Kandler nodded. “It’s better than any of the rest of us could have managed.” He stopped pacing to turn to the door and ask, “What are the plans for us?”
Kandler saw Sallah look down at Temmah. When she looked back up, she passed along the dwarf’s shrug.
“Any ideas at all?” Kandler said.
Sallah spoke, her voice calm and even. “Your leader doesn’t seem to think there’s any need for a trial.”
Kandler smiled and wiped a hand across his brow. “Priscinta and Rislinto finally got him to calm down? That’s a relief.”
“Ah, no,” Temmah called up through the window. “I’m afraid it’s worse than that.”
“Worse?” Burch asked. He leaped to his feet, his chains jangling around him. “What’s worse than cooking to death?”
Temmah cleared his throat but no words came out.
“Temmah?” said Kandler. The dwarf’s silence unnerved him, but he wanted an answer to Burch’s question.
Sallah spoke up. “Mardak says your actions were treasonous. Everyone in town saw you, so there’s no need for a trial.”
“No cookfire for us, at least,” Burch said.
Without taking his eyes from Sallah’s, Kandler put up his hand to silence his friend. “What’s the penalty for treason?” he asked.
The lady knight looked down at the ground, away from Temmah. “You’re to be executed,” she said.
Burch jumped back, rattling his chains. “That’s a joke, right?”
“Sorry, lad,” said Temmah. “They’re dead-uh, I mean, they’re entirely serious. At least Mardak is.”
“Won’t this Mardak see reason once he calms down?” asked Sallah.
A chill ran through Kandler’s guts. “Maybe,” he said. “Maybe not. He’s had a bad few weeks, and today was the worst. We embarrassed him in front of the town.”
“He hit Priscinta,” Burch said.
“He’ll pay for that for a while,” Kandler said with a rueful smile. “Priscinta will get her pound of flesh from him a painful ounce at a time. But he knows that, and it won’t improve his mood.”
“He was wrong about us,” Sallah said.
Kandler could hear in her voice that she knew how little comfort that would be to him. “Has he admitted that yet?”
“He’s having dinner with Sir Deothen right now.” Sallah gazed through the bars at Kandler. He noticed how green her eyes were in the light from the cold fire torch in the sconce outside the door.
“You weren’t invited?”
Sallah smirked. “I was. I declined.”
Kandler smiled and peered out at the knight’s earnest face framed in the barred window. “So what are you doing here?”
“She wanted to say thanks,” Temmah called up through the window.
Kandler thought he could see Sallah blush. She cleared her throat before she spoke. “As Knights of the Silver Flame, we’re usually the ones who come to the rescue.”
“Happy to oblige.” Kandler tried to keep the irony from his voice.
“You saved the lives of many of your friends.”
“I-” Kandler stopped. “Yeah, I suppose we did.”
“We will not permit you to be executed for our sake, of course.”
The shifter perked his ears at this idea. “How will you stop it?” Burch asked.
“As we speak, Sir Deothen is arguing for your lives.”
The dwarf standing next to Sallah snorted. She glared down at him as if he was a beetle she wanted to stomp beneath her boot.
Kandler shook his head. “Temmah?”
“Yes?”
“What do you think of that?”
“Permission to speak freely?”
“Go ahead.”
“That jackass needs someone to pay for his mistakes. You and Burch, you’re at the top of his list.”
“You don’t think Deothen is going to hold any sway with him?” Kandler knew the answer, but he wanted Sallah to hear it.
The-dwarf scoffed. “I’m surprised he didn’t throw the whole lot of those armored pansies down here to rot with you. Begging your pardon, miss,” Temmah said to Sallah, “but if Priscinta hadn’t had Mardak scared enough to nearly wet himself, that’s just what would have happened.”
“That’s appalling,” Sallah said. “What about the Code of Justice?”
“You’re a long way from civilization out here,” Kandler said. He’d lived by the code of justice for most of his life, and he’d spent the last two years here enforcing it here. It pained him to see people he’d once trusted throw it aside so casually. “They don’t hold trials by fire in Sham.”
“Nor in Flamekeep,” said Sallah. “You are the justicar here. Do you not hold any sway over this place?”
“You’re asking me that question through a set of bars.”
“Rislinto,” Burch said. “He’ll stop Mardak. For sure.” He started to pace the floor, just as Kandler had done before. The sound of his chains dragging back and forth on the stone floor seemed to soothe him.
For Kandler, the noise sounded horribly close to that of an executioner whetting his blade.
Chapter 9
“Temmah?” Kandler said, trying to keep any hint of cunning from his voice.
“Yes?”
“How late is it?”
“The sun was setting as we came in.”
“You’d better start your patrol.”
The dwarf gulped. “By myself?”
“I don’t think Burch and I can join you tonight.”
“All-all right.”
Kandler heard the dwarf turn to go, leaving Sallah still standing at the door. The justicar waited for a moment, then said, “Temmah?”
“Yes?” The dwarf dashed back down the few steps he’d taken up toward the town hall proper.
Temmah was a good dwarf, but he wasn’t the brightest star in the sky. Kandler feared that he’d really try to manage the patrol alone. “You’re the justicar now. You can deputize some help.”
“That’s right!” The dwarf’s voice brightened for a moment, then darkened again. “But who would be willing?”
“What about those men who brought Kandler and Burch in?” Sallah asked. “They seemed handy enough with their weapons.”
Kandler snorted. “Most of them haven’t been in a fight since the end of the war. Two years is long enough for a blade to rust.”
“They’re better than nothing,” Temmah said. “They were enough to haul you in.”
“We surrendered,” Burch spat. “If somethin’ wanders out of the Mournland, it won’t be so kind.”
“Right,” Temmah said, as if he’d somehow forgotten.
“What about your friends, lady knight?” Kandler asked. “They look sharp and ready.”
“That we are,” said Sallah, “but would Mardak allow them to serve?”
“He’s not the justicar.”
Temmah rumbled with laughter.
“Take them aside and ask them quietly,” Kandler called to the dwarf. “Mardak doesn’t need to know. If he finds out… well, it’s easier to beg forgiveness than ask permission.”
“Excellent!” Temmah said with a little laugh. “I’m off.”
Before the dwarf got more than a few steps away, Kandler called after him once more. “Temmah?”
“Yes?” The dwarf dragged himself back to the door again.
“If you’re going to leave this lady to watch over us, shouldn’t she be able to open the door?” Kandler held his breath after the words left his mouth. He hoped his friend would either be dumb enough to fall for this or smart enough to play along.
Kandler heard the dwarf rummage around in his pockets. Through the window, he saw Sallah reach down to accept something from the dwarf, but then Temmah stopped. “Is this wise? She’s a knight of Thrane.”
“Aren’t you about to deputize her friends?”
The dwarf didn’t answer for a long moment.
“I can’t see you, Temmah,” said Kandler. “You have to speak.”
“Uh, yes. I nodded yes. Sorry.”
“Then…” Kandler said, drawing it out and hoping that Temmah would beat him to the punch. It didn’t happen. “Make her your first deputy.”
“A stupendous idea!” Temmah said. “Sallah?”
“Yes?” The young knight answered sweetly.
“Would you do us the honor of being a deputy justicar for the fair town of Mardakine?”