Bryn held out a bundle of documents, singed at the edges. Magnus took the bundle and began leafing through them. Oskar watched as Magnus’s eyebrows furrowed, his lips moving silently as he read. Then he looked up at Oskar, his eyes wide.
“These are instructions to members of the Disinherited,” he said. “Written in Eberwyn’s own hand.” He examined another parchment. “And this details a bribe paid to the bailiff and his sergeants, paying them to look the other way the night ye broke Alfred out of gaol.”
“That’s it!” Oskar replied. “Proof that he was behind everything all along. With this, we can clear the Order’s name!” He looked at Lily. “When is Conall and Kai’s trial starting?”
She shrugged, glancing out the window where the sun was rising. “At a guess? Around now.”
“Then we dinna have much time. Let’s go.”
Chapter 22
As they dashed through the city, Lily kept her cloak pulled tight, wary of any guards that might recognize Oskar. Their footsteps echoed as they wove their way toward the courthouse, keeping to the shadows as much as possible. If they were discovered, they might have a hard time explaining why they had two gagged and bound people with them—Alfred and Alice Brewer.
As they neared the top of the hill, the courthouse came into view. Attached to the gaol by a covered walkway, it was an austere building of worked stone. Two guards stood at attention by the entrance.
Lily’s pulse quickened. How would they get in? Oskar and Alfred were both wanted men. Those guards would surely try to stop them—
She had barely finished the thought when Bryn and one of his men materialized from the shadows to either side of the gate and subdued the guards with swift blows.
Lily winced, but Oskar squeezed her hand reassuringly. “It was necessary,” he murmured.
They slipped inside the courthouse. It was a dark and unpleasant place with little to soften its bare, austere walls or flagstone floor. They spotted a stout pair of doors at the far end of the hall.
Oskar looked around at Magnus and Emeric. “This is it. Ready?”
They nodded. “Ready.”
The three of them strode forward and kicked the doors. They burst open with a thunderous boom.
Lily followed them through and found herself stepping into a vaulted stone chamber crammed with people. Kai and Conall were seated on a bench down the front, metal shackles around their wrists. A jury of twelve men were seated opposite them and Eberwyn stood before them, waxing lyrical, waving his hands to make his point.
But everyone, Eberwyn included, froze as Oskar, Magnus and Emeric burst in.
Eberwyn was the first to recover from the shock. “That’s him! Oskar Galbraith! That’s the traitor and he’s got more of them with him!”
Three men sat at a raised table at one end of the room. They were all in later middle age, two wearing the rich clothes that suggested the nobility, the other the long dark smock of a churchman.
Oskar had mentioned the king’s justiciars. Is that who these men were?
Early morning sunlight filtered through the high windows of the packed courtroom, casting an ethereal glow on the faces of those gathered. Lily stood against the wall, her heart hammering, as she watched Oskar stride forward. Kai and Conall, seated on the defendant’s bench, looked as shocked as everyone else at this sudden interruption.
“My Lord, Earl Elgin,” Oskar called out to the graying man seated in the middle of the justiciars, the one who seemed to be in charge. “Please listen! I have evidence that will exonerate my friends and reveal the true traitor among us.”
The murmur of the crowd hushed as all eyes turned to Oskar, who held up a parchment with a steady hand. Lily could barely breathe. They stood on a knife-edge and she had no idea which way this would fall.
