Chapter 29

"Murder?" Dent said, shocked.

"Murder," Daniel stated again nodding emphatically. "Boraic is his name and he killed his wife and two young children. Honestly, Your Excellency, we haven't had anything like this in all my years living here, which has been all my life. Small things we've been able to take care of: drunkenness, petty theft, even an occasional brawl. But this," he spread his arms in helplessness; "we don't know what to do. But now you're here ... Well, that is what you do, isn't it?"

"I suppose so," Dent muttered, scratching his chin. With a sigh he straightened his shoulders and looked around at the people surrounding him. "It is best if this is taken care of as soon as possible. Tomorrow we will hold a trial. Is there a location where these things are usually handled?"

"Well, the previous governors usually held them in their office," Daniel replied.

"This office is large enough to hold that many people?" Dent asked incredulously.

"They usually just had the accused and the constables," Daniel replied.

"No witnesses? What about evidence, the victims?"

"They didn't seem to think that was necessary," Daniel said simply.

"Well I do," Dent stated flatly. "I want everyone even remotely involved with this business present and available. We shall do this in the village square, tomorrow at ten hundred. Let me know if anybody can't be there."

"Certainly, Your Excellency," he said, head bobbing. "We will have it set up and ready for you."

"Good," Dent said. "You mentioned constables. Who are they and when can I meet them?"

"Well," Daniel said, scratching his chin, "we don't really have any right now. The Governor usually brings his own, and like I said we don't generally have need for them."

"Fine, I'll set something up with my own guard," Dent replied. "We're going to have a lot more people coming in here over the next few months and its best if we have something in place. But that's enough for right now. I'm going to need to see where the Governor lives. I have a rather large family and I believe I'm going to want to build something a bit larger."

Turning he saw Sosho and Clarise surrounded by a group of the village women. "I suppose we can wait until my ladies are done with whatever they have going on. In the meantime I'm going to need a couple of messengers with me while I'm here. Do you suppose that those boys, Filep and Clem, would be available?"

"Certainly, Your Excellency," Daniel hesitated for just a moment. "But you realize that Clem is, well he's a..."

"A slave? Yes I'm well aware of that. Is there a problem? I suppose I should ask his master and all that. Who is his master and where can I find him?"

"Well, that's not a problem," Daniel said shaking his head. "Filep is my nephew's boy and Clem belongs to him also. It's just ... Well, it's a little unusual to use a slave in such an honored position."

"You'll find I do things a bit differently," Dent said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "Free or not, I tend to use who's best for the job and those two probably know where everything and everybody is in this town."

"That they do," Daniel chuckled. "That and been into trouble everywhere around here also."

"No doubt," Dent said with a smile. "When the Grip finally pulls in I know someone who will be especially glad to meet them." Turning again he noticed Sosho and Clarise making their way towards him. The crowd had dissipated somewhat but there were still about five of the village women walking with them.

"Master!" Sosho said as she came up nest to him. "This just won't do! I have been talking with these good women and they tell me the so-called Governor's Mansion has been empty and is badly in need of repair. From what they said it's going to be far too small for us anyway."

"I'd already guessed that," Dent replied. "We can have a look at it but I've already planned to build something more suitable. In fact I was hoping these good people would know a location that would meet our needs." Swiftly he outlined his requirements and immediately the villagers huddled together and shortly, with heads nodding, were leading Dent and his women to that very spot.

It was perfect for what he wanted. It was a short distance out of town and up on a hillside that overlooked the harbor. Fresh water was readily available as was timber and an outcrop of volcanic rock suitable for building. It was very much the ideal location.

"This is just want I wanted," Dent admitted. "Who do I see about purchasing the land?"

"This is state land, Your Excellency," Daniel told him. "As governor it is yours to do with as you will. That's the reason nobody has built here already."

"Then this is where we will build and where we will live," Dent said happily.

Later that evening he showed one of the crew leaders the location and was assured construction would begin immediately. Having foreseen the need for a new house Dent had Nesho and Sosho draw up general plans for what they wanted; the rest would be up to the discretion of their builder; subject to Nesho's oversight of course. Everything required to get started was already on one of the ships waiting to be off-loaded. While one crew worked on the new docks, another would start on the warehouses and the third on his new home. Nothing would happen until all ships were unloaded, but that would take only a few days. In the meantime Dent determined the best place to stay was on the Makro.

They had looked at the traditional governor's house; it wasn't big enough to be called a real mansion, and it was as rundown and small as they had been told. The only thing of value Dent found was an old text on Jeevel law. It wasn't very large. Jeevel didn't seem to codify its laws, instead relying on precedent, common law and, from what Dent could gather, the whim of the justice conducting the trial. Still it was better than nothing and it didn't take him long to read through the entire volume. More than once Dent wished for his senior wife and her cool analytical way of looking at problems. He was fairly confident in his ability to perform acceptably, but it would have been nice to have her to lean on nonetheless.

After retiring for the evening Dent was unsurprised to find the long day hadn't tired his two ladies al all. In fact their demands for his attention kept him up late into the night. At least he had no time to worry about the trial the next morning.

It was a bright, clear morning and Dent was happy to see Daniel and the villagers had set up an acceptable court in the common square overnight. There was one large table covered in a somber, dark cloth, which was obviously where he was to be, and another slightly raised platform. He assumed that was for the accused. It was a simple setting but Dent had no problem with simplicity. This was for the administration of justice, not a statement of his power or position.

Striding up to the table Dent tried to display more confidence than he really felt. Turning, he scanned the crowd. He wouldn't have been surprised if every person living on the island was there looking back at him with anticipation. Setting the law book on the table in front of him, he sat down in the chair being held for him by one of the village men. Sosho and Clarise had been following and were motioned to two chairs directly behind him. Dent had debated whether or not to allow them to attend the trial, but Sosho determinedly convinced him their place was with him regardless of what happened. Reluctantly he agreed and by the looks of it, either she had contacted one of the village elders or they had also made the assumption the girls were going to accompany him. Not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, he wondered just how much control he really had over his women.

Turning to Daniel standing by the side of the table he said loudly, "Are the accused, witnesses and all other relevant persons present?" Daniel said yes and Dent then said, "Then I now declare this court to be in session. Bring forth the accused."

The crowd parted and four burly villagers led a filthy, ragged man into the square and up onto the platform. He was chained, manacles on both wrists and ankles, but even restrained he looked at Dent with defiance and hatred.

"Who the hell are you?" he shouted almost as soon as he was set up there. "You have no fucking right to judge me! I owned that bitch and those two little bastards. I'm the man of the house and I can do whatever I fucking want with them!"

Impassively Dent waited as the prisoner vented about how he was being wronged, he had his rights and nobody here could do anything about it. Dent finally waved his hand curtly and the prisoner's diatribe slowly trickled to a stony silence.

Picking up a piece of paper that had been tucked into the middle of the book, Dent started reading. He read verbatim the words written but his eyes never once left the eyes of the accused.

"Boraic, you stand accused of the murder of your wife, Senick, your daughter, Mensi, aged 3 seasons and the infant boy, Rollef. How do you plead."

"What?" Boraic said, obviously confused.

"How do you plead?" Dent repeated. Seeing the man didn't understand he tried a different tack. "Are you guilty or not guilty? Did you do what you are accused of?"

"Eh? You mean kill them?" Boraic said. "Damn right I did! The bitch deserved it, and so did the two little bastards. Probably weren't mine, anyway!"

"You admit to killing them and yet you say you aren't guilty," Dent sat back astonished. "How do you figure that?"

"Why it's simple, Mister High and Mighty," Boraic said with a sneer. "Murder is when you kill a person illegally. Since it was only my bitch and her two brats, it don't count as persons and anyway since they belong to me I can do anything I want with them. That bitch was fucking someone else, and when I catch that bastard I'm going to kill him too."

"You have proof of her infidelity?" Dent asked.

Sosho leaned over his shoulder and whispered in his ear, "Does it really matter if she was? Does that warrant a death sentence?"

"No," Dent whispered back. "But I want to hear everything about this case, even if it seems irrelevant." Mollified, Sosho leaned back in her seat. Turning back to the prisoner, Dent looked at him expectantly.

"Well, she said she wasn't," Boraic answered slowly. "But I know she was. Don't matter; the bitch was mine."

"Your wife was a slave then?" Dent asked. One of the only areas of Jeevelian law that was clear was in the dealings with slaves. Slaves were property, period. An owner could in fact do anything he or she wanted with them, anything.

"Well, she didn't have no tattoo, if that's what you mean," Boraic seemed to realize this was a flaw in his defense, possibly a fatal flaw and was determined to hedge around it as best he could. "I paid her dad good money for her; by all rights that means she was mine."

"Master Daniel," Dent said turning to the older man. "You have the tax rolls here as I asked? Good. Then would you please tell me if the slave tax was ever paid for this woman, Senick, or her children for that matter."

Daniel spent a few moments searching through the large ledger book placed on a smaller table off to the side of Dent's. After rustling through the pages he looked up and shook his head, no.

"Since no tax had been paid, nor the slave registered as required, it is my opinion that the woman, Senick, and her two children were free citizens of Jeevel at the time of their death," Dent stated emotionlessly. "Whether you paid dowry for her hand in marriage is irrelevant. Now I would like to hear from any here any information that may be pertinent to the case before me. This would include what happened that day and facts regarding the character of the accused."

For the next two hours Dent heard a stream of witnesses talk about how they had found Boraic, dead drunk, in the street one afternoon covered in blood. When they investigated they found his wife and the children dead in their house, the wife with multiple stab wounds and the children with their throats cut. Boraic must not have been well-liked since to a man the witnesses described him as cruel, lazy and a drunkard. No one had anything good to say about him. After taking a short recess during which Dent stood off to the side by himself, he finally squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and strode back to the table.

"After considering all the evidence," he said slowly and clearly. "I have come to the following conclusion: The woman, Senick, and her two children were murdered and the person committing this crime was in fact the man standing before us, one Boraic of Safehaven."

"Boraic, I find you guilty and hereby sentence you to death, the sentence to be carried out immediately." Looking over at the four men who had escorted Boraic in, he ordered them to take the condemned prisoner to a secluded spot behind the nearest warehouse.

Standing, Dent again said loudly, "While I believe a trial is in the interest of the public, executions are not. These four men and my guards will be witnesses, but no others. This trial is over. Return to your own business."

The crowd started to disperse as Dent stood, the murmurings seeming to be of relief and approval. The head of Dent's guards came over to stand next to him.

"You want I should dispatch the prisoner, sir?" he asked.

"No," Dent replied. "I condemned him; I will do my own dirty work. I appreciate your offer but if I am wrong then I will be the only one responsible."

"Ain't no being wrong here, sir. This one's as bad a one as I've ever seen, and I've seen plenty."

As they turned to follow the prisoner, Sosho and Clarise rose and started to follow him.

"There is no reason for you two to see this," he said to them. "I want you to return to the ship. I will be back there shortly."

"No, Master," Sosho said defiantly. "We should be with you."

"Go back to the ship now," Dent said sharply. For the first time that she could remember, as she started to reply she felt a tingle from her salidin and she literally couldn't say anything. As if she had no control, her body turned and started moving toward the docks and the moored ships. Her eyes blazed with anger but she had no control over her actions. As they passed, Clarise looked over to him and nodded with a smile letting him know she at least appreciated his sparing them the sight.

Dent sighed as he watched them stride down the road. The guard leader chuckled and said, "That one isn't very happy with you, sir."

"She'll get over it," Dent replied. "She always does."

When Dent and his guards rounded the corner of the warehouse they found the prisoner struggling with his four escorts beseeching them to let him go. Dent strode up to within a pace of the man.

"Boraic," Dent started. "It is customary to allow the condemned a few last words. Is there anything you would like to say?"

"Fuck you, you bastard!" Boraic screamed. "You can't do this to me, not over a bitch!"

"Not very inspiring last words," Dent huffed, "but probably fitting for you. Put him on his knees."

One of the guards grabbed Boraic's shirt collar and kicked him behind the knees, driving him to the ground. He and the rest of the guards and escorts then moved back leaving the prisoner on his knees, head up, cursing defiantly.

Moving so quickly that the four Safehaven men would later swear they never even saw him move, Dent drew his sword and struck Boraic squarely across the neck severing the head from the body in one stroke. The head rolled on the ground in front of the still upright body, eyelids fluttering and mouth moving as if gasping for breath. For what seemed like minutes but was in reality only a second or two, the headless corpse remained upright and then slowly toppled to the side.

Bending down to wipe the blood from his weapon on the dead man's shirt, Dent said, "Dispose of this body as you normally would."

"Thank you, Your Excellency," one of the Safehaven men whispered. "It will be done."

Without saying another word Dent nodded and with his guards left to return to his ship.

It took almost a ten-day before all the ships were unloaded and the work on the docks, warehouses and the house well begun. Seeing everything was going well Dent and his convoy, less the Grip, returned to Harv'el.

Sosho spent the first few days after the execution in what could only be called a major snit until Clarise finally pulled her aside and described in detail the time she witnessed one of her father's guards killing a slave at her father's order. After hearing about the blood, gore and feces released by the dying body Sosho realized the favor Dent had done them. It didn't hurt when Clarise described the weeks of nightmares that kept her up after seeing the gruesome sight. Dent never liked it when his pretty cousin was angry with him but he never regretted not letting her witness the brutal, and yet necessary, act.

By the time they reached Harv'el, Sosho was her normal self but Clarise was a nervous wreck. She confided to Dent the night before they pulled in that she was more afraid of how Nesho would react to her entry into their relationship than she was about the first day he took her. No matter how much he or Sosho reassured her that everything would be fine she never really relaxed until Nesho met them on the docks and drew her into a loving embrace. Although he never mentioned it, Dent was somewhat anxious about his senior wife's reaction until she gave him a knowing smile and a little wink as she welcomed the girl.

That night was interesting as Dent and Nesho got reacquainted with each other's bodies, Dent found her bulging belly incredibly sexy,. The two younger girls spent their time getting to know each other. On their trip there had been a fair amount of touching, fondling and even some outright petting, but for the most part they -- Clarise particularly -- had concentrated on Dent. Now with Nesho monopolizing him on their first night back the two felt free to concentrate on each other. The contrast of golden and sable hair in addition to the intertwining of two young, lithe bodies was enough to keep Dent excited well into the night, as if Nesho's own voluptuous form wasn't enough.

Little had changed in Harv'el during his short trip. Rumors said the Putram had been seen outside his rooms more often lately which worried Dent somewhat. He wondered if the First Councilor's control of the unstable monarch was slipping, but as of yet no direct threat had been noted. It was also said that treaty negotiations with the Malshall Ambassador were ongoing and there was a marked increase in the number of Malshallian vessels visiting the port, some for trade but the rest on business known only to themselves.

The next few months were busy ones and seemed to go by very quickly for Dent. Nesho grew bigger and bigger, although her increased girth didn't seem to slow her down in the least. Sosho began showing although as yet it was little more than a rounding of her belly and an increase in the size of her breasts. She kept busy with the domestic staff, planning and packing for the eventual move to Safehaven.

At first, Dent split his time between Harv'el and Safehaven. Two weeks here and then two weeks there, but it soon became evident that his time in Harv'el was largely wasted and he began spending more and more time in Safehaven. The divestment of properties and businesses in Harv'el were all but complete after his first month back so all three women traveled with him nearly every time. Nesho absolutely loved Safehaven from the minute she left the ship and was ecstatic over the placement of their new house.

"This is absolutely wonderful," she cried, twirling around in the unfinished atrium on the new mansion.

"I thought you might like it," grinned Dent as Nesho danced into his waiting arms.

"It couldn't be better," she gushed. "From here we will be able to see everything: the harbor, the sea, the town, even the mountain behind us. Oh Dent, this is so much more than we ever dreamed about. To think! From that tiny little room in Salas to this! It couldn't be more perfect!" She stretched up to give him a kiss.

"Well, I can think of a few things I'd like to change," Dent said, caressing the salidin around her neck.

"Oh pooh!" she exclaimed, giving him a fake pout and lightly slapping him on the chest. "Don't you know this is my wedding band, you big fool. Every day it reminds me that I'm yours, that I belong with you and to you."

"Yes, you do," he said softly, "but we don't need that thing to tell us. I assure you I'll never let you forget it."

Nesho laughed and patted her bulging stomach. "If you don't, this little fellow certainly will. I'm glad the residence wing is almost done. It should be just in time."

"It's not time already, is it?" he asked worriedly placing his own hand next to hers just in time to feel the baby kicking. "I don't know if I'm ready for this," he added with a sigh.

"You'll be ready," Nesho said firmly. "Don't you worry, I've been through this already. I know you are going be the best daddy ever. All it takes is a little practice and you're going to have plenty of practice soon. With three women working on it you'll be knee deep in babies before you know it."

"Three?" Dent gasped. "Ah, Clarise isn't, ah, you know... ?"

"Not yet, that I know of anyway," Nesho smirked. "But you haven't been ignoring her in your attentions, so I'd expect it won't be long."

"Well, I guess what happens, happens," Dent said with a shrug. "Where are those two anyway? I haven't seen them all day."

"Some meeting with a group of the village women," Nesho answered. "Something about bringing a doctor to the island and schools for the youngsters. She's become quite good at managing our household as I'm sure you've noticed and with the house not yet complete I think she's taken to running the village in its stead. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't appoint her as headwoman or some such nonsense."

"That would be something," Dent whistled. "How about that: a slave becoming headwoman. That should turn some heads."

"Thanks to you, the line between slave and free is becoming somewhat blurry around here," Nesho said grabbing his hand as they both started walking back towards the almost-completed residence wing. "It's amazing, for as young as she is, the village people have taken to her like they would a southern princess. They adore her, and she gives it right back. In fact, with Sosho spending so much time down there Clarise has been tending to more of the chores around here. She just may end up running the house while Sosho spends her time in the village."

"How is the rest of the, ah, staff, taking that?" he asked.

"Very well actually," Nesho said. "She's been a changed woman since you put your collar on her, and since you put your dick in her it's been even more pronounced. If the collar didn't do it, that big old wife-tamer of yours did."