3: The Code

Ulana stepped into the light on the Dias and squinted. The gathering's conversations died quickly down and hushed whispers went through the crowd. The Alderman stepped forth and led the crowd in the code.
Prakt, Strev, Rang, glang byrd.
Stomm rang glang du.
Blod ettin er blod kong.
Gi tusen val nul.
Trut zund stommpaart
rang out in unison from the assembly. She set her jaw in silence during the recital feeling the heat from her chest rise into her cheeks. Ulana couldn't help but flinch when the metal tip of the ruling staff struck the dais with a sharp crack, sounding the beginning of the hearing. She could feel her brow knit tight and knew she should be wary of the expression on her face but her will power failed to heed the warning.
"Ulana Gaileoin. You are summoned before the council in judgment. You have been declared in defiance of the code. Do you subject yourself to the code? "I do" she could hear herself say. "And have you upheld the code this moon in regards to the tribe and the details thereof?" came the question. Her head lowered of its own accord. "The code compels you to answer" the Alderman declared again but with her voice drawn as a challenge this time. "I kept the tribe from danger. Following the code would have caused the death of many of our kind." Her retort came in anger. CRACK...came the silencing response of the ruling staff.
Ulana shifted her weight back and felt her shoulders lower again. "There is no question on this matter. This one has endangered her kin by rejecting the code and attempts to break apart the foundation of strength this community is established on by picking and choosing her own tenants to add to the code. More egregious yet she has abandoned the honor of the tribe to preserve her own life." the accusation echoed out over the crowd. "I saved some of these very people. '' Ulana cried out, turning toward the Alderman. "I prevented the discovery of our home while others neglected their duty to protect '' She threw back. There was no response though. She could feel the smile of the Alderman and in the silence a few in the crowd murmured.
"There is the response from the accused!" came her cold reply. "The council will judge her by her own admissions. There by her own word she again strikes at the honor of the tribe, exalting herself above the guard who lay down their lives for our people. Twice she confesses to holding the code as below herself. Can the council permit such a stubborn young one to stand in objection to the code?" Ulana lowered her head and glowered at the ground below her feet making no further objection or defense where her appeal would have been expected at the call for the council to vote. They were set against her yet, why bother? She was never one to be clever with words.
The alderman paced near her and raised her stone in the air above her head. "All you who recognize her offense and disregard of our code cast your vote." After a long pause she continued, "Then we render judgment. As is the law the one who places their honor above that of another shall be judged by the one they place themselves above." Ulana's head snapped up in shock. She sought for words but could not find them. This was wrong. She did their job for them. She saved them. This hearing was supposed to be for deception! Balsalor would not recognize that though. She despised his hypocrisy. She despised the blindness of those that shielded him. Sure enough she could see his figure emerge from the crowd. She knew he wouldn't be smiling outwardly but, as always, masking his own shame with innocence. Like his mother, the alderman, who trapped her people within their own code moon after moon he twisted the faithfulness of her people against them. "I render her exiled until she is proven worthy of the code beyond any doubt." he declared. The reaction from the assembly was hardly audible.
Ulana fumed through her teeth with anger and shame. He would seek to separate her from her parents and loved ones. He would cast dishonor on her family name. "How dare you, you coward." she shouted stepping forward two steps. There were further murmurs from the crowd. Why did they place such faith in the code when it was used against them? Of course it had good but it was being used to control them. She could see in her mind the image of her father standing before the council similarly and submitting to similar accusations. She wanted to protect him but it was her own kind that manipulated them. "The vote has been cast. The judgment rendered. Do any doubt the good of the law and the code for the order of our kind?" silence. Ulana glared toward Balsalor.
She turned hard and her heel toward the arch and scooped up her traveling pack and the worn cloak she had left with it, still covered in the grime from her trip. She pushed past Balsalor with a heavy shoulder and back down the steps of the dais into the crowd. She heard the soft call of her mother in the silence. She found her through the crowd after a long minute of searching. "Send word soon" her mother only said, barely holding back the emotion within. Ulana embraced her, unable to enjoy the brief reunion with the shame and anger coursing through her mind still. She knew she would regret this for a long time. She turned to her father. His smile and thick brow pushed forward with concern almost broke her anger and threatened to let loose the fear she buried inside. "My girl. I'm proud of you. Be safe. You will pursue the right I know." She hugged him also and could feel the emotion rise but refused to let the alderman and her son see it. She stood back and straightened herself as tall as she could.
Ulana turned back toward the dais when she reached the edge of the crowd and the gate. "Send forth word to the tribes. Add her name to those who bring dishonor to our tribe. Let her judgment be known from the northern tribes of ice to the tribes of the southern woods. Ulana your return will not be permitted in the wood here without the vote of the assembly." And the staff cracked a third time in what seemed to have been mere moments.
She slung her other arm back through her pack and turned to the wall by the gate retrieving her weapons. She didn't give them the pleasure of another glance and kept her eyes forward as she marched past the guards at the gate and into the square, making her way toward the keeps massive gate.