Arden (Mages of the Flame #1) FIRST DRAFT

Part 14: On Trial

Shaken, afraid, but unhurt, Bronwyn slumped onto the wooden bed in the small cell. The guards had escorted her back to the Mage tower on foot while the blue-cloaked Mage rode on horseback. Her protests had been ignored at first, but as she demanded more they had been met with threats of violence, so she stayed quiet.

She was taken to the side of the building, through a heavy door and down some steps into a room with one table. Iron gates barred the other three exits from the room. She was searched and the guard removed her purse, travelling knife and the wooden tube she had tucked into her clothing. This they gave to the Mage, who had not said a word to her since her arrest. He opened it, took one look at the scroll and the wax seal, and simply said "Watch her." He left with more urgency than he had arrived.

Then the guards had bundled her into the cell and retreated. They took the torches in the wall with them, leaving as her only light a single candle clock on the wall opposite her cell. There seemed to be some quick discussion about the candle, but in the end they left it alone and did not abandon her to darkness. All Bronwyn heard of their discussion was '...only a fire Mage."

"Hello?" she called when she had calmed and recovered a little of herself. No answer came. "Hello? Guards?" she repeated.

"No talking," came the harsh reply.

"I don't know what I did. Why am I here?"

Nothing.

"I didn't break into that house! I didn't steal anything. Hello? Can you hear me?"

Nothing.

Eventually, cold, alone and afraid, Bronwyn fell asleep.

Four Mages sat in high chairs arranged around a highly polished curved table of a reddish-brown wood Bronwyn did not recognise. The chairs were exaggerated vertically to give the illusion of height. They wore the cloaks of their element, Bronwyn had deduced. One was of the sea, one of the wind, and two of the earth. Two were men, two women. These Mages also wore matching coloured caps with flowing ribbons which were embroidered with the same gold thread she had noticed on the cloaks, although she had no idea what that signified. The early sun shone through the windows behind them directly into her eyes. To a provincial Mage the whole set-up looked faintly ridiculous. To a Guardian of the Peace it was a show of authority. To a scared Bronwyn it was intimidating.

"Your name and title?" said the male Mages in the centre. A scribe sat to her side, just out of sight, ready to scribble down anything important.

"Bronwyn of the Flame, Guardian of the Peace," she said, before remembering to add '"Your grace."

"State your province."

"The eastern shore, from the borders of the Dale to Ashdown."

"Your Palaestra?"

"Here in Lorin."

"Why have you returned to Lorin?"

"I had to deliver a message to Sallus."

"From whom?"

"I don't know. I found it in Ashdown."

"What is the message?"

"I don't know. I didn't open it."

"How do you know it is for Sallus?"

"I-I don't. We didn't know who it was for but it had a royal seal, so we decided to bring it to the council for them to see."

"We?"

"Myself and the Marshall of Ashdown."

"Has anyone else seen the scroll?"