Avi Marie's Arc

Chapter 28 of 30

The lead master knelt on the cathedral floor, held by two of his own council. The alarm horns had gone silent. Avi Marie stood over him and waited. She had chased this man across the low places and up through the rift. Now the ones above knew everything. They would come, or they would send their word down. Then the captured master lifted his head. "I will not answer to her," he said. His voice found strength again. "I answer to those above me. Bring them. Let them judge, not this angel and her burned papers." He was still fighting. He wanted the ones above to sort him out, master to master, far from the witnesses. Avi Marie's chest tightened. If he went up alone, they might close ranks and protect their own. Petra stepped forward. She held the metal plate flat in both hands. "You want them here," she said. "So do I." She turned to the crowd. "They already heard the horns. They are coming." The rift above the tall doors brightened. Three figures descended through it, white and cold, their wings folded. The masters above. The whole hall went quiet. Malphas pressed close to Avi Marie, his horns lowered, his red eyes fixed on the newcomers. "Careful," the goat said. "They came to bury him, not to try him." The tallest of the three looked down at the kneeling master. He did not look at Avi Marie at all. "You called us," he said. "You sounded the alarm. Why?" The kneeling master opened his mouth to speak his own story first. Petra was faster. She held the plate up toward the three above. "His hand," she said. "His seal. He ordered a mortal killed and an angel blinded to hide the stone's transfer. It is written. The whole hall has heard it." The three above went still. Avi Marie watched them weigh it, the same way the kneeling master had weighed the rift. They could not silence this. Too many witnesses filled the floor. To bury the crime now, they would have to bury the crowd. Azrael spoke from the doorway, flat and low. "You protect him, you fall with him. Every face here saw the plate." The tallest master looked at the plate a long moment. Then he looked at the crowd. He made his choice the only way left to him. "The order is his," he said. "He acted beyond his grant. He is guilty." He raised one hand. "Take him above. He will answer for it." Two of the descended masters lifted the guilty one by his arms. He did not cry out. He was carried up through the rift and gone. Avi Marie stood in the empty space he left. She had her verdict. The one who signed the order was named guilty before the whole realm. But the three above had already turned their eyes to her, and their faces held no thanks.