Wish upon the Stars chapter 997

“This is bad,” I said frantically, pacing back and forth across the floor of our rooms. It was just me and my parents in here at the moment. “Something is going on.” I kept remembering the chill that word had sent through me. Apostate. This was it. It had to be. It was coming for me and I needed to DO something before it got me and a bunch of other people killed. “We need to talk to the old man.”

My dad actually barked out a laugh at that. Not for effect either. He was genuinely amused. “Shane, do you know the last time anyone but the reigning Wishmaster SAW the old man without him randomly deciding to summon them, prior to your visit to him the other day?” I shook my head and he snorted. “After the LAST succession war when he met with Aiden. And based on what I’ve heard, he LIKES Aiden. The one before him saw the Ancestor ONCE, for thirty seconds, and didn’t even get acknowledged.”

“So?” I demanded. “We’re his FAMILY. His clan. We’re in danger and this is his world. We need help! We need-”

He sighed. “Shane…he doesn’t care what we need. All the old man cares about is his research. I get that you’ve been interacting with Black Sorrow and the Revenant, who are among the three youngest gods, but don’t forget what they ARE. Sorrow and the Revenant still have attachments to their humanity. They AREN’T human, but sometimes they still act like it. But the elder three? They’ve long since severed those bonds.

“We aren’t FAMILY to the old man. We’re tools. A convenient batch of experimental subordinates who get things done while he works to keep him undisturbed.” His face was worn and sad. “It’s not malicious. He doesn’t hate us. He just…doesn’t care. About any of it. If we all died, he would just shrug and start over. If he even noticed. Might take him a few centuries to figure out no one was stopping by.”

“But…he helped me,” I said weakly. “He gave me that book. He didn’t have to do that.”

My mother looked heartbroken on my behalf. “Because he liked you, sweetie. But he’s liked a lot of people. If you died he wouldn’t care. And he cares even less about the rest of the family.”

That was just so…depressing. Was this what I’d been waiting for? What I’d spent years working towards. To be the stand in of a creature so alien it didn’t even care if I lived or died? Was any of this even worth doing? If the old man didn’t care…

But no. Because I cared. I cared about everyone. My parents. My sister. My cousins. Even Devon, annoying little asshole that he was.

It didn’t matter if the old man was involved or interested. It just mattered that I was. He’d stepped back from the reins for a reason. Let the rest of us take over. Part of that was undoubtedly for the free time, but part of it, I thought, was to teach us to stand on our own.

Despite what my parents thought, I didn’t think he was apathetic exactly. Looking back, while there was certainly some coldness, he wasn’t empty. More…obsessed. His scale of time was so wildly different from ours, his goals so alien, that we just couldn’t relate. What was his Focus now? His Perception? But regardless of the truth, they seemed convinced he wouldn’t help. Wouldn’t interfere in this mess.

So I’d fix it myself. “So what’s this going to be like?” I asked after a moment. “The trial?”

“A mess,” my dad said bluntly. “But one in your favor. As the standing heir, you’ll have the benefit of the doubt. Like he said, if you’re found guilty you’ll be ejected in disgrace. But it’s never happened in the history of the faction. It’s why NOBODY invokes the charter. It’s been done by exactly three people since the founding of the Wish Curse Palace, and all of them died.”

“So we can be sure it wasn’t Devon’s idea?” I asked grimly. “He couldn’t have just randomly come up with a really stupid plan?”

He shook his head. “The charter is DENSE. People dedicate their lives to studying charter law. Charter lawyers are an entire PROFESSION here. The exact clauses governing the coronation are varied and complicated. The only reason I even know about the objection clause is that the three people who invoked it were executed SO PUBLICLY that their deaths actually influenced history during the time periods where they happened. Like…outside the faction.

“Devon wouldn’t have gotten there on his own,” he emphasized. “Someone pushed him. And his demeanor was wrong. Like he’d been damaged. Ayra knew it too, it’s why she got him away. The good news is the trial won’t be quick. Like I said, charter law is dense. You aren’t even going to be expected to give your initial statement until later today. They need to select the tribunal and then THEY need to read up on precedent.”

“They won’t just use charter lawyers?” I asked in confusion.

He shot me a look that said I was insane. “Do YOU want lawyers picking the next Wishmaster? Even by veto? They’ll be consulted. Chances are good you’ll get a jury of your peers. Which is to say, former Wishmasters. Aiden might be on it. Or he might abstain. He’s lazy enough that it wouldn’t shock me.”

“Alright, so I give a statement, I assume enter my plea, and then what?” I asked worriedly. “Trial by combat?”

“Nothing so showy,” he laughed. “Remember where you are. Wishmasters aren’t fighters. After the statement you’ll call your witnesses. The prosecution will cross examine. Then call theirs. You’ll give closing statements and then the tribunal will rule. This needs to be sewn up before the end of the festival period preceding the coronation, one way or the other. They won’t drag it out.”

That was a relief, at least. I’d been worried about my mission to Mourne Kayze. “Should we like…contact some witnesses? We’ll need to talk to them right? Or is that considered witness tampering?”

“Not an issue,” he assured me. “There are methods to determine truth from falsehood. Given that any actual memory alteration will be detected and they can’t lie, coaching is perfectly acceptable. If you can twist the truth enough that the prosecution can’t ferret it out with iron clad truth detection then it’s assumed you deserve to get exiled. Like I said, it’s never come up before.”

I nodded slowly. “Ok, so we need to pick our witnesses. What exactly are we setting out to prove here? Like do I need to prove that I DIDN’T collude with the void?”

“No,” he said bluntly. “I told you, you have the benefit of the doubt. You don’t need to prove a negative, HE needs to prove a positive. Your witnesses are going to be there to testify to your character, and as bait to encourage the prosecution to ask specific kinds of questions. The questions they can and will ask depend on the people you pick. When were they present around you? What was happening at the time?

“Witnesses aren’t just there for information, it’s a dance. You bait them into asking about a specific subject, they try to do the same to you.” He grinned at me. “Ascendants are all about the narrative. Controlling the perception of events.”

My mom nodded. “There are always three sides to a story involving two people,” she said solemnly. “My dad taught me that as a girl. There’s one persons perception, the other’s, and then there’s what actually happened. It’s like the old parable about the blind men and the elephant. One of them grabbed the tail and said the elephant was like a rope, one of them grabbed the trunk and said it was like a snake, one grabbed a leg and said it was like a tree.”

“But I just…didn’t do it,” I protested. “Shouldn’t we just call ME?”

My dad recoiled. “Gods no! Don’t even joke about that. Shane, do you ever have any thoughts you aren’t proud of? Ever had a passing flight of fancy sympathizing with the Void? Because that’s the kind of thing they’ll dig up. The trick to witnesses is that you’re viewing their OPINIONS of you. Opinions are glamourized or demonized mostly. People either overlook or focus on your flaws. So you curate them to that effect and the tribunal sees you through rose colored glasses. But if YOU’RE a witness…”

“It’s not an opinion,” I finished. “It’s a fact. And they can cherry pick which ‘facts’ they let the jury hear. What’s to stop them from just calling me themselves?”

“They can’t,” my mom added helpfully. “You’re protected from being directly implicated as the standing heir. Until you’re stripped of the qualifications you can’t be compelled to testify. The people who wrote the charter weren’t new at this, you know.” She smiled comfortingly. “They knew what a pitfall something like that was, so they arranged protections to prevent the misuse of the system. If you WERE guilty it would still come out during the trial through the witnesses both sides choose.”

I grimaced. “So…we need someone to question THEIR witnesses, right?” I asked slowly. “Someone who can twist things in our favor?”

“Preferably,” she nodded. “They’ll pick people who can make you look the worst, probably people who actively dislike you. It would be stupid to have Devon testify…but given how rabid he is he might do it anyway.”

“So this has NEVER ended in a conviction?” I asked as I thought over what they’d said. “Like no heir has even been a traitor?”

My dad snorted. “No, none of the three heirs with people willing to ACCUSE them has ever been a traitor. It’s a desperation move. Candidates only accuse the heir if they have no hope of overcoming the heir through other means, which means they’re mostly pretty secure in their positions. People who are easily winning don’t really feel the need to betray the faction to get ahead. They’re already ahead.”

I hadn’t considered it from that perspective. It made sense though. “Ok, so we need someone to question their witnesses, and ours. I want Crell to do it. His Doubt Skill is pretty absurd. He’s a B-ranker and it’s at Mythic, so he can even affect A-rankers. They won’t call and S-ranker, will they?”

“No,” he said quickly. “And they would be declined if they tried. You can INVITE a witness, but can’t compel one. Testifying against you would be beneath their dignity, not to mention alienate all the other involved elders on your side. It’s a lot of risk for very little reward, and I can’t think of an S-ranker who would bother. No, they’ll probably call people from the succession war itself, given the premise of the accusation.”

I could live with that. I’d made a few enemies, sure, but not too many. Most of the family members I’d met had been pretty decent. I was sure I could find some with a good opinion of me to question, especially with Crell asking the questions.

My brief moment of respite from the dread was cut off by the unwelcome sound of my wife rushing into the room, terrified. “Shane!” Callie called as she entered, Chelsea, Abel, Gabe, Bethy, and Mel in her wake. “We have a problem!” Her tone was panicked in a way I hadn’t heard outside actual life or death danger.

“Whoa, slow down,” I told her comfortingly, putting my hands on her shoulders. “What’s wrong? I’m sure whatever it is, we can handle.”

“I went to go see Derran about the trial,” she said quickly, eyes full of lingering terror. “He was around during some of your clashes with the Void, and I was sure he’d be able to clear things up.” She stopped, swallowing hard. “Shane…Derran is dead. They found him butchered in his room. They said his soul was shattered. He’s completely gone.” And that was when the bottom fell out of my stomach for real. Because the stakes had just gone WAY up. And I wasn’t sure I could afford to play anymore.