Chain Shada leaned across the Keeper of the Sands. The man had not turned the glass. Chain Shada did it for him. A terrible silence had fallen upon the Varlish crowd, while clansmen were dancing and shouting.
Grymauch stood in the centre of the circle, trying to see through the narrow slit in his swollen eye. Time was draining away, and still Gorain had not moved.
A chant began in the Varlish crowd. ‘Chain Shada! Chain Shada!’ Louder and louder it grew. The clans fell silent. A horn blew. The fight was over. Grymauch had won.
But entering the circle from the far side came a tall figure wearing dark grey leggings. A towel was tucked into his belt.
Grymauch stared sullenly at him. ‘Come for your lesson now?’ he asked.
‘Perhaps later,’ answered the man, moving closer. Grymauch’s fists came up, but Chain Shada ignored them. Pulling his towel from his belt he said: ‘Let me look at that eye.’ Carefully he wiped away the blood. ‘You need a cold compress on it, but you should be fine.’
The crowd started to boo and shout. Items began to rain down on the circle, cushions and debris, food scraps and even a pewter tankard, bouncing over the wood. An angry murmur went up from the clan ranks, and a waiting squad of beetlebacks armed with muskets moved into position, their guns trained on the clans.
‘Coward! Fight him!’ screamed someone in the crowd.
‘Can you walk?’ Chain asked Jaim Grymauch.
‘Aye – but not far.’
A young dark-haired youth had climbed into the circle, and a red-headed woman. ‘Let me take you from here, Grymauch,’ she said.
‘Ah, you’re not going to scold me, are you, Maev?’
‘Not tonight. Come on, let’s be going home.’ She looked at Chain Shada. ‘I thank you for your kindness, sir,’ she said. Chain smiled. It seemed to him the words had been as difficult as crawling naked over broken glass.
‘It was a great pleasure, lady. I will see that his prize is delivered.’ A cushion struck Chain Shada in the back. ‘But it is probably best you leave now. Matters here seem to be getting out of hand.’
Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, the shouting started to fade away. People in the Varlish crowd began to look towards the woods to the north. The silence when it fell was almost eerie.
‘What is happening?’ asked the black-haired youth. Chain Shada walked across the debris-strewn circle. He spoke to an attendant, then walked back to where the woman was supporting the clan fighter.
‘A young Varlish woman has been found dead in the woods,’ he said.
Galliott the Borderer would describe himself as a pragmatic man. He had no ideology, though he voiced with apparent passion the prevailing political view of Varlish superiority, and no religious beliefs, though he attended church every week, sang in the choir, and held the position of honorary deacon. Galliott’s belief system -if such it could be called – was based on the maintenance of the status quo: everything – and everyone – in its place. When people obeyed the Moidart’s laws society ran smoothly. When society ran smoothly Galliott’s job was easy, his life content. Principles of right and wrong played little part in Galliott’s thinking, save that what was right maintained balance, allowing society to function in the time-honoured fashion, and what was wrong caused dissent, confusion and anarchy.
In short, Galliott was a political animal. When faced with small evils he would consider ‘the larger picture’. This view he was now struggling to maintain.
As he stood in the lantern light looking down on the corpse of Chara Ward he was not content. Not only because a girl was dead, but because her death would – unless he acted with great care and skill – cause grave complications, both to society and to his own well-being.
Apothecary Ramus was kneeling on one side of the corpse, Captain Mulgrave on the other. The rope was still about Chara Ward’s neck, and her face was mottled and dark, her mouth and eyes open. When she had been discovered hanging from a high limb Galliott had been irritated. Questions would have to be asked, forms filled in. Why was the wood not patrolled? Why had his men not seen her entering the area? At least, however, the case had been complete in itself. A young girl, obviously deranged, had come into the woods with a rope and hanged herself. The case would have been put to rest within a day or so.