Lord Auditor Orin Vane did not raise his voice to answer Noll’s challenge. He did not need to shout. The cold, clear mountain air carried his smooth baritone across the fifty paces of gravel with the crystalline precision of water dripping into a quiet stone basin.
“The King’s Survey does not hold trials on goat paths, Master Vey,” Vane called up the slope, his hands resting easily on his black cob’s braided mane. “Nor does the High Board of Survey take depositions on a kitchen cabbage board before an audience of ditch-diggers and woodcutters. If the occupants of this fortification wish to challenge their administrative classification, the statutory procedure is entirely clear. The Survey House in Mere stands open. Its hearing chamber is certified under royal charter, its clerks are sworn under the Great Seal, and its registry is equipped to receive formal appeals.”
He raised one gloved finger, indicating the red-coated platoon behind Captain Dorn.
“Surrender the absconded clerk Cale,” Vane continued, his cadence measured and polite. “Surrender the fugitive laborer Renn. Deliver the stolen March Ledger folios to Captain Dorn’s custody. You, your ranger companion, and your scrap-girl may accompany them under safe escort to the valley. We will convene the hearing within the hour, before the full bench of district magistrates.”
