e, by the house of Hosi the
Lawgiver?" he demanded. "Sharp needles were at work there, and there are
witnesses to say that your hands held them."

"More lies!"

"Needles found in your house fit the furrows, Seth."

"They were not mine--or they were stolen! I demand to be freed!"

"You will be freed," the Spokesman said coldly. There was no possible
doubt as to what he meant. Seth began to weep and to shout at the same
time. Hands closed over his mouth again. "Mathild the Forager, your plea
may be heard."

The young woman stood up hesitantly. Her fur was nearly dry now, but she
was still shivering.

"Spokesman," she said, "I saw the things which Charl the Reader showed
me. I doubted, but what Honath said restored my belief. I see no harm in
his teachings. They remove doubt, instead of fostering it as you say
they do. I see no evil in them, and I don't understand why this is a
crime."

Honath looked over to her with new admiration. The Spokesman sighed
heavily.

"I am sorry for you," he said, "but as Spokesman we cannot allow
ignorance of the law as a plea. We will be merciful to you all, however.
Renounce your heresy, affirm your belief in the Book as it is written
from bark to bark, and you shall be no more than cast out of the tribe."

"I renounce it!" Seth cried. "I never shared it! It's all blasphemy and
every word is a lie! I believe in the Book, all of it!"

"You, needlesmith," the Spokesman said, "have lied before this Judgment,
and are probably lying now. You are not included in the dispensation."

"Snake-spotted caterpillar! May your--_ummulph_."

"Pursemaker, what is your answer?"

"It is No," Honath said stonily. "I've spoken the truth. The truth can't
be unsaid."

The Spokesman looked down at the rest of them. "As for you three,
consider your answers carefully. To share the heresy means sharing the
sentence. The penalty will not be lightened only because you did not
invent the heresy."

There was a long silence.

Honath swallowed hard. The courage and the faith in that silence made
him feel smaller and more helpless than ever. He realized suddenly that
the other three would have kept that silence, even without Seth's
defection to stiffen their spines. He wondered if he could have done so.

"Then we pronounce the sentence," the Spokesman said. "You are one and
all condemned to one thousand days in Hell."

There was a concerted gasp from around the edges of the arena, where,
without Hona