Chapter 357: The Wrong Free

Veyth dumped the intake sheets on the table and studied them as something that had stolen years away before breakfast.

These are not candidates, she told the room. These are people who showed up and found work. Narrow them.

Oren remained still in his chair. We already cut by time and house marks, he said. That gets us half the Frees in this city.

Recorder Haln flipped a page. Then cut harder, she said. Who settled on a rush? Who performs better than their word? Who never asks where they began?

The wall voice was Ryn’s. I marked patterns, she said. So we’d not pull the lower district in by the neck. Patterns are not proof.

Proof takes time, Veyth said. We do not have much of that.

Soren slid in a shorter list to the center of the table. Five names. Two had already left Keth-Arel. A drunk, a broken hand. The last name stood alone in clean ink.

Lucian. Yard work with Sull. Room with Henn. No house. No visitors. No trouble.

Crael almost smiled. Veyrn can pick him up for clarification, she said. Quiet. Civic paper stays untouched, and you’ve someone to ask before nightfall.

Mera shook her head once. If anyone comes to grab him off the docks, Sallis is in that room, too, she said. One house walking off with a possible prize will not appear an act of goodwill.

Oren massaged his temples. He loads crates.

He sits on a list higher courts will discuss, Veyth told him. Civic hold. No banners. No open face. Captain Ryn brings him in.

Ryn studied her across the table. And if he is merely trying to pay rent?

Then he answers and goes, Veyth said. If he is more, better we learn before someone buys him off the street.

The order was out of the hall before their tea finished.

Lucian felt it in the yards before they called his name.

Sull’s temper was near the edge. The gate clerk was marking names as though he expected someone to simply cease to be there. Pesh worked beside him and kept watching the road.

They grabbed a Free off Ash Lane this morning, Pesh said between lifts. No charge. Just vanished for clarification. Entire lane is still whispering about it.

Lucian put down the crate he held. Where did they take him?

Civic side, Pesh said. That’s all anyone knows. He wiped his hands. If they call your name, don’t run, said Pesh. Makes everything uglier.

Watch passed through the gate without a cry before second bell. Matthis was among them. He gave Sull the attention before working his way down the line, stopping at Lucian.

Lucian, he said. Clarification request. You need to come with us. You are not under charge.

Sull scowled. He is on my clock.

He is on the magistrate’s list, Matthis said. If the list is content, he returns.

Lucian studied the open gate and the rows of clean coats waiting there. He could vanish now and make everyone in this room a suspicion. He could go and keep his skin whole for a little while longer. He pulled off the brace strap and placed it in Pesh’s hands. Keep my spot.

You better use it again, Pesh muttered. They walked him off through the streets without cuffs. People watched and then turned away. Keth-Arel did not want or need a Free between Watch officers.

The room where they placed him had a table. Two chairs. A pitcher of water untouched by anyone. Ryn came in first and alone, shutting the door behind her.

I asked them to let me talk before the delegates, she said. That courtesy will not last.

Lucian sat. Am I arrested?

You are noticed, Ryn said. Higher officials arrived yesterday - they are tracking footprints tied to a Lord-level flare. Your name is on the clean list. Steady work. No house. Brief background. All of that was enough to put you in this seat.

The houses?

They can scent blood in the water, Ryn said. Veyrn wanted first claim. Sallis wanted a stake. The delegates forced civic hold instead. That is the only reason you sit here rather than under a house floor.

What do they want?

For answers, Ryn said. As to where you came from, why you settled the way you did, and what you can do. The same if you sound polished, and possibly the same if you sound hollow. Do not give them cause to keep you.

Veyth entered with Haln and Soren. Ryn moved aside. Rank filled the room without raising a voice.

Veyth took the other chair. You are Lucian.

Yes.

No house.

Yes.

You arrived recently and took work with Sull, and you rented from Henn. Local coin since day one. She smiled a little. Neat.

I needed rent,

Lucian said.

Everyone needs rent, said Soren. Few become this agreeable so quickly.

Lucian turned to him. Still needed rent

Haln wrote while Veyth moved on, asking for any training with a court, temple, or house.

None.

Any fights since you got here?

None.

Anybody offer you irregular work?

There it was, thought Lucian. He kept his hands steady.

A man named Derrin has offered side jobs, said Lucian. Packages. Private runs. Higher pay. I said I would think about it and went back to the yards.

Derrin, Veyth said, voice sharpening

Ryn shifted against the wall. Haln’s hand quickened on the page.

Why turn down extra coin? Soren asked.

Because strangers who offer free money tend to collect interest afterward, said Lucian.

Veyth let the comment hang. Derrin appears in our records as a broker who pockets useful Frees before the eyes get there, she said. If he marked you, someone else might have considered you theirs already.

Lucian said nothing.

Do you know why we are in Keth-Arel? Veyth asked.

I hear rumors.

Tell me one.

People say a Lord has stirred, said Lucian. People say the courts are testing lower planes before the houses pounce to own the mess.

The last is close enough to get men killed, said Veyth. If you are ordinary, verification will get you off the hook. If you are attached to that stirring, concealment will not protect you - but it will determine who owns the mess.

Lucian met her eyes. I lift crates. I pay rent. That is all.

Veyth stood. We will see.

She departed with the others, and the door shut behind them, leaving the pitcher of water in its place.

Ryn lingered in the hall. They did not release you, she said. They paused you. Two very different things.

How long?

Long enough to raise house arguments and for Derrin’s name to move along more desks. Ryn pressed her hand against the door. If you carry a further truth, do not expose it in this building. These people do not take stories. They take assets.

She was gone

Lucian sat at the table with his hands out over it and heard the last of her footsteps. On paper he was still a free man with predictable habits. In the city streets he had become the wrong man at the wrong time.

Outdoors, Veyrn, Sallis, and the delegates all prepared to sharpen their claim on a very quiet name.