Read DUALITY: The World of Lies for Free Online Page B

the boy is to be
detained in the town jail.”
    This announcement elicited a round of jeers
from the patrons. Realizing he could soon be parted from it, Gahre
took a large, succulent bite of the lamb, hastily savoring it
through the distraction, then hurriedly swallowed and took
another.
    Mythor approached the ring of men, bypassing
the Sheriff and addressing Elder Panthus directly. “Venerable
Elder, surely this is unnecessary!”
    Old Panthus seemed conflicted himself but
insisted that he could not interfere with the due process of the
Law.
    “Read the damn charges then!” challenged
Cherles the Barber from his barstool and probably well into his
cups. This was echoed by more calls from the other patrons. “Yeah,
read the charges!” “Let’s hear them!”
    Gahre, who was now stuffing his face with food
as fast as physically possible, nearly spit it out when he heard
the first of them.
    “You are hereby charged with assault with a
deadly weapon, resulting in grievous bodily injury.”
    It was enough to divert his focus
away from his food and directly into the Sheriff’s shifting eyes,
and he shrunk under Gahre's fixation. “He is a notorious and
wanted highwayman ,
Sheriff!” Gahre shouted with half his mouth full.
    “Nonetheless, you ambushed their
company.”
    “A company of brigands gearing up for assault
on the innocent!”
    “You could not know their intent. If this were
a matter of self-defense, the law would be on your side. But it is
not. You crept upon a party who was unaware of your presence and
ambushed them with lethal force. You fired first and drew first
blood.”
    “I did rightly acertain their intent!” Gahre
stood up abruptly knocking the table back and causing a pitcher of
milk to drop and shatter on the floor. “They were positioned on
high ground below a ridge, camped there for days or more waiting to
strike on that wayhouse. Indeed from that vantage they were
scouting the wayhouse, whereupon last eve the merchant family
lodged. I saw them sharpening their sabers and donning armor. There
was no question as to their intent. It was perfectly
evident.”
    “It was suspicious, surely. But that brings me
to the second felony I must charge you with: Unlawful Vigilantism.
You are neither a lawman nor a ranger, and thus have no authority
to apprehend suspected criminals.”
    “I am a junior Ranger. And does Har Darox not
have a bounty on him? Is he not a wanted brigand, accused of murder
and defilement? Does his likeness not hang in every township and
outpost from here to the opposite ends of the world?”
    “Junior Rangers have no so such authority to
detain folk. In fact I believe as a junior ranger you are trained
for such contingency and did not follow protocol. Isn't that
correct, Master Ranger Throjos?”
    Throjos cleared his throat and answered
carefully. “The protocol a junior ranger is deemed to follow upon
the sighting of criminally suspicious circumstance is to
immediately report his observations to the nearest township or
garrison outpost. He has no more authority to apprehend suspects
than any civilian, which is to say none at all. That said, however,
Sheriff, the boy is of age and we were, and still are, of mind to
offer him commission to our ranks.”
    “Which means nothing under the Law. So you
would agree, would you not, Master Ranger, that the boy acted
outside the Law having as he did options other than committing
deadly assault?”
    “Surely he did not follow protocol, Sheriff.
To be truthful his account belies belief. A young man with no prior
combat experience ambushing and successfully capturing three
hardened bandits. I think we need to look at….”
    “He’s a bloody hero is what he is!” hollered
Cherles raising his stein. More onlooker affirmations followed.
Townsfolk were coming in off the street now, and the tavern was
quickly filling to capacity.
    “Hear this, Sheriff!” Gahre stated to all.
“The nearest outpost to the wayhouse is over ten kilometers