Rhian, Palisade

The Assembly and the scribe returned with their bellies full and in a better mood—I hoped. They filed in behind their podiums while Michael and Strauss scrambled from their places on the floor. I took my time. It wasn't like anybody was going anywhere. Unless they were about to get called for dinner. Which, frankly, wouldn’t surprise me, seeing how long they took for lunch.

Councilwoman Faust spoke first.

We turned to the northwest corner.

“Enforcer Sinclair, on the charges of theft, heresy, conspiracy, fraud, murder, malicious destruction of property, arson, negligence, and aiding and abetting the escape of several recorded defects, what is your official stance?”

“Responsible but not guilty,” I said. “Also, heresy? Really?”

It looked like Councilwoman Faust was about to shrug when Blanchett interrupted from the opposite corner. “The Tear is a holy artifact.”

I glanced over my shoulder and rolled my eyes. “It’s just. A bloody. Gem. And from where I’m standing, you ought to be more worried about how little faith your people have in you rather than how much faith they have in a rock.”

A snicker from Councilwoman Kelly in the southeast corner.

“You see?” Blanchett said, as if it explained everything. “Absolutely no regard.”

Faust raised a wrinkly hand. “Adelaide, I think you should abstain from speaking. You may have your vote, but we need the opinions of the Assembly to remain unbiased. All those in favor?”

Councilwoman Oranen kept her hand down—surprise, surprise. But Councilwoman Hall and Number Two raised theirs. As I’ve already said, Kelly couldn’t vote for anything.

Faust nodded and continued, “Our understanding is that Councilwoman Kelly deployed you and Agent Finlay to Delphia to unearth the location of at least a dozen dangerous defectors, yes?”

I nodded. “Aye, and the most dangerous of which are now dead or captured. Just saying.”

“The Assembly will keep this in mind,” Faust said. “Now, start from the beginning. What happened when you arrived on the Isle of Inspiration?”

“We went to the church for the night, and that’s where we ran into Strauss.” I gestured to Strauss, who was standing stiff and straight, weirdly like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. “That’s also when we learned about the Tear. And after having a think, we agreed the defects might use the opportunity to stick it to Palisade.”

Councilwoman Faust nodded along. The only other Councilwoman I could see clearly from my position was Councilwoman Hall. The giant wasn’t giving away much, but her hair looked fantastic that day—all done up with dreadlocks and intricate braids, full up on feathers and flowers I couldn’t identify on account of not being an expert on the subject.

“On the night the Tear arrived, we monitored the situation from a distance," I continued. "After a few hours waiting, a pair of your guards showed up with the Tear, and to our surprise, Strauss was with them. My condolences for your losses, by the way.”

Faust nodded.

“As expected, the defects showed up with some half-arsed plan to steal the Tear,” I said. “It would have gone smoothly if it weren’t for Strauss picking up on their half-arsedness. Good on him, but it wasn’t what we needed. We wanted them to get away with it so we could follow them, get the location of their hideout, and steal the Tear back.”

Councilwoman Hall smiled a bit. She liked the plan, I could tell.

“The Amali guards would have made quick work of the defects—no question,” I continued. “But that would have been the opposite of helpful. We needed to seize the opportunity and whatnot. So we intervened, apprehended the defects, and in all the confusion, I replaced the Tear with a rock. Sent the Amali guards and Strauss on their merry ways, and offered the Tear to the defects. Told them we were hoping they’d take us in.”

“Even I must commend the resourcefulness,” Councilwoman Oranen chimed in from the northeast.

I gave her a thumbs-up.

“But,” she continued, because of course she did, “this is where it should have ended. Once you had their location, your orders were to report back to Palisade.”

I turned my thumb upside down.

“When we got to the lair, we found the place full up on firearms and enough explosive material to blow up a city," I said. "We’d be sending our people into a firework factory armed with a wish in one hand and shite in the other. In the mood for telling Kelly how many of her Chasers you’d be willing to sacrifice, Councilwoman Oranen?”

Oranen pressed her big, black fuzzy caterpillar eyebrows together.

“That’s what I thought,” I said. “We’d stumbled on something big. Where were they getting everything, and what did they need it for? It wasn’t long afore I made some friends and discovered the Liaison was funding their operation, and that a handful of defects were planning to blow up the Councilwoman at the festival.”

“Are those friends the ones you’re being accused of helping to escape?” Faust asked.

I nodded. “I don’t know their real names, so there’s no point in asking, but Councilwoman Blanchett should have recognized at least two of them when they kidnapped her.”

Faust squinted, looking past me toward Blanchett. “Kidnapped?”

“That’d be the conspiracy charge, I reckon,” I said. “But look, I had to keep the Councilwoman safe somehow.”

Councilwoman Hall pressed her lips together. I couldn’t be sure if she was suppressing a smile, but I liked to think so.

“The liberties this miscreant has taken are beyond absurd,” Councilwoman Oranen said.

“You’d be so lucky as to have someone like Sinclair on your side, were it your life being threatened,” Strauss replied. That took balls, but I reckoned he had nothing to lose as far as a relationship with the Celestian nut-job went. I flashed him a quick smile.

Michael sucked a breath through his teeth.

“Why is he even here?” Oranen asked.

“I invited him,” Kelly replied.

“Whatever for?”

“So he could say shite like that.”

Faust lifted a hand. “Where was Agent Finlay through everything?”

“The defects didn't trust us all the way, so they kept him separate. Running interrogation sessions on him and whatnot.”

Faust frowned, but she understood. I could tell. “Why not warn Councilwoman Blanchett of the danger?”

I turned to Strauss then.

“As per Sinclair’s instructions, I tried,” Strauss said. “She thought I would have a better chance at getting through to her, given their rocky history. But the Councilwoman wouldn’t hear it. She insisted the Liaison was and always would be loyal, and that Sinclair was fabricating everything.”

Faust peered in Blanchett’s direction. “Adelaide, is this true?”

“Yes, but it’s no excuse for allowing a band of dangerous defectors to kidnap me from my bed, only to threaten me for information about something that happened half a decade ago.”

“Give me a break, Councilwoman.” I spun around on my heel. “All Sheep wanted was to find his family—a family you took from him. He was loyal, but he also had loved ones. If it weren’t for your obsession with controlling everyone, he’d still be working with us. And Turtle? All she wanted was to see the world. If you’d bothered to learn anything about your people, you might have assigned her a job that suited her better than pushing papers and being bossed around by you all day.”

“What she means to say,” Michael interrupted, “is that Sheep and Turtle aren’t dangerous—especially not when compared to the terrorists running the underground operation.”

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Councilwoman Kelly’s podium was the same height as everybody else's, only she was shorter than everybody else. She propped her chin up on the surface. Meanwhile, Blanchett looked like she was about to blow up all on her own. For all the times she'd tried humiliating me over the years, it was a bit satisfying to have the opportunity to return the favour.

This time, Councilwoman Hall stepped in to get us back on track. “The other defectors you helped to escape. Were they involved in the kidnapping?”

Turning to face the giant, I shrugged. “I don’t know how it all went down, or who did what. I wasn’t there. But I know for a fact Bear and Llama aren’t dangerous either.”

“That’s four,” Councilwoman Blanchett said. “The Administrator at the Drop informed me there were six who boarded the embark.”

“Never mind that you’re not supposed to be talking,” Kelly chimed. “Are we really not gonna ask about the weird bloody names?”

Councilwoman Hall’s surprised laugh echoed off the walls. She snapped her mouth shut, found her serious face, and cleared her throat. “The other two,” she said. “Did they have animal names as well?”

“Aye,” I replied. “One was called Kitty Cat, and the other was, uh—Chameleon.”

“They would have needed a Celestian to navigate the embark,” Oranen stepped in. “I want to know their name–now. None of this Kitty Cat nonsense.”

I caught a lip-twitch from Strauss out of the corner of my eye as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Reckon most Partisans would pay a year’s allowance to hear Oranen say kitty cat. I shrugged. “I really don’t know.”

Number Two must have given the others some kind of signal because Councilwoman Faust spoke next. “Number Two is correct. What’s done is done. We should move on. And before I make a proposal, I have a question: is the Tear safe?”

“I left it with Guardsman Deville, so I assume it is. He’s a good man,” I said.

“Adelaide?” Faust asked.

“Yes, the Tear is safe.”

“Then let’s take it to a vote. On the matter of theft and heresy, I believe the matter is closed in the Strachan’s favour.”

Councilwoman Faust raised her hand, and so did Councilwoman Hall. I glanced over my shoulder to see Number Two with her hand in the air, and much to my shock and amazement, Councilwoman Oranen also had her arm raised. Blanchett was the odd one out.

“And on the matter of conspiracy?” Faust asked, her hand still raised.

Councilwoman Oranen dropped hers.

“Had she not tried to warn her, the affair may have been suspect,” Hall said, keeping her arm raised. “The Councilwoman’s safety was clearly the Enforcer’s primary concern.”

Number Two kept her arm raised as well.

“Cleared on theft, heresy, and conspiracy. On the charges of fraud and abetting the escape of six recorded defects—” Councilwoman Faust paused, sighing as she lowered her arm. “I’m sorry, Enforcer. This goes in direct violation of your duty, and I cannot condone forging a Councilwoman’s signature.”

I lost them all on that one. Whatever. It was worth it.

“That leaves us with destruction of property, arson, murder, and negligence,” Councilwoman Faust said. “Tell us what happened at the Liaison’s estate.”

“Right, well—on the day the Councilwoman arrived from Palisade, I sneaked into the estate through the secret passage to rescue the Amali guards he was holding captive. He wasn’t supposed to be there, according to the uh—according to the gossip, he was supposed to be with the Councilwoman that day.”

“Thank you for trying,” Faust interjected.

I might have flinched, but I let it slide. I bloody hated thank-yous, and besides, the real thanks ought to have gone to Strauss. “No problem,” I said. “Anyhow—I didn’t find the Amali guards, but I found Guardsman Deville locked up in a storage room. He said they’d already killed the other prisoners, and that I was too late. That the reason he’d been locked up was because he’d discovered the truth about the Liaison and had confronted him about it.”

“Guardsman Deville said nothing about any of this,” Councilwoman Blanchett said.

“He was probably embarrassed about being taken captive,” I said over my shoulder. “I’m sure you understand. Also, I asked him not to say anything about it on account of what happened next. Seeing as he owed me his life and I didn’t actually do anything wrong, he agreed.”

Faust raised her eyebrows as if to say, “What happened next?”

“We couldn’t very well just waltz out the front door,” I said, “so we had to escape through the secret passage. Thing is, the secret passage was pitch black, and Guardsman Deville was but a Barren with regular Barren eyes. So, before going through the bookcase, I slipped into what I presume was the Liaison’s office, given the portrait on the wall, and I procured a candle which I lit with one of those whatchamacallits.”

“Lighters,” Strauss said.

I nodded. “I Iit the candle with one of those lighters. But once I stepped back out into the hallway, the Liaison and a defect were already coming down the corridor. Bottom line: we were caught, and the defect came rushing at me. Somewhere along the way, my flask got knocked from my belt, fell to the floor, and the top popped off on account of it’s a piece of shite. Then I dropped the candle, and there was fire, and the flames caught one of those hanging whatchamacallits.”

“Tapestries,” Strauss suggested.

I nodded again. “The flames caught a tapestry. Then somewhere along the way, the Liaison also caught fire, and then the defect went up in flames. Guardsman Deville and I barely escaped through the secret passage by the time we sorted out how to use it. Point is: there was no arson or malicious anything. It was an accident. A terrible accident.”

“Half-breed,” Kelly said. “You have anything else to add?”

Strauss shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head.

The chamber fell dead silent until Faust piped up. “On the matter of murder, arson, and malicious destruction of property, I vote in favour of the Enforcer,” she said, raising her arm.

If I had to place bets, Faust knew I was lying. Just like Kelly knew I was lying. But she gave us a chance to come clean, and we didn't take it. She respected that, and I respected her. Fact is, the outcome would be worse for Strauss. Considering how close he was to being let loose in the world, his pilgrimage was his last chance to prove he could handle himself. If he fucked up again, they’d either execute him or sentence him to the Chase, and he wouldn’t survive either of those things. Councilwoman Oranen, who probably also suspected the truth but had no proof, kept her arm down. Blanchett didn't raise her arm in my favour, either.

As usual, Number Two and Councilwoman Hall had my back.

“Cleared on the matter of murder, arson, and malicious destruction of property,” Councilwoman Faust declared.

That would have been good news, except for the fact I was charged with a few counts of manslaughter instead. Accidental murder is still murder, even though they’d raised me to be a murderer.

I don’t make the rules.

For not stopping the boat explosion, the Assembly decided I couldn’t help what I didn’t know, and based on the lengths I’d gone to protect the Councilwoman and all the people at the festival, if I’d known about the boat, everybody—even Blanchett—agreed I’d have done something about it.

Cleared of negligence.

The irony is, it was the one thing I actually felt guilty about.

That day, I faced nine charges and was convicted of three. And on the matter of fraud, manslaughter, and aiding and abetting the escape of The Animals, they tossed me in solitaire to await my sentence.

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I’ve said it afore and I’ll say it again: being locked up in solitary felt a lot like being home. I sat in the uncomfortable corner, counted the twenty-four stones in the ceiling, and didn’t need to scratch an “S” in the wall on account of it was already there. As usual, they let me have some of my things. I didn’t need much. Just a couple pencils, my flask, and my sketchbook. The flask wouldn’t get me far. It’s not like they’d be refilling it and whatnot.

Anyhow. I had two portraits to add to the Murder Book, so I opened it. A pair of folded pages slipped out, and on the first was a letter. I couldn’t read it, but I could tell six people had written it. ‘Course, the beauty of sharing this story from the future is that in the future, I can read. Obviously. I’ve written two bloody books. Anyhow, I still have the letter, so I’ll copy it out:

Hi, Donkey. I would have preferred to say this in person, but according to Llama, there's a mid-to-high likelihood we'll never see you again. I’ve had the opportunity of knowing more about people’s true feelings than anyone would dare dream—if they knew what it really meant. Believe me when I say the world needs more people like you and Rabbit. I’m sorry for what they’ve done to you, but I’ll take solace in knowing they’ll never break you. Anyway, most of us agreed on Stracha, so if you end up going back home, look us up. Love, Bear.

Llama here. Everything Bear said, and please take heed. There will soon come a time when you’ll have to decide whether to make room for a new friend. You’ll be reluctant, but you must keep your heart and your mind open. Not only will this person become a lifelong companion, but your survival depends on it. You have seen nothing yet. Warm winds.

Because of you, I know where to find Annalise and Liliane. It means leaving my friends, but perhaps one day I will rejoin them. I don’t know how I’ll ever make it up to you, but I suspect that for you to accept repayment, it would have to be done in secret. We couldn’t decide who should keep the portrait, so we’ve left it with you to remember us by. Be safe. Signed, Sheep.

Donkey, it’s Turtle. I know better than most how unforgiving Blanchett can be, so I hope you’re not in too much trouble. She may not be too bright, but I don’t think it would take a genius to figure out you helped us. Llama, Bear, and the Celestian agreed to come with me to Stracha. I’m not sure what we’ll do once we’re there, but anything has to be better than hiding out with terrorists. I think. If the Assembly exiles you, you’ll always have a place with us.

Did you know I used to be a Navigator before I jumped ship? Ha! I slay myself. I can’t wait to get back on the water. Thanks for that. The Animals seem okay, too. It’s been a while since I’ve had friends. Maybe they’ll work out. If you get bored with the half-breed, let me know. And you can tell him if he gets bored with church, my offer still stands. See you later, Rhian. From, Riz.

It’s been a privilege and a pleasure to know you, Rhian Sinclair. I look forward to fulfilling your favour. Extending my eternal gratitude, Vincent Delestade.

After trying to read the letter and failing, I spent some time looking over the portrait. If I had to do everything all over again, I’d have done it exactly the same. Well, except for one thing. But helping The Animals wasn’t it. Helping The Animals remains one of my proudest accomplishments. I slipped the letter and the picture between the pages of my sketchbook and got started on portrait number thirty-six.

About an hour later, two sets of footsteps approached. I recognized one of them straightaway. In the company of an Amali warden, Strauss paused in front of my silver bars.

“They’re giving me my own room until I take my vows,” he said. “I'm here to get my things.”

It’d been a long time since he’d had his own room at Palisade—what with a proper bed, a window, and a desk. I could tell he wanted to smile, so, I smiled for him. Later that day, I’d get my sentence.

And that, everybody, is how I got landlocked.

Just in case you were wondering.