The captain beckoned to two of the guards. They took Jens’s arms and forced him upright. “Now then—what’s his name, Stammel?”
“Jens, sir.”
“Jens. I expect you to tell us the truth, right now. Did you see a fight involving Paksenarrion, Korryn, and Stephi, or any two of them?”
“I—” Jens looked frantically from side to side; when he met Korryn’s fierce gaze he flinched. “I—I saw a little tussle, sir—sort of—”
“A little tussle? Be specific now: did you see it start?”
“N-no—I was—was—uh—cleaning my boots. Sir.”
“Did you see any blows struck at all?”
“Well—I saw—I saw Paks and that man rolling on the floor, and then Korryn said—said go look at the door—” Jens was staring at his feet.
“At the door?”
“Yes, sir. He—uh—said I should—should look for the sergeant, sir.”
“Oh? And did you?”
“Yes. I looked, but I couldn’t see him—I mean, until you came.”
“And just what did he tell you to do if you saw the sergeant, eh?” asked Kolya. She moved to his side and jerked his head up. “Look at me! What did he tell you?”
Jens began to tremble. “He said—he said to tell him.”
“Tell who, the sergeant?”
“No. Tell him—Korryn—”
“If you saw the sergeant. I see.” Kolya backed away. “I don’t know about your Corporal Stephi, Captain, but that recruit—” she jerked a shoulder at Korryn, “is lying in his teeth.”
“Agreed,” said the captain.
“And the other one isn’t much better,” she said with distaste, looking at Jens.
“They’d both better go under guard,” said Sejek. “Captain Valichi won’t be back for several days, so they can’t be confined under ban the whole time, but until tomorrow morning—”
“But—but ask him!” interrupted Korryn. “Ask the corporal! He’ll tell you I’m not lying.”
The witnesses turned toward Corporal Stephi, who had stood silent through everything. But the captain intervened.
“Before you question him, I want to tell you what happened this morning.”
“Very well, Captain,” said the mayor.
“This morning when I woke, I had a message from the surgeon. Stephi woke last night, and wanted to see me, but they did not call me because it was so late. This morning I went to see how he was, and found that he had no memory of the events last evening. None at all. I did not want to suggest things to him, so I told him only that he would be examined by witnesses about some trouble. The surgeon could find no physical cause for his loss of memory, and as you can see, the blood I saw on him yesterday was not his own. I must say that since he’s been in my cohort, he has always been a competent, sober soldier and a good corporal, with no faults against him. I cannot imagine what caused his behavior, but I can swear that it is not typical.”
“Is it likely that he would pretend a loss of memory, if he had done wrong?” asked the mayor.
“I think not,” replied Sejek. “He has always been honest, in my experience.”
“Hmm.” The mayor turned to Corporal Stephi. “You have seen the evidence of the injuries suffered by you and others, and you have heard what testimony has been given. What is your understanding of what happened?”
“Sir, I have no memory from just after supper last night until I woke in the infirmary. When I woke I felt strange—dizzy—and of course my hand and the bruises hurt. I asked the surgeon what had happened, but when he found I had no memory, he would not say anything, only that I had been found hurt. I—when I heard this morning—and saw that girl—Sir, I’ve never beaten a woman so. I’ve never forced one to bed. I don’t understand how I could have—but I saw her injuries. Someone hurt her, and if it was—if I did such a thing—I know what you must do—” His voice trailed away.
“Why did you ask to see the captain last night?”
“Because I was frightened. I wanted to know what had happened—I thought the captain would tell me. And—and I couldn’t remember.”
“But, Stephi,” said the captain, “you must remember something—maybe just the beginning—you must be able to say whether this recruit is lying.” The witnesses stirred but said nothing. Stephi looked at Korryn with distaste.
“Sir—Captain—I cannot remember anything. But I’ll tell you, sir, he must be lying. What we’ve seen and heard—”
“You say that even if it condemns you?”
“Yes. Sir, it’s obvious. That girl didn’t beat me up—and honestly, sir, there’s no way she could have.” Stephi conveyed all the confidence of a senior veteran, sure of his own fighting ability.
“But you can remember nothing?” prompted the mayor.
Stephi shook his head. “No, sir, I don’t. But I don’t expect you to believe that. You’ll want to test me, I’m sure.”
“You must remember,” yelled Korryn suddenly. “You must—I told you yesterday—” He paled as they all looked at him, and he realized what he had said.
“You told him, eh?” said Kolya softly. “You told him what?”
Korryn drove a vicious elbow into the midriff of the guard on his left, and as the man slumped forward he snatched at his sword. The other guard drew his own weapon and darted forward, but Korryn was free with sword in hand, dancing sideways and looking for a way out.
“Take him!” roared the captain, drawing his own sword. Stammel charged, unarmed as he was, with Bosk and Devlin behind him. Korryn swung at Stammel, cursing; Stammel barely evaded the blow. Korryn backed, edging toward the unarmed witnesses as guards converged from around the courtyard. Suddenly Kolya slipped behind him and wrapped a powerful arm around his neck. Korryn fell backwards, gasping. She held him until the guards had jerked the sword out of his hands and grabbed his arms.
“If it were my decision, he’d be in chains,” she said calmly, dusting her hand on her robe.
“At once,” said Sejek. The guards grinned as they dragged Korryn away. “Now, Stammel—”
“Sir,” said Stammel, “I’d like permission to dismiss the formation now. They’ve seen as much as they can learn from.”
“I think you’re right. Go ahead, but I’ll want you for the rest of this.”
“Yes, sir.” Stammel turned away. The captain, frowning, spoke to the witnesses.
“Mayor Fontaine, Councilor Ministiera, I appreciate your efforts. You will want to take more testimony from both Paksenarrion and Stephi, I presume.”
“Indeed yes,” said the mayor. “You have quite a complicated problem here, Captain.”
“You’ll remand Stephi to the Duke’s Court, I assume,” said Kolya.
“Yes. I must. Corporal Stephi—” he gestured to the corporal.
“Yes, sir.”
“This must be investigated further. You must consider yourself under arrest from this time. I’ll have to see whether Stammel will trust your parole; he’s within his rights to refuse it until Captain Valichi returns.”
“I understand, sir. I wish I did know what happened.”
While they were talking, Stammel had spoken to the other recruit sergeants and the formation had dispersed. He had told his own corporals to take the unit outside to drill. “And keep ’em busy,” he said, “until I come out and relieve you. We have a lot to work off. I’ll be there as soon as I find out how Paks is, and what the captain is going to do.”
So it was in a nearly empty courtyard that the captain turned to Stammel and said, “Well, Sergeant, you were right. I wouldn’t have thought it, but—”
“Sir, I was sure Paksenarrion was not to blame—but I’m not sure your corporal is. If Korryn gave him something, a drug or something like that—”