Stirring in his cell, Kel had strange dreams.

He was playing outside with Peri and then the mayor was screaming at them, his tiny ratlike eyes bulging. Peri squeezed his hand and was gone; in his place, a shard of dark gate glass. His mother was crying but he couldn’t see her face no matter how hard he tried. Greenish glowing runes shot across the sky. Other half-circles on distant hills, one in the middle of town, one by the river, ghostly green half-circles dotting the horizon, occupying other towns beyond the forests and plains and mountains. Then suddenly the runes were ragged, a violent purple burning in mid-air. They spoke and greeted him in one voice. “Hullo.” Johan pulled him up onto his horse and they fled, riding through the Capital until they came to a giant fountain, which Johan threw him in. Then he was in his old bedroom again, warm and dry, listening to Peri tap out spot runes from the other side of the wall.

Kel opened his eyes slowly. What was Peri saying to him? He listened closely. Tap. Tap-tap. Tap. Taptaptaptap…. The taps began to slow to a monotonous rhythm until there was no pattern, just a tap every few seconds. It wasn’t a person knocking on the wall - it was rain dripping from the roof outside his prison cell window.

“Gods burn it all, there must be something in here!” someone exclaimed from inside the office. Kel was jerked fully awake. Through the bars, he could see Mayor Hardstahd rifling through a leather bag. His leather bag. “Not a coin to be had, eh?” the thin man muttered to himself.

Kel was incensed. So this was why Caaron had been wary of them taking his bag. “What are you doing?” He approached the bars to get a good look at the mayor.

The mayor simply sneered. ”Oh, I'm... searching for contraband."

Kel felt his heart begin thumping with anger. “The guardsmen already did that. They stored it for me, to keep my things safe.”

“But you are a criminal, boy. The law is under no obligation to appease you.”

“Your son is a criminal, but I don’t see him sitting here.”

The mayor stopped, planted his hands on the table, and smirked. “You see child, there are two types of people. Those with power, who have earned the gods’ favor to do as they please, and those with nothing, who are made to serve. Care to guess which is you and which is Derry?”

Kel was just opening his mouth to retort when Johan came bustling into the room. Kel had seen people react differently to the mayor - some shrunk away when he approached, some brightened up and tried to please him. Others, like Caaron, went out of their way to let him know he was not welcome. Johan, however, barely acknowledged his presence at all. He swept over to the log-book, kept on a podium by the door, and flipped it open with a quill. “What time did you arrive, then, Mayor?” he said without looking at the other man.

Mayor Hardstahd stuttered “well..I..don’t see why that’s-”

“What time, sir?” The Captain gave him that same look that he had given Caaron the day before, cold and hard.

“About five minutes have passed...Still, I don’t know why you need to know. I am the mayor.” Hardstahd was clearly affronted.

“Yes, well, all visitors must be registered. I’ll have to have a word with my deputies about procedure.” He closed the book with an efficient flip and turned to face the Mayor.

“Yes well, all is in order I suppose…” Kel noticed that the thin, sallow man was slowly trying to distance himself from Kel’s bag, which he had been so very interested in before.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” Johan watched him steadily, his gray eyes unwavering.

“I found nothing. See for yourself.” The Mayor held the bag open for them to see. Kel was aghast - everything they had stuffed into the bag was gone. “Where have you put my stuff?!” he yelled. If there weren't metal bars between them, he would have strangled Mayor Hardstadt where he stood.

Captain Densk, showing no sign of surprise, raised a hand without looking back. “Calm yourself, young Kelvin. Your belongings are still safe.” He didn’t venture to explain why, however, as everything in the bag was clearly missing. He took a step closer to the Mayor. “And now I must ask: Why are you going through the prisoner’s belongings?”

“Well, he’s the prisoner. It is my right, is it not?” Even saying this, he couldn't seem to look the Captain in the eye.

Johan shook his head. “That is nowhere in the law whatsoever, Mayor Hardstahd.”

The older man’s face went red with impotent fury. “Now see here!”

“No, Mayor.” The guardsman quelled him with a look. Kel wondered if perhaps Johan had some magic of his own; through will alone he seemed able to stop even powerful men in their tracks. “I have tolerated you because your position holds certain privileges and because I must honor those privileges. But your power is intended to help the town, not fatten your coin purse.”

“But he is my property. Everything he has is mine.” The older man beat the table with a fist. It should have sounded more powerful than it did; the mayor winced and Kel wondered if he had hurt himself.

“Not yet, mayor. Once the council rules - if they rule in your favor - then you can exorcise your petty rights.” He nearly spat the word “petty.”

Hardstahd opened this mouth to protest but Johan held up a hand. “Just get out of here or I will arrest you myself.” Mayor Hardstahd seemed to go through a range of emotions in a very short time, looking both desperate and angry at the same time. It was clear that he was used to ordering people around, not being ordered. Finally, resigned to the Captain’s decision, he started for the door.

“Yes well I...I will see you at the trial.” The mayor tilted his chin high, attempting to look dignified, but he was not at all imposing next to the seasoned veteran. Before he opened the door, he looked back at Kel. “Good luck coming four-handed to the trial. Mark my words, no one will help you - I’ll make sure of it.” He slammed the door behind him.

Johan said nothing. His face was white with fury. As soon as the door was shut, he began to pace around the office. “That bag was locked away. One of my deputies must have taken it out on his orders. When I find out who it was….” Kel wasn’t sure if he was talking more to him or just himself, but he felt that interrupting at the moment would not be pleasant. After a few minutes of this, Johan paused and turned around. He looked a lot calmer now. “I’m sorry, Kelvin. You probably still think your things are missing.” He picked up the back and carried it over to the cell door. “Allow me to assuage your fears.” He opened the satchel so that Kel could see inside.The bottle, the cattails, the bandages; all of the items that had been packed away were all still there. In fact, there were a few more things in there that Kel hadn’t noticed before, when Aksel had been inspecting it. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on.“What did you do?” he asked.

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“It’s not me. It’s the bag. Surely you knew that it was special?”

“I mean, it always held a lot.”He recalled the number of times he had made deliveries with the bag filled to the brim, but it had never popped a seam. Aside from that, he had never had items appear or disappear.

“Well, near as I can tell, it assesses the intent of the person holding it and divulges only those items that will be safe with that person. We used to have them in the capital - called them Safe Satchels. It’s a corny name, I know, but it’s an apt description.”

“I never knew.” It made sense. He was the only one who ever carried it, so it had no reason to hide or reveal its contents before. “It was my parents’." The only thing I have left of them, he thought.

Johan thought for a moment. “That’s quite a thing to remember them by, then. Why your family had an enchanted satchel, I have no idea, but I bet that if you held it for a moment and then reopened it, it would offer up more secrets that Caaron, no doubt, dropped in here beforehand.” He stared at the boy, his gray eyes unreadable. For a moment, Kel was afraid that he was going to force him to hold the bag and then take whatever he found. The moment passed and Johan backed away from the cell, depositing the magical bag back into the locked compartment from which it had apparently been taken.

“I hope that reassures you. Now, If you’ll excuse me, I have some errands to attend to.” He gathered his cloak about him and started for the door.

“Wait - what did he mean by ‘four-handed?”

“Don’t worry about that, young Kelvin. I’m taking care of that.” Without further conversation he stalked out the door, leaving Kel to his thoughts.

An enchanted satchel, Kel thought to himself. He wondered what else Caaron had packed away for him. Had he known what the bag was all along? Well, it was useless now - in the end, they hadn’t had enough time for him to escape. “But you are a criminal, boy,” the Mayor had said. And yet the Mayor himself was the one whose intentions the bag had deemed unsavory. Kel wondered if the gods were really okay with men like Gerald Hardstahd having the power they did. Men who looked down on everyone around them. “I’m so tired of being called ‘boy,” he sighed.

Pop. The creature, crooked maw agape and giant eyes staring, appeared instantly suspended in the air by Kel’s feet. Kel jumped, standing on the cot and nearly falling over. “What?” the creature said, tilting its head.

Kel was flabbergasted. “I don’t know, you just appeared. What do you want?”

“You called. What you want?” The creature seemed almost impatient this time.

“I’m sorry... How did I call you?”

“You spoke name. My name.” It hung there, seemingly sulking.

“No I didn’t.” Kel had certainly not called out to this thing. He had just been trying to relax, though really he had only been able to angrily ruminate instead.

It waggled a finger at him, still floating in the air just above the cot. “My name is,” and let loose an awful screeching noise followed by a series of gurgles. Whatever language it was, if you could call it that, Kel had never heard it before. “In human: ‘boy.”

“Oh.” A moment of realization came upon him. “ So you really are called boy.” The creature nodded matter-of-factly.“So I say your name... and you appear?”

“Yes.”

Kel thought for a second. “Please don’t be offended but, can I give you another name? Boy doesn’t seem like a good name for you; it’s quite a common word and you are...not common. I think you’d be better off with a proper human name.”

It seemed to think for a second. “Sure,” it said. “What name, then?”

“Let me think...”

“When you call me next, I’ll come. New name then.”

“Wait!” Kel shouted, but the imp, or whatever it was, had disappeared.

Just then, Johan marched back through the door with two of his deputies. One was Aksel, the other he had seen around but had never spoken to - a newer face in their village. He was just slightly older than Aksel, with a shock of blonde hair and a very round face. The newcomer wore a sheepish expression as he trailed behind Aksel and the Captain. From the way they were interacting, Kel assumed he now knew who had allowed the Mayor to rifle through his bag. It didn’t endear him to the newcomer, nor did Johan seem keen on him either. In fact, he seemed in a worse mood than he had been previously.

“Who were you talking to?” Aksel asked.

“No one. Just, er, practicing my speech for the trial.”

“You probably don’t want to yell at them. Might not get the results you want, that way!” The youthful deputy laughed. Johan shot him a look and he stopped abruptly.

“Aksel,” the Captain said, "as we discussed, it’s time to be on your way.” Aksel nodded seriously and took his leave without another word. The blonde man started for the door as well, but Johan shot him a cold look. "Not you. I need you to clean the lavatories. And then when you're done with that, I'll need you to copy some text from the books of law. About handling prisoner's effects." The blonde man said nothing. His sheepish look began to darken into something else, but he turned away and walked out of the room toward the lavatory. Kel felt his mood improve slightly. 

“Where is Aksel going?” He asked.

“Making preparations. You’ve been ordered to come four-handed to the trial. Four hands, or people, need to be able to speak for you if you’re going to have any chance of winning your case. That’s who Aksel is trying to round up now.” Kel's head was immediately swimming. The first he had heard of this was today, less than an hour ago. How would they find anyone by this afternoon? He racked his brain, wondering who in the world would stand up for him in front of the council.  Would four people actually stick their necks out when the Hardstahds would clearly go after them following the trial? The longer he thought about it, the less likely it seemed. That gnawing, awful feeling of despair was beginning to fill his gut. 

The worst part was that there was nothing to be done for it. After the events of the morning, Kel still had to just sit and wait until it was time to go. He tried to read, but it was hard to concentrate. Occasionally, a door would bang open and he would look up, hopefully expecting Aksel, but it was invariably the blonde deputy who now wore a scowl. Clearly incensed, the man made more than enough noise as he came and went between chores. His round face reminded Kel of a really angry baby. After going on like this for what felt like hours, Aksel finally returned.  "They're ready," he said.

The council-house loomed before them on the short walk over. It made sense for the guardhouse to be close to where important events occurred in the town. It was, in truth, a temple that they converted as needed for events such as this. Not a tall building, but long and dark, illuminated by rows of windows and glowing lanterns where needed. Despite being a place dedicated to the gods, it always filled him with a sense of dark foreboding and he loathed setting foot there.

It may have been because of what happened there, five years ago, only a few days after his family disappeared. He had been hauled in, despite Caaron’s protests, to stand trial for debts owed. Everyone there had treated him like a criminal, as if he had done something wrong. He was a scared little boy, missing his mother and brother, sleeping in a stranger’s house and all they had talked about was how his mom had done a disservice to the community by disappearing and what a huge debt she owed to the Hardstahds. As if she had run away willingly! He hated the masks the council wore most of all - impassive and cowardly - just staring at him, pronouncing his future like he was some kind of property.

Kel shuddered as they approached  the long black building and then diverted to the back entrance. Through the small door here would be a vestibule in which he would wait until it was time for the trial. The door creaked open and Kel was greeted by a familiar sight from his previous brush with the law. A couch, shelves of holy books and a single window for light - the priest usually spent time in this room between lectures. He expected to be alone as he had been last time. Instead, four familiar faces occupied the room. Little Ryla, Odd William, Kyleria, and of course Caaron looked up from their various conversations and smiled at him.

“Well,” Kyleria stepped forward. “What do you think? Are we respectable enough to speak up for you?” Kel couldn’t stop grinning.