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“I think he is,” she said. “He arrived just after you left and took a look at your friend, but I knew him, for I have seen him before. He was one of the men who was at the tailor’s house. The same night you were there, covering up the truth.”

Theodore bowed his head and sighed angrily.

“That’s not true,” he said after a moment. “You are mistaken.”

Ellamaria laughed from the darkness of her cell.

And now she taunts me.

“Ignore her, Sir Theodore,” the onlooker advised. “Like all peasants she doesn’t know what’s good for her,” the man sneered. “She’s broken the King’s sumptuary laws, wearing clothing that is far above her station, as if she were the daughter of a duke.”

“I never knew my father,” Ellamaria declared.

The man laughed.

“Typical peasant. They are like sheep, although sheep are more useful. Sheep don’t go around wearing others’ clothing.” The speaker turned aside and glared down into Ellamaria’s cell. “Sheep don’t hang, Sir Theodore.”

Ellamaria gasped in the shadows.

“Hang?” she said.

Her tormentor laughed viciously as Ellamaria choked.

“Enough!” Theodore hissed. He cast a brief look at Gar’rth who slept soundly, undisturbed by their conversation. “Leave the girl alone. I don’t approve of what she did but I don’t approve of your conduct either. What is your name?”

The man didn’t reply.

“I will have it from you or from Lord Despaard himself come tomorrow. It will be easier on you if you tell me now.”

The man growled from beyond the torchlight.

“It is Simon, Sir Theodore.”

“Then leave us in peace, Simon. I will watch Gar’rth tonight, and if my word is good enough to satisfy your King then it is certainly enough to satisfy you. Now leave us.”

Simon retreated, his footsteps fading into the darkness.

“Thank you, Sir Theodore,” Ellamaria whispered.

Has she been crying? he wondered. Perhaps only now does she appreciate the consequences of her actions.

“But please, Sir Theodore, will I… Will I really hang?”

“Not unless you have committed another crime I am unaware of. Kara-Meir broke the King’s sumptuary law this night, and there is no charge against her.” Theodore shook his head. “No, Ellamaria, Simon was just tormenting you. People don’t hang for breaking such laws, but there will very likely be a punishment for near inciting a riot.”

He heard her gasp in the darkness.

“But it was the right thing to do, Sir Theodore. Do you not believe that? I acted to correct an injustice. Isn’t that what you knights do?”

Her words injured Theodore.

“I do not make or pass judgement on the laws of King Roald, Ellamaria. That is not my place-”

“But you are a knight! A Knight of Falador. In every tavern from here to Kandarin they sing tales of the order’s love of justice. And you, Sir Theodore, are one of their most famed members.” Her voice broke suddenly and she wept. “That was why I was so angry at you, that night when I followed you from the tailor’s house. I believed in you, I thought you would help me. But then I saw how you left the house, and let those men carry on their work…”

Her words were lost in her sobs.

Is this really what I’ve become? he thought. Is this what I wanted, all those years ago? A knight should inspire not despair, but hope.

“But what about you then?” he asked quietly. “Who have you lost to this creature?”

“My own kin have suffered at the Wyrd’s hands. My aunt and uncle vanished one night, their children as well. I was working at the Blue Moon Inn when it happened. Like others, they were taken on the King’s command. I begged the authorities to help at first, and I was nearly imprisoned for my troubles. All that was left for me to do was to try and find them myself.”

She choked again.

“I don’t even know if they’re alive.”

Theodore gritted his teeth.

“Please, Sir Theodore, what will happen to me? Will Lord Despaard burn me for a witch? Will I be beheaded for treason? How will they make me disappear?”

“You took a tremendous risk, Ellamaria,” he said. “Truly, I don’t know. But I will ask the King to act with mercy.”

They spoke no more that night, and Theodore lay awake for a long time, considering her words. And finally when he did sleep, it was uneasy and unsatifying, despite his physical exhaustion.

13

Kara fumed silently as she studied the multitude of faces assembled in the round chamber. Her mind was in turmoil.

Theodore had relayed his account of Simon in the prison, and of his certainty relating to Gar’rth’s fate.

They can’t really mean to execute Gar’rth, she told herself. There is no justice in that!

Her mind also wrestled with the disappearance of Pia and Jack-still there was no sign of them. Could she have done something differently-something that would have caused them to stay?

But there is nothing I can do for them now. The city guards have orders to look for them, and I am faced with more pressing matters. She forced the loss of her sword from her mind with difficulty, aware that she would very likely never see it again.

She sat on the front bench, between Theodore and Doric-a place reserved for honoured guests of the King, or so she had been told. From there she faced the King’s vacant throne, elevated upon a dais which stood-in turn-upon a stage where the monarchy’s nobility sat. Above her, on all sides save behind the King, numerous balconies rose in three tiers, all packed with the curious faces of every class of citizen in Varrock. The parliament was, Theodore had explained to her, a means of hearing the city’s concerns, of showing them that something was being done.

Across the aisle sat the influential traders and craftsmen of Varrock. Kara saw Albertus seated at their front. She had met him only briefly-that morning-as he had arrived with Sally to see Ebenezer. The man’s eyes were dark with worry.

Her attention returned to the stage. Among the noble peers Kara recognised Lord Despaard and a few half- remembered persons from the dance the evening before. Lord Ruthven, with his aquiline features and constantly moving eyes, was there, and behind him sat the jester, Gideon Gleeman, along with the King’s religious advisor, the man with a strange name that Kara couldn’t immediately recollect. His fanaticism inspired an instant revulsion in her.

“That’s Aeonisig Raispher,” Theodore told Castimir, somehow reading Kara’s thoughts. “He’s a Saradominist who advises the King. And that old man nearby in the black coat is Papelford, the King’s archivist. Next to him is his apprentice, Reldo.”

“Where is Lord William?” Doric growled, keeping his voice low. “I don’t see him there.”

“Lord William isn’t deemed important enough to sit upon the stage today,” William said wryly as he took his seat behind them. “I am not a part of this.” The young man sat behind Kara, smiling slightly too much, his fingers caressing a leaping silver fox upon its chain.