Chapter 30: The Fishhook

The Cathedral was silent, with every person in the room motionless, the guards standing with their spears half lifted, and even the candles stopped dancing.

Then Draven laughed, but it was the kind of laugh men use at a fancy dinner when someone says something they think is mildly amusing.

"Mira Vallen," Draven said. "Daughter of a traitor, sold for two hundred gold, in rocks." He shook his head and sighed. "I feel sorry for you, little girl. Losing someone can drive a person to do awful things."

"I didn’t lose someone," Mira said. "You killed someone."

She pulled out the contract and held it up for the whole Cathedral to see.

Kai flinched, because the contract was in bad shape after spending most of its life in his vest, being dragged down a mineshaft, and being submerged in two rivers, and most of the writing had faded away. The promises and the temples of stone and gold were nothing but smears of gray ink now. At the very bottom of the page, though, one thing was still perfectly clear.

Draven’s signature was as bright and crisp as if he had signed it that very day, and there was a small hook under the V, just like the one Mira had spotted at the table in Ironwatch.

[The contract was written in cheap ink. Draven signed it with his own ink, which is far more expensive, and it does not fade]

"He signed it with his own ink," Kai whispered. "Of course he did."

"When Lord Draven signs his name, there is always a hook under the V," Mira told the entire Cathedral. "Every letter that was presented at my father’s trial had that same hook. My father never wrote his name that way, not once in his life."

More whispers began to travel through the Cathedral.

"You have one torn-up piece of paper and a story," Draven said. "Those letters were destroyed after the trial. You have nothing to compare it to."

"I have something to compare it to," Mira said.

She pointed towards the High Priestess, and past her, to a large book resting on a gold pedestal at the top of the steps.

"The Book of Oaths," Mira said. "Every lord in this city signs his name in that book when he becomes a lord. My father signed it, and so did Lord Draven. Both of their signatures are in that book."

More whispers spread through the Cathedral, but the High Priestess did not move, and she didn’t even look at the book.

"That book is sacred," the High Priestess said. "We will not open it for a slave’s claims."

"She’s not a slave anymore," Kai said, standing up even though his legs were still shaky. "I bought her."

"With rocks," Garrick said.

"Very convincing rocks," Kai said.

The Holy Champion stepped forward, and everyone’s attention went to him.

"Then open it for me," the Holy Champion said.

"I am the Holy Champion of the Radiant Mother," the Holy Champion said. "I have never asked for anything in my life. But I am asking now."

Kai could tell from the worshippers’ faces that none of them had ever seen the Holy Champion ask for anything, and some of them looked like they were witnessing a miracle. The High Priestess clenched her teeth, but she could not refuse the Holy Champion, not with half the city watching.

"Fine," the High Priestess said.

The Holy Champion walked up the steps to the book and started turning the heavy pages, and the entire Cathedral held its breath and listened to them turn.

"Lord Aldric Vallen," the Holy Champion read, and he studied the page for a long while. "There is no hook under his V."

He turned several more of the heavy pages.

"Lord Castor Draven," the Holy Champion read. He looked at the page, then at the contract in Mira’s hands, and then back at the page. "There is a hook under this one."

Chaos erupted in the Cathedral as people jumped up from their seats, a woman screamed Draven’s name, and an elderly woman fainted. Mira was trembling so hard that the contract shook in her hands, while the Holy Champion closed the book and slowly walked back down the steps.

Kai looked at Draven, who was still smiling, but it wasn’t the same smile anymore, and Kai could see it starting to crack. He knew exactly what a failing con looked like, because he had watched his own fail in the mirror more times than he could count.

"It’s a coincidence!" Draven yelled over the crowd. "Plenty of men decorate their letters. Without the actual letters, it is my word against hers."

Kai realized that Draven was right, because without the letters, they had no proof. Draven could walk out of here, buy himself a few more priests, and in a week no one would remember any of this.

He needed more proof, and he didn’t have any, so he did what he did best and lied.

"We have the letters," Kai said.

"What?" Draven said, as the Cathedral fell silent once more.

"The letters from the trial," Kai said, putting on his best con man face. "The forged ones. Someone saved them before they could be burned, and now we have them. Every one of them has a hook under the V."

Behind Kai, Elowen’s sword began to glow, and everyone in the Cathedral saw it.

[Kai. She is standing right behind you]

"I forgot she does that," Kai whispered.

[You always forget she does that]

Draven looked at the glowing sword and burst out laughing, and this time it was a real laugh, the laugh of a man who had just realized he wasn’t caught after all.

"You clever little rat," Draven said. "I almost believed you." He wiped the tears from his eyes. "But you don’t have those letters. No one has those letters. I watched the High Priestess burn them with her own hands, right there in that fireplace."

The room went dead silent, and Draven’s laugh cut off as he realized what he had just said, about one second after everyone else did. Every head in the Cathedral turned to the High Priestess, who stood at the top of the steps without moving an inch.

"You watched her?" the Holy Champion asked. "Why was a lord present while the Cathedral was destroying evidence?"

Draven opened his mouth, closed it, and opened it again, but for the first time since Kai had met him, Lord Castor Draven had absolutely nothing to say.

[You failed]

"I know," Kai whispered.

[You were caught lying in front of the entire Cathedral]

"I know," Kai whispered.

[And because you were caught, he let his guard down and spilled the truth. You failed so hard that he confessed]

"I’ll put that on my resume," Kai whispered.

"Sister Inquisitor," the Holy Champion said, turning to Elowen. "Did you hear what Lord Draven just said?"

"Yes, I did," Elowen said.

"Was he lying?" the Holy Champion asked.

Elowen held up her sword, which had stopped glowing the moment Kai stopped lying, and when Draven spoke, it had not lit up at all.

"No," Elowen said. "He was telling the truth."

The Holy Champion looked up the steps at the High Priestess.

"High Priestess," the Holy Champion said. "Did you burn the letters from Lord Aldric Vallen’s trial in front of Lord Draven?"

The High Priestess looked down at him for a long moment, and then she lifted her chin.

"I will not answer to you," the High Priestess said. "I answer only to the Mother."

She didn’t deny it, and everyone in the Cathedral heard her not deny it.

Mira let out a cry, and when Kai looked at her, she was crying, but she wasn’t sobbing, because she stood tall and stared up at the two people who had killed her father.

"You both knew," Mira said.

"Guards," the High Priestess said, lifting her hand. "Take the heretic. Take the traitor’s daughter and the deserter." She looked at the Holy Champion, standing at the bottom of the steps in his white armor. "And take the Champion as well. He has been corrupted."

The guards hesitated, but only for a moment, and then they began to swarm in from every aisle, dozens of them. Garrick lifted his hammer, Elowen lifted her sword, and Mira stepped in close beside Kai.

Kai looked at the Holy Champion, and the Holy Champion looked up at the High Priestess. He had served the Mother since he was six years old, and he had given up his own name for her.

He drew his sword, turned to face the guards, and stood next to Kai with his golden blade raised.

"If I am a heretic for telling the truth," the Holy Champion said, "then I am a heretic."

The ding rang out loud and clear in Kai’s head.

[Faith gained. Follower: Holy Champion. Faith: 5%. Status: Questioning.]

Kai looked at the message, then at the Holy Champion beside him, and then at all of the guards closing in around them, and he smiled.

"Welcome to the team, Sunny," Kai said.