Read Online Oath and the Measure by Michael Williams - Free Book Online

grandfather smiled and nodded, but your father stood pale and too quiet, and at that moment, I knew that something between them was about to unravel, perhaps beyond repair. ‘But, Lord Agion,’ Angriff protested, stepping into the matter as brashly and foolishly as he stepped into each hunt, each tournament. ‘I expect that the history will show that I cast the first and telling spear.’
    “ ‘Nonsense,’ Lord Emelin protested. ‘My sword struck the boar, and it died. There is no more to say in the matter.’
    “Indeed there
was
no more to say. But I could see Angriff start to say it, nonetheless. He began to answer back and defend his honor. But Lord Emelin would have none of it.”
    Lord Boniface paused and regarded the lad before him. Sturm gaped at him, his fists doubled. Imagine the injustice of Lord Emelin! Sturm thought angrily. Why, ’tis against the Code and Measure entirely!
    “Not at all, Sturm Brightblade,” Lord Boniface corrected, as though he was reading the younger man’s thoughts. “The rules of the hunt are simple, as simple as Lord Emelin set them forth that morning in the Wings of Habbakuk. Angriff, though, was livid. There was something in this, he felt, that passed beyond rule and protocol, but rule and protocol said that the rest was silence. He withdrew his spear …”
    Boniface paused and shook his head, a little sadly.
    “And I sheathed my sword, and we mounted our horses. I watched my friend ride and fume,” he maintained, “from the Virkhus Hills back to Castle Brightblade. As mute as a sheep before the shearer, he was, and he spoke not a word that afternoon and into the evening. For you see, defiance of one’s father was more against the Code and Measure than anything Lord Emelin had done by the rules in the clearing.
    “Agion teased young Angriff all the way back to Castle Brightblade, calling him ‘bush-beater’ and ‘lyam-hound’ and ‘alan,’ as though the lad’s part in the hunt were simplylocating the beast. Angriff stewed further, and still he was silent. But I knew we had not seen the end of the matter.
    “It was at the banquet that night for Lord Emelin’s triumph. All the principal families were there—the MarKenins, the Jeoffreys, the Celestes—and the talk was of hunt and ceremony.
    “When dinner had been served and the guests had settled into the lull of food and wine, Angriff approached his father’s seat. Agion, at the left of Lord Emelin, snorted as the lad approached and said, far too audibly, ‘here comes the boy to ask for the hound’s share.’ ”
    Sturm gasped. At the hunt, when the beast was skinned and cleaned, the entrails, the hooves, and all indelicate parts were left for the hounds. Agion’s words had not only been insulting, but they were also downright cruel.
    “Emelin turned to Agion and said something sharp but inaudible,” Boniface said, “but Angriff seemed to pay the big lout no mind. He stood silently before his father until Lord Emelin looked up from the exchange with his cousin. Then Angriff began, his speech soft and mild and overprepared, but as urgent as any words spoken in Castle Brightblade before or since.
    “ ‘My Lord Father knows,’ he said, ‘that sometimes the Measure and true justice are at odds. He knows also that, regardless of sword and stroke of grace, my spear dealt Lord Grim the mortal blow.’
    “It was stilted and awkward, but it made its point. A murmur spread through the room, and Lord Emelin stood up angrily.
    “ ‘Are you saying, Angriff,’ he asked, ‘that your father … that
I
have … 
stolen
your kill?’
    “ ‘
Stolen
is not my word for it,’ Angriff replied, his own anger bursting through the calm and politeness. ‘I prefer
seized
.’
    “It was then that Lord Emelin reached over the table and slapped his son.”
    “Slapped him?” Sturm asked, his voice rising in outrage.“Among his fellows at a formal banquet? Why … there is no … no …”
    “No answer to