“But my lord…” said captain Ugo Leze.
But the Lord Mayor was not in the mood to argue with the captain and merely shot him a warning look that even chilled me. Ugo Leze stepped back and left without saying a word, his tail behind his legs. The Lord Mayor then took the empty tabouret, placed it in front of me, and sat down. He was so close that I could smell the sweat coming off his skin.
For a moment, he examined me, his small but piercing eyes taking in all details. I let him.
“I’m baron Vico Fiandconis, Lord Mayor of Caffria. And you are?”
“Jonas Espian—” I said, but he cut me off before I could say another thing.
“Please enlighten me. What made you, Jonas Espian, think that you can come into my city, and create such a chaos here that I was called away from my meeting with the high admiral and marshal of the army?”
“I—” I began, but he again interrupted me by holding up his index finger.
“It was a rhetorical question. I’ll make this quick, murderer, I must return quickly,” he took a small pocket watch, round and polished silver that hung on a thin golden thread, and looked at the time. “Ah, an hour… So, you have murdered a city guard, caused bodily injuries to a dozen men and women, rampaged through my streets and destroyed our beloved marketplace, and done extensive damage to private property! Because of those crimes, those wild and reckless displays of violence, I personally sentence you to death! It will be carried out tomorrow morning if the Headsman is available!”
I reached my limit with this pompous fool! His fat and wrinkled face pushed me over the edge, and I refused to allow this farce to continue any longer. My anger was quickly boiling over, along with Goxhandar’s, and together our furies complimented each other.
Goxhandar kept whispering sublimely to choke the life out of that fat lord right here and now, but luckily I could resist that sweet, sweet temptation.
I rose suddenly, with a deliberate intention of scaring him. The baron recoiled backward and almost fell off the tabouret. He caught the edge of the table before he fell, and it was only then that he noticed I was free and uncuffed.
“Guards!” he was about to shout, but his vocal cords betrayed him at that moment, and he sat dumbly silent and frozen in fear.
“Save your breath. I won’t attack you, lord,” I said, my words dripping with spite. My anger had then eclipsed my common sense, much to the delight of Goxhandar, whose presence was a comforting weight.
Luckily, I caught the trail of my emotions and grounded them. I took Pittie’s mark from my pocket, and for the first time since it was given to me, I grabbed the King’s Warrant as well. I had put that safely between hardened leather covers and tied it shut with a thick string. Both of those I threw before the baron, who looked at the marvelous things in stumped silence for some time.
“What… what is the meaning of this?”
“The guard took his own life,” I said, sitting back down. “It was given power by dark magic. He was—”
But before I could reveal any more details, the baron’s anger flared up.
“I don’t care about the life of a mere guard, you contemptible swine!” said the baron, his mouth almost foaming. He threw the warrant and Pitties’ mark back into my lap like they were offensive relics. “Does Pitties really thinks he can send his agents into my city whenever he wishes? And and and do they think they can prance around with impunity, wreaking havoc and leaving trails of destruction behind them, careless of law and the lives of my citizens? Then you are sorely mistaken! Do you think you can twist my hand, make me forget all of what you’ve done just because you have a piece of paper that Pitties wrote himself and threw before our King? You both are gravely mistaken! All of you filthy sorcerers with your secret and manipulative ways and every one of his secret agents disgusts me! Pitties is an arrogant, carpenter-born fool! Do you, sleuth, even know who my sister is?”
“She’s—”
“She’s the queen! The King is my brother-in-law, and I am good friends with him. I hold a high place in his court, and I have his ear and his trust. So mark my words carefully, sorcerer, that when he learns of this impudent, no, reckless abuse of power committed by your pathetic riffraff of wizards, you will beg before me for the punishment that I, in my rightful authority, would have given you!”
“It seems that we had misjudged the character of the Lord Mayor, master,” said Goxhandar.
“We have, indeed,” I replied, and our exchange went unnoticed by the maddened lord.
“He must be under a lot of pressure?” wondered Goxhandar, rather uncharacteristically. But knowing whether that was true would not be of much help.
I took my attention off of Goxhandar, and back to the Lord Mayor, who sat very much still furious, but waiting for what I had to say. If he wanted to boast about his connections, I could as well.
“The king is quite aware of my duties and my privileges,” I said. “When I talked with the crown prince, Pitties, and the chief justice less than two weeks ago, I was led to believe the Warrant, and my mission, was the king’s idea. I’m afraid that it might be you who has missed some important details.”
“That might have been too much,” said Goxhandar, and I had to agree. How the Lord Mayor’s face contorted into a grotesque grimace of hate, fury, and jealousy was hard to describe. But it was like a round ball of dough suddenly deflating into thin wrinkles. The hateful glare that came from him was unsettling and stretched on for a long time.
“Pitties!” he spat at last. “What an arrogant upstart, utterly pretentious and insufferable, like the rest of the Cappesand lot. When I’ll go to the capital, I’ll make it clear that I won’t submit to the authority of some stupid piece of paper. Then we’ll see who has lordship over Caffria—some wandering sorcerer, or me, from a true noble family.”
I didn’t know what to say this his ramblings, and fortunately, he continued.
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“It’s insanity! That I just have to accept you people into my city, let you raise chaos and death, however you see fit, and dismiss a murder with a mere wave of the hand? For what, a purported greater good?”
“Yes,” I answered laconically, to which the baron laughed with more poison and contempt than I’d heard from him yet.
“How utterly ridiculous! What an utterly ridiculous day,” he said, almost as if out of poisonous words. “If it was up to me, I would throw you and your pathetic sorcerers into the deepest cell that I have, and leave you there to rot. Don’t think for a moment I wouldn’t!”
“But…” I thought and could sense his acceptance of the situation. He could not act against the Warrant, no matter how much he’d want to.
“But you have powerful allies, Mr. Espian,” said the baron after a long pause, and every word he said seemed to cause him pain. “Because of your warrant, I can’t do anything to you, even though you just murdered one of my guards. Do your work and then get out of my city. If I ever have to see you again, Mr. Jonas Espian, it would be too early. Only do try to not kill any more of my men, if you would be so kind. I know you sorcerers don’t look too kindly on us blunts. Also, don’t bother coming to my office for help. I won’t be available.”
Baron Fiandconis stood up, gathered his papers and coat, and left without looking at me.
“I don’t think that baron likes you very much, master,” said Goxhandar.
“No, I don’t think he does,” I replied, and I was left alone in the room, and everything quieted down. I felt peace return to my heart, and I suddenly felt just how exhausted I was.
“I have long held both admiration and disdain for your never-ending patience, master,” said Goxhandar. “How you let these inferiors speak to you in this manner without ripping their heads off, I cannot fathom to understand.”
“It’s simple,” I said. “I can’t go to war with everyone. If possible, I’d rather ignore it and move on. I don’t really care what the Lord Mayor thinks of me, or those who think like him. The Warrant worked, and he can’t do anything. His threats were just empty words.”
“If you let them all walk over you and disrespect you, you shall lose credibility and influence.”
“I won’t let them disrespect me, but I won’t act brash or impulsively. I don’t have that luxury.”
“Your restraint is most admirable, master.”
By then, the sun had long dipped behind the countless roofs of the Caffrian buildings when a team of servants entered. They lit some candles and lanterns that had been set around on the table and walls and even on the cold floor. Then, a young guard came in, perhaps a trainee, judging by his clean face and scared eyes. He politely gave me a small loaf of bread, fresh and made from dark, coarse flour, as well as a cup of sweet and warm wine that seemed to be a popular drink in Caffria. I drank and ate, and it was good.
Soon thereafter came captain Leze, and following him was the same young corporal who had slammed the door shut many hours before, back when I was still accused of murder. I saw the captain’s eyes were fixed down on the floor, and he quietly sat down at the table, facing me.
“The baron is under a lot of stress,” he said apologetically. “The demands from the army and navy never end. Always more ships, more men, more steel and bread and meat. Imports are low, but the army grows larger every year, and so do their demands.”
“But still…” I clearly heard the captain’s thoughts in my head. It was the first time that has happened, and it felt strange to overhear someone else’s private thoughts so clearly.
And somewhere in my heart, I had suspected that the baron’s behavior probably had less to do with me, and more about everything else. I had guessed that what happened in Veneiea probably landed squarely on his shoulders, and the king must have blamed him for the failures there.
“But that’s done,” said the captain about the matter with the Lord of the City. “Mr. Espian, I’d like to send a team tonight to investigate Pecca’s home. You said that it might be very dangerous, and you’ve had a very long day already, but perhaps you could come along? And perhaps on the way, you can tell me how he died and anything else that can help me.”
The captain of the guard was right in asking this. Because the Lord Mayor would be of no help to maintain order in Caffria, someone needed to understand the danger the city faced.
“I’ll come, but I want to bring my companions along. Are they here?”
“I’ve, uh, asked them to remain in the barracks. They’re not strictly under arrest, but they might as well be. I heard that the woman was especially mad. I made sure to send them solid food and drink, at least.”
“I hope they’re not too upset,” I said. “Let’s go.”
The captain of the guard rose from the tabouret with a sigh of relief. We left the interrogation room behind and went upstairs.
We went through many narrow, towering hallways that were dark and lit only by a few candles here and there, but I could see in the dark just fine. I saw the cracks in the stones, the old mortar that was between them, the worn pattern of the carpets, and the scratches on the wooden beams. Captain Leze walked before me with his shoulders slumped forward, but through the weariness, I sensed an old strength in his bones still.
The captain took me to the main hall of the barracks. The night shift was the only one working in the dim office, diligently working on reports and documents. They were filling them out with fluffy pen quills before candlelight. Several tables lined the walls, where guards silently attended to their gear, oiling their armor, sharpening their swords with whetting stones, and polishing their boots.
In the entire office, I saw no criminals who were brought in, or any interrogation being done. It was all very quiet.
The waiting room itself was just a small square without windows, but with a thick and vibrant carpet of orange and green that kept the entire room lively and warm. I saw Iskander and Jaxine sleeping against each other, and beside them was Jace, reading a new book that he seemed to be enthralled with. He was about to get up and greet me when I entered the room, but Florencia cried out in relief and jumped up.
She ran into my arms, almost knocking me off my feet.
“Are you alright?” she whispered and subtly kissed my neck, and I was taken aback by the weight of the worry she had. “The corporal said that you were going to be executed. I couldn’t do anything! I tried to talk with the captain or the Lord Mayor, but they shut me in this room and told me to wait. There was nothing I could do. I was nearly ready to fight my way out to save you!”
I smiled and said: “I’m glad you waited. I’m all right, the captain is a good enough man. He’s old and tired, but decent.” I returned her affectionate hug. It felt better and more comforting than the food, or the sound of the foamy waves. In fact, it felt quite perfect and her faint perfume shut down all the other thoughts I had.
Then I told her about what had happened, and she breathed out in relief quite the same way the captain did only a moment before.
“So the Lord Mayor is out of the equation.”
“He is.”
“What a bastard!”
“He was.”
“I’ve met many nobles, and some are like him—too proud and cruel, but most aren’t. Most are just coddled and rich since birth, and they don’t understand the struggles of the poor. But they’re not cruel. A bit like the young Fiesi heir you saved. He was quite polite and nice.”
“I think he was more traumatized than anything,” I said. “When he recovers, I’m sure he will see what happened in Scorro differently. I think he has already forgotten about me.”
“Well, I disagree,” said Florencia. “Honor is very important to the nobles. I think that you have one of the most powerful families in the northern counties as your ally.”
“I don’t think they’re my allies.”
“I’m sure. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had some friends,” whispered Florencia. I hoped that as well. “But Jonas, about today—please don’t do that ever again. We’re a team, and you can’t storm off like that. What would’ve happened if you got hurt or killed? I couldn’t…”
“Flo, I… I’m sorry. I know what you mean, but my presence is torture for the demon. I didn’t have time to think, and I only barely caught up to him… them. But you’re right. I’ll make an effort to be better next time.”
“Next time…” Florencia repeated, almost sadly. “Yes, next time. We’re going to do this many times, aren’t we?”
“Probably.”