The Eagle And The Nightingales

But the Manufactory Guild wanted to keep that ignorance intact. And here the Church itself was divided; one group saw clearly the way this would take freedom away from anyone who worked in those places, leaving them virtual slaves to their jobs, but the other group was alarmed at the wild tales painted of accidents caused by 'inexperience,' and was in favor of the law.

She shifted her position, turning her back on the lights of the manufactory to stare up at the sky. You didn't see as many stars here as you could in the country; she didn't know why. Maybe it was all the smoke from the thousands of chimneys, getting in the way, like a perpetual layer of light clouds.

The nastiest piece of work she'd heard about was something that so far was only a rumor, but it was chilling enough to have been the sole topic of conversation tonight, all over Freehold.

This was_supposedly_a proposed law that had the support of not only some of the Church but the Manufactory Guild and the Trade Guilds as well.

They called it 'the Law of Degree.'

Nightingale shivered, a chill settling over her that the warm breeze could not chase away. Even the name sounded ominous.

It would set a standard, a list of characteristics, which would determine just how 'human' someone could be considered, based on his appearance. But the 'standard' was only the beginning of the madness, for it would mandate that those who were considered to be below a certain 'degree' of humanity were nothing more than animals.

In other words, property. Bad enough that such things as being indentured are allowed everywhere, and that slavery is sanctioned in at least half the Twenty Kingdoms. The Church at least has laws that govern how slaves are treated, and an indentured servant has the hope of buying himself free. But this_this would be slavery with none of the protections! After all, it wouldn't be 'reasonable' to have a law stating that a man couldn't beat his dog, so why have one saying he can't beat his Mintak?

Deliambrens, for instance, would be considered human under the law_but Mintaks and Haspur, with their hides of hair and feathers, their nonhuman hands and feet, their muzzles and beaks, would be animals.

Some people were arguing that as property, these nonhumans would actually have protection they did not have now_protection from persecution by the Church. 'Animals' by Church canon could not be evil, because they had no understanding of the difference between good and evil. It was also argued that some of the violence done to nonhumans in the past_the beatings and ambushes_would end if this law was passed, because since they would then be the property of a human, anyone harming one of them would have to pay heavy restitution to the owner.

Naturally all those nonhumans not falling within the proper degree of humanity would have their property confiscated_cattle can't own homes or businesses, of course_and both they and their property would be taken by the Crown. I'm sure that never entered the Lord Treasurer's consideration. And, of course, as soon as the ink was dry on the confiscation orders, the Crown would then have itself a nice little 'animal' auction. More money in the King's coffers, and it wouldn't even be slavery, which is wicked and really not civilized.

Nasty, insidious, and very popular in some quarters. Yes, it would 'protect' the nonhumans from the demon hunters, for a little while_until Church canon was changed to make it possible for animals to be considered possessed!

Which it would be; after all, it's in the Holy Writ. There were the demons possessing a human that were cast out, and then possessed a herd of pigs and made the pigs drown themselves.

Small wonder that the Manufactory Guild was also behind this one, at least according to the rumors. If it was passed, the owners of manufactories could neatly bypass all the Church laws on labor by acquiring a nightshift of 'animals' to run the machines without wages. There was no Church law saying animals couldn't work all night_nor any Church law giving them a rest day. If it passed_

Well, most of the nonhumans would flee before they could be caught, I suspect, but there are always those who can't believe that something like that would happen to them. There would probably be just enough of those poor naive souls and their children in Lyonarie to make up a workforce large enough to work the manufactories at night.

There would be a business in hunters, too, springing up in the wake of this law. Hunters? No, more like kidnappers. They would be going out and trying to entrap nonhumans in whichever of the other human kingdoms existed that did not pass this law, and bringing them back here to sell.

Nightingale clutched her hands into fists and felt her nails biting into the palms of her hands. If she ever found out who the nasty piece of work was that first came up with this idea, she would throttle him herself.

With my bare hands. And dance on his corpse.

She told herself she had to relax; at the moment, it was no more than a rumor, and she had only heard about it here. No one had mentioned it in the High King's servants' kitchen this morning, nor even in the Chapels friendly to all species. It might be nothing. It might only be a distortion of one of the other laws being considered.