The roll-call vote of the High Parliament of Crown-Reach began at the third hour of afternoon, conducted under the total silence of three estates who understood that they were participating in the dissolving of an empire.
Clerk of the Parliament Master Alden stood at the lower desk, unrolling the heavy parchment roll of the members. His voice rang out through the dark rock arches with the clear, rhythmic strike of a bell:
“The Estate of the Town Burgesses! Representatives of the forty-eight chartered boroughs and artisan guilds! How say you on Statute Nine-Hundred and Thirty-Five: The Repeal of the Royal Monopoly of the Grand Adventurers’ Guild and the Establishment of the Pan-River Registry?”
Burgess Thorne of Bellwether rose, his voice shaking with fierce, unbending pride: “In the name of the forty thousand artisans and draymen of Bellwether: Aye!”
“Burgess Miller of High Karst!” “In the name of the miners and widows of the north: Aye!”
“Burgess Hall of Oakhaven!” “In the name of the fleece-haulers and wheelwrights: Aye!”
One by one, forty-eight times without a single dissenting voice, the Town Burgesses cast their votes for dissolving. Forty-eight votes. A solid, rock-steady finger bone of working-class resolve.
“The Estate of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal!” the clerk called out, turning to the scarlet benches. “Representatives of the ancient shires and baronies! How say you?”
