deciding my fate.
The only two groups still arguing are the tattoo clan and the wolf clan. Even I (who can't make out anything that they are saying.) can understand that they are fighting quite viciously.
The wolf tribe is quite hostile to the tattoo tribe. With that, I think that I am starting to understand what the relations are among the tribes to a degree.
The beast tribe is a neutral force, favoring the tattoo tribe. They won't support the tattoo tribe, but they won't attack them as well. The spear tribe supports the tattoo tribe. The wolf tribe is opposite to the tattoo tribe. The blood tribe is the weirdest of them all. The way that they are behaving, it seems like they are trying to fight every person in the council.
As I am studying them, the council finally stops its fighting. Based on the expression of the lady from the tattoo tribe, this charge is also being dropped.
"They have decided that your usage of formations in the southern plains is legal. Though they are warning that you cannot craft a formation in the truelands." Cloak speaks behind me. "If you are caught making one, the spear tribe will cut out all of your mana channels and leave you in the middle of a storm."
"That is the most painful punishment that the council likes to hand out." He whispers to me so that only I can hear it.
As Cloak speaks this, I can feel a burden in my chest disappear. That is another charge on me cleared.
"With that, we return to a matter of personal honor. Something that the council will have to consider fairly.", the lady begins again. "We present to you, Sir Laufen, the mage who was charged with apprehending the man. Laufen, state your charges to the people here."
As the lady speaks, the giant appears in the room. I don't know how he made it into the room. The man looks as if somebody threw him into a chimera pit. His arms are completely brutalized and almost non-existent. He is limping as if somebody has shattered his kneecap. While I did injure the man, it was in no way the sight in front of me. I swear the man is looking at me with such venom in his eyes that I can feel a chill crawl up my spine.
A few moments later, Cloak's voice resounds in my ear, translating the words of the man in my ear.
"Great council of the snow, I stand before you today to report the crimes of the legioner....