Kensei Jon's Arc

Chapter 5 of 49

The scroll lay open in the window light. Kensei bent over the old words while Jeon-min held a lamp close. The law named a penalty. A master who broke it would lose his seat and answer to the palace. But the words did not say what act the master had done. Kensei read the line three times. A penalty with no crime was useless. He needed to know what the master had buried. "It punishes something," Kensei said. "But it never says what." Jeon-min set the lamp down. "Then read the rest. The answer must be here." Kensei unrolled the scroll further. The cord had hidden the lower half. There the writing grew cramped, packed into the margin by a shaking hand. He traced each character with his finger. A name of a place appeared. The Royal Palace. Then a date. Then a list. He stopped. The list was names. Hikari names, each struck through. Beside every name stood one word. Demoted. The old law said a master could strip a Hikari of rank only for true crimes. Theft. Murder. Betrayal of the crown. Not for love. Never for love. "Jeon-min," Kensei said. "Look. These men lost their rank the way I did." Jeon-min leaned in. His finger stopped at the last name. It was not struck through. It was fresh ink, darker than the rest. "That's your father's hand," he whispered. "I've carried his letters. I know it." Kensei's chest went tight. His father had written in this scroll. His father had added to a list of men punished without cause. The old law condemned exactly that act. A master who demoted a Hikari for love broke the law and forfeited his seat. "That's it," Kensei said. His voice shook. "The act it condemns. He did it to me. He signed me down for loving you. The scroll makes that a crime against the crown, not against us." Jeon-min gripped his sleeve. "Then the master isn't the law. He broke it." Kensei rolled the scroll tight and bound the cord. His hands were steady now. "The palace judges masters who abuse the old law. We take this there. We show them his own crest, his own ink." Then the weight of it landed. To reach the palace, they had to walk out of hiding. Past the head servant. Past the enforcers already searching. The scroll only mattered if they lived to deliver it. Jeon-min saw the change in his face. "You've found the crime," he said. "Now we have to survive the road to the judges." Kensei pressed the scroll to his chest and stood. "Then we leave the library. We go to the palace before the master's men find us first."