Page 33 of Ironhold, Trial Four

But then what would have happened when they found Callus’ body? They would have seen the stab wounds and assumed that I inflicted them. I might have been blamed, and I can't imagine Alaric allowing that. But he had other options. He could have thrown Callus’ body into one of the beast pens. Pick the right creature, and there wouldn't be much left of him. Alaric could have pretended that Callus had simply fled after attacking me.

I realize how cold that line of thinking is, but it is something that might have saved Alaric, and I would do almost anything to achieve that aim. And it's exactly the kind of cold, carefully considered the solution that I would have expected Alaric to come up with. As it is, he clearly wasn't thinking about anything but getting me to safety. He was right about one thing: our feelings have made Ironhold vastly more dangerous for both of us.

But they're also the reason I'm alive right now, and my heart aches with the need to make sure that Alaric is all right.

“Where is he?” I ask them. “What have you done with him?”

“It's yourself you should worry about,” one of the guards says.

The group of them moves in, moving cautiously. They grab for me, and I try to wrench three of them because I don't know what they're planning, but there are too many of them. I cannot break free of their grips, in spite of all my training, and I do not have my powers. I wish I did. I wish I could summon every beast of the fortress to my side. But I cannot.

It means they can drag me through the corridors easily, forcing me to one of the rooms. It is a circular well of a room, with grates high aboveand flickering torches around the edges. There are chains hanging from the ceiling, and they fastenmywrists into manacles there at the center of the room, so that I must stand on tiptoes or hang all my weight from my arms.

I am tense, my heart racing. I know how vulnerable I am at this moment. They could attack me in a hundred different ways, and I could do nothing about it. They could use any of the implements of punishment, do whatever they wished with me and I could not stop them. Once more, I'm forced to feel helpless in this place.

But instead of doing anything they leave, abandoning me there alone, forcing me to stand and wait, wondering what my fate is going to be. Has it already been decided? Are they merely waiting until they are given the command to drag me to an impaling spike? Are they forcing me to wait until Alaric has been executed?

I do not know and not knowing makes it worse. I stand therefor what feels like an eternity, my chains creating a torment all of their own, because I must choose between either the effort of standing on my toes, or the efforts oftaking my weight through my arms. Even at full strength this would have been difficult, but now, drained as I am, it isalmost unbearable.

Maybe they are justhoping that this will soften me upfor the moment when they question me. Maybe they still want to hearmy side of events, but the very fact they have locked me in chains suggests that they do not see me as a victim in this. I am being treated as a prisoner, a perpetrator awaiting punishment.

And it seems I must wait almost forever. I cannot rest in my current positionwhen rest is probably the thing I need most. I cannot do anything, and a few attempts to wrench at my bonds suggests that I am not going to be able to break free of them. Calling for help is unlikely to achieve anything.

All I can do is stand there and contemplate my fateand that of Alaric. He saved my life; there is no doubting that. And he must have known the price of doing so. But he killed Callus withouthesitation. He did that for meso that I would survive. I owe him my life.

I lose all sense of time as I stand there, but eventually I see the red light of dawnstarting to creep in through the grateso far above. I am tired and thirsty, and my arms ache with the effort of holding me up. I am more or less hanging in my chains now, limp, without the strength to do more.

It is then that I hear the sound of the door opening. Lord Darius steps inside, accompanied by a pair of trainers, who stand to either side of me, getting me down, but ensuring that my wrists are still manacled in front of me.

“If I had my way,” he says, “everyone involved in this debacle would already beimpaled on a spike, just to make sure that the discipline of my fortress holds. But that isn't the way things work when one of you is a noble and the other has the emperor himself for a patron. So I had to send a message down to the city, and now it seems that the emperor wishes to see you. I hope you're persuasive, Lyra, because I'm not sure what you can say that will get you out of this one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

They make me march in chains down to the city, and there are already many people lining the route, ready for the formalprocession of the gladiators later. Alaric is not with me, and that makes me afraid that something has already happened to him, but the guards ignore my questions.

I am reminded of the moments after I was first captured, when I was made to walk between a pair of imperial soldiers, heading for the larger group of those spotted by an imperial officialand taken as slaves of the empire. There, I had the simple choice to either walk or be dragged along. Now it is the same, but I am being watched from the sidelines.

The crowd stares at me as if not knowing what to do. Some of them see the chains and boo. Others cheer for me as if this is all part of the entertainment planned for the day. Maybe it is. Maybe they will take me down to the colosseum and kill me publicly. I will not be able to fight back. I am still far too drained from what Callus did to me to be able to fight back physically, and my dampener prevents me from using my powers.

I am utterly helplessand I hate it. I hate the whole empire in this moment. I hate what it does to people, both those it pushes downand those it gives power to. Its systemsmean that so many people are hurt and killed in the name of glory and strength, so that the masses are entertained and do not thinkabout the conditions in which they live. But they also forcethe nobles to be cruel. They are shown a system in whichthe only way to gain power and prestige is through violence and cunning.

As I am made to walk, I want to tear it all down.

They do not take me to the colosseum but instead lead me to the palace, To all that grandeur andopulence. They do not take me to the receiving room near the gardens but instead toa different room, lined with marble, where magic makes images seem to swim within the stone. The emperor sits there waiting for meon the gilded throne, looking severe in his purple robes. Selene Ravenscroft, the arch magistrate, stands beside him, and there is a sense of power radiating from herthat is hard to ignore.

My fears seem to crystallize in this moment, because the arch magistrate would not be there if it were not to pass judgment. I am pushed to my knees by the guards before the two of them, and then those guardsstep back waiting by the walls, but with an air of expectation as if they know they will be called on to drag me from that place and kill me soon enough.

Even so, I am the one who speaks first. “What has happened to Alaric?”

“He is in a cell, awaiting the outcome of this and his punishment,” the emperor says. “You should be more worried for yourself. A gladiator has died. You were there. You will tell us exactly what happened, and you will not lie. You will not be permitted to lie.”

The arch magistrate moves towards me. She places her hands on my head.

“I will look into your thoughts as you speak,” she says. “I will see what there is to see and what you are hiding. Do not fight it. It will be painful if you do.”

A fresh burst of fear hits me because I don't know what she will see. Will she learn about the spectral covenant? About Lady Elara’s role? About every secret I've ever had? That thought makes me want to fight her, the way I have fought back against others with mental magic in the past. Ravenna tried to control me on several occasions, with varying degrees of success.

“Let me in,” Selene commands. “I only wish to see the truth of what happened last night. I know you are afraid of letting me into your mind, butI will merely see whether you are telling the truth or not.”

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