Pell Ashvorn's Arc

Chapter 8 of 4

Pell wrung the water from his sleeves in the tannery's shadow. The court bells had already begun to ring. The kennelmaster had sent word: come before the summons closed, or the hearing would collapse and Pell's claim would die. But Pell carried no timepiece. He could not tell how many strokes remained, or whether the doors were already barred against him. "How long?" he asked Aldric. "How many bells before he gives up on me?" Aldric leaned on his staff and listened. His breath still rasped from the cold stream. "I don't know. The summons holds until the court is seated. Once the last lord sits, the kennelmaster must speak or lose the floor." He wiped his beard. "We could be early. We could be too late. There's no way to read it from here." Pell looked toward the torches of the court hall. Between it and the tannery ran open streets, and Aldric had warned that every hunter would turn the moment Pell's name was spoken. Waiting for a safe path meant risking the bells. Running meant risking the hunters. "Then we don't wait," Pell said. "We run now." Aldric caught his arm. "You'll be seen." "Better seen than late." Pell pulled the cord over his head and closed his fist around the ring. "If the doors shut, there is no second hearing. He said it himself." They went fast. Aldric could not keep pace, so Pell took his weight, one arm under the old man's shoulder, half carrying him. Water dripped from them both. A washerwoman stared. A boy pointed. Pell did not slow. The bells struck again, closer now, and Pell counted them against his own pounding heart. They reached the hall as the last stroke faded. The great doors were still open, but the doorward stepped forward with a spear crossed to bar them. "Court is seated," he said. "No more enter." Inside, Pell heard the kennelmaster's voice rise over the murmur of lords. He was speaking Pell's name. He was asking the court to bring the claimant forward. Then the room went quiet, and the kennelmaster's voice faltered, because no claimant came. Pell did not wait for the spear to lower. He shouted past it, into the hall. "I am here! Pell Ashvorn, of the true line!" He held the ring high so the torchlight caught the gold. The hall erupted. Lords turned in their seats. The kennelmaster's face broke into relief. The doorward hesitated, then stepped aside, because the whole court had heard the name. Pell walked in with Aldric on his arm. He had beaten the bells by a breath. But he had also done what Aldric feared. He had spoken his name aloud, before every hunter in the city. The hearing would go forward now. And so would the throne's answer.