Chapter 103: The Council (3)
The Vice-Commander took charge of the proceedings. He straightened the sheet before him, dipped his pen into the ink, and looked around the table.
"Before we begin," Coris Danel said, "there is one matter of procedure."
Nobody spoke.
"The Council’s law is clear. If a seat is absent and has failed to deliver its intent on the matter before the Council, the votes belonging to that seat are considered invalid and, by default, counted against the matter."
Encrid’s eyes flicked toward the empty chair of the Chief Healer.
Danel lowered his gaze to the sheet.
"Chief Healer of the Wall. Absent from his position and failure to deliver intent."
He made two marks.
"Two votes against."
Encrid did not react.
He had expected it.
The Chief Healer’s two votes had never truly been his to count on. Elder Wode had been unconscious for days. There had been no way for him to deliver his decision.
While it was regrettable - Encrid could not dwell on it.
The Vice Commander also proceeded with the voting in order of seat, oldest office first.
"Lord Commander."
Ulrich Vance did not hesitate.
"Three, in favour."
Encrid counted automatically.
’Three.’
"Captain of the Far-Watch."
Kass barely glanced up.
"Two. In favour."
’Five.’
"Steward of the Quartermastery."
Vess folded his hands over his stomach.
"In favour."
’Six.’
Encrid kept his face still.
Six in favour.
He needed ten. Only four more.
The Vice-Commander moved to the next seat.
"Vice-Commander."
Danel paused.
It was only for a heartbeat, but Encrid noticed.
Coris Danel looked at his own name on the sheet before raising his eyes.
"Against."
He made a mark.
Encrid’s count changed.
Six in favour.
Three against.
The Vice-Commander continued as though nothing had happened.
"First Watch."
Garrick Dane leaned back in his chair.
"Against."
No surprise there.
"Second Watch."
Ysolde Marr answered without hesitation.
"In favour."
Encrid’s eyes moved to her.
Ysolde offered no explanation. She simply leaned back and folded her arms.
Around the table, several commanders glanced at her.
She ignored them.
"Third Watch."
Halvic Ostrand was silent for a moment.
Then-
"Against."
’Five against. Seven in favour.’
Encrid kept counting.
"Fourth Watch."
Tolm Bree’s hand rested on the ledgers he had brought with him.
"In favour."
’Eight in favour’
Two more.
Encrid felt something loosen in his chest, but he did not allow himself to smile.
"Fifth Watch."
Serapha Lund looked directly at him.
"Against."
A brief pause.
"And I would like it recorded that my objection is to the creation of the seat, not to the man."
Danel made the mark.
Encrid nodded once.
Eight in favour.
Six against.
The total was already moving toward the final numbers.
"Sixth Watch."
Wilm Trask did not answer.
The Vice-Commander looked up.
"Sixth Watch."
"I heard you."
Trask was staring at the table.
His face had gone red.
He was a large man, broad through the shoulders, but at that moment he looked strangely uncomfortable in his own body. His hands were spread flat against the oak.
Danel waited.
Trask finally raised his head.
"I told him I would vote against him."
The room quieted.
Encrid looked at him.
"Eleven days ago," Trask continued. "He came to my office and asked for my support. I refused him."
Dane shifted slightly in his chair.
Trask glanced at him before continuing.
"I gave him a reason. A poor one, perhaps, but it was the reason I had. I told him I could not support him because Garrick would think less of me."
Garrick Dane’s expression hardened.
"Wilm–"
"I am saying it now because if I do not, I will have to carry it around with me."
Trask looked back down at the table.
"He told me my masts would go first."
Encrid remembered the conversation.
Trask had thought the matter ridiculous at the time.
"He left my office after I refused him," Trask said. "And then, instead of asking again, he asked me to check something."
Danel’s pen had stopped moving.
"What?"
Trask swallowed.
"He asked whether the Sixth Watch could send a message from the eleventh mile to the ninth without relying on the lamps."
A few heads turned.
"I thought it was nonsense."
He gave a humorless laugh.
"So I checked."
He looked around the table.
"It took my people four days to find out."
Nobody interrupted him.
"And?"
"We cannot."
Trask’s voice had steadied.
"There is no procedure for it."
His fingers tightened against the oak.
"There has never been a procedure, because nobody thought we needed one."
The silence deepened.
"Hundreds of years on the wall," Trask said quietly. "Hundres of years watching those lamps and assuming the system was enough."
He looked toward Encrid.
"But when the conditions change, the established system would fall. We need someone who could think clear when it happens."
Encrid said nothing.
Trask leaned back and looked at Dane.
"I changed my mind."
Dane said nothing.
Trask looked at the Vice-Commander.
"In favour."
Danel marked the sheet.
Encrid felt his mouth pull upward before he could stop it.
’One more.’
Just one more vote and he would have ten in favour.
He almost had the seat.
Unless–
"Seventh Watch."
"Against," said Erol Vask.
Encrid’s smile faded.
Nine in favor.
Seven against.
"Eighth Watch."
Neriah Fold did not hesitate.
"Against."
Nine in favor.
Eight against.
Encrid’s fingers tightened behind his back.
"Ninth Watch."
Bastian Ryn looked at Encrid.
"Against," said Ryn. "And no hard feelings about it."
Nine in favor and nine against.
’No.’
Encrid’s eyes moved toward the last remaining seat.
The Leader of Lampwrights.
Iolan Vire had barely moved throughout the entire meeting.
He had spoken almost nothing.
Encrid had never managed to read him, and Vire had never given him a reason to think he had made up his mind.
For one foolish moment, Encrid allowed himself to hope.
If Vire voted in favour, he would have the seat.
Danel looked toward Vire.
"Leader of the Lampwrights."
Iolan Vire finally lifted his head.
His expression, however, had not changed.
"Against."
Encrid’s hope disappeared.
Danel looked down at the sheet.
He counted the votes, but everyone in the room already knew the result.
Finally, he set the pen down.
"Nine in favour."
He paused.
"Ten against."
His eyes lifted.
"The motion to create the sixteenth seat of the Council fails."
The words settled over the chamber.
By a single vote.
Encrid stood where he had been standing since the beginning, hands behind his back, his face unreadable.
He had lost.
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