Paladin’s Hope: Book Three of the Saint of Steel

by T. Kingfisher

  “Thank you,” said Stephen gravely. “I knew that I had not been entirely mistaken in you.”

  Mallory grunted. The trio rose to leave, Piper leading the way. Seeing that Stephen had lingered, Galen paused in the doorway. Whatever the paladin said to the guard captain, he didn’t catch it, but Mallory grunted again. Stephen joined them, his face serene but his eyes sadder than usual.

  “You can’t save everyone,” said Galen gently.

  “No. No, but we still try, don’t we?”

  “We have someone much more important to save,” said Piper, his voice still cool and clipped. “Let us go speak to Commander Tamsin.”

  Thirty-Five

  The guard headquarters of the city of Archon’s Glory was in one of the older districts inside the walls which had become unfashionable over the years. It had certainly not started life as a guard building, judging by the grand architecture and the ornate carvings, but it was in decent repair. Compared to the post in Mallory’s district, it was positively luxurious. When they stepped inside, they were greeted by a spiral staircase and marble floors. Granted the floors were badly scuffed and the front desk looked as if teething puppies had gnawed on the wood, but even the shadow of its former grandeur was impressive.

  Piper, resolutely unimpressed, strode to the desk and said, “I have come to see Commander Tamsin on a matter of some urgency.”

  This particular guard was not as easily cowed as Mallory’s. He glanced at the trio and said, “The Commander is busy. You can request an audience and it will be scheduled when and if appropriate.”

  “It is, as I said, a matter of urgency.”

  The guard wore glasses. He pushed them down now and looked at Piper over the rims, a fighting move that Galen had seen reduce strong men to jelly, particularly when deployed by nuns or lawyers. He wasn’t sure if he should jump in front of Piper to take the full force of the glare or not.

  Piper met the glare with one of his own. He handled Mallory. This is his world. Just be ready to call for a healer in case one of them combusts.

  “Commander Tamsin does not see civilians except by appointment,” said the man in the glasses.

  Piper produced the letter with Mallory’s seal and held it up. The guard reached for it, but Piper did not relinquish it. “Captain Mallory has requested that we be given an audience,” he said, hoarfrost creeping into his voice again. “This is a judicial matter and I have neither time nor inclination to wait.”

  The guard looked from the seal to the formal robes that Piper wore. Galen discovered that he was holding his breath.

  A sour expression crossed the guard’s face and he sat back, pushing his glasses up on his nose and acting as if he had not lost. “If Mallory sent you, I suppose we can make an exception. The Commander can decide if he will see you or not.” He jerked his chin toward the staircase. “Up. The door at the end of the hall.”

  “Thank you,” said Piper coolly, and swept toward the stairs.

  To give Tamsin what little credit that Galen was able to muster, his office was no more luxurious than the rest of the building. There was a rug on the floor and the walls had been whitewashed, but the furniture had the same battered look. A secretary looked up at them, frowning.

  “The Commander—”

  “Will see us,” said Piper, holding up Mallory’s seal.

  “Will I?” asked a dryly amused voice from the next room. Tamsin appeared in the doorway beside the desk. He was a short, deceptively affable looking man, with a heavy mustache and thinning hair.

  Piper turned to him. “Indeed. I am Doctor Piper. I believe we have met in passing, Commander, though it has been some years.” He bowed from the neck, a very different gesture from a nod.

  “You’re the lich-doctor who figured out how the smooth men worked,” said Tamsin.

  “I am.”

  “That was fine work.”

  Piper bowed again.

  “And you two…” Tamsin’s eyes flicked over Galen and Stephen. Galen suspected that the man had registered every weapon they carried, down to the knife Galen used to trim his fingernails. “Paladins of the dead saint, aren’t you?”

  “We are,” said Stephen, giving no sign at the tactlessness of the description.

  “You work for the White Rat now.”

  “It is our honor to serve as we can.”

  Galen had a vague urge to smash something or scream loudly, just to break up the formality of the occasion.

  Tamsin held out his hand and Piper relinquished Mallory’s letter. The commander cracked the seal, read the words there, and snorted. “You may have five minutes, then,” he said, gesturing them into his office.

  There were only two chairs. Piper took one. Galen took the other, while Stephen stood. As the tallest of the three, he could loom rather effectively, and at this point, Galen thought they probably needed any psychological advantage they could get.

  Tamsin tossed Mallory’s letter carelessly on his desk. Galen read the words upside down.

  * * *

  They’re above my pay grade.

  M

  * * *

  He contained a snort. Typical. Accurate, but typical.

  “We’ve come to discuss the release of the gnole Earstripe, who has been unjustly detained.”

  “Ah. I had guessed that a Rat or two would be over, but I did not expect the lich-doctors to involve themselves.”

  “I believe that you will find that there has been a grave misunderstanding,” said Piper.

  “Perhaps we will,” said Commander Tamsin, folding his arms. “Nevertheless, it’s an internal guard matter. We police our own, and we do not countenance vigilantism.”

  “Earstripe wasn’t in the guard. Mallory dismissed him,” said Galen. “He didn’t quit. He was made to leave, but he had enough of a sense of duty to try and stop Thomas from killing again.” He wanted to slam his fist on the table in frustration but he knew that it wouldn’t help.

  “That runs counter to what is in the report, as I recall,” said Tamsin.

  “Captain Mallory will speak to the truth of it,” said Stephen. “He was not consulted adequately in the matter.”

  “Then it will doubtless be resolved once further investigation is made.”

  Galen wanted to erupt at that, but Piper set his foot over the paladin’s and he contained himself. Piper leaned forward, elbows on Tamsin’s desk. “I fear that you may be laboring under a lack of information, Commander. Earstripe was grievously injured by the murderer and is at grave risk of relapse if he continues to languish in a jail cell. To keep him there would be inhumane.”

  Tamsin looked unimpressed. “I am certain that adequate care will be provided if that is the case. We are not barbarians.”

  No, because most barbarians have strong codes of honor around injured enemies, you smug bastard. Piper’s boot heel was grinding into his toes, and a good thing too.

  You can take him, whispered the tide. It would be easy. You don’t even need the sword. Go over the table and knock his chair over, kneel on his chest, beat his head into the floor a few times. The easiest thing in the world.

  “May I see the report?” asked Piper.

  “It is, as I said, an internal matter.”

  Piper’s gentle smile should have caused frost to form on Tamsin’s eyebrows. “Then if you would be so kind as to check the report and confirm the charges against Earstripe?”

  “There are no official charges yet. He is merely being held securely until full inquiry is made.”

  “Then you will be giving nothing official away.”

  Galen could actually see Tamsin debating what would get them out of his office sooner. If it had just been the paladins, he likely would have ordered them out, but Piper was an unknown quantity. Lich-doctors worked with the guard, but were not under their jurisdiction.

  Finally, the commander reached into his desk, thumbed through files, and removed a stack of paper. “Very well.” He ran his finger over the careful copperplate. “The repo
rt states that on the third of the month, Constable Earstripe left the city limits and went in pursuit of a criminal. He was not in hot pursuit at the time, and he was accompanied by a paladin of the dead saint, called Galen.” He glanced up at Galen. “I assume that’s you.”

  Galen nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

  “The suspect was located and Constable Earstripe took it upon himself to apprehend him, a struggle ensued, during which time Paladin Galen murdered the suspect. The body was left at the scene, and both returned to Archon’s Glory, where Earstripe made no attempt to contact his commander and inform him. Fortunately, Paladin Galen did make such a report, through civilian channels, where he emphasized that he was acting under the constable’s orders. As such, guards were dispatched to locate the body and Constable Earstripe has been remanded to custody until a full internal investigation can be conducted.”

  “Of all the goddamn lies—"

  Piper’s heel applied itself savagely to his shin and Galen shut his mouth with a snap. Tamsin’s careful lack of a smile managed to convey more than a broad grin would have.

  “So there you have it,” said the commander. “The constable appointed himself judge and jury, and employed Paladin Galen as the executioner. While paladins are, of course, exempt from such charges while performing the work of the gods, I am afraid that those who serve the Saint of Steel exist in something of a gray area in that regard. Isn’t that right, Paladin Stephen?”

  Over the desk, hands around his throat, move fast, he’s probably got a knife but if the chair goes over, he’ll waste a second off-balance…

  Stephen, who had once been arrested for a berserker rage within the city, said, “The temples have upheld the right of the Saint of Steel’s chosen to act on their own discretion, subject to review by a triumvirate of representatives from the Dreaming God, the Lady of Grass, and the White Rat.”

  “Outside the city,” said Tamsin softly.

  This man hates us, realized Galen. Oh god. We should not have come. We should have sent someone from the Dreaming God or the Forge God to back him up. Stephen told me that the guard was irritated at us, but he genuinely despises us.

  “Indeed,” said Stephen. “But we were speaking of outside the city, were we not?”

  Tamsin was undoubtedly a good poker player. “That we were,” he said, quite pleasantly. “Now, gentlemen, if there is nothing more…”

  “I fear,” said Piper tranquilly, “that there is rather more that I must bring to your attention. Your report has omitted several key facts. Earstripe did not, in fact, give an order for the suspect to be killed. He was unconscious at the time, and could not have done so.”

  Tamsin’s eyebrows snapped together. “How do you know this?”

  “Because I was present at the time,” said Piper. “Is that not in the report?”

  Tamsin glanced down, then checked several pages. “It may be in an addendum,” he said, somewhat stiffly.

  “Indeed. In fact, at the time of Thomas’s death, I was attempting to staunch the bleeding from a crossbow bolt that Thomas had fired at Earstripe. It was perilously near the femoral artery. Earstripe lost consciousness almost immediately. I believe you will find, based on the time of death, that Paladin Galen was acting in defense of himself and a local woman, who was being held against her will.”

  “We have only your word for this,” said Tamsin.

  “On time and cause of death?” Piper ran his gloved fingers down the long black stole draped across his shoulders. “I am one of five lich-doctors certified by the courts of Archenhold. My word is accepted as fact by the court. Are you challenging the word of my colleagues and I on such matters?”

  There was a kind of silky menace in his voice that Galen had not known Piper was capable of. He wanted to stand on the chair and applaud.

  Commander Tamsin had been threatened by murderers and professionals and on several occasions, professional murderers. He did not crack visibly, but Galen could practically hear the wheels turning in the man’s head. Piper had just upped the stakes considerably. The guard could bring a man in and claim that they’d seen him stab another man, but if the lich-doctor said the victim had died of food poisoning, the court listened. You couldn’t even refuse to use a certain lich-doctor because they were assigned by city district. Piper, who did his work practically in the Archon’s basement, had been called in on several high-profile cases, including the smooth men. Discrediting him would be difficult.

  No, there was absolutely no benefit to the guard in making an enemy of Piper, and a great deal of potential embarrassment.

  Tamsin made one last stab at turning Piper aside. He tapped the papers in front of him. “I’m sure you can see why the guard must police itself in matters that smack of vigilantism, Doctor.”

  “Naturally,” said Piper, still in that silken voice. “However, as has been made very clear, Earstripe was no longer a constable. Nor was he responsible for the death of the criminal involved. It was a clear case of self-defense, occurring after Earstripe was injured while saving my life.” He ran his fingers down the stole again, as if he was the priest of some peculiar god of morgues. “I am certain that if you have preserved the body, my colleagues would be happy to provide corroboration as to the cause of his death, and to the nature of the injuries sustained by Earstripe in my defense. We are always…most concerned…for the health of one of our own.”

  That was definitely a threat. Angering the lich-doctors as a whole would be career suicide and Tamsin knew it. His gaze flicked to Galen.

  Galen actually waited until Piper nodded to him before speaking. The last thing he wanted to do was undo the doctor’s good work. “I killed Thomas,” he said. “I’ve testified to that repeatedly. I strangled him, in fact. If you’ve got the body, you can easily see by the marks that it was human hands on his neck and not a gnole’s.”

  “I would imagine that your men would have recovered the crossbow and the bloody bolt along with the body,” Piper said. “The lich-doctors will be more than happy to compare the two.”

  Tamsin looked down at the papers and Galen knew that he didn’t have the crossbow and he likely didn’t have the body either. And after all this time, what kind of shape would it be in, anyway? No, somebody made a report and left him holding the bag, and he’s not very happy about it.

  “Furthermore,” said Piper, “a paladin of the Dreaming God can provide testimony as to my presence, Earstripe’s injuries, and the nature of the local woman’s imprisonment. I am certain that he would be happy to do so. The Temple of the Dreaming God, as you know, are deeply committed to serving the community.”

  Galen had almost forgotten Jorge and kicked himself. Sure, the paladin had arrived long after the fact, but that didn’t matter. You did not mess with the Temple of the Dreaming God, not unless you wanted to find yourself ass-deep in demons. Not that they would ever stop capturing demons just because the guard was rude to them, but their political power is up there with the Rat and everybody’s scared to cross them, just in case they do stop.

  What must have seemed like a straightforward enough way to tweak the Rat’s whiskers and remove a minor embarrassment was rapidly ballooning out of control. Galen watched the commander weighing the options. “You say that this gnole had left the guard?”

  “Indeed. Captain Mallory has indicated his willingness to correct the record.”

  “And he will not be rejoining?”

  “I think,” said Piper, with absolute truth, “that he has no interest whatsoever in doing so.”

  Tamsin leaned back in his chair. “I can see that mistakes have been made with this report, Doctor Piper. It is possible that in our zeal for self-policing, several critical facts were overlooked. I thank you, doctor, for bringing this to my attention.”

  Piper inclined his head graciously. “It is upon all of us within the court system to make certain that justice is done.”

  “In light of this information, I suspect that the former constable can be released un
til such time as the report can be amended to include these new facts. Of course, he will need to be available to answer our inquiries.”

  “We stand ready to answer any inquiries that your investigation may have,” said Piper. “All of us. Meanwhile, I am empowered by my counterpart among the gnoles to effect his patient’s release, if you would be so kind as to write the release order?”

  “My secretary shall see it done,” said Tamsin. He rose and opened the door, calling to the man at the desk to write the release papers. “Now. Is there anything else that I may do for you gentlemen?”

  Galen was just enough of a bastard to want to lounge around the office for a few minutes to aggravate the guard commander, but he suspected that would be counterproductive. Stephen bowed to Tamsin, and Galen did the same, albeit shallowly. Piper stood by the desk while the secretary added Earstripe’s name and the date to the pre-written release and offered it to the commander for his seal.

  “A pleasure, Commander,” said Piper, taking the form. “I am glad that you could make time to handle this matter.”

  “The pleasure is mine,” lied Tamsin with a straight face. “I am certain I will see you again, in the course of our respective duties.”

  If that was also meant as a veiled threat, Piper did not react to it. He smiled and said, “We lich-doctors do see everyone…eventually. Good day, Commander.” And swept out, his heels ringing on the marble floor, while Galen and Stephen flanked him and Galen tried very hard not to laugh.

  Thirty-Six

  “You’re worried you’ll break him, eh?” murmured Stephen, as they made their way down the steps to the entryway.

  Galen grunted, his eyes on Piper’s back.

  “Because I’ve got to tell you, from where I’m standing, he does not seem particularly fragile.”