The public square of Sunder-Foot was crowded with more than six hundred citizens as Magistrate Jonathan Vane stood upon the granite roofed porch of the courthouse. It was flanked by the High Sheriff and Tomas Reed.
In the judge’s hands rested the formal parchment scroll: THE EMANCIPATION DECREE OF MOUNT SUNDER & THE DISSOLUTION OF HEREDITARY DEBT INDENTURES.
Magistrate Vane adjusted his glasses and unfolded the heavy royal document. His voice, trained by thirty years on the bench, carried to the furthest corners of the crowded square.
“In the name of the High Crown and the Imperial Labor Charter of the Realm,” Magistrate Vane proclaimed, “this court finds that the debts asserted against the Eighty Cutters of Dennis Cole were founded upon deliberate fraud, criminal concealment, and post-mortem ghost billing. By order of the High Circuit Bench, all four hundred and twelve hereditary indentures, debt transfers, and commissary liens originating from the Gray Pit disaster are hereby declared null, void ab initio, and permanently erased from the royal rolls!”
A stunned, breathless silence fell over the square. It was followed by a rising, tear-choked wave of emotion. Men fell to their knees in the snow. Women clutched their children to their breasts, weeping with uncontainable relief.
