“He might not be fleeing,” Alan said after a moment. “He left too many things behind for me to trust that he doesn’t plan to return. What if he is on his way to Haiwella and plans to buy even more powerful charms with the gold he took?”
He was right. There was more at stake than merely Powell escaping justice. “All the more reason to warn Conrad now.”
Twenty-Three
Alan
???
Despite Mina’s obviousagitation, Magistrate Wrison decided that the issue of a grown man leaving the village without warning could wait until morning. The gold belonged to Powell, so there was no theft involved in his departure, and he didn’t want to hear anything about magical charms.
I tried not to let the magistrate’s easy dismissal of Mina’s concerns—we had both agreed things might go better if she served as my spokesperson—rankle. If it hadn’t been after sunset on a festival day, he might have been more willing to listen. I pulled Mina back before she completely lost her composure with her uncle, pointing out that the magistrate and the entire village council had been enjoying themselves at the festival. We needed them sober.
Mina didn’t like it, but leashed her frustration. I lamented that the evening had taken such a turn, interrupting the easy intimacy that had grown between me and Mina during the festival. It wasn’t that she had treated me any differently than during our quiet evenings under the willow that had lifted my mood, even in a crowd of people who gave me odd looks and whispered behind my back. It was the opposite. The fact that Mina treated me the same in public had been a revelation.
She defended me even when silent with her mere presence.
I had hoped that tonight would be when things finally shifted. That she’d share whatever secret had held her back. That the teasing from this afternoon would morph into something more.
But Powell had gone and ruined that, too.
I kissed Mina goodnight and returned home alone. I locked up the shop and resisted the urge to stoke the fire in the forge and let the act of shaping metal provide an outlet for my thoughts and frustrations. The last thing I needed was for Mistress Penniwell to complain to the council about me using the forge when she was trying to sleep. Even if it would be an admission that I was the one doing the work.
Sliding the doors shut, I locked them too, and went inside.
Eventually, I made my way to my room and attempted to sleep. My rest was fitful, and when the first hints of sunrise seeped through the window, I gladly got up. I did not want to deal with another nightmare of Powell returning to Skorsa and using magic to punish Mina for the part she had played in my escape from his control.
Once the sun was fully above the horizon, I made my way to the village hall. I had hoped to see Mina waiting for me, but I made it inside without spotting any sign of her. Nor was there any sign that Magistrate Wrison had summoned the members of the village council—who all had their own day-to-day jobs—for this meeting.
I walked past the large meeting room on the ground floor and found the staircase. Upstairs, I followed the hall to the corner room I knew was Magistrate Wrison’s office. The door two rooms before his office stood ajar, and Sam’s voice whispered out as I walked past. “Alan, a moment, please?”
I altered my course and pushed the door open. Sam gestured for me to come in all the way and shut the door behind myself. I did, but I stopped behind one of the two chairs facing his desk, gripping the wooden back rather than circling around to sit. “Yes?”
“I didn’t have much time to talk to Mina this morning, but I gather you formally tried to accuse Powell of harm by magical means last night and Father put you off.”
I nodded, not sure where Sam was going.
“I wanted to warn you that I don’t think the coming conversation is going to go how you hoped. Father told Mina that she had no place in accompanying you for this meeting. He thinks you’re using her.”
“What?” I changed my mind about sitting, grabbing the chair and practically falling into it. “What does that even mean?”
“It means that Father still thinks you don’t deserve to inherit the smithy, but now instead of being glad he can just ignore the matter and let Powell take charge, he’s decided you manipulated Mina into taking your side because of her connections in Haiwella.”
“Telika’s hell.”
“Exactly. The way I understand it, he should start questioning his own assumptions the more you push, but I wanted to warn you that his main focus will not be your accusation. You need to be careful not to feed the fears that have nothing to do with the charm as you prove your case.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Any other advice?”
Sam shrugged. “I started questioning things because Mina gave me a trail to follow and didn’t push. I know you probably don’t want to hear this since Father is about to give you a hard time, but he is committed to the truth and logical arguments. Try not to react emotionally. Focus on the facts. He’ll see reason, eventually.”
Eventually was not the timeline I wanted. But I didn’t have any other choice. I stood up. “Thanks, Sam.”
???
“Ask anyone inthe village,” I said as calmly as I could. “Powell spent all his time in the shop. People might not admit that I made everything coming out of the forge, but surely they noticed that work was being done while he sat behind the counter?”
Magistrate Wrison had listened to my accusations, but he didn’t want to believe that magic was involved. He thought I had made thestory up in a desperate attempt to discredit Powell and claim ownership of the forge. Following Sam’s advice, I had kept Mina out of the story, focusing on the discoveries I had made, not who had helped me make them. I had tried to lay the evidence out calmly.
