Solace and Leah coast through the woods. As the sun rises, things start to look familiar. They pass by the occasional farm, and the path beneath their feet turns into a proper road. Leah’s heart is pounding from nerves.

“We’re going to need to return to normal speed soon; we’re getting near the city proper,” Solace says. She begins humming a tune similar to the one at the start of their travel, and the spell seems to end, almost too gradually to notice. Eventually they are walking on solid earth.

Solace starts going over a plan. “Jeno is due to be executed in public at midday, as measured by the sun’s shadow.” She stands still and looks at the ground. “I estimate we have a little under forty minutes. The location will likely be either the courtyard of the keep, or the square by the river.”

“The square?”

“Where they hold festivals and such. I’m not overly familiar with Volsti execution practices, but most places that perform death sentences in public tend to treat it as a spectacle, in my experience.”

“Do you know how it’s usually done?”

“Not a clue. Hanging and beheading are common options in non-magical zones.”

Leah takes a steadying breath, and Solace holds her arm in support.

“We’re here to stop it. We’ll succeed.”

Forcing the image from her mind, Leah nods, and they start off on foot, heading east through farm country at a quick jog. They arrive at the city’s borders, and Leah notes the much-heightened presence of guards and watchmen. Solace pulls her into an alley before they’re seen.

“What disguise do you want?” Solace asks. “Sky’s the limit.”

Leah gestures to the battery. “We can be disguised for the first bit, but it’s not a permanent solution.” At Solace’s blank expression, she suddenly realises the bard does not know what the battery means. “Oh, uh, let me show you.” Leah connects the wires for a moment, to demonstrate, and Solace flinches bodily.

“Ah. Interesting? Interesting!” She goes from unnerved to enamoured quickly. “Does it only block magic one way?”

Leah is stumped, and admits they’ve never tried. Solace puts it on then tries to cast, and finds herself unable to.

“Bummer. Oh well, would have been too powerful of a tool, if it did work like that.”

“I don’t have to turn it on right away; we can disguise ourselves for the first part.”

Solace begins leading her through the back-streets as they talk. “Back alleys are fine for now. When we get close to the square, we’ll be exposed to magical detection; if the Auzzos are there, their warrior-mage will be too.”

“Their warrior-mage? Is he a part of the family?”

“Gods, no. The way the military works in Cheden, people aren’t forced to leave their home regions when they join the army; they serve the Emperor, but they answer to their regional leader. The captain is a commoner, but as a warrior-mage, he is right-hand to the ducal leader, and protector of the ducal family. I imagine he’s probably raging that he isn’t being allowed to defend Jeno with magic now.”

Leah hesitates in her jogging. Solace notices and gestures for her to keep up.

“Does it matter,” Leah muses, and Solace listens, “That the Eschen line had a couple born-magic users in it, back when the Auzzo family first became Dukes?” Solace’s eyes narrow. “It was in a sort of genealogy book, a history of people with magic heritage in Cheden.”

Solace thinks. “All magic users hate being in Volst’s provinces; having to hide a part of oneself is never pleasant.”

“I can relate to that.”

Solace looks at Leah curiously, but does not comment. “But born-magic users especially…and the spell you said he used on you, that is a spell more easily done with internal magic than with ingredients and incantations…I should have noticed that…”

“It is important?”

“Why would the Auzzos knowingly bring a born-magic user to Valerin?”

Leah runs a thumb over the battery vials, then pauses. “Do you know anything about him personally?”

“No, he’s not exceptional. There are no tales about him.”

“But when you were pretending to be a servant in the keep, did you notice anything about him?”

“I failed even to notice he was born- and not learned-magic. But…”

“But…?”

“But he never left Jeno’s side. I didn’t think anything of it, because you stuck to her like a bur as well, but if she truly is so scared of magic…well, whenever I saw her with him, she always seemed at ease.”

Leah and Solace ponder as they move from shadow to shadow. “I know there are learned-magic spells that deal with mind-influencing, but are there born-magic spells that do?” Leah asks.

“There are, but also there’s nothing to stop a born-magic user from practicing learned-magic.”

Leah shakes her head. “We’re distracting ourselves. We need to continue.”

“Agreed.”

The two pick the pace back up and scurry onwards.

Passing shops and streets, Leah with her hood pulled up to obscure her face, they overhear comments. People are all in colour from the murder the day before, though there are mixed feelings about the accusations. Jeno has apparently endeared herself to the public, and some think she was framed while others think she is a vicious manipulator. Some loudly proclaim that the pretender-lord’s compulsions have taken over half the members of the military and the keep, facilitated by Leah’s insidious presence. Through gossip, they confirm that the execution will be at the square.

Moving onward, Leah recognises that they are nearby Wellen’s workshop. She considers whether there’s anything she can get from it, or if there would be any benefit talking to him. She signals another delay to Solace, and Solace, noticing the hedge-wizard’s house, agrees.

Solace reaches up and pulls the candle out of hiding – from her hair, as the sleeves are too tight to accommodate it. The wick flickers to life with the tiniest green flame, and she casts an illusion, making Leah look like a common guard. Leah emerges from the alley and knocks on the door, waiting for an answer, then peers in through a window. The inside is abandoned.

“He’ll be at the square, surely,” Solace whispers, and when they turn to go Leah catches sight of Wellen at the corner of the house, watching them nervously.

“Wellen,” Leah calls out, making her voice lower. He blinks, but does not place her voice.

“I’m on my way there, I haven’t forgotten. Gods avow, it’s impossible to forget a thing like this,” he mutters, pulling on an overcoat and walking out into the crowd which Leah can now notice is moving with a slow current towards the southern bridge.

Solace steps in. “Were you there for the interrogation?”

He scoffs, still not making eye-contact. “Why would I be? The Auzzos barely even consider me worth notice, and the last time I vouched for someone she turned coat.”

“So the Valerids weren’t allowed to interrogate her? They’re just executing her arbitrarily?” Leah asks, in shock.

Wellen recognises the voice this time, and he stands up straight. His eyes scan her face, and certainty sets in. “I thought everyone knew? They made the announcement last night, the criers calling at all hours, waking us all up…Jeno confessed. The Auzzo’s mage determined that Seffon had ensorcelled her, and forced her hand.”

Leah takes a step forward. “Then why are they executing her if she was forced to do it?”

Wellen faces her evenly, with a grim expression. “She’s been ensorcelled, and not even their mage could break the spell. She must be disposed of, for everyone’s safety. Even her parents eventually agreed to it.”

Solace is shaking her head. “But that’s…that’s not how it works. No compulsion charm is permanent!”

Wellen’s gaze snaps to her. “I know that as well as you do, child, but we may be the only two in Valerin who do.”

“The only two, besides Eschen,” Leah says, with mounting horror.

Wellen turns to her. “You should go. Not back to Seffon, if it’s within your power, but go.”

“Why not to Seffon?”

“Because by tomorrow there will be an army marching against him. Cheden has been bringing ships full of soldiers over for the past two weeks, to help defend the city when Valerin’s army marches out, and to blockade against any potential aid Devad might try to deliver to Seffon.”

Her eyes widen with understanding and dread. “Valerin’s capital will be entirely in the hands of the Cheden army?” Leah asks, trying to keep her voice low but struggling to hide the urgency.

Wellen nods. “The alliance is a tenuous thing, as of right now, but both sides are moving forward with the original plan; rumour is that Volst will be declaring against Devad and the pretender-lord by tonight, and war will break out by morning.”

Leah does not wait for Solace; she runs into the crowd, over the long bridge full of foot- and horse-traffic, weaving between them all. She can barely see Solace following behind, but does not wait up. The bard eventually catches up to her at the edge of the square.

Within, they can see an executioner’s chopping block, with a woman in soldier’s gear standing guard, and a man dressed in dark grey sharpening a thick, heavy sword. Wooden stands have been set up, and the noble families are both already present. The Valerids are dressed in dark purples and blues – “Mourning colours,” Solace explains, “For the Goddess of Liminality,” – and the Auzzos in grey, all gold adornment stripped from their usual wear. Captain Eschen is not present. On roofs and balconies around the square, guards with crossbows stand watch.

Heavy drum beats advance up a nearby street, and the sea of murmured comments increases in volume and colour. As a procession approaches, Leah sees Jeno being escorted by both Auzzo and Valerid guards, a vacant, chill expression on her face, chains at her wrists. Eschen is at the rear of the group, in the same armour as before – full-body, adorned with gold etching, enamelled in green and white.

Leah and Solace wriggle their way to the front – looking like guards, they receive little resistance from the spectators. Solace looks to Leah, and Leah gestures for patience.

A Valerid guard steps down from the stands at the front and begins to recite the charges, and the accused’s plea of guilty. While he talks, Leah whispers to Solace. “Is Eschen actively casting right now? Can you tell?”

Solace turns to look, whispering something, and her eyes glow the same green as her candle. “No, but the girl has been put through some ravaging magic…I can’t tell by whom, but if the hedge-wizard was telling the truth…”

Leah nods. “I know invisibility is impossible, but is there any way for me to get up to them unseen?”

Solace shakes her head. “You could slip in beside them, before they leave the crowd, but you’d have to hurry.”

“No, Eschen would notice.”

The slowly advancing procession reaches the edge of the open space, and the woman at the chopping block begins to recite something in formal language. “Religious rites,” Solace says. “Of Volst. They ought to be invoking Cheden’s gods, if the accused is from Cheden.”

“But she married into a Volsti family.”

Eschen accompanies Jeno forward alone; she keeps her distance from him, a faint flicker of fear starting in her face. Leah takes a half-step forward.

“Are we sure invisibility is not an option?” Leah asks nervously.

“Absolutely.”

Jeno is led up to the block.

“I thought you had a plan?” Solace asks.

“I do, it just involves my getting near to her without being pin-cushioned by arrows first.” She gestures to the crossbow-wielding guards stationed around the square.

Jeno begins to ascend the steps of the block alone.

Solace looks at the guards. “That’s it? I can take care of them.”

“What? How?”

“Never mind that, go now!”

Eschen has taken position at the foot of the stands. The religious woman is anointing Jeno’s face with ash, drawing a line over each cheek as though of tears. “Go in peace and find your rest,” the woman intones. “Go in peace, and feel no want. I will meet you there in time.” The executioner has shifted his grip on the sword, but shows no other sign of emotion.

Leah takes one last deep breath and steps briskly out of the surrounding wall of people. Two steps in, and only the people immediately beside her have noticed. Four steps, and some people across the way notice. Six, and the people on the stand begin to look towards her. The Lord’s stony expression becomes bitter and impatient.

The religious woman notices and steps down to block the way. “Yeoman, you are out of line,” she says, in a low voice.

Leah shoulders past her without breaking stride – with her shield, causing the woman to fall back heavily with a grunt.

The Duke stands up and calls for her to stop. The Lord, more pragmatic, makes a hand gesture, and all the crossbowmen around the square raise their weapons –

– and fall asleep. They slump over railings and against each other, armour glinting in the bright sunlight, weapons slipping from their hands. Leah can hear Solace’s whispered rhyme behind her, but doesn’t look around to confirm.

The Lord notices the delay, and turns to look. While he is distracted, Leah jumps the three steps up to the block and stands beside Jeno’s head, already lowered to the cutting crook. The other guards around the square are busy holding back the restless spectators, who can tell something unexpected is about to happen.

“Lord Valerid, if you cannot control your man – ” the Duchess begins, quietly but audibly.

“I am not his,” Leah says clearly, and Solace – Bless her; why did I ever doubt that a bard would have perfect timing? – drops the illusion.

Turmoil erupts in the watching crowd. Captain Eschen’s eyes narrow, and he tightens his grip on the sword at his side. As though she needed any more confirmation at this point, Leah notices that he wears no dagger.

“My Lord!” Leah gives a theatrical bow to the stand. “My Lady! My Duke, my Duchess!” She plays up the theatricality of throwing off her hood and letting her hair spill out, lifting her shield onto her arm, posing. If these bastards are here for a spectacle, I can give them just that. Didn’t someone say that Leah used to be a performer at a faire? They should have expected it, really. “I have returned.”

The Lord is giving orders to seize her, and to make sure she doesn’t interfere with the execution. “That won’t be necessary, sir,” Leah projects, always keeping a calm and confident tone. “I am not here on anyone’s orders. I am not even here to disrupt the carrying out of the sentence, monstrously misdirected though it may be.”

Shifting movement on the opposite end of the stands catches her attention, and she sees Meredith, aghast and afraid, with the rest of the five, in full armour. Vivitha, Leah notices, has an arrow notched to her bow.

“No, sirs and madams, whatever the rumours say, I am not here out of anger or evil.” She turns now and paces the circumference of the block, taking note of the chains, the height, the distance to the crowd. No-one reaches to stop her. Even the executioner, she notices, has backed away and lets her pass. “Despite the fact that I have been through Jun province and back, and have come and gone from Seffonshold itself without challenge, I am not here as Seffon’s agent.” She finishes her circuit and stands again at Jeno’s head, at the front of the block. “I am here in your interests.”

Lord Valerid rises and quietly descends the stand to approach her. “Your bravery is admirable, and wholly unnecessary. I assure you, our interests are protected.” He gestures, and captain Eschen steps forward, hand still on his sword. Leah watches for any sign of spellcasting, but notes nothing.

“Ah, because using magic worked so well for your uncle, didn’t it?” Leah says in a stage whisper, and the Lord’s expression falters a moment, coming back even more angry, though still restrained. “Your welfare, then,” she says, at full volume.

“Leah!” Meredith steps forward. Iris reaches out to hold her back, but she presses forward. “You complete idiot, why did you come back?” She says it at regular volume, once she’s close enough to be heard.

“For vengeance, why else?” The Lord says it loudly, dismissive in a way that suggests he hardly even considers it worth thinking about. “She has been convinced we are her enemy; she is under the same spell as the girl, and our mistake was in not killing her the moment we had the truth of it.” He turns and walks back to the stand, unconcerned, and says over his shoulder to Meredith, “Something you did not have the wisdom to do either, Miss Havren.”

Meredith’s fists clench.

“You have me mistaken, Mr. Valerid,” Leah calls out, and again he falters for a moment. “I am not here to avenge myself.”

She turns and takes the sword from the executioner’s hand, handing him her spear. He resists, but weakly; he is clearly no soldier, or at most a retired one, and not prepared to fight what he believes to be Leah Talesh.

The Lord turns back cockily, then with confusion as he notices Leah’s sword, and her position next to Jeno’s head.

“I am not here for personal vengeance. I am here to swing the sword of justice.”

A split second hesitation from all involved. Kain’s hands fly to her mouth, but she does not approach. Jeno half-looks up, and the Lord catches the implication.

“You confirm that she is guilty, then? Captured by Seffon’s magics?”

Leah swings the sword around a few times, to get the weight of it. Her body seems to remember the feeling of it, to some degree, but it’s a much different weapon than any she’s practiced with before.

“Not quite. Lady Jeno has been taken in by magics, but from a different source. Lord Valerid, did you know – ” Leah, continuing to swing the sword and remembering moves as she goes, jumps off the block and onto the stone of the square. The Lord takes a few hurried steps back, and Eschen takes a few forward. “ – that when the Auzzo family progenitor was in power over Cheden, she struck a deal with Devad? They exchanged military secrets, at the base of the Burning Bluffs, to stave off a war brewing between them; Cheden gave them the recipes for potions of war, and Devad gave them the recipe to make black powder.”

Captain Eschen’s expression flickers. The Duke’s remains confused but intent. The Duchess’s hardens.

“It seems odd to me that you would marry your late son off to the daughter of the very same household whose origin lies in their great achievement of brokering an alliance with your ancient enemy.” She continues to pace, giving the stones taps with the tip of the sword to punctuate her words. “It seems even odder that you would prepare for war against a small, non-aggressive neighbour, when Cheden has been filling your port with ships of war, carrying soldiers and supplies to ostensibly protect against the very nation they’ve been quietly trading military information with for a hundred and fifty years.”

Eschen takes a few steps back, closer to the Duke and Duchess. Leah has walked far enough that she can now cast a subtle glance at Solace, who still holds the green-burning candle, and is watching with interest and no sign of knowing where Leah is going with this. Excellent. If even the bard can’t guess, then certainly no-one else will.

“And I just can’t wrap my brain around the idea that Cheden has been price-gouging here, and loudly bragging about avoiding Devadiss ships on their way over, when they have been selling goods to Devad at normal prices in advance of a supposed war against them.”

The Lord is also backing up to the stands; some of the Valerid guards have begun approaching, but most are too busy controlling the crowd.

“To say nothing of the fact – ” Leah slashes the air, measuring how much momentum she can build then stop. “That the missives, taken from the infiltrating groups wearing Seffon’s colours, were in fact written by someone who had only a vague understanding of how Old West Volsti was spelled, and that the people who carried them were actually blood-pardons from Devad, who came here with the intention of dying so they could not be questioned afterwards.

“And who was it – ” She looks up to the stands while leaning on the sword like a cane, “ – who was so eager for us to take the offensive? Who provided their own translators, as though they knew the missives would arrive? Who brought a born-magic user to a nation without magic, and then somehow convinced you to trust his judgement over your own?” She ends back at the execution block, facing the Lord again. She is frustrated to see he clearly does not believe her, but is gratified that at least the Auzzo delegation is sweating a little bit. The crowd has quietened to listen.

“And finally, sir…I find it hard to believe that a child so afraid of magic she couldn’t even stand to watch it being used to heal, could ever be credibly accused of being magically compelled to kill. Especially when the people who gave you this information are the only people in the country with knowledge of such magic.”

The Lord stops halfway up the stairs to the stand and folds his hands behind his back. “And you are here to protect us from this foe? We are in your debt.” A few snickers from the crowd.

“You can rot in a bog for all I care, sir. I am here to protect the people you have failed to protect.”

Rumbling from the crowd, and the Lord frowns.

Leah continues. “You have left your people unguarded – more than that, you have invited the wolves in to eat at your table and share your roof, and now! Now you have the audacity to take the child they forced into doing their dirty work, and pin the blame on her!”

Leah spins and bring the sword down onto the block. Meredith flinches to stop her but is too far.

The chains around Jeno’s wrists shatter, and she pulls back with a shriek. Leah tosses the sword back to the executioner and grabs her spear as he drops it in surprise.

“So yes; I am here to bring justice.” She spins the spear around to point it at Eschen. “Will you meet me, sir?”