His mouth was slack and his chin flecked with foam. His eyes were wide and staring, and his breathing was a loud, hoarse rattle. He was barely recognizable as Hunter, Rattlesnake’s deputy, Maize Ear’s spy, who I had thought had been killed on the roof of Hare’s house.
‘What is the meaning of this?’ Wrinkled Face asked, as the two messengers lowered the wounded man gently on to a reed mat. Hunter let out a loud groan.
One of the messengers said: ‘My lord, we searched for the missing witnesses, as you told us to. We were directed to the house of the merchant, Hare. When we got there, we found… He seemed suddenly lost for words and turned to his comrade for support.
‘A massacre, my lord. A dead man in the street outside the house. Five more in the courtyard. A seventh underneath the house.’
‘Under the house?’ cried Just Man.
‘Buried in a pit dug in the floor. He’d been there for a long time, I think — smelled horrible!’
‘Dead?’ the judge said. ‘Dead how? And who’s this?’
The other messenger replied. ‘We aren’t sure about the man in the hole, my lord, but the others looked as if they’d been in a battle. Sword cuts, one with a dart in his throat. And not long ago, because they were still a bit warm and some of the blood was fresh. As for this man, we found him on the ground outside the house.’
‘Can he talk?’ demanded the judge.
One of the messengers hauled the injured warrior into a sitting position. ‘Water,’ he croaked.
A gourd was brought and put to the man’s lips. He gulped twice and then began to cough, the spittle around his mouth turning slightly pink. Then he groaned again before lifting his head to look around the room.
As his eyes fixed on me, I felt a sudden terror. Instinctively I took a step backwards, only to collide with the bailiff who had held me before.
Hunter’s eyes widened even further than before. ‘It was him!’ he gasped.
‘What?’ cried the judge, trying to follow the injured man’s gaze.
‘The slave! It was that slave. He was there. He was…’
An ugly gurgling sound broke from the man’s bps then, followed by a fountain of blood-streaked liquid as he doubled over, retching and coughing.
‘What was that? The slave was there? What was he doing?’ The bailiff s arms encircled me again in a grip as tight as the ropes on my slave-collar had been.
Hunter said nothing. His huddled body twitched violently once, then rolled over silently on to the mat, and it was clear to everyone in the room that he was beyond ever answering another question.
‘My lords, it is plain enough! Hunter’s testimony could not have been clearer.’
‘Too bad I didn’t get to cross-examine him,’ muttered Obsidian Tongue under his breath.
Snake Heart ignored him. ‘That slave—’ he all but spat the word out as he gestured towards me ‘—was at Hare’s house this morning, he wounded this poor man, he killed…’
‘All by himself?’ Just Man said sceptically.
‘Well, he may have had accomplices, my lord, but…’ Obsidian Tongue got heavily to his feet. ‘My lords, may I address you?’
Wrinkled Face shot him a look of something like relief. I had the impression that he found Snake Heart’s tirade wearying. ‘Please do.’
‘I merely wish to ask — with the greatest respect, of course — who is on trial here, and for what? I was retained to defend Tiger Lily on charges of murdering an unknown man and of conspiring with the King’s enemies. I have no instructions to defend her slave. Now that you have made your decision in my client’s case, I have nothing more to do here, and I think I ought to withdraw.’
‘Here, wait a moment!’ I cried. ‘What do you mean, you’ve no instructions to defend me? I’ll give you instructions! Or if you won’t take them from me, Lily will… Lily, tell him!’
She looked at me dully without speaking.
‘That’s enough,’ Just Man said. ‘You’ll have your chance to speak presently. Obsidian Tongue, it does seem that the slave would like you to represent him. Do you want to have a private word with him?’
‘A very brief one, my lord, thank you.’ The lawyer walked over to me, and the bailiff, to afford us the semblance of privacy, relaxed his grip.
‘Well?’ demanded Obsidian Tongue.
‘Get me out of this,’ I said.
‘Why should I?’
I stared at him. ‘What do you mean, why should you? You’re Lily’s lawyer…’
‘I was hired to defend her in this case, and if I say so myself, I’ve done a fine job! But that’s nothing to do with you, is it?’
‘I can pay you,’ I said desperately.
‘No, you can’t.’
‘Well, all right, but Kindly will…’
That drew a thin smile from the other man. ‘Oh, yes, Kindly. Do you know, that old man tried to swindle me? He tried to talk me into buying into some scheme to grow cocoa in the jungle. As if I was born yesterday! Do you think I don’t know where you got that tall story about Hare’s message from?’
Then he leaned towards me, putting his face very close to mine, and hissed: ‘And then there’s the little matter of you persuading me to vouch for you as a lawyer and then running away. Remember that? Remember our little conversation in front of the palace?’
‘You said to forget it,’ I protested.
He stepped back. ‘I just got my memory back!’ he declared, and turned on his heel. Aloud, he said to the judges: ‘My lords, I will not be representing the slave. May I be excused?’
17
I was to be put in a cage again.
The judges listened indulgently to Snake Heart’s accusations against
