Beth Lyons

To the Jailhouse

Posted on May 22, 2009 by Beth

I hope the Cauldron Herald doesn’t get a hold of this story. What would my father think? A Burningwood with a police record?

We had no trouble slipping away from the fire last night. I had my hat of disguise and Myntilly went invisible.

In the morning, after a successful Solstice ritual, we talked over our options. As we ate our oatmeal and fresh baked bread, the new edition of the Herald was delivered. Acgar had that look on her face as she opened the paper. “I wonder if you made headlines.”

I had the same thought and reluctantly opened the paper. And was immediately relieved to find that Dyskko was the headline:” He’s not dead.” Duh. I folded the paper beside my plate. Before I could speak, Myntilly pointed to the back page. “Did everyone see the article about Kingfisher? More undead reports from Ian’s hometown.”
Ian swallowed quickly. “Really? I need to get back.”
Myntilly reached out her hand. “We’re going with you. We promised.”

Sadi pointed to an article at the bottom of the back page. “Alek’s funeral. Huh, no resurrection?”
“Guys, I’d really like to go to his funeral. We went through a lot with him these last few weeks. When is it?” Acgar spoke up, “It’s tonight, at sunset. We can go to see Quinlan this morning and then funeral and Kingfisher in the morning.” Various looked up from the paper. “I don’t want to go to the jail. Do I have to go? The place smells rank.” Sadi rummaged in her pack. “I don’t want to go either. What if they arrest us?”

“This is my doing,” I said. “So no one has to come with me.” Acgar and Myntilly at the same time said, “I’m coming with you.”
“Great. We’ll sell the armor and stuff to Skye. If we’re heading out of town again, we should resupply.” I handed Sadi the bag of holding. “Thanks. Could you look for a new wand of cure moderate for me? I’m almost tapped out.”

As we entered the city guard house I did feel a little uneasy: would I be allowed to leave? The man behind the desk looked familiar. He came around the desk and shook each of our hands solemnly. “I’m Skylar Krewis. You saved my life during the rioting. I never thanked you properly. Now, what can the City Watch do for you?” Acgar held up the bag of letters, receipts and blueprints. “We’d like to give some evidence to Quinlan. If he’s available.”

“He’ll be out of his morning meeting –” An inner door opened and people started to spill out. “Right about now,” Sklylar finished.

“What can I do for the Divas this morning?” Quinlan asked when he saw us in the waiting room. “We have some evidence to hand over to you.” Acgar pulled out some of the papers from the temple of Wee Jas.
“Well all right, let’s go inside and look this over. Krewis! Coffee.” He looked at us. “Have you eaten? Krewis! Get some rolls, too.”

We sat down at a conference table. Behind Quinlan’s head was a chalkboard with five things written on it. “Vandalism. Trouble out East. ‘Sesmic events.’ Missing Mayor. Statues.” I was reading the wall and missed the first part of Acgar’s explanation.
“…. from Wee Jas.” Myntilly added, “We had to save them from the fire.” Quinlan frowned. “Fire? What fire?”
“You haven’t heard about the temple burning last night?” It was my turn to frown.
“By Garl Glittergold’s mustaces! I’m supposed to know about things. Krewis! Come here!” Skylar peeked his head in. “Did the temple of Wee Jas burn last night?”
“Yes sir. Sir. I was going to tell you after your morning meeting. It’s still standing but the damage is pretty severe. I sent someone out to take pictures this morning.

The roof collapsed. It’s hard to know what structural damage there is. They’re combing through for survivors now. It doesn’t look good.”

Quinlan’s mouth tightened. “Dismissed.” He turned to me. “What do you know about the fire last night?” I took a deep breath. “I started it.”

All four of us began to talk at the same time. I held up my hands. “Let me explain! This was my idea. When I heard about the spire construction (I heard Quinlan mutter “Sun freaks.”) I was pretty upset –” He jumped in. “And so you set fire to the temple?!”

I shook my head. “No.” And then I paused, looking at Acgar. “Yes. That’s when I first had the idea. But after the assassination attempts, that’s when it all came to a head.” I laid out the facts of the case and finished by assuring him that I acted alone.

Quinlan pointed at Acgar. “But you were there. You said so yourself.”
“True. Once we had this evidence, we realized that the spire somehow fit into the plans for the marked ones. So we took action. We didn’t have much time.” Quinlan nodded in understanding. Then he turned to me. “I arrested my own cousin, you know. So I have to put you behind bars while I sort through all of this.”